Blessings and Mr. Spock

Here is my sermon from New Year’s Day based on the Aaronic Blessing from  Numbers.

“The Lord bless you and keep you;  the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;  the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”

Move One: Blessings for the Journey

We have arrived.  Where?  Well, physically you have arrived in hard wooden pews. We have arrived at the time of worship where I get your undivided attention for twelve minutes.  Spiritually, we arrived at the manager.  We have lit candles, sang about the Christ-child and welcomed him again into our homes and lives.  Yet, most of the world is celebrating that we have arrived at a new year.  2012 has arrived.  And whether or not we would like to repeat 2011 or prefer to go a bit further back in time, it’s here. 

It seems weird to me that on the beginning of a new year, at the arrival of 2012, our Old Testament reading is a benediction, a blessing, a sending that has been used for centuries in Jewish and Christian communities alike.  Why such a reading at the beginning of the year? 

A closer look will reveal that for the Israelite community, this blessing was giving at both an end and a beginning.  The Israelites has been camped at Mt. Sinai for close a year.  There they had experienced the thrill of receiving the Ten Commandments and the despair of the golden calf.  There, through Moses, God explained the role of priests and the tabernacle.  And now, after a year of “Israelite confirmation program,” they were off, off to begin the next phase of their journey to the Promised Land. 

You see, although we see this blessing as the ending of something, it is really the beginning of something else.  It is not merely the close of our worship service time, but a blessing for the journey of the next hour, day and week.  Just as it was for the Israelites who would be leaving the relative comfort of Sinai, so it is for us who are going to leave the relative comfort of a brick sanctuary for the “wilderness” that is our world.  So on second thought, perhaps this reading is the best way to begin 2012.  We leave 2011 behind, moving forward. What could God possibly have in store for God’s people this year?  If the scriptures are any indication…more than we could dare, ask, dream or imagine. 

Move Two: Getting My Nerd On

This blessing is not only given to us, as Christians on our journey, it was and still is an important part of the Jewish community.  Continuing in the great priestly tradition of Aaron, Moses’ brother, our Jewish brothers and sisters revive these words at the close of their worship as well.  And just as pastors often raise their hands to offer the blessing in our congregations, rabbis do the same…but their hands look a bit different. 

A little like this. 

I know. I know what you’re thinking.  Danielle, that isn’t from the Jews.  It is from Star Trek.  It is from a little bit of both.  Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock on Star Trek, took the Vulcan hand greeting from his days growing up as an orthodox Jew.  Nimoy shares that receiving that blessing from his rabbi as a child left quite an impression on him.  When a hand greeting was needed on Star Trek he knew just want to do. 

So why?  Why does this blessing come with such spock-like greeting? 

The Jewish community is known for what is called Midrash.  It is a form of interpretation and explanation that allows the scriptures to shape each other and for filling in gaps.  In the Song of Songs, it talks about the lover, God, looking upon his love through a lattice.  And so the blessing was mediate in the way.  As if the lover behind a lattice was speaking it through a small space in the fence to his lover. 

It is a beautiful image, but one that begs a bigger question.  Why through something? Cannot God just come to us? 

Move Three: Christmas Morning

The Israelites wondered the same thing.  In fact, in Deuteronomy, which is the book just following our reading this morning, they are as bold to ask, “Can’t you just come to us? Do we need a priest in the middle?” 

In the echo of the Israelites question and our own human wondering about God’s willingness to come, we have Christmas.  The in-breaking of God, the coming of the Christ child.  The answer to the question. 

Can’t you just come to us? 

Yes! 

And it changes everything.  I can’t help but think that it is why the shepherds went with haste to the manger.  Before they would need to go to priest or the temple to encounter, to receive God.  Could it be true that they could see God for themselves?  See the face of God not through a small hole in a latticed fence but full-on, radiant and with their very own eyes.   In fact, Luke makes a point to note that they went from the manager praising God for what they had seen—with their own eyes.  

Think about that for a moment.  God—the creator, sustainer and redeemer of the planet—has come to you.  God is not far off, kept at bay by a fence or mediate through a human, God comes to you, into our mess, God is our Emmanuel, God with us. 

Why does this matter?

Because we are not a people of faith who serve a distant, disengaged

God.  We are not a people of faith who serve a God that only loves some and remains distance from other.  No.  We serve a God who uses humankind to share blessing, but God’s spirit is alive and on the move in each kind word spoke, each hopeful promise, each act of justice.  

Can’t you come to us?

“I have,” answers the voice from the manager.  “I am here.” 

Move Four: I Verb You

So what does our ever-present, real and near God blesses us with? 

