Whiteboard: Eagles and Grasshoppers

This Sunday in worship we'll be talking about Isaiah 30:21-31, which contains some of the most familiar lines in scripture.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard?"

"The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth."

"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles."

They shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

But the more I read through the scripture passage, the more I kept coming back to one particular image...an image that we rarely focus on at all.

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Yeah, grasshoppers. I haven't been able to stop thinking about grasshoppers this week, and why exactly Isaiah choose that specific image.

I mean, the eagle imagery we get. "They shall mount up with wings like eagles" is crystal clear. We think of those majestic, beautiful birds soaring high, seemingly effortlessly through the sky...

But grasshoppers? Not so much. 

Then I found this excellent blog post from Todd Weir. Then I read this incredible feature on the science behind grasshoppers' eyes. Then I decided to borrow Todd Weir's blog post title and use it as my sermon title! And suddenly we are talking about "Grasshopper Eyes and Eagle's Wings" on Sunday. And let me tell you, each one of them tells us something important about God, and lifts up to us a powerful image of how we can respond to the awesome wonder that is the Lord our God.

The only problem is, I'm not so good at drawing Grasshoppers. They are surprisingly complex! But eagles' wings? Those I can draw. Thus we ended up with this on The Whiteboard this week:

I'll see you on Sunday, where we will learn what it means to soar like eagle and look like a grasshopper!

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Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

StreetLightUSA

The Outreach Team sponsored a a work trip to Streetlight USA last weekend.

Streetlight USA helps young girls who have been victims of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. Our sister churches Foothills Christian Church in Glendale and First Christian Church in Mesa have been active supporters of Streetlight USA, and I am grateful that our Outreach Team has started working with this crucially important ministry as well.

StreetLightUSA's mission is "To transition adolescent girls from trauma to triumph." and they implement that mission through a three-tier strategy of Awareness, Prevention, and Direct Care. By partnering with private corporations, public law makers, law enforcement, human services, and faith-based organizations they have created a collective impact that is interrupting the victimization of adolescent girls by the sex trade. They are helping girls find a new way forward so they can become independent, confident and successful young women.

Our Outreach Volunteers from FCC Scottsdale visited the residential campus where StreetLightUSA provides a healing and safe environment for adolescent girls age 11-17, who have been rescued from sex trafficking. Our volunteers met with the girls, played games with them, worked on art projects with them, prayed with them, and spent valuable time together. It was a sucessful, touching project and the Outreach Team is already planning the next trip. 

For More Information about StreetLightUSA:

• Visit their Webpage at http://streetlightusa.org/ and make sure to click on the About Us, The Facts, and The Program links.
• KJZZ (our local NPR affiliate) did a feature story on StreetLightUSA in 2013. You can listen to it here. 
• You can watch StreetLightUSA's video on Vimeo.
• Disciples Women's Ministry has developed a series of resources addressing Human Trafficking entitled, "Human Trafficking: Breaking the Chains of Modern Day Slavery."

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 7

DAY 7 

A prayer resource from The World Council of Churches.

TESTIMON“Give me to drink” (John 4:7)

• Numbers 20:1-11 The Israelites at Meribah
• Psalm 119:10-20 “I will not forget your word”
• Romans 15:2-7 “May God… grant you to live in harmony with one another”
• John 4:7-15 “Give me to drink”

Commentary

Christians should be confident that encountering and exchanging experiences with the other, even other religious traditions, can change us and help us to reach into the depths of the well. Approaching those who are strangers to us with the desire to drink from their well, opens to us the “wonders of God” that we proclaim.

In the wilderness God’s people were without water and God sent Moses and Aaron to bring water forth from the rock. In the same way God often meets our needs through others. As we call upon the Lord in our need, like the Samaritan asking Jesus, “Sir, give me this water,” perhaps the Lord has already answered our prayers by putting into the hands of our neighbours that for which we ask. And so we need to turn also to them, and ask, “Give me to drink.”

