September 11 - Week One: Good News in a Broken World

September 11: Week One, Good News in a Broken World

Mark 1:1-20

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

   who will prepare your way;

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

   “Prepare the way of the Lord,

   make his paths straight” ’,

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

                Marcus Borg reminds us that these opening verses act as a kind of overture to the whole gospel, laying out the themes and direction of the whole story. From the very first sentence, this is good news (“gospel” in Greek means exactly that). In that this opening section kind of frames the whole story in miniature, each phrase is densely packed with meaning.  It names Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, the hoped-for figure who would deliver Israel from oppression and usher in an age of peace and justice for all people. It also names Jesus as the Son of God. More than just claiming an intimate relationship with God, this is also a political statement. Caesar in Rome was proclaimed to be a Son of God, legitimating his rule and claim over the Empire. To say Jesus was the Son of God was to say that Caesar’s claim was false.

                John appears on the scene to remind us that 1, God is already in motion and 2, that Jesus’ was not the only voice calling for a change in people or the culture. John’s baptism was a symbolic action calling the people to go back to the wilderness and re-enter the Promised Land anew, letting God lead them in a new direction. Hence a baptism in the Jordan River, for the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus comes to John for baptism, implying his affinity for John’s message. In Mark’s telling, we as readers are privy to what is an interior experience of Jesus. The sky (the barrier between the human realm and God) is torn open, the Spirit lights on Jesus in dove-form, and he hears a voice that proclaims him as God’s beloved one. Borg describes this as Jesus’ “religious conversion” experience – not convert from a godless to a godly life but a conversion into the role and ministry of his calling.  The Spirit then immediately drives Jesus into the wilderness for a period of discernment and struggle.

Only when John is arrested does Jesus begin his own ministry. Jesus proclaims ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ This, then, is the whole of Mark’s Gospel in one line. Tense in the language of the New Testament is tricky when translating into English. “Has come near” can mean is at hand, close enough to grasp, coming soon, nearby, already happened but also happening still. Jesus tells us that God’s kingdom (as opposed to Caesar’s) is all this. “Repent” does not mean feel bad for our sins. Borg says the root word indicates a turning toward home as from exile. Repentance is a turning from the garbage of our world and heading home to the world God wants it to be. Finally, in a time devastated by the Roman war, believe there is good news. Again in the Greek, “believe” does not mean to give intellectual assent to a proposition. It originally meant to commit one’s whole self to a cause, a teacher, a way of life. To believe the good newss of Jesus is to commit ourselves to live the way that makes it real.

Jesus knows this is a task he cannot undertake by himself and here he begins by inviting others to join him. Something about his good news was so compelling that the first four followers drop the obligations of their daily lives and they “immediately” follow Jesus. The question hanging in the air for readers of the Gospel is, will we act so immediately as well and follow?

The authors of Mark begin their story to their war-torn world by announcing that there is indeed “good news.” In the face of the terror and violence and oppression in our own day, what good news do we have to proclaim? One part, I believe, is that the way the world is today is not the way God wants it to be. We need to know that there is one, one named and claimed by God, to bring us the good news that things can change, that we can change. Neither the destruction of the Temple or the attack on the towers signaled the end of things. Rather, we live in a time when something new is emerging. Like the community of the faithful who presented the Gospel of Mark as a compass for their day, our community of the faithful can use the story and teaching of Jesus as our compass on our journey forward. “The time is now. God’s dream for the world is happening now. Change direction, and believe that there is good news.”

Good News: Jesus is God’s chosen one who can help us change the pain of the world.

Subject: In the face of the tragedy of Sept. 11, we know that the powers of fear do not have the last word.

Igniting Desire:  We long for a different kind of world, a world of love, justice and peace.

