This morning’s second scripture reading is 1 Corinthians 1: 10 – 18, and can be found on page 807 of your pew Bibles.
Listen now for the word of God.
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; and another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
-The word of the Lord
-Thanks be to God.
Sermon
My grandmother is one of those people who only use Duke’s Mayonnaise. My grandfather told me he learned that lesson the hard way, having come home from the store with one of the inferior brands, and been sent back to exchange some lesser mayonnaise for the real thing. You might say that my grandmother has made up her mind on mayonnaise, and hasn’t changed it in a very long time.
In today’s world that same kind of dedication seems to be a rarity. People seem to like change, and it is not often some deep seeded commitment that stirs our decision making, but passing whims, sales, or flashy new advertising.
Of course, no one would think it a serious problem if our inability to commit to things were limited to what we put on our sandwiches or in our potato salads, but lack of commitment has infiltrated more serious concerns.
The standards of our faith that once seemed to be written in stone, immovable and unchangeable, now seem to be under the sway of movements and philosophies of the day. The standards of “truth,” seem to be less certain than they once were, and we find ourselves just like Pilate before Jesus, asking, “What is truth?”
Like tapered jeans, feathered hair, roller-skates, and tie-dye shirts, commitment and certainty seem to have gone out of style.
Today even “the church,” at least in the way that Paul speaks of it, has changed, and is changing dramatically.
Some groups have broken away, seeking something pure and a truth un-wavering to the winds of time. These days Presbytery meetings are the forum for debate, or simply the place for announcing who has moved on from the PC (USA).
There are some who would say that they are leaving a denomination that has faltered, that has failed, that has compromised too often, that doesn’t seem to stand for anything anymore.
And those who leave might say that they are seeking the truth of Christ – acting as the true church, unlike those who in the Corinthian church said, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; and another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
But I wonder often what such divisions are really all about.
Anyone who has been paying much attention to the Presbyterian Church recently knows that our current divisions have a lot to do with ordination – who can be ordained – what standards for ordination really exist? This debate brings up new questions – questions that Paul probably didn’t deal with directly, but dealt with in his own way nonetheless.
In our passage for today, Paul wrote, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
With the crafting of such a sentence, Paul addresses the problem that those from Chloe’s household let him know about; maybe not directly, but in a way that disarms the argument, making a statement that’s hard to disagree with, but which steals the foundation from any quarrel, saying, I have been called here, not to baptize, “but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
For Paul, the cross stands as the judge of all human wisdom – and for Paul, it was this one truth that held his commitment fully, making human knowledge appear to be foolishness.
But to the Priestly Leaders of the Jews—a group also called the Sanhedrin—and the Romans, at the time of Jesus’ trial, it was Jesus who appeared to be foolish. The Sanhedrin and the Romans were two groups who could not compromise together, but were, like politicians vying for a Presidential Nomination, unified by a common enemy in Jesus.
The Sanhedrin, committed to a truth they believed lied in their interpretation of the Law, and the Romans, equally committed to the truth of law and order, were both offended by the man who preached that the truth could not be in either of these places, but in loving your neighbor as yourself. The Romans and the Sanhedrin were both sure that truth did not lie in the words and essence of the man who stood before them both, condemned as a criminal.
And Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
They assumed that Truth lay in their interpretation of the Law; that Truth lay in Empire, in order, in human wisdom. And their opinions, held so strongly – unwavering, uncompromising, unapologetically standing for something they thought to be true – crucified the truth, the light to our shadow.
So Jesus died, like a child torn apart by two warring parents both too obsessed with being right to see the failings of their argument – more dedicated to winning the fight than to the love that once joined them together; or like a denomination torn apart by churches convinced they are the true manifestation of all that is good and right that they have forgotten that the essence of Christianity is not the standards of faith that can be agreed upon, but our common call to the foot of the Cross – binding us together as one body of broken people who admit their need for a savior; or like the Corinthian congregation segmented by leaders who all believe they have all the right answers tearing apart a church – the very body of Christ, torn apart by the Roman Court and the Sanhedrin, unable to see beyond their the words to see the truth.
The Cross stands before us all – not as something to fight over or to defend, but as a sign that should humble all of us who think that we are right. Here we see that we don’t have the answers, and we can only hope that Chloe will tell on us before we tear ourselves apart.
In a world so broken by war fueled by fundamentalism and the fear of retreat, it seems that we have gone too far trusting in human wisdom so that we may never make it back.
We want to stand for something, we want to believe that there are answers lying in our hearts or hands; but the Cross shows us that the truth does not lie in the faith of the Sanhedrin, the wisdom of the Greeks, the order of the Romans, the Patriotism of the Republicans, the Hope of the Democrats – but that the answer lies in those hands nailed on the cross.
At the cross we see that faith does not mean forging ahead according to what we believe is right – but walking humbly with our God and neighbor, expecting to make mistakes, but walking together, bound by cords that cannot be broken. And we’ll be singing, “Bind us together Lord, bind us together, and bind us together with love.”
-Amen.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
I Always Thank God for You
This morning’s (second) scripture reading is 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 1 – 9; and can be found on page 806 of your pew Bible.
Listen now for the word of God.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours:
Grace and peace to you from God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him we have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge – because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God, who has called you into fellowship with the Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
I had the honor of serving one of our denomination’s finest churches as an intern in the summer after my second year of seminary. One of the flagship churches of the PC (USA), hosting General Assemblies, having had more than one of their senior pastors move on to become moderator; this place was perfect for learning about our denomination because this church, with its illustrious heritage and breathtaking cathedral-like sanctuary, had been losing members since the 1950’s and the end of this loss seemed to be no where in sight.
Across the street from this fantastic church stood another church undergoing renovations; not so that it could expand to accommodate their growing congregation, but so that the sanctuary, Sunday School rooms, and offices could be converted into apartments to accommodate the growing number of young professionals who could see the value in a fine apartment, but didn’t have the time to stop and see the value in attending a fine worship service.
The fate of this church-turned-apartment complex was a looming omen, casting a shadow of fear over the congregation that I served.
They looked to the past, remembering the days when the sanctuary would fill to the point of bursting, Christmas Eves with folding chairs filling up the aisles to accommodate all those who wanted to worship God in this place that meant so much, and Sunday school rooms with the audible laughter of children being nurtured in the faith where now only a few small voices remained. They would remember the times with both joy and shame, for it seemed as though they had failed, or might fail, in keeping the church alive, and when it came down to it, if the church were to close, whose fault would it be?
Surely, they would not be the kind of church who, like that church in Corinth, inspired Paul to write, “I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus.”
Surely, they would be the kind of church that Paul would be too ashamed to write, the kind of church who would fade away into history rather than be remembered in scripture.
The Corinthian church was a big wealthy church, because Corinth was a city conveniently situated for imports and exports between the Aegean Sea and the Ionian.[i] An attractive place, and a wealthy place, that surely nurtured a church who didn’t worry about budgets or mortgages, but who was able to rest secured in the promise that their church would be there for their grandchildren, would stand the test of time, establishing its place in Corinthian society – a church that would not need suffer the anxiety of a future as an apartment complex.
However, success often breeds its own sad set of problems, and as Paul is that kind of a person who you only hear from when something is gone wrong, not the kind of boss who drops in to say, “hey, looks like your doing a great job – keep it up,” but the kind who, should you be called to the office or find a letter at your door, you know to expect the worst.
Such is the case with the Corinthian church, for, according to John Calvin, “during Paul’s absence false apostles had crept in, not… to disturb the church openly with wicked doctrines…but priding themselves in the splendor and magnificence of their address, or rather, being puffed up with an empty loftiness of speech, they looked upon Paul’s simplicity, and even the Gospel itself, with contempt.”[ii]
Like any pastor, outgrowing his or her humble position by growth in ambition rather than growth in faith, leaders in the Corinthian church, seeking the credit for the church’s success, split the congregation into factions rather than be unified by Christ. To use Calvin’s words again, they were “promoting their own honor, rather than Christ’s kingdom and the people’s welfare.”[iii]
But Paul’s criticism of these problems does not begin with anger or insult, but with the words, “I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge – because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
Paul’s words are kind, and might almost seem to give the ambitious leaders of the Corinthian church more reason to boast - but Paul’s words are not focused on the leaders, they are focused on God. No, pointedly, Paul takes the credit and acclaim that has been misplaced on the heads of the leaders and that has caused factions and divisions, and gives it right back to its rightful source.
It is not uncommon for any leaders in the church to take credit for success – lifting them up, applauding their own efforts, taking credit for what God has done. But Paul knows that the source of their speaking or knowledge does not lie in the goodness of their own character, but is able to do such good because of the grace given in Christ Jesus.
And likewise, it is not uncommon for church members to take credit and responsibility for what they perceive to be failure, placing blame for smaller attendance or lacking programs, on themselves or their leaders, assuming that if things are going wrong that they are at fault –but Paul also speaks to this concept of responsibility, for placing blame for what seems to be going wrong is equally self centered.
We deserve Paul’s rebuke whenever we take credit for success or failure, believing that the future wellbeing of the church lies in our hands - because the future of this church does not lie in our hands, but in the hands of God, “who has called you into fellowship with the Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is faithful.”
I want to rejoice in this day, because today we are surely oblivious if we cannot see God working in this place – though we must remember that we are no doubt fools if we think that God is working in this place because of what anyone of us has done.
