Exodus 18: 13-27
Matthew 21:23-32
Ordinarily, we follow the Lectionary, a three year week by week schedule of readings, to encourage reading the diversity of the Bible, and that every Church of every denomination would converse with the same passages, and hopefully one another. BUT, these are not ordinary times.
Following the Lectionary, after the Crossing of the Red Sea and Manna from Heaven, prior to receiving the 10 Commandments, we would ordinarily read of the peoples' grumbling and complaining leading to Moses naming that place on the journey Massah / Grumbling and Meribah / Complaining. I am uncertain why the Religious Authorities suspect we need to read about the people grumbling and complaining, every year, twice each year? So I looked at the passages between this and the next, and discerned these three which we never are given to preach, the justification being that these deal with the specific circumstances of that specific people in time. This is the differentiation that when the sermon is “THOU SHALT NOT STEAL” the minister is preaching; when the sermon is “THOU SHALT NOT STEAL THY NEIGHBOR'S CHICKENS” the pastor is medling.
The three passages between The Grumbling and Complaining of Massah and Meribah and Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, are:
That the wandering tribe of escaped Hebrew slaves were attacked by the Canaanite tribe of the Amalekites, and Joshua went into battle against Amalek. While Moses stood on the hill watching them, whenever Moses raised his hands to appeal to God, Joshua would win, and whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek would win. So Aaron and Hur, held Moses hands up for the whole day until Joshua and the Lord had saved the people.
Recall that when Moses saw the burning bush, he had been keeping the sheep of his Father-in-Law Jethro, a priest of the Midianites. When Moses went back down to Egypt, and led the people out away from Pharaoh, Moses had left his wife Zipporah and their two sons Gershom (we were alien in an alien land) and Eliezer (my father's God saves us) with Jethro upon the mountain. Now Jethro brings the family to Moses. As Moses recounts to Jethro what took place, how God had saved them at the Red Sea, Jethro led Moses in making an offering and thanking God.
The following morning, Jethro noted that Moses was both leading the people, judging between the people on every complaint, and appealing to God for guidance of this people. This is probably the first event in human history of a leader being challenged about burn-out, and needing to be taught to delegate.
These are passages about TRUST and AUTHORITY and CONFIDENCE; and we are in a time in human history where TRUST and AUTHORITY and CONFIDENCE are lacking. These are not simply matters that we can choose, I am going to trust / or I am not. CONFIDENCE must be lived into and developed day after day, from isolated grand occasions and repeated small events, through increasingly greater delegations of commitment, as well as retracing our steps, asking for forgiveness and looking for help when we struggle.
This week our Nation's leaders explained that we are in a fiscal crisis. If something bold and dramatic is not done, the wheels of our Nation's economy will grind to a halt; and that very lack of inertia, that lack of momentum would require even greater resources than doing something now. Both sides had been quick to blame the other, both have been sobered by fears of impending doom, but the underlying issue, the underlying issue, is one of TRUST, Consumer CONFIDENCE, questioning how to cultivate a willingness to follow and to risk.
Israel had been a rag-tag mob of grumblers and complainers, former slaves, who knew only to do what they were told or be beaten, they knew not how to TRUST or to believe. What was dramatized for Moses and the people, was that when Moses appealed to God they were saved. Literally, over and over throughout the day, when he lifted his hands in prayer, they were victorious. Yet, whenever he tired or was distracted, when his hands and his Confidence faltered, they were beaten.
There are times when daily prayer, the grace before a meal, or sleep, seems rote and ritual, but these are the simple foundations of trust and faith. We are extremely fortunate as a congregation to celebrate a number of weddings and baptisms. One of the elements we include in weddings is a daily reminder to pray for each other. To awake in the morning and realize how blessed we are to have been given each other. In the middle of the day, to stop from our busy-ness, to name the blessing of challenge and life lived for those whom we love. In the evening, not to ignore each other taking life for granted, but to talk together and inquire about changes, because we do not have the ability to read one another's minds, but the responsibility to ask what is upon their hearts as they grow and change through life. And before the end, before we lay down the last time, to thank God for having given us the blessing of one another to share life.
Not only in perpetual acts of faith, but when especially blessed, to stop and name our Trust in God. Jethro returns with Moses' family. Jethro hears the wonder of all that has taken place. And Jethro models for Moses and all Israel the human need to Thank God, to make an Offering. A decade ago, at a family gathering, their three year old wandered down to the water and out on the docks. Suddenly the family festivities were interrupted by the barking of their dog, and when they investigated they found the child had fallen in the lake and the dog was pulling him to shore wet, surprised but safe and sound. The dog received a special treat, and they made a special offering, saying they were so thankful their grandchild was alive.
So often, we are caught up in wedding receptions and family birthdays at who is sitting next to whom, whether they have the right meal, whether the fireworks will be inspiring, that we forget the reason for the reception, for the feast, for the gifts, all began with this simple act of Jethro teaching Moses to make an Offering to God in thanksgiving for their blessings.
There are those who are waiting for me to dance around Jethro's instruction to Moses of the need to delegate. Years ago, our congregation was extremely divided because of a failed co-pastorate. It did not seem to matter, what the issue was, whether turning the Sanctuary, replacing the roofs, problems with the Nursery School, or the Organ, friend had been turned against friend into differing camps. So the new pastor exercised authority, bringing all decision-making, all power and responsibility back to the pastor. We used to have what we described as ALL COMMITTEE night, which meant that all the Committes met simultaneously and the pastor literally ran from one to another, with problems or ideas surfacing just as soon as you left, until the pastor was set to have a nervous breakdown. We separated committees to meet at different times on different days, and gradually delegated Christian Education Committee to the Christian Educator, Finance to the Business Administrator, etc. But time has passed again, we as the Church have grown and changed to where it appears we may need an Associate Pastor. LET ME BE CLEAR, THIS IS NOT CONSIDERATION OF A CO-PASTOR, but rather a delegation of authority, of trust and confidence, that just as in Israel they gathered in small groups, in 10s and 50s and hundreds and thousands, so we may need to have those who work especiallly with youth fellowships, with mission.
