Our United Methodist Church is a connectional church. Every United Methodist congregation is interconnected to other churches throughout the denomination via a chain of area conferences. This is the opposite of the non-denominational or independent churches we see popping up out of the blue all around us. At the Mill Creek Fair there was a booth for the Redemption Church – I had to look it up. Canyon Creek Church recently purchased the only American Baptist Church on 35th. Like many of these churches Canyon Creek was started by a single person. On the Church website it says: “Canyon Creek Church started as a final graduate school project for Brandon.” Connections are not mentioned. In these church websites there is often a tab called Our Story – but as a historian I find the story short and lacking. It is simply about a person or small group of people on their own starting a church. Pretty consistently these churches are fundamentalist. They believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, exclusive salvation in Jesus Christ. Sometimes I wonder if the people who flock to these churches ever read the stated beliefs on the church websites? A teller at our bank, noting my check was from a church asked about our church and when I asked her where she went to church she said, “Blue Sky Church in Bellevue.” One day the lead pastor saw the blue sky come out of the clouds; an unusual and attractive name for essentially a Calvinist Church. They purport to believe in election: “We believe that God acted before creation in choosing some people to be saved.” Of course, this implies that most people are not saved. I wonder if the teller knows this. When these churches do have a deeper story they do not claim it; they don’t disclose their roots in the Reformation and John Calvin. This is reflective of our culture. Historical connections are often seen as a liability.

As a connectional church we may be counter-cultural but we are not counter-kingdom. (That is, Kingdom of God, Kin-dom of God, Economy of God, Rule of God, etc.) I’m quite sure that heaven is connectional. One of the problems in our society is an emphasis on the individual, independence and freedom at the expense of relationships and communities. In a sense, the election of Donald Trump is a product of these values. We have elected a person who is a narcissist! President Trump is critically concerned about himself more than anything else, especially the things that connect us. Naomi Klein has written a new book: No is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World we Need. She says that we respond to a Trump presidency as a united front; we must become more connected. People who are concerned about the environment, Black Lives Matter, abused women, people who are outraged by healthcare in America all need to recognize the ways we are hurting and fearful, and work together. I am encouraged by a resurgence of passion for better values like compassion, equality and justice. I want to believe that this energy can be used to bring another “Great Awakening” in America. And we have an important role in this as a connectional church.

In this context our connectional character is not merely how we are organized, it is a part of our message. To be connected is the way to create peace and justice; the way to mirror the Kingdom of God in our world. We want people to come to our Church because we are oriented toward that Kingdom in a way that more independent and non-denominational churches are not. We have an important mission in the world, especially now. We cannot be complacent or mum about it. How can we get our message out there? I think our booth at the Mill Creek Fair was a good thing to be doing. What else can we do to share with the world our vision of a connectional heaven?

P.Jim

Confirmation class is underway. Last Saturday, the topic was Jesus and we talked about the different images of Jesus that we have. The starting point is the gospels – four of them in the canon. Each gospel presents an image of Jesus. The gospel writers were not writing history, they were telling the story of Jesus in order to evoke faith in their particular community. Therefore, each gospel is tailored to move their community in a specific circumstance. Before Constantine became Emperor of Rome there were many communities with various understandings and image of Jesus. Constantine did not want this diversity; if Christianity was to be the religion of the Empire it had to be uniform and united. Thus the creeds were born. But the creeds say little about Jesus. Though history different images of Jesus have come and gone (See Jaroslav Pelikan’s Jesus Through the Centuries).

I see our task is not to give these youth a single image to believe in, but it ignite in them the question about who Jesus was to these different communities, and what it means to follow him. The first three gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) are similar in structure and content; they are therefore called the “Synoptic Gospels.” The Gospel According to John is entirely different. Particularly in regard to the image of Jesus. In Mark, Jesus is truly struggling in the Garden of Gethsemane – please take this cup, but if it’s your will… In John’s picture of that scene Jesus is in total control, saying that this is all happening as he had planned it. Mark’s Jesus is more human and John’s is more divine. In the Synoptic Gospels there is a sense in which the future remains unknown, that Jesus had a real choice – things were in process. In John’s gospel everything is foreordained. Depending on which of these images one uses following Jesus will be different.

I grew up believing in the plan; I didn’t really think about it much, but it seemed as though that’s what everyone else believed. Historically, in America the Gospel According to John has become dominant, in that the image of Jesus in John is assumed as is the concept of Jesus being divine. My image of Jesus changed by the time I was in college, when I really read and studied the Bible. I was moved by Marcus Borg’s understanding of Jesus as one who shook things up. I also remember reading Paul Tillich’s book, Shaking the Foundations about the prophet’s role of challenging the powers that be. Jesus was one who subverted the conventional wisdom and challenged the powers and because he did that he was crucified as a political agitator.

