One River, One Table, One World (Psalm 65)

 *****This is the last week we have with our theme, “Immersed in Living Waters,” the theme for this year’s Season of Creation. 

And with all these scriptures that talk about rivers and lakes and seas and oceans, it all reminds me of so many other stories from my life and from the world, that involve water.

I remember my 7th grade science teacher, who one day assigned us an essay to write; the title of the essay was: “I Was a Teenage Water Molecule.” In this essay, we were to creatively imagine what it would be like if we ourselves were a water molecule, and what our life would be like.

Of course, the essay would talk about how we fell to the earth as rain, joined up with other molecules in streams and rivers, how we eventually made our way to the sea, and how we then—through evaporation—made our way back to the sky, thus completing the entire hydrologic cycle. 

Not every essay I had to write in school was fun, but I did enjoy that one. And I still think about watersheds, and where rain goes after it falls to the ground, and the life that rain brings.

I almost included in this sermon a story about a river in Wyoming that got blocked by a landslide and changed direction. And since the river is near the continental divide, it meant that, instead of flowing west toward the Pacific, it now flowed east, toward the Atlantic. Fascinating, I thought… until I realized the story was made up by a satirical website.

But I almost believed it, because rivers do change. Humans changed the direction of the Chicago River, but often, rivers change due to natural causes.

******The town of Kaskaskia, Illinois—located on the Mississippi River—was the first state capitol of Illinois. In 1881, a devastating flood caused the Mississippi River to change course, so that, instead of flowing west of Kaskaskia, the river now flowed east of town. How strange is it to have an Illinois town sitting west of the Mississippi River!

Today, Kaskaskia has an Illinois telephone area code but a Missouri ZIP Code.

And there are other spots, all along the Mississippi River, where state boundaries no longer follow the river. Once upon a time they did, but the river changed, while the boundaries stayed where they were.

It’s a reminder to me that rivers, like the rest of creation, are alive. The water that flows really is living water. 

We often set state or national boundaries at major bodies of water, like rivers, but the rivers don’t pay attention to where we have drawn our lines. The rivers move; they alter course; and they are always at work, changing and reshaping the geography.

In the same way, God’s spirit is always at work, shaping and reshaping the church, giving the church new life. And as a result, the church itself is always changing. 

***** We see this today in the baptisms of Audrey and Edward: every new person who joins the church changes the church. We are not the same church today (Oct. 4) that we were yesterday (Oct. 3). God’s spirit is changing us, moving us, leading us and guiding us, into our next stage of existence.

And just as the rivers pay no heed to where we set our boundaries, the same is true for God’s Spirit. We find ways to divide ourselves from one another, to divide humanity into groups, nations, races… and these divisions lead to animosity, exclusion, and even hatred… but we are all one in God’s eyes…. Something we are especially reminded of on this World Communion Sunday.

Rivers also provide essential transportation links. The rivers themselves keep us united. This is certainly true for the Mississippi River. Barges transport goods up and down the river, and even today, passenger boats take people up and down the river, something that was even more true in times past.

Even the oceans unite us.

***** We often think of oceans as great divides, but ancient Polynesians saw things differently. They saw the ocean as that which connects different island nations to each other. 

Some anthropologists even believe that ancient Polynesians made contact and traded with indigenous peoples along the west coast of North and South America before Columbus ever set sail across the Atlantic.

Having learned a little bit about the canoes of the Tongva and Chumash people where I grew up in southern California, and the skilled ocean navigators of ancient Polynesia, I’m inclined to believe that this is true, that Polynesians made it to the Americas before Columbus did………

Just as the ocean connects, so does God’s Spirit. And so does the church. 

***** The church connects us to God and to each other.

The word religion, in fact, comes from a Latin phrase re-ligio, which literally means to reconnect. 

Religion that is done right and which honors God is religion that reconnects us to God and to one another. Religion that is done right reminds us that we are one with creation and one with each other.

Which means that a primary task of the church is to connect and unite, and overcome the barriers and divisions that keep us separated from one another.

And what better day than today to ponder all these things. World Communion Sunday. Baptism Sunday. The last Sunday of the Season of Creation. 

It all comes together. 

