God’s Children Love Boldly!

         When we read the letters of John, or the Gospel of John for that matter
—there is a different tenor to it—a different accent, 
when compared to the rest of the New Testament.

         John’s Letters return again and again to a theme, 
circling around the point again and again like a merry-go-round
—it’s a dizzying thing, like a tilt-a-whirl, 
returning again and again to a few key points. 
Like a cat or dog circling around and around their bed, 
until they find a comfy position upon which to rest.

         And, when you untangle 1^st John chapter three’s winding words, 
you find a very important, and very basic, message: 
God’s Children, Love, Boldly!

         

Prayer

         God’s Children Love Boldly.

 

         God’s Children Love Boldly. 
We are God’s Children!

         Ours is not a God far off! 
God is not unsympathetic to our being, or unaware of our doings. No!

Nothing can separate us from God!

God is closer to us than breathe, or heartbeat, or the hairs on our head.

         Jesus Christ is the invisible God made visible
—we don’t need to speculate or make up a god of our own minds, 
there he is in the flesh! 
The Word made Flesh, the Logos in the flesh, 
the Blueprint of Creation before us
—wow! He’s our Brother!
Do you not know, 
the Resurrected Lord is seen in us!

         The Father abides with you. You are born of God! 
         You are in relationship with the living God through Jesus. 
         You have an Advocate—the Spirit of God, right there at your side!

         Didn’t you know they had to create a new word when they translated scripture into English
—At-One-Ment
—every breach bridged, 
every wrong being righted through Jesus Christ.
Our identity is our Baptism, 
brows wet with our adoption into God’s family.

         

         God’s Children Love Boldly. 
Love!

         God’s Children don’t hate. 
God’s Children aren’t indifferent! 
God’s Children are not mean! No! 
Those who hate abide with the Devil! 
Those with hate in their hearts are murderers!

         Love does not stop with words or emotional flutter!
Love is the embodiment of the Gospel
—as Francis of Assisi was supposed to have said, 
“Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary.” 
Have you not heard, “they will know that we are Christians by our love.”

         Love like Jesus! 
Love in a Maundy Thursday kind of way!
A last supper kind of way!
A washing the disciples feet kind of way!
A giving them a new commandment kind of way!
         Stripped, kneeling as a servant. 
A love enacted, 
a love that is concrete, 
a love that is sacrificial, 
a love that is generous!

 

         Sometimes people tell me that I preach a weak Gospel
—just love all the time. 
“Real Christians,” they say, “add something more to make it harder
—a more muscular kind of Christianity.” 

         I don’t think these folk have the first clue about Love! 
To love, when it is hard, as well as when it is easy, that takes real muscles! 
Ongoing sustained love! 
That’s the only commandment Christ gave, 
and it is enough!

         

         God’s Children Love Boldly. 
Bold!

         Christian love is not timid or guilty. 
Nor does it fear, or counts the costs. No!
For shame would stifle the Spirit’s work, 
we just don’t have time for it!
Love is not afraid of loss
—for in Christ all is gain!

         In Christ the hidden is revealed, 
the empty is filled, 
the dead are raised!

         Once Philip Melanchthon, 
the Robin to Luther’s Batman
—Melanchthon, was worried about what to do at the congregation he served, 
he had a serious choice to make, 
and he desperately didn’t want to get it wrong… 
he was stuck in analysis paralysis, 
and asked Luther’s advice, 
and Luther responded, “Sin boldly!” 
“Sin boldly, but trust that Christ is bolder still,
rejoice, for Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the world.”

         Be of good courage! 
Make mistakes, because that means you’re alive! 
It means we’re stumbling forward! 
Fail forward, in love! 
         If your choice is between loving imperfectly, 
or not loving at all
—make the mistake!

         After all, you can be reassured, 
it is never a mistake to love!

God’s Children Love Boldly.

 

         God’s Children Love
—that’s no small statement, 
in fact, many who claim the title, Child of God, in the public sphere, 
are observed to be anything but loving. 
Yet, if your noun is Child of God, 
your verb will be Love!

 

         They Love boldly. 
Love is a big word
—or at least should be. 
Love is not a small or sentimental thing, 
but concrete and extravagant! 
The experience of loving and being loved
—it is out of this world! 
Love can be risky, dangerous, necessary!

 

         This Boldness comes from being Children of God
—because we are grounded and rooted 
in the Love that we ourselves first experienced
—the concrete awe-inspiring Love of our Father 
expressed by our Brother Jesus.
Be confident not in your work, 
but that God works in you. 

 

         God’s Children Love, Boldly! Amen & Alleluia!

