Ordinary 13A – A sermon based upon Genesis 22:1-14
Good morning. To be honest, I’ve struggled with this sermon all week because when I sat down to look at the lectionary texts, the one God kept whispering to me was the Genesis 22 story of God testing Abraham by telling him to offer his son as a sacrifice. I kept saying, “No, that one is too hard. We’re kicking off Vacation Bible School so let’s do something more inspiring.” But God being the never ending nudger and caller to growth wouldn’t let me get away with picking another text.
So here we are, looking at a story that has horrified people for thousands of years and continues to distress us with what it might mean that God would ask such a thing of us. Maybe kick off day for VBS is the right day to dig into a biblical story so complicated that we usually want to ignore it or explain it away.
So, what can we do to make sense of this story? I’ve read tons of commentaries and scholarly material this week and learned more about how many different opinions and views there are than any one thing. But let me give you a brief rundown of some of what theologians and scholars think about this.
Verse 14 reads, “So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’” So, some think the whole thing is just a myth because the passage ends with telling us how a mountain got its name and how a saying came into being. They say it never happened and it’s just a story to tell us a lesson. Well, whether or not it happened, the tougher part is figuring out what the lesson or lessons are.
Some scholars believe this is a symbolic story where the ancient Israelites living in exile would have understood themselves to be the “firstborn” that God would provide for and also Abraham who God was testing. This is also an interesting thought but what does that really mean to us today? So I kept digging.
Some say Abraham was willing to follow God’s command so unquestionably because he knew that God would intervene and not allow Isaac to be hurt since the boy was part of bigger promises already made by God. Well, maybe Abraham did hope for that but I doubt he truly knew for certain what would happen when they set out. Also, if he already knew, then the moral of the story would be, “if you already know what God’s doing in your life, just play along” rather than “God will provide.”
Many theologians are deeply concerned with misinterpretations of this passage as justification of child abuse. Seeing this text in too flat a way can lead to justifying the use of children as pawns in adult disputes such as divorces. Taking it too far can even lead to a complete perversion of the text and of God’s true will by proclaiming that God condones the use, abuse, and murder of children. However, this passage never says anything like that. In fact, 16 biblical passages firmly forbid human sacrifice and countless passages condemn the injury of children.
So, here we are… lots of opinions but we’re still mortified by the thought of God asking such a thing of Abraham. But I don’t think it’s just us in this time and place. It’s not that we’re reading with a New Testament orientation of a loving God and people of old weren’t. I suspect all people in all times and places have found this story horrific and maybe that’s part of the point.
Biblical stories come to us with a richness and a history that teach us things about human nature and divine covenant in action. So when we see a story that doesn’t match our understanding of those, it catches our attention. See, lots of folks want to know how Abraham could do this without even asking God why? There’s nothing in this passage or the bible in general that calls for us to not ask God questions so we can understand more. So how did a father choose to do this without asking? And when we look at our own faith, we don’t understand how someone could have that kind of faith in the first place. Abraham’s actions stand out to us because they are inconsistent with what we know of human nature so it jars us. And to go a little further, we’re also jarred by the idea that if God would ask this of Abraham, what might we be asked to do? Would we rise to the occasion or go running the other way? And if God is testing Abraham does that mean that God doesn’t know the outcome of human free will?
There are just so many questions that make this passage stand out for further scrutiny. So, what do we make of all this?
Well, the first thing is to figure out what we do know for sure from the passage. One of the first things is to recognize that the biblical reader and God are the ones who know this is a test. Abraham, Isaac, and the people of the story do not know this is only a test. If they had known, they would have interacted very differently.
We also know that since this is only a test, God never intends to hurt Isaac. Keep in mind that Abraham has struggled with faith his whole life. God only wants to know about Abraham’s faithfulness and once that is established the next passage is where God promises Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars.
Another thing we know is that Abraham has come to a new level in his faith. He possesses a deep trust in God. Even when Isaac sees that something is obviously not right about the situation and asks about it, Abraham responds faithfully that God will provide. Again, I want to point out that this passage does not say that passivity and unquestioning are good. It’s just that Abraham didn’t question.
And another thing we know about this passage is from a literary device. Hebrew scripture, was arranged in ballad like songs. So, repeating words, sounds, and other emphasis are always there for a reason but we miss those in translation.
