tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19077875745796787322024-03-17T23:13:07.927-04:00Preacher of the NightThoughts that Haunt the Wee Hours, Theological or not, Both Momentous & Trivialrevchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.comBlogger1098125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-46843416224947284692024-03-17T23:12:00.000-04:002024-03-17T23:12:35.348-04:00Prayer Versus God's Plan<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
scriptures referred to are mentioned in the text.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
asked why we pray, a wise man replied, “Because we can't help it.”
When someone we love is sick or injured, when we find ourselves in
desperate situations, when despair threatens to engulf us, most of us
instinctively turn to prayer. When our loved one gets better, when
our crisis is over, some of us spontaneously thank God. When we
encounter the beauty of creation, on either a visual or a conceptual
level, a few of us praise God. And a very small number simply pray
every day.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
question from our sermon suggestion box is about prayer. But it is
not about the psychological reasons for prayer but the theological
reasons. Specifically, “If God has a plan, why do we pray?” If
God is carrying out a program, why do we bother to ask him for
anything or try to persuade him to do anything? If it is in his plan,
he will do it. If not, he won't. Our desires do not enter into it.
Right?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
is a certain logic to this position. If God is truly in charge and if
he knows everything, how can we hope to influence his actions? Aren't
we being egocentric to even think he would alter his plans simply
because we asked him to?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yet
the Bible, the very book that reveals both God's omniscience and
omnipotence, tells us to pray. (Philippians 4:6) It tells us that God
does answer prayer. (Matthew 6:6) It even makes some rather
breathtaking promises. Jesus tells us, “I will do whatever you ask
in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John
14:13) That's a rather spectacular statement. How can it be true?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Before
we answer that question, we must first deal with the original one:
“If God has a plan, why do we pray?” Though the word “plan”
never appears in the Bible, there is obviously a design or overall
plot to the story of God and humans. Close to the beginning we are
told that sin has caused a breach between God and us. Humanity tries
and fails to bridge that gap and God takes the initiative. God
chooses a people through which he will bless all of humanity.
(Genesis 12:2-3) He educates these people about his nature. (Psalm
103)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Bible starts with all humanity and then narrows the focus onto the
descendants of Abraham, and then to the descendants of Isaac, not
Ishmael, then the descendants of Jacob, not Esau, then the
descendants of Judah, not the other 11 sons of Israel, then the
descendants of David and finally comes to Jesus, in whom God reveals
his love and his holiness, his justice and his mercy. Jesus' death
atones for our sins and with his resurrection, his nature is bestowed
upon the apostles. Through them we see the blessing of what God has
done in Jesus is given to Jews and then Gentiles, and then spreads
throughout the Roman empire and then onto the whole world. That is
how God has worked and is working to redeem humanity.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
the question is: just how detailed is the plan? Does God have every
tiny little thing nailed down? If so, then prayer would seem to be
futile. But if God's plan was that minutely worked out, human beings
would be reduced to mere pawns. On the other hand, if sin and evil
are the result of our misusing our free will, and he is going to all
this trouble, not to mount a puppet show, nor to coerce us but to woo
us, then you would expect him to give us some role to play in this
story. If God wants us to learn to act virtuously, he needs to give
us some space in which to act.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Look
at it this way. If you merely want to get your child from the car to
the house, you can carry him. But if you also want him to learn to
walk, you have to let him make the journey himself. Of course, the
route he takes may be fraught with danger—not bumping into the car
door, avoiding the anthill, navigating the stairs. And as he gets
older, his path may become as circuitous as Billy's in one of those
<i>Family Circus</i> Sunday comics, where he traverses the whole
neighborhood rather than simply going from the car to the house. But
he won't learn to walk if you keep him strapped to you like a
papoose. God wants us to learn to walk with him. (Micah 6:8)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
God must leave some part of his plan to us. Think of a movie or TV
production. With many millions of dollars on the line, a director
cannot leave much to chance. But why hire gifted actors if you don't
let them use their talents and insights? Jeremy Brett played what
many think was the definitive Sherlock Holmes in the British TV
series that ran in the 1980s and 90s. To get the authenticity right,
the actor carried a copy of the original stories with him. As the
series got popular, Brett worried about how his portrayal would
affect the children watching. In the early stories we see that Holmes
uses cocaine, just as in the books. In one of the later written
stories Watson tells us that he did wean the detective from the drug.
So when they were filming a story where Watson has taken Holmes to
the seaside to recover, and they come upon a plot to murder people
using a dangerous drug, Brett insisted they film a brief scene where,
wordlessly, Holmes buries his syringe, and symbolically his drug
habit, in the sand on the beach. It's not in the original story nor
was it in the script but the director let the actor do this small
scene because it was perfectly in line with what we know of Holmes.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A
good actor knows that often it is the little details that reveal
character: a look, a gesture, an inflection. While God doesn't allow
us to dictate the direction of the story, perhaps he leaves us places
where we can ad-lib. We need to stay in character, of course. Jesus
rejected James and John's suggestion that they call down fire from
heaven on a town that didn't receive him. (Luke 9:52-55) That wasn't
in line with his Spirit or his mission. So we must ask ourselves
“What would Jesus do?” But, within limits, God lets us suggest in
prayer how certain parts can be done and how some subplots may
unfold. Like a director, the final decision is God's, but our input
is welcome.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
might also explain why Jesus makes such extravagant promises in
regards to the answer to prayer. God will grant anything—as long as
it is in accord with his design and in the spirit of his endeavor to
redeem us and the rest of his creation. (1 John 5:14-15) The Bible
never says you will get anything you ask for, period. The promises
about prayers are always qualified. We must ask in Jesus' name. (John
15:16) We must ask in faith. (Matthew 21:22) 2 or 3 must be in
agreement. (Matthew 18:19) God will give us what we need but not
everything we desire. We cannot expect to receive the things we ask
for out of selfish motives. (James 4:3) We are also told that our
anger does not produce God's righteousness so we must not ask in that
spirit. (James 1:2) Jesus even tells us not to approach God if we
have a bad relationship with someone. “So when you are offering
your gift at the altar, if you remember that your sibling has
something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your sibling and then come and offer your
gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24) We cannot be in God's will if we are at
odds with our brothers and sisters, just as we cannot ask for his
forgiveness if we withhold our forgiveness from others. (Matthew
6:14-15)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
does God answer prayers? Of course. Sometimes the answer is “Yes.”
Still God can't say “yes” to all prayers, even to what seem to be
relatively harmless requests. In an episode of <i>3</i><sup><i>rd</i></sup><i>
Rock from the Sun</i>, Tommy, an alien trapped in the body of a
teenage human, is on his high school basketball team. When at a game
his coach prays for victory over their rivals, Tommy notices that the
other team is also praying. “So we're praying that our god will
beat their god?” he asks. “No,” says his coach. “We're
praying to the same God.” Dumbfounded, Tommy asks, “Does anybody
else see the conflict of interest here?” God cannot grant mutually
exclusive or inherently impossible prayers.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
God's answer is “Not yet.” Jesus tells us to be persistent in
prayer. (Luke 11:5-10) We need to remember that God's timetable is
not ours. (2 Peter 3:8-9) Sometimes other things have to happen
first. Sometimes we need to get ready or be made ready for what we
ask. Sometimes we need more spiritual maturity. I think that's the
case in the story of Adam and Eve. Why was the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil there in the garden in the first place if it was
never to be used? I think God didn't want them to have that knowledge
yet for the same reason we are not explicit with our children as to why
they are not to get into a car with strangers. You aren't going to
tell a little kid that the reason is that the person may rape and
kill them. They are not ready to handle that. Just so, Adam and Eve
were not yet ready to handle the knowledge of exactly how God's
gifts could be misused for evil and to harm each other. Had they
obeyed, there may have been a day when God knew they could handle it.
So we may need to exercise patience. (Hebrews 10:36) Because the
answer might be “Not yet.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
God's answer to a request may be “Yes, but not in the way you think
I'll do it.” Because God knows what we need better than we do, he
may answer in the spirit of what we ask but not in the way we want it
done. We may ask for someone to love or for wealth and, rather than
find a spouse or win the lottery, we may find that he has instead
enriched our lives with friends or family. Joseph had dreams of being
in charge of his brothers. He never thought that he would first
become a slave and then a prisoner and finally end up as
second-in-command of Egypt, keeping his family and many others from
starving during a famine. Just because it is not exactly what we
asked for doesn't mean that it is not his answer to our real needs.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God's
answer to a request might be, “Actually, I have something else in
mind for you.” Paul was a brilliant rabbi and a zealous Pharisee.
He never imagined that he would see Jesus, the resurrected founder of
the heretical sect he was trying to wipe out. He never thought that
he would become not only a follower of Jesus but his apostle to the
Gentiles. We often have an idea of what God's will for us is but he
might have a surprising and much better mission in store for us.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
God's answer is “No.” As we said, we cannot expect God to grant
us what is contrary to his Spirit, nor things that go against his
plan. But sometimes he doesn't grant what seems to us to be a
perfectly reasonable, holy and loving prayer. The most famous example
of this is found in the story of Jesus in Gethsemane on the night he
was betrayed. He did not want to be beaten and whipped and stripped
and nailed to a cross. He prayed 3 times that God not make him go
through all that. But he ended each prayer saying “Not my will but
your will be done.” (Matthew 26:39-44) It turned out there was no
other way that God could save us from the evil we have done, so Jesus
accepted God's will. It was hard. On the cross he cried, “My God,
my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mark 15:34) I think that was
what he dreaded the most: taking on the separation from God that
should be ours as the result of our rejecting God. I think this is
what the Apostle's Creed means when it says “he descended into
hell.” To be separated from the one who has loved you from all
eternity is hell. But Jesus accepted that because he trusted that
this was God's way of absorbing all the evil of his creatures and
transforming them into his children again. Jesus knew that even his
most heartfelt desire as God's beloved Son could not veto God's
loving plan to save us.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Perhaps
God's reason for saying “No” is beyond understanding, the way
your dog doesn't understand why you are not giving him a piece of
your chocolate. He doesn't know that it could make him very sick. Or
perhaps the suffering which God is not relieving is like the pain a
baby experiences when he gets his immunization shots. He may even be
feverish and achy the next day. The baby doesn't know that this is
protecting him from the even worse pain and suffering of a disease
that could otherwise leave him with brain or organ damage or just
kill him. To the baby the shots seem to be both painful and
unnecessary. We need to trust God just as the infant does its mother,
even after she took him to the man with the hypodermic needles.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Although
God has a plan and although we cannot fully comprehend certain parts
of it, we mustn't think that God does not listen to us or that our
prayers do not count. If anything, we are not bold enough in asking.
The book of Hebrews says, “Therefore let us confidently approach
the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need
help.” (Hebrews 4:16) As Paul points out, since God “did not
withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not,
with him, also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:31)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">Originally
preached on April 2, 2006. There has been some updating.</i></span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-74182185841396438312024-03-10T13:02:00.001-04:002024-03-10T13:02:52.619-04:00Popular Ain't Always Good<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6bCsTQ4deezNXn1zJZa9UYQrxsGpdZHkXxCxIfrO2obHvi7YDRBJPGRW9tuKzpaLy6j-hEDUOiA4AF0135jcn8AXwTz26gJhcWttRVlJXicOoyy1erPaIwMf1ZNmKr74L9JK2p3teqQiN8ixBQI4SW1mjoEwf6zV6Vcv58f2x4Qq4P4Vxu7R1VONecE/s360/Buddy_christ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="360" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6bCsTQ4deezNXn1zJZa9UYQrxsGpdZHkXxCxIfrO2obHvi7YDRBJPGRW9tuKzpaLy6j-hEDUOiA4AF0135jcn8AXwTz26gJhcWttRVlJXicOoyy1erPaIwMf1ZNmKr74L9JK2p3teqQiN8ixBQI4SW1mjoEwf6zV6Vcv58f2x4Qq4P4Vxu7R1VONecE/s320/Buddy_christ.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><i style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
scriptures referred to are Ephesians 2:1-10 and John 3:14-21.</i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Someone
defined a politician as a person who goes after people's votes by
promising to protect both the rich and the poor from each other.
Politicians know that if you want to win votes, it's more important
that your policies are popular than that they are consistent or make
sense or actually work. No matter how much debt the country is in,
you will never hear a politician say that he will raise your taxes,
just as he will never say he will cut defense spending, despite the
fact that the US spends more on defense than China, Russia, India,
Saudi Arabia, Britain, Germany, France, South Korea, Japan and
Ukraine combined.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Senator
Harry Truman from Independence, Missouri got noticed for chairing a
committee to reduce waste and inefficiency in the military and was
selected by FDR to be his vice president. When Roosevelt died, Truman
succeeded him as president. People may say they revere Truman but he
wouldn't be elected today. Even in his own time he came so close to
losing that one major newspaper didn't bother to wait for the final
vote tally and printed a story that his opponent, Thomas Dewey, had
won. The most famous photo of Truman is him holding up the erroneous
headline and beaming at the irony of it.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Truman's
problem was that he was outspoken. His nickname was “Give Hell
Harry.” Truman said he just told people the truth and they thought
it was hell. Harry Truman wouldn't make it in today's world of polls
and spin doctors.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Did
you know that the art of public relations was invented by Sigmund
Freud's nephew? He took his uncle's insights, which are that people
are (1) motivated by their subconscious and (2) avoid uncomfortable
truths, and weaponized them. Whereas Freud sought to help people face
unpleasant truths about themselves, his nephew realized that, as T.S.
Eliot put it, “mankind cannot bear too much reality.” Public
relations is all about giving people attractive alternatives to harsh
truths. So tobacco companies ran ads saying 9 out of 10 doctors
recommended their cigarettes. Rock Hudson's agent had his secretary
marry the star rather than disillusion fans who saw Hudson as the
perfect romantic foil to Doris Day or Susan Saint James. And we baby
boomers watched public safety films that assured us that nuclear war
was survivable as long as you “duck and cover.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Nothing's
changed. We are told that the economy is healthy so long as the stock
market shows that large companies and rich people are making lots of
money, despite how hard things are for the average person. We are
told that our for-profit healthcare system is the best in the world,
though we rank 30<sup>th</sup> among nations for healthcare quality
and 66.5% of bankruptcies in the US are due to medical bills. Diet
plans tell us that this superfood or this regimen will help us lose
weight when it usually boils down to eating less and exercising more.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
live in a consumer society. We tell people what they want to hear so
they will vote for us, or buy our products, or go to our churches.
God forbid we say anything unpopular, no matter how true it might be.
People don't want to hear a jeremiad, which is a tale of woe and
condemnation. It gets its name from the prophet Jeremiah.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jeremiah
would have liked to say things that pleased everyone but he was
called by God to preach to his people in the twilight of the kingdom
of Judah. Egypt and Babylon were major powers in the Middle East at
that time and they were fighting over the corpse of the Assyrian
empire. After the death of the righteous king Josiah, Judah was ruled
by puppets of either Egypt or Babylon. Jeremiah, who probably had a
hand in the religious reforms of Josiah, felt compelled to warn these
new kings, the priests and the people that they were straying from
God's ways. He also counseled against opposing Babylon, which got him
branded as a traitor. (Jeremiah 15:10) King Jehoakim was so
displeased that he cut the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies into
strips and burned them, piece by piece. (Jeremiah 36:23) God told
Jeremiah to write them down again.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jeremiah
not only told the truth to earthly powers, he was also honest with
God. He asked God why his people had to suffer. We get an answer in 2
Chronicles 36:15. “The Lord God of their ancestors continually
warned them through his messengers, for he felt compassion for his
people and his dwelling place.” God knows you can't make a bad
situation good by lying about it. To solve a problem you start by
being perfectly honest about it.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
of my favorite shows was <i>House M.D.</i> and not just because the
main character was based on Sherlock Holmes (who in turn was actually
based on a real doctor, Joseph Bell.) The fictional Dr. Gregory
House, if you remember, was a brilliant diagnostician with the
world's worst bedside manner. His chief complaint was that everyone
lies and that, in doing so, they are keeping from him the very
information that might save their lives. House was merciless in his
quest for truth and his success rate was astounding. The truth is,
though, that in the real world his lack of tact and disdain for legal
niceties would get him fired faster than a politician's speechwriter
if he was too honest. But it is true that if you hide unpleasant
details from your doctor, you can get the wrong diagnosis and thus
the wrong treatment. God can sometimes be blunt. He has little use
for the games we play or the ways we diminish and deny our harmful
thoughts, words and deeds. But we ignore or water down or add to his
words at our own peril. (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:5-6; Revelation
22:18-19)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Speaking
of adding to God's word, there is another famous person associated
with Independence, Missouri. But unlike Harry Truman, Joseph Smith
told people what they wanted to hear. Smith told men that they all
could receive prophecies from God, because, if they were good Latter
Day Saints, they would become gods of their own worlds after death.
He also told them they could have as many wives as they wanted. These
doctrines, not found in the Bible, caused problems precisely because
they were so popular (with his male followers, that is.) But if every
man could be God's spokesman, you suddenly had all kinds of
contradictory prophecies. More troubling to Smith was that if every
man was a prophet, his position in his own church ceased to be
unique. So Joseph Smith had another revelation that only he could
have revelations.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
the genie was out of the bottle and the Mormon church has continued
to splinter as various men decided they were God's mouthpiece. Today
there are numerous small western towns from Mexico to Canada ruled by
Mormon fundamentalist “prophets” who dissent from the official
Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. These men all
believe the church should never have abandoned the polygamy doctrine.
However, according to Jon Krakauer in his book <i>Under the Banner of
Heaven</i> the plural marriage commandment “very nearly shattered
the church, brought about Joseph Smith's death at the hands of a
lynch mob, and has been reverberating through American society ever
since.” Krakauer's investigation of these communities shows that
girls as young as 14 are pulled out of school to marry men 2 or 3
times their age, that these men have absolute authority over their
wives and that multiple marriages can so complicate family
relationships that a woman can become the stepmother of her own
stepmother. So, women, appreciate your rights and that your husband
only has one wife—you.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
interesting thing is that the supposed basis for the idea of
polygamous marriage was those of the biblical patriarchs. And yet
none of those marriages are depicted as harmonious. Barren Sarah
offers Abraham her handmaid, which was a custom of that time and
place. But then she harasses the poor woman when she gets pregnant as
planned. (Genesis 16:3-6) David's dynasty was threatened by the
intrigues of his wives and heirs. And sex must have become a chore
for Jacob as each of his 4 wives angled to be his favorite by trying
to provide him with the most sons. The passage in Genesis in which
Jacob fathers 12 kids in 29 verses in a rapid fire “birthathon”
comes across as a farce. (Genesis 29:31-30:24) But look closer and
you see resentment, jealousy and competition rather than cooperation.
Men, read this and appreciate your one wife.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As
usual, what is touted as fundamentalism becomes, as one scholar calls
it, a radical superficialism. That is, the reading of the scriptures
of the religion becomes literal but shallow. Nuances, distinctions
and context are glossed over. Furthermore most fundamentalists tend
to overemphasize some aspects of the faith while ignoring others.
Krakauer documents how often in the Mormon splinter groups their
polygamy leads to actual incest and other forms of sexual abuse. Some
of these Mormon fundamentalists also justify violating other very
explicit Mormon commandments against drinking and taking drugs.
Krakauer's book began with the horrific murders of a bright young
Mormon woman and her infant daughter by her husband's fundamentalist
brothers. Her crime: knowing the Book of Mormon well enough to stand
up to her radicalized brothers-in-law. When these “mouthpieces of
God” could not answer her very appropriate questions, they decided
to shut her up. Permanently.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Joseph
Smith added to God's revelation in the Bible and his LDS church is
one of the fastest growing faiths today. Other people try to attract
followers by subtracting from God's word. The Jesus Seminar is a
group of religion professors who determine what parts of the gospels
are historical by voting with colored marbles. They have concluded
that Jesus said only 18% of what is attributed to him. Many of the
individual members of the Jesus Seminar have put out books with their
own recontructions of what the Jesus of history, as opposed to the
Christ of faith, was like. This so-called scientific approach has
yielded a different Jesus for each scholar. As Harry Truman said of
economists, if you laid all these scholars end to end they'd all
point in different directions.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dr.
Luke Timothy Johnson points out that their common methodology
consists of first dismissing various objectionable parts of the
oldest documents we have on Jesus, that is, the New Testament
writings. Then they fill in the gaps with speculation, some based on
history and culture and some on their personal interpretations. Small
wonder that each writer finds a Jesus who reflects his own views: an
apocalyptic preacher, an enigmatic philosopher, a social reformer,
or just another rabbi. Johnson notes that in each case the
reconstructed Jesus is so unremarkable that it makes you wonder why
anyone bothered to crucify him or why his movement is still growing
2000 years later. Dr. Johnson points out that the Jesus who changed
history was not one of the variants found in these scholars' books
but the one found in the gospels. It's the entirety of the Jesus in
the Bible—his teachings, life, death and resurrection—who has
inspired so many to follow him.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Whether
we add to or subtract from the Bible the results are the same: we
create a God in our own image. He has our prejudices and our moral,
political and social outlook. Such a God may be comforting but he is
unlikely to tell us anything we don't already know or confront us
with anything we don't wish to face. Such a God doesn't so much
forgive us our sins as excuse them. Or turn them into virtues. One
politician claiming to be a Christian says he has never asked God for
forgiveness. He just tries to do better. If so, why did Jesus go to
the cross for him? Or did he? Perhaps this politician, like many
so-called Christians, finds the image of Christ crucified a bummer.
Perhaps he worships the “Buddy Christ” that Kevin Smith so
astutely introduced in his satirical movie <i>Dogma</i>. With his big
smile, friendly wink and cheery “thumbs up” the Buddy Christ is
the smiley face of today's positive thinking form of theology.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You
see this inoffensive, nice guy Jesus more and more. We don't really
want to hear about sin or self-denial or judgment or hell. We only
want to hear about love—but movie love, not real love. We don't
want to hear about dealing with imperfection or pain or sacrifice or
having to forgive the one you love or asking for forgiveness from
them—much less loving our enemies, though that's what God does when
we oppose him. We don't want those truths. We don't want reality. We
want fantasy.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
those of us who take the Bible seriously, in all its complexity, are now called fundamentalists, with the same vehemence that conservatives
use for the term liberals or liberals use for the term conservatives.
People try to force Christians into one of two camps: those who
overemphasize God's righteousness and those who overemphasize God's
compassion. Christians who do not fall into those neat superficial
categories are marginalized or ignored, rather like those who, in
politics, are neither right-wing or left-wing. Because nuance is so
hard to reduce to a snappy sappy bumper sticker slogan or a stirring
rallying cry.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jeremiah,
who records more of his personal feelings than any other prophet,
would understand. He didn't want to tell people bad news. (Jeremiah
20:9) But if you don't know how bad things are, how will you
recognize or understand the good news that they can be fixed? How can
you understand redemption without grappling with sin? How can you
appreciate how essential God's grace is to our salvation if you
haven't acknowledged how impossible it is to save yourself by your
own efforts? How can you see the importance of light if you haven't
found yourself groping around in the darkness? How can you understand
the joy of Easter without facing the pain and horror of Good Friday? So how can we know God's love and forgiveness and transforming power and
then preach popular views rather than the good news?
</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Originally
preached on March 26, 2006. There has been some updating.</i> </span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-60301554100734816262024-03-03T23:28:00.000-05:002024-03-03T23:28:57.827-05:00Outside In <p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
scriptures referred to are Exodus 20: 1-17 and John 2:13-22.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Judaism
says God gave them two bodies of law. One is the written law, which
is found in the Torah or first five books of the Bible. The second is
the oral law, the tradition of commentary on the Torah and its
application to specific situations, which was eventually written down
in the Talmud. An example of how the two work is found in Exodus
23:19, where it says, “Do not boil a young goat in its mother's
milk.” There is no explanation of why one would or shouldn't do
this. Rabbis call such commandments for which there is no apparent
reason <i>chukim</i>. Modern scholars think that this may have been a
Gentile practice and so Israel had to be different. Over the years,
rabbis felt the best way to avoid this was to never eat meat and
dairy at the same meal. An observant Jew could never eat a
cheeseburger. And to further prevent the mixing of the two, Orthodox
Jews have two sets of dishes, one for dairy and one for meat.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
I was studying in Israel 50 years ago, a rabbi there jokingly
explained to us Christian students how they got two sets of laws with
this story: Long ago, God drew up his laws and went about trying to
find a nation that would accept them. He went to one nation and
asked, “Would you want my set of laws?” The people of that nation
asked, “What's in your laws?” “Well,” God says, “they say,
'Thou shalt not steal.'” “Sorry,” said that nation, “but our
whole culture is based on stealing. We stole the land we're on. We
steal from the poor and defenseless and give it to the rich. We steal
each other's ideas and take credit for them. We don't want your
laws.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
God went to another nation and asked, “Would you want my set of
laws?” Those people asked, “What's in your laws?” “Well,”
God says, “they say, 'Thou shalt not covet.'” “Sorry,” said
that nation, “but our whole culture is based on coveting or
desiring what others have. We have a consumer economy and to keep
people buying more stuff we have to keep inflaming their greed. We
don't want your laws.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
God went to yet another nation and asked, “Would you want my set of
laws?” Those people asked, “What's in your laws?” “Well,”
God says, “they say, 'Thou shalt not commit murder.'” “Sorry,”
said that nation, “but our whole culture is based on murder. One
whole sector of our economy is based on devising ever more efficient
ways to murder more and more people. We also export these devices to
other nations. Our news is dominated by murder and much of our
entertainment is based on simulated murder. We don't want your laws.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
went to nation after nation but they all had reasons to reject his
laws. So finally he went to the Jews and asked, “Would you like my
set of laws?” And they said, “How much are they?” Surprised,
God said, “They're free.” “In that case,” said the Jews,
“we'll take two!”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Well,
we got two doses of the Ten Commandments today. We recited them in
the penitential order and heard them again in today's passage from
Exodus. That's good because we don't hear all of them that much
otherwise. For a supposedly Judeo-Christian culture, I doubt that out
of a hundred people you could find even a handful who could recite
more than three of them.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
pay lip service to the Ten Commandments and some people want them
displayed in the courtroom and the classroom. But let's face it: we
are like the cultures in the rabbi's story. We systematically violate
all the commandments. We make idols out of politicians and singers
and sports figures and movie stars. We worship material things, like
when we line up for the latest smartphone. We misuse God's name, not
only by swearing but by saying he endorses all kinds of terrible
things. We disrespect mothers, fathers and all in authority. Of all
of the rich Western nations, we are the most violent with a
shockingly high murder rate. Adultery destroys countless families and
our idolized celebrities and politicians regularly commit the act
with very little censure. We have discovered that many of our
wealthiest corporations have gotten that way by cheating, stealing
and lying. Politicians and lawyers regularly triumph over their
opponents by saying or implying false things about them. And, yes,
much of our economy is based on coveting what others have: their
homes, their possessions, their lifestyles, bodies and talents. Is it
any wonder that other religions think that our so-called Christian
nation is hypocritical?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
it doesn't help our cause if we point out their own inconsistencies.
It simply makes it look as if our morals are no better than anyone
else's. We are to be a light to the world. But we not only hide it
under a basket but under a garbage can, overflowing with the rubbish
of our lives. (Matthew 5:14-15)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
don't need the Ten Commandments on our walls; we need them in our
hearts and in our lives. And if we wear crosses, they shouldn't be
worn as magical talismans but as labels to identify our content and
uses. We demand truth in labeling of food and yet people regularly
wear crosses while doing the very things that caused Jesus to be
nailed to his.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Of
course it is hard to keep the commandments. Paul knew that. When he
was a Pharisee, he tried to keep all 613 commandments found in the
Torah. And he couldn't do it. Not because he couldn't remember them
all but because something in his nature rebelled against them. His
sinful nature even used the commandments to tempt him to new sins,
the same way that telling your kids not to do something gives them
ideas they didn't have before. In Romans 7, Paul gives us a raw and
honest look at the psychological dilemma of the good person gone
wrong. “I do not understand my own actions,” he writes. “For I
do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...For I delight
in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another
law at war with the law of my mind....” (Romans 7:15, 22-23)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Can
you see yourself in Paul's portrait of his own predicament? Have you
ever found yourself about to step into sin despite the fact that you
knew better? Have you ever, knowing that you would hate yourself
afterwards, nevertheless let yourself be drawn into an act, a
statement or an attitude which was unChristian?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
found a certain documentary riveting in spite of the fact that it is
just an old woman talking. It is a feature length interview of
Hitler's secretary. With the camera unblinkingly focused on her face,
she recounts what it was like to work for and even socialize with one
of history's greatest monsters. And as she talks, she must confront
her complicity in his evil. To her credit, she does not make excuses.
But neither can she say why she didn't do what was right. The
documentary ends when she is overwhelmed by the realization of what
her unreflective subservience made possible and she can't go on. She
died hours after the film's premiere.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are many pressures that try to suppress the good in us: our own
desires, our assurance of our own infallibility, the urge to belong
and go along, the desire for approval, the fear of rejection and
missing out. We each have our own Achilles' heel, our specific
weaknesses that trip us up again and again as we try to follow in
Christ's footsteps. What are we to do? Or as Paul puts it, “Wretched
man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans
7:24)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Thanks
be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord,” Paul answers. (Romans
7:25) The fact is that we cannot tread the path of Christ on our own.
We need a guide, a rescuer, a trustworthy companion. And we find all
those in Jesus. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Because he
himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who
are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18) Our God is not up there, far
above the battle. He lived here in this tempting and sinful world and
was assaulted by its allures from infancy on. Again the book of
Hebrews reminds us, “For we do not have a high priest incapable of
sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in
every way just as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) And now
he is here among us, a divine presence in our lives, in our minds and
in our hearts, not forcing us to do what's right but offering us help
if we ask.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
am, of course, speaking of the Holy Spirit, who works unobtrusively
around us and in us—if we let him. If we think about him less than
the Father and the Son it is because he works backstage, so to speak.
Anyone who has ever been in a stage play knows how invaluable the
backstage personnel are. Without them there would be no play. The
curtains would not open, the lights would not come on, the props
would not be where they should be, the makeup would not be right, the
costumes would not be good, the sound cues would not play when they
should and no one would remind us of when to enter the stage. And yet
most people do not realize how much is done by these hardworking,
creative, invisible people. The Holy Spirit is like that. He is
always at work behind the scenes to provide us with what we need when
we need it. He even prompts us to say our lines. (Mark 13:11) Without
God's Spirit, we would be stumbling in the dark, groping for what we
must do or say next.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Ten Commandments are really treaty stipulations. They spell out our
part of the covenant God makes with us in return for freeing us from
our self-destructive sins. Jesus summarized them in two commandments:
to love God with all one's being and abilities and to love our
neighbors with the same consideration we show ourselves. (Mark
12:29-31) And Jesus' definition of who is our neighbor is vast. It
includes whomever we come into contact with, whether family, friend,
stranger or enemy. (Luke 10:29-37; Matthew 5:44) That's a tall order
and one we cannot hope to fulfill without divine help.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
just as we are always surrounded by people whom we should see as our
neighbors, that divine help is also there. In fact, he is always with
us. (Matthew 28:20) In today's gospel Jesus refers to his body as a
temple, and we too are temples of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians
3:16) The love that moves the universe lives in our hearts. (John
14:17) He helps us make God's laws a part of us. (Ezekiel 36:27;
Jeremiah 31:33) And there is no end of the good we can do if only we
access the power we possess from our gracious God. (John 14:12)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">Originally
preached on March 23, 2003. There has been some updating.</i></span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-86533597941172679962024-02-25T18:35:00.000-05:002024-02-25T18:35:04.798-05:00Who Dares Wins<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
scriptures referred to are Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-25 and
Mark 8:31-38.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Life
is full of risks. And yet for some people that's not enough. So they
gamble. They buy lottery tickets, bet on sports or go to a casino.
