Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sermon text - The Passion That Gives Life - Stewardship II
Matthew 22:34-40
The Passion That Gives Life – Stewardship II
James Sledge October 23, 2011
It’s a stock image in comic strips, editorial cartoons, and such; the solitary guru sitting cross legged on some mountain peak. There people seek him out to discover the secrets of life that he has discerned, the special wisdom that only he can dispense. “O great sage, what is the meaning of life?” The question expects some profound piece of wisdom that might be put on a motivational poster or spoken at a college graduation. But what if the sage simply said, “Follow the rules.”
Follow the rules? How boring is that? Special wisdom on the meaning of life should be more profound. It should be a secret, something hard to figure out, not “Follow the rules.”
I suspect that rules are not well loved anywhere, but Americans seem to have a libertarian streak that makes them especially distasteful to us. Perhaps it came from this country’s largely Protestant origins. Protestants, after all, split with the Roman Catholics in part over the issue of rules. It’s not following the rules that saves us, we said. It’s the gift of grace that we experience by faith. Faith, not works, we proclaimed.
Regardless of where it comes from, we Americans often regard laws and rules as a necessary evil. And as such, we prefer as few rules and laws as we can get by with.
But even though we Protestant Christians sometimes act like Jesus is our guru who shows us a secret wisdom that gets us around the rules, I’m not sure Jesus shares our reservations about laws and rules.
I say this because in Jesus’ day, many saw him as a wise teacher and came to him wanting to know the meaning of life. On one such occasion, Jesus says, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” And Jesus makes very clear in the Sermon on the Mount that he is not providing an alternative to the rules. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter will pass from the law...”
In our gospel reading today, people again come to the wise sage, Jesus. But it is Jesus’ opponents, and they hope to catch him in some mistake, to find some way of trapping him as they pretend to seek his wisdom. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
It is a pretty straight forward question and Jesus gives them a straight forward answer. Both he and his opponents agree that the law is a good thing, not a necessary evil but a blessing that shows the way to life. And so Jesus does not need to employ any tricks or sleight of hand as he sometimes does with his opponents. Here Jesus simply quotes from Scripture, from what we call the Old Testament. “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. and a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
I suppose Jesus’ opponents hoped that he would quote some commandment, saying “Do this,” and they could then say, “But what about that?” But Jesus says that his commandments encompass all the law and the prophets. He does have to quote two commandments, however. Strict grammarians might object that there cannot be two greatests, but Jesus says otherwise. In fact, I found a translation where Jesus introduces his second commandment this way, “And a second, just as great as this one…”
According to Jesus, these two greatest commandments, loving God with all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself, cover everything. Nothing is left out. But what exactly does it look like to love, to love with all your being?
What do you truly love? Someone? Something? I know people who love their children, who love their spouse or significant other, who love chocolate, going to the beach, or reading a good book. I know others who love sports or, often around here, love the Buckeyes. And people who really love the Buckeyes don’t usually have to tell you. It’s obvious. They may have one of those OSU flags hooked to their car window, flapping the breeze. They probably have more than one OSU sweatshirt and football jersey. In fact they probably could go for days dressed in nothing but scarlet and gray without wearing the same thing twice.
The local newspaper knows that lots of people love the Buckeyes. That’s why they print special sections on game day. A local TV station sometimes preempts network programs to air “Buckeye Blitz” on Friday nights because they know that those people who love the Buckeyes will watch. And I imagine that a lot of travel agents are in deep depression over the state of OSU football this year because many of those who love the Buckeyes are willing to shell out big bucks to travel to bowl games.
Not being from Ohio, I don’t fully get the passion many people here have for the Buckeyes. But I do think that this passion, this love for the school and the team, gives us a picture of what loving something with all your being looks like.
We human beings were created in the image of God, a God the Bible tells us is love. And so it makes sense that we are meant to love. It is in our nature to love, to give ourselves passionately to other people and things. We need to feel passion to be fully alive. However, this need can get off track. Our need to love and to feel passion can become distorted and misdirected. It sometimes turns inward into a narcissism that demands the entire world be about me. Gangs and cults take this need to give ourselves, to feel passion, and twist it into something frightening. And sometimes love of community, school, or country gets twisted into a passion against the other, against my neighbor.
