Healed on the Sabbath - Luke 13

Be Healed on the Sabbath

Tony Dillon Hansen 

Reflection on Luke 13, Psalm 103, 

Opening prayer

A woman crippled for 18 years is healed this day.  What caused her ailment? We don’t know and it really doesn’t matter.  For how often do we see this in our lives and around us? And our reaction is disdain, neglect, maybe a bit of scorn, but our reaction is a familiar judgment.  They must’ve done something to deserve this, and therefore, we must somehow continue that abandonment, judgment or abject punishment. 

I mean for God’s sake ??

What kept her hidden from all the people around her all those years? After a while she probably just was fixture among them. No one is doing anything for her or with her.  She is isolated, exiled among the people.  

Along comes Jesus, who does what no one else would.  He does not ignore, does not scorn, does not judge.  Jesus comes to heal, and heal, he does. 

Now people are watching this with amazement.

There is always someone in the crowd that wants to complain. It really could have been anything that Jesus said or did. Were those the correct words? Did Jesus commit blasphemy? This happened on the sabbath, a traditional day of rest. 

Jesus disrupts and transcends tradition to bring life. Jesus listens to the spirit and works with the spirit.

Besides, How many people have that luxury of even having a sabbath? 

What a great seat it must be for this person complaining to be able to observe a sabbath and other traditions.  This woman for a good portion of her life has been relegated to the fringes of society, likely not having money, not having opportunities (like the complaining), and not having the support of the people who should be supporting.  They instead bemoan and complain.

People do that today about the panhandlers and homeless on the street. Why won’t they lift themselves by their bootstraps (if they even have any)? Why do I have to pay attention?

Jesus retorts, “don’t you have animals that need water and food on the sabbath?” Do you let them go thirsty and hungry? Would parents make sure their children have food and water or just say, y’all need to fend for yourself, even you the infant?” Ludicrous! 

We all have things to do and on the sabbath. I guarantee farmers still have chores on Sunday. The point of the sabbath is to stop and rest, but not at the expense of others around us. The point of the sabbath is to make time for the spirit to be with us and in us. 

When is a good time to do God’s work, to be God’s face, to be the one that saves? When is a good time to celebrate the spirit and to invite the spirit? When do you need the spirit?

Jesus calls these people who were supposed to be the leaders, the ones to care, the one's to support, the ones to do God’s work, especially on Sunday; these people are hypocrites. (Many in church leadership, including myself, could be called this.)

As stated before, this woman has been like this for years. People probably got used to seeing her like this, and Jesus upends this. Jesus flips tradition of 18 years of apathy, ignorance and disdain, to bring life, to bring healing and to lift someone who needs lifted.

Jesus invites the spirit to be with her, with us - you and me - and to lift us.

That is why we do church.  It is the mystery and miracles of our faith that bring us together . Together, we witness that spirit working.

Think what it must have been like for that woman to, finally, after 18 years have someone pay attention, someone show some love, and someone to be the face of God: To be free from the bondage of whatever ails.  

Don’t we need that today? Let Jesus free us from our bondage, our misery and find praise.

How thrilling that must have been and is why I love this work. Because I see this in people all the time. That exuberant joy and excitement of feeling, the witnessing of the spirit among us (all of us)  and especially when we need it the most, like my life currently, sabbath or not. 

We can reach into our faith and find blessing - a measure of grace. We are reminded then to share that grace, that blessing.

God is here, God is with us and God is healing.

Let Jesus do that for you today. Be healed, especially on the Lord’s day! Be healed and have life no matter what the leaders say.

Beloved, be healed and lift your head this day to the love of God.

Thanks be to God.

Where is your treasure - Luke 12

Where is your treasure?

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 12: 32-40, Isaiah 1:16-17, and Hebrew 11:1-16

Opening prayer

There is a lot to unpack. We continue this week in Luke 12 after Jesus has just told people parables about a rich man that stored all his wealth, all his “treasures”, but forgot to have wealth in faith and in spirit. For all the so-called broken wealth we can muster in this life will not travel well into the next. 

