...Then Were We Like Those Who Dream...

Brad Sullivan

Proper 28, Year B

November 18, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Mark 13:1-8

…Then Were We Like Those Who Dream…

“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” (Psalm 126:1-2)  That’ Psalm 126 verses 1-2, and whether in those words or in other words, that idea is a recurring theme through the history of Israel.  “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.”  God restores Israel.  God restores his people.  God restores creation and covenant.

Before God restored the fortune of Zion, well obviously Zion’s fortunes weren’t doing so well.  Babylonian captivity and the near total destruction of the nation of Israel.  The capturing of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines, God’s very presence seemingly taken from Israel.  40 years of wandering in the desert after the Israelites lost faith in God that he could bring them into the land that he had promised them.  God’s anger and rejection of the people of Israel after they formed a Golden Calf to replace God almost immediately after God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt.  In each of these cases, after Israel’s fortunes weren’t doing all that great, God restored the fortunes of Zion, and then were the people of Israel like those who dream, then was their mouth filled with laughter and their tongue with shouts of joy.

That portion of Psalm 126 seems to me the unspoken promise within Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple.  His warning / prophecy sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it.  Not only will the temple be destroyed, there will be wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation, earthquakes, famines, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.  “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs,” Jesus said. 

All that stuff I just described, it’s gonna get worse after that.  The birthpangs, they begin, and then there’s full blown labor, and it’s gonna hurt, cause labor tends to do that, and sorry guys, there’s no epidural for this one, no nerve block.  The best you can do is that breathing thing.  Labor is coming, guys, and it’s gonna hurt, Jesus was saying, but let’s put a different emphasis on what he said.  Rather than, “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs,” let’s say, “This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.” 

Well, after birthpangs and labor comes a baby.  So, what you’re saying, Jesus, is that after the destruction of the temple and all that other bad stuff happens, something fantastically wonderful is coming?  Oh!  Well that’s great!  “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.”  That’s what’s coming.

Now, what came was not the rebuilding of the temple, nor even the restoration of the nation of Israel, at least not for about 1900 years.  What happened was the people of Israel were dispersed and scattered without a nation, and the people of Israel survived, and even thrived.  Rather than ceasing to be a people, they became even more fully a people, God’s chosen people spread throughout the world.   The Temple was not restored in Jerusalem, and the religion changed at that point, but synagogues spread throughout the land.  A people with one temple became a people with countless temples where folks could come and dwell and become God’s people. 

I would say Emmanuel had a fairly decent dose of birthpangs back in August of 2017.  I could say that Harvey and Emmanuel’s flooding, and all that has happened since “is but the beginning of the birthpangs.” To be faith think we’re still in labor, but guys, all that has happened, the flooding, the work, the fear, the discord, the coming together and the work to be done is but the beginning of the birthpangs. 

A baby is coming.  New life is coming.  What’s that gonna look like?  What does it mean for us to be a post-Harvey Emmanuel, a new creation by water and the word?  I think we’re starting to find that out as we go, as we receive hospitality, as we continue to be Emmanuel even without our home, as we learn to be adaptive, gracious and flexible, practicing gratitude as life comes our way. 

Ultimately, I think a post-Harvey Emmanuel, a new creation by water and the word, looks like a spiritual oasis in West Houston in which we are a spiritual oasis because you are a spiritual oasis, and you are a spiritual oasis, and you, and you, and all of y’all, and I are all spiritual oases.  The Emmanuel being born is an Emmanuel in which the community is a spiritual oasis as we are all spiritual oases.

That’s the disperse nation of Israel after the destruction of the temple, bringing the light of God not in one place, but in countless places throughout the world.  Emmanuel as each of us being a spiritual oasis in which God’s presence, peace, and nurture is present wherever any one of us is present, deeply rooted in prayer and scripture, deeply rooted in Jesus, always acting in love for others, with compassion, mercy, and peace. 

