A Gospel of Perfectability in Love

13 Pentecost, Cp18, September 4, 2022
Jer. 18:1-18   Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
Philemon 1-20 Luke 14:25-33

Lectionary Link

The people who came to write down the words of the Bible understood that the God and the Jesus whom they wrote about, often issued some rather harsh words about people's behaviors.

It would be true to say that holiness and and unattainable perfection stand in stark contrast to our as of yet imperfect behaviors.

It is also insightful to indicate that people are to degrees, willfully imperfect based upon their exposure to the lived-out and practiced standards of more enlightened exemplar of living.

When we read the seemingly harsh words attributed to God and Jesus in the biblical writings, it is important to look at contexts of the words, especially in trying to imagine the community situations which brought the words to promulgation as the holy words to be retained as standards in continuous communities of Jewish and non-Jewish peoples.

What are some of those harsh words?  Jeremiah presents God as a Potter who has the ability to form a vessel  one way or another.   It is a curious metaphor assuming a piece of clay in the divine potter's hand has a degree of freedom to resist being made in an ideal way.  The angered divine potter is seen threatening to force environmental challenges on this willful piece of clay in formation who doesn't seem to want to follow God's patterns as seen in fidelity to the law.

The metaphor of God as a Potter seems to present God as a hovering parent micro-managing each misdeed of a willful child.

This view would seem to contradict a view of a degree of freedom which is necessary to uphold the moral and spiritual integrity of human behavior.

I tend to understand these very anthropomorphic views of God and providence, not as God micromanaging human situations; rather, they are presentation of prophets and seers who believe God, within a divinely inspired world, is a friendly presence within this world and uses all aspects of the world to be signs of a loving discipline of humanity toward perfectible behaviors.  Even though the presentations are starkly anthropomorphic, they are a witness to the belief that the universe is a friendly expression of divine discipline toward human perfectibility.

The failure of humanity to move in positive ways toward perfectibility becomes expressive of their alienation from what is best for them.  Eventually human badness gets confronted with opposing forces.  The prophets believed that the ability for coming to self-correction is built into the creative order, and so there is a presentation of God as all being a Potter who creates toward perfectibility.

Such a view is consistent with the Psalmist being amazed by how he or she is made.  Being made wonderful means being given a growth path in perfectibility.  And when human beings leave the path of perfectibility, the prophets believe in a divine correcting universe which can be known as discipline by humans who are in process. 

Jesus appeared in this world as the example of human perfectability to present a corrective path to recover from a predominance of human alienation from the path of perfectibility.

What are the big principles of human perfectability found in the seeming harsh and hyperbolic statements of Jesus?

First, God is the owner of everything.  So people who usurp possessions as being their own, need to give up all possessive claims to anything, which in spiritual shorthand means that people need to realize that we do not belong to ourselves, therefore we and all that we have belong to our creator.  The words of Jesus point to the early Christian spiritual practice of using the cross of Jesus as a spiritual force to die to possessiveness of one's life and the things of one's life.

God is also a heavenly parent for one humanity; but human beings have divided themselves into separate groupings and families as a way of denying equal status of other people.

The words of Jesus with hyperbolic effect proclaim, hate for every family situation which purports to be a replacement of all being in the family of God who is our heavenly parent.

The family of Christ was to be a family of people with the equal dignity of bearing the image of God.  So for St. Paul, this meant that every other identity could not be a primary identity.  Being in Christ, meant that in spirituality, this identity was beyond markers like male, female, Jew, non-Jew, slave or free.  St. Paul exhorted his fellow worker Philemon to accept back into his household and fellowship, Onesimus, a runaway slave who had come to know himself as being in Christ.  St. Paul wrote that because both Philemon and Onesimus were one in Christ, the slave and master designation, though significant in Roman society, did not hold in the kingdom of heaven.

The words of Jesus were presented as warning about how people would be treated who regarded themselves in the great family of God.  People who believe in lesser identities such as rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, American, African, male, or female as final identities will promote segregatory behaviors of discrimination and they will persecute those who believe in the love of God for everyone.

Small minded people will often threaten and persecute people who promote an equal love for all people.

The Gospel for us today is to be persuaded that we are called to love in God's big family of love.  But the Gospel also is a warning to us to be prepared for those who cannot yet accept how great the love and justice of God is.

Let us be sure of our call to the love of God today.  And let us receive the boldness of God to endure that call to love with people who cannot yet accept this great call of love.  Amen.