When we read this, we see some form of the verb “to see” 5 times. But when read in Hebrew, the arrangement is in such a way that we learn that sight and a kind of progress of “seeing” are deeply important to unraveling this passage. Abraham is shown to taking in more information through his sight. Revelation in this story is not as much about the words being said but about seeing something new or with greater clarity.
Okay, we’ve done all this biblical digging because we’re looking for what it’s going to mean in our lives. So from what we know, what can we extract as lessons for our lives? Well, I’d like to suggest two lessons we can take away. The first is the obvious one. God provides.
God’s provision for us and our lives is that of incredible abundance. In last week’s scripture message, we explored the ways we experience God’s refuge and strength within the church. But it’s not always easy to see and experience God’s provision. I mean we experience lost jobs, crime, disasters, oppressive sins like racism and classism, and we each carry deep sorrows for the way we’ve been hurt by the brokenness of the world. The way we experience the world, it’s hard to imagine how Abraham could have trusted God so much.
But we need to be clear to understand the sufferings brought about by human brokenness and free will are not the will or work of God. God’s work of giving is in the places that we heal those sorrows and pains. God’s provision is in relationship and community. And God does provide in ways that we could never have arranged for on our own.
Does it mean we can just go along hoping all will be well? No. All was well because Abraham continued to act in good faith and do what God had asked. Just like Abraham was walking the journey of action, so must we. God’s provision in most people’s lives is directly linked to our kindness, love, and compassion for one another. As partners of God in the body of Christ, we always hope but that hope is bound together with action.
This brings me to the second and less obvious point I think this passage has for us today. Earlier I said that one of the things we know about this passage is it’s evolving use of the verb “to see.” This progressive seeing and revelation points to something very important in our lives. I think the second point is that we are often led down paths based upon our current understanding but we are always responsible for keeping our eyes open to new revelation and paths as God opens them up to us.
Abraham was given a command by God and started down that pathway. See, Abraham lived around other cultures where child sacrifice was a common practice even though it wasn’t for his culture. Nevertheless, he could make sense of it at the time. Yet, he kept looking and therefore seeing more and more as time passed. By the moment when the angel intervened, Abraham may likely have understood that this was all a test. But regardless of what he believed, the point remains that he kept his eyes open to what God was continuing to reveal. This made him both faithful in his actions but flexible to adapt to a new path when it came along.
This is a huge lesson. God expects us to keep growing and to be open to new paths as something different is revealed. God leads us but may change what information we have as we are more and more ready to receive it. So, we must be willing to let God change what our understanding of faithfulness means.
And this is a tough one because we’re not always good with change, especially in the religious world. We cling to our comfortable beliefs and ministries. But that’s not what we are always called to do. The idea that “we’ve always done it this way” isn’t necessarily God’s will and guidance. What we’ve always done must be constantly under scrutiny for new revelation.
Now what that new revelation may mean, we’re going to have to explore another time. And from this passage, it seems like something we should always be exploring. But as we leave here today, maybe the questions can get us going. What is it in our personal lives that God might be opening a different door for us? What about our professional lives? What new thing or things is God opening this congregation to? How can that openness be a gift? And how can we support one another in the discomfort of transitions as we adapt to what God has in store for us?
Sisters and brothers, this is our charge: to be watchful, willing to grow, and live in the work of God’s provision. As we go from here, may God bless our seeing and understanding of the pathways that lay ahead of us. Amen
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Our Refuge and Strength
Trinity A – a sermon based upon Psalm 46
Good morning. It is a true joy to be with you today on this Trinity Sunday where we celebrate that Christians are bad mathematicians or have a different kind of math… a math that says that 1 Father + 1 Son + 1 Holy Spirit = One Big God.
Okay, I figured that joke would either reveal that you were asleep or that I am a geek but I couldn’t help myself. The fact that we set aside a day to consider the Triune God, Trinity Sunday is an interesting thing to me. We definitely spend time talking about God, Jesus, and the Spirit. And we give a gentle nod to the fact that they are intertwined. But do we really stop to stand in awe of how amazingly God’s love, Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s creative energy works in and around us and with each other?
Today is probably a good day to do that because last week we talked about a pretty tough calling to keep reaching out even when we don’t understand other parts of the Body of Christ. And this week I said we’d look into our refuge, nurture, and growth together within a community of faith. And that’s what we’re going to do.
