Monday, October 09, 2006
Dayspring e-card website
Here is a Christian e-card website where you can find the words to brighten someone's day. Thanks to Kim for bringing it to our attention.
Good looking website for church lay people (that's you!)
We are all called to ministry through our baptismal covenant. This sunday we celebrate laity Sunday. Click the pitcher to go to the laity website.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Oct. 8 Sermon--Growth and Mutuality
Sermon texts
Psalm 25
Romans 12:1-8
I titled the “Pastor’s perspective” this month “Forgotten Members” They are forgotten because they have become inactive and we no longer enjoy their presence here in the church. We are called by our vows of membership to re-member them here among us. We are called to seek them out, to inquire about their lack of participation, and to usher them into renewed activity and presence here among us.
At the end of this month, we will celebrate the lives of those who have made the journey into the next life. In the act of re-membrance, we bring them close in our minds and hearts and rejoice in the fellowship that exists even after they have left us in this life.
In my article, I told you that we would focus on discipleship and the meaning of membership, and I see no better day to begin this endeavor than today—when we prepare ourselves as a church to meet this afternoon with our District Superintendent and report on the efforts we have made together in the past year to truly be the church and uphold our covenant of membership. This is the purpose of a charge conference.
In my article, I told you that we’d be presenting a list of people that we haven’t seen here in worship or in any other facet of church life in quite a while. This list isn’t generated to point out people who should be scolded or snubbed. Instead it is a list of people we should pray for, a list of people we should welcome and do our best to engage and invite so that they may be re-membered with this body of people!
Let’s take a look at what our collective church has to say about membership—The insert in your bulletin is from the Book of Discipline. I was present in Pittsburg as an observer while this book was being formed two years ago. This is the constitution of United Methodism—and you have as much authority in determining its content as I do as a clergy person. I don’t know too many people who read it though—so it is probably helpful for us to reflect on it together from time to time.
We’ll come back to this from next week—but I want to concentrate especially today on the first two paragraphs you have there on your bulletin.
The first is paragraph 218—Growth in Faithful Discipleship. It reads, “Faithful membership in the local church is essential for personal growth and for developing a deeper commitment to the will and grace of God. As members involve themselves in private and public prayer, worship, the sacraments, study, Christian action, systematic giving, and holy discipline, they grow in their appreciation of Christ, understanding of God at work in history and the natural order, and an understanding of themselves.”
What is the key word of this paragraph? I think one key phrase is “growth.” Growth in a church is not always about growing in number or in sanctuary size or in church budget. Growth also has to do with how each of you, individually, are growing personally. Are you developing a deeper commitment to the will and grace of God?
The Psalm we heard today equates reverence for the Lord with guidance on a path that we should follow. A “commitment to the will and grace of God” involves “private and public prayer, worship, the sacraments, study, Christian action, systematic giving, and holy discipline.” These disciplines make the path clearer. As we progress along the walk of faith, we grow spiritually through these practices. Speaking of growth, I noticed this book at Cokesbury and picked it up, it’s called Growing Spiritual Redwoods. The truth is, I haven’t read the book yet, but I love the title and the picture on the front, so I bought it! Hey it was only a few dollars! I had seen it before at a workshop I attended on the subject of church revitalization and new church starts, so I trust it is good. Just judging by a cursory glance at the book, I can tell that one theme is the idea that strong, visionary Christians don’t just appear out of no-where. They are grown through the nurture and vitality of a vibrant faith community.
When we live up to the vision for church membership set forth in the book of Discipline, we have good foundations for being the kind of nurturing and vibrant faith community that can raise spiritual redwoods. Look around you---who are those people who you see as “spiritual redwoods?” Who has risen above the forest to provide a vision that sees off into the distance? Who has made an impact that will be felt in the lives of this church for years to come? Who has weathered the fires and the storms that have threatened to devastate our community? We should celebrate these people.
Mutual Responsibility—Faithful discipleship includes the obligation to participate in the corporate life of the congregation with fellow members of the body of Christ. A member is bound in sacred covenant to shoulder the burdens, share the risks, and celebrate the joys of fellow members. A Christian is called to speak the truth in love, always ready to confront conflict in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Here is another aspect of membership that reminds me of redwood trees. Lara and I enjoyed going to the south Sierra Nevada’s and camping among the ancient, giant Sequoyah trees at about 6000 feet. The General Sherman, located in the national park there, is the largest tree in the world. At 275 feet high and 103 feet in circumference at the base, It is awe inspiring to be in that tree’s presence. It is wonderous to contemplate the age of the tree and all that has happened in human history in the 2150 years that Sherman has been alive. When our Christ walked the earth, the General Sherman was already a mature tree of 150 years.
Estimating the Sequoias impressiveness and importance by their age and size is one thing. It is certainly a hopeful sign for us to grow and develop as a member of the body of Christ in the same manner as the Sequoias. But another thing that is impressive about the Sequoias can’t even be seen when you walk among them in the park. It is under your feet.
You see, the Sequoias live only at a particular altitude and climate. At this particular altitude, the soil they grow in is only about six feet deep. Now, have you ever tried to dig a six inch hole for a six foot pole? You know what is going to happen! It will fall over. But the Sequoias have developed a way of life that allows them to exist in this depth of soil and still be the largest trees in the world. The roots, spread out along the rocky surface beneath the soil and grasp on to the roots of the neighboring trees. The trees grow in groves for their own survival. In order for the trees to stand upright and grow to such massive greatness, they must be connected, rooted to each other and mutually supportive.
These trees have learned this kind of behavior to survive in such shallow soil. Isn’t that a miracle? Now—can we learn from the Sequoyahs? Our vows of membership in this church call us toward a vow of mutual responsibility among one another. We are to “shoulder the burdens, share the risks, and celebrate the joys of fellow members.”
We are called to give each other support, to sink our roots into the shallow soil of a culture which no longer values church life, and we are to grasp on to one another at the root level! That’s what these things are that we are asked to share—roots! What is more fundamental to us than our hopes, our joys, our burdens, our risks? In order to share these things, we must be willing to divulge these things to one another. This is why ministries within the church like Griefshare and youth group and UMW and Bible study are so important. These are venues when we are invited to stretch out our roots and grasp ahold of one another.
On another level—it is also why we are asked to share our stories with one another. A church is group of people who know and are invested in each other’s spiritual stories. As a matter of record, our recent General Conference added the record of the Christian Journey into the required records that a church is asked to keep of its members.
Our hope is that as individuals within a community, there is a balance between the two ways of being. If I am in the midst of a crisis of faith—I should not be the only person in my church who knows about it. If I am joyful about a new beginning in my life—this house should know my joy. We are invested in each other. As Paul says to the Romans, “So we who are many are one body, and individually we are members of one another.”
Yet the church is not a place where we strive for conformity. In our unity, we celebrate the uniqueness and special gifts given to each individual, and we seek to foster that.
Finally, take a look at this cone. It’s not the largest cone you’ve ever seen, is it? It is not that impressive really. But, this kind of cone grows into these impressive trees that we have been speaking about. This is what you have to give as a part of the forest. Things that you say and do to give new life to this body are not always memorable or noticeable to you. But like this insignificant little cone—the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. We can be kingdom bearing people!
It doesn’t take gargantuan seeds to raise people with Sequoyah like faith—it simply requires persistence. It may be the contributions that you make in the life of the church that give birth to the kind of ministry that really changes lives of those around you. You have no idea what kind of power is manifested when we live with the faith that our actions make a difference in the world.
Another thing—for these little cones to do what they are intended to do, there is a key ingredient: fire. Forest fires cause these little cones to burst, and that is what leads to new life in the ground. The Sequoyah trees have fire resistant bark, and you notice that they don’t put off much foliage until the crown at the top of the tree. This is so fire can’t catch the crown on fire and harm the tree. For new life to emerge in our forest, we must allow the fire of renewal to burn among us! Many look at a the fires of renewal and are fearful. “Things are going to change!” they say. “My beloved church won’t be the same!” Changes may come and people run away. But if we are to be the forest that God wants us to be. If we are to be a vibrant, living church, we must allow for the fires to renew the forest and make way for new life to take hold.
Have faith! Trust that God will bring the Vision of the Kingdom to our hearts and that the Body of Christ among us will bring that Kingdom into being. We have a part to play! Have faith! Amen.
Psalm 25
Romans 12:1-8
I titled the “Pastor’s perspective” this month “Forgotten Members” They are forgotten because they have become inactive and we no longer enjoy their presence here in the church. We are called by our vows of membership to re-member them here among us. We are called to seek them out, to inquire about their lack of participation, and to usher them into renewed activity and presence here among us.
At the end of this month, we will celebrate the lives of those who have made the journey into the next life. In the act of re-membrance, we bring them close in our minds and hearts and rejoice in the fellowship that exists even after they have left us in this life.
In my article, I told you that we would focus on discipleship and the meaning of membership, and I see no better day to begin this endeavor than today—when we prepare ourselves as a church to meet this afternoon with our District Superintendent and report on the efforts we have made together in the past year to truly be the church and uphold our covenant of membership. This is the purpose of a charge conference.
In my article, I told you that we’d be presenting a list of people that we haven’t seen here in worship or in any other facet of church life in quite a while. This list isn’t generated to point out people who should be scolded or snubbed. Instead it is a list of people we should pray for, a list of people we should welcome and do our best to engage and invite so that they may be re-membered with this body of people!
Let’s take a look at what our collective church has to say about membership—The insert in your bulletin is from the Book of Discipline. I was present in Pittsburg as an observer while this book was being formed two years ago. This is the constitution of United Methodism—and you have as much authority in determining its content as I do as a clergy person. I don’t know too many people who read it though—so it is probably helpful for us to reflect on it together from time to time.
We’ll come back to this from next week—but I want to concentrate especially today on the first two paragraphs you have there on your bulletin.
The first is paragraph 218—Growth in Faithful Discipleship. It reads, “Faithful membership in the local church is essential for personal growth and for developing a deeper commitment to the will and grace of God. As members involve themselves in private and public prayer, worship, the sacraments, study, Christian action, systematic giving, and holy discipline, they grow in their appreciation of Christ, understanding of God at work in history and the natural order, and an understanding of themselves.”
What is the key word of this paragraph? I think one key phrase is “growth.” Growth in a church is not always about growing in number or in sanctuary size or in church budget. Growth also has to do with how each of you, individually, are growing personally. Are you developing a deeper commitment to the will and grace of God?
The Psalm we heard today equates reverence for the Lord with guidance on a path that we should follow. A “commitment to the will and grace of God” involves “private and public prayer, worship, the sacraments, study, Christian action, systematic giving, and holy discipline.” These disciplines make the path clearer. As we progress along the walk of faith, we grow spiritually through these practices. Speaking of growth, I noticed this book at Cokesbury and picked it up, it’s called Growing Spiritual Redwoods. The truth is, I haven’t read the book yet, but I love the title and the picture on the front, so I bought it! Hey it was only a few dollars! I had seen it before at a workshop I attended on the subject of church revitalization and new church starts, so I trust it is good. Just judging by a cursory glance at the book, I can tell that one theme is the idea that strong, visionary Christians don’t just appear out of no-where. They are grown through the nurture and vitality of a vibrant faith community.
When we live up to the vision for church membership set forth in the book of Discipline, we have good foundations for being the kind of nurturing and vibrant faith community that can raise spiritual redwoods. Look around you---who are those people who you see as “spiritual redwoods?” Who has risen above the forest to provide a vision that sees off into the distance? Who has made an impact that will be felt in the lives of this church for years to come? Who has weathered the fires and the storms that have threatened to devastate our community? We should celebrate these people.
Mutual Responsibility—Faithful discipleship includes the obligation to participate in the corporate life of the congregation with fellow members of the body of Christ. A member is bound in sacred covenant to shoulder the burdens, share the risks, and celebrate the joys of fellow members. A Christian is called to speak the truth in love, always ready to confront conflict in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Here is another aspect of membership that reminds me of redwood trees. Lara and I enjoyed going to the south Sierra Nevada’s and camping among the ancient, giant Sequoyah trees at about 6000 feet. The General Sherman, located in the national park there, is the largest tree in the world. At 275 feet high and 103 feet in circumference at the base, It is awe inspiring to be in that tree’s presence. It is wonderous to contemplate the age of the tree and all that has happened in human history in the 2150 years that Sherman has been alive. When our Christ walked the earth, the General Sherman was already a mature tree of 150 years.
Estimating the Sequoias impressiveness and importance by their age and size is one thing. It is certainly a hopeful sign for us to grow and develop as a member of the body of Christ in the same manner as the Sequoias. But another thing that is impressive about the Sequoias can’t even be seen when you walk among them in the park. It is under your feet.
You see, the Sequoias live only at a particular altitude and climate. At this particular altitude, the soil they grow in is only about six feet deep. Now, have you ever tried to dig a six inch hole for a six foot pole? You know what is going to happen! It will fall over. But the Sequoias have developed a way of life that allows them to exist in this depth of soil and still be the largest trees in the world. The roots, spread out along the rocky surface beneath the soil and grasp on to the roots of the neighboring trees. The trees grow in groves for their own survival. In order for the trees to stand upright and grow to such massive greatness, they must be connected, rooted to each other and mutually supportive.
These trees have learned this kind of behavior to survive in such shallow soil. Isn’t that a miracle? Now—can we learn from the Sequoyahs? Our vows of membership in this church call us toward a vow of mutual responsibility among one another. We are to “shoulder the burdens, share the risks, and celebrate the joys of fellow members.”
We are called to give each other support, to sink our roots into the shallow soil of a culture which no longer values church life, and we are to grasp on to one another at the root level! That’s what these things are that we are asked to share—roots! What is more fundamental to us than our hopes, our joys, our burdens, our risks? In order to share these things, we must be willing to divulge these things to one another. This is why ministries within the church like Griefshare and youth group and UMW and Bible study are so important. These are venues when we are invited to stretch out our roots and grasp ahold of one another.
On another level—it is also why we are asked to share our stories with one another. A church is group of people who know and are invested in each other’s spiritual stories. As a matter of record, our recent General Conference added the record of the Christian Journey into the required records that a church is asked to keep of its members.
Our hope is that as individuals within a community, there is a balance between the two ways of being. If I am in the midst of a crisis of faith—I should not be the only person in my church who knows about it. If I am joyful about a new beginning in my life—this house should know my joy. We are invested in each other. As Paul says to the Romans, “So we who are many are one body, and individually we are members of one another.”
Yet the church is not a place where we strive for conformity. In our unity, we celebrate the uniqueness and special gifts given to each individual, and we seek to foster that.
Finally, take a look at this cone. It’s not the largest cone you’ve ever seen, is it? It is not that impressive really. But, this kind of cone grows into these impressive trees that we have been speaking about. This is what you have to give as a part of the forest. Things that you say and do to give new life to this body are not always memorable or noticeable to you. But like this insignificant little cone—the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. We can be kingdom bearing people!
It doesn’t take gargantuan seeds to raise people with Sequoyah like faith—it simply requires persistence. It may be the contributions that you make in the life of the church that give birth to the kind of ministry that really changes lives of those around you. You have no idea what kind of power is manifested when we live with the faith that our actions make a difference in the world.
Another thing—for these little cones to do what they are intended to do, there is a key ingredient: fire. Forest fires cause these little cones to burst, and that is what leads to new life in the ground. The Sequoyah trees have fire resistant bark, and you notice that they don’t put off much foliage until the crown at the top of the tree. This is so fire can’t catch the crown on fire and harm the tree. For new life to emerge in our forest, we must allow the fire of renewal to burn among us! Many look at a the fires of renewal and are fearful. “Things are going to change!” they say. “My beloved church won’t be the same!” Changes may come and people run away. But if we are to be the forest that God wants us to be. If we are to be a vibrant, living church, we must allow for the fires to renew the forest and make way for new life to take hold.
Have faith! Trust that God will bring the Vision of the Kingdom to our hearts and that the Body of Christ among us will bring that Kingdom into being. We have a part to play! Have faith! Amen.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Oct. 1 Sermon. World Communion Sunday. With us or against us?
Sermon Texts:
Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Mark 9: 38-50
Today is World Communion Sunday. It is a yearly celebration of what we hold in common with Christians of all denominations around the globe. The denominations of Christianity are very different, yet we all confess one God, we all find God incarnate in Jesus Christ, and we all believe the Holy Spirit is present with us, especially in the act of Holy Communion, which we all celebrate. Some of us celebrate more often than others, but it is the common meal that we recognize together, at least on one day out of the year.
World communion Sunday began in the 1930’s by the Presbyterian church as a testament to the times. As Nazi power grew in Europe and that continent was embroiled in the birth of another war that would eventually engulf the whole world, Christian denominations came together to provide an alternative vision for the world. During the 40’s, World Communion Sunday was adopted by the Methodist church and by other denominations involved in the Ecumenical movement as a symbol of solidarity amidst our worldly divisions. Gathering around the table as Christians, instead of as Methodists, or Baptists, or Episcopalians, became a hope for the future—a hope that we one day will be enfolded back into the family of Christ that knows no boundaries or divisions.
In this day and age, with the Ecumenical movement on a budgetary respirator of sorts, and with its influence waning in favor of more divisive Christian voices, what does World Communion mean to us today? How many other churches in Morris are observing World Communion Sunday? Do you know? I don’t! Our community doesn’t have a ministerial alliance that would plan a community wide celebration like this. We now have a cross-denominational youth partnership, and we have worked with other churches on projects in the community, but we are certainly in a different mindset than what might have been envisioned by the pioneers of the World Communion Sunday movement.
