Minister's Message
Happy Third Sunday of Advent
Dear Friends,
Last Sunday we had a great discussion about miracles. It was great to hear your stories of miracles in your own lives. That dialogue also led to many discussions off-line. In the discussion, I mentioned our tradition’s belief that the second coming of Christ prophesied in the Bible is a spiritual event and not the physical destruction of the earth. This raised many more questions.
What Does the Coming of Christ into the World Mean for Us Today?
Since Advent is the time when we remember Christ coming into the world and into our hearts, it is the perfect Sunday for me to follow up on your questions about what it means for Jesus to come into the world. This week, we’ll look at how our tradition sees it and then look deeper at what all this means for us in our own personal journey here on earth.
Communion Feedback
Last Sunday we had our first online communion service. Let me know what worked and how it can be improved.
Christmas Eve
We will gather on December 24th at 5 PM on zoom for Lessons and Carols. If you’d be willing to do a reading let me know. If you have a favorite Christmas carol you’d like to hear, just let me know and I’ll include it. We will not have church on Sunday the 27th.
Moment to Laugh
People really liked this video that I shared in August and Helen picked it as her musical request. You all asked that I post the video of the Dancing Priest in the newsletter, so here he is. Enjoy and share what makes you laugh and I'll include it in the newsletter.
Benevolence Fund
During this time when many are suffering financially, the church established an emergency fund for anyone in our community in need. The maximum, one-time gift is $500. There is no application. You just have to ask me. This will be done confidentially. Let me know if you’d like to make your own special donation to this fund. I’m happy to report that it is being used. If you need help, let me know.
Hope to see you Sunday!
Rich Tafel
Sermon
December 6, 2020
Why Don’t We See Miracles As They Did in Jesus' Time?
Today, I want to explore why miracles no longer occur as they did with Jesus and his disciples. It’s a great question and another topic I’ve never heard preached on, so thanks James for the suggestion.
I want you to start by sharing a parable that takes place in 2021.
Rev. Tafel at Church of the Holy City in Washington during a zoom call at the beginning of Lent is asked by a member during prayer for her cousin who has cancer. As a surprise to everyone, Rev. Tafel announces not only will I pray for it, with God’s help I’m going to perform a miracle to remove her cancer completely. The group of 12 on the call smile and think to themselves, “Well that’s pretty bold.”
A week later the church member reports that her cousin is completely healed, and the doctors declare it is a miracle as there is no scientific explanation. Over the next weeks, more prayers and more miracles happen at the Church of the Holy City—the blind see, the lame walk, and people declared dead come back to life.
The weekly zoom call now maximizes out at 400 people and when Rev. Tafel tries to get into the church there’s a mob of people blocking the door asking for miracles. The more that ask, the more he performs miracles. The name of the minister, the church, and the denomination is now the talk of national news. Thousands of nonbelievers convert to Christianity based on what has happened.
A reporter asks one convert why they became a Christian and they explain, “Seeing is believing and we’ve all seen this with our own eyes. There’s no denying it. I also have more miracles I’d like to see happen in my own life.”
Rev. Tafel signs an eight-figure deal to have his own TV show where guests come on to have miracles performed live. He’s famous, the church is packed and the downward trend in people going to church reverses itself.
What’s wrong with this story?
What could be bad about that? I particularly like the salary, but so much good came from these miracles done the way Jesus and the disciples did it. Why doesn’t that happen anymore?
Well, as we dig deeper into the story we must ask one question. Why do people in that story believe in God? The answer is because they have seen. Believing because we have seen beyond a shadow of a doubt is not faith. Miracles such as this story remove a key spiritual law of the universe—freedom. It would be impossible not to believe if you could experience changes in the physical world this way. True faith comes from the freedom to say, “no.” Doubt plays a critical part in faith. Without doubt, there is no faith. These miracles, that transcend the laws of the universe, remove it.
Faith involves doubt and mystery and believing what cannot be proven. Miracles like the ones in the story remove all doubt and, therefore, remove all faith.