The inflated egos represented in the Corinthian Church, and the inflated sense of responsibility represented by the church that I served as an intern, are two sides of the same coin, both sides which seem to doubt the power of God, lacking the faith to trust that it is God who is at work all around us.
So Paul calls us to a different sense of purpose and responsibility – to a place of trust, trusting the sure truth that God is setting all things right in Jesus Christ.
While we are called to trust, and to watch, we are also called to be actors within this great healing of the world – acting, not because of our own merits, but using our gifts for the glory of God, knowing that it is because of God that we are here in this place at all.
According to Bible scholar Richard B. Hayes, God invites us to participate in this healing, and because of this invitation, “on the one hand, the stakes are raised. Our actions belong to a larger pattern of significance than that of our own lives, and the church’s obedience to God’s will matters urgently, because it is part of God’s strategy for the eschatological renewal of the world. On the other hand, at the same time, we can gain a better sense of proportions about our own striving and failures, for God is faithful, and it is God who is at work in calling and preparing us.”[iv]
We are all called to this place, and we must not allow our complaining, our disappointment, our egos, our successes, our triumphs, our shortcomings, to hinder God from letting this church be a great voice, shouting the good news in our actions and words, through our presence in this community, and despite the flaws that make us one people in need of the same savior.
-Amen.
[i] John Calvin, Corinthians Volume 1, p. 37.
[ii] Ibid. p. 38.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Richard B. Hayes, First Corinthians, p. 20.
Listen now for the word of God.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours:
Grace and peace to you from God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him we have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge – because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God, who has called you into fellowship with the Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
I had the honor of serving one of our denomination’s finest churches as an intern in the summer after my second year of seminary. One of the flagship churches of the PC (USA), hosting General Assemblies, having had more than one of their senior pastors move on to become moderator; this place was perfect for learning about our denomination because this church, with its illustrious heritage and breathtaking cathedral-like sanctuary, had been losing members since the 1950’s and the end of this loss seemed to be no where in sight.
Across the street from this fantastic church stood another church undergoing renovations; not so that it could expand to accommodate their growing congregation, but so that the sanctuary, Sunday School rooms, and offices could be converted into apartments to accommodate the growing number of young professionals who could see the value in a fine apartment, but didn’t have the time to stop and see the value in attending a fine worship service.
The fate of this church-turned-apartment complex was a looming omen, casting a shadow of fear over the congregation that I served.
They looked to the past, remembering the days when the sanctuary would fill to the point of bursting, Christmas Eves with folding chairs filling up the aisles to accommodate all those who wanted to worship God in this place that meant so much, and Sunday school rooms with the audible laughter of children being nurtured in the faith where now only a few small voices remained. They would remember the times with both joy and shame, for it seemed as though they had failed, or might fail, in keeping the church alive, and when it came down to it, if the church were to close, whose fault would it be?
Surely, they would not be the kind of church who, like that church in Corinth, inspired Paul to write, “I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus.”
Surely, they would be the kind of church that Paul would be too ashamed to write, the kind of church who would fade away into history rather than be remembered in scripture.
The Corinthian church was a big wealthy church, because Corinth was a city conveniently situated for imports and exports between the Aegean Sea and the Ionian.[i] An attractive place, and a wealthy place, that surely nurtured a church who didn’t worry about budgets or mortgages, but who was able to rest secured in the promise that their church would be there for their grandchildren, would stand the test of time, establishing its place in Corinthian society – a church that would not need suffer the anxiety of a future as an apartment complex.
However, success often breeds its own sad set of problems, and as Paul is that kind of a person who you only hear from when something is gone wrong, not the kind of boss who drops in to say, “hey, looks like your doing a great job – keep it up,” but the kind who, should you be called to the office or find a letter at your door, you know to expect the worst.
Such is the case with the Corinthian church, for, according to John Calvin, “during Paul’s absence false apostles had crept in, not… to disturb the church openly with wicked doctrines…but priding themselves in the splendor and magnificence of their address, or rather, being puffed up with an empty loftiness of speech, they looked upon Paul’s simplicity, and even the Gospel itself, with contempt.”[ii]
Like any pastor, outgrowing his or her humble position by growth in ambition rather than growth in faith, leaders in the Corinthian church, seeking the credit for the church’s success, split the congregation into factions rather than be unified by Christ. To use Calvin’s words again, they were “promoting their own honor, rather than Christ’s kingdom and the people’s welfare.”[iii]
But Paul’s criticism of these problems does not begin with anger or insult, but with the words, “I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge – because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
Paul’s words are kind, and might almost seem to give the ambitious leaders of the Corinthian church more reason to boast - but Paul’s words are not focused on the leaders, they are focused on God. No, pointedly, Paul takes the credit and acclaim that has been misplaced on the heads of the leaders and that has caused factions and divisions, and gives it right back to its rightful source.
It is not uncommon for any leaders in the church to take credit for success – lifting them up, applauding their own efforts, taking credit for what God has done. But Paul knows that the source of their speaking or knowledge does not lie in the goodness of their own character, but is able to do such good because of the grace given in Christ Jesus.
And likewise, it is not uncommon for church members to take credit and responsibility for what they perceive to be failure, placing blame for smaller attendance or lacking programs, on themselves or their leaders, assuming that if things are going wrong that they are at fault –but Paul also speaks to this concept of responsibility, for placing blame for what seems to be going wrong is equally self centered.
We deserve Paul’s rebuke whenever we take credit for success or failure, believing that the future wellbeing of the church lies in our hands - because the future of this church does not lie in our hands, but in the hands of God, “who has called you into fellowship with the Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is faithful.”
I want to rejoice in this day, because today we are surely oblivious if we cannot see God working in this place – though we must remember that we are no doubt fools if we think that God is working in this place because of what anyone of us has done.
The inflated egos represented in the Corinthian Church, and the inflated sense of responsibility represented by the church that I served as an intern, are two sides of the same coin, both sides which seem to doubt the power of God, lacking the faith to trust that it is God who is at work all around us.
So Paul calls us to a different sense of purpose and responsibility – to a place of trust, trusting the sure truth that God is setting all things right in Jesus Christ.
While we are called to trust, and to watch, we are also called to be actors within this great healing of the world – acting, not because of our own merits, but using our gifts for the glory of God, knowing that it is because of God that we are here in this place at all.
According to Bible scholar Richard B. Hayes, God invites us to participate in this healing, and because of this invitation, “on the one hand, the stakes are raised. Our actions belong to a larger pattern of significance than that of our own lives, and the church’s obedience to God’s will matters urgently, because it is part of God’s strategy for the eschatological renewal of the world. On the other hand, at the same time, we can gain a better sense of proportions about our own striving and failures, for God is faithful, and it is God who is at work in calling and preparing us.”[iv]
We are all called to this place, and we must not allow our complaining, our disappointment, our egos, our successes, our triumphs, our shortcomings, to hinder God from letting this church be a great voice, shouting the good news in our actions and words, through our presence in this community, and despite the flaws that make us one people in need of the same savior.
-Amen.
[i] John Calvin, Corinthians Volume 1, p. 37.
[ii] Ibid. p. 38.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Richard B. Hayes, First Corinthians, p. 20.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
When Will Restoration Come?
This morning’s scripture reading is Psalm 80, and can be found on page 419 of your pew Bibles.
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel. You who led Joseph like a flock; who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken us to your might; come and save us.
Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
O Lord God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.
Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its boughs to the sea, its shoots as far as the river.
Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it.
Return to us O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself.
Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.
Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Coming back to my office after the busy Christmas season that began with a trip to Haiti has not been the most pleasant of things. When I walked into my office I added another stack of papers to my desk, moved another stack of papers away from the computer key board so I could type a little bit – at some point I am going to have to organize all this chaos that has invaded my office, but I haven’t quite gotten to it yet. Maybe this week I’ll categorize my paper, put them away into files, and then, maybe in a week or so, actually deal with them.
Scholarship often deals with the psalms in a similar way – organizing the psalms into categories before dealing with what they actually mean for the community of believers.
This morning’s psalm is categorized as a lament psalm. Not a psalm of praise surely, as the words “you have fed them with the bread of tears, you have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,” are not those of thanksgiving, but of sadness and complaint.
We hear the psalmist cry out to God, voice her predicament, finding words to describe her situation – to put words to a human calamity that cannot be filed away, but must be faced and dealt with.
What makes the words of this psalm so powerful is that the words of the psalmist are in fact timeless – for humanity’s need to lament and question God has not gone away.
And so, as we look out at the world – as we look at ourselves, or as we hear testimony like that of our guests the Allenbaugh family and those of other families still suffering from a hurricane that swept through two years ago, and to use the words of journalist Brandy Wilson, “is still a flood of suffering,” we have to ask God “Why?”Why have you “fed them with the bread of tears?” For in light of such a reality the words of the psalmist make sense again, her words speak to the seemingly timeless experience of human suffering – and the need to ask God “why”. The need to ask, “When will we be restored,” “when will restoration come?”
The psalmist speaks of Israel, a nation like a vine, plucked up and liberated from the slavery of Egypt, then planted in the Promised Land after God made a place for it through Joshua’s military conquest. This vine was able to prosper by the grace of God, “the mountains were covered by its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its boughs to the sea, its shoots to the river.”
But then God seemingly abandoned the people, the walls were broken down, and all who pass picked its grapes.
