God's Broken Heart; Numbers 14:13-16

 

Rev. George Miller

May 26, 2024

Numbers 14:13-16

 

Starting today we are going to hear the scriptures that YOU, the people, submitted in the past for Stump The Pastor Sunday.

 

Today’s reading could not be timelier.

 

We have one of the most heartbreaking stories in the Bible.  Much of the Israelite’s history hinges on this moment,

 

Featuring a decision that never had to happen, a moment that was theirs and theirs alone to mess up.

 

Today we hear why it took 40 years for them to wander through the wilderness to enter the Promised Land when they could have done it in 19 months.

 

The simple answer is hubris; good ol’ fashion human hubris.

 

Today’s story has lessons to learn.

 

Lessons about listening.  Lessons about truth telling.

 

Lessons about waiting; about not giving into ego-driven fear.

 

Lessons about what happens to a religious body when they’re more willing to listen to the fears of the world, then the hopes of God.

 

Here is what happens- God heard the cries of the enslaved Hebrews and set them free, leading them across the Red Sea.

 

God guided them to Mount Sinai, giving them a year of rest as they receive the Law and take time to recover from their trauma.

 

God guides them to the edge of the Promised Land just as it is Spring.

 

The Land, the Nahalah, the Heaven Here on Earth that God is ready to lead them into is ripe and fertile with all the goodness of Creation.

 

The grass is green.  The goats have udders full of milk.  Bees busy making an abundance of honey.  Grapes are ginormous.

 

Everything anyone could want is right across the way, ready to be enjoyed, ready to be embraced.

 

The rivers flow with fresh water and fish, and the formerly

 

used-and-abused and oh-so-tired people are just a step away from entering into God’s promise of rest and being Pharoah-free.

 

All they have to do is trust, believe, and enter into their future.

 

Representatives are chosen to scout out the land and see the goodness God has waiting for them.  12 men selected to say what’s good.

 

Trouble is that although all 12 see the milk and the honey, and they see the abundance of fruit,

 

10 of the men come back and decide to give a false report.

 

Instead of sowing seeds of hope, they sow seeds of doubt into the people’s ears. 

 

They tell everyone that the land is way too dangerous, the people that live there are way too scary.

 

Even though God has brought the people from slavery into freedom, even though God has parted the Sea, 10 of the leaders lie and tell the people-

 

“We simply cannot enter.  It’s too dangerous; it’s unwise.  We will fail.”

 

And with that…the people God cared for, the people God listened to, the people God fought for and planned for…

 

They begin to weep, moan, and fight amongst each other.

 

They say “It was better the way things were.  Let’s go back to being slaves to the Pharaoh.”

 

Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb do all they can to turn the people’s hearts and trust back to God, but the people refuse.

 

Amidst of all these lies told and lies listened to, in the midst of the sobbing and wailing and fear and folks focused on what-ifs,

 

We are told that the Glory of God is literally standing before the people at the tent of meeting.

 

And it breaks God’s heart. 

 

God, who is full of compassion, compassion meaning “womb love.” Love that comes from having created, having carried, having cared for.

 

Imagine, God is filled with compassion, God filled with womb-love, just like a Mother.

 

Imagine what it must have done to God’s heart to see and hear the people choose the lies over 10 men,

 

then embrace the love and promise God made to them upon their freedom.

 

So God gets angry; God gets mad.  So mad that’s God’s immediate response is-

 

“That’s it- we are going to pull this car over to the side of the road and all of you can get out and walk home.”

 

This is God, filled with the kind of Womb Love that a parent has when their toddler becomes a teenager, who sees the puss on their face, and says

 

“Fine.  Fine.  If you think you know better, go ahead…I am done with you.”

 

And Moses intercedes.  He has a talk with God, a “come to Jesus” moment with the Creator.

 

Moses says “OK Senor, Ok Big Poppa, we know you’re mad, but you don’t mean what you’re saying; you’re just in your feelings.”

 

This is the second time since freeing the people that Moses had to have this talk with God.

 

And the cool thing is that God listens.  God hears.

 

God decides not to pull the car over and make them all get out.

 

But God realizes there needs to be consequences.  There does need to be responsibility for their lies, their bad actions.

 

So the consequence is that the promised trip into the Land flowing with milk and honey is postponed, it is delayed.

 

Instead of getting to enjoy fresh fruit parfaits and sweat tea with honey, the people will wait many years before they enter the land.

 

Instead of getting to rest in the green grass, and walking beside still waters, they’ll endure perils and frustrations of the wild.

 

It is heartbreaking.  It is so sad.

