09/28/2014 ~ Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ (Proper 21) ~ Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16; Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25:1-9; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32 ~ Covenant Share Sunday ~ Re-blessing of the Mallozzi Rings.
Teaching
“Jesus entered the temple precincts and began teaching.” — Matthew 21:23a
As you may be aware, we hosted the Fall Meeting of the Susquehanna Association here yesterday. There are two reasons we did that.
To be blunt, we were due. We last hosted an Association Meeting in 1999. It was our turn.
It is also the tradition in the Susquehanna Association that a church celebrating a major anniversary, as we are, gets to host the Meeting of the Association. To be clear: Association Meetings are an important part of the covenant connectivity between this church and the greater church.
Vanessa Myers-Dudley came from St. Louis, Missouri, to Norwich to speak at this meeting. Vanessa is a Seminarian, raised up as a candidate for ministry by the Park Church in Elmira and by the Susquehanna Association.
She is studying for her Master of Divinity Degree in St. Louis at Eden Seminary— a U.C.C. Seminary— and is in her third and final year. She came East to tell us about a recent trip to Kenya.
Vanessa and several other Eden students went to Kenya as part of their educational experience. And Vanessa gave a wonderful talk.
The point of seminarians going to Africa is to help them come to a better understanding of a very different culture by being among people living in that very different culture. I am well convinced in order to develop any understanding about another culture the best way to accomplish that is to go there, to travel to another land.
However, when one reads Scripture, the first thing that needs to be done to come even close to understanding what’s in its pages is knowing something about Biblical culture the culture in those times. But time travel is beyond us, is it not? We cannot directly experience Biblical times, can we?
That raises obvious questions: what was the culture like in New Testament times? And how can we know what it was like? Is it simply a matter of study, a matter of examining data about Biblical times?
Well, we do know something about those times, so let’s start with the data, what we know. (Slight pause.) This is a given: in antiquity ninety percent of the population of the Mediterranean basin lived in what you and I would call slavery. Less than five percent of the population was literate.
But then and now Jews and Christians were and are called “people of the book.” And there is very clear Scriptural evidence Jesus could both read and write.
Hence and by definition, two statements can be made. Those who were literate, that group of less than five percent of the population, offered leadership and were deeply involved in Judaism and Christianity. Jesus was among those in that less five percent group.
To be clear, I am not coming close to saying anything like ‘all those in that era who could not read or write were banned from being people of the book.’ I am quite sure they were included. I am inviting us to focus on the reality of ancient times and how things worked in that era and to think about how things worked.
To understand the New Testament culture we also need to understand the economic system prevalent two thousand years ago. Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan uses this label for the economic system found in that era: “Domination.”
Indeed, if ten percent live off the work and sweat of ninety percent, that is clearly a system we can label as domination. The very word domination makes it easier to comprehend a population of ninety percent enslaved and ninety-five percent illiterate.
Here’s something else we should consider: Paul wrote letters to different churches— a Letter to the Church in Thessalonika, a Letter to the Church in Rome, etc., etc., etc. How large were these churches?
It’s unlikely any of them had more than fifty people. Why do I say that? We believe those churches met in people’s houses. Even among the elite, very few had a house large enough to hold a meeting of more than fifty. These churches were very, very small.
Further, scholars tell us that by the year 100 of the Common Era— 70 years after the Resurrection event— the number of Christians in the entire Mediterranean basin was less than 10,000. 70 years after the Resurrection, the number of Christians was less than 10,000.
All of which is to say Christianity was not exactly spreading like wild fire. But unless we know these things about the culture of Biblical times, we have little hope of understanding what’s written in Scripture.
My point in rehearsing all this is to offer a simple question. How can we come to know something of the reality, the truth revealed to us by Scripture? (Slight pause.)
Well, let me make two points. You often hear me call the United Church of Christ, First Congregational, here in Norwich, a ‘community of faith.’
Second, the words we heard from Matthew tell us (quote:) “Jesus entered the temple precincts and began teaching.” Why is Jesus teaching in the Temple? After all, the Temple was not a school. It was a place of worship, a place a community of faith gathered for worship, was it not? And Jesus is teaching!! (Slight pause.)