That’s what I see in a post-Harvey Emmanuel.  We gather as a spiritual oasis, and we leave as spiritual oases where the weary, the sin-sick, and the burdened come to be refreshed by the love and peace of Jesus present in each one of us.  As spiritual oases, we each continually refresh ourselves through daily prayer, almost monastic in our practice of the four daily prayers of the Episcopal church.  We continually refresh ourselves with daily reading of scripture, dwelling in God’s presence throughout history in the sacred stories of our faith.  We continually refresh ourselves through other practices through which we remember and become aware of God’s presence, and love, and peace all around us. 

No ain’t none of us gonna get it right all the time, and sometimes the best we’re gonna do is to reach out to someone else when our well has run dry and we need refreshment from them as a spiritual oasis.  That too is what Emmanuel is becoming, this new baby being born, the new creation by water and the word.  All the turmoil and strife has been but the beginning of the birthpangs.  Emmanuel is becoming what we have been striving to be, a spiritual oasis in west Houston, by each one of us continually refreshing ourselves in God’s presence, and love, and peace.  Emmanuel is becoming a spiritual oasis in west Houston by each one of us becoming a spiritual oasis.  Emmanuel is becoming a spiritual oasis as our hearts are filled with God’s promise of restoration.  “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.”

Trinityish Type Stuff: a.k.a. Restoring God's Shalom

Brad Sullivan

Trinity Sunday, Year B

May 27, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 6:1-8

Romans 8:12-17

John 3:1-17

Trinityish Type Stuff:  a.k.a. Restoring God's Shalom

Without doubt and without fear,

May you find some comfort here,

May there be hope to help you cope

When what you need Is nowhere near

Make your mark unto these years,

Shape your world with salt and tears,

Carry on when your will has gone,

Be it joy or sorrow

Given time, given faith,

Given courage to embrace

Changes as they each take place,

Be it joy or sorrow

-          Terri Hendrix, Joy or Sorrow

That’s from a song called Joy or Sorrow by Texas singer/songwriter, Terri Hendrix.  That song made me think of the life of Jesus, following the wind of the Holy Spirit.  In good times and in bad, in joy or sorrow, Jesus had a profoundly beautiful life, being led by the wind, the Spirit of God.  Jesus was fully connected to God and to creation around him with hope, with faith, embracing life as it came, be it joy or sorrow

Now because of Jesus and because of the church’s dawning realization that he was God, living as an actual human being among us, the church, began over the centuries to develop an understanding of God as being one God who was also three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We developed this understanding of God because Jesus spoke to God, his father, who spoke back to him, and Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit of God.  The three worked and moved together as one, even though they were each distinct. 

How’s that work and fit together, three persons who are one God and yet still three distinct persons while still being one God?  I don’t know.  After years of pondering and wondering, I simply think of I think of the Trinity in terms of relationship.  Three persons bound together so perfectly in love for each other that they are one.  From that image of God, we gain an understanding of the image of God in which we were made.  We were intended to love others and be loved by others, to join with others so that we are one with them.  That was Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, if you’ll remember from John 17:11, that they would be one as he and the Father are one.  In good times and bad, in joy or sorrow, we were made to be like God, bound to one another in love, our loving unity creating shalom, the peace and wholeness of God.

I’ve been reading Learning Change by Jim Herrington & Trisha Taylor, and they begin the book with idea of God’s dreams for us, that we would each bring about the peace and wholeness of God.  “We were designed,” they write, “to dream of the epic life God created us for - the abundant, fully human, and fully alive life that Jesus lived.  Along the way, we exchange that dream for a seriously compromised version, characterized by the pursuit of comfort and convenience...” 

“God [has chosen] us to partner with him in recreating and restoring shalom in our own families, our communities, and ultimately in the world.”

Reading this book has reminded me of the dream I had as a youth of following the wind of God and having a purpose in my life to restore shalom.  I lost some of that along the way, coming into adulthood and seeking comfort and security for my life.  I lost that dream of partnering with God in restoring shalom, and since reading this book, Jesus has been calling me to make some changes, even if only in attitude and outlook, so that I can reclaim that dream of a life of partnering with God in restoring peace and wholeness.

