Epiphany and the Season After - Year A -- 2014
Indexed by Date. Sermons for Epiphany Year A
Isaiah 43: 1-9
Psalm 29
Acts 10: 34-43
Matthew 3: 13-17
Most people love a baptism and I have many stories I could tell. I could tell you about the 1 year old who lost sight of his mom as I carried him around the church. He would be over 20 now. I could tell you of the 4 or 5 year old who ran away to sit with his grandmother and only endured the baptism to receive his very own candle. You may remember when I was doing a baptism in Fortune and had to take the bowl TO the child because he was not willing to come forward with his grandmother. He comes to Sunday School most weeks now.
We have not had a service of baptism for a while here at Kings United; the last one was over a year ago in Bay Fortune. You may remember that boy’s wide grin, smile and delightful laugh, You may remember how he enjoyed pressing the button on the front of the book we gave him because when he did that music would play. He continues to smile and enjoy seeing people who smile back at him. In case you missed it, he is front and centre of the picture on the “Souris Playground for All” campaign.
When we baptize infants we know that there is little that they can do, at that time to respond to the promises made on their behalf. Baptism is a welcoming into the fellowship of the church and it is also about promises. The parents promise to bring the child to church and grow with the child in faith and faithfulness. We, the community, promise to provide Christian education and nurture and to be welcoming community.
Baptism is about the official beginning of a journey; it is not the end of one. It is more like a launching than it is like a landing.
One of the questions asked at each and every baptism, in the liturgy I always use, is prefaced with, “as a baptized and baptizing community, do you .........?”
This question points to a simple, but sometimes overlooked truth: “We have been baptized - we baptize others.”
Martin Luther, a leader in the protestant reformation which took place about 500 years ago, was said to have taken great comfort from the fact of his baptism. When he was having a difficult time he would comfort and encourage himself by saying to himself, “I am baptized”
The lectionary and the church year sometimes seems to have an odd progression; the timing of certain events tends to bounce around a bit. I think this is because what they mean is more important than when they were supposed to have happened. Today we read about Jesus being baptized so that we can begin to learn about his ministry but we wait until Lent to learn about his temptation, which, according to the gospels happens immediately after his baptism. Confusing? When we begin Lent I will talk more about why his baptism seemed to invite more trouble than it solved.
It seems clear that John’s baptism was one of “repentance”. It also seems that John and Jesus had already had the discussion about his baptism and John did not want to do it. Perhaps that was because in so doing he would imply that Jesus needed to repent of something. Yet Jesus insisted that it was necessary to “fulfil all righteousness”. There is a great deal of debate about what that means!
What does the word “repentance” mean? Usually we think of repentance as being associated with remorse over actions that were “bad”, “hurtful” or “inappropriate”.
There was once a painting contractor who decided he could earn more money if he watered down the paint he used. One day he was nearing the end of a job but had not paid enough attention to the weather forecast. Just as he finished the peak of the house he was painting and had stowed his ladder the heavens opened. He looked in dismay at the white rivers spreading over the lawn surrounding the building. Then a booming voice came out of the heavens, “REPAINT AND THIN NO MORE!”
Yet, feeling sorry for bad things you have done” is only one meaning of the word repentance. The word used in the original Greek in which the gospels were written literally means, “turn and go in a new direction”. Think of John as a spiritual GPS telling you that you are going in the wrong direction! “In 200 metres take the exit”. “In 100 metres turn left” and so on.
So we have John, the Baptizer saying, “turn around and go in God’s way.” Depending on your original course, I suppose, your turn might be more or less dramatic.
So with this alternate meaning in mind, perhaps Jesus was not saying he was “sorry for his sins” but rather that , he was “turning in the direction of the ministry for which he had been born”! He was saying that he was no longer a carpenter’s son and carpenter; no longer the son of Mary, no longer a brother and the nice young man next door, and no longer cousin to Wild John in the Wilderness. He was becoming a travelling preacher, a teacher, and in some people’s eyes, the Messiah! He would challenge the very pillars of his society by calling people to get back to the centre of their faith, to care for the poor, to love God and neighbour and self. He associated with people that were considered outcastes and he sometimes broke Sabbath laws by healing the sick or gathering food. He encouraged a personal relationship with God similar to that of a parent and child in a close human family. People would eventually come in droves to hear him, but he rubbed some rich and powerful people the wrong way and he would eventually pay the price. That was his new direction, his “repentance”.
What if we thought of repentance not just as “leaving bad thing behind us” but as “re-focussing and turning to go in a needed direction”? Think of a young couple, absorbed in themselves and in having fun together. Their lives are uncomplicated. They revolve around school or work and pleasure. They earn money, they clean the house and do whatever repairs are necessary and they go out with friends and alone as a couple. They have few responsibilities.
Then along comes baby #1. They must repent of their old ways and turn to the way of the parent! It can be a big shock for some young parents! Now there was nothing wrong with their old ways, noting at all, but they cannot continue because the care of an infant requires very different tasks and a great many tasks in the same 24 hour day.
Similarly a promotion at work or any other major life change requires turning in a new direction, a re-focussing, a repentance of the old ways and a conscious embrace of the new.