Today’s scriptures focus us on two similar accounts of the power of God manifested in those whom the “in-crowd” considered “unworthy.” First we heard about Eldad and Medad. Moses has come down from Sinai to find the Exodus crowd up in arms about not getting any meat. Moses passes the complaint on to God, and adds—“IF you’re going to keep putting me through this kind of torture, just strike me dead now!” God responds that he will indeed provide meat: In fact, in what I think is evidence of God’s sense of humor, God tells Moses to pass on the word for the people to prepare themselves for not just a day of meat, or a week, but a whole month when they shall eat nothing but meat. God uses the phrase—“They will eat meat until it is coming out of their nostrils!” Perhaps God is getting a little frustrated with these whiners as well! I can just see God and Moses in the front seat of a station wagon, with all the people of Israel in the back—“Are we there yet?”
Anyhow, as you heard, God gives Moses the miracle of delegation and asks him to bring 70 leaders to receive some of the “Spirit” that is on him. 68 show up, and are given the Spirit and momentarily lapse into some ecstatic prophecy. When they all go home they notice that two who didn’t make it to the meeting (but were supposed to) are prophecying in the camp, while the rest of the elders stopped while they were still around the tabernacle. Make them stop, Moses! They complain. “If only all God’s people would be made prophets!” Moses says.
The same kind of situation happens with Jesus’ crew. While Jesus is up on a mountain, his disciples are trying to heal people and are unsuccessful. Jesus comes down and, much like Moses, complains to God—“How much longer am I going to be stuck down here among these faithless people!” After Jesus heals those people that the disciples were trying in vain to heal, John comes back to camp with his chest stuck out—“Jesus, I saw some people casting out demons in your name, and I told them to stop because they weren’t one of us!”
The disciples had seen a man casting out demons in Jesus' name; and because he did not follow them, they tried to stop him. More about this strange exorcist is not told us. It may even be that the name "Jesus" was nothing more to him than a magical formula that worked miracles. But if so, it doesn't seem to have been this that the disciples objected to. The problem, in their eyes, was simply that he wasn't one of them, and they were jealous for their rights and privileges.
You may remember that, as the story has come down to us, the disciples had just been debating that most momentous of all theological questions: Which of us is the greatest? They had rank, privilege and exclusive rights on their minds.
High fives are passed among the disciples. “John, you laid the smack down!” his brother James exclaims. “Wait just a minute,” comes a voice from the corner. Jesus has moved outside the circle of self-congratulations. “If they are using my name to cast out demons, they’re not speaking ill of me! Whoever is not against us is for us!”
Jesus, in this story at least, is speaking of an inclusiveness that his disciples don’t understand quite yet. This passage is in marked contrast to what later comes from Jesus’ mouth in Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23: “He who is not with me is against me.” George Bush picked up on this last saying when he was speaking about attacking Afghanistan in November of 2001. I wonder what the world would look like if we adopted Mark’s version of the saying.
Luke actually makes room for both sayings in his Gospel. Also in Luke 9:49-50. Most commentaries point out the seemingly obvious contradiction between these two lines of thinking: but I read one article that seems more compelling to me. B.A. Gerrish, a scholar at Union Seminary in Richmond, VA writes that “The first, "Whoever is not against us is for us," calls for generosity in our estimate of others; the second, "Whoever is not with me is against me," calls for honesty in testing ourselves. By the one, we accept the profession of others; by the other, we try our own profession. One says, "Judge not"; the other says, "Examine yourself."
Gerrish continues, “Why was it, in particular, that the disciples wanted to stop that other man? Not, apparently, because they were greatly worried about his loyalty to their Master, but because he wasn't one of them. And if that is so, then was it his profession of Christ's name that was in question, or theirs?
John told the Master, perhaps expecting to be praised, that he and his friends had stopped the man from casting out demons in Jesus' name; and Jesus replied, "Whoever is not against us is for us." But he might just as well have said: John, are you really with me? Or is there something you value more than loyalty to me? Are you more concerned for your group than for my name? He said: "whoever is not against us is for us." Might he not just as well have said, "John, whoever is not with me is against me"?
And so world communion Sunday reminds us how futile and perhaps how dangerous it is to take the words of Jesus, “either you are with me or you are against me,” and apply it to anything other than our own commitment to Christ. It is not a measuring rod to hold up to others. Christ gave us a different saying for that—“if you are not against us, then you are for us.” With how the world has changed since 2001 as well, I would venture to say that it is also not a good statement of foreign policy. I believe Jesus would have agreed much more with Abraham Lincoln’s question of national self-examination when he said, “I do not pray that God is on our side, but that we are on God’s side.”
When we gather around this table to have fellowship together in remembrance of Jesus’ life and love for us, we can be assured we are on God’s side. When we confess our sins together and forgive one another, we can be assured that we are on God’s side. When we accept God’s work in the outsider—the person on the margins: we can be assured that we are on God’s side. If we draw a boundary line between “us” and “them,” we draw a boundary between “us” and God.
Gerrish concluded his article by writing, “As one of my favorite theologians, Friedrich Schleiermacher, wrote more than a century and a half ago: "All who start from the living word of the Saviour, and from living faith in him, stand on the same ground with us; and there can never be a reason for us to withdraw from fellowship with them." It has taken Christians a very long time to learn that lesson. And perhaps now we can take a second look at our many traditions and ask, not "Which of us is right?" but, "Have they seen something in their encounter with the Lord which we have missed in ours, or not seen so clearly?"
Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Mark 9: 38-50
Today is World Communion Sunday. It is a yearly celebration of what we hold in common with Christians of all denominations around the globe. The denominations of Christianity are very different, yet we all confess one God, we all find God incarnate in Jesus Christ, and we all believe the Holy Spirit is present with us, especially in the act of Holy Communion, which we all celebrate. Some of us celebrate more often than others, but it is the common meal that we recognize together, at least on one day out of the year.
World communion Sunday began in the 1930’s by the Presbyterian church as a testament to the times. As Nazi power grew in Europe and that continent was embroiled in the birth of another war that would eventually engulf the whole world, Christian denominations came together to provide an alternative vision for the world. During the 40’s, World Communion Sunday was adopted by the Methodist church and by other denominations involved in the Ecumenical movement as a symbol of solidarity amidst our worldly divisions. Gathering around the table as Christians, instead of as Methodists, or Baptists, or Episcopalians, became a hope for the future—a hope that we one day will be enfolded back into the family of Christ that knows no boundaries or divisions.
In this day and age, with the Ecumenical movement on a budgetary respirator of sorts, and with its influence waning in favor of more divisive Christian voices, what does World Communion mean to us today? How many other churches in Morris are observing World Communion Sunday? Do you know? I don’t! Our community doesn’t have a ministerial alliance that would plan a community wide celebration like this. We now have a cross-denominational youth partnership, and we have worked with other churches on projects in the community, but we are certainly in a different mindset than what might have been envisioned by the pioneers of the World Communion Sunday movement.
Today’s scriptures focus us on two similar accounts of the power of God manifested in those whom the “in-crowd” considered “unworthy.” First we heard about Eldad and Medad. Moses has come down from Sinai to find the Exodus crowd up in arms about not getting any meat. Moses passes the complaint on to God, and adds—“IF you’re going to keep putting me through this kind of torture, just strike me dead now!” God responds that he will indeed provide meat: In fact, in what I think is evidence of God’s sense of humor, God tells Moses to pass on the word for the people to prepare themselves for not just a day of meat, or a week, but a whole month when they shall eat nothing but meat. God uses the phrase—“They will eat meat until it is coming out of their nostrils!” Perhaps God is getting a little frustrated with these whiners as well! I can just see God and Moses in the front seat of a station wagon, with all the people of Israel in the back—“Are we there yet?”
Anyhow, as you heard, God gives Moses the miracle of delegation and asks him to bring 70 leaders to receive some of the “Spirit” that is on him. 68 show up, and are given the Spirit and momentarily lapse into some ecstatic prophecy. When they all go home they notice that two who didn’t make it to the meeting (but were supposed to) are prophecying in the camp, while the rest of the elders stopped while they were still around the tabernacle. Make them stop, Moses! They complain. “If only all God’s people would be made prophets!” Moses says.
The same kind of situation happens with Jesus’ crew. While Jesus is up on a mountain, his disciples are trying to heal people and are unsuccessful. Jesus comes down and, much like Moses, complains to God—“How much longer am I going to be stuck down here among these faithless people!” After Jesus heals those people that the disciples were trying in vain to heal, John comes back to camp with his chest stuck out—“Jesus, I saw some people casting out demons in your name, and I told them to stop because they weren’t one of us!”
The disciples had seen a man casting out demons in Jesus' name; and because he did not follow them, they tried to stop him. More about this strange exorcist is not told us. It may even be that the name "Jesus" was nothing more to him than a magical formula that worked miracles. But if so, it doesn't seem to have been this that the disciples objected to. The problem, in their eyes, was simply that he wasn't one of them, and they were jealous for their rights and privileges.
You may remember that, as the story has come down to us, the disciples had just been debating that most momentous of all theological questions: Which of us is the greatest? They had rank, privilege and exclusive rights on their minds.
High fives are passed among the disciples. “John, you laid the smack down!” his brother James exclaims. “Wait just a minute,” comes a voice from the corner. Jesus has moved outside the circle of self-congratulations. “If they are using my name to cast out demons, they’re not speaking ill of me! Whoever is not against us is for us!”
Jesus, in this story at least, is speaking of an inclusiveness that his disciples don’t understand quite yet. This passage is in marked contrast to what later comes from Jesus’ mouth in Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23: “He who is not with me is against me.” George Bush picked up on this last saying when he was speaking about attacking Afghanistan in November of 2001. I wonder what the world would look like if we adopted Mark’s version of the saying.
Luke actually makes room for both sayings in his Gospel. Also in Luke 9:49-50. Most commentaries point out the seemingly obvious contradiction between these two lines of thinking: but I read one article that seems more compelling to me. B.A. Gerrish, a scholar at Union Seminary in Richmond, VA writes that “The first, "Whoever is not against us is for us," calls for generosity in our estimate of others; the second, "Whoever is not with me is against me," calls for honesty in testing ourselves. By the one, we accept the profession of others; by the other, we try our own profession. One says, "Judge not"; the other says, "Examine yourself."
Gerrish continues, “Why was it, in particular, that the disciples wanted to stop that other man? Not, apparently, because they were greatly worried about his loyalty to their Master, but because he wasn't one of them. And if that is so, then was it his profession of Christ's name that was in question, or theirs?
John told the Master, perhaps expecting to be praised, that he and his friends had stopped the man from casting out demons in Jesus' name; and Jesus replied, "Whoever is not against us is for us." But he might just as well have said: John, are you really with me? Or is there something you value more than loyalty to me? Are you more concerned for your group than for my name? He said: "whoever is not against us is for us." Might he not just as well have said, "John, whoever is not with me is against me"?
And so world communion Sunday reminds us how futile and perhaps how dangerous it is to take the words of Jesus, “either you are with me or you are against me,” and apply it to anything other than our own commitment to Christ. It is not a measuring rod to hold up to others. Christ gave us a different saying for that—“if you are not against us, then you are for us.” With how the world has changed since 2001 as well, I would venture to say that it is also not a good statement of foreign policy. I believe Jesus would have agreed much more with Abraham Lincoln’s question of national self-examination when he said, “I do not pray that God is on our side, but that we are on God’s side.”
When we gather around this table to have fellowship together in remembrance of Jesus’ life and love for us, we can be assured we are on God’s side. When we confess our sins together and forgive one another, we can be assured that we are on God’s side. When we accept God’s work in the outsider—the person on the margins: we can be assured that we are on God’s side. If we draw a boundary line between “us” and “them,” we draw a boundary between “us” and God.
Gerrish concluded his article by writing, “As one of my favorite theologians, Friedrich Schleiermacher, wrote more than a century and a half ago: "All who start from the living word of the Saviour, and from living faith in him, stand on the same ground with us; and there can never be a reason for us to withdraw from fellowship with them." It has taken Christians a very long time to learn that lesson. And perhaps now we can take a second look at our many traditions and ask, not "Which of us is right?" but, "Have they seen something in their encounter with the Lord which we have missed in ours, or not seen so clearly?"
Sunday, September 24, 2006
September 24 Sermon--Who's the Greatest?
Sermon Texts: By the way, if you click on the sermon texts, it will take you to the scripture online.
James 3:13 - 4:8
Mark 9: 30-37
First and last, last and first. It’s never really mattered to me. You see—my name is Michael Nathan Mattox. Yes—I have always been in the middle of the line. I’m sure you’ve all experienced the line I speak of—the line to recess or lunch. Teachers would always line us up in alphabetical order by our last name. Just so the Zimmermans and the Watsons and the Yandells wouldn’t be completely scarred by a childhood of always being last though, sometimes the teachers would get us into line for recess or lunch from the end of the alphabet to the front. That put all the Adamses and Barkers in their place, didn’t it! It was if the words of Jesus came alive on those rare occasions when we’d line up in reverse order. “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” I used to see it as my job as preacher’s kid to remind the kids in line of that bit of wisdom. But the teachers never thought of the big chunk of us in the middle. Never did we line up from the middle to the first and last. I suppose some of the time they’d try to mix us up by making us line up by our given name—but it didn’t make any difference to me. What does it mean to be a servant? What does it mean to be great? How can the last be first and the first last? What does it mean to welcome the children in our midst? How does one gain wisdom? These are some of the questions put forth by today’s scriptures. I can just see the scenario play out in my head. Jesus has just tried to explain the nature of his mission here on earth. The Son of Man must be betrayed and crucified. The 12 are thick headed about it—they don’t understand—they don’t WANT to understand. Instead, they are caught up in the glory of being one of the chosen few. Jesus is walking with them through Galilee, familiar turf where the disciples probably feel safe and glad to be back home. Their excitement about their time roaming around the countryside as Jesus’ posse spills over into gloating. Jesus overhears something. He rolls his eyes, impervious to their shallowness and ignorance. “What is it that you’re arguing about?” The look on his face says he knows but he wants them to admit it. They hang their heads--silent. I see the bald spot on top of Peter’s curly head as he carefully studies the dirt on the floor. They don’t want to admit the fact that they were arguing about who was the greatest. Arguing about the greatest and perhaps who it is that will take over as the leader after Jesus is betrayed and crucified just like he said he would be. They don’t really get what Jesus is saying, anyway. Jesus sits them down and gives them a little lesson. A child, a little girl, has been pestering the group for a few minutes now, trying to find some company. He takes her and sits her in his lap. “You welcome her and you welcome me. You welcome me and you welcome God.” There it is, as simple as that. “You think you’re great because you were hand-picked by me? Well, I am manifest in everything that you would call lowly. I’m that little girl you wouldn’t give two thoughts, I’m a housefly buzzing around your face. What I have to say isn’t for this world and its idea of greatness—I’ve come to turn this world upside down. I’m here to proclaim God’s favor for the poor, the prisoners, and the oppressed. I’m here to take my throne in Jerusalem on a donkey. My throne will be the executioner’s cross.” The question of “Who’s the greatest” occupies a lot of our time here on earth unfortunately. The simple way that Mark explains the disciple’s argument makes the discussion sound petty and beneath us, but we probably know deep down that the argument involves all of us. James says in his letter, “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”Envy and selfish ambition—in some circles, these traits are considered admirable. “It’s a dog eat dog world!” “Look out for #1!” “IF you don’t get ahead, you’ll be left behind!” We call it “competitiveness.” Envy and Selfish ambition are glamorized on television and in our culture. Those who put others first are fools, or saints. We hold up people like Mother Theresa when asked to think of someone who lived their life putting others first. We fail to recognize that putting others first is and can be a daily activity carried out by regular old disciples like you and me. It doesn’t have to be left to the saints and the naïve dreamers and patron saints of lost causes. Jesus has a strange idea of greatness doesn’t he? He believes it involves welcoming—welcoming those we typically ignore. He uses children as an example. Children may seem immature to many of us, but they score high points in Jesus’ book. The culture of the time regarded children as fairly worthless in comparison to Rabbis. Rabbis liked to converse with other Rabbis—to hammer out the finer points of the Law with those educated enough to follow the conversation enough without a lot of extra explanation. Jesus was a strange kind of Rabbi. He preferred the company of children to other Rabbis. He hammered out the finest point of the law by putting things in terms that children could understand. Instead of behaving as though the children couldn’t understand the law, Jesus complained that it was the Rabbis who couldn’t understand. A key ingredient to “getting it” in the mind of Jesus is the act of welcoming. Have you ever been truly welcomed? What does it feel like to be welcomed? I believe there is a connection between welcoming and serving. Have you ever been truly served? I think the root of serving another and welcoming another is in the approach we have to the person we are welcoming and serving. If you approach another person, even a child, as possessing sacred worth, you see that the Sacred is in that person. This is why Jesus says, “IF you welcome a little child, you welcome me and God through me.” True service and welcome does not amount to how much sweat pours out of skin as we diligently work to make things better for someone else. True welcoming does not amount to how clean our home is and ready for others to come and stay with us. These kinds of behaviors, though they can be genuine, can also be a by-product of our quest to prove “Who’s the greatest.” Instead, true welcoming and true service grows out of a condition of the heart. It’s a condition that holds all of God’s creation as being valued by the Creator. It is “drawing near to God” in the words of James. Welcoming and serving become conduits of God’s grace if we draw near to God in our heart. When I think of this scripture, I think of one of my childhood Sunday school teachers at Sequoia United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, Mrs. Dorothy Lindquist. Mrs. Lindquist was a school teacher in Minnesota before retiring in Fayetteville. She died a couple of years ago in her mid-90’s. When I was a pupil of hers (she always called us her pupils) she was in her 80s and recently widowed. Mrs. Lindquist was a traveler—in fact she traveled on every continent, and when she did she always thought of her Sunday school class. I remember how we always used to gather around the Sunday school table and gawk at the coins she brought from far away places. Then, to our astonishment, she would invite us to choose a coin to take with us—our very own. Mrs. Lindquist didn’t just buy our affection with foreign coins and bills—she cared for us. She taught us the stories of the Bible, and we knew that we were always welcome in her presence. Children would sit close to her in the worship service, and she’d put her bony arm around us. She valued us because she knew that God valued us, and because she believed that about us, we kids learned to understand that about ourselves. She enabled God’s love by welcoming and serving. Her wisdom and experience might have been highly valued by some of the other adults in the church—but she chose to share her wisdom and her experience with the little children first. Jesus was a lot like Dorothy Lindquist. Jerry Goebel writes, “Jesus didn’t have to set up a “photo-op,” like some politician, chasing down a child and wresting it from some passer-by, nor was there any struggle to hold the child in his lap once he reached for him or her. A child was a touch away from Jesus; a child came gleefully onto his lap and there felt as warm and protected as a kitten balled in her mother’s fur. Who is this God of ours that his very son would be found among children who felt so close to Jesus that his touch would be familial?” When you leave today, take a look at that picture that hangs on the wall opposite the sanctuary. I love that this church has the picture of Christ blessing the children in our fellowship hall. It says so much about the God we worship. Goebel writes, “Our God passionately loves his creation. God’s love pours out like a waterfall plunging unquestionably over the abyss. At the core of that love is not the fittest, not the greatest, but the weakest, the most vulnerable. The fact that God’s son, the Prince of the Universe, makes this statement with an anonymous child in his lap is evidence for where our Lord’s heart resides. The child is anonymous to history but not to Jesus. The symbolism of this act will always stand as one of the greatest indications of God’s true character. Nestled in the lap of salvation, wrapped in the arms of infinite love, how can we ever doubt God’s intent to love his people back to wholeness?”When we are motivated to love others because God loves and values them, we are living and loving as God intends. What kind of a person do children love? That is the kind of person that Jesus was and that is the kind of person he called “the greatest.” That is the kind of person who resembles our God.At the end of his article, Goebel asks, “What kind of character must one foster to be loved by the littlest ones? What kind of traits are we to engender to become like Jesus? Should we strive to become smarter, richer, tougher, and more practical? Or should we instead strive to be ever more compassionate, available, vulnerable and extravagant in love? To become the greatest, we must become the one in whom the least little child would find comfort and love.”
