Christ the King - Safety Pins and the Cross

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Grace to you and peace from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit who dwells among us. 

Over the past couple of weeks a bit of a movement started. It’s one in which people pin a safety pin to their shirt the way they might pin a broach or a tie tack. The idea is that in wearing a pin you are announcing that you are a safe person to those who feel unsafe. People who feel unsafe because they’ve been bullied. Maybe because of their sexual orientation, or their race, or their country of origin - or what other perceive to be their country of origin, of for other reasons people feel unsafe. 

So from a place of good will, people having taken to wear or to having as their online icon a safety pin.  

And then, understandably, it was pointed out that while it’s a lovely idea, for those who are frequently facing bullying and discrimination, a pin on its own will not assure a vulnerable person that you are safe. What will assure a person that you are safe is because you act safe. That you act with kindness, that when you see someone being harassed, you step in and stand up, saying the behavior is not acceptable. 

Which is a super good point. It’s a shift from understanding the safety pin as something you wear that others have to respond or you wear it as a reminder of how you choose to be that day – a challenge to yourself to BE the safe person you want the world to have. 

Pretty quickly I began to see parallels in my mind between wearing a safety pin and wearing a cross. 

It got me asking myself, “Why do we as Christians wear a cross?” 

Traditionally I’d say we wear a cross to as a way of identifying ourselves as Christians – to each other and to the world. The cross you wear announces “This is a follower of Christ.” 

Perhaps in the very earliest years of the Christian church it was discreet way of recognizing one of your own when out in public, when being a Christian wasn’t considered acceptable. 

Perhaps in those early years it was an act of bravery. Before Constantine made Christianity the religion of the land, to wear a cross was to risk being outed as someone who didn’t kneel to the Emperor – and might be jailed for it. 

But as time has done on, wearing a cross, at least in our country, has lost any element of danger. For a while in the 90s I remember when wearing a cross, particularly really oversized crosses, was a fashion statement, completely separate from being a faith statement. 

If you chose, you can wear a cross as a necklace or a pin. You can openly identify as a Christian and you know what that means for you.

“So what does it mean to wear a cross in the light of Christ the King Sunday?” 

On a Sunday like today we are reminded that our Christ is one who forgives – even forgiving those who are literally killing him. 

We are reminded that our Christ is one who is willing to die for our sins so that we may have life. 

We are reminded that our Christ is one who includes even criminals in his kingdom.

Our Christ, whose death and resurrection we remember by the empty cross we wear.

But what do others experience when they see the cross we wear? 

For some, it is reassuring. It represents people who build hospitals and provide care to all who enter. It represents schools were all are educated. It represents food, water, shelter, and emotional care in the wake of natural disasters.

But for others, seeing a cross is less than reassuring. It is a sign of violence. Crosses have been burned in the yards of people of color as a threat that they will be burned next if they stay and continue to expect to be treated as equal human beings. People wearing crosses are the ones who picket funerals, blaming everything from natural disasters to wars. If they thought they could get traction, they’d blame speed limits and gas prices on gay, lesbian, and transgender people. People wearing crosses are vocal about limiting rights of those who are not Christians in the way they are. 

For many, the Christian cross creates anxiety. 

We live in a time where we can’t simply wear a cross and assume that those who see it will see us as safe people, as forgiving people, as grace filled people, as inclusive people. To people who have been harmed by other Christians, we can’t say, “We’re different, trust us!”

What we can do is to see that cross we wear as more than an announcement of our faith, a claim of our bona fides. 

Like with the safety pins, wearing it is not enough, we are called to live into it. What if when you wear a cross you do so with a remembrance of your baptism promise – to work for peace and justice in all the world – every day. To be kind to all, remembering that there’s likely struggles in their lives that you know nothing about. To step in and step up when you see others being hurt and harassed. 

Last but not least, when you see the cross, when you wear a cross, be reminded that YOU are claimed by Christ. In an uncertain world, this cross is a reminder of your king – a king who loves every last person in his kingdom, including and most especially you. May that cross be your constant reminder that YOU are madly and thoroughly loved by your God.    

Amen, amen. Thanks be to God.

Tides, Taxes, Tithes, and Tidings of Great Joy

A line from this coming Sunday's text has been rolling around in my mind. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?" Followed by Jesus' response of, "Give therefore to the emperor what is the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."(NRSV)

What does it mean to be a people of faith who live in a system of taxation? It definitely means something different for myself as an American in a modern era than it did to a people who lived under Roman occupation.

For many in the United States, there is a feeling that taxes are oppressive, but for the Jews of Jesus' time, they really were oppressive. The taxes were financially crippling, taking animals, land, or forcing people into slavery if they couldn't pay.  (See first 3:09) And there certainly wasn't representation or seeing value for the taxes paid.