If we were to do so, we need to be clear of the trust and confidence we share. These are difficult financial times, when everyone is a little uncertain about the future, and this has specific financial consequences. We can be thankful that the Finance Committee and Session have nurtured the endowments of the Church, to allow us the opportunity to consider this even in times of economic unrest. We need to talk together, to share concerns and ideas and hopes and dreams, especially including those who will be most effected.
One of the questions we must ask ourselves in this, and continually address in all we do, is the question of our Motivation, of our Authority. The question of the Temple Authorities to Jesus, and his reply to them, questioning where the Authority of John the Baptist came. Do we consider these options because of our own desires, out of concern for the community, are they motivated by evil, or by God? We must function according to sound business practices, but we are not simply a business, we are “The Church in this time and place”, so we must question whether the things we take on and those we delegate, the wars we fight and the offerings we make, are done in response to God, as an offering and prayer, a sacrificial commitment of who we are, or out of a lack of trust, a lack of confidence and fear?
Often, especially within the Church, we celebrate commitments, but the demonstration of our faith comes when our confidences have been challenged, our trusts and convictions taken out from under us. Then, can we be thankful, can we trust? Belief is not so much a statement of Sunday morning, but the daily struggles to raise our hands to volunteer when you have been wrong before, and the fears in the dark of night.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Manna in Anxiety September 21, 2008
Exodus 16:1-15
Matthew 20: 1-16
This has been a hard week, a week of great anxiety and fear.
The Yankees left The House that Ruth Built, and the Mets Chose Buffalo over Syracuse!
For the last two decades we have seen our homes as protection against the forces of inflation.
Stocks and Bonds may fluctuate, hurricanes and terrorism may effect the price of Gas and the global economy, but as long as I wash my windows and mow my lawn, my mortgage investment is growing. Housing had been assessed up in 2000, again in 2005 and is planned for reassessment again in 2010. Ten years ago we witnessed the Dot.Com Bubble surface, everyone trying to get on board, then POP. But that was new technologies, faith in ideas that may have had no reality.
Throughout the last year, we have seen the sale not simply of houses, but of homes slow to a standstill; yet still there were the securities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers and AIG, foundations of our economy, some going back to WWI. Those of us who normally go about our daily routines, found ourselves sitting in front of our computers checking the hour listing of stocks, helplessly watching as the price per share of our future vanished. The Republicans blamed the GREED of Wall Street financers, the Democrats blamed the ADMINISTRATION, and no one had a solution. Then came the weekend, the Markets closed for a time of Sabbath.
The buzz throughout the last 48 hours has been whether and how the Government can underwrite all Bad Debt, what legislation and policies must be created to enstill trust and assuage anxiety. Acording to the news, when the Federal Reserve Chair finished addressing Congress, they were no longer considering what pork and special projects they could hide in the legislation, but there was honest fear and absolute quiet, as the repercussions sank in. In a time of SABBATH REST everyone takes a step back, unable to act, unable to respond, waiting.
The Old Testament describes three periods in the history of Israel. The time of Wandering in the Wilderness when there was great fear and anxiety; and the time of the Monarchy, when people became complacent and lax; the Exile in Babylon where they mourned. Our ANXIETY, our FEARS of Whom and What to Trust, what authority to believe, link us to the Wilderness Wandering People of Faith.
We love to recall the Great Patriarchs of the Genesis Stories: Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the people of Israel had for as long as any could remember been slaves, property belonging to Pharaoh, possession of Egypt. Treated as beasts of burden, worked and bred, bought and sold like oxen, they worked from sun up to sun down, every day of their lives, stretching every muscle to build the Pyramids, to serve the Pharaoh, in payment for which they received subsistence: bread and water, and the promise that tomorrow would be the same as yesterday, acceptance that our children's children would have the same life as our parents' parents. Not a hope of freedom, of improvement, or a better life, but simply a slave's existence, being sold which was thought better than being killed off.
In the miracles of the Passover and Crossing the Red Sea, the slaves, the Hebrews, were suddenly FREE. But freedom does not feed your child. While the dream of Freedom may motivate, Freedom cannot make the ache of starvation cease. The people turn to Moses saying, “You led us against Pharaoh, You won, You now are the new Pharaoh, You own us and You are responsible for us. What must we do as slaves of Moses to be fed?”
Before Moses can plead their case to God, God provides for God's people. The story of Manna from heaven, is a tale of the ABUNDANCE of GRACE, every day there is more than any could gather, enough to fill and satisfy.
But even more, MANNA from heaven is declaration from God of a GREAT REVERSAL with God. Pharaoh demanded that we work and sweat in order that we might be fed to survive, not piecemeal, that the more you produce the more you earn; not time and a half after a 40 hour workweek; not through the purchase and sale of what we inherited, bought and created, because everything belonged to Pharaoh.
God declared to Moses that Creation, the Land itself, would provide daily bread.
No one truly knows how the people of Israel were fed for 40 years in the wilderness. There are storms and winds that take whole flocks of birds, like quail, and after buffetting and carrying them from differing points across Africa drop thousands of exhausted birds miles away in a different place. One interpretation is that as there were Quail covering the fields at night and a sticky powder like substance on the fieleds at dawn, that Manna was equated with the droppings of Quail. The people could have easily gone out and picked this and the birds up for meat. There are also ANTS that bore into the Fruit of The TAMARISK plant, and the fruit drain a sticky paste, which in the morning dew covers whole fields with a flaky flour like substance, that inidigenous people still harvest and which can be baked or fried as bread. This bread is high in protein and carbohydrates, but with little preservative capability. The Point of MANNA from HEAVEN is that rather than being OPPRESSED and ENSLAVED given Pharaoh's bread for subsistence; Manna from Heaven is there from God as part of Natural Creation, every day, our daily Bread. We must gather it, we must share, if you are greedy, or hoard too much the Manna will sour and be filled with worms. But GOD's DESIGN is that there would be daily Bread for us, and a DAY of SABBATH for all Creation, an order to God's creation, where we need not be anxious, fearful or filled with anxiety.