This causes unnecessary stresses too. Thus when we do this, we worry about the wrong things. We worry about accumulating world prizes, measuring ourselves against those arbitrary ideas of success which are simply broken promises of our world. Instead Jesus reminds us that we have all that we need in God.

25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?”

I am reminded of the first summer I spent with St John, I visited the Lakota people in the reservation in South Dakota. That experience changed me in ways I could not imagine. It also illustrated what Jesus is saying in this lesson.

For all of the needs and poverty on the reservation, the people held onto culture and each other. They held onto visions of the spirit in themselves, in everyone and in all things around them. 

A poster hanging in the community center read, “Only after the last tree has been cut, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.” This shows us how indigenous cultures value all of creation in the way God asked us, Christians, to steward this garden, our creation. 

To truly value the soil under our feet, the air we breath, the waters that quench our thirsts and realizing that money cannot be eaten or taken with us into the afterlife. 

I think that is what Jesus is saying with, “Where is your treasure is your heart is also.” That begs the question, where is your treasure?

What exactly is it?

Our broken world tells us to amass “treasures” for ourselves.  This stuff can and often does collect dust – and will not follow you into the afterlife. 

 

Maybe, we fear scarcity - not having enough or running out. Inversely, What do we leave behind in the store or on Amazon if we do not buy it? How much faith does that take?

Is this really how we measure personal worth?  Is that where our heart is?

It is amazing how giggly kid on my shoulders can bring a smile and open heart even when hiking up a large hill. 

As well, youth are amazing in resilience with ability to turn any situation into opportunities for fun. They have not etched their lives in the concrete of adulthood. 

Of this I can speak of my own experience. We did not have much, but I believed there was something more than where I was. I had faith, and with faith, I had hope. Love held our family together. That is real treasure beyond any worldly material. 

Hebrews tells us faith is the assurance of things hoped for and things not seen: a gift given to us by God.

What we do with the gifts/treasure we have?  St Paul says we are given 3 spiritual gifts of faith, hope and love. Do we value these as treasure?

When I think about the youth on reservation, I saw hope and possibilities. This gave me more hope for our wider global youth (not just those on the reservation) – that we can trust them – we can have faith in them. They just need some love to grow.

 

In fact, when I think about it; even when people seem resigned to calamity, people can and do find treasure through faith. Maybe, if we reach into our childhood for a glimpse of hope and love in our lives, faith is right alongside. 

 

My physical youth may be gone, but there is still a child inside. Maybe, that is the child in us older folks (perhaps healing) but has hope, with dreams of God’s promise and feeling loved. Maybe, that child in us who Jesus calls treasure.

Maybe, it was the child inside the elders and activists that show a determined faith in what they did as well as showed the people they are.  They want something more for the younger generations than what they had.  They were not concentrated on what they could see, but upon faith that things will get better .

 

They had faith in the Creator to give them that hope, to love that child. God gave them (and you) the promise.

 

Maybe, that is what we need today: A little faith in what we don’t see. Your faith breeds hope. That child inside you lives in hope and God’s promise of love. 

Where is your treasure?

Thanks be to God!

Prayer of Four Directions - Lakota Prayer

Prayer of Four Directions

East: 

All good things come from the east the freshening wind brings warm rain and sunshine. Each day guide us to see you in everything we do, everyone we meet. Be kind in your blessings, lord.

 

South: 

The warming south winds bring new growth, gentle rain, healing sunshine. Bless us with enough food and the good things from the earth. As we eat nourishing food help us to know you as the giver of all good gifts, lord.

 

West: 

The sun sets in the west giving us glorious colors in our life. Night can sometimes be scary. The darkness can also mean calming, healing sleep. May good dreams and deep sleep cleanse us from all that is bad or evil. Renew and refresh us, o lord.

 

North: 

North winds sometimes bring stormy weather and snow. Let your warmth in our coldness wrap us as with a blanket of love to keep away all that hurts. May all our people have warm houses and full tables against winter’s chill, lord.

