1st Corinthians 1: 10-18, page 155
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.
For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”
Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Sermon
The Deacons here at the church have been kind enough to take me along on their visits, and last week, thanks to Bill Handy and Doreen Wohlfarth, I had the pleasure of meeting Jim and Lenora Parnell. About half-way through our visit Mrs. Parnell looked at me and said, “Well Joe, you’re from Atlanta. What do you think of us?”
It’s not really the kind of question I’m accustomed to answering, and only having been here for four weeks I’m not able to answer it with any kind of confidence. It takes a while to answer a question like that, “What do you think of us?” but that doesn’t always keep people from offering their assumptions.
The night before my last Sunday at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, the church I last served just outside Atlanta, the congregation gave a dinner and roast in honor of my family and me. The president of Good Shepherd’s senior group, a fine man by the name of Gus, stood up and presented me with a gift. “All the members of the senior group got together Joe and we raised a great deal of money,” he said. “We’ve come up with $5,000 as a sign of our appreciation, but the president on the bills is Jefferson Davis – we’re hoping they still use confederate money up where you and Sara are going.”
Of course, while it might be fun for folks from Atlanta to make jokes about folks from Tennessee, assumptions that we make about other people can sometimes not be so amusing. Everyone in Atlanta knows that people in Tennessee don’t use confederate currency; everyone in Atlanta probably knows that people in Tennessee do wear shoes; but it probably is true that people from Atlanta really do think they are better, more refined, than every other group of people living in the South, so assumptions that people make – even when they are joking can be dangerous – and I would go so far as to say that assumptions that we make about other people can sometimes take a nasty turn.
So Paul worries about the Christians in Corinth. How they are dividing themselves up into groups – saying “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ” as though Christ could be divided.
Paul worries because once folks divide themselves up into groups they get comfortable. The ones who belong to Paul don’t spend quite as much time with the ones who belong to Apollos as they used to – maybe they still worship together but on different sides – it’s just nice to spend time with your own kind. And before long the ones who belong to Paul have gotten away from the ones who belong to Apollos to such an extent that their opinion of each other is no longer based on experience but assumption. Paul’s people haven’t asked Apollos’ people why all the donuts are gone from Fellowship Time before they even get there – Paul’s people just assume that Apollos’ people are greedy. And Apollos’ people haven’t really talked with Paul’s about a good date for the church picnic; they just assume that Paul’s people won’t be able to make it.
It goes on like this OK until the two groups are so divided they don’t even sit together and they don’t even live on the same side of town.
This past Monday, on the other side of town, I had the pleasure of joining a group of a hundred or so people, several who are members of this church, gathered in front of one of Columbia’s African American churches. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King we marched from there to the court house, but on the way we stopped at the sight of the 1946 Columbia race riot, a riot that, like so many race riots that followed World War 2, involved military veterans who were unwilling to accept segregation in the country they had put their lives on the line for – they were frustrated that store clerks, who seemed so in need of their service before they left, would not respect them enough upon returning to offer them the same decency they gave to white citizens.
So when James Stephenson felt that his mother was being disrespected by a local department store clerk when they went together to pick up her radio, something erupted. The store clerk may have assumed that Stephenson’s mother should be satisfied with the service she received, while Stephenson may have assumed that the store clerk was treating his mother badly based on the color of her skin. Then maybe the clerk assumed that Stephenson was another angry, black, veteran – the kind who would resort to violence - and so he defended himself accordingly – next thing you know the clerk winds up through a window and by nightfall the Mink Side was surrounded, shots were fired, four patrolmen were wounded, windows were broken, houses were raided, weapons were confiscated, and more than one hundred African American’s were arrested.
It all started with a store clerk and a customer – a simple exchange, nothing more than a broken radio – but because this simple exchange took place between two groups of people who had forgotten how to deal with each other things went in a different direction.
When people forget how to talk with each other – when assumptions guide our behavior rather than experience – things can take a nasty turn.
So Paul calls the congregation back together: Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.
This was a tall order for them as it is for us, as a world without divisions is hardly imaginable.
A world where people don’t see race or class.
A world where association with a particular church, a particular club, a particular strata of society doesn’t matter nearly so much as accepting ourselves and each other for who we are.
A world where people don’t assume they know how another group of people thinks or acts, but instead takes the time to learn.
It’s foolishness really – nothing more than a dream, because for whatever reason, it’s easier to go on believing that our assumptions are right than it is to put them to the test.
That some kinds of people are naturally hard workers;
While some are either happy being poor or aren’t willing to do anything to make their lives better.
That the way things are meets everyone’s needs so there’s no reason to change.
In this kind of world it becomes particularly important to remember that our salvation comes from the God who chose not to assume. That our God didn’t assume anything about life on earth – rather than assume, our God became one of us.
While Christ certainly could have stayed with the angels of heaven, he came down, and after living among fishers, adulterers, the lame and the blind, he was handed over to be crucified in-between two thieves.
It would have been easier to leave it to assumption, just as life is easier for us if we never put to the test the kind of assumptions about particular groups we have learned to believe.
The world is an easier place to live in if you go on believing that the way things are is the way they need to be. That people always get what they deserve, and if they really wanted to improve their lot in life they could.
The world is an easier place to live in if the poor are poor because they’re lazy, just as the Pharisees believed the sick were sick because of their sins.
The world becomes a strange place when you start to question these assumptions, and no one should be surprised - for the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Be foolish today – put the assumptions of the world to the test – living not confined to the group you are most comfortable with, but out among – working with, eating with - those you assume you know but you may not know at all.
This is the heart of the gospel – that when people the world has called different do something as bold as sitting around one table, breaking bread together and sharing wine – such a thing is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Amen.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
You Were Called
1st Corinthians 1: 1-9, page 155
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be as blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful; by God you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus our Lord.
Sermon
Discipline is a constant struggle – for parents, for teachers, for dog owners – for anyone entrusted with the care of another being whose behavior lies somewhat out of their control and is too often found to be lacking.
I know all about it – not only am I a father, but I’m also a dog owner – not just a dog owner actually; we have three dogs, two of whom are terribly badly behaved. And it’s not their fault, it’s mine. I’m the one who brought them into the house, so it falls on me to set the limits, but what can I say, I’m a push over. And when they bark at some kind person who has come to the house to say hello or drop off something nice, I can only hope that you can’t hear me threatening them over their barking.
Threats tend to be the last weapon in our arsenal – they’re our last resort – but while they feel effective coming out of our mouths I believe that they’re better for burning bridges then mending fences or getting bad dogs back on the road to obedience.
Maybe that’s why, in these first verses of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he doesn’t resort to threats but exhorts the church to remember who they are and who God is to them.
I don’t know that there’s another way to explain why he sounds so nice here – he’s not the kind to put on a polite face when he’s angry – and you can be sure of this – he is mad at the Corinthians. Not only have they divided themselves up into factions in the face of Christian unity, they have been guilty of graver debauchery than even the pagans of the time. Paul, having heard from Chloe’s people of the grave sins committed by some of the Corinthian congregation, is too far away to travel and lecture them to their face so he has no other resort than to write a letter.
But it’s not hate mail.
He doesn’t really begin by letting them have it, does he?
We are used to threats, because in our society, out of desperation maybe, people jump to threats so quickly.
When an article that offends us appears in the newspaper, we don’t write a letter to the editor that begins, “I give thanks to my God always for you” as Paul does, we threaten to cancel our subscription in the hopes that such a threat will get some attention.
When things aren’t going the way we like in some group which we hold membership, a team, a club, a church, we don’t write to the board or the pastor hoping that God “will also strengthen you to the end” as Paul does, we threaten to withdrawal membership, or worse, suspend our dues.
And when our government seems to have turned its back on us and our values, we don’t remind our representatives that they were called by God “into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus our Lord,” as Paul does, we threaten to kick them right out of office – while the worst of our society, upon hearing such threats, finds encouragement to commit the unspeakable.
Last week President Obama attempted to bring understanding to a cruel act of violence – a threatening act of violence towards all those who don’t think the way a young man thought they should. His violence that shocked Arizona and our entire country may motivate some to change the way they think and act, but I believe that any threat’s power falls short when compared to what people will do when they are inspired to act on behalf of one whom they love.
By President Obama, we’ve all been urged to live in a way that would make Christina Taylor Green, the 9 year old who was shot, proud.
I have no doubt that both Jared, the shooter, and Christina, one of his victims will leave their mark on our country, inspiring people to change the way they think and live – but those who change what they do and what they believe out of a fear of the likes of Jared will never be so powerfully alive as those who change what they do and what they believe in the hopes of making Christina proud.
In the same way, while the Russian army during World War II hurled themselves upon their enemy out of fear that they would be shot by their own countrymen upon retreat, it was the likes of one American, who upon seeing this sanctuary’s dome knew that he fought for something worth fighting for, fought to stop the Nazis in their tracks, defending his people and his country out of love.