The psalmist calls for God to return, “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand planted, the son you raised yourself.”
And like the psalmist, we call God to restore us, asking, when will you return, when will our restoration come?
Our cities and homes were prosperous, but then the winds and rain came and would not stop. Homes were flooded, lives were lost and others put at risk, and we called out to you for help.
But did help come? We still have faith, remembering the deeds of the past, how you liberated the people from Egypt, how you led them like a flock through the sea, how you created a place for them in the Promised Land and enabled them to prosper. But today, the government seems to have given up, leaving people to fend for themselves. Providing trailers or nothing at all, while the insurance companies do little more than find loopholes. So why will you look in the other direction while your people suffer?
The psalmist voices such concerns to God – attempting to make God aware of this situation. Knowing that if God only knew how the people suffered then God would once again provide: “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!”
And the psalmist hopes for when God will see, providing a savior for the people. The psalmist looks to “the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up yourself.” The psalmist expects this man to provide redemption, liberation from the situation of want; the psalmist looks to this promised one for salvation.
And as Christians, we know this savior by name.
This savior who did not only look down from heaven on our situation, but was born in a manger and lived on earth as one of us. Who has not only observed our situation, but came to know it as his own. Who joined in our suffering – to the point of being crucified on the cross.
And the title given this King – in today’s psalm it is “the son of man.” In a sermon on John, the great United Methodist preacher, Grace Imathiu analyzes this title, saying:
“Jesus is human, he loves being human. Time and time again he calls himself human: Son of Man. And he came to teach us how to be human: Son of Man. You see, Jesus is the new beginning. Jesus is the new Adam. Jesus came to show us how God intended for us to be.”[1]
The Son of Man – the very title used by the psalmist, is the title that Jesus uses to refer to himself – the title that reflects, not Christ’s divinity or royalty, but that God chooses to be like us.
God does not choose to be like the government – fumbling through paper work or looking the other way, hoping for a scandal or celebrity romance to distract us from the failures that surround Katrina and the failure in honoring its charge to provide for those still without homes.
God does not choose to be like the insurance companies – seeking to preserve profits over care, finagling between what is flood damage and what is hurricane damage.
God choose to become one of us – knowing our pain, knowing our reality, and knowing what will truly bring restoration.
By living as one of us, God has broken the divide between the divine and the human – and broken down all hierarchy with it.
Rather than hear the psalmist’s cry to “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!” God walked in our shoes, and gave up his life to save us, suffering on the cross, quoting the words of another lament psalm saying, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
And so we know that we worship a God who does not simply know our struggles, has not simply read about them or looked down on us from a heavenly throne, but who has born our struggle on God’s very body, becoming one of us.
And by becoming one of us, God affirms our humanity, and calls us to see each other as sister and brother.
By serving us, even washing the feet of those who followed him during his earthly ministry – God calls us to model such servant-hood by serving each other.
And by sacrificing God’s life for us – God calls us to sacrifice ourselves for the good of our fellow woman and man.
Only then will we become whole – by following the example of this new Adam – and we know that it is in following his example that we will know what it means to be truly human.
In doing – we model the life of Christ, and will no doubt find the restoration of a hurricane torn region too long left broken, and the restoration of our souls, too long left longing for something more.
-Amen.
[1] R. Grace Imathiu, Words of Fire, Spirit of Grace: Twelve sermons from on of the world’s best preachers
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel. You who led Joseph like a flock; who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken us to your might; come and save us.
Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
O Lord God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.
Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its boughs to the sea, its shoots as far as the river.
Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it.
Return to us O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself.
Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.
Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Coming back to my office after the busy Christmas season that began with a trip to Haiti has not been the most pleasant of things. When I walked into my office I added another stack of papers to my desk, moved another stack of papers away from the computer key board so I could type a little bit – at some point I am going to have to organize all this chaos that has invaded my office, but I haven’t quite gotten to it yet. Maybe this week I’ll categorize my paper, put them away into files, and then, maybe in a week or so, actually deal with them.
Scholarship often deals with the psalms in a similar way – organizing the psalms into categories before dealing with what they actually mean for the community of believers.
This morning’s psalm is categorized as a lament psalm. Not a psalm of praise surely, as the words “you have fed them with the bread of tears, you have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,” are not those of thanksgiving, but of sadness and complaint.
We hear the psalmist cry out to God, voice her predicament, finding words to describe her situation – to put words to a human calamity that cannot be filed away, but must be faced and dealt with.
What makes the words of this psalm so powerful is that the words of the psalmist are in fact timeless – for humanity’s need to lament and question God has not gone away.
And so, as we look out at the world – as we look at ourselves, or as we hear testimony like that of our guests the Allenbaugh family and those of other families still suffering from a hurricane that swept through two years ago, and to use the words of journalist Brandy Wilson, “is still a flood of suffering,” we have to ask God “Why?”Why have you “fed them with the bread of tears?” For in light of such a reality the words of the psalmist make sense again, her words speak to the seemingly timeless experience of human suffering – and the need to ask God “why”. The need to ask, “When will we be restored,” “when will restoration come?”
The psalmist speaks of Israel, a nation like a vine, plucked up and liberated from the slavery of Egypt, then planted in the Promised Land after God made a place for it through Joshua’s military conquest. This vine was able to prosper by the grace of God, “the mountains were covered by its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its boughs to the sea, its shoots to the river.”
But then God seemingly abandoned the people, the walls were broken down, and all who pass picked its grapes.
The psalmist calls for God to return, “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand planted, the son you raised yourself.”
And like the psalmist, we call God to restore us, asking, when will you return, when will our restoration come?
Our cities and homes were prosperous, but then the winds and rain came and would not stop. Homes were flooded, lives were lost and others put at risk, and we called out to you for help.
But did help come? We still have faith, remembering the deeds of the past, how you liberated the people from Egypt, how you led them like a flock through the sea, how you created a place for them in the Promised Land and enabled them to prosper. But today, the government seems to have given up, leaving people to fend for themselves. Providing trailers or nothing at all, while the insurance companies do little more than find loopholes. So why will you look in the other direction while your people suffer?
The psalmist voices such concerns to God – attempting to make God aware of this situation. Knowing that if God only knew how the people suffered then God would once again provide: “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!”
And the psalmist hopes for when God will see, providing a savior for the people. The psalmist looks to “the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up yourself.” The psalmist expects this man to provide redemption, liberation from the situation of want; the psalmist looks to this promised one for salvation.
And as Christians, we know this savior by name.
This savior who did not only look down from heaven on our situation, but was born in a manger and lived on earth as one of us. Who has not only observed our situation, but came to know it as his own. Who joined in our suffering – to the point of being crucified on the cross.
And the title given this King – in today’s psalm it is “the son of man.” In a sermon on John, the great United Methodist preacher, Grace Imathiu analyzes this title, saying:
“Jesus is human, he loves being human. Time and time again he calls himself human: Son of Man. And he came to teach us how to be human: Son of Man. You see, Jesus is the new beginning. Jesus is the new Adam. Jesus came to show us how God intended for us to be.”[1]
The Son of Man – the very title used by the psalmist, is the title that Jesus uses to refer to himself – the title that reflects, not Christ’s divinity or royalty, but that God chooses to be like us.
God does not choose to be like the government – fumbling through paper work or looking the other way, hoping for a scandal or celebrity romance to distract us from the failures that surround Katrina and the failure in honoring its charge to provide for those still without homes.
God does not choose to be like the insurance companies – seeking to preserve profits over care, finagling between what is flood damage and what is hurricane damage.
God choose to become one of us – knowing our pain, knowing our reality, and knowing what will truly bring restoration.
By living as one of us, God has broken the divide between the divine and the human – and broken down all hierarchy with it.
Rather than hear the psalmist’s cry to “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!” God walked in our shoes, and gave up his life to save us, suffering on the cross, quoting the words of another lament psalm saying, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
And so we know that we worship a God who does not simply know our struggles, has not simply read about them or looked down on us from a heavenly throne, but who has born our struggle on God’s very body, becoming one of us.
And by becoming one of us, God affirms our humanity, and calls us to see each other as sister and brother.
By serving us, even washing the feet of those who followed him during his earthly ministry – God calls us to model such servant-hood by serving each other.
And by sacrificing God’s life for us – God calls us to sacrifice ourselves for the good of our fellow woman and man.
Only then will we become whole – by following the example of this new Adam – and we know that it is in following his example that we will know what it means to be truly human.
In doing – we model the life of Christ, and will no doubt find the restoration of a hurricane torn region too long left broken, and the restoration of our souls, too long left longing for something more.
-Amen.
[1] R. Grace Imathiu, Words of Fire, Spirit of Grace: Twelve sermons from on of the world’s best preachers
Friday, December 28, 2007
Christmas Eve 2007
This evening’s Scripture reading is Luke, chapter 2, verses 8 through 20.
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men and women on who his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in a manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
I’ve only met one shepherd in my life. She was quite a person. I met her in a really interesting place; a place that was foreign to me, though it was only miles from our house. I met this one shepherd in a maximum security prison. To get into this prison I would first show my identification, walk through a metal detector, then maybe get waved with the metal detector wand should I set off the regular metal detector, then pass through a series of gates – and as I passed through one door it would immediately close behind me, and only then would the next door open. It was a scary place to be; a place full of walls between the inmates and the outside world.
