This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on October 28, 2007, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Something I haven’t mentioned about Luke’s gospel in a long time is that it was the gospel for the city people of God. Mark’s gospel was first and written for the Palestinian masses. Matthew’s gospel was written second and was intended to be read and studied by Christ worshiping Jews. Luke’s gospel, the third of the gospels written, was intended for a more sophisticated, more educated audience. Luke’s gospel was for the Greeks and the Romans, the learned cultured city people. Where the first two were written in the Greek of the small town, Luke’s was written in a more formal language. Not quite the formal Greek of Socrates or Plato, but more formal than the other gospels. We might see it as the difference between the “Good News” or the “New Living” translations of the bible compared to the King James version. Luke’s is the hoidy toidy gospel.
The first time praying is mentioned in Luke’s gospel is when Zacharias was told by the messenger that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, the man who would be known as John the Baptist. There are seven more times when Luke talks specifically about Jesus praying. Jesus prays when he is baptized. He prays on the mountainside. He prays for himself. He prays for his disciples. He prays for the church. He prays for you and me. He prays in seclusion. He prays with others. He prays in the garden. And as he prays in the garden sweat drops from his brow like great drops of blood.
Our reading today is one of the five times that Jesus teaches about praying. Other times include the Lord’s Prayer, the story of the Widow and the Unjust Judge, Jesus denouncing the way the Scribes pray, Jesus telling the masses to pray for those who abuse them, and today’s lesson, Jesus describing the praying of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
So given these bits of the history of the canon and this lexicon of Lukan praying scripture, I want you to know something special about Luke’s gospel. There are more stories about praying in Luke’s gospel than in all of the other gospels combined.[1] Even John’s gospel, the most ethereal, the most spiritual of the gospels; doesn’t mention prayer or praying even once. But the city Gospel, the Gospel written by the good physician, Luke has thirteen different praying stories. So it seems to me, that the writers and editors and translators of Luke’s gospel thought praying is of great importance for the people receiving this message of the Good News.
Let me say that again, in my opinion, the writers and editors and translators of Luke’s gospel thought praying is of great importance for the people receiving this message of the Good News. Ordinarily you might expect me to say that Jesus though praying was important. And of course, this is true. You might also have expected me to say that Luke thought prayer was important. And I believe this is true too. But what I said, what I meant is that praying, prayer, is important for the people of God. Praying is so important that Luke included thirteen stories about prayers being offered or when praying is discussed.
And when you would look at the gospels and their intended audiences, compared to the other gospels, Luke’s Gospel would be the one directed toward Americans in general, and I believe Presbyterians in particular.
Prayer is important to the body of Christ called Presbyterians too. The Book of Order, the second part of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) contains some form of the word “pray” over 200 times.[2]
“Prayer is at the heart of worship. In prayer, through the Holy Spirit, people seek after and are found by the one true God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. They listen and wait upon God, call God by name, remember God’s gracious acts, and offer themselves to God. Prayer may be spoken, sung, offered in silence, or enacted. Prayer grows out of the center of a person’s life in response to the Spirit. Prayer is shaped by the Word of God in Scripture and by the life of the community of faith. Prayer issues in commitment to join God’s work in the world.”[3]
“In prayer we respond to God in many ways. In adoration we praise God for who God is. In thanksgiving we express gratitude for what God has done. In confession we acknowledge repentance for what we as individuals and as a people have done or left undone. In supplication we plead for ourselves and the gathered community. In intercession we plead for others, on behalf of others, and for the whole world. In self-dedication we offer ourselves to the purpose and glory of God.”[4]
There is even a liturgy for a service of daily prayer. In this service, “Prayers may be spoken, sung, enacted, and offered in silence. Daily prayer affords a unique opportunity for silence and meditation in community. Prayer in all its dimensions should be offered with special attention to the public and personal concerns of the community.” [5]
All of this comes out of the Book of Order. I think we’re on to something here.
Here, Luke gives us a picture of prayer. In this reading, praying is done in public, aloud, as a part of the service of worship. The usual manner of prayer in the temple was standing, with arms outstretched and palms raised and eyes uplifted.[6] Many prayers were offered as call-and-response, like we do with our Call to Worship. And as we do with our Call to Worship, these prayers were often taken from the Psalms.
But the two men praying in this parable are outside of the ordinary in the temple. One, the Pharisee, is all too glad to thank God that he was not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like the tax collector. He then tells God, and all who are there to hear him, that he meets the temple requirements for fasting and tithing.
I bet it was a joy to share a pew with him.
The first unusual piece of this reading is that the man is standing by himself. This is odd because separating himself from the assembly; he separates himself from the people of God. Then again, that seems to be the idea of his prayer, he is separate from the heathen masses who have come to the temple. He is different; he should separate himself from the masses.
But this isn’t the only unusual thing about his prayer. Other translations say “he stood up and prayed about himself” where our translation said “standing by himself, he was praying.”[7] This is one of those hinky little translation things that I say pop up in the Greek from time to time. Translating the passage this way, he does not separate himself from the masses. On the contrary, he stands right in the middle of the people and he prays out loud “God, I thank you that I am not like these clowns. I do as you command.”
Then the Tax Collector prays in an unusual way. He’s standing far away from the assembly. He isn’t looking up. His hands are wrapped around him, even beating his chest. And he prays a prayer of humble sincerity. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Jesus then reminds the world that the first will be last and the last will be first. All who exalt themselves, lift themselves up, will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted. If we want our rewards while on earth that’s one choice; but that’s it. Like the rich man and Lazarus from a couple of weeks ago, those who seek life through themselves will get the good life, but those who humble themselves before the Lord God will receive the gift of eternal life.
In the end though, we must be warned against something very seductive in reading this passage. It is tempting to say that we’re glad that we are nothing like this Pharisee. We know our limitations. We know that we must be humble before the Lord. We have to take our needs to the mercy seat of God. But it’s tempting to say, “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee. Thank God I’m not like that clown. I do as you command.” But beware; when we do that, we use the same words that the Pharisee uses to condemn himself.
Instead, we need to use the words the Tax Collector might have used that very day. The words of Psalm 65, the words we used in our Call to Worship:
To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come,
because of their transgressions.
Our sins are stronger than we are,
but you will blot them out.
We are called to pray. We are called to pray alone. We are called to pray in groups. We are called to pray in the assembly. We are called to pray at home. We are called to pray in silence, in spoken word, and in song. We are called to pray in quiet meditation. We are called to pray in action. We are called to pray without ceasing; our life is to be lived as a constant prayer. We pray for your mercy, O Lord. We pray for your strength and your protection. We pray for your grace. And above all, we pray with arms out stretched and palms up lifted, our eyes toward heaven and we give thanks for your Son Jesus Christ, through whom this has all ready been accomplished.
