Luke 24:36-48 "The Clean Plate Club" (4-26-09)

These disciples were hungry on that first Easter. The passage from Luke shows that fish was on their menu but I don’t think they cleaned off their plates. They were not a part of the clean plate club. I was a part of the clean plate club! I grew up always finishing what was on my plate but back then we just didn’t have much on our plates in the first place so it wasn’t a problem. There were no “seconds” because we didn’t have tons of first. The helpings were smaller. Today, the helpings at restaurants are hug. The Current fast-food servings are two to five times larger than in the 1950s. In 2007, Americans spent half yearly food budget eating out. In 1978, less than 20% of the calories we consumed were eaten outside the home. In 2003, that number had climbed to 50%.[1] When McDonald’s first opened, a soda was 7 ounces; now the child size is 12 ounces, a small is 16 ounces, and the large 32 ounces and French Fries were 2.4 ounces and now 6.2 ounces. Last year Wendy's dropped the Biggie sodas and Great Biggie french fries. They went back to small, medium, and large. What were medium fries is now a small; the Biggie became a medium, and the Great Biggie became a large. The Biggie soda no longer exists but now a large drink is now 42 ounces, 10 ounces larger than the year before when it was the Biggie.[2]

We do have a natural way of saying that we are full. That’s when you know you are not hungry and need be leery of forcing food down just to finish what is on the plate. But the reality is, we come before God very hungry! There is so much that we consume that doesn’t fill us up! Today, the disciples remind us that we should eat less fast food and perhaps eat more fish.

What was on that plate the actual first Easter dinner? What did you have on Easter (Ask for responses)? Some of you had traditional Easter ham! That is what we had at my in-laws. However, this year we had fish for lunch on Easter for the first time. We tried to return to the actual and most traditional Easter meal, FISH! You might think ham or a leg of lamb is the traditional Easter meal. But I would like to suggest that we renew the traditional meal for Easter dinner and have fish next year. We had Salmon this year. The disciples had fish. Most of the disciples were fisherman when Jesus called them. They grew up around the Sea of Galilee and made their living fishing. These guys probably smelled like fish most of their lives until they started following Jesus. The miracle of feeding five thousand with fish and loaves of bread is a reminder of the unbelievable new life that Christ was bringing these fishermen.

The first Easter Meal was broiled fish to be exact. The disciples were called by Jesus and told that they would fish for people. The fish became the prominent symbol of the Christian faith for the next three hundred years. The fish was the primary symbol for the Christian faith until the cross was banned by the Romans as a form of execution in the third century. Bishops had fishes engraved on their seals and carved into gravestones and tiles the floor. It adorned fonts in the early church. During those first three hundred years, Christians were persecuted. Some suggest that a person could mark an arch with their foot in the dirt to find out if the other person they were talking to was a Christian. The other could then make an arch as well and make the shape of a fish.

The fish can be seen on the back of cars, though I don’t have one so people don’t view my driving as a sign of my faith. I use the fish symbol on my email signature with the greater than, less than, greater than characters ><>.

Last winter I led a funeral for a good friend of mine’s brother-in-law who died of a sudden heart attack. Jim was in his late 50’s and I knew him since the 1980’s whenever I would see Julius or be at family party for one of his kids. I was asked to do the funeral which was held at a funeral home on Central Avenue and Addison Avenue in Chicago. When I arrived at the funeral home that night in Chicago I entered the area where the service was going to be and discovered something to my surprise. There was a huge fish mounted over the casket. It wasn’t a cross or another main religious symbol, but a large northern pike. You have to understand that Jim was a fisherman! I wasn’t sure how I was going to tie this in until it hit me that we are called to be fishers of people and the use of the fish in the early church as a prominent symbol before the cross was used to represent Christianity. They brought a fish into the funeral home and also grief and sorrow.

The fish had already been cleaned, broiled and eaten. The disciples had already eaten! The fish has already been cooked and it is just sitting there. They probably had lamb for dinner on the Passover on Thursday and now they are eating some broiled fish for Sunday dinner. It was Sunday evening and they were uncertain about what to do. The disciples had heard that Jesus had risen but still were disbelieving. They had shared a fish meal and were discussing the new about Jesus appearing to two men on the road to Emmaus. They were discussing this among themselves.

There was so much on their plates, including perhaps guilt, fear, doubt and grief. Their heads were spinning like plates on the end of the stick when his crucifixion came crashing down! Then Jesus appeared! Was it a ghost? They were frightened and feeling doubt about who this was and what this was that was before them.

Then Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” He just mysteriously appeared to them through the door. They were startled and terrified. They thought Jesus was a ghost. They all were doubting and not just Thomas in Luke’s gospel. Then Jesus said, “Why are you frightened, & have doubts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones.”

Then Jesus said, “Have you anything here to eat?” I don’t think he was really hungry as he hadn’t eaten since Thursday. I don’t think he was just dying for fish. It wasn’t that he was physically hungry but he wanted to prove something to them. So they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. I’d like to suggest that Jesus started the clean plate club. When Jesus ate the fish, it demonstrated that this was no ghost or a spiritual form because ghosts or spirit didn’t eat anything. Jesus was alive and the resurrected body ate in some manner. This was a sign that Jesus in this spiritual body was alive.

