March 25, 2012
Lent 5
Jeremiah 31:31-34
John 12:20-33
(prayer)
//
I have spent the last two days helping coach at a football camp with players from age 7 to 17: They got going again this morning at 9:30am – I’ll join them for the last couple hours this afternoon.
This is the third year in a row that the Leduc and District Minor Football Association has organized winter football camps. We attract players from the LDMFA program area obviously, but also from other programs like Spruce Grove, Camrose and Sherwood Park, to name just a few.
The popularity is due, in part, because the organizers have brought in former and current NFL and CFL players, coaches from high school, junior and university teams. For minor coaches like me, I learn as much as the kids do.
This weekend’s camp focuses on Defence: last weekend we had an offensive camp focusing on the run game. Last month we had a camp focusing on the passing game.
Getting better at football is all about “the reps” – repetitions – learning a fundamental technique and practicing it over and over and over and over...
On the surface that can sound a bit boring, but over time the impact of a sustained commitment can be seen and experienced.
//
//
Jeremiah was a prophet of Judah who lived in Jerusalem in the seventh century BCE [before the common era: aka BC – before Christ]. The dominant world power at the time was the Babylonian Empire; they were moving west and had their eyes on control of Judah: an attractive location at the crossroads between the trade roots connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.
Jeremiah preached to the people as the Babylonians systematically took control of the countryside. Many rural refugees fled to safety behind Jerusalem’s walls. The hope was that the city’s fortifications would withstand the onslaught. But the empire was relentless – they moved in and deported the political and religious leaders. Chaos became the norm for the people of Judah as Jerusalem was surrounded and shut off. Although some held out hope that they could outwait the Babylonians, the pragmatists knew that it was only a matter of time.
Most of the text of the book of Jeremiah is critical of the people for their long-term lack of faithfulness – this spiritual disconnect, Jeremiah argued, was a significant factor in the encroaching empire’s success.
The four verses we heard from chapter 31, however, are full of hope and promise. Jeremiah was one of those who kept strong to the idea that Jerusalem would not fall, but deep down, he must have known that the Babylonians wouldn’t give up – chapter 31, verses 31 to 34, speak more long term.
“The days are surely coming...”
The opening words of our first reading today are ones of confidence and the promise of a hope-filled future.
“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
The implication of these words is confirmed in the next verse: the covenant I made with their ancestors has been broken. Back when God first call Abraham, the promise was “I will be their God and they will be my people.” In the time of Moses, it was experienced as the liberating power of God as the people journeyed from slavery to freedom. The covenant took tactile form as commandments were etched into stone and later expanded into the Torah, the Law.
Jeremiah spent most of the first thirty chapters of his book talking about the lack of a faithful commitment by the people – a broken covenant, so to speak.
But that’s not the end.
God remains faithful – even when the people aren’t – especially when the people aren’t. God does not get legalistic and claim the agreement is null and void because of the lack of faithfulness. God looks for a new way for the covenant to be embraced by the people.
Like the football players over in the high school gym, God knows that a sustained commitment leads to positive results. Even with the Babylonians beating at the door, and the people on the edge of defeat and exile, God looks forward to a renewed future.
The law of God – the ways of faithful living – have made their way into written form, first in stone and then on to the parchments of the scribes. But words on stone, or papyrus or skins or paper are meaningless on their own.
“I will put my law within them,
I will write in on their hearts –
and I will be their God and they will be my people.”
It is called a ‘new’ covenant in this passage, but it’s really still the old covenant – those old words to Abraham are repeated – I will be their God and they will be my people.
Rather than a new covenant, we can think of it a renewed covenant - a way for faith to be experienced as fresh and meaningful in a time of a new, challenging context.
The days are surely coming when faith will be felt and known so inwardly that evangelists will be out of a job: “no longer shall people teach ‘know the LORD’ for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest!”
The people’s faith does not need to die just because an empire will swallow them up and force the people to live in exile across the wilderness in the land of Babylon.
As we read on into the history of this time, prophets like Ezekiel kept the people’s faith alive during the exile. It took some refocusing – for the people of Judah, Jerusalem and its temple had become tangible symbols of faith. To some, the waters had been muddied so much that they had trouble seeing the possibility of faithfulness without those physical places in which to worship.
But, by the waters of Babylon, a new clarity emerged. One of Ezekiel’s visions was of the Spirit of God emerging from the rubble of the destroyed temple in Jerusalem and coming to be with the people in Babylon. God was not confined – to a place in time or real estate.
Even with a temple in ruins hundreds of kilometres away, God could be known.
Wherever, whenever: this God is our god and we are God’s people.
It’s not a new covenant, but it is known in a new context and felt and understood in a new way.
//
//
When Jesus had the opportunity to talk with some foreign visitors, he spoke about renewal, as well.
“Think of a seed” [Jesus and his seed parables...] “think of a seed. If it stays in the head of the grain, it will eventually dry up and that will be it – that seed will be no more. But if it leaves the security of the head of wheat, and risks falling into the nutrient rich soul, it allows itself to be changed, transformed – its dormant life bursts through. In a way the seed has to die in order for a newer and fuller life from that seed to emerge.
No matter what land they came from, locals and visitors all knew the truth of Jesus’ parable. It was the way of things before anyone could remember – seeds are planted to create more seeds – exponentially expanded life emerges from what might be feared to be the end.
//
Last week, I spoke about the late first century history and theology of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for sins. [If you missed that sermon, you can find it on the church’s website].
Today’s death language offers a slightly different metaphor: the death of the seed is natural and expected, as is the new life that emerges from the dying seed.
Jesus’ sermon for the Greeks was to be thinking long term, to be thinking broadly. No matter how much the seed loves being a seed, it won’t be one forever – its destiny is to transform and be the agent of something greater.
I wonder how many people in the crowd that day extended that metaphor to Jesus himself – something the early church certainly did.
The author of the gospel of John, a half century or more after the events of Jesus’ life – saw those words as describing the Easter experience of death and resurrection. It took several decades for the followers of Jesus to come to terms with Jesus’ death - to find meaning in what should have been seen as a complete defeat.
I am sure that for some this parable of the falling grain of wheat helped define their faith.
You may have noticed over the past five Sundays, that as the candles were lit at the start of our worship services, the choir has been singing a version of Jesus’ words.
Let’s listen again. [Choir sings #125MV ‘When a Grain of Wheat’]
Being transformed is part of a long term commitment. Jesus called on his disciples to follow him - even through suffering - for the promise of the wonder of both this life and the life to come.
