Oct 2010
Going Out On a Limb
October/29/2010 07:43 PM
Luke 19:1-10 He entered
Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named
Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying
to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not,
because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a
sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,
"Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house
today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who
saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of
one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and
if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times
as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this
house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came
to seek out and to save the lost."
Some Sermon Thoughts
Zaccheus is literally, and figuratively, "up a tree." Our church school curriculum explains his predicament this way: "As the chief tax collector, Zaccheus was a franchise owner who prepaid the allotted Roman tax and then hired collectors to recoup his costs plus a profit. Because he worked for the Romans at the expense of his own people, he was perceived as morally corrupt and ritually unclean." His own people looked down on him, and not just because he was so short.
Zaccheus knew he was missing something in his life, and was willing to "go out on a limb" to encounter this Jesus. Jesus surprises, and shocks, the crowd by seeing Zaccheus's interest, and single-handedly inviting him back into community, into relationship, into life the way it was meant to be lived by God's people. Jesus doesn't "come down" on Zacccheus for his past wrongs. Jesus says, "Come down," and initiates relational repair, inviting Zaccheus to become an agent of hospitality, that he might welcome the incarnate presence of God into his life -- and the lives of others?
What I take away from this story is that such an encounter with Jesus has the capacity to unlock an extravagant generosity. Meeting Jesus makes possible a holy hospitality that is as important for us to offer, as it is to be received -- by those we would welcome into the mutually affirming relationship that can be the church (at its best).
Would you be willing to "go out on a limb" (like Zaccheus) to become such a welcoming presence? Has an encounter with Jesus in the life of our church made a difference for you? We may not demonstrate such a remarkable, radical shift in attitude and behavior as Zaccheus, but I pray that we may all experience our own emphatic enthusiasm about being a follower of Jesus, and our excitement about his "invitation" for us to welcome him into our lives.
Next weekend, November 5-7, the United Church of Christ has asked the members of all UCC churches to invite friends to join them for National Friend-Raising Weekend. On Friday morning, November 5, the UCC's new video message, "Uniquely UCC," will be released on the internet to introduce people to the special qualities of the United Church of Christ. We are all being asked to share the message, to spread it virally, on a Facebook page, or via Twitter, or email, with an invitation to join us on Sunday morning. More important than sharing this internet "commercial," is that we ask people to join us that Sunday morning.
Many of us are probably loath to be perceived as pushy, or aggressive about matters of faith -- like where (or if) one goes to church. The "Congregational way" is about the exercise of our individual conscience before God. We are more about soft-sell, and self-determination. However, it is possible to invite without arm-twisting. It is possible to include others in our faith lives without being pushy. We recommend a good restaurant, so why not a place that may have nourished your heart and mind? We talk about a good movie we saw, why not a worship service that moved you, or challenged you, or even gave you joy?
This must not be a one-time thing. I pray that it may be our intention for every Sunday. Invite, make welcome, and share the journey. I hope to see you this Sunday, and the next, and the next. Bring a friend!
Some Sermon Thoughts
Zaccheus is literally, and figuratively, "up a tree." Our church school curriculum explains his predicament this way: "As the chief tax collector, Zaccheus was a franchise owner who prepaid the allotted Roman tax and then hired collectors to recoup his costs plus a profit. Because he worked for the Romans at the expense of his own people, he was perceived as morally corrupt and ritually unclean." His own people looked down on him, and not just because he was so short.
Zaccheus knew he was missing something in his life, and was willing to "go out on a limb" to encounter this Jesus. Jesus surprises, and shocks, the crowd by seeing Zaccheus's interest, and single-handedly inviting him back into community, into relationship, into life the way it was meant to be lived by God's people. Jesus doesn't "come down" on Zacccheus for his past wrongs. Jesus says, "Come down," and initiates relational repair, inviting Zaccheus to become an agent of hospitality, that he might welcome the incarnate presence of God into his life -- and the lives of others?