Today’s Psalm starts with a phrase familiar to many of us: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” This Psalm shows a great deal of trust and hope on our part in a God that is ever present and truly helpful in our daily lives. But is it just trust and hope? Could it be the Psalmist’s experience that first brought these words to song and then to paper? Could it be that for all our struggles to feel God’s presence, we still have a powerful experiences of and a deep knowledge of God?
I suspect so and on this day, the day of the church picnic where we share in the joy of fellowship, there is no better time to look at our experiences of each other and God in our midst. So, let’s look deeper at this Psalm and more closely at this community.
The 46th Psalm is broken into 3 different sections. The first looks at the turbulence of the earth. The second considers the unrest of people and nations. Finally the third upholds experience of God in being still and recognizing God’s works.
On first look you may think, now what does that have to do with our refuge, nurture, and growth together within a community of faith? Well, there are lots of ways to look at this Psalm. If we were soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, we may be looking at it for what it says about God’s dealings in political matters. And if we lived in earthquake ravaged Haiti or tornado torn Joplin, MO, we might center in on God’s work of creation in spite of the ebb and flow of nature and destruction. But for today, let’s look at it from right here… from this community of faith.
See, we know what it’s like for the “waters roar” and the land to tremble. The recent floods and storms have reminded us just how fragile our things of human design are. And if we look back in time, we need not go too far to see the damage wrought by nature. We also know what it’s like for the nations to roar and put our sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, grandchildren, parents and loved ones in harm’s way. But in the big times, the everyday times, and all the in between times, how do we know that God is our refuge and our strength?
Well, if you’ll indulge me, I think I have a unique prespective on this question. I’ve been helping in worship at First Pres consistently for over a year now and a few times before that over 2 years. But I’ve not been here for worship only. I’ve talked with many of you during coffee hour. I’ve sat in some of your homes to grieve. We’ve run into one another at local festivals or stores. Even as recently as last week, we’ve shared in the joy of baptisms and new members. You’ve reached out to me and to one another and much much more. And all along I’ve been watching. I’m a people watcher and you’ve given me plenty to take in.
See, during times of looking for a new pastor, some churches spend thousands of dollars on a consultant that comes in and studies a congregation to then give them a report telling them what was observed. But as someone who loves and cares about you, I’m going to tell you for free what I’ve seen.
In you, I have seen that there are more ways for the waters and nations to roar than just literal ones. The very foundations of many of your lives have been rocked by things that happened in your life or the lives of those around you. Unthinkable deaths, illnesses too scary to talk about with more than a few people, losses that leave you questioning how to cope and how to support one another have swept through in the past year just as they do in all years.
But I listened to your words to one another. I heard you say things like, “I don’t know what to say to make it better but I am here for you” or “I am grateful I have you around me to help us through this.” I also watched your actions. You sent cards, shared rides, offered meals, and shared with one another. You have been that beautiful interplay of God’s love, Christ’s healing, and the Sprit’s binding that one another need. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
However, I’ve been watching during more than just the crisis moments. I’ve watched the everyday times and if you ask me, the true measure of a community is not only in how well they rise to the occasion of crisis but what they do day in and day out. I see that you love to learn and grow.
You have church school, Sunday night conversations, Tuesday evening studies, VBS, and other special events. And those events are not just about growing intellectually or spiritually but they are also about the time spent with one another in seeking and learning together.
I also have watched you in stewardship. I’ve overheard conversations of concern about how to deal with financial issues with integrity. I’ve witnessed the birth and development of new gifts and callings such as when I overheard one of you talk about something that needed to be fixed and then you realized that maybe it was your calling to fix it. And the coffee hour helpers, greeters, ushers, flower arrangers, table setters, dish washers, meal cookers, baked good donators (and eaters), liturgy helpers, prayers, and so much more can’t even begin to be calculated when you start to look at stewardship. This congregation loves to do things for one another and for each other and it’s awe inspiring to stand back and see. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
But all that I’ve named has been about the “doing” not about the “being.” The most meaningful things I can name about First Presbyterian as a congregation are about “being.” For example, everyone is interested in the search for a new pastor. And whether it’s the conversations I know are taking place in the PNC or the ones in the pews, those conversations are ongoing. Debate, vision, disagreement, and hope get tangled with practical concerns. And you know what? They should be messy or we’re not faithfully and fully seeking God’s guidance. But at the core of all the outward swirling and energy is a deep seeded desire to be together.
