Sermon for Sept. 13 - Who Is Jesus?

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In the opening of 1 Corinthians Paul writes, "Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters."

"For it has been reported to me...that there are quarrels among you." Wow, quarrels and division in a congregation. That's a real shocker. I can't begin to recall all the times I've heard someone say, "The worst fights are church fights." I might take some solace in the fact that faith must be very important to people in order to fight about it. But one of the others sayings I've heard frequently is, "The worst church fights are over the color of the carpet." Oh well.

The fights in the Corinthian church weren't about carpet. Some of the folks there like Apollos better than Paul and that had caused a rift. This also seems to have been a very exuberant congregation, and they apparently tried to outdo one another in developing spiritual gifts, with a special emphasis on more exotic gifts such as speaking in tongues. They thought such gifts a sign of their spiritual maturity, but Paul considers their spiritual competitions a sign of their childishness.

If you read Paul's letters, it is clear that he engages in some pretty heated arguments of his own with other Christians. So Paul probably doesn't mean, "Can't we all just get along?" Rather, Paul sees the divisions and quarrels in Corinth arising because of a self-centeredness that fails to keep the needs of one's neighbor always paramount.

I am a very competitive person by nature. I love to win, whether it's sports or a debate. Sometimes this is relatively harmless. But others times it can poison discussions about everything from how to improve worship to what color flooring to use in the chapel renovation. And as a pastor, with more theological training than most people in a congregation, it is all too easy to bludgeon people with impressive sounding rhetoric. I can employ my knowledge less to illuminate and more to win.

I would do well, as perhaps some of you might, to step back a bit when the discussion starts to get a little testy. Who's agenda am I pursuing, that of Jesus or my own? Come to think of it, sometimes I can be in the right from a biblical or theological point of view, and still tarnish the glory of God by my methods. A little help here, God?

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Sermon for September 13

"Who Is Jesus?" - from Mark 8:27-38 - Christians say that we follow Jesus, but just what that means depends on who we think Jesus is. And like Peter, we often want Jesus to conform to our wishes rather than our going where he leads.

Sermon for September 13.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13

The opening verses of this lectionary passage may seem just a bit strange coming from Paul, that champion of salvation by faith and not by works. If we are "saved" by faith, that is by trusting in God's grace, what is all this about "working out" our own salvation?

Actually, I think that Christians sometimes create more of an either-or situation regarding faith and works than is found in Paul or the Bible. While Paul will insist over and over that no one can earn God's favor by their behavior, he nonetheless expects those who have encountered God's love in Jesus to work that out in their lives. For Paul, the right relationship with God that comes through faith inevitably leads to right behaviors. And so Paul's letters routinely move from the free gift of God in Jesus to exhortations to live holy, just, moral, and righteous lives. How can anyone who is "in Christ" not live in a manner that expresses that?

I saw some posts on Facebook yesterday recalling a sermon which said that while Jesus says to us, "Follow me," we find it easier just to worship him instead." Many of us find it easy to talk about Jesus, to claim God's love, and then to live no differently from anyone else in the world. It reminds me of the popular line often repeated in back the 1960s and 70s. "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

If Jesus is in any way really present in our lives, how can we not seek to follow where he leads us?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." Philippians 2:5-7

Years ago a church member came up to me after worship to complain about one of the songs we had sung. He was good sort of fellow and his complaint was gentle and intended to be helpful. It wasn't the typical complaint about the song being unfamiliar or hard to sing. Rather, he was somewhat troubled by the words. It happened so long ago that I can't recall the exact song, but the issue was a line in it addressed to God or Jesus stating something to the effect, "I want to be like you." To this person, that seemed to be going too far. His sense of reverence for God and Jesus made it difficult for him to sing these words.

I appreciated his desire to maintain appropriate reverence for God. Too often there is not a lot of that in the Church. We approach God easily, even casually, as though it were no big deal. A lot of Christians seem to have little sense of the awesome, transcendent majesty of God, that biblical "fear of the LORD" that Proverbs calls "the beginning of Wisdom."

But while we would probably all do well to heighten our reverence and "fear" of God, the Apostle Paul does seem to think we can be like Jesus. We can have "the same mind" that was in Christ, which is to say we can regard our relationship with God as something not for our own personal gain, but for doing the work of God. For Paul, this shows up concretely in the sort of behavior he recommends to the Philippian Church. "Regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others."

For Paul, having the same mind as Jesus is not about mystical communion -- not that he's opposed to that sort of thing -- but is about the way we act. That might be a pretty good way for me to evaluate my day. Did my actions seem to flow from the mind of Christ, or from something else entirely?

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Sunday Sermon - All God's Children: Risking It All for "Them"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's verses from Philippians begin, "I want you to know, beloved that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ." Despite being imprisoned, Paul can joyously claim that his hardship has furthered the cause of the gospel.