Framework for "Reconstructing Hope" a series on the Gospel of Mark

                On September 11 we will embark on a long journey, at least thematically. “Reconstructing Hope” is our series exploring the Gospel of Mark and its meaning for our day and time. We will begin at the start, and end at the ending but the rest of the series will not be strictly chronological. Instead, we will examine some of the broad themes that the Gospel uses to tell the story. Forgive me for being a little long winded here but we need to frame our journey. We begin with wondering why the Gospel was written and how it concerns us now.

Ten years ago, terrorists hijacked several civilian airliners. One was retaken by its passengers and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. One crashed into the Pentagon. Two hit the World Trade Center, resulting in the implosion of both towers.  American lives were lost in the thousands, but possibly more devastating was the loss of the illusion that we were impervious to the violence of the world (and I say illusion because as a nation we willfully repressed the memories of the thousands who have died in riots, race conflicts, and domestic terrorism in the last generation or two). The attacks of September 11, 2001 changed the way we function as a nation, and the way we treat each other. There was a brief outpouring of goodwill. But the tragedy facilitated a policy shift that bent toward paranoia and xenophobia. The Patriot Act encoded into law behavior that treated American citizens as suspects and severely curtailed civil rights in the name of “national security.” We sent our military into Afghanistan in search of the perpetrators, but soon began a separate war in Iraq using the justification of pre-emptive action. Two unfunded wars strained both our military capability and our economic resilience, not to mention our national conscience. Today’s depression has its roots reaching back these ten years. Millions of dollars have been lost in rollercoaster markets, hopes have been dashed in rampant unemployment and the outsourcing of jobs. The American Dream seems to be a lie, a myth, or a nightmare. More than the two towers came crashing down on that day ten years ago.

                What of relevance does the christen message have to contribute to this situation? Christian voices have too often been complicit in furthering fear, hatred, and misunderstanding. Church attendance and membership has been declining in North America at such rates as to cause anything but outright panic in the denominations. Historians like Phyllis Tickle tell us that we are in the midst of a great cultural transition, the likes of which is seen only every 500 years. It is no metaphor to say that we live in times when Christianity is being reinvented. The old adages of the Faith may not be up to addressing today’s questions. We need to explore new ways of being faithful and new messages of hope for our time.

                Which brings us, oddly enough, to the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark is almost 2000 years old, the first time the story of Jesus of Nazareth was written down. Those who wrote this story did so in the midst of an age which has striking similarity to ours. Israel had been in revolt against Roman Empire for a number of years. Israeli resistance fighters had beleaguered the vast Roman military machine until Rome had had enough. In the year 70 C.E. the Roman army marched into Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.

                The temple was the center of the spiritual and national identity for Israel. It was the center of religious life, the place where required sacrifices were made, and where atonement for the nation’s sins was made. Moreover, it was seen as the place where God resided, God’s home so to speak. It was seen as the embodiment of all God’s promises regarding the dynasty of David, the promises to protect and prosper the people, the promises that god would guide and protect the people forever. And Rome just walked in and tore all of that to the ground, stone by stone. The people could no longer be Jewish in the way they had always been. They would have to invent a new way of being faithful.

                In the midst of this horrific time of change, the followers of Jesus thought they had something to contribute to the conversation. Stories and memories of Jesus had been told and remembered for 40 years. Anger at Rome was unabated. The oppression of Rome was unrelenting. Poverty was pervasive. Hope was rare and lean. In the middle of this milieu, the Gospel of Mark begins with these words: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The church, the community of followers who wrote the Gospel of Mark felt that their story about Jesus of Nazareth was good news for their age.

                Knowing that Gospel of Mark was written as good news for a tumultuous time, it makes sense for us to come to it with a fresh approach. It is no understatement to say that we live in a tumultuous time ourselves. What will the story of the teaching, actions, and life of Jesus of Nazareth tell us about our world, about how God is working today, and how we can find hope and meaning for today and tomorrow? We will explore the Gospel of Mark to find ways of Reconstructing Hope.

