Friends,

On Sunday, the Gospel text we read had Jesus predicting a coming apocalypse in the lives of his hearers, and promising to come in the midst of those catastrophes, breaking in like a thief in the night. My sermon asked this question: How do you hold on to hope in the dark? We practiced an adaptation of the ancient Jesus Prayer together as part of our response. You can listen to the sermon here.

Learn more about the Jesus Prayer using this handout from our friends at the Episcopal House of Prayer. The words I like to use are simpler than the traditional ones -- "Oh Jesus, have mercy."

One more note: If you've been exposed to Rapture theology, Sunday's Gospel text was likely very familiar to you. Below you'll find some thoughts on that.

With love,
Susan+

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Last Sunday's Gospel and the Rapture

See last Sunday's readings here.
The earliest Christians took seriously the promise that Jesus would come back, so much so that early Christian leaders had to tell people: no, please don’t quit your jobs and go live on a mountaintop watching for signs in the sky. Daily life goes on. That might be part of what Paul is doing in the text from the letter to the Romans in Sunday's assigned readings. Paul says to those people wondering what was holding up their Lord and Savior, stay awake. Don’t be lulled into sleepwalking toward all the seductions of the world. Live honorably. Practice the way of Jesus.

For two thousand years, Christians have been holding that tension. How do we live in the world as it is, this beautiful world, this world on fire, and stay watchful for God to set things right? How do we hold these things together?

Some Christians have tried to resolve this by piecing threads of Scripture together as if it were a puzzle, to try to predict what the end will look like. If you grew up hearing about the Rapture, this Gospel text might be very familiar to you. One will be taken and one will be left. In that rapture worldview, you want to be the one who gets taken up to be with God, right? Nobody wants to be left behind in the chaos.

Alas. That doesn't appear to be what Jesus is talking about at all. Read the Gospel text again, or even the whole 24th Chapter of Matthew. Jesus is talking about a flood coming along and sweeping people away, and in that context, I’m pretty sure we want to be the ones who get left behind. Not the ones who get drowned in the raging waters or swept up into slavery in the Roman Army’s campaign of exploitation.

One of the major problems with Rapture theology is the way it cherrypicks texts like this one from various places in the Gospels to support a very specific, very historically recent, very imaginative vision of the second coming.

A deeper question I'd like to ask is this: In your experience, how has Rapture theology been used as a tool of fear to control your behavior and your choices?

What if, when Jesus shows up, however that may look, it's actually good news for all God's people and for the world?

Tags: Rev Susan, Hope, Rapture

Friends,
Last Sunday, Marion Larson preached a sermon that reminded us that "It's Friday — but Sunday's coming." You can listen here!

That theme of defiant hope was strong at last week's Annual Convention of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota—a gathering of clergy and lay leaders from the 100-ish congregations of the diocese for prayer and learning and worship and governance.

[ Read reflections from Linda, Tom, and Sarah, and see photos! ]

Here's a taste of what we heard from Bishop Loya:
These days, as we are “being a diocese in an exilic, remnant key,” the congregations of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota are going to need to:
1. Be weird. "Authentic Christianity will appear strange because Jesus invites us to live inside a very different story than the zero-sum battle of winners and losers that pervades our culture."
2. Keep digging the deep, interconnected roots that build resilience: apprenticing our lives to Jesus together.
3. Embrace our limits. "We often still try to sustain the local congregation as a full service program center for all types and peoples and interests – as if we could paddle the boat at the same speed that it used to be blown by strong cultural tailwinds. We are going to have to set down things that are not part of our core work of making disciples and practicing God’s way of love, and that will always disappoint someone."
4. Live with a bold and contagious hope that Love has already won. "As followers of Jesus, we face fear and hardship and death from the place of hope that is in us. God and the world don’t need us to be large, or wealthy, or influential. What God asks, and what the world needs, is for us to look like the cross of Jesus Christ, meeting the forces that assault God’s children with God’s fierce and gentle love, joining the Spirit, gathering all of it to God’s perfect embrace.”

You might hear more about some of that at our Annual Meeting on January 25!

With love,
Susan+

Tags: Rev Susan, convention, Hope

Friends,
Last week, I preached about the practice of 'Reimagine.' We dug into the hard good news the prophet Jeremiah offered to his country-people in exile, and the hard good news Jesus offers in seeing the faithfulness of the Samaritan healed of leprosy. In both those stories, God is in the business of helping us reimagine things for a hopeful future. God asks that we do the long, practical, one day at a time work of trusting that God’s triumph over death is more real than the hardships we face. You can listen to the sermon here.

Last week, we did more of that reimagining at our Wednesday evening session. We talked about the story in which Jesus notices the faithfulness of the woman at the Temple who gives her last two copper coins, "all she had to live on." Many of us have been taught that Jesus held her up as a model to emulate. Put on your 'reimagining' hat here with me for a moment: What if Jesus was lamenting her gift? What if Jesus was pointing out the hypocrisy of a system in which the wealthy could easily give large sums out of their abundance, while expecting sacrificial gifts from those most in need? Read that story -- Mark 12:38-44 -- and then read the prayer below if you want to go deeper, and listen in to our conversation here.

With love,
Susan+

A Prayer to Help us Reimagine

Jesus of Nazareth,
In scripture we hear of a woman who gave her last coin away.
You pointed her out, but you did not say, “Go and do likewise.”

So we cannot help but wonder—did you point her out to ask,
“Why does this one have so little when others have so much?”