When the disciples gave Jesus a piece of fish on a plate, I think they also brought their doubt, sin, fears, grief and struggles as well. We all bring so much to this plate and to this table and at the end of this meal, we see that Jesus has consumed sin, death and the grave once and for all. Just like the empty tomb, the plate is empty too.[3]

Jesus offered them to a clean slate to start all over again. They were able to receive forgiveness because they repented, turned around and went out to lead this ministry of reconciliation for the sake of others!

Let us pray: Gracious God, we bring so much to this plate today. We have tried to fill our hunger in ways that do not satisfy. But you have been consumed our sin, death and grave once and for all. You have consumed our fears and doubts again and again; forever and ever and ever. Amen.

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[1] http://ezinearticles.com/?Eating-Out--Can-Be-Hazardous-To-Your-Waistline&id=135755

[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20825325/

[3] Living Lent, Creative Communications Lenten Program, 2008

Mark 1:1-4 - "Original Value" (1-11-09)

John the Baptist said, “I’m not worthy to stoop down and untie his sandals.” His Wayne’s World like confession reminds us today of our value before God. Then we hear the voice of God that only Jesus hears speak the words, “You are my beloved, in you I am well pleased”. These words of affirmation remind us of the great value that God has for what Christ is doing to restore the value to humanity. By his life, death and resurrection, Jesus will restore the original blessing and value we hear about in the book of Genesis.

So today I want to talk about “Original Value”. We’ve heard a lot about the home values going down below market value. I discovered the original title from my parent’s only home they ever owned this past week. We had been living on Clybourn Avenue on the near northwest side of Chicago near Palmer. We had rented there and had lived a few years in Cabrini Green before that time, one of five white folks in the building. When we moved in 1968 when I was 1.5 years old, my older siblings said it seemed like we were moving to the suburbs. The original value of the home was $18,000 in 1968.

In the Genesis creation story, we hear that the original value of everything that was created was good. God spoke words that brought life to all of creation and it was “good”. Then in the creation of humanity, God spoke life and it was “very good.” Great value and worth were a part of the original blessing and plan of creation. There is recognition of who we are and whose we are as created by God.

Yet the value and worth of humanity begins to crumble based not solely on the value instilled by God but upon our own desire to make meaning and purpose out of our lives separated from God. The devaluing of the relationship with God caused the market to drop in our relationship with God and we put our investments in our own abilities.

The human struggle to reclaim that original value began. In the 1980’s pop-psychology developed this self-talk process. I remember reading that I was to look in the mirror and say something positive twenty times everyday. By the third day, I said “whatever”. This self talk was best expressed by Stewart Smalley who would look into the mirror and say to himself: I’m good enough; I’m smart enough and gosh people like me. Al Franken wanted people to know that they counted and he still wants people to count and recount again and again in Minnesota. In this self talk culture, there has obviously been a need for positive and life giving self talk due to the human reality of brokenness. I found comfort in the African American preaching style described by Henri Mitchell.[1] He talked about how the recording over your inner tapes that reside in the gut or soul of the person can only be healed by the power of the preached word. One needs to hear again that their identity is rooted in being a child of God.

In 1992, I was struggling with those inner tapes and my value. I had been adjusting to living in the middle class world instead of the lower class experience in our culture. One rainy day returning back to my apartment in Philadelphia, I found in the gutter an orange teddy bear. I thought about knocking on a few doors but put it in the car and drove home. After throwing it into the washing machine, he cleaned up pretty good. Well it was sitting on my basement office shelf this week and it started to preach to me. Orange you glad you found me and remembered what value you had after God threw you into the water and cleaned you up for a new purpose.

Today we remember as we look back on our lives that whatever great things we have done in our lives, we have yet to overcome the world’s struggles and we place too much emphasis on us and very little upon God. All we have to do is hold up the mirror.

Also, anytime we think too little of ourselves we can recall that we have been washed in the waters of baptism and we are called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to others.

We gather to remember whose we are and who we are today! We hear the John the Baptist encouraging people to come and be cleansed by the washing in the Jordan. And the people came to see this un-kept man who was eating locust and honey, surviving on the bare minimum. We hear the words of John, “I am unworthy to untie his sandals” and we too know that we are not good enough yet Jesus calls us again today for the purpose to restore value and worth to our lives, this community and to the world that we might live into the light and love of God that brings freedom.

Then we see the Holy Spirit descend upon us like a dove as the heavens open up. The voice speaks, “You are my Son and daughter, because of Jesus, I am well pleased.” Jesus has restored the original value and blessing of the goodness of creation. Jesus restores the order of creation and reclaiming the original value. Jesus then begins his public ministry of preaching to Gospel, the good news; he is a herald (angel) to all. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

We turn around and see that our value is in Christ. We are children of God. I was baptized! I AM BAPTIZED.[2] Not just a past event! We hear the good news: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.” We had thirty preachers here on Wednesday evening. They were sitting in a circle and they were proclaiming to one another these words: “Name, you are a child of God, never forget! The original value has been restored in Christ so that we might have life and love. Never forget!