Being truly and fully alive requires loving passionately. People who feel no passion or love toward anything or anyone seem lifeless and dead. But all loves and passions are not equal, and some are even destructive.
“O great sage, what is the meaning of life? What is the secret that will let me be truly alive?” And Jesus answers, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments…” The greatest is, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment, and a second, just as great as this one: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
As we gather for worship today, once more it is Autumn, and once more it is stewardship season. Stewardship, where more often than not, the big questions are, “Will there be enough pledges to fund the budget? Will there be enough volunteers to run the programs?” But I think Jesus would ask very different questions. What love animates your life? What passion orients and makes sense of all the other parts of your life? What do you give yourselves to with abandon and extravagance? Do you want to be fully alive, the person you were created to be?
His answer: Fall in love with God, with every fiber of your being, with all that you are and all that you have. And have the same care and concern for every other human being that you have for yourself. Do this, and everything else will fall into place. Do this, and you will be truly alive.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Spiritual Hiccups - Where's the Spirit?
I discovered long ago that when people fuss about my sermons, sometimes their beef is genuinely with me, but other times they are upset with what the Bible says and direct that anger at me. A think my "Not Quite a Christian" sermon was the latter sort. This person had a personal theology (we all do) that was deeply ingrained in her, and it was so much a part of who she was that even the Bible, certainly not a single Bible episode, could override it.
But can we be Christian, in the biblical sense of disciples of Jesus, without the Spirit? Might we be totally convinced that the Scriptures accurately point to Jesus as Messiah, but lacking the Spirit, still not fully appreciate what that means.
The common refrain, "I'm spiritual but not religious," is often little more than a dodge that seems to have a very constricted understanding of what it means to be spiritual. However, I think it also is a protest of sorts against a Church that all to often seems to be "not quite Christian" in the manner of those believers Paul encounters.
If the Apostle Paul showed up in our congregations and asked us, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" how would we answer him? I know a lot of people who, at best, would answer, "We're not sure."
Where is the Holy Spirit present and at work in your life and in the life of your congregation?
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Spiritual Hiccups - It's Hard, But It's Easy
Today's reading is a good case in point. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Taken by itself, the passage suggest that following Jesus is easy, nothing like the difficult burden it is to follow the Law as the Pharisees teach. Trouble is, this same Jesus in the same gospel of Matthew also says, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus also says we must take up the cross and that believing in him won't get us right with God. We must do God's will to enter the kingdom.
So is it hard, or is it easy? American Christianity has generally decided on the easy version. But if we are serious about following Jesus, what are we to do with these contradictory statements from him? To be honest, I don't know if they can be fully reconciled, but I am certain that, finally, our faith must somehow incorporate both.
Are there things that are hard and easy at the same time? Or perhaps better, are there things that are difficult but don't seem like burdens? I suspect that most of us have had something in our lives that requires a great deal of effort and energy, but that we undertake as though it were nothing. Think of the lengths some people go to participate in a hobby or sport. For that matter, think of the effort that some parents expend on their children, effort that seems not hard at all to them.
Most humans have things that they long for, that they want badly, and the effort required to get them - effort that would quickly dissuade others who do not share the same wants - seems as nothing. Often what we chalk up to greater effort or dedication on someone's part is really the result of greater desire.
St. Augustine wrote of our hearts being restless until they find their rest in God. He also spoke of our wills becoming willing. That is our conversion converts our will into something that wills what God wills. I wonder if this doesn't fit in with the gentle, easy way Jesus describes. When following Jesus becomes what we truly want, when it becomes our deepest desire, can anything that moves us in that direction feel like drudgery or burden?
