Teer Hardy's Blog, page 21

An Unacceptable Parable

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Listen to "20th Sunday After Pentecost [C] - An Unacceptable Parable" on Spreaker.

Once again Taylor Mertins invited me to be his guest on Strangely Warmed. We talked about the lections for the 20th Sunday After Pentecost. As always, Taylor came ready to go with questions to not only tickle my theological whistle but to also help you get ready to preach on Sunday.

Why don't we read from the prophet Joel more often?

Is there anything the Spirit can't do?

Is grace unacceptable?

Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast.Click over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com. Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patron.For peanuts you can help us out....we appreciate it more than you can imagine.Better yet, purchase your very own Stanley Hauerwas - www.crackersandgrapejuice.com/swag

Have Yourself a Merry Little Advent

Since the big-box stores had their Christmas displays set up before Labor Day weekend this seems like the right time to share with the world a project I have been working on since this time last year.

Last year (while I was already busy writing ordination papers and trying to finish seminary) Abingdon Press asked me if I would be interested in writing their Daily Advent Devotionals for 2019. If you have known me for any length of time, you know that I have no problem sharing my thoughts with anyone who will listen (regardless if they wanted to hear my thoughts or not). While the word count restrictions proved to be a challenge what emerges throughout the devotional is that there are no limits to the promise made to us by God in Christ.

In the devotional you will find my attempt to share the journey of Advent, looking towards the Incarnation through the lenses of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

My editor rightfully described the devotionals as a “reflection upon God’s promises and love for the world.”

The devotionals are available in printed and digital forms and are intended to be shared beyond the walls of the local church. I invite you to join me in the coming months to consider how we might center ourselves as we prayerfully enter this season of anticipation and preparation.

Buy the devotional as an e-book or a pack of ten. Share the devotional with your faith community, in-laws, neighbors, and barber. Order now to ensure you are able to begin the devotional on December 1!Do me a favor, please? After you buy a few packs to hand out to your friends and family, leave me a review on Amazon. Your review will help ensure others find the Devotional through Amazon’s algorithms.

Slurpees & the Law

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

Listen to "19th Sunday After Pentecost [C] - Slurpees And The Law" on Spreaker.

This week yours truly is the featured guest on Strangely Warmed. SW is a podcast produced by Crackers & Grape Juice with Rev. Taylor Mertins pulling the strings behind the curtain. Taylor invited me on the pod to share my expertise in the following lections for the 19th Sunday After Pentecost in Year C -Jeremiah 31.27-34, Psalm 119.97-104, 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5, Luke 18.1-8.

Taylor and I talk about everything from his favorite month of the year (Clergy Appreciation month), the Law, suffering from the sins of our parents, and my favorite summer-time treat.

Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast.Click over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com. Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patron.For peanuts you can help us out....we appreciate it more than you can imagine.Better yet, purchase your very own Stanley Hauerwas - www.crackersandgrapejuice.com/swagListen to "19th Sunday After Pentecost [C] - Slurpees And The Law" on Spreaker.

Feeling Sentimental

For whatever reason, over the past few days, I have been more sentimental than usual. Ask my wife and she will gladly tell you I wear my emotions on my shoulder and between the two of us, I am the emotional basket-case in the family. She didn’t marry me because of my affinity for romantic-comedies. Though, perhaps it is my affinity for movies featuring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson that make me predisposed to feel the way I have been feeling as of late.

Just last week I found myself reunited with the chaplain who, knowingly or unknowingly, showed me that the preconceived ideas I had about being a pastor were wrong. Rev. Angela Gay Kinkade was the Dean of the Chapel at West Virginia Wesleyan College (a post the college has yet been able to fill because of the shoes Angela Gay left to be filled). I remember (kind of) walking past her parsonage was I made my way from the fraternity house back to my dorm room on campus. Angela Gay knew who I was. She knew my background and upbringing in the church, yet when I chose to join a fraternity instead of pursing religion academically she still extended grace to me. She didn’t treat me differently as some in the religion department did.

Our daughter, Nora, has been talking more and moreover the past few weeks. I’d be lying if I told you this wasn’t a joy-filled change for us. Nora has been a bit behind in her speech for her age but immersing her in preschool along with intentional conversations with her from her parents seems to be correcting the course. I know the time will come when all I want Nora to do is shut up but right now I am enjoying the conversations and looking back over the past (less than) two years and wondering where the time has gone.