Jesus in the gospel teaches the disciples that time is coming when people will believe who didn’t see. He’s talking about us. In John 4:48, Jesus is frustrated with the fallen world he’s confronting saying, “unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." In Mark 8, "The the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, ”'a wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. Then He left them and went away.'” Even in the times of miracles Jesus understood the challenge in performing them.
There's a famous scene in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, where King Herod commands that Jesus, "walk across my swimming pool." If you don't know what Jesus Christ Superstar is, I'll include a link in the written sermon.
Okay, then if that’s true why did Jesus and the disciples do miracles?
That’s a complicated question, but let me try to give a simple, but clear answer. I believe he did miracles for a few reasons.
One he had compassion for what he experienced. We also know that this was a unique time of incredible evil in the world. He needed to breakthrough.
I believe he was literally shifting the spiritual trajectory of humanity by coming into the world, gaining attention, and sharing the good news about being in a loving relationship with God. I believe those miracles gave him the platform to share a message that changed the history of the world. His motivation for doing them and those coming to him were pure.
I also, believe Jesus is that each type of miracle represented a corresponding evil in the world that Christ was trying to teach us about. The correspondence between what happens on earth and heaven is a big theme of our theology. We see the Bible written a literal level and a deeper spiritual level.
What were the big changes that Jesus was addressing symbolically in each miracle?
A few examples: when he heals the lame, he’s addressing the problem of thinking about doing good and not do it. When he heals the deaf, he’s addressing the problem of people who cannot hear good things anymore. When he heals the blind, he’s addressing the problem of our inability to see the truth. In other words, the healings symbolize the larger healing of the world that took place in the unique time of Jesus and his followers to shift humanity in the right direction.
If these types of miracles continued we’d be back to a situation described in the little parable I shared at the beginning. People would believe because they had no choice not to. That’s not faith.
Okay, so if miracles like the ones in the gospel aren’t happening anymore, does that mean we live in a world without miracles.? The answer is no.
You’ll see in Swedenborg’s insight reading he describes modern miracles as hidden. If you are looking through the eyes of faith you can see that was a miracle. If you are looking through the eyes of materialism those are all coincides that religious people string together in a narrative, but there’s nothing more than what we can see.
If you’ve heard me preach, you’ve likely heard many dramatic stories of divine intervention or miracles when doors were opened or doors were closed. These are modern miracles, and you have them in your life too. Look at your life and reflect on the situations where the right person appeared at the right time. Or situations where voices guided you toward good when you were headed the other direction. As you grow wiser spiritually you become more aware of them to the point that you see them everywhere. Eventually, you trust when you are not sure why something is happening that some good will occur. You are looking for a miracle.
Maybe one of the most dramatic stories miracle stories for me is that I was scheduled to be on Bill Maher’s old program Politically Incorrect in Los Angeles. After reserving my ticket, we got the word that they had chosen a well-known political Fox News host instead of me, and my trip was canceled. The flight that I was canceled from was the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 911. I remember looking at the sticky note with the flight number was stuck on our office computer screen as a reminder as I watched the news of the crash. Maher left an empty seat on the set to commemorate the women who had died.
For me, that was a miracle, not that I lived because I don’t fear death and it is a wonderful transition. It just meant that I’ve got more to do here, and I’d better get to it. I’ve had literally hundreds of stories like and I bet you do too, and I feel are dramatic miracles in my life.
Now here’s the interesting thing. I spend the bulk of my time in the business or political world which is highly secular and transactional. They are too smart to believe in mythologies like faith.
When I tell a person without faith these stories they never say, “Wow, that makes me want to believe.” Instead, they say, wow what coincidence for you and the women who took your seat that day. The most secular friends say when they hear, what I believe to radically clear miracles, is “spooky.” The events allow for multiple interpretations. The miracles remain hidden. Their free will is protected.
