Palm Sunday - Who Is This? <–- Audio file of sermon
A sermon based upon Matthew 21:1-11
Good morning and welcome! Holy week is here! We’re emerging from the desert wilderness to see the gifts of Lent come into fullness. And today’s scripture passage brings us into the thick of holy week.
Here we have Jesus about to enter Jerusalem for one of the most holy Jewish holidays, Passover. The story shows him as a calm and centered person but there’s a whole lot of frenzy going on around him. I mean picture the whole scene. Jesus has been teaching, preaching, and building up communities of faith all around Galilee, The Decapolis, Samaria, and Judea. He’s become this well-known traveling minister with a band of faithful friends and followers. They go places, share meals, fellowship, teach, heal, share… and people have responded. Wherever Jesus and his disciples go, people greet him now with recognition and adulation. There’s almost a sort of rock star status. And when a rock star comes to town, there are those who know the star and those who want to know. So, this triumphant passage ends with those who want to know “who is this?”
And I think that’s a great place to start here on Palm Sunday. Who is this? So, let’s take a few minutes to look back at this life that we celebrated coming into being at Christmas and soon will mourn on Good Friday. Who is this? Who is this that could cause such a stir and be treated like near royalty even though he seems to want to humble himself before humanity? Who is this that would make people drop everything and follow him?
Well, his name is Jesus. He was born in a very humble way. His family wasn’t homeless but they were between places without much means. And there were probably a lot of rumors going around about his family. Mary, his mother claimed the baby was God’s since she wasn’t married and Joseph, her soon husband stood at her side. Even in the most religious of families and communities, this is a story that would raise doubt.
But they went on anyway. And for those who did listen to God, Jesus’ birth was a cause for celebration. Also, I suspect that for a child raised by such parents, their model of faithfulness to God was a remarkable example for Jesus and their other children. But there were those for whom Jesus’ birth was a cause for fear. You see, even from birth, people in power, political power, feared Jesus. But others loved him.
By all accounts, Jesus was a very likable child, well-schooled in the Jewish faith and a great lover of God. Once when he went missing, his family found him studying in the temple with great learned people. We don’t know much about his youth and early adulthood but we can tell from the types of people mentioned that he was close to his brother James and his cousin John the Baptist. It seems that over and over whenever something big was happening, his loved ones were nearby and I think that says a lot about him. Having our loved ones near in our big moments always makes the occasion richer.
But this man was more than a well-liked guy in his community. As we talked about back on Ash Wednesday, we don’t know why Jesus decided to leave everything to start a ministry at age 30. In his time, that would have been well into midlife. But he did and that’s where we really start learning a lot about this man and what’s important to him… and important to God.
This is someone who ate meals and spent truly meaningful time with everyone from crooked politicians to widows without means. He reached out to the most oppressed of the oppressed. And he taught about how we should truly care about what happens to the people without someone to care for them… that we should be those people.
Jesus healed the sick and even resurrected the dead. He spoke of God’s love and of a world where God’s reign was clear. He challenged the status quo in the temple and on the streets. Jesus was pro-peace, pro-care for the oppressed, pro-justice, and pro-God. He proclaimed God as the only true ruler in the face of those who claimed Caesar as the only ruler of the world. He was an all-around rebel in many ways but people didn’t avoid him like a trouble maker. No… they flocked to him.
He reached out to people and struck at the heart of what they needed. A woman at the well who was shunned by her community was shown a way to healing and wholeness. A man overtaken by demons and mental anguish was released from his bondage and sent to share the good news. A group of children came to see this man named Jesus and he welcomed them unlike any adult had ever welcomed children before. A man seeking the kingdom of God was told how to get there if only he would let go of his earthly treasures.
Over and over again, Jesus shared a message of God’s love, love found in caring for one another, and the power of joining together as a people. He was secretive about proclaiming himself the son of God because he wanted the message of God to be clearer than the message of a man.
But he was actually more than a man. And those who watched closely knew it. He was Emmanuel, God with us. And as he continued to share and teach, God’s love shined so brightly through him that he really couldn’t hide it anymore.
That’s where we find ourselves in the Palm Sunday gospel passage. This is not a rock star of fleeting fame. This is God incarnate come to show us what we needed and to offer us a glimpse of a love so full that it transformed life after life after life.
You know, no matter how literally or symbolically we take the bible. No matter how we describe what is important about Jesus. No matter if we focus more on his death or his resurrection or his miracles or his birth… there is something remarkable and amazing about someone who can teach us something wonderful at every stage of his life.
And we’re talking about a full and abundant life here. One so full of purpose, guidance, meaning, and love that people knew it. They wanted to get close. They wanted to treat him with respect. They threw down their cloaks for him. They paved a way with palms. They heralded his presence to those ahead. And they took in everything he did and said.
You see, when we meet someone with infectious love, love so abundant that it streams from them, we just want to be a part of it. We want that glow that seems to come from inside of them for ourselves too. We try to get close and mimic or absorb some of this amazing goodness. It’s not empty adulation. We want it too.