 

They are literally on the cusp of entering into the Promise during the height of its fertility…

 

…and yet they are swayed by the fear placed upon them by a few.

 

It’s a sad story about how fear can fatally affect faith.

 

And we wonder- why were those 10 so quick to lie about a land so, so good?

 

Why did they hold the people back from reaching their full potential?  

 

Perhaps some mistrusted God. 

 

Perhaps some were worried that once they succeeded, no one would need them.

 

Why were the people so willing to be led astray?

 

Perhaps they were so used to being slaves they couldn’t imagine anything else.

 

We all know someone uncomfortable with change, no matter how promise filled it is.

 

Some prefer sticking with what they know than to step into the unknown.

 

Perhaps they were addicted to chaos; the kind of people who were most happy being unhappy.

 

Some fear success and the added responsibility that comes with it, so they accept failure and keep everyone around them down.

 

Why do some value the currency of fear when others use the promise of possibilities? 

 

Sadly, the Israelites wandered the wilderness for 40 more years,

 

never getting to see, feel, taste, smell or hear what a land flowing with milk and honey was like.

 

Sadly, God’s compassionate heart was broken, and God had to see as all this needlessly unfolded.

 

As Emmanuel embarks on our Search and Call journey, this is a timely story to hear, for there will be so many steps, so many possibilities, hopes, fears.

 

And during the Search and Call process there will be so many questions-

 

-How do we follow God?

 

-How do we balance fear with faith?

 

-How do we listen to what the Holy Spirit says?

 

-How do we prevent ourselves from going back?

 

-How do we know that we are not following the fear of man, but humbly walking with God?

 

-What timeline do we follow, and whose timeline is it?  Ours or Heaven’s?

 

May today’s story guide us as Emmanuel embarks on the next chapter of its existence.

  Amen and amen.

Haitian Flag Day Message; Acts 2:1-4

 

Rev. George Miller

May 19, 2024

Acts 2:1-4

 

Today we have an exciting story-

 

Rush of wind, tongues of fire, foreign languages, gathered crowds.

 

The birth of the Christian Church with Peter ready to tell the tea.

 

At Bible Study, Diane had an a-ha insight- what if the miracle of Pentecost is not what the people spoke, but that the people heard?

 

Like really, really heard.

 

Perhaps the fact that a crowd of people listened, and allowed themselves to hear, is the true miracle.

 

So today, we invite you to hear.  To open our ears, and in the process, open our heart and learn anew.

 

But first- an exercise.- We are going to say the name of 16 areas-

 

if you are from or ever lived in any of them, please raise your hand.

 

Arkansas.  Missouri.  Iowa.  Oklahoma.  Kansas.  Nebraska.  South Dakota.  Montana.

 

Eastern Wyoming.  Eastern Colorado.

 

North Eastern New Mexico.  Northern Texas.

 

Western North Dakota.  Minnesota west of the Mississippi.

 

New Orleans and Louisiana.

 

If you raised your hand, then you have lived in what was once part of the Louisiana Land Purchase, and your life and identity was a direct result of the people of Haiti.

 

Now is the part in which we are invited to listen.  A story.

 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful island in the sea, called the Pearl of the Antilles.

 

The French established a colony there.  On that colony they grew sugar and coffee, so much so that Haiti became the #1 supplier of coffee and sugar to the Parisian kitchens and Hamburg cafes.

 

But these crops were grown under brutal conditions.

 

Enslaved individuals ripped from Africa and forced to endure the most hateful of behaviors from their abusers.

 

Until, one day those who filled the pockets of the Parisians decided they could take no more, so they fought back.

 

They stood up for themselves.  They united as one and fought.  

 

This battle between the French and the enslaved people of Haiti was so costly, so devastating, that on April 30, 1803, Napoleon sold 828,000 miles of land to America for $15 million, or 4 cents an acre.

 

And on May 18, 1803, a woman named Catherine Flon pieced together a red and blue flag.

 

The people proudly marched with that red and blue flag, celebrating justice and liberty, embracing “In Unity We Find Strength.”

 

Haiti became the first nation in the world in which enslaved women, children, men, fought for and won their freedom.

 

“In Unity We Find Strength”.  But…

and this is important to hear- the story of Haiti does not stop there.

 

First, Thomas Jefferson and the American leadership was so scared that Haiti’s success would lead to a slave revolt here, that they refused to acknowledge Haiti as a country.

 

Second, the French, feeling so humiliated, immediately sought retribution.

 

They surrounded Haiti with war ships carrying 500 canons pointed their way.  Like the mafia, France demanded that the citizens of Haiti pay them a tax to stay safe.

