Waxing Theological

2-26-17 (Transfiguration A) 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9 What Happens on the Mountain What would you have done if you were in the shoes of Peter, James, or John?  What would you have done if you had been there, on the top of that mountain, and you had seen the things that they’d seen - Moses and Elijah standing beside the man you’d been following, whose  clothes are now glowing the brightest white you’ve ever seen and whose face is blindingly bright, glowing like the morning sun ?  What would you have done? Would you be dumbstruck, as James and John appear to have been in the moment?  Would you gaze in awe and wonder for as long as you could at that bright and shining face until you couldn’t bear to look anymore, and even then still have the afterimage burned into your retinas?  Would you see Moses and Elijah standing beside Jesus and have the sudden, dawning awareness rush over you that this is, in fact, real ?  Would you finally, once...

2-19-17 (Epiphany 7A) Leviticus 19:1-2. 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48 Turning Cheeks and Punching Nazis If you thought my sermon was on the weird side last week, I’m going to apologize in advance for what you’re about to hear this week.  It starts with just one question:  Is it OK to punch a Nazi?  It’s the kind of question that seems straightforward, but when we really start digging down into how we feel, how we want to answer, and how we think we’re supposed to answer… well, perhaps it’s not such an easy question after all.     Strangely enough, it’s a question that has actually warranted genuine discussion within the last month.  It came up after Richard Spencer, a prominent white nationalist, was punched in the face by an anonymous protester while giving an on-camera interview on the day of the Presidential Inauguration.  It’s the kind of news you can’t make up - and while these kind of headlines are seeming to be more and more ...

2-12-17 (Epiphany 6A) Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew 5:21-37 It is Known There’s a saying that gets thrown around in both the book series and the television adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones that immediately came to mind for me this week as I read through this next portion of Jesus’ sermon on the mount.  It comes from the nomadic warrior people, called the Dothraki, and it’s a phrase that is used over and over again to indicate that a piece of information is common knowledge, accepted as absolute fact, unchallenged for centuries kind of wisdom: they say “It is known.”  And then usually someone repeats the phrase for emphasis and agreement.  “It is known.”  In the Game of Thrones universe, the things that are known are numerous, though they are not always known in the same way by one of the main characters, who finds herself thrust into an alien culture and has to learn everything by trial and error.  “It is known” that dragons have...

2-5-17 (Epiphany 5A) Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 5:13-20 Stay Salty Salt is an incredible mineral - it’s essential for life.  It gives additional flavor to our foods and can be used to help preserve them for long periods of time.  We use it to melt ice on the roads, as part of the process by which we chlorinate our water and help keep it clean and safe to drink, and in a number of different manufacturing processes that bring us various plastics and paper.  Throughout human history, salt has been used as a precious commodity - people used it as currency, traded for other goods with it, and considered their proximity to salt sources when building communities.  Salt is such an important piece of life that countries have even gone to war over it. So when Jesus tells his audience in the sermon on the mount that they are the “salt of the earth,” it’s an important statement for him to be making.  While we often say someone is a real “salt of the earth” kin...

You know, there's a lot they don't teach you in seminary.  A lot of it is minor - the kind of stuff you could waste an entire year of seminary covering and still either not be prepared for or think that it was splitting hairs while you are still a student.  Stuff like "how to compile an annual report," or "why the church directory should be handled by a full committee," and "how to respond to the person at the grocery store who saw your picture in the paper and so knows who you are and acts like they've known you since high school, but you don't have the foggiest idea who they  are and you're too embarrassed to admit it" would be topics eagerly covered, but readily dismissed by many seminarians. But one thing that perhaps it would have benefitted us to spend some more (or any) time on is "how to be true to yourself and still be the pastor of a church you care about."  This is the one that's getting me more than any other...

1-29-17 (Epiphany 4A) Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12 Righteous Blessings What does it mean to you to say that something or someone is “blessed?”  What kind of qualities come to mind?  Do you think of something that is “blessed” as having some kind of divine favor, like the priest who blesses his golf clubs in the hopes that it might give him a better edge on the back nine? Is it some kind of heavenly luck?  The near-miss on the highway that makes you take a second and give thanks for the guardian angel who was sitting on your shoulder that morning, or the $20 bill you find in the pocket of your jeans just as you were cursing yourself for forgetting your wallet before you left the house?  Or maybe it’s something more akin to a natural, God-given talent, the success that you’ve earned in doing whatever it is you do - a bumper crop this year harvested and stored in record time because you worked out the right schedule, or the hefty commission check you hauled i...