LUKE 21:25-38

Laterally Luke…Advent 1…Revised 2018

Welcome to the ‘Year of Luke’! Celebrate Advent by worshipping & preaching a Jesus who lives in the present! Not in past glories; God’s, nor anyone else’s. Not even in any apocalyptic future Jesus discerns coming on the heels of His life here on earth. In the Gospels God is always opening us up to new possibilities in this world; not putting them off till the next! Live & preach in God’s ‘Now’ time; always ours, &, at the same time, always God’s. 

Today’s world is more & more scary for more & more people. That doesn’t mean ‘the end’ is coming, though it does raise the question Jesus is raising here; that any ‘end’ may well be of our own making. Jesus, though, has come, is always ‘come’ by His Spirit, & will one day come again. Maybe as unexpectedly & unrecognisably as in His first coming among us? Let’s live, &, if it’s time, die with our spiritual eyes open.

My wife & I have a large fig tree, product of a bird dropping a seed long ago. For 15 years it produced not one piece of fruit! Then, one Summer a crop of figs appears. Aha! But those figs are dry as chips; inedible! Even the birds won’t touch them! 5 years ago, a smaller second crop appears in Autumn. Among them a few edible figs; the pattern, we expect, for the foreseeable future. How far, though, is ‘foreseeable’? 

Neither the Scriptures, nor the Faith revealed in them, guarantee God will rescue us in the foreseeable future from small dilemmas, or the real trials & tribulations many are grappling with. The Scriptures though, if we read with open & discerning hearts & minds, do re-assure us of God’s presence with us & in us throughout whatever we’re suffering. Preaching a Son of Humanity coming on the clouds will be, like us expecting a huge crop of edible figs next Summer, escapism. Pray, hard, ‘Save us from the time of trial, &, deliver us from evil’, but be prepared for that saving & deliverance coming in surprising ways! As we don’t write off our fig tree!

Brian

Afterthought: Jesus, now by His Spirit in us, always reads ‘the signs of the times’, the state of our humanity, in us & what we get up to. Was there ever a possibility so un-expected as Christ’s kind of Messiah-ship? How many, though, ‘read’ that in His life, His death, & Resurrection? How are we ‘reading’ that now, in our own day?

Luke 24: 36b - 48

Laterally Luke…Easter 3…Revised 2018  

The Easter story continues & widens as Cleopas & his companion, who’d met up with the raised Jesus on the way to Emmaus, now meet up with the eleven & compare notes. Jesus’ appearance among the disciples, though, produces not joy, but fear & terror! (Fear & Terror were once weapons of choice for some churches. Are some of us still trading on that now? Hopefully, not!) How does our Easter Journey continue & progress? Or is it still, ‘same old, same old’? Do we compare our own Easter notes in Bible Studies, or Home groups? Are we making progress? As far as was reached at Emmaus? Or is it still, ‘same old…’? Are we celebrating Easter-every-day-Joy in our on-going lives, or are we like the eleven in that upper room, still doubt-full? Afraid, even? Of what? Of whom?

Misinterpretations of the Scriptures can be fostered & foisted upon others by people still locked behind their own fears of losing control over their followers. Or even, over ‘God’?

Do we know the feeling? On which side of the locked door(s) are we, or those to whom we preach, standing?

Opening people’s minds to the Scripture is no easy task. So  many pre-conceptions, mis-conceptions, & failure to conceive . (Conceiving is the most creative of all activities, isn’t it?) Are we conceiving & bringing to birth the truths of Faith & Scripture? The early church learns to re-read the Hebrew Scriptures in the Light of Jesus & His Resurrection. As today’s disciples we need to learn to ‘join all the Jesus dots’. Make connections between what’s been passed down from before, in both the H.B. & our Christian N.T., & the dots with your name on them, & mine. Let’s keep the Scriptures open & life-giving by reading & re-reading them respectfully, positively, & in the light of increasing knowledge in so many fields. Faith-communities only shape up as we share our stories & move on with the ‘old, old, story’ & into today’s stories. In the faith & hope & love that free us from behind locked doors. Re-living someone else’s yesterday’s stories, won’t raise us from today’s deadnesses!

I’m taken by some words of Richard Rohr¹, when he says, ‘For all time he (Jesus) becomes our sign, our promise, our guarantee, our fulfillment. It’s all summed up in Jesus: He’s the beginning, the middle, and the end. For us, he is everything. He is the Word of the Father. He is what God can accomplish in humanity when we say yes to God.’