Sometimes the answer to our need is already in the life and goodwill of the people around us. From the Guarany people of Brazil we learn that in their language there is no equivalent word for the term “religion” as separate from the rest of life. The expression usually used literally means “our good way of being” (“ñande reko katu”). This expression refers to the whole cultural system, which includes religion. Religion, therefore, is part of the Guarany cultural system, as well as their way of thinking and being (teko). It relates to all that improves and develops the community and leads to its “good way of being” (teko katu). The Guarany people remind us that Christianity was first called “The Way” (Acts 9:2). “The Way,” or “our good way of being” is God’s way of bringing harmony to all parts of our lives.

Questions

1. How has your understanding and experience of God been enriched by the encounter with other Christians?

2. What can Christian communities learn from indigenous wisdom and other religious traditions in your region?

Prayer

God of life, who cares for all creation, and calls us to justice and peace,

may our security not come from arms, but from respect.

May our force not be of violence, but of love.

May our wealth not be in money, but in sharing.

May our path not be of ambition, but of justice.

May our victory not be from vengeance, but in forgiveness.

May our unity not be in the quest of power,

but in vulnerable witness to do your will.

Open and confident, may we defend the dignity of all creation,

sharing, today and forever, the bread of solidarity, justice and peace.

This we ask in the name of Jesus, your holy Son, our brother,

who, as victim of our violence, even from the heights of the cross,

gave forgiveness to us all.

Amen.

(Adapted from a prayer from an ecumenical conference in Brazil, calling for an end to poverty as the first step on the path to peace through justice)

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 6

DAY 6 

A prayer resource from The World Council of Churches.

TESTIMONY

Jesus said : “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14)

• Exodus 2:15-22 Moses at the well of Midian
• Psalm 91 The song of those who take refuge in the Lord
• 1 John 4:16-21 Perfect love casts out fear
• John 4:11-15 “A spring of water welling up to eternal life”

Commentary

The dialogue that begins with Jesus asking for water becomes a dialogue in which Jesus promises water. Later in this same gospel Jesus will again ask for a drink. “I thirst,” he says from the cross, and from the cross Jesus becomes the promised fountain of water which flows from his pierced side. We receive this water, this life from Jesus, in baptism, and it becomes a water, a life that wells up within us to be given and shared with others.

Here is the witness of a Brazilian woman who has drunk from this water and in whom this water becomes a spring: Sister Romi, a nurse from Campo Grande, was a pastor in the Pentecostal tradition.

One Sunday night, all alone in a shack, in Romi’s neighbourhood a sixteen year old indigenous girl called Semei gave birth to a baby boy. She was found lying on the floor and bleeding. Sister Romi took her to the hospital. Enquiries were made – where was Semei’s family? They were found, but they did not want to know.

Semei and her child had no home to go to. Sister Romi took them into her own modest home. She did not know Semei, and prejudice towards indigenous people is great in Campo Grande. Semei continued to have health problems, but Sister Romi’s great generosity brought forth further generosity from her neighbours.

Another new mother, a Catholic called Veronica, breastfed Semei’s child as she was unable to do so. Semei named her son Luke Nathanial and in time they were 28 able to move away from the city to a farm, but she did not forget the kindness of Sister Romi and her neighbours.

The water that Jesus gives, the water that Sister Romi received in baptism, became in her a spring of water and an offer of life to Semei and her child. Prompted by her witness, this same baptismal water became a spring, a fountain, in the lives of Romi’s neighbours. The water of baptism springing into life becomes an ecumenical witness of Christian love in action, a foretaste of the eternal life which Jesus promises.

Concrete gestures like these practiced by ordinary people are what we need in order to grow in fellowship. They give witness to the Gospel and relevance to ecumenical relations.

Questions

1. How do you interpret Jesus’ words that through him we may become “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14)?

2. Where do you see Christian people being springs of living water for you and for others?

3. Which are the situations in public life to which the churches should speak with a single voice in order to be springs of living water?

Prayer

Triune God,

following the example of Jesus,

make us witnesses to your love.

Grant us to become instruments of justice, peace and solidarity.

May your Spirit move us towards concrete actions that lead to unity.

May walls be transformed into bridges.

This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 5

DAY 5 

A prayer resource from The World Council of Churches.

