Leslie Veen's Sermonstag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//32009-07-06T19:08:25ZMovable Type 3.33Can I have Option A?tag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4902009-07-06T19:07:55Z2009-07-06T19:08:25ZTexts: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10; Mark 6:1-13 What a study in contrasts we have in our Scripture passages this morning. We are given two very different outcomes for people who listen to God and follow God’s will for their lives....Leslie
Texts: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10; Mark 6:1-13
What a study in contrasts we have in our Scripture passages this morning. We are given two very different outcomes for people who listen to God and follow God’s will for their lives.
First, we have David. He listened to God and followed God’s will for his life and in the process he won not only the support of his family and the members of his own tribe but also from all the tribes of Israel. These tribes had been fiercely loyal to Saul and Saul’s descendents up until this point, making it impossible for David to become the king even though many years had passed since Samuel had anointed him as the next king over Israel and Judah. Once David had consolidated the support from all of the tribal members, he was finally able to become king, claiming Jerusalem as his residence, and growing ever more powerful.
And then we have Jesus and the disciples. Jesus, God incarnate, returned to his hometown after having a great start to his ministry. He had healed many people and attracted great crowds who wanted to hear his teaching. But when Jesus tried to teach to his neighbors and friends in his hometown he was met with skepticism and questions about his authority. These people knew him as a carpenter. And that for them in no way qualified him to speak about the nature of God’s kingdom or to speak on God’s behalf. And the disciples, whom Jesus sent out to continue his work, were sent with only the clothes on their back and their staff. They were not to take anything else – no luxury items, not even the basics for survival on their own. They were to depend on people who were willing to take them in and give them a place to heal and teach.
David listened to God and was welcomed and given great power and material wealth. Jesus and his disciples listened to God and were met with hostility and a stripping down of their material wealth. If you were offered the option of following God’s will for your life and having it turn out either like (A) David or (B) Jesus and his disciples, wouldn’t you choose Option A – David? I certainly would!
Who volunteers to be met with skepticism, hostility, and questions about one’s authority to teach? And who volunteers to give up all they have to strike off and rely on the charity of others as they do God’s work? I’m sure some people do, but it is definitely not the norm. I think most of us would prefer to be financially secure as well as welcomed and respected by those around us.
There is a propensity in religious communities, whether it’s acknowledged or not, to believe that if all is right between God and a person, then that person will have good health, will prosper, and generally will have good things happen to him or her. This belief isn’t just made up out of our desire to be well-off, it is actually based in stories from the Bible. Can you think of any Bible passages or stories that reinforce the understanding that being a good Christian or having everything right with God will result in good things for a person’s life?
Maybe you think of Esther who took great risks and ended up becoming a beloved Queen. Or her uncle Mordecai who stood by the gates and after helping Esther know what action was needed in their situation entered the inner sanctum of power with the king. Or maybe you think of Abraham who listened to God, uprooted his whole family and was promised descendants as numerous as the stars.
In addition to our story of David for this morning, two examples came to my mind. The first comes from the beginning of the story of Job. Listen to how that story begins:
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. (Job 1:1-3)
Job was blameless and upright, fearing God and the size of his family and the number of animals he owned and servants he had working for him showed it. He prospered because he was a God-fearing man. When all of this gets taken away from him as a test of his faith, his friend Eliphaz asks, “Who, being innocent has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?” He obviously thinks that Job has done something to deserve punishment from God. And Jobs other friends show they hold the same opinion as they seek to counsel Job and offer him advice on how to make things right.
Job’s story was shocking to those who originally heard it and passed it along because it went against traditional knowledge. Everyone knew that if one were upright and feared God then good things would happen. But if a person sinned against God then judgment would come in the form of disaster. But this was not the case with Job. He was an upright man and still disaster befell him. In the end he was exonerated by God and was once again blessed by God with a large family and wealth. But for a while, this upright man had all of that stripped away.
A second story that sprang to my mind comes from the Gospel according to John. The story tells of Jesus healing a man who was born blind. It begins, “As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” The disciples’ question shows the conventional wisdom of the day. If someone had a physical disability or suffered in other ways, it showed that either that person or that person’s parents had sinned.
But Jesus upended traditional thinking here by saying, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Jesus pushed back on his disciples’ assumptions to argue that not all bad things that happen are signs that someone has sinned. Sometimes people experience difficulties or have disabilities so that God can work through the situation and God’s glory can be shown.
These stories both show us that people have long held the belief that health and wealth are signs of being right with God. But these stories also show that God has other ideas – that health and wealth are not necessarily indicators that all is right with God. Just because someone has a disability or looses wealth or property because of a disaster, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that person (or a relative) has sinned. And likewise, just because people have a lot of wealth or property or look like they have a good life it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are upright and God-fearing.
Personal health and wealth and one’s standing with God are not linked in that way.
And yet, the feeling persists for many people that they are. There is a large movement in our country to preach what some have called “The Prosperity Gospel.” This line of thinking pushes people to believe that if they are right with God then God will bless them with good health and lots of wealth. They should have a large home. They should own many fancy cars. All of this is seen as outward signs of God’s good pleasure with a person.
I find this type of thinking troublesome though because it leads us back to a situation like that in the Gospel of John. We blame the people who are not in perfect health or aren’t fabulously wealthy, telling them that it is all their fault that this is the case in their lives. It might be because of their own actions, but it very well might be because of something else, something outside of these people’s control.
Our Scripture passages for this morning don’t tell us that God was displeased with Jesus and the disciples and that’s why they met with such a rough time. In fact, quite the opposite is true.
The passages for this morning tell us that God was with both David and Jesus and the disciples. In David’s case, God’s presence helped him to have great authority and to become king. And that, in turn, brought with it a fortress to live in as well as many material possessions. But in the case of Jesus and the disciples, the only way that people would understand that it was God working through them and not something that they were doing on their own was to go out with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their staffs.
God was with them all – working in and through them to make God’s glory known. But God was working in different ways. God can work through powerful people as well as seemingly non-powerful people.
God wants to be with us as well – working in and through us in whatever situation we find ourselves. Maybe we will be blessed with good health and financial security because of it or maybe we won’t. If we are, we should always remember that it comes from God and share of it generously with those around us in need so that our actions may give glory to God – the giver of all good gifts.
If we are not blessed with good health or many material possessions, I would encourage us to resist the urge to jump to the conclusion that God is not pleased with us or is punishing us. We should take stock of our lives, make sure that we are right with God and then trust that God will provide exactly what we need from the people around us.
That’s a hard thing to do. It puts us in a vulnerable position. We don’t like to be dependent on others. We would much rather provide for ourselves. But God wants us to be open to these types of situations because this is a way that God reminds us that it’s not about us and how we will provide everything for ourselves, but rather it’s about God and how God will provide for us.
God calls us to open ourselves up to God’s presence working in and among us. God calls us to be wholly dependent on God. And when we do we will be blessed by God – maybe in large ways or maybe in small ways. But our lives will show God’s glory to those around us and that is the true blessing. Amen.
Prayer: God of steadfast love, you promise to be with us, working in and through our lives no matter what situation we might find ourselves in. Help us to be open to being used by you. Help our lives to bring glory to your name. We pray this in the name of your precious son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Keep your calmtag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4872009-06-22T19:06:29Z2009-06-22T19:07:52ZTexts: 1 Samuel 17:33-49; Mark 4:35-41 There David stood, proclaiming his desire and ability to take on the much larger enemy, Goliath, to the complete and utter amazement of King Saul. “Could this one be serious?” Saul must have been...Leslie
Texts: 1 Samuel 17:33-49; Mark 4:35-41
There David stood, proclaiming his desire and ability to take on the much larger enemy, Goliath, to the complete and utter amazement of King Saul. “Could this one be serious?” Saul must have been thinking. It was obvious that David would lose a thousand times over based on the physical attributes of the two combatants in question.
And there Jesus was, sleeping in the face of a terrifying storm that threatened to sink the boat. He did not rise to lend a hand to the rest of the crew in fighting against that eventuality. He did not give any suggestions to how they might get themselves safely to the other shore. He just lay peacefully on a cushion while the tempest swirled.
How could David and Jesus remain so calm while chaos, fear, and panic raged around them? Why didn’t they get sucked into the anxiousness with which they were confronted?
Why? Because they knew a different way. A way that God had prepared them for. A way that God would empower them to traverse successfully. They saw things differently. And that allowed them to find peace in the midst of the panic and storm.
If David had followed conventional wisdom on hand-to-hand combat, he most certainly would have lost. And that’s what King Saul was envisioning. Hand-to-hand combat was what Saul knew best. It’s what he excelled in. It had served him well before and during his reign as king. So when David presented himself to Saul as the one willing to go up against the largest and most feared of all the Philistine fighters, how could Saul do anything less that guffaw?
Could this kid be serious? He was short. He wasn’t very strong. He wasn’t a fighter in the army so he didn’t have his own armor or training in how to use the weapons. How could he think he would ever triumph over a skilled warrior many times his size?
But David was persistent. He argued that his time minding the sheep had more than prepared him to face enemies much larger than himself. He had gone up against lions and bears and come out of it well – not only in one piece but having saved the sheep in the process. Going up against the giant Philistine didn’t seem all that different in his mind.
But David’s argument failed to impress the king. So he pulled the God card. Seeing the non-plussed reaction of the king, David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” David knew that if Saul wouldn’t listen to him, a lowly shepherd, he most certainly would listen to God. So he used that angle to soften Saul’s resolve.
And it worked. King Saul really didn’t have any other options. None of his warriors were stepping forward to take on the challenge. He didn’t really want to send any of his best men into what would surely be a death sentence. And this young whippersnapper seemed so bent on taking on this giant, why not let him have a try?
So King Saul assented. And he set about preparing David in the way that he would any member of his army. He brought out the best armor – that happened to be his own: a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, and a large sword. Not only was all this armor heavy and unfamiliar to David, but it was also made for Saul who was much taller and larger than him. It must have been quite a sight. Can you imagine it?
It must have looked something like a child who has rummaged through a parent’s closet to play dress-up with the clothes found there. They don’t fit. They are too big. They just end up looking silly and don’t allow the child to actually move or function well.
David knew from the outset that the armor wouldn’t work. But, he had to go along with the king’s wishes. So David let them try the armor on him. But when it became apparent that this would never do, he went with the plan he had in mind all along. Just him, and the things that he carried with him on his wanderings with the sheep – a staff and a sling.
It wasn’t what was expected. It wasn’t what Goliath was prepared for. But it was what David knew. David was using the experiences that he had had and the gifts that God had given him to face a foe who was challenging God’s authority. David knew that the unexpectedness of it all would work to his advantage. He needed that in order to have a chance at success.
David was calm when everyone around him was in a panic because he trusted God to work through him and empower him to do great things. David knew that God had done this in the past. And that helped him to trust that it would happen now.
With this confidence in God and the gifts that God had given him, David ran toward Goliath and got off a perfect shot with his sling before anyone had any idea what was happening. Success! Much to the amazement of all present.
A similar situation faced Jesus as he lay sleeping on the boat.
It was a dark and stormy night. Nothing good ever happens after you hear those words, right?! But, that’s what it was. Now, we have to keep in mind that Jesus had called his first disciples from men he saw working ships in the sea. So these were no newbies to handling ships in less than ideal weather. It would take more than a simple storm to get them in such a state of panic.
We can imagine that they all got in the boat to make their way to the other side and little by little the wind began to pick up. The men made preparations to face it. They drew on their knowledge of the sea and the skills they had developed over the years to navigate the increasingly choppy waters. They drew on the conventional wisdom that had helped them weather such storms in the past.
But things kept getting worse. Conventional wisdom wasn’t helping. Water was coming on board faster than they could get rid of it. The waves began to be so tall that the ship was in danger of capsizing. And all of them, minus Jesus, were doing everything in their power to keep the ship upright and heading in the right direction.
I think I would have been more than a little annoyed if someone sat the whole thing out – leaving the rest of us to handle the situation. This was an “all hands on deck” kind of situations. And not all the hands were there. That’s the type of situation that breeds more than a little bit of contempt.
And so the disciples, in complete exasperation and great fear, woke Jesus and cried, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” That was the only explanation they could come up with for why this man lay unaffected by all the commotion around him not deigning to lift a finger to help in the battle against the wind and sea.
How could he be so calm while this storm threatened their very existence?
How? Jesus knew that he, empowered by God the Father, had the ability to quiet that storm. He knew that it would be powerless against him. He knew that it would only take a word from him and the storm would go away. And that is exactly what Jesus did. He spoke. “Peace! Be Still!” And all was calm.
David, had the gifts of being quick on his feet and a good aim with his sling. Jesus, God incarnate, had the power of God at his command. Each one knew that he was ready for the seemingly insurmountable challenge that faced him. Each knew that trust in God would empower him to use his gifts and talents in ways that would save the day.
That is how David and Jesus kept their calm. They trusted God to empower them and to protect them.
Following Jesus’ rebuke of the storm, he turned and asked his disciples, “Why are you afraid?” This is just another way of asking, “Where is your faith?” David, being just a boy in the service of the king, was not able to ask such a question, but his very actions highlighted his trust in God in opposition to Saul’s lack of trust.
The calmness of David and Jesus in the face of fear and chaos put into stark relief the lack of trust in God of all those around them.
This story of David facing off with Goliath comes just after the passage that we looked at last week where God rejected Saul as king, sending Samuel to anoint someone new. And even though David had been anointed, he could not yet step into the role of king since Saul was still alive and was still very much in control of the kingdom. David had to bide his time, waiting for Saul to either realize that he no longer had God’s favor and step aside or die. Until then David needed to keep on Saul’s good side or he would surely die.
Last week’s passage told us that Saul had rejected God leading God to reject him. This week’s passage gives us a very clear example of just how Saul rejected God. It shows us that Saul did not trust God to provide. Saul did not believe he or anyone around him had the gifts and experiences from God to meet the situation. Saul did not believe that God would empower the Israelites to overcome their foes the Philistines.