In our last Adult Sunday School class somehow we got to talking about “shaking things up.” Part of the discussion surrounded the response of people to the proposed American Healthcare Act; the response influenced the decision, some said. I believe that part of following Jesus is being a trouble maker… but being a trouble maker in the name of Jesus. Usually if we go to a rally, or call a legislature or write a letter of talk to people in a way the is prophetic we do not associate that rabblerousing with our faith in Jesus and our conviction to follow him, in life, death and resurrection. Quite honestly, the reason I was against the American Healthcare Act was because it would deny millions of people healthcare and give rich people a tax break. I think that if Jesus witnessed this he would be turning over the tables, so to speak. We need to identify what we do for justice and peace in the world with our faith in Jesus. And we need to share with others, incite conversations about our images of Jesus who directs us to our opinions and convictions about such things as the AHA. I believe we need conversations with those we disagree with. But I believe they need to be about the center of our faith, Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus for us that compels is to act and believe in a certain way. I’m hoping to instill in the confirmands this question – I hope it helps transform the world.

P. Jim

I have thought about having a Social Justice Committee or Task Force at Cedar Cross United Methodist Church for a while. Different from a Missions Committee, Social Justice Committees work at political advocacy. For example, to be in a relationship with Faith Action Network, the lobbying group that represents churches in the Puget Sound area; or Earth Ministry, and educational and lobbying group in Seattle. But it could be much more than that involving ourselves as a church in issues that concern us: healthcare, the environment, homelessness. What I feel is that after our election it may be a good time to organize this group.

On Sunday, I felt a lot of grief and fear in the congregation; tears were flowing. I myself have been devastated by the election of Donald Trump. His rhetoric has been mean spirited and threatening. We don’t know what Trump will do as president; he may surprise us and not follow his rhetoric. However, at this time there are many people, people or color, women, our LGBTQI brothers and sisters, who are afraid. I believe that we need to stand by these people in the name of Jesus Christ who loved the “least of these.” As I said on Sunday, I believe we have to testify to the gospel and continue to speak out against racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and torture. The word that has come to my mind through all my mental gymnastics since the election is resistance.

Do we all remember our membership vows: One of the questions is, Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? Do we? It seems to me that this is a critical time to do that. This coming Sunday, I will be recruiting – I will be passing around a sign up for anyone interested in exploring being a part of this “committee of resistance”, otherwise known as a Social Justice Task Force. You may also email me and let me know you are interested.
This is not meant to be about partisan politics, but to recognize and embrace our call to care for “the least of these” in the world.

P.Jim

Pastor James Clarke’s sermon for Sunday, October 9, 2016. This is the first sermon on Stewardship. You can listen to the sermon here.
I just can’t understand how in the world Issac Newton figured out gravity. I have this image as a child that he went up into a tower, dropped the apple and said…

Hmmm…. Gravity!

It’s not something we feel or see or experience. Unless we get out of gravity and we recognize that something’s there. But generally our “normal” is gravitational.

Consider all the other forces that we do not see.

What do you think would happen if a person from biblical times heard a radio? A cell phone would be over the top, I think.

I remember a movie that was set in French Canada in the 18th century in which this person first wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to the other person and they said what it said. And all the natives were amazed. It was a miracle. Can you imagine what they would have done with WiFi?

I have trouble understanding WiFi. I just don’t get it. It’s not natural. And I think Issac Newton would have been blown over too.

You know that Wifi is based on quantum physics which Newton clearly did not understand.

These forces that make up so much of our lives are really remarkable. Think of it just for a moment… how all that information is traveling in the air!

It’s spectacular. And we don’t have to really go back to biblical times or 18th Century French Canada to feel that, because, when I was young these things didn’t exist and if I had known that they were going to exist when I was a teenager, I would have been wiped out.

And then we simply accept that they are our new normal.

At the same time, we are oblivious to other forces that are all around us that are also invisible and not detectable by our senses. Forces that people in biblical times were very aware of. As aware of as gravity.

Spiritual power. Principalities and forces.

We are so Newtonian in how we see the world that our perception simply has not caught up. With quantum mechanics or relativity.

We see the world through the lens of science and Newtonian physics and reason and everything is material and substance and that’s when something is real, material and substance, when actually it is all energy, that is changing all the time.

A book is not simply a book, it’s “booking.” A rock is “rocking.” A tree is “treeing.” We are “we-ing” and the spirit is around us all the time. There are fields of force in our world that are not material and that we cannot learn about through our five senses.

Athletes know well about mojo. I can remember a time when I was playing basketball and I felt like I was connected to the rim. You know that feeling for a while that just every time you throw it up it’s going in.

Momentum is real. I’m not talking just about Newtonian momentum.

When people join the church, as we just did a little while ago, I have to ask them these traditional questions. I make sure and tell them there traditional questions because I’m a little worried that the language of “the spiritual forces of wickedness” is going to scare them to death.

But I believe it.

Not as personalized demons but as fields of force. Hatred is a field of force. The Klu Klux Klan. Racism is a field of force. They’re not just ideas, they are forces in people.

Addiction is a force.

I believe that owning guns influences people. It is true of any object, but it is particularly true of objects that have particular power. Guns exert force. Remember the gun is not just a gun, it is “gunning” all the time.

Simply by owning and touching and using something it can exert power over us and change us. Trump is a field of force. It is not about him as much as he would like to be about him.