That was a difficult teaching to live out in the 1st century, but it is especially challenging here in the 21st century.
We do live a world where instant gratification reigns. If we can’t have it NOW or if it takes too much EFFORT, we question how valuable it really is.
It is true that there are many in-the-moment wonders which faith brings into our lives – those thin place experiences; those moments of overwhelming inspiration. But... like young athletes trying to get better, faith also benefits from as many ‘reps’ as we can give it.
I know that you know that faith is not just a Sunday thing; it can be part of everyday of our lives. In fact, a person who never misses a Sunday service, but hangs their faith on the wall during the week, may not know as much depth of Spirit as a person who misses church here and there, but has that faith written on their hearts so that it shines through in all they do and say and feel everyday.
It may sound a bit boring and the possibility of instant gratification may be limited.
//
Why do we have to keep doing these drills over and over coach? As I learned from my oldest son’s first football coach, the answer is... “to get better”.
Why should we let God into all aspects of our lives? To know the better possibility of the hope and promise of faith that is in this moment and for all days to come.
//
Faith is an odd thing - more of a feeling than a thought. We need faith to make sense, but it's when it becomes so much a part of our deepest self ... that it changes the life we live.
Easter is just two weeks away - the time when the lives of Jesus' friends were completely changed.
We're not quite there yet, but we can be looking forward to what is to come.
Let us pray:
God, we long for the lasting peace that deep faith can bring. Remind us of your presence in each moment – in each time and place – so that we can know the promise that we are not alone, now and forever. Amen.
#12MV “Come Touch Our Hearts”
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD
March 18, 2012
Lent 4
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:16-21
(prayer)
A couple of months back, during a first round National Football League Playoff game, the Denver Bronco’s quarterback threw for a total of 316 passing yards in a surprise victory over the 2011 AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Those are pretty good numbers.
Tim Tebow had risen in the public interest because of a number of come-from-behind victories during the latter half of the season...and... because of his public displays of prayer on the field.
Even though, the content of his prayers were private, some people even postulated that the Bronco’s success was a direct result of Tebow’s prayers.
There was a memorable scene on Saturday Night Live in December [the week after Denver had won their sixth game in a row], where Jason Sudeikis, playing Jesus, appears in the Bronco’s locker room to admit that ‘he’ was (in fact) the reason they were winning. Taran Killim, playing Tim Tebow, jumps to Jesus’ side and says “I knew it!”
//
Depending on your point of view, the skit was either egregious religious mockery or a funny take on a contextual event.
Personally, I love to laugh at silly (even somewhat irreverent) humour about religion. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you can’t laugh at anything.
I mean, who can forget Eric Idle singing the ironically jovial crucifixion song in Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian” – ‘Always look on the bright side of life...(whistle)...’?
//
On January 8th, when Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards, those were good numbers, but nowhere near any record – good but not outstanding. Why did that passing performance get so much press? it was not a huge leap for people to bring to mind one of the most oft quoted Biblical passages: John chapter three, verse sixteen.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Especially since Tebow had promoted that passage with his eye patches earlier in the year.
//
For those of us who watched sports in the 1970s and 80s, we might recall Rollen Stewart sitting courtside at basketball games, or in the endzone at football games, or by Olympic medal podiums, or perhaps (most famously) behind home plate at baseball games – in his rainbow coloured afro wig and a T-shirt or sign reading “John 3:16” - always sitting where the camera would be pointing (I always wondered how he managed to get such GREAT seats).
No doubt many people did exactly what Stewart wanted them to do when they saw him on TV – they dusted off an old Bible and looked up the reference, John 3:16. “God so loved the world ...”
//
//
John chapter three is a description of a meeting between Jesus and a pharisaic member of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin Council named... Nicodemus.
The first part of the conversation had Jesus telling Nicodemus that seeking and understanding faith was like experiencing a new beginning – a re-birth, so to speak. Not a physical rebirth (not re-entering one’s mother’s womb), but a spiritual re-birth: “6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
When a person is born in the flesh, we are born into our mother’s arms - where we find warmth...and sustenance...and eyes that look on us with wonder for the miracle that we are. There is an innate safety in our mother’s arms.
I think Jesus was hoping to engender a similar kind of feeling as Nicodemus pondered a new birth in the Spirit.
When our spirit is renewed (reborn), we find comfort and nourishment in God, who is the source of all knowledge... all wonder... and all mystery. There is an innate safety with God - is the message.
//
//
So, what's about the impact of God’s love? Well, God loved the world so much that Jesus came to show that love to the world. John foreshadows the end of the gospel in the conversation with Nicodemus in John 3: Jesus was not willing to stop proclaiming God’s love – not even under threat of crucifixion.
That is something worth believing in! That is a source of safety and comfort ... without fear or condemnation.
In fact, the passage is quite clear that God’s desire is not the condemnation of those who do wrong, but their gracious rescue.
(cf. Seasons of the Spirit 2012)
//
Chapter three in the gospel of John is so rich in its message of hope and promise that it is a shame that 3:16 gets a disproportionate amount of the attention. I love the sections about a light shining on those who love darkness, but you don’t see John 3:19 on t-shirts.
In fact, I would be more inclined to hold up a sign that says "John 3:17".
John 3:16 is too often quoted as a judging condemnation:. 'believe' or perish! Stopping at verse 16 misses the actual point. Verse 17 is clear - God's love (in Jesus) does not condemn the world, but saves it.
It is (like the earlier part of chapter three) ... a promise about new life, not a threatened death.
//
As we move closer to the time of year when we remember Jesus' palm leaf parade, his trial, conviction, execution and his resurrection, we might find ourselves hearing phrases like "God sent Jesus to die" or "Jesus died for our sins".
Although that sentiment is NOT in John 3:16, some people feel it necessary to extrapolate the verb, "gave" in "God gave his only son" to mean that God gave his child up to be a sacrifice.
But that is not what John three is saying. Jesus as sacrifice is not as prominent in the New Testament as some would assume.
//
The pivotal event that brought sacrificial language into Christianity was not Jesus' relatively quiet crucifixion, but a much louder revolt that occurred about forty years after Jesus died. This event is not even mentioned directly in the Bible. But we know from other historical sources that, in the year 70CE, there was a Hebrew insurrection that attempted to end the Roman occupation in Judea.
//
It was unsuccessful.