David did all of these things. And because he did, he was successful in bringing down Goliath and, by extension, the whole Philistine army.
The story of Jesus and the disciples comes just after several parables that Jesus had been teaching to explain how the kingdom of God is different than what we would expect. Last week we looked at two of those parables – that of the seeds that grow no matter what amount of attention they receive from the one who sowed them and that of the mustard seed that grows to be the biggest plant in the garden.
Jesus shared these parables and more with his disciples and others gathered to demonstrate that with God all things are possible. And yet, here they are only a few hours later, and the disciples have lost all confidence in God – not even calling on God’s name for help in the face of distress. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, this is the picture that we get of the disciples. They hear Jesus’ teachings. They see Jesus’ miracles. And yet, they don’t have faith. They don’t understand what they are witnessing. They don’t trust God.
David and Jesus are calm in the face of great fear and chaos because they trust God and they know God will use them to further God’s kingdom.
Who are we like today? Are we like David and Jesus? Or are we more like King Saul and the disciples?
I bet we’d all like to say that we are like David and Jesus. And I hope that we are. But, it’s not always easy to keep our calm, to trust God to work in and through us in the face of a great challenge.
Sometimes it’s obvious, to both us and those around us, that we are the right person for a job. Maybe we have a gift or skill or have had a certain experience in our life that gives us the insight and perspective that is needed. In those times, it’s probably easier to step up and allow ourselves to be used to help the situation or tackle a problem.
But what about those times when we have gifts or skills that others aren’t aware of or maybe even doubt the usefulness of? What about those times when we are like David, having to make our case as to why we should be allowed to help? Are we as diligent as David? Do we trust that God can and will work through us, using the gifts that God has given us to face the challenge successfully?
Or maybe we have faced times when we know we are the right one for a job, but we feel overwhelmed by all that is going on in our life and we just can’t take on one more thing. We say to ourselves, “Someone else will step up. Someone who has more time than me. I’m already doing more than I have time for.”
Maybe this is true. But maybe God is calling us to make room for that challenge. Maybe God is asking us to stop doing something else and start doing this new thing. It’s not easy to know what to do in these situations. It takes trust in God.
Or maybe we have gifts and skills that we aren’t even aware of. Maybe someone is asking us to branch out into a new endeavor, encouraging us in this way because they see something in us that we haven’t even noticed. We shouldn’t be too quick to brush these encouragements off. Maybe God is speaking through that person trying to help us see that we are being called to be used in a new way by God.
What gifts has God blessed each one of us with? What life experiences have we had that would enable us to give wisdom and insight to others? God wants to work in and through every one of us to bring about God’s kingdom. Will we let God do that?
We need to trust that God will empower us. And then we will be able to keep our calm. Amen.
Good things come in small packagestag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4852009-06-15T18:07:09Z2009-06-15T18:12:54ZTexts: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 Mark 4:26-34 What do you think of when you hear the phrase “Good things come in small packages”? Maybe you’re like a colleague of mine and you think of Christmas presents and how often the smaller...Leslie
You are God, high, lifted up, majestic.
As we say, “Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory… forever.”
You are high and lifted up;
it dazzles us that you work your will
through human agents –
those whom you call and choose and empower,
even the weak, the lowly, the nobodies.
You are high and lifted up;
it stuns us that you have worked your will
through such human agents as David,
the runt of his family,
almost left behind and forgotten,
and you called him to power and
obedience and success.
You are high and lifted up;
it staggers us that you have worked your will
through this Jesus of Nazareth,
he of no pedigree,
he of no form or comeliness,
he who emptied himself in obedience;
and you have raised him to new life,
before whom every knee shall bow.
You are high and lifted up;
it astonishes us that you work your will
through human agents like us,
people of little consequence and
limited capacity.
You call us beyond ourselves;
you send us beyond our imagination;
you empower us beyond our capacity,
and we become your agents in the world,
day by day doing justice and mercy and
compassion.
At the end of the day we still say in astonishment,
that you are high and lifted up and majestic.
We are your creatures,
and we give our life back to you,
filled with gratitude,
eager for the rest that only you can give.
Good things often do come in small packages. God calls us to act in small ways each and every day to make God’s love known to a broken and hurting world. God calls us to do these acts in humility, always keeping our focus on God, trusting that God will do great things with our offerings. May God empower us to be bold in proclaiming the Good News of God’s shalom. Amen.]]>
Christian Community: And the two became onetag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4802009-05-04T05:49:46Z2009-05-04T05:51:05ZScripture Lesson 1: Isaiah 57: 14 -19 Scripture Lesson 2: Genesis 2: 21-24 Scripture Lesson 3: Ephesians 2:11-18 “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…....Leslie
Scripture Lesson 1: Isaiah 57: 14 -19
Scripture Lesson 2: Genesis 2: 21-24
Scripture Lesson 3: Ephesians 2:11-18
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross….”
Aren’t those beautiful images of what God did through Christ? God, through Christ, brought together people who had previously been at odds with one another – people who had been fighting over who got to be called “Children of God.” God did away with the old dividing lines and brought all of humanity together to be the church. God reconciled the different factions and gave them peace.
So, if this is what God did and continues to do in Christ, what are we doing?
It seems to me that we in the church today spend an awful lot of time putting up barriers and building back up the dividing walls of hostility that Christ broke down. It seems to me that we are acting more like the Jewish Christians referred to in Ephesians who were so concerned with keeping the law that they excluded people, in that case the Gentiles, because they were uncircumcised.
The Jewish Christians did this because they were concerned with the purity of their gathering. And they were concerned with the rightness of their actions. But by focusing on these concerns, the Jewish Christians were relying on their own efforts instead of allowing God to be God. And I think we, the modern Church, have gotten ourselves into a similar mess.
I know I’m alone in thinking that this is the state of our (big “C”) Church today. I have plenty of anecdotes from people I know who have left the Church or have little to no respect for it because of this very issue. They have either been personally affected by the internal struggles or they are tired or sickened by all the bickering they see going on. They have moved on to find a connection with God in some other way or have stopped believing in God all together.
It’s oh so easy to look at the actions of others and point out the many and various ways in which they are excluding people from being called “Children of God.” But I’m going to ask us to do something a little more difficult tonight. I’m going to ask us to offer up ways in which we ourselves are guilty of doing this very thing.
Now, I know that it’s not the best idea to try to start a conversation by asking a question that I know will be difficult for people to answer. But I think we need to really stop for a moment and be honest with ourselves. We often act in small, and maybe even big, ways that have the effect of denying the fact that someone or some group of people are not equal with us in being children of God.
I invite you to think of types of people that cause you to put up barriers or build up dividing walls instead of reaching out to be in community with them. And I’ll give an example for myself to give you time to think.
When I first thought about asking this question during our sermon discussion time, I immediately pictured a woman I used to work with who drove me absolutely nuts. She’s a fixer. She likes to suggest ways that people can fix their situation – regardless of whether or not she has been asked to offer suggestions in this way. I always dreaded talking with her because it seemed that even our inane small talk gave her an occasion to tell me how I could fix something in my life. You can bet that after only a few interactions like that I began to avoid talking to her. If I was about to leave my office and heard her voice in the hallway I would wait to give her time to move on before going out. I don’t think she does this out of sense of being better than those with whom she is talking. It’s just how her mind works. She likes to figure out how to make situations better.
But, she drove me insane. It made me stop listening to her. She probably offered me some good tips. But because she did it without my asking for her help, it felt invasive, pushy, maybe even tone-deaf on her part. And because I felt like she wasn’t really listening to me, I felt justified in not listening to her. I began to think less of her – she was an annoyance to be avoided instead of a person to be respected and interacted with. It might have been a move I took to for mental self-preservation, but I still didn’t fully value her as one whom God calls God’s child.
She is a good representative of the type that pushes me to put up barriers – people who don’t really listen to me, who think they know me before they’ve really given me a chance to tell them who I am. If I get even a slight sense that someone is doing that, I shut down and write that person off. Not very Christian of me, eh?
Okay, does anyone else care to share a type of person or actions that people engage in that lead you to put up barriers or dividing walls? You don’t have to go into such detail if you don’t want to. Just tell us a type of person that makes you put up walls or think less of them as people.
[get comments from the congregation]
People who think differently than us. People who feel like their opinion is the right opinion and everyone else must agree with them. People who are bullies. People who are completely unaware of others. And the list could go on and on.
Those barriers and dividing walls go up pretty quickly don’t they? And once they’re up, they’re very difficult to bring back down.
God knows that. That’s why it took an extreme action on God’s part to get those walls to come down. God had to come live among us in Christ and die on the cross to get those divisions to go away. God knew the stubbornness of God’s people when God was dealing with the Israelites as well in the passage from Isaiah.
This passage tells us that God had tried to get the people to change their ways by accusing them and being angry with them. God was enraged by their sinful greed and punished them by hiding God’s face from them. And yet, the passage says, “they kept on in their willful ways.” Even God’s absence wasn’t enough of a motivator for God’s people to change their ways.
Our human propensity to build up walls, to exclude people, to look out for our own interests to the detriment of others is part of what we religious types call “original sin.” It is something that we are unable to fix on our own. It is bigger than us and so ingrained in us that no matter what we do, we will never completely eradicate it from our lives.
This isn’t an idea that’s so much in vogue these days. People don’t like to be called “sinners.” It’s so negative. It makes us feel bad about ourselves. But that’s not my point. That’s not what I’m hoping to do here. I am lifting up this characteristic of humanity to help us understand that we need God.
We need God.
Christians are good at saying that but really poor at actually acting in ways that show that. We practice what has been called “functional atheism.” We say we believe in God but yet we act as though we have to save ourselves – as if we have to do everything to make things right in this world.
But Scripture tells us otherwise. In the Isaiah passage, God says: “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to them, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near…. I will heal them.”
And in the second chapter of Ephesians, just before our passage from today, the writer tells us: “For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith – and it is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
We need God. And once we recognize that fact and ask for God’s help, then those barriers and dividing walls will begin to come down. Unfortunately, they don’t just drop away immediately and never come back. That whole human sin thing has a way of creeping back in. So we have to be continually mindful of our propensity to putting them up.
What can we do to help us be mindful of this? What can we do to allow God to tear down the walls we so easily construct? Does anyone have any suggestions of things they do to help them to remember that that person who pushes our buttons and makes us want to put up walls is also a child of God? How can we keep ourselves from so quickly dismissing people?
[get feedback from the congregation]
Prayer is a biggie! Maybe it’s the simple prayer, “Help!” or “God, I need you.” Or maybe something like this: “God, please help me to remember that (so and so) is also your child.”
Another important action we can take is to engage the other in a conversation to learn more about where he or she is coming from. We should not enter into this type of conversation with the hopes that the other will change and come around to our way of thinking. I’m guessing we’ve all been the recipients of that type of “conversation” in the past. No, we need to enter into this conversation truly open to the moving of the Spirit – hoping to gain insights into who this person is and why he or she believes or acts in the ways that are bothersome (or offensive) to us.
Just recently, an email list I’m on of people from my high school graduating class sprung to life when one of my former classmates expressed some disgust with President Obama and the way he represented America abroad during his recent trip. It was along the lines of something that might be heard on Fox News or maybe Rush Limbaugh’s show. Pretty quickly, a more left-leaning member of the class shot back an answer debunking the arguments that had been offered by the first.
Often this would be where the conversation ends – each side has lobbed its arguments into the air and run for cover. But the woman who sent the original email came back expressing thanks for the opposing viewpoints and welcoming more. She acknowledged that she is surrounded by people who think and talk like she does, which greatly limits her exposure to other ways of seeing things. She was honestly seeking dialogue. And once others on the list saw that this was not going to be the typical throw your argument bomb and then run type of email discussion, they too joined in.
We’ve since moved on to other, related, topics on which there tend to be great lines drawn in the sand and have had some good back-and-forths about the issues involved. Many on the list are people I haven’t interacted with in any way since we graduated 22 years ago! And here I am, learning about them and their views on what are often controversial topics. It’s been interesting, to say the least.
When true conversation happens, it can really deepen a relationship, even if both parties involved remain committed to the ideas they originally held. This kind of conversation is very useful in helping us to remember that “the other” is also a child of God.
But sometimes, conversation is not possible. And in times like those we have to fall back on a saying that we’ve probably all heard before: We cannot control how other people act; we can only control how we react.
In cases like these, maybe all we can do is pray to God for help in changing how we react so that by our actions we do not devalue another of God’s children. And it may be that our reaction is to separate ourselves from a person or a type of persons. But hopefully that would be the last option we turn to.
God created humans to live in relationship with other humans. The creation stories show this to be true. Our passage from Genesis today comes at the end of the recounting of how God made man and then made all the other creatures. But in the end, none of these other creatures brought man the companionship that he desired. None that is until woman was made. This creature, made from the same flesh, finally met the man’s need for relationship – a relationship so deep, so meaningful that the two became one.
This same wording is used in Ephesians to explain how peoples are brought together. Through the cross, Christ brings people together to be the Church. It is a bond that creates “one new humanity out of the two….” Old divisions are put away. Unity in peace is what remains.
God, in Christ, is reconciling us one to another. God offers us peace – the peace that dispels hostility. Let us be open to receiving that peace. Amen.
Let us pray: God, you are the God of reconciling peace. Come and bring us that peace we pray. Help us to see that all people are your creation, your children. Help us to not be so quick to throw up dividing walls between us and those who annoy or disturb us. Help us to be examples of your reconciling love in the world. All this we pray in the name of your son, Christ Jesus. Amen.
“It is finished”tag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4772009-04-13T16:45:34Z2009-04-13T16:46:31ZService of the Seven Last Words First Pres, San Anselmo 10 April 2009 John 19:30 – “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” Prayer: Spirit of...Leslie
Spirit of God, come and move among us now. Be in my words and in all of our hearts. Help us to truly hear your word for us this day. Amen.