 

Called an “Independence Tax”, it amounted to $438 million in today’s dollars.

 

And since Haiti did not have that money, they were forced to take out a loan from the Parisian banks to pay off that tax.

 

This became known as the Double Tax.

 

This money Haiti was forced to pay for being free went to the descendants of the former slave owners; to the Emperor of Brazil, the son of a Russian ruler, a German imperial.

 

The indemnity tax and loans that Haiti had to pay under threat of annihilation made the French banks rich and funded the building of the Eifel Tower.

 

Though technically free, the people of Haiti endured a whole other kind of enslavement in which they could not fund schools or infrastructure.

 

It is estimated that if that double tax had not been imposed upon Haiti, it would have amassed $21 billion dollars that could’ve been used to fund

 

coffee farmers, Masons

Shops, Laundresses

 

Education, Medical bills

Bridges, Sewers, Water pipes.

 

That is why today, there is no real public school system in place.

 

That is why today 60% of the population lives in hunger.

 

That is why the north part of Haiti has no running water, septic tanks, or electricity,

 

and to simply have a cup of morning coffee requires gathering enough coals to cook it.

 

No wonder corruption crept into this island paradise.

 

No wonder there have been assassinations, gangs running rampant, and so much crime.

 

Because the people of Haiti are living in a history in which when they fought for freedom,

 

they were ignored by the Americans; they were threatened and double taxed by the French.

 

And today, those who seek asylum are sent back so they can face rape, murder, and being burned alive.

 

The story of Haitian Flag Day is one that starts in sadness, moves into triumph, and veers into a “what if?”

 

What if America had recognized and supported the nation in 1803?

 

What if France did not point 500 cannons at them?

 

What if the people of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma said “Because of you, we are.  Come here, and we will give you rest.”

 

What if…what if today, we hear?

 

What if we take all that we just listened to, and like Mother Mary, we hold them dear to our heart?

There is not much that we as a church can do to undo all the things that happened over 500 years.

 

But perhaps what we can offer Haiti, and offer our Haitian sisters and brothers, is that today we hear.

 

We hear the history.  We hear the story.

 

And perhaps we listen…. we listen for what God may be saying.

 

We listen for what Jesus could be telling us.

 

We listen for where the Holy Spirit, rush of wind, foreign words tell us.

 

Perhaps the best we can do, today, is to continue to tell the story so that others can hear, and they may know.

 

For the Pearl of the Antilles is more than what it has endured, and more than what is happening now.

 

Haiti is a land of strong coffee and sweet sugar and people who simply want to live their best life.

 

It is with great hopes that one day Haiti gets to experience their own Resurrection,

 

so they continue to fly their red and blue flag, and sing out to the Lord-

 

 In Unity We Find Strength.

 

And perhaps, we can stand beside them, because we have listened, and we have heard.

 

For that, let us say “Amen.”

Bodies Matter; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

 

Rev. George Miller

May 12, 2024

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

 

Thank God for our Shepherd’s Pantry, thank God for our Garden of Hope, thank God for our Tai Chi classes, thank God for our partnership with Edwards and Back Bay Mission,

 

Thank God for our sanctuary and our cozy seats and our chairs that we can get in and out of,

 

Because by affirming and caring for bodies, we are physically proclaiming and sharing the Good News of the Resurrection.

 

From Sunrise to Sunset, until the end of the ages, bodies matters, and they matter to God…

 

This year, life has added a new lesson- getting older, and it’s not been fun to learn.

 

Since 2010, I had the 1^st row seat to see how our bodies age,

 

how age manifests in the

intentional steps people take,

the pace they walk,

if they use the elevator or stairs.

 

Now I am the one experiencing how it feels when the knee aches, the hip pop, the ankle says “ouch” and the thigh says “no thank you.”

 

Thanks to walking for hours in dress shoes, stretching when I should have iced, exercising when I should have rested, turning to Google instead of going to the doctor,

 

2024 has been a lesson in what it is like to have an aging earthly body.

 

Now I realize just how low car seats and living room couches are, and how difficult it can be to sit down or stand up.

 

I realize now that my Grandma and Mom weren’t being melodramatic when they said a chair was too low or a seat too deep.

 

Now, I look at furniture, chairs, the toilet a whole new way, wondering-

 

why, when we know people age,

are we not making furniture that is

higher up and accommodating for folks over 50?

 

Today, I’ve more cognizant of how what happens to the body can affect your mood, your energy, your day-to-day decisions, what you wear, how you see yourself, when you pick something off the floor.