And that’s what’s going on here. People are not just flocking because Jesus is famous. No, when I close my eyes and try to envision this scene, I see Jesus focused and calm and absolutely beaming with the love of God. I think I might have done anything to get close to him. I’d have thrown down my cloak or given up my donkey and cloak. I’d have done anything to get close to that kind of love.
Who is this? This is truly God with us, pouring out love and healing… and we’re on holy ground.
So, why did I just go through a retrospective on Jesus’ life? Well, we’re here at Holy Week. This week all that he said, all those lives transformed, all that love cultivated will fade into the background. We’ll hang onto it through most of Maundy Thursday but then we’ll get caught up in a betrayal and arrest. Then on Good Friday, we’ll be horrified by the atrocities humans can inflict on one another, even upon God. And by Easter Sunday, we’ll be in unspeakable awe at our resurrected Lord and completely caught up in all the glory.
And all that is appropriate but here we are right now gazing upon a man who if you ask me, has a life that is in some ways more miraculous than his death and resurrection. We have in Jesus the total package of a model and mentor, healer and transformer, a bearer of salvation in more ways than one. His birth and his death are always marked as miraculous but his life was nothing short of amazing.
So, when we gaze upon this man today, I find myself asking what our lives would look like if we dared break down our walls of fear. What would our lives both individually and as a church look like if we focused on releasing ourselves and others from the bondage of greed, shame, and sorrow? If we cared more about tending to the poor and the oppressed than keeping up with the Jones, what harvest would we reap? If we sought to cultivate love in our hearts and in others with the passion of Christ, what would the world look like?
Sisters and brothers, we are walking toward the horror of Good Friday and the glory of Easter but for now, we are gazing upon a remarkable life. It’s a life of calling and fullness and it’s a life that doesn’t end just because we get to Easter. Our calling is to live as the body of Christ. It’s a calling for us here and now and always.
As we seek to know what this life means for us, I leave us with the words of St. Teresa of Avila:
Christ has no body but yours,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
AMEN
Showing posts with label opressed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opressed. Show all posts
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Great Ordeal of Salvation
Sermon based upon Revelation 7:9-17 <- Audio file of sermon.
A ministerial mentor of mine, Diana Butler Bass, wrote that in 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, her husband’s family went to their Presbyterian church the next morning. “They went with heavy hearts, expecting the pastor to help make sense of the tragedy. The minister rose to preach. The congregation held its breath. But he said nothing of the events in Memphis. He preached as if nothing had happened. [Her] husband’s family left church that day disappointed; eventually, they left that church altogether.”
I share that story because yesterday 6 people were murdered and another 12 were injured when a young man opened fire at a grocery store in Arizona. The apparent targets were attendees of a community political event hosted by US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. This event has and will continue to receive a great deal of media attention.
The reason these killings capture so much of our attention compared to the murder of an Oklahoma high school principle 4 days ago is because they are mixed with our fear of social unrest, the intrigue of assassination, and the sensationalism that so typically marks our culture’s appetite for drama. But the even deeper reason it captures the attention of many of us today is that we feel powerless to do anything about it and hopeless that it will ever get better.
We turned on our TV’s, hopped on the internet, or talked to someone on the phone only to find out that something horrifying happened. Quickly without even realizing it, we were drawn into the short on facts, high on assumptions reporting, including the early report that Rep. Giffords was dead. Liberal talking heads quickly pointed to violent rhetoric from republicans as the cause. Conservative media talked about progressive policies and the fall of individual morality as a root cause. And somewhere in the middle were real people, politicians or otherwise, that were scared for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones and friends.
As I took this in, started to realize that how we experience powerlessness and hopelessness has everything to do with how we respond. I also realized that for all the fear that swirls in our culture, many media outlets and politicians use it against people or at minimum are just putting a Band-Aid on the fear. At their best politicians try to fix it with policies, reporters seek to ease our minds with education, and social groups attempt to give us a vehicle for action. But here we are, real people, in the middle of all this with held together with quick fixes rather than real solutions.
Diana Butler Bass’s family came to church looking for answers in 1968 just as many of us do today. It is the job of church to offer real solutions, solutions that heal our weary souls, bring transforming light to our fears, and fill us with true meaning and purpose so that we are no longer powerless. As we move forward this morning and in all the days to come, let us be that church. The answers are not in what I proclaim but in what we claim together. Our path is not in our perfection but in our earnestness to live out our individual and collective roles in the body of Christ. We are the church, entrusted with offering authentic solutions. It is with that charge that last week we looked at a text from Matthew and suggested that sometimes we are called ahead to pave the way for those who will come after us. As we continue to dive into some biblical texts from the apocalyptic genera, I think this week’s passage also speaks to that healing, transformation, and purpose that provides genuine solutions in our lives.
Our second scripture reading for the day was from the book of Revelation. I think most Christians, including ministers, have a hard time figuring out what to make of this book. What does it signify? How is it applied to today? I mean, most biblical stories have multiple meanings, but we have a hard time just figuring out where to start with Revelation.