Sunday School, September 4, 2022 13 Pentecost C proper 18

 Sunday School, September 4, 2022  13 Pentecost C proper 18

Sunday School Themes

For children, there has been the purposely avoided the “hard sayings” of Jesus about “hating” one’s family members to be a disciple of Jesus.  Though one could present how Jesus used contradictory riddles to present his priority.

The Gospel themes chosen center around wise planning

If you want to be a good baseball player, what do you do?  You practice, you join teams, you work out.

If you want to be a good ballet dancer, what do you do?  You join a dance studio and you practice and you listen to a good dance instructor.

Life is about planning because even though the future is not here yet, we believe that we will grow and change and we have to be prepared for what we are going to be doing in our future.

Parents begin to prepare their children for what they are going to do and become from the day of their birth.  Why?  Because life is about growing and changing.  Since life is about change we have to learn how to be prepared for the changes which will come to our lives.

Jesus said that a person who wants to build a big tower has to make sure that there is a plan.  There has to be materials and a design and the workers to do the job.  There has to be enough money to afford to build the tower.

Jesus said that we want to be his disciples, then we need to know what we need to do.  We need to be smart and wise about our planning.  A disciples of Jesus is a student of Jesus.  And we never graduate from being a student of Jesus.  So we need to plan on learning about Jesus for the rest of our lives.

Smart planning for learning how to be a disciple is to learn from the most important Christian rules.  And the most important Christian rule is to love God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

If we are planning to follow Jesus as his disciple and student, we need to plan to be his student and to always be learning about how to love God better and to love our neighbors better.

Sermon

  If you are going to build a house what do you need?

  Well, you need to have some money to pay for the building supplies.  You need an architect.  You need some land or a place to build your house.  You need a builder who can organize all of the workers.  You need building supplies, cement, wood, nails, shingles, electrical wires, lights, switches, sinks, counters, and many other things.

  So to build a house you have to do a lot of planning, because what will happen if you don’t plan?  You won’t be able to finish the house.  If you try to build a house you can’t afford then you won’t be able to finish it.  Or if you choose the wrong builder the house may not be built to last.

  Jesus reminded his friends that they needed planning in their lives, planning just like someone who was going to build a great tower, or just like a general who was planning a battle.

  And Jesus reminded his friends that they were going to have many people in their lives.  Their family and their friends.  To live our lives means that we have to learn to live with people.  So if we are going to plan our lives well, we are going to have plan our lives in learning how to live with people in our lives.  And it is important to learn how to live with people in our lives, with our parents, our brothers and sisters, with our husbands and wives, with our teachers and friends.  And it is important to learn how to live with our self.

  Now why do I say we have to learn to live with our self?  We have to know our self well, so we know how to plan our lives?  If I like baseball, but I am terrible at playing baseball, should I try to play professional baseball?  No, I would not be accepted by any team because I’m not good at playing baseball.  So I have to know myself and what I am good at in planning my life.

  It is important to know how to live with other people and with our selves.  So we need to plan well.

  And the best way to do this is to learn the law of Christ:  Love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

  This is the greatest plan of life.  And if we learn this plan in life, we will be successful in learning to live with other people and our self.

  So remember this great plan of Christ for our lives:  Love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as our self.  Amen.

An intergenerational Eucharistic liturgy

September 4, 2022: The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Rejoice in the Lord Always, He’s Got the Whole World, Alleluia, Jesus Loves the Little Children

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Rejoice in the Lord Always   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 197)

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. 

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. 

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  And again I say rejoice. 

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  And again I say rejoice.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Allow us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, since you always oppose the overly proud who do not think they need you, so you never forsake those who make there are very proud of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

Moses said to all Israel the words which the Lord commanded him, "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 139

LORD, you have searched me out and known me; * you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys and my resting-places * and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, * but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When Jesus was speaking to the people about being disciples, he said, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.”

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

  

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Song: He’s Got the Whole World (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

He’s got the whole world, in his hands, he’s got the whole wide world, in his hands.  He’s got the whole world, in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the little tiny baby, in his hands, he’s got the little tiny baby, in his hands.  He’s got the little tiny baby, in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the brothers and the sisters, in his hands, he got the brothers and the sisters, in his hand.  He’s got the brothers and the sisters in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hand.

He’s got the mothers and the fathers, in his hand, he’s got the mothers and the fathers, in his hand.  He’s got the mothers and the fathers in his hand, he’s got the whole world in his hand.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

 Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Alleluia  (Renew! # 136)

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

He’s my savior, alleluia.  He’s my savior, alleluia.  He’s my savior, alleluia.  He’s my savior, alleluia.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Jesus Loves the Little Children   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 140)

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Words of the Risen Christ Can Be Ironic!

