Archives for June 2016

I Scream, You Scream

06.29.2016 by Heather Prince Doss //

Last month I attended my ten-year reunion at Princeton Theological Seminary. There are many wonderful things about PTS and Princeton in general, but one of the best is The Bent Spoon. They were wearing flannel and making artisanal ice cream before it was cool to pickle things. And the ice cream is the. best. ever. Dark chocolate earl gray. Pistachio. Basil. Cardamom ginger. I am a little disappointed that I only visited twice in the 2.5 days of my reunion.

Since I got home, I’ve been dreaming of the delicate flavors and smooth texture. Summer fruits are just coming into season in Massachusetts making my dreams even sweeter. With no artisan ice cream stand in sight, I decided it was time to learn a new skill. I picked up this nifty Donvier ice cream maker for a bargain on Craigslist and headed to Lavoies Farm to pick strawberries.

Strawberry Basil Gelato

I love the surprising combination of strawberries and basil, and this gelato is easy to make because it does not require cooking custard with egg yolks. I started with this Strawberry Gelato recipe and adapted it by omitting the pomegranate juice and steeping fresh basil leaves in the milk/cream mixture.

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
8-10 basil leaves, torn in half
2 1/4 cups sliced hulled strawberries (about 1.5 pounds)

Instructions

Stir sugar and cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk in milk, cream, and basil. Whisk over medium heat until gelato base thickens and begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Pour into bowl. Cool over ice, stirring occasionally. Remove basil leaves and discard.

Puree strawberries in processor and mix into gelato base. If you prefer an extra smooth gelato, strain the berries through a fine mesh sieve before mixing with the base. Chill 3 hours. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. For soft serve style gelato, serve immediately. For harder gelato, transfer to container. Cover; freeze until firm.

Faith and Works

06.27.2016 by Heather Prince Doss //

Isaiah 58:1-12 and Matthew 6:1-7, 16-21

This is the third and final sermon in a series on Islam and Christianity. This sermon was preached on June 26, 2016 at Eliot Presbyterian Church.

Last Wednesday we had a fantastic group of people gathered here from Eliot and from the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell for a time of learning and relationship building. For me, it was wonderful to hear about Islam from people who practice that faith and to reach out in friendship instead of fear or suspicion. The event was prompted because Muslims are currently in a month of fasting from sunrise to sunset. We were invited to join them for their fast-breaking meal, called an iftar. I was especially moved by the fact that our meal was prepared by people who had been fasting all day.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, five practices that are considered obligatory for all Muslims, assuming they are healthy enough to participate. In our sermon series so far, we have learned that Muslims claim to worship the God of Abraham, the same God of Jews and Christians, although they do not recognize Jesus as God’s Son. Last week we learned that Muslims understand salvation as the result of repentance and virtuous living. As Christians, we understand salvation as a result of God’s grace alone made known through Jesus Christ, not the result of our repentance or our good deeds. Today, I hope you will remember these five pillars of Islam and find there a source of connection and inspiration for your own practice of Christian spiritual disciplines.

First among the five pillars of Islam is a profession of faith. To become a Muslim, one must say and believe that there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. Believing in only one God and giving testimony – giving voice – to that believe are at the heart of what it means to be a Muslim. We find similarity here with what it means to be a Christian. Romans teaches that if you “declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). In the Presbyterian Church today, we have a dozen creeds and confessions of faith; however, earliest church had only one confession: “Jesus is Lord.” The newest confession in our denomination, the Belhar Confession, adopted just this week at the General Assembly, similarly proclaims: “that true faith in Jesus Christ is the only condition for membership of this church.” Saying what you believe is as important to Christians as it is to Muslims.

This first pillar is mainly about belief (in God and Mohammed) and a little bit about a practice (saying what you believe.) The remaining pillars are mainly about practice, about what Muslims do. All of them have parallels in the Christian tradition.

