Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Unusual Gardeners

If we planted fields and gardens the way Jesus’ sower scattered seed, it wouldn’t work well. But if we scatter God’s love that way, it might work very well indeed.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking that you might be wondering about the bandage. I did just have to have some skin surgery. It was minor and everything that needs to be removed is removed. You can expect that there will be a bandage (somewhat smaller as the weeks go on) on my brow for the next few weeks.

I am also thinking about the thirteenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). This contains one of Jesus’ best known parables, the Parable of the Sower. It also contains something that is a little less usual for one of Jesus’ parables, that is, an explanation.

Most of the time, Jesus let his stories stand by themselves. In this case, Jesus’ disciples wanted to know what he meant by describing someone who went out and scattered seed in the most unlikely of places. And in some of those places, the seeds simply could not grow or could not thrive. In other places, the seeds sprouted and produced astonishing yields.

Jesus compared the seeds to the Word of God. In some places, the Word of God is simply rejected or choked out. In other places, the Word of God finds fertile ground and bears much fruit.

I think that one of our roles as Jesus’ disciples is to take on that of the Sower. That is, to scatter the Word around. Now, if we were gardeners, and I am not one, but if we were gardeners or farmers, we would be careful about where we placed the seeds. We want each seed to have the best opportunity to produce a plant, to grow, to flower, and to bear fruit. But for the Word, for the grace of God, for the blessings of God, for the description of our loving God, well, for that, the guidance is different, isn’t it? The guidance is: describe the love of God to everyone, whether it seems like they might be thorny soil or rocky soil or good soil, whatever they are.

We will find out who they are by what happens when the Word tries to take root.

We scatter the words. We scatter the love of God. We proclaim the love of God. We display the love of God anywhere and everywhere, so that the love of God may grow around us and bear fruit.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Recognizing Truth

People didn’t know what to think about Jesus or John the Baptist. How do we recognize those who tell us the truth?

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30).

As Jesus himself observed, people didn’t know what to do or what to think about him and about his predecessor, John the Baptist. Jesus compared it to children in a village square singing, “We played the pipes for you and you would not dance. We wailed for you and you would not mourn.” Because John the Baptist, well, he was an ascetic and they said he had a demon. Jesus came along and he met with people. He ate and drank with them. And they said that he was a glutton and a drunkard and the friend of sinners.

What is one to do? How is one to meet expectations which are never quite defined, but mostly seem to come down to if you’re not behaving just like me, then you can’t possibly be somebody with a legitimate message from God. Isn’t that the case today? For this person and for that person, if the message doesn’t sound like something that they might say, well then it probably isn’t from God, now, is it?

I’m pretty sure that’s the case from me. I suspect it’s probably the case for you as well.

In a prayer, just a little further down the chapter, Jesus actually thanked God for the revelation coming to those not who were powerful or educated, those that you would expect to recognize the incarnation of God. Instead, the truth had been revealed to people like Simon Peter or James and John, day workers, fishermen, people who had not spent a lot of time learning and studying people who probably could not read at all.

The message of the good news in the end comes not to those who have prepared for it necessarily, but to those who are willing to embrace it. The message of the gospel comes to those who are willing to listen for truth and to accept it into their spirits when they do. The blessings of the gospel come not to those who have set themselves out as the arbiters of truth, but to those who can recognize it when it comes.

May that be said of you and of me.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Signs of the Times

What happens when people claim to speak for God and have radically different views? Ask if they can read the signs of the times as well as the signs of God.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the twenty-eighth chapter of the book of the Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28:5-9).

Things were not good in Judah. The Babylonians had sent an army which had conquered its capital city Jerusalem. They had taken away the king, a number of the king’s advisers, senior leaders in the city, the nation, the Temple. They had looted the city, including removing at least some of the sacred appointments of the Temple itself.

Now, some prophets in the city had declared that God would keep the Babylonians away. They had been wrong. Among them was one named Hananiah who declared that within two years, God would reverse the judgment, restore the nation and even return the sacred objects to the temple.

Jeremiah, who had opposed Hananiah, said that no, no, the sins of the leaders were still working themselves out. And indeed, they would live under Babylonian domination for some time to come. “But Hananiah, may it be as you have said, may it be that this different proclamation, unlike the prophets of before, who had observed the conditions of the day and said that there were consequences for them, the consequences sometimes from God and sometimes consequences of the behavior in itself. If peace comes, then we will know that you are a prophet. And if Babylon maintains its dominion, we will know who the prophet is.”