To suspend our ANXIETY, to Trust God, we must give up worrying about what our neighbor has. The question for most of us has shifted from whether we can survive, or even whether our children have the opportunities we have, to whether we and our children have as much as our neighbors. Property Assessments are based as much on the value of your neighbor's home, as on what you may have put into yours, and despite the Tax Bill, the value of the property does not exist unless and until you are willing and able to give it up. Stock prices/home values all are Monopoly Money, Winning at Anxiety, in which true value does not exist until you are ready to cash in and quit for ever. A dozen years ago, I bought a home in this community for $163,000 and because my neighbor's homes have been bought and sold in recent years for $400,000 mine must surely be worth as much. The story of the Laborers Hired to Work in the Vineyard, just as Manna from Heaven, are that everyone is provided for, everyone has enough. In the Parable, the Laborers who were hired first could have been paid first, with those hired last paid last, and none would have been the wiser; but the householder has the manager pay the last first so the others will see they are provided for. And those who have instead worked all day, grumble that they should have been paid more though they were provided the fair daily wage they had agreed to in the first place. This is not sound Economic practice, nor good Human Relations Personnel Management, but is a statement of God's love in Divine Judgement, the true worth of our lives.
A rich young man came to Jesus, possessing everything, he had mastered education, his beauty, his acomplishments and experience and references and wealth, his wisdom, all were to be envied. Yet he longed to have something more, something still was missing from his hollow life. He inquired of Jesus, “So, what should I do?” and Jesus said “Go sell everything and give this to the poor, then come follow. The man went sorrowful away, and good old Simon Peter who consistently is portrayed as jumping to conclusions, says “OOOH Ohh OOOH! We did that! What do we get?” And Jesus tells this parable, as much as to say “You are already part of the community, having this life, what more could you really need? Have compassion on those that want to labor in the vineyard, but come later.”
It matters not whether baptized as an infant, or coming to faith as a more mature believer, but that those of us who are part of the Church have compassion and find new ways to include those who other wise might not believe.
Matthew 20: 1-16
This has been a hard week, a week of great anxiety and fear.
The Yankees left The House that Ruth Built, and the Mets Chose Buffalo over Syracuse!
For the last two decades we have seen our homes as protection against the forces of inflation.
Stocks and Bonds may fluctuate, hurricanes and terrorism may effect the price of Gas and the global economy, but as long as I wash my windows and mow my lawn, my mortgage investment is growing. Housing had been assessed up in 2000, again in 2005 and is planned for reassessment again in 2010. Ten years ago we witnessed the Dot.Com Bubble surface, everyone trying to get on board, then POP. But that was new technologies, faith in ideas that may have had no reality.
Throughout the last year, we have seen the sale not simply of houses, but of homes slow to a standstill; yet still there were the securities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers and AIG, foundations of our economy, some going back to WWI. Those of us who normally go about our daily routines, found ourselves sitting in front of our computers checking the hour listing of stocks, helplessly watching as the price per share of our future vanished. The Republicans blamed the GREED of Wall Street financers, the Democrats blamed the ADMINISTRATION, and no one had a solution. Then came the weekend, the Markets closed for a time of Sabbath.
The buzz throughout the last 48 hours has been whether and how the Government can underwrite all Bad Debt, what legislation and policies must be created to enstill trust and assuage anxiety. Acording to the news, when the Federal Reserve Chair finished addressing Congress, they were no longer considering what pork and special projects they could hide in the legislation, but there was honest fear and absolute quiet, as the repercussions sank in. In a time of SABBATH REST everyone takes a step back, unable to act, unable to respond, waiting.
The Old Testament describes three periods in the history of Israel. The time of Wandering in the Wilderness when there was great fear and anxiety; and the time of the Monarchy, when people became complacent and lax; the Exile in Babylon where they mourned. Our ANXIETY, our FEARS of Whom and What to Trust, what authority to believe, link us to the Wilderness Wandering People of Faith.
We love to recall the Great Patriarchs of the Genesis Stories: Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the people of Israel had for as long as any could remember been slaves, property belonging to Pharaoh, possession of Egypt. Treated as beasts of burden, worked and bred, bought and sold like oxen, they worked from sun up to sun down, every day of their lives, stretching every muscle to build the Pyramids, to serve the Pharaoh, in payment for which they received subsistence: bread and water, and the promise that tomorrow would be the same as yesterday, acceptance that our children's children would have the same life as our parents' parents. Not a hope of freedom, of improvement, or a better life, but simply a slave's existence, being sold which was thought better than being killed off.
In the miracles of the Passover and Crossing the Red Sea, the slaves, the Hebrews, were suddenly FREE. But freedom does not feed your child. While the dream of Freedom may motivate, Freedom cannot make the ache of starvation cease. The people turn to Moses saying, “You led us against Pharaoh, You won, You now are the new Pharaoh, You own us and You are responsible for us. What must we do as slaves of Moses to be fed?”
Before Moses can plead their case to God, God provides for God's people. The story of Manna from heaven, is a tale of the ABUNDANCE of GRACE, every day there is more than any could gather, enough to fill and satisfy.
But even more, MANNA from heaven is declaration from God of a GREAT REVERSAL with God. Pharaoh demanded that we work and sweat in order that we might be fed to survive, not piecemeal, that the more you produce the more you earn; not time and a half after a 40 hour workweek; not through the purchase and sale of what we inherited, bought and created, because everything belonged to Pharaoh.
God declared to Moses that Creation, the Land itself, would provide daily bread.
No one truly knows how the people of Israel were fed for 40 years in the wilderness. There are storms and winds that take whole flocks of birds, like quail, and after buffetting and carrying them from differing points across Africa drop thousands of exhausted birds miles away in a different place. One interpretation is that as there were Quail covering the fields at night and a sticky powder like substance on the fieleds at dawn, that Manna was equated with the droppings of Quail. The people could have easily gone out and picked this and the birds up for meat. There are also ANTS that bore into the Fruit of The TAMARISK plant, and the fruit drain a sticky paste, which in the morning dew covers whole fields with a flaky flour like substance, that inidigenous people still harvest and which can be baked or fried as bread. This bread is high in protein and carbohydrates, but with little preservative capability. The Point of MANNA from HEAVEN is that rather than being OPPRESSED and ENSLAVED given Pharaoh's bread for subsistence; Manna from Heaven is there from God as part of Natural Creation, every day, our daily Bread. We must gather it, we must share, if you are greedy, or hoard too much the Manna will sour and be filled with worms. But GOD's DESIGN is that there would be daily Bread for us, and a DAY of SABBATH for all Creation, an order to God's creation, where we need not be anxious, fearful or filled with anxiety.
