Hosea 1
Luke 11:1-13
Do people still pray? When? Why, for What and How do we pray? Years ago, I received a letter from one of the children of the Church asking the difference between Prayer to God and a Letter to Santa with his Christmas list. Whether we pray, when, for What, and How we pray, are an important set of questions, because we live in a time where at least theoretically many believe we could meet all of our own needs. Prayer is not Wish Fulfillment; Not Magic incantation of knowing the right words and the right times, and the right God to ask; like a Disney character singing “Hacunna Mattatah”, or Harry Potter pointing and shouting “Excrutius!”
Twenty Centuries ago, religions had evolved to the reciting of prescribed prayers routinely throughout each day, and each week, every season of the year. The prayers had become so routine, that believers could name a few of the key phrases, and provided you had stopped from everything else you were doing, pronouncing “GRACE” at mealtime, “PEACE” before sleep, or “THANKS” throughout the day, seemed to suffice. So it was, that John the Baptist taught his followers the memorization of full prayers, that they would have in their repertoire for when times came.
In some ways, this has happened here, for at every Baptism, we name “There is a Family of Birth and there is a Family of Faith and this day this family has chosen You!” At Communion, we recite, “This is the Body of Christ broken for you.” Just as at every Marriage there is a reminder to Pray to God when you awake to find the other, when you are in the midst of work to stop and realize how blessed you are, at the end of the day to ask the other what is on their mind, because marriage does not give us the ability to read one another's mind, but responsibility for each other. And at Memorials we pray beginning with a prayer “Eternal and ever present God, even now in the shadow of death our first word to Thee is of thanks for Thine un-numbered mercies.” In part because there prayers had become so routine, and life itself so mundane, we began a few years ago reclaiming poetry in prayer, the careful selection of words and images to elicit feelings and circumstance and relationships of faith.
Jesus was observed to be praying and was asked “Teach us to pray.” But instead of a formula for what words to say, rather than ordering at what hours, how to bow and kneel and in which direction to face, the prayer Jesus taught focuses on the identity and relationship of the believer to God. Rather than opening our mouths for a gush of emotions. Rather than knowing which words to say. Jesus began by naming that daily life is common, and God Almighty is Holy, so our prayers to God lift up our human needs as being holy, as being worthy for God to care about. Not bringing the Divine down from Heaven, but claiming our holiness by our collective sharing as The Church saying “OUR”, and the personal intimacy and commitment of our relationship with God by naming God “FATHER”, and that this is not profane or sinful or our wish fulfillment, because we begin “Hallowed be Thy Name.” “Thy Kingdom come!”
There is a beauty to the Bible, the Old Testament written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek and Aramaic, translated into every human language. There are a series of problems in translation, especially at this point in the text, which require we use our hearts and minds and soul and strength. For the remainder of the prayer deals with BREAD, FORGIVENESS and TEMPTATION, but “GIVE US EACH DAY OUR DAILY BREAD” is awkward syntax, different from Matthew's Gospel of “Give us THIS day”, and as this is The Word of God we cannot throw out sections that are strange to us, but instead we have to ask WHY? The difficulty here, is that in Luke's Aramaic “the BREAD” is in reference to both our “Daily Needs”, as well as “The Body of Christ” and a “Foretaste of Heaven” all simultaneously. As we pray for Daily Bread, we identify ourselves as beggars, human creatures in need of what sustains human life. But that sustenance is not gluten, that sustenance is Christ, and we know that when this life is over, where we lived, what car we drove, whether we had been to Bermuda, and our Net Worth will be meaningless to us, all that will matter is Christ.
However, according to Luke, Jesus then explained our relationship to God, in praying for our Basic Need for Forgiveness, Freedom from Temptation, and praying for Bread, by use of a parable. Again, Luke plays with the syntax of words, in this parable with “Friend”, “Neighbor” and “Guest.” MOST BASIC to human relationships of any culture are OBLIGATIONS of HOSTING STRANGERS and of AVOIDING SHAME. The Setting of this Parable is that a Guest arrives at your home after the lights have been put out and everyone gone to bed. You get up to greet your guest, recognizing that they have not eaten and that you do not have the most basic element for feeding them. To send them away would be inappropriate, would bring shame on your reputation, just as to send them to bed without supper, let alone the most basic part of a meal would not be serving as a host. So you go to your Neighbor, thereby you become the Guest arriving at a Neighbor's home after the lights have been put out and they have gone to bed, and you are asking them to rise up, to allow you receive the Bread, which you then can give to your friend who has come to your home.
Which is a lovely illustration, of who we are in relation to God and to our neighbor, and our basic needs. EXCEPT that in the middle of this parable is the explanation: “Yet, because of his importunity, the neighbor will rise and give whatever is needed.” What is importunity?
I got out my Greek English Bible and discovered the word in Greek was “ANAIDEIA”, which only occurs here in all of Scripture. So consulted other translations of the Bible finding the words SHAMELESS and PERSISTENCE. So because of the Shameless Persistence of those in need to help others in need, the neighbor will rise to respond. Our role in PRAYER is being SHAMELESSLY PERSISTENT for the needs of others.
All of which seems to help us with the context of the Story of Hosea. There are few books of prophecy in all of Scripture as universally disliked as Hosea.Where Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos and Micah all offer prophecy as human mouth-pieces for God to the Nation, even to foreign nations, Hosea embodies the prophecy within the sacred relationship of marriage. Hosea names the reality of abuse and adultery and divorce. The book opens with a command from God to “Go, marry yourself to one who cannot be committed,” to one who lusts after and sells themselves for what they want, who willfully destroys and degrades themselves with no concern for others especially their spouse. While Hosea was preached in a time and culture focused on the male ego, the same command could be given to a woman or man today: The relationship of God to God's people is like marrying yourself to one who can never be committed. While they recite the vows, and claim relationship, they will continue to seek anything and everything else. And God SHAMELESSLY PERSISTS, no matter what.
According to Scripture, there is no such thing as UNANSWERED PRAYER, either God changes the circumstance, or God gives us the power to face the circumstance and make a difference. Adoniram Judson described on his deathbed, that all his life, he never earnestly sincerely prayed for anything but that it came true. Adoniram Judson was the first Baptist Missionary from the United States, back roughly at the time this congregation was being established. Oddly, Judson prayed for permission to enter India, that was denied him, though he was given entrance to Burma where he spent his life's work. He prayed for his wife's life, though he eventually buried both his wife and their two children. Judson prayed for release from the prison of King Ava, where he lay for three long months, chained in filth. While others may view his life as a tragedy, Judson perceived his every prayer had been heard and answered, for he never felt alone, always guided, upheld, reinforced, doors had opened through the very trials he sought to avoid. The deepest desires of his life were accomplished not in his ways, but beyond his doing.