Jeremiah, in addition to hearing from God, could read the signs of the times. Babylon was not going away. And indeed, it would be more than seventy years before the people who had been taken into exile were able to return home. And if you think about it, that’s not the people taken into exile. That’s their grandchildren and their great grandchildren.

Jeremiah could read the signs of the times and would not be swayed by words that promised what he wanted. He wanted the restoration of the nation. He wanted the Temple’s sacredness to be restored. But that was not going to happen. The nation’s leaders had taken them down terrible paths, and the nation as a whole had suffered the consequences.

Not all that many years later, the king that the Babylonians had installed tried a little rebellion of his own, resulting in the destruction of the city walls and the burning of Solomon’s Temple.

Jeremiah could read the signs of the times. May we read the signs of the times and make the changes that are necessary to restore the fortunes of the most vulnerable and the most needy in our society, and to hold accountable those who oppress and impoverish them.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Better Than This

It is true that many figures in the Scriptures give fine examples for how we should behave – but that is not true of this story.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the twenty-first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 21:8-21). It is a troubling story.

It begins well enough. The family of Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac, who had been born to Sarah long after anyone thought that that was possible. Then Sarah saw Isaac playing with his older half-brother Ishmael. Now Ishmael existed because Sarah had insisted that Hagar, his mother, conceive a child with Sarah’s husband Abraham. Hagar, as a slave, had no choice in the matter. And so Ishmael was born.

Seeing them playing together, Sarah decided that it was not proper for the son of the slave to be playing with the son of the wife. She insisted that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. And Abraham, reassured by God that God would take care of them, did precisely that.

The second half of the story is familiar to us. Hagar left her son under a bush and went away so that she would not have to watch him die. God spoke to her and guided her to a spring, and so the two survived. It is a rescue from a situation that should not have happened.

The story of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac is one of those that I hope we look at and say, “We will not emulate the people into this story. We will not take advantage of the neediness or the social place of people in order to provide children or just relief to powerful men. And we will not send helpless people out into the desert with minimal resources and a vague hope that they survive.”

This is one of the places where I read the story and I say: We have to be better than this. We have to be better than our ancestors have shown us.

May it be true for us, for our children and our children’s children.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Assignment Mercy

Jesus set his closest associates on the challenging assignment of bringing compassion to those who needed it so. We have the same assignment.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth chapters of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 9:35-10:8).

This section begins with Jesus’ observation that the people of the villages that he had met were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. There was more work to be done than he could do himself. He summoned twelve from amongst his followers, and he gave them power and authority.

He appointed them to be ambassadors of the movement, to go out and visit these other villages. There, he directed them, proclaim the good news that the realm of God is drawing near. Cast out the demons, heal the sick, and by the way, make no preparation as you go. Don’t save any money, don’t bring even any extra clothing.

It was, and it is, a tough assignment. I would argue that we as disciples today: we are the heirs of those twelve. We are still asked to do something about bringing the reign of God closer to being in the world. To do what we can for the sick, to comfort those who are pressed by evil spirits, and to assist those who are pressed by evil people. We continue in this long tradition of seeing what is wrong in the world, and bringing good news and good action to those who suffer to those in need.

Proclaim the good news that the realm of God is near. Bring healing and comfort and assurance, and you will be doing the work of Jesus.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Mercy

The prophets said it. Jesus said it. God desires mercy.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the ninth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 9:9-13, 8-26). This follows the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I read it as Jesus providing examples, demonstration, embodying, if you will, the very teachings that the Sermon on the Mount is filled with.

There are a lot of healings here, and Jesus healed some people that you might not expect. This section begins with Jesus calling somebody that people would not have expected. He summoned Matthew, a tax collector, to join him amongst his followers. Some of the other religious leaders had questions, and they went to Jesus’ disciples and asked why it was that the Teacher welcomed tax collectors and sinners and even ate with them.

Religious leaders didn’t do that. It was important in those days that religious leaders maintained themselves as clean in order to perform their functions.