They forget that the odds are always in favor of the House. More
people lose money than win money. That's because of statistical
probability. There are fewer winning combinations of lottery numbers
or numbers on the slot machine or cards or place on the roulette
wheel than there are losing combinations. And to keep you losing,
casinos give you loyalty cards with incentives to use them. It allows
the casino's computers to track your gambling. After a while they
learn how much you are willing to lose before you stop. When the
computer sees you are approaching your “pain threshold” it alerts
the casino. They radio someone on the floor to approach you, and
offer you a free drink coupon or a free meal at the restaurant or
free tickets to the show with a big name entertainer. They want you
to keep playing longer than you ordinarily would, so you will lose
more money than you ordinarily would. And casinos are ruthless
towards folks who seek to change the odds, whether they are cheaters
or simply people who are good enough at doing the math in the heads
that they can count cards and bet smartly. Even honest professional
gamblers will get banned from casinos if they are too successful. The
bottom line is that if the casino likes you, it's because you are a
loser. Your losses are their profits.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately,
we have now based our economy on gambling. It wasn't supposed to work
that way. Originally Wall Street was literally a market where
entrepreneurs and investors met. If you had a good business idea,
backed up by good talent and a willingingness to do good work, you
could get financial backing. If your business prospered so did your
investors. There was risk but it was reasonable. But people learned
to game the system. And now as one financial reporter pointed out,
investors treat the stock market as a casino. Investors move their
money around like gamblers at roulette putting their chips on red
this turn and on black for the next. Nobody is interested in a sound
business strategy that's sustainable if it doesn't pay off big and
regularly. They just want a huge return on the next quarterly report.
That's how we got the Great Recession of 2008. There was a huge
amount of money in the US housing market. Subprime mortgages were
invented. Banks were giving loans to anyone with a pulse regardless
of their ability to pay the loans back. Then it all came crashing
down. It even hurt people who hadn't been investing. And suddenly
nobody could get a loan. The Federal Reserve Bank had to figure out a
way to get banks and businesses to take reasonable and necessary
risks.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Even
without the artificial risks of gambling, life entails taking risks,
whether you are aware of them or not. The fact that you are here on
a Sunday morning means you did so despite the fact that the risk of
having a heart attack is 40% higher between the hours of 6 am and
noon. And, no, this isn't an excuse to skip church. The risk is
higher for the first 3 hours you are awake, no matter what time or
day it is. It's just that most people wake up in the morning so,
statistically, that's the most common time for heart attacks overall.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Most
of us drive to church or work or school or the store even though the
majority of car accidents occur within 25 miles of home. Living in
the sunny Florida Keys gives you a higher risk of skin cancer. And so
on. We don't usually change our lives drastically despite these
risks. Otherwise we would just stay in bed all the time. Which would
increase your risk of poverty, loss of the ability to care for
yourself and bedsores. Nothing is totally safe, not even doing
nothing.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You
have to take some chances just to live. And without risk takers,
society stagnates. This country would not exist had not a group of
people decided it was worth the risk of breaking away from the
biggest, wealthiest superpower of that day to try governing themselves. That's something that had never been done on that scale
before. We would not have had a black president had Lincoln not
decided it was worth the risk of a civil war to end the near
universal institution of slavery. We would not have civil rights for
people of color and women had not people like Martin Luther King Jr.,
Susan B. Anthony and others risked imprisonment and in some cases their lives to win freedom.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today's
lectionary texts are all about how vital risk taking is to our faith.
The subject of our Old and New Testament readings is Abraham. At an
age when most people would retire he took the risk of relocating from
Ur in Mesopotamia, the heart of civilization, to the largely rural
land of Canaan. Granted, he did it because God asked him, but would
you? Would you leave home to go to an undeveloped country simply
because God asked you? We'd like to think so but most of us secretly
would like God to tell us to just stay put and don't change anything.
But Abraham shows the true meaning of having faith in God by totally
turning his life upside down. Why? Immortality, basically.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As
we go through the Bible and get more of God's revelation, the picture
of the afterlife gets clearer. While in the New Testament we hear of
both heaven (paradise) and hell (exile from God), in the Old
Testament, the fate of the dead isn't that clearly delineated. All
the dead, righteous or wicked, seem to be consigned to the shadowy
realm called Sheol. And in the earliest parts of the Bible, people
simply hope to live on through their descendants and the remembrance
of their name. To Abraham, this last avenue to immortality seems
closed as well because he and his wife are too old to have kids. God,
however, promises them lots of descendants and changes his name from
Abram to Abraham which means “father of multitudes.” Sarai
becomes Sarah which means “princess.” Though both of them find
the idea of parenthood at this time of life laughable, Abraham comes
to trust God's promise. And in a passage 2 chapters before today's
reading we are told that God counts this trust in him as
righteousness on Abraham's part. (Genesis 15:6)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
fact that Abraham's trust puts him right with God is at the heart of
our passage from Romans. The apostle Paul had been a zealous
Pharisee, who was devoted to a meticulous observance of the Jewish
law. This included not just the 613 commandments found in the Torah,
the five books of Moses, but also literally thousands of
interpretations and applications of these laws. These could get
extremely technical and legalistic. For instance, rabbis argued about
whether you could eat an egg laid on the Sabbath or would that be
supporting a form of work on the Sabbath. But after he encountered
the risen Jesus, Paul came to see that all these legalities got
people sidetracked from the essence of what following God should be.
Paul realizes that the great ancestor of the faith, Abraham, had a
righteous relationship with God hundreds of years before the
existence of the Law. His relationship was based on trust. Trust
allowed a person to be radically obedient to God and to do things
that otherwise seemed unacceptibly risky.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today's
gospel comes immediately after Peter tells Jesus that the disciples
think Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus begins to teach the twelve that he
must suffer and die. This is so totally contrary to the popular
conception of the Messiah that Peter takes it upon himself to correct
God's anointed King. He sees no contradiction between saying to Jesus
“You're God's chosen one” and “You are wrong about what God
wants you to do.” So Jesus makes the contrast between what people
expect of their leader and what God expects of his disciples as stark
as he can. “If you're going to follow me, you must disown all
rights to yourself, shoulder the instrument of your own torture and
death and then follow my lead.”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That's
crazy, right? Who would respond to such a recruiting speech? Who
would take such risks? No one at first. John's gospel tells us that
due to another difficult speech of his a great number of Jesus'
followers turned away from him. (John 6:66) The twelve desert him at
his arrest. (Mark 14:50) They go into hiding and even contemplate
returning to fishing. But then the risen Jesus appears to them. He
meets with them and eats with them and teaches them how all this was
prophesied in scripture. And that changes things. They may have
<i>thought</i> Jesus was God's Messiah before. Now they<i> knew</i>
he was. That made the risks of following Jesus different. Yes, they
might suffer. They might even die as Jesus did. But now they knew
that death is not the end, not for those who trust God.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today
we in the West need not worry very much about physical martyrdom. But
Jesus' final words in our gospel are prophetic. Are we ashamed of
Jesus and his words? Do we fear, not dying for our faith, but living
for it in this cynical, “your truth is not my truth” world? Are
we willing to stand up against popular opinion when it's wrong? Are
we willing to refuse to buy into the entire platform of any political
party, left or right, because none of them totally line up with God's
standards? Are we willing to both love and disagree with people when
certain moral issues call for it? Can we manage to be both righteous
and humble?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Returning
to our illustration about the risks of investing, historian Niall
Ferguson points out that money is based on trust, and financial
crises are all about lack of trust. After 2008, nobody believed that
anyone was worth what they said they were or that anyone could keep
the promises they made. So nobody was giving anybody any credit for
anything. It stayed that way until someone started taking the risk of
trusting others. And only then was recovery on its way.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
same thing is true of Christianity. People don't trust Christians to
be what they say they are: people following in the footsteps of the
Jesus that we see in the gospels. And they don't trust us to fulfill
the promises Jesus made about how his followers would act: with love
and mercy and healing and help. Instead they see a church that plays
it safe, a church unwilling to take the risks Jesus did: to reach out
to the despised and the discouraged and the diseased and the
despairing and to stand up for them against the powerful. People
don't expect much from the church these days except disappointment.
And in so far as we have not boldly lived out the words of Jesus, we
are responsible for that.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
only way to get that trust back is for us to take the risk that Jesus
is who he said he was and that his way of demonstrating
self-sacrificial love for others is the right one. It means
approaching moral questions not as a conservative or as a progressive
but as a Christian. It means upholding both holiness and social
justice. It means both comforting the afflicted and afflicting the
comfortable. It means being willing to disown ourselves, take up our
crosses, and follow Jesus.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That
would be a terrible gamble if the world really were a casino, if it
set the odds, if it could really control all the factors so that the
House wins and everyone else was a loser. But Jesus changed the odds.
Now everyone can win but only if we refuse to play the world's game.
Only if we dare to follow Jesus' rules for living. Only if we dare to
love God with all we are and all we have. Only if we dare to love
each other as Jesus loves us. Only if we dare to trust him. Only if
we dare.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">Originally
preached on March 8, 2009. There has been some updating.</i></span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-88997570738173962952024-02-18T23:20:00.002-05:002024-02-18T23:20:51.681-05:00Trials and Temptations<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
scriptures referred to are James 1:12-18.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Lent
is a time of spiritual self-examination. So, in view of our gospel
reading about Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, I thought I'd look
at temptation, especially that of the traditional seven deadly sins,
as articulated by Pope Gregory 1 in 590 AD.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
mystery writer and lay theologian Dorothy L. Sayers mentioned that
there were seven deadly sins, a person with her asked,
“What are the other six?” When it comes to temptation, everyone
thinks of sex. But sex is not a sin; it is a creation of God. When
God tells the man and woman in Genesis chapter 1 to be fruitful and
multiply, he is talking about sex. Sex is a gift and not a sin; lust
is. Lust is the abuse or misuse of sex. It is having or pursuing sex
in the wrong way: when it is inappropriate, when the person you want
to have sex with is inappropriate, like a close relative or someone
else's spouse, or when the way you want to have sex is inappropriate,
like rape or to inflict pain or to assert dominance. Sex is good when
it is done as God intended it: with the right person for the right
reasons and done in love.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As
I've pointed out before, sex is not an individual need. It is,
strictly speaking, only a need for the species. Without it, the
species dies out. But not every member of the species must have sex.
Individuals will not die if they go without sex. Eating, however, is
a need for every individual. So how can it become a sin? Through its
abuse, misuse or neglect. The average person should take in somewhere
between 1000 and 2000 calories a day. Taking in a lot less leads to
starvation. Most people who starve do so involuntarily. But some
people do it deliberately, like models or movie stars, trying to fit
an unrealistic picture of beauty. And many of us eat too much. I
can't resist potato chips and will eat an entire bag if left alone
with it. We also eat a lot of foods not found in nature, concoctions
that are full of what we crave—sugar, salt, fats—and empty of the
nutrition we should be getting. In 2012 a 17 year old British girl
was rushed to the hospital with anemia, breathing problems and
inflamed veins on her tongue. It turns out that ever since she was
two all she ever ate were McDonalds chicken nuggets and fries.
Doctors had to inject her with vitamins to stabilize her. Gluttony is
another of the seven deadly sins. In this girl's case it was almost
literally deadly.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Greed
is another of the seven deadly sins. Examples of greed are not hard
to find. A person I was talking with said that people having a hard
time making a living is entirely due to capitalism. But the problem
goes all the way back in time, due to the nature of human beings.
Just recently I saw a documentary about a grave uncovered by
archeologists. It's the wealthiest grave containing the oldest golden
artifacts ever found and it dates back to the 4000s BC. It's in
Varna, Bulgaria and it's older than the empires of Mesopotamia and
Egypt. They found an individual wrapped in clothes with gold
ornaments sewn into them, plus gold bracelets, necklaces, a scepter
and even a gold penis sheath. This was more gold than found in the
rest of the world at that time. And there was no such thing as
capitalism back then. Just greed.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To
be sure, capitalism has made it so that 10% of the world's adults
hold 85% of the world's wealth and half of the world's wealth belongs
to the top 1% of the rich. That leaves 15% of the world's wealth
divided among the remaining 90% of people in the world. And to make
things worse, we have hedge funds, which don't manufacture goods or
provide services but just buy up companies and suck out all the money
they can, leaving the dry husks behind. That's what happened to
Sears, K-Mart, Toys R Us, Payless Shoes, Radio Shack and Sports
Authority. And now hedge funds are buying up pharmaceutical
companies, so the prices of medicines people need are going up. 80%
of the drugs with the fastest-rising prices are owned by companies
with a lot of involvement with hedge funds, private equity or venture
capital firms. These elite investment groups aren't interested in the
research and development of new drugs as much as they are in raising
prices of drugs that already exist and are needed by patients. One
drug that treats a particularly resistant form of tuberculosis went
from $13.50 a tablet to $750 a tablet. There is no reason for this
other than greed.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Rage
is another of the deadly sins. People who shoot up offices and
schools and churches are filled with rage that they take out on
others, including those who never even interacted with the shooter
before. Death threats sent to politicians have become so common that
many need to have security and bodyguards—in a supposedly free
society. Women who are public figures and say anything controversial
receive not only threats to their life but threats of rape. We cannot
politely disagree anymore. We can't agree to disagree. No, if you
don't agree with someone 100%, you are considered to have lost your
rights to life and liberty. And often the people making the threats
do so in the name of the constitution—or of God!
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Envy,
another deadly sin, is a staple of our media. The lifestyles of the
rich and famous are dangled before us as things to pursue. We want
what they have. We want to dress and even get surgery so we look like
our favorite celebrities. Envy of what others have drives our
economy. We are encouraged to buy more and have more. It's not just
the ads. Our music is rife with singers rhapsodizing about jets,
mansions, Rolex watches, and Lamborghinis. And yet studies show that
once we get enough to take care of our needs and our modest desires,
more money doesn't make us that much happier. Winning the lottery
brings headaches and conflicts with family and friends. Studies show
that after a few months the winner's happiness level reverts to what
it was before they won. Depression is more common in wealthy
countries than in less wealthy ones. Perhaps it is that we are trying
to fill the emptiness in our life with material things. And when that
doesn't work, we are tempted to do it by getting more stuff.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today
a lot of people want to be celebrities but they don't want to spend
years learning to play an instrument, or working their way up from
being an actor doing a dog food commercial to being a movie star, or
toiling away at inventing something people want. They just want to go
onto social media and be an influencer. Because it seems to be less
work. That's laziness, another of the deadly sins. Elizabeth Holmes
came up with a great idea: invent a machine that can test for 200
different diseases using just a drop of blood. But she didn't want to
finish college or spend a decade or more trying to work out just how
to do it. So she created a company called Theranos, that announced it
could do what she promised. Meanwhile her employees couldn't get the
prototype to work and had to fake the results to convince investors
to give her billions of dollars for what was still simply a dream.
She made a deal with Walgreens to put the machine in their stores but
patients got the wrong diagnoses, endangering their lives. It all
came crashing down, of course. But she wasn't willing to do the hard
work of first inventing a method that worked and only then marketing
it. Lasting achievements are not the result of laziness.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
final and worst of the deadly sins is arrogance. The old word for
this was pride but this is really about thinking you know better and
are better than others. And that is often the gateway to the other
sins. The story in Genesis 3 is a paradigm of temptation. It starts
with doubts about God's motivation and goodness. The tempter tells
the first humans, “You certainly will not die, for God knows that
when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good from evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) The next verse is all
about how we rationalize doing the wrong thing: it looks good; it
feels good; the end result is desirable. They thought they knew
better than God what was the right thing to do. Thinking we are
smarter than God has always been at the root of our problems. We want
to do something we know we shouldn't and we tell ourselves, “Just
this once won't hurt.” Or knowing that doing the same thing did not
work out well for others, we say, “Well, that won't happen to me.”
And then we find out we are not the exception to the rule.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">James
makes an excellent point about temptation. He says that temptation
doesn't come from God; it comes from our own desires. We often have a
problem distinguishing between needs and desires. You need food; you
desire sweets. You need shelter from the elements; you desire a
million dollar mansion. You need love; you desire a sexy celebrity.
You need some control over the vital aspects of your life; you desire
absolute power over other people.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Not
all desires are bad. It's okay to desire that things be better than
they are, especially when you are not in a good place. It's okay to
desire better and more nutritious food, or a home that doesn't leak,
or a spouse who is helpful and not harmful, or to not be living
paycheck to paycheck. But our desires can get away from us. Notice
that the seven deadly sins are desires for things like forbidden sex,
for piles of money, for what others have, for others to feel your
pain, for more of what tastes or feels good than is good for you, for getting rewards without effort or
for total independence from God because you know better than he does.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">James
warns us that when our desires get out of control, they can give
birth to sin. And a little later in his letter he explains how. “What
causes the conflicts and quarrels among you? Don't they come from
your desires that battle inside you? You desire but you do not have,
so you kill. You envy what someone else has and you cannot obtain it,
so you quarrel and fight.” (James 4:1-2, <i>my translation</i>)
Actually the Greek word translated “fight” literally means “to
make war.” Aren't most wars about one side wanting something the
other side has? Nations fight over territory, resources, power over
other people or all three. Putin says he invaded Ukraine to fight
neo-Nazis. The fact that Ukraine has ports that Russia wants, and
that it is a major producer of wheat, and that it is the flat plain
through which everyone from Napoleon to Hitler has invaded Russia so
that Ukraine joining NATO makes Putin even more paranoid, has
absolutely nothing to do with it. Or so he says.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">James
is right. People who are content with what they have rarely have
internal conflicts nor do they get into conflicts with others. Among
the fruit of the Spirit Paul lists peace, or well-being. (Galatians
5:22) The Greek word means “tied together into a whole.” If you
feel that all the essentials in your life have come together, you
have a sense of wholeness and peace.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Swedish have a word for it. It is <i>lagom</i> and it means “not
too much, not too little but just enough.” This is a common theme
in Swedish culture. Which is why they have striven to balance out
capitalism with high taxes that fund social programs that cover
everyone. It's why Sweden is consistently ranked in the top 10
countries with the highest levels of satisfaction. It's not perfect
however. An economic downturn in the 90s led the country to slash
taxes as well as spending on social services. This has led to more
income inequality and violence. So the country is trying to regain
their sense of <i>lagom</i>.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Getting
everything you desire does not ultimately make you happy. Having a
lot of stuff does not give your life meaning or a greater purpose,
two things that <i>are</i> associated with happiness. Paul put it
this way: “For to me living is Christ...” (Philippians 1:21) He
knew he was part of something bigger than himself. He was bringing
people the good news that God loves them and that he demonstrated his
love through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Unlike
the pagan gods, the God revealed in Jesus cares about human
beings—Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and free people.
Unlike the pagan gods, the God who is love is moral and cares about
how we treat one another. He is just and merciful, giving and
forgiving. He created us in his image and expects us to live up to
that. He adopts us as his children and through his Spirit helps us to
become more like his son, Jesus. Paul knew that even when he was gone
the good news would continue to spread and bring people together.
That gave him joy.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">James
says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming
down from the Father of lights...” God doesn't expect us to ignore
the gifts he gives us. Paul says that God “richly provides us with
all things for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17) But we are not to
hog them or hoard them. We are to pass them on. Studies have shown
that getting something for someone else brings us more happiness than
getting stuff for ourselves. As Jesus said, “It is more blessed to
give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
person who seems to have gotten this message is J.K. Rowling, author
of the Harry Potter books. She went from being a single mother on
welfare to the first author to be worth $1 billion. She was richer
than the Queen of England. Then she dropped down to a mere
millionaire after giving $160 million to create and fund charities
for medical causes and for at-risk mothers and children. She said, “I
think you have a moral responsibility when you've been given far more
than you need to do wise things with it and give intelligently.”
She identifies as a Christian and belongs to the Scottish Episcopal
Church.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Now
why am I talking about the rich in a setting where most of us
definitely aren't? Because compared to most of the world, we are. The
only countries that rank higher than the US in per capita purchasing
power have much smaller populations with which to share that wealth.
So while we are the 7<sup>th</sup> richest country by that measure we
are the only large country in the list of top ten richest nations.
There are more than 220 countries below us. And on average we live
better than the kings of the past. They had jesters and singers and
storytellers. We have access to thousands of TV shows, movies,
videos, albums, and books in a little device we carry in our pockets.
They had to move out of their city palaces in summer when it was hot.
We have A/C. They needed stables of horses and people to feed and
take care of them and their chariots or carriages. We have cars,
usually with cruise control, as well as A/C and sound systems. And we
can fly; they couldn't. Their beds were stuffed with reeds, hay, wool
or feathers. We have soft, cushioned mattresses with pillow tops or
even sleep numbers.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
take these things for granted. And we don't share them readily with
those who don't have these advantages. The average American rents a
home but more than 650,000 Americans are homeless. The average
American eats 1000 to 2000 calories a day but 44 million Americans,
including 1 in 5 children, face hunger. The average American has some
form of health insurance but 26 million Americans are uninsured. Most
health insurance policies have limited coverage for mental illness,
even though around 20% of adults experience a mental illness in any
given year and 10 million have a serious mental illness. 48.7 million
people aged 12 or older have a substance use disorder, including 29.5
million with an alcohol use disorder. Yet only 6% receive treatment. 94%
go untreated.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
say we are a Christian country but we are more focused on what we
want other people to do or not do rather than what other people do
not have. We have succumbed to the temptation of complacency and
self-righteousness. Jesus scolded the Pharisees for paying way too
much attention to little matters “yet you neglect what is more
important in the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness....”
(Matthew 23:23) Jesus said that he would judge us for how we treat
the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and the
immigrant. He says that how we treat them is how we treat him.
(Matthew 25:31-46)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Desires
are all about ourselves. So one of the best ways to fight temptation
is to get our minds off ourselves and think of other people. Instead
of buying junk food for yourself, buy some extra cans of good food
and give it to your local food bank. Instead of seeking out someone
for a one night stand, call your grandmother or your mom or a friend
you haven't talked to for a while and enjoy connecting to a whole
person who actually cares about you. Instead of buying the latest
unnecessary gadget or collectible on Amazon, go to Charity Navigator
and look up organizations that help people and donate. Instead of
soaking up the outrage of someone on TV or the internet, join an
organization that makes things better like Habitat for Humanity or a
disaster relief organization. Every major denomination has one.
Instead of wasting your life playing video games for hours, unlock
some real achievements like volunteering to read to the blind or
driving people to doctor's appointments. Instead of basking in your
superiority to others, read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) or
1 Corinthians 13 or the book of Proverbs and see how you measure up
to those standards.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Greek word for temptations also means tests or trials. It is often
when we undergo trials that we get tempted to abandon God's ways and
do what we want. But Paul says, “No trial has seized you except
what is common to humans. And God is faithful. He will not allow you
to be tested beyond your ability, but he will provide along with the
temptation a way to escape so that you can endure it.” (1
Corinthians 10:13) This does not mean that you will not undergo
trials that are more than you can deal with using only your own strength. But with the power of his Spirit within you and the gracious gifts he
provides and the people he puts in your life who support you, you can
overcome them. It takes persistence and patience and trust in him.
But as Paul said of the trials that must have tempted him to give up,
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or
distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or
sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, not depth, nor anything else in all creation will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” (Romans 8: 35, 37-39) </span>
</p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-39539310119894039492024-02-11T21:32:00.000-05:002024-02-11T21:32:00.789-05:00Listen<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
scriptures referred to are 1 Kings 19:9-18,2 Peter 1:16-31, and Mark
9:2-9.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You
know the one character who appears in all 4 Monty Python movies and
in the opening of their TV show? I'm not talking about the 5 writers
and one animator who played almost all the parts.They always played
different characters—except this one. It was God. He was usually a
cartoon and sometimes just a foot that would descend from the heavens
to squash something. In one sketch, a family is disgusted by finding
dead bishops on their doorstep every day so they call the church
police. The officers are dressed like English Bobbies but with
crosses atop their helmets. Led by a detective who wears a priest's
stole, they first ascertain the bishop's diocese (it's tattooed on
the back of their necks) and then pray that God will reveal the
murderer. A gigantic hand comes down and points to the culprit. As he
is hauled away, the detective leads the family in a hymn.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Wouldn't
it be great if God worked that way? If he always popped up the minute
someone sinned, told them they were wrong and made them repent right
then and there. Or, if someone was particularly bad, if he just
zapped them with a lightning bolt or squashed them flat with a big
foot? Wouldn't that be wonderful?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
don't think so either. Putting aside the whole issue of having to
pick your way through streets clogged with folks who were either
crispy or crepes, it would be very hard to function if God visibly
and verbally intervened at every infraction, however minor. It would
be as if your parents followed you everywhere. Apart from being
annoying, it would lead to the world's population being afraid to do
anything for fear of getting it wrong. People would flee from God
like cockroaches flee from a light. It would even lead
some people to choose open rebellion against God. We see this often
in “preacher's kids.” Some of my colleagues were PKs and admit to
deliberately cultivating a bad boy attitude as an overcompensation
for the constant pressure to not only behave but be perfect.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
doesn't want robots. He wants people who obey him out of love. Maybe
that's why God set up the world so that our every sin doesn't result
in immediate pain or suffering. He gives us a margin of grace in most
things. We have time to repent and change our ways. But if we
continue doing the same sins over and over, the physical, social,
emotional and spiritual damage will accumulate.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Still
wouldn't it be nice if God talked to the world audibly sometimes? The
Israelites didn't think so. At Mount Sinai, the God who took them out
of slavery in Egypt spoke to all the people. And they asked Moses if,
from now on, he would act as a go-between. Just as they thought that
seeing God face to face meant death, hearing the creator of
everything address them was a profoundly unnerving experience.
(Exodus 20:19)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
from that point on, we see God speaking to and through his prophets.
Even so, they were freaked out by these encounters. Isaiah was
acutely aware of his extreme lack of holiness in God's presence.
(Isaiah 6:5) Words fail to coherently describe what Ezekiel saw.
(Ezekiel 1) Jeremiah stammered that he was too young. (Jeremiah 1:6)
Maybe that's why God speaks so softly to Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Elijah
is fresh from his triumph of exposing the false prophets of Baal for
what they were and destroying them. But he fled from the threatened
backlash for that to the mountain of God and now is depleted and
depressed. He thinks he's the last prophet left in Israel. Standing at the mouth of a cave, Elijah sees quite a
spectacle. A wind comes up suddenly, cleaving mountains and blasting
rocks into powder. But the Lord was not in the wind, we are told.
After that, the earth shivered as if in fear. But the Lord was not in
the earthquake. After that, flames engulfed the view. But the Lord
was not in the fire. Finally after all that, Elijah hears a “still
small voice.” Some translate this as “a gentle whisper.” The
new RSV renders it “a sound of sheer silence.” Whichever you
prefer, God realizes that he needn't shout to get his point across.
The content speaks for itself. Elijah hears that he is not alone, not
by a long shot, and that God has a plan to depose the corrupt regime
that rules Israel. Furthermore, there is work for Elijah to do to
kick it all off. Encouraged, Elijah is ready to fight again.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
point is that Elijah waited to hear what God had to say. Which is
more than we can say for Peter in today's reading. Just a week
earlier, Jesus asked them who they thought he was. Peter says, “You
are the Christ.” And after congratulating Peter on his heaven-sent
insight, Jesus starts talking about how he will soon be tortured and
killed. Peter reprimands Jesus for saying such things and Jesus
rebukes Peter for for not letting him be the kind of Messiah he was
sent to be. Peter is hurt and confused. All he wants for Jesus is the
best. So why was he called Satan for suggesting that Jesus is
frightening the troops with all this death talk? (Mark 8:27-33)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Probably
still upset by Jesus' teachings about what will happen to him, the
inner circle of Peter, James and John accompany Jesus up another
mountain. And then it all changes. Jesus' clothes look blindingly
white. Moses, the lawgiver supreme, and Elijah, the paragon of
prophets, are talking to Jesus. This doesn't happen every day, not
even to Jesus. Frightened out of his wits, Peter starts babbling
about camping out with these two heroes of the faith. That's when the
cloud covers them and God tells them, “This is my son, the beloved.
Listen to him!”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There's
a lot that's important in this passage but for our purposes I want to
focus on what God tells the disciples: “This is my son, the
beloved. Listen to him!” A lot of problems in our lives could be
avoided if we simply did what God says here—listen to Jesus.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After
the success of the first film, an interviewer asked the Pythons what
their next movie would be. Eric Idle quipped, “Jesus Christ: Lust
for Glory.” Everyone thought they were just joking but they were
seriously thinking of doing a religious satire. Then they studied the
life and words of Jesus. They were struck by how wise and good he was
and they didn't want to make fun of him. But they were inspired to
make fun of the ways people blindly follow and distort religious and
political ideologies. <i>The Life of Brian </i>is about a guy born in
the manger next door to Jesus. All his life Brian keeps getting
mistaken for the Messiah. The joke is that Brian doesn't want to be
worshipped or have followers but can't shake his fervent disciples
who zealously and wrongly interpret everything he says and does.
People do this with Jesus too. One scene puts us on the fringes of
the crowd listening to the Sermon on the Mount. They are so far away
from Jesus that they can't quite make out what he's saying. “What
did he say?” asks one fellow. “Blessed is the Greek,” another
says. “Really?” the first guy says, “Which one?”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
reminds me of when Barbara Brown Taylor related the story of a poetry
reading by W.H. Auden. The poet spoke so softly that not everyone
could hear him. So other people tried helpfully to relay what they
thought he was saying. Eventually the people trying to pass on what
he said got so loud that no one could hear the poet himself!
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
tend to get that in churches. So many people are speaking for Jesus
that nobody can actually hear what he says. And sometimes people
deliberately misquote Jesus. There are times when we look at what he
said and go, “Oh, he couldn't have meant that!” And so we issue
corrections like a White House press secretary trying to walk back
what a president said. I actually heard a pastor say of a difficult
passage, “Jesus couldn't have said that. Or if he did, he was
wrong.” That's what Peter did when Jesus made the disturbing
statement that he was going to die like a criminal. Just after
telling Jesus he was God's anointed king, Peter immediately informed
Jesus that he knew less about his role as Messiah than Peter did.
