This sermon was heard at The Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday August 14, 2016, the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
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 haven’t watched a lot of TV lately, but I do see some. With some TV come some TV ads. Geico Insurance ads never fail to amuse me. The “...it’s what you do” campaign has been entertaining. One of the most recent is a band of pirates taking a British frigate. The pirate tells the captain what he’s going to do and his parrot repeats everything he says… and more.
“Let’s feed him to the sharks…”
“AWK, Let’s feed him to the sharks…”
“And take all of his gold…”
“AWK, and take all of his gold…”
Then the parrot keeps talking! “AWK, and hide it from the crew.” This is when the pirate crew stops in their tracks and gives their captain the stink-eye. “AWK, they’re all morons anyway.”
It’s damage control time for the captain, “I never said that.”
“They all smell bad too. AWK.”
This is when the pirate crew surrounds their captain who’s talking fast, “No, you all smell wonderful, I smell bad.” In the meantime, the British captain skirts away from his captors.
Then the voiceover says, “If you’re a parrot you repeat things, it’s what you do. Wanna save 15% or more on auto insurance…” and so on.
I love it when a plan comes together, then parrots repeat things. It’s what they do. There’s no reason we shouldn’t expect the unexpected, but we don’t. When the unexpected happens, everyone is in shock. This is our reading from Luke.
Over the past two weeks, we have read warnings and encouragements, the Parable of the Rich Fool, do not be afraid, and a treatise on watchfulness from Luke’s gospel. Today we read something completely unexpected, something never read in Sunday School. Today we read that Jesus comes not to bring peace but division.
This is not the Prince of Peace we’ll find at Advent. Frankly that Jesus is a lot more likeable.
Every week I begin worship saying “May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” Every week I end worship saying “May the grace of God, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” It seems like nobody read this when putting together the liturgy. So we should ask, if what Jesus said is true, and we always begin there, then what does it mean?
Let’s go to the beginning of the reading, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!” To find more on the Baptism of the Lord, let’s go back a little further.
In the third chapter of Luke we find John the Baptist in the wilderness, “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” When Jesus speaks of bringing fire, he’s simply reminding us of what John has already said. This isn’t anything new, but from the mouth of the Lord it sounds far more ominous.
Then Jesus speaks of his coming baptism, though he has already been baptized in the waters of the Jordan. There are many images wrapped around baptism, washing, cleansing, renewal, birth, life, new life; but one that often gets overlooked is death. Yes, death is found in the waters of baptism. Ask any sailor about the dangers and terror of the water and they’ll tell you death is a possibility. Jesus knows that he is on his way to his death, to his tomb. His death is as much a part of his baptism as his life. To teach this will take time, and he knows that he will be pressed for time.
He does not have much time to be with his apostles, his disciples, the people he calls his Body. He knows that time is short before this Earthly part of his mission will be completed, so yes, his time is constrained. This brings him distress. It is because he loves so much that he feels the pain of his limited time. He knows his time is limited and his work is eternal. So much to do, so little time.
Now let me ask this, is there anything particularly divisive in the Gospel? The gospel, it’s love. It’s grace. It’s peace. It’s service. It’s caring. There is sacrifice and that’s not anybody’s favorite, but we get grace and peace in exchange, definitely the better end of the deal.
Still Jesus knows people will make decisions about him. Who he is, his Lordship. Is he God? Is he a man? Is he perfect? Is he crazy? How do we follow him? Do we follow him? And every time people make one of these decisions about Jesus, it creates something of a theological crossroads. Some will go one way, some another.
As people make those decisions, Jesus knows what will happen next, division. This is why he says “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” It’s tempting to lay this indictment at the feet of those who do not believe in God, but this wasn’t who Jesus was talking to. He was talking to his people. He was talking to believers.
He knew how people would interpret his nature and his message would cause division. The first division was between the Jews and the Jewish Christians, the Jewish followers of Jesus, both followers of the Lord God, the God of Abraham. Their first decision was whether Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, or not? This division was during his lifetime and led to his death.
Then came the division between the leaders of the Jewish Christians and the leaders of the Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christian leaders taught followers had to become a Jew before becoming a Christian. It made sense, Jesus was Jewish, most Christians were Jewish Christians. That turned out to be a stumbling block to the Gentiles so a council was held in about 50 AD, not twenty years after Jesus’ death. Acts 15 is where this council’s decision is reported and the division was made. In its wake came two branches, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.
Splits like these have been happening ever since. As for the denominations that form The Federated Church, five American denominations came out of the late 18th century movement that birthed the Disciples of Christ. Presbyterians take the cake. Presbyterianism in America dates back to 1706, but because of schism, reunification and schism again, there are ten branches of Presbyterians in America, the most recent schism in 2012. (Actually, I thought there were twelve.) As for the United Churches of Christ, in 1957 the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches united to form the UCC. So in a world of division, there is hope.
So people love the gospel, even if we don’t believe the same things the same way. We received the gospel of love and grace and peace and service and caring and sacrifice and some things we don’t like as much. So it’s easy to see that there’s something for everybody to love and something for everybody not to love. So then what was Jesus trying to tell his disciples?
The Church (the capital C Church) must take heed. Some churches will say this scripture is about nonbelievers, but Jesus wasn’t talking to nonbelievers, he was talking to his children. The scandal is splits between believers; the division in the pews, and the witness that is to the world.
Next Jesus tells us the Body of Christ can’t say things like “Come join with us, not him, he doesn’t love Jesus like I love Jesus.” That sentence says one of two things. The first is that I love Jesus better than my neighbor; or the second my neighbor doesn’t love Jesus at all. This puts the speaker in the place of God, saying who is faithful and who is not.
So, we must remember in accepting the truth of the gospel, in sharing the gospel, in teaching the gospel, in living the gospel, not everybody is going to accept the Good News the same way if at all. Some will want to live by their old ways, but remember, we are reformed and always being reformed. God is continuously showing us new life. We are called to be faithful and follow.
Importantly, we have to realize since decisions about who is faithful and who is not aren’t up to us the subject and the object of our faith is the Triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit. When we make decisions about the gospel, and we will, divisions will be made. Let us pray our decisions are faithful.
Finally, this is the good news; God is faithful even when we are not. Our reading from Hebrews is known as the “Heroes of the Faith.” They were heroic because they were faithful. The scripture continues, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Here is the hope for humanity: In Christ, by Christ, through Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of faith—one day all of the things that we let divide us, the things that seem so important, one day, because of Christ’s great love, none of these divisions will matter. Not one little bit. Jesus knew this.
He knew this all along.
Showing posts with label God's Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Love. Show all posts
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Sunday, June 21, 2015
The Whrilwind
This sermon was heard at the Broadmoor Presbyterian Church in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday June 21, 2105.
Job 38:1-11
Mark 4:35-41
People talk about the patience of Job. As for me, I don’t know if he was patient or not. I mean he was abused for the amusement of Satan, which is more than just a proper name. Satan means “opponent” in Hebrew. Job was surely opposed. He lost everything but his wife and the servants who told him his kids were dead, his slaves were slain, and the livestock that wasn’t dead was taken.
To add insult to injury, he was then infected with enough boils that he must have looked like a steroid abuser without the muscular development. In an effort to help, his wife advises him to curse God and die. Then three friends show up and after waiting together for a week they ask him what he did wrong.
No wonder Job cries out, “Let the day perish in which I was born.”
So was Job patient? It sounds better than other things he could have been called. It sounds better than what he was called by his so-called friends. His friends blame him for what is happening to him. “You must have done something wrong.” “Your kids must have done something wrong.” “If you hadn’t done something wrong you could stand confident in your innocence in the presence of the Lord.”
They say, “Your sin undermines your worship.” “You must not know God at all” and the kicker, “your piety is the reason for your punishment.”