“It is finished,” Jesus says as he hangs dying on the cross.
“It is finished.” And he bows his head and gives up his spirit.
It is easy to imagine Jesus saying these words with at least a hint of resignation in his voice. He had been living and teaching among these people for years. And yet, when it looked like his teachings might get them into trouble with their Roman overseers, the religious authorities were quick to turn on him. They were only too happy to let him suffer this seemingly shameful end to his life so that their carefully built truce with the powers that be would not be upset.
“It is finished.”
It is easy to hear these words from Jesus and imagine that he is thinking, “Well, I did the best I could with what I was given. I did miraculous acts. I taught about the Father. I told of the coming of the Comforter. What more could I have done?” The previous eighteen chapters of this Fourth Gospel go on at length describing these acts and teachings, so we can see how Jesus might have felt that way.
“It is finished.”
It’s even easy to hear these words and think that Jesus may even be a bit despondent about the situation. Especially when we have the words from Mark echoing in our ears: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It’s easy to hear these words in these ways. But that’s not how Jesus says them.
No, Jesus says these words confidently, maybe even a bit forcefully to those who taunted him and thought him a false prophet. Jesus is not going meekly into death, rather he is going into it boldly, knowing that his death marks the completion of the work he had been sent to do by the Father.
Time and again in this Fourth Gospel, Jesus speaks of this work. From the very beginning of the gospel, Jesus is clear why he is here and what, ultimately, it will require of him. He knows all along that death on the cross is part of the deal. It doesn’t come as any kind of surprise for him.
Jesus is not exclaiming, “It is finished!” and then throwing up his hands in defeat as if that is the end of the story. He is claiming, rather, “My work is completed but the Father’s work will continue.” We know this because the verb form used for the word translated as “finished” or “completed” is the verb form that shows an action that, though completed, will have a continuing affect.
Jesus says this because he knows that although his time with the disciples is drawing to a close, they will not be left alone. Once he leaves them to return to the Father, he has promised to ask the Father to send them the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth to continue the work among them. And he knows that with the help of this Comforter, the disciples will continue to do the work of the Father that Jesus has started in their midst.
Knowing this, Jesus is able to say confidently from the cross, “It is finished” then bow his head and give up his spirit. It’s all part of the plan put in place before the beginning of the world.
The crucifixion scene in this gospel is told rather quickly, especially considering the amount of space in the text given to the days leading up to it. But we can be sure that in all the activity that was going on, Jesus had time to reflect on his life and the work that he had done.
Jesus made it clear throughout this gospel that he came to be light to the world. He told those who would listen that he came so that they would see the Father. He came to teach those who followed him and believed in him about the Father’s plans for them. He did all of this so that they would continue to teach this to others once he had left this world and returned to the Father.
And those who followed him and were his true disciples got it. Unlike the disciples in the other gospel stories, these disciples understood who Jesus was and what he was trying to teach them. Not everyone who initially followed Jesus did. Some found his teachings too hard and went away. Others feared that following him would get them kicked out of the synagogue and that scared them so they also stopped following Jesus.
But those who stayed with Jesus to the very end, they got it. They witnessed the miraculous signs that Jesus performed and knew that those signs all pointed to God, whom Jesus called Father. They heard the teachings of Jesus and knew that he was teaching them about God and God’s will for them as individuals and as a community.
They saw Jesus and knew that he was the Christ, the Messiah, the one they had been looking for. They really got it!
Knowing that, Jesus is able to go to the cross, triumphant in the face of what looks like huge adversity. He knows that it is all part of the plan. He has to die so that the Father can glorify him and bring him back to be with the Father. Only then will the Comforter be given to the disciples to teach them further about the truth.
“It is finished,” Jesus says, and then bows his head and gives up his spirit.
Because of Jesus’ actions on that cross the disciples were able to receive that Spirit that teaches God’s truth. Because of Jesus’ actions we are able to receive that same Spirit today. And through this Spirit, we, like the disciples before us, are able to see the signs Jesus performed and know that they point to God; we are able to hear Jesus’ teachings and know that they show us how to be people of God.
Jesus says, “It is finished” so that his followers would receive God’s Spirit. Jesus says, “It is finished” so that we can too. Jesus died that we might have life and have it abundantly.
As Jesus hangs on the cross, he knows that his time on earth is drawing to a close. But he also knows that his life will continue to have an affect on those who hear about him. He knows that all who truly believe in him as the Christ, the Messiah, the One sent from God, will continue to share with all those they meet. And in this way the work the Father has sent him to do will continue to be done.
Jesus says, “It is finished.” And we say, “Thank you Christ Jesus. For us the work has just begun.” Amen.
]]>
In the image of Godtag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4742009-04-01T00:00:16Z2009-04-01T00:02:10ZMark 1:35-39 Matthew 5”7-8 Genesis 1:27 Let us pray: Spirit of God, come and move among us now. Open our ears that we may hear your word for us today. Open our hearts so that we may be renewed for...Leslie
Spirit of God, come and move among us now. Open our ears that we may hear your word for us today. Open our hearts so that we may be renewed for the work that you are calling us to. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
“So God created human beings in God’s own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female God created them.”
Powerful words. Words that have held great meaning for human beings throughout the centuries. Words that speak to the awesome creative power of God. And, at the same time, words that set humanity apart from the rest of God’s good creation. These words bestow a special place upon the human race and with it a special responsibility.
But what do these words mean? As soon as these words were first uttered, human beings were left to figure out how to answer that question. What does it mean to be created in the image of God? What is it about us that reflects God’s image that isn’t present in anything else in all of creation? How are we, creatures and created beings, different than all that surrounds us? How do we reflect God’s image to the rest of God’s creation?
There has been no shortage of speculation around these questions since they first arose. And there are several favorite theories that seem to surface anytime this subject arises. I would like us to take a few minutes this evening to contemplate this very subject. This is one of those cases where we sure could use a little more clarity from our sacred Scriptures. If only there had been a line or two more added after this verse to give even a glimpse as to what this phrase “in the image of God” is really all about.
I invite us all now to take a minute of silence to think individually about how we would answer the question: What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Following our time of silence I will invite people to share as they feel comfortable.
[silence]
So? What do you think? What does it mean to you to be made in the image of God?
[get answers from people]
• capability to know right from wrong – our morality
• capability for higher knowledge – although some other creatures show this as well
• capability to develop a rich spiritual life – our souls
• dominion over the rest of creation – although some question what that really means
These are all great theories about what that phrase might possibly mean. But we really can’t say for sure if any of them are the right one. Or if there is only one right one.
But there is one thing we can say for sure is not the meaning of this phrase. We know that it is not our humanness, our form, that is the image of God. We know this because the New Testament witness tells us that Jesus humbled himself to become like us taking on human form. He had to give up some of his God-ness in order to take on some of our humanness – to be Emmanuel, God with us.
And we can push that point a little further. If our form is not what makes us created in the image of God, then neither is it about being a specific type of human – male or female, of one ethnic background or another, etc. Being created in God’s image applies to all humans. Across the board. No matter what.
So then, what is it about us that reflects the image of God? It must be some characteristic or combination of characteristics. But which one or ones remain a mystery. I’m afraid that this is one of those questions for which we will not have an answer on this side of the grave.
While Scripture doesn’t tell us clearly what it means that humans are created in the image of God, it does give us hints as to its meaning. I think today’s first beatitude is one place where we catch a glimpse of what it might mean to be made in the image of God. Jesus said:
“Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.”
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the adjective merciful always applies to God. It is a word used to describe God and God alone. It is seen as an outgrowth of God’s steadfast love – a very important characteristic of God for the Hebrew people.
Again and again in their stories the Hebrew people praise God for, remind God of, and call on God to make known God’s steadfast love. They, the people of the covenant, the ones God has chosen to call God’s own, have experienced ups and downs in their journey with God. From slavery in Egypt, to wandering in the desert, to dwelling in their own land, to being conquered and living in exile, they have been through a lot. They have experienced both close communion with God as well as a very real sense of God’s absence. And through it all they have continued to affirm that this God is the God of steadfast love.
They have known that love personally. They know that their ancestors knew that love personally. And they are confident that their offspring will know that love personally. They know this because of God’s merciful acts to them and their ancestors. God’s mercy makes known God’s steadfast love in very concrete ways.
Now here in the middle of the Beatitudes Jesus takes that characteristic that had only been applied to God and applies it to human beings. Jesus says that there are people who are merciful. And these people will be shown mercy. This is how we show the image of God in our own lives. As God is merciful to God’s creation, we are also to be merciful to God’s creation. And when we reflect God’s character by being merciful to others we will experience God’s steadfast love in our own lives.
So that’s what it means to be made in the image of God. Great. Glad we’ve settled that.
Oh. But, I guess I’m left wondering what does it mean to be merciful?
We have this word that seems so commonplace because we hear it all the time – especially in church. But I’m not so sure it’s all that clear. What is mercy? How does one go about being merciful?
Again, I’d like us to take a minute for quiet contemplation before we share with one another our thoughts on what mercy is. Have you experienced acts of mercy from others? Have you had opportunities to be or to act in merciful ways towards others? What does mercy look like?
Let’s take a moment of silence. [silence]
What does it mean to you to be merciful? Would anyone like to share?
[get comments from people]
Is it more than just doing kind things for people? Is there some specific kind of attitude that should accompany the acts that are done? How do we know if the acts that we are doing are really in line with the merciful acts that being images of God calls us to do? I believe that our next beatitude can help us here. Jesus says:
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.”
This idea of being “pure in heart” can be thought of as having harmony between our inward thoughts and our outward actions. It’s a matter of intention – that of wanting to do God’s will. When we do God’s will we will naturally be engaged in acts of mercy. And when we do this we are living up to our responsibility of being created in the image of God.
This beatitude is about having our inward focus so set on God and following God’s will for our lives that we can do no less than be merciful as God is merciful.
That sounds really hard, doesn’t it?! I mean, really!
How many times have you set off to do something with the best of intentions only to realize – maybe part of the way through it or possibly much later – that your actions aren’t actually glorifying God and maybe aren’t at all helpful? Reformed Theology says this is caused by our total depravity – our humanness gets in our way of reflecting the image of God. We try to do something good or something right but we lose our focus on God and we end up missing the mark.
Knowing how to discern God’s will and then how to follow it in our daily living takes lots of practice. And that practice will not be perfected until God comes and brings the new heavens and the new earth.
Ooof! That’s a bit disheartening, no?! To hear that for all the practicing we’re doing at following God’s will in our lives we will never arrive at mastering it until God’s realm has come? Hmmm. Might make us want to stop trying.
But God calls us to keep at it. Keep trying to find God’s will for our lives. Keep trying to reflect God’s image to the rest of God’s creation. Some days we will be closer to doing just that than others. And on the days when we are able to more fully live into the image of God that God has created us to be, then we will know God’s mercy in our own lives. On the days when we are able to find harmony between our inward focus on God’s will for our lives and our outward actions, then God’s presence will be real in our lives. And these days, whether they come often or maybe fewer and farther between, give us glimpses of what living in God’s new heavens and new earth will like.
God calls us to be disciples – striving to be like those Jesus describes as blessed in the Beatitudes. How will we answer God’s call?
I would like to leave you with a short poem by Ann Weems from her book Kneeling in Jerusalem. It is entitled, “The Disciples.” There are copies of it spread around the sanctuary. It reads:
Hurting, they came to him.
Healed, they followed him.
Grateful, they gave to him
what they had and what they were.
Blessed, they became a blessing
and went out to all the world
in his name.
Those who are hurt
and healed
grateful
and blessed
still move among us
in his name.
Let us pray: Amazing and creating God, you have made us in your image but we have to admit that we aren’t always sure what that means and probably more often than not, we aren’t very good reflections of you. Help us to be good disciples who are pure in heart so that we can be merciful as you are merciful to us. We pray in the name of your precious son, Jesus Christ. Amen.]]>
Are we there yet?tag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4692009-02-20T19:34:27Z2009-02-20T19:35:35ZIsaiah 65:17-25 This past Christmas, my family engaged in a tradition that we haven’t observed for a very long time: the holiday road trip. My two siblings and I met up at my parents’ house in Phoenix where we all...Leslie
Isaiah 65:17-25
This past Christmas, my family engaged in a tradition that we haven’t observed for a very long time: the holiday road trip. My two siblings and I met up at my parents’ house in Phoenix where we all piled into a van for a full day’s drive to Santa Fe, New Mexico. My brother and I were not so sure about this plan, but my father was very happy about the arrangement. And, in the end, it turned out to be a good trip.
On the first day of the holiday, after we had been on the road for a couple of hours, I yelled out from the back of the van, “Are we there yet?” I said it as a joke because I knew full well that we had many more hours of driving before we would even be close. But, in the spirit of reliving traditions, I figured that I, as the youngest, should be the one to start the chorus from the children of asking that often annoying question. With all the road trips that my family took when I was a child, I know I easily asked that question several thousand times.
“Are we there yet?” A question favored by children the world over, I’m sure. And, really, the length of the trip has no bearing on whether the question will be asked or not. This is a question often posed when the one inquiring knows that the answer will be “No.” It is a question that often is posed to express displeasure with not being at the destination yet. It is a question that, depending on the tone in which it is asked, can signal great hope, impatience, or even resignation.
“Are we there yet?”
This question immediately sprung to my mind when I read our Scripture passage for today. I read the opening words, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…” and I wanted to yell from the back seat to the driver, God, to ask “Are we there yet?” And, in all honesty, when the question came to my mind it brought with it all of those emotions: hope, impatience, and resignation.
Can one read those words, “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…,” and not be filled with an overwhelming sense of hope? I can’t. God, through the words of the prophet, is promising God’s people a brand new future. A future so good that it will block out any memory of the past. And that had to be good new to the original hearers of these words.