James 3:13 - 4:8
Mark 9: 30-37
First and last, last and first. It’s never really mattered to me. You see—my name is Michael Nathan Mattox. Yes—I have always been in the middle of the line. I’m sure you’ve all experienced the line I speak of—the line to recess or lunch. Teachers would always line us up in alphabetical order by our last name. Just so the Zimmermans and the Watsons and the Yandells wouldn’t be completely scarred by a childhood of always being last though, sometimes the teachers would get us into line for recess or lunch from the end of the alphabet to the front. That put all the Adamses and Barkers in their place, didn’t it! It was if the words of Jesus came alive on those rare occasions when we’d line up in reverse order. “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” I used to see it as my job as preacher’s kid to remind the kids in line of that bit of wisdom. But the teachers never thought of the big chunk of us in the middle. Never did we line up from the middle to the first and last. I suppose some of the time they’d try to mix us up by making us line up by our given name—but it didn’t make any difference to me. What does it mean to be a servant? What does it mean to be great? How can the last be first and the first last? What does it mean to welcome the children in our midst? How does one gain wisdom? These are some of the questions put forth by today’s scriptures. I can just see the scenario play out in my head. Jesus has just tried to explain the nature of his mission here on earth. The Son of Man must be betrayed and crucified. The 12 are thick headed about it—they don’t understand—they don’t WANT to understand. Instead, they are caught up in the glory of being one of the chosen few. Jesus is walking with them through Galilee, familiar turf where the disciples probably feel safe and glad to be back home. Their excitement about their time roaming around the countryside as Jesus’ posse spills over into gloating. Jesus overhears something. He rolls his eyes, impervious to their shallowness and ignorance. “What is it that you’re arguing about?” The look on his face says he knows but he wants them to admit it. They hang their heads--silent. I see the bald spot on top of Peter’s curly head as he carefully studies the dirt on the floor. They don’t want to admit the fact that they were arguing about who was the greatest. Arguing about the greatest and perhaps who it is that will take over as the leader after Jesus is betrayed and crucified just like he said he would be. They don’t really get what Jesus is saying, anyway. Jesus sits them down and gives them a little lesson. A child, a little girl, has been pestering the group for a few minutes now, trying to find some company. He takes her and sits her in his lap. “You welcome her and you welcome me. You welcome me and you welcome God.” There it is, as simple as that. “You think you’re great because you were hand-picked by me? Well, I am manifest in everything that you would call lowly. I’m that little girl you wouldn’t give two thoughts, I’m a housefly buzzing around your face. What I have to say isn’t for this world and its idea of greatness—I’ve come to turn this world upside down. I’m here to proclaim God’s favor for the poor, the prisoners, and the oppressed. I’m here to take my throne in Jerusalem on a donkey. My throne will be the executioner’s cross.” The question of “Who’s the greatest” occupies a lot of our time here on earth unfortunately. The simple way that Mark explains the disciple’s argument makes the discussion sound petty and beneath us, but we probably know deep down that the argument involves all of us. James says in his letter, “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”Envy and selfish ambition—in some circles, these traits are considered admirable. “It’s a dog eat dog world!” “Look out for #1!” “IF you don’t get ahead, you’ll be left behind!” We call it “competitiveness.” Envy and Selfish ambition are glamorized on television and in our culture. Those who put others first are fools, or saints. We hold up people like Mother Theresa when asked to think of someone who lived their life putting others first. We fail to recognize that putting others first is and can be a daily activity carried out by regular old disciples like you and me. It doesn’t have to be left to the saints and the naïve dreamers and patron saints of lost causes. Jesus has a strange idea of greatness doesn’t he? He believes it involves welcoming—welcoming those we typically ignore. He uses children as an example. Children may seem immature to many of us, but they score high points in Jesus’ book. The culture of the time regarded children as fairly worthless in comparison to Rabbis. Rabbis liked to converse with other Rabbis—to hammer out the finer points of the Law with those educated enough to follow the conversation enough without a lot of extra explanation. Jesus was a strange kind of Rabbi. He preferred the company of children to other Rabbis. He hammered out the finest point of the law by putting things in terms that children could understand. Instead of behaving as though the children couldn’t understand the law, Jesus complained that it was the Rabbis who couldn’t understand. A key ingredient to “getting it” in the mind of Jesus is the act of welcoming. Have you ever been truly welcomed? What does it feel like to be welcomed? I believe there is a connection between welcoming and serving. Have you ever been truly served? I think the root of serving another and welcoming another is in the approach we have to the person we are welcoming and serving. If you approach another person, even a child, as possessing sacred worth, you see that the Sacred is in that person. This is why Jesus says, “IF you welcome a little child, you welcome me and God through me.” True service and welcome does not amount to how much sweat pours out of skin as we diligently work to make things better for someone else. True welcoming does not amount to how clean our home is and ready for others to come and stay with us. These kinds of behaviors, though they can be genuine, can also be a by-product of our quest to prove “Who’s the greatest.” Instead, true welcoming and true service grows out of a condition of the heart. It’s a condition that holds all of God’s creation as being valued by the Creator. It is “drawing near to God” in the words of James. Welcoming and serving become conduits of God’s grace if we draw near to God in our heart. When I think of this scripture, I think of one of my childhood Sunday school teachers at Sequoia United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, Mrs. Dorothy Lindquist. Mrs. Lindquist was a school teacher in Minnesota before retiring in Fayetteville. She died a couple of years ago in her mid-90’s. When I was a pupil of hers (she always called us her pupils) she was in her 80s and recently widowed. Mrs. Lindquist was a traveler—in fact she traveled on every continent, and when she did she always thought of her Sunday school class. I remember how we always used to gather around the Sunday school table and gawk at the coins she brought from far away places. Then, to our astonishment, she would invite us to choose a coin to take with us—our very own. Mrs. Lindquist didn’t just buy our affection with foreign coins and bills—she cared for us. She taught us the stories of the Bible, and we knew that we were always welcome in her presence. Children would sit close to her in the worship service, and she’d put her bony arm around us. She valued us because she knew that God valued us, and because she believed that about us, we kids learned to understand that about ourselves. She enabled God’s love by welcoming and serving. Her wisdom and experience might have been highly valued by some of the other adults in the church—but she chose to share her wisdom and her experience with the little children first. Jesus was a lot like Dorothy Lindquist. Jerry Goebel writes, “Jesus didn’t have to set up a “photo-op,” like some politician, chasing down a child and wresting it from some passer-by, nor was there any struggle to hold the child in his lap once he reached for him or her. A child was a touch away from Jesus; a child came gleefully onto his lap and there felt as warm and protected as a kitten balled in her mother’s fur. Who is this God of ours that his very son would be found among children who felt so close to Jesus that his touch would be familial?” When you leave today, take a look at that picture that hangs on the wall opposite the sanctuary. I love that this church has the picture of Christ blessing the children in our fellowship hall. It says so much about the God we worship. Goebel writes, “Our God passionately loves his creation. God’s love pours out like a waterfall plunging unquestionably over the abyss. At the core of that love is not the fittest, not the greatest, but the weakest, the most vulnerable. The fact that God’s son, the Prince of the Universe, makes this statement with an anonymous child in his lap is evidence for where our Lord’s heart resides. The child is anonymous to history but not to Jesus. The symbolism of this act will always stand as one of the greatest indications of God’s true character. Nestled in the lap of salvation, wrapped in the arms of infinite love, how can we ever doubt God’s intent to love his people back to wholeness?”When we are motivated to love others because God loves and values them, we are living and loving as God intends. What kind of a person do children love? That is the kind of person that Jesus was and that is the kind of person he called “the greatest.” That is the kind of person who resembles our God.At the end of his article, Goebel asks, “What kind of character must one foster to be loved by the littlest ones? What kind of traits are we to engender to become like Jesus? Should we strive to become smarter, richer, tougher, and more practical? Or should we instead strive to be ever more compassionate, available, vulnerable and extravagant in love? To become the greatest, we must become the one in whom the least little child would find comfort and love.”
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sept. 10 Sermon, When the Gospel Goes to the Dogs
Sermon Texts:
James 2: 1-17
Mark 7: 24-37
“When the Gospel Goes to the Dogs”
I’m sure many of you own dogs. If they are inside dogs, they no doubt know where to go when it is dinner time. There may be a “rule” not to feed Ginger during dinner, but somehow or other, these animals seem to know how to get a good scrap or two out of us. Our family dog in Little Rock would just as soon eat the napkins that we use at dinner as actual scraps. I don’t know if she has lost a few marbles, or what, but she LOVES eating napkins. It doesn’t matter if it’s been used or not. In fact, my parents have to put trash cans in strategic locations so that she doesn’t eat every paper product that finds its way into the trash. “Crazy Ginger” loves begging for food at the table, and to my mother’s chagrin, Dad, Haley, and I usually indulge her.
Our cats on the other hand, aren’t content to sit under the table. They believe their rightful spot is in a chair sitting at the table, eyeing we who sit and eat there, or better yet, getting up onto the table and sniffing at our plates, deciding if they would like to have any of what we have. This behavior usually gets a good swat or squirt of the water bottle, and a “Get down, you stupid cat!”
I wonder what Jesus would have thought of this kind of behavior out of my cats. He certainly had some ideas about the placement of children and dogs at the dinner table—but he might’ve just not been familiar with cats.
I must admit that today’s gospel reading is probably my least favorite presentation of Jesus in all the Gospels. This same story is presented in Matthew, except Matthew tells that the woman shows a little more persistence, following Jesus and the disciples, calling out in desperation—which Jesus carefully ignores, until finally he spins around and says, “It is not right to take the food from the children at the table and throw it to the dogs.” Mark allows for a little bit of wiggle room for the woman at least. He phrases Jesus’ words as “First the children must eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Either way, it seems kind of harsh. It also seems like Jesus is ignorant of the direction his movement will take. Perhaps he is changed by this encounter with this particular woman. Not only does Jesus seem unknowing of the future of his church, He seems to reveal a racism, a prejudice, that is not befitting an incarnation of the one and only God—the creator of all people and Nations.
Sometimes, it is important to pay attention to what bothers us.
It is not right to take what is given to the children and throw it to the dogs. Here, Jesus is echoing the prevailing attitude among Jews of this era to the surrounding people.
As in most cases of intense nationalistic and racial pride, the Jewish understanding of superiority was born out of centuries of experiencing the brunt and humiliation of oppression and defeat. The Egyptians could point to the pyramids and their mark on science and religion. The Greeks needed only to survey a map to note the range of their influence. The Romans poured concrete, built roads, maintained order, perfected war and trade. The Jews had no earthly cause to celebrate their culture, so they turned to a Divine reason to gird themselves up. No one really cared about the Jews. They meant nothing to anyone. They had as much influence in the Roman world as western Kansas has on the American world. They were only known as being fiercely obstinate about their religion and their God.
Jesus was formed in this culture. He probably heard jokes as a teenager about the Syro-Phonecians or the Samaritans. He knew what it meant to socialize with these kinds of folk.
Yet Mark tells us that he went 100 miles out of his way to visit the very despised region that was populated by these kinds of folks: Tyre and Sidon.
Mark tells us it is because he doesn’t want to be noticed. He wants a little Rand R. He wants a Labor Day weekend. But, it is not to be. Mark tells us that even here his fame has been spread far and wide. The woman who comes to the house to visit him knows of his power to heal—and she wants a bit of it for her daughter.
The woman is identified as a Syro-Phonecian. She is Gentile by race and she is Greek in culture. She is probably wealthy—as the Greek culture held its greatest influence over those of privilege. Tyre was known among Jews, especially Galilean Jews, as a region that oppressed the Jewish farmers of Galilee. They would buy up all the grains that were produced in Galilee, and then in times of need, would not distribute any back to the people in Galilee. Tyre was a city with a hungry appetite, and not just for the food of Galilee. Tyre’s politics and military also spread its influence far beyond its “city limits.” It was a “city state” that fed off the sweat and labor of the farming communities around it, and as most of us who live in rural settings know, that relationship benefits the cities much more than the country.
Have you ever been desperate? You have to understand that it was not like the Syro-Phoneacians thought of themselves as inferior and undeserving. They were inheritors of the great Greek culture. The Jews who were so proud and so narrow minded to worship only ONE God were considered to be about on par with the reverence and awe that we hold for hillbillies! What is evident in this text is Jesus’ hesitance to heal the woman’s daughter because of her race—but we must also assume that it took a great bridge in the cultural divide for the woman to approach Jesus in the first place. It would be akin to one of us going up into the hills in search of a hillbilly medicine woman to cure a disease that we had no other hope for.
Sometimes it is desperation that drives us to Jesus—and I hope it is broadcast loud and clear that that particular motivation to seek the healing of Christ is written of and honored in our oldest stories of our Savior. We look with shame on desperation because it flies in the face of our national and cultural religion—individualism. Desperation means we have run out of resources to do it on our own. Desperation is the ultimate foil to the ideal of Rugged Individualism. Some people die in desperation because they are too proud to reach out their hands and cry out for a Savior. We tend to honor those heroes who die for the national and cultural religion of the Holy Individual.
We are told by James that it is a holy act, a saving act, to stand up for those who are in desperate situations. James lifts up the people who are poor and naked and hungry, and points to our very real response—someone else will deal with it. I’m too busy, I’m too important, I’m too……But James says this is our encounter with God. When mercy is shown, we are judged with mercy. When no mercy is shown, no mercy is shown us in the end. James says quite succinctly, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” What good news for us! James is saying that if we live mercifully, we will be shown mercy! It is really kind of easy to show mercy. I think it is actually quite a bit easier than judging. Judgment requires us to have all our ducks in a row so that we can be efficient judges. Sometimes, being merciful is simply an outgrowth of my failure to have my life straightened out in the first place! How can I act with judgment against someone else if I am lacking in the same area?
And yet we are tempted to act with judgment anyway aren’t we? It feels good in the short term to show judgment. Self-righteous indignation is intoxicating, no matter how ill-founded it actually is. It gives so much pleasure to have the ability to step on someone else’s neck, even when someone may have their boot on ours! It seems to take our attention away from all that and our own troubles if we can focus on someone else’s for a while—point out their wrongs and their problems. It is even more gratifying to know exactly what someone else needs to do to get things straitened out, and to tell them, or anyone else who will listen, about it. It is gratifying because it tends to get my mind off of how I don’t have things straitened out myself. But who cares about that when someone else’s problems are so glaring and obvious!