In the women’s prison there is one program that really does something to help people get rehabilitated. This program where the women train Seeing Eye dogs to help the blind was the place that really made me feel hopeful. I ended up spending a lot of time in their building because they seemed to have a hope that life could be better – that upon release they could make a new life for themselves – that they would leave these prison walls behind them. I used to love that hope, because here was this one place where I didn’t feel so obligated to offer something, to say something, or to do something. This was the place where I could just be, or just listen. Every where else I was trying to say the thing that God would have me say, but in this one bastion of hope and rehabilitation I could just watch the good things going on.
It was in this place that I met a shepherd, an inmate who told me how she raised Catahoula Leopard Dogs before she was incarcerated. This woman told me about how she would be called out to farms when the cows had gotten out. She would release her dogs, and they would run out into the woods, chasing and corralling whatever cows were still running amuck, chasing them all back into the fenced area. She told me that she remembered a time when a particularly rough bull finally came out of the woods, but with one dog clamped to his side, this dog had bitten down so hard on the bull’s side, she refused to let go and just hung on to the bull until it had been corralled to safety.
She told this story with pride, for her dogs were so well trained that they would never give up – even risking their lives to do their job.
The shepherds mentioned in Luke’s gospel, just like this shepherd I met in a maximum security prison who raised Catahoula leopard Dogs, are not the kind of people who church going folks are used to hanging around with.
In our society, maybe you saw them early this evening in the nativity scene here at church, you might see shepherds, but these shepherds were little boys and girls dressed in their father’s bathrobes; something completely unlike the shepherds that are mentioned in Luke’s Gospel. At the time Luke’s Gospel was written, Shepherds weren’t well thought of. If you were an ancient Roman citizen you might walk into a wealthy person’s backyard and see a grotesque statue of a person with no teeth and shabby clothes.
These statues often depicted shepherds for they were considered to be a homely addition to any well manicured garden – an effigy of a person who worked on the outskirts of society, living in huts rather than houses, tending flocks in their fields rather than participating in the life city people considered normal.
At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees believed that if we follow the law to the letter then the Kingdom of God would come, that if we are stringent enough with our Sabbath observance, or are clean enough, or are devout enough in our worship at the Temple, then the Kingdom of God will surely come.
However, the shepherds of the day would never have been able to live up to any of the Pharisees’ standards. How could they observe the Sabbath fully by giving a full day of rest when their animals needed to be fed – there are no animals that only need to be nurtured six days a week after all? They weren’t clean either, rarely having time for baths or brushing their teeth, as ancient documents tell us that most shepherd’s teeth were black, and how could any shepherd make it to the temple when their vocation mandated that they live and work in the prairies and valleys where their flocks could roam.
They were surely not viewed as good enough by the standards of the time, surely viewed as having nothing much to offer, surely a group in need of help or guidance or charity.
When I think of such a people I feel pity in the pit of my stomach, and I feel responsibility bearing down hard on my shoulders. I feel guilt for all that I have, and I feel obligation – thinking of the things that I could do to break down the walls of injustice and inequality – hoping for a day when the wall of privilege that insulates us would fall to provide for those without enough.
If I could sit on Santa’s lap this Christmas that is what I would ask for. I would ask for justice, I would ask for peace, I would ask for hope.
But this Christmas I realize this gift is not one in Santa’s bag, but is a gift that the shepherds have brought.
For on the first Christmas Eve – long, long ago, God told the shepherds of Jesus’ birth. The most important event of human history was not broadcasted on the evening news, not announced to the president or emperor, but told to the shepherds in their fields.
The first ones to get the news were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord said to them, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
These shepherds, these unclean, these seemingly dangerous, these illiterate, these virtually homeless, these poor were entrusted with the most important – the most vital information. It was from their unclean lips, from their missing, broken, or black teeth that the good news was first uttered for the good of human kind.
I am used to thinking that it is my job to say it, but here I know that I am to hear it, realizing what God has done and what the shepherds were able to bring.
We worry so often that the good news of Christmas will shrink to a whisper as political correctness encourages us to be respectful of the many faiths that now surround us, and so we say Happy Holidays or Seasons greetings rather than Merry Christmas.
We worry that our children will miss out on the meaning of this great day because it becomes a morning of presents and not a morning of celebrating the birth of Christ.
And we worry that this day may not turn out the way it is supposed to because the turkey gets dry, someone has more to drink then they should, nobody likes the new girlfriend or boyfriend, and everyone ends up arguing instead of getting along around the dinner table in their holiday sweaters.
But tonight we hear this good news – and it is not even our job to make sure that it is heard. Tonight we celebrate God’s message that we will hear, not because we say it, but because we go to the people who can tell us about it.
We are led to the prison, where the walls are so high and so real – but we go and hear the gospel from our sisters who refuse to give up, hanging onto life with a will that defies explanation, living with knowledge of hope that inspires and encourages us to never give up.
We sit at our Christmas feasts, realizing that our table looks less like our ideal and more like our reality but we are led to the manger, where the smell of animals offends our senses, where our class bids us not go, but where we hear the words of the shepherds leading us to the place where we find Jesus, forgiving us our sins, affirming our humanity, biding us together as one.
-Amen.
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men and women on who his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in a manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
I’ve only met one shepherd in my life. She was quite a person. I met her in a really interesting place; a place that was foreign to me, though it was only miles from our house. I met this one shepherd in a maximum security prison. To get into this prison I would first show my identification, walk through a metal detector, then maybe get waved with the metal detector wand should I set off the regular metal detector, then pass through a series of gates – and as I passed through one door it would immediately close behind me, and only then would the next door open. It was a scary place to be; a place full of walls between the inmates and the outside world.
In the women’s prison there is one program that really does something to help people get rehabilitated. This program where the women train Seeing Eye dogs to help the blind was the place that really made me feel hopeful. I ended up spending a lot of time in their building because they seemed to have a hope that life could be better – that upon release they could make a new life for themselves – that they would leave these prison walls behind them. I used to love that hope, because here was this one place where I didn’t feel so obligated to offer something, to say something, or to do something. This was the place where I could just be, or just listen. Every where else I was trying to say the thing that God would have me say, but in this one bastion of hope and rehabilitation I could just watch the good things going on.
It was in this place that I met a shepherd, an inmate who told me how she raised Catahoula Leopard Dogs before she was incarcerated. This woman told me about how she would be called out to farms when the cows had gotten out. She would release her dogs, and they would run out into the woods, chasing and corralling whatever cows were still running amuck, chasing them all back into the fenced area. She told me that she remembered a time when a particularly rough bull finally came out of the woods, but with one dog clamped to his side, this dog had bitten down so hard on the bull’s side, she refused to let go and just hung on to the bull until it had been corralled to safety.
She told this story with pride, for her dogs were so well trained that they would never give up – even risking their lives to do their job.
The shepherds mentioned in Luke’s gospel, just like this shepherd I met in a maximum security prison who raised Catahoula leopard Dogs, are not the kind of people who church going folks are used to hanging around with.
In our society, maybe you saw them early this evening in the nativity scene here at church, you might see shepherds, but these shepherds were little boys and girls dressed in their father’s bathrobes; something completely unlike the shepherds that are mentioned in Luke’s Gospel. At the time Luke’s Gospel was written, Shepherds weren’t well thought of. If you were an ancient Roman citizen you might walk into a wealthy person’s backyard and see a grotesque statue of a person with no teeth and shabby clothes.
These statues often depicted shepherds for they were considered to be a homely addition to any well manicured garden – an effigy of a person who worked on the outskirts of society, living in huts rather than houses, tending flocks in their fields rather than participating in the life city people considered normal.
At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees believed that if we follow the law to the letter then the Kingdom of God would come, that if we are stringent enough with our Sabbath observance, or are clean enough, or are devout enough in our worship at the Temple, then the Kingdom of God will surely come.
However, the shepherds of the day would never have been able to live up to any of the Pharisees’ standards. How could they observe the Sabbath fully by giving a full day of rest when their animals needed to be fed – there are no animals that only need to be nurtured six days a week after all? They weren’t clean either, rarely having time for baths or brushing their teeth, as ancient documents tell us that most shepherd’s teeth were black, and how could any shepherd make it to the temple when their vocation mandated that they live and work in the prairies and valleys where their flocks could roam.
They were surely not viewed as good enough by the standards of the time, surely viewed as having nothing much to offer, surely a group in need of help or guidance or charity.
When I think of such a people I feel pity in the pit of my stomach, and I feel responsibility bearing down hard on my shoulders. I feel guilt for all that I have, and I feel obligation – thinking of the things that I could do to break down the walls of injustice and inequality – hoping for a day when the wall of privilege that insulates us would fall to provide for those without enough.
If I could sit on Santa’s lap this Christmas that is what I would ask for. I would ask for justice, I would ask for peace, I would ask for hope.
But this Christmas I realize this gift is not one in Santa’s bag, but is a gift that the shepherds have brought.
For on the first Christmas Eve – long, long ago, God told the shepherds of Jesus’ birth. The most important event of human history was not broadcasted on the evening news, not announced to the president or emperor, but told to the shepherds in their fields.
The first ones to get the news were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord said to them, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
These shepherds, these unclean, these seemingly dangerous, these illiterate, these virtually homeless, these poor were entrusted with the most important – the most vital information. It was from their unclean lips, from their missing, broken, or black teeth that the good news was first uttered for the good of human kind.