I want to come back to something the seminarian Vanessa Myers-Dudley said yesterday. Vanessa would show us a picture of someone and tell us something new and different she learned about the culture in Kenya from that person. Her point is this was not data she learned from that person.
She labeled that learning a God moment. A moment, you see, have nothing to do with data. God moments are experiences. (Slight pause.)
I think it’s possible we have an inaccurate impression about teaching and learning. Culturally, we tend to think of a teacher as someone who has information, who fills up a student with information, data, like pouring water from a pitcher into a glass.
I would be the first to say conveying information is important. There is information— data— we need to know.
We need to know things when looking at Scripture like ‘what was the economic system in New Testament times.’ But filling someone up with data is not any definition of teaching I know about and it is not any definition of learning I know about.
The definition of teaching is when God moments, experiences happen. That’s when real leaning happens. These are times of human epiphanies. The learning which happens in God moments is something only done through person to person interaction. (Slight pause.)
So, what should the church be about today, really? The church should be a place of teaching. Church should be a place of learning. And yes, there is important data, information, that needs to be conveyed.
However, true teaching and true learning happens in God moments. And yes, Jesus probably is offering some data teaching in the Temple. But it’s much more likely Jesus is teaching the only way it should be done— seeking and exploring God moments with other people.
Indeed, earlier we shared in a God moment when Chris and Jen Malozzi rededicated not just their rings. They re-dedicated themselves. [1]
That raises up the question ‘what is the Community of Faith?’— that phrase I keep using. Try this: as culturally alien as it might seem to us— as culturally alien as it might seem to us, all Christian weddings should be celebrated at the main service on a Sabbath, celebrated within the context of the Community of Faith.
Why? In a Christian, communal context, a marriage should be a God moment, a time the whole community of faith participates in learning about the love we have for each other, a time the whole community of faith participates in learning about covenant commitment, a time the whole community of faith participates in learning about the love God offers.
Therefore, one of the big challenges for we in the church is too often we do not see the church as a place of teaching and learning. But when real teaching and real learning happens God moments happen also.
And my friends, that is the purpose of church. It’s a place we learn God moments are real. It’s a place we learn God moments are tangible. It’s a place we learn God moments are present. It’s a place we learn God moments are with us constantly. Amen.
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York.
09/28/2014
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: “Again, teaching is not like filling up a glass with water. [The pastor gets a pitcher and a glass which was set on a stand in the center isle while the closing hymn was played and the pastor pours a glass of water.] Who here would admit to being an empty glass? Believe me we all have much to offer. Teaching and learning means you experience the water. [The pastor sticks a hand in the water.] What do you think? We teach and we learn through interaction.”
BENEDICTION— The grace of God is deeper than our imagination. The strength of Christ is stronger than our need. The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. O Holy Triune God, guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.
[1] . This was the Ceremony.
ONE:
Two years ago save one day Jen and Chris Mallozzi gave themselves to one another in the covenant of Marriage. Today, as the people of God, we will witness a re-commitment as we re-bless the rings Chris and Jen gave to one another. So, I invite Jen and Chris to come forward as we share in their joy and ask God to bless them.
ONE:
Since, from a theological perspective, it seems one dimensional to simply re-bless rings, Chris and Jen will once again exchange covenant promises.
THE COVENANT PROMISE - Chris and Jen, please repeat, after me, these words of covenant promise:
(To Chris, who repeats these words.) I take you, Jen, / to be no more / than what you are, / loving what I know of you, / and trusting / what I do not yet know, / to be my wife, / my lover / and my companion, / to love and protect / in all the ways / that life may find us / for the rest of my life. / Amen.
(To Jen, who repeats these words.) I take you, Chris, / to be no more / than what you are, / loving what I know of you, / and trusting / what I do not yet know, / to be my husband, / my lover / and my companion, / to love and protect / in all the ways / that life may find us / for the rest of my life. / Amen.
Again, from a theological perspective, Christian Marriage is an act of covenant within a community of faith. I therefore invite the participation of the Congregation.