What I take away from this story is that such an encounter with Jesus has the capacity to unlock an extravagant generosity. Meeting Jesus makes possible a holy hospitality that is as important for us to offer, as it is to be received -- by those we would welcome into the mutually affirming relationship that can be the church (at its best).
Would you be willing to "go out on a limb" (like Zaccheus) to become such a welcoming presence? Has an encounter with Jesus in the life of our church made a difference for you? We may not demonstrate such a remarkable, radical shift in attitude and behavior as Zaccheus, but I pray that we may all experience our own emphatic enthusiasm about being a follower of Jesus, and our excitement about his "invitation" for us to welcome him into our lives.
Next weekend, November 5-7, the United Church of Christ has asked the members of all UCC churches to invite friends to join them for National Friend-Raising Weekend. On Friday morning, November 5, the UCC's new video message, "Uniquely UCC," will be released on the internet to introduce people to the special qualities of the United Church of Christ. We are all being asked to share the message, to spread it virally, on a Facebook page, or via Twitter, or email, with an invitation to join us on Sunday morning. More important than sharing this internet "commercial," is that we ask people to join us that Sunday morning.
Many of us are probably loath to be perceived as pushy, or aggressive about matters of faith -- like where (or if) one goes to church. The "Congregational way" is about the exercise of our individual conscience before God. We are more about soft-sell, and self-determination. However, it is possible to invite without arm-twisting. It is possible to include others in our faith lives without being pushy. We recommend a good restaurant, so why not a place that may have nourished your heart and mind? We talk about a good movie we saw, why not a worship service that moved you, or challenged you, or even gave you joy?
This must not be a one-time thing. I pray that it may be our intention for every Sunday. Invite, make welcome, and share the journey. I hope to see you this Sunday, and the next, and the next. Bring a friend!
Comments
We All Belong to God
October/24/2010 07:40 AM
Luke 18:9-14 He also told
this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to
the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank
you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers,
or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a
tenth of all my income.' But the tax-collector, standing far off,
would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and
saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man
went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who
exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves
will be exalted."
Some Sermon Thoughts
Why does this story matter? On the surface, it seems to be just a simple teaching about prayer, which follows another teaching about prayer. In last week's reading from (Luke 18:1-8) we heard: "Pray always, and do not lose heart." It was more than just persistence that Jesus encouraged, though we may not always see the deeper message. This second parable about prayer would appear to be equally simple: arrogant is bad, humble is good. We should be like the guy with humility, who recognizes he isn't perfect, and not the guy who seems so full of himself, so self-righteous and judgmental of others.
It seems simple. Yet, I suspect there is more to the story (there usually is with parables), that neither of these main characters is meant to be seen as completely good or bad. Both have strengths, and each has limitations.
Take the Pharisee, who so faithfully follows all the religious requirements of Torah, to a "T." He is a good person, just about everyone would agree. The only thing is, his prayers (which we would not hear -- though God would) reveal how he fails to recognize his dependence on God. He thinks he can do it all, all by himself. And he looks down on anyone who doesn't have the necessary discipline, or moral fortitude to follow all the "right-rules" like he does. Know anyone like that? My question is, can he become a really "good person," and change the way he treats others -- even if only in his prayers? Will he come to see he too needs God's mercy, in addition to disciplined obedience, to be the truly righteous person he claims to be?
Then there is the tax collector, who in the eyes of just about everyone (including his mother, possibly) is the worst kind of cheating low-life, Roman collaborator, traitor. His prayer (again, that we don't hear, though God does) shows that appearances can be deceiving. He knows his failures, his sins, and most importantly knows that he needs God's mercy. He understands that he can't become a "good person" without help -- God's help. The question here is, will he change? Will he stop using his power to take advantage of the poor? Will he stop beating up on himself and become a new person with God's help? Will others let him become new, and welcome him into the community of God's people?