I am used to thinking that it is my job to say it, but here I know that I am to hear it, realizing what God has done and what the shepherds were able to bring.
We worry so often that the good news of Christmas will shrink to a whisper as political correctness encourages us to be respectful of the many faiths that now surround us, and so we say Happy Holidays or Seasons greetings rather than Merry Christmas.
We worry that our children will miss out on the meaning of this great day because it becomes a morning of presents and not a morning of celebrating the birth of Christ.
And we worry that this day may not turn out the way it is supposed to because the turkey gets dry, someone has more to drink then they should, nobody likes the new girlfriend or boyfriend, and everyone ends up arguing instead of getting along around the dinner table in their holiday sweaters.
But tonight we hear this good news – and it is not even our job to make sure that it is heard. Tonight we celebrate God’s message that we will hear, not because we say it, but because we go to the people who can tell us about it.
We are led to the prison, where the walls are so high and so real – but we go and hear the gospel from our sisters who refuse to give up, hanging onto life with a will that defies explanation, living with knowledge of hope that inspires and encourages us to never give up.
We sit at our Christmas feasts, realizing that our table looks less like our ideal and more like our reality but we are led to the manger, where the smell of animals offends our senses, where our class bids us not go, but where we hear the words of the shepherds leading us to the place where we find Jesus, forgiving us our sins, affirming our humanity, biding us together as one.
-Amen.
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Truth is Marching On
This morning’s (second) scripture lesson is Colossians 1, verses 11 through 20.
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
Being strengthened with all power according to God’s gracious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to God, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son God loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by him all things were created: all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
For God was pleased to have all God’s fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Sermon
I have been thinking about it for a little while, and I have decided that I am not sure that it is at all appropriate that the Christmas Holidays follow so soon after Thanksgiving. In some grocery stores the Christmas decorations have been up as soon as the Halloween candy came down, and while this kind of thing certainly signals a rush to Christmas, even now I am wishing there was a little more time before we hit the official Christmas season.
While I am really happy to see Christmas Coke on the shelf, wreaths on street lamps and front doors, and Christmas lights, whether tacky or tasteful showing up in trees that are for the most part now bare of leaves, this year I feel like our rapid transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas is a little strange, too much almost.
Because we go from sitting around a common table, sharing a bountiful feast with friends and family, taking time to sit back and realize how good we really have it, being thankful for so many good gifts – to thinking about the things we want Santa to bring us.
We go from a spirit of satisfaction at Thanksgiving to a spirit of want – feelings of contentment to feelings of need.
We go from finally being happy with what we have to looking around us and thinking about what we would really like to have.
I think it is a sad situation; and while I certainly like Christmas presents as much as the next guy, I hate to think about how Christ’s birthday moves this country from its place of “we are so blessed with what we have” right back into our normal places of “I sure would like this” and “we don’t really have enough of that do we.”
Just what would Paul say to us I wonder. What freedom would he have to offer?
Some movements in Biblical scholarship over the last 150 years or so proposed that the author of Colossians sought to answer the same question. Such a proposal, the theory that Colossians was not written by Paul but by someone seeking to apply Paul’s theology to his or her contemporary situation, explains the difference in vocabulary used in this letter, the glaring differences in sentence structure that appears, and the way Colossians addresses problems in the church that did not emerge until after Paul’s death.
The new circumstances that some aspiring theologian hoped to apply Paul’s theology, while adding his or her own nuances, deal greatly with power and influence. Apparently some philosophy was exercising strong influence over the Christian community by claiming that some force other than God could control their lives and destinies.
Paul, of course, claimed that while we must live under the forces of government and empire, it is truly Christ who is Emperor or King. That while we do still live in a world where powers and principalities shape our existence, Christ will return “like a thief in the night,” “he will descend from the clouds at the sound of the archangel’s trumpet.”
However, while Paul urged the Christian community to be ever ready for this trumpet call, it never seemed to come. And while their ears were open they didn’t hear it, and so became distracted by the other forces which shape the world in which we live in, falling pray to philosophies and idols that seemed to give order and purpose to their lives.
Of course, we are not so different. While at times our ears are attuned to the sounds of the heavens, we are not a people of ever ready waiting. After all, there are presents to be bought, tables to be set, gifts to be wrapped, check-out lines to wait in, and credit card bills to try and ignore until after the New Year.
We have become distracted, we have tuned our attention elsewhere, and so the sound of trumpets is not what we wait for as we think about what all has to be done in the days ahead, days that do not resemble either waiting or the Thankfulness of Thursday that is by now a long past memory, cast in shadow by the commerce of Black Friday.
While we do not worship Apollo or some vague Philosophy that the author of Colossians seeks to combat, our thoughts and emotions are heavily influenced by a culture of want, a culture of greed, a culture that will mislead us all at some point in time because the message will be heard by us all many, many more times should we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
Today we will not hear Jesus saying in Matthew, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ….” But we will no doubt hear how Jared diamonds will adorn our fingers, how LL Bean will keep us warm, and how the new BMWs can get us everywhere we want to go while conserving fuel and keeping our families safe.
And in such commercials we all listen, because we seek meaning, purpose, and happiness; and so the idols of materialism have infiltrated our thoughts and homes, and even our religion.
We do not thank God for the rains and lakes that have been provided, think of ways to conserve this majestic creation, living within our means, valuing the ecosystem more than the economy – so we go back to God praying for rain like a child who’s traded his bicycle for a stack of baseball cards and now asks for a new one. How should we expect our God to respond, than with a loving mother’s voice saying, “you were not responsible with the first one I gave you so what makes you think I’ll give you another.”
For God does not dispense these things that we think we need as freely as God sets us free from the system that causes us to want more and more and more.
The careful study of this morning’s passage may well lead us all to conclude that this letter was not written by Paul but another, but our scholarship is wasted if we do not also pick up on the verbs of this passage, verbs that do not present a theory but a fact, verbs that do not present an opportunity but a reality – the forces which sway are thinking are not God, and in fact, God has already concurred these things.
This concept, that God has already conquered these forces, is the subtle nuance that the author of Colossians adds to Paul’s theology; it is a shift from focusing on the return of Christ that is to come to the reign of Christ that is already our reality. That while endurance is still needed, that while patience is still a vital virtue, we “have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son” – and here we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Such a statement does reflect a theological shift, a necessary theological shift, for Christ had not yet come back. However, by the inspiration of God, the theology did not allow Christ’s return to disappear into myth, but caused a shift in theology, a shift to focus on these great gifts that we have already, the gift that Jesus’ power already controls the destiny of the world.
For as we face Christmas, looking for things we don’t have already, Colossians calls us to look at the great gift that we do have.
That when Christmas morning comes, and the presents don’t make us as happy as those people in the commercials seem, we have already been promised that God entered our world, and did not condemn it but brought us redemption through Christ’s death and resurrection.
As we face Christmas – fall into the trap of thinking the world is here for our consumption, though after we gorge ourselves our souls are empty - we are invited to eat at this table, remembering again how love is evidenced through the simplicity of bread and wine – How our God is evidenced not through gold and diamonds and Mercedes Benz, but through the most common elements of Christ’s time.
And as we look and look, taking into account things that we want and don’t have, look here for all that we truly need has already been given.
For while Santa Clause is coming to town – the truth that Christ has come is already here;
And while the sales will end, our rush will slow by New Year’s, the truth of Christ’s love is marching on, never to be stifled by the forces that tell us we still need more.
That truth, his truth, is marching on.
-Amen.
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
Being strengthened with all power according to God’s gracious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to God, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son God loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by him all things were created: all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
For God was pleased to have all God’s fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Sermon
I have been thinking about it for a little while, and I have decided that I am not sure that it is at all appropriate that the Christmas Holidays follow so soon after Thanksgiving. In some grocery stores the Christmas decorations have been up as soon as the Halloween candy came down, and while this kind of thing certainly signals a rush to Christmas, even now I am wishing there was a little more time before we hit the official Christmas season.
While I am really happy to see Christmas Coke on the shelf, wreaths on street lamps and front doors, and Christmas lights, whether tacky or tasteful showing up in trees that are for the most part now bare of leaves, this year I feel like our rapid transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas is a little strange, too much almost.
Because we go from sitting around a common table, sharing a bountiful feast with friends and family, taking time to sit back and realize how good we really have it, being thankful for so many good gifts – to thinking about the things we want Santa to bring us.
We go from a spirit of satisfaction at Thanksgiving to a spirit of want – feelings of contentment to feelings of need.
We go from finally being happy with what we have to looking around us and thinking about what we would really like to have.
I think it is a sad situation; and while I certainly like Christmas presents as much as the next guy, I hate to think about how Christ’s birthday moves this country from its place of “we are so blessed with what we have” right back into our normal places of “I sure would like this” and “we don’t really have enough of that do we.”
Just what would Paul say to us I wonder. What freedom would he have to offer?
Some movements in Biblical scholarship over the last 150 years or so proposed that the author of Colossians sought to answer the same question. Such a proposal, the theory that Colossians was not written by Paul but by someone seeking to apply Paul’s theology to his or her contemporary situation, explains the difference in vocabulary used in this letter, the glaring differences in sentence structure that appears, and the way Colossians addresses problems in the church that did not emerge until after Paul’s death.
The new circumstances that some aspiring theologian hoped to apply Paul’s theology, while adding his or her own nuances, deal greatly with power and influence. Apparently some philosophy was exercising strong influence over the Christian community by claiming that some force other than God could control their lives and destinies.
