Chris Yaw

The message of John the Baptist had some bizarre clothing.

You remember, it was a shirt of camel's hair and a diet of wild honey and locusts.

This year that same message has its own bizarre clothing: medical masks and a diet of anxiety, worry, and frustration.

The message of John the Baptist had some bizarre clothing.

You remember, it was a shirt of camel's hair and a diet of wild honey and locusts.

This year that same message has its own bizarre clothing: medical masks and a diet of anxiety, worry, and frustration.

Different clothes but it's the same deal. Both John and Covid ask us to question our priorities, examine our habits, and perhaps make substantive changes to the way we're living.

Just as those early pilgrims who flocked to the Jordan to be baptized by John were hunkering down under the oppression of Roman forces, so are we hunkering down, beneath forces outside our control.

John's challenge is also ours: not to be hunkered down spiritually even though we're hunkered down physically.

How are we not to allow the isolationism, disconnection, and weary prospect of a really long, dark, winter define who we are and who we want to be as disciples of Jesus?

What kind of attitude, habits, and lifestyle changes must we make to approach this challenging time with hope, courage, and confidence in God?

This is the challenge of Covid, this is the challenge of Advent: preparing the way of the Lord not hindered by our daunting circumstances, but clothed with trust and hope that things will work out.

We’re being called to the Jordan.

Come, let us go together.

My sister ran into an old friend at a restaurant.

He'd been out of town for years pursuing his career and had recently moved back to care for an aging relative.

After exchanging pleasantries my sister asked how he was doing. And he made the very brave decision to answer honestly.

"Not that well," he said. And he went on to explain how Covid had ruined his career, how his siblings were being less than helpful with their sick relative, and how he longed for an end to the raging destruction of this pandemic.

My sister asked if they could get together for a meal soon, he agreed and they adjourned only to take up these topics again soon.

Talking to a grave digger at a funeral this week, he told me about his job moonlighting as a check-out clerk at a grocery store. “It’s frustrating," he said, "Why do people have to be so angry? "

He explained how he tries to understand that people are bearing heavy loads, and much of the rudeness from customers is displaced pandemic frustration.

So he takes it in, and resolves to come back with words of assurance, and encouragement. He says he is often met with apologies and thanks for trying to understand and not retaliate.

What we see here is the power of connection to Inspire hope.

In both these scenarios there's a decision to engage with compassion.

This holiday weekend, as you and I gather in tiny pods of friends and relatives for our stripped down Thanksgivings, we see opportunities to build hope through connection.

Bravery and compassion are what’s needed to go beyond conversations about weather and sports - to create safe spaces where we can be honest - knowing our vulnerability only deepens our connections.

When we ponder Christian discipleship during Thanksgiving, few things bring the Kingdom to our doorsteps more than courage and compassion.

May we be brave.

May we be strong.

May God bring us the grace to connect with faithful assurance that all will be well.

Take a look at this graph.

It shows church attendance over the last 17 years. It’s a steady trend that shows America is going to church less.

Then COVID hit.

And we in the church business learned, as Carey Nieuhoff puts it, that crisis is not just a disrupter it’s an accelerator.

This means that our churchgoing trend has been accelerated as congregations have scrambled to put in place alternate worship and ministry models - and as many churchgoers consciously or unconsciously have thought, ‘Well, the building’s closed, so the church must be closed too.’

So today, as we all wait with hope for a vaccine, increased testing, and a world that goes ‘back to normal,’ in the back of our minds we know that, ‘back to normal’ will never happen.

Just look at these major industries that COVID has changed and ask:

Work - Do we really think everyone’s going to go back to a rented office?

School - is it ALL going to be in person again?

Fitness - Will everyone quit working out in the basement and return to the gym?

Dining - Will take-out and drive-thru disappear?

Shopping - Will everyone really close their laptops and go back to the mall?

Church - Do I really need to go in person to get my spiritual needs met?

This make us think: What will get people to offices, classrooms, gyms, restaurants, malls, and churches?

It will be a clear and compelling reason for making the effort.

This Sunday you and I will hear Jesus talk about Judgment Day - when those who talked a good game are separated from those who actually played a good game.

