Category: Kim’s Blog

Surprising. God. These two words were in a sentence I read recently. Not next to each other, but just in the same sentence. They jumped out at me. Surprising God.

Our tradition teaches us about a God that is full of surprises. Creation itself with all of its diversity and majesty and mystery is a surprise. The flood shows a surprising God. Abraham and Sarah being called to head to a new land and have a family late in life is surprising. The Hebrews being rescued from slavery in Egypt is a surprise. A Messiah born in humble circumstances is a surprise. Jesus gathering followers from among those who are poor, lame, outcast, and sinners – that is a surprise. The Messiah being put to death as a traitor by the Roman Empire is a surprise. Jesus’ followers gladly facing death for their beliefs is a surprise. Again and again, the Bible shows us a God full of surprises.

The God of the Bible is not portrayed as we might expect or predict. The God of our tradition is experienced as a God that is free. Completely free. Not bound by human demands or expectations. But also, in that freedom, seemingly responsive to human desires and needs. We see a God that chooses to favor humanity with forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. But over and over again, we see a God of surprises.

Surprising God. But if we hear that phrase another way, it can be interpreted with humanity as the subject. We may be surprising God. We may be the ones that deliver the surprise. Maybe our foolishness is surprising. Maybe our generosity is surprising. Maybe how we are despoiling the earth is surprising. Maybe our development and application of our intellect is surprising. Maybe our love of violence is surprising. Maybe our compassion is surprising. Maybe our creativity is surprising. How might we be surprising God? Are we different than God expects us to be? Would God predict that we are as we are?

Surprising. God. Unexpected. Astonishing. Shocking even. And it works both ways.

Prayer: Again and again a surprising God breaks into our lives and our world in unexpected ways. May we learn from God to be surprising. To shock with our forgiveness and compassion. To astonish with our patience and generosity. To exceed expectations with our commitment to justice and peace. We are, after all, created in the image of a surprising God! In the spirit of our beloved Savior Jesus we pray. Amen.

Look before you leap.
He who hesitates is lost.
Strike while the iron is hot.

A stitch in time saves nine.
Haste makes waste.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Better safe than sorry.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
The best things in life are free.

Many hands make light work.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Well, which is it? As we can see, conventional wisdom is often contradictory. We grow up with these sayings and others but they clearly point in different directions. So how do these differing angles on things help to inform our lives and our behavior?

As we examine these sayings, we can probably see some truth in all of them even though they are contradictory. It may depend on the situation or circumstances. Hindsight may offer insight. And sometimes such opposing sayings reveal the folly of excess. It’s true if you don’t take it too far or if you don’t expect it to hold up in every circumstance. We are used to living with such tensions and finding a balance. Two opposing perspectives juxtaposed can often help us to sort out the best approach for a given situation.

When we examine our scriptures we see that there are similar contradictions contained in our holy books. Is this a problem? Does this show a flaw? Does this undermine scripture as the word of God? Does this need to be glossed over? Do we have to create some kind of brain bender to harmonize everything in the Bible?

Here are a few examples of contradictions:

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Matthew 12: 30
Whoever is not against us is for us.
Mark 9:40

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight.
Proverbs 4:7
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 1:18

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:3-4

When we look at these verses side by side they seem similar to the contradictory adages. Does this mean the Bible is wrong? Or that we need to figure out a way to see consistency? Most biblical scholars of the Jewish and Christian traditions think the Bible intentionally includes a variety of voices and perspectives to keep people searching and exploring their faith and their experience of God. A multiplicity of views keeps any one from becoming entirely dominant. There is never full and complete knowledge of the truth. There is always a sense of mystery and humility. We never fully know.

There’s trouble in religion when there is absolutism. Those who wrote and selected what is in the Bible knew that and tried to prevent the distortion and perversion of faith by intentionally including differing voices in scripture. This provides some built in mystery and contradiction to keep people from slipping into the hubris of absolutism. What should make us really suspicious in religion are claims of absolute truth. The reality of God is revealed in the tensions and the contradictions that compel us to keep searching. Lent is a time to pay attention to the many voices of our tradition and how they invite us to know God in many ways and to examine our lives and our world from varying perspectives always seeking the path of love.

Prayer: Each day invites us to experience our faith in new ways. Our tradition gives us much guidance and a variety of voices so that we have much to draw from in our search for meaning. May we not be afraid to use the wonderful intellect we have been given to explore our faith and our experience. May love be our guide as we make our way through the complexities of life seeking to serve. Amen.