The more we engage in the mystic pathway the more we see that everything is a miracle. God has set up a world of order and within the order, we are given new ideas, pathways, insights, people who love us and we love. We are aware of the nudges that angels give us. As I get older it becomes clearer to me now how little I can take credit for. My breath, the air, my home the food, love, and my daily bread are all miracles.
How about you? Have you experienced miracles? Have you ever tried to explain it to someone who rolls their eyes or politely smiles?
Our freedom to turn toward God or away from God is the most powerful spiritual law in the universe. Dozens of times each day we turn toward or away. God loves us so much that we are nudged and even tricked into doing good and following our right path if that’s what we ask for. This is the miracle of our lives.
Were you just asked to reach out to someone in need, go do it. Did someone just reach out to you? Thank them and God. Life itself is a miracle.
Don't miss the hidden miracles that your life this week.
Amen
Sunday Service Order
Third Sunday of Advent
December 13, 2020
Light a Candle
Open the Word
Greetings and Check-In
Invocation
Gracious, God, as we enter into the Third Sunday of Advent, we remember the promise of a miracle that Jesus would come into the world. We ask that you make each of us an instrument of your grace. Weave us into a community showing forth your power and tenderness. Bless us and our differences and undergird our courage to stand together. We call on you today to gather us in your love. Lead us to better know you and glorify you on each step of the journey of our lives. Amen.
Confession
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You, and worthily magnify Your holy name, through Christ the Lord. Amen.
First Reading
A Promised Ruler From Bethlehem
5 [a]Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
…
9 Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies,
and all your foes will be destroyed.
Gospel Lesson
Matthew 24
36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,g but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. 39 And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.
Swedenborg Insights
The Lord’s Coming will not be his literal reappearance in the world but his presence in every individual. This coming takes place every time the gospel is preached, every time someone thinks about something holy. (Secrets of Heaven §3900:9)
Two will then be in the field; one will be taken and the one left behind symbolizes the different types of people within the church. Some who call themselves Christian are devoted to goodness and other people in the church are devoted to evil. Those devoted to goodness (loving their neighbor) will be saved, and those devoted to evil (selfishness) will be damned . . . Two grinding in the mill; one will be taken to heaven and one left means that people in the church who focus on what is good and true with pure motivations will be saved, while people in the church whose focus on understanding truth comes from evil motivations will damn themselves. (Secrets of Heaven §4334:8, 9)
Insights from Father Richard Rohr
Giving Birth to Christ: Christ Is Born in Creation
Monday, December 7, 2020
In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes: “From the beginning until now, the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth” (Romans 8:22). Creation did not happen at once by a flick of the divine hand, and it is not slowly winding down toward Armageddon or tragic Apocalypse. Creation is in fact a life-generating process that’s still happening and winding up! We now know the universe is still expanding—and at an ever-faster rate, which means that we are a part of creating God’s future.
…The common Christian understanding that Jesus came to save us by a cosmic evacuation plan is really very individualistic, petty, and even egocentric. It demands no solidarity with anything except oneself. We whittled the great Good News down into what Jesus could do for us personally and privately, rather than celebrating God’s invitation to participate in God’s universal creative work.
Instead of believing that Jesus came to fulfill us separately, how about trusting that we are here to fulfill Christ? We take our small but wonderful part in what Thomas Merton calls “The General Dance.” [2] We are a part of this movement of an ever-growing Universal Christ that is coming to be in this “one great act of giving birth” (Romans 8:22).
Offering
Please give generously to our ministry
(Be Careful to Remove the Tip Feature)
Community Prayer with Lord's Prayer
(congregation responds, "Lord hear our prayer.")
Benediction
Now may the peace that passes all understanding be with you all this day and forevermore.
AMEN
Question Time Follows the Service
This time is for those who would like to remain after the service to ask questions and hear the questions of others.
Guidelines:
Participate by asking questions only.
Be curious and open-minded in your participation to the views of others.
Keep your questions brief.
Listen deeply to the questions of others.
