"Limping" May 29, 2016

I Kings 18: 21-22 Luke 7: 1-10 When the Biblical Prophet begins: “How long will you go about limping?” those of us with replacement knees, hips and shoulder joints perk up a bit because we know about limping about. There have been two things I was not prepared for in these three years after falling from a ladder: First, being confident of the final result, but caught up in the day to day and night to night of how to get there! This season, of people returning from Florida to CNY, going from Pentecost working Toward Christmas, is that. We have witnessed the Resurrection of Easter and Pentecost, and now we have to work to get to the place of recognizing the Christ we know as Lord and Savior, is coming as the Gift of God for the Salvation of the world!The story has a natural progression from Advent to Christmas to Lent to Easter; but most of us have come into the story of life, knowing Jesus died and rose again, and need to figure out why and who we are because of this. This is like reading the last pages of a Mystery novel, then beginning at the front cover to see who the characters are and how they work toward the conclusion. Second there have been changes in posture, standing, walking. After carrying hundreds of children around in sermons, teaching thousands of bridesmaids how to walk up the aisle, I had accommodated, I shifted my weight, as if in high heels pushing forward my uterus, which clearly had to be corrected; I had to learn to stand upright, then having one surgery after another, changing postures again, and having to exercise to stay that way. Correcting this limping both after the world and God, is what the Prophet was naming. King Ahab married Queen Jezebel who provided the culture an accommodation: You can try to follow the Law, be Circumcised, Kosher, keep Sabbath; or you can worship the idols of Baal and Asherus, which as idols have no laws, and as fertility gods the worship has the enticement of being sexual with no guilt. As people bought idols and participated in the cultural desires instead of the worship of God, the weather was gorgeous 80-90 degrees, day after day without rain or snow, which eventually became a drought. After three years of drought, the Prophet Elijah was sent to Ahab, and spoke to the people. The problem was the people's accommodating posture had been wrong so long they no longer recognized they were not upright and were limping. That is the way with addictions that grow displacing affection and real love until we no longer know how to find normal. Elijah does what we least expect, the Prophet establishes the First Reality Show Contest. He calls all the Nation to watch five things. On one Team are all 450 of the Prophets of the Fertility idol Baal; standing alone on the other team is Elijah. First he summons the people; then he restores the place of worship of YHWH; then he sets up the instruments for worship; next he digs an enormous trench around the place; then he arranges the wood on the altar for the offering. Sounds like an enormous piece of work! There was a time when going to Church was normative for everyone, and today it is not. Last week I shared a Memorial with a Syracuse Rabbi who describes their having 900 families, and only having 30 each week. A decade ago at a Syracuse Church, controversy developed that some stayed away in fear of confrontation, and the Preacher announced that “Next Sunday everyone will be present or they will burn in Hell.” Surprisingly, the next week, the whole congregation were present! I have often wondered what it would be to Preach like that, instead of preaching forgiveness and love? We have been blessed with an anomaly, across this Nation, churches like ours have had more persons die per year than become members. While we average 100 on a Sunday, in the last 19+ years we have buried 120 (an average of 6 per year); we have added 475 new members, baptized 257 with another 6 scheduled for July. Rebuilding this Church, was about more than clearing debris away! How many recall, when Gail and I had offices in the Narthex? When we had pledges on Capital Campaign I and Campaign 2 and increases to the Operating Budget all at the same time? Replacing this Chancel was more than stacking up boulders and we have been Debt Free for over 8 years! While one of the projects done in the Building renovation was to bury a French Drain in a trench round the building to keep the basement from flooding; Imagine that “trench” as stretching what we do in mission to work ecumenically with others in this Village and throughout the Presbytery and in Africa, we have dug deep that perimeter. As to arranging the wood, someone reminded me last week, that at the end of our first year together, I came to the Christian Education Committee saying we needed an Associate Pastor and several said “Never again!” But we have been blessed, not with a Youth Pastor, or a Minister for CE, but a Real Associate Pastor for the Church. While Elijah's preparations seem to take a day, this has taken us the better part of 20 years to accomplish, but