[1] Using BibleWorks to search the gospels for verb forms of “I pray,” I found six stories in Matthew’s and in Mark’s gospels and none in John’s. Luke’s gospel has thirteen praying stories.
[2] Adobe search of the word “pray” allowing for partial word hits in the PDF form of The Book of Order, Part II of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 2007-2009 Edition. The Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Louisville, Kentucky, 2007.
[3] Ibid. W-2.1001
[4] Ibid. W-2.1002
[5] Ibid. W-3.4003
[6] “My Bad,” Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93040341 accessed August 20, 2007.
[7] Among other translations, the New International Version renders this verse “prayed about himself” and the New American Standard Bible renders this verse “he was praying this to himself.”
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
All
Today we celebrated Gideon Sunday at First Presbyterian Chruch in Berryville, Arkansas, so today I post a sermon from the archives. This sermon was delivered on the July 16, 2006, the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. This is the sermon I preached after returning from the "Hope of the Church" conference in Montreat, North Carolina, July 2006.
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12-19
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Friends, please excuse me, these are ramblings of a man that has had too much time to think about the happenings of the PC (USA) over the last month or so. Dealings with the denomination have been on my mind, seriously on my mind, and I want to share some of them with you.
“The Banner” is the newsletter of the Arkansas Presbytery. In the June edition, published before the General Assembly met last month, the Reverend Bill Branch, who is in essence the Pastor to the Presbytery, writes, “In thirty-six years of in the pastorate I can count on the fingers of one hand and still have four fingers left over the number of people who left churches that I served because of something the PCUSA did or didn’t do.”
In his book, Jesus, Homosexuality, and the Bible, Explode the Myths, Heal the Church, former moderator of the PC (USA) General Assembly the Reverend Jack Rogers, recounts a story of a church where he was serving as pastor where a young man, and several others, left the church because of an action of the session, namely not becoming affiliated with the “More Light” movement of Presbyterians, a group dedicated to the ordination of gays and lesbians.
About three years ago, a church in Mission Presbytery, a Texas Presbytery that ranges from El Paso to Austin to Corpus Christi to Brownsville lost a congregation because of what the congregation deemed the presbytery’s and denomination’s slide into impiety, specifically because of the issue of ordination of gays and lesbians.
In his article, Reverend Branch says people leave congregations, not denominations. Reverend Rogers and Mission Presbytery beg to take his assertion one step further, people do leave congregations, and they leave denominations.
That’s the joy of using anecdotes, stories and examples, to try to prove points; you can always find the rule and its exception. In cases like this one though, it is difficult to decipher which is the rule, and which is the exception.
Others don’t have that difficulty. In a recent posting on their website, the Presbyterian Lay Committee has deemed the church apostate because of actions taken by the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago. If you are not familiar with the word (and I wasn’t until a couple of years ago), as a noun apostate means “a disloyal being who betrays or deserts a cause or religion or political party or friend. As an adjective it means one who is not faithful to a cause or religion or political party or friend. One of the indications of apostasy is that the denomination did not put a stop to the ordination of gays and lesbians immediately.
But fear not, on the other far end of the political spectrum are those who also consider the church to have left the will of the Lord in the realm of social justice. A fellow seminarian who I saw at a conference last week told me that there were some at General Assembly who were upset with the church because it did not repeal a part of the Book of Order that deals with ordination of gays and lesbians. Many at the conference who agreed with this point of view revived a call of racial inequality from the 1960’s, “no justice, no peace.”
Some are willing to leave the PC (USA) because one clause in the Book of Order is not strongly enforced. Others are willing to leave because it is not repealed. In the end, some are willing to leave.
About ten days ago, I attended a conference in Montreat, North Carolina. One of the many speakers, The Reverend David Dobler from Anchorage, Alaska had this reaction to the last General Assembly. He said that the bulk of our pastoral care in the next few years will be done in a time of schism in the church. It will be a difficult time.
Another speaker, Eileen Lindner, an elder from a church in New Jersey, agreed with this opinion, with a caveat. She told the congregation that about every five hundred years, the church faces major upheaval and reform. It happened in the late fourth century with Constantine and the writing of the Nicene Creed. It came again in the eleventh century as the church separated between Constantinople and Rome—the Orthodox verses the Roman wings of the church. Of course the sixteenth century brought about the protestant reformation. Her take on the situation of the church, yes it will be a difficult time. There will be great upheaval in the church, and it will happen like it has every five hundred years or so like clockwork.
So we can probably look forward to great upheaval in the church, the kind of upheaval that we probably won’t recognize fully because of the good ole matter of not seeing the forest for the trees.
The moderator of the General Assembly and the Stated Clerk of the PC (USA) of the denomination have asked this letter be read in worship:
June 25, 2006
To Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Lectionary Psalm for today is Psalm 133: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”
As the 217th General Assembly met together in Birmingham, it was remarkable to see Presbyterians from north, south, east, and west gathered together to discern the mind of Christ for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We witnessed the work of the Spirit in and through the assembly, giving us a glimpse of our visible oneness in Jesus Christ. We give thanks that the assembly theme, “So Great a Cloud of Witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) permeated the community of faith within the convention center.
In this meeting, we saw commissioners and advisory delegates living out in word and deed their deep commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, their passion to be living expressions of Christ’s love to the world, and their eagerness to be a part of the future God intends for the PC(USA). We experienced the Presbyterian process of doing things at its best. We observed people working fairly and treating each other graciously.
This assembly dealt with hundreds of items, and a few made headlines across the country. Most likely, you have read or will read about the assembly’s actions from a number of sources over the next many days and weeks, but we want you to hear about this important gathering directly from the General Assembly. That is why we are writing this letter to you.
We know of three particular decisions that made immediate headlines. Here is what the assembly did with each of them:
--Israel/Palestine issues: This General Assembly acknowledged that the actions of the 2004 assembly caused hurt and misunderstanding among some Presbyterians and our Jewish neighbors. However, this assembly did not rescind the previous action on divestment. Divestment is still an option, but not the goal. Instead, this assembly broadened the focus to corporate engagement to ensure that the church’s financial investments do not support violence of any kind in the region.
--Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church: With the approval of this report, the assembly did not alter our historic standards for ordination. However, it did make clear that more responsibility is to be exercised by sessions and presbyteries regarding the examination of candidates for ordination. By an overwhelming majority, the assembly also affirmed our covenantal partnership, our common theological roots, and the need for prayer in Christian communities as we make decisions.
--The Trinity: The assembly received a paper that affirms “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” as the church’s primary language for the Trinity. The paper also lifts up other biblical images of the Trinity for study and use in worship.
We hope, over the months ahead, you will hear about the other items that did not make headlines— new church development, Christian education, evangelism, older adult ministries, homelessness, globalization, international mission, multicultural issues, disability awareness, and military chaplains, to name a few.