Knowing that, it's easier to understand how tempting it would be when asked, "Should we pay Caesar's tax?" for Jesus to say "No.The taxes are both unjust and Caesar is not God, regardless of what he claims."

But Jesus didn't.  Jesus did not come to create an uprising, to use force to battle Rome and overthrow their terrible, oppressive yoke. Jesus came to free us all by his own death and resurrection. His words of giving to God the things that are God's "assert[s] the sovereignty of God that was the basis for Israel's ultimate freedom." (Senior, Donald; ANTC Matthew)

And now here we are, living in God's kingdom, both here and not yet here. How do we deal with taxes and money? How do live into lives of justice in a complicated world?

I do believe in the idea of the common good. I believe in giving my tithe back to my church both for the ministry at Elim proper, but also for the ways we as the Saint Paul Area Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "work for justice and peace throughout the earth." I'm sure if I took a fine tooth comb to the various budgets, I might not agree with every little detail, but overall I really do trust and believe in the work of my church on all three levels, done in the name of Christ.

I also believe that there are things that can only be achieved through combining our monies through taxes. Martin Luther often spoke of the idea that a well-run government is a blessing from God. Through government we have transportation access (from roads to mass-transit), education (from Head Start to land grant Universities), civil order (from police to courts to National Guard), protections for our most vulnerable (including the most basics of food, shelter, medical care), defense (our armed services), etc.

Do I agree with the all the choices my city, state, and national government make? No. There are a lot with which I disagree, from something as broad as how we proportion our budget to something as specific as our slowness to acknowledge, let along address the racism that leads to a disproportional number of black men being shot and killed by law enforcement. For me, my concerns are deeply informed by my Christian faith, even as I know others who share my concerns who are Jewish, agnostics or atheists. And just as I know there are other Christians whose faith leads them to place importance on matters of government that are quite different than my own.

It's complicated to be a good government with so many conflicting ideas of what government should and shouldn't be involved in. It's complicated to be a good citizen, paying my taxes when I have so many concerns about my tax money being used in ways that don't feel like they are for the common good or that work toward justice and peace throughout the earth. And yet I do pay them, and not only because I have to, but because I do think it is the right thing.

But I and my fellow citizens have options available to us that weren't available to Jews in occupation under Rome. I can vote, and do. I can read, discuss, and ponder life and policy in preparation for voting, and do. I can be a part of non-violent advocacy groups, and I am.

Above all, I can do exactly what Jews of Jesus' time did. I can recognize that Yahweh is the creator of all: skies, stars, seas, and soil; tides, taxes, tithes, and tidings of great joy; plants, people, possibilities, and peace. I can pray, and do, that God's Kingdom come, God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Watch out for that Tree!

For you shall go out in joy,
  and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
  shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field
  shall clap their hands.

~Isaiah 55:12


I love the image of this passage. When I think of trees clapping their hands, there are two images that come to mind.

One is the Ents in Lord of the Rings. (Note to self - don't torque off the trees.) These aren't exactly happy trees. However they do embody the destruction and desolation of what has come become before to the people of Israel. War had come, they were defeated by the Babylonians and dragged off into servitude and slavery. Their lives and their hearts were broken. They are in exile and during that time come to terms with their own actions, particularly turning from God and trusting in powers other than God. As they return to God, they struggled to keep faith in the midst of despair.

My second image of hand-clapping trees is Lucy with Narnian trees. In Prince Caspian, the Pevensies return to Narnia to discover that all of the non-human creatures have gone into hiding. The talking animals don't talk in front of humans, to the degree that some have lost the ability to do so and have gone wild. The trees and tree spirits are silent. But in a dream, Lucy is reunited with the tree spirits, the trees again move and, more so, they lead her Aslan. Lucy asks him, "Why are you not helping us?" He replies, "Things never happen the same way twice."

Indeed. Narnia will be free again, but it will not be in the same way as the last time the Pevensies came to face the White Queen. Israel will be free again, but it will not be in the same way as when Moses led them out of Egypt. But what matters is knowing God has not abandoned them.

In this second half of Isaiah, God has said, "Enough." No more shall God's people be in captivity. No longer shall they be kept from their land and their homes. Grief and pain shall end, healing and hope and life shall begin. That the people of Israel will not only be freed, but they shall be a light for all nations. A hope for all peoples. A hope that extends outward to us.

God's Kingdom comes, is coming, will come again.

Baptized into a Death Like His

In 2006, post-Youth Gathering in San Antonio, Texas, we had some free time on our hands. This was because there are limited flight options when traveling to or from Fairbanks, Alaska. So in the cool of an air conditioned theatre, we took in the newly opened Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the much anticipated sequel to the surprise break out hit of PotC.

There's a lot I've forgotten about that movie (something something Davy Jones' Locker, something something over the top fight scene, something something Keira Knightley's plump lips) but I've never forgotten this opening scene. (If possible, watch at least the first minute of the clip before reading further.)