So this morning I entreat and implore you to live lives of SHAMELESS PERSISTENCE, pray for the needs of others.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
"Both And" July 18, 2010
Amos 8:1-12
Luke 10:25-42 All of life is inter-dependent. We began this day in singing of the God of the Sparrow and God of the Whale, of Shooting stars and God of the homeless; who are not so many different Gods, but the one true God who called life into being, forming atmospheres and solar systems, and spider webs and flowers that bloom for a single day who also is the redemption of all of life, and also is the spirit which blows through each of us this day. We have a tendency to choose between pairs of options, rather than imagining that the whole needs all its parts. Imagine a great Concerto, from which you eliminated the G chord.The remainder is all there, the piece is still the piece, but the whole fails for lack of one single sound.
A show of hands this morning. Would you rather have an end to the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and peace with the Taliban,/ or / an end to the International Economic problems and prosperity in the world markets? Would you rather have Oil surging millions of barrels of crude STOP and the Gulf pristine and clear,/ or / the ability to heat our homes in winter, cool them in summer and drive whenever/ wherever we want to go? We tend to choose. We set at odds, as if having one requires that we cannot have the other. What if the balance of the universe is that all things must be?
The Gospel describes that a Lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, asking “What is required for Eternal life?” When pressed, the man responds to Jesus that he already knows, to Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as your self. And last week we described that the Lawyer responded that theory is one thing and application another, So who is my neighbor? At which Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. We are tempted to move on to the next scene, as a choice between sisters Martha and Mary, to choose which was right and which was wrong, but the Lawyer's question has not been fully answered. The unspoken element after Being a Neighbor is to be like the Samaritan, is and “HOW do we love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength?” If we were simply good citizens, who paid our taxes, voted in elections, worked at our jobs, cared for our young, and even responded to others when they were in need, it would not be enough. For we would be Good Neighbors, without faith in anything beyond ourselves, without loving the Lord with our heart, mind, soul and strength.
Our faith is in a Savior who was both fully Human and fully Divine. In recent generations, we have focused on the humanity of Jesus. The Search for the Historical Jesus, whether he was an actual historic figure who lived. The film the Passion of the Christ, exploring the feelings, emotions, pain and suffering of the Man on the Cross. The book The DaVinci Code, and whether Jesus could have been so human to be in love and father a child. Even The Last temptation of Christ. ALL are focused on the Human side of the Messiah, whether he was, whether it is possible for the Christ, to be real.
How hard it is for Humanity in the 21st Century to be Human, to be neighborly, to believe in the reality of One who would have such compassion for all humanity as to suffer and die and be raised again. Even more difficult to focus on the Divine, to believe in the Spiritual. As entertainment, we have created stories of Magical Worlds of Hogwarts, and Sorcerer's Apprentices, rather than believing in the reality of God. We are pragmatic, we are rational. We like having all of our electronic devices and remotes to control life. How different would life be, if we did not focus on our comforts, on our control, even if the focus were not solely on compassion for others, but on loving God?
The answer to the other half of the Lawyer's Question of Application is BOTH MARY and MARTHA. To love the Love with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is to create a place for the Messiah in our homes, to host others and welcome them, doing whatever is necessary; but also to sit quietly and to listen; to share with one another in conversation what is important to us; to be fed by God's word, to pray knowing that as there are limits to our knowledge, limits to our control, that we are mortal, this allows us to trust and believe in God.
Last week, we began reading together the Prophet Amos. Amos was not a typical Prophet or Priest. He was not descended from Priests or Prophets, not a Levite, actually he was a Southerner from Judah, who had come north to Israel with this word. When challenged Amos described himself as a Herdsman and dresser of Sycamore trees. We used to have a Sycamore tree. They can grow to be great immense trees, but they are also prone to problems and require a great deal of care. The Sycamore are continually peeling their bark, which as it falls blankets the earth creating conditions for pests. The Sycamore continually have branches crossing with and conflicting with one another. When the wind blows and storms come, the branches beat against one another, causing great damage to the tree. A Dresser of Sycamores, carefully prunes branches going in the wrong direction, so the tree can grow straight and tall. In every season there are different kinds of leadership for that time. Some times require Kings, CEOs who rule and judge, and command expecting others to follow. Other eras require Prophets, who come into the place and Call the people to acts of peace and justice and righteousness. Yet others require a Shepherd. Shepherds sit on the hillside, observing the flock, being wary of bears and wolves, who when they threaten personally takes them on, to protect the flock. But a herdsman is different. Instead of being out in front, commanding and judging, or unloading their causes then leaving, or even taking on dangers to protect the flock from harm, the herdsman leads from within the herd, nurturing leaders, encouraging the body to own where they are going, and what is taking place all around them.
Amos had a series of Visions. The first was that God was fashioning Locusts, in the heat of summer to devour and consume everything. Second that God was starting an unquenchable fire, that would burn all the air and land, even burn up the oceans. To each of these the Prophet begs “NO LORD” and God relented. The problem in the story of Amos is that God listens, but the people do not. God Relented, but the people did not repent. SO God showed Amos a third Vision which if we take the English translation of the Text (Anak) was A Plumb-line, straight and narrow determining right and wrong, but the people the people ignored it. Perhaps, not a Plumb-line (ANAH) but a commitment from God to suffer with us. If God could not fashion locusts to consume the earth, or fire to burn it, God could only SIGH for us. But there is then a Fourth Vision, that God will take away God's Word from the people. Dostoevsky in “The Grand Inquisitor” described a time and place, where the institution has life so controlled there is no longer need for Christ. Humanity would be required to be moral, to live ethically, to do what is right, and to live in peace, but with nothing to believe in. They would hunger and thirst, not for food or water, but for the Word of God, and starve for having ignored it. According to Martin Luther, this was the greatest punishment the world could ever face. There have been plagues and Creation healed. There have been fires, that eventually were put out and Creation grew again. Surely there have been times, when God WEPT and God SIGHED at what we had chosen to do. But that God would take away God's Word, that we would so control life as to have nothing to believe in, leaves us utterly hopeless. Like summer vegetables, ripe fruit, we are picked, cut off, all we can do is be consumed or wither and die.