That's why Jesus rebuked him. “You are not thinking as God does but
as human beings think.” We get nothing out of the hard sayings in
the Bible if we dismiss them. Instead we should grapple with them,
like Jacob wrestling with the angel who declared, “I will not let
you go until you bless me.” (Genesis 32:26)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
we blather on like Peter at the transfiguration. We find ourselves in
an unfamiliar situation and we neglect to simply get quiet and listen
to Jesus. The silence can be frightening at times. We don't want to
wait it out. We want someone to please say something. And so we fill
it with the first thing that comes out of our mouth.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
there are times when talking is unnecessary or even wrong. Like when
a friend is dealing with the loss of a loved one. We may be tempted
to say something like, “It was God's will.” Or “You mustn't
feel sad. He's in God's hands.” The point isn't whether what you
say is right or not. The point is your job may be to just shut up and
listen. Let God speak to the person through your presence and love.
The best thing Job's comforters do is just sit with him silently for
the first week. It's when they open up their mouths and try to
justify God letting this tragedy hit Job that they get into trouble.
(Job 2:13; 42:7)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
2 Peter, the writer says, “We did not follow cleverly devised
myths.” (2 Peter 1:16) When people deliberately concoct myths they
usually make them comforting. They tell us what we want to hear. They
don't usually challenge us. That's why new religious fads don't tell
people they are sinners, and why they tell them that they are
automatically going to heaven. They don't usually tell people they
must make painful changes in their lifestyles or habits. They will
never say that the world is violently out of balance and we must put
all our weight on the side of peace and forgiveness and
self-sacrifice to put it right again. Most New Age gurus bless the
status quo or attack some easy target like an abstract quality of
society. “Stop being so materialistic! And buy my books, videos and
merch!” The popular ones never say, “...love your enemy and pray
for those who persecute you...” (Matthew 5:44) Or “But whoever
strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well.”
(Matthew 5:39) Or “If you want to come after me, you must deny
yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23;
Matthew 16:24)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That's
precisely the sort of thing you will hear if you listen to Jesus. If
we stop our babbling, stop our commentary, stop our excuses, and
simply quiet ourselves, we will eventually hear in the sheer silence
the still small voice of our Lord. And though there may not be any
whirlwinds or earthquakes or fires, what that gentle whisper imparts
to us will blow away and shatter our preconceptions, shake the
foundations of our world, and burn within us like a fire in our
hearts. (Luke 24:32) Eventually even Peter learned this. When Jesus
lost a lot of followers with a difficult speech about eating his
flesh and drinking his blood, he turned to the twelve disciples and
said, “You don't want to go away too, do you?” And Peter said,
“Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
(John 6:67-68)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">This
was originally preached on February 26, 2006. It has been updated a
bit.</i></span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-14418112624489325982024-02-04T21:32:00.000-05:002024-02-04T21:32:30.700-05:00When There Is No Healing<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
once had a patient with A.L.S., better known as Lou Gehrig's disease,
though today the most famous person who had it was physicist Stephen
Hawking. The nerves controlling the muscles deteriorate within the
brain and spinal cord. The person gradually loses control, first of
his limbs and finally of the ability to swallow and to breathe. My
patient was confined to her wheelchair. She was still able to use her
hands but had no strength in her stick-thin arms. She could never get
comfortable in her chair even with her gel cushion seat. So she was
always asking to be lifted and shifted a bit. After doing so for the
umpteenth time, her husband often lost his temper and yelled at her
in frustration, leaving her in tears. Then he would apologize and
kiss and adjust her. The nursing agency I worked for was concerned
about the potential for physical abuse but I never saw any. What I
saw was a man who loved his wife enough to stay and take care of her.
They had two grown sons in the neighborhood but they never came over
to give their father a break. Her husband was flawed but he was
there. Many men leave their lovers, spouses, and even their children
if they are suffering from a chronic illness. Guys like things they
can fix. They don't do well when it comes to coping with a persistent
health problem. On the Facebook ME/CFS page many women are grateful
for husbands and partners who stay and do so much for them when they
can do so little.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
today's gospel reading (Mark 1:29-39) Jesus makes healing look easy.
Peter's mother-in-law has a high fever. Jesus takes her hand and
helps her to her feet. She is not only cured but well enough to wait
on the disciples. Compare this to the prophet Elisha trying to
resurrect a child in 2 Kings 4:8-37. It's hard work for him. There's
almost an improvisational quality to his efforts. He even gets up and
paces as if thinking of what to do next. But eventually the child is
revived.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
think, “Well, sure, it was easy for Jesus. He's the Son of God.”
But it wasn't always easy. A little later in his gospel, Mark tells
us of Jesus healing a blind man. He spits on the man's eyes and lays
hands on him. When Jesus asks the man if he can see anything, he
replies that he sees people but they look like trees walking around.
So Jesus puts his hands on the man again and he sees clearly. (Mark
8:22-26) Out of the 23 healings spotlighted in the gospels, at least
one did not happen immediately.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Well, there
is another story where Jesus' healing of someone was delayed. When he
is confronted by the possessed man living in the tombs, the demons
ask Jesus not to torture them. They say this, Mark tells us, because
“Jesus had said to him, 'Come out of this man, you evil spirit!'”
When it doesn't come out immediately, Jesus asks its name. The
chilling reply is, “My name is legion for we are many.” Then the
demons plead with Jesus again. Finally he sends them into a nearby
herd of pigs, who suddenly drown themselves. (Mark 5:1-20) Whether
you accept that the man was demon possessed or mentally ill, it took
a while for Jesus to heal him.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Mark
tells us that the situation was even worse when Jesus visited his
hometown of Nazareth. The people he grew up among were skeptical.
Mark says, “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his
hands on a few sick people and heal them.” (Mark 6:5) That's quite
a contrast with Capernaum, Peter's town and eventually Jesus' new
homebase. Mark says that the whole city came to Peter's door. Even so
it says Jesus healed “many.” (Mark 1:33-34) It doesn't say Jesus
healed all. What would prevent the Son of God from healing?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
Nazareth, it was unbelief. Mark says, “And he was amazed at their
lack of faith.” (Mark 6:6) Often when someone is healed, Jesus says
that their faith made them whole. And he meant their faith or trust
in him or in God working through him. The best doctor in the world
can't cure a patient who doesn't trust him and let him work. So, too,
God cannot work on us if we hold back and will not work with him. It
is not that faith is magical; it's that trust is the foundation of a
healthy and healing relationship. God is love and love doesn't force
itself on anyone. We must open the door to God, <i>all</i> the doors
to all the areas of our lives, if we wish his grace to flood in. A
flower kept locked away from light will never bloom but will wither
and die. Lack of faith can block healing.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
that faith need not be completely without doubt. When a man whose son
has seizures asks Jesus to heal him “if you can,” Jesus says that
everything is possible for the person who believes. “Immediately
the boy's father exclaims, 'I do believe; help me overcome my
unbelief!'” (Mark 9:24) We often find ourselves in that position.
We do trust in God but we still have doubts. We wish to be
wholehearted believers but we have trouble doing so. So are we doomed
to failure? Not necessarily. Jesus does heal the man's son. The key
is that the man is honest about his struggle with doubts but he is
open to change. He wishes to increase his faith and that's enough for
Jesus to work with.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Notice
that it is not the boy's faith but the father's faith that is in
question. Only in 1/3 of the recorded healings of Jesus is the
patient's faith mentioned. Jesus often heals people through the faith
of their friends, family or even bosses. When some men tear the tiles
off of Peter's roof so that they can lower their paralyzed friend to
Jesus, Christ looks at <i>their</i> faith and forgives the man,
healing him. (Mark 2:5) We are not told of the man's faith, only of
that of his resourceful friends. That provides the channel for Jesus
to work.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
does that mean that sick people who don't get well either don't have
enough faith or enough friends? No. It's not the amount of faith
that's crucial, but its presence, as we saw with the father of the
sick boy. Jesus said that all you need is a mustard seed's worth of
faith to move mountains. (Matthew 17:20) God can work miracles if
given the smallest opening.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Still,
it is obvious that not all believers are healed. In his second letter
to the Corinthian church, Paul talks about a “thorn in the flesh”
that bothers him. Commentators throughout the ages have speculated as
to what it was. Some have guessed that it was his adversaries, or
sexual temptation or a speech impediment. But many feel it was an
illness. It may have been malaria or epilepsy or some eye disease.
Paul does mention that he was ill when he preached to the Galatians
and he says that the Galatians would have torn out their eyes and
given them to him if they could. (Galatians 4:13-15) We also know he
dictated his letters (Romans 16:22) and when he signs them he uses
big letters, as if he can't see well. (Galatians 6:11) But whatever
that thorn in the flesh was, Paul prayed three times that it be taken
away. But it wasn't, and not due to lack of faith.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
reply Paul gets from God is “My grace is enough for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness.” Now Paul has characterized his
thorn as a messenger from Satan that torments him. It is evil and yet
God allows it. Why? According to Paul, it keeps him from being
arrogant. He realizes that the gospel's success is not based on his
charisma but on Christ's power working through him. (2 Corinthians
12:7-9)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
God makes us suffer so we won't be proud? No. Remember that Paul did
not think his problem came from God but from Satan. But God can use
what is evil for our own good. Now I would never tell someone that
God was using their illness or misfortune for their good. But many
people suffering from illness or misfortune do discover that some
good can come out of it. Illness can remind us of our mortality, of
how precious life is, of how we are not rulers of the universe but
part of it and subject to its physical limitations.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Richard
Pryor had a horrendous childhood. The son of a prostitute, he was
raised by his grandmother who ran a brothel. When he became a
successful comic, he used his money to fuel an unbelievable drug
habit. He was severely burned free-basing cocaine and nevertheless
returned to drug abuse. Even a series of heart attacks did not cause
him to curb his self-destructive lifestyle. Then he got multiple
sclerosis. Thereafter he used his time to get to know his many
children from his many marriages and liaisons. Again, <i>I</i> would
not tell him that God did this to him. As we said, disease is
considered an evil in the Bible. But Richard himself said that M.S.
was God's way of saving his life. C.S. Lewis once said that pain is
God's megaphone to get the attention of a world that has become deaf
to his voice. Pain shatters the illusion that all is well with us and
that we are the masters of our fate.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
fact is that sometimes the answer to our prayers for healing is “No.”
And we do not always know why. But that doesn't mean that God is
angry with us or has abandoned us. Jesus rejected the idea that
disease or disabilities or disasters are always due to sin. (John
9:3; Luke 13:4-5) To be sure, some physical problems are the result
of injuries we do to ourselves but not all.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Not
only can the sufferer often find meaning in his weakness, but so can
his family and friends. Illness can bring out the best or the worst
in the sufferer's circle. As I said, some leave. Some exploit the
sick, taking financial advantage of the elderly. In the bizarre
syndrome called Munchausen's By Proxy, a parent will deliberately
make her healthy child sick in order to get the attention and good
will and financial gifts of others.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
illness can also bring out nobility, self-sacrifice, tenderness and
ingenuity in caregivers. It can bring people together. An illness in
a family can make it more closely knit. But not if they blame
themselves or each other or the victim. The key to making something
good out of illness or disability is to first exorcise blame and
guilt. See it as Jesus did, as an opportunity to glorify the God who
is love.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For
the caregiver, that can mean giving comfort and help. Make a meal, do
some chores, give medicine, give a bath. For the caregiver's friends,
it can mean showing practical compassion. Give the caregiver a break,
do the shopping, babysit, do their taxes, give them rides to the
doctor, or raise money for a cure.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For
the sufferer, glorifying God can mean transcending their problem.
Offer it to God, work around it, minister to others who suffer. Just
his week my Google alert turned up a news story about a woman with
ME/CFS who, though bed-ridden for decades, started and runs a charity
called Rest Assured, that organizes food deliveries, support and
comfort for other people who have her condition or fibromyalgia. A
misery shared can be a weight cut in half. Often someone who has
endured a certain pain or sorrow can help others in the same
situation more effectively than someone who's healthy.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
are to pray for our healing and that of others. But when healing does
not come, it is our opportunity to show that our prayers are not
merely words. It costs us but a little time to pray for someone to be
healed. When they aren't, then we must show if we really mean what we
say and care for the person's wellbeing. Are we willing to give up
more time and some labor or some emotional support and perhaps spend
some money to help that person?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
if I pray for personal healing and my problem remains, do I abandon
God? Do I show that my faith is superficial and that I am only into
God for what I can get out of him? How would we feel about someone
who only sticks with us when things are going well and dumps us when
things get tough and don't go their way?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Prayer
is more than words. It is an expression of our desires and values to
God. What we do is as much a form of prayer as what we say. Perhaps
more so.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Finally,
we must remember that our faith in God is not limited to this
lifetime. If it were, as Paul says, we are all the more pitiful. (1
Corinthians 15:19) In this life, in this world, fractured and
contaminated by the misuse, abuse and neglect of God's creations and
creatures, we are going to have suffering. No one is exempt. Not even
Jesus. (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:17) But our hope is in the kingdom of
God, which now is a seed but which will bloom into glorious flower in
the life beyond this life. In his kingdom, God's will is done and his
will is that we be made whole, morally, spiritually and physically.
(Revelation 21:4)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Disease
and disability are not signs of God's displeasure with us, just as
the apparent wellbeing of some people is no sign that he favors them.
He sends the sun and rain on everyone, good or bad. (Matthew 5:45)
God loves us regardless of our condition. And we must trust that what
he does is ultimately for our lasting benefit. A baby doesn't
understand why her mother holds her down while the doctor stabs her
with needles. To the infant this seems like a betrayal and an
unwarranted infliction of pain. But later, when a virulent germ
attacks her, she will be immune to its worst effects. Throughout
history, anywhere from a quarter to half of all children used to die
before their fifth birthday. The single greatest reason that life
expectancy has increased is because of vaccinations. When I was a
kid, the scar left by the smallpox and TB vaccinations were a sign of
our parents' love for us. But try telling that to a baby screaming in
pain from the doctor jabbing them with needles in their softer parts.
</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
are but infants in understanding God's ways. But based on what he has
done for us in the past, based on the suffering he has endured for
us, we can trust that our wounds, like the ones he chose not to heal
on his own hands, feet and side, are signs of his love.</span></p><p><i style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;">This
was preached on February 9, 2003. It has been updated a bit.</span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-41898530301289651492024-01-30T10:13:00.000-05:002024-01-30T10:13:04.251-05:00False Prophets<p> <i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
main scripture referred to is Deuteronomy 18:15-20.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
you hire a spokesperson you want them to stay on script and not have
their own agenda. In today's reading from Deuteronomy, the Hebrew
word translated prophet literally means “spokesperson.” A prophet
is called by God to speak for God. “I will put my words in his
mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him.”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Of
course, this serves as a temptation for people to proclaim themselves
to be prophets and say whatever they like. So God says, “But if any
prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not
authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that
prophet must die.” The passage continues beyond our lectionary
selection to tell us, “Now if you say to yourselves, 'How can we
tell that a message is not from the Lord?'—whenever a prophet
speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have
not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you shall not
fear him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22, NET Bible)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
foresaw the rise of false prophets, people who would pretend to be
speaking for God but were just saying things that were self-serving
or which served the people who employed them. When Micah condemns the
corrupt political and spiritual leaders of Judah he says, “Her
leaders take bribes when they declare legal cases, her priests
proclaim rulings for profit, and her prophets read omens for pay.”
(Micah 3:11) Just this week on Facebook I posted something funny and
in the comments was this message. “Actually I was directed to you
by my spiritual insight and the universe because it was revealed to
me that you need spiritual guidance concerning your life.” The
Facebook profile of the person describes them as a “psychic, trauma
healer, spiritual coach” and “motivational speaker.” To be
fair, they don't say they are a prophet from God. But I am not taking
advice from this person or anyone like them.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jesus
also warned us of false prophets. “Then if anyone says to you,
'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe him. For
false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs
and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew
24:23-24) He's saying that they can be that persuasive. And a major
mark of a destructive cult is that the leader claims to be the
Messiah, or Jesus Christ, or God. Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles
Manson, Father Divine, Sun Myung Moon, Yahweh ben Yahweh and many
others have declared themselves to be the Messiah. Wikipedia has a
whole page listing messiah claimants. Jesus said they can be
dismissed as false prophets. If you keep that in mind, you are
unlikely to get drawn into a cult.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
how else can we discern which of the many people who claim to be
speaking for God are actually false prophets?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As
Deuteronomy says, one easy way is when they predict something and it
doesn't come true. By this test alone we can eliminate all the people
who have predicted the end of the world with a date that is now past.
That includes a lot of modern day evangelists, who have been doing
this for decades. Charles Taze Russell, Herbert W. Armstrong, Pat
Robertson, Louis Farrakhan, Harold Camping, Jerry Falwell, Tim
LaHaye, Edgar Cayce, Yisrayl Hawkins, John Hagee and many others have
set dates for the end of the world or for Jesus' return which
obviously were wrong. Jesus warned us about that. “But as for that
day or hour no one knows it—neither the angels in heaven, nor the
Son—except the Father.” (Mark 13:32) At least while he was living
on earth, even Jesus did not know the date or time! So you can
dismiss as a false prophet anyone who thinks they know better than
Jesus.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another
way to see if someone is a false prophet is to see if what they say
is inconsistent with the canon of scripture. A canon is simply a
standard by which things are measured. So 2 Peter says, “Above all,
you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever
comes from the prophet's personal understanding of things, for no
prophecy was ever brought about by the will of a human being; rather,
people who were carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
(2 Peter 2:20-21) How does this help us?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
fandom there is a thing called “head canon.” This is
distinguished from canon, which in fandom is what the original show
or book says. For instance, in the very first Sherlock Holmes story,
Watson is wounded in the shoulder in the first Afghan war. But in
other stories his wound is in his leg. Sherlock Holmes fans have come
up with a lot of explanations for this discrepancy. Some are clever,
some are funny, but none of them are official. The solutions the fans
have come up with to explain the problem to their own satisfaction
are “head canon,” their own personal way of making sense of
things.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Don't
misunderstand me but in a way, theological explanations are like head
canon. For instance a lot of people think that the reason Jesus died
is this: God had to punish someone for our sins but didn't want to
punish us, so he punished Jesus instead. Now we are told in the canon
of the Bible that Jesus died for our sins (Mark 10:45; Matthew 26:28;
John 1:29; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 2:20; 1 Peter
2:21-25 and 3:18; 1 John 2:2) But nowhere does it spell out exactly
how this worked and nowhere does it say God <i>had</i> to do it
because he was required by the Law. So, as a nurse, I like to think
of Jesus' death in terms of a transplant from a heart donor. Just as
a heart donor must die for you to receive their heart and get a new
life, so Jesus' death enables us to receive his eternal life. There
are scriptures that suggested that idea to me. (Ezekiel 36:26;
Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3) That works for me better than the
idea that God had to pull some legal trick to get us off from our
rightful punishment. But that's <i>my</i> head canon. That Jesus died
for us is canon. How you or I explain it is not.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
is not to say theology is worthless. If it helps you understand what
the Bible tells us without contradicting what else scripture says,
that's good. C.S. Lewis has helped me understand Christianity better.
But I don't agree with him on everything. None of us is right about
everything. We are all heretics in some area or another. We will only
know for sure when we meet God. What's vital is to know the essential
truths of the Bible.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
we should be wary of those who add a lot of novelties to the
essentials, especially ones that twist the obvious teachings of the
Bible. Paul warns his protege Titus, “But avoid foolish
controversies, genealogies, quarrels, and fights about the law,
because they are useless and empty.” (Titus 3:9) Likewise, he tells
Timothy, “For there will be a time when people will not tolerate
sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will
accumulate teachers for themselves, because they will have an
insatiable curiosity to hear new things. And they will turn away from
hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to
myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
we can tell if someone is a false prophet when they don't merely
share their private interpretation to see if it helps you understand
the Bible but instead they substitute it for scripture <i>and</i>
that interpretation contradicts the essential teachings of the Bible.
John points out such red flags as saying that Jesus is not the
Messiah or did not become a flesh and blood human being. (1 John
2:22; 4:3) That's why summaries like the Apostles Creed were compiled
by the early church. They tell us in a nutshell what are the basics
that we are to believe.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are also basics of Christian behavior. The Ten Commandments are a
good start. And all mainstream religions have some form of the Golden
Rule. Jesus put it this way: “Treat others in the same way you
would want them to treat you.” (Luke 6:31) Jesus also summarized
all the ethical laws in the Bible when he told us to love God with
all we are and all we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
(Matthew 22:37-40)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
Jesus' unique contribution to morality is his extension of the
command to love others. He told us we must even love our enemies.
(Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27) No false prophet says that. False prophets
are so narcissistic that they cannot tolerate people who question
them nor will they usually let people leave their church or cult.
Instead they will harass them or even send out followers to harm the
defectors. Ervin LeBaron called himself the prophet of his polygamous
Mormon fundamentalist group. He sent his followers, including some of
his 50 children by his 13 wives, to kill people who left his group or
were part of rival groups. It is estimated that he was responsible
for between 25 and 50 murders, including those of his own 2 brothers.
Jesus never did that. When the disciples reported to him that they
tried to stop someone casting out demons in his name, Jesus said, “Do
not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.” (Luke
9:50) Having different denominations is not a sin. Christians
demonizing other Christians is.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Only
a false prophet will tell you tell you that murder, adultery, theft,
or lying are OK because he says so or that you are to worship
something or someone other than God. Again 2 Peter says, “These
false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies,
even to the point of denying the Master who brought them. As a
result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. And many
will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false
teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. And in their greed they
will exploit you with deceptive words.” (2 Peter 2:1-3) A false
prophet will use his revelations and teachings to gain wealth or sex
or power for himself. Paul said about such people, “If someone
spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is,
those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords
with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an
unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives
rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, and constant
bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the
truth, who suppose godliness is a way of making profit.” (1 Timothy
6:3-5)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Finally,
false prophets tend to be more popular than real prophets because
they tell people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
As the fall of Judah to the Babylonians got closer, Jeremiah said,
“The Lord God who rules over all says to the people of Jerusalem:
'Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are
filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own
imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say. They
continually say to those who reject what the Lord has said, “Things
will go well for you!” They say to those who follow the stubborn
inclinations of their own hearts, “Nothing bad will happen to
you!”...But if they had stood in my inner circle, they would have
proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people
to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they
are doing.” (Jeremiah 23:16-17, 22)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
are seeing this happening today. False prophets are preaching things
that not Christian: they are preaching hate; they are preaching that
it is OK to be greedy and that God wants us to pursue wealth; they
are preaching that we need not do anything to help the poor, the
hungry, the sick, the prisoner and the immigrant; they are blessing
people's worst attitudes and actions; they are preaching belligerence
rather than mercy, retribution rather than forgiveness, the tolerance
of injustice and the intolerance of those who disagree with them.
And, yes, some who we might otherwise think are Christian are going
along with this. They are idolizing those who embody arrogance, lust,
laziness, greed, rage, envy and self-indulgence. They are making fun
of those who turn the other cheek and calling those who give up their
lives for others losers. They exalt the love of power rather than the
power of love.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jesus
warned us to “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in
sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves! You will
recognize them by their fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-16) He recognizes
them as well. “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will
enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of
my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord,
didn't we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and
do many powerful deeds?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew
you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!'” (Matthew 7:22-23)
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What
then is the mark of the true prophet and the true Christian? Hint:
you will find it repeated more than 17 times throughout the New
Testament. Here it is: on the night before he died for us Jesus said,
“I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have
loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know that
you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.” (John
13:34-35)</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-45193031106675059162024-01-23T12:09:00.000-05:002024-01-23T12:09:13.990-05:00How to Fight Evil (Without Fighting)<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
sermon was originally preached on January 22, 2006. It has been
updated.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You
could argue that the first movies were what are now called “genre
films.” That is, the first movies with plots weren't about everyday
life but were fantasies, like 1900's <i>Cinderella</i>, or science
fiction, like 1902's <i>A Trip to the Moon, </i>both by George
Melies. Even the first non-fantasy film story, 1903's <i>The Great
Train Robbery</i> by Edwin Porter, could be classified as both a
Western and a thriller. As movies changed from novelties to a staple
of 20<sup>th</sup> century life, genre films, though popular, have
been looked down upon by critics and even those in the industry.
Since their inception in 1928, the Academy Awards have rarely honored
films other than dramas. Fantasy and science fiction movies might
pick up technical awards for sound or special effects but they aren't
considered serious films. That's why it was such a shock when the
third <i>Lord of the Rings</i> film, <i>The</i> <i>Return of the
King</i>, won the Oscar for Best Picture of 2003. It was the first
fantasy film ever to do so. And it showed that even a story that
included hobbits, elves and sorcerers could have important things to
say about life.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Why
are such stories popular even though they are far removed from our
everyday experiences? The usual answer is that they are escapist
entertainments, designed to help us escape mentally and emotionally
from our mundane lives. If so, why do they resonate so much with so
many people? Because, despite the trappings of magic, or technology
so advanced it might as well be magic, speculative fiction tends to
deal with ultimate values. In fact many writers, such as Rod Serling,
creator of <i>The Twilight Zone</i>, and Gene Roddenberry, creator of
<i>Star Trek</i>, have discovered that they can use fantasy and
science fiction to explore controversial subjects, such as race, war,
patriotism, religion and others, without instantly polarizing their
audiences. Set the Vietnam War on a distant planet and, stripped of
its identifying and incidental details, you can talk about its
morality. Explore the differences within an alien species and you can
get to the heart of racism. Take a current topic and extrapolate how
it might shape our future and you can deal with the ethics of
cloning, or of manipulating DNA, or the consequences of artificial
intelligence. Fantasy and science fiction are ideal settings to
explore questions of good and evil in ways that people of different
cultures, politics or even religions can consider them rationally.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
it's sad that these days Hollywood tends to use the trappings of
scifi and fantasy primarily to produce action films, which are all
about thrills rather than thoughts. They even managed to make the
life of Christ into one of the biggest action films ever: <i>The
Matrix</i>. (Where the One dies and is raised back to life by the
love of Trinity and ascends at the end. Sound familiar?) Of course
the advantage of using science fiction or fantasy as the setting for
an action film is that the hero can kill loads of bad guys and as
long as they are machines, monsters, or aliens, he won't appear to be
a mass murderer. That's why there are so few films like the
thoughtful <i>Gattaca</i> and so many like the brainless <i>Alien Vs.
Predator</i>. And that's why the solution to the problem of evil in
these movies is usually to just kill all the bad guys. You only have
to look at the Middle East to see that in real life this really
doesn't work.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Are
there times when the right response to evil is to fight?
Unfortunately, yes. Europe would still be an Nazi empire had we not
opposed Hitler by force. Again <i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i>
explored the moral problems that arise when the basically decent
Federation of Planets finds itself fighting a war it can't afford to
lose against a people obsessed with securing the supremacy of its
race. It showed the moral ambiguities involved in fighting even when
your goal is good. In the end certain enemies become allies and the
supposed good guys use biological warfare to win. And yet after the
war one good guy gives up the woman he loves to devote himself to
curing the defeated aggressors. Though not himself religious,
Roddenberry had a very religious upbringing and so every version of
<i>Star Trek</i> has always upheld the idea that different peoples,
even former enemies like the Klingons, can find reconciliation.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Evil
doesn't always approach us in columns with jackboots and swastikas,
though. And the way to fight evil doesn't always have to involve
fists and weapons. So let's contemplate some other ways to deal with
evil other than killing those under its sway.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Evil
starts, as the third chapter of Genesis tells us, as an idea. It is a
seductive idea and it is that we know better than God. (Genesis
3:1-6) The Greeks called this attitude hubris; most Bible
translations render it pride, but a better translation would be
arrogance. Unlike pride, arrogance is not simply taking pleasure in
your accomplishments; it is a sense of inherent and all-encompassing
superiority to others. If I win a tennis match, I really can't
conclude much more than I won that match on that day against that
person. If however I win lots of matches against lots of people, I
can conclude that I am a very good tennis player. But I cannot
conclude that I am the world's greatest tennis player unless I play
and defeat everyone in professional tennis,and even then I am not the
greatest for all time. Most successful people are eventually toppled
or surpassed by someone new. And I certainly cannot conclude that I
am in any way superior in other sports or other areas of life. We
shouldn't be all that shocked when we find out that someone who is a
good athlete or singer or actor or preacher or leader can also be a
bad spouse or businessman or parent or thinker. Nobody is the best in
everything. Only an arrogant person assumes he or she possesses
unilateral superiority in all spheres of life.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
one way to fight evil is to practice and teach humility. Humility
simply means having a sense of proportion about yourself and your
strengths and weaknesses. A humble person can acknowledge that he or
she is good at some things but not good at others. A humble person
knows that thinking you are the GOAT at anything is both untrue and
dangerous, to yourself and to others. Will Rogers pointed out that we
are all ignorant, just on different topics. And you can say we all
have weaknesses, just in different things. An arrogant person will
not admit to weaknesses in any area and will see others who have
notable strengths as threats to his ego. A wise person sees the
strengths of others not as threats but as resources and sees other
people not as rivals but as potential allies.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another
thing only a humble person does is repent when they are wrong. The
Greek word for “repent” means “to change your mind” and the
Hebrew word for it means “to turn around.” Since arrogant people
feel they are never wrong but that they are infallible, they rarely
change their mind nor do they change their direction in life.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Because evil starts as an idea, one way of combating it is using God's gift
of your mind. Since evil is a distortion or a diminishing of what is
good, we need to be able to recognize its telltale lies. We need to
spot lines of thought that seek to justify evil ways of doing things
simply because they have noble goals. We have seen the disastrous
fallout when our country has undermined the democracy of other
countries, like in Iran and in Latin America. Cult leaders routinely
convince people that it's OK to break the commandments against
adultery, theft, lying and even murder because they are speaking for
God or are themselves God. But those are God's commandments, so why
would he break them or tell others to break them? As James tells us,
God is not tempted by evil nor does he tempt others. (James 1:13)
Anytime someone says some noble end justifies whatever means it takes
to achieve it, they are tempting us to do evil.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
also need to refute any system of thought that reduces people to mere
animals, or alternately exalts humans into gods. We need as well to
refute any system of thought that narrowly defines what is good as
whatever benefits me and mine and does this by neglecting or
exploiting or harming others. And in general, we should question
anything that promises to be a panacea and solve all our problems by
its simple application. We must also realize that all ideas need
to be analyzed this way, even if they come from a supposedly
Christian source.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
one way of fighting evil in thoughts is to learn the gospel, the good
news of what God has revealed in Christ. It is important to learn it
well enough to think Christianly, that is, by using scripture first
but also looking at what Christians in the past have said and done
for inspiration and by using our God-given reason. The Bible is not
an encyclopedia and you are going to encounter things you can't
dismiss with prooftexts. Today we are facing completely new things,
like the ability to alter human DNA and to create artificial
intelligence. They have the potential to do great good and to do
great harm—and there is nothing in the Bible about them! So we must
use its timeless moral principles and figure out how to apply them to
new situations. We should also look at how God responded to evil. He
didn't take up arms against evil people; he became one of us and
showed us how to live. After we killed him, he rose again and now he
lives in us through his Spirit. Our creator is creative in dealing
with evil and so must we be.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Evil
thoughts become evil words and so spread to others. So we can fight
evil with words as Jesus did. I don't just mean by debating the
ideas. I mean by using positive speech as well. We need to learn to
articulate our faith and learn how to communicate it. There are a
great many good books out there that put the gospel into
non-technical, non-churchy language. There are books by C.S. Lewis
and Dorothy L. Sayers and Paul Little and William Barclay and N.T.