//
Rome's authority was confirmed, militarily. But even more demoralizing was the fact that the ornate temple in Jerusalem, which had stood for four hundred years, was laid to ruin. The centre of life and faith for the Judeans was gone.
The centuries old rituals were silenced - many of which dated back to the first temple built in the time of king Solomon or even the tent tabernacle used from the time of Moses. From the year 70CE on, there would be no more possible ritual temple sacrifices.
//
As I said before, in spite of some Christian's attempts, the notion that 'Jesus died for our sins' is not in John three. The dominant new testament source for this language is the anonymously written letter to the Hebrews - which come a time after year 70. As the title suggests, the letter lays out a theology intended to be helpful for Christians with Jewish backgrounds.
Summary of the Letter:
the old traditions to symbolize a refocusing of faith (offering a confessional sacrifice at the temple) are not possible anymore, but do not fret, there is actually no need for those old rituals for the followers of Jesus. Since faith in Jesus' resurrection is what unites the church and gives it hope, Jesus' death could be seen as the key pre-event making the resurrection possible. The book of Hebrews describes Jesus' crucifixion as the once and for all sacrifice - the once and for all atonement for sin. It doesn't matter that the temple is gone (it doesn’t matter that you can’t find atonement for your sins in the old way); the old ritual is not needed; think of it as if the sacrifice has already been made.
By the time Hebrews was written, the early church had already concluded that Christianity was more than simply a Jewish sect. There was no expectation that gentile believers would even have to convert to Judaism to become Christian. This language would have much less meaning for the gentile members of the church.
In fact, by the time Hebrews was written, Christianity had evolved in its inclusively and its own worship practices to the point that even Christians with Jewish backgrounds no longer were active in the synagogues, following strictly Hebrew traditions, themselves. It is a fact that it was not an early christian tradition to present a sacrificial offering for the forgiveness of sins.
In fact, the gospel accounts of Jesus' life contain several examples of him proclaiming that someone's sins were forgiven. You never hear that a death was required in a literal way.
The situation usually involved a change of heart: the most one could say is that the death of an attitude was needed, but even that’s not always true - there were times the forgiveness or healing is just given - out of compassion or just as a gift (grace).
The letter to the Hebrews brings back some of the old familiar sacrificial language for the Jewish Christians. But even, there it is metaphorical.
We can see that in the simple fact that Jesus is actually described in Hebrews with two distinct (and conflicting) images. Jesus is both the object of the sacrifice (the atonement offering) and also the high priest who offers the sacrifice.
These dual images are clearly more metaphorical than literal. Jesus' death was not an actual sacrifice, but for a segment of the early church, that language helped them come to terms with Jesus' violent death by capital punishment.
//
The real downside of the literalization of this part of our heritage has been (and is) a distraction from the more important focus on the promise of safety and new, which comes shining through in John chapter three.
//
It is interesting to note that in the parts of the New Testament that predate the destruction of the temple (pre-70), like the letters of the Apostle Paul (written in the 50s), we don't see the Jesus-as-sacrifice language. In the Ephesians' passage for today, there is the language of death, but the emphasis is on the new life. Paul does not focus on Jesus' death.
For Paul, in this passage, death (or more accurately being dead) represents our sinful nature: our propensity to be more selfish than spirituality - by selfishness I mean that we trust only in ourselves - we do not allow God to enter the really important dynamics of our lives.
In today's scripture readings, dying refers to something we need to give up, not something Jesus needs to do for us.
With-respect-to Jesus, Paul's focus was on the resurrection - the saving defeat of death. The parallel "rising" for us - this forgiveness of sin - comes as a gift from God, from grace. There is no mention of forgiveness because of death - in fact (if we take the text seriously), it is forgiveness in spite of death.
//
Bottom line - a theology that Jesus' death was a planned sacrifice did not exist in the early church in it first critical decades. A metaphorical pre-version of this theology was presented in one biblical letter that was aimed at a specific segment of the early church in a post-temple era but it was metaphorical language not literal. Seeing the reason for the crucifixion as a sacrifice of Jesus didn’t take shape in Christianity for centuries after Jesus actual crucifixion.
Did you know that it would not be for 350-plus years after Jesus' crucifixion that Christ's death on the cross would depicted in Christian art?
I have come to believe that for the church of the 21st century (like it was for the church of the mid-first century) that an emphasis on "dying for sins" is much less helpful language than the notion of "rising to new life".
//
For Jesus' first and earliest followers, the proclamation was not ‘he is dead’ but 'he is risen'. It was not his death that was celebrated, it was his resurrection.
To put in the language of the pre-easter season: the story of Jesus did not end as the Friday sun set on the cross, but continued on through Sunday's empty tomb and the experience of new life among the company of Jesus’ disciples.
//
God invites us to let go of sinfullness, based in our selfish, non-spiritual tendencies. The promise is this: we find that we are not left wanting, because God's love and grace has filled any void our new 'lack of selfishness' has created.
God loved the world so much, that we are not condemned, but we are saved.
//
This is good news, indeed. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray...
Loving God, help us discover what it is we need to let go of, so that we can experience the new life in your grace. AMEM.
#333VU "Love Divine"
Lent 4
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:16-21
(prayer)
A couple of months back, during a first round National Football League Playoff game, the Denver Bronco’s quarterback threw for a total of 316 passing yards in a surprise victory over the 2011 AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Those are pretty good numbers.
Tim Tebow had risen in the public interest because of a number of come-from-behind victories during the latter half of the season...and... because of his public displays of prayer on the field.
Even though, the content of his prayers were private, some people even postulated that the Bronco’s success was a direct result of Tebow’s prayers.
There was a memorable scene on Saturday Night Live in December [the week after Denver had won their sixth game in a row], where Jason Sudeikis, playing Jesus, appears in the Bronco’s locker room to admit that ‘he’ was (in fact) the reason they were winning. Taran Killim, playing Tim Tebow, jumps to Jesus’ side and says “I knew it!”
//
Depending on your point of view, the skit was either egregious religious mockery or a funny take on a contextual event.
Personally, I love to laugh at silly (even somewhat irreverent) humour about religion. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you can’t laugh at anything.
I mean, who can forget Eric Idle singing the ironically jovial crucifixion song in Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian” – ‘Always look on the bright side of life...(whistle)...’?