Amos prophecy is that the reason for this END is that we are Religious without Believing. We are in a Recession, and instead of accommodating, changing behaviors, changing institutions, we each wait for this time to end so we can get back to making money. We are in a time of fighting Terrorism, and the insidious nature of this war is that our world has been changed, we are now afraid of strangers, we worry about what our neighbor might be doing and judge one another, in the process we have lost our innocence.
As Mortal Creatures we fear ENDINGS, we keep loved ones and institutions on life-support, long after there is any hope of vitality. Would that we could understand the balance of Life, that everything and everyone is necessary, even precious to our life. Rather than worshipping God because it is Sunday, we would pray to God in our search for meaning, for redemption and hope. Rather than giving to this institution and that, we could find an end to cancer, a change of the world to eliminate starvation and poverty.
What is required for Eternal Life? To Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and also to love your neighbor. Not simply going through the motions, giving charity to the needy, bowing our heads because someone told us to, but living life thankful, reverent, approaching a grandchild as a gift, a spouse as love claiming our home as home rather than a domicile. Praying to God, not out of routine or dogma, but with sincerity.
Luke 10:25-42 All of life is inter-dependent. We began this day in singing of the God of the Sparrow and God of the Whale, of Shooting stars and God of the homeless; who are not so many different Gods, but the one true God who called life into being, forming atmospheres and solar systems, and spider webs and flowers that bloom for a single day who also is the redemption of all of life, and also is the spirit which blows through each of us this day. We have a tendency to choose between pairs of options, rather than imagining that the whole needs all its parts. Imagine a great Concerto, from which you eliminated the G chord.The remainder is all there, the piece is still the piece, but the whole fails for lack of one single sound.
A show of hands this morning. Would you rather have an end to the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and peace with the Taliban,/ or / an end to the International Economic problems and prosperity in the world markets? Would you rather have Oil surging millions of barrels of crude STOP and the Gulf pristine and clear,/ or / the ability to heat our homes in winter, cool them in summer and drive whenever/ wherever we want to go? We tend to choose. We set at odds, as if having one requires that we cannot have the other. What if the balance of the universe is that all things must be?
The Gospel describes that a Lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, asking “What is required for Eternal life?” When pressed, the man responds to Jesus that he already knows, to Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as your self. And last week we described that the Lawyer responded that theory is one thing and application another, So who is my neighbor? At which Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. We are tempted to move on to the next scene, as a choice between sisters Martha and Mary, to choose which was right and which was wrong, but the Lawyer's question has not been fully answered. The unspoken element after Being a Neighbor is to be like the Samaritan, is and “HOW do we love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength?” If we were simply good citizens, who paid our taxes, voted in elections, worked at our jobs, cared for our young, and even responded to others when they were in need, it would not be enough. For we would be Good Neighbors, without faith in anything beyond ourselves, without loving the Lord with our heart, mind, soul and strength.
Our faith is in a Savior who was both fully Human and fully Divine. In recent generations, we have focused on the humanity of Jesus. The Search for the Historical Jesus, whether he was an actual historic figure who lived. The film the Passion of the Christ, exploring the feelings, emotions, pain and suffering of the Man on the Cross. The book The DaVinci Code, and whether Jesus could have been so human to be in love and father a child. Even The Last temptation of Christ. ALL are focused on the Human side of the Messiah, whether he was, whether it is possible for the Christ, to be real.
How hard it is for Humanity in the 21st Century to be Human, to be neighborly, to believe in the reality of One who would have such compassion for all humanity as to suffer and die and be raised again. Even more difficult to focus on the Divine, to believe in the Spiritual. As entertainment, we have created stories of Magical Worlds of Hogwarts, and Sorcerer's Apprentices, rather than believing in the reality of God. We are pragmatic, we are rational. We like having all of our electronic devices and remotes to control life. How different would life be, if we did not focus on our comforts, on our control, even if the focus were not solely on compassion for others, but on loving God?
The answer to the other half of the Lawyer's Question of Application is BOTH MARY and MARTHA. To love the Love with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is to create a place for the Messiah in our homes, to host others and welcome them, doing whatever is necessary; but also to sit quietly and to listen; to share with one another in conversation what is important to us; to be fed by God's word, to pray knowing that as there are limits to our knowledge, limits to our control, that we are mortal, this allows us to trust and believe in God.
Last week, we began reading together the Prophet Amos. Amos was not a typical Prophet or Priest. He was not descended from Priests or Prophets, not a Levite, actually he was a Southerner from Judah, who had come north to Israel with this word. When challenged Amos described himself as a Herdsman and dresser of Sycamore trees. We used to have a Sycamore tree. They can grow to be great immense trees, but they are also prone to problems and require a great deal of care. The Sycamore are continually peeling their bark, which as it falls blankets the earth creating conditions for pests. The Sycamore continually have branches crossing with and conflicting with one another. When the wind blows and storms come, the branches beat against one another, causing great damage to the tree. A Dresser of Sycamores, carefully prunes branches going in the wrong direction, so the tree can grow straight and tall. In every season there are different kinds of leadership for that time. Some times require Kings, CEOs who rule and judge, and command expecting others to follow. Other eras require Prophets, who come into the place and Call the people to acts of peace and justice and righteousness. Yet others require a Shepherd. Shepherds sit on the hillside, observing the flock, being wary of bears and wolves, who when they threaten personally takes them on, to protect the flock. But a herdsman is different. Instead of being out in front, commanding and judging, or unloading their causes then leaving, or even taking on dangers to protect the flock from harm, the herdsman leads from within the herd, nurturing leaders, encouraging the body to own where they are going, and what is taking place all around them.
