A sermon preached at Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran church, Mobile alabama on the Occasion of their 87th Anniversary.
PENTECOST 23
November 8, 2009
Texts: I Kings 17:8-16, Mark 12:38-44
Today, we have read Bible lessons about two widows, both of whom were poor, and both of whom were generous with what they had.
The Gospel lesson, the story we know as the widow’s mite, was a little tough on Pastors and other official church folk.
-Beware of scribes, who like to walk around in long robes Well, I wear them during service, but I don’t walk around in them, much.
-and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, Okay, I do like it when people in grocery stores and restaurants call me Father or Reverend or Padre and treat me a little extra nice.
And to have the best seats in the synagogue - well, I don’t know if it’s the best, but it is bigger and it is different.
And places of honor at banquets - What can I say, I obviously like to eat!
They devour widow’s houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers, Okay, I’m clean on these two, I’ve never tricked a widow out of her house, and I’m famous for short prayers, not long ones, so perhaps I’ve escaped the “greater condemnation” by a narrow margin.
Whenever we hear a bible story, one of the most important things we can ask ourselves is, "With whom do I identify, who in this story feels like me?"
Of course, none of us would like to think we’re like the scribes, making a big, loud public display of our religion; in particular, none of us wants to look like a hypocrite.
And we all want to believe that we’re like the widow, doing all we can with what little we have.
Most of us, most of the time, hear the Widow’s Mite story and think it means something like this:
"See, it’s not HOW MUCH you give that matters, it’s the spirit with which you give that counts. A little bit is just as important as a lot."
That is true, as far as it goes.
But most of us miss an important point here, Jesus did not say that the widow gave all she could afford; Jesus said she gave all she had.
Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. Far all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
Truth be told, most of us, myself included, most of the time, give out of our abundance.
We give what we think we can afford to give without seriously affecting our standard of living.
What Jesus points to in the widow is another thing entirely; her total commitment of everything she has, all her resources, “all she had to live on” to the Kingdom of God.
At root, this story is not so much about giving and generosity as it is about TRUST IN GOD.
That is why the Hebrew story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath is read with the story of the Widow’s Mite in the appointed readings for today.
These two stories are not only about widows, they are about putting your complete trust in God.
The Widow of Zarephath also gave all she had. She shared with the Prophet of the LORD the last of her food in a time of famine.
Yet, when she did, she discovered she had enough, enough at least to keep going, day by day; the jar of meal and the jug of oil having in them each day enough for that day’s needs.
This is the way God operates. This is the way God provides for God’s people.
Remember the manna from Heaven, the bread upon the ground provided to the Israelites
as they went from Egypt to the Promised Land?
If they took more than they needed for the day, the extra would rot before the next morning. It was a lesson in trusting God to provide each day’s needs.
What Jesus notices and comments upon with the Widow is not the size of her gift, but the fact that she gave her all, trusting that God would provide for the next day.
This is the Biblical Principle of God’s economy; this is the way God always works.
God’s promise is not: If you return to me a tithe, I will make you rich.
God’s promise is: If you commit to me your all, I will provide for your needs.
The history of Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran Church teaches us that this is true.
When Mrs. Mayme Dixon and her aunt, Mrs. Theresa Pratt, began a Sunday School in the Laundry Workers Hall on Adam Street, teaching on Sunday afternoons in 1922, the odds were stacked against them.
They were women, they were black, they were Lutheran in the south. They had nothing going for them; except the fact that God had called them to the work and promised to provide for them as they pursued it.
Over the years, the Sunday School became a Church and a Church School and a ministry served by many pastors. We especially remember the long and fruitful ministries of Pastors Routte and Carstensen and Branch and Bradley-Love and all the faithful laypeople who served and worshipped and lead this church with them.
And at no time did this church have anything other than the call of God to serve and the promise of God to provide.
And the church has served and God has provided.
The Bible stories about the widow's and their generosity, our own remembrance of Martin Luther Church's history of giving while trusting God are not so much about finances as they are about the relationship of trust we are called upon to have with God.
And, we must admit, this is hard for us, we like to hedge our bets, hold a little something back, play it safe.
A couple of years ago, a college student went into a camera store to have a picture enlarged.
It was a framed 8x10 of the young man and his girlfriend. When the clerk took the picture out of the frame, he read the writing on the back:
My dearest Tommy, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity. With all my love, Diane
PS - If we ever break up, I want this picture back!
Today God call us toward making a complete and total commitment of ourselves to Christ and the Kingdom of God.
We are called upon to make all that we are and all that we have available to the work of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ into all the World.
And the Gospel, the Good News, for us today is that we can make that leap, that commitment, with full confidence in God’s promise to provide our every need, now and forever more.
Amen and amen
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Pentecost 19/ Lectionary 28
PENTECOST 19,
Oct. 11, 2009
Christ Lutheran Church, Fairfield Glade, TN.
Text: Mark 10: 17-31
When I was a graduate student at Duke University, I had the opportunity to be pastor of three little country Methodist churches.
It was a relatively easy gig. I lived in the parsonage and preached on Sundays and handled weddings and funerals and emergencies. I spent most of my time thirty-five miles away in the Duke Divinity School library.
There was one thing I sometimes had to do that I wasn't crazy about. All the Baptist churches in the county had fall and spring revival meetings.
To help work up a crowd they invited the choirs of the neighborhood to come one night and do the "special singing." When my choir went somewhere to sing I felt obliged to go along to lend them support.
One night I slipped into the back row of a small country church a few minutes late. After my choir had sung, I tried to catch up on my Church History assigned reading. I had the history textbook hidden in a big leather zip-up bible case and I hoped everyone would think I was deep into the Word.
The preacher was a traveling evangelist and he put on quite an exhibition; shouting and hollering and stomping his feet and breaking into song and denouncing sins, some of which I had never heard of.
After a while I gave up reading and watched the show; both his theatrics and the crowd's reactions. One little boy in particular caught my eye.
While his grandmother tried to pay attention,
he kicked the pew in front of him, he laid down,
he slid off the pew into the floor,
he drew in the back of the hymnal with that stubby little pencil you can usually find in a pew rack,
he loudly chewed gum and he sucked on a mint,
he played with Grandma's car-keys,
and he asked if it was time to go,
oh, about every two minutes.
Finally, as the Preacher launched into a fire-breathing altar call,
with the congregation standing, every head bowed, every eye closed,
I saw him stand on tip-toe and the pew and whisper loudly into Grandma's ear, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GEET TO HEAVEN?
This is the question that, in one way or another, all of us get around to asking eventually.
The man in our Gospel lesson asked, "What must I do to inherit Eternal Life?"
When Jesus tells the disciples that rich people are going to have a hard time getting in, they ask, "Well, who can be saved then?'
"What must I do to be saved?" says one.
"How can I get right with God?" says another.
There are secular, non-religious versions of the question: "What is the meaning of life?" "How can I be fulfilled?" "What does success look like for me?" to me, it's all a part of the same question.
In our Gospel lesson, a man came up and knelt in front of Jesus. We have traditionally referred to him as the "Rich Young Ruler." This is a composite name from three Gospel writers. Matthew calls him "young," Luke calls him a "ruler," and all three say he's "rich."
The man came asking a question to which he thought he already knew the answer. He's like the wicked witch in Snow White talking to the mirror. "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all."
The rich Young ruler believes he is, and comes to Jesus for affirmation, not information.
He wants Jesus to give him a benediction, a good word. He wants the JESUS OF NAZERETH, PROPHET AND TEACHER, seal of approval on his life. And much to his surprise he doesn't get it; not in the way he had expected.
You see, he had rested his claim on the Kingdom of God on the Twin Pillars of righteousness and riches.
Obey the Ten Commandments and enjoy worldly success.
And worldly success is an outward and visible sign of God's inward and visible blessing.