//
On January 8th, when Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards, those were good numbers, but nowhere near any record – good but not outstanding. Why did that passing performance get so much press? it was not a huge leap for people to bring to mind one of the most oft quoted Biblical passages: John chapter three, verse sixteen.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Especially since Tebow had promoted that passage with his eye patches earlier in the year.
//
For those of us who watched sports in the 1970s and 80s, we might recall Rollen Stewart sitting courtside at basketball games, or in the endzone at football games, or by Olympic medal podiums, or perhaps (most famously) behind home plate at baseball games – in his rainbow coloured afro wig and a T-shirt or sign reading “John 3:16” - always sitting where the camera would be pointing (I always wondered how he managed to get such GREAT seats).
No doubt many people did exactly what Stewart wanted them to do when they saw him on TV – they dusted off an old Bible and looked up the reference, John 3:16. “God so loved the world ...”
//
//
John chapter three is a description of a meeting between Jesus and a pharisaic member of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin Council named... Nicodemus.
The first part of the conversation had Jesus telling Nicodemus that seeking and understanding faith was like experiencing a new beginning – a re-birth, so to speak. Not a physical rebirth (not re-entering one’s mother’s womb), but a spiritual re-birth: “6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
When a person is born in the flesh, we are born into our mother’s arms - where we find warmth...and sustenance...and eyes that look on us with wonder for the miracle that we are. There is an innate safety in our mother’s arms.
I think Jesus was hoping to engender a similar kind of feeling as Nicodemus pondered a new birth in the Spirit.
When our spirit is renewed (reborn), we find comfort and nourishment in God, who is the source of all knowledge... all wonder... and all mystery. There is an innate safety with God - is the message.
//
//
So, what's about the impact of God’s love? Well, God loved the world so much that Jesus came to show that love to the world. John foreshadows the end of the gospel in the conversation with Nicodemus in John 3: Jesus was not willing to stop proclaiming God’s love – not even under threat of crucifixion.
That is something worth believing in! That is a source of safety and comfort ... without fear or condemnation.
In fact, the passage is quite clear that God’s desire is not the condemnation of those who do wrong, but their gracious rescue.
(cf. Seasons of the Spirit 2012)
//
Chapter three in the gospel of John is so rich in its message of hope and promise that it is a shame that 3:16 gets a disproportionate amount of the attention. I love the sections about a light shining on those who love darkness, but you don’t see John 3:19 on t-shirts.
In fact, I would be more inclined to hold up a sign that says "John 3:17".
John 3:16 is too often quoted as a judging condemnation:. 'believe' or perish! Stopping at verse 16 misses the actual point. Verse 17 is clear - God's love (in Jesus) does not condemn the world, but saves it.
It is (like the earlier part of chapter three) ... a promise about new life, not a threatened death.
//
As we move closer to the time of year when we remember Jesus' palm leaf parade, his trial, conviction, execution and his resurrection, we might find ourselves hearing phrases like "God sent Jesus to die" or "Jesus died for our sins".
Although that sentiment is NOT in John 3:16, some people feel it necessary to extrapolate the verb, "gave" in "God gave his only son" to mean that God gave his child up to be a sacrifice.
But that is not what John three is saying. Jesus as sacrifice is not as prominent in the New Testament as some would assume.
//
The pivotal event that brought sacrificial language into Christianity was not Jesus' relatively quiet crucifixion, but a much louder revolt that occurred about forty years after Jesus died. This event is not even mentioned directly in the Bible. But we know from other historical sources that, in the year 70CE, there was a Hebrew insurrection that attempted to end the Roman occupation in Judea.
//
It was unsuccessful.
//
Rome's authority was confirmed, militarily. But even more demoralizing was the fact that the ornate temple in Jerusalem, which had stood for four hundred years, was laid to ruin. The centre of life and faith for the Judeans was gone.
The centuries old rituals were silenced - many of which dated back to the first temple built in the time of king Solomon or even the tent tabernacle used from the time of Moses. From the year 70CE on, there would be no more possible ritual temple sacrifices.
//
As I said before, in spite of some Christian's attempts, the notion that 'Jesus died for our sins' is not in John three. The dominant new testament source for this language is the anonymously written letter to the Hebrews - which come a time after year 70. As the title suggests, the letter lays out a theology intended to be helpful for Christians with Jewish backgrounds.
Summary of the Letter:
the old traditions to symbolize a refocusing of faith (offering a confessional sacrifice at the temple) are not possible anymore, but do not fret, there is actually no need for those old rituals for the followers of Jesus. Since faith in Jesus' resurrection is what unites the church and gives it hope, Jesus' death could be seen as the key pre-event making the resurrection possible. The book of Hebrews describes Jesus' crucifixion as the once and for all sacrifice - the once and for all atonement for sin. It doesn't matter that the temple is gone (it doesn’t matter that you can’t find atonement for your sins in the old way); the old ritual is not needed; think of it as if the sacrifice has already been made.
By the time Hebrews was written, the early church had already concluded that Christianity was more than simply a Jewish sect. There was no expectation that gentile believers would even have to convert to Judaism to become Christian. This language would have much less meaning for the gentile members of the church.
In fact, by the time Hebrews was written, Christianity had evolved in its inclusively and its own worship practices to the point that even Christians with Jewish backgrounds no longer were active in the synagogues, following strictly Hebrew traditions, themselves. It is a fact that it was not an early christian tradition to present a sacrificial offering for the forgiveness of sins.
In fact, the gospel accounts of Jesus' life contain several examples of him proclaiming that someone's sins were forgiven. You never hear that a death was required in a literal way.
The situation usually involved a change of heart: the most one could say is that the death of an attitude was needed, but even that’s not always true - there were times the forgiveness or healing is just given - out of compassion or just as a gift (grace).
The letter to the Hebrews brings back some of the old familiar sacrificial language for the Jewish Christians. But even, there it is metaphorical.
We can see that in the simple fact that Jesus is actually described in Hebrews with two distinct (and conflicting) images. Jesus is both the object of the sacrifice (the atonement offering) and also the high priest who offers the sacrifice.
These dual images are clearly more metaphorical than literal. Jesus' death was not an actual sacrifice, but for a segment of the early church, that language helped them come to terms with Jesus' violent death by capital punishment.
//
The real downside of the literalization of this part of our heritage has been (and is) a distraction from the more important focus on the promise of safety and new, which comes shining through in John chapter three.