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[1] Henri Mitchell. Celebration and Experience in Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon, 1990.

[2] www.laughingpastor.blogspot.com

John 1:1-18 - "Word Search" (1-4-09)

On Christmas day, we retold and acted out the birth story from Luke’s Gospel with our kids. Lest we think Jesus just showed up, we hear from the Gospel of John that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” The eternal broke into the temporal on Christmas day and we celebrate that good word.

When it said in Genesis that God said let there be light… there was light. Words spoken create an image and life. When I suggest a word to you, like ice cream, the image takes hold and the word takes on a life of its own. Words create life. Words spoken bring life or can cause pain.

The word that broke the silence was UGH. It was January 2^nd and I had just been in the office for about 30 minutes when I realized that I didn’t order the Lutheran Study Bibles at the reduced price before January 30^th. So then I called Augsburg Fortress and said, “Wa,wa,wa” the lady said, “Let me check with my supervisor.” I waited and then the word was spoken, “Yes you can have them at the $25.00 price.” I rejoiced. The words couldn’t express the gratitude I was experiencing.

So as we start a new year, perhaps a new years resolution is to order a Lutheran Study Bible. The next 16 people can still get them at the price of $25.00. Order now and pay March 1^st when they are shipped. We have 34 accounted for and I ordered 50. In this New Year, I encourage you to search out the Word of God. We search out the word of God to discover that the good word for us today is Christ, the living word that came searching for us.

It’s like at Christmas, my daughter received a princess vanity from Tammy’s grandparents. My usual way of building these things that have too many parts is to just have at it. But I was smart enough to go through the instructions.

Today is the 11^th day of Christmas. If you search out the meaning of the words to the familiar twelve days of Christmas, you’ll discover a time when people were persecuted because the word of God was being misused to repress one form of Christian faith and another. Those holy wars between Catholics and Protestants of England recall a time when the words of the song were used to teach the faith. One partridge in a pear tree depicted Jesus Christ (the mother partridge feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless babies). Two Testaments; Three gifts of faith, hope and love; Four gospels; Five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch); and today is the eleventh day of Christmas - Eleven faithful disciples.

Yet all eleven disciples who received the word also rejected it when push comes to shove. When the word became flesh and dwelt among us, those disciples were amazed. The eternal and cosmic word – “the eternal word will not stay outside time and history, but will enter into the time-bound world.”[1] The Word cut across dimensions and lifted them up to hear a good word.

John came to bear witness, using temporal words to point others to Jesus Christ. He was not the light or the word – his words point to the light of the word that gives us the power to become a child of God. No one has ever seen God. “It is God the only son who is close to the father’s heart, who has made him known.” There is a changed relationship between the distant God out there to the God that is here in the midst of the heart of the problems. The Word comes from God and is God and lived and we heard the good news and we are called to hear it again.

Perhaps we do not see the good word in our limited searching of the word. Perhaps we do not hear them in our busyness. But God has spoken and we have this sense that there is something divine; bigger than ourselves, something that binds and holds all things together. Something that pulls and presses upon us in such ultimate and yet so simple a manner that we think… aha…what is that word? This word we have experienced in the faith has been received – the way all twelve received. We rejoice when we hear this word.

Ye we also resist the word, the way the twelve resisted what this word meant when they denied Jesus. Yet they surrender to it even after failure. We resist the word sometimes because it will cause us to radically change our behavior toward one another.

The word is also perverted and distorted for ungodly things that lead to death, war, destruction, brokenness, misused and abused words that are spoken or withheld from one another. When the word is distorted it becomes resisted, we turn the word into law! We turn the Word that is Christ and the mystery of God’s presence among us into a form or a tradition that becomes mandated and codified in our faith.

The struggle is that we often have turned the Word of God into a law. The word holders become more important than what we witness to; that we have no words to face sin, death, war, impeachment, a new year, joblessness; poverty… we have no words but the mysterious word that is eternal that cosmically comes to us in community and brings light to a world of darkness. We want the word to be law so that we can say what you did was right and wrong. Grace be gone, the extraordinary loses meaning and the ordinary is held above the divine and worshipped. Whenever any “holy book” is codified, the easiest thing to do is mandate how we live with one another, leading to using words that demonize and gives us the authority to kill, mame, war and abuse in the name of God.

We resist this word perhaps because it calls for change in us that is too uncomfortable and we cannot bear such confusion. The word doesn’t remove us from the anxiety and struggle but gives us courage[2] to face the silences that search us out; that we might know that the dimension between this life and the eternal one has been bridged with a single word: Jesus. The only way to face the silence and the only word that brings life and light is Jesus Christ.

We are left in the silence, in the emptiness of our souls and the word of God is speaking to us again; the word is search is out in order to break through from eternity into the present; from the eternal to the temporal; from the cosmic to the here; it is always trying to help us perceive, understand and do the will of the one who is the word, Jesus Christ!

Let us pray:

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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, page 518ff

[2] Paul Tillich, The New Being, page 119