II Kings 2
Galations 5: 1, 13-26
There used to be a Board Game, created in 1860 called LIFE, reissued in 1960, replacing the throwing of dice with the spinning or a wheel, with every player having a convertible cadillac, and Art Linkletter on the Box. Different from Chutes and Ladders, you never had to go backwards. Different from Checkers, the goal was not eliminating your opponent. Different from Monopoly, the goal was not amassing real estate and hotels and wealth. The Game of Life was about going through life and the choices we make. Choosing: Do you want to go to College or Not? Careers were up to the luck of the draw. Do you want to get Married? Do you want to have children and how many, but all within the fist three spins, the first 30 years? Were the game re-issued today, the vehicle might change, but more, rather than one moment in life where you decide to go to College or Not, one Career choice, one moment when you choose to Marry or Not, one moment in which to have children or not, we could opt for these choices over and over again throughout the Game of Life.
This morning is about Choices. Can we be loyal to one another and steadfast? Will God provide for us when current leaders, the way we have seemingly always gone, is passed? Can we let go, and trust, and love, and serve one another's needs? Do we need to go back and retrace experiencing the development of ideas, or can we begin here and now, right where we are today? Travelling in South Sudan, five years ago, it suddenly occurred to me that this was a culture which never had learned the concept of The Wheel, never learned Electricity, never experienced the Telegraph or Wall-mounted Land Line Telephones, who suddenly would have Cell Phones. The landscape would not be covered in telephone lines. Following a GPS Locator across the desert, there would be no need for Roads or Highways, or speed limits. If we could eliminate disease, if we could eliminate war, would we still strive to live, and for what?
Throughout the last several weeks, we have read through the Old Testament of the Prophet Elijah standing alone against the Kings and Queens of Israel and Samaria. When their were 500 Prophets of Baal, when “everybody” was going along and doing what everyone else was doing, Elijah alone stood for Faith in God. Elijah was so zealous and so alone, he went to the Cave questioning whether there was a God, or whether he had stood alone, and after earthquake, an d flood, and fire and wind, he heard the still small voice that cut through him asking “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah, overwhelmed by what he had already seen and done, given an enormous list of all the kings he must ordain, of all the Priests he must gather and teach and ordain, of all the Prophets he must gather and teach and ordain, finally to find Elisha to carry on after him, immediately goes down the mountain looking for Elisha to pass this off to. Not another miracle is described, not another confrontation or contest, Elijah is ready to die, ready for Elisha to carry on. This morning, the protege of Elijah: Elisha, and all the prophets of God in all the Cities, each know what is about to happen.
It is the last Sunday in June, rain or shine, children will Graduate as Adults and take a leap off the breakwater.
Jasper is Baptized. Jim and Ann have fulfilled their first 45 years of marriage. Elijah is carried up to heaven by the Whirlwind, and Elisha witnesses the power of God. Greater than the power of Pharaoh's Horses and Chariots these are the four horses of the Apocalypse and Chariots of Fire. Whether, our focus is Elijah being carried up, Ann and Jim recommitting their vows, Dave and Tess and their daughters together as a family committing their love and faith to this child, having your name announced to the World as a Graduate, or leaping into the lake, there is a moment out of time in which the past is passed, and we are committed to a different future. You cannot in midair leap back onto the breakwater. We cannot take back our baptism. We cannot relive the last 45 years.
Three different times, Elijah questions Elisha. You can stay here, you do not have to come along, what do you want? And where Elijah had been frightened of the power of God, had been frightened of the Spirit, Elisha asks for a Double Share! You want to be fearful, asking for a double share of the Spirit. Years ago, having completed the first dozen years of ordained ministry, foolishly believing I knew what this was all about, in the midst of a Spiritual retreat, when we had been fasting and praying for week, we had a laying on of hands, where you could ask the body to share in prayer, and I recall asking for a double share of the Spirit. A few weeks later, we were here in Skaneateles, my wife became ill, and my parents had a car accident with a drunk driver, and my faith was shaken, as I felt very alone with God. Suddenly, you cannot go back, you must choose your direction, to go the way of everyone else, or unreserved commitment.
What Paul describes to the Church at Galatia, is that that Commitment is to Freedom and Responsibility. The Apostle Paul had gone across the known world starting Churches, as communities of faith. These had been people without any faith, people who had never believed in anything, who now were Baptized into Jesus Christ. After he left, other teachers came to these new believers demanding that in order to be Christian you have to follow the Old Testament Law, you have to be Circumcised and Kosher, and adhere to the 10 Commandments. It would be so much easier, if we had specific laws to follow. Do these laws every day of your life, and you will be guaranteed faith. There are some, who approach faith as a guarantee, a get out of jail free card; follow these laws and you will be guaranteed riches, a happy and full life. I have not known it to be so. Instead, what Paul defends instead of The Law is absolute trust in the Spirit of God. Not a theoretical belief in philosophical principles, not a faith in the innate human condition over against tradition, but trust that God is alive and real among us. Miracles are not reserved for long long ago, but happen in our lives today.