I sometimes find it very difficult to trust that God is still at work and in control when bad things are happening to me. Likewise, when the world seems to get out of kilter, I can be tempted to throw up my hands in disgust. Sometimes we humans seem to be a hopeless enterprise, and sometimes I have the hardest time feeling anything like how Paul says he feels.

As I think about these words written to the church in Philippi, I suspect that my notion of things working out for the best may not be exactly the same as Paul's. I usually evaluate how things are going based on how they are going for me. However Paul's frame of reference is not himself, but Christ and the good news about him. Paul thinks that things are going well for him when Christ is being proclaimed, as opposed to when he is comfortable, well fed, secure, etc.

In America, Christian faith has become very personalized over the years. And many people view their beliefs in terms of personal benefits associated with faith, be they salvation, heaven, happiness, wealth, or some other measure. But Paul's measure is not so personal. Paul's measure is a healthy Church, people growing in Christ, and Christ being proclaimed to the world.

Before being ordained as pastors, candidates in my Presbyterian denomination have to undergo an examination by the presbytery, a representative governing body made up of pastors and church elders. I've been told that at one time, candidates have been asked, "Would you be willing to be damned for all eternity if it would glorify God?" It many ways this seem a very odd question to me, but it does touch on this subject of where one locates success, happiness, blessedness. (By the way, I've also heard that this question was once answered, "Sir, I'd be willing for every member of this presbytery to be damned for the glory of God.")

But all jokes aside, I would like to be motivated more by the sort of thing that motivates Paul, and less by the sort of worldly things that so often drive me.

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Sermon for Sept. 6 - All God's Children: Risking It All for "Them"

Matthew 25:31-46 is Jesus' last public teaching prior to his arrest. He describes a judgment at his return in which righteous and unrighteous are separated like sheep from goats, all of them judged by what they have or haven't done to care for "the least of these." All the nations are gathered for this judgment, but "nations" seems to actually describe the non-Christian Gentiles who will be targets of the Church's evangelism efforts. Heard in this light, Jesus' words have something much more to say beyond care for those in need.

Sermon for September 6.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

After Pilate has sentenced Jesus to death, he hands him over to the soldiers for crucifixion. In Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, the abuse Jesus endures is depicted as something beyond imagination, more than anyone could endure. When I saw that movie I wondered if Gibson believed that Jesus' suffering had to be beyond comparison so that it would be sufficient to atone for our sins. But that's certainly not what I see in today's reading from Mark. Rather I see a group of soldiers who decide to have a bit of fun with someone arrested as a threat to national security. And the antics they use are not so different from those used by the soldiers holding terror suspects at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

When I view this scene, I do not see Jesus enduring superhuman suffering. Rather I see him entering into the all too typical unhumaninty and cruely that humans inflict on one another. Nazi death camps, the killing fields of Southeast Asia, genocide in Serbia, Darfur, Rwanda, and countless other places; the list goes on and on. And though we Americans like to think of ourselves as above such things, Abu Ghraib and our willingness to use torture show how easy it is to justify the very sort of behavior we recoil from when we see Jesus suffer it.

When humans are afraid, they will resort to all sorts of uncivil behaviors. Our fears often evolve into anger and venom. Surely Jesus felt fear as he faced his own torture and death. After all he begged God to "remove this cup from me." But faced with the sort of cruelty and inhumanity that powers so typically use to maintain that power, he never lashed back. Somehow he was able to trust that God was still in control and would vindicate him in the end.

It is admittledly very difficult to employ Jesus' method at the level of national security. Even if I can "turn the other cheek" towards violence done to me, how am I to respond to the innocent suffering of others that I might be able to prevent? Still, we seem to find it all too easy to dismiss Jesus' call to non-violence. In America especially, we embrace guns and "the right to protect ourselves" with scarcely a thought as to how strange that sounds coming from someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus.

I suppose that people will continue to encounter cruelty, torture, and horrible deaths until God's reign fully comes. But for the life of me I can't understand why a great many Christians can so casually embrace and endorse such behavior as long as it is aimed at "the enemy." The enemy; you remember them, the ones Jesus told us to love.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Mark, Jesus is on trial before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilate is willing to let Jesus go, but the priests stir up the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead. Now this passage has too often been used to "blame" the Jews for Jesus' death. But the fact that the people get what they want, freeing Barabbas rather than Jesus, doesn't strike me as a particularly Jewish issue. Rather, I think this a universal human problem. All too often, what we want turns out to be a poor guide for what is right, best, etc.