But it’s really not that hard. You see, apocalyptic writings are written not to offer crystal ball prophesy into the future but to jar us out of our typical thinking here and now. They are supposed to startle us so that we will let go of an old way of viewing and doing and move forward with a new vision. When we read from the book of Revelation, we are taking in visions and symbols that spoke to the writer’s life in practical ways just as it also does today. But we have to be willing to let it rattle us a little before we can see it’s meaning.
First, let me give you a little background about this passage. You see John of Patmos is sharing his visions of people coming before God and Christ. Just before this passage, he heard the numbers of the 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel, who were sealed with God. So this story comes directly after that. We are basically breaking into John’s vision at mid point when this passage begins. So let's look and see what the story tells us.
John said he saw a great multitude so much that people couldn't count them so these aren’t the well-defined 144,000 from the previous passage that are sealed with God. They were from every nation, all types of people, and they spoke many different languages. They were standing in front of the throne before Christ. They were robed in white and they had Palm branches in their hands. They sang praises to Christ in gratitude for their salvation. And at this point, an Elder said to John, “who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” John said, “You are the one that knows.” Then the Elder replied “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship the Holy One day and night within God’s temple, and the One who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Every time I read this, it always strikes me that the Elder had a pretty detailed reply for man who, at first, didn't admit that he knew who these people were. maybe he didn't want to recognize them like the way we sometimes don't want to claim we know the homeless or the abused. But he tells us a lot. First of all, he told us that they it been through great ordeal. So, what is this great ordeal? Well, with what the Elder said, we can know that these people suffered a lot because he says that they won't be denied basic needs anymore. That they will not go hungry and not be without shelter, because they will be with the shepherd, the Christ.
So what do we make of this passage? What is this great ordeal? And what does it mean to us today? Well, let me share a few of the features that stand out to me about this passage. Many scholars point to the fact that these are not the protected ones, sealed by God. Some suggest that this countless multitude are the “sheep of another fold” referred to by the Gospel of John. I don’t know. But what I do know is that arguing about who they might be misses who they are for sure.
From all that this passage says, it seems to me that these people are the ones of subjugation and oppression in the world. These are people who have been denied and deprived… abused and ignored. These are people that our governments, our societies, and our communities have forgotten or chosen to ignore. They are the homeless… They are the poor… They are the racial ethnic minority… They are the refugee… They are the mentally ill… They are the ones suffering with AIDS… They are the battered… they are the violated… They are the ones without voices… The ones without hope. But here they are singing praises and being healed.
So, one of the important meanings of this passage is that hope is available to the downtrodden. Hope that Christ, the Shepard will care for them. Christ does not want them to suffer. Christ desperately wants them to experience victory over oppression. I use the term victory because they were waving palm branches. And palm branches are always a symbol of victory and triumph over evil in the bible. These people of long suffering had finally prevailed. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. meant in his closing words of a speech the night before he was killed. He said,
But you know, I have to admit that asking the homeless and the hungry to wait for the hereafter in order to be liberated seems unfair. So I am reminded that we are called to be the body of Christ in the world. This passage can be seen as a call for us to step forward and help the widow and the orphan, the marginalized and oppressed to find victory. Maybe this is passage should serve as proof that Christ does not want humanity to suffer. Our response to that call should be to help in the work by truly being the body of Christ and living out our calls… living out God’s vision of victory over sin and death.
But let's go one step further. There are more ways to hunger and go without shelter than just physical ones. There are those who starve for love, acceptance, and invitation to the table. There are those that have endured great struggles in this world without the shelter of community, without the shelter of church, or without the shelter of the Christian family. You see I think this passage is also talking about the human struggle. The struggle to find nourishment and sustenance in the faith.
John was seeing all people who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is a long suffering struggle to find what we need in this broken world. We are called to live in community with one another as the body of Christ. When we are sick, lonely, or tired we struggle to find hope for something better… hope for salvation. But hope is in Christ and the promise to relieve us of our struggle and bring us to victory. Hope is also in those around us who embody Christ in this world and help us through the struggles. Salvation is truly a great ordeal. Not because of Christ; Christ’s work holds all grace and sufficiency. The great ordeal is because of our brokenness.
This is where we find ourselves today. An apparently mentally ill young man did something horrific yesterday. Several bomb like devices have been sent to politician’s offices around Washington this past week. Some politicians are urging us to not “retreat” but to “reload.” Drug violence in Mexico continues to escalate. And even close to home, domestic violence and poverty in Lake County are on the rise. Where’s the hope in such overwhelming facts?
Friends, we find hope in Christ and find hope in those around us who help us through struggle. We then turn around offer that hope to others because we are the body of Christ. In spite of all that is “wrong” around and within us, a lot more goes right even if we don’t see it. Who knows how many shootings have been prevented because a concerned neighbor or family member reached out to someone with an emerging mental illness to provide shelter and support? How many crimes of desperation have been avoided because of food pantries and resale shops like the ones at First Pres? Can we even begin to count the number of children who are touched by youth events at this church and others? How many people have lived to find a better way than abuse because of a friend reaching to them? And who might we each have become but for way we’ve been touched by the body of Christ? We can look far and we can look near. There are countless multitudes who have tasted Christ’s salvation because of the way we reach out. We, in this room, are even among those multitudes whose lives have been transformed by hope in Christ.