This is a stark challenge for the Church to get out and play the game - and to play a game worth watching.

Churches that are truly making a difference in people’s lives - who are feeding the poor, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, and effectively helping people deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ - those are churches that will ‘make it.’

This is also true on the granular level - when we are people who are feeding the poor, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, and effectively helping ourselves and others deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ - this is how we make it.

So let us be challenged, encouraged, and comforted to BE the church - knowing that every act that we take to move outside of ourselves and to heal the world, not only helps our hearts - but the heart of Jesus’ movement - the Church.

Never has America seen such a large cadre of lawyers descending upon state capitals looking to count and recount and investigate an election as we're seeing today.

While polls tell us that the 2020 presidential winner has been decided for most people, there is a significant minority for whom this conclusion is not so definite.

This means that the insidious divisiveness and period of not knowing is lengthened, indeterminate even, and now causing a social dis-ease that, combined with an increasingly scary pandemic, simmering racial injustice, and a still unpredictable economy, has more of us taking pills, calling psychologists, and simply feeling burned out, edgy, and unhappy.

When we open our Bibles and look at the lives of the early Christians and see the social and economic dynamic they faced - an unstable nation with oppression on many sides - we can understand why Jesus' message was as important back then as it is today.

It is in unstable times that our faith was birthed and finds fruition. Accordingly, we are urged to be hopeful, encouraged, and aware of the many promises God makes to take care of us.

Time after time, Christians in the most threatening circumstances of economic instability, political unrest, and personal trauma are assured by Jesus that they are not forgotten, that God is with them, that the trials they are going through will not end in defeat, and that there is work to do even as the world around us crumbles.

And so the challenge for you and me is to use this time, this precious and precarious time, to put things into perspective, re-stake our claim to Christian hope, do our best to toss aside the flaming arrows and negative temptations and draw nearer to God, God's peace, and God's rest.

Our challenge is also to stand for unity. This is a time for peacemaking, something dear to the heart of Jesus, looking first to do our part with our family and friends. Healing a divided nation begins by healing divided families and communities.

Finding this peace in ourselves and making peace with others is our goal and our challenge.

We do this and we win the election.

My friend, the hospital chaplain hears one complaint more than any other.

On her rounds to visit those asking for prayer and encouragement, she often finds people in pain because of surgeries or disease.

But the most common form of suffering she encounters is not caused by scalpels or sutures, but by the mental anguish of waiting.

When will I be wheeled down to the operating room? How long will it take to recover? Will I ever regain full use of my faculties?

Coping with the results is often the easier road, because as Tom Petty iconically put it, the waiting is the hardest part.

As you and I awakened this morning, the day after an election day that garnered the most participation of any US election in history, exposing our deep divide as a nation and putting ourselves in that same uncomfortable position.

How long until the race is decided? What will it mean to my daily life? What will it mean for our country?

And while we can't speed along the results, there are a few things we can do.

First, find a way to talk about your feelings. Not in a destructive, condescending, or judgmental way, but authentically, about how we're feeling and about what may be ahead. Vocalizing our emotions helps put us more in touch with ourselves, keeps us from the negative effects of bottling things up, and opens us up to the comfort offered by others.

Second: Get outside, go for a walk, find a distraction, endlessly dwelling on something we can't do anything about Is detrimental to our health.

And Third: Draw nearer to God. Times of uncertainty often motivate us to reconnect with that which is at our core. Pray, read scripture that puts things in perspective, and we discover that no election in the world can change God's love for us, God's provision for us, and God's promise never to leave us.

I've compiled some of those scriptures below, please feel free to use them in your time of prayer and meditation.

When it feels like there's nothing to hold on to, there's always God, and there are always God's people. Call me, call a parish member, if I know anything about our wonderful congregation, we are here for each other in stable and unstable times.

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

John 16:22

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Matthew 6:25-34

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

John 16:33

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Deuteronomy 31:8-9

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

1 Peter 5:7

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Matthew 19:26

But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'

Proverbs 3:3-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Romans 8:38-39

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Can you believe people were plotting to kill Governor Whitmer?

How did that happen?

Well, here's something that played a part...

