Sunday Sermon: "All God's Children: We Are All Witnesses"

From Acts 1:1-11; The multi-cultural, religiously plural world we now live in looks more and more like the world in the book of Acts. And Jesus' call to be his witnesses echoes down from that day to ours, pressing the question: What does it mean for us to be witnesses in a world that looks little like the one in which our congregation was born?

Sermon for July 5.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

The daily readings from Acts have followed the growing persecutions of the Christians, noting Saul's approving presence at the stoning of Stephen. In today's reading, Saul is described as "still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord." Saul gets authority from the high priest to go to Damascus and arrest any followers of Jesus he might find there.

Saul's encounter with Jesus while on the road to Damascus became so well known and revered in Christian circles that it gave rise to the phrase "Damascus road experience" to describe a dramatic, life and faith changing moment. But while any Christian might want to have such an experience, Saul certainly didn't seek his encounter.

This is a rather remarkable model of evangelism. Not only is there no human agent, but Saul is hardly an obvious convert. He is an enemy, and the usual model of dealing with enemies is to avoid them or get rid of them. But Jesus embraces his enemy (admittedly in rather dramatic fashion). And Saul, renamed Paul, will go on to be one of the great heroes of the faith.

It would seem that from Jesus' perspective, the worst sort of folks aren't beyond the reach of God's grace. And while this might give us pause when we want to write someone off, it also offers tremendous personal reassurance. If Jesus won't give up on Saul, surely he won't give up on us.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I suspect that many readers of today's story in Acts miss the surprising, radical nature of Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch. Not only is this fellow a Gentile, but according to Scripture he could not be "admitted to the assembly of the LORD" (see Deuteronomy 23:1). Because he was a eunuch, he could not become a Jewish convert, and so his question to Philip, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" is much more than a casual one. It raises issues of what the boundaries are in this new, Christian community.

In Isaiah 56, there is the promise that God's salvation will include those heretofore excluded, foreigners and even eunuchs. And now this event in Acts proclaims that God's salvation has indeed moved outside the boundaries set in the Law. And it seems to me that this raises real questions about the boundaries we might set today.

We humans seem to like "us and them" boundaries. We have boundaries of nation, ethnicity, politics, region, age, educational level, and gender, not to mention religion. But as Christians, we all are one in Christ. Today's reading from Acts speaks of the radical breaking down of boundaries. How are we Christians to live that out today? How might our faith communities bear witness to Christians unity rather than the conventional divisions of the world?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading from Luke tells of Jesus on trial before Pilate and Herod. Even non Christians are generally aware that Jesus fared poorly before both of these powerful men. And like Jesus, the early Christians often found that those in power did not care for the people who followed the risen Jesus.

None of this is very surprising when you consider Jesus' teachings. Especially in Luke's gospel, the coming of Jesus is portrayed as a threat to the rich and powerful but a boon for the poor and outcast.

But when the Church became an established religion nearly 300 years after Jesus, much of that changed. Christianity was pressed into the service of empire, and the Church became a powerful institution. In the West, this situation persisted until very recent times. And the Church has often struggled to stay true to Jesus' teachings while exercising and protecting its considerable power. Sometimes the Church is a champion of the poor and the outcast, the lowly and the least. But other times the Church has wielded power, insisting on laws that favored it and demanding that its version of morality be enforced. Even in America, with its separation of Church and State, the Church often threw its weight around.

But the Church's power has been greatly eroded in the past few generations. And many denominations and congregations are struggling to find their way in this new landscape. Some would like to recover the implements of power. Some elements of the Christian Right espouse a return to the good old days when Christian belief and morality was coerced and enforced on society. But I can't help but think that the Church lost its way back in the time of Emperor Constantine, who made Christianity the Roman state religion because he thought Jesus had helped him win a great battle.

I wonder what the Church would look like if we abandoned all the trappings of power. I'm not suggesting that Christians shouldn't vote or influence public opinion, but what if we did this more in the manner of Jesus? What if we exhibited more loving concern for the lost and the broken, for the weak and the poor, and saved our harshest criticism for those who oppress, for self-righteous, self-serving religious leaders and institutions? I wonder what the Church would look like then.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Acts, the killing of Stephen leads to a wholesale persecution of the first Christians. Acts provides no insights into what those Christians were feeling at that time or what they thought about these developments. But surely they had to have been perplexed. They had sought to be faithful, to do as God had called them to do, and now people were being arrested and even killed.