It was obvious to us that this assembly, like the church, had deep differences on a number of issues. But, the longer we were together, the more we realized how much we have in common in Jesus Christ—and the more we realized we need one another.
The unity we seek for the church—and the unity we experienced at the assembly—is not just about coming to an agreement. It is also about being with each other in the healthy struggle to discern God’s will. It was that healthy struggle we witnessed at the assembly, and in that struggle we were blessed. God’s Spirit was with us. Not everyone will like what the commissioners did, but the spirit coming out of the assembly was something we think will be a blessing to the whole church.
Indeed, we are convinced that God has a future for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We invite you to join us as we move with renewed enthusiasm to doing God’s work in the world.
Yours in Christ,
The Reverend Joan S. Gray, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and The Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Indeed, the two top leaders of the denomination are convinced that God has a place for the PC (USA) in the future. But not everyone shares this opinion. Michael Walker, a self described conservative, evangelical Presbyterian asked a pastor friend what he would say to his congregation about to the actions of the General Assembly. This is his friend’s response:
“In some sense that’s a peculiar question, because I’m an evangelical. What I will do Sunday is what I do every Sunday: preach the Gospel. The Gospel’s central themes are well known, its details being spelled out in Holy Scripture, the text from which we read and preach week after week. It’s about a creation gone awry, a God whose capacity to love and forgive exceeds our capacity to sin and rebel, and a hope for a glorious future where there is no more crying and no more dying – all revealed to us in the work and person of Jesus Christ. In one sense, [the acceptance of the Peace, Unity, Purity Report has] very little impact on what I’ll preach on Sunday. Misguided decisions of ecclesial assemblies don’t do anything to diminish or obscure God’s victory over sin, death and the devil.
But from another perspective, in all honesty, I suppose recent events will have something to do with how I approach things on Sunday. It’s not as if the Gospel has undergone any fundamental change. Jesus doesn’t change. We know this because of the constancy of God’s Word and the presence of God’s Spirit. But the context into which we speak these great truths has changed and is always changing. So what’s the word for this time and place?
The church is sinful but God is faithful. In the midst of corruption, deception, and confusion in the Church, which at times like this seems as Babylonian as the world, the Gospel lifts high the cross. The cross judges all human sin and subterfuge, whether in the Church or in the world. It is God’s word to our confused and broken church. But it is not the last word. There is another word, equally abiding but much more hopeful. There is the word of the resurrection. Many of us are as confused, afraid and despairing as that original band of disciples first faced with the loss of the Master. The risen Christ speaks the same word to us as to them. He shares his peace and bids us not to fear. He is with us now and to the end of the age.
Friends, I do not agree with the writer’s view on ordination of gay and lesbian members of the church. I believe so strongly in the sovereignty of God that I cannot deny the Lord the opportunity to call homosexual members of the assembly into the kingdom’s service. But I do agree with this pastor’s expression about who God is and who we are. I preach the word to creation, and oh yes, I am a part of that creation, creation gone awry. God forgives more than we can rebel. God is constant and God’s Holy Spirit is ever present. This is about God being God and us being us. We are the servants of the Lord and are called to be obedient.
Some groups within the PC (USA) think they have the market cornered on obedience. These groups are both conservative and liberal and I believe neither is completely wrong, nor completely right. God does not change, but how we understand God does; this is the root of the phrase that the church is reformed and always reforming.
The issues I have discussed in this sermon have been an issue of the PC (USA) for over forty years, nearly all of my life. It would have been naive of anyone to think that one silly report would be able to end this strife. Thank God the task force members were under no such delusions.
I took the long way to get here, but our message for today comes directly from Psalm 24, our call to worship. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it, for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.” The church belongs to the Lord, and I do not mean the denomination, I do not mean the PC (USA). The church, the Body of Christ belongs to the Lord and I praise God that the denomination is a part of the body. The psalm asks, “And who is this glorious Sovereign? The Lord, the Lord of hosts is the glorious sovereign.” We must listen to this sovereign the same way that Herod listened to John. It is not always comfortable, but we still are compelled to listen. The church is not apostate, we are not apostate, and those who believe the exact opposite are not apostate. We must learn to live with one another, especially those we do not agree with.
We are called to take the Word into the world; this is the heart of evangelism. We take God’s word to young children in school supplies. We take God’s peace and care to New Orleans and the world. We take God’s peace and God’s healing to a hospital room in Springfield—and to the family and friends of the young man who recuperates there.
We are at our worst when we hold ourselves above others in the church. When will we learn that it is how we love, not who we love? We are best when we behave like the world is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. All—it’s quite a thing to say all. As long as we behave like the world is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, we can treat one another like our Lord treats us, with peace, and dignity, and love.
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12-19
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Friends, please excuse me, these are ramblings of a man that has had too much time to think about the happenings of the PC (USA) over the last month or so. Dealings with the denomination have been on my mind, seriously on my mind, and I want to share some of them with you.
“The Banner” is the newsletter of the Arkansas Presbytery. In the June edition, published before the General Assembly met last month, the Reverend Bill Branch, who is in essence the Pastor to the Presbytery, writes, “In thirty-six years of in the pastorate I can count on the fingers of one hand and still have four fingers left over the number of people who left churches that I served because of something the PCUSA did or didn’t do.”
In his book, Jesus, Homosexuality, and the Bible, Explode the Myths, Heal the Church, former moderator of the PC (USA) General Assembly the Reverend Jack Rogers, recounts a story of a church where he was serving as pastor where a young man, and several others, left the church because of an action of the session, namely not becoming affiliated with the “More Light” movement of Presbyterians, a group dedicated to the ordination of gays and lesbians.
About three years ago, a church in Mission Presbytery, a Texas Presbytery that ranges from El Paso to Austin to Corpus Christi to Brownsville lost a congregation because of what the congregation deemed the presbytery’s and denomination’s slide into impiety, specifically because of the issue of ordination of gays and lesbians.
In his article, Reverend Branch says people leave congregations, not denominations. Reverend Rogers and Mission Presbytery beg to take his assertion one step further, people do leave congregations, and they leave denominations.
That’s the joy of using anecdotes, stories and examples, to try to prove points; you can always find the rule and its exception. In cases like this one though, it is difficult to decipher which is the rule, and which is the exception.
Others don’t have that difficulty. In a recent posting on their website, the Presbyterian Lay Committee has deemed the church apostate because of actions taken by the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago. If you are not familiar with the word (and I wasn’t until a couple of years ago), as a noun apostate means “a disloyal being who betrays or deserts a cause or religion or political party or friend. As an adjective it means one who is not faithful to a cause or religion or political party or friend. One of the indications of apostasy is that the denomination did not put a stop to the ordination of gays and lesbians immediately.