The Lord bless you and keep you…To bless testifies to the work of God.  It signifies a divine gift.  To keep is specific blessing given to those with concerns for safety, focusing on God’s sheltering people from evil and its effects.  As the Israelites were entering a new season of wilderness wandering, the words “keep you” where likely more needed than ever. 

Can you hear the Christ child whisper, “My dear one, to whom I’m so close, I will bless you, I will keep you”?

Or perhaps you are hearing the Christ child whisper, “I will make my face shine upon you and be gracious to you?” 

God’s shining face stands in stark contrast to the hidden face of God that many of the Israelites, and us, have felt throughout our journey.   One commentator added,  “You get to see God's face glowing, not glaring! This is a gracious move on God's part to those who are undeserving. Moreover, the whole world is brought into view to experience the effects of God's shining face.  In today's idiom, we might say: God smiles on you.” 

The Christ child whispers once more, “the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” 

This is perhaps the hardest to believe and yet the most precious part of the blessing.  In a violent world, peace seems a utopian wish.  Yet, the Lord offers it again to us each day.  The Lord gives peace, shalom, that hopes that all creation will be at rest in God, one another and with ourselves.  This peace is not man-made but passes all human understanding.

People of God, welcome to the end of one journey and the beginning of another.  As you journey through 2012, may you know deep in your being that the Christ child has come.  May the Christ child do more than sit on a shelf in a nativity scene, may the you allow the Christ child to animate your daily life, the Spirit of God to infuse your words and fill your actions with love and justice.  As you leave the safety of this brick building, may you be buoyed by the blessing of God and enter the wilderness of our world with boldness and fearlessness.  And may you remember, that God is not fenced into merely peering through a lattice at his loves, but right here, in our midst. 

“The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace.”  Amen.  

Not My Smartest Moment

On Monday night I returned from my adventures in Ohio and Richmond only to hear a loud beeping in my apartment.  The worst part? I have vaulted ceilings.  The smoke detector was going off and there was no way that I was going to be able to reach the detector with my little step ladder. 

And so at 10:30pm I had to make a plea.  Cameron to the rescue.  Cam brought his ladder up the four flights of stairs to my apartment.  Climbs and begins to look at the smoke detector.  He quickly discovers that it is the kind of detector that doesn’t use batteries and wasn’t what was beeping. 

I turned my head and realized that it was not my smoke detector but the carbon monoxide detector.  And guess what? That is at eye level.  Oops.  

And the Girls Keep Coming

I have another niece!  The total is up to three. I can't wait to see what kind of trouble Eloise, Claire and Mae will get into when they are older.  

Marielle "Mae" Goldie was born on January 3rd at 10:02 am. She weighed 7lbs 12.5oz and measured 20.5" long.  Goldie is my grandma's name and she would be so happy to know it is being shared with another family member.   She used to beg us to name our goldfish after her because sh didn't think anyone would use that name in the future--I know she would be so elated! 

Claire and Serbian Christmas

Claire & Serbian Christmas

Working for the church doesn’t afford many visits with my family during major holiday seasons.  2012 has started off a bit different.  I was able to drive to Ohio for the first week of January snuggling with my absolutely adorable niece Claire.  And the added bonus was getting to celebrate Serbian Christmas with my family.

  

And I don’t want to sound prideful but I am a baby whispherer!  Claire was fabulous with me, and ate, slept and smiled.

In addition to the heaps of time with Claire, our family got together for Serbian Christmas.  I love Serbian Christmas because it reminds me to keep celebrating Christmas for the whole twelve days.   Serbian Christmas always includes Cesnica.  It was named after an old Serbian word – čest, which means a part, because Christmas ritual includes the breaking of česnica. Cesnica is not cut with a knife, but the head of the house breaks it by hand and gives each member a piece. One family member who receives a piece with a coin, according to traditional belief, will have luck in the coming year. Česnica is eaten as bread with a Christmas meal and served on the table. I was able to make the Cesnica this year.  Yes, I know it is really tall but that is what happens when you make it in the a crockpot stone.   As I said to my family, roll with it!  



Momma and Matt



Daddy and Erin 

Me, Claire and Amy 

Over a Decade

I have known Jen for over a decade.   This past weekend we relived a lot of those memories cleaning out the “purple” room (aptly named for its bright purple paint color).  Many laughs, some with tears, were had over letters written to one another during our summers at camp and diary entries that included, “I’m in love with Zach Morris”.   Oh and we found an old Christmas list from Jen in which she included the all important items of “a neckless and orange juice.’ 

