Sermon for May 31: "Transitions and Identity"

Other than birth, we often think of our identities as fashioned by the transitions we accomplish, such as graduation. But what of those transitions that happen to us, such as the gift of the Holy Spirit?

Sermon for May 31.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

My denomination has struggled for many years now over the issue of ordaining those who are in same sex relationships. As Presbyterians, we tend to argue the issue over how we interpret the Bible. People of deep faith have very different but sincerely held views on what Scripture says on this issue. That is not to say, however, that this issue arose because it figures so prominently in biblical texts.

Why for example, has our denomination never fought about whether or not to ordain people who are greedy. The Bible has considerably more to say about this topic. Jesus spoke on how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom, and Old and New Testament regularly condemn greed and especially how the rich exploit the poor.

Today's reading from Ezekiel is a case in point. The prophet speaks of God judging between sheep, that is between the different people of Israel, and it is the rich who appear to be in danger. "Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture?.. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep."

When it comes to the Bible, most all of us seem remarkably adept at grabbing those verses that support our positions and ignoring those which don't. And I can think of no real reason for the issue of gay ordination to become the line in the sand issue when it comes to following the Bible, except that a majority of Presbyterians feel safe that they can stay on the "correct" side of the line. But if the issue is greed or God's preferential care of the poor, that's less clear, and we dare not set up any clear cut standards on these.

An adult Sunday School class at our congregation has be reading A Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs, which recounts a man's attempt to follow literally what the Bible says. It makes for interesting reading. And it just might make us all think about how we choose which parts of the Bible we will actually follow.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I've always marveled at the way Jesus answers questions posed to him. Today's "Good Samaritan" reading from Luke is a good example. (The striking contrast of the words "good" and "Samaritan" is pretty much lost on modern people who don't think of Samaritans as a despised, inferior, ethnic group.) The parable is well know, though I suspect people often forget the context. A lawyer -- that is, an authority in religious law -- asks Jesus about what one must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus simply asks this lawyer what the Law says, and quite naturally he is able to quote a good synopsis of the Law. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus concurs and suggest the lawyer do so. But the lawyer presses the issue asking, "And who is my neighbor?" This is the question that provokes Jesus to tell the parable of the "Good Samaritan," the tale of a surprising hero who tends to the needs of a beaten and battered man who has been ignored by a priest and a Levite. And at the end of the parable Jesus asks the lawyer, "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" The answer is obvious, but, of course, this does not actually answer the lawyer's original question.

The lawyer knows he is to love, to do good, to his neighbor. But he is looking for limits, for who falls outside some boundary. In essence, the lawyer's questions is, "Who do I not have to love?" But Jesus turns the question on its head. To a question about who is outside the boundary, Jesus tells as story about an outsider who acts like a neighbor. To the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answers, "Be a neighbor."

We Christians engage in seemingly endless fights over what the Bible tells us to do or not do. And we have justified a fair amount of evil and hate from our readings of the Bible. Now clearly I would not be a Presbyterian pastor if I did not think the Bible had answers. But what if, like that lawyer, we're asking the wrong questions?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Following the successful and joyful return of the 70, Jesus "rejoiced in the Holy Spirit," saying, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will."

Hidden from the wise and intelligent... The sentiment Jesus expresses is hardly unique. It is a regular occurrence in both Old and New Testament. It's not as though I just noticed that, but I have found such statements more striking lately. I'm especially struck by their contrast with my Presbyterian tradition, so enamored of education and learning.

Now I have no real plans to abandon my tradition's emphasis on studying Scripture and seeking to discern God's will through it. After all, my tradition insists that the Bible becomes God's word to us only through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that refers to the Spirit's work both in inspiring the biblical writers and helping me hear what God wants me to hear, to speak anew and afresh from ancient texts.

But in practice I wonder how often I and others make much room for the Spirit's work. Beyond what I can learn by studying a passage's context, by utilizing my rudimentary proficiency at Greek or Hebrew, by consulting commentaries from eminent scholars, where do I open myself to God's revealing, that gracious outpouring granted to infants and denied the wise and intelligent?

God, open my heart to what you would reveal.

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Sermon for May 24, "Loving the World"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Luke, Jesus appoints seventy followers and sends them in pairs to all the towns he plans to visit. He tells them, "Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' " Those who do not welcome them are treated with disdain, although they too are told, "the kingdom of God has come near."

It had never really hit me until I was reading these words this morning how welcome is the only criterion Jesus applies. He does not say to cure the sick of those who believe your message, but of those who welcome you.

The Bible places a great deal more importance on welcome and hospitality than we do. They are much more than social graces. And biblical welcome was not always easy. It could mean housing strangers who were traveling through your village. That sort of welcome was precisely what "the seventy" would need in order to have lodging on their journey.

What if Jesus were to judge me, not on how well I understand doctrine, know the Bible, or believe the correct things, but on how welcoming I am?

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Sermon for May 24, "Loving the World"

Comedian Jerry Clower once said, "Some people are so heavenly minded, they ain't no earthly good." In today's gospel (John 17:6-19), Jesus says that his followers "do not belong to the world," but this may not mean what it seems. And Jesus may just agree with Jerry Clower.

Sermon for May 24.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading comes from the ending of Matthew, the story of what is often called "The Great Commission." The disciples, as instructed by the women who found the empty tomb on Easter, have gone to Galilee where they meet the risen Jesus. "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted." Jesus then proceeds to send them out to make disciples of all peoples.

When I was in seminary, one of the first big papers I had to write was on this passage, and I had to provide my own translation of it from the original Greek. My version of the above verse was, "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but they doubted." Now I would never claim to be a Greek scholar, but the person who graded my paper, noted New Testament scholar, Jack Kingsbury, did not object to this translation. And it is what the Greek literally says.

