BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS!
Genesis 9:8-17; Mark 1:9-15
March 5, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper

Do you ever wonder about the Scriptures chosen for any particular Sunday? Why these two, or three, or four, and no other? Why are today’s stories those of Noah and the rainbow covenant; Jesus being baptized, tempted, and proclaiming the realm of God?

And even more, why is it that you can drive along Portland street and see, week after week, sermon titles that might apply to the scriptures we read here? Is it magic? A great conspiracy? How does this happen?

Well, I suppose you could call it a conspiracy, of sorts, especially if you go to the root meanings of conspiracy, breathing together. You see, many mainline churches, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal and others, choose to follow what is called the Revised Common Lectionary, a three year cycle of readings that tracks the church calendar and takes us through much, though not all, of the great breadth of the bible. In Lectionary terms, today is the First Sunday of Lent in year B, the year when our gospel focus is mostly on the gospel of Mark, the year when many readings during the period of Lent focus on the subject of covenant, as in the establishment of God’s covenant with all life at the end of the Noah and the flood story.

One of the gifts of preaching from the lectionary, which I mostly do, is that it takes me, or any preacher, beyond my favorites, into wrestling with texts that stretch me. Another gift is that there are many sermon resources out there that are keyed to the lectionary, so that preachers can tap into a wealth of material that might be relevant. A third gift, and temptation, is that, after a while, after three years, passages come back again. And now, in our age, the miracle of computers means that I can tap a few keys and find out what I had to say three years ago.

I did that this week, and found a pretty good sermon, one that began with me tossing this rock up and down and talking about the great Missoula floods that shaped the land under our feet right now, the long gravel bar that is North Portland. Those floods still seem to be a good starting point for a reflection on our scripture for today.

Now I’ve talked with you before about the purpose of creation mythology, that it answers questions about the nature of God and the whys of creation, about the relationship between God and life on earth, about how things came to be the way they are. So listen, then to our story. In the face of floods—not one but many [geologists think there may have been as many as 100 Missoula floods in the 6000 year period between 18000 and 12000 years ago, approximately one every 60 years for a 6000 year period]—in the face of a period of flooding that filled sixty centuries with frequent devastating floods, our faith tells us a story of a creator who promised, no more destruction of the earth, no more flooding to cover all the known areas of habitable land. The rainbow, the story tells us, is God’s sign, God’s signature to promise that God does not intend to destroy, not earth, not the animals, not the birds, not the people. The story tells us of a God who loves creation, all of it, even us, with a love more durable than my rock.

Well, that’s a good message, that God loves all of us, loves us with a depth and longevity that we can’t even imagine. God loves you. Oh, but beware of the life-changing power of that message. Jesus heard the message as he arose from baptismal waters—“You are my beloved�—and it drove him into a wilderness of doubt, despair, and temptation, a proverbial 40 days of wandering in the wilderness, trying to come to terms with the idea that the core of all being had said, “I love you.�

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UPUMC
• Teach Me To Pray, Adult Sunday School Class begins today, 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Education Committee meets with lunch, today, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Worship Committee meets Sunday, March 12, 11:30am, Sanctuary.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, March 13, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, March 13, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, March 14, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Finance Committee meets with lunch Sunday, March 19, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson hall.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Forum, Tuesday, March 7, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.

THE LARGER CHURCH.
• All Is Ready—Join the Party! A weekend retreat for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people, their families, and allies at Suttle Lake Camp in Sisters, Oregon, Friday-Sunday, March 17-19. Co-sponsored by Oregon-Idaho Camp and Retreat Ministries and Reconciling United Methodists of Oregon.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• Annual Meeting, Community of Welcoming Congregations, Sunday, March 26, 3-5pm, Morningside UMC, Salem OR.
• North Portland Candidate Forums co-hosted by UPUMC and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association, Tuesdays, April 18, 25, and May 2, 7-9pm, UPUMC sanctuary.
• Third Annual All-Church Retreat at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast, Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006.
WEEKLY AT UPUMC
• Choir practices Sundays at 9:30am, Tuesdays at 6:30pm, Sanctuary.
• Morrison Child and Family Center program, Mondays, 4-6pm.
• Men’s Group, Tuesdays, 10am, Narthex.
• Alcoholics Anonymous, Narthex, Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm, weekly.
• Overeaters Anonymous, Wednesdays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm.
THE NURSERY IS STAFFED DURING WORSHIP FOR CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN SCHOOL AGE. SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN ARE INVITED INTO THE SANCTUARY UNTIL THE ‘PASSING OF THE PEACE’; THEN THEY GO TO SUNDAY SCHOOL.