Just Great: A skit for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (October 20th)

 James: All I did was ask.

John: This again? Just great!

James: It wasn’t solely my idea, you wanted to ask too. You wanted it as much as I did.

John:  Yes, I guess I did. To be at his right hand and his left. To rule, to reign, with him. To be his cup bearer—secretary of state or VP of Miracles.

James: It was why we became Apostles. Why we wandered with him for three years. At times we thought of it like it was a junior management training program. That’s what being a disciple was.

John: I never put it that way.

James: *Side Eyes*

John: Okay. Maybe I did… we did.

James: How could we have known what was in store for him? How he both disappointed and surpassed every expectation. We all got it wrong, what Jesus was up to. Remember how Judas and Simon both thought they’d joined the Jesus insurrection?

John: That was how the Romans eventually saw it.

-

James (sadly): That’s who the crowd chose—instead of him—the Insurrectionist Bar-Abbas.

John: And how they killed him.

James: A cross.

John: A cross, the tree of traitors.

James: Dead beside two criminals… criminals, not us, at his right and at his left.

John: That wasn’t just.

James: That wasn’t great.

John: That’s what we were asking for, though. How’d we not hear it? To be crucified with him. We just didn’t know that’s what we were asking for. Thomas was the only one who saw that coming…

James: Lot of good that did him. He was just like the rest of us when it happened. He didn’t handle it when it happened. Jesus crucified with the criminals.

John: Drinking the last drop of the cup offered to him by his father, even sour vinegar. A strange kind of cup bearer for a strange kind of king.

James: If we’d been crucified with him… That would have been an honor—in retrospect of course—we now know it, though then we didn’t—instead we ran… only the women saw the whole thing… us guys all left.

John: The guys.

James: Yeah. The twelve.

-

John: The twelve… or rather the other 10… were shocked by our request.

James: Yeah they were. “Just great!” they said, “Those sons of thunder, making noise again, trying to get ahead of us all again.”

John: But he explained what we were… what we should… should have been asking for. It wasn’t about getting to the front of the line but about greater acts of service.

-

James: We were right to ask, in so far as we weren’t looking for recognition or to be little tyrants.

John: Not to be served, but to serve.

James: The only kind of greatness that matters, is Kingdom of God Greatness. Service is great!

John: Goodness is great. Humility, washing feet of friends, seeking the least, the last, and the lost; that is great.

James: Justice… just greatness, that’s what we should have asked for. A chance to serve, to love, to care. He re-defined it for us. Greatness.

John: All of us. Everyone who follows Jesus must at least know that. What greatness is, the greatness of Jesus Christ.

James: The greatness of our Risen Lord.

All: Amen.

Well, How’d the Lenten Devotional Go?

From a putting together my own thoughts perspective, it was lovely. I think my 17,000 words about the 7 Central Things of worship could be a springboard for writing something robust, maybe even a book.

But how many people participated? As near as I can tell from the statistics blogger gives me, approximately 30 people followed along every day. The bulk of the people came from the USA, but there were also regulars from the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sweden. Additionally, I had occasional readers from Australia, Canada, India, Germany, Japan, and Poland.

If you’ve not had a chance to read through I’d suggest starting at the table of contents. Alternatively, the most popular posts were those from the personal story section. You can read all 7 of them here. For whatever reason, people were also particularly interested in my engagement with the ecumenical document called Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry.

A resurrection scene without Jesus that ends in failure

             Alleluia. Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! (2x)

            …Was not the triumphant cry of the women at the tomb, 
that first Easter. 
No, instead they ran away, 
seized by terror and amazement
—they said nothing
—for they were afraid.

            There is a reason the earliest church added extra verses to Mark’s Gospel later on. 
There is a reason Matthew, Luke, and John all re-told Mark’s terse verses. 
It is an unsettling ending, 
abrupt and anxiety producing
—not so much a Resurrection Appearance, 
but a Resurrection Absence, 
then silence.

            Mark’s ending is, as Rev. Dr. David Lose describes it, “a resurrection scene without Jesus, that ends in failure.” 
And yet, beloved in Christ
—it is very much good news!

Let us pray.

 

            These women are the last link between Jesus’ joyous ministry in Galilee 
and the fierce horror and finality of Good Friday
—they were with him back home and at the cross, 
and now, the women come early Easter Morning, 
intent on doing right by Jesus’ body. 
But this final act of devotion, 
becomes a moment of panic.

            Fear… terror, grip them. They are overawed by this news. 
“He has been raised, death does not have the last word!” 
He’s waiting for you in Galilee! 
The Risen One!