//
It is interesting to note that in the parts of the New Testament that predate the destruction of the temple (pre-70), like the letters of the Apostle Paul (written in the 50s), we don't see the Jesus-as-sacrifice language. In the Ephesians' passage for today, there is the language of death, but the emphasis is on the new life. Paul does not focus on Jesus' death.
For Paul, in this passage, death (or more accurately being dead) represents our sinful nature: our propensity to be more selfish than spirituality - by selfishness I mean that we trust only in ourselves - we do not allow God to enter the really important dynamics of our lives.
In today's scripture readings, dying refers to something we need to give up, not something Jesus needs to do for us.
With-respect-to Jesus, Paul's focus was on the resurrection - the saving defeat of death. The parallel "rising" for us - this forgiveness of sin - comes as a gift from God, from grace. There is no mention of forgiveness because of death - in fact (if we take the text seriously), it is forgiveness in spite of death.
//
Bottom line - a theology that Jesus' death was a planned sacrifice did not exist in the early church in it first critical decades. A metaphorical pre-version of this theology was presented in one biblical letter that was aimed at a specific segment of the early church in a post-temple era but it was metaphorical language not literal. Seeing the reason for the crucifixion as a sacrifice of Jesus didn’t take shape in Christianity for centuries after Jesus actual crucifixion.
Did you know that it would not be for 350-plus years after Jesus' crucifixion that Christ's death on the cross would depicted in Christian art?
I have come to believe that for the church of the 21st century (like it was for the church of the mid-first century) that an emphasis on "dying for sins" is much less helpful language than the notion of "rising to new life".
//
For Jesus' first and earliest followers, the proclamation was not ‘he is dead’ but 'he is risen'. It was not his death that was celebrated, it was his resurrection.
To put in the language of the pre-easter season: the story of Jesus did not end as the Friday sun set on the cross, but continued on through Sunday's empty tomb and the experience of new life among the company of Jesus’ disciples.
//
God invites us to let go of sinfullness, based in our selfish, non-spiritual tendencies. The promise is this: we find that we are not left wanting, because God's love and grace has filled any void our new 'lack of selfishness' has created.
God loved the world so much, that we are not condemned, but we are saved.
//
This is good news, indeed. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray...
Loving God, help us discover what it is we need to let go of, so that we can experience the new life in your grace. AMEM.
#333VU "Love Divine"
Sunday, March 11, 2012
LIVING THE STORY
March 11, 2012
Lent 3
Psalm 19
John 2:13-22
Prayer: [May] the words of my mouth and meditation of [all our hearts] be acceptable to you, O LORD, [our] rock and [our] redeemer. (Ps19:14)
//
It is important to tell the story of Jesus being overly emotional at what he saw at the temple. This was such a significant story to the people of the early church that it is only one of a handful of stories told in all four of the Biblical Gospels.
By all standards of preferred, appropriate communication and conflict management/anger management techniques, Jesus went over the line. He yelled and screamed into a crowd. John says that he fashioned a whip and used it as a threatening weapon. Jesus’ emotions clearly got the better of him and he ‘snapped’.
What did he see that upset him? People selling animals for sacrifice (not for animal cruelty reasons, but because of the ‘selling’ of animals); money changers selling temple currency. Why did this bother him? Was the temple courtyard an inappropriate place for commerce? Was Jesus concerned that foreign pilgrims were not permitted access unless they bought local currency? Did this create a barrier for some people? Was he bothered that people did not take the ritual seriously, in that they had not come prepared for the ritual with the actual fruits of their own labour, choosing instead to buy what they needed when they arrived? Did Jesus just want to find an occasion to quote Isaiah 56:7 (My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people) and Jeremiah 7:11 (Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?)?
In Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus sings those OT quotes: “my temple should be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves”. That play and movie reflect the late nineteen sixties, early seventies, the Vietnam era – the market place included guns of war for sale alongside the animal and currency merchants: images intended to help the audience understand the outrage by bringing it into their context.
//
The truth is that Jesus reacted angrily to some injustice he saw and that may not be what the best self-help books tell us to do.
//
But...injustice should upset us. Sometimes, we are so bothered to the core of our being that a well-reasoned, logical response isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind...or out of our mouths.
//
If you have been anywhere the internet this week, particularly if you spent some time on news sites or social media sites, you likely have heard about Kony2012. On Monday, a little known US charity that seeks to help victims of African conflict (Invisible Children) uploaded a 30 minute video to YouTube. In less than a day, it had over one million views.
And then...it really went “viral” as people shared it on facebook and twitter and blogs of all sorts. I just checked just before 10 o’clock this morning and that original YouTube posting from Monday now has 71,279,533 views (that does not include all of the views of the copies that others have posted with different YouTube accounts).
The Kony2012 video’s content (and its meteoric spread) was a topic on radio talk shows, newspapers, websites, tv.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about Kony2012 concerns an attempt to shed light on a rebel warlord in north Uganda and neighbouring countries tribal regions: the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (the LRA): Joseph Kony.
I’ve edited a couple minutes from of the video for you to see this morning. I will post a link to the full video with my sermon notes on the church website.
//
Khadafy was #24,
Joseph Kony is #1.
//
Also going viral are the questions of discomfort that this video have raised.
“This Kony guy might be a bad guy, but he’s pretty small potatoes, isn’t he?”
“Are the ‘legitimate’ armies in the region any better?”
“Is this charity legit?”
“What percent of donations go to administration?”
“Besides, is it any of our business?”
“How does this hurt Canada’s economy?”
“Look it doesn’t affect me directly, so it’s none of my business.”
//
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
//
Biblical answer to that last one:
“YEEESSS!”
Genesis 4: when Cain was questioned about the whereabouts of his brother (who he had just killed), he lied and said “I don’t know”, but then he attempted to deflect the question by invoking what he hoped would be a societal norm: “I don’t have to look out for my brother, do I?”
Matthew 25: Jesus said that the ultimate test of our faithfulness will be: ‘when I [Jesus] was hungry or thirsty, when I was a stranger, or naked, or sick or in prison, did you help me? And by the way, when you help the least of my brothers and sisters (the most vulnerable, the least powerful), you do it to ME!’
(to centre)
(in raised tone) Am I my brother’s keeper? You’re damn right I am. Now, what the hell are we going to do about this shit!?” [note: as I was preaching live in church, I had planned on using a different word than 'hell' - another monosylabic four letter swearword, starting with 'f'', but I chickened out at the last minute]
//
//
//
Social Question: What upsets you more: my ‘colourful’ language or the injustices in our world, like what’s going on in Syria, or 26 years of war crimes committed by Joseph Kony?
