October 24, 2010 "PREDESTINATION"

Joel 2:23-32
Luke 18: 9-14
Last Sunday, in the midst of the Sermon, one of our number passed out. I wish I could say it had something to do with the Preaching, but it seems it was simply a symptom of their Parkinson's disease, and in the midst of a sermon on having faith/caring/never giving up but praying constantly, we prayed.

Following worship, a visitor sought me out to say, “In the sermon you mentioned Predestination! When I was a child, it seemed that was the basis of every sermon in Presbyterian Churches, and yet, I cannot remember the last time I heard a preacher use the word?” There are topics that are in vogue, and times when ideas seem to go out of fashion. There have been times when the focus of preaching was on: The Survival of Churches, on Healing Conflicts, on Power and Abuse, on Rebuilding the Foundations, on Mission and sharing our blessings with those in need. Years ago, when asked by a Seminary Intern, I recall describing that every sermon is about Forgiveness and rebuilding Trust. There is a basic truth to this, in that the Biblical Witness is about RESTORING COVENANT COMMUNION, as described by The Prophet Joel: That the soil and animals and all humanity would be restored to Creation. But the question of discussing PEDESTINATION, of SALVATION, of What does it mean to be Saved, even the response to “Jesus Loves Me This I Know,” is not WHO is saved or HOW, or WHEN, but whether you care? Whether anyone cares? As stated at the end of the parable about the UnRighteous Judge and the Unrelenting Widow: When the Son of Man comes, Will God find faith on earth?

PreDestination for those who made not have heard it last Sunday, is an Acceptance that as Human Beings we are Sinners, when given half a Chance we will choose what is in our self-interest and not in the interest of God, Creation, the needs of others. Like Adam and Eve we will always seek what is forbidden fruit. But, like rain from heaven, grace falls upon us all, and some will take in faith, will listen to the conviction of Christ and choose to live differently. The difficulty of Predestination is that everyone will not absorb grace, to many faith does not seem profitable. It is not that some are damned and some are saved, but rather that all of us are, and some will allow compassion, truth, faith, hope to work upon them. What a world it would be, if with Grace falling upon the earth like early and middle and later rains and the ground becomes saturated, all the world would be so saturated with Grace, that our Elders would Dream Dreams and our Children would conceive of Visions we never before imagined. Predestination leaves open the possibility that all Creation could be restored, could turn to have faith.

The whole middle of the Gospel of Luke strikes me as not being a collection of Jesus' Parables, not a vindication of the poor and condemnation of the rich, but the Healing of 10 Lepers and 1Turned to Jesus, the Prodigal Son coming to himself and returning home, Forgiving our brothers 7 times a day and if they repent yet again forgiving them anew, Servants doing our duty and always being asked to do more, the Unrighteous Judge, the Pharisee and Tax Collector at Prayer, the Parents bringing infants to Jesus, and the Rich Young Ruler, All are stories of people recognizing their need to have faith, our need to repent, and turn from our needs and desires, to caring, to CALLING ON THE NAME OF GOD and acting in faith.

The Pharisee is described as a SELF-MADE Man, who trusted in himself, believing he knew better than anyone else. He went up to the Temple to pray, and stood the entire time, never kneeling, never bowing down, he stood isolated from others. The Gospel goes so far as to say “He prayed with himself.” The danger of being Self-Made, of being Self-Righteous, of being proud, is that this man has made himself into his own God, leaving no room for Salvation, no room for forgiveness. He is religious, even pious, but he does not have faith.

On the weekend of the 11th of September, one of our elders recalled that on that Day, and for months afterward the Nation had been more together than he had recalled in decades, and yet increasingly we have become so polarized, so isolated by our divisions. In the current political campaign even more so, as each blame the other, in order to win by saying “God, I thank thee that I am not like others, political insiders, career politicians, those who voted for this, that and the other. I stand alone.” Just once, I wish we had a leader, who would humbly stand before the Nation, before the world, saying “I have done what I have done, giving of myself in every way I could.” Who then did not campaign, but gave all the funds for campaigning to make a difference in the world. In this age of TWITTERS and TWEETS, these actions would spread good news, without robo-calls, without mailers, without commercials.

But this is not what we imagine our rulers to do.
Our rulers may honor their Fathers and Mothers, live moral lives without stealing or murdering or lying, but when it comes to giving away all you have, being humble and vulnerable, we have not made these a virtue any aspire to. The more I have read and reflected upon this passage over the years, I have come to believe that it is a gem for reflection, not a sign or phrase that we immediately recognize.

One does not immediately divest themselves of all the things of this life. Such a decision takes reflection, even repentance to say I DO NOT NEED TO POSSESS ALL THIS, and even more HERE IS ANOTHER WHO DOES NEED MORE THAN I.

Like getting a Camel through the eye of a Needle, faith is not a matter of opening the needle bigger, or shrinking the camel smaller, but of backing up, gaining perspective. When trying to thread a needle, the point is not to push harder, or twist the thread tighter, but looking through the other side, and gaining perspective, your eye can allow a whole camel even the whole world to be seen passing through the eye of the needle.

I have come to believe that the Gospel answers its own question. While Ruler went away, FOUR verses later, there is description of a blind man who recognized Jesus and called out to him Son of David have Mercy! Filling in the time frame of those four verses, I believe the rich ruler did give away all he possessed, but doing so, he now only saw himself as poor, he knew himself to still be blind to the truth. So when Jesus came by, he begged for mercy, and Jesus said “Receive Your Sight, Your Faith Has Made You Well!”