There is a trap to Reason and Rationalism, that Cancers may go into remission, Warring Nations may declare a truce, but eventually everyone is going to die. We are Mortal, so when death occurs, we feel a sense of loss and failure, as if we have been cheated. But for the person who had been diagnosed with Cancer, to have had an extra year or six to see their child marry, their grandchild graduate... We need engineers and doctors and hard science practitioners to surpass the bounds of our human knowledge, so as to feed millions, to cure disease, knowing all the while that as there was a beginning, so there is an end to this life for each of us, but that that is not the end for God.
Many will review this list of corruptions and blessings, and jump to the conclusion that the Bible is against Sex, against acknowledging our human desires. That is not the case. Each of the evils named by Paul are selfish and divisive; whereas the Fruits of the Spirit are about building up the Community, sharing with one another, even serving each other. We often juxtapose Freedom and Responsibility, but what Paul affirms is that step up to responsibility is how we live into our freedoms, how we make this community work.
We have to challenge the mindset which believes that Life is a Game of Checkers, where our goal is to eliminate everyone else. We need to challenge the mindset that Life is a Game of Chess, trying to think three and five moves ahead strategically, so that you can take out the opponent's queen and make the king unable to act. We need to challenge the mindset that Life is a Game of Monopoly, where our purpose is to go around as many times as possible, that we will be guaranteed $200 just for passing, and that our purpose is to build as expensive of real estate as possible, creating Monopolies and dominating the board so others owe us for passing through our lives. We need to live The Game of Life, where the object is not having the most, or getting done first, but enjoying where the journey takes us.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
June 13, 2010 "How Then Shall We Teach?"
1 Kings 21
Luke 7: 36-8:3
Week after week, year after year, I am continually in awe, not only that the Bible written down thousands of years ago addresses circumstances of our lives, but that the lectionary selection of passages for the Catholic and Protestant Churches to work through the Bible together, should select passages so appropriate for our time. Listening to the story of King Ahab's coveting the Vineyard of Naboth, being willing to kill all that got in the way of his quest for land, his quest for what would satisfy him, conjures up circumstances around us, of the quest for oil at all costs, and of the fight for land and blockades in the Middle East.
Our Session are in the midst of a Major Mission Study. We are perhaps the most studied body of Christians, ever to have been Called to be The Church. We did a Mission Study of whether to have Co-Pastors, then another Mission Study to call the Co-Pastor, we then were studied by Alban Institute regarding conflict, then we studied the need for Building Renovations, then for the next Pastor, studied for interests in Christian Education, studied for what kind of Organ to recommend, studied for which translation of the Bible to teach, studied demographically, educationally, economically, studied for why we were able to get un-Stuck when many Churches cannot, we have even been studied genetically, because while we have a growing number who were baptized as Adults, we also have over 1/3rd of this congregation who are immediately related to ministers.
Several months ago, our Session came to the realization that our Church is in the midst of a Reformation. Not as visible as bulldozing a third of the Building; not as audible as changing Pipe Organs or adding choirs; not as tangible as Reforming Health Care (in S.Sudan); not a change that will require a Mortgage for the next 30 years; and we are not considering another Co-Pastorate; not necessarily adopting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal; but rather that there has been and continues to be a significant change to the identity of being The Church in the world, what we represent, what role the Church plays, and how we teach.
Decades ago, you memorized / recited The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Christian Faith and you were declared to have been predestined as a Presbyterian. In the Autumn you filled out a Pledge card of your giving; on Sunday mornings children went to Junior Church while adults came to Worship; we never went to worship midweek, instead Monday nights you came for Session and Committee meetings, Wednesdays for Bible Study, Thursday for Choir Rehearsal; and when the Offering Plate was passed you put in a tythe. The Change is from having set adherence to what Christians, let alone Protestants, even Presbyterians Must believe, to being in relationship as a Community of Christian Faith, who seriously pray and believe God acts.
The difficulty is that the former way had a clear curriculum, you could virtually pass a test whether you believed properly or not. How do you teach relationship as a community of faith? How do you teach that prayer is real and that God is not simply a philosophy or set of beliefs, but that the Holy Spirit of God does act in miracles especially in a world gone virtual?
This reformation has not occurred by vote or committee. Change began, as it does in the Church: with a child; and as change in the Church requires, with a group of women who were called to relationship as Grandmothers. We had a new staff member, who was a single Mom with a young child, a child who had not been baptized as an infant, had never before been in a Church. When she was very young, the child clung to her Mother. But when she matured from 5 to 6, or 7 Peggy, Martha and Ava committed themselves to worship God with the Child, teaching her how to find Hymns and how to sing, how to read the Bible, how to sit and listen, how to Pray, and that they representing the whole Church and God would be there for her week in week out. Eventually, the child now grown, chose of her own volition to be Baptized and led her Mother to be as well. Over a dozen years, the child grew and matured and was elected, ordained and installed as a Deacon, while the Grandmothers aged and passed, and the young woman began claiming other grandmothers.