Saying “Yes” to God may cost us, as it costs Jesus; even if not so drastically. But God is still self-giving as He is in Jesus, & by Holy Spirit frees us to be self-giving, too. Resurrected to walk the Jesus Way wherever that leads us now.     

¹ The Good News According to Luke, Crossroad, NY, 1997, pp.189-190

LK 2: 22-40

Laterally Luke…Christmas 1…Revised 2017

Take Simon - ‘righteous, devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, Holy Spirit being upon him’ - together with Anna - ‘prophetess, not departing from the temple, worshipping, fasting, & praying night & day’; what a formidable combination they make! Would that every congregation had combinations like Simon & Anna!

Whatever else we explore in the readings at this time of year, a main thrust in them is that God consistently works from the ground up, not from the top down. There is no trickle down effect in the way God’s Kingdom, God’s Rule works. God chooses & works with people who have little or no standing in the public eye. People like Zechariah & Elisabeth, Mary & Joseph, foreign astrologers, today’s Simon & Anna, a scruffy-looking & way-out, in more than one sense, Baptiser. Even you & I qualify if we’re more tuned into God than into ourselves.

Today’s church is mostly adrift as much as society in general. Rapid social change - the fastest since evolution began - has left many looking for, even longing for leadership to ‘trickle down’ from where someone has been elected to, or seized power. The lesson from Scripture is that meaningful change the way God sees it happens from the bottom up; as faithful people are called, & respond, to God & God’s way of looking at & doing things! (Church leaders are no more able to put things to rights by pontificating from the top than politicians - of any stripe - are!)

God works through people like Simon & Anna, to stick to those two now, out in the margins of life. People who are called to think & act laterally as God calls us into His confidence to be ‘righteous, devout, looking for the consolation of Israel (& a new Israel), Holy Spirit being upon us’ & ‘prophesying (in the best biblical sense of that word), not departing from the temple, worshipping, fasting, & praying night & day’. 

That’s the only way the world can be put to rights, & it will happen in God’s time & space, not ours. There are no short cuts. And there are likely to be more crowns of thorns in the short term, than golden ones. More crosses than thrones. But do it, do things, God’s way & praise & peace win out as God’s time frame kicks in!    

LUKE 1: 26-38

Laterally Luke…Adv.4 (Christmas Eve)…Revised 2017

If we happened to find an ancient parchment with just this passage on it, might we wonder what kind of God it is who sends an angel, an archangel at that, with such a message to a young woman? ‘Disruptive’ comes to mind. But that’s a healthy corrective to the common view of a ‘comfortable & comforting’ God. A question like, ‘How does the God we believe in compare with Mary’s God?’ might open up some possibilities. Do we see ourself, like Mary, as the servant (slave!) of God, willing to be disrupted in the outworking of God’s plan, or not?

Mary doesn’t appear to be at all disturbed by Gabriel’s appearance on the scene; only at the message he delivers! I have a strong belief in ‘angels & archangels & all the company of heaven’. Maybe because, so far, my contact has mainly been protective & guiding rather than disturbing as Mary is disturbed. The word LK uses is a strong one implying a ‘stirring up’, as in, ‘stirring the waters’; of the possibility of a new creation emerging?

The late Peter Gomes, once Preacher to Harvard University, says ‘Mary joins the the line of unwilling & troublesome prophets for whom God’s call is an unsolicited interruption of the routine…..Why me? Why now? Why Mary?’.¹ We don’t usually think of Mary as a prophet, do we? What is a prophet? One answer may be, ‘One called to speak God’s word into being’ or words to that effect. Mary becomes a unique prophet by being called not to speak God’s word into being but give birth to God’s Word made flesh! In what way are we being called to make God’s Word a reality? Why me? Why now? Am I / are we open enough to God’s call to become even a ‘small p’ prophet in whatever situation we’re called into?

Once we discern God’s will, &, preferably, having checked that out with godly persons, the putting of it into action depends, with God’s help, on us. God stood by the Prophets, though things didn’t always happen the way they thought they would or should. Why would God now desert those of us called to the ‘small p’ kind of ministry? Have faith that God is still as real & as close as Mary discovers God to be when she makes her amazingly faith-full ‘acceptance speech’ & proves she is God’s ‘slave’; dependent upon God’s grace, as she carries out the unique role she has been given in human history.

To end on another thought from Peter Gomes on this passage, ‘God chooses for reasons known only to Him….When God chooses you, you are chosen.’ The only response fit for any of us to make is Mary’s, “ I’m God’s slave; may all this come true!’ On which note Gabriel’s done his job, & departs the scene. Do we have any doubt, though, that he’s always there in the wings?!   