But fear not, on the other far end of the political spectrum are those who also consider the church to have left the will of the Lord in the realm of social justice. A fellow seminarian who I saw at a conference last week told me that there were some at General Assembly who were upset with the church because it did not repeal a part of the Book of Order that deals with ordination of gays and lesbians. Many at the conference who agreed with this point of view revived a call of racial inequality from the 1960’s, “no justice, no peace.”
Some are willing to leave the PC (USA) because one clause in the Book of Order is not strongly enforced. Others are willing to leave because it is not repealed. In the end, some are willing to leave.
About ten days ago, I attended a conference in Montreat, North Carolina. One of the many speakers, The Reverend David Dobler from Anchorage, Alaska had this reaction to the last General Assembly. He said that the bulk of our pastoral care in the next few years will be done in a time of schism in the church. It will be a difficult time.
Another speaker, Eileen Lindner, an elder from a church in New Jersey, agreed with this opinion, with a caveat. She told the congregation that about every five hundred years, the church faces major upheaval and reform. It happened in the late fourth century with Constantine and the writing of the Nicene Creed. It came again in the eleventh century as the church separated between Constantinople and Rome—the Orthodox verses the Roman wings of the church. Of course the sixteenth century brought about the protestant reformation. Her take on the situation of the church, yes it will be a difficult time. There will be great upheaval in the church, and it will happen like it has every five hundred years or so like clockwork.
So we can probably look forward to great upheaval in the church, the kind of upheaval that we probably won’t recognize fully because of the good ole matter of not seeing the forest for the trees.
The moderator of the General Assembly and the Stated Clerk of the PC (USA) of the denomination have asked this letter be read in worship:
June 25, 2006
To Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Lectionary Psalm for today is Psalm 133: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”
As the 217th General Assembly met together in Birmingham, it was remarkable to see Presbyterians from north, south, east, and west gathered together to discern the mind of Christ for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We witnessed the work of the Spirit in and through the assembly, giving us a glimpse of our visible oneness in Jesus Christ. We give thanks that the assembly theme, “So Great a Cloud of Witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) permeated the community of faith within the convention center.
In this meeting, we saw commissioners and advisory delegates living out in word and deed their deep commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, their passion to be living expressions of Christ’s love to the world, and their eagerness to be a part of the future God intends for the PC(USA). We experienced the Presbyterian process of doing things at its best. We observed people working fairly and treating each other graciously.
This assembly dealt with hundreds of items, and a few made headlines across the country. Most likely, you have read or will read about the assembly’s actions from a number of sources over the next many days and weeks, but we want you to hear about this important gathering directly from the General Assembly. That is why we are writing this letter to you.
We know of three particular decisions that made immediate headlines. Here is what the assembly did with each of them:
--Israel/Palestine issues: This General Assembly acknowledged that the actions of the 2004 assembly caused hurt and misunderstanding among some Presbyterians and our Jewish neighbors. However, this assembly did not rescind the previous action on divestment. Divestment is still an option, but not the goal. Instead, this assembly broadened the focus to corporate engagement to ensure that the church’s financial investments do not support violence of any kind in the region.
--Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church: With the approval of this report, the assembly did not alter our historic standards for ordination. However, it did make clear that more responsibility is to be exercised by sessions and presbyteries regarding the examination of candidates for ordination. By an overwhelming majority, the assembly also affirmed our covenantal partnership, our common theological roots, and the need for prayer in Christian communities as we make decisions.
--The Trinity: The assembly received a paper that affirms “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” as the church’s primary language for the Trinity. The paper also lifts up other biblical images of the Trinity for study and use in worship.
We hope, over the months ahead, you will hear about the other items that did not make headlines— new church development, Christian education, evangelism, older adult ministries, homelessness, globalization, international mission, multicultural issues, disability awareness, and military chaplains, to name a few.
It was obvious to us that this assembly, like the church, had deep differences on a number of issues. But, the longer we were together, the more we realized how much we have in common in Jesus Christ—and the more we realized we need one another.
The unity we seek for the church—and the unity we experienced at the assembly—is not just about coming to an agreement. It is also about being with each other in the healthy struggle to discern God’s will. It was that healthy struggle we witnessed at the assembly, and in that struggle we were blessed. God’s Spirit was with us. Not everyone will like what the commissioners did, but the spirit coming out of the assembly was something we think will be a blessing to the whole church.
Indeed, we are convinced that God has a future for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We invite you to join us as we move with renewed enthusiasm to doing God’s work in the world.
Yours in Christ,
The Reverend Joan S. Gray, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and The Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Indeed, the two top leaders of the denomination are convinced that God has a place for the PC (USA) in the future. But not everyone shares this opinion. Michael Walker, a self described conservative, evangelical Presbyterian asked a pastor friend what he would say to his congregation about to the actions of the General Assembly. This is his friend’s response:
“In some sense that’s a peculiar question, because I’m an evangelical. What I will do Sunday is what I do every Sunday: preach the Gospel. The Gospel’s central themes are well known, its details being spelled out in Holy Scripture, the text from which we read and preach week after week. It’s about a creation gone awry, a God whose capacity to love and forgive exceeds our capacity to sin and rebel, and a hope for a glorious future where there is no more crying and no more dying – all revealed to us in the work and person of Jesus Christ. In one sense, [the acceptance of the Peace, Unity, Purity Report has] very little impact on what I’ll preach on Sunday. Misguided decisions of ecclesial assemblies don’t do anything to diminish or obscure God’s victory over sin, death and the devil.
But from another perspective, in all honesty, I suppose recent events will have something to do with how I approach things on Sunday. It’s not as if the Gospel has undergone any fundamental change. Jesus doesn’t change. We know this because of the constancy of God’s Word and the presence of God’s Spirit. But the context into which we speak these great truths has changed and is always changing. So what’s the word for this time and place?
The church is sinful but God is faithful. In the midst of corruption, deception, and confusion in the Church, which at times like this seems as Babylonian as the world, the Gospel lifts high the cross. The cross judges all human sin and subterfuge, whether in the Church or in the world. It is God’s word to our confused and broken church. But it is not the last word. There is another word, equally abiding but much more hopeful. There is the word of the resurrection. Many of us are as confused, afraid and despairing as that original band of disciples first faced with the loss of the Master. The risen Christ speaks the same word to us as to them. He shares his peace and bids us not to fear. He is with us now and to the end of the age.
Friends, I do not agree with the writer’s view on ordination of gay and lesbian members of the church. I believe so strongly in the sovereignty of God that I cannot deny the Lord the opportunity to call homosexual members of the assembly into the kingdom’s service. But I do agree with this pastor’s expression about who God is and who we are. I preach the word to creation, and oh yes, I am a part of that creation, creation gone awry. God forgives more than we can rebel. God is constant and God’s Holy Spirit is ever present. This is about God being God and us being us. We are the servants of the Lord and are called to be obedient.