The encounter we are told of in Mark’s gospel is an encounter of mercy overcoming judgment. Jesus had judged the woman unworthy to receive his healing power. He had met her request with denigration—referring to her and her people as “dogs.” However, the woman took his own words and emptied them out—filling them instead with another meaning. She wins the argument, and because of her persistence she is awarded her request. Jesus says, “Because you have said this, your daughter is healed.” Jesus acknowledges being bested at his own style of debate. He had made a career thus far out of taking the commonly held and understood interpretation of law and custom and turning them around to broaden them to be more inclusive.
It is after this encounter with the Syro-Phonecian woman that Jesus again displays a miraculous feeding. And whereas the feeding of the 5000 was to a Jewish audience, the feeding of the 4000 is in a region that is majority non-Jewish. It is as if he is convinced that not only do the Gentiles deserve to lick up the scraps of bread under the table of Israel, but they deserve a place at the Table as well. And they deserve a space at the table because God doesn’t give scraps. God gives feasts! There is no need for anyone to stoop down below the feet of some privileged “children,” because God has enough bread for everyone in the whole world.
Perhaps Jesus was simply run down and in need of a break. We are clearly told in the scripture that he went to Tyre so he wouldn’t be noticed. After leaving Tyre, the text tells us he returned to Galilee by way of Sidon, which is north of Tyre! He went north to go south. So—perhaps he got the rest he needed there. In any case, in the very next chapter, the invigorated Jesus isn’t squabbling over the bread that should be on the children’s plate going to the dogs. He now is clear that he doesn’t need to take any bread away from the children because there is simply more bread to give! His mission and ministry expand from a cultural or regional frame of reference to a limitless frame of reference. He breaks bread again and feeds the multitudes—this time Gentiles and Jews alike.
When the Gospel went to the dogs, the Gospel expanded. Good news reached across the boundaries that we still recognize today. God broke out of the box called “Israel.” Or perhaps “Israel” simply grew that day. It grew out of the confines of a nation beset by mountains and deserts and ocean and emerged as a spiritual reality that is as broad and deep as a woman’s anguish for her suffering daughter. Mercy truly trumped judgment. And through our acts of mercy as the embodiment of Christ on earth—Israel still grows!
James 2: 1-17
Mark 7: 24-37
“When the Gospel Goes to the Dogs”
I’m sure many of you own dogs. If they are inside dogs, they no doubt know where to go when it is dinner time. There may be a “rule” not to feed Ginger during dinner, but somehow or other, these animals seem to know how to get a good scrap or two out of us. Our family dog in Little Rock would just as soon eat the napkins that we use at dinner as actual scraps. I don’t know if she has lost a few marbles, or what, but she LOVES eating napkins. It doesn’t matter if it’s been used or not. In fact, my parents have to put trash cans in strategic locations so that she doesn’t eat every paper product that finds its way into the trash. “Crazy Ginger” loves begging for food at the table, and to my mother’s chagrin, Dad, Haley, and I usually indulge her.
Our cats on the other hand, aren’t content to sit under the table. They believe their rightful spot is in a chair sitting at the table, eyeing we who sit and eat there, or better yet, getting up onto the table and sniffing at our plates, deciding if they would like to have any of what we have. This behavior usually gets a good swat or squirt of the water bottle, and a “Get down, you stupid cat!”
I wonder what Jesus would have thought of this kind of behavior out of my cats. He certainly had some ideas about the placement of children and dogs at the dinner table—but he might’ve just not been familiar with cats.
I must admit that today’s gospel reading is probably my least favorite presentation of Jesus in all the Gospels. This same story is presented in Matthew, except Matthew tells that the woman shows a little more persistence, following Jesus and the disciples, calling out in desperation—which Jesus carefully ignores, until finally he spins around and says, “It is not right to take the food from the children at the table and throw it to the dogs.” Mark allows for a little bit of wiggle room for the woman at least. He phrases Jesus’ words as “First the children must eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Either way, it seems kind of harsh. It also seems like Jesus is ignorant of the direction his movement will take. Perhaps he is changed by this encounter with this particular woman. Not only does Jesus seem unknowing of the future of his church, He seems to reveal a racism, a prejudice, that is not befitting an incarnation of the one and only God—the creator of all people and Nations.
Sometimes, it is important to pay attention to what bothers us.
It is not right to take what is given to the children and throw it to the dogs. Here, Jesus is echoing the prevailing attitude among Jews of this era to the surrounding people.
As in most cases of intense nationalistic and racial pride, the Jewish understanding of superiority was born out of centuries of experiencing the brunt and humiliation of oppression and defeat. The Egyptians could point to the pyramids and their mark on science and religion. The Greeks needed only to survey a map to note the range of their influence. The Romans poured concrete, built roads, maintained order, perfected war and trade. The Jews had no earthly cause to celebrate their culture, so they turned to a Divine reason to gird themselves up. No one really cared about the Jews. They meant nothing to anyone. They had as much influence in the Roman world as western Kansas has on the American world. They were only known as being fiercely obstinate about their religion and their God.
Jesus was formed in this culture. He probably heard jokes as a teenager about the Syro-Phonecians or the Samaritans. He knew what it meant to socialize with these kinds of folk.
Yet Mark tells us that he went 100 miles out of his way to visit the very despised region that was populated by these kinds of folks: Tyre and Sidon.
Mark tells us it is because he doesn’t want to be noticed. He wants a little Rand R. He wants a Labor Day weekend. But, it is not to be. Mark tells us that even here his fame has been spread far and wide. The woman who comes to the house to visit him knows of his power to heal—and she wants a bit of it for her daughter.
The woman is identified as a Syro-Phonecian. She is Gentile by race and she is Greek in culture. She is probably wealthy—as the Greek culture held its greatest influence over those of privilege. Tyre was known among Jews, especially Galilean Jews, as a region that oppressed the Jewish farmers of Galilee. They would buy up all the grains that were produced in Galilee, and then in times of need, would not distribute any back to the people in Galilee. Tyre was a city with a hungry appetite, and not just for the food of Galilee. Tyre’s politics and military also spread its influence far beyond its “city limits.” It was a “city state” that fed off the sweat and labor of the farming communities around it, and as most of us who live in rural settings know, that relationship benefits the cities much more than the country.
Have you ever been desperate? You have to understand that it was not like the Syro-Phoneacians thought of themselves as inferior and undeserving. They were inheritors of the great Greek culture. The Jews who were so proud and so narrow minded to worship only ONE God were considered to be about on par with the reverence and awe that we hold for hillbillies! What is evident in this text is Jesus’ hesitance to heal the woman’s daughter because of her race—but we must also assume that it took a great bridge in the cultural divide for the woman to approach Jesus in the first place. It would be akin to one of us going up into the hills in search of a hillbilly medicine woman to cure a disease that we had no other hope for.
Sometimes it is desperation that drives us to Jesus—and I hope it is broadcast loud and clear that that particular motivation to seek the healing of Christ is written of and honored in our oldest stories of our Savior. We look with shame on desperation because it flies in the face of our national and cultural religion—individualism. Desperation means we have run out of resources to do it on our own. Desperation is the ultimate foil to the ideal of Rugged Individualism. Some people die in desperation because they are too proud to reach out their hands and cry out for a Savior. We tend to honor those heroes who die for the national and cultural religion of the Holy Individual.
We are told by James that it is a holy act, a saving act, to stand up for those who are in desperate situations. James lifts up the people who are poor and naked and hungry, and points to our very real response—someone else will deal with it. I’m too busy, I’m too important, I’m too……But James says this is our encounter with God. When mercy is shown, we are judged with mercy. When no mercy is shown, no mercy is shown us in the end. James says quite succinctly, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” What good news for us! James is saying that if we live mercifully, we will be shown mercy! It is really kind of easy to show mercy. I think it is actually quite a bit easier than judging. Judgment requires us to have all our ducks in a row so that we can be efficient judges. Sometimes, being merciful is simply an outgrowth of my failure to have my life straightened out in the first place! How can I act with judgment against someone else if I am lacking in the same area?
And yet we are tempted to act with judgment anyway aren’t we? It feels good in the short term to show judgment. Self-righteous indignation is intoxicating, no matter how ill-founded it actually is. It gives so much pleasure to have the ability to step on someone else’s neck, even when someone may have their boot on ours! It seems to take our attention away from all that and our own troubles if we can focus on someone else’s for a while—point out their wrongs and their problems. It is even more gratifying to know exactly what someone else needs to do to get things straitened out, and to tell them, or anyone else who will listen, about it. It is gratifying because it tends to get my mind off of how I don’t have things straitened out myself. But who cares about that when someone else’s problems are so glaring and obvious!
The encounter we are told of in Mark’s gospel is an encounter of mercy overcoming judgment. Jesus had judged the woman unworthy to receive his healing power. He had met her request with denigration—referring to her and her people as “dogs.” However, the woman took his own words and emptied them out—filling them instead with another meaning. She wins the argument, and because of her persistence she is awarded her request. Jesus says, “Because you have said this, your daughter is healed.” Jesus acknowledges being bested at his own style of debate. He had made a career thus far out of taking the commonly held and understood interpretation of law and custom and turning them around to broaden them to be more inclusive.
It is after this encounter with the Syro-Phonecian woman that Jesus again displays a miraculous feeding. And whereas the feeding of the 5000 was to a Jewish audience, the feeding of the 4000 is in a region that is majority non-Jewish. It is as if he is convinced that not only do the Gentiles deserve to lick up the scraps of bread under the table of Israel, but they deserve a place at the Table as well. And they deserve a space at the table because God doesn’t give scraps. God gives feasts! There is no need for anyone to stoop down below the feet of some privileged “children,” because God has enough bread for everyone in the whole world.
Perhaps Jesus was simply run down and in need of a break. We are clearly told in the scripture that he went to Tyre so he wouldn’t be noticed. After leaving Tyre, the text tells us he returned to Galilee by way of Sidon, which is north of Tyre! He went north to go south. So—perhaps he got the rest he needed there. In any case, in the very next chapter, the invigorated Jesus isn’t squabbling over the bread that should be on the children’s plate going to the dogs. He now is clear that he doesn’t need to take any bread away from the children because there is simply more bread to give! His mission and ministry expand from a cultural or regional frame of reference to a limitless frame of reference. He breaks bread again and feeds the multitudes—this time Gentiles and Jews alike.
When the Gospel went to the dogs, the Gospel expanded. Good news reached across the boundaries that we still recognize today. God broke out of the box called “Israel.” Or perhaps “Israel” simply grew that day. It grew out of the confines of a nation beset by mountains and deserts and ocean and emerged as a spiritual reality that is as broad and deep as a woman’s anguish for her suffering daughter. Mercy truly trumped judgment. And through our acts of mercy as the embodiment of Christ on earth—Israel still grows!
Monday, September 04, 2006
Sept. 3 Sermon, "Doers of the Word"
Sermon Texts:
James 1: 17-27
John 1: 1-14
The Word: This concept is a double edged sword in our traditon. The Word has several meanings—so how are we to know how to hear it when we hear it mentioned in Scripture? Sometimes when we refer to the “Word of God” we are referring to Scripture, as when I lift up the Bible after I read the scripture lesson and say, “This is the Word of God for the people of God.” Other times when we hear the “Word” of God, such as in the Gospel of John, there is a more mystical meaning that is intended.
The Word in some cases is the second part of the Trinity. It is in the beginning with God and it is God. Through it all things come into being. Here we are thrown back to the image of Creation, when God creates the world how? By speaking! The Word is literally the tangible, hearable, aspect of God that we are told comes to us in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The Word is given life by the Breath—the Spirit sweeping over the watery womb of the Earth and in the incarnation of Jesus this same Spirit “covers” the watery womb of Mary. The Word cannot be articulated without the Breath, and in the same way, the One Who Speaks, the Word, and the Breath are intimately tied together in a Oneness we call the Trinity.
Today we begin looking at a new book in our scriptures. This book gives us Protestants headaches—so it is good that we do not shy away from it but instead struggle with it and grow from it. The book did not gain wide acceptance in the Western church until the 300s, and Martin Luther’s distaste for it was well known. (He called it “an epistle of straw.”) One problem with it is that it seemingly contradicts Paul’s theology of salvation best characterized in Galatians 2:16 “A person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” James has a different take, saying in 2:24, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
The letter of James was attributed to the brother of Jesus who was the leader of the church in Jerusalem at the time of Paul’s evangelism of the Greek world.
By studying Acts and James and some of the epistles of Paul, it seems likely that James was a voice of support for Christian converts observing the laws and customs of the Jewish faith. Yet he was not as convinced as the believing Pharisees or “Judaizers” that the law should be followed to a T by converts from another culture. So, what in the mind of James is the Law? He calls it the royal law and says that it is implanted in the heart of every human. He re-iterates his brother’s teaching in his dedication to this law. The law that holds salvation is Love, and it is characterized by mercy.
James criticizes religion that is overly spiritualized and individualized. James calls “worthless” the religion of those who merely hear the word. Religion in his mind is not merely hearing, but allowing the change in oneself that results from hearing that word. James urged the church to not merely hear and debate and proclaim—religion according to James isn’t what we say or confess as a result of hearing that Saving Word—it is about “Doing” that Word.
Last Sunday, Taylor reminded me of a scene from “White Men Can’t Jump” where Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson are in the car and Woody turns on Jimi Hendrix and starts strumming his air guitar and scrunching up his face in imitation of the great guitar player. Wesley Snipes takes offense to Woody’s light treatment of Jimi Hendrix and says, “Man, you just listen to Jimi—you don’t HEAR him!” Snipes is saying to Harrelson what James is saying to the church. To truly hear the Word is to be changed by the Word. As Snipes enacts the subtlety, twists, and turns of Jimi’s music on the basketball court, he proves that he truly “hears” Jimi.
James lifts up community and challenges us to practice a faith of rubber meeting the road. He boldly proclaims that true religion is caring for the orphans and widows—which was one of the chief practices of the early church.
For James, then, “the faith of Jesus” means living before God in a manner shaped by the words of Jesus, and above all by his declaration that loving the neighbor as oneself is the “royal law.” Jesus never asked his hearers, “Do you agree with me?” or “Does this sound reasonable to most of you?” or “Get my drift?” Jesus wanted more than mere agreement. Most of the time they called Jesus “Teacher,” but he seems to be about more than mere passing on of knowledge. What Jesus said was, “Follow me.” He was after discipleship, not just simple intellectual agreement.
Perhaps that’s why we tend to turn the gospel into some kind of intellectual problem. Upon hearing scripture, we tend to ask, “Now, how could that have happened?” Or, “Now let me think about that.” But scripture doesn’t just want to be understood. It longs to be put into action. So maybe that’s why we step back, ponder, think, consider, reflect when the Bible longs for us to get moving, get into the act, perform the text rather than just speak or hear it.
William Willamon, the bishop of N. Alabama writes,
Years ago I remember discussing with a group of lay people what they looked for in a good sermon. “I like a sermon which helps me to think about things in a new way,” was a predominate response. I like a sermon which engages my mind, which spurs my thinking and reflection.
That sounded good to me. After all, I like to preach interesting, engaging, thoughtful sermons — when I can! Yet the more I thought about it, I wondered if their response was not quite right. There really is something about us which loves to think that all worship is about is sitting, listening, taking in.
Agreement and understanding are not the problem. The problem might be letting the ideas that we celebrate here in church sink into our bones and muscles and compel them to action. If we say we feel something in our heart, then shouldn’t we also feel it in our fingertips? What will we do with that which we have said, sung, and heard? We’ve been given Good News, a liberating law, a Golden Rule. We have heard it, we know the right words—Can we be “Doers of the Word?”
John Wesley called this action of “Doing the Word” in the world “holiness.” Holiness was not simply acting prim and proper, it was not living with a look on your face like you’ve just sucked a dill pickle. Piety has become a negative word in our everyday language. “Oh, look at that man, acting so pious!” we say with distaste on our teeth. John Wesley knew piety as a positive attribute. It meant living a sincere life, living as authentically as we can, it meant living a life in accordance with the Good news that we have been given. It meant giving to others, it meant reaching out to those in need. It meant observing the sacraments and being nurtured by them, it meant speaking with love and kindness and gentleness and forgiveness. People of faith ruined our idea of piety when they started oppressing others with it. John Wesley knew it as a great freedom. And James knew it that way as well.
If we don’t practice what we preach, if we don’t live the word in our daily lives, and instead we simply hear the good news and nod our heads, we are like people who see themselves in a mirror and then upon turning away from the mirror forgetting what we look like. We don’t want to live this kind of forgetful life do we? We have an identity! The Word is implanted in our hearts, says James. We came into being through this Word of God! We are made in that image! God birthed us through this Word is how James proclaims it. Now—why would we want to do anything else but live in the acknowledgement of that Creative Word.
We are asked not only to put the ideals and ethics we find in Scripture, in the Law, into practice, we are asked to live as beings who know their Creator. Living in this understanding involves responding to people in need—because they too are birthed by that Word—they are the same as we are. It involves giving—because it is a reflection of the perfect gifts from the “Father of Lights,” according to James. Our God is a Giver of Gifts, a Creator of Possibilities, and if we want to live as people molded by the Word of this Giver who Created us, we should give with the same generosity.
There is a well known saying that keeps us preachers in check: “I’d rather see a good sermon than hear a good sermon.”
Willamon ended his meditation on this scripture with an account of how he responded to the inevitable compliments of his sermon:
“Pastor, that was a wonderful sermon,” said the parishioner at the door after the service. “That remains to be seen,” said the preacher.