When I returned home from a recent business trip I went straight from the airport to the soccer field to watch Camden’s 0-3 soccer team play. Success for this game would come in the form of Camden not only scoring his first goal (in the correct goal) of the season but also scoring his team’s first goal of the season. Thank God for the free sunglasses given out at the church conference because I was the only dad crying as Camden came over for a high-five and hug to celebrate his big accomplishment. It is six-year-old soccer I know, but the joy on his face as he celebrated around the field like he was playing in the World Cup sent my Rom-Com emotions into free-fall.

I could tell you about baptizing Mia this past Sunday and how as I placed the water on her head all I could think about was baptizing my own children, but I think by now you get the picture.

I wish we had more stories in the Gospels and Paul’s letters about Jesus or Paul looking back with a Rom-Com twinkle in their eye, looking back and seeing where they had come from while enjoying life unfolding in front of them.

I am sitting in a coffee shop writing my first of two funeral sermons for the week. Our community is celebrating the lives of three of God’s saints over eight days. Maybe I am feeling sentimental because, well, death sucks.

The funny thing about the three funerals is that the families for each service have chosen the same scripture readings. I suggested the same list of scripture readings and all three families settled on Psalm 23, Romans 8, and John 14.

In my experience, sentimentality comes in the form of peace. The Peace of the Lord is what Jesus promised to leave us when he ascended to the Father.

 “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you.”

This is not a wish.

This is a gift.

The Peace of Christ begins with God and is to be received as a gift from God's own hand. The Peace extended to us by Christ is ours to receive, to cultivate, to share, but it is not ours to create. The Peace of Christ is not something we must do on our own. And isn’t that a relief? God is gifting this Peace to us. 

Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed By the Word

Listen to "Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed By the Word of God" on Spreaker.

I spent the better part the week in Kansas City with our Lay Leader, Cindy Huber, and 2500 United Methodists leaders - clergy and laity. We spent the week dreaming, hoping, and considering how our calling to bear witness to the redemptive Grace of Jesus Christ is shaped in the light of the current climate in the United Methodist Church. It should come as no surprise where there are two or three United Methodists gathered in the name of Jesus Christ there are differing opinions on everything from church music and how coffee is served to the nitty-gritty details of what we hold in common as a denomination.  

There is a reason the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason) begins with Scripture. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had a method to his madness. When we begin with Scripture we are beginning with the word of G-d revealed to Creation through those whom the Lord spoke to and the Holy Spirit who continues to breathe new life into those words today. 

River of Light Stained Glass Window Oratorio

This stained-glass window is at the front of the sanctuary in the Church of the Resurrection. I’m not sure about the exact dimensions but I can tell you Jesus’ head is 5-feet tall to give you some perspective. The window is a depiction of three gardens. 

Gardens are scattered throughout the Bible, including providing bookends. 

“Left Triptych”

Our story begins in a garden. 

Genesis tells us G-d created the Heavens and the Earth, beasts of the sea, air, and ground, and then created us and placed us in a Garden. 

The garden where Creation began to flourish is depicted on the left side of the image and as we move towards the center, you will see familiar images from the Sunday School stories you remember as children, the stories we now examine with the Tradition, Experience, and Reason we have gained over the course of our lives. Kids, you need to know this, and if you don’t want to listen to me after this point that’s is fine with me - please, I beg of you, do not stop reading these stories. These stories are just a part of who we are as a church and we cannot fully understand the Bible without them.

The Hebrew Bible, highlighted by our reading from the prophet Jeremiah, can be confusing, which is why we tend to not read it. Many of the stories lack clarity and application to 2019 and beyond, and still, these G-d is speaking to us through these Holy Words.

The story of the prophet Jeremiah occurred at a particular place at a particular time. Jerusalem was surrounded by their Babylonian enemies, the prophet was in prison after being accused of treason, and hope was looking slim for the chosen people of G-d. The Babylonians were going to destroy Israel by starving them to death and Jeremiah, after having a vision from the Lord, decided that was the time to buy land.

Purchasing land during this time was a complicated and messy business and being besieged by Babylon made this a terrible time to purchase land. This land was about to be taken from Jeremiah, so it seemed. Hope was lost and yet to Lord came to Jeremiah and told him that not all was lost. Hope you see, int he Bible, time and time again prevails over darkness. Beyond what we view as antiquated rules and customs the Hebrew Bible is a story of the hope of G-d’s chosen people as they navigated life together, life apart, and life in the complicated geopolitical structure of their day.