Amos had a series of Visions. The first was that God was fashioning Locusts, in the heat of summer to devour and consume everything. Second that God was starting an unquenchable fire, that would burn all the air and land, even burn up the oceans. To each of these the Prophet begs “NO LORD” and God relented. The problem in the story of Amos is that God listens, but the people do not. God Relented, but the people did not repent. SO God showed Amos a third Vision which if we take the English translation of the Text (Anak) was A Plumb-line, straight and narrow determining right and wrong, but the people the people ignored it. Perhaps, not a Plumb-line (ANAH) but a commitment from God to suffer with us. If God could not fashion locusts to consume the earth, or fire to burn it, God could only SIGH for us. But there is then a Fourth Vision, that God will take away God's Word from the people. Dostoevsky in “The Grand Inquisitor” described a time and place, where the institution has life so controlled there is no longer need for Christ. Humanity would be required to be moral, to live ethically, to do what is right, and to live in peace, but with nothing to believe in. They would hunger and thirst, not for food or water, but for the Word of God, and starve for having ignored it. According to Martin Luther, this was the greatest punishment the world could ever face. There have been plagues and Creation healed. There have been fires, that eventually were put out and Creation grew again. Surely there have been times, when God WEPT and God SIGHED at what we had chosen to do. But that God would take away God's Word, that we would so control life as to have nothing to believe in, leaves us utterly hopeless. Like summer vegetables, ripe fruit, we are picked, cut off, all we can do is be consumed or wither and die.
Amos prophecy is that the reason for this END is that we are Religious without Believing. We are in a Recession, and instead of accommodating, changing behaviors, changing institutions, we each wait for this time to end so we can get back to making money. We are in a time of fighting Terrorism, and the insidious nature of this war is that our world has been changed, we are now afraid of strangers, we worry about what our neighbor might be doing and judge one another, in the process we have lost our innocence.
As Mortal Creatures we fear ENDINGS, we keep loved ones and institutions on life-support, long after there is any hope of vitality. Would that we could understand the balance of Life, that everything and everyone is necessary, even precious to our life. Rather than worshipping God because it is Sunday, we would pray to God in our search for meaning, for redemption and hope. Rather than giving to this institution and that, we could find an end to cancer, a change of the world to eliminate starvation and poverty.
What is required for Eternal Life? To Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and also to love your neighbor. Not simply going through the motions, giving charity to the needy, bowing our heads because someone told us to, but living life thankful, reverent, approaching a grandchild as a gift, a spouse as love claiming our home as home rather than a domicile. Praying to God, not out of routine or dogma, but with sincerity.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Square, Level and Plumb, July 11, 2010
Amos 7:1-10
Luke 10:25-37
According to Luke, a Lawyer tried to put Jesus to the test by asking “What are the rules?” And Jesus replied “What was the Law given by Moses?” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” “BUT” said the Lawyer, “Theory is all well and good, putting ideas into practice are a different matter, so who is my neighbor?”
In order to succeed, we need to know the rules. A few weeks ago, Kenny Bennett and Joey Meyer came home from college, and after the worship service we were chatting about their most difficult classes, which despite being in different disciplines in different colleges, came down to “Statistics” which in every different discipline be that Economics, or Chemistry, Sociology, or Political Science has different rules, different jargon, different terms to specify their discipline. You have to learn the tools. You have to know the rules and language of that discipline in order to succeed.
About ten years ago, after replacing the roof and windows and siding on our home, I recognized that living in Central New York it would be nice to come out on a winter morning and not have to shovel off the car, to not need to scrape the ice from the windshield, so I set about building a garage. We applied for the permits, drew up the architectural schematics, attended all the Village hearings, acquiring variances, and finally hand-dug and framed and poured the concrete footers, then ordered several pallets of cement block and bags of mortar: scheduling vacation time when my wife and sons were available. We worked together every day for a week, laying the block, smearing it with mortar, setting a piece of rebar and building the foundation walls. As a father I was proud to work beside my family, to share in building something with our labor together. When the foundation walls were seven feet high, completing the perimeter of the garage, we were ready for the masons to pour the concrete floor. But when the Mason took one look at what we had done, he shook his head and said: “That is the worst masonry job I have ever seen! Don't you know the rules of Square, Level and Plumb? I can't in good conscience pour a floor using that, and he drove away. I sat down, crushed, not only that we could not go forward, not only at the expense of materials seemingly wasted, but having used my family's time and labor, not knowing the carpenter's rules of Square, Level and Plumb. About that time, Co Fey stopped over, and told me how we could fix it by setting up frames and pouring a concrete cap over the whole. I learned the hard way, why and how to follow the rules, to use a Square, Level and Plumb-line.
A Plumb-line is what the passage from Amos is all about. Three different times, the prophet found God devising ways to destroy humanity. First there was to be a heat wave and locusts, that would devour all the crops and food. To which the prophet said “No Lord” and God relented. Second, the prophet found God forming an unquenchable fire, as if oil were spilt over the face of the oceans. And the prophet said “No Lord” and God again relented. This third time is different, The Lord found the Prophet, and asked “What do you see?” To which the English translation of Hebrew says “A Plumb-Line set against the walls of the City of Jerusalem.” The point being that the culture is off-center, even more than square or level, the measurement being vertical, is about our relationship with God. When a wall was no longer vertical, it was not stable, and could easily fall, destroying the building and crushing anyone beneath. Over the years, preachers have wanted to preach from this passage of Amos, as if a moral measurement, that if we could have a rule, we would know right and wrong, as if a true absolute. But the difficulty, is that the Hebrew Language of Israel in the Old Testament never had the word “Plumb-Line”. Sometimes in language, we borrow words from other languages to express what we cannot in our original grammar, words like SUSHI, and FACADE and GETHSUNDHEIT, even JOMBO, would all be examples for English of borrowing from another language. There was a a Syro-Phoenician word ANAK (anak) which meant Plumb-Line but it seems strange that the God of Israel would use a thing from a different culture, a different people, not even called by a Hebrew word, as an absolute moral compass of our virtue, of our being in line with God. There is another word in Hebrew ANAH (anah) which looks and sounds a great deal like Anak, recognizing that in Hebrew the difference between an H and a K is a dot in the center of the letter, like our crossing a t, or dotting the letter I. Except, that the Hebrew word ANAH does not mean Plumb-Line, straight and true, and absolute, defining our direct line to God. Instead, the word ANAH in Hebrew means “a SIGH”. SO, this passage, after the prophet witnessing God twice planning the destruction of the people of God, first by Heat and Locusts, then by the unquenchable burning of the seas, lands and air, God demonstrates the “rules” given to God for working with this people (SIGH). As much as to name, that no matter what God would be present with the people, and would care, even as we plot our own destruction.