To suspend our ANXIETY, to Trust God, we must give up worrying about what our neighbor has. The question for most of us has shifted from whether we can survive, or even whether our children have the opportunities we have, to whether we and our children have as much as our neighbors. Property Assessments are based as much on the value of your neighbor's home, as on what you may have put into yours, and despite the Tax Bill, the value of the property does not exist unless and until you are willing and able to give it up. Stock prices/home values all are Monopoly Money, Winning at Anxiety, in which true value does not exist until you are ready to cash in and quit for ever. A dozen years ago, I bought a home in this community for $163,000 and because my neighbor's homes have been bought and sold in recent years for $400,000 mine must surely be worth as much. The story of the Laborers Hired to Work in the Vineyard, just as Manna from Heaven, are that everyone is provided for, everyone has enough. In the Parable, the Laborers who were hired first could have been paid first, with those hired last paid last, and none would have been the wiser; but the householder has the manager pay the last first so the others will see they are provided for. And those who have instead worked all day, grumble that they should have been paid more though they were provided the fair daily wage they had agreed to in the first place. This is not sound Economic practice, nor good Human Relations Personnel Management, but is a statement of God's love in Divine Judgement, the true worth of our lives.
A rich young man came to Jesus, possessing everything, he had mastered education, his beauty, his acomplishments and experience and references and wealth, his wisdom, all were to be envied. Yet he longed to have something more, something still was missing from his hollow life. He inquired of Jesus, “So, what should I do?” and Jesus said “Go sell everything and give this to the poor, then come follow. The man went sorrowful away, and good old Simon Peter who consistently is portrayed as jumping to conclusions, says “OOOH Ohh OOOH! We did that! What do we get?” And Jesus tells this parable, as much as to say “You are already part of the community, having this life, what more could you really need? Have compassion on those that want to labor in the vineyard, but come later.”
It matters not whether baptized as an infant, or coming to faith as a more mature believer, but that those of us who are part of the Church have compassion and find new ways to include those who other wise might not believe.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
POWER September 14, 2008
Exodus 13:17 - 14:10
Matthew 18:21-35
When in Seminary we were taught, “save the book of Genesis until later, it is the most beautiful rich poetry, taking all the ancient oral traditions and crafting the story. The first event of faith, be we Jewish or Christian, is the EXODUS. God heard the people's cries, God never forgot them, and God led Israel across the Red Sea to dry land and Safety in the Wilderness, while destroying mighty Pharaoh, his Chariots and Armies in the chaos of the water. But more than a history of how the People of Israel escaped Egypt, EXODUS is a story of the POWER of GOD.
Like an old John Wayne Western, there is this pause, as the Israelites, and the Egyptians, the story teller and the listener all realize the POWERLESS PEOPLE are HOPELESS. The people had wanted to WORHIP GOD, to show God Glory; and the Pharaoh had made himself into a God, saying NO.
As we portrayed last week with each of the 10 plagues, time after time, Moses had come on behalf of the people NOT to ask for their freedom to leave, but to ask for their FREEDOM TO GLORIFY GOD and Pharaoh had said NO. Ultimately, there is the PASSOVER, when all the first born of Egypt, all those who had been bred to inherit, of every family, die. While the whole nation of Egypt mourns, Israel is set free. But such events do not GIVE GLORY to the POWER of GOD.
God leads the people into a Wilderness, as the heart of Pharaoh becomes bitter, resolved and ruthless. You can feel the anxiety climax, as the people of Faith and the Chariots of Pharaoh pass beside each other over and over again in the fog throughout the night. They can hear each other, they sense one another, but they ALSO HEAR THE WIND beating against the sea from the East al through the night. When the mists rise, the people who had been slaves, who had escaped during the tragedy of Egypt are trapped, their backs are to the sea and before their eyes coming down upon them is this un-named God-Like Pharaoh with his 600 finest Chariots, his army, his horsemen, and many other Chariots too.
And MOSES, the Man of Faith, commands the people “PEACE, BE NOT AFRAID” we are not alone. Then a second Command “STAND FIRM” then “BE STILL” and finally “SALVATION IS AT HAND” and as he raises his staff, the waters they were afraid of , the waters they were to be drowned in, to die, part. In a RE-Enactment of CREATION Dry Land is formed by God out of the Waters of Chaos.
In the past, we have described the escalating Nature of CONFLICT. That whenever there is disagreement, there is the potential for Conflict.
LEVEL I: The difference may be as minor as I wanted Fish and you wanted Chicken, or we both want what only one can have. We disagree. The important factor at this stage is that we both value what we want and each other enough to state our Conflict.
LEVEL II: Or the difference may be between Parent and Child, Teacher and Student. I want you to reach beyond what you have known as easy, to strive for what can only be attained by challenge. Again, because we value each other, and we value what can be, the Conflict is healthy.
LEVEL III: The difficulty is that as Conflict escalates there becomes COMPETITION where we value each other less; and winning/attaining/ being first, becomes our goal. In a world of Limited Resources, with FEAR a presence in our consciousness, we sruggle for ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, we strive for ACCEPTANCE, we COMPETE to SURVIVE. A problem of our culture, is that we have ratcheted up EXPECTATIONS, TIME has become so precious, RECESSION has left us all fearful of losing what we have, that COMPETITION has become our baseline, of where we live.
LEVEL IV: The difference between the Conflict of Comeptition, and the next Level of Conflict is a desire not simply to win, but to humiliate, to emotionally and psychologically break the other, in order that they will never challnge for power again.
LEVEL V: The absolute reality of CONFLICT is more than a willingness, a desire to destroy, to make an example, so that no one will ever again challenge or conflict.