James 1: 17-27
John 1: 1-14
The Word: This concept is a double edged sword in our traditon. The Word has several meanings—so how are we to know how to hear it when we hear it mentioned in Scripture? Sometimes when we refer to the “Word of God” we are referring to Scripture, as when I lift up the Bible after I read the scripture lesson and say, “This is the Word of God for the people of God.” Other times when we hear the “Word” of God, such as in the Gospel of John, there is a more mystical meaning that is intended.
The Word in some cases is the second part of the Trinity. It is in the beginning with God and it is God. Through it all things come into being. Here we are thrown back to the image of Creation, when God creates the world how? By speaking! The Word is literally the tangible, hearable, aspect of God that we are told comes to us in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The Word is given life by the Breath—the Spirit sweeping over the watery womb of the Earth and in the incarnation of Jesus this same Spirit “covers” the watery womb of Mary. The Word cannot be articulated without the Breath, and in the same way, the One Who Speaks, the Word, and the Breath are intimately tied together in a Oneness we call the Trinity.
Today we begin looking at a new book in our scriptures. This book gives us Protestants headaches—so it is good that we do not shy away from it but instead struggle with it and grow from it. The book did not gain wide acceptance in the Western church until the 300s, and Martin Luther’s distaste for it was well known. (He called it “an epistle of straw.”) One problem with it is that it seemingly contradicts Paul’s theology of salvation best characterized in Galatians 2:16 “A person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” James has a different take, saying in 2:24, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
The letter of James was attributed to the brother of Jesus who was the leader of the church in Jerusalem at the time of Paul’s evangelism of the Greek world.
By studying Acts and James and some of the epistles of Paul, it seems likely that James was a voice of support for Christian converts observing the laws and customs of the Jewish faith. Yet he was not as convinced as the believing Pharisees or “Judaizers” that the law should be followed to a T by converts from another culture. So, what in the mind of James is the Law? He calls it the royal law and says that it is implanted in the heart of every human. He re-iterates his brother’s teaching in his dedication to this law. The law that holds salvation is Love, and it is characterized by mercy.
James criticizes religion that is overly spiritualized and individualized. James calls “worthless” the religion of those who merely hear the word. Religion in his mind is not merely hearing, but allowing the change in oneself that results from hearing that word. James urged the church to not merely hear and debate and proclaim—religion according to James isn’t what we say or confess as a result of hearing that Saving Word—it is about “Doing” that Word.
Last Sunday, Taylor reminded me of a scene from “White Men Can’t Jump” where Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson are in the car and Woody turns on Jimi Hendrix and starts strumming his air guitar and scrunching up his face in imitation of the great guitar player. Wesley Snipes takes offense to Woody’s light treatment of Jimi Hendrix and says, “Man, you just listen to Jimi—you don’t HEAR him!” Snipes is saying to Harrelson what James is saying to the church. To truly hear the Word is to be changed by the Word. As Snipes enacts the subtlety, twists, and turns of Jimi’s music on the basketball court, he proves that he truly “hears” Jimi.
James lifts up community and challenges us to practice a faith of rubber meeting the road. He boldly proclaims that true religion is caring for the orphans and widows—which was one of the chief practices of the early church.
For James, then, “the faith of Jesus” means living before God in a manner shaped by the words of Jesus, and above all by his declaration that loving the neighbor as oneself is the “royal law.” Jesus never asked his hearers, “Do you agree with me?” or “Does this sound reasonable to most of you?” or “Get my drift?” Jesus wanted more than mere agreement. Most of the time they called Jesus “Teacher,” but he seems to be about more than mere passing on of knowledge. What Jesus said was, “Follow me.” He was after discipleship, not just simple intellectual agreement.
Perhaps that’s why we tend to turn the gospel into some kind of intellectual problem. Upon hearing scripture, we tend to ask, “Now, how could that have happened?” Or, “Now let me think about that.” But scripture doesn’t just want to be understood. It longs to be put into action. So maybe that’s why we step back, ponder, think, consider, reflect when the Bible longs for us to get moving, get into the act, perform the text rather than just speak or hear it.
William Willamon, the bishop of N. Alabama writes,
Years ago I remember discussing with a group of lay people what they looked for in a good sermon. “I like a sermon which helps me to think about things in a new way,” was a predominate response. I like a sermon which engages my mind, which spurs my thinking and reflection.
That sounded good to me. After all, I like to preach interesting, engaging, thoughtful sermons — when I can! Yet the more I thought about it, I wondered if their response was not quite right. There really is something about us which loves to think that all worship is about is sitting, listening, taking in.
Agreement and understanding are not the problem. The problem might be letting the ideas that we celebrate here in church sink into our bones and muscles and compel them to action. If we say we feel something in our heart, then shouldn’t we also feel it in our fingertips? What will we do with that which we have said, sung, and heard? We’ve been given Good News, a liberating law, a Golden Rule. We have heard it, we know the right words—Can we be “Doers of the Word?”
John Wesley called this action of “Doing the Word” in the world “holiness.” Holiness was not simply acting prim and proper, it was not living with a look on your face like you’ve just sucked a dill pickle. Piety has become a negative word in our everyday language. “Oh, look at that man, acting so pious!” we say with distaste on our teeth. John Wesley knew piety as a positive attribute. It meant living a sincere life, living as authentically as we can, it meant living a life in accordance with the Good news that we have been given. It meant giving to others, it meant reaching out to those in need. It meant observing the sacraments and being nurtured by them, it meant speaking with love and kindness and gentleness and forgiveness. People of faith ruined our idea of piety when they started oppressing others with it. John Wesley knew it as a great freedom. And James knew it that way as well.
If we don’t practice what we preach, if we don’t live the word in our daily lives, and instead we simply hear the good news and nod our heads, we are like people who see themselves in a mirror and then upon turning away from the mirror forgetting what we look like. We don’t want to live this kind of forgetful life do we? We have an identity! The Word is implanted in our hearts, says James. We came into being through this Word of God! We are made in that image! God birthed us through this Word is how James proclaims it. Now—why would we want to do anything else but live in the acknowledgement of that Creative Word.
We are asked not only to put the ideals and ethics we find in Scripture, in the Law, into practice, we are asked to live as beings who know their Creator. Living in this understanding involves responding to people in need—because they too are birthed by that Word—they are the same as we are. It involves giving—because it is a reflection of the perfect gifts from the “Father of Lights,” according to James. Our God is a Giver of Gifts, a Creator of Possibilities, and if we want to live as people molded by the Word of this Giver who Created us, we should give with the same generosity.
There is a well known saying that keeps us preachers in check: “I’d rather see a good sermon than hear a good sermon.”
Willamon ended his meditation on this scripture with an account of how he responded to the inevitable compliments of his sermon:
“Pastor, that was a wonderful sermon,” said the parishioner at the door after the service. “That remains to be seen,” said the preacher.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Live BIG begnis in September
Interested in our new Sunday School program for kids and teens? Click the icon to watch a video on Windows Media Player>
Sunday, August 27, 2006
August 27 Sermon--"Does this Offend You?"
Sermon Texts
Eph. 6: 10-20
John 6: 56-69
One year ago this week, we witnessed the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in recorded history. At least 1836 human lives were lost in hurricane Katrina, and another 705 people are still missing. In my review of this past year’s finances, I noticed that this church gave generously to aid the relief effort. We’ve also had two of our members join a VIM trip to assist in relief and rebuilding efforts. At my church in Western Arkansas, I can remember going down to the motels on hwy. 71 in the days previous and immediately after the disaster to see if any evacuees had made it as far north as Waldron and what we could do to help them. I had no idea what an impact this hurricane would have on my little town in the weeks to come.
After hearing the news that massive amounts of people were going to be brought to Ft. Smith’s national guard base to be housed in barracks, our local ministerial alliance organized to see what we could do to respond to the crisis. Through the community’s willingness, and the help of a local physician of alternative medicines, we were able to turn an abandoned hospital and nursing home into a temporary evacuee shelter that housed 85 former New Orleans residents for 3 months.
Community churches prepared the facilities, we prepared 3 meals a day, we transported people to meet up with loved ones, we took people to the doctor, hosted game nights and social functions, we mourned their losses, we celebrated their reunions and joys.
I remember one week when my friend who was a priest in town held a memorial service for a famous musician and husband of one of our new residents. In the same week, a couple who had not been married before the hurricane decided that if they could make it through this together, they could make it through anything together, local townspeople donated flowers and wedding cakes, and the two were married in the courtyard of the evacuee shelter. We gave the evacuees the gift of hospitality, and in return these people shared their lives with us, brought this little mountain town some more diversity in culture, and helped the people transcend barriers and gel together as a real community. After some settled elsewhere, other evacuees decided to make Waldron their new permanent home and work there.
Sometimes discipleship is something we don’t think we can handle. If you had asked anyone in the town of Waldron if we had the ability or even the willingness to house and care for 85 people who were very different in culture, race, values, etc. for more than 3 months, I think that most people in that town would have said, “NO WAY!” But we did.
Jesus asks his followers, “Does this offend you?” The central theme of the gospel text today is the responses among Jesus’ disciples to his teaching. There was grumbling, disbelief, rejection, betrayal, and finally, confession of faith. We too have encountered teachings and realities that offend us. It might offend our sensibilities of God and love and justice to have witnessed the devastation of the hurricanes on television a year ago this week, or perhaps to experience the trials and tribulations of war. It might offend our belief in God to imagine the tragedies that happen to children every day—and not just to beauty pageant queens like JonBenet Ramsey, but every month in every state, children suffer unimaginable harm at the hands of adults. How can God let this happen? It might offend or embarrass us as Christians when we see other Christians behaving in ways that are thoroughly un-Christian. When Christians act self-righteous or judgmental, or seem oblivious to the ethical demands of accepting Christ as the captain of our lives. Yes, many of us have taken offense. Some people seem to make a living out of taking offense.
We know that as Christians, Jesus expects us to take offense at certain things going on in the world. Jesus asks us to be offended by injustice, by greed, by inequality, by materialism, by worshipping the culture or our nation rather than our God. How do we know when to take offense and when to swallow it and have faith?
When Jesus asks his followers if the strange teaching offended them, he gave them a forward glance of the future. He said, “well, just wait until you see me ascend to where I came from—then what?” In some ways, the difficulties haven’t even begun for the disciples. At this moment, they are merely hanging out with some guy who a lot of people now thought was pretty strange. But soon he wouldn’t be with them in the flesh anymore, and they’d be left with the Spirit and a meal to remember him by. That’s when the going got tough for them. That’s when the divisiveness really began, when they began to be martyred for their faith in this mysterious man.
The Ascension—the “lifting up” in glory into heaven that was bestowed on the most honored prophets of Jesus’ tradition, would happen only after Jesus had been lifted up in shame—lifted up on a cross in mockery and punishment. The crowds wanted to take Jesus by force and make him a king after he distributed the five loaves and two fish and fed 5000—the irony is that the Romans would succeed in taking Jesus by force and making him a king. When they lifted him up on the cross, they hailed him in scorn as the King of the Jews and placed a crown of thorns on his head.
Yes, Jesus knew that more offensiveness was going to occur.
But Jesus didn’t leave us naked to withstand these offenses on our own. Our faith tradition shows us that sometimes the best way to deal with the offensiveness of the world is to have a good DE-fence!
Ephesians tells us that we have been left implements of battle to defend ourselves against the onslaught of the powers of Evil. Though the world may seem like it is closing in on us—though it may seem dark and inhospitable and hopeless, we are to be strong in the Lord’s power.
Harkening back to passages in Isaiah, the writer of Ephesians reminds us to fasten truth around our waste like a belt. We are to wear righteousness like a breastplate. Our shoes should be our proclamation of the Good News of peace.
I remember the locker room of the Arkadelphia Badgers on Friday evenings, how there would be a change in the air when we all got our pads on in preparation for the game. We would feel ready—we would feel excited and pumped up. Some of us would go around hitting things with our shoulderpads, or would walk up to each other and crack our helmets like battling rams on a mountainside. Yes! When we are given the tools we need, our mindset changes. We get in the zone—we put on our “game-face” and focus on the task at hand—fighting to win!
Now, just to clarify: I would put on pads and a helmet like all the other football players before the game, and it did make me feel ready—but unfortunately all I really needed to get ready to do was to go stand on the sideline for about 2 hours.
Yes, I’d walk around the room slamming my shoulderpads into lockers, but it was less about getting pumped up and more because I wanted to do something to justify me actually putting them on. I would crack helmets with one or two of my friends who actually played, but more to help them get amped up—it usually just gave me a headache.
We are given faith like a shield, salvation like a helmet, and the Spirit Sword, which is the Word of God. This last piece of our arsenal calls our attention to Isaiah 49, where God lifts up the Messiah as “the light to all nations,” whose mouth is like a sharp sword.
Yes, sometimes Jesus’ did have a mouth like a sharp sword. His words divided families, they divided truth from fact, they cut a crowd of people eager to make him king into a remnant of believers, who wouldn’t back down just because they didn’t understand. They knew these sharp words held eternal life, and they wouldn’t let go of this wild man—no matter how fierce things got.
I ask God that we have the same willingness. That we have the courage and fortitude to say, “We’ll be right here with you, Jesus,” when the big party is over--When the miracles aren’t as apparent as they are in the high times. I want to be with Jesus through thick and thin—and I hope you do as well. Whether or not that describes you—I want you to know that he is with you through thick and thin. He never gives up on you and he is always willing to take you in with open arms. He wants to share his very being with you. He wants to live in your life and turn your life into something new, something lasting, something eternal.
I want to feel my faith like a shield in my hand. The Greek word here for shield isn’t just the small shield you see gladiators use to deflect blows from a sword. It is the word for the large shield that covers the whole body. The kind that when wielded as a group created the unstoppable Greek phalanx—the Greek military tactic of making a group of warriors into an impenetrable force. This is a good image for the power of community--The power of having faith within a group of people who also have faith. If we have faith together, we are impenetrable.
I look back on my high school football career and regret not having more competitiveness, part of the problem with me not getting any playing time was the fact that I also played in the band. So when everyone else on the football team would be in the locker room during half time, I’d go out in my football uniform and play with the marching band.
Sometimes along the journey of faith, we need to focus on the task at hand. Sometimes we want to do it all—we want to live life to the fullest. The funny thing is, when we fill, fill, fill our lives to the brim, and shortchange our faith life, we don’t end up feeling fulfilled at all. We should instead pour our being into our walk of faith. We should invest ourselves into our relationship with this man who wants to be for us the Bread of LIFE. If we are nourished first by this bread, we may find that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
We have the opportunity today to put on our armor. The men and women we have entrusted with the highest authority in our church have issued an appeal: Fund the rebuilding of the church in the Gulf region. Through your donations today, the United Methodist Church will be rebuilt, clergy will be assigned to areas struggling to be rebuilt and reborn. The infrastructure of the United Methodist Connection today is re-claiming spiritual “power-lines” that went down in a storm a year ago.
Jesus asked his disciples, “Do you want to leave as well?” Peter, speaking for the disciples, said, “To whom else would we go? You have the words of eternal life!” Through your contributions today and in the next couple weeks, we have the opportunity that those words of eternal life are heard loud and clear in a region that needs badly to hear them.
Eph. 6: 10-20
John 6: 56-69
One year ago this week, we witnessed the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in recorded history. At least 1836 human lives were lost in hurricane Katrina, and another 705 people are still missing. In my review of this past year’s finances, I noticed that this church gave generously to aid the relief effort. We’ve also had two of our members join a VIM trip to assist in relief and rebuilding efforts. At my church in Western Arkansas, I can remember going down to the motels on hwy. 71 in the days previous and immediately after the disaster to see if any evacuees had made it as far north as Waldron and what we could do to help them. I had no idea what an impact this hurricane would have on my little town in the weeks to come.
After hearing the news that massive amounts of people were going to be brought to Ft. Smith’s national guard base to be housed in barracks, our local ministerial alliance organized to see what we could do to respond to the crisis. Through the community’s willingness, and the help of a local physician of alternative medicines, we were able to turn an abandoned hospital and nursing home into a temporary evacuee shelter that housed 85 former New Orleans residents for 3 months.
Community churches prepared the facilities, we prepared 3 meals a day, we transported people to meet up with loved ones, we took people to the doctor, hosted game nights and social functions, we mourned their losses, we celebrated their reunions and joys.
I remember one week when my friend who was a priest in town held a memorial service for a famous musician and husband of one of our new residents. In the same week, a couple who had not been married before the hurricane decided that if they could make it through this together, they could make it through anything together, local townspeople donated flowers and wedding cakes, and the two were married in the courtyard of the evacuee shelter. We gave the evacuees the gift of hospitality, and in return these people shared their lives with us, brought this little mountain town some more diversity in culture, and helped the people transcend barriers and gel together as a real community. After some settled elsewhere, other evacuees decided to make Waldron their new permanent home and work there.
Sometimes discipleship is something we don’t think we can handle. If you had asked anyone in the town of Waldron if we had the ability or even the willingness to house and care for 85 people who were very different in culture, race, values, etc. for more than 3 months, I think that most people in that town would have said, “NO WAY!” But we did.