Norman Mailer has been in the public eye recently – something he always craved. He was a writer, social critic, and figure who gained notoriety through shock and excess. But, then, it was the 60’s.

Among other things, Mailer stabbed his third (of 6) wives. Their marriage had soured. He was drunk. She had taunted him. It happened at their apartment in New York as a party they were hosting was winding down. Twice with a pen knife necessitating a four hour emergency surgery. In the immediate aftermath, Mailer told his wife, “I love you and I had to save you from cancer.” The stabbing actually increased Mailer’s infamy and popularity. Twenty-eight years later, he apologized to her: “I’m sorry I trashed your life.” Her reply? “You trashed your life, too.”

Yes, when we hurt someone, we are usually harming ourselves as well. This is the great travesty of sin. Not only do we damage the life of another, we damage ourselves. Vengeance, retribution, hostility, and violence come back to haunt us. Either we suffer directly from regret and remorse or we suffer from the consequences inflicted upon us because of our actions. Evidently the stabbing gnawed at Mailer for at least 28 years. That’s a lot of pain to endure.

Our faith teaches to do the right. We are taught to be generous, to serve others, to invest our lives in the good of the world. We are taught to be loving and nonviolent. We are taught not to harm others. Not to pursue violence. Not to take advantage of others.

But we are not always our best selves. There are those times that we fall short of our ideals. We inflict pain. We do harm. Anger gets the best of us. We disappoint ourselves and others. This is part of the human experience; a consequence of our free will. We will not always choose the right. And that is why our faith is so important.

In Jesus, we are given a way to heal the wounds we cause others and ourselves when we are not the people that we want to be. Christianity is a religion of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of healing, and of restoration. It’s not just about doing the right thing. It’s about doing the right thing after you’ve done the wrong thing, which will inevitable happen. It’s about a way back. Our faith gives us a way to take responsibility for our actions. It gives us the dignity and humility to express regret and remorse. Our faith gives us the strength to seek to make things right through restitution. Our faith teaches us to reach out and heal the rifts that we create.

In addition, our faith teaches us to forgive others. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others” we pray in the Savior’s Prayer. Not only do we seek to make things right when we have done wrong, but we also receive with openness the initiatives of others to make right the wrongs they have done. We help others to make a way back as well. Christianity is all about reconciliation after there has been a breach in a relationship.

Years after the stabbing, in talking with his daughter about it, Mailer confessed, “I let God down.” Yes, he did let God down. And his family. And himself. Mailer let God and himself down not only by stabbing his wife but by taking 28 years to begin a reconciliation process. That was 28 years of pain for both of them. As his ex-wife said, he trashed his life, too. All those many years of carrying that burden unresolved when Mailer could have repented and sought the forgiveness of the one he stabbed. Instead, he added to the pain for himself and for her by not seeking reconciliation. I think the added years of suffering were heartbreaking for God.

In this Lenten season, may we take the time to think about what things we have left unresolved. Are there things from days or years past for which we need to make amends. Are we adding to the suffering of another, of ourselves, and of God by not seeking reconciliation in a relationship? This is a time to start a process of repentance, forgiveness, and renewal.

Prayer: We are grateful for this season of Lent with its lengthening days. We are glad for the rebirth of the earth and the new life emerging around us. May we think about those places in our lives that need to be healed, resolved, and reconciled and may we have the courage and strength to pursue forgiveness. Sometimes circumstances take us to places we do not want to go, but our faith in God and the teaching of Jesus give us a way to get back on the right track. God’s open arms are always awaiting us even when we let God, ourselves and others down. Let us accept the offer of new life in Christ. Amen.

On a car ride home from school last week, our high school senior son explained that one of his friends made the case that most important issue that needed attention in the world today is sexism or the devalued status of women. The friend claimed that if that problem were addressed, many other social and economic problems would be resolved. Yes! That idea is not new but I was heartened to hear that a high schooler had come to that conclusion “on her own” and I was delighted to hear my son say that he thought this view had validity. (I also reminded him that I have preached a sermon on that very topic.)

In an interview I listened to this week with an author who has written a book about the passage of the Civil Rights legislation in the 60’S, there was mention of how someone on a committee in the legislative process tacked on an equal pay for women clause thinking it would kill the bill which he did not want to see passed. In the end, to his dismay, this legislator ended up helping to give women equal rights.

I thought about this. Would adding a provision ensuring equal rights for women prevent the passage of legislation today? It’s hard to say which is an unfortunate state of affairs.

I also heard an interview with someone from Africa where women have equal rights and are amply represented in government. When asked about this the African explained that their country faced so many problems, they needed everyone working together helping to resolve them.