First is the practice of prayer. A devout Muslim prays five times each day, always in the direction of Mecca. The Christian faith also has a pattern of praying at certain times of the day, though it is seldom observed any more. Some monks and nuns pray at 6:00am, 9:00am, noon, 3:00pm, 6:00pm, and midnight. The rhythm of praying at certain times is a reminder that we ought to let God control the schedule and rhythm of our lives, rather than always needing to be in control ourselves. For Christians, it is also a way to train ourselves to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) as the apostle Paul teaches. Muslim prayers include repeating verses from the Quran. Christians do this when we pray the Psalms. Muslim are embodied with particular movements. Praying with your whole body is a powerful experience. If you have never knelt with your head on the floor in humility or submission before God, you should try it. It is a physical reminder of our dependence upon God, a way to keep pride in check.

The third pillar of Islam is fasting. Muslims can choose to fast at any time, but they are required to do so from sunrise to sunset during their month of Ramadan. When Ramadan falls during June (as it does this year) this can mean nearly 17 hours of fasting during the day. At our gathering last week, we learned that the fast is not only mean to be an abstention from food, drink, and sexual intimacy. It is also a time to purify one’s heart of malice. Like what we read in the prophet Isaiah today, Islam teaches that God is not pleased when people fast from food but fight with their neighbors, oppress their workers, or cheat a brother. Muslims believe that hunger helps a person remember her dependence upon God and encourages compassion for those who struggle with hunger not by choice but by circumstance.

Christianity also has a strong tradition of fasting. The early church fasted before making important decisions, particularly about who would be leaders or sent as missionaries (Acts 13:2, 14:23). In the Old Testament, we see people fasting as a sign of repentance from sin, as the Ninevites did in response to Jonah’s preaching (Jonah 3:5); as a sign of lament as all Israel did upon the death of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:12); and when seeking God’s help, as David did when his infant son was dying (2 Samuel 12:16). In the gospels, we see Jesus fasting for 40 days after his baptism before he begins his ministry (Matthew 4:2). Later, though, people question Jesus because he and his disciples seem to feast a lot whereas John the Baptist and his disciples do a lot of fasting. Apparently some people thought that Jesus and his followers did not fast enough (Matthew 9:14)! Feasting reminds us of God’s abundance and the joy of kingdom living. Fasting teaches us dependence upon God, not our own strength, and is appropriate in times of repentance and sorrow or to help us discern God’s will.

The fourth pillar of Islam is the practice of charity or alms-giving. This is more prescriptive than the call to charity in our own faith. Some sources teach that a person should give 2.5% of his annual income to help the poor. Others teach that a person only has to give 2.5% of his savings. In some places where the government is Islamic, this has even been assessed as a tax. However you do the math, Muslims are expected to care for the poor by sharing their resources.

As with the other pillars, the practice of charity is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition, though our Scripture offers many models for when or how much Christians should give. The Old Testament calls for farmers to give to God the first fruits of their harvest, suggesting we should not wait to see what is left over from our spending before we give to God (Deuteronomy 26:1-4). The Old Testament also prescribes giving one-tenth of the harvest to the Lord (Leviticus 27:30). This is the commitment that Eric and I have made, to share 10% of our income with the church and other organizations that care for the poor and strengthen our communities. In the gospels, we see Jesus teach one ruler that he should sell everything he owns and give the money to the poor (Luke 18:22)! Taking a vow of poverty is one way Christians live out this kind of radical discipleship today. While there is not one “right way” to give charity, all of these practices remind us that our wealth belongs to God (not to us), that we should use our wealth to care for our neighbors, and that we can trust God to provide for what we need.

The last pillar of Islam is the practice of making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. In Muslim belief, Mecca is the site where Adam and Eve received forgiveness for their sin in the garden, where God provided water for Hagar and Ishmael in the desert, and where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Ishmael in an act of faith (1). (It is nearly identical to our Old Testament story about Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac.) Making pilgrimage to Mecca is a spiritually transformational experience for Muslims and is a source of unity among Muslims from around the world.