 

            Two things Mark’s Gospel is known for are: 
-the short, shorn even, Resurrection appearance… or absence rather… 
-and the Markean secret
—that whenever someone stumbles upon Jesus’ identity as 
Anointed Lord, 
Son of God, 
Holy One
—he commands them to, “Tell No One!” 
Don’t even consider it at all, 
until you’re on the other side of the story… 
and now we are!

            Imagine it! The women’s aha!-confession! 
He is the risen one of God!
—we need to go back and see! 
Back to Galilee 
to honestly know him!
Return to the Gospel again!

            God raised from the dead the one who was flooded by the Spirit in Baptism, 
called to do a new thing, 
to be the reign of God for a chaotic and death oppressed world!

            He is raised! 
The Son of God and Son of Man. 
The one whose ministry of 
teaching, healing, and confronting all the forces that defy God and damage relationship, 
pointed to a new and better way of life. 

            He is raised! 
A gentle humble man who in deed and word announced the Kingdom of God; 
Getting Justice not as the world wills it
—he does not ride a war horse, but a donkey (and the Donkey… Makes all the Difference) 
the righting of wrongs by wooing the world 
to a life of devotion, 
intense moral awareness, 
and compelling witness to God!

            He is raised! 
The one who planted parables like seeds, 
and himself was a seed
—his suffering, rejection, and rising from the dead, 
a seed planted and sprouted
—fruit coming in full!

            He is raised! 
At the empty tomb Jesus is revealed, 
the cross IS God’s way in the world!

 

            At the empty tomb, these women are possessed by alarm and terror
—how could you not be struck? 
seized by the enormity of the scene before you! 
And the young man says what angels always say, 
“Be not afraid!” 
Be possessed not by fear, 
but by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 
for he goes on ahead of you to Galilee
—Go to Galilee! 
Go! Follow him!

 

            Follow him! 
Dear Christians, follow him! 
Our faith is not a hobby, or product to be sold, 
but a life of following the one who is making the whole world right!

            Follow him! 
Christ into whom you are Baptized
—that is an ongoing call to the four Rs
—A life of Repentance (Continually crawling back to the font as we Lutherans are fond of saying), 
and living in a way that honors Christ in all of our roles, relationships, and responsibilities.

            Follow him! 
By pointing to him, speaking about him, 
preaching Christ crucified and raised! 
After all, that’s what Mark is saying with his slim ending: 
The fear and silence of the tomb is a space for you to finish the story
—break your silence, for you are empowered by Jesus to do so! 
Go and tell!

            Follow him! 
Be a seed of the kingdom, 
a repairer of relationships,
practice gentle justice, 
live a life beyond death!
Ours is not simply a grand encounter with God
—but a calling and a journey! Follow him!

 

            They followed him all the way
—from beginning to end, to a new beginning, 
these women. 
There at the tomb, shocked by all that has occurred, 
astonished that the rock is rolled away, 
alarmed by an empty tomb and angelic encounter, 
amazed by the news of the resurrection
—a future is possible! It doesn’t seem like it, but it is, 
there is reason to hope
—you will see him again! 
Look, not where they laid him, but where he promised he’d be
—ahead of you in Galilee, “There you will see him!”

            They are amazed
—(Ekstasis)… ecstatic, literally thrown out of themselves, 
or as authorities on the Greek much more accomplished than I, interpret, 
they are now “standing in a different place.”

 

            They faced the cross and tomb
—and they’re still there—those instruments of death, 
but the women are now in a different place. 

            They’ve been invited deeper into the mystery that we call Easter. 
They found themselves at the base of failure, 
only to discover that “the Gospel does its work in the midst of failure!” 
The Gospel is with us in our rock bottoms, 
Jesus is buried with us there, 
Jesus rises with us there! 
The stone rolls away there!

            There are all kinds of places folk find themselves in life, 
a literal ABC of awful, 
and yet you need to know there is hope there!
—Uncontrollable Anger, Addiction, abandoned by community, 
there is hope there!
Bedridden or behind in school, 
there is hope!
Cancer or Covid 
there is hope!
Unexpected diagnoses, physical decline, divorce, distance from loved ones, 
dissension and disagreements in families, 
yet there is hope there!

Missing those who’ve died, mental illnesses of all sorts, malaise, 
still there is hope.

 

            All of it, life can be hard. 
And yet, Christ is there, buried with us. 
All of it, a reality even as the resurrection transforms it, 
spits us out in a different heart and head space, 
there is a different sense of gravity on the other side
—there is hope on the other side. 
Hope in this new place, outside the tomb, 
standing present with the absence of the risen Lord.