 

Last week at Disney a kid just mindlessly run up a flight of steps…and I was jealous of them.

 

3 lessons are learned-

 

1)             How to better pastor people as they age, having a glimpse into what it can be like

 

2)            Making sure I don’t give in to despair, finding a way to safely have an active, fulfilling life.

 

3)            Knowing that what happens to the body does affect the mind, the spirit, and that all three are wonderfully, woefully entwined.

 

This is partly what Paul addresses in his letter to the Corinthian Church.

 

As shared last week, this is a church doing a brand new thing, trying to figure things out amidst all the diversity, opinions, and beliefs.

 

There are those who are Jewish who were raised to believe that we were created in God’s image;

 

that God lovingly made and molded us by hand in God’s image, infusing us with God’s breathe,

 

so that our body, mind, soul cannot be separated from each other.

 

For this group of people, bodies matter, which means bodies are to be fed, cared for, and shown respect.

 

Then there are those who think the body and spirit are separate; the body is a jail, a tomb, a terrible place to be.

 

For them, the body can be mistreated, abused, overindulged. 

 

These are the people who may whip themselves in penance, or gorge in food, drink, or use their belief to physically mistreat others.

 

This group is having a difficult time understanding the Resurrection.  They can’t comprehend why the Resurrection of Jesus matters.

 

For this group, Jesus dying on the cross meant nothing.  Easter makes no sense. 

 

Instead, they are taking this brand-new Christian faith and using it as a way to say, “I’m better than anyone else” so they can look down upon and judge others.

 

To which Paul writes his extensive theological discourse in chapter 15. 

 

And regardless if Paul gets it right, or if everyone agreed, or even agrees today, there is something beautiful that Paul does.

 

What he says is this- Bodies Matter.

 

Your body matters.

My body matters.

Their body matters.

 

To a congregation stirred up in upheaval and disagreements, Paul says “Bodies matter, and bodies matter to God.”

 

In verse 38, Paul mentions that God has given each of us a body.  In verse 39, Paul goes a step further- saying that not all bodies are alike-

 

there are bodies that are human, bodies that are animals, bodies that are birds, bodies that are fish.

 

Wow. 

 

Paul is acknowledging that God just didn’t create us, humans, but the dogs we care for, the birds we feed outside, the fish in Lake Jackson.

 

Paul does not stop there.

 

Paul goes on to mention the glorious bodies of heaven- the body of the sun, body of the moon.

 

In mentioning the body of the stars, Paul says “stars differ from star in glory.” (vs. 41)

 

Wow wow wow.

 

Paul starts off chapter 15 trying to articulate the importance of Resurrection, but then he steps into this magnificent moment in which Paul says-

 

Not only has God given each of us a body,

God has given a body to animals,

God has given a body to

the fish of the sea,

the sun in the sky.

 

God has given a body

to each and every star in the galaxy.

 

For Paul, bodies matters.

Not just human bodies,

But all bodies

 

For Paul,

since bodies matter,

The Resurrection matters.

 

Since we are more than

just soul and mind,

Since our earthly flesh is not

a tomb or a jail cell,

 

The Resurrection matters.

 

For Paul, the Resurrection isn’t just about an idea,

An apparition,

Or a reason to decorate eggs.

 

The Resurrection is God’s validation that the life Jesus lived, in the flesh,

mattered.

 

The Resurrection is a validation that our bodies matter.

 

Our entire beings matter.

 

From the hairs on our head to the soles of our feet,

 

From the joyful leaping of a youth up the stairs at Disney,  to the aches in our knee when we get in the car,  Our bodies matter.

 

What happens to our bodies matter,

What happens to the bodies of others matter.

 

What happens to the bodies

of all creation matters.

 

So with this knowledge,

with this validation,

We can hold onto hope,

We can seek and find out joy,

 

We can welcome the assurance that

God sees us, God cares,

God cares about all we do,

All we experience, All we feel.

 

The idea and imagery of Resurrections means that our ever-aging bodies are loved by God,

 

It means our bodies are worth being redeemed. 

 

It means what we do with our bodies, what we do for and to other’s bodies,

Does matter to God.

 

So Thank God for our Shepherd’s Pantry, thank God for our Garden of Hope, thank God for our Tai Chi classes, thank God for our partnership with Edwards and Back Bay Mission,

 

Thank God for our sanctuary and our cozy seats and our chair that we can get in and out of,

 

Because by affirming and caring for bodies, we are also physically proclaiming and sharing the Good News of the Resurrection.

 

From Sunrise to Sunset, until the end of the ages, bodies matters, and they matter to God.

 

Amen.