There are several ways to unpack this parable, and to take a closer at these two personalities. These comments are only a starting place. My hope is that we will end up with more than a conviction that we should be humble and not arrogant, as worthy as that goal is. This Sunday, I ask you to join me in considering how this parable challenges us to think about the way we see each other, think about each other, and especially about the way we treat each other, deciding so easily who is good and who is bad.
Here, I find myself thinking about the state of political campaigning (on all sides), especially the political ads which increasingly involve more nasty put-downs of the opposition candidate than they do presentations of the merits of the sponsoring candidate. I may be preaching to the choir if I go this path, as I suspect we are probably in agreement that there is a troubling lack of civility in our culture in these times. Do we dislike and distrust each other that much? Are "they" so bad and are we so "good"? What can we do differently? How can we change this? How can we change ourselves?
This is a story about us. My sense is that we are all part Pharisee, and part tax collector. We are all sinner-saints. Recognizing and confessing that is one thing -- a first step. The more important thing is to intentionally work to live more justly, more mercifully with each other, welcoming both the sinner-saint within ourselves and the sinner-saint in others into the community we are called to be as God's people -- together seeking God's Justice for all! That's the work that we agree to take on as church, and as disciples of Christ. Let's do this, knowing it can happen only with God's help!
Some Sermon Thoughts
Why does this story matter? On the surface, it seems to be just a simple teaching about prayer, which follows another teaching about prayer. In last week's reading from (Luke 18:1-8) we heard: "Pray always, and do not lose heart." It was more than just persistence that Jesus encouraged, though we may not always see the deeper message. This second parable about prayer would appear to be equally simple: arrogant is bad, humble is good. We should be like the guy with humility, who recognizes he isn't perfect, and not the guy who seems so full of himself, so self-righteous and judgmental of others.
It seems simple. Yet, I suspect there is more to the story (there usually is with parables), that neither of these main characters is meant to be seen as completely good or bad. Both have strengths, and each has limitations.
Take the Pharisee, who so faithfully follows all the religious requirements of Torah, to a "T." He is a good person, just about everyone would agree. The only thing is, his prayers (which we would not hear -- though God would) reveal how he fails to recognize his dependence on God. He thinks he can do it all, all by himself. And he looks down on anyone who doesn't have the necessary discipline, or moral fortitude to follow all the "right-rules" like he does. Know anyone like that? My question is, can he become a really "good person," and change the way he treats others -- even if only in his prayers? Will he come to see he too needs God's mercy, in addition to disciplined obedience, to be the truly righteous person he claims to be?
Then there is the tax collector, who in the eyes of just about everyone (including his mother, possibly) is the worst kind of cheating low-life, Roman collaborator, traitor. His prayer (again, that we don't hear, though God does) shows that appearances can be deceiving. He knows his failures, his sins, and most importantly knows that he needs God's mercy. He understands that he can't become a "good person" without help -- God's help. The question here is, will he change? Will he stop using his power to take advantage of the poor? Will he stop beating up on himself and become a new person with God's help? Will others let him become new, and welcome him into the community of God's people?
There are several ways to unpack this parable, and to take a closer at these two personalities. These comments are only a starting place. My hope is that we will end up with more than a conviction that we should be humble and not arrogant, as worthy as that goal is. This Sunday, I ask you to join me in considering how this parable challenges us to think about the way we see each other, think about each other, and especially about the way we treat each other, deciding so easily who is good and who is bad.
Here, I find myself thinking about the state of political campaigning (on all sides), especially the political ads which increasingly involve more nasty put-downs of the opposition candidate than they do presentations of the merits of the sponsoring candidate. I may be preaching to the choir if I go this path, as I suspect we are probably in agreement that there is a troubling lack of civility in our culture in these times. Do we dislike and distrust each other that much? Are "they" so bad and are we so "good"? What can we do differently? How can we change this? How can we change ourselves?
This is a story about us. My sense is that we are all part Pharisee, and part tax collector. We are all sinner-saints. Recognizing and confessing that is one thing -- a first step. The more important thing is to intentionally work to live more justly, more mercifully with each other, welcoming both the sinner-saint within ourselves and the sinner-saint in others into the community we are called to be as God's people -- together seeking God's Justice for all! That's the work that we agree to take on as church, and as disciples of Christ. Let's do this, knowing it can happen only with God's help!