13 Pentecost, Cp18, September 8, 2019 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20   Psalm 1

Philemon 1-20 Luke 14:25-33

Lectionary Link

How does this poor preacher deal with the totally hospitable words of Jesus one week and the next week have to preach on the seeming starkly hostile words of Jesus?

Lord, have mercy upon me!  Now I have to go through excruciating verbal contortions to tell everyone that these words don't really means what they seem to mean.  And certainly, I often would censor these words in my family service because I did not want children to hear them.

One of the subtle ways to overturn the literal meaning of these words is through the intonation and inflexion of one's voice when one reads them.  You may have noticed the "strange" way that I read the Gospel.  When one writes, one cannot impart the meaning that comes through the intonations we know when we speak.  If the words of Jesus started as an oral tradition and not a written tradition, one could understand that some meaning is lost when spoken words are rendered in written words.  In written words the actual context can be lost or not known.  But with an ironic reading, an entirely different meaning is rendered.

Imagine a question to Jesus:  "Jesus, do I have to leave and hate my family if they don't agree with me following you?"  Jesus: "You must hate your family and take up your cross to follow me?  Tell me what you really think about me.  If you think following me is really bad for your family then perhaps you shouldn't follow me."  Do you see how an ironic reading of the words of Jesus impart a completely different meeting?

How else might we appropriate these stark words of Jesus?

First, remember that every word in the Bible is not always immediately applicable to everyone at all times.  Most of the words of the Bible are not immediately applicable to us most of the time.  But because we call the Bible the word of God, we make the exaggerated assumption that they are all applicable to us all of the time.  If one's father, brother, sister or child were a follower of Jesus and did not prevent one from being a disciple, why would one have any reason to hate them at all?  Remember we practice the reading of all of the words of the Bible, even if they are not immediately applicable to us.  That is very important to remember in our reading of the Bible.

Second, in a textual tradition words can become abbreviated presentation and not literal meaning.  So what if the abbreviated presentation were paraphrased in this way:   "If you want to be my disciple you must hate the attempts of your family to prevent you from following me.  In fact, you must hate your old world views which prevent you from following new insights for the betterment of your life."  The abbreviated presentation of the words seem much harsher than the expanded contextual fullness of meaning.

Next, why would the early Gospel writers perhaps understand the words of Jesus in a different way?

Well, the Jesus Movement was a new paradigm for people of faith.  As a new paradigm of faith, it caused a sociological revolution among many families.

If you were a Gentile follower of Jesus, you had to leave your family who were devoted to the gods and goddesses and their Temple complexes.  If you were a Jewish follower of Jesus as Messiah who began to openly worship and fellowship with Gentiles who did not keep the Jewish ritual purity rules, you had to leave your synagogue family who would have been deeply disappointed in you for leaving these esteemed and sacred traditions.  People were used to declaring curses or anathemas on those who left their communities as "traitors."

The Gospel words of Jesus, reveal that the truth of religion in families is the truth of many big family fights.

Growing up in the 1950's, our country was very religiously divided between Protestants and Catholics.  If a Catholic converted to a Protestant community, there was hell to pay in the family.  If one had a mom of Italian heritage, one might be deprived of her best pasta meal.  If a Protestant converted to Catholicism, one's family would pray about one's soul being bound for hell.

In the 1960's things began to loosen up.  People began to be nomadic; they moved all over.  They began to fall in love with people not in their faith communities, and faith communities had to be more hospitable, and thankfully we have seen more religious tolerance begin to prevail.  But it wasn't always case.

How many families hired professional de-programmers to kidnap their children who had gone to live in a Hare Krishna Temple or a hippie Children of God sect?  What happens to an Amish person who leaves the community or misbehaves?  They are shunned.

All religions which are supposed to friendly and hospitable but because such passionate commitment is enjoined, it means when loyalties are changed, feelings can be hurt and deep passionate recrimination can result.

The Jesus Movement resulted in a religious sociological revolution and families and old values were challenged and upset.

In the communities led by Paul, it was proclaimed that in Christ there was neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, slave of free.