While most of us would absolutely agree that men and women are entitled to equal rights are we aware of how much still needs to be done? I hear from women regularly who feel they are treated as “less than” in the work place because they are women and not men. It’s hard to imagine. How do things stand in the church? Well, there’s the Catholic church and the male priesthood. But that is not the end of the story. I got a flyer in the mail recently about a church conference in Orlando. The flyer shows a picture of a huge sanctuary filled with thousands of people. And at the podium? A man. Then there are pictures of the 9 presenters with their bios. All men. And all white but one. They may be wonderful people gifted for ministry. But I can’t believe that the church is intended to function with limited leadership from just one of the two genders. The BaHai religion teaches that male and female are like the two wings of a bird. Both are needed to fly. Maybe if we eliminated gender bias in the church, fully and completely, we would resolve many of the problems that the church is facing.

This morning, thousands of church goers, men and women, heard the story of the raising of Lazarus from the Gospel of John. After Lazarus comes out of the grave, Jesus instructs, “Unbind him, and let him go.” [John 11:44] Imagine what the church would be like unbound from all prejudice and bias, released, and freed to serve the needs of the world.

This Lenten season invites us, women and men alike, to consider how we explicitly or implicitly contribute to the perpetuation of gender bias. It is impossible to live in this culture and not absorb something of gender bias. But we can examine ourselves and look for it so that we can then honestly address ourselves to pursing equality. The church and the world need for us to be unbound from sexism so that we can be agents of equality in the wider world.

Prayer: We all harbor prejudices and biases. We pray to be unbound from these attitudes which diminish the value of others. We regret the ways that gender bias deprives the church and the world of benefitting fully from the gifts and graces that God has given women to offer to the world. We pray to be unbound and freed. Amen.

Once upon a time, people looked forward to market day as a time to see friends, catch up on the news, and enjoy a change of pace. There may have been selling of extra produce or other items. There may have been some buying of things needed. But whether or not it was financially profitable, market day was a day to look forward to.

Saturday was the first market day for the Skyway Community Market at Lakewood United Church of Christ. This endeavor has been under discussion on and off for several years at the church. After much planning and preparation, the market launched. We had hoped to start with 10 vendors but had 4. The produce vendor who had committed months ago ended up needing to bow out earlier this week. So, the church staffed the produce booth. Thank you, Jeff Wells! It was a “soft” start. How would this go? How would we feel about it?

Here’s my take on the day. The barbecue vendor sold out of ribs and chicken. The plant vendor and supplements vendor were happy to be there and will be back. People were enthusiastic about recruiting additional vendors. There were customers steadily coming and going all day. There seemed to be a good mix of people reflecting the neighborhood. Ed Helm saw to Mark Twain’s appearance and Denise Williams was the troubadour enchanting us with her songs. There were caterpillars and spiders and Spanish moss and sticks to amuse the children who were there. The warm sun and steady breeze made it a pleasure to be outside soaking in the glories of spring. Did we make a lot of money? I don’t think so. Was it a wonderful event? Absolutely.

It was a delight to spend the day with old friends and meet new friends. The day was gorgeous. (Being at the market was certainly better than staying inside and cleaning all day which is what I would have been doing. . .) The spirit was positive. Everyone seemed glad to have come and willing to return. The church people who were there enjoyed being with each other and getting better acquainted. There was a wonderful sense of community and possibility.

And isn’t that what the church is about, anyway? Community and possibility? The church is a community of solidarity and shared values. It is a gathering of people who are willing to be involved in one another’s lives sharing joys and struggles. It’s people you know you can count on whether you know them well or not, simply because it is the church. And the church is about possibility. What can be. What could be. What will be. For us as individuals, encouraging us to become our best selves. And for the community and the wider world. Helping the world more closely reflect the hopes and dreams of God.

The market was a beautiful day of bringing people together to create community and celebrate possibility. So even though it was a “market” it felt like we were being the church in the community. Taking the church beyond the sanctuary. Evidently LUCC has been called to this new venture. Who knows what may be in store!

Prayer: We are grateful for the bounty of the earth enjoyed on a glorious day. We are grateful for the sharing of stories, songs, and resources. While so often busyness and fear separate us from others we are thankful for the opportunity to be a community of solidarity for one another. May we take the community of Christ out beyond the walls of the church into a world which is obsessed with individualism and divided by fear. May we be a truly welcoming community to all. Amen.

There are lots of pictures of the opening day of the Skyway Community Market at the church website. Enjoy!