For Christians, pilgrimage to holy sites, particularly Jerusalem, only developed after Christianity became the religion of the empire. Before that, Jews would travel to the Temple in Jerusalem at least once per year for significant religious festivals, singing songs as they climbed the mount of the Lord. Their voices still echo for us in the Psalms: “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people” (125:2). Practitioners of Christian pilgrimage today might say that where you go is not as important as the going itself. We remember that God’s first command to Abraham was “Go . . . to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). God traveled with his people Israel when they wandered in the wilderness. Jesus was known as a homeless wanderer, and much of his teaching takes place on the roads between Jerusalem and the Galilee (Matthew 8:20). Charles Foster writes that, “being Christian . . . means following the Yahweh-man” (2). Pilgrimage might teach us that this is not a metaphorical or strictly spiritual following, but that it literally means going where Jesus went and going how Jesus went (without much baggage, with compassion). Just like praying with your face on the floor is a physical reminder of your spiritual dependence upon God, pilgrimage is a physical reminder of your being sent in the name and power of Jesus.

I hope that you can see how much we share in common with our Muslim neighbors in the practice of our respective faiths. Saying what you believe, prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage are integral to both traditions. In many cases, Christians could learn from our Muslim neighbors who often practice these disciplines more faithfully than we do. At the same time, we must remember that it is not our practice of these or any other disciplines that make us worthy of God’s grace. We should be careful not to turn these practices into tools that we can use to control or manipulate God. (If I say this, then God will save me; if I pray this, then God will do that; etc.) Instead, the disciplines are tools that God uses to pour grace into our lives. They are the tools that God uses to shape us into the image of Christ. When we practice the disciplines of prayer, fasting, charity, pilgrimage – or others like study of Scripture, hospitality, or silence – we are opening up a channel through which God can work to transform us, but the transformation belongs to God’s grace alone (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We call it practicing our faith for a reason. We often fail to get it right. We stumble along the way. Disciplines like profession, prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage create the space for grace to work so that God, “who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

May it be so. Amen.

1. http://www.whyislam.org/submission/five-pillars-of-islam-2/pilgrimage/pilgrimage/ (This website is one that my Muslim colleagues at the local Islamic Center have recommended as a trustworthy source on Islamic belief and practice.)

2. Charles Foster, The Sacred Journey. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010). Page xv.

Ten Speed Jesus

06.21.2016 by Heather Prince Doss //

Matthew 1:18-23 and Ephesians 2:4-10

This is the second sermon in a three-part series on Christianity and Islam leading up to the Ramadan iftar my congregation will host on June 22. It was preached at Eliot Presbyterian Church on Sunday, June 19 (Father’s Day in the United States).

Today is the second sermon in a three-part series on Christianity and Islam. If you were paying attention to the sermon series that I advertised on Facebook, the Xpress, and the church website, you know that I am preaching on how the two faiths understand salvation. The events in Orlando last Sunday were too stark a reminder just how much salvation we need, not only the hereafter, but in the here and now. Omar Mateen needed salvation from the hatred that led him to slaughter 49 beautiful people. Those 49 people needed salvation from violence and bigotry. Their families need salvation still from the grief and anger and confusion that weighs heavy upon their hearts. LGBT people today need salvation from exclusion, discrimination – and now fear – that has been their reality for too long. We all need salvation from the sin that enables us to look away from another’s suffering, to stereotype our neighbors, to step on those who are weak, or to give in to hopeless despair.

I did a good deal of reading this week about Islam. I also did a good deal of praying for Omar Mateen, his family, and for Muslims across the United States. I can offer you only a feeble and basic understanding of how Muslims think about salvation. The first thing I should I do is assure you that it does not include murdering anyone: not gay people, not unbelievers. Eric attended the iftar last week at Christ Church United. The Muslim men and women there wanted to make sure we, as Christians, know that the Quran calls murder a sin in no uncertain terms. They want you to know that Omar Mateen’s actions in Orlando do not represent the true practice of Islam.