These were people who had been conquered, uprooted, moved around, and finally sent back to their homeland. The promise of good things to come must have been a welcomed balm to their wounded souls. According to the prophet, soon these people would no longer remember their deep sense of rejection by God and God’s very palpable absence during the long years of exile from the land God had given them. To be claimed once again as God’s people whom God would call “a delight” must have seemed too good to be true.
God’s words continue to reach out to us today offering a healing balm for our wounded souls. The words call out to us offering us hope for the future. They tell us that the way things are is not the way things will always be. And in these unsettled times – when more and more people are being laid off, when yet another family is pushed out of its home, when there doesn’t seem to be a way forward through this whole mess – these are welcomed words indeed.
But while they are words that bring deep hope, they are also words that bring impatience. God, through the prophet, says, “I am about to….” “I am about to….” A phrase that’s used to show an action on the cusp of beginning. Like someone standing next to you at a table set for dinner holding a pot of steaming garlic mashed potatoes with a serving spoon poised to dig in who says, “I am about to give you a large serving of these yummy potatoes.” Everything is set and ready for that to happen, but it hasn’t happened yet. Your plate is still empty. Your fork has nothing to dive into yet. You are left waiting.
The prophet tells the people that God is about to do this wonderful thing, but, hold on, it hasn’t happened yet! The prophet offers this wonderfully idyllic picture of what is to come – long life; good, secure shelter; plentiful food; dignity for every human and creature – and by giving that description points out that this is not yet the reality in which they are living. The people listening are not yet free of working for another. They are not yet free from worrying about shelter and food for themselves and their family. They are not yet able to enjoy the fruits of their own labor.
The picture of how life will be must have the people chomping at the bit. It sounds so good, they must want it to be a reality already. Their mouths must be watering like ours as we sit waiting for the serving of mashed potatoes, envisioning how it will taste and feel to finally have what has been promised.
And this is where the emotion of resignation comes in. If God is saying that these things are about to happen, then why doesn’t God just get on with it and make it so. I can imagine that the Israelite people, having been through hundreds of years of unrest and upheaval have little patience left for waiting on God’s time. Sure, they are back in their homeland, but now the truly hard work is just beginning. Now they have to figure out how to live with those who never went away – those left in the land when the conquering armies came through. They have to figure out how to reunite as one people and live once again as God’s chosen people. That seems more like a lot of hard work that will probably get ugly at times than a bright, shiny new future.
And if resignation was a real possibility for the original hearers of this promise, how much more so for us hearing these words over two thousand five hundred years later?! As far as I can tell, the wholesale change God promised hasn’t become a reality yet. Realizing this makes me want to join my voice with those throughout history, including the many great examples from the Scriptures (like Moses), who have called God to task and reminded God of God’s own words and promises.
The opening words from our passage, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…” make me want to cry out to God, “Then why haven’t you? What’s holding you up? Come on, God, fulfill your promise already. Why aren’t we there yet?!” It certainly feels like God is taking all the back roads to get to this destination instead of taking the much more direct, and therefore quicker, freeway.
But as I cry out, I hear a voice asking back, “Why do you put up roadblocks?”
Oh. Huh. Well. Uh. Good question.
This is a question we need to ask ourselves. This is a question we need to ask our leaders. This is a question we need to ask powerful people around the globe. “Why are we putting up roadblocks to God?”
God has called us to be co-creators of the new heavens and new earth. But so many times we throw up roadblocks and resist the ways that God is trying to work in and through us. We have given in to the feeling of resignation that nothing is ever really going to change. And this has led us to live in ways that ensure that nothing ever will.
Can we let go of that resignation? It’s so comforting to hang onto. By hanging on, we don’t have to change anything. And, Lord knows, we really don’t want to have to change. But change we must if we are to be useful to God in the creation of the new heavens and new earth.
We all need to let go of the resignation. Let go of believing in the self-fulfilling prophecy that nothing will ever change. And, in so doing, we will open ourselves to be used by our God, creator of all that is and all that will be.
Let us believe the hope of these words from Isaiah and ask God, “Are we there yet?” knowing that the answer is “No” but expecting God to add, “but we will be soon.”
Amen.
Vocational Pearl Course Syllabustag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4662009-02-03T23:49:16Z2009-02-04T00:00:59ZVocational Formation Pearl (FT 1070) Spring 2009 Tuesdays 9 – 10 am Scott 202-203 Instructor: The Rev. Leslie Veen Montgomery 204 415.451.2834 lveen@sfts.edu Course Description This is a required course for students in the M.Div program at SFTS. It offers...Leslie
Course Description
This is a required course for students in the M.Div program at SFTS. It offers students the opportunity to take a deeper look into ministry settings and the students’ sense of call to ordained ministry. This course presupposes an understanding of Christian ministry which is Reformed and ecumenical. We will look at particular models of ministry in the Bay Area in dialogue with the texts and readings introduced in the course. The course will make use of a variety of learning activities and styles of interaction, including lectures, small groups, and guest presentations. The focus of the course papers is the student’s own sense of vocation in conversation with the pastoral and prophetic challenges of Christian ministry today.
Learning Goals
1. Develop a critical understanding of vocation by
a. exploring the historical understanding of vocation, and
b. reflecting on personal narratives of vocational calls by people in various ministry settings in the Bay Area.
2. Identify the experiential events in their own lives that contrast and collaborate with Christian vocation by
a. exploring the various purposes for vocation, and
b. identifying and articulating how and where these purposes intersect with the student’s own sense of call.
These will be demonstrated through papers presentations made in the course as well as through small group discussions.
Required Texts
1. Farnham, Suzanne G., Joseph P. Gill, R.Taylor McLean, and Susan M. Ward. Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community. Morehouse Publishing: Harrisburg, PA, 1991.
2. Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak. Jossey-Bass Inc.: San Francisco, 2000.
3. Zaragoza, Edward C. No Longer Servants, but Friends: A Theology of Ordained Ministry. Abingdon Press: Nashville, TN, 1999.
4. Course reader
5. One of the following:
a. Lamott, Anne. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. New York : Anchor Books, 2000.
b. Norris, Kathleen. The Cloister Walk. New York : Riverhead Books, 1996.
c. Robinson, Marilynne. Gilead. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.
Course Requirements
1. Prepare for and participate in all class sessions and small group discussions.
2. Weekly Note Card – Bring to each class a 4 x 6 card on which you respond to a portion of that day’s reading. You can present either a question that the reading spurs in your mind, a comment about the meaning of the content, or a comment about your subjective experience of the reading.
3. Five (5) Models of Ministry (MOM) reflection papers
a. 1/2 – 1 page each – 12 pt. type, double spaced
b. Due the class period following each visit of a minister from the Bay Area
c. Reflect on the ministry of the person and how it helps you to define more clearly your own sense of call to ministry.
4. Three (3) Reflection Papers
a. 3 March: Vocation and my sense of call
i. 2-3 page – 12 pt. type, double spaced
ii. Define vocation as you understand it drawing on the course readings and other sources as appropriate.
iii. What is your own sense of call and vocation at this period in your life?
b. 31 March: The narrative of another
i. 2-3 pages – 12 pt. type, double spaced
ii. Reflect on the novel you choose to read: How does that author talk about vocation or a sense of call?
iii. How does this narrative help you to clarify your won sense of call?
c. 12 May: Theology of vocation
i. 3-5 pages – 12 pt. type, double spaced
ii. Articulate your theology of ministry by reflecting on and integrating your faith, life, theological education, and vocational calling.
iii. What model of ministry is most useful to you as you think about your own calling? Servant? Friend? Another?
iv. Make a 3-5 minute presentation to the class outlining your theology of vocation and the model that you are using.
Course Schedule
3 February Introduction to the course
10 February Defining “Vocation”
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Bonhoeffer
- Buechner
- Frost
- Malcolm X
- Stotts
- H. Richard Niebuhr
- Clayton
- Rilke
- PC(USA) information
17 February Learning to Listen – Part I
Assignment:
- Palmer, Let Your Life Speak
- Selections from Course Reader from Rilke and Rumi
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Cather
- Hillman
- Articles from “In Trust”
- Rilke
- Rumi
Paper #1 due
* Rev. Joanne Whitt, Pastor/Head of Staff, First Presbyterian Church, San Anselmo
10 March MOM: The Small Church Pastor
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Neafsey chapters 1 + 2
- T. S. Eliot
- Rumi
MOM Paper #1 due
* Rev. Amy Seymour Haney, Pastor, Windsor Presbyterian Church, Windsor
17 March MOM: The Tent-maker
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Neafsey - remainder
- T. S. Eliot
MOM Paper #2 due
* Rev. Susan Ashton, Pastor/Minister of Coffee, Ocean Ave PC + Peets, San Francisco
24 March Reading Week
31 March MOM: Learning from novels
Assignment: One of the assigned novels – Lamott, Norris, or Robinson
MOM Paper #3 due
Paper #2 due
7 April MOM: The Chaplain
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Dawn
- Sarton
- Oliver
* Rev. Carrie Buckner, Chaplain, Alta Bates Medical Center, Berkeley
14 April MOM: The Community Position
Assignment:
- Farnham, et al, Listening Hearts
- Selections from Course Reader from Rumi and Frost
MOM Paper #4 due
* Rev. Megan Rohrer, Director, The Welcome Ministry, San Francisco
21 April Discernment: Hearing God’s Call
Assignment:
- Farnham, et al, Listening Hearts
- Selections from Course Reader from Frost
MOM Paper #5 due
28 April Theology of Ministry – Part I
Assignment: Zaragoza, No Longer Servants But Friends chapters 1 - 3
5 May Theology of Ministry – Part II
Assignment: Zaragoza, No Longer Servants But Friends chapters 4 - 5
12 May Theology of Vocation – Part III
Paper #3 and Class Presentation due
]]>
Go ahead, make a fool of yourself!tag:www.leslieveen.com,2009:/sermons//3.4622009-01-29T05:07:46Z2009-01-29T05:08:44ZScripture texts: Psalm 145 + Colossians 3:15-17 What are you doing here? No, seriously. Why are you here? What motivates you to get out on a dark, wet evening to make your way across town to a area that has...Leslie
Scripture texts: Psalm 145 + Colossians 3:15-17
What are you doing here? No, seriously. Why are you here? What motivates you to get out on a dark, wet evening to make your way across town to a area that has very little parking? Why do you attend worship services? Does anyone care to share?
[get reactions from the congregation]
Creating connections with others who are on this same journey. Joining with a group in singing songs and saying prayers. Being a part of a group of people who can hold us accountable in our faith journey. Giving thanks to God for all that God has done for us. Hearing God's Word read and discussed. Being filled by the Spirit and therefore renewed for a new week. These are some of the many, varied responses people have when asked similar questions.
There are lots of reasons to come to church for worship. And I bet many, if not most, of the reasons lifted up here apply to those of us sitting here right now. For many people, the weekly worship service is a key way to connect with and nurture faith in God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all of creation.
The Hebrew Scriptures show that gathering together to worship God was a pivotal part of the life of the Hebrew community. It brought everyone together and bonded them as a community in ways no other activity could. By singing hymns like Psalm 145 that we read together earlier and reciting the stories of how God had been active in history to establish and maintain a covenant with their ancestors, the people reaffirmed again and again that God was doing the same for them. God, the creator of all that is, chose to reach out to creation to establish a covenant - a relationship - with it.
Paul reminds the Colossians that that same covenant was still a reality for them as well. And he calls the community of Christians there to gather in worship to teach and admonish one another as well as to sing to God with gratitude. This act of coming together would make Christ's peace real among the people there - something the Colossian Christian community was in desperate need of.
There was a lot of discord among the people in this community. False teachers had come in and had sown the seeds of distrust among them. And as a result there was a lot of infighting going on. Paul wanted to remind them that they were all one as Christians because they had all been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul knew that the power of singing, praying, and hearing God's Word together is amazing. It's pretty hard to remain angry with someone when you have joined together with them, really joined with them, in these activities. Paul knew that singing hymns or songs, praying, and hearing Scripture would remind the Colossian Christians that it was God who should be the center of their attention. It was God who created them. It was God who loved and cared for them. And God loves each and every part of creation equally. God doesn't play favorites.
The Christians there needed to refocus their attention on God. They had gotten so mired in the internal struggles that they had forgotten what it all was for - to gratefully acknowledge that all they were and all they had was a gift from God through Christ Jesus. So Paul calls them to communal worship knowing that that would be the best way to help them regain this focus.
What was true for the Hebrew people as well as what was true for the Colossian Christians is also true for us today.
God created us and reached out to us to establish a covenant with us. And this covenant is not simply between individuals and God, it continues to be a covenant made with a community of people. God created us to be in relationship - relationship with God but also relationship with others.
And so, we gather as the Hebrew and Colossian people did to sing hymns and songs of praise to God, to offer prayers of thanksgiving, petition, and lament, to hear God's Word for us and to be bonded together as God's people so that we can do God's work in this world.
But many would argue that that understanding of worship is too inwardly focused. These people argue that this understanding of worship is more like maintaining a club. For such people the idea of spending so much time, energy, and money on buildings, pastoral leaders, and all the things that go into the life of a church, is counter to what Christ called his disciples to do - to go and make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is a renewed interest in what is being called "the Missional Church." This movement seeks to reaffirm our calling as Christ's disciples to go out from our buildings and our safe communities of worship to do God's work in the world.
What would you say to someone who makes these arguments? Do you agree that too much time, energy, and money is being spent on maintaining the institution of church rather than going out and being the church in mission in the world? Would anyone like to offer some thoughts?
[get feedback from the congregation]
For many there is a very real dichotomy between worship and mission. But is that really the case? I would argue that no, it is not the case. I would agree with Fredrich Buechner, a modern day preacher and theologian, who understands worship as service to God that happens both in worship services and in mission.
