"Hard Sayings" August 26, 2018

I Kings 8: 1-6, 22-30, 44-43 John 6: 56-69 This week Pope Francis had the courage to admit to the Abuse of Children by priests, and their church having sheltered those priests. A monumental challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church, yet still not quite the profession by Jesus’ “If any should mislead one of these little ones it would be better if a millstone were hung round their neck.” Before any rush to judgment, recall that we had our own experience with abuse, yet at that time, and 30 years later when he was prosecuted and removed from the ministry, our Session Minutes never acknowledge anything ever happened. It is as if it was not there. What is the purpose of the Church, Justice, Truth, Faith? Are Sanctuaries like this, Sacred, a Refuge from the pressures of the World, or a museum of art, music, architecture, a community resource, a financial albatross, Sanctuary from the Law? Is a Sanctuary of the Woods, a Mountaintop, the Lake, just as holy and sacred to us? My own sons have begun describing their father as a Community Leader and Organizer, Caring for People, rather than as a Pastor or Minister, because their friends have no experience of the Church, at least none positive. 95% of the weddings I have officiated this year have not been in a Sanctuary, but in the Gazebo, at a State Park, at a Winery, at their Home, at a Casino. Recalling the Temptations of Jesus in his 40 Days in the wilderness, 5,000 people were given bread from him to eat; as far as the eye could see were people healed of incurable diseases simply by his touch or even his words; crowds tried to throw him down a high cliff and he walked away; the parables of Jesus are better known than Aesop’s or Plato’s. When the world then came looking for him to continue doing more, to be their miracle whenever we wanted; instead he described the need to embrace and own and correct the sins and addictions of our lives. Most everyone turned aside, naming these are “Hard Sayings”, and they are! Christian faith in God is not a thing you can be taught or master or understand, or own, not the answer to prayers or magic words. While the Grace of God and Love of God appear so simple, Grace and Love and Sacrifice, Communion, Humility, are neither cheap nor easy. To which Simon Peter responded: Where else can we go, You alone have the words of eternal life? Do we still believe in Eternal Life, in Heaven & Hell, or reincarnation, or Nirvana, do we know what “Salvation” or “Justice before God” are? Let alone do we really want these, or do most of us just want our problems and pains to go away and continue with life, never to die? While many have struggled at other passages, about the only way to the Father is through Jesus, or the need to be Born Again from above, I believe this is the critical statement that sets Christianity apart from all the rest. Christ alone has the words of Eternal Life. Judaism possesses The Law, Islam Koran, there are ways to Wisdom, HOWEVER Resurrection/Forgiveness/The Covenant of Grace Love from God for Eternal Life is only available through Christ by sacrificial relationships, like Jesus demonstrated. Do we desire “Justice or only Judgment? I serve as a Justice on our Church’s Appellate Court. A congregation in Iowa had a member who was a pain in the neck, a bully and everyone knew it. Finally one night, she had pushed so far that the Choir Director left rehearsal, walked out, questioning if life was worth this or whether to die; but after several minutes he returned to finish the rehearsal. The next morning, the pastor questioned if the problem was the Choir Director or this member. After interviewing everyone involved, it was recommended that perhaps voluntarily the member could take a break for a while to let things cool down. She accepted, but changed her mind when this voluntary absence turned out to be 18 months. She brought this to Session, and was over-ruled. She appealed to the Presbytery, and was over-ruled. She appealed to the Synod and was over-ruled, all with no explanation. More than twice the 18 months requested had passed, the Choir Director was gone, but still she appealed to our court. Initially, it appeared quite simple, she was a bully, controlling, demanding, and hard headed. Had the church colluded against her, No. had the church gone on a witch-hunt against her, No. But suddenly someone questioned whether the courts making a decision, without explanation "why", was not fair or just. While we ruled against her being granted what she wanted, the court also sought her redemption as not clearly understanding why she was wrong. Do the courts simply need to find who is guilty, whom to blame, or do we need to consider what comes next after and how to again be the church? Current circumstance is relevant to what we consider Justice, but a community’s earliest identities establish the DNA of the church and what are among our core issues. In our earliest, before we were a Church, before there was a Village or community, before we had a Pastor or Building or regular Sunday morning worship, we were Called to be A Religious Society, a City of God which was not about Baptism or Confession as Christians but the way we relate to one another. Our ancestors heard complaints between people. Their purpose was not to judge or blame or correct, but in how to forgive and find a new relationship of communion, trust. Over and over again, I find circumstance of our knee-jerk reactions, without ever considering how will we get along afterward? How can we continue to be, after trust is broken? Admission of our own wrongs, our brokenness there are Hard Sayings. Our reading from I Kings includes Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Temple at Jerusalem. I recall reciting this the Sunday in 1998 when we completed our first two building campaigns and rededicated this Sanctuary. The difficulty is Solomon’s father David had been told not to build a House for God, instead God would build a lasting commitment out of their family, the word for Lasting commitment is HESED. But Solomon built the Temple, one of the greatest Temples ever constructed, which stood over 800 years. Yet even today, after being destroyed for almost 2000 years, it is remembered as “Solomon’s Temple”, not as the House of God. A Sanctuary, is like a transmitter, a microphone to God; and a meeting place for us to gather to prepare ourselves to reach out to God, and for us to heal what we have done to one another apart from the world. This prayer begins with that “lasting covenant” (HESED), promised by God to Abram, to Moses, to David and by Solomon to God, which is more than treaty or contract. Hesed refers to Relationship, Commitment, Grace, Hospitality and Trust. We have a way of compartmentalizing, that God is in God’s House, Work is at an Office, Family at Home, Learning at School. But barriers are coming down. Many of us work from home, we take on-line classes. So also, we come to recognize that God is loose in the world calling into question our reality of Justice, and our commitment of faith. This morning, this first day of this new week, I beg of you, in the midst of plans, in the midst of arguments and pains, to stop to consider What comes next, after? And also, the Hard things, like where we might be wrong.