Jesus responded by reminding them of something that the prophets had said over and over again. Quoting them, quoting God, Jesus said, “Go and learn what it means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

The cleanliness was all about being prepared to properly offer the devotional sacrifices of the Temple or of the Tabernacle. The prophets had rightly pointed out, and Jesus rightly reinforced it, that God’s preoccupation with human behavior is not exclusively or even primarily with the sacrificial practices. God’s concern with human behavior is the way we treat one another.

And how are we to treat one another? With mercy and not with some kind of self-righteous piety.

People in the ancient world: they got that wrong over and over again, which is why the prophets had to keep saying it. People in Jesus’ day got that wrong over and over again, and that is why Jesus had to say it. In our day, people get it wrong over and over again, and that’s why I have to repeat it.

God desires mercy, not some kind of pietistic religious practice, that may or may not do something about our own relationship with God, but does nothing for the other people for whom God cares.

God desires mercy for everybody around us, and God desires mercy for us as well.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Created Good

In the beginning of the Scriptures, we learn that God made the world and human beings and thought it good. Why do we so often decide that some people and some parts of the world aren’t good?

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2:4a): the beginning of that book, the beginning of our Scriptures, and of course, the beginning of time. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.”

There is a repeated set of words, a consistent phrase that runs through this day-by-day account of the world coming together. At the end of each day, God pauses and looks at what has been created and says it was good. That’s true of light on the first day; it is true of humanity — “Male and female God created them” — on the last day.

Christianity and Judaism as well are both absolutely convinced that the creation is good, that God intends for us to exist, that God even placed some reflection of the Divine upon human beings themselves. We are here because God wants us to be here. We are here because God thinks that it’s a good thing. We are here because God loves us.

There are a lot of systems in the world that do all they can to discount that fundamental goodness of the world. These are systems that will exploit and abuse parts of the world because there seem to be a lesser value than human beings. And so we dig and destroy and we cut down forests and we slaughter the creatures that live in them. This is not supported by these words of Scripture. All those things that we would destroy for our own benefit, those are also good.

It must also be said that there are people that human beings see as not people. And they set out to treat them badly. Sometimes because they’re women. Sometimes because their skin is another color, sometimes because they speak a different language, sometimes because they believe something different about the nature of the world and about God.

In the beginning, God thought all of these were good. In the beginning, God created male and female in the divine image. And in these days, the divine image is equally reflected in every single human being upon the planet. We cannot use the Scripture, at least not this Scripture, to declare that God loves anyone more than any other person.

God made us and intended us to be here. God made us and placed upon us the image of the divine. God made us and loves us today and always.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Pentecost Power

The power given us by the Holy Spirit is purposeful: it helps us promote peace, extend forgiveness, and renew life.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the second chapter of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-21), because this coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday.

Pentecost is an older holiday than Christianity. It was celebrated in Judaism for millennia before Jesus’ followers gathered in some place in Jerusalem to observe the day. We know that they began in some place together. Perhaps later in the day they planned to go worship in the temple. We don’t know. What we do know was that whatever their plans were, they were disrupted.

There was the sound of a rush of a mighty wind. There was something that played above their heads that others later described as looking like tongues of fire. They came outside and began to speak to people about God’s deeds of power in Jesus. And when they did so, they spoke in languages that were not native to them, languages that until that day they had not spoken.

Pentecost became, for Christians, the holiday which celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit. And indeed it’s paired in the lectionary with the twentieth chapter of John (John 20:19-23), in which on the day of his resurrection, Jesus said to his followers, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

There is a lot that can be said and has been said and will be said about the gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is literally the foundation of the church. We exist because the Holy Spirit gathers us and we continue to serve from the power that the Holy Spirit gives to us. But let’s be careful about what that power is.

When Jesus spoke to his disciples, he said to them, “Peace be with you.” So first of all, the power of the Holy Spirit is the power of peace.

Jesus also said, and later Peter would say in that sermon on Pentecost, the the power was the forgiveness of sins: not the power of condemnation, the power of restoration and belonging.