And this “being” goes further than just looking for a new pastor. In the past year, I’ve come up with a theory about this church that I’ve shared with many of you. The theory comes from why I think it is that you have a history of being so vibrant in times without a pastor when many congregations collapse. My belief is that your liveliness and growth comes from your deep knowledge that YOU are the Church, not some person standing here. You know that WE are the body of Christ using all kinds of different gifts and I suspect that some of those gifts come out even more during times without consistent pastoral leadership.
Faith like that can’t be bottled and it can’t be taught. But it can be cultivated by relationships of people being with each other and being one another’s refuge and nurture. “Be still, and know that I am God!”
“Be still, and know that I am God” is an utterance that invites being not doing. On a day like today where we celebrate fellowship with one another the thing I’ve learned most strongly about this community is that whether it’s in committee or in the pews, there is a yearning for God. Some of you describe it as that feeling you get that keeps you coming back. Others identify it through what you do. But no matter how you think about it, that desire and longing for God finds some sort of voice here.
Sisters and brothers, our calling is into community… a community that holds and nurtures. As we spend time together and in the days and years to come, God invites us to be still and consider how that yearning for God has been fulfilled. We’re invited to step into the wonder of the trinity as God’s partners in creation. If it has been lacking, we’re invited to question what can we do to let down our own walls or to help reach through the barriers of fear that others have.
Now, I’m not naive enough to think that we live in a culture where all our spiritual and emotional needs can be taken care of by one group of people. The fact of the matter is that God’s refuge and strength enter our lives from many places and often our closest supports are outside this community. And that’s okay. But while we’re here and when we’re considering what we want here to be like, God’s invitation is for us to pause in gratitude for what this faith community has been in our lives. God’s invitation is to know that no matter what comes along, we are not alone. “God is our refuge and strength.” Amen.
Good morning. It is a true joy to be with you today on this Trinity Sunday where we celebrate that Christians are bad mathematicians or have a different kind of math… a math that says that 1 Father + 1 Son + 1 Holy Spirit = One Big God.
Okay, I figured that joke would either reveal that you were asleep or that I am a geek but I couldn’t help myself. The fact that we set aside a day to consider the Triune God, Trinity Sunday is an interesting thing to me. We definitely spend time talking about God, Jesus, and the Spirit. And we give a gentle nod to the fact that they are intertwined. But do we really stop to stand in awe of how amazingly God’s love, Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s creative energy works in and around us and with each other?
Today is probably a good day to do that because last week we talked about a pretty tough calling to keep reaching out even when we don’t understand other parts of the Body of Christ. And this week I said we’d look into our refuge, nurture, and growth together within a community of faith. And that’s what we’re going to do.
Today’s Psalm starts with a phrase familiar to many of us: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” This Psalm shows a great deal of trust and hope on our part in a God that is ever present and truly helpful in our daily lives. But is it just trust and hope? Could it be the Psalmist’s experience that first brought these words to song and then to paper? Could it be that for all our struggles to feel God’s presence, we still have a powerful experiences of and a deep knowledge of God?
I suspect so and on this day, the day of the church picnic where we share in the joy of fellowship, there is no better time to look at our experiences of each other and God in our midst. So, let’s look deeper at this Psalm and more closely at this community.
The 46th Psalm is broken into 3 different sections. The first looks at the turbulence of the earth. The second considers the unrest of people and nations. Finally the third upholds experience of God in being still and recognizing God’s works.
On first look you may think, now what does that have to do with our refuge, nurture, and growth together within a community of faith? Well, there are lots of ways to look at this Psalm. If we were soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, we may be looking at it for what it says about God’s dealings in political matters. And if we lived in earthquake ravaged Haiti or tornado torn Joplin, MO, we might center in on God’s work of creation in spite of the ebb and flow of nature and destruction. But for today, let’s look at it from right here… from this community of faith.
See, we know what it’s like for the “waters roar” and the land to tremble. The recent floods and storms have reminded us just how fragile our things of human design are. And if we look back in time, we need not go too far to see the damage wrought by nature. We also know what it’s like for the nations to roar and put our sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, grandchildren, parents and loved ones in harm’s way. But in the big times, the everyday times, and all the in between times, how do we know that God is our refuge and our strength?