So the young man believed. And honestly, so did everyone else in that time and place.
That very debate was part of what the book of Job was about.
Do we love God because we're blessed with material things; or are we blessed with material things because we love God?
If we're not blessed, does that mean we're bad?
And if we're clearly good, and we have nothing, does that mean God's not fair?
The people in Jesus' world, including his disciples, believed that morality and material blessing went hand in hand. If you were good, God would bless you with riches and comforts in this world.
So, when Jesus said to the young man, "You lack one thing, go and sell all and give it to the poor. . ."
it wasn't just the giving up of his money and stuff that bumfuzzled him; the rich young ruler's whole world view, his entire way of looking at how the world works, has been turned upside down and inside out.
Remember the little boy at the revival meeting.
After church I was standing in the parking lot talking to my choir members when she came marching him out the door; hat squarely on her head, suitcase-size pocketbook on her arm, holding him by the neck with one hand and swatting at this behind with the other.
He danced ahead of her with that pelvis-forward, swat-avoiding, Michael Jackson moon walk we've all seen. He yelled back at her, "What you hittin' me for? I ain't done nothing."
The rich young ruler hasn't done anything either, and that's just the point. Though he has lived a fastidiously moral life, ("All these I have kept from my youth"), he had never learned that there is more to the moral life, to life in the Kingdom of God, than being good and safe and not wrong.
He had never learned to go the extra mile, to take a risk, to boldly go where he has never gone before.
Jesus looked upon him with love and spoke to him out of that love when he said to him, "You lack one thing."
Because Jesus then tells him to get rid of his wealth and give it to the poor, we can become confused about what Jesus sees as missing in his life.
The man doesn't lack generosity,
he doesn't lack compassion for others,
he doesn't lack doesn't lack morality;
he doesn't lack an awareness of call of God on the Jews to hospitality to the stranger.
This man lacks faith.
He lacks a willingness to trust God both now and into the future.
He lacks a confident and joyous reliance upon the love and generosity of God.
He is relying upon his goodness and his goods to get him through this life and into the next, and Jesus says, "Friend, that's just not good enough."
Why is it hard for a rich person to get into heaven, harder than for a camel to get through the eye of a needle?
Because when you're rich, it's really hard to realize how much you need God and other people.
Being rich is not evil; it is just exceptionally dangerous to your spiritual health.
The question for us today is this: what are we depending on in our relationship with God?
Are we depending on our rightness, our ability to discern and know the right answer to spiritual and religious questions?
Are we depending on our righteousness, on our goodness, on our obedience to the
Ten Commandments?
What is it that keeps us trusting ourselves and not fully trusting God?
What is the one thing that we lack, the one thing that keeps us from totally and completely committing ourselves to God's will and God's way.
What keeps us from doing wild and wonderful right things in the name of the Living Christ?
The Good News is that Jesus has come to transform the impossible into the possible.
Jesus has come to release us from our bondage of serving our selves and our things.
Jesus has come to take us by the scruff of the neck and to drag us kicking and screaming through the eye of that needle, into the center of God's love.
Amen and amen.
Oct. 11, 2009
Christ Lutheran Church, Fairfield Glade, TN.
Text: Mark 10: 17-31
When I was a graduate student at Duke University, I had the opportunity to be pastor of three little country Methodist churches.
It was a relatively easy gig. I lived in the parsonage and preached on Sundays and handled weddings and funerals and emergencies. I spent most of my time thirty-five miles away in the Duke Divinity School library.
There was one thing I sometimes had to do that I wasn't crazy about. All the Baptist churches in the county had fall and spring revival meetings.
To help work up a crowd they invited the choirs of the neighborhood to come one night and do the "special singing." When my choir went somewhere to sing I felt obliged to go along to lend them support.
One night I slipped into the back row of a small country church a few minutes late. After my choir had sung, I tried to catch up on my Church History assigned reading. I had the history textbook hidden in a big leather zip-up bible case and I hoped everyone would think I was deep into the Word.
The preacher was a traveling evangelist and he put on quite an exhibition; shouting and hollering and stomping his feet and breaking into song and denouncing sins, some of which I had never heard of.
After a while I gave up reading and watched the show; both his theatrics and the crowd's reactions. One little boy in particular caught my eye.
While his grandmother tried to pay attention,
he kicked the pew in front of him, he laid down,
he slid off the pew into the floor,
he drew in the back of the hymnal with that stubby little pencil you can usually find in a pew rack,
he loudly chewed gum and he sucked on a mint,
he played with Grandma's car-keys,
and he asked if it was time to go,
oh, about every two minutes.
Finally, as the Preacher launched into a fire-breathing altar call,
with the congregation standing, every head bowed, every eye closed,
I saw him stand on tip-toe and the pew and whisper loudly into Grandma's ear, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GEET TO HEAVEN?
This is the question that, in one way or another, all of us get around to asking eventually.
The man in our Gospel lesson asked, "What must I do to inherit Eternal Life?"
When Jesus tells the disciples that rich people are going to have a hard time getting in, they ask, "Well, who can be saved then?'
"What must I do to be saved?" says one.
"How can I get right with God?" says another.
There are secular, non-religious versions of the question: "What is the meaning of life?" "How can I be fulfilled?" "What does success look like for me?" to me, it's all a part of the same question.
In our Gospel lesson, a man came up and knelt in front of Jesus. We have traditionally referred to him as the "Rich Young Ruler." This is a composite name from three Gospel writers. Matthew calls him "young," Luke calls him a "ruler," and all three say he's "rich."
The man came asking a question to which he thought he already knew the answer. He's like the wicked witch in Snow White talking to the mirror. "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all."
The rich Young ruler believes he is, and comes to Jesus for affirmation, not information.
He wants Jesus to give him a benediction, a good word. He wants the JESUS OF NAZERETH, PROPHET AND TEACHER, seal of approval on his life. And much to his surprise he doesn't get it; not in the way he had expected.
You see, he had rested his claim on the Kingdom of God on the Twin Pillars of righteousness and riches.
Obey the Ten Commandments and enjoy worldly success.
And worldly success is an outward and visible sign of God's inward and visible blessing.
So the young man believed. And honestly, so did everyone else in that time and place.
That very debate was part of what the book of Job was about.
Do we love God because we're blessed with material things; or are we blessed with material things because we love God?
If we're not blessed, does that mean we're bad?
And if we're clearly good, and we have nothing, does that mean God's not fair?
The people in Jesus' world, including his disciples, believed that morality and material blessing went hand in hand. If you were good, God would bless you with riches and comforts in this world.
So, when Jesus said to the young man, "You lack one thing, go and sell all and give it to the poor. . ."
it wasn't just the giving up of his money and stuff that bumfuzzled him; the rich young ruler's whole world view, his entire way of looking at how the world works, has been turned upside down and inside out.
Remember the little boy at the revival meeting.
After church I was standing in the parking lot talking to my choir members when she came marching him out the door; hat squarely on her head, suitcase-size pocketbook on her arm, holding him by the neck with one hand and swatting at this behind with the other.
He danced ahead of her with that pelvis-forward, swat-avoiding, Michael Jackson moon walk we've all seen. He yelled back at her, "What you hittin' me for? I ain't done nothing."
The rich young ruler hasn't done anything either, and that's just the point. Though he has lived a fastidiously moral life, ("All these I have kept from my youth"), he had never learned that there is more to the moral life, to life in the Kingdom of God, than being good and safe and not wrong.
He had never learned to go the extra mile, to take a risk, to boldly go where he has never gone before.
Jesus looked upon him with love and spoke to him out of that love when he said to him, "You lack one thing."
Because Jesus then tells him to get rid of his wealth and give it to the poor, we can become confused about what Jesus sees as missing in his life.
The man doesn't lack generosity,
he doesn't lack compassion for others,
he doesn't lack doesn't lack morality;
he doesn't lack an awareness of call of God on the Jews to hospitality to the stranger.
