Waxing Theological

11-25-18 (Proper 29/Ordinary 34 B Semi-Continuous) Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37 Christ the King The year is 1925.  The “War to End All Wars” has been over for seven years, but the world is far from feeling truly peaceful.  Strong dictatorships were beginning to rise in Europe: Mussolini was establishing a police state in Italy and Hitler was gaining popularity after his release from prison in Germany.  Nationalist ideas were taking root and finding expression around the world - both Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding espoused an “America First” policy that promoted a form of neutrality, both during and after World War I, and the Nazi Party continues to gain momentum in Germany with its disdain for leftist German politics, Jews, and a strongly developing white-supremacist rhetoric made even more prominent by the publication of Hitler’s “ Mein Kampf.” At the same time, the ideas of secularism continue to grow - with rapidly advancing developments in ph...

11-11-18 (Proper 27/Ordinary 32 B, Semi-Continuous) Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Mark 12:38-44 Giving Everything It’s not all that often that November 11th tends to fall on a Sunday, let alone that we are given the opportunity to recognize the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that brought the first World War to an end.  Today at 11:11, bells across the country will be rung 21 times in commemoration of this centennial event - both to honor those veterans who are still in our midst, and in memory of those who have already given that “last full measure of devotion” in service to their country and gone on before us. It’s interesting to think of these events today, particularly as we listen to the readings from this Sunday’s lectionary.  While neither Ruth nor the widow that Jesus points out were great military leaders or soldiers serving on the battlefields, and couldn’t have served in their nation’s military even had they wanted to in their time, they s...

11-4-18 (Proper 26/Ordinary 31 B, Semi-Continuous) Ruth 1:1-18; Mark 12:28-34 Love Your Neighbor Suppose someone came up to you and asked you: “Which of the amendments to the US Constitution is the most important?”  What would your answer be?  Of the 27 different amendments that have been made to our nation’s founding document, which one would you say is the most essential?  It’s a tough question, and the answers could vary wildly from person to person.  As a pastor and as someone with kind of a big mouth, I’m quite partial to the 1st amendment, myself.  For others, it’s the 2nd amendment that takes the top spot, particularly as the debate over gun safety continues to be at the forefront.  If you were to ask members of the black community this question, you might hear more about the 13th amendment and the abolishment of slavery, or the 15th amendment and the right to vote.  Many women in this country might list the 19th amendment and the Wo...

10-28-18 (Proper 25B, Semi-Continuous)   Job 42:1–6,10–17; Mark 10:46–52     Humility and Persistence As the World Series has been going on and making history in our midst with the longest playoff game ever played, it’s perhaps fitting to turn to baseball metaphors as we look at today’s passage in Mark.  Bartimaeus is a man who has stepped up to bat with three strikes already against him.  His first strike is that he is a blind man.  Second strike: he is a beggar. His third strike is that the name Bartimaeus literally means son of the defiled/unclean. Whether his parents were just really out of good ideas to name their child, or whether this was possibly a name by which this man was just known around town, the text doesn’t tell us.  But what we do know is that this man was about as far on the outskirts of society as a person could be - the only thing that would have been worse is if he had been a Samaritan on top of everything else. Anyw...

10-21-18 (Proper 24/Ordinary 29B, Semi-Continuous) Job 38:1-7, 34-41; Mark 10:35-45 You Can’t Always Get What You Want In this day and age, we’ve gotten pretty used to knowing that we can pretty much always get what we want.  Our business models are even often structured around this concept - the idea that “the customer is always right,” even though anyone who has worked in retail knows this is all too often the farthest thing from the truth.  Think about the slogans that have defined some of our different restaurants and businesses: Burger King’s “Have It Your Way,” the old Domino’s guarantee of “30 minutes or it’s free,” Visa’s “It’s everywhere you want to be,” or Holiday Inn’s “Pleasing People the World Over.”  We are a people who are used to instant gratification, to expecting to get what we have paid for and more.  I know that, all too often, when I’m looking at purchasing something or trying out a new place, I’ll turn to the customer reviews and se...

World Communion Sunday, 2018 Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Mark 10:2-16 Peace and Foolishness A few years ago, I shared about the history of World Communion Sunday - that it was a time when the world was in a bit of turmoil after World War Two and the Shadyside Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh wanted to bring people together across denominational lines and across the borders of countries and seas. It seems that today we again seem to be in a similar situation, where we need to remember that we are not Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Green, but that we are instead beloved children of God. It seems that we as a country have always sort of been in turmoil. From fighting the British for our Independence, to fighting Native Americans and the atrocities that went along with displacing millions of people, to the Civil War to the women’s suffrage movement, to the civil rights movement, to both world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Even today w...

9/30/18 (Proper 21/Ordinary 26 B, Semi-Continuous) James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50 For and Against “If you’re not for us, then you’re against us.” This is the phrase we’re more familiar with, and we see it lived out all around us.  For example, there are quite a few folks in this sanctuary right now who have been very gracious with this pastor for being a fan of my Pittsburgh professional sports teams… but if I were to walk in next Sunday wearing Jayhawks apparel, I’d be sent home and told not to come back until I could find something more appropriate to wear. This last week, we have been inundated , even overwhelmed, with this kind of “for or against” messaging and tribalism, and as we move closer and closer to November, that messaging is only bound to intensify.  So it was both provoking and refreshing this week to come across this passage in Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus turns that idea on its head.  As we pick up immediately where we left off from...