The change occurred by refugees from decades of Civil War coming to a new and different country, where they claimed Mrs. Nichols, not as Ann, but with honor as “Grandmother”; where they claimed Jack, not as Mr. Howard or as an Elder, or a Dartmouth Grad, all of which he was/is, but in a faith relationship as “Grandfather”. In this and a thousand circumstances in our community, this change reinforced that you are a Pastor, not by years of education, not by ordination, but by accepting there are times when we need to be in a place not because we want or we receive anything for it, but because people need a Pastor. Where it would be wrong to preach your personal agenda or politics, because people need someone who gathers them in the name of Jesus Christ.
The change occurred by the Session determining that as The First Presbyterian Church we want to assist people with the resources of faith when people need us, to share weddings and the Sacraments, the building, to share in mission and in ministry regardless of membership sharing what people need, with sincerity and integrity.
A short-time ago, NPR interviewed a Movie Producer and Director, who described that people get into leadership, in politics, theater and movies, out of a desire for Validation, wanting to be applauded, wanting to stimulate emotion, wanting you to believe their story. He described having gone several years to a counselor, and after several months the therapist said “When are you going to stop trying to get me to like you and name what is bothering you what you have done wrong?” The Church does not seek validation, we are responsible for giving Validation! Whether a person committed murder, they thought painful images for the other person in their mind; they committed atrocious sins or were sinned against, our role in forgiveness is to Validate Humanity that still you are loved by God, still you are able to be forgiven, still we are in relationship, no matter what. Is that not what Jesus did for us once and for all time on the Cross as Savior? Teaching us that we are loved!
Culture has a formative power over us as human beings, we want to fit in, we want to succeed, we want to get along. But there are cultures which become destructive to life, destructive to human dignity. At those times, the Church which often is part of the culture providing validation and comfort to the challenged, must also be counter-cultural, offering a different formative power: not to succeed, not to win, but to challenge, to forgive, to claim, to empower.
According to the Old Testament, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had everything they could desire. Looking out over their kingdom, the King realized that adjacent to his palace and estate was a fertile little acre of property, owned by Naboth. The King wanted to possess this parcel of land to create a vegetable garden. Have you ever wanted something? Wanted it so badly that you could only see your own perspective, your own need, regardless of anyone else? The King tried to make a deal for the land; but to Naboth, this was not just land, this was not simply a vegetable garden, this is his inheritance, this acre of land was given to his family in the division of Moses! This land had been cleared by his ancestors' sweat, this land represented to him: his parents, his grandparents back seven and eight generations! Showing how corrupt the culture had become at forming people's values, when the King of all Israel and Samaria could not get what he wanted, he did not choose a different parcel, he did not offer a creative solution like share cropping Naboth's land, he went to bed and pouted. Whereupon Jezebel, who cared nothing for the culture or their faith, arranged a religious celebration, during which two unscrupulous fellows would be contracted to lie, to cause murder, a public execution by the State of the pawn who stood in the way of the King. After the deed was done, after the King's power has been abused, after religion has been manipulated, after Naboth has been killed, the King goes to inspect his new Garden, where he is confronted by the Prrophet Elijah, who reminds him of his relationship to God, reminds him of his relationship to serve the People, and his responsibilities as King. And Ahab demonstrates repentance, he takes off his fine clothes to put on Sack cloth, in humility, he prays to God for forgiveness, he fasts receiving nothing for pleasure. Whether Ahab truly repented in his heart, or whether this was just for show, does not matter to the Bible. He acted in the way necessary to be forgiven, and God forgives, at least within Ahab's own generation.
This week, a man came to see me from Tennessee, claiming to be on his way to Canada, looking for work. He was out of gas for his red Volvo. We acted in faith, we acted to help someone in need. The next evening on the news, there was description of the arrest of a man, this same man, driving a red Volvo stolen in Ohio. We try. There are no set answers or curriculum for life. There will be those who take advantage, but still when a person is in need, we respond as a Caring Christian Community.
Part of teaching, is not only the content, but also the context for what occurs. Jesus was invited into the home of a Pharisee for dinner. Mealtime is naturally intimate, this is your family, gathered together, where you feed guests from your table. According to custom, in a culture where one was barefoot or wore sandals, when you entered the house, you offered your guests not only to take off their shoes, but to wash their feet, leaving behind the soot and grime of the world outside. SO over dinner, when the Pharisee challenged Jesus that if he were really a prophet and teacher, he would have known that the woman displaying overt affection to him was one who sold her affections, who sold her intimacy, who sold her body for money. Jesus response was: culturally as Host, you should have washed my feet and personally welcomed me as an intimate trusted friend, but did not; she has bathed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her own hair, she has not been offensive, but has been personal and comforting in her human touch.
The irony of Jesus' challenging the Pharisee's hypocrisy, is that Jesus asked which one would be more thankful, one forgiven a little or forgiven a great deal? When in faith, it does not matter how large or how small the sin. Brokenness is brokenness. Whether a gigantic insult to God, or as tiny as a grain of sand, the sin rubs and wears on our relationship with God until repented and forgiven. According to Human Nature, the individual may be more thankful when forgiven more, but according to the Faith Relationship: A sin is a sin.