ANNUNCIATION

You have no bucket and the well is deep (John 4:11)

• Genesis 46:1-7 God tells Jacob not to be afraid of going down to Egypt
• Psalm 133 How good it is when kindred live together in unity
• Acts 2:1-11 The day of Pentecost
• John 4:7-15 “You have no bucket and the well is deep”

Commentary

Jesus needed help. After a long walk, fatigue strikes. Exhausted in the heat of noon, he feels hungry and thirsty (Jn 4:6). Furthermore, Jesus is a stranger; it is he who is in a foreign territory and the well belongs to the woman’s people. Jesus is thirsty and, as the Samaritan woman points out, he has no bucket to draw water. He needs water, he needs her help: everybody needs help!

Many Christians believe that they alone have all the answers and they need no help from anyone else. We lose a lot if we maintain this perspective. None of us can reach the depths of the well of the divine and yet faith demands that we delve deeper into the mystery. We cannot do this in isolation. We need the help of our Christian brothers and sisters. Only then can we reach into the depths of the mystery of God.

A common point in our faith, regardless of the church to which we belong, is that God is mystery beyond our comprehension. The search for Christian unity brings us to the recognition that no community has all the means to reach into the deep waters of the divine. We need water, we need help: everybody needs help! The more we grow in unity, share our buckets and join the pieces of our ropes, the deeper we delve into the well of the divine.

Brazilian indigenous traditions teach us to learn from the wisdom of the elderly, and at the same time, from the curiosity and innocence of infants. When we are ready to accept that we do need each other, we become like children, open to learn. And that’s how God’s Kingdom opens for us (Mt 18:3). We must do as Jesus did.

We must take the initiative to enter into a foreign land, where we become a stranger, and cultivate the desire to learn from that which is different.

Questions

1. Do you remember situations in which your church has helped another church or has been helped by another church?

2. Are there reservations from the part of your church to accept help from another church? How can these reservations be overcome?

Prayer

God, spring of the Living water,

help us to understand that the more we join together the pieces of our ropes,27

the more deeply our buckets reach into your divine waters!

Awaken us to the truth that the gifts of the other,

are an expression of your unfathomable mystery.

And make us sit at the well together

to drink from your water

which gathers us in unity and peace.

We ask this in the name of your son Jesus Christ,

who asked the Samaritan woman to give him water for his thirst.

Amen.

Three Things from Administrative Council

Administrative Council had their first regularly scheduled meeting of the new year immediately following worship on Sunday January 18, 2015. Here are "The Three Things" you should know from that meeting:

1. Our Financial Health has never been better!
   I lead the Administrative Council in a thorough discussion of our total financial picture here at First Christian Church Scottsdale. Presently we have over $180,000 in total assets on deposit at the bank. Please note, this is in addition to our General Operating Fund. These are largely reserve funds, designated gifts, and the endowment fund. Of those total assets some of the highlights include $33,730 in the Endowment Fund, $18,848 in the Nehemiah Fund (designed to help cover any annual budget shortfalls), $14,183 earmarked for Missions, and $52,071 in the Reserve Fund. In fact, did you know that we ended 2014 with a small budget surplus and were able to move $3,578 into the Reserve Fund. Financially, thanks to your generosity, the good stewardship of the Administrative Council, and the fiscal planning of the church we are in great shape!
   
2. Administrative Council Retreat
   As has been our tradition for the last five years, the Administrative Council will start off the new year by meeting for their Annual Leadership Retreat. This will happen this coming Saturday, January 24. Julie Erickson has graciously opened up her home to us. The Council will be meeting for a time of prayer, reflection, goal setting, and faithful conversation that will set the stage for our work this year.
   
3. The Evolution of the Administrative Council Meetings
   The Administrative Council will continue having regular scheduled meetings every other month (our next meeting will be Sunday March 15 following worship), but the nature of those meetings will be evolving throughout the year. The Administrative Council will be intentionally working on long term and short term goals. Less of our meeting time will be built around hearing reports (those will be turned in ahead of time and will have a specific section for "Celebrations" to help us share the good news of what is happening at FCC Scottsdale) and more of the meeting time will be given over to big picture issues and discussions about where God is calling us and how we will faithfully get there. It is an exciting time for the Administrative Council, and we will be working hard to find ways to share the success stories of what is happening here at our church. Later this year you can look forward to new sections in our Newsletter and on our website to highlight our "Celebrations of FCC!"