Buechner explains that, as he understands it, worship services are us doing things for God that we need to do - like singing songs for God, creating beautiful things for God, giving things up for God, telling God what's on our minds and in our hearts. Conversely, mission is doing things for God that God needs done. Things like running errands for God, carrying messages for God, fighting on God's side, feeding God's lambs, and so on. In this understanding of worship - the stuff that often gets labeled as "too clubish" is part of the same coin with the mission work. It all goes together.
As one writer recently put it, "for Christians and congregations to live as God's people and be Christ's body in the world, they need a vision for their mission and a plan for implementing it, as well as participation, commitment, and even a willingness to sacrifice. ...In worship, God inspires and empowers a congregation to do the things it needs to do."
According to the Book of Common Worship, a resource used by many worship leaders in the Reformed Tradition (and especially in the Presbyterian flavor of that):
All that the church is and does is rooted in its worship. The community of faith, gathered in response to God's call, is formed in its worship. Worship is the principal influence that shapes our faith, and it is the most visible way we express the faith.
Worship - both in the worship service as well as in acts of service out in the world - is an important means for building up and nurturing the communal covenant to which we have been invited. A covenant is a relationship. And for any relationship to survive, let alone thrive, there has to be communication between the parties involved.
In our services of worship, we respond to God's call by offering back songs of praise, prayers, and offerings of money, time, and talents. God offers us God's Word and presence, especially through the Sacraments, to fill us and send us out into the world for service. It's a give and take on both side - like any good relationship is. There is time for listening and time for speaking by both parties.
Relationships take work. They don't just naturally happen. But if it's a relationship that matters wouldn't you do just about anything to make sure that it gets nurtured and fed?
Again, Fredrick Buechner has some thoughts on this. He encourages us to make fools of ourselves for God "the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love. ... Unless there is an element of joy and foolishness in the proceedings [of worship services], the time would be better spent doing something useful."
When I read this I immediately thought of the TV program from the early "aughts" called "Ed." Did any of you watch that show? Well, I did and I enjoyed it. I'll just own that! Anyway. Ed spent much time and effort trying to woo a teacher at the high school in the little town where he had grown up and had recently moved back to. One such escapade in wooing really sticks with me. I wanted to share the video with you because it's way better than trying to describe it to you. But the internets failed me! I know, hard to believe. I searched for nearly an hour to no avail. If it's out there, it did not want to be found by me!
So let me sum up the scene this way. Ed wants to be the teacher Carol's knight in shining armor. So he puts on an actual suit of shining armor, buys a bouquet of flowers and walks into her room at the high school while she is teaching. Once there, he proclaims his love for her. You can imagine how difficult it was for Ed to walk in a full suit of armor. It was not as gallant as Ed had hoped. And, I'm sure you can imagine the embarrassment that Carol felt at having this display of affection occur in front of her students.
Ed's attempts at wooing Carol that day were unsuccessful. But that did not sway him from trying again later. Ed was not afraid to make a fool of himself for the one he loved. Again and again. Eventually, because this was TV, he won Carol's heart and they got married. I know. Aw.
What are we willing to do to show God that we love God and want to accept the offer of covenantal relationship? Where is our joy and foolishness in worship and service to God? I think MBCC actually does this pretty well. More so than many churches I have been in. But there is always room for improvement. God gives freely of God's self to us. Let us give freely of ourselves to God and neighbor with much joy and thanksgiving.
God calls us beloved. Are we willing to accept that name and in return join with others in service and worship of this abundantly loving God? May we answer with an enthusiastic, "Yes!" And let us not shy away from being holy fools for God.
The Word Made Flesh: PEACEtag:www.leslieveen.com,2008:/sermons//3.4532008-12-08T04:43:13Z2008-12-08T04:45:17ZText: Isaiah 40:1-11 Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. These are words given to each Sunday of Advent. They are, therefore, themes that are often explored during Advent. And, following suit, they are the themes that we are exploring together through our...Leslie
Text: Isaiah 40:1-11
Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. These are words given to each Sunday of Advent. They are, therefore, themes that are often explored during Advent. And, following suit, they are the themes that we are exploring together through our sermon series for this Advent season.
Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. These are small words with big meanings. They are words that get thrown around a lot in lofty rhetoric and in motivational speaking because they are positive words that are open-ended allowing the listeners to fill in meaning for themselves.
But what do these words really mean? Because they are small words pointing to big ideas, it’s hard to know exactly what they mean. They are more concepts than concrete ideas. They are rather fuzzy around the edges making it hard to pin them down.
Today we are going to try to do exactly that, at least somewhat, with the word peace. And we’re not going to stop there. We’re also going to explore a companion word given to us by our Scripture reading: comfort.
Let’s do a bit of group work on defining these two terms. Maybe by working together we’ll have more success at coming to some understanding of what these fuzzy words mean. Let’s deal first with the term “Peace.” How would you define it? What exactly is it? What makes up peace? What makes it exist for people?
[get comments from congregation]
According to Dictionary.com peace is:
1. the normal, non-warring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world
2. an agreement or treaty between warring or antagonistic nations, groups, etc. to end hostilities and abstain from further fighting
3. a state of mutual harmony
4. freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.
5. a state of tranquility or serenity
Often when we think of peace we think of it as the absence of war. But if we look at these definitions, it is so much more than that. The first three definitions here deal mainly in the realm of the absence of war or conflict. But look at the last two. Those both deal with inner peace. Something that is definitely made harder for people who are involved in wars but something that is not necessarily connected to war.
Those last two definitions can seem like a luxury to many who are struggling to meet the demands of living every day. Struggles like finding meaningful work, or keeping that work in these tough economic times. Or struggles like paying for the rising cost of health care and education. Or struggles like trying to save for the future while also providing for the costs of today.
When people are so preoccupied with these types of struggles, they often are far from the freedom of mind from annoyance, distraction, and anxiety. And, I’d say it’s fair to guess that when people are in the midst of such struggles they are not experiencing a sense of tranquility or serenity.
So, from our definitions, we see that peace is both external and internal. And while people have been able to find ways of having inner peace in the midst of situations that are anything but peaceful, I believe that both external and internal peace are needed to have the real peace – the shalom – that God wants for all of creation. And, I would also argue that external peace isn’t truly possible until inner peace is real for all parties involved.
Okay. Now let’s look at the term “comfort.” It is the opening word in our text for today. It is a command given twice by God who is looking out for God’s people. How would you define comfort? As we see from our passage for today it can be used as a verb. But can also be used as a noun. What actions constitute comfort? What do we do to comfort others? And what is comfort? What does it feel like? What makes us feel comforted or comfortable?
[get comments from the congregation]
Again drawing on Dictionary.com, comfort as a verb is described as:
1. to soothe, console, or reassure; to bring cheer to
2. to make physically comfortable
As a noun, comfort can mean:
1. relief in affliction; consolation, solace
2. feeling of relief or consolation
3. a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants with freedom from pain
These are mainly actions that one party does to or for another party. Or something that one gets from something external. Do you see overlap between a person having or feeling peace and the action of being or giving comfort? Have you experienced comforting from someone or something else that has given you a sense of peace? Can you think of a time when you were comforted? What was done or said to comfort you? Or was it just someone’s presence that gave you comfort?
[get comments from congregation]
It is entirely possible for people to experience peace without having been comforted by someone or something else. But peace is often brought about by an act of comforting. Some word or sound can still inner turmoil and leave a person free from annoyance, distraction, and anxiety.
For me, one of my favorite things to do when I am feeling anxious is to go and walk or run on the beach. Looking out over the seemingly unending expanse of the water and hearing the powerful crashing of waves reminds me that God is at work in this world although I may not be able to see how. I am reassured by this activity that God, who created the world in the beginning, continues to create it now. And will not quit creating it until the new heaven and the new earth have come and we are living with God for eternity. Being at the beach reminds me that God, who is so much bigger than anything I can imagine, is at work righting the wrongs of this life and working towards a day when all will live in true peace and harmony.
I will add this shell to our Advent Candle table to help us remember that our God is that God who creates and who rights injustices.
We see from our Scripture passage for today that that was something that the Israelite people needed to be reminded of as well. They were struggling to understand how they were still God’s people when Jerusalem, God’s holy city, had been destroyed and they had been scattered throughout the Babylonian empire. They were left wondering if there was any source of comfort left for a people stripped of self-defense, vulnerable before their captors, and left bitter as they mourned in a foreign land.
So God sent a prophet to give the people words of comfort. Words that reminded them that God is at work in the world to right the injustices and bring shalom – a deep and abiding peace – to all of creation.
Listen again to the words in verses 3 and 4 that brought that comfort to the people.
[read verses 3 and 4]
The way for the people had gotten all off course. Difficulties of all sorts had gotten in their way of being God’s people. They were scattered throughout the Babylonian kingdom and they were suffering oppression as servants and slaves. The way seemed anything but straight or smooth. And it seemed that God was no where to be seen.
But these words from the prophet tell the people that God is coming and the way will be straightened back out and things will be put right once again. No mountain would be too big for God to overcome. No valley too deep for God to climb out of. Not even rough or rugged ground would hold God back.
The prophet was telling the people these things because they were beginning to lose their faith in the God of Abraham , Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their ancestors. In the chaos of their new living situation, they were slipping into cynicism and despair, believing that life was driven by arbitrary forces rather than by a loving God who remains true to a universal plan of justice.
God, speaking through the prophet, counters those beliefs. God reminds the people that God works in and through human history. God cares. God does not abandon God’s own beloved creation. And with these words, God invites all who hear to join in the restoration of the world to a realm of universal justice and shalom.
It is God who brings about peace and justice for all of creation, but we are called, as the Israelite people also were called, to be co-creators with God in that restorative work of justice. Our call comes in verse 9. Listen to it again.
[read verse 9]
God wants deep and abiding peace for all of creation. And we are to shout that from the mountain tops. These are comforting words. But they need to more than just words. For this deep external and internal peace to exist, there must be justice in this world. And that does not come easily. If it did, we wouldn’t have the problems that we do today. Nor would the world have had the problems it has had throughout its history.
I was recently pointed to an excellent article by the Christian philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff entitled “How Social Justice Got to Me and Why It Never Left.” In it, Wolterstorff gets to the heart of why struggles continue to arise around the globe. He says:
"… each party has a narrative that it tells, and in that narrative, each party is always the righteous victim, never the victimizer. Each party first downplays the violence that it has perpetrated, and then insists that such modest violence as it has perpetrated was nothing more than just recompence for an injustice done to it. Each party responds justly to breaches of primary justice but never itself perpetrates any such breaches…. I have come to believe [says Wolterstorff] that, in cases of conflict, until the narratives begin to converge, until each party admits that it has wronged the other and not just administered appropriate retributive punishment, there can be no peace."
It’s always easier to point the finger at another, to point out their faults and their violent acts, than to point the finger at ourselves. But that is not how we reach true peace with one another. That is not how we find true peace for ourselves. We have to come together and understand each other’s pain and how we have contributed to it before real peace can be attained.
God calls us to be co-creators in bringing peace to God’s world. God commands us to bring comfort to God’s people. How will we respond?
I’d like to mix things up a bit in the service tonight. I want to incorporate our prayers of the people in the sermon time. I have placed slips of paper around the sanctuary on which I encourage you to write down prayer requests that you hear lifted up. I encourage you to then take this paper with you and keep it close during the week. Re-read it often. Remember these requests and the person making it, and lift them both to God asking God hold them and care for them.
I will be leading us in a bidding prayer. I will start at the global level and gradually narrow the focus until we are offering prayers for ourselves. Please call out names or places or tell of situations that you would like us to hold in prayer during this week. This will be an eyes wide open prayer so that we can see one another and see the paper on which we write the petitions.
Let us pray. God we have gathered here today and have heard your words of comfort and peace from the prophet Isaiah. We have heard your invitation to join you in being co-creators of this peace. And so, we lift to you now names of people and places that are in need of your love and your comfort and those who have joys that we offer to you in gratitude.
First, God, we are aware of places in this world that are in deep need of your love and peace. We pray for them now….
And we also bring you prayers for our nation…
Please hear our prayers of concern for our state of California…
And we lift to you the concerns that we have for the Bay Area…
We also pray for the neighborhoods where we live…
And we lift to you the joys and concerns of our family and friends…
And finally, God, we offer prayers of joy and concern for ourselves…
All these prayers we lift to you, O God, creator, comforter, and sustainer of all of creation, knowing that you hear us when we pray. For that we are truly grateful. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught his disciples to pray saying...
Lord’s Prayer
Don't be such a goat!tag:www.leslieveen.com,2008:/sermons//3.4492008-11-24T17:52:17Z2008-11-24T17:55:02ZTexts: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Matthew 25:31-46 When I read the texts for today I started laughing out loud. You may think that is a strange reaction to have when reading scripture, but let me explain. As I read, this song...Leslie
Texts:
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Matthew 25:31-46
When I read the texts for today I started laughing out loud. You may think that is a strange reaction to have when reading scripture, but let me explain. As I read, this song popped into my head.
[play Cake "Sheep Go To Heaven" chorus]
Now, wouldn't you laugh too if that happened to you?! The first time I heard that song I was really confused. I couldn't figure out why anyone would write a song with those lyrics. And then I came across the Matthew text for today and it clicked. Cake didn't write the lyrics, they were just quoting Jesus!
But why was Jesus talking about sheep and goats? And why, five hundred years earlier, did Ezekiel choose to do the same when prophesying to the exiled Israelites in Babylon? What is it about sheep and goats that appealed to both Jesus and Ezekiel?
Let's explore that imagery a bit together. Okay city-dwellers, what do you think of when you think of sheep and goats? Are they different in your mind or are they pretty much the same thing? Have you had any interactions with either sheep or goats?