Job’s had enough of his so called friends. He argues back like a man with nothing to lose—and in an earthly sense he doesn’t. His friends are miserable at consolation. They actually speak falsely. They’re not helping. Job wants to know what in the wide, wide world of sports is going on.
The Lord hears it all.
Last week I told you in passing that I was a business major, but my first major was meteorology. Storms fascinated me, in fact, they scared me to death. I thought if I understood them better they wouldn’t frighten me.
Now, this was in a time when the radar products we have now wasn’t available. The paths of storms might have been known better to the professionals at the National Weather Service, but that sort of information wasn’t making its way to our homes. The first time I saw anything with storm tracking technology on television was in 1998. Then last month when Marie and I were here worshiping with you, while we were having lunch I got an alert on my cell phone about a Tornado Warning in Marion County and I could see the Hook Echo, a radar indication of a tornado, on my phone.
I feel better knowing where the chaos is and where it’s going, especially when it’s not heading for me. Who doesn’t? Working at the Motel 6 in Marshall, people are happy when I can tell them if the storm is bearing down on us and when it has passed.
Chaos, power, death; this is the whirlwind. The Hebrews knew this. The Hebrews knew the whirlwind was powerful. They knew it was mysterious. They knew it was unpredictable.
The voice of the Lord comes out of the whirlwind. Job wants to know what’s happening and why it’s happening to him and the Lord answers. Sort of. The Lord answers by showing Job how little he knows about the mystery of creation. Forget the mystery of God, forget the mystery of life, the Lord begins to tell Job how little he knows about creation.
Mark’s gospel gives us the Lord Jesus and another storm. Jesus and the disciples are on a boat on the sea during a tempest. Let’s remember that several of these disciples are fishermen, these guys know the dangers of the sea. These men knew that every year craft capsize and are lost. They knew people die every year on the water during storms just like this one. So what’s their Lord doing in the midst of this terror? Taking a nap.
Jesus is on the stern, resting on bags of ropes which could not have been comfortable. On that lumpy bag, being tossed on the sea; Jesus is sleeping while all around him is going to thunder. Finally someone asks the question of the hour, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
I’m going out on a limb here, but that seems to be a universal question. “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” We have times in our lives, times of illness when we ask “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” There are times of oppression when we ask “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” There are times of anxiety when we ask, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” There are times of fear when we ask, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?”
In those times Jesus looks at the chaos and says, “Shalom, peace,” and the storm is stilled.
Amazed and afraid the people ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" A meteorologist can forecast the weather. A meteorologist can run a storm track to show where the storm is going, what way the wind is going to blow. Only God can calm the storm and the sea. Who is this? Who is this indeed. To take a line from C. S. Lewis, the disciples knew Jesus was good, but at this moment they could also tell he probably wasn’t safe.
Where is God? God is in the stern of the boat. God is in the whirlwind. Emmanuel, God is with us. When life has fallen apart around us, God is with us.
In the past several years Marie and I have been overwhelmed. Two churches have closed while I was their pastor. Medical bills reached epic and epidemic levels. We were covered in a mountain of debt. It wasn’t like we spent money on lavish vacations or high living. We even became homeless for a couple of months, with thanks to my boss for allowing us a room at the motel until we moved into a new apartment just yesterday. J. R. Briggs’ book “Fail, Finding Hope and Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure,” calls this “non-moral failure.” I didn’t steal money or someone else’s affection, and yet…
Where was God? It was hard to see. It is hard to see, but God is right beside us. What if I hadn’t been working at the motel when we lost our old apartment? Marie was finally approved for full social security disability. It took way too long and that had financial consequences of its own, but she wasn’t denied in the end. As bad as our situation is, it could be far worse.
Last week I was working at the motel and got a Facebook post from the Rev. Sharon Risher, a seminary classmate and friend who is a hospital chaplain in Dallas. At 9:30pm on Thursday she posted this, “There had [sic] been a shooting in Charleston, SC @ Emanuel AME church. My home church! Please pray for all. Don’t have much info.” Eight hours later she posted this, “My mother was one of the nine victims killed last night in Charleston, SC. I’m at a loss and only know that the God I serve will receive her. Momma loved The Lord and her church. I know where she is, God will see my [sic] and my family thru. Thanks to all for your prayers, calls, and FB post. To God Be the glory. Pray without ceasing!”
I now have to add, it wasn’t until yesterday that I discovered that not only was Rev. Risher’s mother a victim of the shooter, so was her mother’s cousin. One family member is tragic. Two is reaching for a Job-like level of loss.
Where is God? In the midst of the whirlwind, chaos blows. The President calls for gun control. Fox and Friends calls for arming preachers. (Can you imagine me trying to get a “Dirty Harry” hand cannon out of these robes? I have enough trouble shutting off the microphone!) In the midst of the storm a lone gunman longs to ignite a 21st Century race war. In the midst of the danger lives are lost for the most flimsy of reasons and fingers are pointed for worse ones.
Where is God?
In the midst of terror and horror, in blood and death, as people use the tragedy of others to promote political agendas, where is God?
All I know, all I know is God is with us. God is with Job in sackcloth and ashes. God is with the disciples being tossed on the sea. God is with those who mourn in Charleston. God is with my sister Sharon. God is with us.
God is faithful when others are not. God is present when your friends judge you wrongly. God is with you when your closest confidants blame you for what get called “acts of God” which are anything but. God is with you when danger threatens your very being. God is with you when your livelihood is gone.
God is with you when a man who—I don’t have the words to describe—rips your mother and her cousin from this life because they’re black and love Jesus. God is with us when people take holy and personal tragedy to make political hay.
In our pain, in our suffering, when we are in the whirlwind being tossed like a salad, Emanuel, God is with us. God suffers with us. God mourns with us. God whose loving kindness is without bounds takes us and opens us and touches us.
The disciples ask who is this who can take our fear, or suffering, or pain, who is this who can take this away with a word of shalom, a word of peace? He is Jesus Christ.
Does this mean tomorrow I’ll be called to a new church for a wage that will settle my family’s financial woes and make student loan people will happy? No, but after not preaching for months, over the past several weeks I have served as a guest in three different pulpits and will be preaching and celebrating the sacraments over the next two weeks, so yes, we have been blessed.
As for what happened in Charleston, people are coming together in the name of the Lord to serve God’s people. Another seminary classmate has even put together a PayPal account to help Sharon with travel expenses. The President of the Carolina Panthers is paying the funeral expenses. God is with us calling us to be a blessing. We can’t bring back Rev. Risher’s mama or her mama’s cousin, but by the grace of God we can help her be with her family at this tragic time.
As for the mystery of the whirlwind, a friend shared these words from Rabbi Harold Kushner, “The role of God is not to explain and not to justify but to comfort, to find people where they are living in darkness, take them by the hand, and show them how to find their way into the sunlight again.”
We all live in the darkness, may we reach for the giver of light. May we then be the hands that takes others into the light again.
Amen.
Job 38:1-11
Mark 4:35-41
People talk about the patience of Job. As for me, I don’t know if he was patient or not. I mean he was abused for the amusement of Satan, which is more than just a proper name. Satan means “opponent” in Hebrew. Job was surely opposed. He lost everything but his wife and the servants who told him his kids were dead, his slaves were slain, and the livestock that wasn’t dead was taken.
To add insult to injury, he was then infected with enough boils that he must have looked like a steroid abuser without the muscular development. In an effort to help, his wife advises him to curse God and die. Then three friends show up and after waiting together for a week they ask him what he did wrong.
No wonder Job cries out, “Let the day perish in which I was born.”