 

            There they stand, in the midst of “a resurrection scene without Jesus, that ends in failure.” 
There the women appraise afresh the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
Wow! He is the Risen One of God!

There the women continue to follow our Lord, 
wherever he may go, even beyond death.

There the women are thrown out of themselves 
and land in a world where hope is again possible.

            There, at that tomb, they, 
and we as well, can say, 
“Alleluia. Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! (2x)

The Lenten Blog So Far

 Hey all. Just a quick update. The Lenten Devotional Blog I'm focusing my energy on for the season is going well so far. Judging from the stats blogspot sends me there are approximately 25 people following along daily. I've completed 5 of the 7 sections. If you'd like to catch up the best place to start would be the table of contents.

Lent 5: The New Covenant

 

It is said that when the sculptor Michelangelo was asked, 

“How did you sculpt the Statue of David?”

            He replied: “I simply chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”

            And for this season of Lent I’ve been doing something similar. Chipping away at our ideas about the Creator/Creation relationship, until all that remains is the “New Covenant” that the Prophet Jeremiah writes about, 
the New Covenant we Christians describe as God’s relationship with the world, 
established by God through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

            I’ve been chipping away by saying what God’s covenant is not, 
so that we can see what God’s covenant is.

            In the first four weeks, I let you all know that:

-God’s Covenant is not a weapon of war, but the proclamation of peace.

-God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.

-God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community.

-God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God.

            Now, finally, I want you all to know that:

-God’s Covenant is not a fragile, scattered, shattered relationship, 
but continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship.

 

Prayer

            God’s Covenant is not a fragile, scattered, shattered relationship, 
but continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship.

 

            Jeremiah writes to a people in exile
—off in Babylon, kidnapped there
an experience not unlike the Exodus in Egypt, 
that the 10 commandments—the 10 words—addressed.

            To the Exiles, all those promises of God
—they seem empty, they seem exhausted, at an end; 
it seemed like God has betrayed God’s people! 
The people fell short and God had cut them loose.

            And like Moses before him, Jeremiah offers hope to a hopeless people
—things didn’t work out because our relationship with God depended on:
our own willpower, 
our own comprehension 
our own abilities…

            Not next time, Jeremiah writes
—it shall be a relationship upheld by God! 
God drawing people to God’s-self. 
A relationship that is inside you, 
that is not haphazard but intentional, 
a relationship that is renewed by God!

            And the big question
—at least one of you have asked me about this before
—when? When will such a thing happen? 
Is this something we wait for, 
or has it already occurred? 
If this is the Christian covenant, how is it fulfilled? 
And this is my answer—though it might seem to simple… In Christ Alone!

            In Christ, there is a new relationship with God. 
In Christ, an event like escape from Egypt. 
In Christ, the Law incarnate, and the Gospel too (just look how people respond to their encounters with Jesus). 
In Christ, the Spirit within our hearts and lived out in our communities. 
In Christ, God among God’s people. 
In Christ, we know the LORD—the invisible God made visible. 
In Christ, we find forgiveness and God forgets all guilt.

 

            Remember that statue of David I’ve been telling you about… 
well, Michelangelo might have made a David, 
but what I’ve been sculpting for you all, 
this covenant of God… 
it is the image of Christ.
            If I’ve done my job, we ought to say like those Greeks in today’s Gospel, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus!”
Look to the one who dies, and is a seed, 
planted so that we might all taste of the fruit of this relationship
—we are all continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship

 

Do you wish to see Jesus?
            Look, there on the cross
—it is like Noah and God’s Rainbow
—a war monument, to peace! 
An intentional shift of divinely sanctioned violence into the compassion of Christ!

Do you wish to see Jesus?
            Look, at him, his cry of dereliction somehow yet tinged with trust… 
zeal and righteousness are no longer a thing to boast about as Paul warns us, 
instead being held by hope is the only thing that matters
—a hope in the face of death on a cross, 
a hope for the impossible life that comes out of death! 
A daily dying and rising! 
God’s ongoing work with me, in me! 
God’s ongoing accompaniment of God’s people—to the end and beyond the end! 
That’s the only game in town! 
The only thing worth putting your trust in.

 

Do you wish to see Jesus?
            Look, the Passover Lamb, behold the Lamb of God! 
Behold this gift, freedom from death and freedom for a life with him!
The Spirit of Christ ushering us into a new and renewed life, 
a people, caring for community in word and deed
—called to be the Church
—a people of ongoing death and resurrection!

