Perfection!

Yesterday we had a baptism during worship, this was the baptism we were suppose to have two weeks ago which was post-phoned due to the child being sick.  But yesterday went wonderfully with Adele only giving a brief cry during the blessing.  


The gospel yesterday was Matthew 5:38-48 which includes Jesus telling people to turn the other cheek and to love their enemy.  I think it was because of the baptism that I talked about perfection, as the gospel ends with verse 48 stating "Be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect." Most pastors probably addressed yesterday the ideas of revenge, humility and what exactly Jesus means when he says to turn the other cheek.  And I do love this text because Jesus' meaning is not what it first seems to be.  However with a baptism, especially of a 4 month old, it seemed like perfection was in order.  


Enjoy!

You’ve heard it here, we are suppose to be perfect!  No problem right?!  It’s easy to be perfect.  We all had perfect grades because I know we all made it though elementary, high school and possibly college and grad school with a 4.0 and we aced every test we ever took.  And we all have perfect driving records, because none of us have speeding tickets or parking tickets on our driving records much less accidents or other moving violations. 

We all have perfect credit, making sure that each and every bill is paid off in full and on time, never once being a few days late or a few dollars short.  We also all have the perfect body, not a single extra ounce of fat on us.  Really we all could be on the cover of GQ or the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editions, but we are just modest. 

We all have the perfect memory, always remembering people’s names correctly, and none of us have ever forgotten someone’s birthday or anniversary, much less a to do something that we have promised we would do.

We all are perfect!  Right?! We all are the perfect spouse, parent, child, student, employee, boss.  Right?! 

Okay maybe we aren’t perfect.  In fact maybe it is impossible to be perfect.  Because even the most perfect person we know still has some flaws.  And no matter how hard we try to be perfect, we occasionally make mistakes.  And for many things perfection is in the eye of the beholder, the perfect body, the perfect personality, the perfect date, even the perfect cup of coffee, all vary based on who is describing it.

So maybe Jesus is not really telling us to be perfect here.  At least not in the “conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal” sense.  The word in the Greek is Telos which also translates to goal, end or purpose.  It means more about become what was intended.

I think the Message version of the bible translates verse 48 a little more accurately “You’re kingdom subjects.  Now live like it.  Live out your God-created identity.  Live generously and graciously towards others, the way God lives towards you.” 

And isn’t that less daunting too?   Instead of “be perfect” we are told to live out our God-created identity.  Isn’t that empowering?  Isn’t that awe-inspiring?  Isn’t that…just a bunch of fluff?  I mean what does it mean? 

It means that we are God’s children.  It means that we belong to Christ.  It means that we are God’s temple.  It means that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. 

God has created us and God has called us to use our very beings to do God’s work in this world.  God has created us to be people who care for one another and God has called us to do something about that through our actions.  God has created us to be people full of emotions and God has called us to set aside some of those emotions like vengeance and instead forgive.  God has created us to have a wide variety of abilities and God has called us to use those abilities to live generously and graciously.  God has created us each to be unique individuals with different sets of spiritual gifts and God calls us to use those gifts to love our enemy, pray for those who persecute us, to be hospitable to strangers, to care for those in need and to be God in this world. 

In a few minutes Adele Kristina will be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and she will be claimed as a child of God.  But before the water is poured out upon Adele, her parents Monika and Tyler will promise to help nurture Adele in her life in Christ, by living among faithful people as an example, they will promise to bring her to worship, to teach her the Lord’s Prayers, the Creed, the Ten Commandments and scripture and to pray for her.  And we all will promise to support Monika and Tyler and they raise Adele and to pray for Adele and her parents.  And we do all this so that Adele may “learn to trust God, proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.”  That is what it means to live out our God-created identity. 

God has claimed us as sons and daughters of God’s promise.  And God calls us to learn about God, proclaim Christ, care for God’s creation and work towards God’s goal for this earth.  And when we do those things, when we fulfill our baptismal promises, we are perfect.  And even when we fall short, we hopefully have learned to trust God to make us perfect even when we are not.  

MMC: More Laws

Good Morning Bethlehem

I hope you are having a fantastic Valentine's Day and that you are able to spend at least part of the day with the ones that you love.

A few quick announcements:

• With joy yesterday, we welcomed Helosia as a new member of Bethlehem!  Thanks be to God.
• Seniors lunch is Thursday at noon.  We are meeting at the East Ridge Cafe in Ridgefield.  Let me or Lillian Johnson know that you are coming so we get the appropriate size table. 
• An informational meeting about the mission trip to Virgina is being held at St. Michael's in New Canaan on Thursday at 7:30pm.  Hope to see you there.
• This Sunday is the baptism of Adele Kristina, daughter of Monika and Tyler, granddaughter of Sune and Ringa.  

Book of Faith Puzzler:

Last week's question was: In the gospel for that Sunday, Jesus calls us the light of the world.  In what gospel does Jesus say "I am the light of the world"?  The verse, "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’” is found in John 8:12. Congratulations to Karin for winning the puzzler.  

This week's question is:  What book are the Ten Commandments found in? A) Genesis B) Exodus C) Leviticus D) Deuteronomy E) Genesis and Exodus F) Leviticus and Deuteronomy G) Exodus and Deuteronomy.  If you know the answer, send me an email by noon on Wednesday to be entered into this week's drawing.  And as a side note, I already had one person hand me his/her answer and put in a request for what type of bread I should bake if he/she wins.  

Yesterday's Sermon

If you would like to read it, it can be found here.  Sorry, chocolates do not come with the written version. I didn't directly address the issue of divorce in my sermon mainly because to explain the cultural context of divorce, that alone would take the majority of the sermon.  Did it bother you that I did not preach on divorce?  How do you explain such difficult text to people who ask about it in regards to your faith?  For those at worship yesterday, was all the treats a help or a hindrance to you in hearing God's Word?