“Center Triptych”

As we move to the center of the window we find Jesus - arms stretch out, inviting us into his grace. 

“Right Triptych”

Then we move further to the right to the saints who have gone before the Church (you probably recognize a few people), ending in the garden describe at the end of the Book of Revelation where Creation is back in the order it was created with. 

There is peace among the nations. 

The lion and the lamb are lying beside one another. 

The pain of Sin is no more. 

The pain we inflict upon one another is no more. 

The words we use to cut one another down are replaced by words of Grace. 

The greatest commandment given by Jesus is fully realized - all of creation loves G-d and we have finally figured out how to love our neighbors as ourselves.

This book is confusing. I have been reading it - off and on - since I received my third-grade bible with bonded leather with red letters. I have spent countless hours studying in the basement of a seminary, with friends and strangers, and around dining room tables and I can tell you this - I have not figured it out. 

Rob Bell wrote that the Bible is a book of politics, economics, common stories, and inside jokes and we often find ourselves, at times, on the outside.

For those of you who have been doing this Church thing longer than I have, I know you feel the same way. Just about the time, we think we have this book figured out G-d has a way of breathing new life into the text, disrupting what we think we know, and we begin the process again.

Christians of all stripes - Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, Baptists, and even those quirky Presbyterians - take these Holy Words seriously. Christians across the theological spectrum take this book seriously and still, three of us can read the same text and walk away with six different interpretations. It's just the nature of the book and how G-d speaks to each of us in ways that we need rather than the ways we want to read the text. Reading into the text what we want to be in the text makes the text more about us and less about the story of redemption and hope we find in its pages. 

Karl Barth famous said, “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”

Everything necessary for salvation - the saving of us and all of humanity - is found in this book. On face value, the stories are complicated, grotesque, beautiful, and full of hope.

Listen to "Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed By the Word of God" on Spreaker.

We do not have to twist the words in this book to fit the agenda of the Church or our politics. Jesus’ teachings, while confusing at times, clearly outline what the garden in Revelation will look like and how we get there - the Great Commission given to the Church by Christ, is clear. 

Lazarus and the Rich Man - James B. Janknegt

Jesus told a parable about a Rich Man who ignored a poor man named Lazarus. when they both die the Rich Man finds himself now on the outside and Lazarus dwelling with Abraham. 

The division between rich and poor is no more. The Rich Man does not pass by Lazarus without having his heartbreak because he finally understands what loving G-d and neighbor means.

River of Light Stained Glass Window Oratorio

Jeremiah had received the word of the Lord had hope that what looked like the end would be made right by G-d. Israel would survive the siege of Babylon. Israel had hope in a time when it seemed all hope had been lost. The word of G-d given to Jeremiah promised prosperity over their oppressors and the Lord was faithful.

“Center Triptych”

I told you there were three gardens in the image and there are. Jesus in the middle of the image, with his arms, stretched out inviting us into his arms revealing the powerful hope of G-d in a garden. The Gospel of John tells us Jesus died in a garden, was buried in a garden, and revealed the resurrection to Mary in a garden. The hope of G-d was confirmed to Creation in a garden. 

Friends, this book is a book of Hope and because it is a book of Hope we then are a people of Hope.

This book is not meant to be a stumbling block towards faith with the complexities of cultures we do not understand in a time most of us will never study in depth. 

This book of Hope builds up the body of Christ and all of Creation and does not tear down. This book is not a weapon to be used to convince someone to “get right with the Lord,” or to prove a talking point on your debate sheet. 

This book is life-giving. 

This book is an invitation to earnestly believe that when all seems lost there is Hope. 

When the city gates are surrounded, and the Traditions of the past make no sense, what we are Experiencing and what we can Reason leave us feeling as though the darkness is closing in, this book gives us Hope because in it we have the revealed Truth of G-d’s unwavering Love for us, manifested to the fullest in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Today our third graders have received their first Bibles. To them, I say this, do not let this book collect dust on the bookshelf. In times of darkness, this book is a Light because in it we find the ultimate story of the redemptive promise of G-d. 