After four full trash cans and a van load of donations to Goodwill, the room is ready.  For what?  Twins!  That’s right.  My bestie is now, as we say, making humans—two of them!   I can’t wait to welcome them into the world and tell them tons of stories.  That is why we have decades of memories together, right? To embarrass you to your kids! 

Jen, You are the best and will make an amazing mother.  Can’t wait to meet your munchkins!  Here’s a prayer to keep you going as your make your two humans! Love ya.

Mother of Twins Prayer

There’s two to wash,
There’s two to dry;
There’s two who argue,
There’s two who cry.
One’s in the mud,
Having a ball;
The other holds a crayon…
Another marked wall.
Some days seem endless,
My patience grows thin.
Why did God choose me
To be a mother of twins?
The answer comes clear-
At the end of the day,
As I tuck them in bed
And to myself I say…
There’s two to kiss,
There’s two to hug;
And best of all,
Thank You, God, for two to love.

Delighting in the Little Things

I have been traveling so much lately that even my little gypsy spirit is longing for a sense of home.  In seasons like this in my life I try to remember that God brings delight in little things.  Lately for me, I have been taking great delight in flowers.  I get up and work out at 5:45am most Fridays and often do my grocery shopping at 7:00am after the gym.  Most Fridays at that time, they are clearing out their week stash of flowers making their displays ready for the weekends.  And guess what my local grocery store does with them?  Give them away!  I love it.  They almost always give me a thing of flowers with my purchases and I have come to love and look forward these bright additions to my Friday mornings.

Some of my recent flowers:

And I love that I get to use my vase.   I made this vase with two of my favorite young kids at paint your own pottery.  We surrounded it with the word love around the top and each of us made a flower with our thumbprints. 

 Love it! 

Open Eyes

I have been a bit negligent in posting my sermons from this summer! Sorry ;) Here is one for our sermon series at CTK. We are reading through the book of Nehemiah—that is in the Old Testament.  We are looking at the ways that Nehemiah lived open, allowing God to use him in mighty ways in the midst of risk to change a community. 

This sermon looks at Nehemiah 1&2 in which he is called to be apart of the restoration of Jerusalem.  The sermon is entitled “Open Eyes”

When I was a little girl I wanted glasses so badly.  I used to lie to the eye doctor. I would like to my teachers and say I couldn’t see the board so they would write a note to my parents encouraging them to take me to the doctors.  When I was in college, I even purchased fake glasses so that I would look smarter in class.  Each time I was given the same reply, you can see absolutely fine.  There is no need for glasses.  Several years later, my vision had worsened slightly and I now need glasses to see a far distance and for driving at night.  I joyfully picked out the long awaited pair knowing that I was finally going to see clearly—and look intelligent and trendy while doing it! 

Despite my obsession in my younger, and not so younger days, with physical sight and glasses, I know understand a much deeper reality to sight.  Many of us walk around each day seeing things.  We walk around aware that we are surrounded by trees and houses.  Some of us see colleagues daily, other see our kids as we drive them to and fro, others of us see never ending to-do lists—but how many of us see more than just the surface?  How often do you walk around a notice more than just the fact that a tree is there but see the deep ecology of our natural world and the overwhelming handiwork of God?  How often do look and see a people—not stories or children of God or potential—but people in our way, making us uncomfortable, challenging our way of life.  How often do we see only us and our scarcity instead of we and the abundance of God? The human answer is: Far too often. 

Far too often our eyes are seeing only the surface—and people of God—today and every day, God is calling us to look at the world with God’s eyes.  To see more than just people, trees and us and instead see God’s creative and redeeming work in the world. 

Throughout the next four weeks, as a congregation, we will be reading through the book of Nehemiah together.  Yes, it is a departure from our usual use of a lesson from each part of scripture.  Yet, Nehemiah only comes around once in our cycle of lessons and when it does, only one chapter is used.  Nehemiah holds such rich instruction for our life in community, especially our giving life.  Today, we explore how Nehemiah saw—and saw more than just his physical reality but saw God’s vision for him and his people. 

The book of Nehemiah is one that recalls the time of the Jewish people towards the end of exile.  For a variety of reasons, namely their own pride and hard heartedness, God allowed the Jewish people to be conquered by a foreign enemy and to be scattered.  They were sent far from their homeland, their buildings and temple were destroyed.  The very fabric of their life was torn apart, their earthly well-being now in the hands of bigger, bitter enemy.  Many of the Jewish people were taken and made slaves.  Nehemiah is no different. He has been separated from his people and made cup bearer to the king in the Persian province of Susa.  While serving in this role, he was visited by several men including Hananai.  Nehemiah asked about the state of Jerusalem.  The report was not good.  Things were laid bare, destroyed, beyond redemption.  Now Nehemiah hears this report with open ears and begins to see the situation with his spiritual eyes.   And he is better than most of us.  When we ask how things are going with people, we are often polite enough to listen to the answer, but not engaged enough to be bothered with it.  We nod, “sure, yes, I see.”  But do we allow the answers to such questions dwell deeper?  Do we only engage the world on the surface? 