 

Do you wish to see Jesus?
            Look, a ripped curtain in the Holy of Holies, 
the division between the sacred and the profane itself divided, 
torn open like Baptism! God is on the loose! 
All the preparations of Lent, leading to the ultimate down story
—buried to bear fruit.
the ultimate because/therefore story
—because Christ is lifted up on the cross, therefore he is drawing us all to himself.
the despairing love of the cross, 
love on the cross, 
God among us, despairing with us
—between dying thieves, longing for us, 
this God, comes alongside you and me. 

 

            Yes, peace, hope, freedom, life—that is what remains, 
that is the relationship with God and this world God so loves. 
That is the New Covenant.

 

-God’s Covenant is not a fragile, scattered, shattered relationship, 
but continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship. Amen.

Lent 4: Our Whole Life a Gift from God

            It is said that when the sculptor Michelangelo was asked, 
“How did you sculpt the Statue of David?”

            He replied: “I simply chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”

            And for this season of Lent I’m doing something similar. I’m chipping away at our ideas about the Creator/Creation relationship, until all that remains is the “New Covenant”that the Prophet Jeremiah writes about, 
the New Covenant we Christians describe as God’s relationship with the world, 
established by God through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

            I’ll be chipping away by saying what God’s covenant is not, 
so that we can see what God’s covenant is.

 

            In the first three weeks, I let you all know that:

1.            -God’s Covenant is not a weapon of war, but the proclamation of peace.

2.            -God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.

3.            -God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community.

            And today I’ll be preaching on the subject:

-God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God.
            Then next week I’ll put it all together by insisting that:

-God’s Covenant is not a fragile, scattered, shattered relationship, 
but continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship.

 

Let us pray

            God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God.

            There are all kinds of stories we tell about ourselves and about God…
 and they have consequences.

            Sometimes we see ourselves as employees of heaven
—we do the will of God, and God gives us our just payment—our wages.

            We tell the tale of “up religion.” 
That life, is a sort of ladder 
and that the goal is the storming of heaven
—or perhaps just getting there by and by.

            We take our cues from how much of the world around us works, 
and sing an if/then song. 
“If I do X, Y, or Z, then God will surely love me!”

            Or perhaps we understand the faith as a behavior management program
—I take my child to church so he’ll behave, 
this is where we learn morals.

            But all these metaphors for the divine human relationship start off on the wrong foot,
they make the assumption that the faith is all about us… 
when it’s all about Jes-us.

            Our faith in Jesus, not Jesus’ faithfulness.

            When Righteousness belly button gazes, 
it becomes self-righteousness… 
And self-righteousness is the enemy of love.
            There is a reason Paul is always warning about Boasting,
If you boast, you need to be better than someone else
—need to put yourself ahead of another, 
either by pushing yourself beyond your own capacity,
or by tripping other people up… 
putting them on pedestals and then chipping away at the base.

             As religious story teller Brene Brown writes, “Self-righteousness starts with the belief that I’m better than other people and it always ends with me being my very worst and thinking, I’m not enough.”

 

            Yes, Up religion and If/Then thinking, 
they leads to inflated expectations and broken relationships… 
Thank God God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God.

            Up religion is wrong religion
—if we study our scriptures you’ll notice God is always coming down
            Jacob doesn’t climb up his famed ladder, 
angels come down. 
            The up oriented heaven storming tower of Babel falls, 
but the Holy Spirit falling upon the people at Pentecost was a celebrated event. 

            John’s Gospel continually affirms that the invisible God made Visible comes down,
so that we might be lifted up, 
drawn into relationship with the God who meets us in Jesus Christ.

 

            If/Then ain’t our song, 
ours is a Because/Therefore melody
—Because God loves the world, 
therefore he gave his son, 
because he gave his son, 
therefore we may have eternal life!

 

            For some people, the Christian faith as a moral program (finally a little control in an uncontrollable world) feels like hope… until it doesn’t. That’s just asking for religious burn-out, or sky high hypocrisy.
            Ongoing self-improvement isn’t a matter of will-power, otherwise everyone would be angels. 
            Real change tends to come through the depths of despair
—hitting rock bottom, 
or by being struck by love, 
that holy aha! 
Aha! I’m loved… what do I get to do now? 
            That’s not our doing
—that’s the Spirit at work!

 

            This gift from God, that we read about in Ephesians, 
is something beyond morality, 
it is about mortality
—our whole life, 
saved all the way through, 
a way of life
—a disposition of awe! 
Life lived in response to God’s grace.

            As Luther writes: 
“God receives none but those who are forsaken, 
restores health to none but those who are sick, 
gives sight to none but the blind, 
and life to none but the dead. 
He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, 
nor wisdom to any but fools. 
In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched 
and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace.”