Tomorrow, as we remember the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., we bear in mind one who heard more threats than most. But rather than shudder, rather than be intimidated, rather than keep the truth of his message bottled up, he championed one of the greatest movements our country has ever seen proclaiming the truth that all are worthy of full acceptance in the Kingdom of God, that God loves us regardless of race – and this was a message too strong, too true, to be stifled by threats.
While surely those threats were strong – and surely they were real – but they were powerless in the face of King’s defiant message of love, a message whose source is God our creator.
While threats of damnation may have inspired the conversion of many of you as they inspired me, I pray that for you your life as a Christian is not motivated by that same fear, but today is marked by a love for the God who first loved you.
I must have responded to 5 alter calls before I really heard the good news – God doesn’t call us to turn away from our sin so that we can avoid some impending judgment – God calls us to turn away from our sin because it is only in fellowship with his Son that our deepest joy will be fulfilled.
For while so many have turned their lives around when threatened by damnation, those of us who know the love that God has for you – who know the depths of compassion that God has poured out on your behalf – who know the truth, that the creator of the ends of the earth, the one who gives us breath and life, and who laid down his very life that you might know how to live – will go on living this way until the day of our Lord Jesus.
Do not be afraid, even in the midst of your greatest sin, deepest insecurity, harshest criticism, for Paul offers you words of love from God who is faithful. Once you come to know this love you will be amazed by what you will do for the one who loved you first.
For our God has heard your cry – has drawn you up from the desolate pit – and has called you to new life.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be as blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful; by God you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus our Lord.
Sermon
Discipline is a constant struggle – for parents, for teachers, for dog owners – for anyone entrusted with the care of another being whose behavior lies somewhat out of their control and is too often found to be lacking.
I know all about it – not only am I a father, but I’m also a dog owner – not just a dog owner actually; we have three dogs, two of whom are terribly badly behaved. And it’s not their fault, it’s mine. I’m the one who brought them into the house, so it falls on me to set the limits, but what can I say, I’m a push over. And when they bark at some kind person who has come to the house to say hello or drop off something nice, I can only hope that you can’t hear me threatening them over their barking.
Threats tend to be the last weapon in our arsenal – they’re our last resort – but while they feel effective coming out of our mouths I believe that they’re better for burning bridges then mending fences or getting bad dogs back on the road to obedience.
Maybe that’s why, in these first verses of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he doesn’t resort to threats but exhorts the church to remember who they are and who God is to them.
I don’t know that there’s another way to explain why he sounds so nice here – he’s not the kind to put on a polite face when he’s angry – and you can be sure of this – he is mad at the Corinthians. Not only have they divided themselves up into factions in the face of Christian unity, they have been guilty of graver debauchery than even the pagans of the time. Paul, having heard from Chloe’s people of the grave sins committed by some of the Corinthian congregation, is too far away to travel and lecture them to their face so he has no other resort than to write a letter.
But it’s not hate mail.
He doesn’t really begin by letting them have it, does he?
We are used to threats, because in our society, out of desperation maybe, people jump to threats so quickly.
When an article that offends us appears in the newspaper, we don’t write a letter to the editor that begins, “I give thanks to my God always for you” as Paul does, we threaten to cancel our subscription in the hopes that such a threat will get some attention.
When things aren’t going the way we like in some group which we hold membership, a team, a club, a church, we don’t write to the board or the pastor hoping that God “will also strengthen you to the end” as Paul does, we threaten to withdrawal membership, or worse, suspend our dues.
And when our government seems to have turned its back on us and our values, we don’t remind our representatives that they were called by God “into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus our Lord,” as Paul does, we threaten to kick them right out of office – while the worst of our society, upon hearing such threats, finds encouragement to commit the unspeakable.
Last week President Obama attempted to bring understanding to a cruel act of violence – a threatening act of violence towards all those who don’t think the way a young man thought they should. His violence that shocked Arizona and our entire country may motivate some to change the way they think and act, but I believe that any threat’s power falls short when compared to what people will do when they are inspired to act on behalf of one whom they love.
By President Obama, we’ve all been urged to live in a way that would make Christina Taylor Green, the 9 year old who was shot, proud.
I have no doubt that both Jared, the shooter, and Christina, one of his victims will leave their mark on our country, inspiring people to change the way they think and live – but those who change what they do and what they believe out of a fear of the likes of Jared will never be so powerfully alive as those who change what they do and what they believe in the hopes of making Christina proud.
In the same way, while the Russian army during World War II hurled themselves upon their enemy out of fear that they would be shot by their own countrymen upon retreat, it was the likes of one American, who upon seeing this sanctuary’s dome knew that he fought for something worth fighting for, fought to stop the Nazis in their tracks, defending his people and his country out of love.
Tomorrow, as we remember the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., we bear in mind one who heard more threats than most. But rather than shudder, rather than be intimidated, rather than keep the truth of his message bottled up, he championed one of the greatest movements our country has ever seen proclaiming the truth that all are worthy of full acceptance in the Kingdom of God, that God loves us regardless of race – and this was a message too strong, too true, to be stifled by threats.
While surely those threats were strong – and surely they were real – but they were powerless in the face of King’s defiant message of love, a message whose source is God our creator.
While threats of damnation may have inspired the conversion of many of you as they inspired me, I pray that for you your life as a Christian is not motivated by that same fear, but today is marked by a love for the God who first loved you.
I must have responded to 5 alter calls before I really heard the good news – God doesn’t call us to turn away from our sin so that we can avoid some impending judgment – God calls us to turn away from our sin because it is only in fellowship with his Son that our deepest joy will be fulfilled.
For while so many have turned their lives around when threatened by damnation, those of us who know the love that God has for you – who know the depths of compassion that God has poured out on your behalf – who know the truth, that the creator of the ends of the earth, the one who gives us breath and life, and who laid down his very life that you might know how to live – will go on living this way until the day of our Lord Jesus.
Do not be afraid, even in the midst of your greatest sin, deepest insecurity, harshest criticism, for Paul offers you words of love from God who is faithful. Once you come to know this love you will be amazed by what you will do for the one who loved you first.
For our God has heard your cry – has drawn you up from the desolate pit – and has called you to new life.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Now It Begins
Matthew 3: 13-17, page 3 of the New Testament
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Sermon
It has been a wonderful week. I continue to be moved by your hospitality, and my family and I continue to be thankful to be settling in to such a wonderful place as Columbia, TN, such a wonderful church as 1st Presbyterian.
This was my first week in the office, but more importantly, this week also began our 200th anniversary celebration with dinner last Wednesday night where I learned more about this church in an hour than most would be lucky to learn in a year. I suppose Bob Duncan just has a way of getting secrets out of people, doesn’t he?
Last Wednesday evening gave me a lot to think about, and one thing in particular stands out – when Mrs. Doris Kibbons stood and told the group about memorizing the Shorter Catechism as a child, and so was rewarded with a leather bound copy of the New Testament from the Presbyterian Committee of Publications in Richmond Virginia.
I held in my hand a copy of such a New Testament, Frank Dale’s aunt Carolyn having earned the same honor – and I wondered to myself just how many know how impressive memorizing the Shorter Catechism is. All I know is that it’s name is relative – it’s only short in comparison to the Longer Westminster Catechism – but even I can’t tell you a whole lot more than that.
In so many ways things have changed – so many don’t come to Sunday School at all, much less come and dedicate themselves to such a degree that they can memorize the Shorter Catechism. Ours doesn’t seem to be a time of demanding more from members of our churches, of being challenged to deepen our faith, do homework, and take time out of busy schedules to memorize. Ours is a time when we just want people to come to church – have your child baptized – put a little money in the plate – and please come back next week.
For so many churches, sessions and ministers are just thankful to see too many families who only come on Christmas and Easter that we fear encouraging them to come more often; we don’t want to require too much in a class that introduces new folks to our church, we just want them to join before they sneak out the door; and we would never consider requiring anything of anyone who wanted to be baptized – though we know that for so many children, we promise to nurture them in the faith but never have the opportunity to do so.
We don’t want to ask too much, because we are thankful for what we’ve got.
But maybe were not so different from John. As Jesus approaches him for baptism he doesn’t require that Christ attend some kind of class, doesn’t ask for his credentials, he doesn’t look into Jesus’ sordid family history, wondering if the story about Mary’s virgin birth is for real. He is reluctant to baptize Jesus, not because Jesus hasn’t done enough, but because he’s already done too much: “I need to be baptized by you,” John says, “and do you come to me?”
John surely knew who Jesus was, having heard about the birth from his own mother, and so knew that he was standing before the one so many had been waiting for – the one who scripture said would “faithfully bring forth justice,” who “will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth.”
John knew then that Jesus was not the kind who would come and get baptized, fulfilling some obligation to his grandmother only never to be seen again. John must have known that this baptism was only the beginning of something much bigger.