Let Us Pray -- over & over & over
October/15/2010 08:05 PM
Luke 18:1-8 Then Jesus told
them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose
heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither
feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a
widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against
my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself,
'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet
because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so
that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the
Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 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. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on earth?"
Some Sermon Thoughts
In the animated film, "Ice Age," the character "Scrat" is a prehistoric saber-toothed squirrel who never gives up chasing an elusive acorn. Scrat suffers greatly in his unflagging pursuit of this prize, which he possesses intermittently. Falling from staggering heights, frozen in ice, struck by lightning, nearly crushed by a glacier, he never stops striving for the acorn. This poor creature is only a cartoon character, but he is the epitome of persistence in the face of failure, hardship, and suffering. At the end of the movie, we don't know for sure that he will ever finally have the acorn, this apparent focus of his whole life. But it doesn't matter -- he keeps trying. We may think he doesn't have a prayer of getting that acorn, but he persists.
In this parable, Jesus also encourages persistence -- in prayer -- apparently in pursuit of God's blessing. Does Jesus promise us that if we simply pray hard enough, and long enough, God will submit, and give us all that we ask for, all that we think we need, all that we obviously want? Do you think this is what prayer is all about? Is it all about dogged determination? Is Scrat a good role model? What is the "acorn" you covet, and desire?
I am more convinced that the parable is meant to reassure us that if we "pray always," we will be opened up to a relationship with God, which may not always get us what we think we most need in our lives, but will surely get us in touch with The ONE we most need in our lives.
This kind of prayer is not prayer as most of us have learned to think of it -- like the Lord's Prayer, or table grace, or a bedtime prayer. Barbara Brown Taylor describes prayer as we may experience it: "Then as now, most people prayed like they brushed their teeth -- once in the morning and once at night, as part of their spiritual hygiene program." I would expand the analysis. I wonder if very many of us are anywhere near as disciplined about prayer as we are about dental hygiene (even though we don't floss as often as we should).
For me, the persistence of prayer that Jesus encourages is all about relationship with God, and not about nagging God into submission to our desires. It's about aligning our hearts with God's heart. It's about trusting God, and acting on it. It's about being so logged-in, so connected, so in sync with God that our whole being, our whole life is like a conversation with God -- a conversation that has more deeds than words. We may sometimes sound like we're nagging, whining, complaining, begging. But God is ready to hear it all. The good and the bad, the trivial and the profound. And the Spirit is persistently encouraging us to persist.
So, take heart, Jesus teaches. If a crooked judge will give justice to the widow, who has genuine needs, what do you think our just, loving God is going to do for you when the going gets tough? So pray, ask, cry out, rejoice. And even though you do not know for certain what the verdict will be in your case, relentlessly pursue the "acorn" of truth and justice, and trust that God's way will ultimately be THE WAY. This parable reminds us that we can count on God to hear us when we have no where else to go, and we can count on God to come down on the side of justice for us. And if God will be so generous to us, can we be as generous to others?
We know that from tiny acorns, mighty oaks will grow. And from the persistent pursuit of God's way of justice (and not just for us), a mighty faith will surely grow. This Sunday, we'll be thinking about the intersection of three elements of this parable -- prayer, justice, and faith -- and we'll reflect on the amazing persistence of God's Grace, which is at once the goal and the source of our lives.
Some Sermon Thoughts
In the animated film, "Ice Age," the character "Scrat" is a prehistoric saber-toothed squirrel who never gives up chasing an elusive acorn. Scrat suffers greatly in his unflagging pursuit of this prize, which he possesses intermittently. Falling from staggering heights, frozen in ice, struck by lightning, nearly crushed by a glacier, he never stops striving for the acorn. This poor creature is only a cartoon character, but he is the epitome of persistence in the face of failure, hardship, and suffering. At the end of the movie, we don't know for sure that he will ever finally have the acorn, this apparent focus of his whole life. But it doesn't matter -- he keeps trying. We may think he doesn't have a prayer of getting that acorn, but he persists.