[get reactions from the congregation]
A quick glance at Wikipedia gives the following information on sheep and goats:
Sheep:
- have a natural inclination to follow a leader and that leader will most often simply be the one sheep who started moving first
- have a tendency to congregate close to other members of the flock
- primary defense mechanism is simply to flee in the face of danger
- but if they are cornered they will either charge or threaten to charge
- are frequently thought of as unintelligent, although that is not really the case
o long-term facial recognition
o able to differentiate emotional states through facial characteristics
o have problem-solving capabilities
For the most part, these characteristics have taken on a more negative connotation throughout the years. Calling someone a sheep tends to not be a very flattering thing. Especially in the American culture that so highly values individualism and the whole myth of pulling oneself up by one's boot straps. Being a follower or sticking with a group is just not something we value.
And then there are goats. According to Wikipedia...
Goats:
- are extremely curious and intelligent
- are easily housebroken
- can be trained - especially to pull carts or walk on leads
- are known for escaping their pens
o they will test a fence until they find a weakness that can be exploited
- are very coordinated and can climb and hold their balance in the most precarious places
- can climb trees when they have even a slight angle to them
These are all characteristics that are highly valued in our culture. These are the characteristics of a maverick - a term that used to be a positive thing until it got beaten into the ground during the just completed election cycle. Goats seem to be everything that sheep are not - individualistic, self-sufficient, real go-getters (to the point of even climbing trees!).
So what's so bad about goats then? Why did Ezekiel and Jesus call people on being like goats and condemn them for that? Let's take a closer look at the situation each was facing.
The passage from the book of Ezekiel for today gives us just a piece from two separate but related exhortations from the prophet. First Ezekiel speaks God's words to the Israelite leaders. Then he turns and addresses the Israelite people in general.
For Ezekiel, the fall of Israel into captivity to Babylon is the result of the poor leadership skills of those whom God chose to lead the nation. Because the leaders did not keep God's commandments, they now find themselves in exile and the Israelite community is split in two - those taken away in exile and those left behind in their land. In Ezekiel's reading of the situation, the leaders were like goats looking out for their own interests ignoring the fact that the Israelite people were like sheep following them down the wrong path away from God's commandments. The leaders had failed the people and in so doing had failed God who chose them to be the leaders.
After rebuking the leaders for this failure, Ezekiel then turns his attention to the Israelite people in general. They too have taken on goat-like characteristics. They have stopped caring for one another as members of the same flock and have taken to looking out only for themselves. They are exploiting the situation for their own gain with the strong oppressing the weak, and the rich exploiting the poor. They are relying on their own intelligence to get ahead instead of relying on God and following God's commandments to love God and to love their neighbors. By acting in this way, the people have also failed God and have rightly brought God's judgment upon themselves.
In both cases, God's words to those being addressed show that God is saddened by the necessity to step in and do what God had asked the people to do on their own. God had chosen leaders and expected them to guide and watch out for the best interests of the people as a whole. But this did not happen and now the people were scattered - in their land, in Babylon, and beyond - and hurting. So God, through Ezekiel, tells the people that God will step in to make things right. God will gather the scattered people back together. God will heal the wounds that have been inflicted on them. And God will judge those who let this happen.
But God will not just judge those charged with leading the nation, God will also judge all those who acted in selfish ways - exploiting their weak and poor neighbors. This is not how God had commanded the people to act towards one another. In fact, it is the complete opposite. So God is being forced to come in and rectify the situation personally.
Some five hundred years later, Jesus finds himself in a very similar situation to that of Ezekiel. In Jesus' understanding of the situation in which he lives, the religious leaders - those God chose to lead the people - are taking God's people down the path of legalism and hyper-focus on following the rules. In this way of living, there is no room for allowances made on the basis of acting out of love for God or love for one's neighbor. The people have devolved into watching out for their own concerns and their own purity. And in so doing they have lost sight of what really matters to the God that they are so diligently trying to serve - that is, wholeness and healing for all of God's creation.
Jesus' description of the Son of Man coming in his glory to judge all people is the final piece of a long discourse on the end times. Through this series of stories, Jesus wants to wake people up and shake them out of their self-imposed stupor. He wants them to understand that the way they act in this life will affect their life throughout eternity. How they act now has long-lasting consequences.
To make his point, Jesus draws on a well-worn image: sheep and goats. Those hearing this story would have echoes of the passage about sheep that we just looked at from the prophet Ezekiel, as well as many others from the Scriptures, ringing in their ears as they listened. They probably were identifying themselves with the sheep and feeling pretty secure in that feeling. They were, after all, keeping God's commandments and then some! Not keeping commandments is what had gotten their ancestors into trouble in the past.
But Jesus calls them up quick. "Not so fast," he seems to be saying. Just because they have been following the law, doesn't mean that they are in the sheep category. It take more than following the letter of the law to make it into heaven. It takes feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, inviting a stranger into one's home, giving clothes to those who need them, caring for the sick and visiting those in prison.
These are actions that many of the people are not in the habit of doing because by doing such acts, they would be interacting with people often deemed to be unclean. And bpy interacting with such people, they themselves would then be considered unclean until they performed the ritual to become clean again. That is what following the letter of the law had brought them to. It got in the way of them being able to see people as children of God and being able to step in and help when needed.
But some of the people are doing these acts even without realizing it. These people are the sheep that Jesus says will inherit the kingdom God created at the beginning of the world. For these people, feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, caring for the sick and imprisoned are actions that come naturally to them. These actions are like second nature to these "righteous" people. And this is how Jesus wishes it would be for all of the people listening to him.
Now, I won't ask you to answer this question out loud, but I want us to take a minute to think about ways in which we all have acted like goats. How have we turned from loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. And how have we not loved our neighbor as ourselves. Where in our daily lives have we been more concerned for our own well-being than for that of our neighbor? How have our actions diminished the strength of the communities in which we live? [brief pause]
These are not things that we, meaning all humans, like to think about. And these are things that especially we West Coast Americans don't like to think about. That whole idea of sin and being sinful people is a hard one for us. We like to dwell more on the positive - on the ways that God has created us good and enables us to do good in this world.
But I would argue that we can't really be good conduits of God's love in and to this world until we stop to acknowledge that we often act in very goat-like ways - ways that actually get in the way of being who God calls us to be. It's not that those goat qualities are bad in and of themselves. It's just that when we start acting like goats, it's oh-too-easy to bump God right out the picture and put ourselves at the center. When we let our goat qualities take over, we end up feeling like we are able or have to do everything for ourselves and we forget that we need to rely on God.
So how can we be more sheep-like? What are things that we can do to help us remember to focus on God and see God in those around us? Any suggestions or ideas?
[get responses from congregation]
I think the first step to being more sheep-like is learning to see the holy in the ordinary. And we have to begin with seeing it in ourselves. One of my favorite poems is by the poet Ann Weems ( a Presbyterian Christian writer). The poem is called "God's Holy People" and it comes from the collection Searching for Shalom. I've placed copies of it around the sanctuary for you to take with you if you would like. Here's what the poem says:
Here we are, you and I,
called to be God's Holy People.
You say you're not the holy type,
but I'm not talking about holier-than-thou.
I'm not talking about religious ritual,
and the last thing I mean is self-righteousness!
Jesus chastised the self-righteous,
the ones who spent their days doing religious things,
the ones who spent so much time in religious ritual
that they didn't have time for tenderheartedness.
I'm not talking about them;
I'm talking about us.
I'm talking about paying attention
to the things Jesus taught people,
ordinary people, people like you, people like me.
Look at the disciples: ordinary people
called to follow,
called to be God's Holy People,
called to live in this world with tender hearts.
Live holy lives... impossible?
Is anything impossible to God?
That old woman Sarah thought it impossible
to have a child...
The lepers thought it impossible
to be healed...
The disciples thought it impossible
to feed five thousand with two loaves and
five fishes...
Mary and Martha thought it impossible
that their brother Lazarus was alive...
The lame thought it impossible to walk...
The blind thought it impossible to see...
Here we are, ordinary people,
called to be the Holy People of God.
If you have eyes to see and ears to hear,
see and hear God's holiness in your life.
We have to begin with ourselves. Not in a selfish way. Not in an egocentric way. But unless and until we truly see ourselves as God's chosen people, the blessed children of God, there is no way to see others as holy, chosen, and blessed children of God either. The Great Commandment says love God and love your neighbor as yourself. The catch is, we have to love ourselves first in order to follow that commandment. Looking out for #1 is not loving oneself. Hoarding stuff and making sure that we are covered is not loving oneself either. Understanding that we are beloved children of God for whom God wants to provide is.
Once we have truly grasped and understood this about ourselves, then we will be freed to turn our gaze outward to see others around us who are in need. When we understand that God loves us and wants to care for us, then it frees us from having to worry about that. It allows us to stop putting all of our effort into making sure that we have enough for ourselves. And it enables us to turn those efforts outward to the hungry, thirsty, and hurting all around us.
So stop being such a goat! Stop thinking that you and you alone are looking out for your best interests. Stop thinking that you have to provide everything that you need. Learn to trust that God will provide - through family, or friends, or maybe even complete strangers. And then, relying on that trust, do the same for others.
Ch-ch-changestag:www.leslieveen.com,2008:/sermons//3.4432008-10-13T05:19:28Z2008-10-13T05:25:11ZTexts: Exodus 32:1-14; Philippians 4:1-9 Theme introduction When I learned that I would be preaching for the first full service in our new space and time, I knew what I would have to preach on - play chorus from Bowie...Leslie
Let us pray. Spirit of God, come and move among us we pray. Open our ears to hear your word for us this evening. And open our hearts that we may truly know your will for our lives and our life together as a community. We pray this in the name of your precious Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Change. What does hearing that word do to you? Does it make your shoulders tighten up a bit? Does it make your stomach queasy? Or you forehead crinkle? Or... does it thrill you? Excite you for the possibilities that await? Motivate you to get up and be a part of the action?
I did a quotation search on the word "change" and was inundated with ideas that people have voiced on the subject for thousands of years. Here are just a few:
- Heraclitus, who lived from 540 BCE - 480 BCE, said, "Nothing endures but change."
- Confucius, who lived at the same time, said, "They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom."
- Bringing us closer to our own time, John F. Kennedy was of the opinion that "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."
- And, Alvin Toffler said, "Change is the process by which the future invades our lives."
What do you think about change? Is it a good or bad thing for you? Any reactions to these quotations about change? Anyone care to share?
[get reactions from the community]
What often scares people the most about change is the feeling of loss of control that comes with it. The more people can control the process, in some way or another, the more comfortable they will feel with change. And, conversely, the more people feel like they have no say in the matter - that change is being imposed upon them from an outside force - the more fearful and desperate they feel about the situation.
I think the craziness that is going on with our global economic situation is a perfect example of this. It appears that steps taken to "control" the damage of the crisis are not having any positive affects and this is leading people to take drastic measures - like selling off much of their stocks. This may make the people feel better, but it's actually making the situation worse. People are panicking. And panic leads to irrational actions. But many are left feeling like they have no other choice. They feel backed into a corner and they are fighting their way out the only way they know how.
Underlying the fear of change is the much stronger, much more visceral fear of chaos. Often the thinking goes something like this: If we make this one small change, who's to say larger changes won't follow? That small change could lead to a domino effect bringing about a wholesale change in everything. This is the proverbial "slippery slope" argument that often holds us back from making even minor changes.
Chaos! No one wants chaos.
The desire to control chaos is as old as the human story. Our scriptures begin by describing how our God overcame chaos and ordered everything thereby making it possible for creation to exist and thrive. God separated light from darkness, water in the heavens from water below, and finally the water below from dry land. Once all that separating was done - all that ordering of chaos -, then God was able to put things in their place - sun, moon, and stars in the skies, fish in the seas, animals on the lands, and ultimately Adam and Eve to oversee it all.
For the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures, chaos is not merely a state of disorder, rather it is an active force that challenges the rule of God and undermines the possibility for life and well-being. The ultimate proof that God is all-powerful comes in God's ability to bring order to chaos.
For we humans, the balance between control and chaos seems to be very tenuous. Chaos seems to be waiting just at the edge of our reality ready to rush in and engulf all of existence at any moment.
The Hebrew people in our passage from Exodus were feeling like chaos was taking over their lives. They had been uprooted from a known, albeit horrible, existence as slaves in Egypt. They were slow to believe, as Moses told them, that they were God's chosen people and that God wanted them to live freely in their own land. But they followed Moses out of Egypt and were immediately faced by many instances when chaos seemed to be taking over. Instances such as:
- the Egyptian army following them and then seemingly trapping them at the edge of the Reed Sea
- the scarcity of water and food along the journey for this large number of people
- even just the logistics of moving so many people such a long distance.
All of these threats reminded the Hebrew people that their control of the situation they were in was very tenuous. Chaos was most definitely a real possibility.
And now, in our passage for today Moses, the man who had convinced them to take on this whole crazy endeavor, the man who was the physical representation of God's presence with them, had gone away and had not returned for a month and a half! He was the one with the plan. What were the people supposed to do now? They didn't know where they were supposed to be heading. They didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. And the God who had called them "the chosen people" felt conspicuously absent.
The whole situation seemed to be going from bad to worse. Chaos definitely felt like it was creeping in and trying to take over.
So, what do the people do? Instead of remembering how God had come through for them in the other circumstances where chaos seemed to be threatening them, they turned in to themselves and to their own abilities. They so quickly forgot the miraculous ways God had acted on their behalf in the very recent past. They forgot how God had:
- parted the waters of the Reed Sea and made the ground dry so that they could walk through to safety
- made water come from a dry rock so that the people could drink in the desert
- and even provided manna (a bread-like substance) and quail to sustain the people as they made their journey
None of these incredible acts of God's saving grace came to the people's minds when they thought Moses was gone for good. Panic had crept in. They were not thinking rationally. All they could think about was what they needed to do to protect themselves in this dire situation. So they fell back on practices that they had learned from other cultures. Practices that relied on making gods for themselves instead of relying on the God who had made everything.