That’s what all baptisms should be – the beginning of a life changed by the power of God – the beginning of a life lived to the glory of God’s Kingdom.
Christ’s baptism marks the beginning of his ministry – he is no longer the sweet baby lying in a manger who threatened Herod’s power theoretically – his baptism is the beginning of his ministry during which he will threaten those in power indefinitely by his defiant words and radical actions.
His baptism is also the end of anticipation, as there is no more waiting for him to grow up – he’s now grown; and there’s no more waiting to see if he’ll be who you were hoping for – he’s about to show you who he is.
Some will be disappointed, having hoped that he would be the kind of Messiah who would fulfill their own dreams, and they will turn away and go on waiting.
Some will be enraged, recognizing that he is one who will change what they don’t want changed and threaten what they hold dear. They will turn against him, siding with those who have the power to silence him with death.
But others will be healed, redeemed, empowered, and renewed, fully changed, finding in Christ their savior.
What we have in his baptism is the beginning of his ministry – the anticipation’s over – now he’ll start losing friends as he begins to say what he believes, doing what he knows he must do to redeem the world.
In so many ways I bet John stood there, reluctant to baptize Jesus not just because John knew who Jesus was, but I bet John stood there reluctant to baptize Jesus because John knew how hard Jesus’ life would be from this time on.
Being born in a manger seems like a walk in the park compared to being sent out to be tempted in the desert by Satan himself – and even being hunt down by Herod seems comparatively painless to having one of your own disciples turn against you. But this was his lot and maybe Jesus knew it had to be this way. There was no more running from it – “So let it be so now” he says to John, “for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
There are parts of this reluctance that you can relate to I imagine – there are so many reasons to admire Christ’s courage as he comes to terms with his destiny there on the banks of the Jordan. One of the great preachers of our time, Peter J. Gomes, now on the staff of Harvard Divinity School, once wrote: “The great trick in our intellectual world is to think of something that we want to do and then imagine it to be so impossible as not to be able to do it, which relieves us of the responsibility of trying to do it.”
What prevents us from getting to the work we are called to is so often our own hesitation – our own fear – our own doubt.
Maybe college is over, the world is your oyster, and you dreamed wonderful dreams of using all your gifts to change things, travel the world, and get a great job, but now all you want to do is go back home to your old room. Or you wake up, and in the bed with you for the first time is the one who you’ve promised to spend the rest of your life with – maybe on that first morning you’re happy knowing that the life you dreamed of is coming true, or maybe you’re scared to death thinking of what you’ve just left behind.
Or, maybe, you’re the new pastor in town, amazed at how kind people are, awestruck by their well wishes, prayers for you and your family, taken up in all the hopes for what your ministry will bring, but somewhere in the back of your mind is a small voice saying, “of course they love you Joe, you haven’t done anything to make anyone mad yet.”
Christ stood there on the banks of the river, his baptism the point of no return, and I wonder if Christ was tempted to cut and run.
The reality of life, as our own Sam Kennedy has said it, is that you “shouldn’t get in the game unless you’re prepared to lose.” But losing is sometimes enough to prevent us from ever getting started.
Of course, there’s more to living than winning or losing. In our world that seems to be as divided as it ever has been, living and letting people know who you are, means sometimes losing friends – for as soon as you open up your mouth you are put into categories of Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, are you with me or are you with them – sometimes you wish you could be on every side, but the world just won’t have it.
Still God calls us to step out, to use our gifts, and while our words and actions may close just as many doors as they’ll open, to keep who we are and what we have to say to ourselves is hardly permissible considering where those gifts came from.
But we fear rejection, we fear failure, we fear not living up to all the hopes and dreams of our parents, our friends, and our God. So God calls you to the water to hear the words that will give you the courage to be the woman or man you were created to be.
Hear these words if you have been afraid to go after the life you always wanted but were reluctant to pay the cost.
Hear these words if you have ignored your calling, for fear of what friends and family would say.
Hear these words if you know what you have to do but need the courage to do it.
Hear these words if you’ve ever doubted your worth in the eyes of your maker.
Hear these words if you’ve ever doubted your worth in the eyes of yourself: “You are mine, the Beloved, whom whom I am well pleased.”
These are words from your creator to you.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Sermon
It has been a wonderful week. I continue to be moved by your hospitality, and my family and I continue to be thankful to be settling in to such a wonderful place as Columbia, TN, such a wonderful church as 1st Presbyterian.
This was my first week in the office, but more importantly, this week also began our 200th anniversary celebration with dinner last Wednesday night where I learned more about this church in an hour than most would be lucky to learn in a year. I suppose Bob Duncan just has a way of getting secrets out of people, doesn’t he?
Last Wednesday evening gave me a lot to think about, and one thing in particular stands out – when Mrs. Doris Kibbons stood and told the group about memorizing the Shorter Catechism as a child, and so was rewarded with a leather bound copy of the New Testament from the Presbyterian Committee of Publications in Richmond Virginia.
I held in my hand a copy of such a New Testament, Frank Dale’s aunt Carolyn having earned the same honor – and I wondered to myself just how many know how impressive memorizing the Shorter Catechism is. All I know is that it’s name is relative – it’s only short in comparison to the Longer Westminster Catechism – but even I can’t tell you a whole lot more than that.
In so many ways things have changed – so many don’t come to Sunday School at all, much less come and dedicate themselves to such a degree that they can memorize the Shorter Catechism. Ours doesn’t seem to be a time of demanding more from members of our churches, of being challenged to deepen our faith, do homework, and take time out of busy schedules to memorize. Ours is a time when we just want people to come to church – have your child baptized – put a little money in the plate – and please come back next week.
For so many churches, sessions and ministers are just thankful to see too many families who only come on Christmas and Easter that we fear encouraging them to come more often; we don’t want to require too much in a class that introduces new folks to our church, we just want them to join before they sneak out the door; and we would never consider requiring anything of anyone who wanted to be baptized – though we know that for so many children, we promise to nurture them in the faith but never have the opportunity to do so.
We don’t want to ask too much, because we are thankful for what we’ve got.
But maybe were not so different from John. As Jesus approaches him for baptism he doesn’t require that Christ attend some kind of class, doesn’t ask for his credentials, he doesn’t look into Jesus’ sordid family history, wondering if the story about Mary’s virgin birth is for real. He is reluctant to baptize Jesus, not because Jesus hasn’t done enough, but because he’s already done too much: “I need to be baptized by you,” John says, “and do you come to me?”
John surely knew who Jesus was, having heard about the birth from his own mother, and so knew that he was standing before the one so many had been waiting for – the one who scripture said would “faithfully bring forth justice,” who “will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth.”
John knew then that Jesus was not the kind who would come and get baptized, fulfilling some obligation to his grandmother only never to be seen again. John must have known that this baptism was only the beginning of something much bigger.
That’s what all baptisms should be – the beginning of a life changed by the power of God – the beginning of a life lived to the glory of God’s Kingdom.
Christ’s baptism marks the beginning of his ministry – he is no longer the sweet baby lying in a manger who threatened Herod’s power theoretically – his baptism is the beginning of his ministry during which he will threaten those in power indefinitely by his defiant words and radical actions.
His baptism is also the end of anticipation, as there is no more waiting for him to grow up – he’s now grown; and there’s no more waiting to see if he’ll be who you were hoping for – he’s about to show you who he is.
Some will be disappointed, having hoped that he would be the kind of Messiah who would fulfill their own dreams, and they will turn away and go on waiting.
Some will be enraged, recognizing that he is one who will change what they don’t want changed and threaten what they hold dear. They will turn against him, siding with those who have the power to silence him with death.
But others will be healed, redeemed, empowered, and renewed, fully changed, finding in Christ their savior.
What we have in his baptism is the beginning of his ministry – the anticipation’s over – now he’ll start losing friends as he begins to say what he believes, doing what he knows he must do to redeem the world.
In so many ways I bet John stood there, reluctant to baptize Jesus not just because John knew who Jesus was, but I bet John stood there reluctant to baptize Jesus because John knew how hard Jesus’ life would be from this time on.
Being born in a manger seems like a walk in the park compared to being sent out to be tempted in the desert by Satan himself – and even being hunt down by Herod seems comparatively painless to having one of your own disciples turn against you. But this was his lot and maybe Jesus knew it had to be this way. There was no more running from it – “So let it be so now” he says to John, “for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
There are parts of this reluctance that you can relate to I imagine – there are so many reasons to admire Christ’s courage as he comes to terms with his destiny there on the banks of the Jordan. One of the great preachers of our time, Peter J. Gomes, now on the staff of Harvard Divinity School, once wrote: “The great trick in our intellectual world is to think of something that we want to do and then imagine it to be so impossible as not to be able to do it, which relieves us of the responsibility of trying to do it.”
What prevents us from getting to the work we are called to is so often our own hesitation – our own fear – our own doubt.