¹ Sermons, Harper SF, 1998, p.11 

LK 24: 13-35

(Laterally Luke…Easter 3…2017

(for MT 28:8-15a see: matthewinthemargins.blogspot.com.au)

The Road to Emmaus account is one of the most popular in the NT. But you & I can’t stay walking that same road & expect to meet the raised Jesus there. He’s long gone past. Today it’s a matter of meeting Him somewhere along our own ‘roads’. ‘Journeying’ has long been a religious theme. However, to make our journey come alive - that’s what Resurrection’s about, surely - we need to make it in our own space & time. Open to meeting up with the raised Jesus Christ in & among all kinds of people. Let’s try it like this:

A couple of Christians are driving to a little place called Emmaus, a few kilometres from wherever their Jerusalem happens to be. Talking about their faith & what’s happened to Jesus. But it’s hard to hear each other above the radio blaring! Up ahead, they spot a hitch-hiker. ‘Will we pick this guy up?’ they wonder. They decide to pick this chap up. After they’ve been driving a few minutes, the stranger says, “I’ve been looking at your faces in the rear mirror. You both look so down in the mouth. Is something wrong?” Cleo, the one whose car they’re in, says, “Louder. I can’t hear you!” “I asked why you two are looking so grim!” Cleo’s mate chimes in, “ Aren’t you from around here? Don’t you know what’s been going on these last few days?” “Do you mean about Trump, & Trumbull? About France, & North Korea & Syria?” their passenger asks. “No, we mean about our friend Jesus, the Prophet, & how our church leaders & politicians got together to get rid of Him!” “They killed Him not far from this very spot. But now, His body seems to have disappeared according to friends.” The stranger says loudly, above a Coke ad,  “Turn that thing off, while I tell you what really happened, & why it had to happen.” By now they’re on the outskirts of their Emmaus, & Cleo & his mate spot a burger bar. They say to the stranger, “We’ll pull over here & have a burger. On us, of course! Tell us about it inside”. So they all get out & go in, & Cleo orders burgers & beers. They’re all pretty quiet while they're waiting, When their burgers & beer come, & Cleo & his mate are just about to bite into theirs, the stranger says grace, takes the top off his bun, breaks it, gives them each half of it, & promptly disappears Cleo & his mate look at each other, dumbfounded! How is it they hadn’t recognised Who This Was as He’s ridden with them! They race out to the car; hop in; hop out again, & go back & grab their burgers & beers they’d left.They hop back in again, & burn off back to their Jerusalem. Slam the brakes on outside the house where they’re sure the rest of their mob’s gathered! Knock & knock till someone peeps out, sees they’re friends, unbolts the door, & let’s them in. They’re still blurting out their story when Jesus Himself comes among them. Even when Jesus greets them with His Peace, they’re pretty uneasy, & scared…..

Where to from here? Depends on our own Jerusalems & Emmauses! Where we’re coming from & going to in life. But how about exploring all that like this? Discover for ourselves how & when & wherever the Raised Christ will bless us with Peace & Faith, & all the other gifts He has in store for us.

LUKE 2:15-21

Laterally Luke…Naming & Circumcision of Jesus…New Posting for 2017

(for The Epiphany see MT2:1-12 @ matthewinthemargins.blogspot.com)

The opening sentences of Ch.2 leave unresolved questions concerning the census, as does the report of the birth of Jesus. The caravanserai is overcrowded & has no proper space for Mary & Joseph, let alone the new child. So Jesus is born out in life’s margins, out with travellers’ animals; bound in cloths, & placed in a manger. Angels (of some form) visit shepherds out doing what shepherds do. These are people as low on the rungs of life as you could get in that society. Jesus begins life as He goes on to continue, among outcasts! All of this is territory beloved of Christmas pageants & cribs; most usually far removed from reality. 

A good starting point for today might be: ‘Who are the ‘everyone’ the shepherds tell about their experiences? The context leaves open the possibility they tell those out & about round the inn. Start with those nearest you. Then they return home & tell others further afield. Other shepherds in all likelihood. Respectable people didn’t mix with shepherds! Though God’s not above doing so!  Who do we tell,  close at hand, or further afield - about our experiences of God? Ours don’t need to be as unique or way-out as those of the shepherds. As long as they’re real!

Themes worth picking up on & developing are: a) people being astonished by what the shepherds tell them; b) Mary taking all this in & pondering it deeply; c) shepherds going back to their flocks glorifying & praising God for what they’ve been privileged to share. There’s a sermon in each of these, & we may be able to reflect at least something of this in our approach to Christ’s Naming & Circumcision. 