In many ways what we are doing in this Reformational Change, what we seek to become is more like the Christian Community of the First and Second Century, and less the institution that has at times been guilty of sin. How then shall we teach? By our relationships, by our being real with one another. I am told that during one of those earlier Mission Studies, the question came from one of the Session members, we had a Senior Pastor, we have had Co-Pastors, we have had an Interim Pastor, when we have a Real Pastor... when suddenly they realized what they had said to the Interim Pastor. From that time forward, the Installed Pastor has been referred to as “The Real Pastor.” Yet what we are naming, what we are trying to do, is for the Church to become Real.Would that our perceptions and our values, and our identification of ourselves as Christians were based on our being real with one another.
Then we would not try to dress 2 year olds up in tuxedos coaxing them to walk up an aisle at weddings as if adults. We would not have to worry about whether divorced parents could sit together for they would each attend a wedding to be present for their child. May our tears be real. May our relationships be personal. There are no easy answers, no one way of teaching, except to commit ourselves, attentive to what the Holy Spirit is Calling us to consider. The awesome power of faith, is that the Scriptures speak to us, of the coveting of Oil in the Gulf that has led to devastation; the coveting of Oil and Power and Land in the Middle East, that time after time has led to War; but also, that these same passages can speak to us personally, individually and intimately, about the coveting and hypocrisy of our lives; and the perpetual need of the Church to Reform as moved by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 7: 36-8:3
Week after week, year after year, I am continually in awe, not only that the Bible written down thousands of years ago addresses circumstances of our lives, but that the lectionary selection of passages for the Catholic and Protestant Churches to work through the Bible together, should select passages so appropriate for our time. Listening to the story of King Ahab's coveting the Vineyard of Naboth, being willing to kill all that got in the way of his quest for land, his quest for what would satisfy him, conjures up circumstances around us, of the quest for oil at all costs, and of the fight for land and blockades in the Middle East.
Our Session are in the midst of a Major Mission Study. We are perhaps the most studied body of Christians, ever to have been Called to be The Church. We did a Mission Study of whether to have Co-Pastors, then another Mission Study to call the Co-Pastor, we then were studied by Alban Institute regarding conflict, then we studied the need for Building Renovations, then for the next Pastor, studied for interests in Christian Education, studied for what kind of Organ to recommend, studied for which translation of the Bible to teach, studied demographically, educationally, economically, studied for why we were able to get un-Stuck when many Churches cannot, we have even been studied genetically, because while we have a growing number who were baptized as Adults, we also have over 1/3rd of this congregation who are immediately related to ministers.
Several months ago, our Session came to the realization that our Church is in the midst of a Reformation. Not as visible as bulldozing a third of the Building; not as audible as changing Pipe Organs or adding choirs; not as tangible as Reforming Health Care (in S.Sudan); not a change that will require a Mortgage for the next 30 years; and we are not considering another Co-Pastorate; not necessarily adopting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal; but rather that there has been and continues to be a significant change to the identity of being The Church in the world, what we represent, what role the Church plays, and how we teach.
Decades ago, you memorized / recited The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Christian Faith and you were declared to have been predestined as a Presbyterian. In the Autumn you filled out a Pledge card of your giving; on Sunday mornings children went to Junior Church while adults came to Worship; we never went to worship midweek, instead Monday nights you came for Session and Committee meetings, Wednesdays for Bible Study, Thursday for Choir Rehearsal; and when the Offering Plate was passed you put in a tythe. The Change is from having set adherence to what Christians, let alone Protestants, even Presbyterians Must believe, to being in relationship as a Community of Christian Faith, who seriously pray and believe God acts.
The difficulty is that the former way had a clear curriculum, you could virtually pass a test whether you believed properly or not. How do you teach relationship as a community of faith? How do you teach that prayer is real and that God is not simply a philosophy or set of beliefs, but that the Holy Spirit of God does act in miracles especially in a world gone virtual?
This reformation has not occurred by vote or committee. Change began, as it does in the Church: with a child; and as change in the Church requires, with a group of women who were called to relationship as Grandmothers. We had a new staff member, who was a single Mom with a young child, a child who had not been baptized as an infant, had never before been in a Church. When she was very young, the child clung to her Mother. But when she matured from 5 to 6, or 7 Peggy, Martha and Ava committed themselves to worship God with the Child, teaching her how to find Hymns and how to sing, how to read the Bible, how to sit and listen, how to Pray, and that they representing the whole Church and God would be there for her week in week out. Eventually, the child now grown, chose of her own volition to be Baptized and led her Mother to be as well. Over a dozen years, the child grew and matured and was elected, ordained and installed as a Deacon, while the Grandmothers aged and passed, and the young woman began claiming other grandmothers.
The change occurred by refugees from decades of Civil War coming to a new and different country, where they claimed Mrs. Nichols, not as Ann, but with honor as “Grandmother”; where they claimed Jack, not as Mr. Howard or as an Elder, or a Dartmouth Grad, all of which he was/is, but in a faith relationship as “Grandfather”. In this and a thousand circumstances in our community, this change reinforced that you are a Pastor, not by years of education, not by ordination, but by accepting there are times when we need to be in a place not because we want or we receive anything for it, but because people need a Pastor. Where it would be wrong to preach your personal agenda or politics, because people need someone who gathers them in the name of Jesus Christ.