//
Initially, I was bothered that the charity behind Kony2012 has a two star rating compared to more traditional overseas outreach charities. I know that they are unapologetically a different kind of charity, but I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that the charity’s work includes such high travel and promotional costs that they only dedicate about one-third of their resources go to on-the-ground projects in Africa: although what they’ve done in terms of building schools and homes is amazing.
And...I have to admit that when I watched the video, it bothered me that the big Kony2012 awareness day will be April 20th (4-20: it’s never mentioned, but 420 is the day that marijuana advocates make their very public pleas for decriminalization).
I’m a pretty liberal guy, but I’m not an advocate of free and open pot use. In the end, to me, all mind-altering endeavours are signs of a desire to escape some bothersome reality in life that would be better dealt with, rather than avoided.
//
But these are all side issues to the passion within the message of the video. It is so easy to get distracted.
//
Our passion about something can get us a bit off-centred. The method of our passion can get in the way of the message we are passionate about.
Having said that, we need to be able to see that nature in ourselves (and others) and not use our concerns over method as an excuse to ignore the message’s validity.
//
I apologize for my language earlier – I hope you know that I spoke that way for dramatic effect this morning: not out of disrespect for you or this sanctuary.
//
All that aside...when I watched the Ko ny2012 video, I was moved by (what I would describe as) the Invisible-Children-Charity’s motivational credo:
“Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live.”
"Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live.”
//
I’m not a fan of violence and angry talk (I’m not innocent of it either - ask my family). I know (from hard experience) that it can be distracting to a message!
We (you and I) will always be better off when we can choose our words and actions carefully.
//
How do we imagine people reacted to Jesus’ words and actions?
Did his method get in the way of his message? Was anyone talking about the injustices at the temple or just about that Galilean who went a little nuts with a whip?
It is likely that Jesus’ opponents tried to convince Pilate to crucify him by saying that he had been ‘causing riots at the temple’.
//
As we live out our faith as followers of Jesus, our Christ, we will do well to keep our passion for the message, without the distracting methods.
Tell the story. But more so...
Live the story.
Live it out so that others get the message of what it is you believe.
Authenticity is a powerful messenger.
That is the essence of the promises we all made as part of the baptisms this morning. We told Shay and Sophia and Vasyl that we were going to show them what faith can mean in their lives by living it out in ours.
//
It is significant that the story of Jesus’ final week (which, in all of the gospels except John, is where the story of the temple cleansing is told) [Jesus’ final week] is called Jesus’ Passion.
There is an emotional, deeply motivated (passionate) aspect to how Jesus speaks and acts in those days.
I like to define ‘passion’ as “focused angst, focused outrage”.
We are called to be passionate followers of Jesus: to use a focused outrage that looks at injustice and screams: “this cannot continue; this must stop.”
Injustice can be met with a heartfelt and honest passion for a just world.
//
//
We pray for God’s encouragement and support as we “seek justice and resist evil”: Come into our lives, Holy Spirit. Come and enliven our message for the world to see.
//
[end]
We should care about the kind of things Jesus cared about; we should love the kind of people Jesus loved; we should challenge injustice like Jesus did and seek changes that are needed. We should do this – not because it’s cost effective or comfortable – but because (among other things) ‘where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live’.
Let us live out our faith!
L’chaim! To life!
[prayer]
Let us pray:
Help us, O God, live out such a grace in our harmony with one another, that all people will know that they have value and deserve the highest dignity this world can offer. Amen.
#6MV “Holy Spirit, Come”
Lent 3
Psalm 19
John 2:13-22
Prayer: [May] the words of my mouth and meditation of [all our hearts] be acceptable to you, O LORD, [our] rock and [our] redeemer. (Ps19:14)
//
It is important to tell the story of Jesus being overly emotional at what he saw at the temple. This was such a significant story to the people of the early church that it is only one of a handful of stories told in all four of the Biblical Gospels.
By all standards of preferred, appropriate communication and conflict management/anger management techniques, Jesus went over the line. He yelled and screamed into a crowd. John says that he fashioned a whip and used it as a threatening weapon. Jesus’ emotions clearly got the better of him and he ‘snapped’.
What did he see that upset him? People selling animals for sacrifice (not for animal cruelty reasons, but because of the ‘selling’ of animals); money changers selling temple currency. Why did this bother him? Was the temple courtyard an inappropriate place for commerce? Was Jesus concerned that foreign pilgrims were not permitted access unless they bought local currency? Did this create a barrier for some people? Was he bothered that people did not take the ritual seriously, in that they had not come prepared for the ritual with the actual fruits of their own labour, choosing instead to buy what they needed when they arrived? Did Jesus just want to find an occasion to quote Isaiah 56:7 (My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people) and Jeremiah 7:11 (Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?)?
In Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus sings those OT quotes: “my temple should be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves”. That play and movie reflect the late nineteen sixties, early seventies, the Vietnam era – the market place included guns of war for sale alongside the animal and currency merchants: images intended to help the audience understand the outrage by bringing it into their context.
//
The truth is that Jesus reacted angrily to some injustice he saw and that may not be what the best self-help books tell us to do.
//
But...injustice should upset us. Sometimes, we are so bothered to the core of our being that a well-reasoned, logical response isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind...or out of our mouths.
//
If you have been anywhere the internet this week, particularly if you spent some time on news sites or social media sites, you likely have heard about Kony2012. On Monday, a little known US charity that seeks to help victims of African conflict (Invisible Children) uploaded a 30 minute video to YouTube. In less than a day, it had over one million views.
And then...it really went “viral” as people shared it on facebook and twitter and blogs of all sorts. I just checked just before 10 o’clock this morning and that original YouTube posting from Monday now has 71,279,533 views (that does not include all of the views of the copies that others have posted with different YouTube accounts).
The Kony2012 video’s content (and its meteoric spread) was a topic on radio talk shows, newspapers, websites, tv.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about Kony2012 concerns an attempt to shed light on a rebel warlord in north Uganda and neighbouring countries tribal regions: the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (the LRA): Joseph Kony.
I’ve edited a couple minutes from of the video for you to see this morning. I will post a link to the full video with my sermon notes on the church website.
//
Khadafy was #24,
Joseph Kony is #1.
//
Also going viral are the questions of discomfort that this video have raised.