So was Job patient? It sounds better than other things he could have been called. It sounds better than what he was called by his so-called friends. His friends blame him for what is happening to him. “You must have done something wrong.” “Your kids must have done something wrong.” “If you hadn’t done something wrong you could stand confident in your innocence in the presence of the Lord.”
They say, “Your sin undermines your worship.” “You must not know God at all” and the kicker, “your piety is the reason for your punishment.”
Job’s had enough of his so called friends. He argues back like a man with nothing to lose—and in an earthly sense he doesn’t. His friends are miserable at consolation. They actually speak falsely. They’re not helping. Job wants to know what in the wide, wide world of sports is going on.
The Lord hears it all.
Last week I told you in passing that I was a business major, but my first major was meteorology. Storms fascinated me, in fact, they scared me to death. I thought if I understood them better they wouldn’t frighten me.
Now, this was in a time when the radar products we have now wasn’t available. The paths of storms might have been known better to the professionals at the National Weather Service, but that sort of information wasn’t making its way to our homes. The first time I saw anything with storm tracking technology on television was in 1998. Then last month when Marie and I were here worshiping with you, while we were having lunch I got an alert on my cell phone about a Tornado Warning in Marion County and I could see the Hook Echo, a radar indication of a tornado, on my phone.
I feel better knowing where the chaos is and where it’s going, especially when it’s not heading for me. Who doesn’t? Working at the Motel 6 in Marshall, people are happy when I can tell them if the storm is bearing down on us and when it has passed.
Chaos, power, death; this is the whirlwind. The Hebrews knew this. The Hebrews knew the whirlwind was powerful. They knew it was mysterious. They knew it was unpredictable.
The voice of the Lord comes out of the whirlwind. Job wants to know what’s happening and why it’s happening to him and the Lord answers. Sort of. The Lord answers by showing Job how little he knows about the mystery of creation. Forget the mystery of God, forget the mystery of life, the Lord begins to tell Job how little he knows about creation.
Mark’s gospel gives us the Lord Jesus and another storm. Jesus and the disciples are on a boat on the sea during a tempest. Let’s remember that several of these disciples are fishermen, these guys know the dangers of the sea. These men knew that every year craft capsize and are lost. They knew people die every year on the water during storms just like this one. So what’s their Lord doing in the midst of this terror? Taking a nap.
Jesus is on the stern, resting on bags of ropes which could not have been comfortable. On that lumpy bag, being tossed on the sea; Jesus is sleeping while all around him is going to thunder. Finally someone asks the question of the hour, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
I’m going out on a limb here, but that seems to be a universal question. “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” We have times in our lives, times of illness when we ask “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” There are times of oppression when we ask “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” There are times of anxiety when we ask, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” There are times of fear when we ask, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?”
In those times Jesus looks at the chaos and says, “Shalom, peace,” and the storm is stilled.
Amazed and afraid the people ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" A meteorologist can forecast the weather. A meteorologist can run a storm track to show where the storm is going, what way the wind is going to blow. Only God can calm the storm and the sea. Who is this? Who is this indeed. To take a line from C. S. Lewis, the disciples knew Jesus was good, but at this moment they could also tell he probably wasn’t safe.
Where is God? God is in the stern of the boat. God is in the whirlwind. Emmanuel, God is with us. When life has fallen apart around us, God is with us.
In the past several years Marie and I have been overwhelmed. Two churches have closed while I was their pastor. Medical bills reached epic and epidemic levels. We were covered in a mountain of debt. It wasn’t like we spent money on lavish vacations or high living. We even became homeless for a couple of months, with thanks to my boss for allowing us a room at the motel until we moved into a new apartment just yesterday. J. R. Briggs’ book “Fail, Finding Hope and Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure,” calls this “non-moral failure.” I didn’t steal money or someone else’s affection, and yet…
Where was God? It was hard to see. It is hard to see, but God is right beside us. What if I hadn’t been working at the motel when we lost our old apartment? Marie was finally approved for full social security disability. It took way too long and that had financial consequences of its own, but she wasn’t denied in the end. As bad as our situation is, it could be far worse.
Last week I was working at the motel and got a Facebook post from the Rev. Sharon Risher, a seminary classmate and friend who is a hospital chaplain in Dallas. At 9:30pm on Thursday she posted this, “There had [sic] been a shooting in Charleston, SC @ Emanuel AME church. My home church! Please pray for all. Don’t have much info.” Eight hours later she posted this, “My mother was one of the nine victims killed last night in Charleston, SC. I’m at a loss and only know that the God I serve will receive her. Momma loved The Lord and her church. I know where she is, God will see my [sic] and my family thru. Thanks to all for your prayers, calls, and FB post. To God Be the glory. Pray without ceasing!”
I now have to add, it wasn’t until yesterday that I discovered that not only was Rev. Risher’s mother a victim of the shooter, so was her mother’s cousin. One family member is tragic. Two is reaching for a Job-like level of loss.
Where is God? In the midst of the whirlwind, chaos blows. The President calls for gun control. Fox and Friends calls for arming preachers. (Can you imagine me trying to get a “Dirty Harry” hand cannon out of these robes? I have enough trouble shutting off the microphone!) In the midst of the storm a lone gunman longs to ignite a 21st Century race war. In the midst of the danger lives are lost for the most flimsy of reasons and fingers are pointed for worse ones.
Where is God?
In the midst of terror and horror, in blood and death, as people use the tragedy of others to promote political agendas, where is God?
All I know, all I know is God is with us. God is with Job in sackcloth and ashes. God is with the disciples being tossed on the sea. God is with those who mourn in Charleston. God is with my sister Sharon. God is with us.
God is faithful when others are not. God is present when your friends judge you wrongly. God is with you when your closest confidants blame you for what get called “acts of God” which are anything but. God is with you when danger threatens your very being. God is with you when your livelihood is gone.
God is with you when a man who—I don’t have the words to describe—rips your mother and her cousin from this life because they’re black and love Jesus. God is with us when people take holy and personal tragedy to make political hay.
In our pain, in our suffering, when we are in the whirlwind being tossed like a salad, Emanuel, God is with us. God suffers with us. God mourns with us. God whose loving kindness is without bounds takes us and opens us and touches us.
The disciples ask who is this who can take our fear, or suffering, or pain, who is this who can take this away with a word of shalom, a word of peace? He is Jesus Christ.
Does this mean tomorrow I’ll be called to a new church for a wage that will settle my family’s financial woes and make student loan people will happy? No, but after not preaching for months, over the past several weeks I have served as a guest in three different pulpits and will be preaching and celebrating the sacraments over the next two weeks, so yes, we have been blessed.
As for what happened in Charleston, people are coming together in the name of the Lord to serve God’s people. Another seminary classmate has even put together a PayPal account to help Sharon with travel expenses. The President of the Carolina Panthers is paying the funeral expenses. God is with us calling us to be a blessing. We can’t bring back Rev. Risher’s mama or her mama’s cousin, but by the grace of God we can help her be with her family at this tragic time.
As for the mystery of the whirlwind, a friend shared these words from Rabbi Harold Kushner, “The role of God is not to explain and not to justify but to comfort, to find people where they are living in darkness, take them by the hand, and show them how to find their way into the sunlight again.”
We all live in the darkness, may we reach for the giver of light. May we then be the hands that takes others into the light again.
Amen.
Sunday, June 07, 2015
Enough Rope
This sermon was heard at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday June 7, 2015.
1Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20
Mark 3:20-35
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
On my next birthday I am going to be 53 years old. To some of you I am old enough to be your grandfather. To others I am old enough to be your grandson. To my parents I am old enough to be me. Funny how that works out, isn’t it? What that age makes me is of an age that I love old cartoons, the ones I grew up watching in the 1960’s. In all honesty though, give me the ones that are just a little older than those. Give me the old Tex Avery MGM “Tom and Jerry” cartoons any day.