The change occurred by the Session determining that as The First Presbyterian Church we want to assist people with the resources of faith when people need us, to share weddings and the Sacraments, the building, to share in mission and in ministry regardless of membership sharing what people need, with sincerity and integrity.
A short-time ago, NPR interviewed a Movie Producer and Director, who described that people get into leadership, in politics, theater and movies, out of a desire for Validation, wanting to be applauded, wanting to stimulate emotion, wanting you to believe their story. He described having gone several years to a counselor, and after several months the therapist said “When are you going to stop trying to get me to like you and name what is bothering you what you have done wrong?” The Church does not seek validation, we are responsible for giving Validation! Whether a person committed murder, they thought painful images for the other person in their mind; they committed atrocious sins or were sinned against, our role in forgiveness is to Validate Humanity that still you are loved by God, still you are able to be forgiven, still we are in relationship, no matter what. Is that not what Jesus did for us once and for all time on the Cross as Savior? Teaching us that we are loved!
Culture has a formative power over us as human beings, we want to fit in, we want to succeed, we want to get along. But there are cultures which become destructive to life, destructive to human dignity. At those times, the Church which often is part of the culture providing validation and comfort to the challenged, must also be counter-cultural, offering a different formative power: not to succeed, not to win, but to challenge, to forgive, to claim, to empower.
According to the Old Testament, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had everything they could desire. Looking out over their kingdom, the King realized that adjacent to his palace and estate was a fertile little acre of property, owned by Naboth. The King wanted to possess this parcel of land to create a vegetable garden. Have you ever wanted something? Wanted it so badly that you could only see your own perspective, your own need, regardless of anyone else? The King tried to make a deal for the land; but to Naboth, this was not just land, this was not simply a vegetable garden, this is his inheritance, this acre of land was given to his family in the division of Moses! This land had been cleared by his ancestors' sweat, this land represented to him: his parents, his grandparents back seven and eight generations! Showing how corrupt the culture had become at forming people's values, when the King of all Israel and Samaria could not get what he wanted, he did not choose a different parcel, he did not offer a creative solution like share cropping Naboth's land, he went to bed and pouted. Whereupon Jezebel, who cared nothing for the culture or their faith, arranged a religious celebration, during which two unscrupulous fellows would be contracted to lie, to cause murder, a public execution by the State of the pawn who stood in the way of the King. After the deed was done, after the King's power has been abused, after religion has been manipulated, after Naboth has been killed, the King goes to inspect his new Garden, where he is confronted by the Prrophet Elijah, who reminds him of his relationship to God, reminds him of his relationship to serve the People, and his responsibilities as King. And Ahab demonstrates repentance, he takes off his fine clothes to put on Sack cloth, in humility, he prays to God for forgiveness, he fasts receiving nothing for pleasure. Whether Ahab truly repented in his heart, or whether this was just for show, does not matter to the Bible. He acted in the way necessary to be forgiven, and God forgives, at least within Ahab's own generation.
This week, a man came to see me from Tennessee, claiming to be on his way to Canada, looking for work. He was out of gas for his red Volvo. We acted in faith, we acted to help someone in need. The next evening on the news, there was description of the arrest of a man, this same man, driving a red Volvo stolen in Ohio. We try. There are no set answers or curriculum for life. There will be those who take advantage, but still when a person is in need, we respond as a Caring Christian Community.
Part of teaching, is not only the content, but also the context for what occurs. Jesus was invited into the home of a Pharisee for dinner. Mealtime is naturally intimate, this is your family, gathered together, where you feed guests from your table. According to custom, in a culture where one was barefoot or wore sandals, when you entered the house, you offered your guests not only to take off their shoes, but to wash their feet, leaving behind the soot and grime of the world outside. SO over dinner, when the Pharisee challenged Jesus that if he were really a prophet and teacher, he would have known that the woman displaying overt affection to him was one who sold her affections, who sold her intimacy, who sold her body for money. Jesus response was: culturally as Host, you should have washed my feet and personally welcomed me as an intimate trusted friend, but did not; she has bathed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her own hair, she has not been offensive, but has been personal and comforting in her human touch.
The irony of Jesus' challenging the Pharisee's hypocrisy, is that Jesus asked which one would be more thankful, one forgiven a little or forgiven a great deal? When in faith, it does not matter how large or how small the sin. Brokenness is brokenness. Whether a gigantic insult to God, or as tiny as a grain of sand, the sin rubs and wears on our relationship with God until repented and forgiven. According to Human Nature, the individual may be more thankful when forgiven more, but according to the Faith Relationship: A sin is a sin.
In many ways what we are doing in this Reformational Change, what we seek to become is more like the Christian Community of the First and Second Century, and less the institution that has at times been guilty of sin. How then shall we teach? By our relationships, by our being real with one another. I am told that during one of those earlier Mission Studies, the question came from one of the Session members, we had a Senior Pastor, we have had Co-Pastors, we have had an Interim Pastor, when we have a Real Pastor... when suddenly they realized what they had said to the Interim Pastor. From that time forward, the Installed Pastor has been referred to as “The Real Pastor.” Yet what we are naming, what we are trying to do, is for the Church to become Real.Would that our perceptions and our values, and our identification of ourselves as Christians were based on our being real with one another.