I am taken by the notion that all the disciples worshiped but also doubted. I'm even more taken by the fact that Jesus commissions these folks anyway. I've talked with many in the church who seem to view faith as the absence of doubt. But here Jesus sends out the disciples to make new disciples by baptizing and teaching, even though they apparently still have doubts of their own.

Presbyterian minister and writer Frederick Buechner says that doubt is "the ants in the pants of faith." Maybe we would all do well to embrace our doubts a bit more. After all, we do live in world where religious certainties lead to all sorts of hate, violence, and war in the name of God, even in the name of the God who in Jesus spoke of loving enemies and forgiving those who killed him.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I saw this Twitter post a few weeks ago from a person traveling in Africa. "Observation from Ethiopia. There is no correlation between material possessions and happiness. None." Most of us have probably heard similar things. The 1897 poem "Richard Corey" spoke of a refined, charming, wealthy man whom everyone envied who went home one evening and "put a bullet through his head." Simon and Garfunkel used the poem as the basis of a hit song. And even after Richard Corey is dead the chorus sings, "But I work in his factory, And I curse the life I'm living, And I curse my poverty, And I wish that I could be, Oh, I wish that I could be, Oh, I wish that I could be Richard Cory."

All of us have heard that money and possession don't buy happiness. But we don't believe it, even when Jesus tells us so. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing."

What is it that makes life good, meaningful, fulfilling? Jesus says that it comes from letting go of our worries and striving for God's Kingdom, which I take to mean working for love, justice, peace, healing, the end of poverty, etc. Now if I could just trust Jesus enough to really believe it.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I got back into town around midnight this morning after a lot of driving and a busy weekend in Boston, all of it occasioned by my daughter's graduation from Boston University. I can't say that I have a good sense of what this year's college graduates think about the future, but I get the impression that this generation expects to do big things. I suppose that's true of all graduates, but I also think that this generation is part of big shifts on multiple fronts, from technological to political. I hear voices of optimism and idealism beyond that which simply accompanies being young. These graduates are very different from me in many ways, and they may be ready to push the Baby Boomers off the stage ( though I doubt the Boomers will go quietly.)

All this makes me wonder what these graduates will be thinking when they're in my shoes, watching their own children graduate. How connected will they still be to their current hopes, causes, and ideals? How much will they have changed the world? And what of that will be for the better and what for the worse?

Today's reading from Deuteronomy raises similar questions. As Israel prepares to enter the Promised Land, Moses gives them a commencement address of sorts. ""Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."

Sometimes life can have a way of narrowing people's focus. Worries about my career, my family, my retirement account, my children's education, and so on can push aside the great hopes and dreams of youth, can cause meto forget. Some loss of youthful idealism is likely required to acquire true wisdom, but the loss of hopes and dreams to concerns about me and mine is a real tragedy.

Religious institutions regularly demonstrate this as they become more focused on their own survival, on maintaining their structures, and on keeping their constituents happy, rather than on the hopes and dreams of God's kingdom, on the triumph of love over hate and peace over war, on the hope and dream of God's power made fully manifest in weakness, on the hope that God's Spirit can bring vitality and life out of that which we have pronounced dead.

What a tragedy when graduates forget their hopes and dreams for a better world. Temper those hopes and dreams, but do not forget them. Ditto for people of faith. We would do well to remember and cling to the dreams and visions that are of God.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

This Sunday I won't be in my regular place in worship. Instead I'll be watching my daughter graduate from Boston University. (She and her classmates would greatly appreciate it if you distinguished between her school and Boston College.) And although I won't be preaching, it is interesting to hear the gospel reading for today's worship, John 15:9-17, in the context of a graduation.

Something similar is happening with the disciples when Jesus speaks to them shortly before his arrest. He tells them to abide in him, to love one another, and to bear much fruit. The disciples are graduating from their time of training with Jesus, but modern day grads would do well to abide in Jesus, to love one another, and to bear fruit.

I think that the very lowest level of education is to learn to do something. And some people graduate from college having learned only this, even if it is how to do something difficult and complicated. I'm much more impressed by education through which people have gained a sense of meaning and purpose. And when I read an article about how human technology has outpaced human ethics, I wonder what level of education has brought us there.

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love... This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you... You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last." Jesus has taught his disciples much, but most of all, he wants them to stay connected and grounded in his love and his purpose for their lives. Not bad advice for grads, or for all the rest of us.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I'll be heading out later in the day on the long drive to Boston. This weekend I'll watch my older daughter graduate from Boston University, and so it is perhaps not surprising that I wonder about her faith life as she goes "out into the world." In my limited experience, many young people have lots of faith questions and few faith certainties. They would seem to be precisely the sort of folks who would come to congregations to explore their questions.



Yet from what I gather, folks with more questions than answers, be they young or old, often find that the Church is not a very inviting place. It can seem to outsiders a place filled with certainties, where all questions have already been asked and answered, and where there is not much room for exploration.



In his letter to the Roman Church, Paul writes, "Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions." Repeatedly in his letters, Paul insists that the Church must always have the needs of those weak in faith, new to the faith, struggling with the faith as a primary concern. To Paul, anything that hinders a person from coming to faith or growing in faith is a travesty, and a failure to be the Church of Jesus Christ.



I know that I often have a strong desire to do things correctly, to get them right, and I suspect that this puts up a barrier to those whose faith questions are more basic or fundamental than my concerns over the finer points of getting things right. May God help me to become a person of welcome to all who are seekers and questioners.



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