One gag that never got old in my seven year old head was any one of the half dozen Tom and Jerry cartoons that featured a bulldog named Spike. Spike was often tied up to his dog house and would chase Tom the Cat until he got snapped back when he reached the end of his rope. It was probably too violent and I probably laughed a bit too loud when Spike got snapped back.
On the other hand I was never comfortable with Tom teasing and taunting Spike and I would always be relieved when Tom got his. Spike would always find a way to trick Tom so the overconfident cat would get too close and Spike would be able to get Tom. Again it was probably too violent and I really did laugh too loud when Tom got what was coming to him. From a reformed theological point of view I was getting way too much amusement out of violent cartoon justice or instant cartoon karma and not looking nearly enough toward grace.
Our reading from Samuel comes at one of the hinges of history for the Hebrews, the moment when the people of Israel went from being ruled by Judges to being ruled by Kings. Two reasons were given for this change. The first is found in our reading and it’s every parent’s nightmare, Israel wanted a king because every other nation had one. The other reason is that the days of the Judges didn’t end well. The last verse of Judges reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” Let’s face it, when people, sin stained people do what is right in our own eyes, it doesn’t end well, the end of the book of Judges is just one fine example.
Unfortunately Kings are no less human than Judges and this isn’t starting on a good note either. Sure, Samuel’s kids aren’t the best, the elders of Israel say as much, but Samuel knows the people have a King. Samuel knows the people have the King of Kings and need no human king. Samuel knows this, and of course the Lord knows it too. And the Lord is gracious to Samuel telling him, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
Obedient to the Lord, I can see Samuel shrugging his shoulders. He goes to the people and tells them what the king they want will do for them. He warns the people, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
The people had taken just enough rope and were warned that they will be snapped back like Spike at the end of his leash. So do the people head toward renewal? No. Do they seek the prophets? Sorry, not tonight. They want a king. They want somebody human to lead them, or as Tex Avery would put it, to put the rope around their neck, draw the line in the sand, and whatever else happens before they get snapped back like Spike.
The people tell Samuel what they want. The Lord tells Samuel it’s not his fault. The world rejects the Lord, not the man. Samuel warns the people and the books of the Kings and Chronicles show that what is warned comes to pass. When the people cry out in the days of the kings the Lord does not answer, not on that day. The Lord gives the people enough rope and the people run to the end of it.
Since this isn’t a cartoon my seven year old self has quit laughing.
Our reading from Mark’s gospel shows us the beginning of the day when the Lord answers the cries of the people. As usual, it features more people trying to do the work of the Lord. Just three chapters into Mark and Jesus has been accused of blasphemy and of other less heinous acts against the powers of the church. He has forgiven sin. He has healed on the Sabbath. He has taken fishermen, zealots, a Roman collaborator, and a pair of guys so loud they are known as the “Sons of Thunder.” He has taken a guy who will question him at every turn, and a doubter. It seems the only person flying under the radar is Judas. So maybe it’s no wonder that the people who have “known him all his life” would be a little concerned.
Seen as a man, seen as a carpenter named Jesus from a backwater in Nazareth, he looks like a guy thwarting conventional wisdom, the faith of a thousand years. He’s a man turning the faith on its very ear, seemingly without the authority to do so. From all reports his family might have thought he was nuttier than a fruitcake.
The family tries to bring him home. Maybe they think he’s tired, it’s time for a break. Exhaustion is a very real possibility. They try to get him to come home. Scripture isn’t quite as subtle. “He has gone out of his mind!” “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons!” Well, at least they give him credit for good work, eh?
But Jesus tells them, no. Satan can’t cast himself out. The kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, a house divided against itself cannot stand; and Jesus is talking about the kingdom of evil, the house of Satan. You can’t plunder the house of Satan without tying up the big man first. And then, boy, oh boy.
Jesus is doing the work of the Lord. The Lord has come, Emmanuel, God with us; he has come to set us free. Jesus is doing something new and all the people can do is try to tie the old ropes of the judges, the kings, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the temple elite into a lovely bow to snap this new prophet back into place. Snap him just like Spike.
If there is one thing though that we can see it’s this; first, the ropes that we use to tie up our lives will never be used to confine the Lord. The restrictions, the constrictions that we use to keep ourselves in line will never tie up the Lord. Not even our understanding of holy things like Sabbath will keep the Lord from doing what is needed even on the Sabbath. Earlier in chapter three this is shown as Jesus heals on the Sabbath and gets an earful for his trouble.
It’s not that Jesus doesn’t understand Sabbath, it’s more likely we don’t understand it. What Jesus knows as the Son of God is deeper than we can see in this mirror darkly. Regardless of the day, we tie ourselves to our kings and their rules when the King of Kings shows us the better way.
The other thing that is more important is that the Lord doesn’t use our ropes to let us hang ourselves. Now it’s true, the Lord allows the people of Israel to pick up enough rope to hang themselves and watches as they put themselves on the leash of a human king. The Lord has Samuel warn the people of what will happen if they stay the course and of course it does. The future of the Kings even comes to pass without the Lord jumping in the way. God doesn’t take a bullet for us to stop the kings. Crying for help in the days of the Kings the Lord does not answer, not on that day.
What the Lord doesn’t do is act vengefully. The Lord never says to the people, and allow me to quote a fine Catholic theologian, “If that’s the way that you want it, then that’s the way I want it more.”
The Lord loves the people enough to allow them to fail. The all-powerful Lord could whip the people into shape, but the all loving Lord suffers with the people as they seek their way until they find their way back. Yes, the Lord allows us enough rope, the Lord even allowed the Kings to enslave his own subjects with that rope, but the Lord will never hang us with it.
God is love. God loves us enough to let us be who we are. God loves us so much that the Lord never forgets that we belong to Christ even as we call him “possessed by the Lord of the Flies.” When people act like petulant seven year olds, a feat that is far worse at thirty-seven, forty-seven, and fifty-seven than it is at just-seven, God still loves. God even shows us that it is the human rulers who snap us back by the leashes we fashion, that is what causes the Spirit to mourn.
Sure it was funny then, and if I see those cartoons now I still might laugh. Tex Avery had a way of putting together cartoons—animators, artists, writers, and musicians—in ways that appeal to the funny bones of multiple generations. But Avery’s goal was always to amuse, to entertain. Thanks be to God our Lord doesn’t leave us to our own devices. Our hope is in the Lord who comes and is not offended by our foolish insult. Our hope is that the love of God never changes. Our hope is that we see that only God’s perfect love, not the ties that bind, are our salvation.
Amen.
1Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20
Mark 3:20-35
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
On my next birthday I am going to be 53 years old. To some of you I am old enough to be your grandfather. To others I am old enough to be your grandson. To my parents I am old enough to be me. Funny how that works out, isn’t it? What that age makes me is of an age that I love old cartoons, the ones I grew up watching in the 1960’s. In all honesty though, give me the ones that are just a little older than those. Give me the old Tex Avery MGM “Tom and Jerry” cartoons any day.
One gag that never got old in my seven year old head was any one of the half dozen Tom and Jerry cartoons that featured a bulldog named Spike. Spike was often tied up to his dog house and would chase Tom the Cat until he got snapped back when he reached the end of his rope. It was probably too violent and I probably laughed a bit too loud when Spike got snapped back.
On the other hand I was never comfortable with Tom teasing and taunting Spike and I would always be relieved when Tom got his. Spike would always find a way to trick Tom so the overconfident cat would get too close and Spike would be able to get Tom. Again it was probably too violent and I really did laugh too loud when Tom got what was coming to him. From a reformed theological point of view I was getting way too much amusement out of violent cartoon justice or instant cartoon karma and not looking nearly enough toward grace.