In Paul's letter to Philemon, Paul was reminding Philemon that even though by Roman law he was the owner of the slave Onesimus and that under that law he could punish this runaway slave, since Philemon and Onesimus were a part of this new community of equality in Christ, Philemon was to treat Onesimus as his brother.  Paul, going against all Roman law of punishment for runaways slaves, said that Philemon was to receive Onesimus back into his household as a brother in Christ.  Philemon had to hate his old self, he had to take up his cross, he had to follow Christ in order to honor what it meant to be in the community of Jesus Christ.

The oracle of the Risen Christ as it came to the early churches used the phrase of taking up one's cross as a catch phrase for the mystical experience of dying in identity with Christ on the cross to one own selfish self in order to be raised to express a new self.  The words of Jesus for "life" in our Gospel is the word "psuche" or "soul life" or "one's ego life."  One has to continually hate or die to one's soul life so that one can continually renew one's mind in the new insights we have in our mystical experience with Christ.  This is the very literal meaning of the Greek word for repentance; a metanoia, a renewal of one's mind.

The last thing that I would like to bring to language regarding the Gospel reading is the punchline which governs the entire Gospel unity.  The punchline is to plan and be prepared always for the future.  Did you think that following Jesus would not mean any changes in your life?  A person who builds a tower has to plan to build the tower, to purchase material, have a good plan enough money to complete the project.   If a king is going to war, he has to know the strength of the opposition to decide whether diplomacy is to be preferred to actual battle.  If wise probability planning is needed in our natural lives; it is also needed in our spiritual lives.  We have to plan for the changes which come because we obey God.

The Jesus Movement caused a sociological revolution in the decades after Jesus.  The Gospel writers were telling their communities in the name and words of the Risen Christ, "Get use to change.  Your loyalty to Christ may bring opposition from people with whom you once lodged."

So change in the renewal of our mind requires hating and dying to our former states of our soul life; and it means hating the forces of resistance which would hinder us in making significant creative advance in our lives.

What is the Gospel?  It means creative advance in our lives.  And if we are going to make creative advance in our lives we are going to have to "hate" or die to the states of our former soul lives which are the repetitive patterns that have locked us into bad thinking and behaviors.

Let us not be afraid of the exaggerated words of the Risen Christ from the record of the early church.  Let us always be ready to be renewed in our minds when the insights for creative advance come to us from the Risen Christ.  Amen.

Discipleship as a Cure for Nostalgia

13 Pentecost, Cp18, September 8, 2019 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20   Psalm 1

Philemon 1-20 Luke 14:25-33

Lectionary Link

Traditionalism can be the celebration of the "good ol' days."  Remember the good "ol' days."  For many Americans, the good ol' days refer to the 1950's and early 60'swhen the middle class took off.  Track homes in the suburbs, the Cleaver family of Ward, June, Wally and the Beave.  Mom June stayed at home and greeted the kids after school in short high heels with fresh brownies and then presented father Ward with his pipe and newspaper so he could chill before the domestic goddess finished preparing dinner.  Freeways, dams and infrastructure galore; and people forget that such good ol' days of Eisenhower actually had a 91 percent tax on the most wealthy so that the American dream could be realized for more Americans.  Much of our discontent today is among people who hold the 50's as the ideal norm but also by the people for whom the 50's were not so good because of lack of consciousness about racism, sexism and the undiscovered dignity of people who could not could not even be recognized.

A love for the good ol' days is called nostalgia.  And do you know what "algia" means?  It means pain.  The present is so painful to adjust to, we have to hearken back to the times about which we have memories of a life that was better or seemingly conflict free, but we know that memories of the good ol' days are highly selective.  Every age has its own pain inducing "nostalgia" because the truth of life is dynamic change.

The times of Jesus and the early church were days of dynamic change.  And it was difficult for God's people to adjust to change.  People resorted to nostalgia.  The answer to nostalgia included visualization myths.  Remember the only good times in the history of Israel, the few years when David was King.  Everything after David became progressively worse for the people of Israel.  Hence the myth of the return of someone anointed by God like David to make everything right in Israel again.  "O, God, let us have another David, another Messiah to come and knock heads and prove his messiahship by removing the occupying Romans from our land and giving us back our land."

And you know what?  Jesus was not that kind of Messiah.  Families who held onto the myth of a Davidic Messiah could not see Jesus as fitting the bill.  But people who had the mystical experience of the Risen Christ, understood that the experience which came after the suffering of Jesus on the cross was proof and definition of a Messiah of a different order than simply a successful military king for the land of Israel.  Jesus as the Risen Christ, Messiah was to become a conqueror of hearts and lives for not just the people of Israel but for people of the entire world.  And so ensued the development a major new faith paradigm.