Whiteboard: Five Little Words

This Sunday I'm preaching about Jonah.

And while I haven't worked out all the details of the sermon, I'm thinking about starting off like this: "The story of Jonah isn't about a whale at all."

That is true for two big reasons.

The first one is downright Biblical. Jonah 1:17 reads, "the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights."

That's right, the word in scripture is "fish" not "whale." And this isn't just a "Your Bible's translation is different from my Bible's translation" issue either. Jonah is swallowed by a large fish in the King James traslation, the NIV, the NRSV, the CEV, the Message, the Living Bible, the Revised Standard translation, and every other translation that I have on my book shelf here in the church office. And if we remember anything from our third grade science classes, it is that a whale is mammal not a fish. 

So the story of Jonah isn't about a whale at all. 

But I mean that is a broader, thematic, theological sense as well. Because you see, the story of Jonah is really all about God's grace. 

God's grace for Jonah when he keeps running away from his calling. 

God's grace for Ninevah, the city God is set on destroying clear up until they are all converted. 

God's grace for you and for me, that continues to rain down upon us as abundantly as it fell on stubborn old, rebellious, run-away Jonah. 

Why, even once Jonah is belched out of the belly of the fish (and honestly, most translation say "vomited" here) he still can't bring himself to quite do what God commanded of him. Jonah walks a third of the way into one of the biggest cities of the ancient world and speaks five little words. Well, it is five words in Hebrew (thus the title of my sermon this Sunday, and of this very blog post) that we translate as "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." We could summarize Jonah's entire call to conversion in five little words of our own, "Repent soon or else, Ninevah." 

And here's the thing. Here's the amazing, wonderful, miraculous, amazing thing. It works. Those five little words get an entire city to change their course. By sheer numbers, it makes Jonah the most effective prophet of the ancient world -- nobody else brought an entire city to the Lord. And all it took was five little words. 

So this Sunday I'm going to preach about five little words. And I promise you, it won't have anything to do with whales -- it will be all about God's grace!

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 4

DAY 4

A prayer resource from The World Council of Churches.

RENUNCIATION

Then the woman left her water jar (John 4:28)

• Genesis 11:31-12:4 God promises to make Abram a great nation and a blessing
• Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd
• Acts 10:9-20 “What God has made clean, you must not call profane”
• John 4:25-28 Then the woman left her water jar

Commentary

The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman shows that dialogue with the different, the stranger, the unfamiliar, can be life-giving. If the woman had followed the rules of her culture, she would have left when she saw Jesus approaching the well. That day, for some reason, she did not follow the established rules. Both she and Jesus broke with conventional patterns of behaviour. Through this breaking forth they showed us again that it is possible to build new relationships.

As Jesus completes the work of the Father, the Samaritan woman, for her part, leaves her water jar, meaning that she could go further in her life; she was not confined to the role society imposed on her. In John’s Gospel she is the first person to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. “Breaking forth” is a necessity for those who desire to grow stronger and wiser in their faith.

That the Samaritan woman leaves behind her water jar signals that she has found a greater gift, a greater good than the water she came for, and a better place to be within her community. She recognizes the greater gift that this Jewish stranger, Jesus, is offering her.

It is difficult for us to find value, to recognize as good, or even holy, that which is unknown to us and that which belongs to another. However, recognizing the gifts that belong to the other as good and as holy is a necessary step towards the visible unity we seek.

Questions

1. Meeting Jesus demands that we leave behind our water jars, what are those water jars for us?

2. What are the main difficulties that prevent us from doing so?

Prayer

Loving God,

help us to learn from Jesus and the Samaritan

that the encounter with the other opens for us new horizons of grace.

Help us to break through our limits and embrace new challenges.

Help us to go beyond fear in following the call of your Son.

In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 3

DAY 3 

A prayer resource from The World Council of Churches.