“This Kony guy might be a bad guy, but he’s pretty small potatoes, isn’t he?”
“Are the ‘legitimate’ armies in the region any better?”
“Is this charity legit?”
“What percent of donations go to administration?”
“Besides, is it any of our business?”
“How does this hurt Canada’s economy?”
“Look it doesn’t affect me directly, so it’s none of my business.”
//
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
//
Biblical answer to that last one:
“YEEESSS!”
Genesis 4: when Cain was questioned about the whereabouts of his brother (who he had just killed), he lied and said “I don’t know”, but then he attempted to deflect the question by invoking what he hoped would be a societal norm: “I don’t have to look out for my brother, do I?”
Matthew 25: Jesus said that the ultimate test of our faithfulness will be: ‘when I [Jesus] was hungry or thirsty, when I was a stranger, or naked, or sick or in prison, did you help me? And by the way, when you help the least of my brothers and sisters (the most vulnerable, the least powerful), you do it to ME!’
(to centre)
(in raised tone) Am I my brother’s keeper? You’re damn right I am. Now, what the hell are we going to do about this shit!?” [note: as I was preaching live in church, I had planned on using a different word than 'hell' - another monosylabic four letter swearword, starting with 'f'', but I chickened out at the last minute]
//
//
//
Social Question: What upsets you more: my ‘colourful’ language or the injustices in our world, like what’s going on in Syria, or 26 years of war crimes committed by Joseph Kony?
//
Initially, I was bothered that the charity behind Kony2012 has a two star rating compared to more traditional overseas outreach charities. I know that they are unapologetically a different kind of charity, but I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that the charity’s work includes such high travel and promotional costs that they only dedicate about one-third of their resources go to on-the-ground projects in Africa: although what they’ve done in terms of building schools and homes is amazing.
And...I have to admit that when I watched the video, it bothered me that the big Kony2012 awareness day will be April 20th (4-20: it’s never mentioned, but 420 is the day that marijuana advocates make their very public pleas for decriminalization).
I’m a pretty liberal guy, but I’m not an advocate of free and open pot use. In the end, to me, all mind-altering endeavours are signs of a desire to escape some bothersome reality in life that would be better dealt with, rather than avoided.
//
But these are all side issues to the passion within the message of the video. It is so easy to get distracted.
//
Our passion about something can get us a bit off-centred. The method of our passion can get in the way of the message we are passionate about.
Having said that, we need to be able to see that nature in ourselves (and others) and not use our concerns over method as an excuse to ignore the message’s validity.
//
I apologize for my language earlier – I hope you know that I spoke that way for dramatic effect this morning: not out of disrespect for you or this sanctuary.
//
All that aside...when I watched the Ko ny2012 video, I was moved by (what I would describe as) the Invisible-Children-Charity’s motivational credo:
“Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live.”
"Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live.”
//
I’m not a fan of violence and angry talk (I’m not innocent of it either - ask my family). I know (from hard experience) that it can be distracting to a message!
We (you and I) will always be better off when we can choose our words and actions carefully.
//
How do we imagine people reacted to Jesus’ words and actions?
Did his method get in the way of his message? Was anyone talking about the injustices at the temple or just about that Galilean who went a little nuts with a whip?
It is likely that Jesus’ opponents tried to convince Pilate to crucify him by saying that he had been ‘causing riots at the temple’.
//
As we live out our faith as followers of Jesus, our Christ, we will do well to keep our passion for the message, without the distracting methods.
Tell the story. But more so...
Live the story.
Live it out so that others get the message of what it is you believe.
Authenticity is a powerful messenger.
That is the essence of the promises we all made as part of the baptisms this morning. We told Shay and Sophia and Vasyl that we were going to show them what faith can mean in their lives by living it out in ours.
//
It is significant that the story of Jesus’ final week (which, in all of the gospels except John, is where the story of the temple cleansing is told) [Jesus’ final week] is called Jesus’ Passion.
There is an emotional, deeply motivated (passionate) aspect to how Jesus speaks and acts in those days.
I like to define ‘passion’ as “focused angst, focused outrage”.
We are called to be passionate followers of Jesus: to use a focused outrage that looks at injustice and screams: “this cannot continue; this must stop.”
Injustice can be met with a heartfelt and honest passion for a just world.
//
//
We pray for God’s encouragement and support as we “seek justice and resist evil”: Come into our lives, Holy Spirit. Come and enliven our message for the world to see.
//
[end]
We should care about the kind of things Jesus cared about; we should love the kind of people Jesus loved; we should challenge injustice like Jesus did and seek changes that are needed. We should do this – not because it’s cost effective or comfortable – but because (among other things) ‘where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live’.
Let us live out our faith!
L’chaim! To life!
[prayer]
Let us pray:
Help us, O God, live out such a grace in our harmony with one another, that all people will know that they have value and deserve the highest dignity this world can offer. Amen.
#6MV “Holy Spirit, Come”
Sunday, March 4, 2012
IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO BE TOLD
March 4, 2012
Lent 2
Genesis 17:1-7;15-17
Romans 4:13-25
(prayer)
Abraham is the ancestor of a ‘multitude of nations’. Christians, Jews and Muslims all see Abraham as their literal or spiritual ancestor – all three of these modern faiths recognize Abraham’s family line as a legacy of divine grace.
//
Last week, as we explored the end of the Noah story, we heard the language of covenant: the language of promise. In that story, the rainbow was the sign of a covenant relationship between God and all creation (including humanity).
As we move from the pre-history section of Genesis to the historically based accounts, we begin to hear about how God connected to humanity through the family of Terah from Ur Kaśdim, particularly through Terah’s son and daughter-in-law, Abram and Sarai.
Today, from Genesis 17, we heard the language of covenant (or promised agreement) again.
This happened late in Abram’s life – he was 99 years old; Sarai, 90. The promise was that Abram would be the ancestor of a multiple of nations.
This was not new. A quarter century earlier, when Abram was 75 years old. The promise of a family legacy was tied to the call for Abram to carry on a journey his father had begun. Terah had moved the family away from Ur (in modern southern Iraq), with the intent of travelling to the land of Canaan. But decided to make CHaran (in modern southern Turkey) his home – he lived there until he died.
When Abram was 75 years old, God called him to continue on to Canaan, where he would be live up to his name (Abram means ‘great father’) as God would make, of him, a great nation.
The problem at the time was that Sarai and Abram had never had children and Sarai had already gone through menopause.