George Bernard Shaw who was quoted by Oscar Wilde said that the American and British people were those divided by having a common language.  This is funny and true because we also have a lot in common because we do have a common language.

The early churches and the synagogues of the same era consisted of people who were divided by having a common God, but who had different notions of the Messiah.  People who hold important things in common can still experience such intense disagreement on faith practice that they can result in such mutual rejection that foster events of what can be called "hate."  One could even say that Americans now are people divided by having a common flag and constitution.  One can certainly note the significant experience of "hatred" expressed in our public life today.

The shocking words of Jesus regarding hating of father, mother and life itself seem to contradict his other words about loving God being inconsistent with hating one's brother, or the Sermon on the Mount injunction to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.  Or what about the commandment which says we should honor our father and mother?

We cannot read the words regarding hate in isolation with everything in the words of the oracle of Christ that were delivered in the community which wrote the Gospel of Luke, many years after Jesus was on this earth.

It does help us to have a dime's worth of knowledge about the Greek word for life in this Gospel.  The word for the life that one is supposed to hate is "psuche" or the life of the mind, emotions and the will.  The Greek word for physical life was "bios."  So the hate of life that Jesus is proposing is not one which promotes "suicide."  The education program promoted by both John the Baptist and Jesus was called repentance.  The Greek word for repentance is "metanoia," which literally means the "after mind," or the "new mind."  St. Paul wrote that we are to be in the process of the continual renewing of our mind.  When something is renewed, there is the death or leaving of what was before.  A new paradigm gives new answers to new questions; so one eschews the old and inadequate and one eschews the people who try to prevent creative advance into what is new and more adequate for spiritual growth.  Can we understand how the oracle words of Jesus in the community of Luke's Gospel was the effort to say to membership that dynamic growth involves change?  It involves leaving former loyalties and it involves a break with the people in one's past who do not want to let one go to pursue the creative advance.

It perhaps can be said that the entire New Testament is writings of the people who left an older paradigm of a vision regarding God and embraced the Risen Christ who was to be made accessible to all people in the world.  The Christian paradigm was a radical evangelistic Christo-Judaism.  St. Paul and Peter were those who did not think followers of Christ could wait around for all of the Gentile people to come to the wisdom of circumcision and "kosher" eating regulations; they regarded these to be items of secondary identity and less important than the evidence of Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit to change their lives.

One of the reasons Christian people in the past have found themselves vulnerable to anti-Semitic behaviors is because the New Testament recounts the "events of hatred" among people who actually had a common God.  Rather than accept the fact that Jews and Christians have different missions in our world, some people have chosen to live in the "events of hatred" which characterized our separation into our different missions.

The punchline of today's Gospel actually refers to good probability planning.  If you're going to war, plan ahead with good strategies.  If you're going to build a tower, you have to plan to have the right material in advance.  Essentially, the oracle of the Risen Christ was telling the early church: Don't get caught in nostalgia.  Incorporate dynamic change into your planning process.  Why?  That is the way that life is.

The Risen Christ was saying, "Things are changing and that's natural.  And those who deny change must be resisted in their painful nostalgia.  To deny change is not good planning in life.

The early church were understanding the Risen Christ to be saying, "Folks, the land of Israel will not be delivered from the Romans by another King David."  In fact, the Romans sacked Jerusalem and the Temple.  The Risen Christ was saying to them, "You are going to have to deal with living in the cities of the Roman Empire.  That is change which is forced upon all.  How do you deal with it?"  Do you retreat to the cloistered synagogue community, stay ritually pure and hope for the appearance of a great one like David?  Or do you embrace the winsomeness of the Risen Christ for all people, Jews and Gentiles.  And do you slowly and silently conquer the Roman Empire from within the hearts of all?

St. Paul had to rebuke Philemon in a letter.  "Philemon you are the owner of the runaway slave Onesimus in the Roman slave culture, but in the Risen Christ there is no slave nor free, but a new creation.  So, you are to receive Onesimus back into your household without punishment and receive him as your equal Christian brother.  This is the new Risen Christ paradigm.  You must hate your old self in your old ways, the one who wants to punish Onesimus for "breaking the rules.""

Friends, you and I are called to include dynamic change in the future of our lives, as individuals and as a parish community.  We may have to "hate" former versions of ourselves in order to be renewed in our minds so that we can find fresh answers to the new situations.

Today, we are invited to let our discipleship to Christ cure our tendency toward painful nostalgia.  Let us with hope celebrate an always already better future.  Amen