Then we would not try to dress 2 year olds up in tuxedos coaxing them to walk up an aisle at weddings as if adults. We would not have to worry about whether divorced parents could sit together for they would each attend a wedding to be present for their child. May our tears be real. May our relationships be personal. There are no easy answers, no one way of teaching, except to commit ourselves, attentive to what the Holy Spirit is Calling us to consider. The awesome power of faith, is that the Scriptures speak to us, of the coveting of Oil in the Gulf that has led to devastation; the coveting of Oil and Power and Land in the Middle East, that time after time has led to War; but also, that these same passages can speak to us personally, individually and intimately, about the coveting and hypocrisy of our lives; and the perpetual need of the Church to Reform as moved by the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
June 6, 2010 Limping After Two
I Kings 18:17-24
Luke 7: 18-28
While this day: 6 June 1944, is remembered as D Day for the Allied Invasion of Normandy, according to the Scriptures this is a day to remember a different kind of battle, a war of Idols vs God, a contest of Faith & Trust.
Rather than armies and Nations being at war, in the Old Testament there is a contest for a Peoples' soul and faith, generally described as all 450 Priests and Prophets of Baal who served Queen Jezebel versus The Prophet Elijah; in the New Testament between expectations of What Would Jesus Do / what the Savior did defying expectations. Would that the focus of our attention, was not on Oil, Power, Jobs, Economies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, but instead on Faith. We believe in Idols of our own making, the prestige of our homes, the power of our investments, our political allegiances, all of which we whip ourselves up into a frenzy defending;instead of simply trusting God Whether we seek a Messiah to create the revolution we want, making gods who will do our will, or whether we seek a Savior who cares about others, about the lost, the poor, the wounded and afraid?
Until Seminary, somehow this story had been lost on me, having heard the follow up of Elijah in the Cave and the Still Small Voice, countless times. The Contest on Mt. Carmel is an epic event deciding between the Worship of the Fertility gods of Baal and Trust in God, with 450 Prophets and Priests of Baal on one side, and Elijah feeling very alone on the other. But this is Not a Theological Debate of Dogma, not a question of numbers, influence or power, the reality is that in All The Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Sidon, it had not rained for seven years. Crops, lakes and rivers had dried up. In CNY, we are accustomed to complaining about Winter, it began snowing before Halloween and it snowed even on Mother's Day, which we blame for people moving to Florida, along with businesses and the problems of the economy. Yet, in other places around the world, in recent weeks, there have been earthquakes, tidal waves, fires, hurricanes, oil spills, and drought. In a harsh climate like Israel, where water means life, a drought could be as severe a death for a Nation as the floods of Noah, or the Red Sea closing down on Pharaoh and his Chariots. And while the snow, earthquakes, oil spills and global warming may in many ways be attributed to our actions, the Drought upon Israel in the days of Elijah were because the people had no trust.
In desperate times, people begin to question and vacillate. If others are playing the lottery, maybe we should? If everyone else is purchasing homes beyond their means, borrowing against future credit to have what we want, why shouldn't we? Why not plagiarize? Why not try internet dating, it is not really cheating, who is to know? Elijah feels as though he is standing alone, before the King, before the whole Nation, with enormous opposition.
SO Elijah creates this contest, we will each offer a sacrifice, and which ever Offering is accepted, will cause the drought to end, the rains to come, and theirs will be the true God. In times of extreme stress, what is at issue often seems lost by what might be the results of our mistakes. Queen Jezebel adds a side wager, adding pressure, raising the conflict level: When you lose for having stood up against the Queen your own life will be sacrificed. The Priests and Prophets of Baal Worship, make their Offering, and as their worship is about calling attention to their needs and desires, they begin screaming and crying for attention, when there is no response, they begin inflicting pain upon themselves and one another to cause their gods to do what they desire. Demonstrating that nothing can prevent God from being in relationship with the people, Nothing can prevent God from accepting a true offering, Elijah has buckets and buckets of water poured over the Offering he made, 12 Stone jars full, so much water, that this parched dry earth has standing water like a moat around the offering. He prays in the name of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with a faith like Moses, and his offering, his sacrifice to God is accepted.
The nuance of this story is the figure of Obadiah. Many of us empathize with him. Obadiah is the Chief of Staff for King Ahab, but Obadiah also believes in God. So while he works at his job faithfully, doing everything he is commanded, when opportunity presents itself, he also protects and hides and feeds 100 prophets of Israel. King Ahab sent Obadiah to feed and water the King's Horses. People may starve or die of thirst, but the military's horses had to be protected. And while going to feed and water the Horses of the King, Obadiah feeds and waters the Prophets of Israel hidden in caves. Obadiah like the Nation, like many of us, tries to have a foot in both camps, to honor God and protect the faith, while serving the King who seeks to have Elijah and all faith in God: killed. A faith like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, is not a Polytheistic faith in everything, but a Monotheistic faith in one thing over all all others, To believe in God.
For Elijah you cannot plant your foot in two places. You cannot cheat your spouse, wrong your neighbor, lie, and also sit down at table to give thanks to God for God's blessings. Tragically, it seems we as a culture, have forgotten the meaning of words, especially when said as a vow. We marry and divorce, describing this as a contract, a legal partnership broken, rather than believing the trust of the Vow that for Better or Worse, Richer or Poorer, in both Sickness and Health, as long as we shall live, we will serve one another.