Baptism for self or for a child is about making a choice and turning from other choices, not because they are bad but because a choice needs to be made. When our own child is being baptized it is also a reaffirmation of our own baptism. When a child is baptized in our midst we are re-affirming that choice we have made to be Christian community together.
We are admitting and stating that “we can’t have it all.” We are proclaiming, “we can’t do it all.” We are saying, “we choose the way of Jesus because without the way of Jesus to guide us, our lives would be much less than they could be.”
As I have hinted at before, we must also remember that the life of faith is not so much about what we are against but what we stand for. The life of faith is not about avoiding “sin” but it is about living in a way that makes a positive contribution for others. Many years ago one of my professors told this story. He had taken time off to work and discern his future, after he had graduated with his BA. When he decided to pursue ministry he tendered his resignation and his supervisor said something like this, “Well you don’t drink; you don’t smoke; and you don’t run around with women; I think you will make a good minister!” The professor told this story because he wanted to tell us that there is much more involved with being a good minister than avoiding things people may call sin!
Most people and most families today lead very busy lives. Each day and each year we must make choices about how to fill our days and weeks. Work, children’s school, children’s sports, buying groceries, keeping ahead of the laundry, caring for aging parents and grandparents and their increasing needs keep families on the run. Many grandparents become chauffeurs because parents cant be in two places at once. Truly leisurely moments are rare these days. In the midst of all of this our baptismal promises call to us. Each of us had to struggle with the question about how best to live as a Christian in the midst of very busy lives. Perhaps we cannot expect hockey to leave us alone on Sunday morning but for the committed Christian the issue of intentional Christian nurture is there regardless of where we are on Sunday morning because following in Jesus’ way is a seven day a week calling, not just a one hour on Sunday commitment. How DO parents nurture faith in their children; how do BUSY parents nurture faith in their children? There are no easy answers but knowing that this is the journey we need to be taking is the first step. A related question for us as the Christian community to answer is: How do we as a church provide opportunities for nurture and support outside of Sunday morning?
We are all on a journey of faith. Like Jesus, at his own baptism, we are named God’s beloved. Let us keep on repenting and following in the way of Jesus.
Amen.
January 19, 2014 Second After Epiphany
Isaiah 49: 1-7
Psalm 40
1 Corinthians 1: 1-9
John 1: 29-42
In some places the title of the minister’s sermon is put on the church sign as a way of enticing the passers-by to attend on a particular Sunday. I gather that if Hillcrest in the nearby town of Montague, PE had such a sign, and you were going by, the title of the Rev. Martin Dawson’s sermon might have tempted you: “Nuttin’ but Mutton”.
I thought of calling this sermon, “Rock Formation” because it has to do with making Simon into a disciple and re-naming him Peter, which literally means “Rocky”! I also thought of calling this sermon “Ma, We’re Having Lamb to Supper” because Jesus liked to visit people and talk to them during a meal and John referred to him as “the lamb of God”. Obviously his hosts for the evening would not be having him FOR supper!
Rolling around in my head for some reason, were bits of a so-called “novelty song”, written in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston and featured on the Lawrence Welk Show, which goes:
“Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wooden shoe?”
Of course the song is designed to be mis-heard. the real lyrics are:
"Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."
"A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"
When John called Jesus the “Lamb of God” I wonder if people wondered if they had heard it right. I believe “lamb of God” is a phrase that was unique to John’s preaching. It’s actually not that clear what he meant by the title or by the entire phrase, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. Some commentators see this phrase in the light of the cross but I don’t think John would have because he saw Jesus as a “take charge kind of guy”. In John’s mind, the Messiah was not going to be defeated and executed as a common criminal. Jesus had come to be “the Messiah”; Jesus was to be “the one who made things right once again”. When the Messiah finished his work, God would be in charge and the oppressor would go down in defeat. It seems to me to be quite clear that he saw Jesus as a leader, NOT as a lamb about to be slaughtered.
If we look at this passage as a whole , it seems that John’s preaching in general, and perhaps this title in particular, was what enticed two of his disciples to leave and follow Jesus.
When I went to theological school in Halifax, AST offered a one-year bursary called “the come-see year”. Someone who was considering studying theology or entering ministry could come and take a year of studies to see what it was like and it if was for them. There was no obligation to continue and no need to be sponsored by a church to apply for or receive this bursary. Some people saw and stayed and some saw and left.
Jesus was asked “where are you staying:, which was, of course, not really a question about his room for the night. Jesus knew that question would take more than a “lets have a cup of coffee” kind of answer so he said, “come and see”.
One of these disciples was Andrew, who went and found his brother Simon and when he introduced him to Jesus, he was re-named Peter, which means “ROCK”. The story seems to describe a kind of “domino effect” in that one tells another who tells another and so on.
In the 21st century we no longer have the luxury of sitting down at supper with Jesus of Nazareth and his followers have not for approximately 2,000 years. In this season of Epiphany, when the Magi have gone home, we have work to do. In the season of light, we need to ask, “how is the light of Christ passed on, from one to the other and from generation to generation”? We are asked to reflect on the question, “what is our witness telling people about where the Lamb of God is “staying”?”