Paul, of course, claimed that while we must live under the forces of government and empire, it is truly Christ who is Emperor or King. That while we do still live in a world where powers and principalities shape our existence, Christ will return “like a thief in the night,” “he will descend from the clouds at the sound of the archangel’s trumpet.”
However, while Paul urged the Christian community to be ever ready for this trumpet call, it never seemed to come. And while their ears were open they didn’t hear it, and so became distracted by the other forces which shape the world in which we live in, falling pray to philosophies and idols that seemed to give order and purpose to their lives.
Of course, we are not so different. While at times our ears are attuned to the sounds of the heavens, we are not a people of ever ready waiting. After all, there are presents to be bought, tables to be set, gifts to be wrapped, check-out lines to wait in, and credit card bills to try and ignore until after the New Year.
We have become distracted, we have tuned our attention elsewhere, and so the sound of trumpets is not what we wait for as we think about what all has to be done in the days ahead, days that do not resemble either waiting or the Thankfulness of Thursday that is by now a long past memory, cast in shadow by the commerce of Black Friday.
While we do not worship Apollo or some vague Philosophy that the author of Colossians seeks to combat, our thoughts and emotions are heavily influenced by a culture of want, a culture of greed, a culture that will mislead us all at some point in time because the message will be heard by us all many, many more times should we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
Today we will not hear Jesus saying in Matthew, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ….” But we will no doubt hear how Jared diamonds will adorn our fingers, how LL Bean will keep us warm, and how the new BMWs can get us everywhere we want to go while conserving fuel and keeping our families safe.
And in such commercials we all listen, because we seek meaning, purpose, and happiness; and so the idols of materialism have infiltrated our thoughts and homes, and even our religion.
We do not thank God for the rains and lakes that have been provided, think of ways to conserve this majestic creation, living within our means, valuing the ecosystem more than the economy – so we go back to God praying for rain like a child who’s traded his bicycle for a stack of baseball cards and now asks for a new one. How should we expect our God to respond, than with a loving mother’s voice saying, “you were not responsible with the first one I gave you so what makes you think I’ll give you another.”
For God does not dispense these things that we think we need as freely as God sets us free from the system that causes us to want more and more and more.
The careful study of this morning’s passage may well lead us all to conclude that this letter was not written by Paul but another, but our scholarship is wasted if we do not also pick up on the verbs of this passage, verbs that do not present a theory but a fact, verbs that do not present an opportunity but a reality – the forces which sway are thinking are not God, and in fact, God has already concurred these things.
This concept, that God has already conquered these forces, is the subtle nuance that the author of Colossians adds to Paul’s theology; it is a shift from focusing on the return of Christ that is to come to the reign of Christ that is already our reality. That while endurance is still needed, that while patience is still a vital virtue, we “have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son” – and here we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Such a statement does reflect a theological shift, a necessary theological shift, for Christ had not yet come back. However, by the inspiration of God, the theology did not allow Christ’s return to disappear into myth, but caused a shift in theology, a shift to focus on these great gifts that we have already, the gift that Jesus’ power already controls the destiny of the world.
For as we face Christmas, looking for things we don’t have already, Colossians calls us to look at the great gift that we do have.
That when Christmas morning comes, and the presents don’t make us as happy as those people in the commercials seem, we have already been promised that God entered our world, and did not condemn it but brought us redemption through Christ’s death and resurrection.
As we face Christmas – fall into the trap of thinking the world is here for our consumption, though after we gorge ourselves our souls are empty - we are invited to eat at this table, remembering again how love is evidenced through the simplicity of bread and wine – How our God is evidenced not through gold and diamonds and Mercedes Benz, but through the most common elements of Christ’s time.
And as we look and look, taking into account things that we want and don’t have, look here for all that we truly need has already been given.
For while Santa Clause is coming to town – the truth that Christ has come is already here;
And while the sales will end, our rush will slow by New Year’s, the truth of Christ’s love is marching on, never to be stifled by the forces that tell us we still need more.
That truth, his truth, is marching on.
-Amen.
Monday, October 8, 2007
You intended harm, but God intended it for Good
-And now, continuing this epic into Egypt, many years later with Joseph’s reunion with his brothers, we turn to Genesis 50: 15-21, on page 40 of your pew Bibles.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘this is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”
When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
-The word of the Lord.
-Thanks be to God.
Sermon
It has not taken me long to come to the conclusion that bad things do in fact happen to good people. While bad things also do happen to bad people, fair punishment is not the point of this morning’s scripture lesson(s). As in this morning’s scripture we step into a bizarre family drama, one where God’s will is not done because of the faithful, but despite the faithless, and so we enter a world that may seem much like our own. We come to know the brothers who out of jealousy threw their father’s favorite son into an empty well, then, rather than kill him as they had planned, sell him into slavery so that he is taken to Egypt. Such an act is simply horrible; worse than all kinds of things, certainly material too dysfunctional for even reality TV.
This morning we remember Joseph’s hardship, but we also look to events that occur years later, when Joseph meets his brothers, long after having been sold into slavery, finally seeing them face to face, he is finally given the opportunity to confront those who did him such harm.
Can you imagine the anger that must have built up inside of him? For while his brothers were safe at home, tending flocks that they had always tended, living life with the family they were born into, speaking the language they had always spoke, Joseph was a slave in a foreign land - his life in Egypt was no summer camp away from home, for aside from the obvious fear of living without his family in a region of the world he would have known little about, during his time in Egypt he worked without pay, was then framed by his owners wife, and imprisoned.
However, as Joseph meets his brothers, now as a powerful and trusted advisor to Pharaoh himself, he does not simply have his brothers killed, but chooses to forgive them.
It’s not clear whether these brothers were punished at all, in fact, Joseph seems to be completely unconcerned with their punishment saying, “Don’t be afraid.” And then asking, “Am I in the place of God?”
Such words seem so different from those of a rash and pompous child, one given a special coat, one who encouraged his brothers to bow down and worship him. The Joseph who the brothers meet years later, near the end of Genesis in chapter 50, is a very different person from the favored son who they threw into a well. This older Joseph speaks a different language, has asserted himself and risen in the ranks of Egyptian society, he has become a man shaped by his circumstance, a circumstance that would have been very different had he not been thrown into a well and sold into slavery.
As a powerful man in Egyptian society, he could have very easily had these brothers disposed of, their bodies thrown in the Nile; they could have been completely forgotten.
Completely forgotten, maybe by everyone but Joseph, as for Joseph their actions would not have been easily disposed of.
For the wrongs of his brothers were every where he turned. If it were not for their unfair actions, nothing in Joseph’s life would have been the same.
There would be no return to normality; their sins could not simply be washed away, for their sins had directed the course of his life completely.
For Joseph could simply not pretend that what happened didn’t happen. How could he forgive and forget as there would be no return to life before his brothers threw him into a well and sold him away to a foreign land.
For Joseph, forgiveness is possible though, but not because his brother’s actions could be undone, but because he has seen God’s purposes played out in the evil deeds of his brothers. To use Joseph’s words in Genesis chapter 50: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
This kind of acknowledgement offers distinctive theological depth to human life – especially to those people, who, like us, are constantly seeking a return to some kind of Eden, always looking for ways to start over, people looking inward, afraid to open our eyes to a world that seems to be going to the dogs.
For Joseph acknowledges that even in the worst circumstances, God has worked in his life, that even through those who wished him harm God’s mission to preserve the people has prevailed.
It is no easy statement – no simple theological claim – for it is so different from the pop religion that none of us can really escape. Joseph does not thank God for helping him avoid suffering, for Joseph has suffered. Joseph does not rejoice for he has been spared hardship; his faithfulness is not repaid by an easy life without violence. Rather, Joseph sees God’s hand at work, even through those who wished him harm.
Joseph does not claim that God threw him into a well, that God had him sold into slavery – but that God’s will has prevailed, that God’s will has been done, even at the hands of those who sought to do him harm.
From this perspective forgiveness is possible I think, but it is forgiveness with depth. It is not a forgiveness that offers a clean slate, not a forgiveness that allows anyone to turn over a new leaf, but a forgiveness that acknowledges there is more to life than sunny days, and that even at those times when we suffer; we are still being empowered to be the people of God.
Our hardships are not steps away from God’s plan, our mistakes do not throw us off the trail from grace, but every action, even the actions of those who wish us harm are all part of the victory of God taking place in our midst.
Such an outlook does not excuse, nor pretend that bad things did not happen, does not offer anyone blanket forgiveness for all that they have done, but calls us to see the greater scope of God’s purpose.
For too often we only seek to see what we presume is Godly, forgetting that it is our scars which give us the power to relate to the broken, that it is our experience with heartache that gives us the power to comfort the afflicted, that it is the knowledge of our own mistakes that give us the ability to forgive others.
For our God, is after all, the God who out of death brings us new life.
It is very different from the spirit of vengeance that surrounds us. For at this table it is the broken body that makes us whole.
Just as the evil deeds of Joseph’s brothers were the means by which God’s will was done – that it was the act of selling their brother into slavery that led to provision in a time of hunger – so at this table we are reminded that even in the death of Christ, God’s will for the salvation of this world is being made real.
It is this kind of theology of hope that closes the book of Genesis, and leads into the harsh slavery of the Exodus, for only such a theology can offer the perseverance needed to truly make it through hardship.