Inheritance traditions dictated that Abram’s heir would be Eliezer of Damascus – a ‘slave born in [his] house’. So, technically, the descendants of this Eliezer could trace their official lineage back to the house of Abram.
But God assured Abram that he would have a child of his own and his actual descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
So, since Sarai was barren, Abram took the only path he saw to make this promise reality. He had a son with Sarai’s handmaiden (it was actually Sarai’s idea – if I must, I must). Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, Ishmael when Abram was 86 years old.
In retrospect, Sarai regretted the whole incident and was very harsh and mean to Hagar and Ishmael.
Then we have today’s passage, from thirteen years later. Ishmael was on the verge of adulthood and God recovenants with Abram about the now expanded promise that he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. Sarai would be blessed because God would give her a son.
The implied message that has become the story of faiths in the region is that, through Hagar’s son, Abram would be a great ancestor and also through Sarah’s son. (Ishmael’s ancestors became the Arabs – Islam is an Abrahamic faith through Ishmael; Isaac’s ancestors became the Israelites – Judaism is an Abrahamic faith through Isaac; Christian authors wrote that the followers of Jesus were heirs of Abraham through faith. Paul famously wrote to the Galatian Christians: 4:26...for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There 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. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.)
This covenant had long lasting effects. It was significant. We could say that this covenant was sealed with new signatures. Symbolic of this new path, Abram and Sarai were given updated names. Abram (the great father) would be now known as Abraham (the father of many) and Sarai would be known as Sarah (princess) as “she will give rise to nations; kings of people shall come from her.”.
But Abraham and Sarah were not the only new names in Genesis 17. This passage is also the first (of only a handful of) occurrences of a new and different name for God. Right in verse one, God says, “I am ‘El Shaddai’.” This name for God is only used seven times in the bible, all in Genesis and its first use is in this passage where God gives new names to Sarai and Abram. El Shaddai is usually translated in English as ‘God Almighty’.
New names were symbols of a new level of covenant between Almighty God, Abraham and Sarah.
Of course, Sarah thought the whole thing was a joke until she actually became pregnant.
The story goes that is why she named the child, Isaac (meaning laughter).
[guitar]
Linnea Good (who played a concert here last year and was at St. Paul’s UC in Edmonton two days ago has a verse in her song “In the Beginning was the Word” that goes like this (please join me in the chorus):
//
Sarah thought the whole thing was a joke until she actually became pregnant.
Sometimes, it is not enough to hear about something: to be simply ‘told’ something. For it to seem real, it has to become a living reality in our lives.
//
//
When the Christian Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians who met in the very back door of the seat of the empire, the early church in the city of Rome, it was to a church that was struggling to find its identity among its diverse community.
The followers of Jesus’ Way in Rome included a large segment of Jewish Christians (those who believed that Jesus was the long-awaited Hebrew Messiah) as well as gentile (non-jewish) converts to Christianity. It is the tension between these two groups that gives rise to much of what Paul writes about in his letter. There were those, among the Jewish Christians (aka the circumcised) who believed that it was necessary for the Gentile Christians (aka the uncircumcised) to convert to Judaism in order to follow Jesus as the Messiah. They felt that Christianity was to be a strictly Jewish movement operating under the Jewish law (the Torah).
In fact, according to an edict of Emperor Claudius around the year 49CE, Jews were expelled from Rome because of conflicts with Christians over the validity of Jesus as the Messiah (there is a reference to this in Acts 18:2). Both Jews and Jewish Christians were expelled because of their infighting.
Claudius’ successor, Nero, allowed the Jews back into Rome in the year 54CE. This would have been just a few years before Paul wrote this letter.
Paul dove right into the debate between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. He points out that Abraham, the great ancestor, lived at a time before Moses and therefore before the Torah (the law) even existed. Abraham (Paul argues) did not live into the promise of God because be adhered to a law that (as yet) did not even exist, but that the promise came to him through the ‘righteousness of faith’. 4:16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham.
Paul was trying to get the whole community of believers in Rome to see that it wasn’t so much about certain rituals that can be performed with our bodies, but about what is felt in the heart, what is known in the mind and what is believed in the soul. Paul points to Abraham’s strong faith that he was able to trust that God would be faithful to the promise.
//
Sometimes it is not enough to go through the motions and give the outward appearance that something is real for us. It has to become a living reality in our lives...at levels much deeper than mere ritual.
//
Christianity in the 21st century must come to terms with this old lesson. We cannot rely on our rituals alone to be synonymous with true and honest faith. Although, in some circles it still serves us well, Christianity must see itself as less of an institution and more of a movement – less religious and more spiritual – less about words for eyes and hears and more about Word-come-to-life that makes a difference in this world.
This is not a new idea.
That is the example that Jesus showed us.
When some sought to shoo away the child who had crept up beside Jesus, he stopped them and showed a lesson about welcoming rather simply speaking one.
When the need for food seemed too daunting and he was advised to send the crowds away, Jesus called together what resources they had and (lo and behold) a multitude was fed.
Jesus didn’t just talk about the value of serving others, he washed his disciples feet to make the point clear.
Jesus’ words were supported by his actions.
When his disciples were bothered when Jesus talked about the struggle that his ministry would bring, he led by example – he faced his accusers and maintained a consistent, confident attitude – even as those opponents called for his execution.
//
And so, we may gather here together on the occasional Sunday – but that is not intended to be the be-all-and-end-all of our spirituality. It is hoped that each of us will take the inspiration of the songs we sing, the courage from the prayers we pray and the lessons of our readings and reflections [to take the meaning behind these rituals and experiences] and show the love and mercy and grace of God to the world beyond these walls.
We are heirs of the promise that God strengthens us...
Hearing about it means nothing, unless we put our faith into action.
When it is felt in the heart or known in the mind or believed in the soul... it has a place in the way we live and move and have our being in this world.
// Let us pray...
Great God, your love is overwhelming. We have seen it’s potential in Jesus. Your grace must burst out through us. Amen.
>*>*offering*<*<
Lent 2
Genesis 17:1-7;15-17
Romans 4:13-25
Sarah was a woman who was all of ninety-one.
That’s pretty old to start to be a mom.
When God announced that Sarah,
she would have a baby soon, she fell upon her face
and said in a swoon:
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
- for the living reality of faith,
- for transformation through the Jesus’ movement,
- for the influence of that deep spirituality that rests in each of us,
- for our potential to make the Word come to life.
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