As we give this book to our children let us recommit ourselves to it. Let us commit to being a community of people who take seriously Jesus, the Word of G-d and flesh. Jesus is our lens to this book.

We are blessed to be a blessing because we have been blessed by the word of G-d, written in these pages and revealed to us by our encounters with Christ.

Listen to "Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed By the Word of God" on Spreaker.

Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed By Grace

Listen to "Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed by Grace" on Spreaker.

As I was walking our dog this week through the neighborhood I realized something: the communities we find ourselves living in make absolutely no sense. I am not talking about master-planned communities or the unusual way Arlington County decided to name its streets, having 16th Street North dead-end at Glebe Road and then begin again a few blocks later. If you have purchased a home you know the painstaking work necessary to ensure the financial commitment you are making is a solid financial investment for you or your family. Appraisers and home inspectors will do their best (most of the time) to help protect you as the buyer. 

What about the neighborhood? What about the neighbors? Before you move in, do you know who they are? Do you know who you will be living next to?Do you want to live that close to someone you may have nothing in common with except your zip code and tax assessment? 

Yeah, you could get a rockstar neighbor like me, who loves to smoke barbecue in the backyard and share it with the block or you could get a dud. The problem is, you do not know until it is too late if you will find yourself feeling blessed to live next to such a great neighbor or if you will be mumbling, “Bless their heart” as you walk from the street to your front door. Being in community with people you cannot identify with or simply do not like is difficult, but for better or worse you may be in that relationship now.

Paul’s audience in Corinth was not sitting around the campfire singing Kumbaya. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was a letter sent to a church in the midst of division. Paul was writing to a community suffering from mistrust and a lack of unity. Divided along ethnic and social boundaries the Corinthian Church found itself without a clear focus on Christ as their point of unity and the blessing they received through G-d’s Grace. 

Differing perspectives and experiences have been causing division within the church since Christ’s ascension. Church conflict is not a modern phenomenon or even a product of the Reformation. Whenever there have been two or three gathered in the name of Christ there has been differing theological opinions, arguments over Church music and Church Council quarrels in basements and something tells me that will not change in the generations to come.

We continue our Blessed to be a Blessing sermon series this morning by considering how we have been blessed by Grace. Grace is one of those “stained-glass” “churchy” words, words you will not hear anywhere except in a religious context, that often goes undefined. The assumption by people like me is that you, the congregation, people with different experiences and journeys up to this point will know what we are talking about. 

Since the “fall” of humanity, way back in early chapters of Genesis - when Adam and Eve broke G-d’s one and the only rule and were then removed from the garden - we, humanity, have been in desperate need of the liberating love of G-d. St. Augustine wrote that the Grace of G-d serves as the healer of human nature saying that the church is a hospital full of the sick and it is the Grace of G-d that heals us. 

Our Wesleyan heritage as United Methodists takes this a step further noting that the Grace of G-d is prevenient, goes ahead of our conversion and declaration of Christ as Lord and Savior. Before you were baptized as an infant, teenager, or adult, before you prayed the sinner's prayer on a youth retreat, before received your third grade Bible, before took membership vows in a local congregation, or before attended your first Vacation Bible School at your grandparents’ church the unmerited and unwavering love of G-d was and continued to be yours.

We see G-d’s Grace preveniently at work when G-d created the Heavens and the Earth. G-d created all of creation out of love and created us out of Grace, amid Sin (division and exclusion), we as a community of faith rely on the same Grace of G-d that we individually require daily. 

Listen to "Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed by Grace" on Spreaker.

Our division places us in need of that which G-d has promised to us through Jesus, the head of the Church.

If you think about it, the community of people we find ourselves with this morning makes less sense than the neighborhoods we find ourselves living in. This morning I will be leading (I lead) a class title Discover Mount Olivet. This is an opportunity for folks who have visited Mount Olivet to learn more about the community before making a commitment and becoming members and learning the nitty-gritty details of the community.

Part of our journey this morning will be (was) to learn what brought each of us to Mount Olivet. Now I arrived here by the Grace of G-d and the appointment of Bishop Sharma Lewis yet what brought me to Mount Olivet is different than what brought you to Mount Olivet and each of us, those of us here in worship and those who will gather (who gathered) for Discover Mount Olivet will have a different story for what brought them to this community. Better yet, each of us has a different story for what has kept us in this community. There are multiple United Methodist Churches throughout Arlington. On Glebe Road alone there are two while on 16th Street, within a mile of one another, there are multiple Protestant churches. So what brought you here and what keeps you here?

