Freedom and Responsibility June 27, 2010

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.