In this parable, Jesus also encourages persistence -- in prayer -- apparently in pursuit of God's blessing. Does Jesus promise us that if we simply pray hard enough, and long enough, God will submit, and give us all that we ask for, all that we think we need, all that we obviously want? Do you think this is what prayer is all about? Is it all about dogged determination? Is Scrat a good role model? What is the "acorn" you covet, and desire?
I am more convinced that the parable is meant to reassure us that if we "pray always," we will be opened up to a relationship with God, which may not always get us what we think we most need in our lives, but will surely get us in touch with The ONE we most need in our lives.
This kind of prayer is not prayer as most of us have learned to think of it -- like the Lord's Prayer, or table grace, or a bedtime prayer. Barbara Brown Taylor describes prayer as we may experience it: "Then as now, most people prayed like they brushed their teeth -- once in the morning and once at night, as part of their spiritual hygiene program." I would expand the analysis. I wonder if very many of us are anywhere near as disciplined about prayer as we are about dental hygiene (even though we don't floss as often as we should).
For me, the persistence of prayer that Jesus encourages is all about relationship with God, and not about nagging God into submission to our desires. It's about aligning our hearts with God's heart. It's about trusting God, and acting on it. It's about being so logged-in, so connected, so in sync with God that our whole being, our whole life is like a conversation with God -- a conversation that has more deeds than words. We may sometimes sound like we're nagging, whining, complaining, begging. But God is ready to hear it all. The good and the bad, the trivial and the profound. And the Spirit is persistently encouraging us to persist.
So, take heart, Jesus teaches. If a crooked judge will give justice to the widow, who has genuine needs, what do you think our just, loving God is going to do for you when the going gets tough? So pray, ask, cry out, rejoice. And even though you do not know for certain what the verdict will be in your case, relentlessly pursue the "acorn" of truth and justice, and trust that God's way will ultimately be THE WAY. This parable reminds us that we can count on God to hear us when we have no where else to go, and we can count on God to come down on the side of justice for us. And if God will be so generous to us, can we be as generous to others?
We know that from tiny acorns, mighty oaks will grow. And from the persistent pursuit of God's way of justice (and not just for us), a mighty faith will surely grow. This Sunday, we'll be thinking about the intersection of three elements of this parable -- prayer, justice, and faith -- and we'll reflect on the amazing persistence of God's Grace, which is at once the goal and the source of our lives.
Survivor Babylon
October/08/2010 04:25 PM
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 These are the
words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem
to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the
prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into
exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens
and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters;
take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that
they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not
decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you
into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare
you will find your welfare.
Some Sermon Thoughts
In 597 B.C.E., the Babylonian Empire expanded it holdings in a hostile takeover of all of Judah, with Jerusalem as its most important city. There were massive layoffs locally, and a devastating "brain drain" as the brightest and best from every sector of the culture were taken back to Babylon to be of use to their new "bosses." As with almost all expanding empires, the primary goal was accumulating and consolidating wealth (nee power).
These were hard times for the exiles in Babylon. Uprooted from all that was known, familiar and comfortable, they were now surrounded by strangeness of place, language, customs, and most especially -- the worship that had been at the center of their existence. Their one God now seemed as distant and lost to them as the Jerusalem Temple and Mount Zion. They were so sad, and lost.
Jeremiah (in his usual gloom and doom way) has told them that their physical, geographic dislocation was a consequence and symptom of the spiritual distance they had created between them and God back in Jerusalem. And yet, he also tried to encourage with a word of hope, which may be as hard for us to hear as it was for some of the Israelite exiles. You can live as faithfully here as anywhere. Build houses, he says, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat from them. Get married, have children, raise up families. And pray, he urges, for your enemies, the place you don't want to be in, the situation you did not intend to create for yourselves. It will help, whether or not you understand how.