where in our first ten years we increased giving annually, in recent years we have not kept up with inflation. Next Elijah offers that the Baal Worshipers go first, in selection of a sacrifice. They make their offering, nothing happens. They pray and nothing happens. They whip themselves and cause themselves to bleed and nothing happens. And again Elijah declares “Draw near” and the people come. After three years of drought, he asks the unthinkable, telling them to go fill their jugs with water, then pour it on the offering and the wood. When they do, he says “Do it again!” When they do, he says “Do it again!” They have poured so much water over the offering and wood, the excess has filled the trench around the altar. While all the activity of Elijah and the People has matched that of the 450 Prophets of Baal, the Baal worshippers only drew attention to their desires, and Elijah and the People had a different purpose: to ask God to turn their hearts and to receive their offering. All too often, we have made our Offering into paying our bill, contributing our dues to belong. How much sexier it is to give in a Capital Campaign when you can see things happen because of your purchase? But our Offerings are something different. Like going to the Y each morning to cycle half an hour, lifting weights, and running the treadmill, it seems we go no where, but we are strengthening our position, changing postures, working out the day to day from where we are to salvation. The last several years we had the luxury that our contributions paid our bills, so we did not have to sweat. What if we re-adjust our posture? You chose to be part of this church to be married in before God. You chose this church to present your child to be part of the community of faith and to know God. You have given your time in teaching, in serving on committees and singing in choir. One of the interpretations I inherited when I came here, is that we do not dedicate the money of our offerings, we pray to dedicate our lives, our selves, to God's service. The Gospel of Luke tells an intriguing story. The passage began “When Jesus had finished these sayings...” what Luke is describing is Jesus' Sermon on the Plain with the Beatitudes, describing what it means to love an enemy and to truly be a disciple. Immediately after, comes this story about a Roman Centurion. Whereas the Gospels of Mark and Matthew were written to Jewish audiences, the Gospel of Luke is addressed to a non-Jewish audience, who would have been part of the Empire of Rome. In this, we have a story, which also appears elsewhere, the Roman Centurion has been generous to the Jewish community, quite literally he built their Synagogue and has protected them, in response the people want Jesus to show him favoritism. However, the Centurion demonstrates greater understanding and adherence to the Jewish Law than the leadership of the Synagogue! For as Jesus is being encouraged to go to heal the Centurion's Slave, the Centurion stops Jesus, understanding that it would be a violation of the Levitical Law for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile, even one who had been generous to the Synagogue. Recall how we read a few weeks ago of Saul who became Paul's struggle with Jesus' Apostles over this very issue. That in itself, would have been an important lesson but the story goes further, as the Centurion this representative of the powers of the world, of the Empire, explains his understanding of commitment and authority. The Centurion commands soldiers to go, and they go, there is no equivocation, no questioning. Imagine in the role of the Centurion, Jack Nicholson as the General on the Witness stand in the film “A Few Good Men,” he gives an order and soldiers follow or they die, he commands them to march and they march all day, all night, until they drop. This Roman Centurion asks that Jesus Command the Centurion's slave to be healed, and the Centurion knowing the power of a command, knows he will be. More than a different level of commitment, this is a different understanding of a Command, different from a Law or Commandment that we try to find the least possible way to fulfill or the loophole to avoid, for the Centurion following a command, giving our faith is the highest honor we could give. Recently we have experienced the Funeral Processions of several neighbors and friends. Where in the past, people stopped to bow their heads, or to cover their hearts, at every corner there has been the constant risk of someone trying to break in to get ahead of the parade of cars because we do not want to be delayed. Tomorrow many of us will march, others will line the streets and stand in the Veterans' Park to watch. The point is not to call attention to those who have served, or to our community leaders on parade, but for those of us marching and speaking: to honor those who have given their lives for us, and to honor the loved ones widowed or orphaned, for faith and freedoms we too regularly take for granted as we fight to be first, to win and to possess the latest vanity.