This man lacks faith.
He lacks a willingness to trust God both now and into the future.
He lacks a confident and joyous reliance upon the love and generosity of God.
He is relying upon his goodness and his goods to get him through this life and into the next, and Jesus says, "Friend, that's just not good enough."
Why is it hard for a rich person to get into heaven, harder than for a camel to get through the eye of a needle?
Because when you're rich, it's really hard to realize how much you need God and other people.
Being rich is not evil; it is just exceptionally dangerous to your spiritual health.
The question for us today is this: what are we depending on in our relationship with God?
Are we depending on our rightness, our ability to discern and know the right answer to spiritual and religious questions?
Are we depending on our righteousness, on our goodness, on our obedience to the
Ten Commandments?
What is it that keeps us trusting ourselves and not fully trusting God?
What is the one thing that we lack, the one thing that keeps us from totally and completely committing ourselves to God's will and God's way.
What keeps us from doing wild and wonderful right things in the name of the Living Christ?
The Good News is that Jesus has come to transform the impossible into the possible.
Jesus has come to release us from our bondage of serving our selves and our things.
Jesus has come to take us by the scruff of the neck and to drag us kicking and screaming through the eye of that needle, into the center of God's love.
Amen and amen.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Lectionary 27, Pentecost 18
Oct. 4, 2009
Sermon preached at the re-dedication of the building at Cross of Life Lutheran Church, Roswell, Ga.
Text: Hebrews 1:1-4, 5:5-12
Title: But, We Do See Jesus
"As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus . . ."
Almost every Saturday afternoon, I listen to the opera on the Public Radio station.
Now Fred, don't look so surprised. I like opera. Not as much as I like Lynard Skynard or ZZ Topp, but I like Opera.
Well, okay, I don't. Not really, but I like the IDEA of liking opera.
Deep down inside, I feel like I OUGHT to like opera, that a well educated person SHOULD like opera, and so. . .
On Saturday afternoon's I listen to opera.
This is kind of like the theory my wife used in trying to feed our two teen-aged sons liver and broccoli.
She thought if she put it in front of them often enough eventually they would walk in the house one day and say, "Gee Mom, what's for supper? I could sure go for some liver and broccoli right about now."
Not gonna happen. No Way. No how. But, you know; hope springs eternal in the human breast and all that.
Anyway, I listen to opera in the vague hope that someday, somehow, I'll start to like it and can then count myself as a genuinely educated and cultured person.
Every once in a great while I find myself kind of liking a piece, nodding my head and humming along and I think,
Gee, I'm starting to like this opera stuff after all.
But then I realize that the opera pieces I like are the ones they used as soundtracks for the Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoons I watched as a child and I'm back to square one. It's not music appreciation; it's just nostalgia for my childhood.
I'm still listening, and I'm still hoping, but I'm 55. I don't think this plan is working.
As it is, we do not see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus . . .
Many people in our world today are seeking Spiritual Enlightenment. In recent public opinion polls, more people are willing to claim being "spiritual," than are willing to say that they are "religious."
People go looking for "spirituality," the way I have gone looking for "culture and sophistication," and with about the same level of success.
People explore the latest prayer techniques and different churches and praise bands and labyrinth walks and Alpha bible Studies and the Wild Women of the Bible Weekends and Seeking Your Inner Child Men's Drum Circle Sweat Lodge and I don't know what all.
And whatever it is they think they're looking for, if it isn't where they are, well, it must it over the hill or around the corner or in the next place they look or the next.
As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus . . .
The author of the book of Hebrews is, in this text, dealing with the fact that while the biblical witness is that God is in charge of the world; when we look around us, it is difficult to see the evidence that God, or God's angels (them), are actually in charge of much of anything.
As one of my unbelieving college professors put it, "If God is really in charge, he, she or it is doing a lousy job."
War, drugs, disease, natural disaster, economic collapse, starvation; need I go on? Does this look like "everything in subjection. . ." to God?
And let's be honest with one another today. The church, the place those of us gathered here have traditionally looked for hope and meaning is in a confusing place right now.
Not just our ELCA with its debates over sexuality and biblical interpretation and theological thinking; but other denominational families as well.
It is a time of change and uncertainty and discomfort.
It is a time when people are searching for what a prayer in the Lutheran Funeral Service calls a "Sure and certain hope."
That little word "yet," is vital to understanding not only this text, but also the promise of the Gospel to us at times like these.
As it is,we do no yet see . . .
As much as we yearn for and look for and yes, do battle for, certainty and security, the Bible constantly reminds us of what Luther referred to as the "Hidden-ness of God."
It is sometimes referred to as the "already-but-not-yet" Kingdom of God.
As we look around the world for God, God is often difficult to see, difficult to pin down.
And sometimes, just when we think we have the holy in our hands, it slips away as we realize we were mistaken; as I was when I thought I liked opera but it turned out to be cartoons I liked.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that we are to look to Jesus to see what God is doing in the world.
We are to look particularly at the fact that Jesus gave up his place at the right hand of God to become human like us. Who for a little while became lower than the angels, the text says.
And that as a result of this coming into humanity with us, Jesus suffered and died and "tasted death for everyone."
NO, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus.
We are here today re-dedicating a church facility. My younger brother is an architect. He has taught me to always remember the mantra, "form follows function."
That is to say, How you shape a building should be dependent on what you want to do in that building.
That which is true of buildings is true of church communities. How we shape ourselves depends on what we believe our purpose in the world to be.
It is my simple contention today that our purpose as a community is to remind the world to look to Christ and the Cross in the midst of the "not-yet" of our lives, and it is the purpose of this building to help us do that.
A few years ago, the Barna Research Group did a poll asking this simple question: What are the most important words you've ever heard? That's it. What are the three most important words you've ever heard?
Family feud style, #1 answer didn't surprise anyone: I love you.
#2 didn't surprise anyone either: I forgive you.
But # 3 dropped a few jaws; Dinner's ready, come eat.
That is the Gospel we proclaim, that is the function of this building and its form tells the tale.
The cross that looms over everything reminds us all of how much God loves us, that "by the grace of God Jesus tasted death for everyone."
The font in the middle of the aisle reminds us of God's forgiveness and our forgiveness of others each time we enter this room, it calls us back to the waters of our baptism and propels us into the world with a hope grounded in the knowledge that we have been freed from the bondage to our faults and failures, that we have been loosed from our to go confidently into the future.
And here, front and center is the altar. Here we, and the whole world, are invited to come forward to receive the sacrament of the table. My wife is an Episcopalian. When I get to go to church with her I love it when I'm kneeling at the altar and the pastor gives me the bread and says,
This is the body of Christ, the bread of heaven. Take it in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart with thanksgiving.
At the altar we shout out to the world, Dinner's ready, come eat.
In this place, we offer Jesus to the world. We say to everyone, "We know the world does not yet reveal that God is in charge, but here, I this place, you can see Jesus; on the cross, in the water, at the table; God cries out to us; I love you, I forgive you; dinner's ready, come eat."
Amen and amen.
Sermon preached at the re-dedication of the building at Cross of Life Lutheran Church, Roswell, Ga.
Text: Hebrews 1:1-4, 5:5-12
Title: But, We Do See Jesus
"As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus . . ."
Almost every Saturday afternoon, I listen to the opera on the Public Radio station.
Now Fred, don't look so surprised. I like opera. Not as much as I like Lynard Skynard or ZZ Topp, but I like Opera.
Well, okay, I don't. Not really, but I like the IDEA of liking opera.
Deep down inside, I feel like I OUGHT to like opera, that a well educated person SHOULD like opera, and so. . .
On Saturday afternoon's I listen to opera.
This is kind of like the theory my wife used in trying to feed our two teen-aged sons liver and broccoli.