Well, if you’ll indulge me, I think I have a unique prespective on this question. I’ve been helping in worship at First Pres consistently for over a year now and a few times before that over 2 years. But I’ve not been here for worship only. I’ve talked with many of you during coffee hour. I’ve sat in some of your homes to grieve. We’ve run into one another at local festivals or stores. Even as recently as last week, we’ve shared in the joy of baptisms and new members. You’ve reached out to me and to one another and much much more. And all along I’ve been watching. I’m a people watcher and you’ve given me plenty to take in.
See, during times of looking for a new pastor, some churches spend thousands of dollars on a consultant that comes in and studies a congregation to then give them a report telling them what was observed. But as someone who loves and cares about you, I’m going to tell you for free what I’ve seen.
In you, I have seen that there are more ways for the waters and nations to roar than just literal ones. The very foundations of many of your lives have been rocked by things that happened in your life or the lives of those around you. Unthinkable deaths, illnesses too scary to talk about with more than a few people, losses that leave you questioning how to cope and how to support one another have swept through in the past year just as they do in all years.
But I listened to your words to one another. I heard you say things like, “I don’t know what to say to make it better but I am here for you” or “I am grateful I have you around me to help us through this.” I also watched your actions. You sent cards, shared rides, offered meals, and shared with one another. You have been that beautiful interplay of God’s love, Christ’s healing, and the Sprit’s binding that one another need. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
However, I’ve been watching during more than just the crisis moments. I’ve watched the everyday times and if you ask me, the true measure of a community is not only in how well they rise to the occasion of crisis but what they do day in and day out. I see that you love to learn and grow.
You have church school, Sunday night conversations, Tuesday evening studies, VBS, and other special events. And those events are not just about growing intellectually or spiritually but they are also about the time spent with one another in seeking and learning together.
I also have watched you in stewardship. I’ve overheard conversations of concern about how to deal with financial issues with integrity. I’ve witnessed the birth and development of new gifts and callings such as when I overheard one of you talk about something that needed to be fixed and then you realized that maybe it was your calling to fix it. And the coffee hour helpers, greeters, ushers, flower arrangers, table setters, dish washers, meal cookers, baked good donators (and eaters), liturgy helpers, prayers, and so much more can’t even begin to be calculated when you start to look at stewardship. This congregation loves to do things for one another and for each other and it’s awe inspiring to stand back and see. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
But all that I’ve named has been about the “doing” not about the “being.” The most meaningful things I can name about First Presbyterian as a congregation are about “being.” For example, everyone is interested in the search for a new pastor. And whether it’s the conversations I know are taking place in the PNC or the ones in the pews, those conversations are ongoing. Debate, vision, disagreement, and hope get tangled with practical concerns. And you know what? They should be messy or we’re not faithfully and fully seeking God’s guidance. But at the core of all the outward swirling and energy is a deep seeded desire to be together.
And this “being” goes further than just looking for a new pastor. In the past year, I’ve come up with a theory about this church that I’ve shared with many of you. The theory comes from why I think it is that you have a history of being so vibrant in times without a pastor when many congregations collapse. My belief is that your liveliness and growth comes from your deep knowledge that YOU are the Church, not some person standing here. You know that WE are the body of Christ using all kinds of different gifts and I suspect that some of those gifts come out even more during times without consistent pastoral leadership.
Faith like that can’t be bottled and it can’t be taught. But it can be cultivated by relationships of people being with each other and being one another’s refuge and nurture. “Be still, and know that I am God!”
“Be still, and know that I am God” is an utterance that invites being not doing. On a day like today where we celebrate fellowship with one another the thing I’ve learned most strongly about this community is that whether it’s in committee or in the pews, there is a yearning for God. Some of you describe it as that feeling you get that keeps you coming back. Others identify it through what you do. But no matter how you think about it, that desire and longing for God finds some sort of voice here.
Sisters and brothers, our calling is into community… a community that holds and nurtures. As we spend time together and in the days and years to come, God invites us to be still and consider how that yearning for God has been fulfilled. We’re invited to step into the wonder of the trinity as God’s partners in creation. If it has been lacking, we’re invited to question what can we do to let down our own walls or to help reach through the barriers of fear that others have.