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Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sermon text - The Things That Are God's - Stewardship I
Matthew 22:15-22
The Things That Are God’s – Stewardship 1
James Sledge October 16, 2011
If you remember your Revolutionary War history – Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and so on – you likely recall that one of the major complaints against British colonial rule was “taxation without representation.” Many colonists insisted that because they had no seat in Parliament, taxes could not be duly levied on them. A tax on tea sparked the famous Boston Tea Party, and eventually armed rebellion broke out.
Most of us have heard how fighting began at Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775, leading to the Declaration of Independence the following year. Most of us learned the highlights of the Revolution in school. But that history generally didn’t say much about how divided the colonists were over the war.
Best estimates suggest that the drive for independence was supported by less than half of American colonists. Probably just under a quarter favored remaining part of Britain, while the rest mostly tried to remain neutral, hoping they would be able to get along with whichever side won. Many loyalists actively fought alongside the British, and there were terrible atrocities committed by rebels against loyalist neighbors, and vice versa.
I mention this because there was a rough parallel in Jesus’ day. Palestine was a colony under Roman rule. Rome did allow the locals a certain level of self-governance, but Rome retained ultimate power, and they levied taxes that were often quite onerous, especially on the poor. Many Jews resented the Romans, their armies and taxes. Open rebellion had broken out around the time of Jesus’ birth, and would break out again some 30 years after his death.
But other Jews had found the relationship with Rome more to their liking.
To them the stability and commerce that Rome brought more than outweighed the problems with Roman power. Besides, with only brief exceptions, Jerusalem had been under the control of some foreign power for centuries.In our gospel reading this morning, a group of people come to Jesus hoping to trap him. This group is made up of both those who despise Roman rule, and those who find it beneficial. You wouldn’t expect Pharisees and Herodians to have anything to do with one another. But they think Jesus a big enough threat to put aside their differences, to cooperate in dealing with this dangerous, would-be Messiah. They hope to force him to side with one group or the other, and in the process, turn either the crowds or the Romans against him. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
The question is more difficult and volatile than we may realize. The Roman tax could only be paid with a Roman coin, a coin that not only had a likeness of the emperor on it, but on the reverse side had the Emperor Tiberius’ name with an inscription declaring him “divine son of Augustus.” For Pharisees, who meticulously tried to keep the Commandments, the coin itself, with its divine pretensions, violated a couple of them. Yet when Jesus asks to be shown such a coin, his opponents have one on them. Maybe it was one of the Herodians, but curious that the Pharisees seem not to be bothered by this idolatrous coin.
“Whose head is this, and whose title?” Jesus asks. That is not in dispute. It is the emperor’s. “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Or as some of us learned from an earlier Bible translation, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s…”
Speaking of Bible translations, I’m not sure what the NRSV scholars were thinking when they translated Jesus’ question, “Whose head is this?” The NIV is no better, with “portrait” rather than head. But the word Matthew writes in his gospel is the same word he reads in his version of the Old Testament where God says, “Let us create humankind in our image.”
When the Emperor Tiberius puts his image on coins, it is an explicit statement about whose coins they are. It was not unlike the branding that is still practiced today. Companies emblazon their names and logos on the buildings and equipment they own.
“Whose image is this?... Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Of course Jesus does not say which things are the emperor’s and which are God’s. Does Jesus agree that the emperor’s image on the coin makes it his? And what about the image of God the Bible says is part of our created nature? Does that mean that we, in some way, belong to God?
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it. So begins Psalm 24, a psalm that Jesus no doubt knew well. “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Not long after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door and unintentionally sparked the Protestant Reformation, other Protestant movements sprang up in Europe. Along with the Lutherans, the Reformed tradition (of which we Presbyterians are a part) emerged around the teachings of John Calvin. Reformed thought and Lutheran thought shared much in common, but they diverged significantly in their understandings of the Lord’s Supper. As these two movements spread, they bumped into each other at the German town of Heidelberg. Tensions between the two groups worried the ruler of that area, and so he asked two prominent Christians in Heidelberg to come up with a theological statement that would be acceptable to both sides. The result was the Heidelberg Catechism, published in 1563 and now one of eleven statements in our Presbyterian Book of Confessions.