Maybe college is over, the world is your oyster, and you dreamed wonderful dreams of using all your gifts to change things, travel the world, and get a great job, but now all you want to do is go back home to your old room. Or you wake up, and in the bed with you for the first time is the one who you’ve promised to spend the rest of your life with – maybe on that first morning you’re happy knowing that the life you dreamed of is coming true, or maybe you’re scared to death thinking of what you’ve just left behind.
Or, maybe, you’re the new pastor in town, amazed at how kind people are, awestruck by their well wishes, prayers for you and your family, taken up in all the hopes for what your ministry will bring, but somewhere in the back of your mind is a small voice saying, “of course they love you Joe, you haven’t done anything to make anyone mad yet.”
Christ stood there on the banks of the river, his baptism the point of no return, and I wonder if Christ was tempted to cut and run.
The reality of life, as our own Sam Kennedy has said it, is that you “shouldn’t get in the game unless you’re prepared to lose.” But losing is sometimes enough to prevent us from ever getting started.
Of course, there’s more to living than winning or losing. In our world that seems to be as divided as it ever has been, living and letting people know who you are, means sometimes losing friends – for as soon as you open up your mouth you are put into categories of Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, are you with me or are you with them – sometimes you wish you could be on every side, but the world just won’t have it.
Still God calls us to step out, to use our gifts, and while our words and actions may close just as many doors as they’ll open, to keep who we are and what we have to say to ourselves is hardly permissible considering where those gifts came from.
But we fear rejection, we fear failure, we fear not living up to all the hopes and dreams of our parents, our friends, and our God. So God calls you to the water to hear the words that will give you the courage to be the woman or man you were created to be.
Hear these words if you have been afraid to go after the life you always wanted but were reluctant to pay the cost.
Hear these words if you have ignored your calling, for fear of what friends and family would say.
Hear these words if you know what you have to do but need the courage to do it.
Hear these words if you’ve ever doubted your worth in the eyes of your maker.
Hear these words if you’ve ever doubted your worth in the eyes of yourself: “You are mine, the Beloved, whom whom I am well pleased.”
These are words from your creator to you.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
They Offered Him Gifts
Matthew 2: 1-16 found on page 2 of the New Testament in your pew Bibles
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah;
For from you shall come a ruler
Who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.
Sermon
There are many reasons I am excited to be living here in Columbia, rather than in Atlanta. The main reason is that I am here, with all of you, in this incredible church whose nearly 200 year history I am amazed to become a part of. But here, as you all already know, there isn’t any traffic, and in general I expect to spend much less time in the car than I did before.
The only part of spending so much time in the car that I’ll miss are reading the billboards - I haven’t noticed any here in Columbia, maybe they’re like the traffic - you have to go up to Nashville to get any. A few weeks ago I read about 50 billboards that have sprung up in Nashville announcing that we should all, “Save the date: Jesus is coming on May 21st, 2011.”
These billboards have been financed by Allison Warden of Raleigh-based WeCanKnow.com, and they proclaim the upcoming rapture and Christ’s imminent return, based on her analysis of scripture and biblical genealogy.
According to Warden, “All information in the Bible points to this date. God is going to be saving people right up until the last moment.”
While I’m not sure that Warden is right about her date, and while I’m not a proponent of her “End-Times Theology”, I am sure that many people will be influenced by her claim, and I doubt that all of it will be bad, but I’m sure that some of it will.
Because when people hear that Christ is coming they tend to do very strange things.
While many may turn back to the church, many others will worry. Some will invest in gold and canned goods, hole up in shelters bellow ground, amass automatic weapons and ammunition, all in preparation for the end of the world.
People do strange things when they hear about Christ coming.
Some of it is good, but some of it, founded in fear, can be gruesome.
We read in our scripture lesson that when King Herod heard of the birth of “the child who has been born king of the Jews” he was frightened, and all of Jerusalem with him.
Out of fear for what his coming will mean, assuming that his coming will be the end of his power and authority, he first tried to find this child by using the wise men, asking them to send word once they found him so that he could come and join them in worship.
But when Herod realized that the wise men had tricked him, that they left without leading him to the child, he flew into a rage and commanded the murder of every little boy two years old and under who lived in Bethlehem and its surrounding hills.
Herod’s act of terrorism founded in his fear that this child would threaten his power offers a stark contrast to the rest of our lesson for today – and you might say that terrorism and the fear terrorism inspires always offers a stark contrast to the Gospel – as how can you live out the gospel when all your actions are governed by fear?
There can be no doubt that the billboards proclaiming Christ’s imminent return will inspire many to fear in a world where too many are already afraid.
Afraid of not having enough, too many in our world have grown reluctant in giving, holding tight to what they have, generosity a luxury of former years.
Afraid of the influence of a changing world, too many have holed up in their homes or enclaves of like-minded souls, acceptance and tolerance diminishing.
While others, afraid of the future and quite certain that the future will be worse than the past, have grown indifferent, hope left to gather dust.
Afraid that his power would be threatened, Herod strikes out in violence seeking to hold onto what he can in light of an uncertain future.
But in the midst of all of this fear – three wise men offer a baby three precious gifts.
A few weeks ago in Bible study I mentioned that there have never been less appropriate baby shower gifts, but I have realized since that this is not the point at all.
In a world of terror the wise give gifts, while those who are governed by fear take all that they can get, push away those who are different, give up on the future, and kill those who threaten the way things are.
In a world of terror, the wise place their hope in a child while those who are governed by fear hold tight all the power they have left.
They open their doors while others lock themselves away.
In a world of terror the wise reach out in kindness with those who are governed by fear strike out in violence.
The point of terrorism is to break down community, to make people afraid of each other, as those who are afraid and alone are easy to control.
That was the point of Herod’s strike – to communicate his power and to strike fear into the hearts of his people.
But the Gospel calls us to follow another path.
Whereas the fearful would keep what they can get – the faithful give precious gifts to the king of kings.
Whereas the fearful strike out at those who are different, burning Mosques, striking out in hate – the faithful open their doors as this church opened your doors to the very people you have been taught to fear.
Whereas the fearful retreat into sanctuaries of safety – the faithful stay to serve the downcast, the oppressed, homeless, and the hungry as this church has committed to stay and serve those who may well be none other than Christ himself.
While the billboards say that Christ is coming in May – we are called to live knowing that Christ is with us now – like the wise men so long ago – we are called to give our gifts.
Then the King will say to those at his right hand:
For I was hungry and you gave me food
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
In a world of fear we are called to live as the one who gave his very body and blood to us lived – giving when too many are afraid to give.
In a world where terror’s shadow looms, let us live as people of the light – let us follow the light of Christ.
Amen.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah;
For from you shall come a ruler
Who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.
Sermon
There are many reasons I am excited to be living here in Columbia, rather than in Atlanta. The main reason is that I am here, with all of you, in this incredible church whose nearly 200 year history I am amazed to become a part of. But here, as you all already know, there isn’t any traffic, and in general I expect to spend much less time in the car than I did before.
The only part of spending so much time in the car that I’ll miss are reading the billboards - I haven’t noticed any here in Columbia, maybe they’re like the traffic - you have to go up to Nashville to get any. A few weeks ago I read about 50 billboards that have sprung up in Nashville announcing that we should all, “Save the date: Jesus is coming on May 21st, 2011.”
These billboards have been financed by Allison Warden of Raleigh-based WeCanKnow.com, and they proclaim the upcoming rapture and Christ’s imminent return, based on her analysis of scripture and biblical genealogy.
According to Warden, “All information in the Bible points to this date. God is going to be saving people right up until the last moment.”
While I’m not sure that Warden is right about her date, and while I’m not a proponent of her “End-Times Theology”, I am sure that many people will be influenced by her claim, and I doubt that all of it will be bad, but I’m sure that some of it will.
Because when people hear that Christ is coming they tend to do very strange things.
While many may turn back to the church, many others will worry. Some will invest in gold and canned goods, hole up in shelters bellow ground, amass automatic weapons and ammunition, all in preparation for the end of the world.
People do strange things when they hear about Christ coming.
Some of it is good, but some of it, founded in fear, can be gruesome.
We read in our scripture lesson that when King Herod heard of the birth of “the child who has been born king of the Jews” he was frightened, and all of Jerusalem with him.
Out of fear for what his coming will mean, assuming that his coming will be the end of his power and authority, he first tried to find this child by using the wise men, asking them to send word once they found him so that he could come and join them in worship.
But when Herod realized that the wise men had tricked him, that they left without leading him to the child, he flew into a rage and commanded the murder of every little boy two years old and under who lived in Bethlehem and its surrounding hills.
Herod’s act of terrorism founded in his fear that this child would threaten his power offers a stark contrast to the rest of our lesson for today – and you might say that terrorism and the fear terrorism inspires always offers a stark contrast to the Gospel – as how can you live out the gospel when all your actions are governed by fear?
