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October 4, 2009 
Job 1:1; 2;1-10; Mark 10:2-16

I have a story to share with you about the pastor who was beginning to serve a new congregation. After leading several worship services at the church, one Sunday she noticed an older individual sitting in the last row of the worship space. Concerned that the man might not be able to hear her sermon, she asked, “Before I begin the sermon today, I wanted to ask you: Can hear me back there?”

To her question the man responded, “no; “

In response, the rest of the congregation got up and moved to the back of the sanctuary…

After listening to today’s scripture readings, you too might feel like getting up and moving to the back of the church, if not just leaving the building all together. Instead, I encourage you to stay. As Christians, there are chapters in the Bible that challenge us and raise dilemmas for us in our lives. And, after all, it was just two chapters we listened to today.

But WOW! What two chapters they were! What do you do with the Word that was spoken in today’s chapters from the Old and New Testaments? Here we are, preparing to join in a meal of unity with other Christians around the world on World Communion Sunday.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather be right here [at the communion table] surrounded by the soft, colorful cloth from around the world, and the warm smiles that greeted me this morning, then along the rough edges of the Word that was read.

First, there is this sharp twinge we experience as Job, who is a good and honest man, becomes ill. His illness is visual, with ugly, painful, open sores covering his body. Not only that, but Evil has talked to God, and God allows misfortune to befall Job. In fact, Job was once a well-to-do man, but, just as many of us have experienced sudden job-loss and financial uncertainty, Job too has “lost his job.” People from a neighboring land have stolen his ox and donkeys, and killed his workers. His adult children have been killed in a natural disaster, and Job morns their loss. His wife is beside herself in grief.

A chapter of broken bodies; broken relationships.

Listening to the readings this morning, we are reminded of those moments in our lives that bring us our own unexpected chapters. Sometimes these unexpected chapters shatter us; shaking our belief and our ability to see beyond the darkness. Sometimes these unexpected chapters open up unforeseen possibilities; rupturing the life we have been living and exposing God’s presence to us in new a new light.

And then - Ouch! What do you do with Jesus’ response to the trick question posed by the Pharisees?  It is so easy for this chapter to cause pain, and to trap people in a relationship that is not loving, but damaging. Yet two thousand years ago in Palestine, the terms of a divorce that Jesus experienced were quite different than our understanding of divorce today. Neither marriage, nor divorce…nor instances of adultery, offered any opportunities for equality for women in Jesus’ life.

Rather, a marriage was an arrangement between two families. An economic as well as a social bond. Divorce brought shame to the entire family; at least to all the men in the family. 

A chapter of broken relationships; Broken communities.

In this chapter of brokenness, Jesus speaks openly about equality. Equality between men, women and children.

As I stand here this morning, I must share with you something unexpected that happened in the faith chapters of my life. As uncomfortable as Job’s afflictions and unwavering faith may be, and as unanticipated as Jesus’ concern for the women and children of his time was for the disciples – I stand here this morning to tell you that these readings are what pulled me here to this pulpit and to this place.

Reading through the uneasy words of today’s chapters, I find the faith and grace that God releases in our presence affirming.

Now are any of you wondering “how can that be?” If so, I understand. I have asked myself that many times, and continue to ask that question today. Yet I know that it is so. And the power of God’s call answers my question in this way:

The unexpected chapter that opens in my life unfolded in the process that my home church, just a few miles away, in McFarland, went through during the Open and Affirming process. Memorial UCC is also an Open and Affirming church. However, in my story, the McFarland UCC was not always Open and Affirming.

If asked, the members and friends at the McFarland UCC would have said that all were welcome, but in a time of turmoil it became clear that we needed a time of prayer, reflection and bible study to determine whether or not our church would become Open and Affirming, a church were all people, in particular those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, would be welcome.

During a time of great pain and uncertainty, we took a year, holding discussion groups, movie nights, and inviting speakers to present their experiences. We listened to stories of people shunned by family members, discriminated against in their places of work, and excluded from churches. This journey together as a church community was not easy. However, after twelve months of prayer, listening to how God was working in our lives today, our congregation voted to become an Open and Affirming church.

Several months later – I found myself in an unexpected place. A normal, everyday event. A celebration. A wedding ceremony for two friends who had found the true love of their lives. They asked me to read one of the scriptures at the wedding service. Of course, I was thrilled to be asked to be a part of their special day.

What I didn’t know was this: that doing that reading, at that time, in that place, standing in that pulpit, would change my faith and reveal God’s light to me in new and unexpected ways.

Part of the story is the place. Some of you have been to the McFarland UCC and seen the colorful, stained glass cross at the front of the sanctuary. There, beneath the multicolored presence of Christ, the pulpit and the communion table are accessed by walking up a few steps. From this raised position, I stood before my friends, Brian and Wade, during their wedding ceremony and read the following, familiar chapter from 1 Corinthians, chapter 13.

Now, this is a chapter I memorized as a child in Sunday school class. A chapter you have heard many times. Maybe this chapter was even read at your own wedding. But standing before Brian and Wade that day, as they declared their love for one another before their family and friends, and stood before God, my understanding of God’s presence in my life was redefined.

I ask you to take a moment to hear these words again, opening yourself to a new declaration of God’s extravagant love:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant, or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

There, suspended in that thin place witnessing the love Brain and Wade had for one another before God, I suddenly understood the reading from Corinthians more completely. There, colored by the diversity of the cross, unimaginable Love was exposed.

So what do we do with the chapters read today? Christ tells us we must come into God’s presence as children, with our immature faith, our child-like trust…powerless…turning God for protection and grace. Recognizing God’s presence in our relationships.

We are often a broken people, in broken relationships, lost within broken communities. Here, at the table where Jesus welcomes all, we meet God’s unimaginable Love, together with all our bothers and sisters in Christ that are joining us from around the world, in the presence of the Spirit.

So come, here to the meal, where the unexpected chapters of our lives can be revealed. Where we can be exposed to uncertainty and find comfort. Where we can celebrate the colors in our lives with unimaginable Love. Where we can cry and be healed.

For Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; Love never ends.”

Love is offered to you this day, from the God who is Creator, Redeemer, and Ever Present Sprit. Come. Don’t close the book! Come into this new chapter of your life.