"Commit, Conversion, Confirmation" November 3, 2013

Daniel 7:1-18 Luke 19:1-10 As Believers, we do not make decisions once and for all time. We are creatures who revisit, changing our minds and accepting at a deeper and deeper level, as we live into commitments. Our Commitments, call for a Conversion of our Identity changing who we think we are, which we then Confirm by the activities of life. We fulfill all the requirements of a degree, then are awarded a new identity as a Graduate, a Master, a Doctor, but the reality of our learning comes in the practice confirmed day in and day out. Yesterday, we celebrated a wedding. While at one time there may have been three separate celebrations, where you declared your intentions and dowry, where you committed sacred vows, and where you gave rings as gifts of commitment, today all of this is bound up together. There is a power in that redundancy, as we seek the endorsement and blessing of friends and families, then claim a new identity before God in our vows, finally confirming the relationship with a band we will never take off. That redundancy of Commitment, Conversion of Identity, Confirmation carries through all of life. 496 years ago, one of the challenges of the Reformation, was that in addition to the Apostles, the Church was identifying so many individuals of wealth and power as Saints, there were more Saints than days on the calendar. Therefore, one of Luther's Commitments was for a Priesthood of All Believers, not that some are closer to God than others, but that all Humanity should be seen as Holy and Sacred unto God. All Saints Day was never recognized by Judaism, or in the Early Church, but created as a Day to remember all those who in recent years have gone to be with God, for whom there is no suffering, no broken hips, no dementia. For hundreds of years after, very few new Saints were added to the list, but people have never been fully Converted to acceptance of one another as equal, let alone that our enemies, or those who are different and Other are precious unto God, Holy and set apart, even that their lives might serve as a priesthood bringing each of us into relationship with God. In recent years, just as there are new winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, or the Academy Award, there are more and more people being elevated to the role of Sainthood, so in yet another way we need to reconsider and Confirm the Commitments of the Reformation. Several of you have spoken to me at different times, about anxiety with whether the events of this day are morbid. I too have had my struggles with acceptance and understanding of death. While we agonize over the way people die, whether it is better to go instantly, or protracted over years, the reality is that the end of the body while a clear change, is the smallest part of death. Immediately after death, there are questions of new identities: What are we to do with the business? How do we pay off the mortgage? Can the surviving spouse live on half a pension? Are we still children once our parent dies? Are we now orphans? What is important to keep, and what can we let go? Do we date again, how soon can we marry another? All of these are caught up in the question of our Conversion to a new Identity before God. Only after we have lived into this, according to Old Testament tradition for at least two to three years of Confirmation, are we then ready to let go of who we once were and accept who and what we have become. Our passage from Daniel is Apocalyptic, the text explains this is a series of dreams and visions while in Exile. Different from the Spirit of God brooding over the Face of the Waters in Creation, here Winds from the Four Corners of the Earth stir up the waters of Chaos. This is not a vision of Creation, but a nightmare of Empires. Out of the Chaotic Waters arise four terrifying Beasts worse than Richard Scary's Where the Wild Things Are. Throughout time, Nations and Monarchies, Empires have committed to be Living Creatures: The Bald Eagle or the Serpent saying Don't Tread on Me, The Mother Bear, The Lion of Great Britain. The Nation of Israel, as Prisoners of War in Exile in Babylon, knew the rise of The Assyrians, the Babylonians, The Greeks, the Egyptians, the Persians and Medes, eventually the Empire of Rome. With each new Empire, the conquering of Nations arose the question of survival and circumstance for a marginal people? As we appropriate the text for today, the Beasts arising out of Chaos might be Airplanes flying into Cities on 911, might be Children armed with Assault Rifles in Schools, might be Syria with Nuclear Weapons, Hurricanes, Tsunamis, we have our demons today just as in the time of the Deportation to Babylon. Daniel's Dream while horrific, demonstrates that while there are all these things which terrify, and rightly they should, over everything else, there is the Throne of God, the Ancient of days, who has existed since before time, and will for all futures. In the Far Side Cartoons, God always had long robes, flowing white hair and a beard. For a time in the 1980s Movies, we envisioned God as looking and sounding like George Burns, then like Morgan Freeman. Today, some have envisioned God wearing a Three piece button down suit, occasionally swapped for Overalls, balding with with Bifocals. The