Wright. The “Outline of the Faith” in the Book of Common Prayer
can help.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It
is also essential that we read the Bible, regularly, intelligently,
curiously, and prayerfully. Don't stick to one translation. None of
them can fully express all the riches and wisdom to be found there.
There are also a number of good study Bibles out there. There are
loads of translations and Bible helps and commentaries online for
free, like William Barclay's Daily Study Bible. I highly recommend
the Bible Hub app. The Logos app offers an entire library of books that
will help you with almost any question and both apps are free to
download and use.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
if we are to communicate our faith we need to translate it into terms
that we ourselves use everyday. Very few people speak or understand
Elizabethan English or theological terms. So we shouldn't use them to
talk to people outside the faith. We need to find ways of talking
about sin, repentance, redemption, atonement and holiness that people
can understand. We need to take the concepts behind such words and
relate them to ordinary life. After all, as J.B. Phillips said, Jesus
is God's Word in terms we can understand, like time and space and
human personality. Sharing the good news of God's love, forgiveness
and new life in Christ is a way of counteracting evil.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another
way to fight evil that often gets forgotten is encouragement. Sure,
we should expose evil and warn people about it, but we shouldn't
neglect encouraging people to do what's right. If doing the right
thing all the time were easy, we wouldn't be discussing evil. So it's
vital to support and encourage good actions on the part of others and
to stand by them when doing right is hard.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Among
the physical ways of fighting evil that don't involve Kung Fu is
comforting those who are hurt, supporting those who are unsteady,
restraining those who are angry, hugging those who need love, playing
with children, helping with a task, etc. These are all little things
that are also powerful ways to communicate God's love and
faithfulness to those around us when words are not enough.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">These
are just a few of the ways you can combat evil with your mind, your
words and your actions. But the best strategy is to combine all
three. Think up a way to fight evil, communicate it to others and
then implement it. There was a boy who made sandwiches and gave them
to the homeless. Other people joined in and a simple and effective
way to fight hunger was born. There was a wealthy man and his wife
who wanted to live more Christian lives and decided to partner with
the poor in building homes. Today Habitat for Humanity is a worldwide
Christian answer to the lack of affordable housing. A Christian
rockstar met with world leaders about a pressing social concern. Bono
has used his celebrity to convince wealthy countries to forgive Third
World debt, freeing up some of the poorest countries to use their
natural resources to help their own people.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are many ways of fighting evil: through healing, through education,
through invention, through example, through law, through art, through
organization, through fundraising, through parenting, and through
peacemaking. God has given us hundreds of gifts in billions of
combinations. We can choose to waste them or use them selfishly or
destructively--that's basically what evil is--or we can use them to
make the world better.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Why
is it that the good guy in the genre stories we love is almost always
a warrior? As we've seen there are countless other ways to fight
evil. And we haven't even talked about the most radical way God has
provided for us: forgiveness. The way that evil perpetuates itself is
through a neverending cycle of injury and retaliation. It's rather
like how a gang war increases and spreads. Damaged people pass the
evil done to them along to others. Forgiveness stops evil cold. If
you forgive someone the cycle of pain comes to a halt. But it's hard.
It is perhaps the hardest thing God asks us to do. Still that's how
God himself did it. From the cross Jesus asks his Father to forgive
those who were in the process of killing him. In the Lord's prayer we
ask God to forgive us to the extent that we forgive others. We can
only accomplish this by calling on the power of his Holy Spirit
working in and through us to change us and our relationships.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Wouldn't
it be great if in a big movie when the hero arrives, the bad guys put
down their arms, defect and join the side of good? That's how God
wants the story to end. He wants his enemies to become his allies. He
wants us to stop harming each other and his creation and start
restoring it. The Christian hope, as N.T. Wright points out, is not
the fiery end of everything but a new beginning. (Revelation 21:1-5)
We look for a new heaven and a new earth, a new city of God, and a
new kind of life, where neither pain, nor regret, nor anger, nor
arrogance reign but the God who is love rules in our hearts and in
our minds and in our lives.</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-15010645201918761562024-01-16T12:24:00.000-05:002024-01-16T12:24:53.339-05:00Good Sex<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">This
sermon was originally preached on January 15, 2006. It has been
updated.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A
while ago my wife and I were channel surfing and stopped on a news
show. A reporter was apparently ambushing these guys in the kitchen
of an average looking home. At first we weren't sure what these
normal-looking middle-aged men were doing. Then it became clear. They
had all been invited over by someone they met on the internet,
someone they thought was a 14 year old kid. Some were there to see a
girl, some to see a boy. But the person who invited them was really
an undercover cop. The show was <i>To Catch a Predator.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">They
had excuses. They were merely checking on a lonely teen. They were
offering love but not, they insisted, “<i>that</i> kind.” But
they had said what they wanted to do to the kid online. And they
weren't what we think of as lowlifes. One was an emergency room
doctor. Another, who had sent nude photos of himself, was a rabbi.
One even fell for another internet assignation the very next day,
only to be caught by the same reporter.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A
few years ago the police used a similar set up to catch a man who had
written a book. What caught the media's attention was the same thing
that had made me buy his unique volume on world history years
earlier. It was the now ironic title: <i>The Story of Stupidity</i>.
We often hear about seemingly smart people—writers, scientists,
politicians, businessmen—doing really stupid things. And we wonder
“What were they thinking?” The answer is usually “They
weren't!” Not everything we do is logical; a lot of it is
psychological. We are not only motivated by our needs, like food,
shelter and love, but also by our fears and our desires. And one of
the strongest desires, so strong that it is often mistaken for a
need, is sex.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Isn't
sex a need? Not really. You need to eat and drink or you will die.
But despite what teenage boys tell girls, nobody dies if deprived of
sex. In fact in many species, nobody gets to mate but the alpha
couple. Or the alpha male and his harem. In praying mantises the
female kills and eats the male after mating with him. So for them sex
kills.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sex
<i>is</i> essential for the continuation of the species. It is not
essential for every individual, however. Some people have no sexual
desire. They are asexual and today call themselves “Aces.”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
for most of us, the urge is strong. It has to be in order that enough
individuals mate, ensuring that the species doesn't die out. But it
is so powerful that people commonly mistake it for something else,
something that really is a need: love. For instance, infants not
given love usually die, even if all their physical needs are met. If
they do survive, they will suffer from crippling psychological
problems. Love <i>is</i> a need. But there are different kinds of
love: familial, divine, friendship. Sex is only appropriate in
connection with romantic love.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Contrary
to what many people think, sex is not a sin. Sex was created by God
and is good. The very first commandment he gives us is “Be fruitful
and multiply.” (Genesis 1:28) He could have made us reproduce
non-sexually as one-celled animals do, or as the New Mexico whiptail
lizards, who are all female, do. He could have made sex for humans as
impersonal as it is for deer, who rut and then part. But God made it
so that humans must attract one another, come together and then want
to stay together. You may have heard of the chemical oxytocin that is
released during sex and binds the couple together emotionally. In
Genesis we are told that the man and the woman become one. (Genesis
2:24) This makes sense because God is love and we are made in his
image. (1 John 4:8; Genesis 1:27) God is more than one person; God is Father
and Son, united in the Spirit of love. We most resemble God when we
are united in love, as a couple or as a family or as a community. Sex
is just one biological expression of that love.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
how did we get the idea that sex is bad? Part of the fault lies with
the church. Tainted by Gnostic spirit-matter dualism and Eastern
philosophies that denigrate the body, the church eventually came to
see celibacy as the only pure way to live as a Christian. But if you
read Paul, you see that neither the body nor sex is evil. But like
all good things, they can be used for evil.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
created all things and pronounced them good. (Genesis 1:31) So where
does evil come from? If good is the original state of things, then
evil is parasitic. Evil is a parody of good, a pale imitation of what
God originally intended. Evil is a distortion or diminishing of good.
Practically speaking, evil is the misuse, abuse or neglect of what is
good. For example, if I give my kid a baseball bat, I wish him to
enjoy the bat. But I want him to use it as intended by its makers, to
play baseball or softball or T-ball. If instead he is hitting other
kids with the bat, he is using the bat improperly. The bat isn't
evil; its misuse is. Similarly, if I buy my kid a video game, I intend
for him to enjoy it. But if he spends all day doing literally nothing
but playing games, that's not how I intended him to use it. Gamers
have actually died after they went days without eating because they
couldn't stop gaming. Their obsession with the game and their abuse
of it ruined and in some cases ended their lives.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the same way, God gives us the gift of sex. He intends for us to
enjoy it in the way he designed it to be used. But we can take his
good gift and misuse it. We can use it to hurt. We can use it to
dominate. We can let it take over our lives. We can try to divorce
the pleasure of it from its intended purpose: to facilitate and
enhance a loving relationship that may, if God wills it, provide a
nurturing environment for children.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
because sex is so powerful, it can do a great deal of good or a great
deal of damage. And so we see marriages destroyed by the misuse of
sex. Like selfish sex. Read Paul: the body of the wife is not
exclusively hers but belongs to the husband, he says. “Ah ha!”
say his critics. “He's a male chauvinist!” But in the same verse
he goes on to say that the husband's body is not just his but belongs
to his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:4) That was radical in the first
century! Too bad people only read part of what he wrote. The point is
that spouses are to be attentive to each other's bodies and to each
other's pleasure. Neither selfish nor painful nor abusive sex are
what God intends.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another
way that sex can be abused is through promiscuity. Remember how sex
releases a chemical that binds the couple? That's telling us that
when relationships get to that level of intimacy, we were meant to
settle down together. But some people seem to be immune to the
effects of oxytocin. How else are they able to bounce from partner to
partner to partner without regret? If someone at a restaurant ordered
meal after meal after meal, chewed up all the food and then spat it
all out, you'd know that something was wrong with them. Yet folks who
extract the pleasure from sex without committing to the people
involved have become so common, that we just shrug. Unless you're one
of the people who got chewed up and spat out. Some promiscuous men
are considered heroes, like Hugh Hefner was. A recent documentary
series with interviews from many of the women and the men who worked
for Hefner revealed that he was just as much of a sexual predator as
those middle-aged guys on <i>To Catch a Predator</i>. Except he
reveled in being in the spotlight. And he used drugs and his power
and influence to get his way.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sadly
for some folks sexual promiscuity continues despite broken homes,
damaged children, ruined reputations, and its financial,
psychological and even physical costs. A doctor once defined an
addiction as any behavior a person persists in despite mounting
negative consequences. Someone else said that addiction is giving up
everything else for one thing. Recovery is giving up one thing for
everything else. It seems like there really are people addicted to
sex. Liked that guy who risked everything twice in a row to meet a 14
year old potential sex partner.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
leads us to what Paul is talking about in today's passage (1
Corinthians 6:12-20). He says “'All things are lawful for me' but
not all things are beneficial. 'All things are lawful for me' but I
will not be dominated by anything.” Paul preached freedom in
Christ. The Christian is not bound by the cumbersome ceremonial and
ritual laws of Judaism. But some took this to mean that Christians
aren't bound by moral laws either. They were following the Spirit,
not rules, they said. But what Paul was saying is that the Law, which
was a good thing, could be misused to become an oppressive tangle of
rules that could actually come between God and us. Think of how many
people raised in overly strict homes with lots of rules that didn't
make sense have left their childhood faith because they were told it
was the source of those rules. Paul points out that the Law could
even be used to tempt people by giving things mystery and the allure
of the forbidden. (Romans 7:7-25) And Jesus had no patience for any
rules that stopped him from healing on the Sabbath or touching the
sick and outcast or teaching women. (Luke 13:15-16; Mark 2:27-28)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
our passage Paul uses some logical judo against his critics. He takes
some of the things people are saying, their oversimplifcations of
freedom in Christ, and shows that they cannot justify immorality.
Just because something is legal doesn't make it good for you. It may
be legal to buy and then eat an entire 10 pound bag of Halloween
candies by yourself. It would be unhealthy, though, if not lethal for
some who are diabetic.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul
also points out that things that are legal can take over your life.
Some people think that if we legalize recreational drugs, all the
problems we have with them will be solved. Yet the two recreational
drugs that are universally legal, alcohol and tobacco, kill more
people than all the illegal drugs combined. So do we need to add more
addictive substances which will be manufactured by big companies and
marketed and made to look cool to everyone, including kids? Remember
Oxycontin? Tell the addict who spends all day looking for his next
fix that his biggest problem is the illegality of what hooked him.
That's the least of his problems. What started out as a pleasure has
now become his master, and it punishes him if he tries to get free.
Legalizing slavery doesn't help the slaves.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Similarly
we have a culture that thinks it has discovered that all problems
regarding sex can be solved if we just get rid of all the rules. This
is like trying to make driving better by repealing all the traffic
laws. Exploitation, abuse, unfaithfulness, STDs, inequality of the
sexes, AIDs, human trafficking, jealous murder-suicides and sadism
aren't caused by rules, but by human beings misusing God's gift to
hurt themselves and others. Again it is not flesh that is evil—God's
Word took flesh in Jesus—but our flesh cannot be left in charge of
how we live our lives. (John 1:14; Romans 8:3-5)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
solution, Paul tells us, lies not in more rules but in a change of
heart. Rather than let our desires and fears rule us, we need to
remember that God lives in us and let his Spirit lead us. We need to
be so full of his love and wholeness that we aren't tempted by the
caricatures and knock-offs of God's gifts that evil presents to us.
We need to do what we were meant to do: reflect God's glory in our
spirits and in our bodies through love. We are to mirror his divine
love in every other one of our loves, whether for family, friends or
our romantic partner. As he is both creator and redeemer, we need to
be creative as we redeem all aspects of this world and our lives.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
much of what the church has said about sex is negative. And that
hasn't helped a world in which people have just about given up on
love as anything more than just a temporary episode with sex as the
reward. And people don't need to hear more sentimental claptrap about
the kind of love that only exists in fairy tales. What the world
needs to see is flawed people transforming their flawed love into the
mutually self-giving love we see in the Triune God. The world needs
to see people who dare to not only say out loud what they say in
their hearts—that they love each other so much that they will stick
with one another through thick and thin until the day they die—but
who then actually keep those promises and don't just leave them at
the altar. We need to see people who find in sex not only the
interlocking of two physical organisms but the embodiment of the
melding of two lives into one. And we need to keep our minds and
hearts open to the Spirit of God, who is the only force that can
liberate us from all that is less-than-good and help us find and
rightfully and joyfully use the gifts of God, which he so generously
offers us in this world, in this flesh, in each other. </span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-56722519322094803372024-01-09T08:09:00.000-05:002024-01-09T08:09:23.625-05:00Jesus and Other Religions<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
sermon was originally preached on January 4, 2009. It has been
updated.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A
lot of people would love to lose 60 pounds in a couple of months. But
my friend was a nurse and so she knew that something was seriously
wrong with her. For one thing, she wasn't dieting; she was losing
weight because of involuntary projectile vomiting. She also knew that
the problem probably involved her gallbladder, the organ that enables
your body to break down fats in your food. It does so by squeezing
out bile. If the bile calcifies in the duct leading from the
gallbladder, it forms into gallstones. But no gallstones were
detected by imaging. Another possibility was cancer. But all the
tests came back negative. She was sent to various specialists but
they too were perplexed. Her doctor began to run out of ideas and
started to fall back on that old medical excuse: “It's all in your
head.” But my friend knew that something was physically wrong with
her and because she was unable to digest her food she was becoming
malnourished. At the rate she was losing weight, she would be dead by
the end of the year.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
day her regular doctor was out of town and she was seen by his
partner in the practice. As she described her symptoms and the test
results for the umpteenth time, something triggered a new diagnostic
possibility in this doctor's mind. He ran a test and it turned out
that my friend had something called a porcelain gallbladder. The bile
hadn't solidified in the duct but inside the gallbladder itself,
coating the lining and hardening so that the gallbladder couldn't
contract and squeeze out the bile to do its job. Surgery cured my
friend. In addition, she was fortunate because having a porcelain
gallbladder is often associated with gallbladder cancer and rarely
exhibits signs and symptoms until it is too late to save the patient.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
bicyclist was lucky to be alive. First he was struck by a drunken
motorist who sent him flying through the air. Unfortunately, he
landed right in the middle of US-1. Another car ran over him. He got
caught in its undercarriage and dragged for a dozen yards. His
injuries were terrible. And the most mangled part of him was his leg.
The consensus of the doctors at the hospital was to amputate it. One
surgeon dissented. He thought he could save the leg. The patient
decided to go with this maverick, reasoning that, in either instance,
the worst case scenario was that he'd lose the leg. But if the
surgeon were right, he'd keep it. The last I heard, he was learning
to walk on that leg and hoped eventually to walk without a cane.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Our
sermon suggestion reads, “We Christians believe that Jesus is the
road to everlasting life. Does this mean that Jews, Muslims and
Buddhists do not have access to an afterlife?” The purpose of my
medical prologue is to reframe the question. After all, if we think
of heaven or the afterlife as a destination, the idea that there
might be different paths to it seems reasonable. My hometown of St.
Louis is almost in the geographic center of the country and can be
reached via any of a number of roads and highways going east, west,
north or south. There is only one road, however, to Key West.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
I want to change the metaphor. Author Karen Armstrong points out that
religions tend to be born during times of warfare and turmoil. They
are primarily answers to the problems of suffering and evil. So the
question “How do I get to heaven?” is not really analogous to the
question, “How do I get to St. Louis?” It is more like the
question, “How do I get to a state of spiritual health and
well-being?”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
know that with a medical problem, it is crucial to get the right
diagnosis. And once that's made, you need to choose the correct
course of treatment. And you need, as we've seen, to have the right
doctor. It's odd then that we do not feel we need to make similarly
accurate choices when it comes to our spiritual health. We tend to
treat all religions as equal options. That's like saying that my
friend would have done just as well if she had gone to a
chiropractor. Or that the guy's mangled leg could have been saved and
fixed through acupuncture. While these alternate medical systems
might work for certain conditions, neither needles nor a realignment
of the spine would have worked in these very serious cases.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What
is the cause of our spiritual ills? What is the best way to fix them?
Let us consider the diagnosis and treatment proposed by each of the
religions mentioned in our sermon suggestion and see how they stack
up in terms of what we know about the world's ills.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Buddhism
says all suffering is caused by desire or craving. That's the
diagnosis. The solution is to become detached from the world. Which
is made easier because Buddhism says the world is just an illusion.
Let go of it and you can have peace. And you don't have to worry
about an afterlife. To Buddhists and Hindus, eternal life would be a
horrible fate. The goal of those two religions is Nirvana, which
literally means the “blowing out” of the flame of life. They wish
to simply be absorbed into the World Soul and lose all individual
consciousness.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Desire
can certainly lead to suffering, especially if that desire is
thwarted. We want something—love, wealth, power—and find out that
we can't achieve it. That frustration can lead to anger, conflict,
murder or suicide. It may lead to theft and fraud. Ironically even
fulfilled desires can lead to suffering. Those who win the lottery or
who seek celebrity can find them to be as much of a curse as a
blessing. The relentless and remorseless scrutiny of your life, the
way these things can distort and destroy relationships, and in the
case of celebrity, the constant pressure to remain “hot” can make
your life a mink-lined prison. So Buddhism's diagnosis of our
problems looks pretty good so far.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
desire is not the only thing that makes us suffer. Fear can also
cause suffering and not all fears are illusionary or exaggerated.
Losing your job and your home are very realistic things to fear.
Getting cancer or some other serious disease is a legitimate fear.
Buddhists would say that fears are just negative desires, the desire
not to have bad things happen to us. They would say that even our
needs are attachments that must be jettisoned.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">No
matter how good the diagnosis is, the Buddhist treatment of the
disease is problematic. To tell people simply not to care about the
world or their own needs seems inhuman. It's like telling the cyclist
with the mangled limb to detach himself emotionally from his leg and
his problem will be gone. And the idea that reality is just an
illusion is akin to telling my friend that her illness is all in her
head. Reality continues to exist and impact us regardless of whether
we believe in it or not.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Let's
move on to the other two religions mentioned. Both Islam and Judaism
would say that the problem with the world is humanity's sins. This is
a more precise diagnosis than Buddhism's. Both Judaism and Islam
recognize that there are good desires as well as bad ones. But what
do they propose as the treatments for the condition of sinful
humanity?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Judaism
proposes following the laws of God. Sin is doing what's wrong. So
just follow the rules and do right. That sounds good but if it were
that simple, sin would have been eradicated millennia ago. The
problem is not just a matter of knowing what is right and what is
wrong. There is an internal resistance to always doing the right
thing. And we are not always rational about it. We often deliberately
choose short term rewards over long term benefits. People will risk a
good marriage, the stability of their family and the mental health of
their children for a fling. People will endanger careers,
reputations, and even their health for the transitory pleasures of
winning a competition, or experiencing some sensation, or taking
revenge, or trying to possess something that is not essential. The
impulse to sin is deep within us.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
problem with fixing humanity's sinful nature merely by following
rules is that it's trying to fix a broken leg by prescribing long
walks. Instead you must first set the bone; only then can you do the
physical therapy necessary to recovery. My friend knew that her
gallbladder was involved. But eating a healthy low-fat diet alone was
not going to cure her. However, after her porcelain gallbladder was
surgically dealt with, following the rules of a healthy diet was
important to her recovery. In the same way, the internal problem that
causes sin must be dealt with before one can attempt to follow the
rules of living a morally good life.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Islam
literally means “surrender.” A Muslim is one who surrenders to
the will of God, who in Arabic is called Allah. “Jihad,” by the
way, means “to struggle.” In mainstream Islam, it primarily means
one's personal struggle to achieve moral perfection by following
rules that largely overlap those of Judaism. This is admirable but,
again we must ask, “Can we do this through our own will alone?”
My friend was a nurse. She knew her illness must involve her
gallbladder but she was unable to cure herself. The cyclist knew his
leg was more than merely broken. They both needed a doctor, one who
could make the right diagnosis and then perform the appropriate
surgery. They couldn't operate on themselves. They needed someone
outside of themselves to cut into them, reach inside, cut out what
was wrong, put their bodies back in order and then sew them back up.
They needed someone to save them from physical illness, injury and
death.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Bible says humanity's problems lie in the human heart, the very core
of our will. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jesus says
that sin is not an external problem that can be rinsed away like dirt
but a pollution that arises from within our hearts. (Mark 7:21-23)
God vows to replace our stony hearts with hearts of flesh. (Ezekiel
26:36) To keep the metaphor going, think of Jesus as our heart donor,
the one who must die so that we may live. If we let him save us, our
old life is over and our new life begins. We are reborn spiritually.
And this process starts when we accept Jesus into our life and let
his holy Spirit go to work on us. External rules are not the answer.
Instead God says he will write his laws in our hearts, that is,
change our programming. (Jeremiah 31:33)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
is the treatment Jesus offers. He doesn't just say, “Stop doing
wrong. Do right instead.” He says, “Come to me and I will
transform you.” After all, how can there be any earthly or heavenly
paradise if people stay essentially the same as they are now? We are
spiritually sick, morally ill. Enlightenment is not enough. Good
intentions are not enough. Coming close to the right diagnosis is not
enough. Being in the general vicinity of the proper course of
treatment is not enough. We need a savior. We need Jesus.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">No
matter how well intentioned, the wrong cure is still wrong. And the
right cure won't work if we don't trust and cooperate with the doctor
and follow his orders. When working as a nurse I gave respiratory
meds and breathing treatments to people who continued to smoke. They
were undoing what I was doing to save them. Just as the existence of
quacks and snake oil doesn't invalidate the truths of genuine doctors
and medical treatments, hypocrites don't invalidate the truth of
Christianity—because they don't follow its most basic principles.
And those who leave the faith don't invalidate what it does for those
who continue in the faith, any more than someone who drops out of
Alcoholics Anonymous invalidates what it does for those who stick to
the program.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
does not mean that Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Jainists, Sikhs
and others do not have access to an afterlife. It does mean they,
like anyone else, must have the humility and courage to change and to
seek the God who is Love Incarnate. Jesus promised that if we seek we
will find. (Matthew 7:7-8) Nor does this mean that Western
“Christians” are automatically saved by virtue of their geography
or culture or church membership. A mouse doesn't become a cookie just
because it finds itself in a cookie jar. Living next to a huge
metropolitan hospital or world class clinic doesn't make you well
unless you take advantage of its facilities. Our complacency is
killing the church in the West. Just as the US is far from the
physically healthiest country in the world (we rank 47<sup>th</sup>
in life expectancy) so too the most vibrant centers of Christianity
are no longer located in the West. The largest number of Christians
and the greatest growth can be found in the churches in Africa and
Asia, where being a disciple of Jesus can really cost you.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
think at least part of our wish that any religion can save people is
not so much rooted in tolerance as in indifference. It's hard enough
to get people to help folks in other lands and cultures with physical
needs. And assuming that they are just fine spiritually gets us off
the hook when it comes to spreading the good news of Jesus. Some
people point to the disastrous things that missionaries have done in
the past as an excuse not to try to do it better. How well would
medical science do if we closed down certain areas of research
because of failures in the past? Lobotomies were a terrible idea, but
should we stop all brain surgeries? The earliest treatments for HIV
and AIDS were harsh and left some thinking that the cure was worse
than the disease. Today with treatment AIDS has become a chronic
illness that can be lived with instead of the automatic death
sentence it was in the 1980s. I know people alive today because of
the right medicines. Today's missionaries, like a neurosurgeon I
know, often bring the near miraculous healing of western medicine to
people without much in the way of healthcare. And this makes the
people they help become interested in what motivates these
missionaries to leave their families and their wealthy countries to
minister to those who can't repay them.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Any
religion can give you a reasonable moral code, a cozy group of
like-minded folks, colorful rituals and comforting ideas. So can
joining a Star Trek or Doctor Who fan club. These groups even have
designated charities they give to. I have heard fans say they use
fandom as a substitute for religion. They fully know that these
saviors of other worlds and times are fictional characters. But their
fantasies make their viewers feel good.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
if you suspect that there is something radically wrong with a real
world that has 40 wars going on at any time, one where global human
trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of women and children,
is a $150 billion a year industry, one where torture, racism,
oppression and every other evil go on everyday; if you think we need
something other than just more rules; if you think we need deep
personal change that can only come from a loving creator, who dares
to become one of us, to live and die and rise again with the healing
we need, who asks to come into our very souls and transform us into
new creations, spiritually reborn as his sons and daughters, then
there is really only one option: Jesus Christ.</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-28035838614262277742024-01-01T18:52:00.000-05:002024-01-01T18:52:21.320-05:00Keeping Body and Soul Together<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
was originally preached on January 1, 2006. There has been some
updating.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
don't usually make my sermons into stories. That's just the way they
come out at times. I will be thinking of some story in the Bible and
it will resist dissection. And that's natural. Living things resist
being cut up. And the stories in the Bible are filled with life,
which is why we relate to them so strongly and why, I suspect, God
saw to it that the majority of scripture is a story. He could have
given us a rule book. He could have given us a tome of systematic
theology. And I think a lot of Christians would prefer it that way,
especially those who loudly profess their supposed devotion to the
Bible but only pick and choose certain portions of it to follow or
believe. But God gave us an anthology, a collection of books, with
just enough rules, just enough theology and a whole lot of poems,
songs and stories.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
sometimes, rather than dissect a perfectly good story, I will retell
it and weave the points I wish to make into the fabric of the tale.
Quite frankly, it often starts with me waking at 5 in the morning
with the story telling itself in my brain. And I know from experience
that I must get up and get it down in writing if I am to have any
peace. I do research to keep it as accurate as I can, and I consult
my own experiences and emotions to keep it real. And I trust God to
guide my words.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
sometimes the details in the stories distress people. They would
rather not hear about the Virgin Mary breastfeeding, or about how
messy Jesus' birth must have been, or about dogs fighting over the
remains of crucified criminals, regardless of whether we know these
things happened, or had to happen or very probably happened. I
confess that some of these things come from my medical background. If
you're ever in a hospital cafeteria, don't sit next to a bunch of
nurses on break. We can discuss things over lunch that would make you
lose yours. But these things are nevertheless real. We are physical
beings in a physical world and so were the people in the Bible. That
is not to say we are not also spiritual beings. As C.S. Lewis put it,
we are amphibians, at home in both realms. And that is the point of
today's celebration.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the liturgical calendar of the church we call the first day of the
year “Holy Name Day.” But it used to be called “The
Circumcision of Our Lord.” A Jewish boy was circumcised on the 8<sup>th</sup>
day after his birth. We celebrate Christ's birthday on December 25<sup>th</sup>
because of an ancient belief that people died on the anniversary of
their conception. Jesus died in the spring when Passover was held and
so he was thought to have been conceived then and thus born in the
winter. So we celebrate his circumcision on January 1<sup>st</sup>.
This is important because circumcision was the physical sign that a
Jewish boy was a party to the covenant between God and Israel. A
covenant,or treaty, was cut. Usually this involved the sacrifice of
an animal and the shedding of blood. (Genesis 15) But the old
covenant (which is what “Old Testament” means) between God and
Abraham's descendants required the cutting off of the foreskin.
(Genesis 17) It's painful and a little bit bloody and the mark it
leaves is unmistakable. It is still a major rite of passage for
religious Jews and is called a Bris, which is Hebrew for covenant.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
how did this day come to be called “Holy Name Day?” Because when
a child was circumcised he was officially given his name. (Luke
1:59-63) The name meant something. It might be the name of a recently
deceased relative or a revered ancestor. In the Bible we see infants
named to commemorate God's blessing or some significant event. Abram
is renamed by God as “Abraham,” which means “father of many
nations.” Sarai is renamed “Sarah,” which means “princess.”
Isaac means “laughter,” recalling Sarah's laughing with surprise
and a little skepticism when God promises that she will give birth
long after menopause. Jesus is Greek for Yeshua, which means “Yahweh
is deliverance” or “Yahweh saves.” Because Hebrew was
originally written without vowels, “Yahweh” is as close as modern
scholars can come to working out the pronunciation of the covenant
name of God revealed to Moses. “Yahweh” is a form of the Hebrew
verb “to be.” It can mean “I am that I am,” or “I will be
who I will be,” or even “I will be there for you.”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
on this day we commemorate 2 things: Jesus' circumcision and his
naming. One seems primarily physical, the other primarily social but
each has a deeper meaning. The first means that Jesus is fully a
member of the covenant people of God. The second hints at his role:
to be the one who brings God's deliverance.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That
said, I wish we still called this “The Circumcision of Our Lord.”