There is always a difficulty in our accepting what we have at face value, believing this is for us to accept or reject on our terms. We have heard the story of the Good Samaritan so often, we have even included “Good Samaritan” in our language, as anyone who does a good deed, but that was not how Jesus' listeners would have heard this parable. We hear the tale and are suspicious of Priests and Aristocracy, so have no expectations for the Priest or Levite.
Jesus' listeners would have been different. First, in hearing this parable, there is “a man”, without identification by age, race, parentage, or story, he is stripped naked, so we cannot even identify him by his clothing. Having watched far too many Forensic Television Shows, we want to examine his teeth and DNA to learn who he is, but the point of the parable is that without identification, he is like any of us, and represents every one of us. Stripped, Beaten and Robbed, he is Vulnerable and in need, if something is not done by someone, he will die. Basic to human culture, especially Jewish Law, is the understanding of HOSPITALITY, of COMPASSION for a Stranger in Need. So when the Priest and the when the Levite each saw this man, their humanity would have compelled them to offer aid. But like the Priest, we each have responsibilities, had he touched this bloodied body the priest would have been ritualistically unclean, unable to hear confessions, to offer sacrifices and offerings. By caring for one, the priest would be unable to care for and minister to the whole community of faith. The Levite was busy, all our devices, computers, cell phones, iPods, were designed to give us more leisure time, to allow us to slow down, take time and relax. Instead, these devises have enabled us to compulsively do more, to multitask, always being in communication, always being connected, always being needed and busy. At times I wonder whether we try to keep ourselves so busy as to not have time to care, to be too busy to be compassionate. So the Priest who by training and ordination was to be compassionate, and the Levite who by direct bloodline was to be the Royal Priesthood, the most spiritual of the People of God, both saw the person who like all of us is vulnerable, and yet they each walked by on the other side.
Suspending what our language has done with the term “Samaritan,” generations before, during the Assyrian invasion of that part of Israel known as Samaria, the Assyrians and Samarians had intermarried, muddling ancient religious practices of Israel with those of Assyria. To the Jewish people of Israel, the Samaritans were heretics, out-casts, as described in Harry Potter “MudBloods”. Ironically, perhaps why we as Americans have adopted the Good Samaritan, we are an entire population of people from Europe and Africa, Korea and Australia who have mixed genetics and cultures, to become Americans. When Jesus' audience heard “A Samaritan” they would have booed and jeered, expecting the worst from this dreg of society. But Jesus' parable changes the rules and expectations to what is most basic. Where the Priest of the Temple and the Levite descended as a Sacred race, saw him and crossed over to the other-side, the Samaritan stopped, and had compassion, picked up the stranger, put him on the Samaritan's own horse, cleaned and moistened his wounds, and paid for his care.
A few years ago, we came out of a Committee Meeting one evening, and found a homeless man asleep on the couch in the Gathering Space. I woke him, telling him it was time to leave, and being lost and confused and out of his normal, the man took a swing at me. While I dodged, the other members of the committee were offended that this dirty, homeless stranger would try to punch their pastor, so pursued him as he ran into the Sanctuary. Suddenly, I found myself trapeed between this man, and the members of the church, each trying to punch the other. We got him to the doors where a State Police Officer arrested him. A few days later, I was at the Police station, and saw a wanted poster, for this very man.
About a month ago, a man came to the church looking for gas money for his red Volvo. I provided him a full tank of diesel, and some canned goods for food. Two days later, there was a report on the news of a red Volvo having been stolen in Ohio and the thief preying on people in Syracuse.
So this week, when a man showed up at the door, sweating profusely, a small voice whispered “What are you doing?” But the man was in serious need. He described that he was walking to Pennsylvania, that he was 64 years of age and diabetic. The Bird's Nest Motel was filled up with no vacancy. So I got the man a glass of cold water, walked him out to my car and drove him down Route 20 to Finger Lakes Mall, believing that at least he could wait in the air conditioning, and if nothing else he was 10 miles further on his journey.
The point being not only, What are the rules, and how do we apply the rules, ie Who is my neighbor? But also, when you have been burned several times, do the same rules of loving neighbor as ourselves still apply?
Luke 10:25-37
According to Luke, a Lawyer tried to put Jesus to the test by asking “What are the rules?” And Jesus replied “What was the Law given by Moses?” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” “BUT” said the Lawyer, “Theory is all well and good, putting ideas into practice are a different matter, so who is my neighbor?”
In order to succeed, we need to know the rules. A few weeks ago, Kenny Bennett and Joey Meyer came home from college, and after the worship service we were chatting about their most difficult classes, which despite being in different disciplines in different colleges, came down to “Statistics” which in every different discipline be that Economics, or Chemistry, Sociology, or Political Science has different rules, different jargon, different terms to specify their discipline. You have to learn the tools. You have to know the rules and language of that discipline in order to succeed.
About ten years ago, after replacing the roof and windows and siding on our home, I recognized that living in Central New York it would be nice to come out on a winter morning and not have to shovel off the car, to not need to scrape the ice from the windshield, so I set about building a garage. We applied for the permits, drew up the architectural schematics, attended all the Village hearings, acquiring variances, and finally hand-dug and framed and poured the concrete footers, then ordered several pallets of cement block and bags of mortar: scheduling vacation time when my wife and sons were available. We worked together every day for a week, laying the block, smearing it with mortar, setting a piece of rebar and building the foundation walls. As a father I was proud to work beside my family, to share in building something with our labor together. When the foundation walls were seven feet high, completing the perimeter of the garage, we were ready for the masons to pour the concrete floor. But when the Mason took one look at what we had done, he shook his head and said: “That is the worst masonry job I have ever seen! Don't you know the rules of Square, Level and Plumb? I can't in good conscience pour a floor using that, and he drove away. I sat down, crushed, not only that we could not go forward, not only at the expense of materials seemingly wasted, but having used my family's time and labor, not knowing the carpenter's rules of Square, Level and Plumb. About that time, Co Fey stopped over, and told me how we could fix it by setting up frames and pouring a concrete cap over the whole. I learned the hard way, why and how to follow the rules, to use a Square, Level and Plumb-line.