Friends, do all who are present, as the church, the people of God, the gathered community of faith, pledge your support and encouragement to the covenant commitment that Chris and Jen are reaffirming? If so, please say: ‘Trusting in God’s grace, we do.’ - (‘Trusting in God’s grace, we do.’)
A READING — 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Hear now this reading from scripture as found in Paul’s First letter to the Church at Corinth in the 13th Chapter (13:4-8a).
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Here ends this reading from Scripture.
ONE:
And now, the rings: the ring has long been the visible symbol of vows taken in marriage. It is a circle, with no beginning and no ending, representing covenant love which is everlasting, covenant love which begins in trust, and grows through companionship and deepens with understanding. Jen and Chris will now present rings to one another as a symbol of their covenant. (As each places the ring on the hand of the other they say, “With this ring I bless you and reaffirm our covenant.”)
PRAYER
Let us pray: we praise you, our Creator, for the great longing that draws two people together and bids them to leave the dear bonds of the past to live with each other. We thank you for the transforming power of love which matures and ennobles our living, calling forth from us hidden stores of tenderness and strength, and overcoming selfishness by the passion of self surrender. We invoke the blessing of God upon Jen and Chris who have, this day, reaffirmed their love and pledged their love to one another in the presence of God, their friends, their family and this community of faith. We pray, Most Holy God, to make their love so strong, holy and deathless, that no misunderstanding may fray this bond, and no gray disenchantment of the years may have the power to quench that covenant commitment which now lives in them. May they ever discern the true values of life so that no glamour of cheaper joys will rob them of the peace and satisfaction which only loyal and steadfast love can give them.
REMEMBRANCE OF GOD
Those whom God has joined in covenant, let no mortal separate. Chris and Jen, you have pledged to be one and you have asked the blessing of the Church of Jesus, the Christ. So, be merciful in all your ways, kind in heart, and humble in mind. Accept life, and be most patient and tolerant with one another. Forgive as freely as God has forgiven you. And, above everything else, be truly loving. Let the peace of the rule of Jesus, the Messiah, be in your hearts, remembering that you are called to live in covenant, never forgetting to be thankful for what God has done for you.
Blessings
by Laura Story
We pray for blessings;
We pray for peace—
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep.
We pray for healing, for prosperity.
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering.
All the while, You hear each spoken need;
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things.
'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom—
Your voice to hear.
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near.
We doubt your goodness; we doubt your love—
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough.
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe.
When friends betray us,
When darkness seems to win,
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home.
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy.
What if trials of this life—
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?
THE LORD’S PRAYER (‘debts’) - Let us now pray as the saints who have witnessed to us and preceded us throughout the ages have prayed by reciting the Lord’s Prayer, using the form ‘debts’.
THE DECLARATION - Jen and Chris, now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be a shelter to the other; now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other; now there is no more loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other; now you are two, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place, to enter into the days of your togetherness and may your days be good and long upon the earth.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
SERMON ~ 09/21/ 2014 ~ “Repentant and Lost”
09/21/ 2014 ~ 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ (Proper 20) ~ Exodus 16:2-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45; Jonah 3:10-4:11; Psalm 145:1-8 Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16.
Repentant and Lost
“...Yahweh, God, said to Jonah, ‘What gives you the right to be so angry?’” — Jonah 3:4.
Most Protestant denominations identify just two sacraments: the Eucharist, sometimes called Communion, sometimes called The Lord’s Supper, and Baptism. But Roman Catholic teaching holds there are seven sacraments entrusted to the Church.
Now, the classic definition of a sacrament is fairly straightforward. A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of the presence of God, an outward and visible sign of the channels of the grace of God. I, personally, would argue if a Sacrament is the outward and visible sign of the presence of God and the grace of God, there are not two sacraments or seven sacraments but seventy times seven.
But I digress. This is the sevenfold list of sacraments of Catholicism organized into three categories. There are three sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.
There are two sacraments of mission, sacraments of journey: Holy Orders, sometimes called Ordination, and Matrimony. (And all of you married folks will understand that matrimony is a journey, right? O.K.) Last, there are two sacraments of healing: the Anointing of the Sick and Penance, sometimes called Confession, sometimes called the Sacrament of Reconciliation. [1] (Slight pause.)