Sisters and brothers, let us grieve for those who suffer. Let us shed tears of sorrow for lives that will not be. But let us also hold tightly to our hope in Christ… hope that we’ve tasted through our own needs and experiences, hope that others need too. When the message of the world is fear and fight, let us be and offer a true solution of relationship, connection, and love. Amen.
A ministerial mentor of mine, Diana Butler Bass, wrote that in 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, her husband’s family went to their Presbyterian church the next morning. “They went with heavy hearts, expecting the pastor to help make sense of the tragedy. The minister rose to preach. The congregation held its breath. But he said nothing of the events in Memphis. He preached as if nothing had happened. [Her] husband’s family left church that day disappointed; eventually, they left that church altogether.”
I share that story because yesterday 6 people were murdered and another 12 were injured when a young man opened fire at a grocery store in Arizona. The apparent targets were attendees of a community political event hosted by US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. This event has and will continue to receive a great deal of media attention.
The reason these killings capture so much of our attention compared to the murder of an Oklahoma high school principle 4 days ago is because they are mixed with our fear of social unrest, the intrigue of assassination, and the sensationalism that so typically marks our culture’s appetite for drama. But the even deeper reason it captures the attention of many of us today is that we feel powerless to do anything about it and hopeless that it will ever get better.
We turned on our TV’s, hopped on the internet, or talked to someone on the phone only to find out that something horrifying happened. Quickly without even realizing it, we were drawn into the short on facts, high on assumptions reporting, including the early report that Rep. Giffords was dead. Liberal talking heads quickly pointed to violent rhetoric from republicans as the cause. Conservative media talked about progressive policies and the fall of individual morality as a root cause. And somewhere in the middle were real people, politicians or otherwise, that were scared for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones and friends.
As I took this in, started to realize that how we experience powerlessness and hopelessness has everything to do with how we respond. I also realized that for all the fear that swirls in our culture, many media outlets and politicians use it against people or at minimum are just putting a Band-Aid on the fear. At their best politicians try to fix it with policies, reporters seek to ease our minds with education, and social groups attempt to give us a vehicle for action. But here we are, real people, in the middle of all this with held together with quick fixes rather than real solutions.
Diana Butler Bass’s family came to church looking for answers in 1968 just as many of us do today. It is the job of church to offer real solutions, solutions that heal our weary souls, bring transforming light to our fears, and fill us with true meaning and purpose so that we are no longer powerless. As we move forward this morning and in all the days to come, let us be that church. The answers are not in what I proclaim but in what we claim together. Our path is not in our perfection but in our earnestness to live out our individual and collective roles in the body of Christ. We are the church, entrusted with offering authentic solutions. It is with that charge that last week we looked at a text from Matthew and suggested that sometimes we are called ahead to pave the way for those who will come after us. As we continue to dive into some biblical texts from the apocalyptic genera, I think this week’s passage also speaks to that healing, transformation, and purpose that provides genuine solutions in our lives.
Our second scripture reading for the day was from the book of Revelation. I think most Christians, including ministers, have a hard time figuring out what to make of this book. What does it signify? How is it applied to today? I mean, most biblical stories have multiple meanings, but we have a hard time just figuring out where to start with Revelation.
But it’s really not that hard. You see, apocalyptic writings are written not to offer crystal ball prophesy into the future but to jar us out of our typical thinking here and now. They are supposed to startle us so that we will let go of an old way of viewing and doing and move forward with a new vision. When we read from the book of Revelation, we are taking in visions and symbols that spoke to the writer’s life in practical ways just as it also does today. But we have to be willing to let it rattle us a little before we can see it’s meaning.
First, let me give you a little background about this passage. You see John of Patmos is sharing his visions of people coming before God and Christ. Just before this passage, he heard the numbers of the 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel, who were sealed with God. So this story comes directly after that. We are basically breaking into John’s vision at mid point when this passage begins. So let's look and see what the story tells us.
John said he saw a great multitude so much that people couldn't count them so these aren’t the well-defined 144,000 from the previous passage that are sealed with God. They were from every nation, all types of people, and they spoke many different languages. They were standing in front of the throne before Christ. They were robed in white and they had Palm branches in their hands. They sang praises to Christ in gratitude for their salvation. And at this point, an Elder said to John, “who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” John said, “You are the one that knows.” Then the Elder replied “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship the Holy One day and night within God’s temple, and the One who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Every time I read this, it always strikes me that the Elder had a pretty detailed reply for man who, at first, didn't admit that he knew who these people were. maybe he didn't want to recognize them like the way we sometimes don't want to claim we know the homeless or the abused. But he tells us a lot. First of all, he told us that they it been through great ordeal. So, what is this great ordeal? Well, with what the Elder said, we can know that these people suffered a lot because he says that they won't be denied basic needs anymore. That they will not go hungry and not be without shelter, because they will be with the shepherd, the Christ.