And it is the power of life and of resurrected life. The power of the Holy Spirit is what lifts us up when we are cast down, what gives us strength to continue doing what is good and right and true when we think we have run out. The power of the Holy Spirit is the power to take our bodies when we have laid them down at the end of our lives, pick them back up again in a grand resurrection, and restore us to one another and to God in the realm that is to come.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Suffering

The first readers of First Peter were experiencing suffering – some kind of official persecution. They were told not to be surprised, because the ways of Christ (generosity, humility, and compassion) threaten people with means, power, and self-righteousness.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about portions of chapter 4 and chapter 5 of First Peter (1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11). Our section begins with the author telling his readers not to wonder at the “fiery trial” that is taking place among them. Apparently the recipients were experiencing a wave of persecution.

Persecution for early Christians was intermittent. It was fairly rare for the entire Roman Empire to engage in persecution of Christians. But in any given province, the governor might institute some kind of program against this growing faith that the Romans neither understood nor trusted. In the earliest days of the Church, people could be in one place and be perfectly safe while in another place they might be openly pursued.

The question of suffering is one raised in a number of faiths and Christianity is not the only one. First Peter says that the explanation for at least some suffering is in doing what is right, in believing what is true, in following the one who is trustworthy. That isn’t always true. There is plenty of suffering that is, and I’m quite familiar with this from personal experience, self-inflicted. There is other suffering that is simply random. Things happen. And if there is a reason for it, we will not discern that in his lifetime.

But our author was concerned with suffering that was the result of following the ways of Jesus. The simple truth is that when we follow the ways of Jesus, there are some who will be threatened by it. Because the ways of Jesus call for generosity, and there are more than a few people of means that resist generosity with all they are being. And the way of Jesus calls for a setting aside pride and power, and there are people who are proud of their power and have no wish to let it go. The ways of Jesus call for compassion, and there are so many people in the world who vastly prefer to judge.

 Is it any wonder that those who follow Jesus may find themselves suffering for it?

I can only echo these ancient words. Do the best you can to follow Jesus. Do the best you can to be generous and to be kind. Do the best you can to set aside your power. Do the best you can to face the consequences. Hopefully you will not be brought up in front of judges and tribunals as happened to all too many Christians over the centuries.

Hopefully, the only judge that you will stand before is the one who gave you the directions to do what you’ve done: Jesus, our Lord, our judge, and especially our Redeemer.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Rev. Eric Anderson What I'm Thinking

What I’m Thinking: Making Connections

We know from experience that truth is not always obvious, and that plenty of people will try to deceive us. How did the Apostle Paul share his truth? By making connections.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the end of the seventeenth chapter of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 17:22-31): Luke’s account of the Apostle Paul’s speech in the Areopagus, one of the great public centers of the city of Athens.

Paul began his speech by commending the Athenians on their religious practice, on their devotion and dedication to religion and to the Spirit. Specifically, he commanded the fact that they had a shrine to an unknown God. In the rest of his speech, the Apostle attempted to make a connection between this unknown God that they worshiped, and the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ. He concluded his speech by saying that Christ’s resurrection from the dead was a confirmation of the love of this unknown God for all people.

This is one of the few extended evangelistic appeals that we find in the New Testament, which seems odd, but the New Testament was by and large, written by people who were already a part of the faith, for people who were already a part of the faith. That is true of the gospels. They were not written for neophytes, for people who were interested in Christianity. They were written for existing Christians to learn more about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Likewise, the letters were written in Paul’s case mostly to people who already knew, and even when he wrote to strangers, he was writing to members of Christian churches.

This is one of the few times that we hear the words of an early Christian being addressed to a pagan audience. And what did he do?

He met them where they were, and he tried to bring them along a path that led to where he was.

He believed it was important for them to learn these things, and he chose a way that was as likely or more likely to be successful than other means. He helped them make connections between things that they already knew, and things that he hoped they would come to know and believe.

I keep saying that there are things at the heart and foundation of Christianity, and I can’t help saying that because it’s true. One of those things is connection.

Connection in the sense of relationship: Paul was hoping to build actual person to person relations with people in Athens and to build a community of followers of Jesus. To do so, he helped them to make connections within their own lives, things that were familiar, things that were comprehensible, in order that they might move towards things they had not yet experienced, not yet heard about, things that, in the end, are pretty much indescribable, but nevertheless, leads towards making that connection, and again a connection of relationship, between those people and God.

May we find ourselves making those same connections: person to person, ourselves to things that we do not yet know, and most of all, may we find ourselves always connecting to our God, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you are thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.