Because we are not in danger of failing to spiritualize things. We
are in danger of forgetting that spiritual things have a physical
impact.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A
friend once proudly displayed her stuffed Santa. I pressed his hand
and he said, “The true meaning of Christmas is in your heart.” To
which I say, “It depends on what is in your heart.” The BTK
killer murdered one of his victims 2 weeks before Christmas. He was
president of his church council. Whatever was going on in his heart
was not about God's love for all.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">By
making Christmas a purely internal private thing, we make its meaning
hopelessly subjective. If it can mean anything we want it to, it will
come to mean nothing. The true meaning of Christmas is steadily
getting divorced from the objective physical meaning for its
existence: the birth of Jesus, complete with amniotic fluid, blood,
pain and a placenta. God did not metaphorically become one of us; he
actually and physically became one of us.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That
has always disturbed some people. At the time of the early church,
there was a movement called Gnosticism, from “gnosis,” the Greek
word for “knowledge.” Gnostics believed salvation was an
intellectual process. It depended on having a secret knowledge of the
world. And that knowledge was that the physical universe is evil,
made by an evil demi-god. Only what is spiritual is good. So some
gnostics were ascetics, trying to separate themselves from the
physical world as much as possible. Others thought that because you
can't redeem the physical, it was okay to indulge in every kind of
physical pleasure as long as you were intellectually pure. Only when
you die and escape the prison of the body can you be wholly
spiritual. Gnostics found things they liked in Christianity and made
inroads into the church, bringing with them their dualistic view of
the physical (evil) and spiritual (good). The church condemned
Gnosticism but its taint remains.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
still have Christians who try to separate the physical from the
spiritual, forgetting that God created the world and pronounced it
good. So we have those who act as if true Christianity occurs in some
other dimension. And the consequences of radically separating the two
are the same today as they were in the heyday of Gnosticism. Some
Christians try to withdraw from the world, which goes against the
Great Commission. (Matthew 28:19-20) Others act as if it doesn't
matter what you do with your body so long as your heart is in the
right place, forgetting that your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20) Both of these are equally
erroneous and they account for a lot of the troubles the church has
had in relating to the world.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">First
let's look at those who look down on the body. After Christianity was
legalized, there were few opportunities for becoming a martyr. Those
who sought to live an extreme form of Christianity decided that,
because they couldn't sacrifice their bodies in defiance of pagan
officials, they could mortify the flesh. They took phrases from
Paul's letters about learning to control one's body and twisted his
sensible if subtle ideas into feats of self-torture. (Romans
13:13-14; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Galatians 5:19-25) These people went
out into the desert and fasted, and whipped themselves, or sat on the
top of pillars for years. This asceticism has more to do with Eastern
body-denying philosophies. These hermits sought to show their
devotion to God by literally crucifying their flesh. And people
flocked to see them. It makes you wonder if this showy kind of
religious practice wasn't some form of exhibitionism—especially
when you have seen, as I have, an entire valley, located between
Jerusalem and Jericho, that is dotted with the tiny caves of hundreds
of so-called “hermits” that used to live there.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
that same valley there is an ancient monastery that goes back more
than 1000 years. When I visited it on a study trip in 1975, there
were only 3 aged monks rattling around in this vast holy building.
And another of the monks did not get along with the other 3 and moved
into one of the hermit caves. Not the best way to show that “God is
love.” (1 John 4:8)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Now
monasticism has done a lot of good. At their best monks and nuns ran
hospitals, schools and universities. Some created breathtaking art,
initiated social reform and served as model communities. During the
so-called “dark ages” they preserved classical works and
learning, both Christian and pagan, which was despised by the
barbarians who overthrew the Roman empire. Many of the early
scientific discoveries came from the learned priests and monks who
lived and worked in the monasteries where they made their
observations about medicinal herbs, animal husbandry, weather,
clock-making and more.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Still,
the impulse behind the monastic movement, at least in the beginning,
was the idea that it was easier to be a Christian if you just
withdrew from the world. And since the second greatest commandment,
according to Jesus, is to love our neighbor, it seems odd to think he
meant to separate yourself from people. This kind of Christian
practice concentrated on purifying oneself in a controlled
environment. The problem is that even the monasteries and the
nunneries were not immune to sin.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Often
what happened was that if a monastery or an order of monks were good
at what they did, they attracted wealthy patrons. As the monastery
grew rich, its disciplines grew lax and its original goals were
forgotten or modified. The reason why in the Robin Hood stories he
often held up abbots and bishops was that they often controlled a lot
of land and therefore a lot of wealth. Sins of the spirit, like
arrogance, were evident, followed by sins of the flesh. In his
meticulously researched novel, <i>The Name of the Rose</i>, Umberto
Eco has his detective, Brother Henry of Baskerville, uncover all 7
deadly sins in a large and important monastery. Which brings us back
to the problem of finding the meaning of Christmas in your heart.
Jesus reminds us that there are some pretty dark things in our hearts
and by itself changing our external circumstances is not sufficient
to save us from sin. (Mark 7:21-23)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On
the other hand, we find those in the church who think that externals
are of no importance at all. Many so-called “Christians” are
living lifestyles that are no different from nonbelievers.
Misunderstanding Paul's discovery that our salvation comes from God's
grace through faith and not from our works has led lots of Christians
to feel that as long as their heart is right with God, what they do
is their own business. This is like an alcoholic thinking that as
long as he attends A.A. meetings and says his affirmations, he can
continue to drink. So we have Christians who think nothing of
sleeping with others without making explicit the implicit promises
and commitments the merging of two lives demands, or seeking God's
blessing. We also have Christians taking marriage vows without
seriously considering what they are saying. There are Christians who
don't see the contradiction between being a temple of the Holy Spirit
and ingesting chemicals, both legal and illegal, just for fun,
despite the fact that they impair their thinking and physical
functions. We have people on the one hand saying that Jesus is their
Savior while on the other refusing to repent or take responsibility
for the acts that harm themselves or others.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
fact there are whole groups of Christians who want the church and
society to excuse whatever harm they do because they are at the mercy
of familial, societal, political, economic or biological forces that
they insist they cannot resist. They know the commandments against
murder, stealing, sexual immorality, etc, but they plead they are
victims of oppression, injustice, deprivation, neglect, or abuse as
if they were mere puppets and incapable of doing any differently. We
have a lot of people who want love and acceptance but not salvation
from their destructive and self-destructive actions. They don't want
to be saved from what they say tyrannically rules their lives.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Christ
became a man. He had brothers and sisters. He did a physical job. He
ate and drank and went to the bathroom. He had sexual organs and
sexual urges. That's part and parcel of the incarnation. And it means
we are not to despise God's physical creation nor our own bodies. It
also means that, as it says in Hebrews, we have a high priest who is
able to sympathize with our weaknesses. His knowledge of our troubles
comes firsthand.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Hebrews
goes on to say that Jesus was tested in every respect that we are,
yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Jesus drank but he didn't get
drunk. Jesus got hungry but he didn't spend every idle moment
stuffing his face. Jesus had sexual urges but he didn't act like a
dog in heat. Jesus got tired but he made time for prayer. Jesus
observed the rules of his faith but he never let those rules stop him
from helping those in need.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
though he was a physical being, Jesus did not run from the painful
consequences of preaching unpopular ideas to the hostile powers that
be. He was beaten and tortured to death. As gross as it may seem to
us, his blood was spilled to cut the new covenant between God and
humanity. The physical and spiritual impact one another. If you
truly believe in something, you act on it. If something happens to
you, you seek its meaning. The physical gives concrete expression to
the spiritual and the spiritual gives meaning to the physical.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the death of Jesus on the cross we see what self-sacrificial love
ultimately looks like. We see God in Christ taking upon himself both
the spiritual and the physical impacts of our sins, and the society
and systems we have created and acquiesced to. He endured the
inventive cruelty of our inhumanity to each other, the
self-preserving disregard for another's suffering, and the
ever-present belief that the end (in this case, civil peace)
justifies the means (eliminating the source of troublesome ideas.) We
also see, when Jesus cries, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned
me?” the Trinity, the eternal divine love relationship at the heart
of all being, absorbing the spiritual desolation and estrangement
that is the natural consequence of our parting ways with God.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Of
course, all of this would be so much speculation if God had not
raised Jesus physically from the dead. Had the disciples not seen
Jesus, if they hadn't touched him and ate with him and felt his
breath upon them, they wouldn't have had the courage to step into the
streets again and to go into the temple again and to loudly proclaim,
at the risk of their own lives, that Jesus is Lord.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
physically invaded this world. He came to show us in Jesus what he is
like and what we can be. He came to show us that we should not look
down upon our earthly existence as nothing but dirt nor knuckle under
to its forces. What we can do is transform it into what he has always
intended it to be: our home and his realm. We are flesh and blood; we
are soul and spirit. We need to embrace both elements of our makeup
because we will need both to accomplish the mission to which he calls
us—to be living embodiments of his love and grace and forgiveness
and deliverance. Our world, spiritually blind to God's goodness and
physically enthralled by evil, desperately needs to feel the impacts
of those spiritual truths in action and hear us announce the good
news that God have infiltrated time, that the Spirit is spreading the
kingdom of God and that we can be liberated from the tyranny of race,
gender, state of health, age, nationality, ethnicity, geography,
politics, economics, history, culture, family, and biology because
Jesus, and only Jesus, is Lord of all.</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-54854602701388747162023-12-31T12:44:00.000-05:002023-12-31T12:44:49.197-05:00Logos<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
sermon was originally preached on December 29, 2002. It has been
updated.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">According
to Douglas Adams' <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i>,
pan-dimensional beings created a giant computer called Deep Thought.
They programmed it to tell them the answer to life, the universe and
everything. It took 7 ½ million years to calculate. When at last the
day of the answer came, Deep Thought told the 2 representatives who
were to transmit it to the people, that while it was sure of the
answer, they probably weren't going to like it. Nevertheless they
wanted to know what it was. And so Deep Thought, a greater computer
than the Milliard Gargantubrain at Maximegalon, the Googleplex Star
Thinker in the seventh galaxy of light and ingenuity, and the Great
Hyperbolic Omni-cognate Neutron Wrangler of Ciceronicus 12, tells
them that the answer to the great question of life, the universe and
everything is...42.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">After
they get over the shock, the pan-galactic beings are appalled that
all the computer has to show after millions of years is a number. So
Deep Thought points out that the question is rather nebulous and
needs to be precisely stated in order to understand the answer. When
asked if Deep Thought can frame the question, it says “No” but it
can design a computer that will. And that computer will be
called...Earth.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What
tickles me is that, while Adams' absurdist space saga is satire, it
does touch on some real concerns. Earth is full of questions about
the meaning of life. In Adams' book the answer is ultimately a joke.
In real life, it is anything but.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Deep
down, isn't that what we are all searching for—an answer to
everything? Only it's not one question; it's more like 3. Where do we
(and everything) come from? Why are we here? And where are we going?
The search for these answers fuel philosophy, religion and even
science. The answers we get are varied. But we can sketch the broad
outlines.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Science
tells us that we are made of stardust, elements that formed as our
planet solidified from a swirling mass of gas and debris left over
from the Big Bang. That's where we come from. And science tells us
that, after billions of years, all the energy of the universe will be
used up, everything will come apart and continue to exist as an
immense lukewarm soup. That's where we are going. As to why we are
here, science says we are simply here to reproduce and die as part of
an ecosystem that was formed by blind chance. True, some scientists
have different opinions but by and large what science can tell us is
basically descriptive and on the surface rather than prescriptive and
deep. It says we are nothing but a collection of organic components.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
humanity has never been satisfied by that. We believe that there is a
meaning to life. In fact, we cannot live without meaning. Dr. Viktor
Frankl, who survived the Nazi concentration camps, realized that
those who survived had meaning and purpose in their lives. It might have been as
simple as wishing to see their loved ones again but the will to live
depends on having a reason to live. Those who saw no greater purpose
to their lives tended to despair and perish.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Existentialism
is a school of philosophy in which everyone decides on the meaning of
his own life. A person creates meaning for himself or herself. The
problem is that this makes everyone's meaning equally valid. It's all
subjective. But that means there is no overall meaning to life and
since we can all make up whatever meaning we wish, it's basically
like whistling in the dark. Beneath existentialism is acceptance of
the scientific model that we are just random bits of ephemeral
phenomena. So we tell ourselves whatever we want in order to comfort
ourselves but there may be no objective truth to it.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
alternative is that the meaning of life is objective. It is either
deduced by some authority or revealed by God. Each religion conceives
of it differently. But what is it? What is the ultimate value of
life?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To
many religions it is simply knowing one's place and obeying God. To a
Buddhist or Hindu, the object is to leave behind the circle of death,
rebirth and pain and to achieve Nirvana where one is absorbed by the
World Soul and ceases to exist as an individual. To the Mormon, the
purpose of life is to marry for eternity and beget children forever
and one day, if you are a man, to become a god of one's own little
world. To some groups, the purpose of life is to grow intellectually,
becoming more enlightened and wise.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the first chapter of the Gospel of John, the author gives a profound
answer to the question of the meaning and purpose of life. Before we
get to it, let's look at how his audience perceived what he wrote.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">John
uses a concept familiar to both the Jews and the Greeks of his time:
the Word of God. For the Jews, God's Word was powerful. It was
creative. God created the world just by speaking it into existence.
“God said, 'Let there be light.' And it was so.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God's
Word also gave life. Again, God created life just by saying so. But
God's Word also illuminated the minds of people.The Jews not only
thought of God's Word as scripture but also as humanity's basic
understanding of the world.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Finally,
God's Word was his wisdom. This last concept was particularly
important in their wisdom literature. In the Book of Proverbs
(Chapter 8) as well as in later writings like the <i>Wisdom of
Solomon</i> and <i>Ecclesiasticus, </i>Wisdom is pictured as God'sw
agent in creation, a separate creature of his through whom all things
were made. All of this lies behind what John means in the prologue to
his Gospel.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Greek philosophers also spoke of the Word. The Greek term is “logos.”
And it means not only “word” but also “reason.” The Logos is
the pattern behind creation, the thing that keeps order throughout a
world in flux, the mind of the Creator itself. So when John uses the
term “Word” he is speaking to both Gentile and Jew about a key
philosophical and theological idea that shapes their worldviews.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">John's
first statement actually precedes the first sentence in Genesis. “In
the beginning was the Word.” The reason behind everything, the
pattern for all that is, was there from the start. “...the Word was
with God...” It is not an afterthought; it was there with God
before anything was created. It is original in every sense of the
word.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“...and
the Word was God.” The Greek is deceptively simple here but
basically it means that what God was, the Word was. As we say in the
Nicene Creed, “...of one being with the Father.” The Word was
divine, of the same stuff as God.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">John
goes on to say that, just like the Hebrew concept of the Word and
Wisdom of God, all things were made through the Logos and it gives us
life and light.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Now
all this sounds very abstract until we get to verse 14. “And the
Word became flesh and lived among us...” The reason for life, the
universe and everything became a human being. This is radical!
Imagine it: the reason why we are all here was lying in an animal's
feedbox, the wellspring of life suckled at Mary's breast, the
principle that holds the universe together made his appearance in the
world as the most vulnerable creature imaginable, a human infant.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
could write a book on this passage. All I want to point out here is
this: if he is the principle behind everything, then Jesus is a
better meaning to life than any philosophical statement or abstract
theological concept. Because he is a person. As such he is complex.
Our universe is complex. In fact, since he is both divine and human,
we can see in him much more than we could deduce from any written
word. He is the ultimate expression of God's mind and in him we see a
multiplicity of meanings that overlap. We see justice, truth, grace,
hope, trust, forgiveness, wisdom, paradox, kindness, healing,
transcendence, creativity, sacrifice, love and more. In Jesus we see
what God is like.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
because he has become one of us and follows the will of God
perfectly, we also see what we can be. We see what a human life that
is wholly responsive to God can do. So in Jesus Christ we not only
see eternity but also our future and the potential future of
humanity. Through Christ, we can rise above the self-destructive and
corrosive effects of our sins to be loving, healing, giving stewards
of God's gifts.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
what are the Christian answers to the 3 questions we posed?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Where
do we come from? From God's creative love expressed through Christ,
our original pattern.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Why
are we here? To grow into that image of God which he planted in us
until we mirror that joyous love we find in the interplay of the
Father and the Son, united in the Spirit of their love.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Where
are we going? If we choose to unite to God and leave behind those
sins which limit and hinder us, we will become more like him, which
is to say, more the people we were intended to be: diverse and yet
harmonious, individual yet unified. It is a voyage of discovery and
growth which will never end, and which promises surprises and
delights forever more as we go deeper and deeper into the riches
found in our infinitely wonderful God.</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-8085647544155073532023-12-25T18:16:00.000-05:002023-12-25T18:16:59.071-05:00Choose Your Story<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What
kind of story do you want to live in?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
where you need to have greed so you'll win?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
where with might you must fight other folk?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Or
acquire the power their rights to revoke?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Or
in fantasy flee while the world needs repair?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Or
surrender to death, decay and despair?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Or
to answer the call from the God who made all,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Who
saw us rather than rise choose to fall.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">He
didn't give up but instead became man</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To
show us how with this own Spirit we can</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Live
without greed, choose not to fight,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
with love and forgiveness set God's world aright.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">With
his words, he enlightened,
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">With
his touch, the sick healed,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">With
no army or wealth,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Great
power did he wield.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
those who had wealth, power and might</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Seized
him, he told his disciples, “Don't fight!”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">He
willingly went to suffer and die.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On
the cross, it appeared his whole life was a lie.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Abandoned,
he prayed with his very last breath,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
his tale should have ended, like ours, with cruel death.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">All
hope, with his body, lay dead in a tomb;</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">His
disciples all hid, enshrouded in gloom.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
morning some went, one last duty to pay.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
the tomb they found empty; the stone rolled away.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
men, still in hiding, heard the women arrive,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
could not believe that they saw him alive!
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Their
door remained shut against those that they feared,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yet
the One who is Life crossed death's gate and appeared.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“I'm
alive! I can eat. You can touch me, you see.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Breathe
my Spirit within. Take your cross. Follow me.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
they did. Through the world with this tale they did wend.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
they died, yet God's story of love did not end.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For
the tale of the God who is Love lives today.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It
calls to folks still; it will not go away.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For
the story that lives in your head and your heart</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Is
the one, in the end, in which you will take part.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Does
love conquer hate? Does death finally lose?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Does
God's goodness win? What do you choose?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Though
power and greed tell you just to give in,</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What
kind of story do you want to live in?</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-39913254006986283762023-12-24T18:15:00.000-05:002023-12-24T18:15:16.850-05:00Commitment<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
was originally preached on December 21, 2008. There has been some
updating.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You've
probably not heard of Katherine Gun. She worked in the Government
Communications Headquarters, an intelligence organization in Britain.
One day in early 2003, she received an email from the National
Security Agency in the U.S. requesting Britain's help in bugging the
U.N. offices of 6 nations. These 6 were seen as swing votes on the
U.N. Security Council for getting international approval of the
invasion of Iraq. The 29 year old translator knew that this was a
violation of the Vienna Conventions which govern global diplomacy.
So, having a conscience, she leaked the email to a British newspaper.
She was fired. Worse, because Britain has no first amendment right to
free speech and because as a government employee, she was subject to
the Official Secrets Act, Katherine Gun was arrested and faced trial
and imprisonment. Though this was front page news throughout the rest
of the world, here in the U.S. the story was barely a blip on the
screen. You can read the story of this shy but courageous
whistleblower in the book <i>The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War</i>.
There is also a film called <i>Official Secrets</i> with Keira
Knightly playing Katherine Gun.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today
we consider a different young woman making an even more momentous
decision. She was probably in her early teens, just past puberty. Her
marriage was probably arranged and she had little say in it. She was
taught how to keep a home, prepare meals, say some necessary prayers
and do the few religious rituals that women were allowed to perform.
No one taught her to read. She came from a small town and people were
conservative. There is no reason to assume that Mary was anything
special. Except, maybe, for her name.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Mary
is our version of the name Miriam, which comes from the Hebrew word
for “bitter.” But it can also mean “rebellious.” It is a
curious choice for parents to saddle their infant daughter with. She
was probably named for a deceased female relative as a way of keeping
the name alive. And it was a popular name; there are a plethora of
Marys in the gospels. Perhaps it was used so often because it was the
name of Moses' sister, who watched over her infant brother when he
was set afloat in the Nile. She was also a prophetess. Based on the
age of the Hebrew language used, the Song of Miriam is the oldest
written portion of the Bible. (Exodus 15:20-21) Despite the
patriarchal structure of Jewish life, women have always figured
prominently in God's plan. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Rahab,
Deborah and others have pivotal roles in the Old Testament, as do
Lydia, Priscilla, Junias, Joanna, and the various Marys in the New.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
it all leads up to and flows from the decision this Mary makes in
today's Gospel. (Luke 1:26-38) And it is a difficult decision.
Becoming the mother of the Messiah is not like winning a TV game
show. The immediate fallout could be fatal. Mary is a virgin and
betrothed. Her pregnancy could get her thrown out of her home,
divorced by her fiance, and possibly stoned to death as an adulterer.
Even if God protects her from the worst, she would be a disgraced
woman, an outcast. So her decision is not an impulsive one. On the
one hand, God is bestowing on her an immense honor. On the other
hand, it will totally change her life, and humanly speaking, not for
the better.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Nor
will it end when the child is born. She will have to raise him,
perhaps alone, probably in extreme poverty. The average poor person
in our society is a single mother. And in Jesus' day, there were no
food stamps, no welfare programs, and no notion of equality between
the sexes. By saying “Yes” to God, Mary is facing, at best, a
life full of whispers and at worst, a life of hardship.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
at first, it looks like the consequences will be bad. She goes to
stay with her kinswoman Elizabeth for a while. I don't think this is
done out of a desire to support the older woman so much as to get
Mary out of town before she starts showing.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
Joseph is indeed thinking of divorce. Betrothal was as binding as
marriage, even though the couple was not to live together or sleep
together until after the wedding ceremony. Joseph is torn between
preserving his reputation as a righteous man and keeping Mary from
being stoned to death. If he doesn't put her away, no respectable Jew
will do business with him. But Joseph is not so self-righteous that
he feels Mary should pay the ultimate price for apparently cheating
on him. Perhaps he works out Mary's exile with her parents. If and
when she returns to Nazareth, the divorce will be history. She'd be
shunned but perhaps the village elders and the Pharisees would spare
her for the sake of her baby.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
then Joseph has a dream in which he is told to marry his betrothed
and raise her son, the Messiah. It's not exactly a happy ending.
There will always be rumors about the circumstances of Jesus' birth.
Mary and Joseph will also have to flee the country to avoid the
paranoid and murderous King Herod. But both parents are committed to
following through on their decisions to obey God. And that's what
makes them heroic.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Commitment
is a quality seriously lacking in today's society. Companies show no
commitment to their employees, dropping pensions, downgrading
healthcare insurance, and cutting the salaries of those at the bottom
rather than those at the top. C.E.O.s show no commitment to the
continuing health of their companies, preferring short term profits
over long term sustainability. Sexual partners show no commitment to
each other, refusing to make public and legal vows of lifelong
fidelity. Many parents, and especially fathers, show no commitment to
raising their children, leaving them behind so the parents can follow
their own desires.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
sadly, a lot of Christians show no commitment to their faith, picking
and choosing which beliefs and moral principles to follow. The result
is that there is little difference between the lifestyles of
self-identified Christians and those of nonbelievers. These
“Christians” like the idea of Jesus as their Savior but not as
their Lord. They like the idea that God loves them as they are but
not the idea that God loves them enough to change them into better
people. They want God both to love them and to leave them alone to do
as they please.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are reasons why we shy away from commitment. It means hard work. Make
a commitment to Habitat for Humanity and it means hours of physical
labor.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Commitment
means responsibility. Make a commitment to raise a child and it means
being responsible for feeding her, seeing she does her homework, and
teaching her to be a moral human being.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Commitment
means giving up some of your freedom. Make the commitment to marry
someone and you're not free to have other lovers.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Commitment
means reordering your priorities. It means sacrifice. It means
maintaining your focus on what's essential and what's important. And
so we avoid commitments.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
commitment is necessary for anything important to succeed. Nothing
worthwhile comes to fruition without committed people behind it.
Thomas Edison tested literally hundreds of filaments before he found
the one that would work in his lightbulb. It took scientists 21 years
to go from the discovery of the connection between insulin and
diabetes to figuring out how to produce insulin for medical use in
humans. J.K. Rowling's first manuscript was rejected by 12 different
publishers before it was accepted. Were it not for the persistence of
committed people this world would be a darker, sicker, and less
enchanting place.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
those are examples of people committed to a project they themselves
conceived. Mary and Joseph were making a commitment to obey God and
didn't know exactly what it would entail. They knew the stories of
the prophets: how they were persecuted and even martyred. They knew
the popular idea of the Messiah, a holy warrior like his ancestor
David, who would drive out the Gentiles and establish the kingdom of
God militarily. And they knew what happened when people tried to
revolt against the Romans—they got crucified. So they knew that the
path they were taking was fraught with danger.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yet
they said “Yes.” Far from Jerusalem, farther still from Rome,
this teenage girl and this young handiman from a small town said
“Yes” to following God's way, though it put them at odds with the
powers that be. What they agreed to do couldn't be less likely to
succeed. But they trusted in God and reoriented their lives to
accommodate their commitment.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Mary
and Joseph's commitment paid off. Jesus was indeed the Messiah,
albeit not the kind everyone thought he'd be. He dealt with the
powers which oppress people, but not in the way everyone expected. He
got himself killed, as some feared, but even that didn't turn out the
way people would have predicted: he rose again. The kingdom of God
did get started, but it isn't a political or military kingdom. It has
no borders. And Jesus has commissioned us to spread his kingdom.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It
takes commitment to follow Jesus. It means hard work. The kingdom of
God isn't going to come about through wishful thinking. It means
responsibility. Every person you meet is either a citizen of the
kingdom of God or a potential citizen and so they must be treated
that way. And it means giving up some freedom. We aren't free to
indulge in the sins we'd like to. We need to shed every harmful habit
that hinders us on our mission. It means sacrifices and reordering
our priorities. It means maintaining focus on Jesus: who he is, what
he has done for us and is doing in us, and how we respond.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are many who honor Jesus with their lips but not in their lives. They
love his words that comfort them but not those that command or
challenge them. They want eternal life but they won't surrender
control of this life for it. The kingdom only manifests itself in the
hearts and lives of those committed to its principles and its king.
It has to be more than just someone's interest or hobby. The holy
self-sacrificial love of God in Christ for everyone, be they neighbor
or enemy, has to show itself in every aspect of our life if it is to
have a real impact in this world. Jesus needs disciples, not
dabblers. Which are you? </span>
</p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-68823977470004289772023-12-20T17:04:00.000-05:002023-12-20T17:04:35.793-05:00Restoration Work<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
was originally preached on December 14, 2008. There has been some
updating.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
promise this will not be another sermon about <i>Doctor Who</i>. But
in order to set the stage for today's topic, which is why Advent is a
penitential season and how today's scriptures fit in, I want to
briefly revisit the new version of the world's oldest science fiction
show. In my earlier sermon, I spoke of how the Doctor is explicitly
being treated as a messianic figure. He is the one “who makes
people better,” a positive and healing hero. But one aspect I did
not deal with is the new Doctor's other side. The oppressed may hail
and love him but the oppressors hate and fear him. His archenemies,
the Daleks, call him “the Bringer of Darkness,” “the Destroyer
of Worlds,” and “the “Oncoming Storm.” The Doctor is merciful
but not to the merciless. And in a very theologically-rooted 2-part
adventure, written by Paul Cornell whose wife is an Anglican priest,
the Doctor encounters a family of predatory aliens who decimate a
boys' school. The eternal fates he arranges for them are both just
and terrible. The coming of the Doctor is good news for those who are
suffering but very bad news for those who cause the suffering.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
a similar way, the coming of Christ is good news for those who want
to be saved but not for those who have a stake in keeping things in
this unjust world as they are. And since we are all sinners and we
all knowingly do things we know aren't right, Jesus' advent should
make us a little uncomfortable. In fact, if you substitute his name
for another in what is already the most disturbing Christmas song I
know, you get a sense of what Advent is about: “You better watch
out; you'd better not cry; you'd better not pout; I'm telling you
why—Jesus Christ is coming to town. He's making a list and checking
it twice; gonna find out who's naughty and nice. Jesus Christ is
coming to town. He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when
you're awake. He knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for
goodness' sake!”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Advent
says, “Jesus is coming! And he's really ticked off about all the
evil that plagues this world he created—evils that his own
creatures have perpetrated and perpetuated.” That's why Advent is
penitential. We are to look at ourselves and how complacent and
complicit we are in regards to the world's problems. We acknowledge
how we have fallen short of what God expects of us. And we ask for
the help of the Holy Spirit in restoring our lives. Basically, we are
cleaning ourselves up for the coming of Jesus.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
you will notice a different tone in the readings of today's
lectionary. They focus not on the stick, so to speak, but the carrot,
or, more accurately, the goal of our journey with Jesus: the healing
of this sick world.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It
starts with the stirring passage from Isaiah that Jesus read at the
beginning of his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news
to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor...”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It
sounds as if the prophet is talking about the Jubilee year.
(Leviticus 25) Every 7 years Israelites were to leave their land
fallow, so that they wouldn't deplete its fertility. And every 50
years (7 Sabbatical years, plus 1) all debts were to be cancelled,
all debt slaves were freed and all lands were returned to their
original families. It may sound foreign to us because of our western
tradition of private land ownership, but the premise in Biblical
times is that the land belonged not to the Israelites but to God.
(Leviticus 25:23) So God could reshuffle the stewardship of his land.