So what do we make of this passage? What is this great ordeal? And what does it mean to us today? Well, let me share a few of the features that stand out to me about this passage. Many scholars point to the fact that these are not the protected ones, sealed by God. Some suggest that this countless multitude are the “sheep of another fold” referred to by the Gospel of John. I don’t know. But what I do know is that arguing about who they might be misses who they are for sure.
From all that this passage says, it seems to me that these people are the ones of subjugation and oppression in the world. These are people who have been denied and deprived… abused and ignored. These are people that our governments, our societies, and our communities have forgotten or chosen to ignore. They are the homeless… They are the poor… They are the racial ethnic minority… They are the refugee… They are the mentally ill… They are the ones suffering with AIDS… They are the battered… they are the violated… They are the ones without voices… The ones without hope. But here they are singing praises and being healed.
So, one of the important meanings of this passage is that hope is available to the downtrodden. Hope that Christ, the Shepard will care for them. Christ does not want them to suffer. Christ desperately wants them to experience victory over oppression. I use the term victory because they were waving palm branches. And palm branches are always a symbol of victory and triumph over evil in the bible. These people of long suffering had finally prevailed. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. meant in his closing words of a speech the night before he was killed. He said,
Those are powerful words from a prophet that would be murdered the very next day. But he knew hope. He had glimpsed it in the vision of God for God’s good creation.
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
But you know, I have to admit that asking the homeless and the hungry to wait for the hereafter in order to be liberated seems unfair. So I am reminded that we are called to be the body of Christ in the world. This passage can be seen as a call for us to step forward and help the widow and the orphan, the marginalized and oppressed to find victory. Maybe this is passage should serve as proof that Christ does not want humanity to suffer. Our response to that call should be to help in the work by truly being the body of Christ and living out our calls… living out God’s vision of victory over sin and death.
But let's go one step further. There are more ways to hunger and go without shelter than just physical ones. There are those who starve for love, acceptance, and invitation to the table. There are those that have endured great struggles in this world without the shelter of community, without the shelter of church, or without the shelter of the Christian family. You see I think this passage is also talking about the human struggle. The struggle to find nourishment and sustenance in the faith.
John was seeing all people who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is a long suffering struggle to find what we need in this broken world. We are called to live in community with one another as the body of Christ. When we are sick, lonely, or tired we struggle to find hope for something better… hope for salvation. But hope is in Christ and the promise to relieve us of our struggle and bring us to victory. Hope is also in those around us who embody Christ in this world and help us through the struggles. Salvation is truly a great ordeal. Not because of Christ; Christ’s work holds all grace and sufficiency. The great ordeal is because of our brokenness.
This is where we find ourselves today. An apparently mentally ill young man did something horrific yesterday. Several bomb like devices have been sent to politician’s offices around Washington this past week. Some politicians are urging us to not “retreat” but to “reload.” Drug violence in Mexico continues to escalate. And even close to home, domestic violence and poverty in Lake County are on the rise. Where’s the hope in such overwhelming facts?
Friends, we find hope in Christ and find hope in those around us who help us through struggle. We then turn around offer that hope to others because we are the body of Christ. In spite of all that is “wrong” around and within us, a lot more goes right even if we don’t see it. Who knows how many shootings have been prevented because a concerned neighbor or family member reached out to someone with an emerging mental illness to provide shelter and support? How many crimes of desperation have been avoided because of food pantries and resale shops like the ones at First Pres? Can we even begin to count the number of children who are touched by youth events at this church and others? How many people have lived to find a better way than abuse because of a friend reaching to them? And who might we each have become but for way we’ve been touched by the body of Christ? We can look far and we can look near. There are countless multitudes who have tasted Christ’s salvation because of the way we reach out. We, in this room, are even among those multitudes whose lives have been transformed by hope in Christ.
Sisters and brothers, let us grieve for those who suffer. Let us shed tears of sorrow for lives that will not be. But let us also hold tightly to our hope in Christ… hope that we’ve tasted through our own needs and experiences, hope that others need too. When the message of the world is fear and fight, let us be and offer a true solution of relationship, connection, and love. Amen.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
For Faith's Sake
For Faith's Sake <-- Audio File - Sermon based upon Luke 18:1-8
Good morning. If you haven’t noticed, today is Children’s Sabbath. Children’s Sabbaths is celebrated throughout the world and throughout many faith traditions, not just Christianity. It is a special day to pause and appreciate the amazing gift of children… the ones in our midst and afar. It is also a time to bring awareness to the plight of children because they are among the most vulnerable in our world. Vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Vulnerable to the effects of poverty and marginalization. And vulnerable to be forgotten and ignored in public policy and politics. Finally, Children’s Sabbath is a day to call us to advocacy. And what that advocacy might look like, we’ll talk about later.