Marcus Borg is a biblical scholar who teaches at Oregon State University. Some time ago, in one of his introductory courses he had his first year students write an essay on their “impressions of Christianity”. Almost universally, they viewed Christians as literalistic, judgmental, anti-intellectual, self-righteous and bigoted”. There was nothing attractive about Christianity for these young women and men.
I think it has much more to do with a failure of the church to respond to the modern world than it does about young people being unwilling to accept traditional answers to modern questions. Such a finding should lead us all to ask, “What picture of Christ are we presenting to the community and to our own young people?
Of course different denominations and different congregations within those denominations hold very different points of view on many subjects, both in terms of beliefs and in terms of social values.
In a world where we are not all going to agree, how we disagree is of utmost importance.
The question for us is: “What do we proclaim about Jesus to those who come to our community with needs and questions”? In a time when knowledge about the world is changing very rapidly, do we portray things of the faith, as completely un-changing, cast in stone, and not to be questioned, never, ever at all!
If we went with Jesus on that day to have a meal with him, I believe we would have found someone who was willing to dialogue and discuss and one who was open to questions which challenged traditional beliefs without becoming reactionary, defensive and close-minded. The more you look at the writings of the prophets the more you see how the teachings of the Hebrew faith changed and responded to the world around them: it was not all developed at the same time and cast in stone, with the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai!
Jesus willingness to associate with those who asked questions and entertained radical ideas was one of the reasons this “lamb of God” was seen as so dangerous and one of the main reasons they ended up trying to get rid of him.
Gospel accounts tell us that Jesus up-ended the tables of the moneychangers in the temple, literally! He was tired to a system designed to bring people closer to God being used to defraud them and turn it all into huge profits for a few. Simply put, his views and teachings were a figurative up-ending of many of the cherished beliefs of powerful people who had a lot to lose. Jesus life even completely re-defined the term, “Messiah”. I think it is fair to say that the “popular view” of the people to whom he preached was that the “Messiah” was a warrior like leader who would mount a revolution which would end up replacing the power of Rome with the power of a leader who was one of them, under their God - BUT it would still be the same kind of power. It would be a power that would beget violence and bloodshed or the fear of violence and bloodshed. Simply put, that’s the way that kind of power works.
This “lamb of God” would put an end to that, if he had his way. In the end, this “lamb of God” would not be what John thought he would be. Not at all.
I think that, for Jesus, love was more important that power. I think that Jesus envisioned a world free of coercion and dominance by power and force. Some of the prophets had written about it; it was not new. This was the lamb that would lie down with the wolf; this was the lamb that would end all of the violence and threats and coercion.
From the time we are born we begin to learn what the world requires of us. What does the world require of us? Walk softly and carry a bigger stick than the person coming to meet you. Go to school. Get an education. Earn money. Save money. Pay your bills. Support your family. Move up in the world. Buy. Shop. Invest. Retire in comfort. Look out for yourself first.
Remember, there are two sides in life: my side and the wrong side. These two sides are bound to be in conflict so make sure there is enough at stake so the threat does not become real - remember the Cold War?
As a people of faith, we are still people who have to live in the world - what other choice do we have. As a people of faith, however, we have a different question we need to ask, “What does God require of us?”
The lamb of God came to free us from the dog eat dog world of power, and violence, and fear. The lamb of God calls us to live in a different way, to trust in God and not in human power, violence and threats of violence. We are people who, in the end, live by grace; we are not self-made, no matter how good that might sound
So, come with me on a journey. Let us, in this season of Epiphany and beyond, discover where the Lamb of God is staying and what he is about. Let us learn and as we learn let us commit to the way of the lamb.
Amen.
January 26, 2014 Third After Epiphany
Isaiah 9: 1-4
Psalm 27
1 Corinthians 1: 10-18
Matthew 4: 12-23
Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that the “good old days” were better than these, much more recent, “bad new days”, and we have come to believe they were better in almost every way.
I am not one of those people! I like the heat provided by an oil furnace and controlled by a thermostat, windows that don’t rattle in the slightest breeze, cars with good heaters and plowed and paved roads. I like grocery stores with a variety of goods and a reasonably certain supply.
When I compare my daily life with just 25 years ago, when I was new to ministry, there are not that many changes, but I do like calling plans that enable me to call friends without having to count the by the minute cost. I like the way a computer and the internet has changed the way I write sermons because I can word-smith my sermons much more easily and check details from my desk rather than having to root through often outdated reference books.
I like the new communications options. Where Canada Post was involved, I have never been a very good letter writer, my mom could tell you that! Yesterday morning though, I sent a short hello message through Facebook, to my nephew who plays hockey out of Quebec. It took only seconds to let him know I was thinking of him. He replied within minutes and in reasonably complete sentences for a 19yr old using text messages!
I hear lots of stories about the “good old days” in the church - when the pews were full - when everyone that was United Church came every week - when there were no worries about money, but, in truth, I am not sure these days ever actually existed!