It's speculation on my part, but I have to assume that it was only much later, in hindsight, that these Christians were able to have the perspective of the book of Acts. In our reading, the persecution of the Church leads directly to the Church spreading out over the Mediterranean world, fulfilling the command of Jesus to be his witnesses "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Very often in my own life of faith, or my feeble attempts at one, it is very difficult to make sense of events. Sometimes the phrase, "No good deed goes unpunished" comes readily to mind. But I think that some popular notions of faith are very unhelpful at moments like these. Faith has never been about easy platitudes that make everything okay. Faith is about trusting, even in times of terrible darkness, that somehow God's will is nonetheless moving forward. Surely the Christians in today's reading from Acts must have cried out, must have demanded of God, "Why?" or "How long?" After all, they knew well the psalms of lament that that speak this way.

Many times I would like faith to mean that if I do certain things and believe certain things then God will have to treat me favorably. But such easy faith formulas eventually fail us. And when they do, God may open the door to a deeper faith which dares to trust that God is at work even in life's most difficult moments. After all, that is the model we have from Jesus in his prayer at Gethsemane.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's reading from Acts depicts the end of Stephen's speech as he is on trial before the religious authorities. Stephen does not really address the charges against him, but he does recount the history of Israel beginning with Abraham. Two key points come up in today's reading. Stephen reminds the Council that although Solomon built a house for God, "the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands." This point is apparently related to Stephen's charge that "you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors did." And he connects the persecution and killing of the prophets in previous times to the rejection and killing of Jesus.

It would be easy to regard this as simply an account of events far in the past. But I believe Stephen speaks of timeless truths here. Religious institutions by nature often seek to contain and manage God, to get God on our side. This is not an argument against religious institutions. It's nigh impossible to practice any faith seriously without one. But we religious folk need to be keenly aware that institutions run by humans are prone to human frailties. As my own Reformed tradition has long held, religious institutions need checks against these tendencies, and we need to be reformed on a fairly regular basis.

And this brings me back to Stephen's lesson for the Council and for us. I am increasingly convinced that in a time of huge changes in history and culture, new models of church must and indeed are emerging. Figuring out which of these models are "of the Spirit" and which are more worldly is a daunting task. But regardless, this is a time to be very attuned to the working of the Spirit, and to be very aware of our tendency to resist the Spirit in favor of the institutional apparatus we already have in place.

I truly believe we are living in one of the most exciting times for the Christian Church since the Protestant Reformation. But this means we are living in a tumultous time for the Church as well. But let us not cling to old wineskins simply because we fear the tumult. With humility, passion, openness, and testing, let us seek to follow where the Spirit leads, trusting that the future is secure in God's hands.

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I didn't preach today. Brett, our associate pastor, who usually preaches once a month, did so today. I helped lead worship, but with my reduced role, it was easier for me to join in the worship and to listen for God in the Word read and preached. And so this seems like a good moment to reflect on the summer sermon series that is underway.

We normally preach from the lectionary readings here at Boulevard Presbyterian, but last summer and this, we have chosen Bible passages to fit a theme. Last year we focused on the idea of call. This summer Brett and I are more tightly focusing our view, preaching on a specific call we believe is given to BPC: the call to be a congregation that reaches out, welcomes all, and exhibits Christian hospitality to everyone we meet. The unifying theme is "All God's Children."

Brett's sermon today - "All God's Children: Us and Them" - not only fit well into this theme, but it also pointed to the crucial challenge facing most traditional congregations. Many people my age and older grew up understanding their church life as an integral part of life in America. Church participation was simply one facet of good citizenship, of being a part of our local community. But those days are long gone, and congregational methods and styles well suited to that day may no longer serve us well.

Not only are Americans much less a culture of joiners than we were 50 years ago, but being part of a congregation is no longer a recognized part of what it means to be active in a community. Churches are no longer propped up by culture. Nothing closes on Sunday morning, and no one is dismissed in public life if he is not part of a congregation. All of this means that Christian faith now must present itself to the people around it in entirely new ways. If people no longer come to Church because they are supposed to, because everybody goes, etc. how do we communicate the faith to those outside our walls.

Actually, I see this as a huge opportunity for congregations to rediscover their calling and purpose. But this opportunity also brings a fear of the unknown. In both the opportunity and the fear, we have connections to those Jewish Christians of the First Century who began to reach out to Gentiles, to those they had long considered religiously unclean. The Church exploded across the Mediterranean world because they reached out, but they had to overcome much anxiety about losing their Jewish identities, about giving up old, familiar, comfortable ways of doing things. Our communities are filled with people looking for meaning and purpose who are not "church folks." And like those first Jewish Christians, we must learn to translate our faith into their, non-churched world. We may even have to give up some of our traditional church identities in the process, in the same way that the early Church gave up much of its "Jewishness" in the process of reaching out to non-Jews.

Our call to reach out, to find new ways to speak the faith to non-churched folks, is in no way a condemnation of our congregations. Rather it is the embracing of a new call for a new age. Neither is this a call simply to thow out everything traditional. Instead it is a call to serve God first and institution second. It is a call to think carefully about which traditions are essential, core parts of the faith, and which traditions are simply habits, the ways that we did things that were well suited to a particular time, but not necessarily to this one.