Such as: How long is it since anything concerning God or Christ astonished us? Really astonished us? Or, when did we last astonish anyone by the way we’ve presented Christ to them? Does the Church astonish people these days (other than for the wrong reasons)?! Do we often enough ponder deeply the things of God? As Orthodox Christians & others gaze deeply into icons & beyond them to the truth they seek to reveal, perhaps it’s time for us to gaze deeply into the things of God rather than just reading about them, or talking about them? They’re not surface stuff! Do we go about our daily work, whatever it is, if we’re fortunate enough to have any, glorifying & praising God? Or is that best left to religious enthusiasts & cranks? Maybe there’s a way of glorifying & praising that’s more seriously religious & enthusiastic, & less cranky? A contrast to today’s self-glorification & praising! 

Everything in this whole passage is in accordance with God’s eternal promises to His people via the Scriptures. Sometimes, too, God will make or fulfil promises outside the accepted ways we interpret them. The Christ child isn’t just suddenly ‘dropped on us’; His coming has been part of God’s plan for us from the beginning (as John the Evangelist tells us in his great Prologue). As an integral part of this plan, Our Lord’s Circumcision & Naming take place in accordance with the dream Joseph has [MT1:21]. His Circumcision implants Jesus firmly within God’s Covenant, & His Naming plants Him firmly within Joseph’s family line & its connection with messiahship. 

These solemnities mark & celebrate that in accordance with God’s will Jesus has come among us as our Saviour. One who saves us from our sins by restoring us to that state of grace which has always been God’s will for us. We may be slow learners, but being astonished by all this, ponder-ing it all deeply, & glorifying & praising God as a natural part of life will surely help us catch up! 

WELCOME TO 'LATERALLY LUKE' 

  TO THE PREACHER:

If you’ve visited either 'matthewinthemargins' or 'marginallymark', you may have read this Introduction already. I use it again here for those who haven't visited either site & wonder about its aim. 

Gathered in 'church', most congregations look surprisingly like pages of Scripture. All set in lines, row upon row. Here a stop. there a comma, an exclamation! a question or two?? But a congregation's life is lived mainly outside these rows of pews & aisles. As Scripture itself arises more from that outside life than from what goes on inside synagogue or church. It's heart stuff, Spirit stuff, before it's head stuff, in-house stuff!

LLK is an attempt to help preacher, congregation, & the text of LK as read week by week, to better ‘connect’ during 'Year C' of the Revised Common Lectionary. It aims to encourage us to find new 'entry points', to break out from blind spots & strait-jackets we’ve fallen into in our preaching. Maybe to give us an idea to start with, when we could not, for the life of us, see how to 'break into' the passage, break it open.

Good preaching operates out there in the margins of life where scripture still happens. Rabbi Lionel Blue once described Jewish Midrash imaginatively as 'scribbling & doodling in the margins'. Preaching needs to scribble & doodle too, enlivening the relationship between text & readers. In his 'Day Trips To Eternity' [DLT, '87] & other writings, Rabbi Blue gives some stimulating & insightful examples of such goings on. On another wavelength, but in kitchen imagery this time, Beth Yahp [Weekend Australian 30.8.97, p.12] writes: ‘I am always looking inside & under pots, pans, cupboards, anecdotes, stories; listening for what lies beneath their skins. I am always hungry.’

LLK encourages us to look hungrily inside & under the skin of the Gospel as we engage with it in the Eucharist. So we can move in & out of the text creatively & relate to it out there in our laterals, in life’s margins. Out from presuppositions that bind us, & on to new, more imaginative trains of thought; to 'fly a kite' with, develop, or even ‘cook’ with for the hungry! So we & LK &, best of all, YHWH God can come alive to each other.

LLK assumes the serious preacher will do the hard-yards of theological homework. Dare I suggest we oughtn't know what our sermon thrust will be till we've done a lot of poking around in the margins of text & life. Scripture is intuitive before it's logical. Matthew Fox says somewhere, 'faith is the creative use of the imagination', so, go for it. And, as we all ‘go for it’ let’s all pray God's Spirit will stimulate & foster all our faith imaginings to create a newly unfolding chapter of the Old, Old Story.

P.S. I tend to work from The Complete Gospels [ed. Robert J.Miller, Polebridge, '94] compared with NRSV, NJB, & other versions & commentaries to hand. But in the end, we all have to become our own version & our own commentary!

Brian McGowan,  ‘Retired’ Anglican Priest, Falcon, Western Australia  Revised 2018 

Email: tirnanog1@iinet.net.au)