So, for now let’s dig into this Gospel text which is a true gem for such a day as this. You see, this parable is a bit interesting because first of all Jesus shares with us it’s intended meaning. Right out of the starting gate he says this passage is about the need to pray always and not to lose heart. What’s also interesting is that we hear from the bad guy’s inner voice. The unjust judge says of himself in this passage that “I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone.” And yet, in the end, he does what is right and just for the widow. And then Jesus ends the whole thing by turning it around on us to find out if we will persist by asking, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
You see I think this passage has a lot to offer us and I could probably preach a different sermon from this text for weeks and weeks to come but we have to limit the scope through the question, “What is it that God wants us to hear today?” I think the message to us today is that for our faith’s sake, God calls us to persist in seeking justice. Let me say it again. For our faith’s sake, God calls us to persist in seeking justice.
Now you may ask how I got that seemingly simple statement from a parable about untiring prayer. Well, let’s dig into what the bible has to say to us. The first hurdle we need to make is to understand that prayer is far more than quiet meditation or private time with God. Deuteronomy, Matthew, Luke and many other scripture texts tells us are called to be a living prayer and 1 Thessalonians and Ephesians tell us to do so without ceasing. Mother Teresa said, “Prayer in action is love, love in action is service.” Dean Inge said, “Action is the normal completion of the act of will which begins as prayer.” From outside our tradition, Mahatma Gandhi said, “Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.” You see, prayer and action always go hand in hand. Our actions are prayers. So a parable about faithful prayer is also about faithful action in the Christian life.
For our faith’s sake, God calls us to persist in seeking justice. Well, we’re definitely called to living prayers of action but what’s this thing of justice? The message of God’s justice is woven throughout the bible and maybe most famously stated in Micah 6:8 which reads, “what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” So this passage stands as one among many rather than a rare mention of justice. And just like we hear the inner thoughts of the unjust judge, we also hear Jesus’ clear reference to God and justice in this passage. So, our calling to work in justice is clear and clearly linked to our faith. But what does it look like?
This is where I think the passage has a lot to say to us on Children’s Sabbath. When considering the plight of children in poverty and suffering from the effects of poverty, the statistics are staggering. In looking at the global numbers we see:
So again I ask, what does justice look like? I mean, Repeatedly it has been shown that effects of poverty and inadequate healthcare hit children the hardest and have the longest legacy. So, what is justice? Well ultimate justice is a world where all those statistics are gone and all that’s left is the joy of looking into the eyes of children, all children, and seeing pure hope. A world where no child goes to bed hungry. A world where no child is bullied or teased for any reason. A world where how much money a family has does not limit the opportunities of a child. A world where children laugh and play without fear of returning to an abusive home. A world where the weeping for the joy of children is louder than the weeping of grieving mothers and families. A world where we’ve participated in making all that happen.
Now I don’t know about you but that vision brings tears to my eyes. And I’d like to tell you such a world will happen in our lifetime but it probably will not. The reality is that children are thousands of times better off than they were 100 years ago because of the advancement of medicine. And better off than they were a few hundred years ago because they are no longer view as property but rather as people under the law. So we’ve made significant progress in protecting children and we’ll continue that… because that is what we are called to. This scripture passage calls us, just like the persistent widow, to persist in prayer and justice work regardless of how just or unjust the system is because it is our faith filled response to God. It is the right thing to do. The widow persisted and justice was restored. But even if the wrongs being inflicted on her had continued, she would have persisted because it was the right thing to do.
Now this is a good time to address one of the toughest parts of this parable. Verses 7 and 8 read, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” Now, to a child being picked on or suffering from a preventable disease, this verse must make them say, “When? I’m suffering now and where’s the justice?” When we look at the reality around us these verses make us pause and question if Jesus is really telling us the truth.
First of all, let’s be clear, all injustice is an abomination to God because it seeks to break down God’s good creation. But how is God restoring justice? What we need to recognize in this passage is something that is lost in translation from the original Greek text, the difference between chronos and kairos, calendar time and God’s time.
You know that old saying there’s our time and there’s God’s time? Well there really is. See, chronos which is calendar time or clock time is about how long it took for me to get from the start of this sermon to the end of it or my speed from here to the coffee. Kairos is about the “rightness” of the moment. It’s about being in a moment where there’s no doubt or hesitation or unwillingness. And it’s also God’s relationship to us in our moments. God is the “rightness” in the moment.
You see when we look at this parable, we are told that God will “quickly” grant justice. The word we translate as quickly and the words around it are not talking about speed or chronos. The words used are talking about assuredness and lack of hesitation or kairos. God will quickly grant justice because God has not hesitated in proclaiming injustice. God will quickly grant justice because we don’t need to wonder if God wants us to advocate for the poor and oppressed because God has already on their side and has been sitting at the side of the poor and suffering as a comforter for a long time. I don’t know what date and time is when we’ll live in a world without suffering children but I can assure you that we don’t have to convince God that there’s injustice or beg of God to hear because God is already her in the midst of it! God is on the side of the oppressed and suffering EVERY TIME.