Now, I’m not naive enough to think that we live in a culture where all our spiritual and emotional needs can be taken care of by one group of people. The fact of the matter is that God’s refuge and strength enter our lives from many places and often our closest supports are outside this community. And that’s okay. But while we’re here and when we’re considering what we want here to be like, God’s invitation is for us to pause in gratitude for what this faith community has been in our lives. God’s invitation is to know that no matter what comes along, we are not alone. “God is our refuge and strength.” Amen.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Of Body and Spirit
Pentecost A – sermon based upon 1 Corinthians 12: 3-13
Good morning. It is so good to be with you on this day of Pentecost. I’ve missed you over the past month but I’ve kept up with some of the happenings and you’ve always been close to my heart and in my prayers. I wanted to make a joke about how long it’s been by how quickly my hair is growing back but I couldn’t really think of anything witty to say so let’s just jump into this scripture.
Today’s scripture passage around the gifts and the body of Christ offers us a familiar image and calling. But like most scripture, we are blessed with a new hearing each and every time we encounter it. So, on this day where we celebrate the birth of the church, Pentecost, what does God want us to hear with newness?
Well, the passage is pretty straightforward and there isn’t much in the way of controversy in its meaning. The passage is very clear that there is one Spirit, one Christ, and one God and that all gifts, services, and activities flow from the one triune God. God is the breather of life, author, & initiator of all gifts and services. Verse 7 tells us, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Verse 11 says, “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”
All of our gifts and callings, every last one of them, come from God and are activated by the Spirit to work in the body of Christ. When we survey our lives, it can be so easy to pat ourselves on the backs for what we’ve done or achieved. But when we use our intuition or wisdom or compassionate heart, we must know that those things flow from God for the glory of God. Actually, the scripture said specifically they are “for the common good.”
This brings us to another point of this passage that reminders us that there are many different kinds of gifts and callings in the body of Christ. Verses 8 through 10 give us a litany of gifts and fruits of the spirit. But why is it that there are all these amazing gifts from God… compassion, healing, empathy, wisdom, leadership, faith, insight, tongues, hope, prophetic voice, and so many more… yet, we each only get a handful?
Well, most of us struggle to master even one or two of the gifts and callings in our lives let alone a bunch of them. As friends and neighbors, it takes hard work to use our particular gifts… the listening ear, perfect timing for distraction, asking intuitive questions, bravely challenging problems. Whatever our deepest gifts are in our friendships, it takes lots of effort on our part to use them well.
And what about our other relationships and roles like work, family, and even our faith community? Pure and simple, it’s just hard to develop a few of our gifts well and get them on the path God is calling us to. And even more difficult than that, when we do master a few, it becomes especially challenging to stay humble and remember from whom these gifts came.
But there’s more than the obvious “human” limitations going on here. We are not called to be individual gods, possessing all gifts and wholeness of the one God. Scripture says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” The common good... we are called to be joined together for the betterment of all. When we join all our gifts together, we become Christ’s presence in the world… God’s love reaching out.
If we each had all gifts and roamed about as our own mini-gods, we would become increasingly self-centered because we lacked the need to open ourselves to what others can teach and give us. Instead, God wisely gave us each differing gifts in various combinations. That would mean that we could each have some special function but that function is only made whole in the presence of other parts. It is for the common good, the greater good that we have these gifts. And if they are truly made whole by joining together, we will be compelled to reach outside of ourselves.
So what do I mean by this? Take for example the gift of compassion. It is an amazing gift that can produce healing, connection, and fill voids in people’s lives. But how do we have it? Well, a seed of it is planted in us. But to grow that seed, we must water it with the experiences of others. We grow compassion by extending ourselves to others and growing in our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. What about leadership? Leadership is usually a combination of gifts that come together. Some do it through honing their gifts of good planning and charm. Others lead by being able to articulate big visions and ideas. Regardless, the point is that no one ever became a great leader overnight. It was by extending one’s self to others that the experience was gained to develop that gift.
And the church should be a safe proving ground for such gift cultivation. When we volunteer to set up tables, we’re practicing gifts of stewardship and mutual support and we’re deepening relationships. When we participate in worship, we are doing so in a community that is founded upon grace so we don’t have to get it perfect. We just need to be faithful and the gifts will grow. And when there’s a loss or other crisis here, we can respond knowing that we are part of a community where don’t have to fix anything by ourselves because it can only be healed together.