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CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Finance Committee meets Monday, February 27, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Ash Wednesday Service, Wednesday, March 1, 7:30pm.
• Teach Me To Pray, Adult Sunday School Class begins Sunday, March 5, 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Education Committee meets with lunch, Sunday, march 5, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Worship Committee meets Sunday, march 12, 11:30am, Sanctuary.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, March 13, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, March 13, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, March 14, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Board meets Tuesday, February 28, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.

THE LARGER CHURCH.
• Methodist Federation for Social Action Spring Event, featuring Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Saturday, March 4, 9am, Portland First UMC, $25 includes lunch.
• All Is Ready—Join the Party! A weekend retreat for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people, their families, and allies at Suttle Lake Camp in Sisters, Oregon, Friday-Sunday, March 17-19. Co-sponsored by Oregon-Idaho Camp and Retreat Ministries and Reconciling United Methodists of Oregon.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• Annual Meeting, Community of Welcoming Congregations, Sunday, March 26, 3-5pm, Morningside UMC, Salem OR.
• North Portland Candidate Forums co-hosted by UPUMC and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association, Tuesdays, April 18, 25, and May 2, 7-9pm, UPUMC sanctuary.
• Third Annual All-Church Retreat at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast, Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006.

WEEKLY AT UPUMC
• Choir practices Sundays at 9:30am, Tuesdays at 6:30pm, Sanctuary.
• Morrison Child and Family Center program, Mondays, 4-6pm.
• Men’s Group, Tuesdays, 10am, Narthex.
• Alcoholics Anonymous, Narthex, Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm, weekly.
• Overeaters Anonymous, Wednesdays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm.
THE NURSERY IS STAFFED DURING WORSHIP FOR CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN SCHOOL AGE. SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN ARE INVITED INTO THE SANCTUARY UNTIL THE ‘PASSING OF THE PEACE’; THEN THEY GO TO SUNDAY SCHOOL.

PLEASE DON’T GO HUNGRY. WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR PANTRY, LOCATED IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO ERROL STEPHENSON HALL, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.

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HEALING: EMBRACING JOY
Genesis 2:15-17; Genesis 3:1-13; Psalm 100; John 16:16-22
February 26, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper


When four friends gathered and the conversation turned to their religious practices, one asked the others, “How do you decide how much to give to God?� “Well,� the first friend replied, “I pay my bills and all my bank charges, set aside money for recreation and beer, and figure, whatever God gives me beyond what I want is what I give to God.� “I have a simpler system,� the second friend said. “I draw a big circle on the floor, stand in the middle of the circle, and throw all my money in the air. Whatever falls outside the circle is what I give to God.� “I don’t believe either of you,� the third friend replied. “ I’ve got a very close relationship with God and know that everything I have comes from God’s blessing. So I put all my money, everything I have, into an offering plate and throw it up to God. And anything that comes back down, I know God wants me to keep that!�

Are we like that, knowing utterly that God loves us and letting that knowledge carry us to a sort of smug belief that God wants us to have it all? Do we imagine that a God who asks nothing of us can command our respect, our love, our lives? Or do we sometimes wonder if there might be more to life than being showered with all the coins and things we can claim?

Today, we celebrate what we are calling Mardi Gras Sunday. We made that name up, you understand, to recapture the spirit of Mardi Gras at a time when we gather for worship and life together. You see, Mardi Gras really means “Fat Tuesday;� but today isn’t Tuesday. Still, we do the best we can.

Several ancient church traditions come together this week, traditions we are going to observe through our small celebrations of work, laughter and joy, all in preparation of a time when we recognize, during Lent, that not all of life is reward and happiness.

If I say the word “Carnival� to you, what does it bring to mind?—[Time for answers]. Do you know that Carnival is another name for this season, a time of preparation before Lent? What do you think the word Carnival means?