 

            In some ways I’m lucky, I have a really solid personal experience of what it means that all of this is a gift from God! 
I have a story truly close to my heart to remind myself (and believe me there are plenty of times where I have to remind myself), a story that reminds me of God’s goodness and mercy.

When I was first born, I turned blue. It turned out I had a hole between two of the chambers of my heart, and the main valve wasn’t working right, (not too long ago this was a death sentence). 
So they needed to operate, and beforehand, my parents handed me over to a chaplain to baptized me, just in case.

Just in case, turned, for me, into something amazing. 
I received an experience of radical grace, 
my whole life a gift, 
just as the doctors fixing my heart and saving my life is a gift.

I get to live a life in response to God’s goodness, 
assured that God is loving, I can love. 
I get to live into the life of the Spirit given to me that day 40 some years ago. 
And not only that, 
there is a whole community dedicated to just such a life, the Church, the Body of Christ. 
I am, on account of my baptism, a member of the body of Christ! 

I thank God for that chain-smoking chaplain my parents passed their little blue newborn to. 
I thank God for both the physical and spiritual life I’ve received, sort of in tandem, 
baptism and surgery, 
both immeasurably precious gifts. 
I thank God for each day I get to live, in light of grace and through the power of the Spirit. 
I thank God that I have a community of faith, born out of this baptized life, 
living into it together as best we all can. 

 

God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God. 

Thanks be to God! Amen.

Lent 3: Freedom in Community

             We’re in the middle of a sermon series, so at this point you’re probably getting tired of me telling the story, but here we go…

It is said that when the sculptor Michelangelo was asked, 
“How did you sculpt such a magnificent masterpiece?” regarding his statue of David, 
he replied: “I chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”

            And for this season of Lent I’m doing something of the same
—chipping away at our conceptions of the Creator/Creation relationship, 
until all that remains is the “New Covenant” that the Prophet Jeremiah writes about, 
the New Covenant we Christians describe as God’s relationship with the world, 
established by God through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

            I’ll be doing this by describing what God’s covenant is not, and what God’s covenant is.

 

            In the first two weeks, I let you all know that:

1.              God’s Covenant is not a weapon of war, but the proclamation of peace.

2.              God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.

 

            And today, I want you all to know that:

3.              God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community.

            Then the final two weeks we’ll see how:

4.         God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God.

5.         God’s Covenant is not a fragile, scattered, shattered relationship, but continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship.

 

Prayer

            God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community.

 

            Imagine, if Pharaoh had won! If he had withstood the plagues and recaptured the Israelites.

            Imagine the harsh terms of surrender... as it was, his relationship to the Israelites was excessively cruel. 

 

            Pharaoh would elevate himself above them to an even greater extent than he already had, he would be a self-styled god-king.

            As the beginning of Exodus tells us, he did not know them, nor did he desire to… 
they were at best nameless people
—numbers nothing more. 

            Slaves—forced to work non-stop, 
providing daily quotas under worse and worse conditions, no moment for rest.

            The innumerable enslaved, tossed aside when used up, 
“kill the baby boys so they don’t become too numerous,” he had already ordered.

            Lead them along with lies
—sure we’ll let you go worship… 
sure we’ll let you go… surely not! 
His promises were continually repealed.

            Repealed because of his suspicions… he just knew their intentions
—he knew that if he gave them an inch, they would desert, or turn traitor.

 

            Now here’s the weird thing—there is a tendency to confuse Pharaoh’s character, as I’ve laid out, with God’s… 
When many people describe God
—especially the God who provided the 10 commandments
—they often describe God as a: 
haughty, disinterested, relentlessly vengeful, lying, suspicious sovereign… 
it’s almost like Pharaoh actually won!

            But I know that’s not the case, 
because God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community.

 

            Like all good tyrants, Pharaoh would impose commands, stiffly enforced… 
but, as our Jewish siblings remind us from time to time, God offers the 10 Words, 
not as Commandments, but as a gift, a blessing even… 

            A blessing of relationship
—aids to assist in loving God and Neighbor
—a gift from “the LORD Your God.” 
An assumption of a prior and ongoing relationship between God and you all... us all.

            

            A tyrant would create statues and monuments to self
—idols little and big strewn throughout their empire as means of control, 
-instead, a Word protecting against such things, the absolute relativizing of Idols, 
shrinking them all down to size, 
releasing them back into the wild, as just another thing in creation
—redeemed from their enslaving power.