There is something we in American Main Line Churches tend to push a little to the side. It’s that there can be outward and visible signs of the presence of God and channels of the grace of God in rites of reconciliation. And such rites, these liturgies, are readily available. (Slight pause.)
This [the pastor holds up a book] is the Book of Worship of the United Church of Christ. My guess is there are some life-long Congregationalists who don’t even know this exists. Among the orders for worship in it there is a whole section of Services of Reconciliation and Healing.
That the Book of Worship of the United Church of Christ contains such rites is quite normal. The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church and The Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church also contains sections with these kind of services.
Now, if there is any common American heresy— and there are plenty of American heresies, believe me— if there is any common American heresy, it’s the claim that we are perfect, flawless. As I have said here before, if anyone here is perfect and present today, please leave— especially Bonnie. (There is laughter among the congregants, as Bonnie, the wife of the Pastor and a member of the choir, has made a move to stand, only to be restrained by her fellow choir members.) Church is where imperfection finds a home and resides.
So, the bottom line is simple. We are all standing in the need of— choose the word you like— reconciliation, repentance, confession, penance... healing. We are all in need of healing.
Please note: rites of reconciliation are about healing. Therefore, rites of reconciliation are not about making a list of our sins and naming them, although that can be psychologically helpful in the healing process. Additionally, as humans, I suspect if we need healing of anything— if we need healing of anything as humans— it’s anger. (Slight pause.)
One of my mentors in ministry, the Rev. Carol Anderson, and I had long conversations about the healing available in rites of reconciliation. For me, what made those conversations especially meaningful was the realization that we all have and we all hold some level of anger within us. That is a piece of our imperfection.
That we all harbor some anger is an unquestionable psychological truth— an unquestionable psychological truth. That most of us strive to keep anger tapped down because we strive to behave in socially acceptable ways is probably also true. But that we know there is anger within us is simply a truth.
Now, in those discussions I had with Carol what I discovered is, in a real sense, the only one with whom we should be angry... is God. Why? God can take it. (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the work known as Jonah: “...Yahweh, God, said to Jonah, ‘What gives you the right to be so angry?’” (Slight pause.)
I was glad Mary Williams decided to use the anthem Jonah by Paul Lee Johnson. [2] Why? Because it tells the whole story of Jonah right up to the point where the lectionary reading of Jonah for today starts.
So, for a moment, I am going to recapitulate the story. God said to Jonah “go to Nineveh.” And Jonah flees. Why?
Jonah knows God is (quote:) “...gracious and merciful, tender and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in kindness and abounding in steadfast love, a God ready to relent from punishing or violence.” And Jonah is not pleased. Jonah is angered by that. So Jonah flees.
The story continues that the ship on which Jonah sails runs into foul weather. The storm ceases when Jonah is thrown overboard and devoured by a large fish. Please note: whatever it is that swallows Jonah, it’s probably not a whale.
The words of the original language— and whales were certainly known in antiquity— the words of the original language indicate it is a ‘great fish’ or ‘big fish’ or a ‘huge fish.’ Indeed, one credible interpretation is this is some kind of sea monster.
Therefore, it is also a credible interpretation that the tale of being swallowed is meant simply to be a mythological allegory. And sea monsters were a common part of myth and allegory in ancient times. What’s an allegory? An allegory is a story which can reveal a hidden meaning, a lesson.
So, for me, the story Jonah— in terms of literature, a short story, the kind of tale which readily conveys mythology and uses allegory— for me, the story of Jonah works on a number of levels as it conveys its message. Let’s start with repentance.
We moderns commonly think of repentance as being sorry, asking for forgiveness. That is not the Biblical meaning. In the Bible repentance means turning one’s life over to God, turning one’s life toward God, in the direction of God.
Which brings up another American heresy. ‘You mean my life is not turned toward God?’ How dare you?
Well, remember what I said earlier? If anyone here is perfect, please leave? Church is where imperfection finds a home and resides.
Yes, we all need to turn our lives toward God. Turning toward God needs to be and should be a consistent, continual exercise, something done daily.