It’s about the power and the feelings and the griefs and the aspirations of all those people who are following him. Not ideas. They don’t even talk much about ideas. It’s a field of force.

Love also is a field of force.

I remember the time in seminary when I was reading Romans. I took a class in Romans and the professor was telling us that the thesis for Romans is in the first chapter 16th and 17th verses and it says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God. For salvation to everyone who has faith…

Did you hear it? It’s not the idea, it’s the power of God. Real power.

In the book we are getting this material from is a book called Defying Gravity by Tom Berlin. He talks about financial gravity and when he’s doing this he’s talking about money as a force, not just as material stuff but as a reality that exerts power in the world.

Just like with guns, when you handle money, it’s going to influence you.

For Berlin, money exerts power in our life and it’s an invisible power. And it is there when you go shopping when we invest and we look at our checkbook and we go into debt and he says:

The problem with financial gravity occurs when you feel it with such intensity that it changes the way you live your life. You sense it at certain moments, such as when you examine your bank account, noting the balance is lower than you had hoped for, or when you see that your credit card bill is higher than you would like. You feel it when you open up the Internet browser and see ads posted for items that are magically in the styles and colors you like. When you walk down the street of the local town center, with its eclectic mix of retail stores, specialty shops, cinemas, and restaurants, you can almost reach out and touch the force I am describing. Enter a shopping mall, and it is palpable. There is something attempting to pull you inside each store as you pass.

I feel that force every time I go into the mall, and it gives me the “willies.”

Most of the time we think of money, we believe that we have the power because we can decide what to do with it. It’s all ours, and that’s the way it should be. But we rarely think about money having power or exerting power over us.

In I Timothy, he says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. He’s talking about money as a force.

For the love of money that is allowing ourselves to moved by the power of money to the point where we see the price of everything but we don’t know the value of anything.

Maybe we should consider the credit card as a “spiritual force of wickedness.”

I think about that. We introduced the credit card in the 1980s and look what happened to us.

It became a force in our lives. That changed our lives.

Berlin also talks about two kingdoms. He calls it the kingdom of the self and the Kingdom of God.

He says the story in Matthew about a young man who could not sell all he owned was a good person. He was trying his best to live a good life. But, he felt financial gravity exert its pull in a way that suddenly was palpable. His emotional response in that moment is a testimony to the confusion and disorientation he felt.

The young man was torn between two worlds. Haven’t we all been torn between two worlds?

I read an editorial in the Seattle Times this week by David Brooks. He’s the conservative commentator on PBS each week. And he’s with The New York Times.

And he contrasts the difference between a taxpayer and a citizen. A taxpayer focuses on the individual, the goal is to pay as little tax as possible, obeying the law and looking out for oneself. A citizen, on the other hand, on the other hand considers more than him/herself. There is a sense of civic duty to paying taxes. So that the goal is to determine one’s fair share and pay that.

A healthy nation isn’t just an atomized mass of individual economic and legal units. A nation is a web of giving and getting. You give to your job, and your employer gives to you. You give to your government, and your government gives to you.

If you orient everything around individual self-interest, you end up ripping the web of giving and receiving. Neighbors can’t trust neighbors. Individuals can’t trust their institutions, and they certainly can’t trust their government. Everything that is not explicitly prohibited is permissible. Everybody winds up suspicious, defensive and competitive.

This is the Kingdom of Self.

And just like the rich man in the Gospel we also live between these two worlds: financial gravity and the gravity of God.

Tom Berlin talks about wealth as if it is the planet Jupiter. The largest planet in our solar system. Exerting massive gravity on all of us.

Having wealth, simply having it, changes us. It has a great deal of power over us. And frankly, confessionally, I have trouble trusting people who have extreme wealth, because I know the power it exerts.

In the same way that wealth is like Jupiter, then I would say that generosity is like Saturn. It too exerts influences on us.

That giving is not just a decision we make in our brains. It’s not just for tax purposes.

It is a spiritual discipline.

Spiritual because it changes our hearts, in the same way the accumulation of wealth shapes us, so does giving. Giving defies gravity and transforms our hearts.

There are all sorts of forces all around us. It’s not that everything is physical. Reality is different than we thought it is. It’s more like energy. And everything has energy.

Have you ever had resentment take over your life? Resentment can be a force.

Patriotism is a force for good and not so good at different times. Did you see how people responded to Kapernick?

Xenophobia and homophobia are forces in the world that defy reason.

Did anyone see the story about the mother in Tennessee who pulled her child from the school because her child was learning about Islam?

Macho locker room talk is a force. And I confess, I have participated in that force… when I was 13, and even then I felt guilty!

School loyalty is a force, most of the time it’s a good one! Beaver Nation is a force. It’s one of the weaker forces!

Money is a force too. Financial gravity. There are principalities and powers in the world, and spiritual forces of wickedness. Can we not feel it?

There are all sorts of forces in the world and the question that we have to be asking is not what do you believe, but which force are you going to give your life to? What forces are you going to allow to move you?

Amen.