We Americans are especially partial to "the will of the people" being a good thing. And I agree that the American system of government is a stroke of true genius. (I should add that I believe the founding fathers were extremely wise in going with a democratic republic rather than a true democracy.) But the checks and balances that are a part of our government are there in large part because our founders realized that what people want is not always the best way to go. In fact, they had a lot less faith in the people that we tend to, as witnessed by the fact that our constitution did not originally allow for the direct election of US Senators. And they did not expect those in Congress simply to parrot the desires of their constituents. They hoped they would do what was best and right.

So how are we to know what it right and best? If we accept the notion that what we want may not be the most helpful guide, where do we turn? My tradition has always insisted that the Bible is our best help here. Is the course of action we desire consistent with the message of the Bible? And no proof-texting allowed. I'm talking about the overall message of the Bible.

But being led by Scripture is no small task. We are all prone to notice those parts that agree with us and conveniently ignore the parts that don't. This means that we would all do well to listen to the interpretation of the larger Christian community, not just folks who think just like us.

Whew! Being faithful ends up being a lot of work.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's reading from the book of James so troubled Martin Luther that he argued against James being in the Bible. (The Reformation included a debate about what books were legitimately a part of the Bible and what had slipped in inappropriately. A quick comparison of a Catholic Bible and one in Presbyterian church will reveal the outcome of this debate.) Martin Luther, who championed the notion of "salvation by grace through faith" and not by works, didn't like the way James highlighted works.



The tension between faith and works may be one of the more difficult to keep in balance for a lot of Christians. Is being a Christian primarily about what you believe or about what you do? Luther worried that a focus on works made people think they had earned or merited salvation, undermining his and most of Protestantism's understanding of God's love freely given in Jesus. But Christians have often done horrible damage to the reputation of the faith by their failure to live in ways even remotely resembling what Jesus taught. The stereotyped depiction of Christians as hypocrites arises directly from this.



Not surprisingly, I've always loved my tradition's attempt to deal with this tension. For Calvin, the Christian life grows out of a profound sense of gratitude. The more one realizes the stunningly abundant grace and love so freely given, the more one wants to say "Thank you," with his or her life.



There's a scene at the end of the movie Saving Private Ryan that captures this perfectly. The former Private Ryan, now a grandfather, walks with his family through one of the many military cemeteries that dot France. Among the neat rows and rows of white crosses and stars of David, Ryan finds the grave of the captain who died saving his life, and he falls down beside it weeping. When his wife seeks to comfort him he says to her, "Tell me I've lived a good life. Tell me I've live a good life." He knew that his "Thank you" could never fully repay the debt of gratitude he owed.



If we experiened "salvation" as profoundly as Private Ryan had experienced his, perhaps we would be as motivated as he had been to "live a good life."



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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I read Simon Critchley's op-ed piece, "Coin of Praise" in yesterday's NY Times just before I read today's lectionary texts. http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/in-cash-we-trust/ Here is a part of it. "To push this a little further, we might say that in the seemingly godless world of global finance capitalism, money is the only thing in which we really must have faith. Money is the one, true God in which we all believe. It is this faith that we celebrate in our desire for commodities, in the kind of fetishistic control that they seem to have over us. It’s not so much that we revere the things that money can buy. Rather, we venerate the money that enables us to buy those things. In the alluring display of shiny brands that cover the marketplace, it is not so much branded objects that we desire, but rather those objects insofar as they incarnate a quantifiable sum of money."

I found this rather thought provoking, especially in light of today's reading from James. "For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, 'Have a seat here, please,' while to the one who is poor you say, 'Stand there,' or, 'Sit at my feet,' have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?" James, along with Jesus, takes a fairly dim view of earthly riches and the efforts to acquire it. In one place Jesus goes so far as to say, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." A "woe" is the opposite of a blessing, in essence, a curse.

Noted Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has said that we chase so hard after money because we have bought into what he calls "the myth of scarcity" rather than trusting in generous provisions of a loving God. And while I would agree with those who say that some sort of capitalism is superior to any other economic system yet devised, it is not without significant problems and dangers. Whether it be the sort of blind faith in "the market" that allowed regulators, bankers, and financiers to drive the world's economy off the cliff, the tendency to value people based on how much money they have, or the idolatry of self that claims I am responsible for all that I have, unfettered capitalism is fraught with potential to corrupt both the individual and society.

I have watched with interest as the recent political debate has found a new boogieman, "socialism." Presumably we should all run screaming in horror from any notion of socialism because it is some innate form of evil. But of course Social Security and Medicare are "socialist" styled programs. And a quick read of Acts' description of the early Church will find a group that would conform to many definitions of socialism.

It seems to me that in tough economic times our anxieties and fears grow. In such a climate, the "myth of scarcity" becomes all the more attractive, and we are driven to protect what is ours. But perhaps such tough times could also be a call for us to examine ourselves and see where our true faith lies; in money, in ourselves, or in the gracious promises of abundant life freely giving by God.

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