God has been working through the parents, advocates, and all those who heed the call of love throughout all time and all creation. God has been comforting the afflicted through the work of our hands, the compassion in our eyes, and love and passion in our voices for a long time. We ask “How long O Lord how long will the children suffer?” and God has answered until the work is done. We ask “How long O Lord how long will the children suffer?” and again God answers until the work is done. But rest assured those who are suffering always have an advocate and a comforter in God. The question to us, is how hard will we work to make sure those suffering experience that advocacy and comfort?
So, what advocacy can we do to make a difference? Advocacy can take on lots of different forms. Whether it’s being the regular neighborhood front porch where all kids know they can come to talk or donating money to an after school program, it’s still saying that children matter. We can be involved in letter writing campaigns or public advocacy about policies that support children. That work is much like the widow and the unjust judge. If we persist, sometimes even unjust politicians relent and do the right thing even for the wrong reasons. There are all kinds of programs to be involved in and all kinds of relationships we have with children in which we can be their comforter and their advocate.
Even if you don’t realize it, this congregation is already doing lots of good things for kids. These children and youth would not be participating in the service were it not for your faithful witness. Portions of the offering go into programs that make a difference in children’s lives. And all of us have made a difference in some child’s life whether we’re 9 or 90. We have been, are, and continue to be God’s hands at work in the world.
You know, I entitled this sermon “For Faith’s Sake” on Monday last week but yesterday I was at the association meeting which is the United Church of Christ’s equivalent to Presbytery meeting. While I was there, I found this bumper sticker, “For God’s sake, do something.” I think that would have been a better title for this sermon. For God’s sake, do something. For God’s good creation’s sake, do something.
Our call is to continue the work of advocacy and comforting, faithfully and persistently. Our call is to seek more ways and new creative methods for doing that work. When you leave here what more can you do? What child will be touched by your time, love, resources, and most importantly by our faithfulness?
Amen
Good morning. If you haven’t noticed, today is Children’s Sabbath. Children’s Sabbaths is celebrated throughout the world and throughout many faith traditions, not just Christianity. It is a special day to pause and appreciate the amazing gift of children… the ones in our midst and afar. It is also a time to bring awareness to the plight of children because they are among the most vulnerable in our world. Vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Vulnerable to the effects of poverty and marginalization. And vulnerable to be forgotten and ignored in public policy and politics. Finally, Children’s Sabbath is a day to call us to advocacy. And what that advocacy might look like, we’ll talk about later.
So, for now let’s dig into this Gospel text which is a true gem for such a day as this. You see, this parable is a bit interesting because first of all Jesus shares with us it’s intended meaning. Right out of the starting gate he says this passage is about the need to pray always and not to lose heart. What’s also interesting is that we hear from the bad guy’s inner voice. The unjust judge says of himself in this passage that “I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone.” And yet, in the end, he does what is right and just for the widow. And then Jesus ends the whole thing by turning it around on us to find out if we will persist by asking, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
You see I think this passage has a lot to offer us and I could probably preach a different sermon from this text for weeks and weeks to come but we have to limit the scope through the question, “What is it that God wants us to hear today?” I think the message to us today is that for our faith’s sake, God calls us to persist in seeking justice. Let me say it again. For our faith’s sake, God calls us to persist in seeking justice.
Now you may ask how I got that seemingly simple statement from a parable about untiring prayer. Well, let’s dig into what the bible has to say to us. The first hurdle we need to make is to understand that prayer is far more than quiet meditation or private time with God. Deuteronomy, Matthew, Luke and many other scripture texts tells us are called to be a living prayer and 1 Thessalonians and Ephesians tell us to do so without ceasing. Mother Teresa said, “Prayer in action is love, love in action is service.” Dean Inge said, “Action is the normal completion of the act of will which begins as prayer.” From outside our tradition, Mahatma Gandhi said, “Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.” You see, prayer and action always go hand in hand. Our actions are prayers. So a parable about faithful prayer is also about faithful action in the Christian life.
For our faith’s sake, God calls us to persist in seeking justice. Well, we’re definitely called to living prayers of action but what’s this thing of justice? The message of God’s justice is woven throughout the bible and maybe most famously stated in Micah 6:8 which reads, “what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” So this passage stands as one among many rather than a rare mention of justice. And just like we hear the inner thoughts of the unjust judge, we also hear Jesus’ clear reference to God and justice in this passage. So, our calling to work in justice is clear and clearly linked to our faith. But what does it look like?
This is where I think the passage has a lot to say to us on Children’s Sabbath. When considering the plight of children in poverty and suffering from the effects of poverty, the statistics are staggering. In looking at the global numbers we see:
- There are 2.2 billion children in the world and 1 billion of them live in poverty.
- 10.6 million children die each year before they reached the age of 5
- Over 11 million children die each year from preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.
- 121 million children are not in any sort of formal education whereby they may better their condition. They are only living lives of survival.