The TIPPING POINT from one level of Conflict to another, may be as simple as DISAGREEMENT, or FEAR, or because at every level of Conflict there is a decreasing number of people you identify with and feel a part of, the difference may be ISOLATION. As idealistic and communal as our culture has claimed to be... As much as the Internet has shrunk our world bringing us into communication with people around the world... We have become increasingly INDIVIDUALISTIC and Isolated and Alone.
As Pharaoh perceived he was being Challenged, he became more HARD HEARTED, more intractable, his level of Conflict escalated from denial of a request, to teaching a lesson, to annoyance, to a desire to win and control, to a desire to act as God where these people would never again challenge him, to a desire for genocide. BUT REMEMBER what Moses sought was not to put a frog in the lap of the King, what Moses sought was not to set the people free, MOSES' CALL had been to allow the people to be free to Choose to Worship, to offer GLORY TO GOD.
So when outnumbered, with over-whelming force and technology, backed up against a wall of chaos and destruction, MOSES DID NOT command “Get 'Em”... Moses did not command “Retreat”... Moses did not command “WE WILL SURGE THE WAR TO OUR ENEMIES and BE VICTORIOUS!”
In the face of escalating Conflict, over-whelming POWER, TERRORISM in its most basic form, MOSES Commanded “PEACE, BE NOT AFRAID.”
If only in the midst of our Conflicts, we could find a moment of Peace to collect ourselves and fear not. To STAND FIRM and BE STILL, Listening and knowing we are not alone.
The Story of Exodus is not about the CONFLICT between ISRAEL and ENEMIES, not even between Pharaoh and Moses, or Technology and Faith. The Story of EXODUS is about All the Greatest Power of the Mightiest Pharaoh, in CONFLICT with the POWER OF GOD, over who will be GLORIFIED.
This is not a story that can be explained scientifically, this is not RATIONAL Reasoning.
As described by a Confirmation Class student years ago,
“Either you have to accept the Miracle of Moses Parting the Red Sea, or you have to accept the Miracle of Pharaoh's entire Military 600 Chariots and Calvary and Soldiers all getting stuck in the mud and drowning in 6” of water!”
The Bible is not a CONSTRUCT of HISTORY, this happened that set up this possibility; this is a story of WITNESS, the Power of an Empire against the POWER OF GOD, and in the middle are a people afraid and alone, backed up against Chaos and Death. An ENTIRE NATION who in the midst of their anxieties and fear hear their leader command “PEACE, FEAR NOT, STAND FIRM, BE STILL, KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALONE” and they were saved.
So the question we must ask ourselves, is Whether we add to one another's fears, escalating conflict, by escalating competition and power, or Whether we stand with one another, lowering the conflict by remembering and letting others know they are not alone?
The teaching of Jesus is difficult enough to accept and practice,
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT GOD GAVE GOD'S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON FOR US.
But here, when asked Jesus teaches that we must forgive not just once or twice, or even SEVEN Times, but forgiving llong after we give up counting how many times, as many as 70 times 7 times= 490 times to forgive those close to us.
YET, according to Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus said this, he also illustrated his point with a parable... Not only does it not matter the amount forgiven, one was forgiven 100 Talents ½ a Year's Salary, where the other begged to be forgiven a day's wages; the point is that the FORGIVENESS Of the King was to have had an effect of this one forgiving others 70 times over. More than the idea of PAY IT FORWARD this is the realization that we forgive because we have been forgiven, and how awesome the world could be, if everyone forgave, and stood beside one another instead of toe to toe.
Seven years ago, the General Assembly of the Church was gathered to consider the future. For the last forty years, the Church has been divided over one social issue after another, divided by fear, by losses. The testimony we heard from both sides described “Do Not create one more Policy, one more Paper to sit in the Archives.” And we were asked to consider the underlying issues, to name a fresh new future for the Church in the 21st Century?
Historically, here in North America, the Church has been an established authority, A Power.
In every community, the Church sits at the Center, or atop the hill as a moral beacon.
In this community, as you enter from the West you come passed the sentinel of the Lutheran Church; entering the Village from the North you pass the Catholic Church then the Methodist; or from the East passed the Pentecostal then between the Episcopal and Presbyterian, like stone gates of establishment and power. Yet, in recent decades the Church has become identified as marginalized, people seek truth, their answers from GOOGLE, from POLITICS, from the ECONOMIC MARKET, from the MEDIA.
What if, the Church stood with people who were marginalized, who were in fear, to stand with the POWERLESS and command “PEACE, BE NOT AFRAID, STAND FIRM, BE SILENT And LISTEN, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, YOU ARE FORGIVEN, YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN, YOU WILL BE SAVED”.
Matthew 18:21-35
When in Seminary we were taught, “save the book of Genesis until later, it is the most beautiful rich poetry, taking all the ancient oral traditions and crafting the story. The first event of faith, be we Jewish or Christian, is the EXODUS. God heard the people's cries, God never forgot them, and God led Israel across the Red Sea to dry land and Safety in the Wilderness, while destroying mighty Pharaoh, his Chariots and Armies in the chaos of the water. But more than a history of how the People of Israel escaped Egypt, EXODUS is a story of the POWER of GOD.
Like an old John Wayne Western, there is this pause, as the Israelites, and the Egyptians, the story teller and the listener all realize the POWERLESS PEOPLE are HOPELESS. The people had wanted to WORHIP GOD, to show God Glory; and the Pharaoh had made himself into a God, saying NO.
As we portrayed last week with each of the 10 plagues, time after time, Moses had come on behalf of the people NOT to ask for their freedom to leave, but to ask for their FREEDOM TO GLORIFY GOD and Pharaoh had said NO. Ultimately, there is the PASSOVER, when all the first born of Egypt, all those who had been bred to inherit, of every family, die. While the whole nation of Egypt mourns, Israel is set free. But such events do not GIVE GLORY to the POWER of GOD.
God leads the people into a Wilderness, as the heart of Pharaoh becomes bitter, resolved and ruthless. You can feel the anxiety climax, as the people of Faith and the Chariots of Pharaoh pass beside each other over and over again in the fog throughout the night. They can hear each other, they sense one another, but they ALSO HEAR THE WIND beating against the sea from the East al through the night. When the mists rise, the people who had been slaves, who had escaped during the tragedy of Egypt are trapped, their backs are to the sea and before their eyes coming down upon them is this un-named God-Like Pharaoh with his 600 finest Chariots, his army, his horsemen, and many other Chariots too.