Obviously the Jubilee year was a very good thing for those who had
lost their financial footing. The Jubilee gave families a fresh
start, restoring their position in the agricultural community.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
passage in Isaiah goes on to talk of comforting those who mourn, of
planting and of repairing cities. The immediate context was the Jews
returning from exile in Babylon. When they returned to the promised
land, they would have to revive their country. This would involve
planting crops, rebuilding their cities and comforting those who
would be stunned upon seeing how dilapidated Judea was after 70 years
of neglect. God promises blessings. The imagery used is that of a man
or woman decked out on their wedding day. (v.10) The simile then
switches to that of spring and of a garden flowering. (v.11) Both
pictures are those of beauty and joy and a bountiful future.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
theme continues in Psalm126. “When the Lord restored the fortunes
of Zion, we were like those in a dream. Then was our mouth filled
with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” Another image is
presented, that of the wadi or creek beds found in the southern
desert of the Negev. During the summer, they are dry. But in the
rainy season, they fill and overflow and bring life to the
desert.This is followed by a different kind of water imagery. “Those
who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy.” The hard work of
replanting to sustain the returning populace will be rewarded with
abundance. It is almost as if the psalmist is saying the seeds will
be watered with the tears of the people. God is able to transmute the
very elements of sorrow into joy.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Magnificat can be used in place of the psalm. The song of Mary, the
mother of Jesus, speaks of a God who turns the usual order of things
upside down. He has chosen a humble servant to bear his son. In a
similar way, “he has cast down the mighty from their thrones and
has lifted up the lowly.” He has “filled the hungry with good
things and the rich he has sent away empty.” God is redressing the
inequities of the world, helping those who need his help and rely on
him. And the prime example of this is Jesus, who healed those who put
their trust in him.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Too
often we forget what the whole enterprise of God is about. It's not
about the end of the world or escaping hell or sitting about playing
harps. It's about restoration—restoring people's freedom, their
livelihood, their faith, their hope, their joy. It's about restoring
his creation, which he pronounced good. It's about restoring
relationships—with ourselves, with each other and with him.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Restoration
can mean pain. I saw a documentary about a child whose face was
covered by an enormous tumor. She couldn't see, and breathing was
difficult. It took several operations for the surgeon to reduce the
mass and make the child look normal. The doctor had to remove many
pounds of flesh from her face. The hospitalizations were rough on the
child. The recovery was hard. But the results were astonishing. She
could see again. She could breathe freely. She was no longer stared
at and pointed at in public. The pain was worth the cure.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On
the other hand, I had a friend who ignored a mole that grew and
changed color. A coworker and I urged her to see a doctor. But she
was afraid of needles and scalpels. She lied to us and said a doctor
was treating it, when she was really just scraping at it herself and
covering it with a dressing. The skin cancer metastasized to her
brain. First it crippled her with a stroke and then, in just a month,
it killed her. But before she died she recorded a PSA for the radio
station where we worked, urging others to not let their fears lull
them into a lethal neglect of getting help.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Our
fears can be fatal. They can blind us to our need for God. We are
afraid of what he will do to us and how we will have to change. We
are afraid of what he will demand of us. We can't see beyond the pain
and the tears. But they are just stages in the process of restoring
us to spiritual health. God wants to remove the burden of our sins,
restore our sight, let the fresh air of the Spirit in, and restore us
to the beauty he intended us to have. But he can't do it if we don't
let him.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
I quoted Isaiah earlier, I did what Jesus did: stopped on a hopeful
note. The passage goes on from “to proclaim the year of the Lord's
favor” to “and the day of vengeance of our God.” Only we can
determine which kind of day it will be for us. Are we a healthy part
of the body of Christ or a malignant growth that must be removed? Are
we part of the problem or part of God's solution?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
thing we can do is take back the holiday that the season of Advent
leads up to. Christmas has been changed from a celebration of God's
gift to us of Jesus into an orgy of accumulating more stuff. You may
have heard of a movement called Redefining Christmas. The idea is
simple. Instead of racking your brains, trying to come up with some
new gadgets to give to family and friends that they don't already
have, you give to charities in their names. The choice of charities
is huge. In the name of an animal lover you could give to an animal
rescue organization. In the name of someone with a passion for
justice, you could give to a human rights organization. In the name
of someone who is compassionate, you could give to an organization
that provides disaster relief, or one that helps disabled children,
or one that fights a disease. For someone who loves beauty there are
arts organizations. There are also groups involved in education or
women's issues or helping refugees or veterans or prisoners.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jesus
is coming. That can be good news or bad news, depending on whether or
not you acknowledge both your and the world's need for him. But in
the meantime, we need not just sit on our hands, waiting. We can be
like John the baptizer, spreading the news, encouraging people to
start preparing the way of the Lord, laying the groundwork for the
kingdom of God. (Luke 3:10-14) We needn't be the Messiah to do his
work. Nor need we do it alone. We can join with others to do great
things. And know that wherever 2 or 3 gather in his name, there he is
in our midst. (Matthew 18:20) That's why we are called the body of
Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
Advent we remember that Jesus exists in the past, the present and the
future. Jesus came at Christmas to start his work. Jesus is coming
again to complete his work. But in the meantime our priority is that
Jesus is here now, working in us. Look around you. There's a lot that
needs restoring. What are we waiting for?</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-20187952534793517562023-12-12T09:33:00.000-05:002023-12-12T09:33:04.342-05:00The Gospel According to Narnia<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
connection with the 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary of C.S. Lewis' death,
here's a sermon from December 4, 2005. There has been some updating.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Where
would you go if you could travel in time? What event would you wish
to witness with your own eyes? What great person would you like to
meet face to face? What historical mystery would you want to solve? I
could generate a list of several dozen places, persons and enigmas I
would like to visit. But I'm pretty sure that in the Top Ten would be
any Thursday evening during any school term in the 1930s and 40s at
Magdalen College in the rooms of a particular Oxford tutor. Because
the odds would be quite good that I would overhear the jovial, witty
and sharp conversation, as well as a few works in progress, from some
of the most talented writers in England at that time. If I were
lucky, I might hear the first draft of <i>The Lord of the Rings </i>read
by J.R.R. Tolkien himself, a chapter of the latest spiritual thriller
by Charles Williams, and an essay, poem, or chapter from one of the
works of apologetics or fiction by C.S. Lewis. It was in Lewis' rooms
that this group called the Inklings met to drink, smoke, and present
their creations. They were the first people in the world to journey
with Frodo to Mt. Doom, to discover that the communion chalice of the
small church in Fardles was in fact the Holy Grail, and to set sail
on the Dawn Treader for the Lonely Isles.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
decided that I had to read the Harry Potter books when I heard them
compared favorably to the <i>Chronicles of Narnia.</i> Lewis' stories
belong to that small category of children's books that you can enjoy
at any age and any number of times. Though a loyal Lewis fan from my
teens, I didn't read the Narnia tales until I was in college. I loved
them so much that I rationed out the reading of each because they are
so brief. I raised my children on them. So it is with both high
anticipation and no small anxiety that we await the Netflix
adaptation of them.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
origins of the stories go back to Lewis' childhood in Ireland. One
day his older brother Warren showed him a miniature forest he had
created in a box, with tiny trees and flowers. Lewis felt the first
tang of what he came to call joy, a deep and vivid longing for
something seemingly unattainable. He experienced it when he looked
out his nursery window towards the green hills in the distance. He
would encounter it again when he discovered the Norse myths. He would
come to recognize this as one of the ways God calls us from the
distractions of this world to the joys of the reality behind it.
Pointing out that we are not born with appetites like hunger or sex
unless the thing that satisfies it exists, Lewis said, “If I find
in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,
the most probable explanation is that I was made for a different
world...Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it,
but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
Lewis brothers also created Animal Land, about which they wrote
stories and drew pictures. But the talking beasts of his childhood
creation lived in a country dully named Boxen, which was prosaic and
political. It was a kid's eye view of the dreary adult world he had
picked up from his father, a lawyer. No joy was to be found in Boxen.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">During
the 2<sup>nd</sup> World War, Lewis and his brother accepted into
their bachelor home a group of children evacuated from London during
the Nazi bombings. One little girl showed interest in a wardrobe
built by Lewis' grandfather. She wondered what was behind it and what
she would find if she entered it. That triggered the writer's
imagination. Ten years later he combined the girl's curiosity with a
picture he had held in his mind since he was 16—that of a faun
carrying parcels and an umbrella in a snowy forest. Lewis' stories
often evolved from images in his head. But it wasn't until a lion
that haunted his dreams leapt into the midst of his pictures that the
story started to pull itself together. Add the question “What would
Christ be like had he been incarnated in a different world than
ours?” and the result is <i>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i>,
the first book in the <i>Chronicles of Narnia</i>.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dedicated
to his godchild, Lucy Barfield, the first story follows the Pevensie
children as they walk through a wardrobe into a fairy tale world of
fauns and centaurs and giants and talking animals. It is ruled by the
White Witch whose spell has turned Narnia into a place where it is
always winter but never Christmas. Upon entering this world, the
children unwittingly fulfill a prophecy about the end of the witch's
reign and the coming of Aslan, the true king of Narnia. At first the
children think that Aslan is a man. A beaver disabuses them of that
notion. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and
the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-sea. Don't you know who is
the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—<i>the </i>Lion, the great
Lion.” When asked if he is safe, the reply is, “Who said anything
about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
of the themes that runs through Lewis' work is that goodness is not
the same as niceness. Long before we heard on the news neighbors
saying that the man who turned out to be a serial killer was such a
nice, quiet man, Lewis pointed out that evil people can be very nice.
By the same token, good people aren't always the most polite or
appear harmless. As his friend and fellow writer Dorothy L. Sayers
said, “The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice,
accused him of being a bore—on the contrary, they thought him too
dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle
up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of
tedium. We have efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah,
certified him 'meek and mild' and recommended him as a fitting
household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. To those who
knew him, however, he in no way suggested a milk-and-water person;
they objected to him as a dangerous firebrand.” Niceness is not
identical with morality. One has to do with how a person does things;
the other has to do with what kind of things a person does. Aslan can
be gentle and he can be fearsome. He is not tame but he is good.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A
corollary to this principle is that doing the right thing is not
always easy or pleasant. Sometimes you must tell the truth when a lie
would spare everyone embarrassment. Sometimes you must stand against
the crowd when going along with them would make everything proceed
more smoothly. Sometimes you must risk your life for the sake of
others.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
see Aslan's goodness when he turns himself over to the witch to be
killed to save the life of someone who betrayed him. Lewis presents
us with a reimagining of the passion that is much less graphic than
Mel Gibson's but just as moving. And Lewis' version of the
resurrection is the most joyous one imaginable.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It
seems hard for most writers to make goodness attractive. In contrast
to stories where villains are often more interesting than heroes, and
good guys are just a few shades less messed up than bad guys, Lewis
succeeds in making Aslan charismatic and heroic without being flawed.
What we generally like about our heroes are their powers. We want
Superman's strength and flying ability, Wolverine's claws and
self-healing properties, James Bond's gadgets and Sherlock Holmes'
brains. But Aslan makes us want to emulate his moral qualities. His
bravery makes us want to be braver; his mercy makes us want to be
merciful.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Repentance
and forgiveness are also themes that run through Lewis' work. In the
third adventure, <i>The Voyage of the Dawn Treader</i>, we meet a
cousin of the Pevensies, the disagreeable Eustace Clarence Scrubb. A
thoroughly modern and spoiled kid, he hates Narnia as much as his
cousins love it. The only part of the adventure that appeals to him
is the discovery of a dragon's treasure hoard. But when he puts on a
golden armband, he turns into a dragon. He narrowly escapes being
slain by good King Caspian when his cousins recognize who he is.
Eustace uses his power of flight to help the crew of the ship The
Dawn Treader but he doesn't want to remain a dragon. And the magic
armband cuts into his now dragon-sized foreleg. One night Aslan
visits him and leads him to a spring-fed well. Eustace longs to ease
his pain in the water. The lion tells the dragon to undress and bath
in the well. Eventually, Eustace realizes he must shed his dragon
skin like a snake does. Using his own claws, Eustace scrapes off the
dragon skin only to find another layer beneath. He tries again and
again but always finds more scales beneath each layer. Finally he
lets Aslan remove the dragon's hide from him. He tells us, “I was
afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly
desperate by now. So I just lay down on my back to let him do it. The
first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into
my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than
anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it
was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know—if
you've ever picked the scab of a sore place.” After Aslan removed
the dragon skin, “he caught hold of me—I didn't like that much
for I was tender underneath now that I'd got no skin on—and threw
me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment.
After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started
swimming and splashing around, I found that all the pain had gone
from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again.”
After the bath, Aslan dresses Eustace in new clothes. I cannot think
of a better dramatization of the pain of shedding our sinful nature,
the joy of finding our true nature in God and the role of baptism in
our spiritual rebirth.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
<i>The Magician's Nephew</i>, we see the creation of Narnia as Aslan
sings into existence the stars, the land, the plants and animals. We
also learn that origins of the White Witch and the wardrobe. If the
first book in the series is the Gospel story, this book is the
Genesis of Narnia. In <i>The Last Battle</i>, Narnia comes to its end
and we see the righteous enter not the clouds but the true Narnia.
The old Narnia is but a shadow of the new world. As a unicorn
exclaims, “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I
belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life,
though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old
Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this.” A better
picture of the afterlife in the new creation I cannot envision.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As
you read through the <i>Chronicles of Narnia</i> you will encounter a
chivalrous mouse, the invisible bouncing Dufflepods, brave beavers, a
pessimistic but valiant Marshwiggle, stars who have retired from the
sky, a voyage to the literal end of the world, a slave who saves a
princess and a kingdom, a righteous foreigner who learns that a
person can serve Aslan even if he doesn't know his name, and a truly
regal cabdriver. In each tale, C.S. Lewis used his gifts to create a
world which is so vivid and beautiful that you wish you could stay
there. Infusing it all is a Christian sensibility that informs the
stories but never detracts from them. Some feel that fantasy is
nothing but escapism but Lewis used the conventions of the genre to
recast moral issues and highlight spiritual realities apart from the
usual trappings that often turn people off to the gospel. A sublimely
logical scholar, Lewis nevertheless understood that some truths are
better conveyed through stories than through polemics. And sometimes
old familiar stories can regain their power when reimagined and
retold in new ways.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
fact, one mother thought Lewis had done his work too well. She wrote
that her son realized that he loved Aslan more than Jesus and was
afraid he was committing idolatry. Lewis, who answered every letter
he received, wrote back that this was impossible because Aslan <i>was</i>
Jesus, just in a lion's body. The boy just liked the lion body
better. God would not hold it against him because God made little
boys and knew that they thought that way.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If
you or someone you know has not read the Narnia books, I cannot think
of a better Christmas gift. I pray that the Netflix series will be
faithful not only to the books but to the love of nature, the
enjoyment of simple pleasures, the humor, the deep understanding of
humanity, the childlike sense of wonder, and most of all, the joy,
the haunting love of all that is true and pure and good that these
tales embody. And may many look into the golden face of Aslan and see
Jesus, the Lion of Judah, who is not tame, who is not safe, but who
is good and who loves us and calls us out of the shadowlands into the
bright, beautiful and very real kingdom of his Father.</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-4880733060463325572023-12-05T11:09:00.000-05:002023-12-05T11:09:49.379-05:00The Gospel According to Doctor Who<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>I</i><i>n
connection with the 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Doctor Who, here's
a sermon from November 30, 2008. There has been some updating.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If
you are trying to communicate, you need to know something about your
target audience. What are they interested in? What are their needs?
Their desires? Their fears? The success of your message depends on
how well you speak to these things. Sometimes it is just a matter of
how you communicate your message and what you emphasize. By changing
what you highlight, you can win people who previously were
indifferent to your message. As long as the core is the same, you
aren't changing the message; you are merely translating it into a
language the audience understands.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That's
what happened to <i>Doctor Who</i>. It was already the longest
running science fiction TV series in the world and a very popular one
in Britain. But over here it was a cult series, a show with a small
but extremely devoted following. In 1989, after 26 seasons, the BBC
cancelled it. But like the original <i>Star Trek</i>, fans kept it
alive. And eventually it was revived. The hero remained the eccentric
Time Lord known only as the Doctor, who travels literally everywhere
in his T.A.R.D.I.S., which stands for “Time And Relative Dimensions
In Space.” The Doctor continued to pick up companions on his
adventures. And if he is fatally wounded, he can regenerate a new
body. With it comes a new personality, either grumpy, or goofy, or
straightforwardly heroic. What is constant, besides his technical
savvy, is his wisdom, compassion and thirst for justice. The Doctor
also prefers to solve his problems by using brains rather than brawn.
So what did this new version of the series do differently that has
made it into an international hit?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Since
this is a sermon and not a TV review, I will focus on something the
original version rarely touched on but which the current series put
front and center: the messianic nature of the Doctor.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
the original series debuted in 1963, the day after President Kennedy
was assassinated and C.S. Lewis died, the Doctor was a cranky exile
from another world who dressed in Victorian garb. He indulged his
granddaughter by letting her go to school on earth. Two of her
teachers, concerned about how she could be so precocious about
science and history and so ignorant about things like the money
system, follow her one evening—to a junkyard! When they think an
angry old gentleman has locked her in a blue box, they force their
way in, only to find that the box is a lot bigger on the inside.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
a fit of rage, the Doctor traps them in his craft, throws a switch,
and the blue box, his Tardis, travels back 10,000 years. It turns out
the Doctor can't control his time machine very well. It was in for
repairs when he stole it. He is also not always to be trusted. He
will put his companions into danger to satisfy his curiosity. His
scientific detachment is at times, well, alien. But he begins to
change after encountering the Daleks, a race so mutated by a nuclear
war that they started, that they have encased their squidlike bodies
in individual armored vehicles. Bred to believe they are superior to
all other races in the universe, the Doctor decides to oppose them.
Eventually he becomes more heroic.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
the first actor to play the Doctor became too sick to continue, the
writers came up with the idea that the Doctor can regenerate when
mortally wounded, essentially dying and being reborn. So a variety of
actors have played the role: tall, short, skinny, fat, funny,
serious. In the new series the Doctor has regenerated into a woman
and even changed his race. With a hero who can look like anyone and
who can have adventures anywhere in time and space, this is the most
flexible format for a TV series ever.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As
a hero, the Doctor in the original series was more mad scientist than
messiah. He was less like the once and future king Arthur and more
like Merlin. But when writer Russell T. Davies finally managed to
reboot the series in 2005, he saw something else in the character's
self-selected title of Doctor. Rather than interpret it as a
doctorate in science, as the classic series had, the new series sees
the Doctor as “the man who makes people better.” Whereas the old
series often ended its stories with the defeat or destruction of the
bad guys, in the current series the bad guys and monsters are
sometimes redeemed or healed.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
was first seen in an episode in which a mysterious plague is changing
people into creepy zombies with gas masks for faces. The Doctor
realizes that this is the result of alien medical nonogenes who have
been trying to repair wounded human beings during a war. They were
incorporating the gas masks not knowing what humans looked like. The
Doctor finds the child the nanogenes first encountered and reunites
him with his mother, hoping they will recognize her as the source and
correct their genetic mistakes. They do. Then he redirects the
reprogrammed nanogenes towards the others they fixed wrong so they
will make them right again. As the people change, he utters what
sounds like a prayer: “Come on; give me a day like this!...Just
this once—everybody lives!” The Doctor, whose own planet was
destroyed in a war with the Daleks, get to savor a victory where no
one dies but is resurrected and restored.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the same episode, the Doctor meets a slick conman from the 51<sup>st</sup>
century whose scam inadvertently caused the plague. Inspired by the
Doctor, “Captain” Jack Harkness risks his life to stop a bomb.
The Doctor saves him and the reformed conman becomes a member of the
Tardis crew and, in his own TV series, a hero in his own right.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
another episode, the Doctor encounters an old foe, an alien from a
criminal family, up to her old tricks, endangering earth. The Doctor
originally intends to turn her over to her home planet, which will
execute her for her crimes. But as he gets to know her better he
becomes uncomfortable with this idea. When time energy from the
Tardis regresses the alien back into an egg, the Doctor decides to
put her with a different family, giving her a second chance to grow
up. He gives her a new life. Because the Doctor makes others better
people.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
see this in his companions in the new series. In the classic series
they were mostly pretty young things whose job was to (A) ask the
Doctor what's going on and (B) get rescued from the bad guys. His
companions in the new series have more prominence. They are fully
developed characters and they even get to save the Doctor at times.
His first companion in the new series was Rose, a 19 year old who
works in a department store. She finds herself torn between her
exciting new life with the Doctor and her family and friends.
Eventually they all become companions and are changed by their time
with the Doctor. So they are no longer merely window dressing, nor
lowly assistants to the hero. They come to emulate the Doctor's
nobility and self-sacrifice. One, Martha, literally becomes an
apostle for the Doctor, spreading the word about how he has saved
earth. When the Doctor is captured by his old enemy, the Master, who
has taken over the earth, Martha has people all over the globe call
upon the name of the Doctor at a designated time, freeing him from
the control the Master has over him. Basically the Master is defeated
by faith, hope and prayer.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
religious content is anything but accidental. The new series has had
robotic angel hosts and horned personifications of evil and sometimes
even calls its hero “the lonely god.” In one episode things come
to a halt as all the beleaguered people trapped in a worldwide
traffic jam join in an unexpected but moving rendition of “The Old
Rugged Cross”, where “the dearest and best for a world of lost
sinners was slain.” Though an atheist, Russell T. Davies seems to
be sympathetic to certain Christian ideas and themes, like
forgiveness and redemption, and he expresses them better than many
Christians do.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
what does this have to do with Advent and the gospel? Just is: the
newest incarnation of this show is obviously appealing to people's
longing for a different kind of hero. In a culture that gives heroes
a licence to kill large numbers of aliens and robots as well as
humans, in the Doctor we see one who offers mercy as well as justice.
He seeks to heal the suffering. He changes the lives of those who
encounter him, inspiring and empowering them to be heroes as well.
Sound familiar?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
Advent we focus on the coming of such a hero. Our Old Testament
passages look for the Messiah, God's anointed prophet, priest and
king, who will set things right. Some passages concentrate on the day
God will judge and overturn the evil, corrupt and oppressive ways of
the world, while others stress the hope of healing and
reconciliation. Our New Testament lessons examine the paradoxical way
in which Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God, not by killing sinners
but by dying for them. They also look forward towards the day when he
will finish the process, which, according to the book of Revelation
involves a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth, where neither
death, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain will exist and God will
wipe away every tear from our eyes. (Revelation 21:3-4) The problem
is that our familiarity with the texts have blinded us to how
revolutionary the story of Jesus really is.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
old <i>Doctor Who</i> was a geek's dream, with the engineer as hero,
who could come up with a technical fix for any problem. The new
Doctor is more like a medic. He makes people better, both by healing
them and by modeling a selfless life that they wish to follow. In a
recent episode the Doctor finds out that after winning the lottery a
former companion of his gave it all away to help people who were
suffering, in imitation of the Doctor. The god the old Doctor most
resembled was Prometheus, who stole the secret of fire from the Greek
gods to give it to humans for their betterment. The divine person the
new Doctor most resembles is Jesus, who changes people's lives.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Just
as Davies brought out elements in the show's old mythos to revitalize
the saga of the Doctor, we need to rethink how we present Jesus. Is
he merely this authoritarian figure, easily confused with the
establishment, who makes pronouncements that we dutifully observe
without thinking? Or is he the ultimate hero, who creatively and
daringly dealt with the problems with which we still grapple and who
brought about a new way of making things right? Whereas the world
decides to fight evil with grim determination—when it doesn't
despair in the face of evil or cooperate with it—Jesus fights it
with hope. Whereas the world sees peace as a wary temporary truce
with those who cannot be trusted, Jesus brings about peace by
bringing people from every race and nation together through faith in
a just and loving God. Whereas the world seeks to eliminate enemies
by shedding their blood, Jesus eliminates enemies by letting his own
blood be shed and by offering them forgiveness and love and healing.
He eliminates bad guys by turning those who respond to him into good
guys.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
things get bad, the world fantasizes about James Bond or John Wick,
who defeat evil by being more ruthless than it is. <i>Doctor Who</i>
has offered a different model, a hero who wins by using his heart and
mind and inspiring others. And the appeal of this hero's story is
that it comes from what is essentially a fresh retelling of the
greatest story ever told: the story of how God became one of us,
lived and died as we do, and rose again to give us new life as new
creations in Christ. It is up to us to leave the land of fiction and
proclaim to a sin-sick world that there is a real hero we can follow,
Jesus Christ, the Great Physician who makes people better.</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-67617617388660464722023-11-28T09:34:00.000-05:002023-11-28T09:34:08.470-05:00State of the Kingdom<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
was first preached on November 20, 2005. There has been some
updating.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Back
when the History Channel presented history, I watched a 4 hour
documentary on the crusades. Some historians think Pope Urban II
dreamed up the first crusade at least in part as a way to stop
so-called “Christian” princes from fighting one another. He hoped
to redirect their energies towards liberating Jerusalem from the
Muslims and making it safe for pilgrims to visit. If so, this pope
never heard that saying about the road to hell being paved with good
intentions. As it was, the road to Jerusalem was awash in the blood
of countless Muslims, Jews, and even Eastern Orthodox Christians,
slaughtered by zealots assured that God sanctioned the enterprise.
The resulting crusader kingdom lasted for less than 100 years. None
of the subsequent crusades were able to retake the Holy Land.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
thought of this shameful episode in the history of the church when
reading today's gospel passage from Matthew 25. I was struck by a
phrase I hadn't paid much attention to before. The Son of Man says to
those on his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you...” (v. 34) The reason it
intrigues me is that, contrary to what the crusaders set up, the
kingdom of God is not a place. It's not heaven either. “The kingdom
of God,” Jesus tells us, “is within you.” (Luke 17:21) It can
also be translated “The kingdom of God is among you.” It is not a
temporary, external location; it is a state of being, an internal and
eternal way of living. It is God reigning in the heart of the
Christian.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
that means the preparation of the kingdom is not done to some place
but to someone, namely, you and me. And what does the preparation
consist of? After reading this passage from Matthew, you might
conclude that it consists in following the rules Jesus articulates in
judging people: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the
immigrant, visit the sick, etc. But it's not quite that obvious.
Because rules, however good, can't make people good.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">First
of all, nobody can follow all of the rules all of the time. We can
try but our desires, our fears and our flagging intentions work
against us. In a documentary on users of crystal meth, a doctor told
a teenage girl in the E.R. that unless she stopped using the drug,
she would never live to see the age of 30. So she stopped. But she
admitted that if her mom was away and her friend offered her some
meth, she'd probably use it again. She didn't really want to change,
even with death on the line. I've personally seen this attitude. When
I was a home health nurse, I had a patient who could barely breathe
because of emphysema. She was on continuous oxygen. And somehow she
got enough tubing for her nasal cannula, about 25 feet of it, that
she could reach the door of her room. So she would stand outside the
door and smoke! She knew that having a flame near the source of the
oxygen could cause a deadly explosion. She also knew her smoking had
caused her emphysema. But she wasn't going to change.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
finest doctors and nurses in the world can't save someone who doesn't
want to make the necessary changes. Neither can God. He won't force
people to accept him and so he can't save those who won't let him in
and let him work. As C.S. Lewis once said, the doors of hell are
locked from the inside.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
even if people are motivated to obey the rules and obey them
scrupulously, it doesn't actually make them good. How many terrorist
bombings took place in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's reign? Next to
none. Do you think that was because the people were more virtuous
under him? Of course not. The things we saw after he was deposed—the
ethnic and religious divisions, the impulse to strike out rather than
reach out to those who were different, the greed and arrogance and
rage—were there all along. Hussein's oppressive rule just kept a
lid on all that. Once he was removed, the festering hatred and rage
exploded. It wasn't love of morality that made them follow his rules;
it was fear of mortality by him. Rule-following can only go so far,
especially if it is done out of fear. It can't make you a good
person.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
may surprise you. After all, Christianity has rules. And many of the
rules are similar to those of other religions. This has given rise to
the superficial idea that all religions are alike. One difference is
that the rules serve a different function in God's kingdom. We don't
follow the rules in order to be good; we follow them out of the
goodness within.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To
understand this paradox, we must approach the problem from another
direction. We've established that the rules can't make anyone good.
So what can? Only God. God alone can redirect our desires, calm our
fears, and transform our minds and hearts. And it is transformation
that we need, not more rules.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
how does he transform us? First, we have to want to change. And
that's hard. We don't want God to start tinkering with us. We're
afraid of what we'll become. That's because we've bought into the lie
that goodness isn't a positive trait but a lack of either courage or
experience or the capacity for fun. Our popular culture tells us that
good people are dull and pleasure-deprived. Reality tells us
differently, if only we listen.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Countless
studies tell us that in general marriage is a good thing. Married
people tend to be happier, healthier, live longer and have sex more
frequently. But someone from another planet, monitoring transmissions
from our TV broadcasts, would think that marriage is some sort of
sado-masochistic relationship. Sadly, this is because writers find
bad marriages easier to mine for comedy or drama. Depicting a good
marriage realistically requires more skill. But we are inundated with
the idea that marriage for most people is either a joke or a tragedy.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Again
studies show compassionate people are happier. Sophisticated
entertainment depicts them as dupes. What passes for heroes in movies
these days are so ruthless and cynical that they make Dirty Harry
look like Mr. Rogers in comparison.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Innumerable
studies show that religious people tend to be happier, healthier and
more successful in life. Books, TV and movies depict us as either
delusional, judgmental, dangerous or all 3.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If
we want to be transformed and prepared for the kingdom our next step
is to trust God and really open up to him. It's difficult and it
doesn't happen all at once. In the process of trying to follow Jesus
and become more Christlike, you will stumble and fall and have to
start over from time to time. But the transformation, whether sudden
or gradual, is real. A non-Christian man said of his ex-addict sister
that she was such a different person now that it must be her faith in
Jesus. He had no other explanation.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Are
there those who fall from grace and lose their faith? Of course, just
as there are rehab patients who drop out of treatment. That doesn't
negate the reality that the patients who stick it out get healed.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Are
there phony, untransformed “Christians”? Of course, just as there
are counterfeit $100 bills. Nobody counterfeits $1 bills because they
are not worth it. People only counterfeit what's valuable. It's the
same with Christians; the existence of phonies just underlines how
powerful and attractive the genuine article is.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
next step in the process of being prepared for the kingdom is to get
acquainted with God. You do this in 3 ways—by prayer, by reading
the Bible and by meeting with other Christians.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Prayer
is as simple as a conversation. You tell God what's on your mind—your
hopes, your worries, your failures and the things you're grateful
for. Just look at the Psalms. Then listen for him. Don't expect to
hear the voice of Charlton Heston in your ears. Expect something
along the lines of the “still, quiet voice” Elijah encountered in
the wilderness. (1 Kings 19:12-13) God speaks through our hearts and
minds.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
how do you know that you aren't just talking to yourself? Some
awfully odd people have said that God told them awfully odd things
which sound either silly or scary. That's why you need to check
things against the Bible. It contains 66 books by more than 40
authors detailing people's encounters with God for more than 2000
years. In it we get a complex but consistent portrait of a God who is
both holy and loving, demanding but forgiving, trustworthy but still
surprising, whose moral character never changes, though his responses
to various circumstances do. Sure, there are passages that are
difficult to fit in with others, but it is amazing how often apparent
contradictions are resolved by noting different contexts. For
instance, when growing up, and especially during adolescence, my
children have told me both that they love me and that they hate me.
Were they severely conflicted in their feelings for me? Or was it
just that sometimes they liked what I did or said and other times
they were either angry or sarcastic with me because I forbade
something or punished them for doing something foolhardy or wrong?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Also
ask if something in the Bible is intended as an example of what to do
or what to avoid. And ask if something is meant to be taken literally
or figuratively. I find it interesting that people who like to point
out what they see as contradictions in the Bible often resort to
being as unreasonably literal as the people they criticize.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
key to understanding the Bible is in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.”