So Donald Musser (Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 4, p. 150) writes, "although exiles cannot control their exilic circumstances, they have some measure of control over their attitudes and behaviors." For the Israelites in Babylon this will be important because while everything fell apart so quickly, it will take a long time before they go back home. Be patient and persistent, Jeremiah writes to them. Settle in for the long-haul. Make the best life you can, right where you are, loving God and loving neighbor -- yes, even those neighbors. God is there too, watching for you to be that "light to the nations" he called us to be so long ago.
I can't help but say what I hope is the obvious, that Jeremiah could be writing to our generation in our time of exile. Corporate take-overs (hostile or not), economic recession, foreclosures, job losses, bankruptcies, "gutted" retirement funds, failed banks. Are these some of the signs of exile in our time?
And have you noticed how many survival shows there are on television these days? Is this a sign, revealing how lost and fearful we feel about all that is going on in our world? Are we hungry to learn literal survival skills, or to be at least reassured by others that we can survive almost anything?
There are skills that we can learn (and some we may have forgotten we have) that will see us through this time of exile. But they don't involve making a fire without a match, or finding potable water in the jungle or desert. We'll reflect on some of those skills, or knowledge base, in worship this Sunday.
Jeremiah is so clear. God will get us back home, eventually. There is a future, even if you don't know exactly what it looks like. You can do this, because God will be with you through it all. God was with you in your exile, and in the bright, promised future with God.
We're told that consumer confidence is low. But trust in the marketplace is neither our real problem, or a true solution. Trust in God, whose ways and whose presence are our only security, our only hope, is the long-term investment that will bless us and all creation.
Some Sermon Thoughts
In 597 B.C.E., the Babylonian Empire expanded it holdings in a hostile takeover of all of Judah, with Jerusalem as its most important city. There were massive layoffs locally, and a devastating "brain drain" as the brightest and best from every sector of the culture were taken back to Babylon to be of use to their new "bosses." As with almost all expanding empires, the primary goal was accumulating and consolidating wealth (nee power).
These were hard times for the exiles in Babylon. Uprooted from all that was known, familiar and comfortable, they were now surrounded by strangeness of place, language, customs, and most especially -- the worship that had been at the center of their existence. Their one God now seemed as distant and lost to them as the Jerusalem Temple and Mount Zion. They were so sad, and lost.
Jeremiah (in his usual gloom and doom way) has told them that their physical, geographic dislocation was a consequence and symptom of the spiritual distance they had created between them and God back in Jerusalem. And yet, he also tried to encourage with a word of hope, which may be as hard for us to hear as it was for some of the Israelite exiles. You can live as faithfully here as anywhere. Build houses, he says, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat from them. Get married, have children, raise up families. And pray, he urges, for your enemies, the place you don't want to be in, the situation you did not intend to create for yourselves. It will help, whether or not you understand how.
So Donald Musser (Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 4, p. 150) writes, "although exiles cannot control their exilic circumstances, they have some measure of control over their attitudes and behaviors." For the Israelites in Babylon this will be important because while everything fell apart so quickly, it will take a long time before they go back home. Be patient and persistent, Jeremiah writes to them. Settle in for the long-haul. Make the best life you can, right where you are, loving God and loving neighbor -- yes, even those neighbors. God is there too, watching for you to be that "light to the nations" he called us to be so long ago.
I can't help but say what I hope is the obvious, that Jeremiah could be writing to our generation in our time of exile. Corporate take-overs (hostile or not), economic recession, foreclosures, job losses, bankruptcies, "gutted" retirement funds, failed banks. Are these some of the signs of exile in our time?
And have you noticed how many survival shows there are on television these days? Is this a sign, revealing how lost and fearful we feel about all that is going on in our world? Are we hungry to learn literal survival skills, or to be at least reassured by others that we can survive almost anything?
There are skills that we can learn (and some we may have forgotten we have) that will see us through this time of exile. But they don't involve making a fire without a match, or finding potable water in the jungle or desert. We'll reflect on some of those skills, or knowledge base, in worship this Sunday.