And MOSES, the Man of Faith, commands the people “PEACE, BE NOT AFRAID” we are not alone. Then a second Command “STAND FIRM” then “BE STILL” and finally “SALVATION IS AT HAND” and as he raises his staff, the waters they were afraid of , the waters they were to be drowned in, to die, part. In a RE-Enactment of CREATION Dry Land is formed by God out of the Waters of Chaos.
In the past, we have described the escalating Nature of CONFLICT. That whenever there is disagreement, there is the potential for Conflict.
LEVEL I: The difference may be as minor as I wanted Fish and you wanted Chicken, or we both want what only one can have. We disagree. The important factor at this stage is that we both value what we want and each other enough to state our Conflict.
LEVEL II: Or the difference may be between Parent and Child, Teacher and Student. I want you to reach beyond what you have known as easy, to strive for what can only be attained by challenge. Again, because we value each other, and we value what can be, the Conflict is healthy.
LEVEL III: The difficulty is that as Conflict escalates there becomes COMPETITION where we value each other less; and winning/attaining/ being first, becomes our goal. In a world of Limited Resources, with FEAR a presence in our consciousness, we sruggle for ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, we strive for ACCEPTANCE, we COMPETE to SURVIVE. A problem of our culture, is that we have ratcheted up EXPECTATIONS, TIME has become so precious, RECESSION has left us all fearful of losing what we have, that COMPETITION has become our baseline, of where we live.
LEVEL IV: The difference between the Conflict of Comeptition, and the next Level of Conflict is a desire not simply to win, but to humiliate, to emotionally and psychologically break the other, in order that they will never challnge for power again.
LEVEL V: The absolute reality of CONFLICT is more than a willingness, a desire to destroy, to make an example, so that no one will ever again challenge or conflict.
The TIPPING POINT from one level of Conflict to another, may be as simple as DISAGREEMENT, or FEAR, or because at every level of Conflict there is a decreasing number of people you identify with and feel a part of, the difference may be ISOLATION. As idealistic and communal as our culture has claimed to be... As much as the Internet has shrunk our world bringing us into communication with people around the world... We have become increasingly INDIVIDUALISTIC and Isolated and Alone.
As Pharaoh perceived he was being Challenged, he became more HARD HEARTED, more intractable, his level of Conflict escalated from denial of a request, to teaching a lesson, to annoyance, to a desire to win and control, to a desire to act as God where these people would never again challenge him, to a desire for genocide. BUT REMEMBER what Moses sought was not to put a frog in the lap of the King, what Moses sought was not to set the people free, MOSES' CALL had been to allow the people to be free to Choose to Worship, to offer GLORY TO GOD.
So when outnumbered, with over-whelming force and technology, backed up against a wall of chaos and destruction, MOSES DID NOT command “Get 'Em”... Moses did not command “Retreat”... Moses did not command “WE WILL SURGE THE WAR TO OUR ENEMIES and BE VICTORIOUS!”
In the face of escalating Conflict, over-whelming POWER, TERRORISM in its most basic form, MOSES Commanded “PEACE, BE NOT AFRAID.”
If only in the midst of our Conflicts, we could find a moment of Peace to collect ourselves and fear not. To STAND FIRM and BE STILL, Listening and knowing we are not alone.
The Story of Exodus is not about the CONFLICT between ISRAEL and ENEMIES, not even between Pharaoh and Moses, or Technology and Faith. The Story of EXODUS is about All the Greatest Power of the Mightiest Pharaoh, in CONFLICT with the POWER OF GOD, over who will be GLORIFIED.
This is not a story that can be explained scientifically, this is not RATIONAL Reasoning.
As described by a Confirmation Class student years ago,
“Either you have to accept the Miracle of Moses Parting the Red Sea, or you have to accept the Miracle of Pharaoh's entire Military 600 Chariots and Calvary and Soldiers all getting stuck in the mud and drowning in 6” of water!”
The Bible is not a CONSTRUCT of HISTORY, this happened that set up this possibility; this is a story of WITNESS, the Power of an Empire against the POWER OF GOD, and in the middle are a people afraid and alone, backed up against Chaos and Death. An ENTIRE NATION who in the midst of their anxieties and fear hear their leader command “PEACE, FEAR NOT, STAND FIRM, BE STILL, KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALONE” and they were saved.
So the question we must ask ourselves, is Whether we add to one another's fears, escalating conflict, by escalating competition and power, or Whether we stand with one another, lowering the conflict by remembering and letting others know they are not alone?
The teaching of Jesus is difficult enough to accept and practice,
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT GOD GAVE GOD'S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON FOR US.
But here, when asked Jesus teaches that we must forgive not just once or twice, or even SEVEN Times, but forgiving llong after we give up counting how many times, as many as 70 times 7 times= 490 times to forgive those close to us.
YET, according to Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus said this, he also illustrated his point with a parable... Not only does it not matter the amount forgiven, one was forgiven 100 Talents ½ a Year's Salary, where the other begged to be forgiven a day's wages; the point is that the FORGIVENESS Of the King was to have had an effect of this one forgiving others 70 times over. More than the idea of PAY IT FORWARD this is the realization that we forgive because we have been forgiven, and how awesome the world could be, if everyone forgave, and stood beside one another instead of toe to toe.
Seven years ago, the General Assembly of the Church was gathered to consider the future. For the last forty years, the Church has been divided over one social issue after another, divided by fear, by losses. The testimony we heard from both sides described “Do Not create one more Policy, one more Paper to sit in the Archives.” And we were asked to consider the underlying issues, to name a fresh new future for the Church in the 21st Century?
Historically, here in North America, the Church has been an established authority, A Power.
In every community, the Church sits at the Center, or atop the hill as a moral beacon.
In this community, as you enter from the West you come passed the sentinel of the Lutheran Church; entering the Village from the North you pass the Catholic Church then the Methodist; or from the East passed the Pentecostal then between the Episcopal and Presbyterian, like stone gates of establishment and power. Yet, in recent decades the Church has become identified as marginalized, people seek truth, their answers from GOOGLE, from POLITICS, from the ECONOMIC MARKET, from the MEDIA.