 

            A tyrant would hide their name behind pomp, and not acknowledge their subjects, 
-instead, we are called by name and invited to lift up pleas and praise to the LORD our God, who is our loving parent.

 

            A tyrant would warp time itself to their advantage
—take an example from the Soviet Union
—early on, they created a 5-day week and gave each citizen one of 5 days as a day of rest, 
in order to ensure people could not gather together
—it weakened social cohesion and fostered exploitable divisions
(in fact, some have suggested that AI generated scheduling of work in many sectors is having similar effects here in America)…
-Instead God invites the Israelites into a day free from work for all
—where divisions might lessen and understanding might increase, 
as Barbara Brown Taylor writes in her book, “The Practice of Saying No”:

“Sabbath suspends our subtle and not so subtle ways of dominating one another—when a Walmart cashier and a bank president are both lying on a picnic blanket at the park, you can’t tell them apart.”
…Sabbath must be for everyone, or it is for no one.

            

            A tyrant would turn child against parent and parent against child
—think of the Hitler-Youth in Germany or the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution…

-Not so, God’s Word to family: instead honor, 
after all, it is from our parents and all those who raise us,
 that we learn what is dangerous and what is safe. 
It is from them that we establish, or don’t establish, a sense of love and trust.

         We’re like little sponges and what we sop up will enter into our lifeblood for the rest of our lives
—our basis for fear, love, and trust, are established in childhood.

         For good and ill, all authority figures shape our views of God
—thus we ought to not only honor them, but also pray that they, while filled with foibles and folly, might reflect, on occasion at least, the one true authority, the one true parent of us all
—that they might reflect at least a little of God’s authority, 
which is found in humility and weakness.

 

            A tyrant creates arbitrary, inconsistent, and abstract rules designed to ding you, 
so you are always on the alert, always owe them something, 
because you messed up, and they can now hold it over you, forever

-Not so these Words about everything from Murder to False Witness… 
no, they are words to help order life for these folks now freed, 
caught in the tension between community and autonomy, 
responsibility and freedom,
freedom from and freedom for…

            These words etch out the contours a community 
where people are life-giving and build each other up, 
are faithful and truthful.

 

            Finally, as Orwell warned us, a tyrant does not stop with our body, 
but seeks to stifle our soul as well, “Thought Crime” the phrase he coined in his book 1984.

-Not so God, these words about coveting—these matters of the heart, 
they free us from jealousy and resentment, for contentment and harmony.

 

            This might feel a little melodramatic or a bit belabored, 
comparing Tyranny to Divinity, 
but I assure you it is for our good, 
and that of our neighbors, as well
—after all, how we think about God shapes how we act toward other people, 
and if we replace God with Pharaoh… 
God help us... God help them.

            But, if we let God’s Words capture our hearts
—then we can imagine a community released from its idols, 
knowing God by name, 
abiding in rest, liberation and holiness, 
caring for one another in deed and intentions of the heart.

 

            Dear faithful siblings, God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community. Amen.

Lent 2: God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope

                  As I told you all last week, there is a story that the sculptor Michelangelo presented his statue of David and was asked, “How did you ever sculpt such a magnificent masterpiece?”

                  He replied, “I just chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”

                  And I’m doing something similar for this season of Lent
—I’m chipping away ways of understanding the Creator’s relationship with the Creation, 
until all that remains is the “New Covenant” that the Prophet Jeremiah writes about, 
the New Covenant we Christians describe as God’s relationship with the world, 
established by God through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

                  I’ll be doing this by describing what God’s covenant is not, and what God’s covenant is.

                  Last week I let you all know that:

1.              God’s Covenant is not a weapon of war, but the proclamation of peace.

Today I’ll be preaching about how:

2.              God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.

From there I’ll show you how:

3.              God’s Covenant is not Diktats to the Enslaved, but Freedom in Community.

4.              God’s Covenant is not Wages for Human Work, but Our Whole Life, a Gift from God.

5.              God’s Covenant is not a fragile, scattered, shattered relationship, but continually being drawn into internalized, intentional, renewed relationship.

Prayer

 

                  God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.

                  Whenever we read an Epistle of Paul
—one of his letters
—we need to remember who he is, and who he was.

                  Paul was a Zealot. When it came to questions of “Righteousness” being in continual community with God and God’s people
—Paul had a proof text. 
In fact, folk who called themselves Zealots named themselves after this particular verse in the bible.

                  In Numbers 25 there is an awful scene where one of Aaron’s grandkids, Phineas, sees an Israelite and a non-Israelite together as a couple, 
and he rushes them with a spear and stabs them both through, 
like a kabab. 
This action is commended as being Zealous for the Lord.