And let’s look closer to home. In the United States:
- Every 18 minutes a baby dies before his or her first birthday.
- Every 45 minutes a child or teen dies from an accident.
- Every 5 hours a child or teen commits suicide.
- Every 6 hours a child is killed by abuse or neglect.
So again I ask, what does justice look like? I mean, Repeatedly it has been shown that effects of poverty and inadequate healthcare hit children the hardest and have the longest legacy. So, what is justice? Well ultimate justice is a world where all those statistics are gone and all that’s left is the joy of looking into the eyes of children, all children, and seeing pure hope. A world where no child goes to bed hungry. A world where no child is bullied or teased for any reason. A world where how much money a family has does not limit the opportunities of a child. A world where children laugh and play without fear of returning to an abusive home. A world where the weeping for the joy of children is louder than the weeping of grieving mothers and families. A world where we’ve participated in making all that happen.
Now I don’t know about you but that vision brings tears to my eyes. And I’d like to tell you such a world will happen in our lifetime but it probably will not. The reality is that children are thousands of times better off than they were 100 years ago because of the advancement of medicine. And better off than they were a few hundred years ago because they are no longer view as property but rather as people under the law. So we’ve made significant progress in protecting children and we’ll continue that… because that is what we are called to. This scripture passage calls us, just like the persistent widow, to persist in prayer and justice work regardless of how just or unjust the system is because it is our faith filled response to God. It is the right thing to do. The widow persisted and justice was restored. But even if the wrongs being inflicted on her had continued, she would have persisted because it was the right thing to do.
Now this is a good time to address one of the toughest parts of this parable. Verses 7 and 8 read, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” Now, to a child being picked on or suffering from a preventable disease, this verse must make them say, “When? I’m suffering now and where’s the justice?” When we look at the reality around us these verses make us pause and question if Jesus is really telling us the truth.
First of all, let’s be clear, all injustice is an abomination to God because it seeks to break down God’s good creation. But how is God restoring justice? What we need to recognize in this passage is something that is lost in translation from the original Greek text, the difference between chronos and kairos, calendar time and God’s time.
You know that old saying there’s our time and there’s God’s time? Well there really is. See, chronos which is calendar time or clock time is about how long it took for me to get from the start of this sermon to the end of it or my speed from here to the coffee. Kairos is about the “rightness” of the moment. It’s about being in a moment where there’s no doubt or hesitation or unwillingness. And it’s also God’s relationship to us in our moments. God is the “rightness” in the moment.
You see when we look at this parable, we are told that God will “quickly” grant justice. The word we translate as quickly and the words around it are not talking about speed or chronos. The words used are talking about assuredness and lack of hesitation or kairos. God will quickly grant justice because God has not hesitated in proclaiming injustice. God will quickly grant justice because we don’t need to wonder if God wants us to advocate for the poor and oppressed because God has already on their side and has been sitting at the side of the poor and suffering as a comforter for a long time. I don’t know what date and time is when we’ll live in a world without suffering children but I can assure you that we don’t have to convince God that there’s injustice or beg of God to hear because God is already her in the midst of it! God is on the side of the oppressed and suffering EVERY TIME.
God has been working through the parents, advocates, and all those who heed the call of love throughout all time and all creation. God has been comforting the afflicted through the work of our hands, the compassion in our eyes, and love and passion in our voices for a long time. We ask “How long O Lord how long will the children suffer?” and God has answered until the work is done. We ask “How long O Lord how long will the children suffer?” and again God answers until the work is done. But rest assured those who are suffering always have an advocate and a comforter in God. The question to us, is how hard will we work to make sure those suffering experience that advocacy and comfort?
So, what advocacy can we do to make a difference? Advocacy can take on lots of different forms. Whether it’s being the regular neighborhood front porch where all kids know they can come to talk or donating money to an after school program, it’s still saying that children matter. We can be involved in letter writing campaigns or public advocacy about policies that support children. That work is much like the widow and the unjust judge. If we persist, sometimes even unjust politicians relent and do the right thing even for the wrong reasons. There are all kinds of programs to be involved in and all kinds of relationships we have with children in which we can be their comforter and their advocate.
Even if you don’t realize it, this congregation is already doing lots of good things for kids. These children and youth would not be participating in the service were it not for your faithful witness. Portions of the offering go into programs that make a difference in children’s lives. And all of us have made a difference in some child’s life whether we’re 9 or 90. We have been, are, and continue to be God’s hands at work in the world.
You know, I entitled this sermon “For Faith’s Sake” on Monday last week but yesterday I was at the association meeting which is the United Church of Christ’s equivalent to Presbytery meeting. While I was there, I found this bumper sticker, “For God’s sake, do something.” I think that would have been a better title for this sermon. For God’s sake, do something. For God’s good creation’s sake, do something.
Our call is to continue the work of advocacy and comforting, faithfully and persistently. Our call is to seek more ways and new creative methods for doing that work. When you leave here what more can you do? What child will be touched by your time, love, resources, and most importantly by our faithfulness?
Amen
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