Series Outline:

September 11 – Good News in a Broken World

                Mark 1:1-20

September 18 – The Messiah, Emissary of the Kin-dom of God

                Mark 2:18-28; 7:1-23

September 25 – What Jesus Does: Healer, Wonder-worker, Welcomer of All

                Mark chapters 2-3; 5:21-43

October 2 – Feeding Hungry People

                Mark 6:30-44; 8:1-21

October 9 – Jesus and Money

                Mark 10:17-31; 12:13-17, 38-44

October 16 – Follow Me, the Path of Jesus

                Mark 1:16-20; 2:13-17; 10:46-52

October 23 – Teaching in parables, Jesus is a Parable

                Mark 4:1-34

October 30 – In the Cross is Freedom

                mark 10:32-45

November 6 – Take Up Your Cross, the Way of New Life

                Mark 8:27-38; 15:21-41

November 13 – The Theater of Peace

                Mark 11:1-11; 12:28-34

November 20 – Resurrection: Back on the Way

                Mark 16:1-8

August 28 Thoughts

August 28 – Entanglements of Love and Life

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 4:32-37

As we talked about at worship team last week, scientists surmise that the oldest currently living organism on earth is a grove of aspen trees somewhere in Utah. Tree rings show that the oldest trunks now standing are about 130 years old. But the trunks we see are but the newest generation. These aspen trees have not grown from seeds. They are clonal shoots from an immense and almost unimaginably old system of roots. This root system has been sending up new shoots as old trees age and die, producing new generations season after season but continuing one unbroken line of life for better than 80, 000 years. Yes, eighty-thousand years. When this colony plant began its life, humans were still developing language. It grew for 60-70 millennia before we began planting seeds or harvesting crops. (Ray, you might be able to give us a better anthropological picture of who our ancestors were when this plant was young.) This colony of aspens, known as “Pando”, has survived this long because of its interwoven root system underground. Fires have raged above ground, razing the grove but again and again the roots send up new shoots. Older generations die off, but the life of the grove continues because all these trees do not exist individually. They exist together. Only in an integrated community has this aspen grove survived longer than any other living thing on earth. (I could not find a proper citation, but there are a few scientists who speculate that in the lesser explored regions there may be older groves, some possibly as old as a million years! For our purposes, 80,000 will do just fine.)

Along similar lines, but with somewhat less impressive numbers, a friend of mine encountered an example of how Christian community has survived the generations. She was touring in England when they entered an old church. Not old in aspen terms, but old in terms of human buildings, well over a 1000 years. It was obvious that this ancient building had been remodeled and rebuilt many times in its life. On one wall was a little unassuming plaque that simply said, “Christians have worshipped in this place for over 1300 years.” In that time, many kinds of Christians worshipped there, and the forms, languages, and content of that worship must certainly have varied greatly. But Christians are still worshipping there to this day. Something about the love of Christ has continued to draw people to that site, to join together still to love and sing and pray.

It was community that the first Christians were known for. For the most part they were poor, undistinguished, of low stature. There was no real reason for any society to notice this non-descript gathering of people. What got them noticed was the way they cared for each other and for the poor. This and a few other passages in the Book of Acts fly in the face of those who today want to say that the followers of Jesus were thoroughgoing capitalists. “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” They held their property and treasure in common for one purpose: “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” It was to care for the poor. As best as we can piece together, it was a community of radical equality. Female and male, poor and rich, high class and untouchable all were equals in Christ. And like the aspen trees they survived and a hostile world and flourished precisely because they did it together, in community. Singly and individually there were vulnerable and frail. Together they changed the world.

We live in a culture (and under a government) that wants to isolate us and weaken our connection with each other. We are easier to control when we are isolated. It is more difficult to dream of a new order when we have to do it alone. I believe that as much as people today long for meaning and significance we also long for real community, real connection with our own grove of life. If our time at Mingus is about anything, it is about community. We gather weekly to worship in community. It is community that makes us Christian and not just isolated spiritualists. Surely, Christians are not the only ones who gather in community but that is the name of the specific community of which we all are a part. And as shoots of that community our roots reach back 2000 years and more. Unlike the aspens, we cannot sprout genetically identical clones as the old trunks wither and die. We continue the line and we refresh and grow only as we invite new people into this community. Christian community stands in opposition to the isolation and compartmentalism of popular culture. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

Igniting Desire: When we are alone and afraid, we long for a place to truly belong.