You see, we have lots and lots of church minutes, and they have been very carefully preserved for those of us from the future who are interested in looking back! In one church I served, way, way back in some of those “good old days”, before any of us was born, the church treasurer found it increasingly difficult to collect the yearly pew rents which were the way that they supported the church. You see, instead of passing the offering plate they charged for the seat in which you and your family sat. I assume they left some for visitors, but I cant say for sure. (By the way, the last time I read the applicable Manual section, we could still raise money that way, if we wanted to! )
Church minutes record many large and small disagreements. More than one Presbyterian congregation lost members when they introduced organs to provide backup for the singing. It was, after all, seen by some as an “instrument of the devil”.
Church union in 1925 caused great divisions in some churches and some communities and some of these disputes had to be settled by the civil courts.
I remember reading one set of minutes from the 1960s (I think) that dealt with an unwelcome and unexpected increase in the minister’s salary. They agreed to pay it because Conference had assured them that this would be the last increase!
Churches have had disagreements over choir gowns and carpet and church furniture and new lighting and music and hymn books the use of the ladies parlour and the list could go on and on and on.
You know, the more I think about it, it IS tempting to wish for a better, more holy, less fractious time. Why not go back to the earliest Christian communities? Surely, being in a community where Jesus himself was a living memory, there would be peace and the tranquillity?
As it turns out, this was not the case. We don’t have sets of well kept minutes, but we do have letters, from church leaders to the churches, and they are in our Bible. These letters all give advice in the context of conflicts and problems that arose! The biggest problem with letters is that we have only the letters TO the churches; we don’t have their letters to the apostles or a record of the situations to which they were writing.
In the church in Corinth there was division and disagreement. I will say that again. In the church in Corinth there was division and disagreement. It seems to have had something to do with who had baptized whom. Paul felt it necessary to write to them and remind them of a higher goal and purpose.
While Paul’s letters were written to specific communities about specific issues, it seems clear that they were copied and shared with communities other than the one to which they were originally written.
What was the Corinthian church like? What were their issues? In the city of Corinth, Greece, there were a great many altars and symbols of religious devotion. In the recent past, archaeologists have discovered many altars, temples and shrines that would have been in use in first century Corinth. There was even one to cover any deity that might have been missed and felt “left out”. I believe it is in the book of Acts where an altar to an “unknown god” is mentioned.
Yet the very religious Corinth, was also the first century version of “sin city”. Apparently much of the population was highly transitory and upwardly mobile. Transplanted from many parts of the Empire, these diverse peoples were thrown together but the place itself had no culture or rooted-ness of its own. The city hosted games, in the “Olympic cycle” every second year so it would have been a popular destination for those spectators and competitors.
In Corinth, the poor were very poor and the wealthy paid little attention to them. This gap between rich and poor was also evidenced in the Christian community and in their worship. At that time each service was a communion service and each communion service an entire meal. The problems with this were at least two-fold. Only the rich had the space to host the group of people that would come together for worship and the rich, not having the same kinds of jobs as the poor, came first and ate most of the food before the poor and working class could arrive. `
They were a fractious lot and took sides, lining up behind their favourite apostle. It reminds me of a political leadership convention with voters gathering into camps and wearing some symbol of their allegiance.
Paul, it seems, has had enough. You can almost hear him saying: “Smarten up. Quiet down. Listen up! You know better than this.”
It all sounds very idealistic. Human beings are notorious for disagreeing. As individuals with our own minds, we would naturally have our own opinions. It makes sense. Yet, this advice is here: “have the same mind”.
Well, that is clearly impossible. I know that we here in Kings United have disagreements. The church in Corinth had disagreements. Almost every church community that has ever existed has had disagreements. Considering human nature, it is impossible not to. So why don’t we all quit this enterprise and go home, or throw out Paul’s unattainable advice altogether?
As I was beginning to work on this sermon, a song started to roll around in my head. (I want to assure everyone that the songs in my head are ALL on key and in tune!!) The song was “Dream the Impossible Dream” from the Broadway musical, The Man of LaMancha. It is sung by the character Don Quixote who has, after all, embarked on an impossible set of quests.
Is Christian unity an impossible dream? Is being of the “same mind” possible? Is it even desirable?
Robert Browning, the 19th century poet wrote, that our reach should exceed our grasp, “or what’s a heaven for?”
It seems to me that Paul was not concerned about differences in the community so much as he was concerned as the divisiveness of these differences. The people had forgotten their primary allegiance was to their common bond to Christ.
It seems they were picking the views of the one who baptized them, instead of the one in whose name they were baptized. Paul expresses his gratitude that he baptized so few that there can’t be much dissension around his name, but that is a moot point, really.
The advice for us seems clear, focus on the common identity we have in Christ, rather than those human allegiances that divide us into camps. I don’t know many people these days who line up behind the name of the minister who baptized them - that has more to do with when they were born and who was the minister then than it has to do with anything else.
In years gone by it was former Methodists who were lined up against former Presbyterians. It was members of one UCW unit who disagreed with members of another UCW unit over issues large and small. For us it might be the Pastoral Charge, or congregational divisions that existed here, pre-amalgamation.
What we need to keep in mind is the unity we have in Christ. What we need to keep in mind is the common bond we have in our desire to form a community of faith in these communities and in the time and place in which we live.