Our reading from Samuel comes at one of the hinges of history for the Hebrews, the moment when the people of Israel went from being ruled by Judges to being ruled by Kings. Two reasons were given for this change. The first is found in our reading and it’s every parent’s nightmare, Israel wanted a king because every other nation had one. The other reason is that the days of the Judges didn’t end well. The last verse of Judges reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” Let’s face it, when people, sin stained people do what is right in our own eyes, it doesn’t end well, the end of the book of Judges is just one fine example.
Unfortunately Kings are no less human than Judges and this isn’t starting on a good note either. Sure, Samuel’s kids aren’t the best, the elders of Israel say as much, but Samuel knows the people have a King. Samuel knows the people have the King of Kings and need no human king. Samuel knows this, and of course the Lord knows it too. And the Lord is gracious to Samuel telling him, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
Obedient to the Lord, I can see Samuel shrugging his shoulders. He goes to the people and tells them what the king they want will do for them. He warns the people, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
The people had taken just enough rope and were warned that they will be snapped back like Spike at the end of his leash. So do the people head toward renewal? No. Do they seek the prophets? Sorry, not tonight. They want a king. They want somebody human to lead them, or as Tex Avery would put it, to put the rope around their neck, draw the line in the sand, and whatever else happens before they get snapped back like Spike.
The people tell Samuel what they want. The Lord tells Samuel it’s not his fault. The world rejects the Lord, not the man. Samuel warns the people and the books of the Kings and Chronicles show that what is warned comes to pass. When the people cry out in the days of the kings the Lord does not answer, not on that day. The Lord gives the people enough rope and the people run to the end of it.
Since this isn’t a cartoon my seven year old self has quit laughing.
Our reading from Mark’s gospel shows us the beginning of the day when the Lord answers the cries of the people. As usual, it features more people trying to do the work of the Lord. Just three chapters into Mark and Jesus has been accused of blasphemy and of other less heinous acts against the powers of the church. He has forgiven sin. He has healed on the Sabbath. He has taken fishermen, zealots, a Roman collaborator, and a pair of guys so loud they are known as the “Sons of Thunder.” He has taken a guy who will question him at every turn, and a doubter. It seems the only person flying under the radar is Judas. So maybe it’s no wonder that the people who have “known him all his life” would be a little concerned.
Seen as a man, seen as a carpenter named Jesus from a backwater in Nazareth, he looks like a guy thwarting conventional wisdom, the faith of a thousand years. He’s a man turning the faith on its very ear, seemingly without the authority to do so. From all reports his family might have thought he was nuttier than a fruitcake.
The family tries to bring him home. Maybe they think he’s tired, it’s time for a break. Exhaustion is a very real possibility. They try to get him to come home. Scripture isn’t quite as subtle. “He has gone out of his mind!” “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons!” Well, at least they give him credit for good work, eh?
But Jesus tells them, no. Satan can’t cast himself out. The kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, a house divided against itself cannot stand; and Jesus is talking about the kingdom of evil, the house of Satan. You can’t plunder the house of Satan without tying up the big man first. And then, boy, oh boy.
Jesus is doing the work of the Lord. The Lord has come, Emmanuel, God with us; he has come to set us free. Jesus is doing something new and all the people can do is try to tie the old ropes of the judges, the kings, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the temple elite into a lovely bow to snap this new prophet back into place. Snap him just like Spike.
If there is one thing though that we can see it’s this; first, the ropes that we use to tie up our lives will never be used to confine the Lord. The restrictions, the constrictions that we use to keep ourselves in line will never tie up the Lord. Not even our understanding of holy things like Sabbath will keep the Lord from doing what is needed even on the Sabbath. Earlier in chapter three this is shown as Jesus heals on the Sabbath and gets an earful for his trouble.
It’s not that Jesus doesn’t understand Sabbath, it’s more likely we don’t understand it. What Jesus knows as the Son of God is deeper than we can see in this mirror darkly. Regardless of the day, we tie ourselves to our kings and their rules when the King of Kings shows us the better way.
The other thing that is more important is that the Lord doesn’t use our ropes to let us hang ourselves. Now it’s true, the Lord allows the people of Israel to pick up enough rope to hang themselves and watches as they put themselves on the leash of a human king. The Lord has Samuel warn the people of what will happen if they stay the course and of course it does. The future of the Kings even comes to pass without the Lord jumping in the way. God doesn’t take a bullet for us to stop the kings. Crying for help in the days of the Kings the Lord does not answer, not on that day.
What the Lord doesn’t do is act vengefully. The Lord never says to the people, and allow me to quote a fine Catholic theologian, “If that’s the way that you want it, then that’s the way I want it more.”
The Lord loves the people enough to allow them to fail. The all-powerful Lord could whip the people into shape, but the all loving Lord suffers with the people as they seek their way until they find their way back. Yes, the Lord allows us enough rope, the Lord even allowed the Kings to enslave his own subjects with that rope, but the Lord will never hang us with it.
God is love. God loves us enough to let us be who we are. God loves us so much that the Lord never forgets that we belong to Christ even as we call him “possessed by the Lord of the Flies.” When people act like petulant seven year olds, a feat that is far worse at thirty-seven, forty-seven, and fifty-seven than it is at just-seven, God still loves. God even shows us that it is the human rulers who snap us back by the leashes we fashion, that is what causes the Spirit to mourn.
Sure it was funny then, and if I see those cartoons now I still might laugh. Tex Avery had a way of putting together cartoons—animators, artists, writers, and musicians—in ways that appeal to the funny bones of multiple generations. But Avery’s goal was always to amuse, to entertain. Thanks be to God our Lord doesn’t leave us to our own devices. Our hope is in the Lord who comes and is not offended by our foolish insult. Our hope is that the love of God never changes. Our hope is that we see that only God’s perfect love, not the ties that bind, are our salvation.
Amen.
Sunday, May 03, 2015
Ought
This sermon was heard at St Mark Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas on Sunday May 3, 2015, the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Acts 8:24-40
Psalm 22:25-31
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Who isn’t familiar with this passage from John’s gospel? Who over the age of 50 doesn’t remember Bruce Wilkinson’s “The Secrets of the Vine?” It was his first book after the mega-hit “The Prayer of Jabez.” “The Secrets of the Vine” was about this very passage and had a lot of very good information about grapes and vine dressing and what it means with this passage. Believe it or not, this and a segment of “Ask This Old House” where Roger Cook shows a man how to prune and you will have a basic knowledge of what it means to grow vines to bear fruit.
I’m not going to go into deep detail about how to prune for several reasons; one is that someone from the extension office or that “Ask This Old House” video would do a better job teaching you about it than I can. The better reason is that we have better fruit to harvest today. It begins with the rather disturbing image that “Whoever does not abide in me,” abide in Christ, “is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.”
This is a disturbing image because we hear Jesus talking about fire and really unsettling images come to mind, and not without good reason. The thought of being burned alive with all of the requisite screaming and crying is seared into our imaginations. We think of the whole hell-fire-weeping-and-gnashing-of-teeth thing with its obligatory unpleasantness. But what if this isn’t quite right? What if we’ve taken a step too far getting to this image?
Let’s begin with the fact that pruning involves cutting out what is unproductive and leaving what’s fruitful. Jesus is talking about cutting the fingernails of the vine, not the fingers. We also need to know that pruning for productivity means cutting out things that may be pretty, but add nothing to the harvest.
The pieces that sport only vegetative, leafing, buds have to go so the flowering fruit buds will get more nourishment. God’s pruning cuts out things that we have become accustomed to, things we might like, things that are pretty. That’s the hard part. That sort of pruning smarts, don’t let anyone tell you that it doesn’t.