This brings me to the last point I want to share from this passage. Gifts of the spirit are just like the many members of the body of Christ. It indeed does take all the parts to truly fix or heal or change anything for the better. The scripture says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
We are completely and utterly bound together. Not just us inside these walls, but all followers. And as awe inspiring as that can sound, it’s also a tough one to swallow sometimes. Think about it. As people of faith, we have spent a great deal of time, energy, and money fighting with one another. For complicated reasons, we get more riled up with one another than we often do with people of no faith. Christians from other backgrounds, people that use different gifts like speaking in tongues, or even other Presbyterians become the object of our frustration and scorn. We think to ourselves, “how can they believe that?” or “they are just sinners.” We try to cut off parts of the body of Christ.
But verse 3 began by telling us “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” So our utterances of wanting to dismiss or even push away those we don’t understand in the body of Christ do not come from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit calls us together, even when we don’t understand all the parts… even when we can only see one another’s flaws… even when we are tired of listening… even when our beliefs stand in outright conflict with one another.
But we are not called to belief. We are called to faith. Faith that is bound together by the Spirit because we were baptized into one body and drink of one cup. We, all people who have faith in Jesus, are the body of Christ. When we want to dismiss any part of the body, our job is to seek more understanding rather than getting defensive or closing off. When we can’t figure out how someone can call themselves Christian, our calling is to spend time listening. When we’re frustrated with people we don’t understand, a better use of our time would be helping develop our gifts and theirs by working together on what we do agree on… things like poverty and being with the lonely and suffering. When someone tries to cut us off from the body, our calling is to keep living the mission and reaching out.
These acts of reaching out to one another to understand and connect as I said before are the proving grounds for our faith. If we can’t figure out how to work together as a living body of Christ then our witness to the world is also diminished because we’re not working as the whole body. But when we do join together, history shows us over and over again what amazing things can be done. Consider the Civil Rights Movement, the works of the Red Cross, and even close to home think of the amazing ministries of this congregation. Living out our callings together always leads to bigger things than we could have ever done on our own.
Sisters and brothers, This is a huge calling both inside and outside these walls. But lest we get too burdened by this, come back next week and we’ll be talking about our refuge, strength, and nurture inside these walls. But for now, we wear red on Pentecost to symbolize the flames of the Spirit so this quote from St. Catherine of Sienna is fitting. She said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
On this day where we celebrate the birth of the church, our calling is to develop the gifts that are given to us and to work hard to support the gifts of the Spirit given to others. When we do this, we become a full and vibrant living body of Christ. When we do this, we set the world on fire. Amen.
Good morning. It is so good to be with you on this day of Pentecost. I’ve missed you over the past month but I’ve kept up with some of the happenings and you’ve always been close to my heart and in my prayers. I wanted to make a joke about how long it’s been by how quickly my hair is growing back but I couldn’t really think of anything witty to say so let’s just jump into this scripture.
Today’s scripture passage around the gifts and the body of Christ offers us a familiar image and calling. But like most scripture, we are blessed with a new hearing each and every time we encounter it. So, on this day where we celebrate the birth of the church, Pentecost, what does God want us to hear with newness?
Well, the passage is pretty straightforward and there isn’t much in the way of controversy in its meaning. The passage is very clear that there is one Spirit, one Christ, and one God and that all gifts, services, and activities flow from the one triune God. God is the breather of life, author, & initiator of all gifts and services. Verse 7 tells us, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Verse 11 says, “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”
All of our gifts and callings, every last one of them, come from God and are activated by the Spirit to work in the body of Christ. When we survey our lives, it can be so easy to pat ourselves on the backs for what we’ve done or achieved. But when we use our intuition or wisdom or compassionate heart, we must know that those things flow from God for the glory of God. Actually, the scripture said specifically they are “for the common good.”
This brings us to another point of this passage that reminders us that there are many different kinds of gifts and callings in the body of Christ. Verses 8 through 10 give us a litany of gifts and fruits of the spirit. But why is it that there are all these amazing gifts from God… compassion, healing, empathy, wisdom, leadership, faith, insight, tongues, hope, prophetic voice, and so many more… yet, we each only get a handful?
Well, most of us struggle to master even one or two of the gifts and callings in our lives let alone a bunch of them. As friends and neighbors, it takes hard work to use our particular gifts… the listening ear, perfect timing for distraction, asking intuitive questions, bravely challenging problems. Whatever our deepest gifts are in our friendships, it takes lots of effort on our part to use them well.
And what about our other relationships and roles like work, family, and even our faith community? Pure and simple, it’s just hard to develop a few of our gifts well and get them on the path God is calling us to. And even more difficult than that, when we do master a few, it becomes especially challenging to stay humble and remember from whom these gifts came.