Some groups within the PC (USA) think they have the market cornered on obedience. These groups are both conservative and liberal and I believe neither is completely wrong, nor completely right. God does not change, but how we understand God does; this is the root of the phrase that the church is reformed and always reforming.
The issues I have discussed in this sermon have been an issue of the PC (USA) for over forty years, nearly all of my life. It would have been naive of anyone to think that one silly report would be able to end this strife. Thank God the task force members were under no such delusions.
I took the long way to get here, but our message for today comes directly from Psalm 24, our call to worship. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it, for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.” The church belongs to the Lord, and I do not mean the denomination, I do not mean the PC (USA). The church, the Body of Christ belongs to the Lord and I praise God that the denomination is a part of the body. The psalm asks, “And who is this glorious Sovereign? The Lord, the Lord of hosts is the glorious sovereign.” We must listen to this sovereign the same way that Herod listened to John. It is not always comfortable, but we still are compelled to listen. The church is not apostate, we are not apostate, and those who believe the exact opposite are not apostate. We must learn to live with one another, especially those we do not agree with.
We are called to take the Word into the world; this is the heart of evangelism. We take God’s word to young children in school supplies. We take God’s peace and care to New Orleans and the world. We take God’s peace and God’s healing to a hospital room in Springfield—and to the family and friends of the young man who recuperates there.
We are at our worst when we hold ourselves above others in the church. When will we learn that it is how we love, not who we love? We are best when we behave like the world is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. All—it’s quite a thing to say all. As long as we behave like the world is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, we can treat one another like our Lord treats us, with peace, and dignity, and love.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Give Thanks
This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 14, 2007.
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-12
2Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In English and creative writing classes, teachers encourage students to learn and use synonyms. By using a word that means the same thing as another word, a writer can add a little spice to an essay or a story. Some words add a little nuance that others lack. So using synonyms adds color, texture to a piece that is missing if you use the same word over and over again.
For example a word that I have used six times so far, is word. Make that seven. If I had used the word (and that makes eight) expression it would have meant the same thing, but would have added a little flair. If I had used utterance it would have changed the meaning because an utterance is a spoken word. Speech is another synonym that I could have used, but that would throw even more of a curve ball into the mix because speech can mean either the ability to speak or a speech can be a whole bunch of words connected together by a theme or a concept.[1] When using synonyms, great care has to be taken because the wrong word can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Meanings can be added or lost.
On the other hand, some words that seem synonymous aren’t. This is what happened to me with this gospel reading. This passage, the healing of the ten lepers, is well known. Ten are healed, one returns to give thanks, Jesus asks questions he doesn’t expect anyone to answer, and the one who returned is told to go. But this “Reader’s Digest Condensed Version” lacks the full expression of the language. When I first looked at this reading, I thought the phrases “were made clean,” “was healed,” and “made you well” pretty much meant the same thing. But they don’t, not in this story. In this narrative, these phrases that seem to be synonymous aren’t at all.
Let’s pick up the story from the fourteenth verse: “When Jesus saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” Luke very specifically uses the phrase “were made clean.” There’s a lot going on in this little phrase. The first thing it says is that they did not make themselves clean. They did not hop in the shower with soap and shampoo. The verb here is passive, they were made clean. They did not make themselves clean, they were made clean by something else, or more correctly someone else.
There is an even deeper meaning to this “being made clean.” This cleaning includes the ritual cleansing necessary so that the lepers could present themselves to the priests.[2] And since the approval of the priest was necessary before a leper could rejoin polite society, this was an important step. This cleaning is what makes them right with the community and allows them to resume their lives.
Continuing at verse 15, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back.” In the church setting, when we think of being made clean, we think of being healed, but Luke was careful to use two different verbs in these two verses. The word used in this verse speaks to the physical aspects of the healing.[3] The leper noticed that the skin rash that had made him unclean and exiled him from society had vanished. Physical healing had been accomplished. Of course, this physical healing would have had to precede going to the priest who would declare that the leper had been made clean physically and ritually.
Let’s skip to the last verse of our reading, after the single leper turns back to Jesus praising God with a loud voice. “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’” This seems pretty straight forward in English, made well is like physically healed and even like being made ritually clean. But the people who heard this story in the first century would have heard even more. Because of the word Jesus used, they would have heard that the man was free of disease, and more that he had been saved from death. Even more than physical death, the word Jesus used here meant that the man had been saved from spiritual death.[4] The word used here is the one used for saves, as in Jesus saves. Jesus told this man, this former leper, this Samaritan, his faith has saved him.
Jesus heals us; Jesus takes from us the unclean things that we absorb into our bodies and our lives and makes us clean, holy, and presentable. Still there is more to our healing.
Something theologians say over and over again is that we are saved by grace through faith. What this means to me is that God freely gives us the gift of grace. We are the recipients of a gift that we could never purchase. We cannot earn the gift of grace; we can never seize the gift of grace. We can’t even guilt the Lord into giving this wonderful gift; it can only be given freely and lovingly. But by our faithful response to this glorious generous gift of God’s grace, we accept the relationship Jesus offers and become partners with the Lord in his ministry.
The ten lepers all received Jesus’ freely given gift. By this gift, their bodies were healed and they were allowed to return to their lives. But one of them, just one of them, the dreaded Samaritan, turned and gave thanks to Jesus for the healing he received. And by his response, his faith, he alone was saved. This one Samaritan leper was saved by grace through his faith, a faith shown in the act of turning from his new life and returning to Jesus and loudly giving thanks to God.
We are called to do as this man has done. We are called to turn from our daily lives and give thanks for the grace and the peace and the bounty that is ours through the gifts of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that life will always be easy or pleasant; there are times of trial. There will be times when we will be like the lepers, needing the word of the Lord to heal us, to restore us. There will be times when we are shunned like a leper, or even worse, like a Samaritan leper, the outsider among outsiders. But the word of the Lord is always present with us. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is always with us and calls us to respond faithfully.
Faithful response comes in many ways. Today we come together and share the joy of welcoming two new faces to this part of the body of Christ. Today Leah[5] faithfully responds to the call of the Lord joining this congregation, this part of the body of Christ. Today we as the congregation will faithfully respond by welcoming Leah.
Today we will celebrate one of the most joyful events in the life of the church; today through the grace of God we celebrate the baptism of Leah’s daughter Tasha. In baptism, we, the entire church of God throughout creation, welcome Tasha into the family of God. Today we as the people of God will also respond by telling Leah and Tasha that God and God’s people are present in their lives too.
There is joy and celebration in these glorious events. And by the grace of God freely given, and our faithful response to this grace, we are made well. We are saved. We are called to faithfully respond in many ways. We are called to respond with our time. We are called to respond with our talents. And yes, we are called to respond with our tithes. But right now, let us joyfully turn back to Jesus and offer God the sacrifice of praise with a loud voice. Alleluia! Amen!
