August 7, 2016
Pentecost 12
"Hope is a dangerous thing." - words of Ellis Redding
from Stephen King's novella "Rita
Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption".
Cynical words... but founded in Red’s painful, truthful experience
over his decades of discouraging parole denials.
We all know this truth. Our most fervent hopes are
not always realized.
To defend ourselves from disappointment, each one of us can (and
sometime do) reach a point where hope becomes too painful to endure.
Even the most optimistic of us can be pushed to the hard edge where hope
seems to fade away.
//
Hope is a dangerous thing because hope is a powerful thing.
Hope is a dangerous thing because we (at our core) want to believe
in the best of what is possible...
we believe in renewal;
we believe in change;
we believe in reclamation;
we believe in a future that is open and
malleable.
Hope is a dangerous thing because it can motivate us to not always
take the safe and secure road.
Hope can lead us on adventures and lead to wondrous discoveries
about ourselves, others, the world and God.
//
//
The early decades of the early Christian movement were a time of
immense change as new generations of believers (both within the Hebrew and
Gentile cultural circles) struggled what it meant to be Jesus’ followers in a
complicated world. They were figuring out (as they went) how they fit in
and what would be the hallmarks that define who they were to be.
//
Because of various letters and other writings that have been kept
and maintained, copied and shared, since the first century, we are able
to glimpse back in time and see this evolving process unfold.
//
Thirteen of the twenty-one New Testament letters are presented as
having been written by the Apostle Paul; another seven are ascribed to other
authors. The book of Hebrews is unique as the only New Testament epistle
that was written anonymously - no author is named in the text.
The anonymity of the letter made some it a reluctant choice as a
text to include in the official canon of the New Testament. In the early
centuries of Christianity, various know New Testament figures were promoted as
the author (Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Paul, Apollos, Luke, Priscilla) in
attempts to grant the letter some authority. But there is no evidence for
us to know who the author was.
In the end, it was the letter's style and content that earned it
its place within the Christian Bible. It’s
words stood on their own and gave them all of the authority they needed to
convince the ‘church fathers’ to include it in the New Testament.
//
We may know almost nothing about Hebrews author, but we can infer
a fair bit about the letter's intended audience.
[Actually, the text does tell us one thing about the author -
's/he' is well educated. The style of writing is 'literary' - a more polished
and eloquent style than the other books of the New Testament, which use
a more every day, conversational greek. In fact, because the letter
lacks the normal salutations common to greek letter writing styles, it is
surmised that the bulk of its contents may have originally been more akin to a
sermon - a word of exhortation (Heb 13:22).]
//
Most scholars agree that the recipients of the Hebrews Letter were
Jewish Christians (perhaps even the Jerusalem church) who were under increasing
pressure to turn their backs on the Christian narrative and return to the
traditional teachings of their faith.
"Let us hold fast to our confession [about Jesus]", the
letter says in chapter four, verse fourteen.
//
The chief concern of the audience that the Hebrew's author is
addressing is that if Jesus was the Messiah, that means he was to be
military-style king - one who would vanquish their enemies (in particular, the
occupiers of the Roman Empire) and take over as an earthly king on a physical
throne over an established area of land. The questions they were asking
were if this was true, why was Jesus arrested and executed by the Empire.
Further to that, even though Jesus was resurrected, why would he leave
the world (ascending to heaven) where the people continued to suffer.
The author offers another description - another way of looking at
Jesus - one that grew from within the Hebrew tradition: Jesus as a great High
Priest (who intercedes between God and the people) bringing spiritual
restoration and forgiveness.
The metaphor went further. Jesus was more than the high
priest who moderates a reconciliation with God, Jesus was also the means
of renewal.
It is in the letter to the Hebrews where we see the seeds of what
would become in the substitutionary atonement theology that thrived in the 19th
century and is still popular in some Christian circles today... although, the
audience would have seen these words (that Jesus' death was an atonement for
sins) metaphorically not literally (as modern proponents of sacrificial
atonement profess).
//
//
This background of the contextual struggles of the early
Jewish-Christian community helps us in our interpretation of today's reading
from Hebrews, chapter eleven.
"Faith" is the centre of this section of the letter.
Faith, the way the Hebrews Letter is using it is different from
belief. Harvey Cox in the book The Future
of Faith distinguishes between the words faith and belief. Belief
is like an opinion - what do we think about something? Belief is a thing
of the mind. We have made a conclusion based on whatever authoritative
evidence we have gathered.
Faith takes it to another level. Beyond a thought or
opinion, faith is about a deep-seeded confidence that can defy logic. If
a belief is thought based, faith is feeling based.