 

From “The Lakota Prayer Book by Fr. Charles Flood, SCJ”

How We Pray - Luke 11

How do we pray?

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Reflection for Luke 11:1-13, Psalm 138, Colossians 2: 6-7

Opening prayer

The lesson this week is one of the readings where we get the Lord’s Prayer, A little different than Matthew. That version is a little bigger and address a different audience than Luke. Luke is teaching not just Jewish communities how to pray but also those who are not Jewish.

These familiar verses than we say on Sunday are bracketed by the submission and the discussion.  Teach us to pray the way John taught his followers.

Jesus teaches to pray with whole heart and mind asking for the gifts that we need and God will respond.  

In verse 13, “how much more will the heavenly God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?” This prayer asks us to understand who God is because the prayer is about relationship with God. 

To whom do we pray is important because we can have trust in God - trust in that relationship.

Beloved children, this God is our parent. In days of Luke, a parent would decide whether one lives as part of the family, sold or even killed. That is pretty ominous until we look at the character of God. Luke is pointing out to us the nature of God as good and generous. 

That is why we can trust in the relationship with God because the relationship is based upon love not fear. This relationship is based upon generosity of God and persistence of us as believers to ask and have confidence in who we ask.

God is holy and good, trustworthy and dependable - will do more than any human can because God is good - all the time. That is what God does. This gives us context to persist. You can ask God for what you want with persistence because of the deep and abiding relationship with God.  

Then the next question seems, What is going to make the relationship better? You can almost feel a bit of vulnerability on our part.  Like we talked about in our recent lessons, to make our relationship better is to remember that to be human is to bear the image of God in our world - To practice that goodness in our lives. We know that can be difficult.

The prayer commits us to actions - keeping God holy and sacred name. Because we keep God holy, we can ask for daily bread; we can persist in our daily prayers. 

The prayer then commits us even more, forgive us as we forgive others around us. Yes forgiveness is a gift from God but also how we can better our relationship with God and with those around us.  

What exactly are forgiving and asking to be forgiven? Lying, cheating, stealing are sins. Mishandling someone’s property are trespasses. And loan debts? When someone wrongs us, what is our reaction but to make people accountable? Are debts really just borrowed property but the virtual and spiritual banks that we use to measure what has been done well and what has not? What is it that we hold in those debts? 

This comes from Leviticus and Numbers and the Year of Jubilee. For those that would like a literal reading of the Bible, this passage gets overlooked quite often - has never been actioned.

Luke then reminds us that God promises to listen; why would one ask for fish and get a snake?

It is funny in our lives, when we do pray for an egg and then get an egg - somehow we are amazed. Think about that. That gives us more of that image of God - how are we so amazed with the gifts we get?

If you were to write a version of the Lord’s prayer, what would you say? 

Better question, how do you pray? Is it with these words, with song, with quiet heart?  Why do you pray? Are you trying to right your relationships - to recognize the holy - to be the image of God to people around us?

Psalm 138 gives us another way to pray with poetic words, but challenges us to follow up our words with actions. Let our prayer be holy, let our prayers be from our hearts and let our prayers be great because God is great!

Thanks be to God

Why We need the Samaritan? - Luke 10

Why we need Samaritans

Tony E Dillon-Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 10: 25-37, Psalm 25, Deuteronomy 30:9—14

Opening Prayer:

We return to Luke this week with a “lawyer” asking Jesus a question about the law - a test.  We know how people love to test Jesus. 

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds with a question, and the lawyer responds with verses from Deuteronomy, “you shall love God with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself.” And for the grand prize, the lawyer follows the test with, “who is my neighbor?”

Jesus responds with story about 6 people. Let’s look at these characters and ask, “Why we need the Samaritan?”

1. A traveller, a person going about their day.
2. A robber - a violent criminal that leaves traveler for dead.
3. A priest - who walks on other side of the road.
4. A Levite - who also passes by
5. A samaritan - who tends to the beaten and robbed
6. An innkeeper - who is tasked to help care for the beaten and robbed.