[1] The MicrosoftWord 2003 Thesaurus lists the words expression, utterance, and speech as synonyms for word.
[2] Translation to “katharitzow,” A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Earlly Christian Literature, Third Edition. Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F.Arndt, F.W.Gingrich, and F.W.Danker. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2000, electronic version in BibleWorks, version 7.0.019b.4, 2007.
[3] Translation to “iaomai,” Ibid.
[4] Translation to “sosow,” Ibid..
[5] The names have been changed
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-12
2Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In English and creative writing classes, teachers encourage students to learn and use synonyms. By using a word that means the same thing as another word, a writer can add a little spice to an essay or a story. Some words add a little nuance that others lack. So using synonyms adds color, texture to a piece that is missing if you use the same word over and over again.
For example a word that I have used six times so far, is word. Make that seven. If I had used the word (and that makes eight) expression it would have meant the same thing, but would have added a little flair. If I had used utterance it would have changed the meaning because an utterance is a spoken word. Speech is another synonym that I could have used, but that would throw even more of a curve ball into the mix because speech can mean either the ability to speak or a speech can be a whole bunch of words connected together by a theme or a concept.[1] When using synonyms, great care has to be taken because the wrong word can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Meanings can be added or lost.
On the other hand, some words that seem synonymous aren’t. This is what happened to me with this gospel reading. This passage, the healing of the ten lepers, is well known. Ten are healed, one returns to give thanks, Jesus asks questions he doesn’t expect anyone to answer, and the one who returned is told to go. But this “Reader’s Digest Condensed Version” lacks the full expression of the language. When I first looked at this reading, I thought the phrases “were made clean,” “was healed,” and “made you well” pretty much meant the same thing. But they don’t, not in this story. In this narrative, these phrases that seem to be synonymous aren’t at all.
Let’s pick up the story from the fourteenth verse: “When Jesus saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” Luke very specifically uses the phrase “were made clean.” There’s a lot going on in this little phrase. The first thing it says is that they did not make themselves clean. They did not hop in the shower with soap and shampoo. The verb here is passive, they were made clean. They did not make themselves clean, they were made clean by something else, or more correctly someone else.
There is an even deeper meaning to this “being made clean.” This cleaning includes the ritual cleansing necessary so that the lepers could present themselves to the priests.[2] And since the approval of the priest was necessary before a leper could rejoin polite society, this was an important step. This cleaning is what makes them right with the community and allows them to resume their lives.
Continuing at verse 15, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back.” In the church setting, when we think of being made clean, we think of being healed, but Luke was careful to use two different verbs in these two verses. The word used in this verse speaks to the physical aspects of the healing.[3] The leper noticed that the skin rash that had made him unclean and exiled him from society had vanished. Physical healing had been accomplished. Of course, this physical healing would have had to precede going to the priest who would declare that the leper had been made clean physically and ritually.
Let’s skip to the last verse of our reading, after the single leper turns back to Jesus praising God with a loud voice. “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’” This seems pretty straight forward in English, made well is like physically healed and even like being made ritually clean. But the people who heard this story in the first century would have heard even more. Because of the word Jesus used, they would have heard that the man was free of disease, and more that he had been saved from death. Even more than physical death, the word Jesus used here meant that the man had been saved from spiritual death.[4] The word used here is the one used for saves, as in Jesus saves. Jesus told this man, this former leper, this Samaritan, his faith has saved him.
Jesus heals us; Jesus takes from us the unclean things that we absorb into our bodies and our lives and makes us clean, holy, and presentable. Still there is more to our healing.
Something theologians say over and over again is that we are saved by grace through faith. What this means to me is that God freely gives us the gift of grace. We are the recipients of a gift that we could never purchase. We cannot earn the gift of grace; we can never seize the gift of grace. We can’t even guilt the Lord into giving this wonderful gift; it can only be given freely and lovingly. But by our faithful response to this glorious generous gift of God’s grace, we accept the relationship Jesus offers and become partners with the Lord in his ministry.
The ten lepers all received Jesus’ freely given gift. By this gift, their bodies were healed and they were allowed to return to their lives. But one of them, just one of them, the dreaded Samaritan, turned and gave thanks to Jesus for the healing he received. And by his response, his faith, he alone was saved. This one Samaritan leper was saved by grace through his faith, a faith shown in the act of turning from his new life and returning to Jesus and loudly giving thanks to God.
We are called to do as this man has done. We are called to turn from our daily lives and give thanks for the grace and the peace and the bounty that is ours through the gifts of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that life will always be easy or pleasant; there are times of trial. There will be times when we will be like the lepers, needing the word of the Lord to heal us, to restore us. There will be times when we are shunned like a leper, or even worse, like a Samaritan leper, the outsider among outsiders. But the word of the Lord is always present with us. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is always with us and calls us to respond faithfully.
Faithful response comes in many ways. Today we come together and share the joy of welcoming two new faces to this part of the body of Christ. Today Leah[5] faithfully responds to the call of the Lord joining this congregation, this part of the body of Christ. Today we as the congregation will faithfully respond by welcoming Leah.
Today we will celebrate one of the most joyful events in the life of the church; today through the grace of God we celebrate the baptism of Leah’s daughter Tasha. In baptism, we, the entire church of God throughout creation, welcome Tasha into the family of God. Today we as the people of God will also respond by telling Leah and Tasha that God and God’s people are present in their lives too.
There is joy and celebration in these glorious events. And by the grace of God freely given, and our faithful response to this grace, we are made well. We are saved. We are called to faithfully respond in many ways. We are called to respond with our time. We are called to respond with our talents. And yes, we are called to respond with our tithes. But right now, let us joyfully turn back to Jesus and offer God the sacrifice of praise with a loud voice. Alleluia! Amen!
[1] The MicrosoftWord 2003 Thesaurus lists the words expression, utterance, and speech as synonyms for word.
[2] Translation to “katharitzow,” A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Earlly Christian Literature, Third Edition. Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F.Arndt, F.W.Gingrich, and F.W.Danker. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2000, electronic version in BibleWorks, version 7.0.019b.4, 2007.
[3] Translation to “iaomai,” Ibid.
[4] Translation to “sosow,” Ibid..
[5] The names have been changed
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Extra Credit
This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday October 7, 2007, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Lamentations 1:1-6
Psalm 137
2Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
I don’t know if I have ever shared this with you, but I have a rule of thumb. When looking at the scripture for Sunday, I generally find that the shorter the reading, the tougher the message. I don’t know if it works this way for everyone, but that’s the way it works for me. I find that the longer a passage is, the better it flows. Longer pieces just tend to have more of a melodic quality, a rhythm that lends itself to preaching. Narratives like the Call of Gideon in Judges or the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospels lend themselves to proclamation. True to form I find today’s reading of just seven verses from Luke’s Gospel just plain nasty. In this tiny little reading, Jesus gives two lessons to his apostles, the first is two verses on faith and the other is five verses on personal worth.