“But,” the observant among you will say, “Jonah is a prophet of God. Has not Jonah— a prophet of God— by definition, already turned toward God?” Why yes. I quite agree. I believe Jonah’s life is turned toward God and Jonah wants to do the will of God.
However, that is the very place things start to break down for Jonah. You see, if there is one constant for Jonah throughout the whole story, it’s that Jonah is angry.
Jonah is angry with the world. Jonah is angry with nearly everything that happens. And, most important, Jonah is angry with God.
Again in the words of Paul Johnson, Jonah is pictured as saying this: “I am cast out; submerged with doubt.” Why submerged with doubt? Here doubt is simply a symptom of anger.
Therefore, Jonah is both repentant— has turned toward God— and Jonah is lost, quite lost. Jonah is so angry that Jonah cannot see straight. Jonah is in need of healing.
Which leads us to something we discussed in Bible Study this week— the fish. Is Jonah swallowed by a big fish? Yes. And the name of that fish is anger.
Throughout this story Jonah is not only swallowed by anger, Jonah is consumed with anger. Jonah is lost, lost because Jonah has not turned that anger over to God.
And God has actually been confronting Jonah about anger throughout the story. But here, in this chapter, God very directly confronts Jonah about anger. (Slight pause.)
There are two things of interest to note here: Jonah is never angry with anyone except God. And God can take it.
But I think it’s even more interesting that Jonah can be counted among the repentant, among those who have turned their lives over to God. And yet Jonah is still lost, submerged with doubt, angry with God.
So, for me, because of the reality of anger— and I don’t think any of us can deny that anger is real— because of the reality of anger, the story of Jonah— whale or no whale— is quite real. You see, once you grapple, once we grapple with the allegory that abounds in this story, then the reality of the struggle we call life presents itself.
And indeed, once we grapple the allegory that abounds in this story, the reality of the struggle we call life not only presents itself, it becomes more than simply an interesting story. It becomes quite real since the story addresses not fantasies we might have about the Bible, and not fantasies we might have about life. Bottom line: this story addresses the reality of life— what’s out there, what we face, daily. Amen.
09/21/2014
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
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: “A Native American pastor/storyteller about whom I know says this: ‘I will tell you a story. It is a true story. I do not know if it happened.’ You see, the foundation of all theological discourse and all Biblical scholarship is this: God is unknowable. Therefore, all language which addressed God is, by definition, metaphor.”
BENEDICTION: God surprises us and provides for us. Let us trust God and give thanks. Let us seek God’s will. 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] All this about sacraments is commonly known. As it happens, I consulted the Wikipedia pages and stole some of the verbiage.
[2]
Jonah
words and music by Paul Lee Johnson
The Lord said: “Go to Ninevah”
but Jonah chose to flee,
and took a sailing
ship across the sea.
And there he hid below the decks,
not one among the crew
had any knowledge
that Jonah was a Jew.
The storm was raging overhead
the waves were crashing in;
the sailors’ prayers
were drowning in the din.
Poor Jonah was discovered,
an omen in their eyes
that they should suffer
a Hebrew in disguise.
Jonah, Jonah, where you going to?
Don’t you know that God will follow you
to the ends of the earth,
He will follow you,
He will follow you.
Jonah, Jonah what was that you said?
Aren’t you really wishing to be dead
to the love of the Lord,
what He wants for you,
what He wants for you?
The captain asked, “What shall we do?
We wish our lives to keep.”
Said Jonah “Throw
me in to the briny deep.”
They feared his blood was innocent,
and on their heads would be
the dreadful onus
of acting out the deed.
The sailors rowed with all their might,
they failed against the wind.
When all was lost
they threw poor Jonah in.
And as he plunged into the waves,
the hurricane was through.
The sailors knelt and prayed
to the God that Jonah knew.
I am cast out.
Submerged in doubt.
But if I pray and turn about,
my God delivers me.
And from the belly of a whale
prayed Jonah day and night.
The Lord was well
aware of Jonah’s plight;
for soon the whale had spit him out,
he lay upon the sand
a sinner saved
by God’s almighty hand.
I was cast out.
Submerged in doubt.