At our upcoming annual meetings we will be considering various proposals. We will have to make some decisions. I think that what Paul’s ancient words are saying to us is that we need to figure out what the principle and goal of unity in Christ is saying to us about our identity AND OUR MISSION to the wider community. Then we need to strive for that. It is about learning to live tother with our disagreements and not letting them cause strife and division. That is no easy task but it is essential to going forward, whatever our decisions are.
May we live up to the calling of our baptism.
Amen.
February 2, 2014 Fourth After Epiphany
Micah 6: 1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1: 18-31
Matthew 5: 1-12
One day, over a year ago, I went to a sushi place with my sister and a couple who are friends of hers. Since raw fish and cold rice wrapped in seaweed does not appeal to me, there were only a few items on the menu that looked like I might give them a try!
On another occasion I took my mom to a buffet at a Charlottetown restaurant where her seniors club had decided to go for their Christmas gathering and, let me tell you, THEY know how to pick a restaurant! Since it was an “all you can eat” buffet AND there was very little on the menu that did not appeal to me, I left after having eaten far too much for my own good. I left the red and green Jell-O for someone else! I simply had no room for it!
When you follow the lectionary as a preaching discipline you sometimes get what I might call, a “sushi Sunday” where it is a struggle to come up with a sermon, while others are “smorgasbord satisfaction Sundays”, because there are enough texts for a dozen sermons, at least. This is one of those, “I could preach on these texts forever” Sundays. Don’t worry though, you’ll be home by supper!
My choice for this week’s main course is the passage from Matthew’s gospel commonly known as “the Beatitudes“. Somewhere along the way I’ll give you a Micah side dish and a desert of Corinthians, that is if my eyes aren’t bigger than my stomach!
Early in this past week the big news was the death of American folk singer-songwriter, Pete Seeger. I’ve known some of his songs since I was a child but before last week I could not have told you that this was the name of the singer who made them popular. As I looked at the list of those songs though, it really did not surprise me that thy were his songs, for many of them sounded like they came from the same place of restlessness and “speaking truth to power”. Many of his songs sing out the truth that love is stronger than hate, peace stronger than war and justice stronger than the forces of oppression.
While he and his songs may have been popular with the masses, the American government in the McCarthy era tried to silence him. In a way he received his vindication in 2009 when the United States inaugurated its first African American President and the 90yr old Seeger sang at the inaugural concert, having outlived those who tried to quiet his songs of protest and hope. Like the last verse of the American Version of “this land is your land” he claimed the side of the land and the side of history on the other side of all of the “keep out” signs.
In the last week I’ve seem several pictures of Seeger’s banjo which has these words written on it: “this machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender”.
While he would not have considered himself religious, I think many of Seeger’s songs would not be out of place at a church kitchen party where people sing of faith and hope and justice.
Like Seeger’s songs, the Beatitudes call us to look at life and at the successful life in a new way.
The Beatitudes are a passage which seem, at first glance, to pronounce blessing on those things one which would not normally call blessings. Or do they?
When we listen to the beatitudes we need to hear what or who it is that is blessed. Did you notice that the poor are blessed; it is not poverty itself that is pronounced blessed. I think that this is a very important distinction.
Some biblical passages beg to be read with fresh eyes - and very often the best way to do this is to read it in an entirely different version. Sometimes the simplicity of the new can be very refreshing and enlightening.
As a way of looking at this passage with fresh eyes I chose, Eugene Peterson’s, The Message. In this paraphrase, these are the words of Jesus:
3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
7 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
10 “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
I think these last verses are the key to interpreting this passage as a call to action as well as a passage which challenges us to go deeper into the well with the kind of water that can truly sustain us.
It seems to me that a recurring theme in the gospels is that life, viewed from the perspective of faith is kind of topsy-turvy and upside down. In the world of faith things are not as they seem because you can’t use the same standards to evaluate the world and life of faith that the world uses to determine value and worth.
Remember what it was like when you bought your first car with a metric speedometer and going down the St Peter’s Road to Charlottetown at 60kmh was so much slower than 60mph. Maybe you had an older car when the signs on the road went metric and you were pulled over for going 90mph on that same road!
I don’t have time to go through this passage verse by verse; that would take us till suppertime! So, let’s take poverty as one example. No one, even Jesus, would claim that it is good to be poor, so WHAT does he mean? Where is the blessing?
Let’s look at it this way. Often, when we are rich and healthy and have lots of friends and success and all of that we are able to fool ourselves into thinking that life can be lived on the surface.
We can fool ourselves into thinking we are truly self made and can be self made.
We fool ourselves into believing that the important things in life can be purchased; that we can always buy the things that will make us happy - the right clothes, the right gadgets for ourselves and our children, the right vacations, the right activities. So when we are unhappy we try to gain our happiness back by spending money - buying something, going on an expensive vacation. For many, it works, for a while anyway!
Eventually, many people realize that true happiness comes from a place within and cannot be purchased. They can learn a lesson from some of those for whom life is more of a struggle. They know they have to go to the spiritual well for the water that really sustains because they can’t hide behind the facade that others can build.
Of course, if I don’t have enough money to buy nutritious food for my family, or heat for the house, or to clothe their growing bodies, that situation can result in all sorts of “un-happy” feelings. We as a community need to work together to address these situations so that everyone has enough for sustaining life with dignity.