Jesus asks his followers, “Does this offend you?” The central theme of the gospel text today is the responses among Jesus’ disciples to his teaching. There was grumbling, disbelief, rejection, betrayal, and finally, confession of faith. We too have encountered teachings and realities that offend us. It might offend our sensibilities of God and love and justice to have witnessed the devastation of the hurricanes on television a year ago this week, or perhaps to experience the trials and tribulations of war. It might offend our belief in God to imagine the tragedies that happen to children every day—and not just to beauty pageant queens like JonBenet Ramsey, but every month in every state, children suffer unimaginable harm at the hands of adults. How can God let this happen? It might offend or embarrass us as Christians when we see other Christians behaving in ways that are thoroughly un-Christian. When Christians act self-righteous or judgmental, or seem oblivious to the ethical demands of accepting Christ as the captain of our lives. Yes, many of us have taken offense. Some people seem to make a living out of taking offense.
We know that as Christians, Jesus expects us to take offense at certain things going on in the world. Jesus asks us to be offended by injustice, by greed, by inequality, by materialism, by worshipping the culture or our nation rather than our God. How do we know when to take offense and when to swallow it and have faith?
When Jesus asks his followers if the strange teaching offended them, he gave them a forward glance of the future. He said, “well, just wait until you see me ascend to where I came from—then what?” In some ways, the difficulties haven’t even begun for the disciples. At this moment, they are merely hanging out with some guy who a lot of people now thought was pretty strange. But soon he wouldn’t be with them in the flesh anymore, and they’d be left with the Spirit and a meal to remember him by. That’s when the going got tough for them. That’s when the divisiveness really began, when they began to be martyred for their faith in this mysterious man.
The Ascension—the “lifting up” in glory into heaven that was bestowed on the most honored prophets of Jesus’ tradition, would happen only after Jesus had been lifted up in shame—lifted up on a cross in mockery and punishment. The crowds wanted to take Jesus by force and make him a king after he distributed the five loaves and two fish and fed 5000—the irony is that the Romans would succeed in taking Jesus by force and making him a king. When they lifted him up on the cross, they hailed him in scorn as the King of the Jews and placed a crown of thorns on his head.
Yes, Jesus knew that more offensiveness was going to occur.
But Jesus didn’t leave us naked to withstand these offenses on our own. Our faith tradition shows us that sometimes the best way to deal with the offensiveness of the world is to have a good DE-fence!
Ephesians tells us that we have been left implements of battle to defend ourselves against the onslaught of the powers of Evil. Though the world may seem like it is closing in on us—though it may seem dark and inhospitable and hopeless, we are to be strong in the Lord’s power.
Harkening back to passages in Isaiah, the writer of Ephesians reminds us to fasten truth around our waste like a belt. We are to wear righteousness like a breastplate. Our shoes should be our proclamation of the Good News of peace.
I remember the locker room of the Arkadelphia Badgers on Friday evenings, how there would be a change in the air when we all got our pads on in preparation for the game. We would feel ready—we would feel excited and pumped up. Some of us would go around hitting things with our shoulderpads, or would walk up to each other and crack our helmets like battling rams on a mountainside. Yes! When we are given the tools we need, our mindset changes. We get in the zone—we put on our “game-face” and focus on the task at hand—fighting to win!
Now, just to clarify: I would put on pads and a helmet like all the other football players before the game, and it did make me feel ready—but unfortunately all I really needed to get ready to do was to go stand on the sideline for about 2 hours.
Yes, I’d walk around the room slamming my shoulderpads into lockers, but it was less about getting pumped up and more because I wanted to do something to justify me actually putting them on. I would crack helmets with one or two of my friends who actually played, but more to help them get amped up—it usually just gave me a headache.
We are given faith like a shield, salvation like a helmet, and the Spirit Sword, which is the Word of God. This last piece of our arsenal calls our attention to Isaiah 49, where God lifts up the Messiah as “the light to all nations,” whose mouth is like a sharp sword.
Yes, sometimes Jesus’ did have a mouth like a sharp sword. His words divided families, they divided truth from fact, they cut a crowd of people eager to make him king into a remnant of believers, who wouldn’t back down just because they didn’t understand. They knew these sharp words held eternal life, and they wouldn’t let go of this wild man—no matter how fierce things got.
I ask God that we have the same willingness. That we have the courage and fortitude to say, “We’ll be right here with you, Jesus,” when the big party is over--When the miracles aren’t as apparent as they are in the high times. I want to be with Jesus through thick and thin—and I hope you do as well. Whether or not that describes you—I want you to know that he is with you through thick and thin. He never gives up on you and he is always willing to take you in with open arms. He wants to share his very being with you. He wants to live in your life and turn your life into something new, something lasting, something eternal.
I want to feel my faith like a shield in my hand. The Greek word here for shield isn’t just the small shield you see gladiators use to deflect blows from a sword. It is the word for the large shield that covers the whole body. The kind that when wielded as a group created the unstoppable Greek phalanx—the Greek military tactic of making a group of warriors into an impenetrable force. This is a good image for the power of community--The power of having faith within a group of people who also have faith. If we have faith together, we are impenetrable.
I look back on my high school football career and regret not having more competitiveness, part of the problem with me not getting any playing time was the fact that I also played in the band. So when everyone else on the football team would be in the locker room during half time, I’d go out in my football uniform and play with the marching band.
Sometimes along the journey of faith, we need to focus on the task at hand. Sometimes we want to do it all—we want to live life to the fullest. The funny thing is, when we fill, fill, fill our lives to the brim, and shortchange our faith life, we don’t end up feeling fulfilled at all. We should instead pour our being into our walk of faith. We should invest ourselves into our relationship with this man who wants to be for us the Bread of LIFE. If we are nourished first by this bread, we may find that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
We have the opportunity today to put on our armor. The men and women we have entrusted with the highest authority in our church have issued an appeal: Fund the rebuilding of the church in the Gulf region. Through your donations today, the United Methodist Church will be rebuilt, clergy will be assigned to areas struggling to be rebuilt and reborn. The infrastructure of the United Methodist Connection today is re-claiming spiritual “power-lines” that went down in a storm a year ago.
Jesus asked his disciples, “Do you want to leave as well?” Peter, speaking for the disciples, said, “To whom else would we go? You have the words of eternal life!” Through your contributions today and in the next couple weeks, we have the opportunity that those words of eternal life are heard loud and clear in a region that needs badly to hear them.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Bishop's Appeal--Rebuilding the Church in the Gulf
Click the link to watch a special video outlining the Bishop's appeal for which we will be taking a special offering this Sunday.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Aug. 20 Sermon, "Mystery Meat"
Proverbs 9: 1-6
John 6: 51-58
It has been a week now since school started, and perhaps you teenagers or teachers have already been served a legendary meal in the school cafeteria: mystery meat. I remember my days in the school cafeteria—some of you would probably point out that it wasn’t that long ago.
I remember as a 1st grader at Root elementary school capturing the attention of my whole table by taking my milk carton and pretending it was a monster truck and the little compartments filled with the leftover food were the different mud-pits and other kinds of obstacles that the monster truck had to ramp and race through. My tray became a mess of food and the screams of delight and horror of my little colleagues gave way to the horrible sound of Seth, the kid across from me, throwing up his lunch as he was overcome by the entertainment I was providing.
Yes, the infamous mystery meat of the public school system leaves a similar pit in the stomach. My wife and I have differing opinions on the value of mystery meat. She confessed to me less than a month ago that she actually really enjoyed the burgers at school. “Do you think that those were soy burgers?” she asked me. “Who knows?” I answered her.
It seems that Jesus’ audience was just as flummoxed by his teaching that we heard today. According to the text, not only was the audience offended, but some of his own disciples stopped believing at this point and stopped following. Eat my flesh and drink my blood and you will have eternal life, says Jesus. Huh? says the world. Even the Biblical literalists don’t accept these words of Jesus at face value.
We hear the words in the context of our celebration of communion, but the problem is, at the time Jesus spoke these words, the Eucharist had not yet been instituted. Actually, the gospel of John contains no story of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, but if the timeline is compared, Jesus at this point in his career had not yet covered that subject with his disciples.
What could Jesus possibly mean when he said these words? Did Jesus go back to camp later that night as my son sometimes comes home from daycare—with bite marks on his arm, or back? Were there those who heard Jesus and followed, expecting that Jesus was going to offer himself in some kind of cannibalistic ritual?
This text illustrates perfectly the reasons we have for reading the text of the Bible in a way that frees its words from face value. A contemporary theologian, Sallie McFague, says that “metaphor is a strategy of desperation, not decoration.” Jesus was speaking with desperation. He had just fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish and was now being followed by a multitude who wanted to “take him by force and make him king.” What we read today was the third installment of a discourse where he tries to hammer into his audience’s mind that HE is the bread they should be hungry for. He moves from speaking about his words as bread to referring to his very flesh and blood as the bread these hungry crowds should consume.
I think it is wonderful for us to hear texts from the Bible that leave us puzzled. This puzzlement has the power to trip us into the real practice of faith. In Zen philosophy, there is a practice called the koan. The koan is a riddle that is unanswerable to the rules of logic. Zen masters give their students a riddle such as “what is the sound of one hand clapping, or what did your face look like before you were born, and then asked to meditate on that question for weeks at a time. The students are called before the master periodically and asked to give an answer to the question, and when they inevitably get it wrong, they are slapped on the back with a stick and told to go try again. Eventually after weeks of contemplating the koan, the riddle will become a roadblock to the intellect and ego and will allow the mind to travel onward into the realm of enlightenment.
Sometimes the mysteries of our faith give us a route to truth outside the realm of logic and factual information. The great blunder of 20th century theology is to hold up the truths of our scripture to the limited capacities of knowing that are encompassed by fact and logic. We can delve more deeply into this and other texts if we unloose our minds from the hitch of fact and let them run free in the pasture of metaphor.
So, what could Jesus mean by referencing this “mystery meat?” Jesus gives us another reference to bounce his teaching up against. He says, “This is the true bread from heaven, not like the manna that your ancestors ate. They ate and died. Anyone who eats this bread will live eternally.” We are one step closer to discerning what Christ is by defining what Christ is not.
You may or may not be familiar with the story he’s referring to from Exodus 16. Here, the slaves from Egypt are in transit to the promised land, and they are out of food. They grumble and complain and wish they had never left their shackles and chains, and go to Moses—“Who is this God we’re following that would let us go hungry? Take us back to Egypt!” God heard the grumbling and complaining and caused the dew to become bread for the people to eat. But the bread only sustained their bodily life—it didn’t transform their hearts! In the next chapter, the people are complaining about water, and then they complain about the lack of diversity in their diet.
I found wisdom in Paul Stroble’s recent article on this scripture passage in the most recent Christian Century. He writes, “IN my own spiritual path, sometimes I’ve confused manna for living bread. Both are God-given, but manna doesn’t nourish indefinitely. Think of manna as the aspects of the church life that are suitable and grace-full, but fleeting. Manna is the preaching style of a certain pastor whom you love (but what do you do when a new pastor comes along with a different style)?
Manna is the program ministry of the congregation, or the church’s music, wonderful and beneficial but sometimes a source of disagreement. Manna is the small group to which you’re attached—but people move away and the group magic disappears. Manna is the congregation that you love—that you’d rather would never change. And what if a crisis in your congregation brings out the worst in the people you trusted as spiritual models? Our walk with Christ can be hampered, even ruined, when we allow impermanent aspects of church to define our spiritual journey.
Christ on the other hand, is the bread that gives us meaning. Christ gives us eternal life. The living bread doesn’t just fill our belly, it changes our heart.
The Ephesians text this week said “don’t get drunk on wine, for that cheapens your life. Instead, fill yourself with the Holy Spirit! That will lead you to life-enriching behavior. Yes, what great images to contrast—filled with wine to the extent that we are disoriented, impaired, slow-witted vs. filled with Spirit to the extend that we are oriented, enabled, intelligent. Spirit vs. spirits. Permanent and eternal vs. fleeting and consequential. Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Christ says that it is the will of the Lord that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood “abide in him” and he abides in us. Abide is a word that I often translate as “make a home in.” For John, the basis of faith in Christ is a relationship. It is one that can be characterized as making a home in each other.
When we eat something, the nutrients that it gives us are absorbed in our intestines and are incorporated into our very cells. Christ wants to be part of our lives. Christ doesn’t want to just walk alongside us and leave footprint in the sand. Christ isn’t just asking to be our lifelong buddy, a loyal golden retriever, or a constant companion. Christ wants to live in us. Christ wants to become part of us—wants us to be nourished by his presence in our lives. Not just in our lives like our spouse or children or friends are “in our lives” as a part of the life that is lived by the individual “you.” Christ offers us the chance to live eternally. We don’t live eternally without his presence inside of us because we don’t have the power to do that. What I call “me” is temporary. It is made from dust and it will return to dust. But the aspect of “me” that I give to Christ lives through Christ’s power to move beyond death.
This isn’t just an idea to accept and give assent to. It is not just a belief. It is not a doctrine to be saluted so that we can all go to heaven. Christ’s life in us is a way of living. It is living in the light. It is living as a child of the light. And it’s not just ethics or morality. Living in the light is a life in the presence of God’s life in us. It is abiding, or making a home in Christ—and in so doing making a home for Christ in us.
And the amazing thing is that this is just one of the meanings of these texts that we’ve read today. It unfolds further, and a life in Christ guides us into the mystery. The mystery is not a riddle to be solved. It is a riddle that saves.
Jesus wants to help us get by—Jesus wants to be for us that bread in the wilderness that sustains us and keeps us going. But that’s not all Jesus wants to do. Jesus wants to give us new hearts. As the prophet Ezekial wrote, “I will take your hearts of stone and give you hearts of flesh.” Christ wants to set our hearts on fire so that we may live like lighthouses, exposing the darkness and bringing others into the light.
Are you open and willing to let Christ in to your life—literally? Not just as a friend, but as food? Today’s passage from Proverbs gives a metaphor for wisdom as a rich woman throwing a housewarming party. Lady Wisdom’s household is complete, it is represented by the seven pillars of the house—which represent completeness. The table is set and the servents are sent to spread the invitation far and wide. The meal is lavish—meat and bread and wine. This image is contrasted with the other household that offers distractions that mask death. And the “strange woman” of the house sits out in the street on a stool, hawking her wares.
Are you willing to be shaped and nourished by his word—the true bread from heaven? Christ transcends time and space and offers himself as a full course (lifelong) meal. We can dine with Lady Wisdom and accept this invitation, or we can go down the street and stuff ourselves silly with Dame Folly. The choice is ours.
John 6: 51-58
It has been a week now since school started, and perhaps you teenagers or teachers have already been served a legendary meal in the school cafeteria: mystery meat. I remember my days in the school cafeteria—some of you would probably point out that it wasn’t that long ago.
I remember as a 1st grader at Root elementary school capturing the attention of my whole table by taking my milk carton and pretending it was a monster truck and the little compartments filled with the leftover food were the different mud-pits and other kinds of obstacles that the monster truck had to ramp and race through. My tray became a mess of food and the screams of delight and horror of my little colleagues gave way to the horrible sound of Seth, the kid across from me, throwing up his lunch as he was overcome by the entertainment I was providing.
Yes, the infamous mystery meat of the public school system leaves a similar pit in the stomach. My wife and I have differing opinions on the value of mystery meat. She confessed to me less than a month ago that she actually really enjoyed the burgers at school. “Do you think that those were soy burgers?” she asked me. “Who knows?” I answered her.
It seems that Jesus’ audience was just as flummoxed by his teaching that we heard today. According to the text, not only was the audience offended, but some of his own disciples stopped believing at this point and stopped following. Eat my flesh and drink my blood and you will have eternal life, says Jesus. Huh? says the world. Even the Biblical literalists don’t accept these words of Jesus at face value.
We hear the words in the context of our celebration of communion, but the problem is, at the time Jesus spoke these words, the Eucharist had not yet been instituted. Actually, the gospel of John contains no story of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, but if the timeline is compared, Jesus at this point in his career had not yet covered that subject with his disciples.
What could Jesus possibly mean when he said these words? Did Jesus go back to camp later that night as my son sometimes comes home from daycare—with bite marks on his arm, or back? Were there those who heard Jesus and followed, expecting that Jesus was going to offer himself in some kind of cannibalistic ritual?
This text illustrates perfectly the reasons we have for reading the text of the Bible in a way that frees its words from face value. A contemporary theologian, Sallie McFague, says that “metaphor is a strategy of desperation, not decoration.” Jesus was speaking with desperation. He had just fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish and was now being followed by a multitude who wanted to “take him by force and make him king.” What we read today was the third installment of a discourse where he tries to hammer into his audience’s mind that HE is the bread they should be hungry for. He moves from speaking about his words as bread to referring to his very flesh and blood as the bread these hungry crowds should consume.
I think it is wonderful for us to hear texts from the Bible that leave us puzzled. This puzzlement has the power to trip us into the real practice of faith. In Zen philosophy, there is a practice called the koan. The koan is a riddle that is unanswerable to the rules of logic. Zen masters give their students a riddle such as “what is the sound of one hand clapping, or what did your face look like before you were born, and then asked to meditate on that question for weeks at a time. The students are called before the master periodically and asked to give an answer to the question, and when they inevitably get it wrong, they are slapped on the back with a stick and told to go try again. Eventually after weeks of contemplating the koan, the riddle will become a roadblock to the intellect and ego and will allow the mind to travel onward into the realm of enlightenment.
Sometimes the mysteries of our faith give us a route to truth outside the realm of logic and factual information. The great blunder of 20th century theology is to hold up the truths of our scripture to the limited capacities of knowing that are encompassed by fact and logic. We can delve more deeply into this and other texts if we unloose our minds from the hitch of fact and let them run free in the pasture of metaphor.