Now I am not naive enough to think that a summer sermon series is going to change any congregation overnight. But I do think it is one, important step in considering who we are and what we are called to do as the Church of Jesus Christ on Northwest Boulevard in Grandview Heights. It has certainly helped me wrestle with this question, and I hope it will be of some help to others who want, more than anything, to be faithful to Christ's call.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Many of us wish for, dream of, and often strive to achieve status, power, and prestige. Pastors are by no means immune to this desire to be important and impressive. There's even a name for it: "steeple envy," where pastors of smaller churches long for the positions of their big church colleagues. More than one person has noted that when pastors leave a congregation, God almost always seems to call them to a bigger church with a better salary.

I don't want to overstate this. Many pastors labor very contentedly in smaller congregations and feel blessed to be there. And most pastors I know make a genuine attempt to listen for God's call. I point out "steeple envy" only as a way of acknowledging the strong pull the ways of the world exert on most all of us.

In today's verses from Luke, Jesus talks about something often labeled "servant leadership." Contrary to what some suppose, Jesus does not necessarily condemn having power or influence or prestige. Rather the issue is more about how one employs them. And Jesus insists that it must be for the sake of others. "But I am among you as one who serves."

What motivates a person's actions can be difficult to know. It can be hard to know it for ourselves at times. It's one of those heart things central to a life of faith.

God, bend my heart to your will. May all my acts in some way share your love and serve others.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Acts, the first church conflict erupts as "the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food." Just who these two groups are is unclear, perhaps Greek speaking Jews from the Jewish diaspora versus local Jews. Regardless, the twelve recognized the problem, but are too busy with their evangelistic work to "wait on tables." And so some are chosen for this serving role. (This is where Presbyterians get the idea for Deacons as opposed to Elders who are more focused on apostle-like duties.)

But this story is more than a little curious to me. Stephen, the first of these waiters, hardly sounds like a waiter. "Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people." Somehow I doubt that this means he could balance a lot of trays as he carried food to needy widows. Maybe the job descriptions didn't work out quite like the twelve had planned. And Stephen will go on to give a witness as bold as any apostle.

Churches and societies need people with different gifts and different callings. We all have our own particular roles to play. But we probably shouldn't get too locked in by our job descriptions. When we are "full of faith and the Holy Spirit" like Stephen, the fact that we are just a waiter, or a youth, or a you-fill-in-the-blank doesn't much matter.

What signs and great wonders is God seeking to do through you and me?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

What is God like? Surely that is one of the most basic faith questions. But answering this question is a complex task. Getting to know another human being is difficult enough. God, even more so. And much of our knowledge of God is somewhat indirect, the insights and encounters of others who have drawn close to God. For Christians, Scripture is a unique and authoritative witness that points us to God, that reveals the true nature of God, but even here we sometimes encounter aspects of the divine that seem hard to reconcile. You sometimes hear people speak of "the God of the Old Testament" and "the God of the New Testament" as though these were different being altogether.

I think this is a false dichotomy, but it does point to the real difficulty of weaving together disparate images of God into a single, coherent one. It also points to a difficulty we humans have with some of the paradoxes presented to us by God. We tend to see either/or choices when it comes to mercy or judgment, a God who loves us or God we are supposed to fear, a God who demands holiness and righteousness or a God of grace who embraces the unworthy. Yet God seems to integrate all this into Godself.

Images of God in Scripture often are focused on one side or the other of such paradoxes, but there are elements of God's nature that seem constant, that are pictured fairly uniformly throughout the Bible. Some of those are seen today in Psalm 146.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

It seems there is a special place in God's heart for many that the world often ignores, for those the world does not value. And surely one of the ways we get to know God, that we draw closer to God, is to love, care for, and value those who are special to God.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I've never really understood the fascination that some Christians have with figuring out when "the end" comes. Longing for God's Kingdom I get, but trying to find a formula that will accurately predict the timing; I just don't see the point. And my take on today's reading from Luke is that Jesus wants to dissuade speculation about "the end." In both Matthew's and Mark's gospels, Jesus says that even he does not know the time. But in those gospels, and in Luke, Jesus does talk about what "the end" looks like. And in today's reading he says, "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near."

I take Jesus to mean that although we do not know when the Kingdom will arrive, its arrival will be obvious, as clear as the signs of spring. And our call as followers of Jesus is not to figure out the timing, but to live by the ways of the Kingdom now. Our energies will be much better spent praying for strength to do God's will when the "worries of this life" tempt us to forget our callings.

I suppose that this gets to the heart of what it means to be a Christian and, more particularly, to live a Christian life. If the alertness Jesus commands is not about anticipating the moment, then what does it mean for us to live as those who are prepared for the day of the Lord?

Lord, give us strength to live each day in ways to declare your coming Kingdom.

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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