Sunday Sermon: "All God's Children: All Sorts of Folk"

A sermon from Matthew 28:16-20, the so-called "Great Commission." Though not often thought of this way, Jesus may actually be telling us to reach out and welcome those who are different, who don't look like us, who don't seem like our sort of folk.

Sermon for June 21.mp3

No video of worship this week. Audio coming soon.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

If you want to make an avowed capitalist squirm, just read from today's verses in Acts. "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."

Acts' commune-like description of the early Church bespeaks an ideal that most congregations don't even attempt to emulate. Of course today's reading from Acts also tells of a couple who did not live up to that ideal. It seems that the difficulty of living up to our calling as a Christian community is nothing new.

But it is not clear that modern Christians even aspire to the ideal found in Acts. We treat it as a kind of fantasy not to be taken seriously. I wonder how it might impact the witness we give as congregations if we at least attempted to move toward the image in Acts. Even if we fell far short, how might we look different, and how might we offer something compelling to the world, if we embraced these verses in Acts as a part of our calling to follow Jesus?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel reading, Jesus tells anyone who will listen, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets." The term "scribes" may sound something like a stenographer to us, but scribes were a highly educated, professional class of teachers and interpreters of the law. And so I suspect that Jesus' warning about such folks might well fit any sort of religious professionals. Thus it might also apply to those religious institutions that such religious professionals manage.

As a pastor, I have on occasion heard a conversation about the appropriate car for a pastor to drive. What general rule I can glean is that such vehicles shouldn't be overly ostentatious, but they should they should be befitting a respected professional. I can remember a time not so long ago when I thought of Lincoln Town Cars as a pastor's car. I recall this as I wonder about Jesus' apparent disdain for religious professionals.

I am convinced that there is no such thing as pure, unadulterated spirituality or faith. The practice of such things by necessity takes on forms that must be managed in some way. I believe that any spirituality that does not build community is a false one, and with community inevitably comes some sort of organization or institution. And therefore, "organized religion" (though in my experience it often seems hopelessly disorganized) is a necessity.

Yet there is no denying a tendency for such religious institutions to become self serving and to lose sight of their fundamental purposes. For the Church, this means there is always a tension between our following the commands of Jesus and our being corrupted as the Church becomes a vehicle for getting what we want. Even in the very best Church (or any other sort of religious enterprise) there is always a mix of good and bad, of God's work being done alongside greed, lust for power, and outright hypocrisy. There is no pure church, just as there is no pure synagogue, mosque, government, movement, cause, etc.

My theological tradition has long held that this situation requires regular change and reformation. Churches must be remade and refocused on their fundamental purposes. And I increasingly believe that a time of reformation is upon the Church, a time when we must carefully examine ourselves. It is a time when we must work to cast off all that makes us like those Jesus warns people about, and it is a time when we must hear anew the call to be faithful disciples who join together to be the body of Christ in and for the world.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I've always thought that the Acts account of Pentecost was both funny and confusing. Peter's defense against the charge of drunkenness? It's too early in the morning. "I'd never be drunk by 9:00." And which is it, by the way? At one point Acts says, "Each one heard them speaking in the native language of each... All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" So it seems that everyone heard the disciples speaking in his or her native language, and all of them were amazed. And yet Acts also says, "But others sneered and said, 'They are filled with new wine.' " Well, which is it?

Acts almost seems to describe two different events, the first a remarkable undoing of the Tower of Babel story from Genesis 11, and the second some sort of ecstatic blubbering that is mistaken for drunkenness. One describes gifts of the Spirit that will assist the Church in taking its message to others. The second describes an exuberant frenzy that is unintelligible to outsiders.

Reading this passage literally, as modern people so tend to do, one can't really reconcile the two depictions in the story. But then again, what need does the Bible have to abide by our modern sensibilities.

I'm by no means an expert in this area, but as I gradually gain some small measure of spiritual maturity, I discover that figuring out exactly what happened rarely gets me to the meaning and purpose, to the truth of the Bible. The truths in Scripture are sometimes much more evident when I let go of the modern notion that truth means getting the facts straight.

Lord, open me and guide me to your truth.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." I've always liked the translation that says, "Render unto Caesar," when Jesus is asked about paying taxes. Of course the question isn't really about taxes. It's an attempt to trap Jesus. The taxes in question are those due to Rome. Rome was not only an occupying power, but it made claims of divinity for its emperor, and Roman coins had inscriptions referring to this divinity. And so there were theological objections to the taxes along with a general dislike of Rome, but a great fear of what happened if you defied Rome. Thus Jesus' opponents think they have cornered him with their question. If Jesus says, "Yes" to paying taxes he alienates all those who object on theological or nationalistic grounds. Say, "No," and the Romans will be after him.

But as often happens with Jesus, he doesn't really answer the question. Instead he springs a trap on his opponents. Asking them to show him a Roman coin, one that contains a graven image of the divine emperor, he catches them in violation of the commandment against graven images. He then sidesteps the trap laid for him with that well know phrase about rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. But Jesus never says how one determines which is which.

Of course Jesus knows his Scripture, our Old Testament, backward and forward. And I'm convinced that he has this verse in mind as he parries his opponents. "The Earth is the LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)

And so we're left with a hanging question about loyalties, about what is owed whom, about who and what we should support and serve. If Jesus' answer to his opponents is a bit evasive, the way he lives his life is clear. Serving God trumps all other loyalties, to family, to his religion, to his country, even to his own personal desires and safety. And for me, following him in this path is a lot more difficult question than the one about taxes.