Our failure to engage in productive civil dialog and constructive conflict resolution certainly helped make this possible.

And while we all pray that justice will be served, the bigger question is how we, as an increasingly diverse society, are to engage in the kind of communal dialog that brings us together, not apart, forms coalitions not cliques, breeds connection, not suspicion, and builds up our nation, not tear it down.

“Y’all just need Jesus.” is how a friend of mine likes to summarize the solution. And there is something to her conclusion.

It’s because of what Jesus stands for: respectful, cordial, and considerate treatment of others, especially those with whom we disagree.

Jesus stands for empathy, connection, and love.

We don’t hate, shame, or bully our way to peace - but get there by care and consideration.

So Jesus calls us to engage with, not disparage, those with whom we disagree.

We need to think about that when we talk with people who vote differently - and when we post on Social Media.

Jesus calls us not to denigrate and demean our opponents - but to realize that while our relationship with our communal governance, which he touches on in this weekend’s Gospel, must be defined by our allegiance to the law of love.

When Jesus says to give the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, he’s not planning a violent overthrow - but a covert, subversive coup - of loving his opponents - for this is the only way to lasting peace.

Friends, in this anxious election season, stoking the fires of dissension is much easier than forming a bucket brigade with neighbors we like and we don't like.

The road to communal, civil dialogue begins with personal, civil dialogue. This is our due, to both God and the emperor.

Have you seen all of the vigils this week for Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

The recently deceased Supreme Court Justice is being celebrated as a secular saint, of sorts, for her extraordinary career featuring a litany of accomplishments.

In light of her death, the controversial move to immediately replace her has turned up the temperature in an already heated election season - mixed with a raging pandemic, economic uncertainty, and an ongoing racial justice awakening and we’ve got a recipe for stress and anxiety that therapists tell us is running rampant.

So what’s the cure - and why is this affecting us this way?

Certainly these events are threatening.

But the argument can be made that at many times in history, equal if not worse times have been seen.

What I think is at play here is the high priority our society puts on these events. Obviously through our own interest, but spurred on by the media that we fuel, and born out in the ways we engage in our everyday conversations, we become persuaded by many voices that we must worry, we must be anxious, we must be stressed over possible outcomes. Thus, we are groomed to take current events as life-or-death, sink-or-swim, unavoidable threats that have huge consequences.

This is an ongoing socialization, that makes us who we are - thus influencing how we feel and react.

And what we’re reminded of here - is our need to resist that worldly socialization and more deeply embrace heavenly socialization.

This Sunday we’ll hear the fourth in a series of talks I’m giving on the theme of ‘Awakening.’

We’ve talked about how we awaken to love, awaken to gratitude, and last week, how we awaken to our humanity.

This Sunday we’ll look at awakening to those things around us that make us who we are - our socialization. These are the ways we are groomed, assimilated, and enculturated, by the influences around us that have both positive and negative effects.

This Sunday we will also hear some epic words from St. Paul, who tells us time and again, that we need to conform not to the topsy turvy world around us, but to God who is inside us.

When the world is a raging chaos all around, the words of Jesus bubble up assuring us to ‘Be not afraid,’ ‘Let your hearts not be troubled,’ and 'Do not worry about your life.’ The importance these words carry for us in is direct proportion to how much air time we give them on our inner radio station.

Or course I would never suggest we remove ourselves from deep engagement with worldly matters, that we cancel our newspapers, or trash our TVs - what I am suggesting is that we look at “how" and "by whom" we are being socialized.

Do we spend more time scrolling through the news than paging through the Bible? Do we give more attention to watching news than saying prayers? It is not up to the culture to tell us who we are and how to handle things - it’s God's job, that we share, as spirit-filled believers.

God is awakening us to the myriad of possibilities that await as we get more involved in forming and conforming ourselves to God's outlook, God's opinions, God's ways.

We are not to cling to the things of this world, but cling to God - because that’s truth and that’s life.

In 2007 Justin Rosenstein co-invented the Facebook ‘like’ button.

He says his team was looking to bring joy into the lives of Facebook users - by allowing people to show their approval for a written post, photograph, or video.

But 10 years later, he did a 180: Rosenstein deleted his Facebook account.

