SERMON ~ 03/16/2014 ~ “Everything Old Is New Again”

03/16/2014 ~ Second Sunday in Lent ~ Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9.

Everything Old Is New Again

“Nicodemus said to Jesus, ‘How can this be possible?  How can these things be?’ / Jesus replied, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you still do not understand these matters?’” — John 3:9-10.

At times we seem to live in a world where being oblivious to wisdom, to truth, even to our own history is a path society is bent on following.  (Slight pause.)  Sister Helen Prejean is best known for her work with prisoners on Death Row and the book she wrote about her experiences, Dead Man Walking.  Needless to say, that book which was turned into a movie.

And yes, some would see the good sister as a radical.  What follows is what Helen said in a recent interview as she reflected on the world in which we live today.

(Quote:) “We live in a culture where the name of God and Jesus is invoked to uphold state killing, to uphold war, to uphold tax cuts where rich people get richer and poor people get poorer.  ...the reason Jesus was a threat to both Rome and the religious hierarchy of the day was Jesus thought the inauguration of a community so radical it threatened everybody was a good idea.”

“The way Jesus saw things, it wasn’t just the people who could keep the holiness codes and do all the hand washing who counted.  It was also the people who never washed their hands.  People who lived what was called sinful lives counted also.  Jesus ate meals with them.”

“Jesus even inaugurated a community that incorporated children.  And this was a time in which children were not considered to be persons.”

“If Jesus had been just a dreamy preacher and told everybody to love one another, that wouldn’t be threatening to the Romans or to anybody.  Jesus espoused a radically new kind of community where wealthy people shared with people who had nothing, a community where no one was in need and everyone was treated with dignity.”

“And that’s what’s so threatening about the kind of community Jesus had in mind— it’s an inclusive community.  That is the kind of community we need to have today”— Sister Helen Prejean. [1]  (Slight pause.)

So, how radical is that?  Or is it merely... moral?  Does it question the current morals of society?  I could be wrong, but this is my suspicion.  Even Sister Helen, radical though she might be, is by far less radical than Jesus.  (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Gospel according to the School of John: “Nicodemus said to Jesus, ‘How can this be possible?  How can these things be?’ / Jesus replied, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you still do not understand these matters?’”  (Slight pause.)

Question: was Jesus a radical?  Or was Jesus merely reiterating what the Hebrew Scriptures had already laid down as a way of life?  (Slight pause.)

This is clear from the story in the text: Jesus has little confidence in shallow belief.  And Nicodemus embodies that perspective— shallow belief.

While impressed with what Jesus is doing and acknowledging miraculous deeds as proof of the presence of God, Nicodemus represents a curious but cautious person, a person well versed in finding paths of least resistence in the world, in polite society, a person who, none the less, asks questions.  But Nicodemus, perhaps being self-protective, brings those questions (quote:) “by night.”  (Slight pause.)

Faith, from the point of view of someone like Nicodemus, comes from weighing the evidence and drawing logical but middling conclusions.  There is no hint of commitment.

Perhaps tragically— tragically in the classical sense of the word, meaning a failure of heroism— perhaps tragically there is no hint of risk taking in Nicodemus.  Therefore, there is no hint that the society in which and of which Nicodemus is a part might be called into question by the kind of faith espoused by Nicodemus.

What is lacking in this kind of faith is a sense of openness to the Spirit.  Let me be clear: in this passage the term “Spirit” denotes an entirely different world.  This is a world vulnerable to the untamed Spirit of God.  A world open to the incredibly new. [2]

This is the kind of world, the kind of faith envisioned by Jesus: incredibly new.  In fact, it is also the kind of world envisioned by the Hebrew Scriptures.  You see, in what Jesus is saying there is nothing new.  It is all found in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The possibility of this kind of world, one driven by the Spirit of God, has simply been ignored by society.  In the words of the old song, what Jesus is saying is simple: Everything Old Is New Again.

Please note: my implication is not that the institution known as church is some sort of mastermind, like an evil Darth Vader type character, running everything in the world.  But the church does need to be about distinguishing the difference between power and service.

And I think one problem the church often runs into is confusing power and service— power; service.  Further, I think one problem both the church and greater society run into.  And, you see there is a second problem both the church and society run into.  That problem is that the church and society seem to constantly repeat the missteps of the past.

Ans example: when, in her most recent book, historian Doris Kerns Goodwin, writes this, she is speaking about the past.  She is addressing problems in the United States Senate in the decade of the 1890s, some 120 years ago.  (Quote:) “The United States Senate presented the most powerful obstacle to any... reform.”

The majority of the Senators (quote) “...were in thrall to business interests that filled their coffers through campaign contributions...” [3]  See what I mean?  Everything old is new again. (Slight pause.)

Theologian Bruce Epperly says we need to recognize God wants us to be alive to the potential all around us.  The Spirit of God wants to give us spiritual CPR.

The Spirit of God wants to give life to that which is currently dormant within us.  The Spirit of God wants to enable hope, wants to enable us to act anew.

The Spirit of God cannot be pinned down through doctrine, worship style, spiritual practice, ecclesiology.  The Spirit of God is untamed.