She thought if she put it in front of them often enough eventually they would walk in the house one day and say, "Gee Mom, what's for supper? I could sure go for some liver and broccoli right about now."
Not gonna happen. No Way. No how. But, you know; hope springs eternal in the human breast and all that.
Anyway, I listen to opera in the vague hope that someday, somehow, I'll start to like it and can then count myself as a genuinely educated and cultured person.
Every once in a great while I find myself kind of liking a piece, nodding my head and humming along and I think,
Gee, I'm starting to like this opera stuff after all.
But then I realize that the opera pieces I like are the ones they used as soundtracks for the Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoons I watched as a child and I'm back to square one. It's not music appreciation; it's just nostalgia for my childhood.
I'm still listening, and I'm still hoping, but I'm 55. I don't think this plan is working.
As it is, we do not see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus . . .
Many people in our world today are seeking Spiritual Enlightenment. In recent public opinion polls, more people are willing to claim being "spiritual," than are willing to say that they are "religious."
People go looking for "spirituality," the way I have gone looking for "culture and sophistication," and with about the same level of success.
People explore the latest prayer techniques and different churches and praise bands and labyrinth walks and Alpha bible Studies and the Wild Women of the Bible Weekends and Seeking Your Inner Child Men's Drum Circle Sweat Lodge and I don't know what all.
And whatever it is they think they're looking for, if it isn't where they are, well, it must it over the hill or around the corner or in the next place they look or the next.
As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus . . .
The author of the book of Hebrews is, in this text, dealing with the fact that while the biblical witness is that God is in charge of the world; when we look around us, it is difficult to see the evidence that God, or God's angels (them), are actually in charge of much of anything.
As one of my unbelieving college professors put it, "If God is really in charge, he, she or it is doing a lousy job."
War, drugs, disease, natural disaster, economic collapse, starvation; need I go on? Does this look like "everything in subjection. . ." to God?
And let's be honest with one another today. The church, the place those of us gathered here have traditionally looked for hope and meaning is in a confusing place right now.
Not just our ELCA with its debates over sexuality and biblical interpretation and theological thinking; but other denominational families as well.
It is a time of change and uncertainty and discomfort.
It is a time when people are searching for what a prayer in the Lutheran Funeral Service calls a "Sure and certain hope."
That little word "yet," is vital to understanding not only this text, but also the promise of the Gospel to us at times like these.
As it is,we do no yet see . . .
As much as we yearn for and look for and yes, do battle for, certainty and security, the Bible constantly reminds us of what Luther referred to as the "Hidden-ness of God."
It is sometimes referred to as the "already-but-not-yet" Kingdom of God.
As we look around the world for God, God is often difficult to see, difficult to pin down.
And sometimes, just when we think we have the holy in our hands, it slips away as we realize we were mistaken; as I was when I thought I liked opera but it turned out to be cartoons I liked.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that we are to look to Jesus to see what God is doing in the world.
We are to look particularly at the fact that Jesus gave up his place at the right hand of God to become human like us. Who for a little while became lower than the angels, the text says.
And that as a result of this coming into humanity with us, Jesus suffered and died and "tasted death for everyone."
NO, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus.
We are here today re-dedicating a church facility. My younger brother is an architect. He has taught me to always remember the mantra, "form follows function."
That is to say, How you shape a building should be dependent on what you want to do in that building.
That which is true of buildings is true of church communities. How we shape ourselves depends on what we believe our purpose in the world to be.
It is my simple contention today that our purpose as a community is to remind the world to look to Christ and the Cross in the midst of the "not-yet" of our lives, and it is the purpose of this building to help us do that.
A few years ago, the Barna Research Group did a poll asking this simple question: What are the most important words you've ever heard? That's it. What are the three most important words you've ever heard?
Family feud style, #1 answer didn't surprise anyone: I love you.
#2 didn't surprise anyone either: I forgive you.
But # 3 dropped a few jaws; Dinner's ready, come eat.
That is the Gospel we proclaim, that is the function of this building and its form tells the tale.
The cross that looms over everything reminds us all of how much God loves us, that "by the grace of God Jesus tasted death for everyone."
The font in the middle of the aisle reminds us of God's forgiveness and our forgiveness of others each time we enter this room, it calls us back to the waters of our baptism and propels us into the world with a hope grounded in the knowledge that we have been freed from the bondage to our faults and failures, that we have been loosed from our to go confidently into the future.
And here, front and center is the altar. Here we, and the whole world, are invited to come forward to receive the sacrament of the table. My wife is an Episcopalian. When I get to go to church with her I love it when I'm kneeling at the altar and the pastor gives me the bread and says,
This is the body of Christ, the bread of heaven. Take it in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart with thanksgiving.
At the altar we shout out to the world, Dinner's ready, come eat.
In this place, we offer Jesus to the world. We say to everyone, "We know the world does not yet reveal that God is in charge, but here, I this place, you can see Jesus; on the cross, in the water, at the table; God cries out to us; I love you, I forgive you; dinner's ready, come eat."
Amen and amen.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Pentecost 16
A sermon preached at Faith Lutheran Church, Cleveland, GA
TEXTS: Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 54, James 3:13-4:3; 7-8a, Mark 9:30-37
I am a big fan of church signs. Traveling as much as I do, I see a lot of them.
Across from Tennessee State University there is a congregation that has the longest name I've ever seen on a church sign:
The House of the Lord,
Which is the Church of the Living God,
The Pillar and Ground of the Truth,
Without controversy, Incorporated.
Without controversy. Whoever heard of a church without controversy?
In light of religion's history of infighting, instead of the Nashville church's claim to be "without controversy," perhaps a church sign I saw in Decatur Georgia is more to the point. This church said it was:
FREE FOR ALL BAPTIST CHURCH
When I saw that sign I burst out laughing. I imagined 60-ish deacons in their Sunday suits engaged in an ecclesiastical version of a bar riot, a baseball fracas, a hockey fight; throwing down their Bibles and wrestling each other to the floor in front of the altar.
The truth of the matter is, the people of God have always been and probably always will be a contentious lot, given to fussing with each other about all sorts of things, some of which matter and most of which don't.
In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus catches his disciples arguing about one of those things that don't matter, not in the family of God, the body of Christ anyway.
They have been fussing and fighting over which one is the greatest.
It is particularly ironic and disappointing that they are arguing about this right after Jesus has told them that as the Messiah he will have to suffer and die for the world, and that as his followers they will need to deny self and take up a cross as well.
He presents them with a model of complete helplessness and weakness and they respond by contending for positions of power and influence. In other words, they don't get it.
In his commentary on Mark, N.T. Wright, NT Scholar and Anglican Bishop, points out that not all Jews of the time believed that God would send a Messiah and among those who did believe a messiah was coming; no one believed that the Messiah would have to suffer, much less to die.
Most believed that THE ONE would come in power and might and strength. They believed the Messiah would come as a military leader, smiting the Romans and their evil, pagan allies, conquering the world in the name of Truth, Justice and YHWH.
So Jesus disciples just didn't get it when Jesus said in verse 31,
The son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.
If they heard his words, they certainly didn't get his meaning. They had figured out he was the Messiah, so they were trying to sort out their positions of importance in the new administration.
Jesus overhears their arguing and calls them on it, asking them "what were you talking about?" And the text says they were silent. They couldn't answer him.
Could it be that in trying to formulate an answer to that question, it began to dawn on them how wrong they were; how far they had strayed from the path Jesus had called them to follow?
I imagine Jesus taking a deep breath, sighing and with a somewhat forced smile, saying, "Come here ya'll, sit down, let's talk. Let me see if I can find a better way to explain this to you."
He then says, "whoever wants to be first, must be last.