We don’t know the rhyme or reason, but we can see glimpses of this robber around us, maybe even in us. Maybe, this person is so twisted that the sight of another invokes violence. There is a power trip that denies humanity or godliness. Maybe, they have every reason to lash out or just lost care for people. Question how could we stop this?

There are the two that have obligations to care for people and reach out to people, but for whatever reason, decide today is not the day.  Maybe, they think “I have more important things to do”, “there will always be victims”, and “I can’t do anything.” They read verses but seemed to forget the meanings. Yet, they yield to complacency when much more is needed.

The innkeeper plays the part of hospitality and caretaker. They do not know why the person is robbed (or if the robbers may come after them next), but they are given instructions to care. Let’s assume so.

Then the star, the Samaritan -> Why we have “good Samaritan” laws. 

What does the Samaritan do? They react first, not with vengeance or disdain or ignorance of truth. They instead become the face of God to someone truly and perhaps desperately in need. They react with healing, comfort, and compassion to this person beaten and robbed.

The would-be-robbed person, whose story we don’t know, but we see in our world as: traveller, walker, worshipper, student in school, shopper at market, homeless, or a woman just brutalized. (Ukraine even?)

What is our reaction? Who in this story do we identify or want to? Be honest and ask the question why? We could be anyone of these and all at once at points.

This is not just a cute story but a challenge to be like the Samaritan to find inside us compassion, empathy and care. React first, not with violence and hate, but instead meet the violence with a nudge of love.

I can hear someone in the crowd say, I would be packing. Question, does packing a weapon help us breed compassion? As a martial artist, we teach that whenever you show a weapon, you mean to use it. For self-defense, weapons hep none if you can’t get to it. Maybe it was left home, stuck in the purse, or the attack was such a surprise, there was no time to react or worse the weapon gets turned on us. 

How did it get to this point? There are many questions in that. Who then becomes the arbiter of life or ability to make decisions over one’s body and being? The criminal or those that ignore the tragedy as not my problem - That just continues the circle or violence?

Who among us needs someone to be the face of God today?

Who maybe needs a nudge to remind them that violence and control isn’t the only way?

Who needs the face of God that brings hope, love and mercy into our world - one person at a time?

Who serves the homeless, the downtrodden, the beaten, the robbed, the seeking among us - no matter where they are on life’s journey?

It might feel easier to be those that walk on the other side with ignorance, because there will be future robbers. Let us just pray that it isn’t us then that become beggars.

That is why we need the Samaritan. To remind us what the love of God looks like. 

Not turning blind eyes, but showing compassion. 

Not avoiding truths, but giving that measure of heart into a world that so desperately needs it.

Not turning to violence but sharing the love of Jesus in the precious and needed hour.

We need the Samaritan because they break the cycle. Maybe, the robber was at one time a person on the side of the road when everyone ignored. Maybe, the Samaritan was once that person beaten and someone showed them the face of God. They remembered that compassion.

What we do know is the Samaritan is what we need because they show the face of God with compassion, love and mercy. 

Beloved, that is how we can break the circle - this day and this most precious hour.

Prayer: “To be truly good means more than not robbing people . . . To be truly good means more than being righteously religious . . . To be truly good means being a good neighbor. . . . And to be a good neighbor means recognizing that there are ultimately no strangers. . . . Everybody is my neighbor! . . . Everybody is my brother! . . . There are no isolated monads wounded on the other side of the street! . . . We're all connected.”

― Brian D. McLaren, A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey

Thanks Be to God.

Listening to Wisdom - Luke 10

Listening to Jesus

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 10:38-42, Psalm 15

Opening Prayer

Today I am going to talk little about 1) lesson from Luke and 2) bit of my call story.

Whenever I read this passage, I giggle some and think: Brady Bunch.