So, what could Jesus mean by referencing this “mystery meat?” Jesus gives us another reference to bounce his teaching up against. He says, “This is the true bread from heaven, not like the manna that your ancestors ate. They ate and died. Anyone who eats this bread will live eternally.” We are one step closer to discerning what Christ is by defining what Christ is not.
You may or may not be familiar with the story he’s referring to from Exodus 16. Here, the slaves from Egypt are in transit to the promised land, and they are out of food. They grumble and complain and wish they had never left their shackles and chains, and go to Moses—“Who is this God we’re following that would let us go hungry? Take us back to Egypt!” God heard the grumbling and complaining and caused the dew to become bread for the people to eat. But the bread only sustained their bodily life—it didn’t transform their hearts! In the next chapter, the people are complaining about water, and then they complain about the lack of diversity in their diet.
I found wisdom in Paul Stroble’s recent article on this scripture passage in the most recent Christian Century. He writes, “IN my own spiritual path, sometimes I’ve confused manna for living bread. Both are God-given, but manna doesn’t nourish indefinitely. Think of manna as the aspects of the church life that are suitable and grace-full, but fleeting. Manna is the preaching style of a certain pastor whom you love (but what do you do when a new pastor comes along with a different style)?
Manna is the program ministry of the congregation, or the church’s music, wonderful and beneficial but sometimes a source of disagreement. Manna is the small group to which you’re attached—but people move away and the group magic disappears. Manna is the congregation that you love—that you’d rather would never change. And what if a crisis in your congregation brings out the worst in the people you trusted as spiritual models? Our walk with Christ can be hampered, even ruined, when we allow impermanent aspects of church to define our spiritual journey.
Christ on the other hand, is the bread that gives us meaning. Christ gives us eternal life. The living bread doesn’t just fill our belly, it changes our heart.
The Ephesians text this week said “don’t get drunk on wine, for that cheapens your life. Instead, fill yourself with the Holy Spirit! That will lead you to life-enriching behavior. Yes, what great images to contrast—filled with wine to the extent that we are disoriented, impaired, slow-witted vs. filled with Spirit to the extend that we are oriented, enabled, intelligent. Spirit vs. spirits. Permanent and eternal vs. fleeting and consequential. Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Christ says that it is the will of the Lord that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood “abide in him” and he abides in us. Abide is a word that I often translate as “make a home in.” For John, the basis of faith in Christ is a relationship. It is one that can be characterized as making a home in each other.
When we eat something, the nutrients that it gives us are absorbed in our intestines and are incorporated into our very cells. Christ wants to be part of our lives. Christ doesn’t want to just walk alongside us and leave footprint in the sand. Christ isn’t just asking to be our lifelong buddy, a loyal golden retriever, or a constant companion. Christ wants to live in us. Christ wants to become part of us—wants us to be nourished by his presence in our lives. Not just in our lives like our spouse or children or friends are “in our lives” as a part of the life that is lived by the individual “you.” Christ offers us the chance to live eternally. We don’t live eternally without his presence inside of us because we don’t have the power to do that. What I call “me” is temporary. It is made from dust and it will return to dust. But the aspect of “me” that I give to Christ lives through Christ’s power to move beyond death.
This isn’t just an idea to accept and give assent to. It is not just a belief. It is not a doctrine to be saluted so that we can all go to heaven. Christ’s life in us is a way of living. It is living in the light. It is living as a child of the light. And it’s not just ethics or morality. Living in the light is a life in the presence of God’s life in us. It is abiding, or making a home in Christ—and in so doing making a home for Christ in us.
And the amazing thing is that this is just one of the meanings of these texts that we’ve read today. It unfolds further, and a life in Christ guides us into the mystery. The mystery is not a riddle to be solved. It is a riddle that saves.
Jesus wants to help us get by—Jesus wants to be for us that bread in the wilderness that sustains us and keeps us going. But that’s not all Jesus wants to do. Jesus wants to give us new hearts. As the prophet Ezekial wrote, “I will take your hearts of stone and give you hearts of flesh.” Christ wants to set our hearts on fire so that we may live like lighthouses, exposing the darkness and bringing others into the light.
Are you open and willing to let Christ in to your life—literally? Not just as a friend, but as food? Today’s passage from Proverbs gives a metaphor for wisdom as a rich woman throwing a housewarming party. Lady Wisdom’s household is complete, it is represented by the seven pillars of the house—which represent completeness. The table is set and the servents are sent to spread the invitation far and wide. The meal is lavish—meat and bread and wine. This image is contrasted with the other household that offers distractions that mask death. And the “strange woman” of the house sits out in the street on a stool, hawking her wares.
Are you willing to be shaped and nourished by his word—the true bread from heaven? Christ transcends time and space and offers himself as a full course (lifelong) meal. We can dine with Lady Wisdom and accept this invitation, or we can go down the street and stuff ourselves silly with Dame Folly. The choice is ours.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Notes/impressions from Cottage meetings on the nature of discipleship
Here are the notes that Nathan recorded from the five cottage meetings that were conducted over the last two weeks. If you are motivated to respond to any of the comments that people had at these meetings, you can respond in the "comments" section at the end of this post. IF you would like to remain anonymous, you can comment anonymously. Also--the notes are scrambled--they are not in order of when the cottage meeting was held. I hope this motivates further discussion and action in this facet of our church.
Impressions from Cottage meetings
Discipleship involves loyalty, willingness to follow, willingness to help others follow, commitment to giving of oneself,committment. Being motivated to share the gospel. Identifying our gifts and giving them in return to the church, discipleship involves being able to work together and accept one another within the family of faith.
What we need to increase/strengthen/deepen discipleship:
A resurgence of Sunday school, strengthened youth program. Some feel like adults are set in their ways, but youth can still be molded to be disciples.
We need to make a stand in our culture. We are challenged by a culture that doesn't seem to place as much of a value on faith life anymore. We in the church don't value the teachings of our faith anymore. The example of our failure to observe the Sabbath was given as an example.
Question? What would it look like if members of the church made a covenant with one another to observe a real Sabbath on Sunday which would include not going shopping, not patronizing any eating establishments, not working. Instead, Sabbath day would be observed by spending time with family and friends, relaxing and resting, praying, enjoying leisure, etc?
Impression was that we know we need to take Sabbath more seriously, but how are we to do it when we feel so busy? Hmm.
Most members feel that the worship services are motivating, rejuvenating, and attractive to others. We want to share that excitement with our community but how?
Ideas sometimes a sermon series is an easier thing to invite friends and family to. Something pastor has done before is a sermon series on what makes the UMC distinctive.
People seem to appreciate that the sermons are based on the scripture and expand the witness of the scripture.
We need a foundation of knowledge of our stories of faith.
How can we pattern our lives after Jesus if we don't know (like the back of our hand) what Jesus did.
For the UMC to better create disciples, we need stronger leadership. Don't feel compelled by the majority of the clergy. Parish doesn't understand the iteneracy and feel it is a roadblock to making disciples. Big parishes don't have to worry about this as much because they can keep a pastor for more than 3 or 4 years. Small parishes view themselves as having a rotating door, and sense that the community is not attracted to that.
We need to live in a way and challenge each other in a way that shows that we are committed to something that faith makes a difference in a life, it is not just a social club.
We need more accountability within the church. With regard to giving and tithing, we need to be more responsible with the budget of the church. We need a stewardship campaign: building the budget on a pledge.
As members of the church, we need the accountability with one another to know that membership means something. Discipleship means showing up. It means not quitting when we don't agree with something that happens in the church.
Discipleship involves open and honest communication within church.
Discipleship involves speaking the truth in love, building up one another with our words and deeds.
We need to be find ways to make our worship and congregational life appealing to those who do not find church interesting.
Bible Study: we need to be more intentional about focusing on scripture.
Impressions from Cottage meetings
Discipleship involves loyalty, willingness to follow, willingness to help others follow, commitment to giving of oneself,committment. Being motivated to share the gospel. Identifying our gifts and giving them in return to the church, discipleship involves being able to work together and accept one another within the family of faith.
What we need to increase/strengthen/deepen discipleship:
A resurgence of Sunday school, strengthened youth program. Some feel like adults are set in their ways, but youth can still be molded to be disciples.
We need to make a stand in our culture. We are challenged by a culture that doesn't seem to place as much of a value on faith life anymore. We in the church don't value the teachings of our faith anymore. The example of our failure to observe the Sabbath was given as an example.
Question? What would it look like if members of the church made a covenant with one another to observe a real Sabbath on Sunday which would include not going shopping, not patronizing any eating establishments, not working. Instead, Sabbath day would be observed by spending time with family and friends, relaxing and resting, praying, enjoying leisure, etc?
Impression was that we know we need to take Sabbath more seriously, but how are we to do it when we feel so busy? Hmm.
Most members feel that the worship services are motivating, rejuvenating, and attractive to others. We want to share that excitement with our community but how?
Ideas sometimes a sermon series is an easier thing to invite friends and family to. Something pastor has done before is a sermon series on what makes the UMC distinctive.
People seem to appreciate that the sermons are based on the scripture and expand the witness of the scripture.
We need a foundation of knowledge of our stories of faith.
How can we pattern our lives after Jesus if we don't know (like the back of our hand) what Jesus did.
For the UMC to better create disciples, we need stronger leadership. Don't feel compelled by the majority of the clergy. Parish doesn't understand the iteneracy and feel it is a roadblock to making disciples. Big parishes don't have to worry about this as much because they can keep a pastor for more than 3 or 4 years. Small parishes view themselves as having a rotating door, and sense that the community is not attracted to that.
We need to live in a way and challenge each other in a way that shows that we are committed to something that faith makes a difference in a life, it is not just a social club.
We need more accountability within the church. With regard to giving and tithing, we need to be more responsible with the budget of the church. We need a stewardship campaign: building the budget on a pledge.
As members of the church, we need the accountability with one another to know that membership means something. Discipleship means showing up. It means not quitting when we don't agree with something that happens in the church.
Discipleship involves open and honest communication within church.
Discipleship involves speaking the truth in love, building up one another with our words and deeds.
We need to be find ways to make our worship and congregational life appealing to those who do not find church interesting.
Bible Study: we need to be more intentional about focusing on scripture.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
August 13 Sermon--What Comes out of Our Mouths
Sermon Texts
Ephesians 4: 25-5:2
Matthew 15: 10-20
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me.
I remember my mother drilling this into me as a kid. I’m sure you are unsurprised to learn that I was a dorky, nerdy little kid, and so that little mantra was an important part of helping me develop a good self esteem despite the fact that I’d heard a lot of taunts and jokes.
Despite my mother’s best intentions, I’m afraid the mantra is a bit off the mark. It’s a little bit of wishful thinking. Words can and do hurt us, sometimes more than broken bones. The words don’t have to be name calling. Sometimes they are simple words that carry a large weight in meaning. “You can’t,” or “You should.” Sometimes even nice words can be hurtful if they are turned sideways with the intention of cutting. William Blake wrote, “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” How true!
In Ephesians we hear that we are to be tellers of the truth in Love. We should save our speech for building up others, not tearing them down. The words we speak should represent the purity and forgiveness we find in the sacrifice made by Christ. They should be a fragrant offering to God. They should echo the words of our savior. We should be like little children imitating their parents.
(((((((Story about Wesley mimicking me the other day at youth group.))))))) I was launching into some monolog at youth group while the youth dutifully listened. Wesley climbed up in the chair next to me an sat facing the youth and started saying “jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab…” He kept speaking as I stopped talking and everyone looked at him, laughing. Yes, children do imitate their parents!
Jesus and the leaders of the early church were less concerned about the ways that we honor God in our rituals and customs and more concerned with how we honor God through our actions toward one another and the way that we speak to one another.
Christ was sick of the religious know it alls claiming to know all about purity. God’s statutes carried down through the ages were designed to preserve a sense of culture and community, but Jesus saw them destroying community. The Pharisees observed the fact that Jesus and his disciples neglected to wash their hands before eating. They had probably noticed the repulsive filth that Jesus chose to fraternize with, and were especially concerned that those types were washed off of your hands before one put food and drink into the body, which was a temple of God.
Jesus knew that the Temple of God was soiled more by our intentions than by neglecting to observe ritual and custom. What proceeds from the mouth comes from the heart, but what goes into the mouth merely passes through our body. The rituals we believe make us holy and acceptable in the eyes of God are merely transitory, but the words that we say are permanent impressions left on the world. Do we hear this message today?
Jesus doesn’t define these things that come out of our mouths “words,” he calls them evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. If “words” may never hurt me, then why does Jesus equate them with murder? Have you ever murdered someone with your mouth? I would suggest that many of us have at one time or another. We get so carried away with voicing our anger or our frustrations that we may indeed find ourselves alone. We’ve murdered our relationships and people have fallen away from us one by one.
Have you ever committed adultery with your words? Many of us have spoken with lust and desire about a person other than our spouse, many of us in heated arguments have said things to our spouse that we may later regret. How does this amount to adultery? Jesus tells us that it does!
You see, God’s temple within us is attempting to bubble up affirmation, hope, agape. When we force aside these things in favor of gossip or rumors or lies or hurtful words, we desecrate God’s temple within us. This is what Jesus means my defiling the heart. The heart is such a strange organ isn’t it. It wields such power to hurt or to heal. It seems as though it is connected directly to our throats. Sometimes I wish its products went through my brain first though!
Now, it doesn’t defile the temple within us to simply get angry. Ephesians tells us it does us well to be angry. Anger is an emotion that can be led toward positive ends. Many systems of oppression and injustice would not have changed in the world if people believed it was unholy to be angry. When we allow our anger to consume us—when we give it more time than it is due—it provides a foothold for the devil. Prolonged anger at other people may open us to the temptation to display behavior that is not reflective of our life in Christ.
So what can we do to stem the tide of anger? Address it when we feel it! Don’t be nervous ninnies when it comes to confronting a problem. If we are honest about our anger or our hurt feelings to our neighbor or family member by speaking the truth in love, we may find that our anger dissolves instead of erupting in our life. If we’re open and honest in communication, we may find that problems resolve instead of spiraling out of control into hurtful messes.
We can also live a life that is propelled by the Spirit by practicing edifying speech—speech that is constructive, rather than destructive. Complaining all the time is destructive. Accentuate the positive, eliminaaate the negative is how Baloo the bear tells Mogli the “man cub” in the Jungle Book. I’ve always loved that song. That’s what Ephesians tells us as well. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
30Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.
31-32Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
This way of life is living the good news. You know, from some of the conversations I’ve had this week, I’ve gathered that we can sense there are expectations to discipleship that we don’t really feel from anyone in the church. There is no accountability—we’ve become satisfied by merely coming to church, hearing a good story or two, singing some hymns, and then going on with our daily lives. But we are called to more. Discipleship and membership in the church means that there are goals we strive to live up to. One of the purposes of us gathering here is so that we might encourage our brothers and sisters in faith. The text in Ephesians says it quite plainly: 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
How many of us have experienced the opposite here in church? When we forget our purpose and forget the grace that has been given us, it is time for us to be renewed in hope and perfected in love. We do have an obligation—it is to build each other up, as we focused on at the beginning of August at the church retreat—as we spoke together when we received John into membership in this church last month. Our church states that each one of you who are baptized is a minister of God. Your bulleting says it right on the inside—Ministers—all of the church!” What does it mean to minister to someone? It means building them up. It means carrying out the virtues and the ethic that has been spoken of today in our Ephesians text. It means that we live as a purified sanctuary of God—that we aren’t despoiled by what comes out of our mouths.
Today I’m calling you to respond to this sermon in an interactive kind of way. On this altar is a trash can. Traditionally we’ve put on the altar those things which are most important to us—we celebrate the scripture and the Lord’s table on the altar. In the days of Jesus, a sacrifice was made on the altar in the Temple for the sins of Israel. Today I’d like us to offer a tangible form of repentance on this altar. Take some time while the following song is playing to remember an instance in your life when you have let your words defile the dwelling place of the Holy within you.
Your heart has a long memory. Though we may convince our minds to forget our darkest moments, they make an imprint on our heart that can only be relieved by God’s forgiving grace. God’s forgiveness is so much more sweet when we reconcile our wrongs within the community. We have all said things that have hurt others, sometimes in spite, sometimes in ignorance, sometimes in frustration. Let your heart search itself for a time when it gave birth to words that defile. Write those words on the slips of paper that I have put in the pews, then bring it to the urn here on the altar. I will take these papers and burn them and add the ashes to the burned palms for our imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday next year.
As the song “Sanctuary” plays, you may join in singing if you wish. The words bring home the message of today’s scripture. We call on God’s grace to prepare us to be the Sanctuaries of God’s Spirit. The things that come out of our mouth that defile this sanctuary cannot be erased—but they can be forgiven. We cannot take back the words that we give life to, but we can add other words of repentance, hope, love, compassion, and joy. If we continue to ask for God’s preparation in our lives, God’s inspiration will guide us toward more filling and creative lives.
After you cleanse the temple through this silent time of confession, think of what you might say to someone else in this congregation to build up the body of Christ in this congregation. Who have you been impressed by, who has deserved a congratulations? Who has needed encouragement? After church—tell that person what has been laid on your heart. If we think it and don’t say it, that stifles the movement of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be embarrassed! Build each other up—It is a mark of our baptism for our words to give grace to one another. For we are members—one of another! Amen!
Ephesians 4: 25-5:2
Matthew 15: 10-20
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me.