Still, what about the branches that don’t remain in the vine? Branches that don’t remain, branches that aren’t a part of the vine, the true vine; they wither and die. Dead branches don’t feel the pain of the burning. Dead is dead and the dead branches have already felt the searing disconnect of death. The burning fire causes no pain. After the pain of death, the rest is cremation.
We have this image that pruning is going to cut into what is important, important to our life in Christ and this is not so. The first thing pruning does is take what’s dead and takes it away. It then takes what doesn’t produce fruit and cuts that away. Then it cuts away what binds the plant. Pruning doesn’t take what’s important. Burning just disposes of what’s cut away. Now living branches burning, we’d feel that, but that’s not what our scripture says.
Now here’s what’s even better. In Christ we have already been pruned. Our gospel passage tells us that we have been cleansed by the word spoken by Christ. We are cleansed by the Word of God in Christ. We have been pruned and it’s not up to us to prune. It’s not up to us to do that.
We also need to remember our reading from 1John teaches us that the pruning the Father does is done in love. Fear has to do with punishment, but God’s pruning is not punishment, it is shaping us to bear much good fruit. Godly pruning is done in love.
The first thing that means for us is that we need to abide in the vine. As the branches in the tree of life in Jesus, we come off what vintners call the central leader. We are the branches off of the central leader of Christ. Christ is the central leader. When the Church gets into trouble is when the Church leaves the central leader.
We are called to abide in Christ, abide. Rest is another word for abide. The branch doesn’t physically suckle from the vine, it rests, it abides, it remains attached and it is fed by the vine. This is how we are fed, this is how we bear fruit, by resting, abiding in Christ. This is how we are fed. We remain attached. We rest. We abide.
We remain and we are fed by the vine. As we are fed we bear fruit. As for the fruit, well, that’s a wildcard isn’t it. John’s gospel leaves that one alone, not saying what the fruit is. Let’s just say that whatever the fruit is, it’s valuable and desirable.
1John gives us a way into what that valuable and desirable fruit is, love. I believe the Church, the “capital C Church,” the Universal Church, tries too hard and overshoots the easy, obvious answer. Paul teaches one of the fruits of the Spirit is love, John teaches God is love. When we shoot past love to make more complex, more complicated theologies we may be going further than God intends. We may end up jumping right off the vine. At times by our own best intentions the “Capital C” Church quits abiding and resting when we go off on crusades, regardless of the century.
We must remember, it’s not up to us to do the pruning. The pruning is done in Christ, by Christ, and through Christ. It’s up to us to abide. In abiding we ought to love one another—because God loved us first.
About a million years ago Spike Lee made a movie called “School Daze” (Daze spelled D-A-Z-E). It’s about Homecoming Weekend at mythical Mission College, but it’s said to be based at least in part on Lee’s experiences at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, Spellman College, and Clark Atlanta University. Its overriding theme is variations of black-against-black racism. At the end of the movie, at the dawn of a new day, Vaughn “Dap” Dunlap, played by Laurence Fishburne, comes to the main quad of the Mission campus to ring the college bell. As he does, he yells “Wake up!”
As he rings the bell, characters from around campus begin to awaken. He continues, “Wake up!” Characters begin to leave their dorm rooms, fraternity and sorority houses, and homes. Dap runs to the camera and yells “Wake up!” This is when people begin to congregate around Dap and around the bell. Then the two main character’s Fishburne’s Dap and Giancarlo Esposito’s Julian “Dean Big Brother Almighty” Eaves meet at the bell, and it looks like a showdown.
Then Julian appears to have an epiphany. Dap and Julian look into the camera, breaking the illusion that the message is for them, Dap calmly says, “wake up.” The frame freezes and an alarm clock rings.
Friends, the “Capital C” needs to wake up. In this case it’s not so much that we need to wake up and do something as much as it is that we need to wake up and be what it is called to be, the body of Christ; abiding in the vine, taking nourishment in Christ, as we will today celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
Still, over the past ten years I have become distressed reading opinions from people from both sides of the theological aisle arguing and complaining about the state of the church. I say this knowing every time I point my finger, three point back. Or as our scripture warns, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”
This is why when I read our passages for today, 1John 4:11 stuck in my head, “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.”
I read letters to the editor, I read minutes from sessions and presbytery meetings, I tuned into General Assembly on-line and wonder if we have forgotten to love one another, or even perhaps how to love one another; and let’s keep in mind that “ought” is a pretty low threshold. We have vocations. We have a call on our lives. We take vows at baptisms and ordinations. John tells us we ought to love one another; what a low threshold for such a mighty love.
I say we need to get back to the Gospel of Luckenbach; it’s time we get back to the basics of love.
As Presbyterians we have a long tradition of seeking guidance from our three sources of governance, in order: Holy Scripture, the Book of Confessions, and the Book of Order. Unfortunately too often we tend to move from Grace to Law, from the Living Torah to the Book of Order. Jesus demonstrated love and taught us to love God and neighbor. When others tried to force Jesus into constructs like government and taxes, he shows that the Lord God is not bound that way. As people try to force God to be one way, the Triune God-Father, Son, and Spirit-shows The Way.
The issue of our time is that we must abide, individually and corporately, in the vine of Christ. The Father God, the vine dresser, never acts out of loving character when cutting away what is dead or unproductive. In God’s love, Jesus ministered to everyone, including Zealots and Roman collaborators; lepers and harlots. As the Body of Christ the church ought to abide and feed from the vine of Christ-especially when this direction takes us from our comfortable places. The church must start again. God is love, and it's time we get back to the basics of love. Our hope is in abiding in Christ and love one another, that’s it.
Or at least we ought to since God loves us so much.
Acts 8:24-40
Psalm 22:25-31
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Who isn’t familiar with this passage from John’s gospel? Who over the age of 50 doesn’t remember Bruce Wilkinson’s “The Secrets of the Vine?” It was his first book after the mega-hit “The Prayer of Jabez.” “The Secrets of the Vine” was about this very passage and had a lot of very good information about grapes and vine dressing and what it means with this passage. Believe it or not, this and a segment of “Ask This Old House” where Roger Cook shows a man how to prune and you will have a basic knowledge of what it means to grow vines to bear fruit.
I’m not going to go into deep detail about how to prune for several reasons; one is that someone from the extension office or that “Ask This Old House” video would do a better job teaching you about it than I can. The better reason is that we have better fruit to harvest today. It begins with the rather disturbing image that “Whoever does not abide in me,” abide in Christ, “is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.”
This is a disturbing image because we hear Jesus talking about fire and really unsettling images come to mind, and not without good reason. The thought of being burned alive with all of the requisite screaming and crying is seared into our imaginations. We think of the whole hell-fire-weeping-and-gnashing-of-teeth thing with its obligatory unpleasantness. But what if this isn’t quite right? What if we’ve taken a step too far getting to this image?
Let’s begin with the fact that pruning involves cutting out what is unproductive and leaving what’s fruitful. Jesus is talking about cutting the fingernails of the vine, not the fingers. We also need to know that pruning for productivity means cutting out things that may be pretty, but add nothing to the harvest.
The pieces that sport only vegetative, leafing, buds have to go so the flowering fruit buds will get more nourishment. God’s pruning cuts out things that we have become accustomed to, things we might like, things that are pretty. That’s the hard part. That sort of pruning smarts, don’t let anyone tell you that it doesn’t.
Still, what about the branches that don’t remain in the vine? Branches that don’t remain, branches that aren’t a part of the vine, the true vine; they wither and die. Dead branches don’t feel the pain of the burning. Dead is dead and the dead branches have already felt the searing disconnect of death. The burning fire causes no pain. After the pain of death, the rest is cremation.