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Sunday Sermon: "All God's Children: Adoptive Families"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Acts, the disciples are talking with the risen Jesus shortly after the first Easter. Considering all that has happened, the question they ask Jesus is hardly surprising. "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus the Messiah has been raised from the dead. Jews of Jesus' day thought that the resurrection would come at the end of the age, so it made perfect sense to thing something big was about to happen.

But Jesus' answer tosses aside any concerns about timetables and and the arrival of the end. Instead he says his followers have work to do. "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This is not the only place in the Bible where Jesus tells his followers not to concern themselves with figuring out when the end comes. And here Jesus insists that the life of the Christian is not about figuring out such mysteries. Rather it is about being witnesses. And yet many Christians are still fascinated with trying to figure out supposed formulas in the book of Revelation. And the Christian life is often understood to be more about belief than about anything else.

I suppose it is not surprising that any focus on being witnesses diminished in this country over the years, especially when we tended to think of ourselves as a "Christian nation." But I wonder if we didn't lose our souls along the way. I wonder if we didn't cut the heart out of the Christian life when we shifted the focus of the faith to believing and attending church, forgetting that we are called to be witnesses. And of course, our lives are our most powerful witness. And if the Church is struggling in our day, surely the quality of our witness has something to do with that.

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will empower us to be his witnesses. Send her to us, Lord!

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I can't quote it exactly, not having the book in front of me, but in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard relates a conversation between an Eskimo and a missionary. My impression is that this conversation takes place after the fellow's conversion, but regardless, he asks whether his soul was in any danger before he knew about God and sin. The missionary replies that it was not. To which the convert replies, "Then why did you tell me?"

When I first read those words, they gave me great pause. At least in that conversation, Christian conversion ended up sounding more like a loss of innocence than any great prize. And I couldn't help but wonder about the image of Christian life that this missionary had imparted, and that we in the Church typically demonstrate, if it would make a convert long for the former life he had lost.

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God." So begins Psalm 84. Loveliness, longing, and joyous song springing from the heart pour out from these two verses. I wonder if the Christian life imparted by that Alaskan missionary had much of Psalm 84's feel to it. And more to the point, what about the Christian life that I demonstrate?

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Summer Sermon Series

Once again this summer, we will have a sermon series. Last year we focused on call. This summer James and Brett will look at a specific call that we believe is given to BPC, to be a congregation that reaches out, welcomes all, and exhibits Christian hospitality to those whom we meet. The unifying theme will be "All God's Children."

Beginning in July, we will also have an open discussion group meeting in the lounge following worship and fellowship. We will discuss the sermon and other topics related to becoming a more welcoming and diverse congregation.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

We live in a media saturated, visually driven culture. Talk with advertisers and they will tell you that it is more important to have visual impact and "feel" in a commercial than it is to have content. Sometimes it seems that packaging is more important than content. In politics the sound-byte replaces carefully articulated positions on issues. News broadcasts say they cannot make money doing traditional, in-depth reporting on complicated issues because of the public's shrinking attention span.

In the church, this trend often produces a desire for worship that is more about feel than content. Worshipers want to be energized and given a boost, but often they're not much interested in wrestling with what the Bible says. Especially for Protestants, who broke away from the Roman Church in part over insistence that each Christian needed to read and interpret Scripture for him or herself, it is stunning how few church members regularly read the Bible.

It makes one wonder how the Apostle Paul would have fared in our day. Even in the First Century, Paul apparently lost points because he was an unimpressive figure and a poor public speaker. Other missionaries, who had more flash, came in after him and sometimes persuaded churches Paul founded to abandon Paul's message of a gospel offered to both Jew and Gentile, restricting it to those who would become Jews. But when Paul defends himself by letter, he insists that his lack of looks, pizazz, prestige, and style is preferable. The good news he brings is not about him and not focused on him.

Today's reading from 2 Corinthians is at the end of a long discussion about boasting. Paul writes, "Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.' So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong."

Power made perfect in weakness is one of those biblical concepts than many Christians are familiar with, but lots of us don't quite know what to do with the idea. And I always wondered if the Church didn't sell a good deal of its soul all those years ago when we got respectable, when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome. From then on, at least in the West, we've been well connected to power, influence, prestige and the ways of the culture. I also wonder if the Church's current loss of status and prestige in the US might not just be one of the greatest gifts we've been given in modern times. Now if I could only really embrace what Paul says.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's Old Testament reading is a portion of The Song of Moses, some of Moses' final words prior to his death just short of the Promised Land. "The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he; yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him, a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?"

I have heard folks remark that they cannot understand how the people of Israel, who were rescued from slavery in Egypt and witnessed mighty, saving acts by Yahweh, could so easily turn away. The Israelites in the wilderness repeatedly complained, questioned whether God was with them, and broke covenant with God. What was wrong with these people?

But my personal experience very much mirrors theirs. I never saw the sea parted, but I have my moments when God's presence seems very real, when it has led me in directions I would never have gone on my own. But I have a lot more moments where I can't seem to find God, and God's absence often seems much more real to me than the memories of God's presence.

A lot of religious people, myself included, long for so-called mountain top experiences, but most of life is lived down in the valley. And I think that what I need is not more dramatic encounters with God, but more awareness of God in the moment, in the mundane, in the day to day, where life and faith are lived out.

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