The very first question of that catechism reads, “What is your only comfort, in life and in death?” The answer begins, “That I belong – body and soul, in life and in death – not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ…” This is echoed in opening of the most recent addition to our Book of Confessions, “A Brief Statement of Faith.” We use a portion of it as our profession of faith today and it begins, “In life and in death we belong to God.”
I wonder if we realize what counter-cultural statements these are. We are much more like to hear the opposite. Someone chastises a wealthy person for his opulence and ostentation and he responds, “What right do you have to tell me what to do with my money?” Back when a smoking ban for restaurants and bars was being debated, it was common to hear, “What right does anyone else have telling me what I can or can’t do with my body?” And if someone suggests to a bright college student that her career choice should not simply be about income potential and what she enjoys, but also about what would benefit others, we would not be terribly surprised to hear her respond, “It’s my life, and I’ll decide what I want to do with it!”
The correctness of smoking bans or certain career choices aside, what all of these statements have in common is the notion that I am my own. My life belongs to me, to do with as I choose. And how dare anyone tell me otherwise.
It is not uncommon in our day to hear complaints about how secular society has become. In just a few weeks someone will surely be yelling about the “War on Christmas” because Target or Wal-Mart have signs that say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” But if our culture is corrosive to Christian faith, and I would agree that it often is, I don’t think “Happy Holidays” is a significant part of the problem. What certainly is, however, is the notion, shared by very many Christians, that I am my own, that I, and I alone, know what is best for me.
Whose image is this? On a coin, on me?
“What is your only comfort (your only hope, assurance, and joy), in life and in death? That I belong – body and soul, in life and in death – not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ…” In gratitude and in love, let us give to God the things that are God’s.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Spiritual Hiccups - Afraid To Speak the Truth
I don't mean to say that Christian pastors are liars or that they don't do a lot of good and help a lot of people. But pastors are very often also keepers of institutions, and their institutional roles often mitigate against bold, truth telling. Pastors have to be politicians in a sense. They have constituencies that they need to keep reasonably happy. After all, they must convince members of these constituencies to volunteer and give money.
I follow a lot of pastors on Twitter. This may not be an accurate generalization, but I have noticed that those who sound the least like politicians are pastoring very small congregations or no congregation at all. Some of them can be shrill, and a few might do well to develop a bit more political savy. But by and large, they are refreshing. Which is not to say that I feel compelled to emulate them.
The truth is that I'm frightened to be like them. Regardless of how convinced I am of God's will, I worry what might people in my congregation think if I took an overly bold stand on some issue. Perhaps I am short changing my congregation in the process, but my career worries, my fears, still constrain me.
Jesus said, "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops."
Have no fear of them. Jesus is of course speaking of those who might arrest and put to death his followers, just as they will do to him. My fears are pretty tame ones by contrast. But still they have a power over me.
In the opening of the biblical book of Revelation, each of the seven churches to whom the letter is written are addressed invidually. (Revelation is largely misunderstood as fortelling the future if you can somehow break its code. But in truth it is meant to urge churches under great stress to remain faithful. Its "predictions" are of a general nature, the promise that faithfulness will, in the end, be rewarded, that evil will fall and righteousness will prevail.) The writer tells each congregation of problems it needs to correct, and he seems to save his greatest disappointment for the last congregation mentioned, the one at Laodicea. "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
That sounds to me like we would be better off being bold, even if we sometimes got it wrong. And those poitically unsavy, sometimes shrill, very bold pastors I follow on Twitter will certainly never be accused of being "lukewarm."
Lord, help me find my voice. Help me speak the truth.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Spiritual Hiccups - Whose Side Is God on Anyhow?
have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough
of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
When I read these final verses of Psalm 123, it struck me that they sound a bit like some of the voices in "Occupy Wall Street," a loosely organized and varied movement that is spreading beyond NYC. And while the movement contains varied viewpoints and agendas, I suspect that many would agree with the final line about having all they can take "of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud."
Regardless of how one feels about street protests and civil disobedience, the Wall Street protesters have raised serious questions about whether or not the powers that be in this country have the best interests of typical citizens at heart. Have governments and corporations lost sight of a shared social contract in which we all are participants?