And when I pray and turn about;
my God delivers me,
my God delivers me,
my God delivers me.
Repentant and Lost
“...Yahweh, God, said to Jonah, ‘What gives you the right to be so angry?’” — Jonah 3:4.
Most Protestant denominations identify just two sacraments: the Eucharist, sometimes called Communion, sometimes called The Lord’s Supper, and Baptism. But Roman Catholic teaching holds there are seven sacraments entrusted to the Church.
Now, the classic definition of a sacrament is fairly straightforward. A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of the presence of God, an outward and visible sign of the channels of the grace of God. I, personally, would argue if a Sacrament is the outward and visible sign of the presence of God and the grace of God, there are not two sacraments or seven sacraments but seventy times seven.
But I digress. This is the sevenfold list of sacraments of Catholicism organized into three categories. There are three sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.
There are two sacraments of mission, sacraments of journey: Holy Orders, sometimes called Ordination, and Matrimony. (And all of you married folks will understand that matrimony is a journey, right? O.K.) Last, there are two sacraments of healing: the Anointing of the Sick and Penance, sometimes called Confession, sometimes called the Sacrament of Reconciliation. [1] (Slight pause.)
There is something we in American Main Line Churches tend to push a little to the side. It’s that there can be outward and visible signs of the presence of God and channels of the grace of God in rites of reconciliation. And such rites, these liturgies, are readily available. (Slight pause.)
This [the pastor holds up a book] is the Book of Worship of the United Church of Christ. My guess is there are some life-long Congregationalists who don’t even know this exists. Among the orders for worship in it there is a whole section of Services of Reconciliation and Healing.
That the Book of Worship of the United Church of Christ contains such rites is quite normal. The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church and The Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church also contains sections with these kind of services.
Now, if there is any common American heresy— and there are plenty of American heresies, believe me— if there is any common American heresy, it’s the claim that we are perfect, flawless. As I have said here before, if anyone here is perfect and present today, please leave— especially Bonnie. (There is laughter among the congregants, as Bonnie, the wife of the Pastor and a member of the choir, has made a move to stand, only to be restrained by her fellow choir members.) Church is where imperfection finds a home and resides.
So, the bottom line is simple. We are all standing in the need of— choose the word you like— reconciliation, repentance, confession, penance... healing. We are all in need of healing.
Please note: rites of reconciliation are about healing. Therefore, rites of reconciliation are not about making a list of our sins and naming them, although that can be psychologically helpful in the healing process. Additionally, as humans, I suspect if we need healing of anything— if we need healing of anything as humans— it’s anger. (Slight pause.)
One of my mentors in ministry, the Rev. Carol Anderson, and I had long conversations about the healing available in rites of reconciliation. For me, what made those conversations especially meaningful was the realization that we all have and we all hold some level of anger within us. That is a piece of our imperfection.
That we all harbor some anger is an unquestionable psychological truth— an unquestionable psychological truth. That most of us strive to keep anger tapped down because we strive to behave in socially acceptable ways is probably also true. But that we know there is anger within us is simply a truth.
Now, in those discussions I had with Carol what I discovered is, in a real sense, the only one with whom we should be angry... is God. Why? God can take it. (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the work known as Jonah: “...Yahweh, God, said to Jonah, ‘What gives you the right to be so angry?’” (Slight pause.)
I was glad Mary Williams decided to use the anthem Jonah by Paul Lee Johnson. [2] Why? Because it tells the whole story of Jonah right up to the point where the lectionary reading of Jonah for today starts.
So, for a moment, I am going to recapitulate the story. God said to Jonah “go to Nineveh.” And Jonah flees. Why?
Jonah knows God is (quote:) “...gracious and merciful, tender and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in kindness and abounding in steadfast love, a God ready to relent from punishing or violence.” And Jonah is not pleased. Jonah is angered by that. So Jonah flees.
The story continues that the ship on which Jonah sails runs into foul weather. The storm ceases when Jonah is thrown overboard and devoured by a large fish. Please note: whatever it is that swallows Jonah, it’s probably not a whale.