If you've read your Bible, you've seen this before, it's a pattern that flows throughout Jesus' teaching and preaching:
Elsewhere he says:
The first shall be last
If you want to save your life, you must lose it
The least of these my brethren
Brother, come up higher
Go out into the hedges and byways and compel them to come in
The rich man's offering and the widow's mite
The rich Pharisee's prayer and the poor man's lament
Lazarus and the rich man in the bosom of Abraham and the fires of Hell
It's called "the great reversal." Throughout his ministry Jesus turned the world's expectations and standards upside down and inside out. He proclaimed that a new and different set of standards would operate in the Kingdom he had been sent to proclaim.
Then, Jesus did a monumentally important thing for the history of the church,
There, on the spot, he invented the children's sermon, complete with an actual child as the object in the object lesson.
Jesus and the disciples were in the ground floor room of a house, it had open windows and doorways, and a crowd had gathered to listen to him teach his disciples. Jesus reached into the crowd and pulled a child, probably a toddler, into the room. Then he said,
Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.
With these words, Jesus proclaims his ultimate grand reversal. To us, a small child is primarily a symbol of innocence. We value children and protect children and care for them and are horrified by stories like the one about the man and wife in California who kidnapped that young girl years ago and kept her hidden in the back yard.
But in the ancient world, children were symbols of powerlessness. Outside of normal parental affection, children were, almost literally, nothing. Lutheran pastor Peter Marty, in the Lectionary Commentary says that "in the Greco-Roman world a father could punish, sell, pawn off or even kill his own child."
It is interesting to note that the Greek words for child and servant have the same root and that Jesus used both of these images; child and servant, as symbols of who the Messiah is and who we, the followers of Jesus, are called to be in the world. Children and servants, powerless and defenseless ones, that's us.
Our modern world, gives highest honor and respect to those with power and authority and importance.
People in our world seek positions of strength from which they can control and manage others.
And the call of the Gospel to us today is the same as it was to those to whom Jesus spoke personally:
It may be that way in the world, but it must not be that way among you my followers.
It is not possible for the church to be the church and also be, as the sign said, "without controversy."
On the other hand, just because we have controversy, it is not necessary that we be a "free for all" either.
Through his teaching about the great reversal, the call to child-like-ness, to servant-hood, to powerlessness and humility, most of all though his own humiliation and death on the cross, Jesus has shown us the way forward though our disagreements and controversies.
Rather than aspiring to power and influence and control within the world and within the community of the faithful; our calling is seek to be servants of one another, actively loving each other in the name of the one who first loved us.
And this is love as a verb of action, not a verb of feeling.
To love one another as servants of one another is to make efforts to be kind and generous and open-minded and long-suffering not only when we like each other a lot; but perhaps most especially when we are at odds with one another, when we don't like each other much at all.
In a continuation of the "great reversal" theme, Paul points out in Romans 5,
. . .Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed rarely will anyone die for a righteous person -- though for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. . . .for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to god through the death of his Son. . "
Jesus told us the way forward, then Jesus showed us the way forward by surrendering all his power and going to the cross. Our call is to follow him in that way in our lives.. In our lives in our families, in our lives in the world, and in our lives in the church. It's that simple. And that difficult.
Remember Calvin and Hobbes, the little boy and his talking stuffed tiger?
One day Calvin said, "I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I'm sorry I did it."
Hobbes replies, "Maybe you should apologize to her."
Calvin shrugs and ducks his head, "I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution."
We Christians seem to keep hoping that there is a less obvious solution to our problems and disagreements than Jesus' command that we should, well, act like Christians to one another.
Being humble and kind and forgiving and generous and all those things we learned in Sunday School and all too often forget when we grow up.
There is no other way for Christians. There is only the way of the Cross.
Our calling today is to lose our lives into the life of Christ,
To lose our wills into the will of God,
To give ourselves up totally and completely to the one who gave himself for us upon the cross.
Amen and amen.
TEXTS: Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 54, James 3:13-4:3; 7-8a, Mark 9:30-37
I am a big fan of church signs. Traveling as much as I do, I see a lot of them.
Across from Tennessee State University there is a congregation that has the longest name I've ever seen on a church sign:
The House of the Lord,
Which is the Church of the Living God,
The Pillar and Ground of the Truth,
Without controversy, Incorporated.
Without controversy. Whoever heard of a church without controversy?
In light of religion's history of infighting, instead of the Nashville church's claim to be "without controversy," perhaps a church sign I saw in Decatur Georgia is more to the point. This church said it was:
FREE FOR ALL BAPTIST CHURCH
When I saw that sign I burst out laughing. I imagined 60-ish deacons in their Sunday suits engaged in an ecclesiastical version of a bar riot, a baseball fracas, a hockey fight; throwing down their Bibles and wrestling each other to the floor in front of the altar.
The truth of the matter is, the people of God have always been and probably always will be a contentious lot, given to fussing with each other about all sorts of things, some of which matter and most of which don't.
In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus catches his disciples arguing about one of those things that don't matter, not in the family of God, the body of Christ anyway.
They have been fussing and fighting over which one is the greatest.
It is particularly ironic and disappointing that they are arguing about this right after Jesus has told them that as the Messiah he will have to suffer and die for the world, and that as his followers they will need to deny self and take up a cross as well.
He presents them with a model of complete helplessness and weakness and they respond by contending for positions of power and influence. In other words, they don't get it.
In his commentary on Mark, N.T. Wright, NT Scholar and Anglican Bishop, points out that not all Jews of the time believed that God would send a Messiah and among those who did believe a messiah was coming; no one believed that the Messiah would have to suffer, much less to die.
Most believed that THE ONE would come in power and might and strength. They believed the Messiah would come as a military leader, smiting the Romans and their evil, pagan allies, conquering the world in the name of Truth, Justice and YHWH.
So Jesus disciples just didn't get it when Jesus said in verse 31,
The son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.
If they heard his words, they certainly didn't get his meaning. They had figured out he was the Messiah, so they were trying to sort out their positions of importance in the new administration.
Jesus overhears their arguing and calls them on it, asking them "what were you talking about?" And the text says they were silent. They couldn't answer him.
Could it be that in trying to formulate an answer to that question, it began to dawn on them how wrong they were; how far they had strayed from the path Jesus had called them to follow?
I imagine Jesus taking a deep breath, sighing and with a somewhat forced smile, saying, "Come here ya'll, sit down, let's talk. Let me see if I can find a better way to explain this to you."
He then says, "whoever wants to be first, must be last.
If you've read your Bible, you've seen this before, it's a pattern that flows throughout Jesus' teaching and preaching:
Elsewhere he says:
The first shall be last
If you want to save your life, you must lose it
The least of these my brethren
Brother, come up higher
Go out into the hedges and byways and compel them to come in
The rich man's offering and the widow's mite
The rich Pharisee's prayer and the poor man's lament
Lazarus and the rich man in the bosom of Abraham and the fires of Hell
It's called "the great reversal." Throughout his ministry Jesus turned the world's expectations and standards upside down and inside out. He proclaimed that a new and different set of standards would operate in the Kingdom he had been sent to proclaim.
Then, Jesus did a monumentally important thing for the history of the church,
There, on the spot, he invented the children's sermon, complete with an actual child as the object in the object lesson.
Jesus and the disciples were in the ground floor room of a house, it had open windows and doorways, and a crowd had gathered to listen to him teach his disciples. Jesus reached into the crowd and pulled a child, probably a toddler, into the room. Then he said,
Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.
With these words, Jesus proclaims his ultimate grand reversal. To us, a small child is primarily a symbol of innocence. We value children and protect children and care for them and are horrified by stories like the one about the man and wife in California who kidnapped that young girl years ago and kept her hidden in the back yard.
But in the ancient world, children were symbols of powerlessness. Outside of normal parental affection, children were, almost literally, nothing. Lutheran pastor Peter Marty, in the Lectionary Commentary says that "in the Greco-Roman world a father could punish, sell, pawn off or even kill his own child."