point, is that throughout Human history, all these many empires, there has been a constant presence of God with us converting the will of Nations to God's Will. And long before the New Testament, there were visions confirming a human messiah, one who was sent from God as a Sacrifice and Savior to save us. So it was that according to the Gospels, after Jesus had been everywhere else, was known and had a following, he came through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. As Jesus passed through the City of Jericho, that city which in the Old Testament had been the Gateway into the Promised Land, everyone wanted a glimpse of the Messiah. The last several years, we have seen the motorcades as one President after another have come through our town. Crowds have stood eight and twelve people deep, which was like the scene as Jesus passed through. Now we know that in Jerusalem was Pontius Pilate, Governor of this District of Rome, but in Jericho was a man even more feared and hated, for Zaccheus was not a Roman Soldier but a Jew who was The Chief Tax Collector. Where Tax Collectors served the Foreign Occupation Government, where Tax Collectors were known for Extortion and accepting Bribes, where it was commonplace for Tax Collectors not only to steal from the Taxes, but to impose their own Fee on top of what was owed, Zaccheus was the Chief tax Collector, who it was reported stole from everyone, was hated by everyone, and to make matters worse he was short. Imagine a character like Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Cagney, or Danny DiVito. Every culture has different expected norms of behavior, in England there is a tradition of Cuing up in a line. In America, at least in years gone by there was a norm of giving up your seat to someone who was older, or a woman who was pregnant. In Israel, the last vestige authority, was that men wore long robes and were dignified. A man of authority expected people to get out of there way and make room for them. Yet, Zaccheus wanted so badly to see Jesus, he makes a Commitment to do whatever is necessary, Zaccheus The Chief tax Collector of the Roman Empire hurries ahead of the crowd and shinnies up a sycamore tree. There dangling from a branch, suspended between Heaven and earth, Zaccheus waits. But instead of passing by, Jesus calls to him: “Zaccheus, come down, for I am going to your house today.” Welcoming Jesus into his home, to his table, Zaccheus is Converted. It is a scene like the Grinch in Dr. Seuss' story, whose heart grew three sizes that day. Zaccheus not only Commits to have Jesus in his home at his table, and is Converted by the experience, he Confirms his new identity by Giving ½ of all he has to the Poor, and if he has cheated any he will repay 4 times over. The Story of Zaccheus is a story of Conversion, it is also a story of extravagance. For while Zaccheus has so much, he is offered complete acceptance and forgiveness, in response to which he donates excess. Eight weeks ago, we as a congregation made a commitment. After 50 years of consideration of alternatives, we committed to have an Associate Pastor. But over our years together, I have learned something about churches. Making a Commitment, is a Cathartic Event, many of us today recall the Meeting where we chose to have a Pipe Organ. Many remember when we chose to End the Co-Pastorate. Many recall, when we Accepted responsibility for Presbyterian Manor. Some still recall when we committed to remove a Pastor in the 1960s. That Commitment is only the first decision. Second is Converting our Checkbooks pledging to support the decision, then Confirming the estimated costs with construction and our fulfilling our pledges. In 1996, we had a total Budget of $186,000 a year, and we pledged $800,000 to repair the existing Church and you voted to Call a new Pastor. Two years later, plans were prepared for bulldozing and reconstruction of the middle of the Church, and while we continued increasing our Regular Pledges for the Budget by 10% per year, and paying on pledges for the First Campaign, we made pledges to pay on a Second building campaign larger than the first. We took out a 30 year mortgage for the debt, many of us thinking that would never be repaid. But at the end of 3 years, we had not only ended the year with a Budget in the Black, we had repaid everything on the first Mortgage and the Second Campaign's Mortgage. Paying this off in advance, we had saved over a million dollars in accrued interest! SO now the Church is debt-free, and we who are part of the Church today, can be thankful all that work was done before the Recession of recent years. The reality is that the Minimum Salary required for an Associate Pastor is less than we had paid for a Certified Educator, and less than we had paid for a Parish Associate. However, with the Recession, to balance the Budget we had to eliminate that salary from our Budget, and in recent years had had a Net Zero Increase for Inflation, and in addition to Salary there is a requirement for Pension and Major Medical coverage. However, as if meeting us halfway, this week, the Presbytery reduced our Administrative Cost of being Presbyterian by $20,000. So what is going to be required for our Commitment to have an Associate become real will be an increase in pledges of about 10%.