Did you point her out to help us see the injustice that led to her suffering?
Maybe.

So today, for her, and for you, and for every person who cannot afford to give to God
And put food on the table, we offer our gifts.
We pray that you would use them for your good.
Right what is wrong.
Balance the systems of injustice.
Use these gifts to build the world that we can only imagine
But you can bring forth.

In hope we pray,
Amen.

Tags: Rev Susan, Reimagine, Hope

Friends,

Yesterday, my sermon focused on the surprising meaning of a 6th-Century BCE scrap of real estate history -- the prophet Jeremiah, after decades of prophesying doom, releases his hold on that story just as the doom is about to come to pass. He lets go of that story and claims hope for the future, with prophetic performance art: the practical action of buying a field. You can listen to the sermon here.

This story has direct relevance to what I hear from so many of you and feel deeply myself -- a sense of despair that we are powerless to stop the authoritarian government we see now in the United States. I shared research from Erica Chenoweth, linked below, to offer hope: it takes fewer people than you might think, acting together, to help the silent majority withdraw its cooperation from an authoritarian regime.

Jeremiah's claim to the deeper story -- that God's dream of shalom is greater than all empires and authoritarians -- is what we stand on today, too. And because we trust that God's love prevails, we can offer our own performance art for God's kingdom, where we are, with what we have.

So: what story do you need to release in order to trust that God's vision of shalom will prevail? How could you practice the way of Jesus in this historic moment? What's the (metaphorical) field you can buy, where you are, with what you have?

With love,
Susan+

Dig into Erica Chenoweth's Research
Here are a few links to get you started:
Video: The Science of Protest, on the Civic Forum
Podcast: Why Protest Works, on We Can Do Hard Things
Website: ericachenoweth.com/research

Tags: politics, Despair, Hope, Rev Susan

Friends:

Last night, we opened our doors for a vigil. Members, neighbors, and friends came and sat together in candlelight and silence.

The violence in our city in the past few days—gun violence incidents in South Minneapolis and at Annunciation Church and School in particular—hit close to many of us. I offer these prayers below, as you navigate exhaustion and fear and numbness and rage and grief, holding tight to a defiant hope in God's dream for the world: a life of safety and abundance, in right relationship with all our neighbors and the earth. We practice Jesus' way of defiant, embodied, joyful love, even and especially in the wake of profound violence.

Susan+

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Prayers in the Wake of Violence

Adapted from prayers by Bishop Deon Johnson of Missouri
bishopsagainstgunviolence.org

For Victims of Gun Violence
We pray as we as we call to mind the many victims of gun violence, those who have lost their lives, those who have lost their livelihood, and those who have lost life’s passion. We pray for those who have been killed here in Minneapolis, especially at Annunciation Church and School, and we hold their stories and their memories dear. May their loss not be in vain, and may we shape a new story of hope from the broken pieces of grief. Amen.

For Friends & Family of Gun Violence Victims
We pray with those who have been left behind, the families, friends, and loves ones of those taken by gun violence. We pray that in this time of heartbreak, grief, and loss that they might find comfort and hope to face the days ahead, and that their tears may be turned into songs of joy. Amen.

For Communities Torn by Gun Violence
We pray in hope as we tell the story of homes, communities, neighborhoods, cities and town shattered by gun violence. We call to mind the sacred ground around our nation that has been watered with the blood of loss and the tears of grief. Grant that we may work tirelessly towards a vision where all may sit under their own vine and fig tree in safety and security. Amen.

For First Responders
We pray for first responders, those who live with the horror of gun violence in service to the common good. We stand with them and their families as they heal from bearing witness to the aftermath of lives ended in violence. Grant that we, with them, may create a world where all are protected, all are honored and all are seen, valued and beloved. Amen.

For Schools
We pray for our school communities, for teachers and administrators who offer their energy and love for teaching the next generation, and who now also must safeguard the lives of young people with emergency protocols. We pray with them that our young people, growing up in an unpredictable and fearful world, will meet the challenges of violence with the courage to practice peace and reconciliation. Amen.

For Those Demonized in the Wake of Violence
We pray for our queer and trans friends and neighbors, for immigrants, and for all whose identities are weaponized as scapegoats in the wake of violence. Move our society to see the ways division and fear are leveraged for profit, and help us to reject the politics of hatred and fear, so that all can live with dignity and peace. Amen.

For The Perpetrators of Gun Violence
We pray for perpetrators of violence. We pray for their families, their friends, and those who love them. We pray for those who see no other way than violence. We pray for those who suffer from mental illness, social isolation, loneliness, and debilitating fear. Grant that we may reach out in love and transform anger into friendship and fear into hope. Amen.

For those who feel helpless in the face of Gun Violence
We pray in solidarity with those who feel helpless, dejected, or powerless in the face of the gun violence epidemic. We know that gun violence touches all cultures, classes, genders, races, tribes, and nations. We pray that we may not be overwhelmed by gun violence but that we may overwhelm the world with the strength of love. Amen.

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Spiritual Practice

Honoring the Ache | from The Rev. Cameron Trimble at Piloting Faith

This week, choose one grief you’re carrying for the world. Name it clearly. Then, without trying to solve it or suppress it, spend 5–10 minutes each day simply sitting with it.

Place your hand on your heart. Breathe into the ache. Ask: What does this pain teach me about what I love?

Then, write one sentence each day that affirms that love—something you want to protect, preserve, or praise in this world.

Let your heartbreak become a compass.

Tags: Violence, Hope, Prayer, Rev Susan