They pleaded with Aaron to help them and he gave in. He made them a couple of golden calves and led the people in worship before them. This was just the kind of thing God had forbidden the people to do in the covenant that had so recently been worked out between God and the people. The very first commandment (or agreement in this covenant) says, "You shall have no other Gods before me." And the people had agreed.
But here they were. In a desperate situation. Thinking that chaos would overwhelm them if they didn't act quickly. And they forgot all that had happened and all that they had agreed to. And they acted on a bad instinct thinking it was the best way forward.
It's a common human reaction. The Hebrew people don't have a corner on acting that way. Our passage from Philippians for today shows us that the Christians there acted similarly.
We don't know as much about the situation that was occurring in Philippi - the letter to the Philippians is very brief and doesn't go into much detail. But we learn from the passage for today that Paul felt it necessary to write to this community to remind them of God's call to them.
Paul had worked with the people in Philippi to get a Christian community together. Once he felt that local leadership was in place, he moved on to build similar communities in other cities. Eventually his teachings got him in trouble with the authorities in Jerusalem. But since Paul was a Roman citizen he appealed to Rome to arbitrate the case. The letter to the Philippians was written while he was in Rome awaiting his case to be heard.
In between the time Paul left Philippi for other cities and his arrival in Rome to await his trial, the Philippian Christians had turned against each other. Something had happened - a something that is not explained in the letter. Fear had crept in. Instead of pulling together, trusting God, and uniting around God's call to mission, the people divided among themselves and set up camp behind two powerful women leaders in the community.
They let fear rule the day. They acted on human instinct instead of relying on God and they ended up fighting with each other instead of working together to spread the Good News of Christ Jesus to their community.
Unfortunately, it is all too easy for us as humans to get caught up in this kind of thinking. We are so quick to turn to ourselves to get out of sticky situations instead of turning to God and relying on God to help us through tough times.
Have you ever found yourself in a tough situation and had this same dilemma? Was there a time when you were able to stay focused on God and rely on God to help you get through it? How did you remain focused on God? What helped you to not give in to the fear and panic that so easily can overwhelm us? Would anyone care to share?
[get comments from the community]
Paul gave advice to the Philippians about how not to give in to human fears. Listen again to what he says in verses 4 and following:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
That is very straightforward advice for both the Philippians of Paul's day and for us today. Paul says that to stay focused on God and God's will for our lives we need to:
- Pray and pray often. Paul encourages us to bring everything to God so that God can help us through it.
- Meditate or think on virtuous things. It's hard to get mired down in the messiness of human ways when we keep our thoughts elevated.
- Practice what Paul preached. We are to study the Bible and use it to guide our lives. There is no better way to avoid being distracted by the voices of our society than that.
- And above all, Paul advises us to rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoice in the Lord! Because, as the Hebrew people had forgotten in our passage but were reminded of again and again throughout the Scriptures, God is the God of steadfast love and faithfulness.
Rejoice in the Lord! Because, God will be with us no matter what may come as God was so many times for the Hebrew people.
Rejoice in the Lord! Because God conquers chaos and brings peace to those who offer up their petitions to God.
Fear and chaos want to reign in our lives. Fear and chaos are very powerful forces against which our human wills can do little. Trust God to give you strength. Think on things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. And offer your fears and problems up to God seeking God's way in all that you do. And when you do, God will give you a peace that transcends all understanding.
May it be so. Amen.
Let us pray. Creator God, you bring order to chaos and make a way when none seems possible. Help us to remain focused on you. Fill us with your peace. And help us to be agents of your peace in this anxious and fearful world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.You want me to do what, Lord?tag:www.leslieveen.com,2008:/sermons//3.4372008-09-23T17:52:57Z2008-09-23T17:53:46ZActs 18:1-11 This account in Acts of Paul's arrival at Corinth and the beginning of his ministry there reads much like a perfunctory travelogue. He finished up his time in Athens and moved on. And here's the way that moving...Leslie
Acts 18:1-11
This account in Acts of Paul's arrival at Corinth and the beginning of his ministry there reads much like a perfunctory travelogue. He finished up his time in Athens and moved on. And here's the way that moving on happened.
Coming from the pen of the master storyteller, Luke, I am surprised that there aren't more details and flourishes. We do get a bit of intrigue with Paul's declaration to the Jews in the synagogue that "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." At which point Paul shakes the dust from his clothes and walks off. That's a vivid picture.
But we aren't given much beyond the basics - Paul went here. Then he did this. Then he did that. That didn't work out so he went somewhere else. Yada yada.
I'm left wanting more. So, please indulge me...
Imagine this: Paul walks into the Office of Vocational Formation and Placement in Corinth to engage in a conversation with the Director about his calling and ministry opportunities.
Upon learning Paul's desires, the Director pulls Paul's file and says, "I see that your education is top-notch. You were the top of your class in Hebrew School. And you went on for extended studies in Jewish Law. It appears that you have the academic requirements taken care of. As for ministry experience, I see that you took the law so seriously that you felt the need to persecute those who were spreading the word that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-awaited Messiah. That is, until you felt that you had an encounter with the risen Lord and had a change of heart. That's quite a background. What do you feel like you are being called to do?"
Paul leans back in his seat, rubs his chin, and replies, "Well, I really thought that, through my encounter with Jesus Christ, God was calling me to go back to my fellow Jews - ones who are where I used to be: fervent in their love of God and truly desiring to follow God's law - and share with them my experience so that they could see what I have learned and accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah that we have long prayed for."
[Director:]"But something is holding you back from this calling."
[Paul:] "The Jews are! They don't seem to be listening to me. I mean, I go to the synagogue every day and very carefully lay out the Scriptures and show how they all point to Jesus being the Christ. And yet, they resist my message. They even accuse me of blasphemy. Can you believe that?"
"And it's not just me they won't listen to. They won't listen to my co-workers Silas and Timothy either. They just scoff at all of us. I'm so confused. I really thought I had this whole call thing worked out. I was sure that this was where I was meant to be in ministry. Look at my background. Look at my skills of reasoning and debate. How can my call be to something other than this?"
[Director:] "And yet, something in you feels that God would have you do otherwise. Something in the reaction from your fellow Jews is causing you to question your sense of call. This is not a bad thing. Be open to hearing God speak through the words and actions of those around you. Be open to the new thing that God wants to do in and through you. Let go of your certainty of your call and be willing to see things in a new light."
[Paul:] "Okay. But I have to say, this isn't easy. My sense of call on the Damascus road was so strong. It's hard to say that wasn't real."
[Director:] "Oh, well, I'm not saying it wasn't real, Paul. I'm just saying that you've entered a new season in your ministry. Maybe God is calling you to move into a new arena. Can you imagine where God might be calling you to go?"
[Paul:] "Well, I have been thinking a lot about the Gentiles around here who seem so open to hearing the message about our God and how God has acted through Jesus the Christ to save and redeem all of creation. Maybe God wants me to take the message to these people."
[Director:] "Good. Good, Paul. Now what would that type of ministry look like?"
[Paul:] "Well, since this is all new to them, they don't already have established places or communities of worship. I guess I would have to help them get those started. But that also means that they have no money to support a minister. I think that means I would have to do work on the side to pay my own bills. I wouldn't want the community of believers to fail just because I was taking all of the money for my own well-being."
"Although, I really was hoping to put this whole tent-making business behind me. You know, it's really hard work. And it takes away from the time I am able to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with my new Gentile friends. That's a bummer. I've got some friends who are in a similar situation that I have been staying with - Priscilla and Aquila. They are tent-makers too and so I've been staying with them so we can all work on building tents together."
"It kind of seems unfair though. I see other disciples and apostles going off, preaching in different communities, and not having to pay their own way as they go. They're getting help from the local churches to preach and to take the message abroad. It would make such a huge difference if I could devote all of my time to just sharing the Good News with folks."
[Director:] "It sounds like you are living in the very real tension of not wanting to tax the resources of an up-and-coming worshipping community but also feeling distracted from your true calling by the work that you need to do to support yourself, Paul. All I can do is encourage you to be in prayer to God and really be open to seeing how God will provide for you in this season. It may be that you need to stay in this tension for a while or God may provide a new way. Be attentive and open to the possibilities God presents to you."
[Paul:] "That's what I've been trying to do. But I'll try some more. I'll let you know how it goes."
Paul leaves and returns a few weeks later.
[Paul:] "Hi Director. You'll never guess what happened! So I went back to the synagogue and told my fellow Jews who were resisting me, 'Fine. If you're going to be that way, I'll go to people who want to hear the message I bring. You're on your own.' And I left and started preaching to Gentiles."
"Boy, they are so much more receptive to my message. So much so that one of their rich leaders took me in and is basically funding my whole endeavor. And, an official in the synagogue has a great circle of people who he brought in with him. All of them believed in Jesus as the Christ and they have all been baptized. Wow! I never would have guessed all of that could happen. God really works in amazing and mysterious ways!"
"Thanks for your help Director. You really helped me to get some clarity on my calling from God."
Okay. So obviously I'm dreaming here about the importance of Directors of Vocational Formation and Placement (all one of them that I know). But a fundamental truth for me is that God does work in amazing and mysterious ways. And I feel that part of my calling at SFTS is to ask this community similar questions. Where is God calling us as individuals to be in ministry? And, where is God calling us as the big "C" Church to go?
It is easy to become so focused on one specific calling that we close off the possibility of seeing that God is calling us in a new or different direction. Are we as individuals and as a Church so focused on the way things have always been that we fail to see the new thing that God is trying to do in and through us?
There is much lamenting in mainline churches about the loss in membership and the need to do something new, but have we really stepped out of the mold that is comfortable and known? Have we really embraced the idea of turning in a whole new direction? Maybe God is telling us to turn our focus away from our own so that we can see a whole new group of people who are eagerly awaiting our attention.
As Paul attested, it's not easy to do this. It's actually downright scary at times. But that is the invitation Jesus gives to his followers - leave behind all that is familiar and walk towards the future. A future in which the only thing that is known is the abundant, reconciling love of God that we are called to share with our hurting world.
Trust that love and know that God will supply for all your needs. And be ready to hear when God is calling you to do a new thing.
Amen.
Divine Comforter or Holy Terror?tag:www.leslieveen.com,2008:/sermons//3.4352008-09-15T02:06:28Z2008-09-15T02:11:31ZTexts: Exodus 14:19-31 and Matthew 18:21-35 Introduction: The two texts that I chose from the lectionary passages for today struck me because of their seemingly opposite messages: one focuses on the fact that God is powerful, as demonstrated in a...Leslie
Loving God, you are a mystery to us. Open our ears that we may hear your word for us today. Open our hearts that we might be changed by it. Help us to be true followers of you in all of our words and deeds. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
I was talking with a colleague at the seminary, telling him the topic I was thinking about preaching on today and he said, "Wow! Just jump right in there, Leslie! Violence in the bible - that's a really big topic."
This colleague wasn't telling me anything I didn't know. When the idea first hit me I realized that I was going to try to tackle a large topic. But I couldn't deny that the thing that struck me most from the Exodus passage was the violent death of all the Egyptian warriors. And that made me think of other passages in the bible that also include violence.
I know that this is a topic that weighs heavily on many people at some time or another.
I am a part of a group email list of folks who knew each other in my undergraduate studies at Calvin College. Calvin is a liberal arts college founded and mainly funded by the Christian Reformed Church in America. The CRC is a conservative cousin to the Presbyterian Church, of which we are a part.
A couple summers ago our email list lit up with a discussion spurred on by the recent onslaught of books by atheists such as "The God Delusion" and "God Is Dead." It wasn't the discussion I would have imagined coming from this group. Quite a few of the members saw this as an opportunity to admit to the group that they no longer identified themselves as Christians. Several who spoke up in this discussion now feel that they are atheists and found these books refreshing.
The main reason these friends no longer feel that they can be Christians is because for them faith is just not rational. They liken faith in God to believing in Santa Claus. They need proof and have not found any that would convince them to continue to believe in a divine being. The arguments around this point went on and on ad nauseum - faith isn't faith if there is proof, some argued, including me. But why would one believe in something that cannot be proven? The atheists countered. This was a point on which we never came to any agreement.
But a close second for several folks in why they could no longer be Christian (or religious of any sort, for that matter) was all the violence that has been perpetrated in this world by Christians as well as people of other faiths. There are many examples of violence committed in the name of God - such as the Crusades and the Conquests in the New World. Or, for more modern examples, what we just marked this past week - the September 11th attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. and the War on Terror that followed on the heels of those attacks.
These friends are no longer able to believe in God because they cannot reconcile all of this violence done in God's name with a God who is all good and all powerful as Christianity claims. And they are quick to point out that the propensity for religious violence has a base in the violence that is recorded in Christianity's sacred writings - the bible.
Many others have noticed this difficulty before my friends. And there are various responses to it. One way we deal with difficult topics is to use humor. And, in my opinion, few do it better than Monte Python. As I was thinking about this sermon, I remembered one of my favorite scenes from "The Holy Grail." (Although, really, how is one to choose only one favorite scene from that movie?)
This is a movie that is poking fun at the crusades and all the violence that they inflicted on innocent people. Let's watch a bit from it:
[Holy Hand Grenade scene]
Now, we don't have a Book of Armaments in our Bible, but we do have many violent scenes that cannot be ignored or dismissed.
Q: Are there violent scenes in the bible that have struck and stuck with you? Passages that you have had to come to some understanding about because of the violence contained in them? I think scenes from the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament come to mind quicker that from the New Testament, but violence is present in the New Testament as well. Anyone willing to share their thoughts?
[get responses from people]
- Noah and the ark
- The Promised Land conquests
- Jesus saying: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)
- Jesus also saying: For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law
(Matthew 10:35)
I believe the segment of the Exodus story that we read this morning is representative of many of the violent passages that we read in the bible. Let's look at that a little closer.