What if, the Church stood with people who were marginalized, who were in fear, to stand with the POWERLESS and command “PEACE, BE NOT AFRAID, STAND FIRM, BE SILENT And LISTEN, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, YOU ARE FORGIVEN, YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN, YOU WILL BE SAVED”.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Rituals for New Things September 07, 2008
Exodus 12:1-14
Matthew 18:15-20
Each of our readings this morning require an adaptation from us. Ours is a individualistic culture, where each of us claim as A Right to choose for ourselves what we desire to make us happy. You do what you want, I will follow my routine, and provided my desires and yours do not overlap, we can live happily ever after, separate and alone. NOT so in the Bible. Jesus recognized that when there is a problem between two, if unresolved, that problem will infect and corrupt the whole community. So as a church, as a community of faith, we have a responsibility to resolve conflict, to exercise church discipline, not on MORAL Grounds, but because there is brokenness within our body, the body of Christ, and if we are truly to be a communion, then we will wound and corrupt one another and God with our differences and pain. In the Old Testament, when Pharaoh denied Moses and the people of faith the opportunity to worship God, all Creation was plagued. Denying the people to worship God caused the River Nile, Source of Life and Health and Vitality, to be turned to Blood. Denying people's faith caused Gnats to become as common as dust and Flies as thick as clouds. Disgusting Frogs to be in our food, and in our beds, crawling upon our children as they sleep and underfoot as we walk. Denying people faith in God, made the crops wither, locusts to swarm and devour, made all our cattle die. Denying faith made boils and blisters erupt on the skin, like Leprosy. Then, Egypt was returned to the Darkness and Void of Chaos before God's Order, for three days and nights a blackness that sucked in and consumed all light. Finally, God declared that the firstborn of every household, those who were destined to inherit and to lead in every family, would die. AND, as we wait for the shoe to drop, as we await fulfillment of the final plague, instead we have insertion of this ritual of the first Passover.
Looking ahead to the Autumn calendar it is readily apparent we are a backwards people. Rather than boldly claiming who we are and what we need in life/entering into the future together, responding and adapting to new circumstances and opportunities as The Body of Christ; we each seek TRADITION. Rituals of the past that comfort us and give each of us security in knowing others did this before us, we cannot be wrong if we do what they did. Labor Day which marked the Struggle for Rights and Benefits of Union Workers in the 1920s and 1930s/ in our childhood marked the end of State Fair/ so the beginning of School, and though we graduated years ago, still on the night before the start of school our tummies are full of butterflies, we are anxious seeing trees change, our bodies feel Fall is beginning. We celebrate Labor Day, and Columbus Day and Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, even our Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, all as RITUAL REMINDERS of the way things have been, long ago. What would it be to create A RITUAL OF NEW THINGS to enter into that which is new with a community ritual?
The issue here is not between CHANGE and TRADITION, as the values of our Political Parties suggest, but that as we enter into life, we stop to listen and pay attention to what is going on, creating INTENTIONAL ACTS to dramatize what we live, and in those INTENTIONAL ACTS, DRAMATIZATIONS OF LIFE, we emphasize our Connection as opposed to our isolation.
We remember the Burning Bush and the Holy Ground. We remember the Plagues of Egypt and the Deaths of the Firstborn. We remember the parting of the Red Sea. BUT the point of all of these, was that GOD wanted the people to be free to celebrate, and the People wanted to be free to Celebrate their faith in God. If we remember the story only as historic events, if we go through rituals, without feeling, what is the point?
In the midst of the plagues, as all Creation was sceaming for Pharaoh to pay attention to his people, the story stops to describe creation of a RITUAL of a NEW THING, not as witnessed historically, why do we do this. But as a New Thing responding to the people.
What were the people of faith feeling?
The World is a very dangerous place.
We cannot sit down and be lax, we are not to take pleasure at the pains of the Egyptians, there is no time for bread to rise, no time to sit, so we eat standing up, lamb which is roasted, with nothing left over, no trace we were ever here.
When I was in Sudan the first time, up until 6 weeks before this had been a warzone. While there I had been extremely ill and the only things that had kept me alive were faith in God, the care of the people, some cookies and bottled water. The morning we prepared to leave, one of my companions asked “did you leave anything behind?” I mentioned leaving a few bottles of water and cookies for those who had cared for me. Instantly, he ran into the hut, and gathered up the leftovers, saying “No evidence can be left that you were here, only the memory of your presence and the words we have shared.”
In the midst of the danger, the COMMUNITY of FAITH know that they are marked, protected by God. Protected not because we are special, not because we knew the right words to right on the doorposts, or the right ritual to perform; but because they marked their homes with the sacrifice.As we mentioned last week, Sacrifice is not CHARITY, is not MISSION, Sacrifice is not choosing what is the least and simplest I have to give up, but rather Sacrifice is PERSONAL and COSTLY, giving as an act of love and commitment something which is innocent and pure.
What would weddings be like, if instead of being concerned with did we wear GreatGrandmother's Vail, did we say the words right, or light all the candles without dripping... IF the couple reflected upon who were important to them and why, their hopes and dreams for married life together. If the couple took responsibility, that the guests are friends and family at their first dinner as husband and wife, in an extension of their home, rather than party guests to be entertained. If instead of the couple having to kiss every time the glasses were clinked, their parents or their grandparents kissed.
What would the week before the first day of school be, if instead of trying to find our classroom and buy supplies, and parent and child adding to one another's anxiety about separation, IF we intentionally began spending time together, naming that we will not always be able to do so. Intentionally stopping to name our concern for others in our lives, who will also be present, who might need us and committing our energies to helping them.
Our lives are inextricably bound up with the lives of others, we cannot get away from them. As such, matthew names to his community a teaching of Jesus that is unique. If someone has wronged you, you have a responsibility to repair the relationship. What is important is not what was done, or not done, but the relationship.
If they will not, the role of others is to hold us accountable. Often we see things only from our perspective, and we need others to remind us, maybe we have said enough.