Sunday's Text

The first lesson is Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18.  This portion of Leviticus (really most of Leviticus) consist of laws that the Israelites were to follow which includes laws about how you are reap your harvest, not stealing, not dealing falsely, not lying, not swear falsely, not defrauding, not revile the deaf or trick the blind, not render unjust judgement, not be partial to the poor, not slander, and not hate in your heart. And yet at the end of all these laws about what not to do, it ends with "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?  Which law is harder to follow, the ones clear about what not to do or th the one that is vague about how to love? 

The second lesson is 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23.  Verse 16 states "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"  You have probably heard someone call their body a temple before, but what does it mean that your body is God's temple?  And what does it especially mean that God's Spirit dwells within you?  

The gospel is Matthew 5:38-48. This is a continuation of yesterday's gospel on murder, adultery, divorce and false promises.  In the first paragraph, Jesus is telling his followers that if someone insults them, they should use the customs of the day so that the insulter is the ones insulted instead.  And in the second paragraph Jesus tells his followers that they should expand the circle of who they love.  How does Jesus teaching help you turn the other cheek and yet also love more people?  

Hope you have a great week and enjoy the heat wave that we are having!

Pastor Becca

Feel the Love

What a great day in worship today.  We had another new member join the congregation (which makes 10 thus far in 2011).  Heloisa has been attending regularly with Mark, whom she has been dating, since the fall and wanted to surprise him by joining on Valentine's Day weekend.  The two of them also had a fantastic coffee hour spread of Brazilian food.  I was even applauded after the gospel as apparently my biblical storytelling was quite dramatic.  The only downside was the gospel text itself.  


The WONDERFUL (read sarcasm) assigned gospel text for this Sunday is Matthew 5:21-37, which is Jesus' teaching on the sermon on the mount.  In the NRSV, these sections are entitled "Concerning Anger," "Concerning Adultery", "Concerning Divorce" and "Concerning Oaths" if that helps you understand how much pastors hate to preach on this text.  To make it especially cruel, it's Valentine's Day weekend.  


So I decided to deal with the text with a bit of humor and fun as I gave my congregation a nice Valentine's Day present.  Yep so if you weren't here today, you missed getting chocolate during the sermon. 


Enjoy!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Is this some form of sick liturgical joke that the assigned gospel reading for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, which just happens to be Valentine’s Day weekend, is all about murder, adultery, divorce and swearing? 

Aren’t we instead this weekend, as we celebrate Valentine’s Day, which granted is a Hallmark Holiday, suppose to be talking about marriage and love and caring for the other.  And instead we get murder, divorce, adultery, and swearing. 

Can’t you just feel the love?!

Can’t you feel the love in the air!   The law that was once at least easy to tell when you broke it, it was black or white, you know if you murder someone, sleep with someone who is not your spouse, divorce your spouse or swear falsely.  And instead Jesus has taken this law and made it many shades of grey.  Can’t you just feel the love! 

But love isn’t black and white, so why should the law be. 

We are told by companies that to show your love to someone you should get them certain things as Valentine’s Day presents.  And since I love you, I thought I would give you all some Valentine’s Day presents.  According to my trip to CVS this week, you are to give the people you love a card telling them that.  You are also suppose to give them chocolate, specifically in a heart shaped box.  You are to get the ones you love flowers.  And possibly even a balloon. 

See I am showing you my love.  But how would you feel if you found out that I charged you for these gifts, or that I had lunch with the bishop this week and was tell her terrible things about this place?   Wouldn’t these presents just be empty and meaningless?  Or maybe they would then take on a negative meaning and you will never be able to trust another pastor who brings you chocolate.  (Just to make it stop any rumors, yes I did have lunch with the bishop this week but I said wonderful things about Bethlehem) 

Jesus is trying to make a point about how our actions, thoughts and words are connected by making all these laws that were once black and white now many shades of grey.  When our actions say one thing, but our thoughts and words another; we are not living rightly.  Often our actions speak louder than our words.  But when our actions are automatic, when we just go through the motions, others wonder what our thoughts truly are.

When we can boast that we have never murdered anyone but yet go and ruin someone’s reputation by stabbing them in the back, we words and thoughts are worst than our actions.  When we tell our spouse that we would never cheat on them, but then put ourselves, work, sports, the computer, above them in our list of priorities, we are committing adultery by not giving them the respect that they not only deserve, but that we promised them. 

All these laws that Jesus spoke of, really all the commandments, fall into one of two categories.  How we are to love God and how we are to love others.  And God wants us to live in community; in fact we cannot live outside of community.  We cannot worship God by ourselves because our very relationship with God is a communal one.

We know God because others have shared with us their faith.  We worship God with a community.  We are able to grow in our faith because others support us in our giving, reading, prayer and worship.  And when we love God, we also love God’s creation. 

The law and commandments teach us how to love God and respect and love one another, both with our actions and our thoughts.  Because God wants us to get along, God wants us to have love for another.  And God wants this because God loves us. 

The law and commandments are given to us not because God wants to give us an impossibly long check list to follow in order to be worthy to receive grace.  Instead the law and commandments are given to us to help guide us in how to respect and care for each other. 

So yes the commandments fall into two categories for us to follow “Love God” and “Love others” but really they are all because “God Loves Us.” 

God loves us so much that God does not want us to be hurt by other in both action and words.  God loves us so much that God does not want us to hurt.  And this is why God sent Jesus to die for us, so that we will not hurt, that our hearts will not be broken eternally by the sins that we have caused.  God loves us so much that God does not want us to have to bear the pain that we have caused.  And this is the true love that we should celebrate this Valentine’s Day.