But there’s more than the obvious “human” limitations going on here. We are not called to be individual gods, possessing all gifts and wholeness of the one God. Scripture says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” The common good... we are called to be joined together for the betterment of all. When we join all our gifts together, we become Christ’s presence in the world… God’s love reaching out.
If we each had all gifts and roamed about as our own mini-gods, we would become increasingly self-centered because we lacked the need to open ourselves to what others can teach and give us. Instead, God wisely gave us each differing gifts in various combinations. That would mean that we could each have some special function but that function is only made whole in the presence of other parts. It is for the common good, the greater good that we have these gifts. And if they are truly made whole by joining together, we will be compelled to reach outside of ourselves.
So what do I mean by this? Take for example the gift of compassion. It is an amazing gift that can produce healing, connection, and fill voids in people’s lives. But how do we have it? Well, a seed of it is planted in us. But to grow that seed, we must water it with the experiences of others. We grow compassion by extending ourselves to others and growing in our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. What about leadership? Leadership is usually a combination of gifts that come together. Some do it through honing their gifts of good planning and charm. Others lead by being able to articulate big visions and ideas. Regardless, the point is that no one ever became a great leader overnight. It was by extending one’s self to others that the experience was gained to develop that gift.
And the church should be a safe proving ground for such gift cultivation. When we volunteer to set up tables, we’re practicing gifts of stewardship and mutual support and we’re deepening relationships. When we participate in worship, we are doing so in a community that is founded upon grace so we don’t have to get it perfect. We just need to be faithful and the gifts will grow. And when there’s a loss or other crisis here, we can respond knowing that we are part of a community where don’t have to fix anything by ourselves because it can only be healed together.
This brings me to the last point I want to share from this passage. Gifts of the spirit are just like the many members of the body of Christ. It indeed does take all the parts to truly fix or heal or change anything for the better. The scripture says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
We are completely and utterly bound together. Not just us inside these walls, but all followers. And as awe inspiring as that can sound, it’s also a tough one to swallow sometimes. Think about it. As people of faith, we have spent a great deal of time, energy, and money fighting with one another. For complicated reasons, we get more riled up with one another than we often do with people of no faith. Christians from other backgrounds, people that use different gifts like speaking in tongues, or even other Presbyterians become the object of our frustration and scorn. We think to ourselves, “how can they believe that?” or “they are just sinners.” We try to cut off parts of the body of Christ.
But verse 3 began by telling us “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” So our utterances of wanting to dismiss or even push away those we don’t understand in the body of Christ do not come from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit calls us together, even when we don’t understand all the parts… even when we can only see one another’s flaws… even when we are tired of listening… even when our beliefs stand in outright conflict with one another.
But we are not called to belief. We are called to faith. Faith that is bound together by the Spirit because we were baptized into one body and drink of one cup. We, all people who have faith in Jesus, are the body of Christ. When we want to dismiss any part of the body, our job is to seek more understanding rather than getting defensive or closing off. When we can’t figure out how someone can call themselves Christian, our calling is to spend time listening. When we’re frustrated with people we don’t understand, a better use of our time would be helping develop our gifts and theirs by working together on what we do agree on… things like poverty and being with the lonely and suffering. When someone tries to cut us off from the body, our calling is to keep living the mission and reaching out.
These acts of reaching out to one another to understand and connect as I said before are the proving grounds for our faith. If we can’t figure out how to work together as a living body of Christ then our witness to the world is also diminished because we’re not working as the whole body. But when we do join together, history shows us over and over again what amazing things can be done. Consider the Civil Rights Movement, the works of the Red Cross, and even close to home think of the amazing ministries of this congregation. Living out our callings together always leads to bigger things than we could have ever done on our own.
Sisters and brothers, This is a huge calling both inside and outside these walls. But lest we get too burdened by this, come back next week and we’ll be talking about our refuge, strength, and nurture inside these walls. But for now, we wear red on Pentecost to symbolize the flames of the Spirit so this quote from St. Catherine of Sienna is fitting. She said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
On this day where we celebrate the birth of the church, our calling is to develop the gifts that are given to us and to work hard to support the gifts of the Spirit given to others. When we do this, we become a full and vibrant living body of Christ. When we do this, we set the world on fire. Amen.
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