It is interesting to note that the Greek words for child and servant have the same root and that Jesus used both of these images; child and servant, as symbols of who the Messiah is and who we, the followers of Jesus, are called to be in the world. Children and servants, powerless and defenseless ones, that's us.
Our modern world, gives highest honor and respect to those with power and authority and importance.
People in our world seek positions of strength from which they can control and manage others.
And the call of the Gospel to us today is the same as it was to those to whom Jesus spoke personally:
It may be that way in the world, but it must not be that way among you my followers.
It is not possible for the church to be the church and also be, as the sign said, "without controversy."
On the other hand, just because we have controversy, it is not necessary that we be a "free for all" either.
Through his teaching about the great reversal, the call to child-like-ness, to servant-hood, to powerlessness and humility, most of all though his own humiliation and death on the cross, Jesus has shown us the way forward though our disagreements and controversies.
Rather than aspiring to power and influence and control within the world and within the community of the faithful; our calling is seek to be servants of one another, actively loving each other in the name of the one who first loved us.
And this is love as a verb of action, not a verb of feeling.
To love one another as servants of one another is to make efforts to be kind and generous and open-minded and long-suffering not only when we like each other a lot; but perhaps most especially when we are at odds with one another, when we don't like each other much at all.
In a continuation of the "great reversal" theme, Paul points out in Romans 5,
. . .Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed rarely will anyone die for a righteous person -- though for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. . . .for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to god through the death of his Son. . "
Jesus told us the way forward, then Jesus showed us the way forward by surrendering all his power and going to the cross. Our call is to follow him in that way in our lives.. In our lives in our families, in our lives in the world, and in our lives in the church. It's that simple. And that difficult.
Remember Calvin and Hobbes, the little boy and his talking stuffed tiger?
One day Calvin said, "I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I'm sorry I did it."
Hobbes replies, "Maybe you should apologize to her."
Calvin shrugs and ducks his head, "I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution."
We Christians seem to keep hoping that there is a less obvious solution to our problems and disagreements than Jesus' command that we should, well, act like Christians to one another.
Being humble and kind and forgiving and generous and all those things we learned in Sunday School and all too often forget when we grow up.
There is no other way for Christians. There is only the way of the Cross.
Our calling today is to lose our lives into the life of Christ,
To lose our wills into the will of God,
To give ourselves up totally and completely to the one who gave himself for us upon the cross.
Amen and amen.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
September 6
I'm not preaching in a congregation this weekend. I'm the "Spiritual Director" for a "Lutheran Happening" weekend in Nashville. Me and 100 teen-agers. Oh boy! Anyway, i'm giving talks, etc, but not preaching. Here are a few ideas about food from a sermon by my friend Warren Casiday, a UCC pastor in Kannaplois NC.
H. Warren Casiday
September 6, 2009
According to Andy Rooney, the 2 best selling books are: Cookbooks & Diet Books
Cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food.
Diet Books tell you how not to eat any of it.
An old man went to the same diner every day for lunch.
He always ordered the soup du jour.
One day the manager asked him how he liked his meal.
The old man said: It was good, but you could give a little more bread.
Two slices of bread really isn’t enough.”
The next day the manager asked the waitress to give him four slices of bread.
Manager: “How was your meal, sir?”
“It was good, but you could give a little more bread.”
The next day the manager had the waitress to give him eight slices of bread.
Manager: “How was your meal today, sir?”
He said: “It was good, but you could give a little more bread.”
The next day the manager had the waitress to give him a whole loaf – 16 slices
Manager: “How was your meal, sir?”
Man: “It was good, but you still could give just a little more bread.”
Frustrated, the manager went to the bakery, and ordered a 6’ long loaf of bread.
When the old man came in the next day, the manager & waitress cut the loaf in half, buttered it and put it next to his bowl of soup.
The old man sat down, ate his soup, and both halves of the 6’ long loaf of bread
“Now he will be satisfied,” thought the manager.
Manager: “How was your meal TODAY, sir?”
The old man replied: “It was good as usual.
But I see you are back to serving only two slices of bread!”
One of my favorite comic strips was Kudzu – written by late Doug Marlette
In one strip, Rev. Will B. Dunn, the pastor, is reading the Lord’s Prayer in worship
“Give us this day our daily ... low-fat, low-cholesterol, salt-free bread ...”
In the last frame, he is muttering to himself: “I hate these modern translations.”
It is very likely you will go to the store this week to buy bread.
And there will be a large variety of Breads for you to choose from.
This past week, I counted over 50 types & brands of Bread in a smaller grocery store
That didn’t include the Breads in the coolers that don’t have preservatives in them
or the ones you have to bake yourself.
In case you haven’t guessed, my topic this morning is food – Specifically Bread
We rarely think about Bread.
We jump into cars – drive to store – buy our Bread – go home – eat it
The only time we think about Bread is when the store doesn’t have our brand and
we are forced to choose another brand
Br is so easy for us to get Bread
Yet in some countries, Bread can be difficult to get
And whether they get Bread or not can mean the difference between Life and Death.
One reason we laughed at the opening joke is that we love our food so much
we are obsessed with it.
We eat when we are hungry,are feeling down, are feeling happy, the clock says noon.
We eat to, Be sociable, Forget certain events, Feel Comforted.
Ever notice how many snacks and desserts are called Comfort Food
And of course, we eat to survive.
I really do believe that in some ways, we are obsessed with food.
H. Warren Casiday
September 6, 2009
According to Andy Rooney, the 2 best selling books are: Cookbooks & Diet Books
Cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food.
Diet Books tell you how not to eat any of it.
An old man went to the same diner every day for lunch.
He always ordered the soup du jour.
One day the manager asked him how he liked his meal.
The old man said: It was good, but you could give a little more bread.
Two slices of bread really isn’t enough.”
The next day the manager asked the waitress to give him four slices of bread.
Manager: “How was your meal, sir?”
“It was good, but you could give a little more bread.”
The next day the manager had the waitress to give him eight slices of bread.
Manager: “How was your meal today, sir?”
He said: “It was good, but you could give a little more bread.”
The next day the manager had the waitress to give him a whole loaf – 16 slices
Manager: “How was your meal, sir?”
Man: “It was good, but you still could give just a little more bread.”
Frustrated, the manager went to the bakery, and ordered a 6’ long loaf of bread.
When the old man came in the next day, the manager & waitress cut the loaf in half, buttered it and put it next to his bowl of soup.
The old man sat down, ate his soup, and both halves of the 6’ long loaf of bread
“Now he will be satisfied,” thought the manager.
Manager: “How was your meal TODAY, sir?”
The old man replied: “It was good as usual.
But I see you are back to serving only two slices of bread!”
One of my favorite comic strips was Kudzu – written by late Doug Marlette
In one strip, Rev. Will B. Dunn, the pastor, is reading the Lord’s Prayer in worship
“Give us this day our daily ... low-fat, low-cholesterol, salt-free bread ...”
In the last frame, he is muttering to himself: “I hate these modern translations.”
It is very likely you will go to the store this week to buy bread.
And there will be a large variety of Breads for you to choose from.
This past week, I counted over 50 types & brands of Bread in a smaller grocery store
That didn’t include the Breads in the coolers that don’t have preservatives in them
or the ones you have to bake yourself.
In case you haven’t guessed, my topic this morning is food – Specifically Bread
We rarely think about Bread.
We jump into cars – drive to store – buy our Bread – go home – eat it
The only time we think about Bread is when the store doesn’t have our brand and
we are forced to choose another brand
Br is so easy for us to get Bread
Yet in some countries, Bread can be difficult to get
And whether they get Bread or not can mean the difference between Life and Death.
One reason we laughed at the opening joke is that we love our food so much
we are obsessed with it.
We eat when we are hungry,are feeling down, are feeling happy, the clock says noon.
We eat to, Be sociable, Forget certain events, Feel Comforted.