Let’s begin by noting that this Word of the Lord was not for everybody. Jesus did not direct this message to the masses. He specifically addressed these sayings to his apostles. So when we read, “Who among you would say to your slave…?” Jesus was asking the twelve to put themselves in the place of the master, the slave owner. And Jesus is asking them how they would treat their slaves.
Also remember that slavery in the first century was not the same thing slavery was in seventeenth to nineteenth century America. Slavery in the first century was closer to what we would call indentured servitude. It was possible for slaves to earn their release from service after a period of time. This is particularly true among the more orthodox Jewish masters who by the Law of Moses were called to release their slaves on the Sabbath year. Still first century slavery was not a picnic. The hours were long and the work was difficult. Slaves could earn their release, but it was a long and arduous process.
So Jesus is asking his apostles, the twelve who knew him best in this world what they would do as masters of slaves. Jesus anticipated their answer, nobody would invite their slave to sit on down, take a load off, and take a place at the table while someone else, or even less likely the master, gets the slave’s dinner. No self respecting slave owner would ever do this.
Is it so different today? If you say yes, I want you to go to Crescent Hotel after worship and tell the person waiting your table at the Crystal Dining Room to take your seat, have a little bagel and lox, and maybe a waffle, while you take care of their tables.
Or how about going to Sonic, telling the carhop to get in the back seat of your car while you get her a Coney and some Ched-R-Peppers[1] while you handle her orders?
Oh, and the tips still go to the restaurant staff.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
In a way, we are different. We appreciate the people who serve us, but we don’t invite them to trade places with us. More than that, the slave master of the day would not thank a slave for doing what they had been commanded. Appreciate maybe, commend no.
This is where Jesus puts the screws to the disciples. They have just finished affirming the way things are in the world as if they were the masters when Jesus turns the tables on them. “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.’” Jesus gets everyone worked up over how they would treat their slaves, only to be told that they themselves are slaves, and when they have done all that was ordered, they shouldn’t expect any thing more than to be slaves. They are expected to say, “Well, I’m just doing my job, boss.”
Yuck. There’s something you want to hear from the Messiah, the Anointed, the Christ, “we are worthless slaves.” But let’s take this apart before we get too offended by these words. Other translations don’t use the word slave; they use the word servant instead. So we are able to soften this if we wish. But I don’t think we should.
Without bondage to the slavery imposed by sin, we don’t need the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. If sin is turning against God and others, claiming mastery of our own lives, and becoming exploiters of the world,[2] then redemption is how we who are slaves to sin are recovered by our original owner for a price.[3] When we use the language of slavery we can use the language of redemption.
We are slaves, slaves to sin who have been redeemed, purchased for a price by the body and blood of Christ. Using the word “servant” gets rid of that nasty antebellum plantation connotation, but it candy coats who we are and minimizes what God has done. As slaves, our freedom was purchased by the Lord on the cross with his body and his blood.
Jesus is subtle. He sets a snare for the disciples, having them imagine themselves masters over slaves and them springing the surprise, tells them that they themselves are slaves in this life. And as they do what they ought to do, they should not expect to receive special treatment from the master.
There is a bit of this passage in the New English Bible translation that I like better than the New Revised Standard Version. Instead of saying we are “worthless” the New English Bible says we “deserve no credit.” The nuance that this translation gives us is not that we are not worthy, but it’s that we don’t deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to do.
Marie didn’t sponsor a parade for me because I took out the trash on Wednesday night. It’s what I’m supposed to do. There will be no bill boards posted for me because I served as chaplain at the hospital last week. This is what I am supposed to do. Now Marie did graciously thank me for taking out the trash, and others have thanked me for serving at the hospital. But these are not master-slave relationships either. To tweak this a little, it’s not that I’m worthless; it’s that I don’t deserve extra credit from the Lord for doing what I am called to do.
And this is where I am glad that Jesus Christ has come to redeem us. The big twist of this passage is the difference between what we have earned and what we have received.
You see, despite the fact that we shouldn’t expect to be invited to sit down and be served; God has invited us to the table. The words, “come, taste and see that the Lord is good” ring from the table every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is the Lord who invites those who believe to come and receive his gift not because we have earned it, but because the Lord wants us to be there. The Lord invites us to the table and says this is my body given for you and this is the new covenant sealed in my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And whenever we take of the loaf and the cup, we do it in remembrance of Him who invites us to the table and provides the meal.
Since early this morning, and throughout the rest of the day, Christians around the world come to tables like this one and share the one loaf and the one cup. With other Christians around the world, today we celebrate World Communion Sunday. In this meal, we are fed, we are fortified, and we experience the outward sign of the inward grace of the Lord God Almighty. In this meal, the church, the body of Christ is fortified and nourished.
The joy of this meal is in the simple fact that we participate in this good gift not because we deserve it, but because the Lord wishes to share it with us. We are slaves who do not deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to be doing, feeding the poor, praying for the church, taking the word into the world. But because God has created us and because God wants a relationship with us, God invites us to this table. The extravagant gift of the living God is that the Lord God gave himself, body and spirit that we may be in relationship with him, even though nothing we can do could ever earn us a spot at the table. We are not worthy of such a wonderfully gracious gift, yet we are invited to come, share, and celebrate.
We are saved by grace through faith. And by the Lord’s grace our faith is fed by the meal he sets before us, the meal of bread and cup which become so much more by the virtue of the one who provides them. It becomes so much more because the Master invites us to join him at the table. It is the meal the Master serves the slaves. It is the meal that lifts our spirits and our bodies as we do the Master’s work in the world. And by this meal, this sacrament, we are able to move mountains, and mulberry trees. We are able to join together to do his work.
We are hungry, so hungry, and we long for the master’s table. But there is nothing on earth we can do to deserve a place at the table. Yet in the twist that defines our faith, the master invites all of us, all of humanity, all of creation to the table not because we deserve it, but because the Lord God wants us to come and join him. This is the meal we share with God and God’s glorious creation. Come, taste, and see, the Lord is good.
[1] Ched-R-Peppers is a Registered Trademark of the Sonic Corporation.
[2] The Confession of 1967, The Presbyterian Church (USA), Line 12.
[3] “Redeem” entry, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Buttrick, G. A., General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962-1992, electronic version, 2002.