Jeremiah is so clear. God will get us back home, eventually. There is a future, even if you don't know exactly what it looks like. You can do this, because God will be with you through it all. God was with you in your exile, and in the bright, promised future with God.
We're told that consumer confidence is low. But trust in the marketplace is neither our real problem, or a true solution. Trust in God, whose ways and whose presence are our only security, our only hope, is the long-term investment that will bless us and all creation.
Honest Anger
October/01/2010 05:03 PM
The image of God
that we encountered in last week's sermon was that of a parent
caught in a sudden rainstorm, sheltering their infant in their
arms, whispering promises. "It's going to be all right. We're
going to make it home. I know the way. I love you!" The
scripture readings reassured us that God will be with us in times
of trouble -- always.
This week, we hear songs of lament, grieving voices of the children of Israel. Their land has been conquered, their temple destroyed, their leaders exiled to Babylon. Their culture is close to death. It is a devastating time of dislocation. After September 11, 2010, we may have begun to have some idea of what their collective sorrow felt like. Our dislocation may have been on a smaller scale, but we have seen the response to the sorrow and grief of that day.
Psalm 137 reveals a people tormented by their captors, saddened by their distance from all they had known. It is almost unbearable. Their anger is great, and their desire for revenge is so strong.
Perhaps we can empathize with these emotions, the wish to pay back the perpetrators of pain with more pain than the victim has known. But to revel in the horrific deaths of children? I can't go there. I don't want to feel that kind of rage.
How do you react to this final, frightening verse of Psalm 137? "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against a rock."
Does it simply not belong? Should we ignore it? We should definitely not say that this is just the Old Testament God of judgment in action. This is the old testament people in pain in action. It is their rage, not God's that we are hearing.
So, perhaps we need to pay closer attention to the brutally honest cries of anguish from those that suffer, not just in Bible stories, but in our own communities, in our world.
This Sunday we'll try to listen more deeply, so that we might hear what the Psalmist has to teach us through these most troubling words. The Psalmist honestly expresses difficult emotions. As we listen, may we be as honest with God about the depth of our feelings about many things. God is open to receive this crying out. May we be as open to the cries of anger, born in suffering, of all people. And may God embrace it all, our pain and theirs, their grieving and ours, the anger, the desire for revenge, that every wounded body and heart may be healed.
This week, we hear songs of lament, grieving voices of the children of Israel. Their land has been conquered, their temple destroyed, their leaders exiled to Babylon. Their culture is close to death. It is a devastating time of dislocation. After September 11, 2010, we may have begun to have some idea of what their collective sorrow felt like. Our dislocation may have been on a smaller scale, but we have seen the response to the sorrow and grief of that day.
Psalm 137 reveals a people tormented by their captors, saddened by their distance from all they had known. It is almost unbearable. Their anger is great, and their desire for revenge is so strong.
Perhaps we can empathize with these emotions, the wish to pay back the perpetrators of pain with more pain than the victim has known. But to revel in the horrific deaths of children? I can't go there. I don't want to feel that kind of rage.
How do you react to this final, frightening verse of Psalm 137? "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against a rock."
Does it simply not belong? Should we ignore it? We should definitely not say that this is just the Old Testament God of judgment in action. This is the old testament people in pain in action. It is their rage, not God's that we are hearing.
So, perhaps we need to pay closer attention to the brutally honest cries of anguish from those that suffer, not just in Bible stories, but in our own communities, in our world.
This Sunday we'll try to listen more deeply, so that we might hear what the Psalmist has to teach us through these most troubling words. The Psalmist honestly expresses difficult emotions. As we listen, may we be as honest with God about the depth of our feelings about many things. God is open to receive this crying out. May we be as open to the cries of anger, born in suffering, of all people. And may God embrace it all, our pain and theirs, their grieving and ours, the anger, the desire for revenge, that every wounded body and heart may be healed.