At some level, all of us have chosen to be here this morning and to come back week after week. We find ourselves in a community with people who think, dress, behave, and look different from us and still we find ourselves committed to a life together. 

We are lawyers and lobbyists, stay at home caregivers, retirees, teachers, and medical professionals. We are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and more and still, we are committed to a life together with one another, with people whom our friends and family may refer to as “them” or the “other.”

We will pray with them.We will cry with them.We will worship with them.We will serve with them.

If I were to ask each of you your theological position on the Lordship of Jesus, the nature of G-d, or the Bible I am confident the answers would be as would varied and diverse as your own experiences with G-d and G-d’s creation. 

We find ourselves on a faith journey together and yet there is no single “right way” for your journey to begin and continue. The single thread holding us together is the Lordship of Jesus and our need of His Grace. 

Words like Grace make little sense outside of communities unified in the Lordship of Christ.

Our need for the unmerited love of G-d is the thread that holds us together and we cannot be a community of faith without Christ and His Grace as the center.

We can excel at doing good things for people in need but without the Grace of G-d, we are people trying to be good, knowing (or unknowing) that the good we do cannot repay the Sin humanity has committed against G-d.

Much to our chagrin, this gift of a unified Grace-filled community may seem like the last thing we could want or need and yet, this unmerited gift is a forecast of the Kingdom Christ inaugurated through his own ministry.

The Good News is this - amid division and disagreement we are still the recipients of G-d’s Grace. There is no theological disagreement or division of the Church on socio-economic status, race, political affiliation, or sexual orientation that change the blessing we have received by the Grace of G-d. 

Paul continued in his letter to the Corinthians writing that church unity is not a goal or ideal we strive for or will one day live into once we finally get it right (whatever “it” is). The unity of the ancient church in Corinth and for the Church today is found in our unity in Christ and the Grace of G-d that continues to bless each of us.

Listen to "Blessed to Be a Blessing | Blessed by Grace" on Spreaker.If you enjoyed this sermon, please SUBSCRIBE to the sermon-cast and remember sharing is caring.

Samson Turinawe: Advocating for LGBTQ Africans

Listen to "Episode 226 : Samson Turinawe - Advocating for LGBTQ Africans" on Spreaker.

Our latest guest on Crackers & Grape Juice is Samson Turinawe. Samson is the Executive Director of the Universal Love Alliance, a grassroots organization in Uganda which advocates for LGBTQ people.

A Ugandan humanitarian, educator and human rights defender. He believes that "every human being should be respected simply for being who they are, a part of Life's creation." Tolerance, inclusiveness, love, compassion, dialogue, and reconciliation are all central themes in his work. Through his teaching and activism, he emphasizes that “ignorance can be defeated through education, poverty through hard work and possession of capital, and internal schisms and separatism through unity. Samson is working for a new generation -- one that is open-minded, open-hearted, diversity-embracing, and committed to serving all of humanity.

You can find out more about his work here.

And go to http://www.crackersandgrapcejuice.com to find other episodes and to support the show.

Before you listen, do us a solid and help out the podcast.Click over to http://www.crackersandgrapejuice.com. Click on “Support the Show.” Become a patreon.For peanuts you can help us out....we appreciate it more than you can imagine.

Yahweh

Listen to "Episode 49 - Yahweh" on Spreaker.

Unbeknownst to me, some people find the way in which I write my sermons annoying. If you have been reading my blog for the past two years you may have noticed a shift. Two years ago, before I was a ‘woke,’ two-time seminary graduate, I did not give a second thought to writing “God” on my sermon manuscript. The manuscript is the document I take with me to the pulpit on Sunday mornings. By the time I finish my preaching duties on any given Sunday the manuscript is full of notes, questions, and (some times MASSIVE) edits. I take the manuscript back to my office, update the document on my laptop, and then discard the manuscript. That is my routine.

In this episode of (Her)Men*You*Tics we (attempt) to unpack the word “YHWH” and why the Tetragrammaton is something you should care about as a person of faith.

My new practice in sermon preparation is to replace the ‘o’ in God with a ‘-.’ I’ll tell you why I do this in the episode and we will explore why or why not this is a necessary practice.

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