God accepts the offering of Elijah. The Prophet Elijah wins the Contest. The drought is ended. But before everyone can go home, The Prophet of Israel, commands that all the prophets and priests of Baal be killed. Often times people will claim that the Old Testament is too violent; I think perhaps a part of our fear of the Old Testament is the absolute conviction, the lack of any equivocation, to be true to God or not.
Luke's story of Jesus and John's Disciples, is in a different setting. Hundreds of years after Ahab and Jezebel, after Alexander the Great invaded the land for the Greeks, after the Ptolomeys, Israel had rebelled under Judas Maccabeus, for a brief time to be a free and independent Nation, until once again the Caesars of Rome had created an Empire. The people, including John the Baptist and his disciples had been waiting for a new Messiah, one sent by God for their liberation, a Savior to set the people free. These disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus: Are you he, or shall we seek another?”
What Jesus challenges, is not the people's allegiance to the Empire or Gods of Rome. They came wanting him to be their Messiah, to do as they commanded. Jesus reframes what it means to be The Messiah, to be their Savior. Not a leader of a Revolution, attempting to overthrow one political party for another, one Empire for a different government; but instead that he had come to fulfill what Isaiah had prophesied. Which revolution do you seek, a military coup, the ousting of those who have not done what we wanted when we wanted, is that not making our government and leaders into idols like Baal, whom we can cal upon when we desire, expecting that if we cry loud enough, they will act? Or that the blind might see and the lame dance, the deaf hear and the mute sing? To trade governments, to embrace “change,” is often to keep your feet firmly planted in a place of drought, expecting a different set of Idols, a different Government or Empire might fix our lives. What Jesus calls for is a leap of faith, to believe in changed lives.
The most wonderful element of this dialogue, is that Jesus does not criticize the government or John, but asks the people to see with their own eyes, that others are cared for, and to take no offense at this. Pilate questioned if Jesus were claiming to be a King? The Pharisees and Leaders of the community were offended that he did not associate with them exclusively, but instead that he cared for the orphaned, the tax collectors and prostitutes. So often when we question “What would Jesus Do?” what we want is for Jesus to do our bidding, to be our Savior saving us from what we want, instead of wondering. We cannot cure Cancers, but we can make certain that those with Cancer do not give up hope, are not alone. We cannot prevent people from aging, but as a community of faith we have provided a home for those who cannot maintain a home any longer. We cannot feed the world, but working side by side with Catholics and Episcopalians, Methodists and members of the Pentecostal Church we can help those suffering hard times to get through this. We cannot change the whole world, but we have given quality health care to a suffering people in a war-torn, impoverished part of SubSaharan East Africa. We can support those who are building a school and clinic in Haiti. Even more, we can forgive one another. We can make a humble offering of ourselves, asking God to forgive us.
Luke 7: 18-28
While this day: 6 June 1944, is remembered as D Day for the Allied Invasion of Normandy, according to the Scriptures this is a day to remember a different kind of battle, a war of Idols vs God, a contest of Faith & Trust.
Rather than armies and Nations being at war, in the Old Testament there is a contest for a Peoples' soul and faith, generally described as all 450 Priests and Prophets of Baal who served Queen Jezebel versus The Prophet Elijah; in the New Testament between expectations of What Would Jesus Do / what the Savior did defying expectations. Would that the focus of our attention, was not on Oil, Power, Jobs, Economies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, but instead on Faith. We believe in Idols of our own making, the prestige of our homes, the power of our investments, our political allegiances, all of which we whip ourselves up into a frenzy defending;instead of simply trusting God Whether we seek a Messiah to create the revolution we want, making gods who will do our will, or whether we seek a Savior who cares about others, about the lost, the poor, the wounded and afraid?
Until Seminary, somehow this story had been lost on me, having heard the follow up of Elijah in the Cave and the Still Small Voice, countless times. The Contest on Mt. Carmel is an epic event deciding between the Worship of the Fertility gods of Baal and Trust in God, with 450 Prophets and Priests of Baal on one side, and Elijah feeling very alone on the other. But this is Not a Theological Debate of Dogma, not a question of numbers, influence or power, the reality is that in All The Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Sidon, it had not rained for seven years. Crops, lakes and rivers had dried up. In CNY, we are accustomed to complaining about Winter, it began snowing before Halloween and it snowed even on Mother's Day, which we blame for people moving to Florida, along with businesses and the problems of the economy. Yet, in other places around the world, in recent weeks, there have been earthquakes, tidal waves, fires, hurricanes, oil spills, and drought. In a harsh climate like Israel, where water means life, a drought could be as severe a death for a Nation as the floods of Noah, or the Red Sea closing down on Pharaoh and his Chariots. And while the snow, earthquakes, oil spills and global warming may in many ways be attributed to our actions, the Drought upon Israel in the days of Elijah were because the people had no trust.