When the story of the crossing of the Red Sea is read, the focus is usually on the Israelites and the fact that God saved them. After all, this is their story. And when we read it with that focus, we put ourselves in the place of the Israelites. We identify with them and claim God's saving acts for ourselves.
From this view, the violent act of drowning the Egyptian army is a good thing. The army was chasing after the Israelites to either kill them or bring them back into slavery. The army was after them to do violence to them. So they kind of got a taste of their own medicine, one could say.
The point of the story is to show how God works in mighty ways to save God's chosen people from sure destruction. When the Israelite people left on this journey following the Passover, they weren't so sure of this point. Now they know that it is true. After witnessing the waters parting for them but closing on the Egyptians, they believe in God and God's saving powers.
Well, for the time being anyways. Once they get into the desert a ways, they won't be so sure any more. But for right now, they have seen God's miraculous acts and they believe.
We, who believe in this same God, pass on this story and the others in the bible as examples of what God has done in the past as reassurance that God will act in the future in both small and mighty was to protect and provide for those who believe in God.
But, the pacifist in me (and in many people) wishes that the all-powerful God would have found another way to turn the Egyptians back. Wasn't there a way to make the Egyptians have a change of heart so that they just wouldn't have cared about this small band of rag-tag people any more and would have let them go in peace?
Those of us who wish for such a scenario aren't so off-base. We are shored up in our understanding of God as the God of peace just as much by bible passages as the understanding that God is a God of war and violence in the passages we just discussed.
Our passage from Matthew this morning is one such passage that shows that the all-powerful God we worship is also merciful and generous in forgiveness.
Peter asks Jesus how many times one should forgive another and offers what he thinks is a more than generous number of times: seven times. I mean, think about it. If someone does something not so nice to us, acknowledges it, and asks for forgiveness, we would probably be able to forgive that person. If it happened a second time, we would probably pause for a while before forgiving that same act.
But, forgiving someone for doing the same thing seven different times? That just seems like folly. Obviously the person has been insincere in asking for forgiveness because his or her actions have not changed. Why should we continue to take that person at his or her word and forgive him or her?
Peter's suggestion of forgiving someone up to seven times was more than generous. But Jesus pushes back. Not only should we forgive someone seven times, we should forgive them seventy-seven times!
That's just crazy talk. I believe I would have walked away from that person long before I would have the opportunity to forgive him or her seventy-seven times. I just don't think I would be able to put up with someone treating me in such a dismissive and demeaning way.
But that is only a glimpse of what God does. This is the point that Jesus is trying to make to Peter and to us. We continually do things that sadden and offend God, but God continually forgives us and welcomes us into a loving relationship with God. God is patient beyond all human understanding and truly wants to be reconciled to all of creation.
This seems like such a different picture of God than what we see in the Exodus passage. Can you think of other passages in the bible whose message is one of forgiveness or peace?
[get responses from people]
- Isaiah 2:4 - He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nations, nor will they train for war anymore.
- Micah 4:4 - Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD almighty has spoken.
- Luke 6:29 - If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.
Now just a side note about the lectionary (which we've been using for the past several months). Many times readings will carve out the violent parts and only focus on the more palatable verses.
This especially happens with reading from the book of Psalms. Many of the psalms have comforting words or great declarations of faith that are followed by or interspersed with prayers for enemies to be destroyed. Often very violent images are used in these passages.
In many such cases, the people who put together the lectionary selections chose to list only the verses that had the positive tone - of comfort or declaring one's faith. It almost strikes me as comical because it seems to only want to take the easy or positive parts of the passages without dealing with the difficult, dark, or violent parts.
Okay, so where does that leave us? We have the reality that our sacred Scriptures include a lot of violence and show God to be angry and inflicting violence on creation. But we also have many messages of peace and forgiveness and images of God as patient, loving, and forgiving.
How do these two extremes fit together for you in your understanding of God? And what does it mean for us humans who are said to be created in God's image?
[get responses from people]
I am left with the understanding that sometimes violence is necessary for self-protection and self-preservation. This is understanding undergirds the principles of the Just War Theory. We live in a broken world. And as such, sin and corruption bring violence into our lives. We have the right to defend ourselves from that violence.
But violence should never be our first response. The violence in the Exodus story came only after many other efforts by Moses to get the Israelite people out of Egypt peacefully. It was a last resort by a people who had been freed to go and then were pursued by their former captors.
At a worship service n campus this last week I heard a poem by Martin Luther King, Jr. that really moved me and I want to share it with you. It is from his collection called "Strength To Love" written in 1963. It goes like this:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Hate multiples hate, violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction.
The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate,
wars begetting wars - must be broken,
or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
We worship a God of abundant mercy and grace. A God who forgives and forgives and forgives beyond all human understanding. That should be our starting point for what it means to be created in God's image.
We need to live in an attitude of mercy and grace - always at the ready to forgive as we have been forgiven. And when we do this, we show glimpses of what will be the reality when Jesus comes again to bring the new heaven and the new earth. Violence will no longer exist. Only peace.
So let us live in this current tension all the while praying, "Come, Lord Jesus. Come."
Amen.
Let us pray. Loving and merciful God, your ways are not our ways. And yet, we want to follow you. We are not always clear about what that means for our lives. Help us to be open to your leading in our lives. And help us to be people of peace who are ready to forgive as we have been forgiven. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen.]]>
Seeds, struggles, and the Spirit of Lifetag:www.leslieveen.com,2008:/sermons//3.4232008-07-14T00:53:28Z2008-07-14T00:57:50ZTexts: Genesis 25:19-34 Romans 8:1-11 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Intro: As you probably know, for the last month or so the preaching staff has been drawing Scripture texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. This is a schedule of texts to be...Leslie
God you have called us here this morning and we have come. Help us to open ourselves to the moving of your Spirit in and among us this day. Be in the words of my mouth and in the meditations of all of our hearts as we seek to discern your will for our lives. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
I don’t know what impression you are left with, but when I first read these texts I thought, “One of these is not like the others.” Two of them had a connection that made sense to me, but with the other it was harder to see why it was chosen.
Let’s start with the two that seem to have a very similar theme (at least by my reading). They are the two New Testament readings. They talk about two ways of living and different types of soil. Both of these texts examine the ways in which people respond to the good news of God’s kingdom. The good news that God’s love is steadfast and is shown in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which has the power to bring salvation to all.
As Paul sees it, there are only two responses that his audience – Jewish Christians living in Rome – can have when they hear this good news. Either they reject it and continue living under the law as it was handed down to them from the beginning of the Jewish people or they see that God is offering a new way to be in relationship through believing in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit. Paul describes these two responses as “living according to the sinful nature” or “living in accordance with the Spirit.”
Now it may seem rather harsh for Paul to call those who continued living by the Jewish laws “sinners.” They are, after all, just trying to stay faithful to the covenant that God had made with their ancestors. But Paul wants to help them understand that they are actually being exclusionary toward Gentiles (anyone not born Jewish) by continuing to demand that all who want to worship God must do so by observing the Jewish laws.
Paul understood the Gospel to be for all people – not just the Jewish people – and he wanted to help others understand the new thing that God had done through Jesus Christ. Paul believed that if Jewish Christians continued to demand that all believers must be circumcised and were subject to the laws governing food and social cleanliness then they were sinning because they were, in effect, keeping people from the Gospel – keeping them from experiencing God’s love.
So, according to Paul, we have two ways of reacting to hearing the Gospel: we either hear it and do nothing about it – continuing to live as we have been living all along – or we hear it and we accept it into our lives along with the Spirit who gives life and peace.
Pretty straight forward – either we accept the Gospel or we don’t. Case closed. But Jesus’ exploration of how people react to hearing the Gospel is more nuanced. There seems to be some reactions that fall between these two extremes.
Jesus tells a crowd of people a parable about seeds falling on different types of soil. Later he explains the parable to his disciples. He says that the seeds represent “the message about the kingdom” (the Gospel) and the types of soil represent the ways in which people receive this message.
Jesus lists four types of soil highlighting four ways that people have reacted to his sharing the good news of God’s kingdom. They are:
1) a hardened path representing complete rejection of the message
2) rocky places representing immediate reception but quickly losing interest in the message
3) among thorns representing those who receive the message but it gets drowned out by other concerns, and
4) good soil representing those who hear the message and really take it to heart.
Jesus was hoping that the crowd listening to him would hear his words and think about the condition of their own hearts. How were they receiving the message of the kingdom that he was trying to share with them? Were their hearts like the hard ground that did not receive the seeds but left them out in the open for the birds to come and snatch away? Were they like the ground that had been worked and prepared so that when the seed fell it was welcomed in and grew to plants that bore fruit? Or were they somewhere in between?
These questions were not only intended for those in the crowds who gathered around Jesus. They were intended, maybe even especially intended, for his closest followers – the disciples. He wanted them to really get the meaning of the parable. That’s why he gave the explanation only to them. The crowd got the parable and were left to think on what they heard. But later, when he was alone with his disciples, Jesus explained exactly what point he was trying to make by sharing that parable.
He had been working closely with this group of people for a while and he had seen first-hand the reception that his message was receiving. He knew the state of each of their hearts, but he wanted them to be aware of their own condition as well. Each person needed to identify for themselves what type of soil represented the state of their own hearts.
Now, I’m curious to know your impressions of this passage. How does the metaphor of different types of ground resonate with you when thinking about how the message of God’s love is received in the world? Do you think people progress through these different types of soils – going from hardened hearts to completely open hearts? Or do we start as hard ground and then move directly to being the ground that bears fruit? If and when we become that last type of ground do we stay there or do we bounce back and forth between different types of soil? Do you see yourself in this spectrum? Do you care to share where you feel you are?
Okay. That’s a whole bunch of questions, but jump in wherever. What struck you about this passage and what it says about how we receive the message of God’s kingdom?
[Get comments from people.]
For me, personally, I would have to say that I have been all of those types of soil in regards to receiving God and God’s Word for me – all within the last year. Sometimes I am open and ready to hear God speaking to me and helping me to discern where I should be headed with my life. But other times, if I’m honest, I would have to admit that I am pretty sure where I should be going and so I am more like the hard ground where God’s words just bounced off of me. And, I’ve been everywhere in between.
We are on a journey with God – one that often resembles a line dance where you take one step forward, then two back, do a spin and end up somewhere completely different than where you began. It would be easier if our journey progressed in a straight line – from not receiving God’s message to us straight to always receiving it. But, like we talked about last week, sin gets in the way of that. We lose our focus on God and in the process our ears go tone deaf to God’s call and our hearts become more like the hard ground on which the seeds bounce and lie out in the open for the birds to pick up.
What are ways that help you to be open to hearing God speak? Ways to be open to the movement of God’s Spirit in your life? Ways to more closely follow the example that Jesus gives us for how to live? Do you have special disciplines you follow that help you to feel closer to God – more open to hearing how God wants you to live your life?
[Get comments from people.]
So these are the texts that seem to work together from our lectionary selections for this morning. Both encourage us to examine our hearts to see how we are receiving God’s message. Both show us that opening our hearts to be receptive to that message brings about good things – life and peace given by the Spirit and fruitful lives. I get why the committee chose to put these readings together.
But then there’s the passage from Genesis – the story of Jacob and Esau.
From this story we learn that Isaac and Rebekah were having a hard time having children. And then, the Lord blessed them with twins. I’m not sure how much of a blessing that is… as I’ve heard from friends who have twins, having twins is not just two times the amount of work, it’s like have a child squared (child to the 2nd degree!) – it’s a whole order of magnitude different to have two (or more) children at once.
And then look at how these twins are described – they definitely didn’t make life easy for their parents! They fought in Rebekah’s womb. They fought on their way out. They fought as they grew up. Oy! They were as different as different can be. And, as children will do, they cozied up to a sympathetic parent to find an ally.
What did you notice about how these twins were describe? Did one seem to be portrayed in a more favorable light than the other? Did the passage seem like it was kind of judging one or the other of Jacob and Esau?
[Get comments from people.]
To my reading, Esau seems to be shown here in a more negative light because he is willing to give up his birthright so quickly. Being the eldest son was (and is still in many cultures) a very big deal and carries a lot of responsibility with it. But Esau handed it right over to Jacob for a bowl of stew. He was impulsive and irresponsible, we might say, and not living up to the standard that had been set for him.
How does this idea go along with our theme of being open to God’s message from the New Testament passages?
[Get comments from people.]
I believe it is put together with these passages from the New Testament to remind us that God is able to work in and through people and situations even when it seems like they are at odds with what God is trying to do. This passage offers us a very important reminder that a life of faith is really about what God is doing, not what we are doing.
If we were only to consider the texts from Romans and Matthew, we might be tempted to focus only on our spiritual disciplines and what we are doing to open ourselves to hearing God’s message for our lives. But the story of Jacob and Esau comes along and reminds us that God works as God will – whether we are on board or not.
Now, this doesn’t let us off the hook – allowing us to act however we want because God will work regardless of our actions. God does call us to be partners in this journey. We enter into covenant with God when we accept the message of salvation that God offers us. Covenants are two-sided. Both parties have to hold up their end for the covenant to have any merit.
But I find it comforting to know that God will continue to work in and through us even when we aren’t completely in tune with what God’s will for our lives is. And now, we’re back to last weeks discussion of sin and grace (or forgiveness).
When we lose our focus on God and close our ears and hearts to God’s message, we sin. But God, in God’s amazing love continues to call to us, encouraging us to get back into the covenant with God, to make things right. That is grace. That is forgiveness.
So what type of soil are you right now? God wants us all to be good soil, ready to welcome the seed of God’s message of love so that our lives can bear fruit that will share that love with a hurting world. But take comfort, even if we aren’t exactly there, God can still use us to do good in this world.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Let us pray. God of amazing love, thank you for calling us into covenant with you. Thank you for working in and through us, even when we are out of step with you. Help us to be open to hearing your will for our lives. Help us to live as Christ taught us to live. Fill us with your Spirit and give us peace. Amen.]]>