There can be no doubt that the billboards proclaiming Christ’s imminent return will inspire many to fear in a world where too many are already afraid.
Afraid of not having enough, too many in our world have grown reluctant in giving, holding tight to what they have, generosity a luxury of former years.
Afraid of the influence of a changing world, too many have holed up in their homes or enclaves of like-minded souls, acceptance and tolerance diminishing.
While others, afraid of the future and quite certain that the future will be worse than the past, have grown indifferent, hope left to gather dust.
Afraid that his power would be threatened, Herod strikes out in violence seeking to hold onto what he can in light of an uncertain future.
But in the midst of all of this fear – three wise men offer a baby three precious gifts.
A few weeks ago in Bible study I mentioned that there have never been less appropriate baby shower gifts, but I have realized since that this is not the point at all.
In a world of terror the wise give gifts, while those who are governed by fear take all that they can get, push away those who are different, give up on the future, and kill those who threaten the way things are.
In a world of terror, the wise place their hope in a child while those who are governed by fear hold tight all the power they have left.
They open their doors while others lock themselves away.
In a world of terror the wise reach out in kindness with those who are governed by fear strike out in violence.
The point of terrorism is to break down community, to make people afraid of each other, as those who are afraid and alone are easy to control.
That was the point of Herod’s strike – to communicate his power and to strike fear into the hearts of his people.
But the Gospel calls us to follow another path.
Whereas the fearful would keep what they can get – the faithful give precious gifts to the king of kings.
Whereas the fearful strike out at those who are different, burning Mosques, striking out in hate – the faithful open their doors as this church opened your doors to the very people you have been taught to fear.
Whereas the fearful retreat into sanctuaries of safety – the faithful stay to serve the downcast, the oppressed, homeless, and the hungry as this church has committed to stay and serve those who may well be none other than Christ himself.
While the billboards say that Christ is coming in May – we are called to live knowing that Christ is with us now – like the wise men so long ago – we are called to give our gifts.
Then the King will say to those at his right hand:
For I was hungry and you gave me food
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
In a world of fear we are called to live as the one who gave his very body and blood to us lived – giving when too many are afraid to give.
In a world where terror’s shadow looms, let us live as people of the light – let us follow the light of Christ.
Amen.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The King of the Jews
Luke 23: 33-43, page 748
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: This is the King of the Jews.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him, “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?” We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Sermon
It’s a strange lesson for someone’s last sermon I know, but the decision was made for me – today is a great day for the church calendar, before we begin preparing for Christ’s birth, we celebrate his Lordship on what is today, Christ the King Sunday.
On this Sunday then, in a world of uncertainty where we wonder who or what is in control, we come to terms with the truth – that Christ is King.
I say we live in a world of uncertainty and I think you know that I’m not just talking about how upside down the world seems to Georgia Tech basketball fans in the wake of their defeat to Kennesaw State or how there seems to be no justice in a world where Bristol Palin continues on to the finals in Dancing with the Stars – I’m talking about a nation’s too long season of unemployment where too many don’t know where their next paycheck will come from and wonder if it will come in time to pay the heating bill or the mortgage.
A world of injustice where too many go without water, and where oil has become so valuable we risk the wellbeing of our oceans to mine for more.
A world where the Nation of Haiti, besieged by earthquake is now ravaged by disease, people striking out against each other - rioting in the street.
I’m talking about a world where we wonder just who it is that’s in control.
That’s why Christ the King Sunday means something – we remember this day who is in control – but it’s also my last Sunday, which got me thinking.
During my time with you, we’ve been through difficult times. The economy has caused hardship in many of our lives and in the life of our church. We’ve also lost loved ones. We’ve faced personal struggles. We’ve asked hard questions, we’ve been given hard answers, but in all these things I’ve been amazed by you – for despite all the challenges of our time together, you have shown me what it means to be faithful – you made the choice, that in a world of uncertainty where so much lies out of your control, you have chosen to be faithful, you have chosen life.
To choose life in the midst of a victim’s situation is a bold choice, as in doing so you did not allow the most obvious interpretation of events to go unchallenged.
You have stood in storms of uncertainty, as people too often are, and while all arrows seemed to be pointing in one direction and you’ve acted as though the meaning of devastating events - cancer, loss, divorce, unemployment – events interpreted by so many in our world as hopeless - as though meaning were yet undetermined, as though you still had a choice in how to respond.
There’s a lesson here then for the world – in the midst of confusing news, tragedy that we don’t understand occurring in a world that we don’t seem to have any control over as though we were the victims of chance – we still have a choice in how we understand.
This is profoundly important because defining what the circumstances of our world mean and what we should do about them is a constant battle fought by those who know, as Rome knew, that not just events, but the meaning assigned to events, matters.
In our scripture lesson for today, they didn’t just kill Jesus, you see, they gave this event meaning.
They harassed and humiliated him. They hung him there for everyone to see, killing him slowly, painfully, so that in his dying his weakness would speak volumes to all those who considered him powerful, his helplessness would be proclaimed to any who thought him divine, and the severity of his execution would silence his disciples and any others who might think of following in his footsteps.
Rome didn’t just kill him – his death was a warning to any who might doubt Roman power.
Rome didn’t just kill him – they made sure that any faith in him was rendered pointless.
Rome didn’t just kill him – they called him the King of the Jews – mocking any threat to Roman authority, making sure that everyone knew any challenge to Caesar was nothing more than a joke.
He can’t even save himself they said – what kind of a king can’t even save himself?
As though saving yourself were a sign of power.
While they mocked him and doubted him, as Rome utilized his death to communicate their power, Christ makes two statements that must have seemed like a whisper compared to the media campaign of the Roman Empire: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And to the criminal, the only one who sees what this event truly means, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
In all of it, we see that true power is in choosing not to believe according to the scare tactics of this present evil age, where meaning is assigned by those who seek to control you.
True power is in choosing to forgive those who persecute you in our world of revenge and terror. True power lies with those who choose not to save themselves, but die to selfishness that paradise be attained together.
Our world of milestones, current events, and non-stop news cycles is one where meaning is assigned, power is managed, and death seems to have the final word.
There is no point in challenging it, they say.
There is no power greater than the one that seems to rule our world.
But just as Peter had, we still have a choice. The question, “who do they say I am?” is not nearly as important as “who do you say I am?”
The choice to see that there is no King besides the King of the Jews.
In following him we choose life over death.
In choosing to forgive rather than blame and rant, we model a different way that those in power too often seem to know nothing about.
And in serving our neighbors as Christ saved that criminal there on the cross, we defy cycles of selfishness that destroy communities, worlds, and leave individuals alone and afraid – just where Death wants us.
So my charge to you is this – just as you chose life, chose hope – go on choosing to believe that the God of hope will not disappoint you.
Just as you chose Christ over Rome before – go on holding him close though the world would pull you apart.
And just as you, by your actions, have defied the powers of sin and death, go on doubting their power in this world which defy God’s righteousness and love.
Choose to follow the King of the Jews – and I tell you the truth – paradise awaits.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: This is the King of the Jews.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him, “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?” We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Sermon
It’s a strange lesson for someone’s last sermon I know, but the decision was made for me – today is a great day for the church calendar, before we begin preparing for Christ’s birth, we celebrate his Lordship on what is today, Christ the King Sunday.
On this Sunday then, in a world of uncertainty where we wonder who or what is in control, we come to terms with the truth – that Christ is King.
I say we live in a world of uncertainty and I think you know that I’m not just talking about how upside down the world seems to Georgia Tech basketball fans in the wake of their defeat to Kennesaw State or how there seems to be no justice in a world where Bristol Palin continues on to the finals in Dancing with the Stars – I’m talking about a nation’s too long season of unemployment where too many don’t know where their next paycheck will come from and wonder if it will come in time to pay the heating bill or the mortgage.
A world of injustice where too many go without water, and where oil has become so valuable we risk the wellbeing of our oceans to mine for more.
A world where the Nation of Haiti, besieged by earthquake is now ravaged by disease, people striking out against each other - rioting in the street.
I’m talking about a world where we wonder just who it is that’s in control.
That’s why Christ the King Sunday means something – we remember this day who is in control – but it’s also my last Sunday, which got me thinking.
During my time with you, we’ve been through difficult times. The economy has caused hardship in many of our lives and in the life of our church. We’ve also lost loved ones. We’ve faced personal struggles. We’ve asked hard questions, we’ve been given hard answers, but in all these things I’ve been amazed by you – for despite all the challenges of our time together, you have shown me what it means to be faithful – you made the choice, that in a world of uncertainty where so much lies out of your control, you have chosen to be faithful, you have chosen life.
To choose life in the midst of a victim’s situation is a bold choice, as in doing so you did not allow the most obvious interpretation of events to go unchallenged.