I have a passing acquaintance with the social justice networks that connect people here in Canada to indigenous peoples whose struggles are indeed monumental. I think of the Mayan people of Guatemala. These people are oppressed in so many ways - by their governments which allow multinational corporations to trample their land, their rights and their lives, all for the sake of money. However, despite their situation they are people of hope. The hope that sustains them is that one day their struggle against oppression will result in a better life for them, or their children, or their children’s children.
Lets go back to Seger for a moment. When he sang with the freedom marchers did they imagine the leaps and bounds that would take a man of colour to the White House?
The poor of whom Jesus speaks are people who know their happiness does not come from anything in their present distress nor from some kind of hope for a joyous afterlife, but a hope and trust that one day things will change and justice will flow down like a mighty river.
Micah, so many generations before Jesus, called his people to live lives of love, justice and mercy and not meaningless animal sacrifices. We in the first world need to realize that we cannot continue garnering our wealth off of the backs of the impoverished two thirds world. We who have our own struggles in the present economy need to focus on the source of true happiness while at the same time we struggle for economic justice and fairness with respect to employment, fair wages and an adequate social safety net.
The world tells us that the wise thing is to look out for ourselves first but Jesus and the prophets and the leaders in the early church would all agree that the foolish way is the best way. We are called to be community together and to seek the good of all for it is only when all benefit that we can truly be blessed.
Amen.
February 9, 2014 Fifth After Epiphany
Isaiah 58: 1-9a
Psalm 112
1 Corinthians 2: 1-12
Matthew 5: 13-20
((Claire, the candle has already been lighted, can you please pass me the salt. Thank you. ))
Because it has been a popular and highly recommended television series, for several years now, I decided to start watching Downton Abbey; my sister has all of the past seasons on DVD. In one episode mid season the family is having a guest to supper and despite Lady Crawley’s request, the cook insists that she cannot change the menu on short notice and make a particular desert. Apparently the guest is thought to like this “new desert”, but it is unknown to the cook. They agree to stick with the previous plan. Immediately before it is taken upstairs, the cook sprinkles it liberally with what everyone assumes is sugar. When all have been served the desert, in concert with the Lord of the Manor, everyone lifts spoon to mouth and takes a mouthful of what turns out to be a heavily SALTED desert.
Everyone is commanded to put down their spoons and fruit and cheese are ordered to take away the terrible taste from their mouths. As the scene ends, Lady Mary, one of the young adult daughters is laughing so hard she is almost in tears. However, in the kitchen, it is no laughing matter.
Clearly, not everything needs salt and you can certainly have too much. I am told that the same products in different markets contain very different amounts of added salt. Because the average Canadian consumes many times the recommended limit for sodium, Health Canada has been working with the manufacturers of processed foods to reduce their salt content but apparently it has to be done slowly or salt loving Canadians would notice and complain.
The human body needs a certain amount of salt to maintain a healthy balance and human beings have been extracting and refining salt for about 8,000 years. These days, table salt is dirt cheap, but it was not always the case. I am told that in imperial times, a Roman soldier’s wages were given to him in salt; that’s actually the origin of the word, salary! Of course, it’s also the origin of the complaint that someone was “not worth his salt”.
The United States of America can link its cry for freedom to the Boston Tea Party, a reaction to what was seen as an unfair tax on tea. In India, on the other hand, it was a tax on salt and a prohibition against making your own that caused many people to say, “enough is enough” and demonstrate en-masse for independence.
In today’s passage one of the images employed by Jesus to describe and challenge his followers is salt; “You are the salt of the earth”. He warns them though, “Salt that has lost its taste is useless.”
The second image is that of light. “You are the light of the world”. The obvious rhetorical comment is that no one lights a candle and then hides it. What would be the point of that?
We know that calling someone the “salt of the earth” or “a bright light” would be a compliment.
The second part of this passage seems to be un-connected to the first but I think one does indeed follow from the other. Lets look at that part now.
When we think of Jewish law we probably think of the Ten Commandments. Some people would argue that Jesus replaced this law with what we know as the “Great Commandment”, the one about loving God, neighbour and self, but here it seems that he contends that what he is doing is “fulfilling” the law. There is a difference.
In the years after Moses was said to have had the law given to him on Mount Sinai, a large amount of embellishment, refinement and commentary was added. It seems some people needed definitions and clarifications for everything. Do not work on the Sabbath. The Ten Commandments seem very clear, but wait a minute. What is work? Is not some work necessary? Can you milk your goat on the Sabbath? Can you take water to your animals or lead your animals TO the water? Is that permissible?
We assume that people walked to the synagogue on the Sabbath, but just how far can you walk without it being considered work? Can a doctor work on the Sabbath? Does it matter if the patient has an emergency or if it is a chronic condition? Do you have to pick your Sabbath fruit a day early or can you go out and pick a fresh one? In joining these two passages together perhaps Matthew is telling us that Jesus was concerned that the law was being hidden or being watered down by a sea of meaningless details which made it impossible to see the real point of the whole enterprise.