It is difficult to give easy "Yes" or "No" answers to such questions. There are corporations, for instance, that do not lay off workers even when there is not enough work for them to do, that maintain a payroll larger than some business models say are efficient because they feel an obligation to their employees as well as their investors. But of course there are corporations that view employees as little more than "resources," things to use when it is beneficial to the company and to discard when that benefit is ended. And one can find a similar wide range of thinking regarding run of the mill citizens among politicians, political parties, government workers, and so on.
But what does God think of all this? Is God more offended by what some label the disruptive, chaotic aspects of Occupy Wall Street? Or is God more upset by growing numbers of the poor and children who are hungry, by the perceived need to cut social services to the most needy while corporations are enjoying record profits? I think these questions much easier to answer than my previous question about the social contract. There simply is no question whose side God is on when it comes to the poor, the needy, the oppressed, and the victims of injustice. And for all our culture's worship of wealth, Jesus is equally clear that it is the single most likely thing to come between us and the new day God will bring.
One of the perennial problems with religion is that it inevitably is co-opted into helping maintain the status quo. The notion that Jesus stood for the status quo is hard to entertain seriously, yet the history of the Church features a regular rhythm of the faith becoming captive to the powers that be followed by a movement of the Spirit that helps the faith break free. The Protestant Reformation began as such a movement, and it produced radical changes, some within the Roman Catholic Church itself. The Civil Rights Movement was largely a faith movement where the Spirit guided people such as Martin Luther King, Jr. to challenge the status quo.
Predicting where the Spirit will blow next is more than difficult. But there is no doubt that the wind is blowing. Even within evangelical Protestant movements, the idea that God is simply for personal morality or purity, and not about good news to the poor, is being seriously challenged.
All religious people like to think that God is on their side. I'm certainly no different on that. And very often, we deal with this in terms of our theology and practice. Do we understand the Bible correctly and do we live in ways that conform with this? To a certain extent, this is unavoidable, but I wonder if we wouldn't often do better to think about this a bit differently. What if we simply identified those Jesus says that God favors, and then aligned ourselves with them. Jesus says that God favors the poor, the meek, those who long for a better world, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted because they try to create a better world, and so on. God is on these folk's side, says Jesus.
What about us?
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Monday, October 10, 2011
Spiritual Hiccups - More Tolerable for Sodom and Gommorah
Jesus sends the Twelve out on a preaching, teaching, and healing mission, and he concludes his instructions with this note, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”
Sodom and Gomorrah was shorthand for terrible evil and depravity. The cities were destroyed by God in the book of Genesis. (Although many people associate this depravity with homosexual behavior, that is not necessarily the case. That the townspeople would demand to rape sojourners who should be extended hospitality is horribly depraved without any reference to sexual orientation.) And for Jesus to compare those who do not welcome his representatives or listen to what they say with this legendary evil is remarkable.
Now perhaps it seems a rather academic exercise, my trying to figure out what score Jesus gets on the meek-and-mild meter. But I'm wondering about this with regard to how we American Christians receive Jesus' representatives; whether we welcome them or listen to them. But if we are Christians, how could this concern us? I suspect that would have been nearly the same response of those people Jesus sent his disciples out to visit, the covenant people of Israel.
It seems to me that we Christians often place ourselves in a role very much like the Jews of Jesus' day. We are the established religion and presume our relationship with God to be reasonably secure based on our status as Christians. By I have observed that those who speak the message of Jesus without being careful not to step on anyone's toes are often rejected. Anyone who boldly proclaims Jesus' words about blessings for the poor and the curse of wealth is asking for trouble. Many will neither welcome nor listen to them. "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”
Hyperbole was and is very much a regular feature of Middle Eastern speech, and Jesus likely employs it here. Still, I wonder if the traditional American church, so much a part of the fiber and texture of American society, culture, and economics, hasn't at times lost its soul in the bargain. What if the not-so-meek-and-mild Jesus is talking about and to us?
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Sunday, October 9, 2011
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