You have stood in storms of uncertainty, as people too often are, and while all arrows seemed to be pointing in one direction and you’ve acted as though the meaning of devastating events - cancer, loss, divorce, unemployment – events interpreted by so many in our world as hopeless - as though meaning were yet undetermined, as though you still had a choice in how to respond.
There’s a lesson here then for the world – in the midst of confusing news, tragedy that we don’t understand occurring in a world that we don’t seem to have any control over as though we were the victims of chance – we still have a choice in how we understand.
This is profoundly important because defining what the circumstances of our world mean and what we should do about them is a constant battle fought by those who know, as Rome knew, that not just events, but the meaning assigned to events, matters.
In our scripture lesson for today, they didn’t just kill Jesus, you see, they gave this event meaning.
They harassed and humiliated him. They hung him there for everyone to see, killing him slowly, painfully, so that in his dying his weakness would speak volumes to all those who considered him powerful, his helplessness would be proclaimed to any who thought him divine, and the severity of his execution would silence his disciples and any others who might think of following in his footsteps.
Rome didn’t just kill him – his death was a warning to any who might doubt Roman power.
Rome didn’t just kill him – they made sure that any faith in him was rendered pointless.
Rome didn’t just kill him – they called him the King of the Jews – mocking any threat to Roman authority, making sure that everyone knew any challenge to Caesar was nothing more than a joke.
He can’t even save himself they said – what kind of a king can’t even save himself?
As though saving yourself were a sign of power.
While they mocked him and doubted him, as Rome utilized his death to communicate their power, Christ makes two statements that must have seemed like a whisper compared to the media campaign of the Roman Empire: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And to the criminal, the only one who sees what this event truly means, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
In all of it, we see that true power is in choosing not to believe according to the scare tactics of this present evil age, where meaning is assigned by those who seek to control you.
True power is in choosing to forgive those who persecute you in our world of revenge and terror. True power lies with those who choose not to save themselves, but die to selfishness that paradise be attained together.
Our world of milestones, current events, and non-stop news cycles is one where meaning is assigned, power is managed, and death seems to have the final word.
There is no point in challenging it, they say.
There is no power greater than the one that seems to rule our world.
But just as Peter had, we still have a choice. The question, “who do they say I am?” is not nearly as important as “who do you say I am?”
The choice to see that there is no King besides the King of the Jews.
In following him we choose life over death.
In choosing to forgive rather than blame and rant, we model a different way that those in power too often seem to know nothing about.
And in serving our neighbors as Christ saved that criminal there on the cross, we defy cycles of selfishness that destroy communities, worlds, and leave individuals alone and afraid – just where Death wants us.
So my charge to you is this – just as you chose life, chose hope – go on choosing to believe that the God of hope will not disappoint you.
Just as you chose Christ over Rome before – go on holding him close though the world would pull you apart.
And just as you, by your actions, have defied the powers of sin and death, go on doubting their power in this world which defy God’s righteousness and love.
Choose to follow the King of the Jews – and I tell you the truth – paradise awaits.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The God of the Living
Luke 20: 27-40, page 745
Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children.
Finally the woman died too.
Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to God all are alive.”
Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Sermon
Our house is on the market now, so keeping things clean for prospective buyers has taken on particular importance. Our dogs, we have three dogs and if you take no other moral lesson from this sermon than a warning that three dogs is too many dogs I will have done my job well enough, our dogs have gotten into the habit of kidnapping Lily’s stuffed animals and tearing them apart in the back yard. Sara sent me into the backyard the other day to pick up the remnants of one of my poor daughter’s less fortunate stuffed animals.
It’s strange what happens sometimes in the midst of such a project. As I was picking up stuffed animal stuffing from the backyard I started noticing other projects that needed doing – that there were also bibs in the backyard that the dogs had taken outside, leaves on the patio chairs, pine straw that needed raking, and the gutters were clogged. Then I noticed parts of the house that could use a fresh coat of paint, fence rails that could stand to be replaced, and on and on and on until the whole house suddenly seemed to be in such disrepair that I came to the hopeless conclusion that no one would ever want to buy it.
It all started with my focus, and while most people don’t go from picking up stuffed animal stuffing to thinking that their perfectly fine house is a junk heap, what we focus on has a big impact on how we understand ourselves and the world – an eye for stuffed animal stuffing can snowball – we go from seeing a paint chip on the car and a perfectly fine automobile starts to look like a jalopy – the sight of a pimple turns the prom queen’s self image from beauty to the beast.
What we focus on matters, so while we don’t learn much about the Sadducees just by reading our scripture lesson for the day, we do learn their focus. Our lesson begins: “Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.”
Luke doesn’t tell us much here, but I’m willing to bet that the author of Luke is telling us all he thinks we need to know, that the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.
I’m sure that there was much more to the Sadducees than just that, but by Luke they are defined according to what they focused on, where they stood on the great debate of the day, whether or not there was a resurrection of the dead.
Luke doesn’t tell us more any more than that, but the Sadducees’ belief spanned many more issues than this one – they focused on the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In so many ways they were like the Pharisees, except the Pharisees broadened their focus beyond the first five books of the Bible into nearly the whole of what we now have as the Old Testament, and based on these additional books the Pharisees came to believe that there was scriptural evidence for life after death.
These two groups, similar in so many ways, defined themselves according to this small difference. For the Sadducees, in order to know who they were they had to know who they weren’t, and so they defined themselves according to how they were different from the Pharisees on the great divisive topic of the day.
Jesus steps into the room, and like so many of us who are on one side of a debate or another, the Sadducees wanted to know if Jesus was with us or them.
This is what we all do to some degree or another – we want to know, are you with us or are you with them. When I went up to Tennessee last week folks wanted to know whether I was a UT fan or a Vanderbilt fan.
My response was, “Vanderbilt has a football team?”
More important than which college football team I cheer for is where Jesus stands on the great issues of the day – so the Sadducees want to know what Jesus thinks, and like so many groups who have spent too much time focusing on one particular issue, the Sadducees have reached the point of asking hypothetical questions so ridiculous that they make people feel like they either have to be with them or must be an idiot.
Seven men married to one woman – whose wife will she be?
If there is a resurrection from the dead – how can this poor woman be married to seven men? See – there can’t be a resurrection from the dead. Think about how ridiculous that would be.
But it’s not so different from the ways certain groups portray each other today. Wouldn’t you stop a woman from murdering her child? Then how can you let her murder her fetus?
Don’t you believe that women have a right to decide for themselves what they do with their bodies, or would you have them wear burkas and get their husbands permission before they do anything?
We would like to know what Jesus would do, where he would stand regarding the great debates of our day – but in a way it’s like asking what James Madison would say about video games if you’ve been following the Supreme Court hearings this week – he’s a man of another time who responded to his generation’s hot topics and not ours.
But in another way, asking Jesus to side with you or with them is even more impossible because Jesus isn’t ever on one side or the other.
Yes, Jesus takes a stand, he isn’t wishy-washy or appealing to both groups at the same time, but what’s different about Jesus is that he takes a stand by bridging differences rather than deepening the divide between the two groups.
To the Sadducees who focused solely on the books of Moses Jesus says, “Even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to God all are alive.”
Not only is this appeal to Moses important for the sake of Jesus beating the Sadducees at their own game claiming that even Moses believed in a resurrection of the dead, but this last phrase, for to God all are alive, speaks of unity in the midst of division. For to God, all are alive.
Jesus doesn’t stand in one camp and not the other – Pharisee or Sadducee, for to God, all are alive – not just opposite camps whose focus on difference convinces them that they are more different than they are alike, but the whole of creation, and even beyond it – from the living to the dead – all are alive to God.
Unlike us, Jesus’ focus is not on what divides, knowing that if our focus is on what makes us different we will forever be divided. Jesus focus is on what makes us one - and in the eyes of God, we are all alive.
Ours is a time of intense division. Battle lines are drawn and heightened attention has been drawn to them in these midterm elections, but if our focus as a nation is on how we are different, who is right and who is wrong, who is for freedom and who is not, then the terrorists have won – you haven’t heard it lately but it’s still true: united we stand or divided we fall.
The same is true for our church – if our focus is on what divides us, then we are just where Satan wants us to be: weak, fragmented, going nowhere because we can’t agree on where to go.
So we’ve got to remember Jesus words: For to God, all are alive – and in the eyes of God there is so much that makes us one.
Unfortunately, the Sadducees did eventually come together with the Pharisees. Unified they cried out to crucify the one who called them together.
May we not be so blind.
Open your eyes to the truth. Open your eyes to the reality, that you are surrounded by your brothers and sisters.
Thanks be to God, the God who makes us one.
Amen.
Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children.
Finally the woman died too.
Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to God all are alive.”
Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Sermon
Our house is on the market now, so keeping things clean for prospective buyers has taken on particular importance. Our dogs, we have three dogs and if you take no other moral lesson from this sermon than a warning that three dogs is too many dogs I will have done my job well enough, our dogs have gotten into the habit of kidnapping Lily’s stuffed animals and tearing them apart in the back yard. Sara sent me into the backyard the other day to pick up the remnants of one of my poor daughter’s less fortunate stuffed animals.
It’s strange what happens sometimes in the midst of such a project. As I was picking up stuffed animal stuffing from the backyard I started noticing other projects that needed doing – that there were also bibs in the backyard that the dogs had taken outside, leaves on the patio chairs, pine straw that needed raking, and the gutters were clogged. Then I noticed parts of the house that could use a fresh coat of paint, fence rails that could stand to be replaced, and on and on and on until the whole house suddenly seemed to be in such disrepair that I came to the hopeless conclusion that no one would ever want to buy it.
It all started with my focus, and while most people don’t go from picking up stuffed animal stuffing to thinking that their perfectly fine house is a junk heap, what we focus on has a big impact on how we understand ourselves and the world – an eye for stuffed animal stuffing can snowball – we go from seeing a paint chip on the car and a perfectly fine automobile starts to look like a jalopy – the sight of a pimple turns the prom queen’s self image from beauty to the beast.
What we focus on matters, so while we don’t learn much about the Sadducees just by reading our scripture lesson for the day, we do learn their focus. Our lesson begins: “Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.”
Luke doesn’t tell us much here, but I’m willing to bet that the author of Luke is telling us all he thinks we need to know, that the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.
I’m sure that there was much more to the Sadducees than just that, but by Luke they are defined according to what they focused on, where they stood on the great debate of the day, whether or not there was a resurrection of the dead.
Luke doesn’t tell us more any more than that, but the Sadducees’ belief spanned many more issues than this one – they focused on the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In so many ways they were like the Pharisees, except the Pharisees broadened their focus beyond the first five books of the Bible into nearly the whole of what we now have as the Old Testament, and based on these additional books the Pharisees came to believe that there was scriptural evidence for life after death.
These two groups, similar in so many ways, defined themselves according to this small difference. For the Sadducees, in order to know who they were they had to know who they weren’t, and so they defined themselves according to how they were different from the Pharisees on the great divisive topic of the day.
Jesus steps into the room, and like so many of us who are on one side of a debate or another, the Sadducees wanted to know if Jesus was with us or them.
This is what we all do to some degree or another – we want to know, are you with us or are you with them. When I went up to Tennessee last week folks wanted to know whether I was a UT fan or a Vanderbilt fan.
My response was, “Vanderbilt has a football team?”
More important than which college football team I cheer for is where Jesus stands on the great issues of the day – so the Sadducees want to know what Jesus thinks, and like so many groups who have spent too much time focusing on one particular issue, the Sadducees have reached the point of asking hypothetical questions so ridiculous that they make people feel like they either have to be with them or must be an idiot.
Seven men married to one woman – whose wife will she be?
If there is a resurrection from the dead – how can this poor woman be married to seven men? See – there can’t be a resurrection from the dead. Think about how ridiculous that would be.
But it’s not so different from the ways certain groups portray each other today. Wouldn’t you stop a woman from murdering her child? Then how can you let her murder her fetus?
Don’t you believe that women have a right to decide for themselves what they do with their bodies, or would you have them wear burkas and get their husbands permission before they do anything?
We would like to know what Jesus would do, where he would stand regarding the great debates of our day – but in a way it’s like asking what James Madison would say about video games if you’ve been following the Supreme Court hearings this week – he’s a man of another time who responded to his generation’s hot topics and not ours.
But in another way, asking Jesus to side with you or with them is even more impossible because Jesus isn’t ever on one side or the other.
Yes, Jesus takes a stand, he isn’t wishy-washy or appealing to both groups at the same time, but what’s different about Jesus is that he takes a stand by bridging differences rather than deepening the divide between the two groups.
To the Sadducees who focused solely on the books of Moses Jesus says, “Even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to God all are alive.”
Not only is this appeal to Moses important for the sake of Jesus beating the Sadducees at their own game claiming that even Moses believed in a resurrection of the dead, but this last phrase, for to God all are alive, speaks of unity in the midst of division. For to God, all are alive.
Jesus doesn’t stand in one camp and not the other – Pharisee or Sadducee, for to God, all are alive – not just opposite camps whose focus on difference convinces them that they are more different than they are alike, but the whole of creation, and even beyond it – from the living to the dead – all are alive to God.
Unlike us, Jesus’ focus is not on what divides, knowing that if our focus is on what makes us different we will forever be divided. Jesus focus is on what makes us one - and in the eyes of God, we are all alive.
Ours is a time of intense division. Battle lines are drawn and heightened attention has been drawn to them in these midterm elections, but if our focus as a nation is on how we are different, who is right and who is wrong, who is for freedom and who is not, then the terrorists have won – you haven’t heard it lately but it’s still true: united we stand or divided we fall.
The same is true for our church – if our focus is on what divides us, then we are just where Satan wants us to be: weak, fragmented, going nowhere because we can’t agree on where to go.
So we’ve got to remember Jesus words: For to God, all are alive – and in the eyes of God there is so much that makes us one.
Unfortunately, the Sadducees did eventually come together with the Pharisees. Unified they cried out to crucify the one who called them together.
May we not be so blind.
Open your eyes to the truth. Open your eyes to the reality, that you are surrounded by your brothers and sisters.
Thanks be to God, the God who makes us one.
Amen.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
At a Distance
Luke 18: 9-14, page 742
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the others – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Sermon
Leaving one church and going to another is not easy at all.
As word has gotten out that I’m leaving Good Shepherd for 1st Presbyterian of Columbia, Tennessee, I’ve been honored by emails, phone calls, and face book messages – all of which make me wonder how on earth I’m ever going to be able to say goodbye to all of you.
But in addition to your kind words that I’ve been honored to receive, though some seem to me to be describing someone else entirely, I also have to go back through the examination process.
Just as when a lawyer goes from one state to another, or when a teacher goes from one district to another, a Presbyterian minister, going from one Presbytery to another, must once again go through the tedious process of examination on the floor of Presbytery, fielding questions from any of the 150-300 elders and ministers present who want to give me a hard time.
Last Wednesday I was driving up to Columbia TN, thinking about the examination to take place the next day in Nashville, and I was wondering to myself: should I be honest about who I am, or should I play the part and just get through my examination?
It’s a long drive up there, and in addition to worrying about how I would answer their questions, I was listening to the new George Washington biography that was published earlier this month, written by Ron Chernow.
This new biography portrays our first president in a revealing light – dispelling the myths that many of us grew up hearing. No, that episode with the cherry tree probably did not happen, as his father, who in this story rewards young Washington for refusing to tell a lie actually died long before his son would have ever been able to lift an ax. The other myth – that George Washington was able to throw a coin clear across that great, wide, river seems also to be a fabrication.
These stories, however, while they are almost certainly not factually true, do point to some truths of Washington’s character – he cherished honesty for the most part, and, standing at over six feet tall, Washington was probably taller and stronger than the vast majority of men of his generation.
His greatness aside, there is more to the story, as like all great biographies, this most recent concerning our 1st president works to dispel myths of character in the hopes of getting to the truth. So his biography tells the story of a young man, thrust into adulthood early by the death or his father and his older brothers, who drove himself up the ladder of Virginia aristocracy by inflating his military prowess to heroism, a military career that was in reality up until the Revolutionary War, scarred by mistakes and redeemed by luck. Though a champion of freedom, Washington one of the largest slave owners in the state of Virginia, though remembered as a great politician, his early political gains were bought through bribery by rum, and though generally thought of as a Christian man, was a steady attendee of the Anglican Church, and took leadership roles therein, he never took communion nor made any outright profession of faith.
Biographies have a way or undoing the images we place upon people – for in biographies you are invited to see people for who they truly are.
It’s good, then, that biographies are most often only written after their subject’s death, as only after death can our society’s heroes and villains stop being who we need them to be.
Our nation needed Washington to be a hero, to be larger than life, and so he was – but in death this newest biography offers him the freedom to be the person he always was, the person history has been reluctant to let him be – a human being – exactly what he always was before God.
Before God there is no reason to pretend to be larger than life – before God there is no reason to be anything other than yourself because God already knows exactly who are you.
It’s a shame then that none of Washington’s prayers survived to inform his newest biography – they may have shed light on who he was and what he truly thought of himself.
Prayers do survive though – two of them – one from a tax collector and another from a Pharisee make up important parts of our scripture lesson for today – and these prayers both certainly shed light on the character of these two men.
These two men are alike in so many ways. They are both Jews – we know that because they both are granted entrance into the temple. They are both religious Jews – wanting to go to the temple at all. And they are both important figures in ancient Palestinian society – one, a revered religious figure – the other, a despised tax collector.
We are given an intimate look into their person through their prayer – though – based on who they were characterized as by their world, I can’t say that we learn much of anything new.