In Islam, salvation is found is surrender to God and in repentance from sin. The word “Islam” actually means “to submit” or “to surrender,” and a Muslim is a person who submits or surrenders. There is an historical aspect to this. When the Quran was written during a period of Muslim conquest (similar to the Jewish conquest of the Promised Land as told in Joshua), that might have meant a literal surrender to the Muslim army who was taking the land. In the earliest days of that faith, a person became a Muslim (one who surrenders) by submitting not only to Allah but to the armies of Mohammed. Muslims also believe that God is merciful and will forgive the repentant sinner. There is much we, as Christians, can identify with in this understanding. We also say that when a person submits his life to God, he experiences salvation and new life. We also speak about the importance of repenting – turning away from sinful practice – as an important part of our faith, and we believe in a merciful God.

But there are two key differences as I understand them. Most importantly, Muslims do not understand Jesus as the Son of God and mediator of God’s grace. They believe that men and women can approach God directly for mercy (1). There is something appealing about that view at first. There are two reasons it falls short for me, though. First, it requires us coming to God. The Christian belief in Jesus Christ means that God comes to us – Emmanuel, God with us. Second, the Muslim view is not a universal forgiveness. In order to stay in God’s good graces and to be assured of salvation, a person must repent of every sin. The hope for eternal salvation is very much tied to the virtue of one’s life on earth (2). That seems like a heavy burden to carry.

The Christian understanding of salvation by grace through faith Jesus Christ has a different quality about it. Jesus liked to teach about eternal life and the kingdom of God by using parables. This week, I thought I would try a parable of my own:

The kingdom of heaven is like a father who wants to give his little girl a gift, the gift of wind in her hair. The father thinks for many weeks about how he can give his daughter this gift. He goes and stands on a hilltop to see if he can give her the wind there. But the wind does not blow. He goes to the racetrack and drives a fast car. The ride is thrilling, but there was no wind inside. He goes outside and runs along the sidewalk. He can feel the wind, but soon he is too tired to run, and the wind turns to a sultry summer heat.

The father thinks longer when at last! he has an idea. He will give his precious little girl a bicycle. Delight creeps across his face as he imagines his daughter sailing down the hills outside their home, long locks blowing in the breeze, head thrown back in laughter and joy.

The father hurries to the bicycle shop to choose the perfect bike for his girl. He meets a man there who says, “My daughter asked me for a bicycle last month. I told her that she needed to show me first that she knows how to take care of a bike. When she is more helpful around the house, kinder to her brother, and puts away her toys, then I will give her a bicycle.” The father thinks of toys left out in the rain at his own home, but he says nothing and keeps looking at the bicycles, the bells, and the baskets.

He watches a woman come in with her son. The two choose a bicycle off the rack and walk up to the counter. The woman pays the bill and then turns to the boy saying, “Now this is going to come out of your allowance. When you have paid me back for the bike, then you can ride it.” The father imagines his daughter washing the dishes as her bike waits in the garage for her to save up enough money. He continues browsing. Another man leans over and says to the father, “You know, my daughter broke the last bike I gave her. I came here to look, but until she apologizes to me, I don’t think I will buy her another one.” “I see,” the father responds.

Up and down the aisle he walks until suddenly he sees it high on a rack behind the counter: its yellow – her favorite color; it looks brand new but as old as time; the chain glides effortlessly across the gears; the paint glimmers as the sunlight streams through the window. This bike is perfect. No price is too high. He takes it home and waits with childlike anticipation for his little girl to walk up the driveway. When he sits her atop on this bike, she will know what it feels like to fly.

Whatever you call it – salvation, the kingdom of God, eternal, abundant life – this is the gift the Father delights to give to all of his children. What does this salvation look and feel like? Like peace that passes understanding, joy that transcends our circumstances, hope that endures amid hardship, compassion that connects us to others, justice that rolls like a river, love that casts out fear. The Father waits not for our righteousness; he waits not for our riches; he waits not even for our repentance. This kind of abundant life is God’s gift to be enjoyed in the hereafter and to be enjoyed here and now.