Ever notice how many snacks and desserts are called Comfort Food
And of course, we eat to survive.
I really do believe that in some ways, we are obsessed with food.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Pentecost 13/ Lectionary 22
A sermon preached at Peace Lutheran Church, Spring Hill, TN
August 30, 2009
Pentecost 13
Text: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
True Story - you can't make stuff like this up. Charlotte, NC. Man bought a box of very expensive cigars. He protected his investment by taking out an insurance policy on the cigars. He insured them against; "decay, spoilage, theft and FIRE."
In the next few weeks he proceeded to smoke all of the cigars in the box.
THEN - he filed a claim with his insurance company, stating that the cigars were lost in a series of small - - -fires.
Of course, the insurance company rejected the claim, which ended up in civil court.
Even though the man admitted smoking the cigars, he won the case because, . . ."the company declared the cigars insurable property, and did insure them against fire, and the Company failed to specify what sort of fire was excluded, therefore the claim is legitimate." The man collected $15,000.
As he was leaving the courthouse, the man was arrested and charged with 24 counts of arson.
After all, he had confessed to setting ". . . the series of small fires . ." which had
caused his loss of property. He was convicted and sentenced to 24 months in jail and was fined $24,000.
Ever since God handed Moses the Ten Commandments on top of the mountain, we human beings have had a long standing debate concerning the letter and the spirit of the law. Both our text and my little cigar story point out the danger of following the letter of the LAW as a way of violating its intent.
As we think about the Gospel lesson, it is important for us to remember that Jesus was a Jew, an observant Jew, a Jew who treasured the Law of God. Jesus took the Pharisees to task for following the letter of the law while ignoring its spirit.
We Christians tend to forget that the Law was given to the children of Israel as a gift, not a burden. Thomas Cahill, in his wonderful book The Gifts of the Jews, reminds us of that fact;
. . . in the prescriptions of Jewish Law we cannot but note a presumption that all people, even slaves, are human and that all human lives are sacred.
This was something new, something unheard of in the ancient world, something that had not been seen in other religions or other codes of law. Jewish Law was a gift to the Jews and to the world; a gift to remind us that our lives are sacred and so are the lives of everyone else.
The problem that Jesus confronts in this text is that the Pharisees chose to obey the rules without remembering the relationships that lie beneath the rules.
If we are honest, we will admit that this is sometimes true of us as well.
We make religious rules that are intended to help us live together as Godly people.
Then, over time, we forget that the rules are there to help us, not to hurt us, in our relationships with each other in the community of Christ.
It's been a while since I was over at the Car Collectors Museum in Nashville. There used to be a 1918 Dodge Touring Car on display there. Its little placard told an interesting story.
In 1918, the father of Albert Hillyard bought this car for $785. In 1921, Albert and his brother got into an argument over who got to drive the car into town on Saturday Night. Their father drove the car into the garage and shut the door. There the car remained until found 38 years later, covered with dirt and chicken manure, with only 1800 miles on the Odometer."
I've thought about Mr. Hillyard and his Dodge touring Car many times over the years. He attempted to heal the breach between his children by making a rule when what was needed was reconciliation.
Papa Hillyard said, Okay, neither one of you gets too drive it!
but I'm willing to bet that the boys just went on to argue about something else, and then about something else, and then about something else. The car wasn't the problem. The problem was the jealousy and strife that lived in that family and in those brother's hearts.
So it is with all of us. Since our problem lies within our hearts the healing must also start there.
Jesus calls us to understand that it's not about the rules; it's about the relationships; the relationship between us and God; and the relationships between us and each other.
That's why Jesus says that, the things that come out are what defile.
And later for it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.
Along these lines, St. Augustine said that, there is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill and also that our hearts are restless O Lord, until they rest in thee.
No amount of rules and regulations and guidelines can change our hearts. Only Gad can do that. Only God's Spirit can move us that way. Only the Cross of Christ; the broken body and spilt blood of Jesus can break our hearts enough that we will let the love of God in to change and reshape us.
Believe it or not, my first real job besides working on the farm with my family was as a daycare worker. I worked at the Community School for People Under Six in
Chapel Hill NC. Besides supervising the playground and changing diapers and serving lunch I had the great pleasure of watching Sesame Street every afternoon from four to five o'clock. Seriously, it was a great pleasure; I really liked it.
One night recently I saw a documentary on the making of Sesame Street.
Someone asked the producer about the reaction of the child actors to working with the Muppets, who are, after all, puppets with a human being crouched on the floor holding them up with one arm.
The producer said the kids don't pay any attention to the humans; they just talk to the Muppets. In fact, he said, there was one child who saw BIG BIRD take off his top half and an actor step out.
The child stared and then yelled to his mother: MOM, MOM, do you think Big Bird knows he has a man inside?
The goal of the Law is to remind us that we have a human being inside, in our hearts, in our souls, in our center of being; in that part of us that makes us something other than a thinking animal.
It is also to remind us that other people have that hidden humanity, that heart, soul, mind; that center that belongs to God, as well.
Our calling is to remember that broken center in our dealings with each other.
It is our calling to remember that we are called to transcend the rules in the name of love.
It is our calling to remember that not only did Jesus die for us, but Jesus died for everybody so that we could all be reconciled to God and to one another.
It is our calling to spread this gracious Good News throughout the world, beginning with our own hearts.
Amen and amen.
August 30, 2009
Pentecost 13
Text: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
True Story - you can't make stuff like this up. Charlotte, NC. Man bought a box of very expensive cigars. He protected his investment by taking out an insurance policy on the cigars. He insured them against; "decay, spoilage, theft and FIRE."
In the next few weeks he proceeded to smoke all of the cigars in the box.
THEN - he filed a claim with his insurance company, stating that the cigars were lost in a series of small - - -fires.
Of course, the insurance company rejected the claim, which ended up in civil court.
Even though the man admitted smoking the cigars, he won the case because, . . ."the company declared the cigars insurable property, and did insure them against fire, and the Company failed to specify what sort of fire was excluded, therefore the claim is legitimate." The man collected $15,000.
As he was leaving the courthouse, the man was arrested and charged with 24 counts of arson.
After all, he had confessed to setting ". . . the series of small fires . ." which had
caused his loss of property. He was convicted and sentenced to 24 months in jail and was fined $24,000.
Ever since God handed Moses the Ten Commandments on top of the mountain, we human beings have had a long standing debate concerning the letter and the spirit of the law. Both our text and my little cigar story point out the danger of following the letter of the LAW as a way of violating its intent.
As we think about the Gospel lesson, it is important for us to remember that Jesus was a Jew, an observant Jew, a Jew who treasured the Law of God. Jesus took the Pharisees to task for following the letter of the law while ignoring its spirit.
We Christians tend to forget that the Law was given to the children of Israel as a gift, not a burden. Thomas Cahill, in his wonderful book The Gifts of the Jews, reminds us of that fact;
. . . in the prescriptions of Jewish Law we cannot but note a presumption that all people, even slaves, are human and that all human lives are sacred.
This was something new, something unheard of in the ancient world, something that had not been seen in other religions or other codes of law. Jewish Law was a gift to the Jews and to the world; a gift to remind us that our lives are sacred and so are the lives of everyone else.
The problem that Jesus confronts in this text is that the Pharisees chose to obey the rules without remembering the relationships that lie beneath the rules.
If we are honest, we will admit that this is sometimes true of us as well.
We make religious rules that are intended to help us live together as Godly people.
Then, over time, we forget that the rules are there to help us, not to hurt us, in our relationships with each other in the community of Christ.
It's been a while since I was over at the Car Collectors Museum in Nashville. There used to be a 1918 Dodge Touring Car on display there. Its little placard told an interesting story.