And it is only such a theology of hope that will offer us the sustenance to persevere when we are afraid, when we are in doubt, when we are angry, when we are lost, when we are faithless, when we face death – for even in such things we may take heart; that what may be “intended to harm you, God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid.” - Amen.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘this is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”
When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
-The word of the Lord.
-Thanks be to God.
Sermon
It has not taken me long to come to the conclusion that bad things do in fact happen to good people. While bad things also do happen to bad people, fair punishment is not the point of this morning’s scripture lesson(s). As in this morning’s scripture we step into a bizarre family drama, one where God’s will is not done because of the faithful, but despite the faithless, and so we enter a world that may seem much like our own. We come to know the brothers who out of jealousy threw their father’s favorite son into an empty well, then, rather than kill him as they had planned, sell him into slavery so that he is taken to Egypt. Such an act is simply horrible; worse than all kinds of things, certainly material too dysfunctional for even reality TV.
This morning we remember Joseph’s hardship, but we also look to events that occur years later, when Joseph meets his brothers, long after having been sold into slavery, finally seeing them face to face, he is finally given the opportunity to confront those who did him such harm.
Can you imagine the anger that must have built up inside of him? For while his brothers were safe at home, tending flocks that they had always tended, living life with the family they were born into, speaking the language they had always spoke, Joseph was a slave in a foreign land - his life in Egypt was no summer camp away from home, for aside from the obvious fear of living without his family in a region of the world he would have known little about, during his time in Egypt he worked without pay, was then framed by his owners wife, and imprisoned.
However, as Joseph meets his brothers, now as a powerful and trusted advisor to Pharaoh himself, he does not simply have his brothers killed, but chooses to forgive them.
It’s not clear whether these brothers were punished at all, in fact, Joseph seems to be completely unconcerned with their punishment saying, “Don’t be afraid.” And then asking, “Am I in the place of God?”
Such words seem so different from those of a rash and pompous child, one given a special coat, one who encouraged his brothers to bow down and worship him. The Joseph who the brothers meet years later, near the end of Genesis in chapter 50, is a very different person from the favored son who they threw into a well. This older Joseph speaks a different language, has asserted himself and risen in the ranks of Egyptian society, he has become a man shaped by his circumstance, a circumstance that would have been very different had he not been thrown into a well and sold into slavery.
As a powerful man in Egyptian society, he could have very easily had these brothers disposed of, their bodies thrown in the Nile; they could have been completely forgotten.
Completely forgotten, maybe by everyone but Joseph, as for Joseph their actions would not have been easily disposed of.
For the wrongs of his brothers were every where he turned. If it were not for their unfair actions, nothing in Joseph’s life would have been the same.
There would be no return to normality; their sins could not simply be washed away, for their sins had directed the course of his life completely.
For Joseph could simply not pretend that what happened didn’t happen. How could he forgive and forget as there would be no return to life before his brothers threw him into a well and sold him away to a foreign land.
For Joseph, forgiveness is possible though, but not because his brother’s actions could be undone, but because he has seen God’s purposes played out in the evil deeds of his brothers. To use Joseph’s words in Genesis chapter 50: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
This kind of acknowledgement offers distinctive theological depth to human life – especially to those people, who, like us, are constantly seeking a return to some kind of Eden, always looking for ways to start over, people looking inward, afraid to open our eyes to a world that seems to be going to the dogs.
For Joseph acknowledges that even in the worst circumstances, God has worked in his life, that even through those who wished him harm God’s mission to preserve the people has prevailed.
It is no easy statement – no simple theological claim – for it is so different from the pop religion that none of us can really escape. Joseph does not thank God for helping him avoid suffering, for Joseph has suffered. Joseph does not rejoice for he has been spared hardship; his faithfulness is not repaid by an easy life without violence. Rather, Joseph sees God’s hand at work, even through those who wished him harm.
Joseph does not claim that God threw him into a well, that God had him sold into slavery – but that God’s will has prevailed, that God’s will has been done, even at the hands of those who sought to do him harm.
From this perspective forgiveness is possible I think, but it is forgiveness with depth. It is not a forgiveness that offers a clean slate, not a forgiveness that allows anyone to turn over a new leaf, but a forgiveness that acknowledges there is more to life than sunny days, and that even at those times when we suffer; we are still being empowered to be the people of God.
Our hardships are not steps away from God’s plan, our mistakes do not throw us off the trail from grace, but every action, even the actions of those who wish us harm are all part of the victory of God taking place in our midst.
Such an outlook does not excuse, nor pretend that bad things did not happen, does not offer anyone blanket forgiveness for all that they have done, but calls us to see the greater scope of God’s purpose.
For too often we only seek to see what we presume is Godly, forgetting that it is our scars which give us the power to relate to the broken, that it is our experience with heartache that gives us the power to comfort the afflicted, that it is the knowledge of our own mistakes that give us the ability to forgive others.
For our God, is after all, the God who out of death brings us new life.
It is very different from the spirit of vengeance that surrounds us. For at this table it is the broken body that makes us whole.
Just as the evil deeds of Joseph’s brothers were the means by which God’s will was done – that it was the act of selling their brother into slavery that led to provision in a time of hunger – so at this table we are reminded that even in the death of Christ, God’s will for the salvation of this world is being made real.
It is this kind of theology of hope that closes the book of Genesis, and leads into the harsh slavery of the Exodus, for only such a theology can offer the perseverance needed to truly make it through hardship.
And it is only such a theology of hope that will offer us the sustenance to persevere when we are afraid, when we are in doubt, when we are angry, when we are lost, when we are faithless, when we face death – for even in such things we may take heart; that what may be “intended to harm you, God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid.” - Amen.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Good News That's a Little Too Good
This morning’s scripture reading is Genesis, chapter 33, verses 1-17.
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they two bowed down.
Esau asked, “What do you mean by all these droves I met?”
“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.
But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
“No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.
Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”
But Jacob said to him, “My lord know that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
So that day Esau started on is way back to Seir. Jacob however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth.
-The word of the Lord
-Thanks be to God.
Sermon
In a world that offers so many values that church going people don’t agree with, a nitch has developed in our community marketplace. As an alternative to those GI Joes’ which are so obviously violent, or those Barbie dolls, who can be overly sexual and certainly sexist, there is now a market for a cleaner, more wholesome brand of toys, and so the likes of Moses, Noah, Esther, and even Jesus have been cast into plastic molds, packaged, complete with accessories and staffs to hold onto, so that all kids can have appropriate toys to take to the sand box or doll house with them.
However, I believe that there is a great problem with Biblical Action figures. The main problem that I see is that the Bible simply does not lend itself well to the ways that our culture understands heroes.
Our culture tends to seek out heroes who are bigger and better than we are. What our culture seems to want is a Super Man – for Super Man is perfect. He is like us, but better, stronger, more heroic, more patriotic, and with better hair.
Barbie, in the same way, sets the standard of what it means to be the ideal – but it is an ideal set so high that no one could ever touch her. She is tall, slender, yet her feet are microscopic. She has no varicose veins, no cellulite – she is like a woman, but only in the sense that Super Man is like a man.
I worry too, as those parents who seek out a Christian alternative worry, that our children just don’t have enough good stuff to play with. But I also worry that our children’s toys symbolize one of society’s greatest problems – that is, that the bar is set so high that we are simply never good enough.
While I may be fast, I am not faster than a locomotive, and while you women may be beautiful, your feet are simply in a different proportion to your height – and so we are all left a little mediocre in comparison.
I feel like here is the tragic flaw in the Biblical alternative, for the Biblical Action figures that I have seen so far play by these same rules. Moses – while he does not wear his red underwear outside his blue tights as Super Man does, he is still muscle-bound in his plastic form – he could easily crush his Egyptian pursuers between his pectoral muscles and then use his staff as a Ninja Turtle’s Bo stick, spinning and whacking his foes from their chariots.
The doll Esther is barely different from Barbie in the same way that Moses is barely different from Super Man – as she has perfectly long hair, silky as a woman just stepping out of an Herbal Essence commercial, with eyes so big that they take up half her face, leaving little room for that tiny speck of a nose.
These similarities make me angry really, for while these Biblical Characters are in fact inspired by the Bible – they are so much more similar to their secular counterparts than the actual people that the Bible presents to us. It makes me angry, as we forget their humanity, and once again present our children idols that they will never measure up to.
So as I look at myself, realizing how unlike Super Man I am, I thank God for the people that the Bible truly presents to me.
For Biblical people were very unlike Super Man or Barbie. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if these Biblical Action Figures were truly representative of their Biblical Counterparts then the Moses figure would have to come with a pull cord that made him speak – but with a stutter – just as the Biblical Moses was embarrassed by his lacking public speaking skills.
And the Esther, the true Esther of the Bible is no doll – she is strong, and smart, not to mention so brave that she infiltrated a king’s court to become a hero of her people. So how is her heroism to be represented by a doll with eyes too big for her head – this is supposed to be the Esther of the Bible and not the Esther of the Roswell New Mexico UFO landing?