                  For Paul and his fellow Zealots, there was a righteousness to separation. There is what we might call, a church-within-a-church phenomena, going on.
—are you righteous enough? 
Separate enough? 
Who is abiding by the rules in a way that we know they are insiders?

                  So, when Paul hears of the People of the Way
—communities of Jews and non-Jews jointly proclaiming that Jesus, who died upon a cross, is Lord, the anointed, the centerpiece of how God is in relationship with the world
—and he is incensed!

                  It is all wrong. 
Messiahs don’t get crucified
—there is literally a proof text in scripture that says those who die upon a tree are accursed…

                  God certainly doesn’t work outside the rules; 
God doesn’t color outside the lines! 
Lines of separation, 
clear boundaries and impermeable community.
A hard and fast definition of who is in and who is out, and mechanisms to regulate that, are necessary.

                  And even if there is some permeability, people can come in, 
they must do so as second class citizens
—Godfearers in the New Testament,
unless and until they conform in total.

                  After all, it’s a family, and there are clear lines in family trees
—who is in and who is out is easy to determine! 
There ought not be cousins who aren’t ACTUALLY cousins, 
surely you wouldn’t dream of calling family friends who care for your kids sometimes, aunts or uncles, unless they’re blood relatives.

                  Yes, clear lines, 
back to Phineas, Aaron, Moses, 
Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham
—all the way back, Noah, Adam
—a clear cut line of who is in and who is out.

 

                  Except… God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.

                  If you’ve read your bible, 
or just been a human in the world and in community, 
you know life is always a kind of holy blend of many things… 
                  For example, Moses’ family is a mixed-race family, and when Aaron condemns him for it, 
God responds by giving Aaron leprosy. 
                  Joseph, Jacob, Abraham, Noah, Adam
—all have winding and strange family trees… 
not clear cut the way Paul once envisioned in his Zealous simplicity.

                  Those rules of who is in and who is out
—they are only ever true, until they’re not. 
                  Moabites are abominations before God
—then Ruth comes along.
                  Samaritans are right out… 
until Jesus uplifts them with his holy story.
                  Eunuchs are uniquely excluded from the community of God…
then Phillip goes and baptizes one of ‘em!

 

                  Paul, when he is confronted by the risen Christ on the Road to Damascus, 
has to re-think everything
—the curse of the cross being a blessing, 
And his understanding of zeal and righteousness is rejected…

                  He goes back to scripture, and sees that back in chapter 15 of Genesis 
God had already formalized his relationship with Abraham… 
not after he was circumcised… 
Faith preceded the boundary marking rule about of circumcision 
and his descendants are of many nations. 
                  Abraham believes God and it is reckoned to him as righteousness… 
Not stabbing people through who were of different nationalities, ethnicities, and religions… no! 
Paul realizes—before that kind of zeal ever existed, 
Abraham was made right with God and in community via faith!

                  To spell Paul’s whole formula out plainly to you all, here it is:

God covers our sin, not with cultural markers, 
but based on trust in God’s promises of life
—we’re included because we trust Christ’s resurrection.

                  Did you hear that? Trust!
—there are a few ways to translate the Greek word Pisteo
—Faith (which we tend to lodge in our heart) 
or Belief (which is firmly a head game) 
or Trust (which holds the previous two in tension, and points to the relational nature of what Paul is getting at).

                  We trust in a hope that is both beyond and upon hope, as we normally would mean it… 
Beyond hope… like Abram and Sarai
—barren and sterile, the first and last of a new nation, 
a branch upshot and withered, 
an inheritance passed on to a nameless servant.
Upon hope… Abraham and Sarah
—new names, for ancestors and multitudes. 
A new nation… many of them…
—laugh if you want to, that which is withered will be fruitful!

                  If you’ve ever read any Charles Dickens you know he’s downright obsessed with inheritance
—there is always some orphan or another utterly abandoned, beyond hope… 
only to find, in the most pitiable hopeless moment, 
she is the heir, 
he has a generous benefactor
—upon hope they can continue in a new and wonderful relationship, 
there is “not so much as a shadow of another parting” looming in the future!

 

                  Who is the heir of Abraham—only a well curated line, zealously guarded? No! 
Those who hope beyond hope, 
and that hope is built upon hope
—upon God’s gracious acts for us… 
upon the God who creates out of Nothing and Chaos, 
the God who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead!
                  Truly those who trust God with a hope like that… 
truly they too are heirs!

God’s Covenant is not exclusionary rules, but trust permeated by hope.
Amen.