If we are surface dwellers, our story would diverge from Nehemiah after a mere three verses.  If we are surface dwellers and see-ers, we would have quickly moved onto another topic that would make us more comfortable.  If we are surface dwellers, we would have turned off the difficult story on the news opting for a sitcom that makes us laugh and allows us to escape the harshness of deeply seeing. 

Yet, Nehemiah wasn’t a surface dweller.  He hears the report from Hanani and instead of embracing the easy of surface dwelling, he allows the news of what is happening in Jerusalem to dwell deeply.  And he takes it to God in prayer. 

Nehemiah is reminded in pray of God’s word to bring the Jewish people back together.  At this point, God’s spirit is working to open eyes and give him a vision for what is next. 

And that is what spiritual sight, deep seeing does…it gives us a vision that we can put into action.  For Nehemiah, we learn that the vision God gives him is to rebuild the city.  If we are honest, this moving to action part is why many of us don’t want to open our eyes to God in world—because God might just call us to do something.  We don’t want to hear about another teen bullied in the schools because we might just have to get involved with the bully.  We don’t want to hear about the most severe drought ever in the Horn of Africa that is leading to 3,000 people becoming refugees a day, because we might then have to examine our own family food intake and realize that we are hording.  We might just feel called to give up one dinner out a month and instead opt for leftovers so a donation can be made to ELCA disaster relief.  We don’t want to hear about our elderly population being abused because it might just move us to make space in our homes or busy schedules to care for our elderly. 

The reality is that if we are seeing the world with God’s eyes, it will be quickly followed by a vision and a call to action.  And our human nature is to trade the possible transformation for the comfort of being surface dwellers. 

Spoiler alert.  If we aren’t like Nehemiah and willing to see deeply, recognize need and allow God’s spirit to give us vision and action for a need, we will never see walls rebuilt, a city restore or people renewed as it was with Nehemiah. 

For our conversation about giving this fall, we chose the theme open.  It was deliberate because far too often we choose to close our eyes, our hands, our hearts and our wallets.  Closed living is comfortable. It requires no risk nor vision.  We don’t need to see deeply because we feel no need to be part of something more than the status quo.  Yet, when we are living open.  When we declare to God that we want to see more deeply, we are proclaiming to the world that despite the risk or the energy required, we want to be part of something greater than ourselves. 

And this is what Nehemiah does—he takes a risk—a big one that involved asking the king for protection and later for supplies because he knows that to be apart of what God is doing is what makes for a great life.  A great life is not marked by how cleanly and neatly we have protected ourselves but marked by how deeply we see the world around us, how clearly we see the spark of God in each person, how faithfully we live our God’s vision.

So where are you this morning? 

Are you sitting here thinking, “Yep. She nailed it. I have my eyes closed to the world around me, to where God could be working.”  Are you a surface dweller?  If you are in this category, you must ask God to move you.  Ask God to open your eyes.  Ask God to place you in situations that you can’t ignore the depth beyond.  But be prepared. If this becomes your prayer, God will move your heart towards something beyond yourself…yet, know as your are bold, you are not alone. 

Maybe you want to move beyond surface dwelling but have not had a Hanani moment, a moment where you have encountered someone or a message that has broken your heart like the news of Jerusalem has Nehemiah.  If this is you, make it your goal to be fully present this week.  When people share with you listen to them and engage their response.  Pray with the newspaper nearby.  Allow the stories to not merely be commentaries on the terrible condition of our world but ready each story asking God, “Where might your possibility take flight?” 

For those of you with concerns deep in your heart, don’t be afraid to begin the steps to realize the vision.  Talk to people of influence that can support you.  Inspect what needs to be done as Nehemiah did with the wall.  And continually be in conversation with God and reminded that it is not your vision but God’s.

And if you are currently living our God’s vision in an area of the world, keep at it.  God takes great delight in your faithfulness. 

So let us be a community that sees, a community that explores beyond the surface and allows the creative and redeeming work of God to work in such a way that all the world is touched by the rare, relentless love of God.   And people of God, let me tell you.  You don’t need to wait 28 years for glasses to see deeply.  God will give you all the vision you need.