And as we think about Jacob – the man our scripture passage leads us back to, we must wonder – how will the designers of the Jacob action figure emulate him. I have not seen his action figure likeness, but I can only assume that he would be muscle bound with a smile of perfectly white teeth – for this is the kind of figure that our children are used to playing with. Our heroes are bigger than life, seeking to characterize virtue, as opposed to vice; but when we truly take a look at the Jacob of the Bible, we do not see Super Man. We truly see selfishness and trickery – for the man presented in the Bible is no hero in our culture’s sense of the word. As we read this passage we do not see Super Man - in today’s passage we should all see one of the Bible’s great jerks.
In Jacob – we do not see the person who we can hope to be at our best. Rather, we see the person who we are afraid to acknowledge – the person we dread looking in the mirror, that is, ourselves at our worst.
For the Bible is not some shiny and idealized Obituary. This Bible of ours is not like the Newspaper who speaks so well of a grandfather as though he were an angel without flaw – our Bible may be more like a recording of what our grandfather’s old friends say about him in voices too soft for anyone else to hear. This Bible of ours is not like the memories of a grandmother, who now that she has passed on is only remembered for who she was on some idealized Christmas morning, for the Bible would record who she was at her worst – her alcoholism, her drug use, her anger.
The Bible is not some sugarcoated image of God’s people. It does not lift heroes up so high that we can never reach them. No, the Bible brings heroes down low – so that we may look into their eyes and realize that they are not so unlike us.
In this morning’s scripture reading we see first Jacob the coward, Jacob who offers his wives, concubines, and children as penance to his brother, and then we are led to the occasion when Jacob finally meets his brother Esau, who, for whatever reason forgives him. We read that “Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.”
But how does Jacob respond – he should rejoice, he should celebrate – but no, in the words of the great 20th century scholar Gerhard Von Rad, we find “the mistrust of one who himself has often deceived.” For though Esau forgives him, Jacob will not trust this forgiveness – and when Esau asks Jacob to journey with him a while down life’s road, Jacob assumes that he is being led into a trap, and so he tricks Esau and goes down another road, a road that is lonely, but one that must be traveled because that forgiveness offered by his brother just sounded a little too good.
In Jacob we find how easy it is for God to forgive us, how Jacob is made a great hero of the Bible, not because of his own valor, but because God choose to do great work through him; but we also find how hard it can be to let forgiveness work in our lives – to allow ourselves to change our perceptions of the world and of ourselves.
In this area, the example set by Super Man, Barbie, or the Biblical alternatives all seem painfully inadequate, for what does Super Man or Barbie need to be forgiven for, what shortcomings must they come to terms with? It is in the example of Jacob that I see the true tragedy of living a life of deception, for after living a life earning his keep by trickery, we now find a man unable to trust in forgiveness.
By this Biblical testimony, we may see what it means to be a child of God, to come to terms with who we actually are rather than hiding and ignoring our flaws – for God does not choose to work through the perfect, as what do the perfect need with a God who forgives inadequacies. In Jacob we see a God who works through a dangerously flawed man, and come to know how God will love and work through us, despite our flaws, despite our trust issues, leading us all down the long, hard path towards living with ourselves, and accepting forgiveness.
-Amen
I invite you to listen for the word of God.
Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they two bowed down.
Esau asked, “What do you mean by all these droves I met?”
“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.
But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
“No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.
Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”
But Jacob said to him, “My lord know that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
So that day Esau started on is way back to Seir. Jacob however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth.
-The word of the Lord
-Thanks be to God.
Sermon
In a world that offers so many values that church going people don’t agree with, a nitch has developed in our community marketplace. As an alternative to those GI Joes’ which are so obviously violent, or those Barbie dolls, who can be overly sexual and certainly sexist, there is now a market for a cleaner, more wholesome brand of toys, and so the likes of Moses, Noah, Esther, and even Jesus have been cast into plastic molds, packaged, complete with accessories and staffs to hold onto, so that all kids can have appropriate toys to take to the sand box or doll house with them.
However, I believe that there is a great problem with Biblical Action figures. The main problem that I see is that the Bible simply does not lend itself well to the ways that our culture understands heroes.
Our culture tends to seek out heroes who are bigger and better than we are. What our culture seems to want is a Super Man – for Super Man is perfect. He is like us, but better, stronger, more heroic, more patriotic, and with better hair.
Barbie, in the same way, sets the standard of what it means to be the ideal – but it is an ideal set so high that no one could ever touch her. She is tall, slender, yet her feet are microscopic. She has no varicose veins, no cellulite – she is like a woman, but only in the sense that Super Man is like a man.
I worry too, as those parents who seek out a Christian alternative worry, that our children just don’t have enough good stuff to play with. But I also worry that our children’s toys symbolize one of society’s greatest problems – that is, that the bar is set so high that we are simply never good enough.
While I may be fast, I am not faster than a locomotive, and while you women may be beautiful, your feet are simply in a different proportion to your height – and so we are all left a little mediocre in comparison.
I feel like here is the tragic flaw in the Biblical alternative, for the Biblical Action figures that I have seen so far play by these same rules. Moses – while he does not wear his red underwear outside his blue tights as Super Man does, he is still muscle-bound in his plastic form – he could easily crush his Egyptian pursuers between his pectoral muscles and then use his staff as a Ninja Turtle’s Bo stick, spinning and whacking his foes from their chariots.
The doll Esther is barely different from Barbie in the same way that Moses is barely different from Super Man – as she has perfectly long hair, silky as a woman just stepping out of an Herbal Essence commercial, with eyes so big that they take up half her face, leaving little room for that tiny speck of a nose.
These similarities make me angry really, for while these Biblical Characters are in fact inspired by the Bible – they are so much more similar to their secular counterparts than the actual people that the Bible presents to us. It makes me angry, as we forget their humanity, and once again present our children idols that they will never measure up to.
So as I look at myself, realizing how unlike Super Man I am, I thank God for the people that the Bible truly presents to me.
For Biblical people were very unlike Super Man or Barbie. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if these Biblical Action Figures were truly representative of their Biblical Counterparts then the Moses figure would have to come with a pull cord that made him speak – but with a stutter – just as the Biblical Moses was embarrassed by his lacking public speaking skills.
And the Esther, the true Esther of the Bible is no doll – she is strong, and smart, not to mention so brave that she infiltrated a king’s court to become a hero of her people. So how is her heroism to be represented by a doll with eyes too big for her head – this is supposed to be the Esther of the Bible and not the Esther of the Roswell New Mexico UFO landing?
And as we think about Jacob – the man our scripture passage leads us back to, we must wonder – how will the designers of the Jacob action figure emulate him. I have not seen his action figure likeness, but I can only assume that he would be muscle bound with a smile of perfectly white teeth – for this is the kind of figure that our children are used to playing with. Our heroes are bigger than life, seeking to characterize virtue, as opposed to vice; but when we truly take a look at the Jacob of the Bible, we do not see Super Man. We truly see selfishness and trickery – for the man presented in the Bible is no hero in our culture’s sense of the word. As we read this passage we do not see Super Man - in today’s passage we should all see one of the Bible’s great jerks.
In Jacob – we do not see the person who we can hope to be at our best. Rather, we see the person who we are afraid to acknowledge – the person we dread looking in the mirror, that is, ourselves at our worst.
For the Bible is not some shiny and idealized Obituary. This Bible of ours is not like the Newspaper who speaks so well of a grandfather as though he were an angel without flaw – our Bible may be more like a recording of what our grandfather’s old friends say about him in voices too soft for anyone else to hear. This Bible of ours is not like the memories of a grandmother, who now that she has passed on is only remembered for who she was on some idealized Christmas morning, for the Bible would record who she was at her worst – her alcoholism, her drug use, her anger.
The Bible is not some sugarcoated image of God’s people. It does not lift heroes up so high that we can never reach them. No, the Bible brings heroes down low – so that we may look into their eyes and realize that they are not so unlike us.
In this morning’s scripture reading we see first Jacob the coward, Jacob who offers his wives, concubines, and children as penance to his brother, and then we are led to the occasion when Jacob finally meets his brother Esau, who, for whatever reason forgives him. We read that “Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.”
But how does Jacob respond – he should rejoice, he should celebrate – but no, in the words of the great 20th century scholar Gerhard Von Rad, we find “the mistrust of one who himself has often deceived.” For though Esau forgives him, Jacob will not trust this forgiveness – and when Esau asks Jacob to journey with him a while down life’s road, Jacob assumes that he is being led into a trap, and so he tricks Esau and goes down another road, a road that is lonely, but one that must be traveled because that forgiveness offered by his brother just sounded a little too good.
In Jacob we find how easy it is for God to forgive us, how Jacob is made a great hero of the Bible, not because of his own valor, but because God choose to do great work through him; but we also find how hard it can be to let forgiveness work in our lives – to allow ourselves to change our perceptions of the world and of ourselves.
In this area, the example set by Super Man, Barbie, or the Biblical alternatives all seem painfully inadequate, for what does Super Man or Barbie need to be forgiven for, what shortcomings must they come to terms with? It is in the example of Jacob that I see the true tragedy of living a life of deception, for after living a life earning his keep by trickery, we now find a man unable to trust in forgiveness.
By this Biblical testimony, we may see what it means to be a child of God, to come to terms with who we actually are rather than hiding and ignoring our flaws – for God does not choose to work through the perfect, as what do the perfect need with a God who forgives inadequacies. In Jacob we see a God who works through a dangerously flawed man, and come to know how God will love and work through us, despite our flaws, despite our trust issues, leading us all down the long, hard path towards living with ourselves, and accepting forgiveness.
-Amen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)