"Seek Ye First" June 25, 2017

Genesis 21: 8-21 Matthew 10: 11-39 Have you ever started a project, begun a meeting, come home to cook supper, and no matter how hard you try, things do not go right? Yet, when we begin, if first we pause, to see that we have everything we need, to check-in with one another, if we first center ourselves in prayer seeking to be right with God, somehow we accomplish a great deal more, in the same allotted time, because all impediments, all the distractions are removed. 6 times in the last 70 years, the Supreme Court has ruled that in Schools, at Football games, at Graduations, you cannot be prayed upon, but there is nothing preventing each of us, from acting on our own faith to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” This morning Amelia is being Baptized and 9 Graduating! As much as we have hopes and dreams for you, to succeed, curing Cancer, making a fortune, having a highly respected reputation, with great love; our prayer is that you Seek God, Ask that the doors be open to you, and all the rest will happen. Know that wherever you go, whatever happens, we will love you and pray for you. A few weeks ago my eldest phoned one evening, he is now almost 31. I knew I was in trouble as he started off saying “Dad, I hope you won’t be mad. I know that you folks worked hard and made sacrifices, taking on debt to pay for my college education. But after working at that field for 10 years, I am no longer happy or satisfied. I know you will worry about where I will live, and how I will afford rent. I know you will worry about where I will get food. I know you will worry what I will do, but I have quit my job without having another to go to.” When I could get a word in, I responded, “I appreciate all that you have said, but I am not worried. Because in all that you have stated, you have not said, I am moving home for you to pay my bills!” I know that you will be okay, and we are proud of you for knowing you were unhappy and could do more and are doing what you need. There is tension in our Scriptures, this morning. Our Old Testament, before Christianity, existed as the Jewish Bible. We know well the Sacrifice of Isaac Chap 22, but the sacrifice of Ishmael is just as heart-rending and painful for Abraham. Genesis struggles, because this is the Sacred text for Israel, and appropriated by Christianity, yet Abraham had another child, a first-born, whom the Bible has to acknowledge. You recall from Confirmation that there was a Law of Progeniture, that the 1st-born inherits everything, and the younger nothing; yet time and again God’s Promise was fulfilled through the other child. This is especially sacred, because Ishmael the first-born had been the Child according to the Law; he was a child born out of precise manipulation, trying to get one’s way, whom God will love and provide for as being Child of the Law. Isaac is Child of the Promise, whose life is a gift of God’s grace. The story is that Abram and Sarai had been unable to conceive, so Sarai controlled fate by having Abram impregnate her Egypt Slave, Hagar, who was Sarai’s property. Then after Ishmael was born, Sarah was able to give birth to Isaac, and the laugh that was on Sarah was that her son, because of her actions, was not first-born. Not to be outwitted, Sarah demands her Slave Hagar and Hagar’s child be exiled. Just as your fathers will be when you leave home, Abraham is doing what he knows must be, but with a personal sense of loss, foreboding. Amazing that in Judaism’s Hebrew Bible, we have record what happened to Hagar and Ishmael, traveling off into the desert. Their water gone, Ishmael is dropped beneath a bush, as Hagar the Egyptian prays to God, and God hears Ishmael & Hagar, opening her eyes to see the waterhole a few meters away she had not witnessed. The Hebrew Bible affirms God cares and loves Ishmael; surprising because Ishmael is the ancestor of Islam; Ishmael the father of the Arab people; referenced again in Isaac’s son Esau, marrying a daughter of Ishmael: and Joseph being sold by his brothers to nomadic Ishmaelites who take Israel’s son to Egypt. Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out into the world in pairs, not to repeat what he had done, for a student can never surpass his teacher, but to follow your own prayer and calling. Imagine being paired with Judas, or with Thomas the doubter, or with Simon Peter. For the last year Hamilton has been the hot-ticket on Broadway. How many of you in the congregation were History Majors? How many of you would have thought that the Revolutionary War would have been the focus of Rapp and Jazz, Hip Hop and R&B Ballads for the 21st Century? Like Ishmael and Isaac, like the disciples being sent out in pairs, the musical follows two men, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Burr was the son of Rev. Aaron Burr the President of The College of New Jersey, later renamed Princeton University. His mother was the daughter of the Great Awakening Theologian Jonathan Edwards. But Aaron Burr was orphaned at age 3 and raised by his uncle. Burr and Hamilton grow up together. Burr had a distinguished military career, then went to Law School, and as an Attorney made great fortunes, becoming New York State’s Attorney General, then went into Politics as Senator from NY, and became Thomas Jefferson’s Vice President. However, the point of the play is that with all his position, education, power and influence, Aaron Burr refused to take a stand, even for what he knows to be right. Not a matter of political correctness, Burr refused to lead until he knew the majority. Like Alexander Hamilton rallying Revolutionary Soldiers, Jesus spoke to his disciples to live with boldness. “What you have heard in the dark, tell in the light; what has been whispered, preach to the housetops.” In that spirit, I would speak out on four matters this morning. We live in extremely polarized times, arguing over whether there is Global Warming or we are experiencing Cyclical Changes... But I would tell you it’s getting hot. I would challenge you that we have more than an opportunity, we bear Responsibility and obligation to care for the Creation God has gifted us. We have known the pristine purity of this lake and unspoiled wilderness that need to be protected from spoil. Not as means of keeping things the way they once were, but because this cannot ever be replaced. I have a friend, whose church is entirely covered in solar panels, because the Church serves as a witness to the world. As your pastor these last twenty and more years, we have witnessed a great many events, this small part of God’s Creation has known great tragedy and loss. However, I have known two times in all these years where I have been embarrassed. In each, people bought land that was for sale. What I have been embarrassed by is that neighbors and friends in this community have insulted and denigrated one another. If you care about what happens to a parcel, then you buy it. If not, then trust that God knows every hair on your head, God cares even about a sparrow, so trust one another and trust God. This passage from Matthew has often been misinterpreted as if to say that if you cannot get your way, if you feel unwelcomed shake off your sandals at one another. I once heard of a pastor who became so fed up with their congregation that on their last day, threw his shoe at the congregation. That is not what this passage states. Rather , that when you have encountered difficulty, when there are hardships, do not carry that experience with you into the next, instead shake off the past experience and go forward without the dust on your feet, Seek the Kingdom of God and God’s Righteous, and all these things will be added unto you. I have but one last thing to say this morning… Wherever you go, whatever you do, you have a home here, and you are loved.