“I had no idea what was being created,” he said. He believes the ‘like’ button has turned into a "bright ding of pseudo-pleasure" that heavily contributes to the damaging psychological effects of social media. Indeed, a recent study found that the more time a young person spends on social media, the more likely they are to become depressed.

Rosenstein summed it up this way, “It is very common for humans to develop things with the best of intentions and for them to have unintended, negative consequences.”

Now isn’t that just how life goes?

Here we are, created by a loving God, who put love in our hearts, and made it so the act of loving is a pinnacle of human experience. And there we go, finding out over and over again, how all of this potential can turn into a royal mess.

This is what you and I know as ’being human.'

We have great intentions, but often see even our most altruistic plans go to pieces.

When we baptize someone (which we will be doing this weekend!) the liturgy we use reminds us that there are two ways we see evil in the world: outside and inside. On the outside we see the omnipresence of a negative force - think about a mob mentality or a general cultural acceptance of something that is unjust. On the inside we find evil in desires that have been distorted. Think of the hurtful things we do out of insecurity, fear, and worry.

And while we’re not usually clear on exactly how things get messed up, we know they do.

This week we will hear the third part of our fall series called ‘Awakening to God.’ What I’m hoping to do here is to use our COVID holding pattern to cultivate in you and me a new love for God and for what God is doing in each of us - that we might be awakened, like never before to the abundant life Jesus promises.

You may remember the first week when we were awakened to love - and learned that we are created to love.

And in the second week we were awakened to gratitude - learning that the best way to grow in love is through gratefulness.

Now we are at week 3, when we will look at what it means to be awakened to sin - learning not only that are we broken, but that we actually like it that way (!).

What keeps us from living in abundance, from living the ‘eternal life’ that Jesus promised us here and now, is that we settle, and even develop a fondness for things that fall far short of truly satisfying us.

So let us open our hearts to God - and allow the transformation that awaits to take hold, by waking up to our sin which is always a precursor to being set free from it.

I’m re-laying 76 concrete pavers in my backyard.

After I removed them I raked and leveled the ground underneath in preparation for re-laying them. That’s when a handyman friend of mine told me that before I do that I should lay a thick foundation of sand.

Part of me protested: what does it matter? Isn’t the ground level enough? Nobody will notice the difference. But my friend argued that the pavers would drain better and stay in place longer if I spent more time laying the foundation.

When it comes to laying foundations it’s important to pay attention.

Like when we answer that foundational question: why are we here?

Ignatius Loyola said we’re here to give praise to God and bask in God’s glory. The Westminster shorter catechism says, 'man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.'

But I have come to believe that our foundation, the reason we’re here, is neither of these. It is to love.

Sure, I think basking, praising, and glorifying God are important, but we are meant to love.

This love is not passive, but active. This is a love that goes out, creates, reconciles, encourages, and hopes. It is a love that studies, practices, and perfects. This love is not about contemplation, it’s about action.

This Sunday we are kicking off a sermon series called Awakening. It’s about waking us up to the central message of the Gospel, which is love. I believe that in discovering the depths of what the Bible teaches about love, we are awakened to the abundant life Jesus intents for us (John 10:10).

Are you feeling burned out by COVID? Are you anxious, worried, struggling with your faith? Apathetic or just plain tired? Then join me in this series that has the potential to jump-start your faith and your life.

I believe our happiness comes when we proactively love. It’s what we were created to do.

When Jesus asked that iconic question at Caesarea Philippi note how his disciples responded. What did their heads say? What were their neighbors saying? What was their culture saying?

Only Peter got it right, because Peter told Jesus what his heart said.

During this time of Covid-19, I have to confess, my heart has taken a beating.

All of the rituals, traditions, habits and routines I have been used to, have been turned upside down. If feels like I threw my clothes in the washing machine while I was still in them.

And so it’s become harder to answer those basic questions: Who am I and who is Jesus to me?

That’s when my heart speaks up - and I’m sure yours does too - because this is where Jesus lives.

And this is what Jesus says: "Don’t worry. I’ve got things under control. I know where the economy, election, and racial equality initiatives are going. I know your needs and I’ve got this. Now you, you simply be concerned with my work - heal your relationships, take care of your neighbors, live decently, and leave the rest to me."