While the whole audience burst into cheers when Captain Jack burst forth from his 'escape pod', I was bursting into giddy cheers for a whole other reason. It was a quintessential scene of resurrection. Life from death - and in the waters (of baptism) no less! I was experiencing theological palpitations!

To summarize the scene: here is a coffin, one of many, floating out on a sea. A raven pecks at it; the sound like the knocking on a door, booming with the hollowness of a tomb. Then that knock is answered. (Granted, in a way a bit unfortunate for the raven, who is now nevermore.) And from the gunshot hole, an arm, then the entire splintering of the lid. The music during all of this is perfect - eery and forlorn, then as Jack breaks free, swelling with triumph. He has returned - and mischief with him.

Then we learn in a practical, if ghoulish way that Jack wasn't alone in that coffin. He was sharing the space with someone long dead, reduced to bone. Again, this twining of life and death.

Romans 6:1b-11 is also that twining of life and death; in our Christ crucified there is not one without the other.

And it's not just resurrection following death-death, but also resurrection following death in baptism. As the opening words in our Order of Holy Baptism say:

"In baptism our gracious heavenly Father frees us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity; by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church, the body of Christ. Living with Christ and in the communion of saints, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God." (p. 227, Evangelical Lutheran Worship)

In in this new life, we don't always know where we're going, but trust that Christ does. (Not dissimilar from Captain Jack's non-north pointing compass.)

We are claimed, changed, and a completely new course is charted. What are some of the unexpected places you've been since being baptized into Christ death?

Was Peter really fishing naked?

This past Sunday our Gospel text was John 21:1-19. In the middle of a lot of interesting theological stuff, there's a rather distracting line: "When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea." (New Revised Standard Version

Afterward a fairly brave parishioner asked, "Was he really naked?"

Good question, as I can't imagine it helpful to risk one's bait & tackle among the bait and tackle. Or in this case, gaffs & nets.

Sometimes looking to other translations and how they phrased things can be helpful: 

• "He wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water." ~New International Version
• "When Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on the clothes that he had taken off while he was working. Then he jumped into the water." ~Contemporary English Bible
• "When Simon Peter realized that it was the Master, he threw on some clothes, for he was stripped for work, and dove into the sea." ~The Message, a paraphrase

They all provide the general sense that Peter wasn't wearing much and then pulled on some garment before jumping into the water. It's not that these translations are trying to be more discrete than the NRSV in describing Peter's state of dress (or lack there of). It's not that the NRSV got it wrong. It's the fact that translating involves making choices and trying to provide clarity. 

Raymond Brown, who wrote The Anchor Bible commentary on this section of John, circa 1970 (hey, it's what's at hand), provides some helpful information. He shares that the Greek word 'gymnos' can be translated as either 'naked' or 'lightly clad'. So it's probable, particularly given cultural custom as well as practicality, that Peter wasn't naked-naked, but wearing something akin to a loincloth.

Brown goes into a lengthy reflection on the oddness of Peter putting on clothes to then jump into the water. Perhaps like me, you remember being taught that water-soaked clothes are heavy and weigh one down. If one's boat/canoe/whatever tips over, it's best to shed those heavy clothes before swimming any distance.

The theories Brown reviewed boiled down to the idea that Peter had another garment on that would still qualify as 'lightly clad' and then he tucked up the garment, since the word "diazonnynai" can mean 'to put on clothes' as well as 'to tuck up into the cincture' (belt).

To have a better picture of what 'tucking up' means, imagine having on the long robe-like garments common to the time. If you took the hem of the backside of the garment, pulled it forward so it went around and over the front side, then tucked it into the belt, that would be 'tucking up'. It would keep the robe from tangling in one's legs. (Or at least this is my best guess for how tucking up would work.)
 
Personally, I think Peter's actions are meant to be odd and not due to the writer of John being less than clear. It's humorous that poor Peter is so frazzled that he puts on clothes before jumping in. Perhaps the main reason he was stripped down to the basics was to keep his clothes dry and free from the slime and smell of fish. So what does he do? Soaks his whole self in wet, fishy-smelling water because he can't wait an extra minute to greet Jesus. (That must of been a fun hug for Jesus!)

Peter's actions remind me of a story. One day Robert Redford entered a small town Montana ice cream shop. The woman who was already at the counter wanted to be respectful of Mr. Redford by not making a fuss, even though he made her twitterpatted. All was going well until she was given her ice cream cone and her change. She held onto her change and dropped her ice cream cone into her purse.

Like Peter, this fan of Redford's was so dazzled and distracted that she didn't even know what she's doing. Which is utterly adorbs to me.

So the next time you have the option of staying respectful or being a bit foolish for the sake of the Gospel, remember dripping wet Peter and go for it.