Good News: The community of love leaves no one in need.

Subject: The entangled roots of our community give us life and a cosmic support system.

Thoughts for Sunday August 21

August 21 – Dowsing for Water

Blessed are those
      who walk hand in hand
               with goodness,

     who stand beside virtue,

     who sit in the seat of truth;

For their delight is in the Spirit of Love

     and in Love’s heart they dwell

                day and night.

They are like trees planted by

                streams of water,

      that yield their fruit in due season,

      and their leaves flourish;

And in all they do, they give life.

The unloving are not so;

      they are like dandelions which

               the wind blows away.

Turning from the Heart of Love

      they will know suffering and pain.

They will be isolated from wisdom;

      for Love knows the way of truth,

     the way of ignorance will perish

     as Love’s penetrating Light

               breaks through hearts

                                filled with illusions:

                forgiveness is the way.

Psalm 1 from “Psalms for Praying” by Nan C. Merrill

For part of our vacation, Sue and I stayed at a bed and Breakfast nestled on the banks of the San Pedro River. “River” is an ostentatious title for what we saw there. The San Pedro is more akin to what we used to call a creek. We were there in the midst of monsoon season and even then there were places you could jump across it. The San Pedro River did not appear to be a river in the sense that the Missouri or the Mississippi are rivers. By comparison, it is a muddy little fingerling.

Yet appearances are deceiving. Lining both banks of this unassuming stream are thick groves of cottonwood trees. I’m told that a mature cottonwood tree drinks over 200 gallons of water daily, maybe more on hot dry days. The profuse, lush, and abundant grove of cottonwoods lining the banks of the unassuming San Pedro River should have sucked it dry in a matter of hours. But it keeps flowing. In fact, it hosts one of the most verdant and diverse wildlife populations in the world. What is the secret of the San Pedro River? We can only see a small part of the river. Most of the San Pedro flows underground. There is no exact way of telling, but by the amount and vigor of the life it sustains, the San Pedro River we cannot see must be immense.

We took a short walk along the bank on evening. We passed two to three ancient cottonwoods. Their trunks must have been five or six feet in diameter. One was nearly ten feet across, I would guess! Thick branches octopussed out, the leaves in full green. They were impressive old sentinels, and they were no fools, these trees. They knew where to plant and to grow.

During vacation, some of you saw that I was quoted in the paper talking about SCUCC. I said that one of our hallmarks was finding God out in the midst of our culture, and not just ensconced in church on Sunday morning. I believe that about us. But there is a lot of evidence to God’s absence in the world these days: wars, poverty, hate-groups, politics of just about every stripe, pollution, and on and on. The stream of our faith and hope seems woefully inadequate. So, where are we finding God out there? And, like the San Pedro, where is the underground river that feeds us? Or if not us, where is the river of grace that is feeding the sentinel trees of faith and hope beyond our “church” boundaries?

There are people who draw inspiration from authors and thinkers like Deepak Chopra, Thich Nhat Hahn, Eckhart Toelle, and others. Where are people finding faith, and God? And what do we have to learn from them. What do we have to share with them? I know that too often much in the Christian tradition seems like stubborn trees that have tried to stay planted by streams that dried up long ago. Yet I believe that as progressive Christians, we draw on much deeper resources than fad or trend. Where will our roots find their water?

Igniting Desire: We are thirsty for deep water, for hope and meaning that will not dry up.

Good News: It is Love that feeds and waters us and allows us to bear fruit and flourish.

Subject: There is deep water available in this world, and where we live in Love we will drink of it.