SCRIPTURES for SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Psalm 37: 1-11, 39-40
Genesis 45:1-15
1 Corinthians 15:35-50
Luke 6:27-38

[Jesus said, ] “Love your enemies, do good,
and lend, expecting nothing in return.  
Your reward will be great,
and you will be children of the Most High;
for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
                                              - Luke 6:35-36
When you read Jesus’ words here, which enemies are you picturing in your mind’s eye ?
They might be in an ISIS sleeper cell in a big city. 
Or scheming to cross the border to commit crimes. 
Or disgruntled former co-workers or employees.
Or they might be your flesh and blood.
Nobody can get under your skin like family.
And if familiarity can breed contempt, family breeds potential targets for contempt.  And enmity.  I see it all the time (you guessed it) in church families. 
But it’s not really worse here and now than it’s been in other places and times.  Heck !  The Bible is full of examples of family enmity— perhaps none more memorable than the Jacob a.k.a. Israel family: you know: the “children of Israel.”
Yes, the Book of Genesis is the oldest, best-known family-based soap opera.  You’ll remember that Jacob was the guy who wanted to marry his younger cousin Rachel, but her dad, Jacob’s Uncle Laban, tricked him on his wedding night and he found himself married to Rachel’s older sister Leah instead.  But Jacob insisted on having Rachel, too.  So, between the two sisters and their slave girls, Jacob “begat” a dozen sons, in addition to daughter Dinah (who was in the kitchen with all of those brothers, fee-fie-fiddly-i-oh).
At this point in the Genesis soap opera, Joseph, the second-youngest son of Jacob / Israel’s favorite wife Rachel, becomes the star of the show: a naïve, boastful dreamer, he earns the hatred of his ten older brothers, who beat him, throw him into a pit, and then sell him as a slave to merchants who are on their way to Egypt. 
I am not going to summarize here the utterly unbelievable story of Joseph’s rise from slavery to become second-in-command of all Egypt.  Read it for yourself, in Genesis chapters 37 and 39-41.  It’s totally worth your time.

Meanwhile, Jacob a.k.a. Israel believes that his second-youngest son Joseph is dead. 
And meanwhile, there is a worldwide famine: no food… except, somehow, in Egypt.  Old father Jacob / Israel sends his elder ten sons to Egypt to try to buy food.  And Joseph, who by this time has become the Egyptian Pharaoh’s right-hand man, recognizes them, but they don’t recognize Joseph.  So Joseph messes with their minds; he jerks them around.  And he forces them to bring their very youngest brother, Benjamin to Egypt, too.
Finally, in Genesis chapter 45, Joseph sets up a scene where he’s on the throne and all eleven of his brothers are in front of him, terrified that he will have them killed.  The drama climaxes with Joseph telling them, “I am Joseph.  Is my father still alive?” And then, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt….”
Joseph then proceeded to explain to them how God had turned the ten brothers’ evil into good for Joseph and for all of Egypt.  What’s more, Joseph was now in a position to save his entire family— including the ten older brothers who had hated him and beaten him and sold him as a slave— from starvation.  And so he did: Joseph blessed them instead of having them killed.  Mercy !!

The three-year pattern of Scripture readings called the Revised Common Lectionary is a peculiar puzzle, a puzzle that I and many, many preachers try to work each week.  [see this week’s Scripture readings, above .] 
The usual pattern for each week’s lectionary includes
>a reading from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John,
>plus a reading from some other New Testament book,
>plus a Psalm or other item of biblical poetry,
>plus a reading from some other Old Testament book.  
That makes four Bible readings per Sunday. 
One of the quirks of the Revised Common Lectionary is that it sometimes plows through a book of the Old or New Testament, but at other times, the Old or New Testament reading and Psalm are chosen according to the theme of the gospel text.  At this point in this church year, we are focused on Luke’s gospel, and we’re plowing through 1 Corinthians, and this week’s Psalm and the aforementioned Genesis 45 reading are chosen to resonate with the gospel lesson.

So please study Luke 6:35-36 (above).  And go ahead and practice it at home, as well as on any other people you find difficult. 
And you will be children of the Most High.

SCRIPTURES for SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:20
Luke 6:17-26