The love of God is equally untamed.  God loves the world, even this world with all its messiness— the kind of messiness about which Doris Kerns Goodwin wrote.

Condemnation— condemnation— is not part of the vision of God— those folks over there are bad, wrong, stupid [the pastor has pointed toward the left side of the nave and laughter erupts on that side of the church followed by laughter on the other side as they realize the pastor had not singled them out).  Condemnation— O.K.— over here [the pastor points to the opposite side of the nave and there is more laughter] condemnation is not a part of the vision of God; affirmation— affirmation is a part of the vision of God.  And, more importantly, this affirmation makes a claim on us— that we act within the will of God, show the love of God to all people.

Therefore, the working out of our relationship with God is not determined by our response to God.  But it is conditioned by our response to God.  See the difference?  Not determined by our response to God but conditioned by our response to God.  Working within the will of God opens us to relationship with God in all its fullness. [4]

In short, we need to make not just choices but wise choices.  And what places those choices in the realm of wisdom is not that they to society and its wishes but that they conform to the will of God.  (Slight pause).

In a couple of moments we will celebrate a choice Lilit Danielyan has made in becoming a citizen of the United States.  We do this not to celebrate any nation.  No nation is perfect.

We do this to support our sister Lilit.  But I also need to note I think I know her well enough to say she strives to listen to the Spirit and to the will of God. [5]

And that, my friends, is what living in the will of God is about: do we try to listen to God?  And that is the very place Jesus challenges Nicodemus.  So, do we, like Nicodemus, merely play it safe, conform, or are we listening to God?

Indeed, I think one of the things Jesus says to Nicodemus is that God has already said everything Jesus is teaching.  God has said it in the Law, said it in the Prophets.

Therefore, I suppose we are lucky.  You see, one of the things we claim for the church today is that God is still speaking.

And I not only suspect that is true.  I suspect what God has to say God has already said in the Law and the Prophets.

I suspect what God has to say God has already said with the coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.  Therefore, everything old is new again.  Hence, the question for us is obvious: are we listening?  (Long pause.)  Amen.

03/16/2014
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE— It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “The great African-American preacher of the early 20th Century James Weldon Johnson used this phrase in a sermon: ‘Your arm’s too short to box with God.’  I think one of the biggest problems of our race is our vision of the love of God, the love which God offers is way too small.  Equally, I think what goes hand in hand with that is the vision God has been repeating and repeating and repeating over the course of millennia is love.  More love than we can imagine.  And we keep forgetting.  But God is good.  God does keep reminding us.”

BENEDICTION: God’s love will surround us even when we do not ask for it.  God’s voice speaks to us.  Let us be attentive to it.  Let us share this with others, confident that God will be with us.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  Amen.

[1]  Sister Helen Prejean in Living the Questions: the Wisdom of Progressive Christianity.  Note: the quote was slightly edited for size, flow and clarity.  Despite that, in this use it does remains largely intact.

[2]    Texts for Preaching in the electronic version of this publication in the commentary about this passage from John, the reading assigned for the day.

[3]  Pg. 291.  The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  Simon & Schuster; 2013; ISBN-10:141654786X

[4]   A lot of this language is adapted from The Adventurous Lectionary for the Second Sunday in Lent: 03/16/2014 ~ By Bruce Epperly.
 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2014/03/the-adventurous-lectionary-march-16-2014/

[5] .  This was the ceremony for Lilit.

A TIME OF CELEBRATION

PASTOR: There are times events in the lives of individuals should be noted by the members of a church.  Recently Lilit became a citizen of the United States of America.  I think this is one of those times we need to take note.  I invite Lilit to come forward.

PASTOR: Please join with me in the prayers found in the bulletin where appropriate.

INVITATION

ONE:            God be with you.
MANY:    And also with you.
ONE:            Be free with your hearts.
MANY:    We give them freely to God.
ONE:            Let us give thanks to God.
MANY:    It is right to give God thanks and praise.

PRAYER
ONE: Let us pray.  O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus, the Christ.  We ask that You look with compassion on the whole human family; take away any arrogance and hatred which can infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth that, in Your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony.  Amen.

ONE:            Let us give thanks to God for all the gifts so freely bestowed upon us.
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea,
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For our daily food and drink, our homes and families and our friends,
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play,
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For the brave, the courageous, the faithful even when they face adversity,
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For all valiant seekers of truth, liberty and justice,
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.
ONE:            For this nation and its people that we might be seekers of Your truth, Your liberty and Your justice.
MANY:    We offer thanks, O God.

[At this point the pastor invited anyone who wished to come forward to lay hands on Lilit while the final prayer was intoned.]

PRAYER

ONE: Let us once again be in an attitude of prayer.  Holy God, who has given us this good land for our heritage, we humbly beseech You that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Your favor and glad to do Your will.  Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning and pure manners.  Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogance and from every evil way.  Defend our liberties and fashion into one united people the multitudes who come from many kindreds and tongues.  Grant Your Spirit of Wisdom to those we entrust with the authority of government, that Your justice and peace may take hold at home and abroad.  In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble, let not our trust in You fail.  Last, we ask that You bless Lilit and grant to her Your blessing on this adventure and in this place.  Amen.