And after worship, we’ll gather in our fellowship hall, and hopefully take another step toward unity and understanding, overcoming the divides and barriers that separate us, and charting a new course… just like the Mississippi River, that often changes its course…

…as we continue journeying toward God’s beloved community, that kingdom of heaven, marked by peace and understanding and justice and reconciliation and hope — all the elements that, together, are what the Bible refers to as shalom; the world as God desires it to be; the world where all can live together, and thrive, and experience all the blessings God has to offer.

Fruit for All, Leaves of Healing (Psalm 1:1-3; Revelation 22:1-2)

 The Fat Bears are down to the final four… 

Katmai National Park in Alaska is home to some of the largest brown bears on earth, and this week, they’ve been trying their best to get even larger. 

The bears are feasting on salmon, trying to gain as much weight as they can in preparation for winter. They do this, because in winter, when they hibernate, they neither eat nor drink, and lose one-third of their bodyweight. 

So the end of summer is a time of feasting.

Last year’s winner, a bear named Chunk, featured an estimated weight of 1,200 pounds by summer’s end. 

Humans have turned all this feasting into a spectator sport. A very popular spectator sport. 

I didn’t realize how popular, until I tried accessing the Fat Bear website, and I kept getting error messages; too many other people were trying to do the same: trying to get information on the bears, and fill out their own Fat Bear brackets, hoping to pick a winner.

Have any of you been following Fat Bear week?

Assuming they’ve got those kinks all worked out, you can go online, fill out your bracket, and pick which bear you think should be the champion of Fat Bear Week. As I said, they are down to their final four; soon the winner will be revealed.

Of course, there would be no Fat Bear Week without rivers. 

Bears gather at the river where the salmon run. They catch the salmon, then eat them on the riverbank. 

Sometimes they carry their salmon quite a ways away from the water to eat. Some bears just like to have their privacy, I guess... Or maybe there’s just so many bears that it gets kind of crowded… Or maybe they know of a spot that has some really good berries that would go perfectly with their freshly caught salmon.

And these bears are often sloppy eaters… 

I know this is the first time I’ve ever mentioned Fat Bear week in one of my sermons, but I think I have talked about the eating habits of bears… They may eat half a fish, while the other half falls to the ground in pieces. No problem, though; there’s plenty of other fish where that one came from.

But the fish pieces that fall to the ground aren’t wasted. Birds and other, smaller animals may eat some of the pieces left behind. The rest become fertilizer for the trees that grow along the river.

Without the nutrients that the decomposing salmon-remains provide to the trees, those trees could not grow. The trees depend on the decomposing salmon-remains for the nutrients they need. 

Those trees need the salmon, which means they need the bears who eat the salmon and leave pieces of salmon all over the ground.

And if those trees didn’t grow tall and healthy, there would be less shade. Less shade means more warmth, and the water in those rivers and streams would become warm; too warm for salmon.

Without the shade that the trees provide, there would be a lot fewer salmon. 

But because of the trees and how they keep the water cool and clean, the salmon can thrive.

Which means the bears can thrive, too… and get nice and fat for winter.

It is all part of the circle of life.

*******

In the Bible, rivers symbolize life. 

Both of our short scripture readings today—the one from Revelation, and the one from Psalms—speak of a river. 

By this point in the Season of Creation, the image of a river is a familiar one. We heard about the river in Ezekiel; the river that flows out from God’s temple toward the east, eventually reaching the Dead Sea, bringing life all along the way. 

The image of a river bringing life is present from the beginning, in Genesis, where the four rivers flow out of Eden. 

Rivers appear again in Joel, which speaks of streambeds flowing with water and fountains springing forth from the house of the Lord. 

Zechariah 14:8 speaks of the living waters flowing out from Jerusalem; 

…and Jesus refers to himself as the source of living water, most notably in John chapter 4, where he says that “those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

I’m sure you can think of other scriptural imagery featuring streams and rivers. 

I love that even the book of Revelation uses this imagery. It’s all so rooted in creation. It’s so earthy. It’s so grounded. Which isn’t usually how we think of Revelation.

Because of the way Revelation describes beasts and angels and other fantastical beings and visions, we usually think of Revelation as being other-worldly. 

But where else in the universe—where else in all of creation—do we find rivers of life, and trees bearing fruit? Nowhere that we know of. Only here, on earth.

The truth is that the imagery in Revelation—all of it—represents very real, very earthly, and very present powers in the world of its author, whose name was John. 