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
          we are of all people most to be pitied.
                                           - 1 Corinthians 15:19
Between 1982 and 1985, I often worshiped at Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston Salem, North    Carolina.     For my first two years, Mr. Warren Carr was the Senior Pastor there, and I thoroughly enjoyed him.  He was kindly and learnéd and sharp-witted and wise, and he wrote sermons which were both deep and fun.  I can still picture him, eating and talking with my professors in The Pit (the cafeteria) or walking and discussing with them in Reynolda Gardens, the park-like estate adjacent to the college campus. 
One sermon in particular I remember: “And If I Am Wrong, So What ?”  Usually, the church secretary placed typed copies of the previous week’s sermon on a side-table in the entryway of Wait Chapel so anyone could take them away to read.  My copy of this particular sermon is in a box somewhere in our cluttered house— but I don’t really feel the need to look for it.  That’s because, when I heard it and read it back then, it quickly changed my life and my way of thinking.
Mr. Carr’s sermon referenced 1 Corinthians 15:19, (above) but he disagreed with the apostle Paul. 
Mr. Carr did not believe that anyone should pity us Christians if the details of what comes after this life turn out NOT to be as we read them in the Bible.  Mr. Carr talked about the practical, current advantages of living our lives according to the teachings of Jesus.  He declared that the Christian life is the best life, regardless of what (if anything) awaits us following the deaths of our earthly bodies. 
Maybe I should dig that sermon out of its box and remind myself of the interesting list of examples Mr. Carr gave us.  But in the years since then, I have been making my own list of reasons why the life obedient to Jesus’ teachings is best, whether there is an afterlife or not. 
The greatest of these reasons is love.  We have the love of God, both directly from God and also reflected off of creation and people around us... even if this present, earthly life is the only life.  We have power to love.  By itself, this would be enough of a reason to stick with Jesus and his ways.  Love. 
A clear conscience is another great reason to live as Jesus taught— afterlife or not.  Jesus preached integrity.  He preached putting the other person ahead of oneself.  He affirmed the Golden Rule.  He forgave sinners and told us to forgive sins.  As Peter summarized in his sermon to the household of the Roman Centurion Cornelius, “he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”  (Acts 10:38)  That’s a good life, where one needs not have any regrets, but rather focuses on doing good and treating people right.
Yes, that long-ago sermon set me on a course, trying to live each day as if there were no other day beyond, on earth or in heaven.  Jesus Christ has given me plenty to do without worrying about what comes after my death.  Not that I won’t be pleased to find that heaven, eternal life, and all the other New Testament statements about the age to come are true.  The best kind of life, life according to Jesus’ teachings, is also true.
But....  I heard Mr. Carr’s sermon, “And If I Am Wrong, So What ?” back in the ‘80s.  That was l a long time ago.  And recently, I have been trying to remember: What did I actually do, back then ?  What did I do wrong in those days, that I don’t even remember, now ?  Who did I offend, back then, who I never told I was sorry, whom I never asked for forgiveness ?  In what ways am I a different person now than I was, back then ? 
This much I know for sure: I have definitely sinned and made a lot of mistakes, down through the years... as we humans do. 
 
Of course, this touches upon the challenge facing our Virginia leaders today.  Each of them has their own peculiar past, with its record of good and evil.  Each of them, in their own peculiar situation, has to decide how to live today.  The rest of us may pray for each of them, that they will decisively trade regrets for righteousness now; that they will make amends now— and in whatever future awaits them.  And we may pray the same for ourselves.
Mr. Carr is long ago gone to meet his Maker.  I will someday enjoy comparing notes with him as to how it all turned out.
 
I the LORD test the heart
     and search the kidneys,
     to give to all according to their ways,
     according to the fruit of their doings. 
                                       - Jeremiah 17:10

SCRIPTURES for SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10
Psalm 138
Isaiah 6:1-13
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
In the year that King Uzziah died,
 I saw the LORD sitting on a throne,
  high and lofty;
and the hem of His robe filled the temple. 
Seraphs were in attendance above Him....
                                               - Isaiah 6: 1 – 2
Now, that’s an epiphany !
Epiphany means many things, but it all has to do with showing up, making an appearance, coming to a realization.  What could be more amazing than a personal vision of God Almighty on His throne accompanied by majestic angels ?
During this season of the church year called Epiphany, I have not made a point of labeling each thread of Scripture to explain how it speaks to this grand theme.  But let me go back over the past few weeks and label a few items.
Two weeks ago, several of our church leaders stood before the congregation to read 1 Corinthians 12.  That was a double epiphany: one in the text, where Paul describes the body of Christ as being composed of all of us with our differing spiritual gifts, and another epiphany in the actual presence and participation of five different church leaders, who each brought their unique combination of spiritual gifts to the pulpit in that moment.  Two thousand years ago, Paul told us that Christ shows up in the diverse folks who compose his church; two weeks ago, Doris and Richard and Janice and Joe and Gary showed up to illustrate Paul’s ancient-yet-current point.
That same Sunday morning, we heard how Jesus showed up in the synagogue at Nazareth and read from the ancient book of the Prophet Isaiah.  In this we received Jesus’ claim that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:  he said he came “to bring good news to the poor …. release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”  (Luke 4:18-19, quoting lines from Isaiah 61 and 58)  It seems to me that this would naturally lead us to look around and question, “OK, Jesus, are you still in the good news business?  Or the business of releasing people who are imprisoned ?  Do you still give sight to the blind ?   Do you still break oppression ?   Are you still saying that we can find favor with God ? 
In other words, Jesus, are you still showing up ? 
If so, where ?  How ?”
That Sunday, I hope that you found at least a partial answer in the church “showing up” to be the body of Christ— people today continuing to carry out the activities Jesus claimed as his mission in this world.
Then, last Sunday, we heard how the ancient prophet Jeremiah, and then later also Jesus, demonstrated obedience to God’s call in their lives in the face of opposition. 
O young and fearless Prophet of ancient Galilee:  
your life is still a summons to serve humanity,  
to make our thoughts and actions less prone to please the crowd,  t
o stand with humble courage for truth with hearts unbowed. …
Once more give us your challenge above our noisy day, 
and come to lead us forward along your holy way.       
                                    - S. Ralph Harlow, 1931

When God calls us to show up and carry out His mission in the world, God also protects us and resurrects us.

This coming Sunday, we will take a closer look at how human testimony— the observations and statements you and I can honestly make from our lived experience— are a part of God’s “showing up” in this world.  Two thousand years ago, Jesus showed people his divine power and wisdom: some of them trusted him, saw for themselves that he was the real deal, and they became “witnesses” to the fact that God had actually showed up in their midst.  Most spectacularly, there were human witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead:  here, Paul explains how people’s personal experience got to him personally:  I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Simon Peter], then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 
                                     - 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Do you personally know Jesus is alive ?