If you love someone and they are in danger, you will cajole, warn,
plead, reason and do all kinds of things to save them—even if it
means making the ultimate sacrifice. The overwhelming majority of
what God says and does is explained when you realize how much he
loves us and how much he is willing to do to save us from ourselves.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
saw an example of this way of reading a text when I played a
detective in a play which quite frankly had even the director baffled
by its apparent contradictions. The first act read like Agatha
Christie, with a dead body and several characters to be interviewed.
But the second act, which contained the mystery's solution, read like
Monty Python. In addition, neither I nor my leading lady could make
heads or tails of our relationship. She was the prime suspect and
throughout 90% of the play I was badgering her about her alibi. But
by the final curtain, we were suddenly in love. Very close to opening
night, the actress asked me if <i>I</i> knew why we ended up
together; <i>she</i> didn't. I pondered it and the next day, while running
through my lines, it hit me. It didn't make sense if we fell in love
at the end of the play, but it did if we fell in love at the very
beginning. When we played the scenes that way, everything else fell
in place. Instead of me trying to trap her into confession, I was
trying to urge her to give me the information I needed to exonerate
her. Instead of trying to evade my questions because of her guilt,
she was trying not to divulge facts that sounded so crazy I would
think she was making them up. Our confrontations became more like
lovers' quarrels. The change in tone softened the contrast between
the classic mystery of the first act and the increasingly bizarre
solution in the second act. Mind you, no words were changed, just the
way they were said by us and the intent behind them. It was no longer
a murder mystery with a bit about love tacked on at the end; it was a
love story all along. We found the true spirit of the play.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Ultimately
the most important part of being transformed into a person being
prepared to be a part of the kingdom of God is embodying the Spirit
of God. We have all heard the words of God spoken in the wrong
spirit, one of hatred or self-righteousness or hypocrisy, and we have
seen the damage done by that. Many have turned away from Christ
repelled by counterfeit Christians, who say and do things Jesus
explicitly told us not to. But we have also seen the great good that
can be accomplished when the word of God was proclaimed and acted
upon in the right Spirit. And the fruit or results produced in those
living in the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. (Galatians
5:22-23)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Remember
what we said about how rules were powerless to make people good? If,
however, people are already good, and if they understand the Spirit
behind the rules, then the rules become expressions of that Spirit.
God prepares the kingdom for us by preparing us to be the kind of
people who don't need to be told that hungry people should be fed,
thirsty people should be given a drink, naked people should be given
clothes, immigrants should be welcomed, and the sick and those in
prison should be visited. And the way we learn that is by living
among Jesus' brothers and sisters, all the while looking for and
serving Jesus in each other. God is love and we cannot learn to love
if we keep to ourselves. We have to interact with people as flawed
and as frustrating as we are. And as we get the knack of loving
others, the kingdom grows within us and among us, revealing God to us
and through us. And we realize that the kingdom is not some other
place in some future time but it is here and now and always has been,
wherever 2 or 3 gather together in the Spirit of the love that
creates and redeems us. </span>
</p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-56908169920648211972023-11-21T11:44:00.000-05:002023-11-21T11:44:50.452-05:00What God Really Hates<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>This was first preached on November 17, 2002. There has been some updating.</i> </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is
God a grouch or what? As we end the church year and approach Advent,
we seem to be reading all these really depressing texts in the
lectionary, all about judgement and sin and punishment. Why are these
in the Bible? Why isn't it all sweetness and light?</span></span><p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Because
life isn't all sweetness and light. There are bad things out there:
murder and betrayal and sexual abuse and theft and greed and
hypocrisy and arrogance and gluttony and genocide and envy and gossip
and laziness and neglect and exploitation and cruelty and prejudice
and pollution and rage. Do you really want a God who turns a blind
eye to all that and says, “Oh, well. Boys will be boys”? If God
really loves us, he has to hate those attitudes and behaviors, just
as any parent who loves her childlren hates to see them pick on each
other and fight. If you really love someone you want the best for
them and you want the best out of them. You want them to be the best
version of themselves that they can be. And sometimes you have to let
them know that while there are no limits to your love, there are
limits to what behaviors you will tolerate. We have all encountered
parents who let their kids get away with selfish and destructive ways
of acting that society will not allow them to do when they get older.
They are setting up their kids for a life of conflict with others.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
loves us too much not to warn us about the consequences of our
actions. Like any parent it seems half the time he is telling us he
loves us and the other half he's telling us that what we are doing is
wrong. And, like all kids, what really drives us crazy is that deep
down we know that he is right.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Mosts
of the things God hates are well known. They are in the ten
commandments. They are catalogued in Proverbs 6:16-19. But in today's
lectionary we see 2 things not usually mentioned: complacency and
fear.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
our passage from Zephaniah, we find out that God really hates
indifference to sin. He is pictured as prowling the streets of
Jerusalem at night, paying back those who sit around and ignore all
the injustice and evil in the world, rather like Batman. Not only are
they blasé about the violence and deceit which Zephaniah mentions in
verse 9 but they are indifferent about God as well. They cynically
say, “God won't do anything, one way or the other, despite what
anyone does.” It's an attitude one finds among people who consider
themselves sophisticated and worldly. But this idea is both
self-serving and wrong.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If
you really think God is indifferent to evil, why bother to fight it?
Or even to resist it? This attitude does get you off the hook.
Injustice and inequities has always been with us; they will always be
with us. Why try to change things? It's a very comforting way of
thinking...if you're not the one suffering from injustice. Jesus
said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness...” (Matthew 5:6) The Greek words are more intense.
This is better translated “Blessed are those who are starving and
parched for justice...” God wants us to feel keenly what's wrong
with the world and work to make it a better place. God never blesses
the status quo.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You
may have heard the saying, “All that is necessary for evil to
triumph is for good men to do nothing.” We saw this complacency
when the Nazis rose to power in Germany. They never won the majority
of votes. Yet Hitler was granted power by people who naively thought
they could control him.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
saw it when Senator Joe McCarthy rose to power by lying about ever
increasing numbers of Communists in our government. People's careers
and lives were destroyed yet those in power, like President Eisenhower, didn't shut him down.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
saw it after the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center in
1993, the unsuccessful attack with a truck full of explosives. John
P. O'Neill, who was head of the FBI's counter-terrorism unit in New
York, knew that this would not be the last terrorist act carried out
against the US. He was not surprised by the attacks on our soldiers
in Saudi Arabia in 1996, on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in
1998, and on the USS Cole in 2000. He investigated each and was
behind the intelligence efforts that stopped a wave of terrorism on
the eve of the millennium celebration. But those higher up in the FBI
and officials in the White House thought he was an alarmist and not a
team player. So he was sidelined and quit in frustration. Without his
agitation, our government became complacent. Ironically, on September
11, 2001, John O'Neill was beginning his third week as head of
security at the twin towers. He died saving people from the evil
actions he had foreseen and tried to prevent.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another
reason we don't do what we ought to is fear. That's what Jesus'
parable of the talents is really about. The master in the story isn't
concerned about how much each servant makes; he simply wants them to
make whatever they can out of what they have been given.The Greek
word “talent” originally meant a unit of weight and when it came
to precious metals, a measure of wealth. Somehow in English it has
come to mean a natural ability. This parable says that God has given
each of us gifts. Viewed properly, they are treasures which he
expects us to use. It is our duty to be good stewards of the time,
treasures and talents God has graced us with. He doesn't expect us to
work miracles with them, just develop what is inborn. Often what
stops us from doing this is fear.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fear
can be healthy. Fear tells you not to do stuff that is reckless.
Don't approach the growling dog or the wild buffalo in Yellowstone
Park. Don't jump off your roof into the pool like the idiot on You
Tube did. Don't play with fire. But other fears are irrational. One
very common fear is that of public speaking. I have never heard of
anyone dying of public speaking but there are people who would rather
die than get up in front of a large group of people and speak. That's
not too bad because they can still function in other roles and
situations. Other folks suffer from agoraphobia, fear of open spaces,
and shut themselves up in their homes. Some are unable to go to the
store, or to work or even to the doctor. Which is too bad because
psychiatrists and psychologists can treat these unreasonable fears.
These extremes fears can serve as natural parables about how fear can
make your life narrow and unfulfilled.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
have all encountered someone whose hidden talent we discovered by
accident. They may be secretly an artist or a writer or a singer or
have extraordinary insights into the world but they are too shy to
share these abilities with others. Imagine how poor the world would
be if Bach had kept his music to himself, or if Einstein had put his
observations in a diary he locked away or if J.K. Rowling had never
sent her Harry Potter stories out to publishers.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
we are embarrassed to reveal our talents to others. After all, our
abilties may not compare with those of famous people. But that's not
the point. You may not sing like Taylor Swift but you may sing well
enough to help out a choir. You may not be the CEO of a major
corporation but you may do just fine as a member of a church council
or civic organization. You may not be a trained psychologist but you
might be a good enough listener to help someone in distress through a
crisis.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the parable it's not the quantity of talents given that's important.
We are told that the master passed out the talents to each servant
according to his ability. So he made allowances for their individual
capabilities. While the servant who is condemned in the story only
received one talent, the master isn't expecting him to get as good a
return as the man with 5 talents. He praises the man who made 2 more
talents with the same words he used for the man who made 5. He was,
however, expecting the 1 talent man to invest as much effort as the
other servants. Just so, God doesn't hold us responsible for results
as much as whether use our gifts to serve him.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
we are not talking about salvation here. What we do doesn't save us;
God saves us. If you come to a surgeon with a broken hip, he, not
you, can replace it with a new one. But he would be very disappointed
if you had the surgery and then never followed his orders to go to
physical therapy and never got out of your wheelchair to learn to
walk again because you were afraid of the pain. He didn't give you
the new hip so you could do nothing with it. In the same way, God
doesn't want us to just sit there on our assets.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One
thing that most people don't know is that a talent was not just a
unit of weight; it was a major one. It was as much as a man could
carry. In silver, it was as much a man might earn in 15 years. That's
a considerable fortune. So one talent was nothing to look down upon.
The master had entrusted the 1 talent servant with plenty. It was the
man who sold himself short. His lack of trust in himself and in his
master was what led to disaster.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Faith
is the antidote to fear. If you have trouble trusting in your own
abilities, then trust the God who gave them to you. He feels you can
handle them. He doesn't ask you to exercise abilities you don't have;
just develop the ones you do. None of them are lowly. And we should
not look down on any of them. For instance, most people would
probably rate the ability to write and preach a sermon as more
important than the ability to lift a can of garbage. But if you went
2 weeks without hearing a sermon and 2 weeks without having your
garbage collected, be honest: which would you miss the most?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You
may not see how your talents fit into God's plans. It doesn't matter.
Some day you will find that your talent is exactly what is needed at
the moment. David's gift for music brought him into contact with King
Saul, whose depression was eased by the shepherd's songs. Later
David's skill with the sling brought down Goliath. This led to his
military career and then to his becoming the next king of Israel.
Similarly, Joseph's foresight eventually led to his rise from a slave
and a prisoner to Pharaoh's vizier, which enabled him to save a
nation, and his family, from famine. But not being famous or powerful
doesn't diminish your importance in God's plan. God commanded an
obscure Christian in Damascus to go to a man he had never met and
heal him. In fact, Ananias was afraid of the man, who was a
persecutor of Christians. He went anyway and laid his hands on Saul
of Tarsus in the name of Jesus and helped both his physical and
spiritual blindness fall away. Saul became the apostle Paul. We don't
know what became of Ananias but his courage and his gift of healing
changed history.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God
doesn't make junk. You are a work of art in progress. God doesn't
give crappy gifts either. He gave you abilities for a reason, even if
you don't see what it is at the present. So work on them. Refine
them. Hone them. Explore them. Grow them.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
I went to college, my mother made me a decorative pillow. And on it,
in needlepoint, were the words, “What you are is God's gift to you;
what you become is your gift to God.” Conquer your complacency with
caring and your fear with faith. Dare to make your life the most
splendid gift you can, worthy of the trust and love God has given
you.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAr66V6kQmNqUIL5UOgONEt0gQjVwZ5Q7LdcCET3MrWW8dGb4RspCgVlafqkflOjQGnxmouvPfao72LZ-Xxm9qRKz0_k9lP3uqSgmNGwxga2qBxF8lAiuu7SuUWw7pusjL_zPHpgQJGw6DdeVQiisbjbmIeXcBxAPGDQX8cCRe8tl1nMGLMl6EJG0A8nQ/s3075/20231114_143208%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2887" data-original-width="3075" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAr66V6kQmNqUIL5UOgONEt0gQjVwZ5Q7LdcCET3MrWW8dGb4RspCgVlafqkflOjQGnxmouvPfao72LZ-Xxm9qRKz0_k9lP3uqSgmNGwxga2qBxF8lAiuu7SuUWw7pusjL_zPHpgQJGw6DdeVQiisbjbmIeXcBxAPGDQX8cCRe8tl1nMGLMl6EJG0A8nQ/s320/20231114_143208%20(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /> </span>
<p></p></div>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-24903226403812111912023-11-07T10:38:00.000-05:002023-11-07T10:38:05.034-05:00The Big 10<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">This
was preached on November 11, 2005. There has been some revising.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
suggestion I drew from the sermon box was to do the 10 Commandments
as “Ren and Stimpy.” One of the kids must have written that one.
And, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that because (A) while I am aware
of those cartoon characters because my kids watched them as children,
I never managed to make it through an entire episode and I don't
think I could do them justice. And (B) Ren, the dog, speaks like
Peter Lorre. If I did that voice for the whole sermon, I wouldn't
have much of a voice for the rest of the liturgy. But I understand
the impulse to retell stories in a lighthearted fashion. I think Mr.
Magoo's version of </span><span lang="en-US"><i>A
Christmas Carol</i></span><span lang="en-US">
is still the best musical version, if not the best dramatization, of
Dicken's classic story. And humor is great for bringing out truth. So
with the help of my ventriloquist dummy Ebenezer, I'd like to
recreate the giving of the 10 Commandments.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Ebenezer:
Oooo! Do I get to be the Lord?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Chris:
No, you get to be Moses.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">E:
How come I never get top billing?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">C:
Because without me, I think you'd find yourself speechless.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">E:
[Sigh] I told Kermit the frog we needed a union. [looking at his
costume, a towel] When it comes to costumes, I can see you've spared
every expense.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">C:
Stop complaining. Time to get in character. [Calling] Moses!</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Moses:
Here I am, Lord! [Panting] Did you have to choose such a high
mountain? I'm 80, you know! Isn't there some nice Starbucks in the
valley where we can talk?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">God:
Don't you like the view?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Well, yes. I mean I would if there wasn't so much smoke around!
[Coughs]</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Sorry. That just happens whenever I manifest myself as fire.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Couldn't you manifest yourself as something else? It gives me the
willies talking to this huge pillar of fire. [Coughs] Not to mention
the whole secondhand smoke issue.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Believe me: this is the least scary thing I could appear as.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
How about appearing as a human? You'd be a lot easier to relate to.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Hmmm. I'll think about that. Do you know what I called you up here?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Toasting marshmallows?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
No. It's time we talked about our relationship.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Oh, boy! This isn't going to be any fun!</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Why do you say that?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Because it isn't fun when my wife says that. I can't imagine what it
means when your God wants to talk about your relationship!</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
What I mean is the relationship between me and the people of Israel.
We need to lay down some rules.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
That seems fair. How many rules are we talking about?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
613.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Whoa! Whoa! Can't you just give us the Cliff's Notes version?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Well, I was thinking of starting out with 10 big rules.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Ten? That's ok. We can let the lawyers work out the rest.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Lawyers?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
I've got to give them something to do now that they can't file that
class action lawsuit.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
What class action lawsuit?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Against Egypt for making us slaves. It was just a backup plan in case
the 10 plagues didn't work out. But now that Pharaoh and his army are
drowned, there's no one to sue. The lawyers are really upset about
all the hours they could have billed.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Nevermind that. Let's get started.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Wait a second. I don't have a papyrus or reed to write with!
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
I'll do it myself. In stone.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Of course. Mountaintop. Fire. Rules written in stone. You sure like
symbolism, don't you?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
It's a language everyone understands. Let me begin this way: “I,
the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of Egypt, from the house
of bondage.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:That's
a rule?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
No, that's the preamble. I'm setting out who I am and why I am making
this covenant.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Covenant? That's like an agreement, a contract, isn't it?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G;
All the kings are making them these days.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
So you're our king?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
And God. Which brings me to the first rule: “You shall have no
other gods besides me.”
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
None? That's new. The Egyptians had so many gods—for rain, for sun,
for this and that. Folks got used to it. You knew who to go to for
what you needed. That's gonna be a hard habit to give up.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
That's the deal. Who do you think those 10 plagues were targeted at?
Those imaginary Egyptian gods. Those plagues showed that no one was
in charge of the sun or the Nile or health or life but me. Remember:
I liberated you from slavery in a foreign land and I am taking you to
the land I promised to your ancestors. Our relationship is exclusive.
And if it makes it any easier, there will be only one person to go to
now—me. There's no bureaucracy in heaven.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
That's a good point. One God, one set of rules for everyone.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
As a consequence of that, here's rule 2: “You shall not make images
of anything in heaven, or earth, or elsewhere...”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Not even dollies for the kids?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
I'm not done. “...and you shall not worship or serve them.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Oh, I see. That's the exclusivity thing again. Like in a marriage.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
What can I say? I'm a passionate and loving God. If you reject me,
the source of all good things, you are going to see the effects, not
only in your own life, but in those of your children and
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But if you stick with me, you
will see the positive effects of living in my love for thousands of
generations.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Kinda like karma. But why not let us make images of you?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
First of all, how could you make an image of me? I'm Spirit. Look, I
have nothing against art. I just don't like being reduced to
something a lot smaller and completely comprehensible and
controllable. Because I'm not. People are always trying to whittle me
down to something they can manage, something with limitations and
with borders I can't cross. I'm not that kind of God.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">M:
But borders are </span><span lang="en-US"><i>so</i></span><span lang="en-US">
comforting. Oh, well. Next rule?</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in an empty or
deceitful way, for the Lord will not clear the person who does so.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
You mean like swearing?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Yeah, but also swearing falsely. Or using my name as a magic word.
I'm not a genie. And I don't like having my name thrown around
casually. I also don't like my name attached to people's statements
or actions thoughtlessly. I don't do endorsements of human agendas.
After all, you wouldn't want someone using your name to justify any
old scheme they came up with?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
No. And that reminds me. I need to talk to that guy who's selling hot
dogs to Hebrews.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">G:
4</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
big rule: “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” I rested after
6 days. So should you. Unlike me, you need rest.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
I guess the slaves will have to take up the slack that day.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">G:
</span><span lang="en-US"><i>No
one</i></span><span lang="en-US">
is to work then, not even the slaves or the beasts of burden. In
sacred matters, all people are equal. In the first 3 rules, I've told
you how not to dishonor me. This is the one thing I ask you to do to
honor me. I want you to spend time with me. So set aside the day as
holy. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
That's only fair. It's very easy to forget someone if you don't spend
time with them. What's the next rule?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long in
the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Hey, that rule's not about you, though. That's about humans.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
I care about humans and how they're treated. That's why I made you in
my image. That's why whatever you do to each other you are in a sense
doing to me. Especially parents. They are supposed to be my
surrogates. They are supposed to raise you in love and teach you my
rules. You should respect them for that.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
I'm all for that. If my parents hadn't hidden me in that basket, I'd
be dead. And I wouldn't have been raised as an heir to Pharoah. Nor
would I have my brother Aaron to speak for me.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
By the way, where's that speech impediment so severe that you said
you couldn't be my spokesman?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Oh, uh...I just get that way when I am afraid. Like when I have to do
public speaking. Uh, what's next?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“No murder.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
No w-w-w-what?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Murder. Murdering a person created in my image is like murdering me
symbolically. Remember?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
But what if someone is, uh, beating a slave? A Hebrew slave? And he's
an Egyptian?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
I know all about what you did. And yet I'm still entrusting all this
to you, aren't I? But, yes, everyone is made in my image and so every
murder counts. But I am forgiving. We'll get to the matter of
atonement later.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Whew! Next rule?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“No adultery.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Well, that's straightforward. And, to be honest, hard.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
Remember what you said about this covenant relationship being like a
marriage? You're right. And I expect respect, love and faithfulness
in both relationships.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Of course. What else?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“No stealing.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
No explanation needed. Next?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“You must not say false things about your neighbor.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Another good rule. And last of all?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
“You shall not desire your neighbor's household; not his wife, not
his slaves, nor his livestock, nor anything that belongs to your
neighbor.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Uh, Lord? This rule is different. The others are about behavior. This
one is about—emotions.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
People usually break rules for emotional reasons—greed, envy,
anger, lust, fear, hatred, laziness, arrogance. I want you to know
I'm interested in people obeying the spirit of the law, not just the
letter. Basically, obeying these laws is about love: loving me with
all you've got and loving your neighbor as much as you do yourself.
Hey, that's good. I want that in my law as well. As I've said I've
got more to say on these things.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Well, we're gonna need more than a couple of stone tablets to get it
all down. We may need to write a whole book about what you've got to
say as well as what you've done for us. And we can title the book
“God.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
I think it'll take more than just one book.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">M:
Well, then we can do a sequel. We'll call it “Son of God.”</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">G:
I like it! </span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-92092123742763243592023-10-31T12:20:00.000-04:002023-10-31T12:20:26.799-04:00613 to 10 to 2<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">This
was preached on November 2, 2008. There has been some updating.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Much
of what TV calls reality shows are anything but. Let's face it: these
programs put people into extremely unrealistic scenarios. 99.9% of us
will never live in a mansion with an eligible bachelor or
bachelorette that we and others staying there are trying to marry.
Nor will we ever be in a jungle where our survival depends on playing
games. Nor will we have our spouses switched with someone who is
their exact opposite in personality or personal philosophy.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
favorite reality shows are those done by the BBC or PBS in which
modern people must live in a situation that is as close as possible
to how their ancestors had to live. It is fascinating to see how a
contemporary person or family fares when faced with a culture that
lacks our modern conveniences. Especially when their survival
depends, not on contrived challenges or betrayals, but on planting
and harvesting crops, or drawing water, or keeping the fire going. In
series such as </span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Victorian
House</span></i></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
or </span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Frontier
House</span></i></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
you realize just how hard our ancestors had to work. Their goal was
not so much to live well, as we desire to, but to simply continue to
live. In </span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Colonial
House</span></i></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
what became clear was how absolutely vital it was for the entire
community to work together and follow certain rules. If you ever
wondered why sloth (laziness) was considered one of the seven deadly
sins, just consider how the fate of a whole settlement was endangered
if someone shirked their responsibility to do the role assigned to
them. </span></span></span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Life
in earlier times was extremely regimented and roles were strictly
defined, not because everyone was a jerk, but because the entire
community or tribe could be wiped out if just one person didn't carry
out their duty to nurture the crops or keep the livestock healthy or
repair the equipment or guard the town walls. It took almost military
discipline on everyone's part for all to survive.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Similarly,
things like envy or gossip or excessive drinking or violating the
sanctity of your neighbor's marriage or lying or theft or
disproportionate anger or disobedience to authorities could
destabilize relationships and threaten the unity of the community.
The resulting dysfunction didn't just hurt feelings; it could
actually harm the ability of the group to work together and survive.
If you've ever wondered why we have entire psalms that just praise
God's law, just remember how crucial it was to the community's unity
and continued existence.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;">Today's
sermon suggestion asks, “Why do we only talk of the 10
commandments? Aren't there more?” Yes, there are. In fact, rabbis
counted all the commands in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Old
Testament, and came up with 613. They start right after the giving of
the 10 commandments in Exodus 20 and cover things such as violence,
property, restitution and maintaining just courts. A good deal of the
commandments concern the making of the tabernacle or portable worship
space, as well as offerings, sacrifices, the priesthood, and
observing the Sabbath. There are also quite a few on dietary
restrictions, like not eating pigs, vultures, shellfish and certain
insects. Finally there are those which excite the most interest
today: the list of forbidden sexual relations in the “Holiness
Code.”</span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">When
scholars talk of the “Holiness Code” they are generally speaking
of Leviticus chapters 17 through 26. The title for this section comes
from the frequent refrain, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord your
God, am holy.” The word “holy” means “set apart” and in
regard to humans and objects it means “set apart for a sacred
purpose.” These passages deal with a lot of issues, only some of
which are matters of ritual purity. So chapter 17 of Leviticus
concerns sacrificing animals and forbids the eating of blood.
Chapters 21 through 26 concern priestcraft, tabernacle furnishings
and holy days. Chapter 19, however, covers various subjects from
idolatry, to making provision for the poor and resident aliens, to
not abusing the disabled, to slander, to not taking vengeance on
others, to honesty in business and more. It also includes the
commandment, “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin.”
So contrary to what some say, the Holiness Code is neither completely
antiquated nor entirely irrelevant to modern moral issues.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Chapter
18 is the one everybody is interested in because it contains 18
verses concerning forbidden sexual relations. Contrary to popular
belief, most of them we still oppose: incest (14 verses) and
bestiality (1 verse). In addition there is 1 verse condemning child
sacrifice and 1 verse condemning sex between men. Note that on the
basis of the number of mentions alone, you can't either elevate
homosexual sex above the behaviors mentioned more often, nor dismiss
it, because child sacrifice is also only mentioned once in the
passage. If we single out sex between men as either exceptionally
important or unimportant, we are doing so for other reasons than how
often it is mentioned.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
the number of commandments go well beyond the 10 we learn in Sunday
school. Why do we focus on those 10 laws? For one thing, they are
mentioned first and separately from the others. And they are not only
written in Exodus 20 but are repeated in Deuteronomy 5.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Secondly,
they are much more general in scope and so they serve as the basis
for the other commandments. The prohibition against using deceptive
weights and measures (Leviticus 19:35-36; cf. Proverbs 20:10) is
derived from the commandment “You must not steal.” The insistence
on neutrality in the courts (Leviticus 19:15) is consistent with the
commandment “You must not testify against your neighbor as a false
witness.” The condemnation of making sacrifices to fertility gods
flows logically from the commandment to “have no other gods before”
Yahweh.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yet
the idea that the 10 commandments are the most important has been
changed by Jesus of all people. When asked which of the commandments
is the greatest, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your might.” Unprompted, he adds a second one, this time from
Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Then
he says that all of the law and the prophets hang on these two.
(Matthew 22:40) He also says no other commandment is greater than
these two. (Mark 12:31) </span></span></span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And,
indeed, you can split the 10 commandments into those that concern God
and those that concern our fellow human beings. You can also boil
down the prophets' criticism of their societies to these 2 main areas
as well. First, they declared that the people were either worshipping
other gods or not worshipping Yahweh sincerely but just going through
the motions. Second, they point out that society is treating the poor
unjustly. (Isaiah 1:11-17) The implication is that the second
commandment flows from the first. This is something Jesus makes
explicit when he says that how we treat the unfortunate is how we are
treating him. (Matthew 25:31-46)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
Jesus' truly unique contributions to morals are his extensions of the
second greatest commandment. Now that commandment is hard enough. It
is not always easy to love your neighbor. He might be the sort of
person who trims your trees without your permission, or who doesn't
pick up after his dog uses your yard as its toilet, or who blasts his
music both night and day. Nowhere does the Bible say you have to like
him. But you must pray for him and work for his good. You might want
to get to know him and understand why he does what he does. The odd
thing is if you do the things someone would naturally do if they
cared about someone else, eventually you will come to care about that
person after all.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) Here he is extending
the circle of those we must love. He is including not just the person
next door, or your coworker, or your acquaintance, all of whom might
annoy you a bit. He is saying you must act lovingly towards someone
who acts maliciously towards you. Don't hate him or ignore him but
love him, says Jesus. Pray for him. As Paul and Peter put it, don't
repay evil with evil but repay evil with good. (Romans 12:17, 21; 1
Peter 3:9) That's a tall order and it may take you some time to be
able to fully achieve it. But we must do it. After all, that's what
Jesus did while we were his enemies, opposing his will for us and for
the world. We are afraid to do the same because it seems to be too
costly. It was for Jesus.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
on the night he was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, Jesus
gave his disciples a new commandment: “Love each other as I have
loved you.” (John 13:34) Here Jesus extends the standard by which
we are to love others. No longer are we to do so in the imperfect way
we love ourselves. We are to follow Jesus' example and love others in
the same self-sacrificial way he does.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Since
Jesus' 2 greatest commandments, and especially his 2 expansions of
the 2</span></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></span></sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
one, are so far reaching, are we excused from obeying the rest of the
613? Yes and no. Jesus makes a distinction between human rules and
God's laws and between laws concerning rituals and laws concerning
moral issues. And there is a difference between observing the letter
of the law—fulfilling it technically—and obeying the spirit of
the law—acomplishing what it was intended to do. (2 Corinthians
3:6) So Jesus touched the sick and the dead even though it made him
ritually unclean. He healed on the Sabbath and let his disciples
pluck the heads off grains though the Pharisees said that violated
the commandment not to work on the Sabbath. In response, Jesus said
that the Sabbath was made for the sake of humans; humans were not
made for the sake of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27) For Jesus, a law should
benefit people, not harm them.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
principle is also central to Paul's thinking. Among the things that
Jesus' sacrifice on the cross freed us from were aspects of the Torah
that simply differentiated Jews from Gentiles: circumcision, the
dietary laws, Sabbaths. These cause division in the body of Christ
where there is no Jew or Gentile for all are one in Christ.
(Galatians 3:28) Christians now live by grace. But that doesn't mean
we can disregard morality. The same Spirit who inspired the authors
of the Old Testament now lives in Christians and guides them, if they
let him. The moral law is to be internalized. And Paul is not shy
about spelling out how Christians should and should not live.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
principles that stand behind the written laws in the Bible are still
valid but the ways they are manifested in each time and culture may
vary. For instance, in Paul's day a prostitute would cut her hair and
did not wear a head covering in public. So Paul says a woman can
prophesy in church provided her head was covered. (1 Corinthians
11:5) A woman having an uncovered head no longer means she is a
prostitute in our culture, so we don't require head coverings in
church. Modesty is expressed differently. Again I remember when
tattoos were seen as a sign that a person had loose morals. Now
tattoos are so common that what they used to signify is no longer
true. And who knows what the fashion will be by 2050? But it will
never be acceptable for a Christian of either sex to wear certain
lewd and crude and belligerent T-shirts sold nearly everywhere these
days. The principle is that Christians should not send mixed messages
about their personal morality and it is still valid. Its expression,
however, has and will continue to change.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
means there will be clashes at times between aspects of contemporary
culture and Biblical morality. Sometimes we are called to stand out
in contrast to a culture gone wrong. As did certain Christians during
the civil rights movement in this country and as did members of the
Confessing Church in Nazi Germany. They rightly understood that there
was a clash between what the 2 great commandments said and what
authorities did to oppress certain ethnic and racial groups.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
is still value in studying the commandments of the Old Testament,
even if we no longer follow some of them. With a good commentary we
can understand why they were important issues in their day. You will
also be surprised, as I have been, by how enlightened such ancient
laws were on some topics. It is also a good mental and spiritual
exercise to tease out how each is an expression of the principles of
the 10 commandments and in turn, the 2 greatest commandments.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: black; font-weight: normal;">One
last word on this. And it is the word “command.” We still call
the laws in the Bible commandments. But this obscures the fact that
they are commands from our King. The moral commands are not optional.