We have this image that pruning is going to cut into what is important, important to our life in Christ and this is not so. The first thing pruning does is take what’s dead and takes it away. It then takes what doesn’t produce fruit and cuts that away. Then it cuts away what binds the plant. Pruning doesn’t take what’s important. Burning just disposes of what’s cut away. Now living branches burning, we’d feel that, but that’s not what our scripture says.
Now here’s what’s even better. In Christ we have already been pruned. Our gospel passage tells us that we have been cleansed by the word spoken by Christ. We are cleansed by the Word of God in Christ. We have been pruned and it’s not up to us to prune. It’s not up to us to do that.
We also need to remember our reading from 1John teaches us that the pruning the Father does is done in love. Fear has to do with punishment, but God’s pruning is not punishment, it is shaping us to bear much good fruit. Godly pruning is done in love.
The first thing that means for us is that we need to abide in the vine. As the branches in the tree of life in Jesus, we come off what vintners call the central leader. We are the branches off of the central leader of Christ. Christ is the central leader. When the Church gets into trouble is when the Church leaves the central leader.
We are called to abide in Christ, abide. Rest is another word for abide. The branch doesn’t physically suckle from the vine, it rests, it abides, it remains attached and it is fed by the vine. This is how we are fed, this is how we bear fruit, by resting, abiding in Christ. This is how we are fed. We remain attached. We rest. We abide.
We remain and we are fed by the vine. As we are fed we bear fruit. As for the fruit, well, that’s a wildcard isn’t it. John’s gospel leaves that one alone, not saying what the fruit is. Let’s just say that whatever the fruit is, it’s valuable and desirable.
1John gives us a way into what that valuable and desirable fruit is, love. I believe the Church, the “capital C Church,” the Universal Church, tries too hard and overshoots the easy, obvious answer. Paul teaches one of the fruits of the Spirit is love, John teaches God is love. When we shoot past love to make more complex, more complicated theologies we may be going further than God intends. We may end up jumping right off the vine. At times by our own best intentions the “Capital C” Church quits abiding and resting when we go off on crusades, regardless of the century.
We must remember, it’s not up to us to do the pruning. The pruning is done in Christ, by Christ, and through Christ. It’s up to us to abide. In abiding we ought to love one another—because God loved us first.
About a million years ago Spike Lee made a movie called “School Daze” (Daze spelled D-A-Z-E). It’s about Homecoming Weekend at mythical Mission College, but it’s said to be based at least in part on Lee’s experiences at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, Spellman College, and Clark Atlanta University. Its overriding theme is variations of black-against-black racism. At the end of the movie, at the dawn of a new day, Vaughn “Dap” Dunlap, played by Laurence Fishburne, comes to the main quad of the Mission campus to ring the college bell. As he does, he yells “Wake up!”
As he rings the bell, characters from around campus begin to awaken. He continues, “Wake up!” Characters begin to leave their dorm rooms, fraternity and sorority houses, and homes. Dap runs to the camera and yells “Wake up!” This is when people begin to congregate around Dap and around the bell. Then the two main character’s Fishburne’s Dap and Giancarlo Esposito’s Julian “Dean Big Brother Almighty” Eaves meet at the bell, and it looks like a showdown.
Then Julian appears to have an epiphany. Dap and Julian look into the camera, breaking the illusion that the message is for them, Dap calmly says, “wake up.” The frame freezes and an alarm clock rings.
Friends, the “Capital C” needs to wake up. In this case it’s not so much that we need to wake up and do something as much as it is that we need to wake up and be what it is called to be, the body of Christ; abiding in the vine, taking nourishment in Christ, as we will today celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
Still, over the past ten years I have become distressed reading opinions from people from both sides of the theological aisle arguing and complaining about the state of the church. I say this knowing every time I point my finger, three point back. Or as our scripture warns, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”
This is why when I read our passages for today, 1John 4:11 stuck in my head, “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.”
I read letters to the editor, I read minutes from sessions and presbytery meetings, I tuned into General Assembly on-line and wonder if we have forgotten to love one another, or even perhaps how to love one another; and let’s keep in mind that “ought” is a pretty low threshold. We have vocations. We have a call on our lives. We take vows at baptisms and ordinations. John tells us we ought to love one another; what a low threshold for such a mighty love.
I say we need to get back to the Gospel of Luckenbach; it’s time we get back to the basics of love.
As Presbyterians we have a long tradition of seeking guidance from our three sources of governance, in order: Holy Scripture, the Book of Confessions, and the Book of Order. Unfortunately too often we tend to move from Grace to Law, from the Living Torah to the Book of Order. Jesus demonstrated love and taught us to love God and neighbor. When others tried to force Jesus into constructs like government and taxes, he shows that the Lord God is not bound that way. As people try to force God to be one way, the Triune God-Father, Son, and Spirit-shows The Way.
The issue of our time is that we must abide, individually and corporately, in the vine of Christ. The Father God, the vine dresser, never acts out of loving character when cutting away what is dead or unproductive. In God’s love, Jesus ministered to everyone, including Zealots and Roman collaborators; lepers and harlots. As the Body of Christ the church ought to abide and feed from the vine of Christ-especially when this direction takes us from our comfortable places. The church must start again. God is love, and it's time we get back to the basics of love. Our hope is in abiding in Christ and love one another, that’s it.
Or at least we ought to since God loves us so much.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Shannon and Joe's Wedding Homily
This evening, February 23, I presided over the celebration of marriage for Joe and Shannon Summers. This was an interesting service because (as reported in the homily) they ran into a peck of trouble on the way to the altar. They are a wonderful couple and may God bless them and their new family with much joy now and forever. Amen.
Shannon , you are so right, when
God is with us no one can stand against us. As the psalmist says, “The LORD of
hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” In this truth, one of the
greatest truths in the gospel, this is where you make your new home.
This
is going to sound a little unusual, but Shannon, Joe, and everyone assembled to
witness their wonderful and glorious wedding, let us take this moment and take
a deep breath. You’ve been preparing for this moment for a long time and the
last two days have been hectic in overdrive. So let’s take a moment and just
breathe in the moment. In through the nose and out from the mouth. If it helps,
close your eyes for a moment and let us rejoice, we are here.
As
for how I got here, I met Shannon and Joe for the first time less than 48 hours
ago at the Dairy Queen in Waskom. A little earlier a major part of their
wedding plans fell to pieces. Suddenly they needed a new minister for their
wedding because their minister had a family emergency, and they didn’t know
anybody else. It ended up throwing a monkey wrench the size of a large gorilla
into their wedding plans. Friends of friends connected us, for which I say
“Praise God!”
As
we chatted at the DQ, I gave them one of those little pieces of wedding advice
I give all couples, “The ceremony will not go perfectly; so don’t be surprised
when it happens, just roll with it.” That’s when Shannon
said “You mean something else?” I kind of shrugged because, well, yes,
something else. That was when she said, “Well, if God is with us…”
What
a wonderful thing to say. What a wonderful faith to have. Sometimes life goes
to thunder and when it does if God is with us… if God is with us who or what
can possibly stand against us.
This
is a very holy expression too. Our reading from the psalms confesses confidence
and trust in God as our sure refuge in times of trouble. Fear has no hold on those
who heed the instruction, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Life
will have its pitfalls, but that isn’t why we’re here today. Of course it’s
not! We’re here to celebrate the creation of a new family. Sons and daughters
come together as Shannon and Joe wed. New
family bonds are borne. Teens and toddlers come together. Relationships with new
aunts and uncles and new grandparents are forged. These new relationships, this
new household does not begin lightly. Shannon and Joe come together in the
words of the Psalmist, in the strength of the Lord.