A Plumb-line is what the passage from Amos is all about. Three different times, the prophet found God devising ways to destroy humanity. First there was to be a heat wave and locusts, that would devour all the crops and food. To which the prophet said “No Lord” and God relented. Second, the prophet found God forming an unquenchable fire, as if oil were spilt over the face of the oceans. And the prophet said “No Lord” and God again relented. This third time is different, The Lord found the Prophet, and asked “What do you see?” To which the English translation of Hebrew says “A Plumb-Line set against the walls of the City of Jerusalem.” The point being that the culture is off-center, even more than square or level, the measurement being vertical, is about our relationship with God. When a wall was no longer vertical, it was not stable, and could easily fall, destroying the building and crushing anyone beneath. Over the years, preachers have wanted to preach from this passage of Amos, as if a moral measurement, that if we could have a rule, we would know right and wrong, as if a true absolute. But the difficulty, is that the Hebrew Language of Israel in the Old Testament never had the word “Plumb-Line”. Sometimes in language, we borrow words from other languages to express what we cannot in our original grammar, words like SUSHI, and FACADE and GETHSUNDHEIT, even JOMBO, would all be examples for English of borrowing from another language. There was a a Syro-Phoenician word ANAK (anak) which meant Plumb-Line but it seems strange that the God of Israel would use a thing from a different culture, a different people, not even called by a Hebrew word, as an absolute moral compass of our virtue, of our being in line with God. There is another word in Hebrew ANAH (anah) which looks and sounds a great deal like Anak, recognizing that in Hebrew the difference between an H and a K is a dot in the center of the letter, like our crossing a t, or dotting the letter I. Except, that the Hebrew word ANAH does not mean Plumb-Line, straight and true, and absolute, defining our direct line to God. Instead, the word ANAH in Hebrew means “a SIGH”. SO, this passage, after the prophet witnessing God twice planning the destruction of the people of God, first by Heat and Locusts, then by the unquenchable burning of the seas, lands and air, God demonstrates the “rules” given to God for working with this people (SIGH). As much as to name, that no matter what God would be present with the people, and would care, even as we plot our own destruction.
There is always a difficulty in our accepting what we have at face value, believing this is for us to accept or reject on our terms. We have heard the story of the Good Samaritan so often, we have even included “Good Samaritan” in our language, as anyone who does a good deed, but that was not how Jesus' listeners would have heard this parable. We hear the tale and are suspicious of Priests and Aristocracy, so have no expectations for the Priest or Levite.
Jesus' listeners would have been different. First, in hearing this parable, there is “a man”, without identification by age, race, parentage, or story, he is stripped naked, so we cannot even identify him by his clothing. Having watched far too many Forensic Television Shows, we want to examine his teeth and DNA to learn who he is, but the point of the parable is that without identification, he is like any of us, and represents every one of us. Stripped, Beaten and Robbed, he is Vulnerable and in need, if something is not done by someone, he will die. Basic to human culture, especially Jewish Law, is the understanding of HOSPITALITY, of COMPASSION for a Stranger in Need. So when the Priest and the when the Levite each saw this man, their humanity would have compelled them to offer aid. But like the Priest, we each have responsibilities, had he touched this bloodied body the priest would have been ritualistically unclean, unable to hear confessions, to offer sacrifices and offerings. By caring for one, the priest would be unable to care for and minister to the whole community of faith. The Levite was busy, all our devices, computers, cell phones, iPods, were designed to give us more leisure time, to allow us to slow down, take time and relax. Instead, these devises have enabled us to compulsively do more, to multitask, always being in communication, always being connected, always being needed and busy. At times I wonder whether we try to keep ourselves so busy as to not have time to care, to be too busy to be compassionate. So the Priest who by training and ordination was to be compassionate, and the Levite who by direct bloodline was to be the Royal Priesthood, the most spiritual of the People of God, both saw the person who like all of us is vulnerable, and yet they each walked by on the other side.
Suspending what our language has done with the term “Samaritan,” generations before, during the Assyrian invasion of that part of Israel known as Samaria, the Assyrians and Samarians had intermarried, muddling ancient religious practices of Israel with those of Assyria. To the Jewish people of Israel, the Samaritans were heretics, out-casts, as described in Harry Potter “MudBloods”. Ironically, perhaps why we as Americans have adopted the Good Samaritan, we are an entire population of people from Europe and Africa, Korea and Australia who have mixed genetics and cultures, to become Americans. When Jesus' audience heard “A Samaritan” they would have booed and jeered, expecting the worst from this dreg of society. But Jesus' parable changes the rules and expectations to what is most basic. Where the Priest of the Temple and the Levite descended as a Sacred race, saw him and crossed over to the other-side, the Samaritan stopped, and had compassion, picked up the stranger, put him on the Samaritan's own horse, cleaned and moistened his wounds, and paid for his care.
A few years ago, we came out of a Committee Meeting one evening, and found a homeless man asleep on the couch in the Gathering Space. I woke him, telling him it was time to leave, and being lost and confused and out of his normal, the man took a swing at me. While I dodged, the other members of the committee were offended that this dirty, homeless stranger would try to punch their pastor, so pursued him as he ran into the Sanctuary. Suddenly, I found myself trapeed between this man, and the members of the church, each trying to punch the other. We got him to the doors where a State Police Officer arrested him. A few days later, I was at the Police station, and saw a wanted poster, for this very man.
About a month ago, a man came to the church looking for gas money for his red Volvo. I provided him a full tank of diesel, and some canned goods for food. Two days later, there was a report on the news of a red Volvo having been stolen in Ohio and the thief preying on people in Syracuse.
So this week, when a man showed up at the door, sweating profusely, a small voice whispered “What are you doing?” But the man was in serious need. He described that he was walking to Pennsylvania, that he was 64 years of age and diabetic. The Bird's Nest Motel was filled up with no vacancy. So I got the man a glass of cold water, walked him out to my car and drove him down Route 20 to Finger Lakes Mall, believing that at least he could wait in the air conditioning, and if nothing else he was 10 miles further on his journey.
The point being not only, What are the rules, and how do we apply the rules, ie Who is my neighbor? But also, when you have been burned several times, do the same rules of loving neighbor as ourselves still apply?
Monday, July 5, 2010
A Change of Heart, July 4, 2010
2nd Kings 5
Luke 10:1-20
Our Call to Confession and Assurance of Pardon this morning were written to fit together. 2nd Chronicles 7:14 describes:
“If my people, the people called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal the land.”
Reflecting upon this, the Chaplain of the Senate, wrote “This land cannot be righteous, until her people are in right relationship. We know that the world cannot be changed, until the hearts of men and women are changed, and our hearts need to be changed.”