If still they have not come home to you, treat them as a Pharisee or Tax Collector, which is NOT to SHUN THEM, but rather as Jesus demonstrated, to go out of our way, making sacrifices to bring together those who believe they are serving oter purposes, to see our need for each other before God.
Matthew 18:15-20
Each of our readings this morning require an adaptation from us. Ours is a individualistic culture, where each of us claim as A Right to choose for ourselves what we desire to make us happy. You do what you want, I will follow my routine, and provided my desires and yours do not overlap, we can live happily ever after, separate and alone. NOT so in the Bible. Jesus recognized that when there is a problem between two, if unresolved, that problem will infect and corrupt the whole community. So as a church, as a community of faith, we have a responsibility to resolve conflict, to exercise church discipline, not on MORAL Grounds, but because there is brokenness within our body, the body of Christ, and if we are truly to be a communion, then we will wound and corrupt one another and God with our differences and pain. In the Old Testament, when Pharaoh denied Moses and the people of faith the opportunity to worship God, all Creation was plagued. Denying the people to worship God caused the River Nile, Source of Life and Health and Vitality, to be turned to Blood. Denying people's faith caused Gnats to become as common as dust and Flies as thick as clouds. Disgusting Frogs to be in our food, and in our beds, crawling upon our children as they sleep and underfoot as we walk. Denying people faith in God, made the crops wither, locusts to swarm and devour, made all our cattle die. Denying faith made boils and blisters erupt on the skin, like Leprosy. Then, Egypt was returned to the Darkness and Void of Chaos before God's Order, for three days and nights a blackness that sucked in and consumed all light. Finally, God declared that the firstborn of every household, those who were destined to inherit and to lead in every family, would die. AND, as we wait for the shoe to drop, as we await fulfillment of the final plague, instead we have insertion of this ritual of the first Passover.
Looking ahead to the Autumn calendar it is readily apparent we are a backwards people. Rather than boldly claiming who we are and what we need in life/entering into the future together, responding and adapting to new circumstances and opportunities as The Body of Christ; we each seek TRADITION. Rituals of the past that comfort us and give each of us security in knowing others did this before us, we cannot be wrong if we do what they did. Labor Day which marked the Struggle for Rights and Benefits of Union Workers in the 1920s and 1930s/ in our childhood marked the end of State Fair/ so the beginning of School, and though we graduated years ago, still on the night before the start of school our tummies are full of butterflies, we are anxious seeing trees change, our bodies feel Fall is beginning. We celebrate Labor Day, and Columbus Day and Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, even our Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, all as RITUAL REMINDERS of the way things have been, long ago. What would it be to create A RITUAL OF NEW THINGS to enter into that which is new with a community ritual?
The issue here is not between CHANGE and TRADITION, as the values of our Political Parties suggest, but that as we enter into life, we stop to listen and pay attention to what is going on, creating INTENTIONAL ACTS to dramatize what we live, and in those INTENTIONAL ACTS, DRAMATIZATIONS OF LIFE, we emphasize our Connection as opposed to our isolation.
We remember the Burning Bush and the Holy Ground. We remember the Plagues of Egypt and the Deaths of the Firstborn. We remember the parting of the Red Sea. BUT the point of all of these, was that GOD wanted the people to be free to celebrate, and the People wanted to be free to Celebrate their faith in God. If we remember the story only as historic events, if we go through rituals, without feeling, what is the point?
In the midst of the plagues, as all Creation was sceaming for Pharaoh to pay attention to his people, the story stops to describe creation of a RITUAL of a NEW THING, not as witnessed historically, why do we do this. But as a New Thing responding to the people.
What were the people of faith feeling?
The World is a very dangerous place.
We cannot sit down and be lax, we are not to take pleasure at the pains of the Egyptians, there is no time for bread to rise, no time to sit, so we eat standing up, lamb which is roasted, with nothing left over, no trace we were ever here.
When I was in Sudan the first time, up until 6 weeks before this had been a warzone. While there I had been extremely ill and the only things that had kept me alive were faith in God, the care of the people, some cookies and bottled water. The morning we prepared to leave, one of my companions asked “did you leave anything behind?” I mentioned leaving a few bottles of water and cookies for those who had cared for me. Instantly, he ran into the hut, and gathered up the leftovers, saying “No evidence can be left that you were here, only the memory of your presence and the words we have shared.”
In the midst of the danger, the COMMUNITY of FAITH know that they are marked, protected by God. Protected not because we are special, not because we knew the right words to right on the doorposts, or the right ritual to perform; but because they marked their homes with the sacrifice.As we mentioned last week, Sacrifice is not CHARITY, is not MISSION, Sacrifice is not choosing what is the least and simplest I have to give up, but rather Sacrifice is PERSONAL and COSTLY, giving as an act of love and commitment something which is innocent and pure.
What would weddings be like, if instead of being concerned with did we wear GreatGrandmother's Vail, did we say the words right, or light all the candles without dripping... IF the couple reflected upon who were important to them and why, their hopes and dreams for married life together. If the couple took responsibility, that the guests are friends and family at their first dinner as husband and wife, in an extension of their home, rather than party guests to be entertained. If instead of the couple having to kiss every time the glasses were clinked, their parents or their grandparents kissed.
What would the week before the first day of school be, if instead of trying to find our classroom and buy supplies, and parent and child adding to one another's anxiety about separation, IF we intentionally began spending time together, naming that we will not always be able to do so. Intentionally stopping to name our concern for others in our lives, who will also be present, who might need us and committing our energies to helping them.
Our lives are inextricably bound up with the lives of others, we cannot get away from them. As such, matthew names to his community a teaching of Jesus that is unique. If someone has wronged you, you have a responsibility to repair the relationship. What is important is not what was done, or not done, but the relationship.
If they will not, the role of others is to hold us accountable. Often we see things only from our perspective, and we need others to remind us, maybe we have said enough.
If still they have not come home to you, treat them as a Pharisee or Tax Collector, which is NOT to SHUN THEM, but rather as Jesus demonstrated, to go out of our way, making sacrifices to bring together those who believe they are serving oter purposes, to see our need for each other before God.
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