February 21, 2016 - Second Sunday in Lent - The Fox and The Mother Hen

During the announcements Chris updated us with the results of Creator's Blood drive where the Red Cross goal was exceeded.

This was the first Sunday with a new soundboard and many in the congregation noticed the difference.  The Confession and Forgiveness was particularly powerful and heartfelt this morning that led into a resolute Gather Us In.

Pastor Michelle's Children's Time took the children through the various words and pictures that had already been used to describe God - potter, bread, fire, water, wind and introduced them to the mother hen; the description Jesus gave of himself in today's Gospel.      .

The sermon stressed how Jesus reacted in opposition to the Pharisses warning.  He will be on his way to the place where he can be killed.

For me, this Sunday's Gospel radically put a new perspective on the spontaneous depth I wrote about Wednesday's experience. Being filled with, connected with, and secured in, the greater experience starts from a feeling of being safe and secure. Today's Gospel is filled with health warnings that are attached to Christian religious belief.  This not intended for the followers of Jesus to feel safe and secure.

Temptation is a recurrent thread running through the the past few week's Gospels detailing Jesus' ministry.  The Pharisees warning, regardless of their motivations, is another temptation.  His is hazardous work and Jesus should abandon it since Herod intends to kill him.  Jesus provides an unexpected response.

First he proclaims the work.  He is casting out demons and performing cures.  He will do this until the work is completed. He dismisses the possibility of being killed outside Jerusalem.  Rather than getting away, he says he must be on his way to Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets and stones those sent to it. .

I suspect I half-heard his response three year's ago.  Either that or I only half-understood the importance of this response.  Jesus compares his efforts gathering God's children together to a hen gathering her brood. This is a remarkable feminine metaphor for God, so remarkable it overshadows  the role Jesus assigns Herod.

Describing Herod as fox and comparing himself to a hen reveals the other aspect of this metaphor - a vulnerable God.  Against a fox the hen can only shield her chicks with her own body.  A powerful animal with claws or teeth would guarantee security and safety of the chicks in a way that the mother hen can't provide.  Do we wonder why the chicks are not flocking under their mother hen's wing?  This is also about the power of the resurrection to come but we fight the idea of the physical danger.

Two weeks ago Pastor Michelle observed "The gospel does not speak in harmless generalities". This applies again here.  Yes, when Jesus describes his desire to gather us we feel the holy longing for God echoing back in response.  His longing resonates within us and we match his longing with ours.

Scripture doesn't accommodate resting there, however.

This week the Pope responded to a question about Trump Thursday, saying about the current GOP front-runner "“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,”  There was a defiant response from Trump and an immediate, more general, backlash from many complaining that the Pope was being judgmental, hypocritical (because there are walls in the Vatican), either in artful in his words or incorrectly translated, or citing the separation of church and state.

There is a relevant Kierkegaard quote on this, "The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God".  If the Pope's words are a judgement, that judgment indicts most, if not all of us as not being Christian.  Perhaps this was why the reaction to the Pope's words was so pronounced.  Bringing this back to our Gospel text it appears clear that with our holy longing for God and Jesus is our fear and longing for security.

As a result we don't live up to our ideal holy longing. Today's Gospel speaks directly to the other longing - to live in a comfortable, safe Christianity.  Jesus did not yield to the temptation but understood this longing.  I' quote Kierkegaard again "What precisely is profound in Christianity is that Christ is both our atoner and our judge, not that one is our atoner and another our judge, for then we would nevertheless come to be judged, but that the atoner and the judge are the same."  In the end, do we have faith and trust that what we need, want and feel are real concerns to God?

Pastor Michelle answered this in the ending of the sermon.  "Remember, God never gives up and always reaches out to us.

Then there were powerful testimonials in the service.

Thy Holy Wings took on a very different meaning after the sermon.  The prayer within the lyrics was framed by the story of the hen.  The was much more courage in those lyrics than a comfort to nestle yourself in, which was there as well but with a different emphasis.

Luka's Prayers of the People resonated with many of us this morning

After the Offering there Creator's Quilters made a quilt presentation to Shirley, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy.   It was apparent that Shirley was touched and humbled by the handmade quilt and the love and prayers that surrounded her when they cloaked her with the quilt.

 The Trumpets Sound, the Angels Sing was more than an appropriate response to the presentation and gave voice to the joy and celebration of the moment.

The Sending Song - Go My Children, With My Blessing tied the whole service back to the final message of the sermon.

Creator Quilt Photo - Shirley Peterson