Charles Dickens, in addition to writing of Scrooge and the Christmas Carol, wrote of the era of the French Revolution in “A Tale of Two Cities”, beginning the setting in 1775, describing the period as both “The best of times and the worst of times. The age of wisdom and the age of foolishness, the epoch of belief and the epoch of incredulity, the season of Light and the age of Darkness, the spring of Hope and the winter of despair, with everything before us, and nothing, in short claimed Dickens, the period was so far like the present period, some of the noisiest authorities insisted on its being received for good or for evil in the superlative.”
Increasingly, we are a polarized people, right/ left, rich/ poor, who each castigate the other Liberal/Conservative.
Over the years, I had read this passage from Luke, that they were sent out by twos, as means of companionship and witness, to each hold the other accountable that we not simply see things from our own perspective. Yet, I begin to wonder, if what Jesus did was to send out pairs in opposition. Not that the two agreed and were right where those they visited were wrong; but rather that the seventy were sent to talk together on the journey, to see one another as human beings and friends.
We are each born to specific moments in history. I was fortunate, that growing up under the shadow of the Viet Nam War, when the time came for enlistment, there was no longer a draft. And yet, as a pastor, having never been in a war-zone, I was uncertain how to minister to and identify with those who have. So when the opportunity came, I went to Sudan not to put your life at risk, but to witness first hand what war does to people. Life is different, when everyone has access to a machine gun or a machette, regardless whether children or adult. One night, a Military Commander took his machette and drew a line from my throat down my body, saying “What I really wish I could do, would be to cut you open, to put our children in you, to send to America, because it is the only hope for them. But you do not do such things to a friend.” Such are the realities of living in war.
We can argue and disagree about politics, about social issues, about war, but the painful reality of our times, is that our family members, our children are experiencing something that changes people, killing their humanity. When you go from being loved and cared for in your parents' home, and for two years you have to be skeptical of children that they are not planting bombs in your path, when for years you have to live with killing, how does one come home and pick up life?
In all of Scripture, I cannot recall a passage more picked apart, with individual phrases used, while ignoring the whole. “I send you out as sheep among the wolves”, be careful. When you come to a strangers' home and they receive you greet them “Peace be with you.” And yet, what this passage describes is the community of faith being sent out into the world in mission, in evangelism, to share the good news. We have come a long ways. There was a time in which in American Churches we dared not say the E Word meaning “Evangelism” because it had been given over to the 7th Day Adventists. A time in which mission, was accepted as charitable gifts to all those 1000 different causes. As a church, we have begun to claim relationship with individuals from different places by one another's Christian name, and to have concern for them. The larger experience of mission has allowed us to witness miracles, times when we were certain there was a dead end, no possible way forward, loved ones with cancers whose disease went into remission, and God did provide. But the idea of sharing our faith, of evangelizing one another to most of us is frightening. We do not want to be that neighbor, who is pigeon-holed as The Church Lady.
However, there is a far more subtle and real example of evangelism, provided in the story of the Prophet Elisha and Naaman the Commander of the Syrian Army. Someday, there is going to be a children's play of Namaan and Elisha, this is just too good a story to ignore.
Here is Naaman, a Warrior so powerful he has led the Syrian Army against Israel and been victorious. Yet, this soldier, beloved of Kings and Powerful at War, has a fateful flaw, he is afflicted with leprosy, a skin disease making him socially unacceptable. As powerful as Naaman is, his wife has a servant so insignificant, she is not even named. This servant risks sharing with Namaan that in Samaria there is a great prophet of the true God, who could heal him.
Like this foreign people, we live in a consumer driven society, expecting that everything in life costs and that power grants access to those with influence. Namaan goes with letters of introduction from his king and fabulous gifts, to pay for the cure he desires. Imagine you are the President of the United States, and a feared Military leader from a foreign nation comes demanding that you fix him. You are the ruler of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, can you not cure a disease? The King of Israel tears his clothes recognizing the place he is in, but Elisha the prophet invites the afflicted to come. Now if you go to the doctor with terrible disorder you have lived with for years, a disorder that has made you unclean and socially unacceptable, you expect CAT Scans and MRIs, you expect at the very least to be examined and seen by this prophet. Throughout the Bible, the most common illustration is of the face of God, to be seen by God, or in the case of Moses to desire to see where God is going. To be seen is to be validated, to be recognized as being a human being, to be witnessed. But Elisha does not come out of his home. Elisha sends word to Namaan to go bathe in the River Jordan seven times. Namaan is outraged and insulted, not only did the prophet not come out to see him, in essence he said “Go soak your head!” Namaan is a patriotic Syrian, who believes his home, and his rivers and lakes just as beautiful as this Jordan. But what Elisha saying, has nothing to do with which river, or with needing a bath this is a precursor to Baptism! Do something sacred, something holy, something spiritual, to recognize that you are no longer unclean but are a Gift of God. And eventually Namaan does, and miraculously he is.
In turn, for having been cured, Namaan desires to pay for what his treatment, and Elisha says no, you cannot buy communion, you cannot pay for faith, this is a free gift of God's grace and love. However, Elisha's servant whose name is Gehazi is an opportunist, who says “If my master does not want the money, I'll take what this foreigner has to offer.” And he does, and he takes the leprosy as well.
We said before, that as a Church we have come a long ways. There was a time in which we sent children off to Camp and High School students off to College with scholarships but without commissioning. Increasingly, I believe one of the most important elements of baptism, is that on behalf of the church throughout the world, we lift up our voices stating we claim this child as a gift of God's grace. Baptism is our commissioning as believers.
In this passage of Luke, those who are commissioned are told to follow 10 instructions.
1. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. Do not compete with one another, there is plenty for all to do!
2. Pray
3. I send you out as sheep among wolves, recognize the world can be a dangerous place.
4. carry nothing with you but be present in the circumstance
5. Greet those who welcome you sharing “Peace be with you”
6. Receive what is given you thankfully and without misgivings.
7. Realize just how serious the way we treat one another affects all creation
8. Repent, accept one another with humility and sincerity.
9. realize you are sent in the name of the Lord
10.Do not rejoice in putting others down, but that you are part of the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 10:1-20
Our Call to Confession and Assurance of Pardon this morning were written to fit together. 2nd Chronicles 7:14 describes:
“If my people, the people called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal the land.”