In desperate times, people begin to question and vacillate. If others are playing the lottery, maybe we should? If everyone else is purchasing homes beyond their means, borrowing against future credit to have what we want, why shouldn't we? Why not plagiarize? Why not try internet dating, it is not really cheating, who is to know? Elijah feels as though he is standing alone, before the King, before the whole Nation, with enormous opposition.
SO Elijah creates this contest, we will each offer a sacrifice, and which ever Offering is accepted, will cause the drought to end, the rains to come, and theirs will be the true God. In times of extreme stress, what is at issue often seems lost by what might be the results of our mistakes. Queen Jezebel adds a side wager, adding pressure, raising the conflict level: When you lose for having stood up against the Queen your own life will be sacrificed. The Priests and Prophets of Baal Worship, make their Offering, and as their worship is about calling attention to their needs and desires, they begin screaming and crying for attention, when there is no response, they begin inflicting pain upon themselves and one another to cause their gods to do what they desire. Demonstrating that nothing can prevent God from being in relationship with the people, Nothing can prevent God from accepting a true offering, Elijah has buckets and buckets of water poured over the Offering he made, 12 Stone jars full, so much water, that this parched dry earth has standing water like a moat around the offering. He prays in the name of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with a faith like Moses, and his offering, his sacrifice to God is accepted.
The nuance of this story is the figure of Obadiah. Many of us empathize with him. Obadiah is the Chief of Staff for King Ahab, but Obadiah also believes in God. So while he works at his job faithfully, doing everything he is commanded, when opportunity presents itself, he also protects and hides and feeds 100 prophets of Israel. King Ahab sent Obadiah to feed and water the King's Horses. People may starve or die of thirst, but the military's horses had to be protected. And while going to feed and water the Horses of the King, Obadiah feeds and waters the Prophets of Israel hidden in caves. Obadiah like the Nation, like many of us, tries to have a foot in both camps, to honor God and protect the faith, while serving the King who seeks to have Elijah and all faith in God: killed. A faith like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, is not a Polytheistic faith in everything, but a Monotheistic faith in one thing over all all others, To believe in God.
For Elijah you cannot plant your foot in two places. You cannot cheat your spouse, wrong your neighbor, lie, and also sit down at table to give thanks to God for God's blessings. Tragically, it seems we as a culture, have forgotten the meaning of words, especially when said as a vow. We marry and divorce, describing this as a contract, a legal partnership broken, rather than believing the trust of the Vow that for Better or Worse, Richer or Poorer, in both Sickness and Health, as long as we shall live, we will serve one another.
God accepts the offering of Elijah. The Prophet Elijah wins the Contest. The drought is ended. But before everyone can go home, The Prophet of Israel, commands that all the prophets and priests of Baal be killed. Often times people will claim that the Old Testament is too violent; I think perhaps a part of our fear of the Old Testament is the absolute conviction, the lack of any equivocation, to be true to God or not.
Luke's story of Jesus and John's Disciples, is in a different setting. Hundreds of years after Ahab and Jezebel, after Alexander the Great invaded the land for the Greeks, after the Ptolomeys, Israel had rebelled under Judas Maccabeus, for a brief time to be a free and independent Nation, until once again the Caesars of Rome had created an Empire. The people, including John the Baptist and his disciples had been waiting for a new Messiah, one sent by God for their liberation, a Savior to set the people free. These disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus: Are you he, or shall we seek another?”
What Jesus challenges, is not the people's allegiance to the Empire or Gods of Rome. They came wanting him to be their Messiah, to do as they commanded. Jesus reframes what it means to be The Messiah, to be their Savior. Not a leader of a Revolution, attempting to overthrow one political party for another, one Empire for a different government; but instead that he had come to fulfill what Isaiah had prophesied. Which revolution do you seek, a military coup, the ousting of those who have not done what we wanted when we wanted, is that not making our government and leaders into idols like Baal, whom we can cal upon when we desire, expecting that if we cry loud enough, they will act? Or that the blind might see and the lame dance, the deaf hear and the mute sing? To trade governments, to embrace “change,” is often to keep your feet firmly planted in a place of drought, expecting a different set of Idols, a different Government or Empire might fix our lives. What Jesus calls for is a leap of faith, to believe in changed lives.
The most wonderful element of this dialogue, is that Jesus does not criticize the government or John, but asks the people to see with their own eyes, that others are cared for, and to take no offense at this. Pilate questioned if Jesus were claiming to be a King? The Pharisees and Leaders of the community were offended that he did not associate with them exclusively, but instead that he cared for the orphaned, the tax collectors and prostitutes. So often when we question “What would Jesus Do?” what we want is for Jesus to do our bidding, to be our Savior saving us from what we want, instead of wondering. We cannot cure Cancers, but we can make certain that those with Cancer do not give up hope, are not alone. We cannot prevent people from aging, but as a community of faith we have provided a home for those who cannot maintain a home any longer. We cannot feed the world, but working side by side with Catholics and Episcopalians, Methodists and members of the Pentecostal Church we can help those suffering hard times to get through this. We cannot change the whole world, but we have given quality health care to a suffering people in a war-torn, impoverished part of SubSaharan East Africa. We can support those who are building a school and clinic in Haiti. Even more, we can forgive one another. We can make a humble offering of ourselves, asking God to forgive us.
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