In 1918, the father of Albert Hillyard bought this car for $785. In 1921, Albert and his brother got into an argument over who got to drive the car into town on Saturday Night. Their father drove the car into the garage and shut the door. There the car remained until found 38 years later, covered with dirt and chicken manure, with only 1800 miles on the Odometer."
I've thought about Mr. Hillyard and his Dodge touring Car many times over the years. He attempted to heal the breach between his children by making a rule when what was needed was reconciliation.
Papa Hillyard said, Okay, neither one of you gets too drive it!
but I'm willing to bet that the boys just went on to argue about something else, and then about something else, and then about something else. The car wasn't the problem. The problem was the jealousy and strife that lived in that family and in those brother's hearts.
So it is with all of us. Since our problem lies within our hearts the healing must also start there.
Jesus calls us to understand that it's not about the rules; it's about the relationships; the relationship between us and God; and the relationships between us and each other.
That's why Jesus says that, the things that come out are what defile.
And later for it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.
Along these lines, St. Augustine said that, there is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill and also that our hearts are restless O Lord, until they rest in thee.
No amount of rules and regulations and guidelines can change our hearts. Only Gad can do that. Only God's Spirit can move us that way. Only the Cross of Christ; the broken body and spilt blood of Jesus can break our hearts enough that we will let the love of God in to change and reshape us.
Believe it or not, my first real job besides working on the farm with my family was as a daycare worker. I worked at the Community School for People Under Six in
Chapel Hill NC. Besides supervising the playground and changing diapers and serving lunch I had the great pleasure of watching Sesame Street every afternoon from four to five o'clock. Seriously, it was a great pleasure; I really liked it.
One night recently I saw a documentary on the making of Sesame Street.
Someone asked the producer about the reaction of the child actors to working with the Muppets, who are, after all, puppets with a human being crouched on the floor holding them up with one arm.
The producer said the kids don't pay any attention to the humans; they just talk to the Muppets. In fact, he said, there was one child who saw BIG BIRD take off his top half and an actor step out.
The child stared and then yelled to his mother: MOM, MOM, do you think Big Bird knows he has a man inside?
The goal of the Law is to remind us that we have a human being inside, in our hearts, in our souls, in our center of being; in that part of us that makes us something other than a thinking animal.
It is also to remind us that other people have that hidden humanity, that heart, soul, mind; that center that belongs to God, as well.
Our calling is to remember that broken center in our dealings with each other.
It is our calling to remember that we are called to transcend the rules in the name of love.
It is our calling to remember that not only did Jesus die for us, but Jesus died for everybody so that we could all be reconciled to God and to one another.
It is our calling to spread this gracious Good News throughout the world, beginning with our own hearts.
Amen and amen.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
lectionary 20, Pentecost 11
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe. (John 6:63b-64)
Again this week I have no place to preach but I have a couple of "anecdotes?" "illustrations?" "whatevers?" Here goes.
In her preface to the American edition of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves," (a surprisingly funny book about punctuation) Lynne Truss writes:
By far the oddest and most demoralizing response to my book, however, took place at a bookshop event in Piccadilly. It is a story that, if nothing else, proves the truth of that depressing adage about taking a horse to water. I was signing copies of my book when a rather bedraggled woman came up and said, despairingly, "Oh, I'd love to learn about punctuation." Spotting a sure thing (you know how it is), I said with a little laugh, "Then this is the book for you, madam!" I believe my pen actually hovered above the dedication page, as I waited for her to tell me her name.
"No, I mean it," she insisted -- as if I had disagreed with her. "I really would love to know how to do it. I mean, I did learn it at school, but I've forgotten it now, and it's awful. I put all my commas in the wrong place, and as for the apostrophe . . .!" I nodded, still smiling. This all seemed familiar enough. "So, shall I sign it to anyone in particular?" I said. "And I'm a teacher," she went on. "And I'm quite ashamed really, not knowing about grammar and all that; so I'd love to know about punctuation, but the trouble is, there's just nowhere you can turn, is there?"
This was quite unsettling. She shrugged, defeated, and I hoped she would go away. I said again that the book really did explain many basic things about punctuation; she said again that the basic things of punctuation were exactly what nobody was ever prepared to explain to an adult person. . . .
. . .Throughout the encounter, I kept smiling at her and nodding at the book, but she never took the hint. In the end, thank goodness, she slid away, leaving me to put my coat over my head and scream.
(Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss, Gotham Books, 2003, pp. xxi-xxii)
About 15 years ago my family moved to Nashville. We lived in a three room apartment on a hill above a strip mall with a grocery store. Friday night was family night and we went to the grocery to pick out items for home made pizza and desert. This was pre-Blockbuster and the grocery store had a video section where the boys and I picked out the evening's entertainment.
One night I noticed the World War I epic "All quiet on the Western Front," shelved among the WESTERNS. I helpfully took it off the shelf and carried it up to the bored teen-ager at the counter and said, "It's an understandable mistake, but this movie isn't a western. It's about WWI and should be shelved among the dramas." And the kid took it from me and said, "Thank you very much," and placed it under the counter.
The next Friday night, and the next, and the next, this little scenario played itself out. After the third time I gave up thinking anything would change. I continued to do it for the somewhat perverse pleasure of it and as an experiment to see if anything ever would change. After 15 months we bought a house and changed grocery stores. And All Quiet on the Western Front was still nestled among the John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies.
Again this week I have no place to preach but I have a couple of "anecdotes?" "illustrations?" "whatevers?" Here goes.
In her preface to the American edition of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves," (a surprisingly funny book about punctuation) Lynne Truss writes:
By far the oddest and most demoralizing response to my book, however, took place at a bookshop event in Piccadilly. It is a story that, if nothing else, proves the truth of that depressing adage about taking a horse to water. I was signing copies of my book when a rather bedraggled woman came up and said, despairingly, "Oh, I'd love to learn about punctuation." Spotting a sure thing (you know how it is), I said with a little laugh, "Then this is the book for you, madam!" I believe my pen actually hovered above the dedication page, as I waited for her to tell me her name.
"No, I mean it," she insisted -- as if I had disagreed with her. "I really would love to know how to do it. I mean, I did learn it at school, but I've forgotten it now, and it's awful. I put all my commas in the wrong place, and as for the apostrophe . . .!" I nodded, still smiling. This all seemed familiar enough. "So, shall I sign it to anyone in particular?" I said. "And I'm a teacher," she went on. "And I'm quite ashamed really, not knowing about grammar and all that; so I'd love to know about punctuation, but the trouble is, there's just nowhere you can turn, is there?"
This was quite unsettling. She shrugged, defeated, and I hoped she would go away. I said again that the book really did explain many basic things about punctuation; she said again that the basic things of punctuation were exactly what nobody was ever prepared to explain to an adult person. . . .
. . .Throughout the encounter, I kept smiling at her and nodding at the book, but she never took the hint. In the end, thank goodness, she slid away, leaving me to put my coat over my head and scream.
(Eats, Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss, Gotham Books, 2003, pp. xxi-xxii)
About 15 years ago my family moved to Nashville. We lived in a three room apartment on a hill above a strip mall with a grocery store. Friday night was family night and we went to the grocery to pick out items for home made pizza and desert. This was pre-Blockbuster and the grocery store had a video section where the boys and I picked out the evening's entertainment.
One night I noticed the World War I epic "All quiet on the Western Front," shelved among the WESTERNS. I helpfully took it off the shelf and carried it up to the bored teen-ager at the counter and said, "It's an understandable mistake, but this movie isn't a western. It's about WWI and should be shelved among the dramas." And the kid took it from me and said, "Thank you very much," and placed it under the counter.
The next Friday night, and the next, and the next, this little scenario played itself out. After the third time I gave up thinking anything would change. I continued to do it for the somewhat perverse pleasure of it and as an experiment to see if anything ever would change. After 15 months we bought a house and changed grocery stores. And All Quiet on the Western Front was still nestled among the John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