Restoring Shalom, the peace and wholeness of God, was Jesus’ life through and through, and partnering with God in restoring Shalom is the life Jesus was talking about when he told Nicodeums about being born from above.  When we’re born from above, we follow the epic dream God has for us, partnering with him in restoring shalom in the world and following the wind of God. 

“Wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes,” Jesus said.  Thinking of the wind blowing where it chooses in terms of the Trinity, I have this great image of the Father and the Son talking together and suddenly a mighty wind starts blowing, and the Son says, “Hey Dad, where do you think she’s going now?”

“Are you kidding, Son, I never have any idea where she’s going, but it’s always on the grandest adventure.”

…and together they follow the Spirit, the three bound perfectly together in love, their loving unity creating shalom, the peace and wholeness of God.

Being born of the Spirit of God, following the wind, which blows where it chooses, we don’t know where it comes from or where it goes, and yet we find something beautiful in the life of that wind, and so we follow where the wind blows.  Jesus calls us to surrender ourselves to follow God’s epic dream for us of abundant, fully human life.  In that surrender, we let go some of  some false security, comfort, and convenience, and we follow the wind of God, partnering with him in restoring shalom.

Be it joy or sorrow, our lives were made for so much more than for securing our own comfort and security.  We were made to be fully alive which does not mean that we’ll be perfectly

happy with no tears ever.  Both Joy and sorrow will still happen as they did for Jesus.  We know that risking joy and sorrow is part of what it means to be fully alive, fully human.  So is following the wind of God on whatever grand adventure she has in mind for us. 

We had two examples in our scripture readings today of people following the wind of God on a new grand adventure:  Isaiah and Nicodemus.  For Isaiah, he had this grand vision of God in his divine court with angels all around him, leaving little doubt that the grand adventure on which he was about to embark was the wind of God, in his case, a gale force wind.  He had no idea what he was getting into, but as soon as God asked, “Who will go for us?”, Isaiah piped, “Sounds good, let’s go!  What are we doing again?”  There was joy and sorrow in his following the wind of God, but come what may, Isaiah was all in.  Some folks have such experiences of a strong sense of God calling them to follow the wind on a grand adventure, and they can’t wait to begin.

Others are more like Nicodemus.  He was a little more subdued in his response.  For one thing, the invitation that he received to follow the wind of God was less gale force and more gentle breeze, and he wasn’t at all certain that he wanted to follow.  Having seen and heard Jesus, he saw something beautiful, and he felt the wind of God on his face gently beckoning him onward, but he thought, “This seems potentially great, but also very confusing and rather distressing; can I talk about this with you in private, Jesus?”. 

I love both of these examples of how we can say yes to the wind of God beckoning us to follow in the life of the Trinity.  God lets us follow the wind as we can, as we learn to trust him and catch the beauty of the dream of God’s life for us. 

Where’s the wind of God blowing?  I don’t know.  Just ask yourself this:  Who’s the next person you’re going to talk with or even look at while you’re here?  That’s where you get to live the life of the Trinity and help restore the shalom of God in creation.  Where’s the next place you’re going from here?  That’s the next place the Spirit is inviting you to help restore the shalom of God in creation, and on and on.  In your home.  With you family and friends.  At work.  In your neighborhood.  That’s where you get to follow the wind of God, to live the life of the Trinity, to help restore the shalom of God in creation.

She calls:

Without doubt and without fear,

May you find some comfort here,

May there be hope to help you cope

When what you need Is nowhere near

Make your mark unto these years,

Shape your world with salt and tears,

Carry on when your will has gone,

Be it joy or sorrow

Given time, given faith,

Given courage to embrace

Changes as they each take place,

Be it joy or sorrow

-          Terri Hendrix, Joy or Sorrow