I remember my mother drilling this into me as a kid. I’m sure you are unsurprised to learn that I was a dorky, nerdy little kid, and so that little mantra was an important part of helping me develop a good self esteem despite the fact that I’d heard a lot of taunts and jokes.
Despite my mother’s best intentions, I’m afraid the mantra is a bit off the mark. It’s a little bit of wishful thinking. Words can and do hurt us, sometimes more than broken bones. The words don’t have to be name calling. Sometimes they are simple words that carry a large weight in meaning. “You can’t,” or “You should.” Sometimes even nice words can be hurtful if they are turned sideways with the intention of cutting. William Blake wrote, “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” How true!
In Ephesians we hear that we are to be tellers of the truth in Love. We should save our speech for building up others, not tearing them down. The words we speak should represent the purity and forgiveness we find in the sacrifice made by Christ. They should be a fragrant offering to God. They should echo the words of our savior. We should be like little children imitating their parents.
(((((((Story about Wesley mimicking me the other day at youth group.))))))) I was launching into some monolog at youth group while the youth dutifully listened. Wesley climbed up in the chair next to me an sat facing the youth and started saying “jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab…” He kept speaking as I stopped talking and everyone looked at him, laughing. Yes, children do imitate their parents!
Jesus and the leaders of the early church were less concerned about the ways that we honor God in our rituals and customs and more concerned with how we honor God through our actions toward one another and the way that we speak to one another.
Christ was sick of the religious know it alls claiming to know all about purity. God’s statutes carried down through the ages were designed to preserve a sense of culture and community, but Jesus saw them destroying community. The Pharisees observed the fact that Jesus and his disciples neglected to wash their hands before eating. They had probably noticed the repulsive filth that Jesus chose to fraternize with, and were especially concerned that those types were washed off of your hands before one put food and drink into the body, which was a temple of God.
Jesus knew that the Temple of God was soiled more by our intentions than by neglecting to observe ritual and custom. What proceeds from the mouth comes from the heart, but what goes into the mouth merely passes through our body. The rituals we believe make us holy and acceptable in the eyes of God are merely transitory, but the words that we say are permanent impressions left on the world. Do we hear this message today?
Jesus doesn’t define these things that come out of our mouths “words,” he calls them evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. If “words” may never hurt me, then why does Jesus equate them with murder? Have you ever murdered someone with your mouth? I would suggest that many of us have at one time or another. We get so carried away with voicing our anger or our frustrations that we may indeed find ourselves alone. We’ve murdered our relationships and people have fallen away from us one by one.
Have you ever committed adultery with your words? Many of us have spoken with lust and desire about a person other than our spouse, many of us in heated arguments have said things to our spouse that we may later regret. How does this amount to adultery? Jesus tells us that it does!
You see, God’s temple within us is attempting to bubble up affirmation, hope, agape. When we force aside these things in favor of gossip or rumors or lies or hurtful words, we desecrate God’s temple within us. This is what Jesus means my defiling the heart. The heart is such a strange organ isn’t it. It wields such power to hurt or to heal. It seems as though it is connected directly to our throats. Sometimes I wish its products went through my brain first though!
Now, it doesn’t defile the temple within us to simply get angry. Ephesians tells us it does us well to be angry. Anger is an emotion that can be led toward positive ends. Many systems of oppression and injustice would not have changed in the world if people believed it was unholy to be angry. When we allow our anger to consume us—when we give it more time than it is due—it provides a foothold for the devil. Prolonged anger at other people may open us to the temptation to display behavior that is not reflective of our life in Christ.
So what can we do to stem the tide of anger? Address it when we feel it! Don’t be nervous ninnies when it comes to confronting a problem. If we are honest about our anger or our hurt feelings to our neighbor or family member by speaking the truth in love, we may find that our anger dissolves instead of erupting in our life. If we’re open and honest in communication, we may find that problems resolve instead of spiraling out of control into hurtful messes.
We can also live a life that is propelled by the Spirit by practicing edifying speech—speech that is constructive, rather than destructive. Complaining all the time is destructive. Accentuate the positive, eliminaaate the negative is how Baloo the bear tells Mogli the “man cub” in the Jungle Book. I’ve always loved that song. That’s what Ephesians tells us as well. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
30Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.
31-32Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
This way of life is living the good news. You know, from some of the conversations I’ve had this week, I’ve gathered that we can sense there are expectations to discipleship that we don’t really feel from anyone in the church. There is no accountability—we’ve become satisfied by merely coming to church, hearing a good story or two, singing some hymns, and then going on with our daily lives. But we are called to more. Discipleship and membership in the church means that there are goals we strive to live up to. One of the purposes of us gathering here is so that we might encourage our brothers and sisters in faith. The text in Ephesians says it quite plainly: 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
How many of us have experienced the opposite here in church? When we forget our purpose and forget the grace that has been given us, it is time for us to be renewed in hope and perfected in love. We do have an obligation—it is to build each other up, as we focused on at the beginning of August at the church retreat—as we spoke together when we received John into membership in this church last month. Our church states that each one of you who are baptized is a minister of God. Your bulleting says it right on the inside—Ministers—all of the church!” What does it mean to minister to someone? It means building them up. It means carrying out the virtues and the ethic that has been spoken of today in our Ephesians text. It means that we live as a purified sanctuary of God—that we aren’t despoiled by what comes out of our mouths.
Today I’m calling you to respond to this sermon in an interactive kind of way. On this altar is a trash can. Traditionally we’ve put on the altar those things which are most important to us—we celebrate the scripture and the Lord’s table on the altar. In the days of Jesus, a sacrifice was made on the altar in the Temple for the sins of Israel. Today I’d like us to offer a tangible form of repentance on this altar. Take some time while the following song is playing to remember an instance in your life when you have let your words defile the dwelling place of the Holy within you.
Your heart has a long memory. Though we may convince our minds to forget our darkest moments, they make an imprint on our heart that can only be relieved by God’s forgiving grace. God’s forgiveness is so much more sweet when we reconcile our wrongs within the community. We have all said things that have hurt others, sometimes in spite, sometimes in ignorance, sometimes in frustration. Let your heart search itself for a time when it gave birth to words that defile. Write those words on the slips of paper that I have put in the pews, then bring it to the urn here on the altar. I will take these papers and burn them and add the ashes to the burned palms for our imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday next year.
As the song “Sanctuary” plays, you may join in singing if you wish. The words bring home the message of today’s scripture. We call on God’s grace to prepare us to be the Sanctuaries of God’s Spirit. The things that come out of our mouth that defile this sanctuary cannot be erased—but they can be forgiven. We cannot take back the words that we give life to, but we can add other words of repentance, hope, love, compassion, and joy. If we continue to ask for God’s preparation in our lives, God’s inspiration will guide us toward more filling and creative lives.
After you cleanse the temple through this silent time of confession, think of what you might say to someone else in this congregation to build up the body of Christ in this congregation. Who have you been impressed by, who has deserved a congratulations? Who has needed encouragement? After church—tell that person what has been laid on your heart. If we think it and don’t say it, that stifles the movement of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be embarrassed! Build each other up—It is a mark of our baptism for our words to give grace to one another. For we are members—one of another! Amen!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Devotionals from Family Life Retreat
First Devotional--Interactive, go at your own pace movement through 5 stations which included these meditations:
Knowing who you are:
The book of Ephesians, chapter 4 states that while we are all on the same path toward glorifying God, we also walk that path in various ways. Around the room you’ll find different aspects of a building that represent these four gifts to the church as a whole. Visit the different stations and consider if any describe you. In order for us to “build the church” we need to know what it is that we bring to the building project.
Bricks. (Hold a brick in your hand as you read the following)
Bricks are strong and sturdy. They are uniform and fit well with one another. Bricks don’t get to choose where they go on the building, they just go where they are placed. The word apostle means “sent.” Perhaps your heart tells you that you glorify God best by going where you are sent. You may feel God is sending you to another country to help people. You may feel God sending you to the hospital to visit the sick. You may feel God sending you to the finance committee to volunteer as the church treasurer.
The point is that Apostles are constantly open to where God is sending them. Sometimes the job God is calling us to do does not seem all that glorious. It may be raking the leaves of an elderly person in the church, or mowing the pastor’s yard, or showing a new person around at school. But an apostle understands that anything is glorious that we are called to by God.
Devotion for brick/apostle—Sing or simply read the lyrics of “Here I am Lord.” How does that song speak through your life?
Blueprint. (Add a room to the blueprint in progress on the table) –Compass, protractor, eraser, etc. also fills the table.
Every building needs a blueprint. A blueprint guides the progress of a building. We have a great blueprint for the church in the Bible—but God also uses creative minds to interpret our scriptures for our particular context. Prophets are people to whom God chooses to reveal the blueprint for the Kingdom of God. Sometimes this involves speaking truth to power or living a life that is counter to the culture we usually unquestionably accept. Prophets have an eye on the blueprint and an eye on the world as it is. If we have been building without the use of the blueprint, our structure may be lopsided or structurally unsound or even dangerous. A prophet sometimes has to show where we need to correct our faults.
Devotion for Blueprint reader/Prophet—Elijah was a prophet who knew how to listen to God. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah goes to a cave to seek God. After an earthquake, fire, and hail, Elijah keeps listening for the voice of God because he didn’t hear it in any of those things. Then he hears the sound of sheer silence, and a “still, small voice” comes to him. Use the meditation tools
to quiet your mind so that you may focus on the still small voice that carries the blueprint of God.
Door—this station is either at a door.
“Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” is the motto of our denomination. Doors are passageways for people to walk through. Doors might be opened to find someone we don’t really expect, or even someone who may be unwelcome, such as a salesman, a Jehovah’s Witness, or someone unpopular. Some of us have probably experienced having a door literally or figuratively “slammed in our face.”
Evangelism is about opening the door to the church. It is about sharing God’s grace with others who may not know it. It is about sharing your story with others so that others may find some connection with the truth and grace of God.
Devotional for Door/Evangelist—With someone else, take turns being on either side of a door. First, go to the outside of the door and stand with your face as close as possible to the door as it is closed in your face. What does that feel like? Then go to the other side and open the door and help your partner through. What is the difference? Talk with your partner about your story of coming to church and why you think faith is important. Whom have you shut the door on in your life?
Window—this station is at a window.
Windows are important because they let the light into a building. Some windows can also be opened to let in the fresh air. The art and gift of teaching is a gift to the church because it lets in the light and sometimes the fresh air. Without teachers, a church becomes ignorant because it is not educated about itself or the world. Without teachers, a church becomes stuffy because it doesn’t let in the fresh winds of change which sometimes challenge us. Teachers are willing to pull back the drapes and let the light in. They are willing to open the windows and let the Holy Spirit come blowing in.
Devotional for Window/Teacher
Stained glass windows were meant to educate a church that was mostly illiterate in the Middle Ages. The windows told stories about the Bible and about the doctrines of the Church. Take the wax paper and crayolas and write or draw a representation of something you have learned in the church, then tape it in the window to create a stained glass window with other people’s contributions.
Alternative Station—This table has nails, shingles, wood, stone, other building materials.
The gifts of prophets, apostles, teachers, and evangelists are four mentioned in Ephesians, but they are by no means the only “walks of life” along the path toward the Kingdom. Perhaps none of these struck a chord in you. Are there other building materials that represent a calling that you feel? God gives us individual talents and lives. What represents your gifts as a member of the Household of God?
Examples: nails hold things together, wood provides a frame (perhaps a person whose family has been foundational in a church), stone reminds us of a solid foundation, or as a strong exterior, saw or awl shapes wood, gives fine detail, etc. etc.
Our second session focused on collaboration. Assigned groups were given a box full of odds and ends and asked to create something that signified our church. The creations were inventive and indeed reflective of who we are as a body of faith.
Our third sesion gave us three questions to answer individually. How has Jesus changed my life? Where is Christ found in my church? and Why would someone want to come to my church? The questions were intended to help us practice evangelism. We need to be able to relate to another person, in 3 minutes or less, why Christ is important to us, how Christ is made known through our church, and why someone should come to our church!
The three sessions were intended to be "building blocks" of the church. First, we should identify our gifts and how we might share those gifts with our family of faith. Secondly, we should learn how to work with others so that our gifts can have harmony with other's gifts. Third, we should all find a way to share our story with others so that they may come to know Jesus and share their gifts as we walk the faith together.
We had a great time and 72 people were in attendance. Pictures are below!
Knowing who you are:
The book of Ephesians, chapter 4 states that while we are all on the same path toward glorifying God, we also walk that path in various ways. Around the room you’ll find different aspects of a building that represent these four gifts to the church as a whole. Visit the different stations and consider if any describe you. In order for us to “build the church” we need to know what it is that we bring to the building project.
Bricks. (Hold a brick in your hand as you read the following)Bricks are strong and sturdy. They are uniform and fit well with one another. Bricks don’t get to choose where they go on the building, they just go where they are placed. The word apostle means “sent.” Perhaps your heart tells you that you glorify God best by going where you are sent. You may feel God is sending you to another country to help people. You may feel God sending you to the hospital to visit the sick. You may feel God sending you to the finance committee to volunteer as the church treasurer.
The point is that Apostles are constantly open to where God is sending them. Sometimes the job God is calling us to do does not seem all that glorious. It may be raking the leaves of an elderly person in the church, or mowing the pastor’s yard, or showing a new person around at school. But an apostle understands that anything is glorious that we are called to by God.
Devotion for brick/apostle—Sing or simply read the lyrics of “Here I am Lord.” How does that song speak through your life?
Blueprint. (Add a room to the blueprint in progress on the table) –Compass, protractor, eraser, etc. also fills the table.
Every building needs a blueprint. A blueprint guides the progress of a building. We have a great blueprint for the church in the Bible—but God also uses creative minds to interpret our scriptures for our particular context. Prophets are people to whom God chooses to reveal the blueprint for the Kingdom of God. Sometimes this involves speaking truth to power or living a life that is counter to the culture we usually unquestionably accept. Prophets have an eye on the blueprint and an eye on the world as it is. If we have been building without the use of the blueprint, our structure may be lopsided or structurally unsound or even dangerous. A prophet sometimes has to show where we need to correct our faults.
Devotion for Blueprint reader/Prophet—Elijah was a prophet who knew how to listen to God. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah goes to a cave to seek God. After an earthquake, fire, and hail, Elijah keeps listening for the voice of God because he didn’t hear it in any of those things. Then he hears the sound of sheer silence, and a “still, small voice” comes to him. Use the meditation tools
to quiet your mind so that you may focus on the still small voice that carries the blueprint of God.
Door—this station is either at a door.
“Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” is the motto of our denomination. Doors are passageways for people to walk through. Doors might be opened to find someone we don’t really expect, or even someone who may be unwelcome, such as a salesman, a Jehovah’s Witness, or someone unpopular. Some of us have probably experienced having a door literally or figuratively “slammed in our face.”
Evangelism is about opening the door to the church. It is about sharing God’s grace with others who may not know it. It is about sharing your story with others so that others may find some connection with the truth and grace of God.
Devotional for Door/Evangelist—With someone else, take turns being on either side of a door. First, go to the outside of the door and stand with your face as close as possible to the door as it is closed in your face. What does that feel like? Then go to the other side and open the door and help your partner through. What is the difference? Talk with your partner about your story of coming to church and why you think faith is important. Whom have you shut the door on in your life?
Window—this station is at a window.Windows are important because they let the light into a building. Some windows can also be opened to let in the fresh air. The art and gift of teaching is a gift to the church because it lets in the light and sometimes the fresh air. Without teachers, a church becomes ignorant because it is not educated about itself or the world. Without teachers, a church becomes stuffy because it doesn’t let in the fresh winds of change which sometimes challenge us. Teachers are willing to pull back the drapes and let the light in. They are willing to open the windows and let the Holy Spirit come blowing in.
Devotional for Window/Teacher
Stained glass windows were meant to educate a church that was mostly illiterate in the Middle Ages. The windows told stories about the Bible and about the doctrines of the Church. Take the wax paper and crayolas and write or draw a representation of something you have learned in the church, then tape it in the window to create a stained glass window with other people’s contributions.
Alternative Station—This table has nails, shingles, wood, stone, other building materials.The gifts of prophets, apostles, teachers, and evangelists are four mentioned in Ephesians, but they are by no means the only “walks of life” along the path toward the Kingdom. Perhaps none of these struck a chord in you. Are there other building materials that represent a calling that you feel? God gives us individual talents and lives. What represents your gifts as a member of the Household of God?
Examples: nails hold things together, wood provides a frame (perhaps a person whose family has been foundational in a church), stone reminds us of a solid foundation, or as a strong exterior, saw or awl shapes wood, gives fine detail, etc. etc.
Our second session focused on collaboration. Assigned groups were given a box full of odds and ends and asked to create something that signified our church. The creations were inventive and indeed reflective of who we are as a body of faith.
Our third sesion gave us three questions to answer individually. How has Jesus changed my life? Where is Christ found in my church? and Why would someone want to come to my church? The questions were intended to help us practice evangelism. We need to be able to relate to another person, in 3 minutes or less, why Christ is important to us, how Christ is made known through our church, and why someone should come to our church!
The three sessions were intended to be "building blocks" of the church. First, we should identify our gifts and how we might share those gifts with our family of faith. Secondly, we should learn how to work with others so that our gifts can have harmony with other's gifts. Third, we should all find a way to share our story with others so that they may come to know Jesus and share their gifts as we walk the faith together.
We had a great time and 72 people were in attendance. Pictures are below!
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