We have this story elsewhere in the gospels. One Sabbath day Jesus and his disciples were criticized by some religious leaders for going through a grainfield and picking the grain and eating it. They were probably also rubbing the grains in their palms in order to remove the coarse outer layer in order to make it palatable; a primitive kind of winnowing! Both of these actions would certainly be the kind of work prohibited on the Sabbath. The fact that they were hungry and only taking enough for that meal did not seem to matter. Interestingly no one complained that it was not their grain!
On these occasions, Jesus being told that it was not okay to heal on the Sabbath. In each case, I believe, he was healing someone whose condition was chronic. The critics would have thought, “what difference would one more day make?”
I don’t know about you, but I am very tired of hearing about the so-called “Senate scandal”. Who is guilty and of what are they guilty? Did they make fraudulent expense claims? Of course, it depends on what you mean by fraudulent? The RCMP have been pouring over files in an attempt to determine if charges should be laid or not. There are two sets of charges announced recently but I don’t think that means all the others are free and clear! I’m sure some of rules are so convoluted that the principles have become lost. How do you define a primary residence? How expensive can a hotel be before it is too luxurious for the public purse? How cheap is too cheap for someone who travels a great deal for their work? How much is too much to pay for a glass of orange juice? If you need to return early and on your own from an overseas trip how much extra should the public purse pay for your flight or should the meeting be rescheduled?
Some of this hair splitting and these precise definitions may indeed be necessary in politics and in business but when we are at the point of looking at everything in life and particularly the life of faith in this way, we have missed the point.
The point of the life of faith is not about “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” or “fairly trading one thing for another”; the life of faith is about undeserved grace. The life of faith is about responding to God’s love in our lives by showing love, light and flavour (or salt) to others. We can praise God with hymns and prayers alone or we can praise with our lives. We can shine our light only inside this building for this hour on Sunday morning or we can do so all week long.
Paul talks about the grace of being able to proclaim God’s love and insists that it does not come from his own strength or education or intelligence but from the Spirit.
The life of faith is a life of flavour, and light. Its not about getting the most for one’s self, as the world seems to teach us, but about reaching out and lighting and flavouring the world.
Just as a small amount of salt or light makes all of the difference in the world, so too do small acts of kindness and service in the life of someone else. I think we often downplay those things that are parts of our lives as a community and a community of faith. We need to start connecting these acts to our life of faith so that the ones on the receiving end can also make the vital connection.
. As a people of faith we are not responding to a need just because of the need but because of who we have become because of God’s working in our lives.
When I was a student I was sometimes treated to a restaurant meal with words, “I have a salary and I can do this; sometime you will be able to do the same for someone else.” So it is with many things, we have received in the past and we respond by giving to others. We received and we give.
We can reach out, and be salt and light with a power and a flavour and with a strength and wisdom we never knew we had because of the grace that is working in our lives.
Take a risk. Reach out. Show love. God has first loved us and graced us; whata other response could we make.
Amen
February 16, 2014 Sixth After Epiphany
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
Psalm 119: 1-8
1 Corinthians 3: 1-9
Matthew 5: 21-37
Have you spent any time this past week watching the Olympics? The motto of the games, translated from the official Latin version is “faster, higher, stronger”. All of the athletes who make it to the Games have spent years perfecting their skills and pushing their limits. Ideally they arrive at the Games in peak condition and “at the top of their game”.
The pole vault and the high jump are two Olympic events but since they are “Summer Games” sports we will have to wait two years to see them, as Olympic events, when the games are hosted by Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I believe the current record for men is 6.14m, (which for those of us born before metric is 20'1.5") For women it is 4.05m (or 14'3.25")
In the high jump the world record for men is 2.45m (or 8'.25") for women it is 2.09m (6'10.24").
Both of these events use bars and if the athlete cannot jump over the bar without knocking it down, they fail at their attempt. Equestrian jumping also uses sets of bars to construct various configurations of obstacles for the horse and rider to clear. Each bar knocked down counts against the total score.
The limbo is a dance that originated in Trinidad and traditionally was part of the “wake” when family and friends gathered at the time of a death. It also uses a pole, but in this case, you have to dance under this pole and unlike the other events, the lower the pole the harder it is. The record is 21.5cm (or 8.5").
Generally speaking, we use the term, “setting the bar high”, as a metaphor for promoting hard work and excellence. In some exams, 50% is a pass but in others it is much higher. This does make sense; would you really want a doctor or nurse who was only right half the time?
I was talking to a teacher one day about one of her students. She told me that this particular student was a high achiever; she set the bar high for herself and often exceeded it.
Today’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew, a portion of what is often called, “the Sermon on the Mount”, deals with three of the ten commandments - murder, adultery and false witness. Jesus teaching on the commandments, instead of being simply “a literal interpretation” ends up setting the bar far higher than any of the common interpretations around at the time.
The bar is set so high, in fact, that the standard seems impossible to reach. It seems to me that he sets such an impossible standard, not to defeat us, but to remind us of grace our need for God and to remind us that we should look at ourselves before we criticize others. .
Perhaps what he is saying is that we should not boast that we have kept the commandments, because few of us can say we have avoided those all too human feelings behind the commandments against murder, adultery and false witness - those feelings and emotions being anger, lust and unfulfilled promises.