The Pharisee is exactly who society needed him to be – he was supposed to be better than everyone else, and so, in his prayer, he thanks God that he is. His congregation needed him to be exemplary, and so, in his prayer, we learn that he really does fast twice a week and gives a tenth of all that he receives.
The tax collector is also exactly who society needed him to be – he was supposed to be worse than everyone else, a cheater, a thief, a bad person, taking more than was his while the Pharisee willingly sacrificed, greedily getting as much as he can while the Pharisee willingly gives a tenth of his income away.
While they are opposites in some ways, each taking their respective place on the ethical scale of their society, they are the same in that their society needed them to be who they were, and they both perform their parts perfectly.
Society needs people who are particularly holy, people who they can look up to, who they can believe are closer to God, and so the Pharisee in prayer confesses to be just that. In the same way, society needs villains, people to look down on, people who can populate the bottom of the barrel so that most folks can say, “well, I’m not that great, but at least I’m better than him.” We need our villains so that we can feel OK about who we are, and so the tax collector plays his part.
But where this parable goes far off track is when Jesus says, “I tell you, this man [meaning the tax collector] went home justified before God.”
Why? Why is he the one who went home justified?
In prayer they are both in line with their respective characterizations – the Pharisee is good, and thankful that he is so good – and the tax collector is bad, and ashamed that he is so bad.
They are both playing their parts, and societal expectations would surely say that the Pharisee went home justified.
But based on the words of Jesus, it would seem that before God, it is better to be repentant.
That in our world, where we favor heroism above villainy, holiness above sacrilege, benevolence above selfishness, in the mind of God there is only repentance – or dependence on God’s grace – and self-righteousness – or the idea that you are good enough on your own, and you don’t really need God for anything besides an ear to hear how holy you think you are.
Our society asks much of us – and we all have parts to play – but God only asks us to be who we are – sinners in need of God’s grace for our salvation.
When we go before God, what we learn from this parable is that it is always better to be repentant, because in being repentant we ask God to enable us to be something more than we can achieve on our own.
What matters is not whether you are good or bad in the eyes of yourself or this world – what matters in the eyes of God is whether or not you are on the road to being better. Our world divides us up into simplistic categories, but in the eyes of God, there is only the self-righteous and the repentant – those who are justified in their own eyes and those who are trying to be justified in God’s eyes. Those who are praying about their own holiness, and those who are praying the tax collector’s prayer: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
No matter who you are or where you’ve been – what matters in the eyes of God is where you are going. Are you happy with where you are, who the world says you are, or are you appealing to God to have mercy, trusting that your weakness is the foundation for God’s strength?
God, have mercy on me, a sinner the tax collector prayed – if this is your prayer than you can be sure that in the eyes of God you are justified.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the others – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Sermon
Leaving one church and going to another is not easy at all.
As word has gotten out that I’m leaving Good Shepherd for 1st Presbyterian of Columbia, Tennessee, I’ve been honored by emails, phone calls, and face book messages – all of which make me wonder how on earth I’m ever going to be able to say goodbye to all of you.
But in addition to your kind words that I’ve been honored to receive, though some seem to me to be describing someone else entirely, I also have to go back through the examination process.
Just as when a lawyer goes from one state to another, or when a teacher goes from one district to another, a Presbyterian minister, going from one Presbytery to another, must once again go through the tedious process of examination on the floor of Presbytery, fielding questions from any of the 150-300 elders and ministers present who want to give me a hard time.
Last Wednesday I was driving up to Columbia TN, thinking about the examination to take place the next day in Nashville, and I was wondering to myself: should I be honest about who I am, or should I play the part and just get through my examination?
It’s a long drive up there, and in addition to worrying about how I would answer their questions, I was listening to the new George Washington biography that was published earlier this month, written by Ron Chernow.
This new biography portrays our first president in a revealing light – dispelling the myths that many of us grew up hearing. No, that episode with the cherry tree probably did not happen, as his father, who in this story rewards young Washington for refusing to tell a lie actually died long before his son would have ever been able to lift an ax. The other myth – that George Washington was able to throw a coin clear across that great, wide, river seems also to be a fabrication.
These stories, however, while they are almost certainly not factually true, do point to some truths of Washington’s character – he cherished honesty for the most part, and, standing at over six feet tall, Washington was probably taller and stronger than the vast majority of men of his generation.
His greatness aside, there is more to the story, as like all great biographies, this most recent concerning our 1st president works to dispel myths of character in the hopes of getting to the truth. So his biography tells the story of a young man, thrust into adulthood early by the death or his father and his older brothers, who drove himself up the ladder of Virginia aristocracy by inflating his military prowess to heroism, a military career that was in reality up until the Revolutionary War, scarred by mistakes and redeemed by luck. Though a champion of freedom, Washington one of the largest slave owners in the state of Virginia, though remembered as a great politician, his early political gains were bought through bribery by rum, and though generally thought of as a Christian man, was a steady attendee of the Anglican Church, and took leadership roles therein, he never took communion nor made any outright profession of faith.
Biographies have a way or undoing the images we place upon people – for in biographies you are invited to see people for who they truly are.
It’s good, then, that biographies are most often only written after their subject’s death, as only after death can our society’s heroes and villains stop being who we need them to be.
Our nation needed Washington to be a hero, to be larger than life, and so he was – but in death this newest biography offers him the freedom to be the person he always was, the person history has been reluctant to let him be – a human being – exactly what he always was before God.
Before God there is no reason to pretend to be larger than life – before God there is no reason to be anything other than yourself because God already knows exactly who are you.
It’s a shame then that none of Washington’s prayers survived to inform his newest biography – they may have shed light on who he was and what he truly thought of himself.
Prayers do survive though – two of them – one from a tax collector and another from a Pharisee make up important parts of our scripture lesson for today – and these prayers both certainly shed light on the character of these two men.
These two men are alike in so many ways. They are both Jews – we know that because they both are granted entrance into the temple. They are both religious Jews – wanting to go to the temple at all. And they are both important figures in ancient Palestinian society – one, a revered religious figure – the other, a despised tax collector.
We are given an intimate look into their person through their prayer – though – based on who they were characterized as by their world, I can’t say that we learn much of anything new.
The Pharisee is exactly who society needed him to be – he was supposed to be better than everyone else, and so, in his prayer, he thanks God that he is. His congregation needed him to be exemplary, and so, in his prayer, we learn that he really does fast twice a week and gives a tenth of all that he receives.
The tax collector is also exactly who society needed him to be – he was supposed to be worse than everyone else, a cheater, a thief, a bad person, taking more than was his while the Pharisee willingly sacrificed, greedily getting as much as he can while the Pharisee willingly gives a tenth of his income away.
While they are opposites in some ways, each taking their respective place on the ethical scale of their society, they are the same in that their society needed them to be who they were, and they both perform their parts perfectly.
Society needs people who are particularly holy, people who they can look up to, who they can believe are closer to God, and so the Pharisee in prayer confesses to be just that. In the same way, society needs villains, people to look down on, people who can populate the bottom of the barrel so that most folks can say, “well, I’m not that great, but at least I’m better than him.” We need our villains so that we can feel OK about who we are, and so the tax collector plays his part.
But where this parable goes far off track is when Jesus says, “I tell you, this man [meaning the tax collector] went home justified before God.”
Why? Why is he the one who went home justified?
In prayer they are both in line with their respective characterizations – the Pharisee is good, and thankful that he is so good – and the tax collector is bad, and ashamed that he is so bad.
They are both playing their parts, and societal expectations would surely say that the Pharisee went home justified.
But based on the words of Jesus, it would seem that before God, it is better to be repentant.
That in our world, where we favor heroism above villainy, holiness above sacrilege, benevolence above selfishness, in the mind of God there is only repentance – or dependence on God’s grace – and self-righteousness – or the idea that you are good enough on your own, and you don’t really need God for anything besides an ear to hear how holy you think you are.
Our society asks much of us – and we all have parts to play – but God only asks us to be who we are – sinners in need of God’s grace for our salvation.
When we go before God, what we learn from this parable is that it is always better to be repentant, because in being repentant we ask God to enable us to be something more than we can achieve on our own.
What matters is not whether you are good or bad in the eyes of yourself or this world – what matters in the eyes of God is whether or not you are on the road to being better. Our world divides us up into simplistic categories, but in the eyes of God, there is only the self-righteous and the repentant – those who are justified in their own eyes and those who are trying to be justified in God’s eyes. Those who are praying about their own holiness, and those who are praying the tax collector’s prayer: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
No matter who you are or where you’ve been – what matters in the eyes of God is where you are going. Are you happy with where you are, who the world says you are, or are you appealing to God to have mercy, trusting that your weakness is the foundation for God’s strength?
God, have mercy on me, a sinner the tax collector prayed – if this is your prayer than you can be sure that in the eyes of God you are justified.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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