God is our refuge and
strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
Through
all of the trials and tribulations the world throws your way, you still know
your refuge and your strength. Yes the world changes, and in all of these
changes, the Lord is your God. Through this blessing you have done more than
survived, by the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of
his Holy Spirit, you have thrived in your love. That is the blessing we need to
take when things go sideways, that God is still in control.
So
now, before we continue. Let’s take one more breath. Let’s rest in the
outstretched arms of the loving God. And let us smile and celebrate that you
make your new life as a new family in the house of the Lord.
Amen.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Family Squabbles
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday September 2, 2012, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
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 April 2012, Texas Monthly magazine ran a cover story on Outlaw Country Music. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson were on the cover. (It’s understood that Waylon hated the term “outlaw country,” but hey, if the shoe fits…) It was a good article with lots of insights about the roots of the movement and the people who made it happen.
One of the anthems of Outlaw Country is the song “Luckenbach , Texas
I bring this up because this week I was challenged to consider what this gospel passage means if you think about it as a family squabble. The first thing it would mean is that there is a family connection. Since this conversation was about how Jews exercise their faith, it definitely qualifies as a faith family squabble, and few squabbles are bloodier than squabbles about faith.
Mark 7:3-4 tells us what was going on with this squabble. The Pharisees and all the Jews (meaning the Temple leadership) held to the traditions of the elders when interpreting the law. Because of that, they would ceremonially wash their hands before eating. Since their food needed to be ceremonially clean too, they observed other traditions about washing cups, pitchers, and kettles. These traditions were the way they interpreted the law, not the law itself.
So to sell to the scribes and the Pharisees, merchants would have to follow those traditions too. This added a whole layer of things market merchants would have to do if they intended to sell to the leaders which increased the cost of the production without promise of sale.
Being holier than Jesus, the temple elite ask why the disciples don’t “follow the traditions of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands.” This is an interesting question because there are two ways to look at this cleanliness. The leaders could be asking Jesus why his disciples eat with dirty hands rather than washed hands, but that is not likely. Probably they are asking why his followers eat with “ordinary” hands and not “sanctified” hands like them.
I take this latter interpretation to be more likely because Jesus invokes the prophet Isaiah to warn the Pharisees and all with ears to hear that they are hypocrites, pretenders, who honor God with their lips but not with their hearts. They live according to their traditions instead of the commands of the law. They have let go of God’s ways and replaced it with their own. In this case, with their hand washing, they have made it so that what goes in is more important than what comes out. That’s the squabble, the Pharisees demand more and the disciples are following Jesus instead of them.
Using Isaiah, Jesus says their worship is in vain. He says, No, that is not my way.
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| Presbyterian Family Connections |
In your bulletin today, Georgia has included a picture called “The Presbyterian Family Connections.”[2] The first time I saw this image was about ten years ago and I can’t decide whether this made everything more clear or more cloudy. What in the early 1700’s had a single beginning split in 1741 and reunited 17 years later.
Later in the 18th Century, Presbyterians in three distinct branches split into five by the turn of the century. We have split and reunited with fellow Presbyterians several times over the past three hundred years. There are two distinct branches of the church called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The only reason this image ends in nine different Presbyterian branches is that the tenth that broke off this year hasn’t been added yet.
On a side note, it makes me smile sheepishly to consider the name “Orthodox Presbyterian Church.” I love all of my brothers and sisters in the faith and I know we have our differences. I am with the branch of the denomination that fits me best, but I shudder to think that any fellow Presbyterian denominations could be considered “unorthodox.” Such was the theological climate in the 1930’s, and it’s not so different than it is today.
We all have our squabbles. Marie and I once actually belonged to a congregation that had one of its worst arguments over carpet color. Cliché, yes, but that doesn’t make it less true. The spat over the carpet divided the Ladies’ Circle.
Another squabble this congregation suffered was two different controversies over speaking in tongues. That’s right, this happened not once but twice. As for the semi-official opinion of Grace Presbytery, they would just assume we never speak of it. Considering the squabbles that follow, I understand their opinion.
I don’t know the Presbytery’s view on carpet.
So family squabbles have existed in the church since there has been a church. The example Jesus presents us today is a squabble that predates Christianity as a faith. This squabble has to do with how people lived their Judaism. It’s really a squabble we won’t really fully understand because we don’t have an oblation ceremony, a ceremonial washing.
As for the first major Christian squabble, it was settled in 35AD at the Jerusalem Council. Found in Acts 15, the council decided that the new gentile believers did not have to become Jews before they became Christians. It also decided that while the new believers did not need to be circumcised, but they still needed to follow the Jewish dietary restrictions, keep a kosher table.
What’s funny is that these days we circumcise most boys and hardly anyone keeps a kosher table. This is just the way we have worked out that particular family squabble and did it in the exact opposite way of the orthodoxy established between Peter and James.
In their own ways, these things like washing, circumcision, and even carpet are things we establish to help us live faithfully. Yes, even carpet—imagine someone coming in late with the click of a heal, clomp of a boot, or slap of a flip-flop. Carpet means something. It’s when these things get in the way of us following the commands of God; this is when we get into trouble.
Jesus tells us what kind of trouble in verses 21-22. From within come evil thoughts and evil intentions. These evil intents lead to evil acts. Evil acts lead to, well, evil acts are contrary to the ways of God.
The way we are called to live is found in our reading from James. He teaches that every good and perfect gift is from above. It comes from the Father of us all. God creates us so that we may be a kind of “first fruit,” a blessing on all creation. James further teaches us that we are to keep a rein on our tongues, and if we don’t our religion is worthless. He then says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” It is by giving and sharing that we live and serve God as the first fruit of life.
Our Old Testament reading was from the Song of Songs. Scholars have different views of why this belongs in Scripture. Some say it is a collection of songs Solomon sang to his beloved. Others say it is a metaphor for how God loves creation or the church. Today I want us to look at it from a different perspective. I don’t want us to look at it as a way to love, but as a way to be loved.
The song tells us God so loves us all. God loves us in ways we can never imagine, but the song shows us a specific way that we are loved. God loves us with strength and vitality; leaping like a gazelle or a young stag. God loves us so much that we are begged to follow, “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.”
God loves us in a way that ends the long cold winter of sorrow and shame, pain and discontent. Beauty arrives in God’s love. Flowers appear and the song of the turtledove is heard in the land. Figs bloom and fragrant vines grow.
Then God says, “Arise my love, my beautiful one, and come with me.”
Lord, let us hear this command. We must discard the discord and the rules that people put in the way of faith. Let us hear that in God’s eyes we are all beautiful. We are beautiful and we were made to be loved. God wants us to be loved. As the first fruit, God wants us to love one another. We will never do this as long as we erect barriers. These obstacles will always get in the way of loving and being loved. Our family squabbles keep us from being the church God calls us to be.
It is up to us to consider what we do, everything we do, and decide what’s window dressing and what’s important to the faith. It’s up to us to look at everything; worship, mission, hospitality, study, everything; and decide what are the commands of God and what are the traditions of man. We need to get rid of everything that gets in our way, no matter how much we love it. Because if it gets in the way of God’s commands God does not love it.
Our lives are filled with stresses, and like the couple in the Luckenbach song those things are killing us. But there’s a line in the song, one that comes right before the chorus, which should be our guide. Waylon sings, “Maybe it’s time we get back to the basics of love.” That’s it friends. The way we live our lives and our faith is killing us and the Church, not just the Presbyterians but all denominations. And I say “Maybe it’s time we get back to the basics of love.”
It’s what James says. It’s what Solomon sings. It’s what Jesus says when he says the two greatest commands are, “You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.” It’s not time to throw out the baby with the bathwater, we should never discard what is important; but it is time to do as Jesus and Waylon require. It’s time to get past our family squabbles and get back to the basics of love.
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