Reflecting upon this, the Chaplain of the Senate, wrote “This land cannot be righteous, until her people are in right relationship. We know that the world cannot be changed, until the hearts of men and women are changed, and our hearts need to be changed.”
Charles Dickens, in addition to writing of Scrooge and the Christmas Carol, wrote of the era of the French Revolution in “A Tale of Two Cities”, beginning the setting in 1775, describing the period as both “The best of times and the worst of times. The age of wisdom and the age of foolishness, the epoch of belief and the epoch of incredulity, the season of Light and the age of Darkness, the spring of Hope and the winter of despair, with everything before us, and nothing, in short claimed Dickens, the period was so far like the present period, some of the noisiest authorities insisted on its being received for good or for evil in the superlative.”
Increasingly, we are a polarized people, right/ left, rich/ poor, who each castigate the other Liberal/Conservative.
Over the years, I had read this passage from Luke, that they were sent out by twos, as means of companionship and witness, to each hold the other accountable that we not simply see things from our own perspective. Yet, I begin to wonder, if what Jesus did was to send out pairs in opposition. Not that the two agreed and were right where those they visited were wrong; but rather that the seventy were sent to talk together on the journey, to see one another as human beings and friends.
We are each born to specific moments in history. I was fortunate, that growing up under the shadow of the Viet Nam War, when the time came for enlistment, there was no longer a draft. And yet, as a pastor, having never been in a war-zone, I was uncertain how to minister to and identify with those who have. So when the opportunity came, I went to Sudan not to put your life at risk, but to witness first hand what war does to people. Life is different, when everyone has access to a machine gun or a machette, regardless whether children or adult. One night, a Military Commander took his machette and drew a line from my throat down my body, saying “What I really wish I could do, would be to cut you open, to put our children in you, to send to America, because it is the only hope for them. But you do not do such things to a friend.” Such are the realities of living in war.
We can argue and disagree about politics, about social issues, about war, but the painful reality of our times, is that our family members, our children are experiencing something that changes people, killing their humanity. When you go from being loved and cared for in your parents' home, and for two years you have to be skeptical of children that they are not planting bombs in your path, when for years you have to live with killing, how does one come home and pick up life?
In all of Scripture, I cannot recall a passage more picked apart, with individual phrases used, while ignoring the whole. “I send you out as sheep among the wolves”, be careful. When you come to a strangers' home and they receive you greet them “Peace be with you.” And yet, what this passage describes is the community of faith being sent out into the world in mission, in evangelism, to share the good news. We have come a long ways. There was a time in which in American Churches we dared not say the E Word meaning “Evangelism” because it had been given over to the 7th Day Adventists. A time in which mission, was accepted as charitable gifts to all those 1000 different causes. As a church, we have begun to claim relationship with individuals from different places by one another's Christian name, and to have concern for them. The larger experience of mission has allowed us to witness miracles, times when we were certain there was a dead end, no possible way forward, loved ones with cancers whose disease went into remission, and God did provide. But the idea of sharing our faith, of evangelizing one another to most of us is frightening. We do not want to be that neighbor, who is pigeon-holed as The Church Lady.
However, there is a far more subtle and real example of evangelism, provided in the story of the Prophet Elisha and Naaman the Commander of the Syrian Army. Someday, there is going to be a children's play of Namaan and Elisha, this is just too good a story to ignore.
Here is Naaman, a Warrior so powerful he has led the Syrian Army against Israel and been victorious. Yet, this soldier, beloved of Kings and Powerful at War, has a fateful flaw, he is afflicted with leprosy, a skin disease making him socially unacceptable. As powerful as Naaman is, his wife has a servant so insignificant, she is not even named. This servant risks sharing with Namaan that in Samaria there is a great prophet of the true God, who could heal him.
Like this foreign people, we live in a consumer driven society, expecting that everything in life costs and that power grants access to those with influence. Namaan goes with letters of introduction from his king and fabulous gifts, to pay for the cure he desires. Imagine you are the President of the United States, and a feared Military leader from a foreign nation comes demanding that you fix him. You are the ruler of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, can you not cure a disease? The King of Israel tears his clothes recognizing the place he is in, but Elisha the prophet invites the afflicted to come. Now if you go to the doctor with terrible disorder you have lived with for years, a disorder that has made you unclean and socially unacceptable, you expect CAT Scans and MRIs, you expect at the very least to be examined and seen by this prophet. Throughout the Bible, the most common illustration is of the face of God, to be seen by God, or in the case of Moses to desire to see where God is going. To be seen is to be validated, to be recognized as being a human being, to be witnessed. But Elisha does not come out of his home. Elisha sends word to Namaan to go bathe in the River Jordan seven times. Namaan is outraged and insulted, not only did the prophet not come out to see him, in essence he said “Go soak your head!” Namaan is a patriotic Syrian, who believes his home, and his rivers and lakes just as beautiful as this Jordan. But what Elisha saying, has nothing to do with which river, or with needing a bath this is a precursor to Baptism! Do something sacred, something holy, something spiritual, to recognize that you are no longer unclean but are a Gift of God. And eventually Namaan does, and miraculously he is.
In turn, for having been cured, Namaan desires to pay for what his treatment, and Elisha says no, you cannot buy communion, you cannot pay for faith, this is a free gift of God's grace and love. However, Elisha's servant whose name is Gehazi is an opportunist, who says “If my master does not want the money, I'll take what this foreigner has to offer.” And he does, and he takes the leprosy as well.
We said before, that as a Church we have come a long ways. There was a time in which we sent children off to Camp and High School students off to College with scholarships but without commissioning. Increasingly, I believe one of the most important elements of baptism, is that on behalf of the church throughout the world, we lift up our voices stating we claim this child as a gift of God's grace. Baptism is our commissioning as believers.
In this passage of Luke, those who are commissioned are told to follow 10 instructions.
1. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. Do not compete with one another, there is plenty for all to do!
2. Pray
3. I send you out as sheep among wolves, recognize the world can be a dangerous place.
4. carry nothing with you but be present in the circumstance
5. Greet those who welcome you sharing “Peace be with you”
6. Receive what is given you thankfully and without misgivings.
7. Realize just how serious the way we treat one another affects all creation
8. Repent, accept one another with humility and sincerity.
9. realize you are sent in the name of the Lord
10.Do not rejoice in putting others down, but that you are part of the kingdom of heaven.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)