DENUNCIATION II

“I have no husband” (John 4:17)

• 2 Kings 17:24-34 Samaria conquered by Assyria
• Psalms 139:1-12 “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me”
• Romans 7:1-4 “You have died to the law through the body of Christ”
• John 4:16-19 “I have no husband”

Commentary

The Samaritan woman answers Jesus, “I have no husband.” The topic of conversation is now about the married life of the woman. There is a shift in terms of the content of their dialogue – from water to husband. “Go, call your husband and come back” (Jn 4:16), but Jesus knows the woman has had five husbands, and the man she has now is not her husband.

What is this woman’s situation? Did her husbands ask for divorce? Was she a widow? Did she have children? These questions arise naturally when dealing with this narrative. However, it seems that Jesus was interested in another dimension of the woman’s situation, he acknowledges the woman’s life but remains open to her, to encounter her. Jesus does not insist on a moral interpretation of her answer but seems to want to lead her beyond. And as a result the woman’s attitude towards Jesus changes. At this point, the obstacles of cultural and religious differences fade into the background in order to give space to something much more important: an encounter in trust. Jesus’ behaviour in this moment allows us to open new windows and raise further questions: questions that challenge the attitudes that denigrate and marginalize women; and questions about the differences which we allow to stand in the way of the unity we seek and for which we pray.

Questions

1. What are the sinful structures that we can identify in our own communities?
2. What is the place and the role of women in our churches?
3. What can our churches do to prevent violence and to overcome violence directed against women and girls?

Prayer

O you who are beyond all things,

how could we call you by any other name?

What song could be sung for you?

No word can express you.

What Spirit can perceive you?

No intelligence can comprehend you.

You alone are inexpressible;

all that is said has come from you.

You alone are unknowable;

all that is thought has come from you.

All creatures proclaim you,

those who speak and those who are dumb.

Every one desires you, everyone sighs and aspires after you.

All that exists prays to you,

and every being that can contemplate your universe raises to you a silent hymn.

Have pity on us, you who are beyond all things.

How could we call you by any other name?

Amen.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Day 2

DAY 2 

DENUNCIATION I

Tired of the journey, Jesus sat down facing the well (John 4:6)

• Genesis 29:1-14 Jacob and Rachel at the well
• Psalms 137 How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
• 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Each one of you says, “I am for Paul,” or “I am for Apollos"
• John 4:5-6 Jesus was tired out by his journey

Commentary

Jesus had been in Judea before his encounter with the Samaritan woman. The Pharisees had begun to spread the word that Jesus baptized more disciples than John. Perhaps this rumour has caused some tension and discomfort. Perhaps it is the reason behind Jesus’ decision to leave.

Arriving at the well, Jesus decides to stop. He was tired from his journey. His fatigue could also be related to the rumours. While he was resting, a Samaritan woman came near the well to fetch water. This meeting took place at Jacob’s well: a symbolic place in the life and spirituality of the people of the Bible.

A dialogue begins between the Samaritan woman and Jesus about the place of worship. “Is it on this mountain or in Jerusalem?” asks the Samaritan woman. Jesus answers, “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him” (Jn 4: 21- 24).

It still happens that instead of a common search for unity, competition and dispute mark the relations between the churches. This has been the experience of Brazil in recent years. Communities extol their own virtues and the benefits that accrue to their adherents in order to attract new members. Some think that the bigger the church, the larger its number of members, the greater its power, the closer they are to God, presenting themselves as the only true worshippers. As a result there has been violence and disrespect to other religions and traditions. This type of competitive marketing creates both distrust between the churches and a lack of credibility in society towards Christianity as a whole. As competition grows the “other” community becomes the enemy.

Who are the true worshippers? True worshippers do not allow the logic of competition – who is better and who is worse – to infect faith. We need “wells” to lean upon, to rest and let go of disputes, competition and violence, places where we can learn that true worshippers worship “in Spirit and in Truth.”

Questions

1. What are the main reasons for competition among our churches?

2. Are we able to identify a common “well” upon which we can lean, and rest from our disputes and competitions ?

Prayer

Gracious God,

Often our churches are led to choose the logic of competition.

Forgive our sin of presumption.

We are weary from this need to be first. Allow us to rest at the well.

Refresh us with the water of unity drawn from our common prayer.

May your Spirit who hovered over the waters of chaos

bring unity from our diversity.

Amen.