We have two people showing different versions of hospitality.  Maybe you can identify with one or the other, or both at times. At one point I could be in the kitchen busy making a wonderful meal (I hope anyway). In that, I am pouring myself into my work, cleaning and tending as I can.

The flip is to be sitting with guests (presumably welcomed) having conversations.

Thus, Mary is sitting, listening to Jesus - to wisdom of Jesus. Martha is busy-body - doing service. Martha gets annoyed, “will you tell her to help.” A valid complaint.  Jesus responds, “Martha, Martha…” 

Is this a criticism? Not necessarily.  Martha represent hospitality of service, and Mary represents the hospitality of the Word. Yet, Jesus encourages Martha to pause and listen as well - to be served before serving. 

Besides, there is something wonderful about hearing wisdom, and this is Jesus. How often do we get that chance? How often do you pray?

Remember what Jesus says to followers (Luke 5). Jesus wants not just “fishers of fish” but “fishers of people.”  Those who stop and listen for a moment might understand why.

There is an encouragement to meditation in this. “You are worried and distracted by many things…” Pause and reflect.

In the whirlwind of life, rising stresses, and losing control. In those moments, it is time to pause, take a break, a Sabbath, and listen for a moment. Listen not just to words, but listen to creation working with you and guiding you. 

There is something about listening to wisdom, (not ego nor judgment) but wisdom. It is a pause from broken politics, demands, criticisms, pause from ugly egos. Wisdom just is, and you know it when you hear it.

That is why I love the Gospels. Like Mary, I find wisdom in the Word. The Gospels, reveal wisdom that values uniqueness of people, provides an inclusive welcome for all, and forgiveness when we need it the most. Along with Hebrew Scriptures and epistles, they teach us about the Creator and our relationship with the divine. 

I want to share that wisdom. I do my best to follow, and I know that I am broken and fallible. 

A bit of my call story…

I grew up in a devout family, and in my youth, I served the church because I loved the Gospel, especially the blessings upon broken people in Matthew 5 and the power of non-violent, inclusive love. 

Yet as I grew older, I felt a disconnect from teachers and those teachings. I felt sore lack of inclusion - even outright hostility. I walked away not sure I would come back.

When I studied martial arts, I dug deeper into the philosophies around them. My heart opened to wisdom in Asian traditions with many parallels to the Gospel teachings.

Then as it were, I was involved with groups that regularly met at Plymouth. I decided to attend a worship service with skepticism. Turns out, it was the first time in a long time where I felt I could question God. I felt inclusion as well. 

Then, someone came and asked “want to be a deacon?”, then later Stephen ministry which taught me to listen and to walk with people. One thing lead to another, and I felt something more. “The boss is on a roll!” I heard Jesus speaking/calling me.

In ministry, I hear people’s interpretations of sacred texts. Sacred stories invoke personal stories (some pleasant and joyful - some not). That is why they are living texts. When people tell me favorite verse, I want to hear why (not lists of memorized verses.) Tell me what you learned from them, and I am in.

Thus, I believe in the priesthood of all believers -  acknowledging that knowledge, presence and forgiveness of Christ belongs not just to one - but to all God’s children. You teach me as much as (I hope) I teach you. We teach each other by being the face of God to those around us. 

When you listen to Jesus speaking in these verses, find wisdom and meaning because they are our stories. See yourself in them.

I am merely a servant of the One who came before us and taught us. Like Martha, I serve how-ever and whenever I can. Sometimes I fail, but I do my best to bring the Word into this world, to share that divine wisdom and pause into our lives.

We have been given a ticket to God’s realm on Earth - an invitation to listen for Jesus still speaking and to seek the better angels in ourselves. 

Listen to the wisdom of extravagant welcome, compassionate love, and forgiving mercy - for ourselves and for all. Be that wisdom in our broken world to those we know and those we disagree. 

Be little like Mary and Martha. Feel good In your service of hospitality but never underestimate the value of wisdom in your presence. Be willing to sit and listen and find someone is nudging you to make good decisions - nudging you to enjoy the divine peace and share that with this world.