In these crazy times, let us draw closer to God and look to our hearts. Because that's where Jesus is - and where the right answers lie.

It seems like 100 years after women’s suffrage we’d have this thing figured out.

It’s well known that women make less than men - depending on who you ask, it’s around 80-cents to the dollar that a man makes.

Just this week an analysis found this gap for black women in D-C is horrendous: They are underpaid to the tune of 52-cents on the dollar - which totals $2 million of underpayment over the course of a lifetime.

Now you would think that I don’t have a problem with this - because I’m a white guy - I stand to benefit from these inequalities: for every penny a woman doesn’t earn, a man probably does.

But I do have a problem with this - and so do you - because we say we try to keep the Golden Rule - to love our neighbors as ourselves, especially the weak and vulnerable - the unjustly treated and the unjustly paid.

And when Jesus asks us to love our neighbors it means to stick up for justice and to respect the dignity of every human being - men and women.

So if we’re asking why we pay women less than men - we have to ask why we don’t respect women as much as men?

It’s not about money - it’s about respect.

Every time we let the Ted Yoho’s of the world get away with callously disrespecting the Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s of the world - we’re disrespecting women - and we’re part of the problem - not the solution. Failing to say something is to say something that fails.

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus has a problem - thousands of people to feed - so he tells his followers ‘You do something about it!’

And that’s the same for you and me.

If the problem is gender inequality - let’s do something about it.

White guys: stop disrespecting women - demeaning them, talking behind their backs, repeating those locker room jokes, not standing up to an unjust status quo - that’s what Real Men do.

This is not an issue that legislatures fix, it’s one we guys fix - when we wake up - and really try to listen to women - hear what they’re about, genuinely value their skills, understand that they can do the job as well or better than a guy.

As different as men are from women, we both have equal gifts - that should command equal pay.

Women don’t have to be paid less than men, if we don’t want them to be.

The answer is simple - though not easy.

If everyone stayed home as much as possible.

If everyone wore a mask in public.

If everyone cared a little bit more about the health of other people -

The virus would go away.

And that last one is our problem:

Why should I care about other people?

We should care because how we treat people says something about who we are and who we are becoming.

We should care because we want our ourselves, our communities and our nation to be generous, empathetic, kind, and courteous - not selfish, rude, callous.

Nobody’s happy about the ‘I’ve got mine, so the heck with you’ culture that’s been on the rise for the last half century.

We’re tired of it.

It’s not satisfying.

And it’s not working.

Look at the ‘happiness index’ - where the U.S. ranked at its lowest-ever this past year - at 19th and falling -

Or the rise in ‘diseases of despair’ - suicide, addiction, and depression - all on them on the upswing.

And look at the increase in the ‘wealth gap’ - that continues to enrich those who need it least - to the detriment of those who need it most.

It’s time we change - and we’re seeing it happen.

People are marching in the streets to say something profound about the society we want to live in. And it’s one marked by care for other people - especially those who have been marginalized.

We are at our best not when we’re hoarding all the cookies - but when we’re sharing them with our neighbors.

I get it if we don’t want to pay 17-cents extra for a Big Mac so the person who made it can get a living wage.

Or to pay 5-bucks more a month in rent because of a millage to improve the schools.

Or to have a bit more from my paycheck deducted so my neighbors who don’t have health care, can get it.

But when we choose to live only for ourselves, we choose a shallow, lonely, and ultimately unsatisfying life - and we can’t be surprised that when a deadly virus comes knocking, it becomes even more of a challenge that it might otherwise be.

So let’s keep our distance.

Mask up.

And love your neighbor as yourself.
It can save someone’s life - and it can save our own souls.

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Chris Yaw

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Chris Yaw

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Isaiah 41:10

John 16:22

Matthew 6:25-34

Philippians 4:6-7

Matthew 11:28

John 16:33

John 14:27

James 1:2-3

Deuteronomy 31:8-9

1 Peter 5:7

Matthew 19:26

Proverbs 3:3-6

Psalm 46:1-3

Romans 8:38-39

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