Surprise! It means ‘carne vale,’ or “farewell to meat.� In the medieval church, the period of Lent was a time when everyday people remembered Jesus’ preparation for the choices that would lead to his death by making sacrifices themselves. Initially, Lent was a period when people seeking baptism and people seeking to return to the faith community prepared themselves to enter the Body of Christ. They did this through a period of fasting, the 40 days before Easter spent in abstinence from all meat and animal products. In addition, the people observing Lent fasted entirely during the daytime, eating only one meal a day, after sundown, something like the fasting of the month of Ramadan that Muslims observe. In time, however, the demands of the fast were relaxed, so that people could eat after 3pm by the 800s, after Noon by the 1400s, and then at any time of the day, but with abstention from meat and animal products. Then it became from meat, with dairy products allowed. Then fish were also allowed. In 1966, the Roman Catholic Church relaxed the necessity to fast during the period of Lent, naming only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of fasting, although the Eastern Orthodox tradition are still much more strict in its observance of Lent.

Pope Gregory the Great, who lived in the sixth century, established Ash Wednesday as the beginning of Lent. By doing this, he asked people of faith to spend a time of fasting that echoed the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness before undertaking his life of ministry and service. If you decide to check out the numbers, you will find that there are in fact 47 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. This is every Sunday is observed as a mini-Easter and is not part of the 40 days of penitence. But, surprise again, because we come together on Sundays, we will observe the season of Lent on Sundays—another little reminder that church traditions are not written in stone.

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HEALING: FORGIVEN AND FREE
Isaiah 43:18-25; Psalm 41; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12
February 19, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper


Friends lowered a young man on a mat through the roof, lowered him right between Jesus and the listening crowd, guided the mat down to a spot at Jesus’ feet. Friends, hoping for a miracle of healing, brought him to Jesus. Friends cared enough to bring him to the healer; cared enough to help him seek the life, health, and wholeness he desired so much.

Every Sunday, some among us desire prayers of healing, for themselves or others. Nearly every week, we send out requests for prayer through the electronic and telephone prayer chains. At a deep, behavioral level, we believe that prayer does help people; that it can bring about relief and healing.

A few years ago, Barbara Sawyer and Kim Sharp taught Marcia and me the initial basics of reiki, a healing practice of Japanese origin. Since then, I’ve learned to be bold about offering healing prayer to people who are suffering, from a variety of causes. Last summer, for instance, I was one of the deans for Creation Vacation, a ministry of our United Methodist conference that takes low-income families, families that might not otherwise get a vacation, get a time away together, at all.

Over the course of that week, a number of situations arose where people were hurting, sick, stuck. I began to offer to help, saying something like, “Would it be okay with you if I put my hands on your shoulders. I’ve been trained in reiki, a healing art that sometimes brings relief, and I would give you some good energy if you agreed.� Sometimes, people are eager for the intervention; sometimes they hesitate, asking questions or setting boundaries: “What do you do? Will it hurt? I don’t want to be massaged, it hurts too much.� I explain a bit about reiki, which non-church people seem to accept more readily than “laying on of hands� or “I’m going to pray for you.� I think we have, culturally, grown very deeply suspicious or people who claim they are going to heal others with prayer.

And rightly so, perhaps, for we have seen the media spectacles about prayer and healing. We’ve heard the theological manipulation of preachers who offer healing like a prize for right belief; we’ve heard the words that blame people for their failure to be healed—“You didn’t have enough faith. You haven’t really turned your life over to God. You don’t believe the right things.�—It’s your fault, they say. If you really believed, God would heal you; God would give you a miracle.

I want you to recall something about our story for today. Jesus didn’t ask the man at his feet what he believed about God, whether he knew the four steps to salvation, whether he kept the commandments, whether he was willing to contend with him against the forces of evil, against demons that were laying him low. Jesus did not ask the man to join him in a spiritual struggle against evil. Jesus said only, initially, “Son, you sins are forgiven.�

We understand, don’t we, that Jesus didn’t know this person at all. I mean, he’d just dropped through the roof, a complete stranger. Jesus didn’t say “Your sins are forgiven� because he knew that the man had accepted God in his heart, or because he knew that the man was crippled through “no fault of his own,� or because the man had been loving and kind to others. Jesus didn’t know those things about him, but he spoke confidently because, though he didn’t know the man on the mat, he did know, down to his very toes, that God, in the words of Isaiah, is “the One who blots out your transgressions; . . .[the One who] will not remember your sins.�

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