As far as I know, most of us here today can say with 100% certainty that we have never intentionally killed anyone. Yet, we all probably fall down when it comes to anger. I have been angry many times and sometimes have acted inappropriately because of that anger. No doubt most of us have at one time or another.
What we need to do, says Jesus, is not to ignore our anger, pretending nothing is wrong, but deal with it, resolve it, work it out, before we come to worship seeking God’s blessing. Modern psychology warns us of the dangers of unresolved anger. Crime dramas create many plots out of anger nursed and tended like it was a prize vegetable.
When we hear Jesus speaking about adultery we need first to realize that adultery, in terms of the “Law” of the Ten Commandments is an act that only a married person can commit. Adultery was also akin to a property crime. It WAS NOT about what consenting unmarried adults may do - there are other rules about that, which I don’t need to get into here!
Jesus takes the bar from the level of “actions” against a spouse and raises it to the level of human emotion and desire. It’s not quite to the level of “thinking about it is as bad as doing it” though. I have a good friend whose husband says, of this topic, “there is not a man alive who has not looked”. We could split hairs to try and determine where a fleeting glance becomes desire and where desire becomes lust but again Jesus is talking about a level of purity that seems impossible to achieve. Jesus raises the bar from overt action to the thought that possesses one so strongly that it affects the way one thinks and the relationships to which someone is already committed. While we are more open about these things these days, I don’t think human beings were very different 2,000 years ago.
Jesus is so strong on this that he says that those who have lusted should cut out their eyes! Harsh! Really harsh. It seems to me to be an obvious exaggeration, but it is clear that Jesus meant us to take this very seriously.
Once there were two monks who were on a journey. Each of these monks had taken a vow to never touch a woman, for any purpose. They came upon a river and a woman, in attempting to cross the swiftly moving river, had lost her footing and was in danger of drowning. The older monk leaped into the water, and delivered her safely to the other shore. As they travelled along the younger monk was most distressed that his mentor had broken his sacred vow. Finally the older man replied, “Brother, I set her down several hours ago, why are you still carrying her?”
Jesus takes an equally harsh stand on divorce. In a time when half of all marriages end in divorce and many couples have successful second marriages, do we really want to deal at all with a passage that strictly prohibits divorce?
Perhaps we need to dig a little deeper. In Jesus’ day it was rare for a woman to file for divorce but I am told that a man could divorce his wife for almost any reason or even no reason at all. In that time it was almost impossible for a woman to live independently or to raise children on her own. We know that the early church took on the care of the widows and orphans of the community because they were the ones who had, as we say, fallen through the cracks. The stigma of being a divorced women was high but I don’t think the man bore such a burden. Jesus was the men in his audience to consider their responsibilities, vows and promises to their wives and children. Perhps he would agree that true love, self giving love, is a choice, it is a verb and not a feeling over which we have no control.
In the movie War Horse, farmer, Ted Naracott, probably suffers from what we now call PTSD because of his service in the Boer War and drinks to excess as a way of dealing with his pain. He says to his wife Rose, that he would not blame her if she stopped loving him but she replied “I may hate you more, but I’ll never love you less”.
Jesus’ compassion for those who were divorced is evidenced elsewhere; he was not about throwing stones but he was not lowering the ideal standard either. There are lots of good reasons to end a marriage and lots of not so good ones too.
The passage about oaths is a little harder to understand. I am told that the members of some religious groups take this passage so literally that they refuse to be “sworn as a witness”. They insist that their word is as good as a sworn statement or a signed contract.
Many of us have probably had the experience of trying to get a company to honour a warranty and its your word against theirs that the repair should be under warranty. It is in writing, but so is the fine print!
We probably all know about the various “gentlemen’s” agreements that govern certain aspects of the lobster fishery such as which places which fishers use to set their traps and the understanding that no one goes out on Sunday. These things are not written down, but they might as well be.
In most of life though we operate on the level of putting things in writing and “signed contracts”. Many professionals and all unionized employees have signed contracts. Builders sign contracts with clients. Contracts say what will be done and for what price. Sometimes a contract stipulates penalties and the recourse to be taken if a contract is not honoured.
Sometimes though people try to ruin a good thing by stretching the letter of the law as far as possible. There was a pizza chain which had a rule: “if we don’t get the pizza to you in so many minutes, its free.” A customer who lived at a hard to find address he made sure his house was harder to find every time he ordered pizza by turning off his outside light in order to increase his chances of free pizza!
I think that what Jesus is telling people to do, in very practical terms, is to act in good faith and not to try and work things to our advantage at the expense of the other.
What I think we need to keep in mind is that there is no aspect of life that is not to be lived in the light of our Christian commitment. People of faith should be people of justice, fair dealing and honesty, and not need to be curtailed, controlled or forced to act by written contracts or laws but relied on simply to say and do the right thing.
Jesus preaches grace but he also preaches “high standards.” The bar is raised high. Its no good to go for the bronze when we are called to go for the gold.
Amen.
February 23, 2014 Seventh After Epiphany
Leviticus 19: 1-2, 9-18
Psalm 119: 33-40
1 Corinthians 3: 10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5: 38-48