Beliefs might help us in a debate with someone. Faith can
change how we live.
//
Okay, the distinction is pretty subtle. A modern
spirituality is founded in both the head and the heart.
But it is tested and measured by how it impacts our words and
actions.
Just a couple of days ago summer athletes began competing in the quadrennial
Olympics. The medals will not be awarded based on thoughts or feelings,
but on actions.
It is true that mental and emotional states of high-level athletes
are key parts of their preparation - yet every Olympic games create upsets that
defy common belief.
//
The book of Hebrews encourages the church to allow the professions
of the movement to become deep-seeded within the hearts and minds of the
people.
To do this, they are asked to embrace hope - with all its
possibilities and dangers.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for - the conviction of
things not seen.
I like the way that Jim Wallis (founder and
editor of Sojourners Magazine) phrases it: hope is believing in spite of the
evidence.
Hope is believing in spite of the evidence.
Wallis goes on to say: watch the evidence change.
Faith begins as hope, but if it ends there, we are selling it
short.
Impact full faith is lived out in world-changing action.
//
//
Therein lies the danger.
What we believe - where our faith lies - teaches us what (and who)
is valuable.
So much violence (in the past and present history of the world) is
claimed as justified based on the beliefs of the faithful.
//
I really struggle with this language because I know that,
although, religious devotion gives us wonderful acts of service and support, at
other times it gives us suicide bombers, women's health clinic shooters, family
violence and countless examples of dehumanizing oppression.
On that topic, in November and December, I will be leading a
Sunday morning book study looking at John Dominic Crossan’s book on Divine Violence
called, "How
to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian".
In the end, it is actions that matter the most. Actions
define who we are.
And so, since our actions are born out of what we believe; what
fuels our faith is what matters.
//
//
Jesus had strong words for those whose actions did not match their
lofty professions - wow to the hypocrites.
//
As a world community, through the United Nations, we have
expressed words declaring Universal Human Rights, the Rights of the Child, the
Rights of Indigenous People. How are we doing?
I am pleased to see that - in Canada - we are collectively brave
enough, to have spent time and resources on a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission to explore the history and impact of Indian Residential Schools.
We are just beginning to put actions to those words.
And, soon we will devote heart and mind to a Commission on Missing
and Murdered Indigenous Women. What actions will follow?
//
//
For twenty-five plus years, nations have professed ways to work
together on climate change. How are we doing?
Well, we aren't doing nothing, but do our words match our
actions.
I was pleased to see that the Rio Olympics are trying to be the
most environmentally sensitive games ever. How Ironic, given the state of
their Harbour and the decades of almost unchecked deforestation in the Amazon.
As the world watches Rio, we cannot help but notice the absolute
poverty that is set alongside the opulence of the games.
Granted for most of human history, there has been a large gap
between the rich and the poor. It was true in Jesus' day and (in fact)
throughout the whole biblical period. The plight of the poor and a
religious response to poverty is one of the common themes of the bible - it was
certainly chief among the things Jesus spoke about.
A huge rich-poor gap is most of our history, but over the last
100+ years, in the first world at least, we were starting to bridge that gap
with the increasing prominence of a middle class, but it does seem that greed
has found a way to reverse that trend over the last 30-40 years.
When will we accept that the words of 'trickle down economics' has
no basis in factual practice as a means of supporting the well-being of the
middle class or the poor?
//
//
Coming back to us - as people of spirit, as people part of the
story of Jesus:
What words do we seek to put into actions?
Where does our hope lie?
Jim Wallis, who I mentioned earlier, is also a member of a group
called Red Letter Christians. They take their name from the practice of
some bible publishers to put the quotations of Jesus in red type face.
Wallis and his companions want to promote what Jesus taught about how we
are to relate to the world, it's people and systems of power. It is a
more in depth version of the quipey WWJD - what would Jesus do?
As people of faith, we will do well by following Jesus' example
and leading with that example.
//
Guiding hallmark scriptures
- Gen 1:31
God saw everything that he had made, and
indeed, it was very good.
- Dt 6:5 + Lev 19:18 - quoted by Jesus as the greatest
commandments.
You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge
against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am
the Lord.
- Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what
is good; and what does the Lord require
of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God?
- Gal 3:28
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no
longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are
one in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Cor 13:13
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these
three; and the greatest of these is love.
- Rev 7:17
For the Lamb at the centre 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.
//
Let us put
these words into action!
Let us pray...
#161MV “I Have Called
You By Your Name”
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