We are commanded by Jesus to love God with all we are and all we have
and to love all others, including our enemies, as he loves us. Like
the strict laws our ancestors followed, we disregard the laws to love
at grave risk to our community and our lives. They, like the restful
Sabbath, were given for our benefit. Because the law to love God and
others is itself an expression of love. In obeying it we find true
freedom to be God's beloved children.</span></span></span></span></p><p></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-14015741152610424462023-10-25T18:38:00.000-04:002023-10-25T18:38:38.046-04:00The Siren Song of Despair<p></p><p align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">This
was preached on May 18, 2008. There has been some updating.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“ <span lang="en-US"><i>First
you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If
anyone unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the
Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for
they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness
of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all
around, with the flesh still rotting off them.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(</span><span lang="en-US"><i>The</i></span><span lang="en-US">
</span><span lang="en-US"><i>Odyssey, where Odysseus is being warned
about his voyage home)</i></span><span lang="en-US"> </span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
was 13, 14 tops. I was walking home from my girlfriend's house.
Correction: ex-girlfriend. She had just dumped me. And as I walked
the 6 blocks from her place to mine, it started to snow lightly. Even
with my heart breaking, I was enough of a film buff even then to
think, “Where's my soundtrack?” I wanted music to compliment the
snow which so perfectly represented the bleakness of my soul.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That
was my first taste of the siren song of despair. I rather liked the
image of myself trudging through a cold despairing world as I grieved
the end of my first love. But music would have made it so much more
acceptably sad and romantic. That is the continuing appeal of sad
songs, tragic novels and 3-hanky films. They offer us catharsis.
“Catharsis” comes from the Latin “to purge” and goes back to
the Greek for “pure.” When properly approached such works of art
can help us achieve emotional release and purge ourselves of
debilitating feelings.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On
the other hand there are artists who deliberately withhold catharsis.
They do not give us happy endings or even acceptably sad endings.
Sometimes they don't give us endings at all. They may do this out of
artistic integrity. After all, in real life neat endings and stories
with clear morals are not that common. Sometimes artists withhold
catharsis to provoke the audience—into discussion or social action
or just outrage. But sometimes it is because they believe that happy
endings and hope are lies. They think the world is as uncaring and
unforgiving as it seems at our darker moments. And they believe that
darkness is the ultimate truth.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I
am not speaking of those who are suffering from clinical or even
situational depression. There is nothing voluntary about those
feelings. They require therapy and sometimes antidepressants. Still,
most therapists will tell you that dwelling on negative thoughts will
only make things worse and that a person must distinguish between
their feelings and the real state of things. Yes, this part of your
life is bad. For now. There is no sense projecting it onto everything
else and forever. Night only covers part of the earth and only for
part of the 24 hour day. It doesn't mean the sun is a lie.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Still
there is the allure of giving up hope. It can be considered cool. A
hero's stature is increased by the odds against him, so how much more
heroic is it if a person faces a whole cosmos which is at best
indifferent and at worst hostile? Plus there's the whole self-pity
thing. If there's no hope you have permission to mope. From </span><span lang="en-US"><i>House,
MD</i></span> <span lang="en-US">to </span><span lang="en-US"><i>Angel</i></span>
<span lang="en-US">to </span><span lang="en-US"><i>Torchwood</i></span><span lang="en-US">,
there have been a lot of brooding heroes, bravely facing a universe
in which there is ultimately no hope. That's the siren song.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Bart
Ehrman, a professor of religious studies, wrote a book called </span><span lang="en-US"><i>God's
Problem</i></span><span lang="en-US">, in which he tells how he lost
his faith because of the problem of suffering. There is so much of it
in the world that he could no longer believe in a loving God. And
certainly when one hears about disasters that kill thousands, not to
mention when one suffers more personal losses, it can be tempting to
give up the idea that there is any kind of God at all. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
this is not so much an intellectual problem as a cry of rage or pain.
It is akin to the moment in Paddy Chayefsky's <i>The Hospital</i> when
George C. Scott's character contemplates the sorry state of the
embattled institution he serves and roars, “We cure nothing! We
heal no one!” Even though this is a satire, what he says is not
true in his world. In fact, at the end of the film, he turns down a
chance to run off with Diana Rigg in order to stay at the hospital
and try to heal it. But his previous fiery nihilistic declaration is
an arresting moment. And when we are frustrated or bereft it is
tempting to howl along with the siren song of despair.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
the existence of evil doesn't even come close to disproving the
existence of God anymore than the existence of darkness disproves the
existence of light. In fact it does the opposite. If there was
nothing but darkness in the world, how would you know what darkness
is? Darkness is the absence of light. Cave fish who live in a world
of darkness are blind. They see nothing. Darkness is just the way
things are. If you see any shadows at all, you must remember that
shadows are only possible if there is light. Shadows show that
something is in the way of the light. In the same way, nothing can be
evil if there is no such thing as goodness. After all, how could you
define what illness is if there were no such thing as health?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Evil
is indeed God's problem but not in the way Ehrman meant. It is only
an intellectual problem for armchair philosophers and theologians who
contemplate it in the abstract. For God it is a problem in the same
sense that disease is a doctor's problem. It is a practical problem.
How do you prevent it from spreading? How do you limit its damage?
How do you cure those suffering from it?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the Bible God tells us how he is dealing with the problem of evil.
Like any good health organization he gets the information out about
what is healthy and what isn't. So first, God sets out what is good
and what isn't. The values that are proclaimed as good throughout the
Bible are justice, peace, generosity, love, wisdom, mercy,
faithfulness and humility. God has given us rules for spiritually and
morally healthy living. But it is obvious that we are too sick to
live by such rules. Our hearts are not up to it.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
he sent his son both to model spiritual and moral health and to bring
healing to us. To extend this medical metaphor, Jesus is our donor.
His blood saves us. Like a heart donor, his death means life for us.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
even after a lifesaving operation, there is still much to do. For
those recovering, there are goals. Every physical therapist sets up
goals for a patient: that he will be able to walk a certain number of
feet or be able to bathe or dress herself or increase his strength or
increase the range of motion for an injured limb. The goals God sets
are his commandments. And we don't like them any more than rehab
patients like the exercises the physical therapist expects them to do
every day. It's hard work. At times it hurts and every fiber of your
body rebels against it. Often it seems like there's too little
progress over too long a period of time. And sometimes it feels like
no progress is being made at all.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
believe it or not, some patients give up on getting better. They
would rather sit in their wheelchairs or beds and take their
painkillers and complain and wallow in self-pity, rather than work
towards health and independence. As a nurse I've seen this happen.
They succumb to the siren song of despair.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
see the same thing in society. God's commandments are too hard. It's
too hard to have a just society when you are dealing with refugees
and terrorists and mass shooters. It's too hard to be faithful to one
person when you're dealing with biological urges. It's too hard when
you're dealing with complex issues and people who oppose you. It's
too hard to help the poor when you have profits to make and new
smartphones to buy and badly run corporations to prop up. It's too
hard to love my neighbor. It's too hard to love God. It's too hard to
hope.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Against
the siren song of despair, the Holy Spirit, like any good therapist,
encourages us. He gives us strength. He pushes us to do more than we
would normally do, to move out of our comfort zone, to challenge
ourselves to do more than we thought we could.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Because
the idea is to make us better, to lead us to triumph over what is
crippling us, and finally to discharge us from this place. That is
why the world is so full of pain and suffering: because it is a
hospital and rehab center, albeit one under siege like the one in the
Chayefsky film. It is hell to those who do not wish to get better,
who keep harming themselves and others, who prefer self-medication to
rehabilitation, who don't really want to get better and go out into a
bigger world.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It's
an imperfect metaphor but it is a more balanced one than the idea
that the world is nothing more than a slaughterhouse. People do get
better. People do help others.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.08in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
we have to resist the siren song of despair, lest we die spiritually.
And we must dare to hope that there is life outside the hospital. If
we don't, there is nothing to do but wallow in our spiritual and
moral sickness and use it as an excuse not to try to get better. But,
remember, we all get discharged from this world at some point. Will
it be because nothing more can be done for us? Because we are
resisting treatment? Or will it be because we are ready for the next
step, to live the life we were meant to?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In
the gospel of John, Jesus says, “In my Father's house there are
many places to stay...I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)
Some commentators say the Greek word translated “mansions” really
means something like rooms in a hostel or way-station, not a place to
live permanently. Because heaven is only where we rest after getting
out of the hospital until our real home is ready. Heaven is not our
final destination. Instead God promises us a new earth where there is
no sickness or suffering or death. (Revelation 21:1-5) In other
words, the new earth will be a place where there is no need for a
hospital, a place where we can start a new life. Isn't that the
purpose of a hospital? To get us to the point where we can leave it?
It only exists so we can get better, go home, join our loved ones,
and live a very different and very healthy life. And so we can stop
listening to the siren song of despair and learn some new, more
joyful songs. (Psalm 96)</span></p><p></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-59724615984671910312023-10-17T11:23:00.000-04:002023-10-17T11:23:00.037-04:003 Questions<p><i><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This
was preached on October 19, 2008. There has been some updating.</span></i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">Why
do Jehovah's Witnesses show up so 'faithfully' at my door on Saturday
morning?” asks our sermon suggestion, rather plaintively. Well, as
it turns out JW's, as they are called for short, blog. And on one
blog named </span><span lang="en-US"><i>Stuff of Interest to JW's</i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>
</i></span><span lang="en-US">there is a story from the San Antonio
News about their door-to door ministry. Called “publishers,”
these 8.7 million Witnesses aim to reach every household in the world
at least once a year. So they carry laminated “territory” cards
about each neighborhood and make notes on each household that talks
to them, noting concerns like crime and the meaning of life.
(Although last week I saw them use a tablet.) They've gone to court
several times to keep their right to do this form of evangelism. But
if people don't convert, that's fine. Their only duty is to share
their message. After that, it's up to the individual to accept or
reject it.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Bishop
Frade loved to tell this joke: “What do you get if you cross an
Episcopalian with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who knocks on your
door and then doesn't know what to say.”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Even
if you dislike having JW's showing up at your door, you have to admit
that they are at least acting on their beliefs. Their version of the
Bible, like ours, has the book of Matthew ending with the Great
Commission: “Go then and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
The spread of Christianity throughout the world is directly
attributable to this commandment. And contrary to what you might
think, not everyone has heard the gospel. Even here in America, where
only 20% of the population attend church every Sunday, trends
indicate that an decreasing number of our children will ever go
inside a church, except to attend weddings and funerals. This is
especially true if their fathers don't go to church. We live in a
post-Christian world.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
good life we have been living since the end of the Second World War
has distracted most Americans from pressing spiritual concerns. And
when folks do sense that something is missing from a life devoted to
meeting physicial needs and gratifying material desires, there are
plenty of options. There are both Eastern and Western forms of
meditation. There are both religious and secular cults. There are
even atheist kinds of spirituality. And there are 33,000 Christian
denominations.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Because
of the proliferation of denominations, many American Christians don't
feel there's any need to spread the gospel in our own country,
certainly not in our own neighborhoods. No wonder every major
denomination, including the Southern Baptists, are shrinking. Many
reasons are given by experts for this, but I think it all boils doen
to the fact that many Christians can't answer the 3 questions that
Adam Hamilton wrote in his book </span><span lang="en-US"><i>Leading
Beyond the Walls</i></span><span lang="en-US">. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
first is “Why do people need Jesus Christ?” And I believe the
thing that makes it a tough question for most people is the word
“need.” It begs the question “Do people really </span><span lang="en-US"><i>need</i></span><span lang="en-US">
Jesus?” People are free to believe what they wish, and many don't
believe they need Jesus. Of course, what people believe and what the
truth is are 2 different things, even when it comes to what they
need. As a nurse, I met patients with anorexia who didn't believe
they needed to eat. So the question is how essential is Jesus to
one's life?</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That
depends on what a person thinks Jesus came to do. There are those who
feel that he simply came to enlighten us. And certainly Jesus
provided us with unprecedented insights into human ethics and the
nature of God's love. And that would be sufficient if, as Plato
believed, humanity's chief problem is ignorance. But while ignorance
accounts for some of the troubles the world has, it doesn't explain
why some of the better educated countries have been the source of
some of the greatest evils in the last few centuries. Wars of
conquest, the slave trade, concentration camps, racial segregation
and genocide were dreamed up by some awfully bright people and
carried out with the frightening efficiency of industrialized
nations. And they knew what they were doing. That makes the world's
problem not ignorance but willful evil.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
that's just some people, right? I mean the majority of people are
good, aren't they? The majority of Germans didn't put Jews, Slavs,
physically and mentally ill people, gays, Jehovah's Witnesses, and
Romany people (“Gypsies”) to death. But neither did they rise up
against a government that did. How many white Americans protested our
government removing Native Americans from their lands and moving them
to reservations? How many actually approved of it because it meant
more land for them? How evil is it to simply stand by and profit by
evil done on our behalf? What do we make of the ordinary people who
posed for photos in front of the corpses of black men at public
lynchings? How about the average folks at political rallies calling
for the imprisonment and even the deaths of opposing candidates?
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“There
is a way that seems right to a person but its end is the way that
leads to death,” says Proverbs 14:12. If there is a just God, and
if we are honest, none of us would fare well before his judgment. Our
only hope is for someone to step between us and our rightful
punishment.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">I
needn't tell you what Jesus did to save us from the bad things we do
and the good things we don't do, that is, our sins. And that is the
answer to the question of “Why do people need Jesus?” They need
him to deal with the evil in each of us. It's not a matter of
ignorance. You don't commit adultery out of ignorance. It's called
lust. It's not just a matter of desperate people doing desperate
things. You don't dream up elaborate schemes to, say, con poor people
into buying homes they can't afford and then turn the loans into
risky investments out of desperation, which led up to the Great
Recession. It's called greed. Throw in arrogance, too. </span>
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
need someone who can deal with the evil that is deeply rooted in the
way we think and feel and live. That's why we need Jesus, and not
merely another merely human philosopher. Not only can he save us from
the penalty of sin, but through his Spirit within us, he can save us
from the power of sin by transforming our hearts and minds and lives.
So why are we so reluctant to tell others this good news? If we knew
of a doctor who could cure cancer, we'd tell people. But for some
reason we can't bring ourselves to tell them about the Great
Physician who will restore them to spiritual health.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Adam
Hamilton's second question is harder to answer: “Why do people need
the church?” By this he means not one particular denomination but
the church universal. There are a lot of people who will concede that
the world needs Jesus but aren't sure that anyone needs the church.
As in Hamilton's first question there is a word in his second one
that brings up objections. It's the word “church.” It tends to
bring up images that largely depend on one's personal experience. If
to you “church” means dressing in uncomfortable clothes, sitting
for long periods of time on uncomfortable benches, and listening to
some guy drone on, or if it means a place where rigid, hypocritical
people make judgments about you, then naturally you feel that nobody
needs that. Some people selectively think of negative episodes in the
church's history or of the flaws in some of the present day churches
and dismiss it altogether. But why single out the church? Why not
reject all goverments, all courts, all medical centers, all schools,
all charities, all non-profits, since all of them are flawed and have
shameful periods in their histories? True, the church is supposed to
be special. But it is also made up of sinners seeking Christ. To
complain that the church isn't perfect is like complaining that a
hospital is full of sick people or that A.A. is full of drunks.
That's kinda the point.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
in the church are supposed to be seeds of the kingdom of God, the
people Jesus redeemed bringing others to him. We are also supposed to
be a group of people following in Christ's footsteps, coming together
to experience him and to carry out his command to love our neighbor.
That's hard to do if you don't come to church where you are more
likely to encounter folks other than just family and friends. Of
course, it's much easier to think you are emulating Jesus if you
don't put that to the test by actually venturing outside your
everyday circle of acquaintances. It's harder when you become part of
a group of imperfect folks engaged in the often unpredictable task of
trying to model the kingdom of God, but that's what we are supposed
to be doing. If you replaced the word “church” with the phrase
“community of people making concrete the love of God revealed
in Jesus Christ” then more folks might concede that, yes, people do
need that.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US" style="background-color: black;">But
it is the third question Adam Hamilton asks that haunts me. It takes
everything we've talked about and puts it in a very tight focus. It
is perhaps the reason why Bishop Frade's hypothetical JW/Episcopalian
is speechless. It is a question I don't have an answer for. It's a
question that it will take all of us to answer. And we must find an
answer to this question. Because the answer will determine whether
there will be anyone meeting in our sanctuary in 5 years. And the
question is this:</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">Why
do people need </span><span lang="en-US"><i>our</i></span><span lang="en-US">
church?”</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Do
they need it? Are we a necessary part of the community? If we were to
disappear, would we be missed by the people of the lower Keys?</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To
answer those questions, for the next few months, we as a parish are
going to be reflecting on our core values. Who are we? We will be
trying to articulate our core purpose. Why are we here? We are going
to be asking ourselves, “What are we best at?” I'm not going to
be answering the questions for the parish. We have to find these
answers together. And when we are satisfied with the answers, we are
going to ask, “How do we make sure that the core values and core
purpose of our church are carried forward into the future?”</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But
let's start with Rev. Hamilton's third question. I want you to
consider it every day. I want you to put it in your prayers. I want
you to wrestle with it as if our survival depended on it.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Because
it does.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Be
not afraid. I believe there is an answer. There is a reason why God
put our church here. And the journey of self-discovery we must embark
on will be immensely beneficial to our parish and to each of us.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So
with faith in Jesus Christ and in confident hope for our future,
let's begin:</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Why
do people need our church?”</span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907787574579678732.post-7140448225508500472023-10-10T13:16:00.000-04:002023-10-10T13:16:15.295-04:00Nicene Creed<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: black;">The
scriptures referred to are in the text.</i></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There
are those who say it doesn't matter what you believe so long as you
are sincere. Apparently these people never heard of the so-called
“Aryan Christians” who sincerely believe that non-Caucasians, as
well Roman Catholics and Jews, are inferior to whites. What about
terrorists who sincerely believe that God wants them to kill people
who disagree with them? Sincerity of belief does not mean that belief
is true or helpful or even harmless.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Obviously
the content of your belief system is important. Otherwise there would
be ecumenical talks going on between, say, Nazis and Quakers. As
Christians, our belief system is derived from the Bible. But as a
mission statement it is a rather unwieldy thing to give to an
inquirer who wants to know the basics. So from the beginning
Christians have sought to summarize the essential features of the
faith into creeds. The word creed comes from the Latin “Credo”
which means “I believe.” We have what look like proto-creeds in
the book of Acts (Acts 2:22-36) and the letters of Paul (Philippians
2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20). Gradually creeds were developed as
concise statements of essential and distinctive beliefs, for use in
worship and as outlines for teaching the faith. The best known are
the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Apostles Creed was not
developed by the apostles but it does bring together the basics of
the apostolic faith. Though it reached its final form around 700 AD,
it seems to have been based on the Old Roman Creed, which dates back
to the second century. We still use it at baptisms.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
Nicene Creed is actually older than the final form of the Apostles
Creed. But it is not exactly the creed that came out of the Council
of Nicea. If you read Dan Brown's </span><span lang="en-US"><i>The
Da Vinci Code</i></span> <span lang="en-US">you might think you
know something about this Council. Sadly, while Brown gets an A in
thriller-writing, he gets a D in church and art history. Constantine,
upon becoming emperor, made Christianity first a tolerated, that is,
legal religion and later a favored one. Like the pagan emperors
before him, Constantine hoped to make religion the cement of his vast
empire. So he was unhappy to find out that a huge controversy over
the divinity of Christ was dividing the church. And when his
representative, Bishop Hosius of Cordoba, was unable to negotiate a
reconciliation of the two sides, the emperor convened the first
churchwide council in 325 AD. As many as 300 bishops came together to
debate and decide the matter. The result was a statement of the faith
that closely resembles our present day Nicene Creed, right down to
the part that says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” That section
was expanded later after a controversy about the divinity of the Holy
Spirit. By the late 400s AD, the Nicene Creed, pretty much in its
current form, was being used at the Eucharist and it spread
throughout the church in the West and, with one difference, in the East.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
suggestion I drew from the sermon suggestion box did not ask for a
lecture on the creed, however, but a sermon. And it is important to
realize that what we have here is not a dry formula of ancient Greek
theology but something akin to the constitution of the church. Each
article has direct and vital implications for how we should see God
and act towards him and the world. So let's look at each section.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">We
believe...” In the original Greek, the word for “I believe”
is </span><span lang="en-US"><i>pisteuo</i></span><span lang="en-US">.
It means more than just “I believe this to be true.” It means “I
put my trust in this,” “I rely on this,” “I bet my life on
this.” Biblical faith is not an intellectual exercise, played out
in the head. It is a heartfelt relationship with God, played out in
one's life, day by day. We see such faith in Abraham, leaving his
father and family behind to follow God's call to a new land. We see
it in Moses, reluctantly returning to Egypt, trusting that God would
keep his promise to liberate his people from slavery. We see it in
Paul, abandoning his career as a prominent rabbi to face persecution,
beatings and imprisonment as an apostle to the Gentiles whom he used
to despise. We see it in Francis of Assisi, stripping off the rich
clothes his merchant father gave him to become a poor monk and a
preacher of the gospel. We see it in Christians who risked their
lives and those of their families to hide Jews from the Gestapo or
those who led Southern slaves to freedom on the underground railroad.
We see it in Jesus in Gethsemane, asking his Father to spare him from
the cross if possible but saying, “Not my will but your will be
done.”</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">And
we say “</span><span lang="en-US"><i>we</i></span> <span lang="en-US">believe”
rather than “</span><span lang="en-US"><i>I</i></span> <span lang="en-US">believe”
because the church isn't a loose association of Lone Rangers, each
doing his own thing. We are a community, the body of Christ, each
with different gifts and functions, but all working for the benefit
of each other out of love. As the 3 musketeers said, we are “all
for one and one for all.” But we'd be fools to put our trust in
someone untrustworthy. So in whom have we put our faith?</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">We
believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.” We have chosen to rely on the God
who made everything—as Eucharistic Prayer C puts it, “the vast
expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their
courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” Notice that the
creed doesn't specify how God created everything, that is, it doesn't
give any scientific explanation. Because just as in Genesis 1, the
mechanics of creation are not important; the purpose of creation is.
And the purpose is love. God is love (1 John 4:8) and creation is
both an expression of God's love and a means of sharing that love. We
don't believe in an impersonal creator but one we can call “Father”
because he made us in his image out of love. (Genesis 1:27) He is
“Almighty” so nothing can separate us from his love. Nothing,
that is, except our own stubbornness. We can choose not to return his
love. We can choose to love the creation more than the creator. We
can choose to love the things we create more than him. Nevertheless
he has provided a way to bring us back to him.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
so “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God...”
This was the crux of why the Council of Nicea was called. When we are
dealing with Jesus, are we dealing with God or someone else? A
popular preacher named Arius was teaching that Christ was a lesser
being than God. He said Christ was created first, before everything
else, but he was not truly God. That way you didn't have to wrap your
head about that tricky Trinity. But that also meant that our
salvation, the sacrifice that brings us back to God, was a job
delegated to someone less than God. Why do presidents make trips to
disaster areas? Because people want to know that their wellbeing is
important to the person in charge and was not fobbed off on some
flunky. For God so loved the world that he didn't send a secretary
or, God forbid, a congressional committee, to save us. He sent his
son, who is as divine as he is: “...God from God, light from
light...” Just as the light of one candle is indistinguishable from
that of the candle that lit it, so is the power of Jesus Christ equal
to that of God his Father. When we are dealing with Jesus, we are
dealing with God, not some vice president. It's hard to understand
but good to know.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">For
us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of
the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was
made man.” There is a story about a little boy who runs to his
mother every time lightning strikes during a thunderstorm one night.
The mother keeps reassuring him that he is safe in his room. She
says, “God is always with you and he loves you.” “I know,”
says the boy. “But I want love with skin on.” Jesus is God's love
with skin on. Christ came to show us what God is like in terms we can
understand: a human personality in a human body, subject to the same
conditions we are. Not only does he reveal God's holy and loving
nature to us, he also shows us what we can be—if we trustingly open
ourselves to his Spirit. Jesus shows us that a lot of our limitations
are of our own making—our fears and desires and lack of trust.
Studies have shown that trusting your doctor is just as important to
your healing as following his instructions. Jesus shows us that we
can be like him if we really put our trust in him.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">For
our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and
was buried.” If you think the troubles of the world are merely the
result of ignorance and misunderstandings, then you don't see the
need for a savior. But if you see the cruelty and abuse and greed and
lust and rage in this world as symptoms of something wrong which goes
a lot deeper into humanity, then you might see why God himself had to
come down and deal with it. And while the creed doesn't tell us
exactly how he did it, we can begin to understand why Jesus, the
embodiment of God's love, could only defeat evil in the way that he
did. He didn't do it through the destruction of sinful people; that's
evil's method of dealing with things. He did it instead by absorbing
the evil people did to him and transforming it into something good.
So he took the torture and execution of God triggered by a friend's
personal betrayal, a kangeroo court of religious leaders, a
politician's cowardice and the ruthless display of power by an
occupying military force and transformed all that into the salvation
of us harmful humans.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">On
the third day, he rose again...” Christianity is not about another
dead martyr to the truth; it is about the paradoxical triumph over
death by the one who is the source of life. If death is the absolute
end for us, then Jesus, who was poor and died bare, beaten and
bleeding was a loser. And Hitler, who was powerful and died by his
own choice and his own hand before he could be held responsible for
the deaths of millions, was a winner. But if death is not the end of
our existence, then, and only then, does justice exist. And if Jesus
rose, then we need not fear death, and we need not let it deter us
from following his example of comforting the afflicted and afflicting
the comfortable. And if he rose, we know that living for the sake of
others, regardless of the cost, is never done in vain.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">He
ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”
Having represented God to us, Jesus now represents us before God in
heaven. We have an advocate in the presence of the Most High, a high
priest who understands our weakness, a God who understands our pain.
(Luke 22:69; 1 John 2:1-2; Hebrew 4:15-16)</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">He
will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” The
current period on earth is not a sign that nothing has changed since
Jesus came. Rather it is an opportunity to put into practice what
Jesus has taught us. Do we simply carry on with our lives doing
business as usual? Or do we live by a radically different standard,
where people take priority over things and where the end never
justifies the means? How we do things must be as noble as the goals
we are trying to accomplish. Jesus didn't die so that we can continue
to harm one another with impunity. He will judge us, not as someone
removed from human life but as one who was immersed in it, who knows
well our strengths and weaknesses, and who understands our capacity
for evil and for good firsthand. Every second we breathe is a second
chance to change. But the offer has an expiration date.</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life...” There's
that messy Trinity again. But here we are saying that the Spirit
within us is not a pale imitation of the Spirit of God, like the
spirit of adventure that briefly inspires us after seeing an exciting
movie. The Holy Spirit is the real thing, the Lord. (2 Corinthians
3:17) If we are to be like Jesus, we need to be filled with his
Spirit. (Luke 4:1; Ephesians 5:18) By being united to Jesus in his
death and resurrection we are given new life, his divine life. (1
John 5:11) He is the light of the world and we are lit with his
light. (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14)</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And
how do we know that we are being led by the Spirit rather than by our
own passions? “He has spoken through the prophets.” There is no
end of people claiming to speak for God and yet contradicting what
God has said in the Bible. These false prophets tend to tell people
what they want to hear. They also make exceptions to the commandments
for themselves and their followers, especially regarding the
commandments not to kill, not to commit adultery and not to worship
anything or anyone other than God. A real knowledge of the
Spirit-breathed scriptures refutes those like Jim Jones and David
Koresh and the other self-appointed prophets who prey on people. It
brings us back to the original Spirit of holiness and love that is
embodied in and speaks to us through the written word of God and the
living Word of God, Jesus.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">We
believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” “Catholic”
here simply means “universal.” This is not an endorsement of any
denomination but rather stating the belief that those who truly
follow the faith proclaimed by the apostles are found all over the
world. It is also a statement that if we proclaim love as the highest
goal, we must practice it in community. (1 Corinthians 13) Getting
along with people of different personalities, races, talents and
flaws is one of the hardest things our faith demands of us, right
after trusting God with our lives. It's so hard we often fail. And
it's why we must always be ready to ask for forgiveness and to
forgive others. As G.K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has
not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and
left untried.”</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">We
acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” In Jesus' day
only a Gentile convert to Judaism would be baptized. He was then
considered a new person, making a new start in life as one of God's
people. That's why it was so radical for Jews to offer themselves to
be baptized by John or later by Jesus' disciples. Paul also saw in
baptism, with its immersion into a physical element and resurfacing,
a connection with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. In baptism
we proclaim ourselves to be joined to Christ and so he makes us
citizens of the kingdom of God. (Romans 6:3-4)</span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The
kingdom of God and new life is not merely future but begins here and
now, growing within us and changing us. (Luke 17:21) C.S. Lewis
pointed out that if you only live 70 or 80 years, then from an
eternal perspective it doesn't much matter what kind of person you
are. But if you are going to live forever, then the person you are
and who you are becoming are crucial. Eternal life would be hell if
you are all wrapped up in yourself. You see this sometimes in older
people who do nothing but relive old wrongs and let themselves be
eaten up by them. They are shriveled souls, full of bitterness,
resentment and regrets. But eternal life is a blessing if it is
centered on God's love. You can also see this in some older people,
who do not live in the past but in the present with an eye to a
better future. They are becoming larger souls: open, generous and
peaceful.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“<span lang="en-US">We
look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to
come.” The Greek philosophers thought we are spirits imprisoned in
bodies. So they despised the body and the physical world, not seeing
the blessings of creation. We Christians believe that ultimately we
will once more live as whole persons, both body and spirit united.
And just as we affirm that God created the world and pronounced it
good, we look in hope to its redemption as well as ours. God will
resurrect the earth as the paradise it was always intended to be and
fill it with his people. We look for a new heaven and a new earth, in
which pain and mourning and death is no more, and where God will wipe
away every tear from our eyes. (Revelation 21:1-4)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We
say that we believe these things with our lips every Sunday. Do we
show that we believe them with our lives? The world thinks we are
merely murmuring words of hypocritical comfort to ourselves. The only
way we can prove otherwise is if we show every day that we stake our
lives on the belief that God made everyone we meet, that Jesus died
to redeem each one, and that he has bestowed his Spirit on us that we
might, each in our own way, reveal what the world is afraid to hope
for but desperately wants to believe: that there is a God, that he
loves us and is willing to forgive us and that he has the power to
make us more than we are and help us become all that we can be. </span></p>revchristoddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446237141720413272noreply@blogger.com0