The imagery is used to describe, in a metaphorical way, the powers of oppression in his world, although he writes of them vaguely enough and with enough ambiguity, that powers of oppression in any age can be seen in them… 

Because of this, those who suffer under powers of oppression, no matter where they live, no matter what century they live, can find comfort and assurance in John’s words.

Despite what we often think, Revelation is very much rooted in this world. Our world.

The same is true for the kingdom Jesus often talked about. The kingdom of God, it’s often called, or the kingdom of heaven, as it often appears in Matthew’s gospel.

For some reason, when Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, we think he’s talking about some far off, distant, future kingdom. A kingdom that isn’t of this world, perhaps; or, a kingdom that can only be experienced in the life to come.

But Jesus is talking first and foremost about this world, the world we live in, and what it can be like when God’s ways are followed.

He’s talking about what this world is like, right now, in the hearts of those whose hearts are set on God.

It is very much the vision of the prophets; a vision of peace; a vision of justice; a vision of a world where every child of God knows they are loved, are treated with kindness; and where every person treats others with love and kindness.

It is a world that is present within and among God’s people, those who follow God’s ways, those who know how to live in community and harmony with those around them.

*******

Many years ago, I created a social media image for the church in Long Beach where I was then pastoring. I used a photo I had taken while hiking near the Hollywood Sign, adjusted the lighting to make it all yellow and orange; and on that image I put these words:

“The kingdom of God is:

• LGBT youth finding affirmation

• Immigrants finding a home

• Strangers finding welcome

• Healing for the earth

• Black lives matter

• Equal rights

• No fear”

And I really do believe that things like these are what Jesus was talking about when he was talking about the kingdom of God.

Especially that last one: no fear. In the kingdom of God, there is no fear. There is no anxiety. There is no worry. There are no sleepless nights.

And I believe this is what Revelation is talking about as well. 

There is no drought, because the living water of God flows nonstop, bringing life in abundance. There is no thirst. There is no hunger.

For anyone… in the kingdom of God.

Just like the bears at Fat Bear week, there is all the food we need, in great abundance… Everyone gathers at the river. Everyone has enough. Everyone eats, and is satisfied.

******Isaiah 55 presents a great image of the kingdom of God:

“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price…

Eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food…

And you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands…”

That is a vision of the kingdom of God.

And this is really what it’s all about. This is the gospel.

The vision appears elsewhere in the writings of Isaiah, and the other prophets.

******The kingdom of God is where swords are beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks; it’s where nations shall not lift up weapons against other nations, and where they no longer learn the art of war.

The kingdom of God is where justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

******

At the beginning of Mark’s gospel, after Jesus is baptized, and when Jesus first began proclaiming the good news of God, He said:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the good news.”

The kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, it is NOW. The kingdom of love, joy, peace, security, justice… is NOW. 

So: repent. In other words, stop living in the kingdom of fear. Stop living in the kingdom of injustice. Stop living in the kingdom where people rule over others, oppress others, and seek their own gain at the expense of everyone else.

******

This is the kingdom of the world, where neighbors look upon one another with suspicion, and seek to separate themselves from others; it’s the kingdom where we deny our connectedness, our unity with each other and with creation. 

In the kingdom of the world, we turn neighbors into enemies. Those who worship differently than we do, those who love differently than we do, those from other countries, those with other skin color, those who vote differently; 

…we refuse to see anything good in them, we refuse to love them, we refuse to have anything to do with them.

But in the kingdom of God, we turn enemies into neighbors. We love them, as Jesus commanded us to do. We speak and work and act and vote on their behalf, because we are concerned with their wellbeing as well as our own. 

In fact, we recognize that our wellbeing is tied to theirs, because we really are one community, one humanity, one family.

This is the kingdom of God. And it flows through our lives, and flows from us into all the world. 

It brings life whenever we act with love and work for justice. 

It brings life whenever we seek to love our neighbor as ourself, and whenever we seek to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. 

It brings life whenever we work on behalf of the most vulnerable, the “least of these.”

It brings life whenever we live out our calling and our identity, as Christians, as disciples, as followers of Jesus, and seek to imitate him, showing the same care and compassion and the same passion for justice as he did.

It brings life whenever we allow God’s spirit to work through us, to make God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.