If salvation is the gift, if salvation is the wind in the hair, the joy of soaring down a hillside with laughter and delight, then Jesus Christ is bicycle. Jesus Christ is the means that the Father has given us to experience the gift. It is not a perfect parable because when God gives us Jesus, he is not giving us something outside of himself like the father gives the bicycle. In fact, God is giving us himself. Because God is giving us himself, we can be confident that this gift is not dependent upon our righteousness, our riches, or even our repentance. Through Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation is ours forever. It cannot be taken away. It cannot be lost. It will not break down.

Where does faith fit in to all of this? I sometimes get concerned because I hear Christians saying that we are saved by grace through faith, but then they go on to say you have to believe in Jesus in order to be saved. The way they describe it, believing sounds an awful lot like a human work, like something that we do or think or some magic words that we have to say. “Pretty please, Daddy, can I please have the bike?”

Faith is not saying the magic words or believing the right things. The father will pick up his daughter and set her right down on the seat, but if she want to feel the wind in her hair and the joy of soaring down the hill, she will have to surrender herself to the bicycle with its wheels and gears and cables and chains that work together marvelously and mysteriously to achieve that bliss. That is faith in the bicycle. Our Father has picked us up and put us right at the feet of Jesus. If we want to live an abundant eternal life, if we want to know that that passes understanding, joy that transcends our circumstances, hope that endures amid hardship, compassion that connects us to others, justice that rolls like a river, love that casts out fear, we have to surrender ourselves to Jesus with his life and death and resurrection and Spirit that work together marvelously and mysteriously to make our life new. That is faith in Jesus.

I think it is important to say at moments like this that the church has often done a poor of sharing this radical grace and the experience of abundant life with people on the margins of society. When the church has engaged in Crusades, hunted “witches,” participated in colonizing native peoples, endorsed slavery, silenced women, or excluded LGBT persons, it is as if we hung a sign on the bike shop that said, CLOSED. Friends, we do not have keys to that store. God’s grace in Jesus Christ is for everyone. It is for the 49 beautiful people who died last Sunday morning at Pulse. It is for their grieving families and friends. It is for the countless gay, lesbian, bi- and trans- people who are feeling vulnerable and frightened. It is for people who want more gun laws and it is for people who want more guns. It is for Christians; it is for Muslims; it is for Buddhists, Hindu, atheists, and agnostics. It is for Omar Mateen. It is for you.

Our role is not to control who can or cannot have the abundant life that God delights to give to all his children. It is our Father who gives salvation as generously as he pleases – like the gardener who sows his seed extravagantly on all kinds of soil, like the manager who pays the last laborer the same wage as the first. It is our Father who sits us atop the bicycle. It is our Father who is the bicycle. We have been given a good and perfect gift in Jesus Christ. Our role is to surrender ourselves to him and trust him for the ride, feeling the wind in our hair, the peace that passes understanding, the joy that transcends our circumstances, hope that endures amid hardship, compassion that connects us to others, justice that rolls like a river, love that casts out fear. And when the ride feels more like an uphill climb against sin, evil, and injustice – as it does for me in a week like this one – we look over our shoulder and find that the Holy Spirit is giving us a push.

The road of this world can be a dangerous place for kingdom cyclists, but we have a Father who loves us, the Spirit who guides us, the community of faith to encourage us and one trusty set of wheels in Jesus. Let’s ride, all the while making room on the road for the many, many others whom God has gifted and blessed. Don’t forget to wear your helmet. May it be so. Amen.

Malise Ruthven, Islam: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012) p.32.
http://www.whyislam.org/submission/articles-of-faith/belief-in-judgement-day/ (This website is one that my Muslim colleagues at the local Islamic Center have recommended as a trustworthy source on Islamic belief and practice.)

I Scream, You Scream

Strawberry Basil Gelato

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Faith and Works

Ten Speed Jesus

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