Lamentations 1:1-6
Psalm 137
2Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
I don’t know if I have ever shared this with you, but I have a rule of thumb. When looking at the scripture for Sunday, I generally find that the shorter the reading, the tougher the message. I don’t know if it works this way for everyone, but that’s the way it works for me. I find that the longer a passage is, the better it flows. Longer pieces just tend to have more of a melodic quality, a rhythm that lends itself to preaching. Narratives like the Call of Gideon in Judges or the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospels lend themselves to proclamation. True to form I find today’s reading of just seven verses from Luke’s Gospel just plain nasty. In this tiny little reading, Jesus gives two lessons to his apostles, the first is two verses on faith and the other is five verses on personal worth.
Let’s begin by noting that this Word of the Lord was not for everybody. Jesus did not direct this message to the masses. He specifically addressed these sayings to his apostles. So when we read, “Who among you would say to your slave…?” Jesus was asking the twelve to put themselves in the place of the master, the slave owner. And Jesus is asking them how they would treat their slaves.
Also remember that slavery in the first century was not the same thing slavery was in seventeenth to nineteenth century America. Slavery in the first century was closer to what we would call indentured servitude. It was possible for slaves to earn their release from service after a period of time. This is particularly true among the more orthodox Jewish masters who by the Law of Moses were called to release their slaves on the Sabbath year. Still first century slavery was not a picnic. The hours were long and the work was difficult. Slaves could earn their release, but it was a long and arduous process.
So Jesus is asking his apostles, the twelve who knew him best in this world what they would do as masters of slaves. Jesus anticipated their answer, nobody would invite their slave to sit on down, take a load off, and take a place at the table while someone else, or even less likely the master, gets the slave’s dinner. No self respecting slave owner would ever do this.
Is it so different today? If you say yes, I want you to go to Crescent Hotel after worship and tell the person waiting your table at the Crystal Dining Room to take your seat, have a little bagel and lox, and maybe a waffle, while you take care of their tables.
Or how about going to Sonic, telling the carhop to get in the back seat of your car while you get her a Coney and some Ched-R-Peppers[1] while you handle her orders?
Oh, and the tips still go to the restaurant staff.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
In a way, we are different. We appreciate the people who serve us, but we don’t invite them to trade places with us. More than that, the slave master of the day would not thank a slave for doing what they had been commanded. Appreciate maybe, commend no.
This is where Jesus puts the screws to the disciples. They have just finished affirming the way things are in the world as if they were the masters when Jesus turns the tables on them. “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.’” Jesus gets everyone worked up over how they would treat their slaves, only to be told that they themselves are slaves, and when they have done all that was ordered, they shouldn’t expect any thing more than to be slaves. They are expected to say, “Well, I’m just doing my job, boss.”
Yuck. There’s something you want to hear from the Messiah, the Anointed, the Christ, “we are worthless slaves.” But let’s take this apart before we get too offended by these words. Other translations don’t use the word slave; they use the word servant instead. So we are able to soften this if we wish. But I don’t think we should.
Without bondage to the slavery imposed by sin, we don’t need the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. If sin is turning against God and others, claiming mastery of our own lives, and becoming exploiters of the world,[2] then redemption is how we who are slaves to sin are recovered by our original owner for a price.[3] When we use the language of slavery we can use the language of redemption.
We are slaves, slaves to sin who have been redeemed, purchased for a price by the body and blood of Christ. Using the word “servant” gets rid of that nasty antebellum plantation connotation, but it candy coats who we are and minimizes what God has done. As slaves, our freedom was purchased by the Lord on the cross with his body and his blood.
Jesus is subtle. He sets a snare for the disciples, having them imagine themselves masters over slaves and them springing the surprise, tells them that they themselves are slaves in this life. And as they do what they ought to do, they should not expect to receive special treatment from the master.
There is a bit of this passage in the New English Bible translation that I like better than the New Revised Standard Version. Instead of saying we are “worthless” the New English Bible says we “deserve no credit.” The nuance that this translation gives us is not that we are not worthy, but it’s that we don’t deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to do.
Marie didn’t sponsor a parade for me because I took out the trash on Wednesday night. It’s what I’m supposed to do. There will be no bill boards posted for me because I served as chaplain at the hospital last week. This is what I am supposed to do. Now Marie did graciously thank me for taking out the trash, and others have thanked me for serving at the hospital. But these are not master-slave relationships either. To tweak this a little, it’s not that I’m worthless; it’s that I don’t deserve extra credit from the Lord for doing what I am called to do.
And this is where I am glad that Jesus Christ has come to redeem us. The big twist of this passage is the difference between what we have earned and what we have received.
You see, despite the fact that we shouldn’t expect to be invited to sit down and be served; God has invited us to the table. The words, “come, taste and see that the Lord is good” ring from the table every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is the Lord who invites those who believe to come and receive his gift not because we have earned it, but because the Lord wants us to be there. The Lord invites us to the table and says this is my body given for you and this is the new covenant sealed in my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And whenever we take of the loaf and the cup, we do it in remembrance of Him who invites us to the table and provides the meal.
Since early this morning, and throughout the rest of the day, Christians around the world come to tables like this one and share the one loaf and the one cup. With other Christians around the world, today we celebrate World Communion Sunday. In this meal, we are fed, we are fortified, and we experience the outward sign of the inward grace of the Lord God Almighty. In this meal, the church, the body of Christ is fortified and nourished.
The joy of this meal is in the simple fact that we participate in this good gift not because we deserve it, but because the Lord wishes to share it with us. We are slaves who do not deserve extra credit for doing what we are supposed to be doing, feeding the poor, praying for the church, taking the word into the world. But because God has created us and because God wants a relationship with us, God invites us to this table. The extravagant gift of the living God is that the Lord God gave himself, body and spirit that we may be in relationship with him, even though nothing we can do could ever earn us a spot at the table. We are not worthy of such a wonderfully gracious gift, yet we are invited to come, share, and celebrate.
We are saved by grace through faith. And by the Lord’s grace our faith is fed by the meal he sets before us, the meal of bread and cup which become so much more by the virtue of the one who provides them. It becomes so much more because the Master invites us to join him at the table. It is the meal the Master serves the slaves. It is the meal that lifts our spirits and our bodies as we do the Master’s work in the world. And by this meal, this sacrament, we are able to move mountains, and mulberry trees. We are able to join together to do his work.
We are hungry, so hungry, and we long for the master’s table. But there is nothing on earth we can do to deserve a place at the table. Yet in the twist that defines our faith, the master invites all of us, all of humanity, all of creation to the table not because we deserve it, but because the Lord God wants us to come and join him. This is the meal we share with God and God’s glorious creation. Come, taste, and see, the Lord is good.
[1] Ched-R-Peppers is a Registered Trademark of the Sonic Corporation.
[2] The Confession of 1967, The Presbyterian Church (USA), Line 12.
[3] “Redeem” entry, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Buttrick, G. A., General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962-1992, electronic version, 2002.
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