Thank you, St John. May my service be thought-provoking, growth-inspiring, and challenging when we need it, but also find ways to share the divine wisdom. 

Thanks Be to God

Encounter with Jesus - Luke 8

An Encounter with Jesus

Tony E Dillon-Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 8:26-38, Psalm 42, Galatians 3: 25-29

Opening prayer

Today, we return to Luke. We observe someone that is so tormented and conflicted that they didn't wear clothes, was chained and lived among the dead.

Was it mental health issues, trauma or spiritual tortures as the cause? We do know what it is like to have something torturing us. Bad memories, something done to us, we did, or in our future: shame or embarrassing failure, something making us anxious. This can be consuming.

This person encounters Jesus - at first, challenges Jesus as someone deeply troubled, shackled and seized. This person pleads not to be further alienated, excluded or tortured.

That experience is all too common for some. Folks seek guidance from those they trust only to get spat at, demeaned, or simply ignored. 

That isn’t what Jesus does. Jesus does something radically different. Jesus doesn’t leave him alone hiding in a hole, has him his name, conversation ensues, Jesus brings him out of the hole.

Why? We must first recognize and name our affliction whether addiction, trauma, loss, etc. Then we can begin to heal.

There is radical transformation - going from tormented individual to proclaiming disciple - a witness to the power and the hospitality of Jesus.

Jesus sends these demons into pigs to drown. How many hog operations would like that? We could ponder the meaning of this, but let’s look at the people’s reaction.

People watch but don’t understand. Something happened: a person is transformed, but he was the only experiencing it. 

They see a system, a caste, slavery, segregation, class upended = an unwritten deal broken. This person was chained up and controlled away from them. They might have even thought what they were doing was good, besides it can be nice to have “out of sight out of mind” (things or people we don’t want to deal with.) Keep over there so I don’t have to see it, and I can ignore it (until one day we cannot.) 

The people want things to go back to the way they were - the familiar. Change can breed fear and contempt.

We do this today. We live around so much anxiety and death, whether actual death, but dead ideas, notions that were once thought to be good. That change has spurred violence from fear - in our neighborhoods, our schools, and communities. 

We watch the world spiral in real time. Worry comes easy, but also fear, anger and hate. Some feign safety for ourselves or those ideas, but people are frightened about what they don’t know, don’t understand or don’t want to understand, whether demon possession or personal transformation.

Ultimately, when guided by fear, we can make some pretty bad decisions until we cannot see truth, reality, or the loving Spirit of God.

Stop. Instead look inside, name what ails you, talk with God & break the chains,. It may just be radical to nudge ourselves and those around us with the grace and love we are taught. If I am the cause of someone’s chains, then release the chains of control. 

Find God’s forgiveness. We can free ourselves in that liberating forgiveness. 

For ourselves, when we look deep inside and see Jesus working, sending the demons of our hearts away, then we might experience something too. That encounter waits for us. That, Beloved, can be transform our broken bodies and our world with healing and growing in love. 

Yes it starts from within and then we share that with the person next to us, and then that person gets it and shares it with someone else and on and on - The realm of God is ready for us.

Then you might understand why this once tormented soul becomes a disciple of Jesus proclaiming all that Jesus did for them. 

Be image bearers of God -transforming folks into images of hope and forgiveness. Jesus transformed this one, simply by first seeing and acknowledging this person. Then let them start to hope and heal.

This passage also shows us the power of hope, healing, and love despite social chains.

Paul reminds (Galatians 3) that our faith frees us, and that faith works against all the wonderful ways society builds barriers and exclusion. The love of Christ dissolves worldly barriers to free us.

Because these words are here, the Gospel is here, hope is here! We have a challenge in this hope to dismantle sexism, classism, racism, heterosexism, political division. To heal trauma and to grow in love instead.

Don’t hide in fear. See how beautiful you are, child of God.

Be image bearers. Beloved, find the work of Jesus inside - transforming you into something new. Then reveal the possible, the love of Christ from your heart.

Thanks be to God