The words of the original language— and whales were certainly known in antiquity— the words of the original language indicate it is a ‘great fish’ or ‘big fish’ or a ‘huge fish.’ Indeed, one credible interpretation is this is some kind of sea monster.
Therefore, it is also a credible interpretation that the tale of being swallowed is meant simply to be a mythological allegory. And sea monsters were a common part of myth and allegory in ancient times. What’s an allegory? An allegory is a story which can reveal a hidden meaning, a lesson.
So, for me, the story Jonah— in terms of literature, a short story, the kind of tale which readily conveys mythology and uses allegory— for me, the story of Jonah works on a number of levels as it conveys its message. Let’s start with repentance.
We moderns commonly think of repentance as being sorry, asking for forgiveness. That is not the Biblical meaning. In the Bible repentance means turning one’s life over to God, turning one’s life toward God, in the direction of God.
Which brings up another American heresy. ‘You mean my life is not turned toward God?’ How dare you?
Well, remember what I said earlier? If anyone here is perfect, please leave? Church is where imperfection finds a home and resides.
Yes, we all need to turn our lives toward God. Turning toward God needs to be and should be a consistent, continual exercise, something done daily.
“But,” the observant among you will say, “Jonah is a prophet of God. Has not Jonah— a prophet of God— by definition, already turned toward God?” Why yes. I quite agree. I believe Jonah’s life is turned toward God and Jonah wants to do the will of God.
However, that is the very place things start to break down for Jonah. You see, if there is one constant for Jonah throughout the whole story, it’s that Jonah is angry.
Jonah is angry with the world. Jonah is angry with nearly everything that happens. And, most important, Jonah is angry with God.
Again in the words of Paul Johnson, Jonah is pictured as saying this: “I am cast out; submerged with doubt.” Why submerged with doubt? Here doubt is simply a symptom of anger.
Therefore, Jonah is both repentant— has turned toward God— and Jonah is lost, quite lost. Jonah is so angry that Jonah cannot see straight. Jonah is in need of healing.
Which leads us to something we discussed in Bible Study this week— the fish. Is Jonah swallowed by a big fish? Yes. And the name of that fish is anger.
Throughout this story Jonah is not only swallowed by anger, Jonah is consumed with anger. Jonah is lost, lost because Jonah has not turned that anger over to God.
And God has actually been confronting Jonah about anger throughout the story. But here, in this chapter, God very directly confronts Jonah about anger. (Slight pause.)
There are two things of interest to note here: Jonah is never angry with anyone except God. And God can take it.
But I think it’s even more interesting that Jonah can be counted among the repentant, among those who have turned their lives over to God. And yet Jonah is still lost, submerged with doubt, angry with God.
So, for me, because of the reality of anger— and I don’t think any of us can deny that anger is real— because of the reality of anger, the story of Jonah— whale or no whale— is quite real. You see, once you grapple, once we grapple with the allegory that abounds in this story, then the reality of the struggle we call life presents itself.
And indeed, once we grapple the allegory that abounds in this story, the reality of the struggle we call life not only presents itself, it becomes more than simply an interesting story. It becomes quite real since the story addresses not fantasies we might have about the Bible, and not fantasies we might have about life. Bottom line: this story addresses the reality of life— what’s out there, what we face, daily. Amen.
09/21/2014
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
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: “A Native American pastor/storyteller about whom I know says this: ‘I will tell you a story. It is a true story. I do not know if it happened.’ You see, the foundation of all theological discourse and all Biblical scholarship is this: God is unknowable. Therefore, all language which addressed God is, by definition, metaphor.”
BENEDICTION: God surprises us and provides for us. Let us trust God and give thanks. Let us seek God’s will. 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] All this about sacraments is commonly known. As it happens, I consulted the Wikipedia pages and stole some of the verbiage.
[2]
Jonah
words and music by Paul Lee Johnson
The Lord said: “Go to Ninevah”
but Jonah chose to flee,
and took a sailing
ship across the sea.
And there he hid below the decks,
not one among the crew
had any knowledge
that Jonah was a Jew.
The storm was raging overhead
the waves were crashing in;
the sailors’ prayers
were drowning in the din.
Poor Jonah was discovered,
an omen in their eyes
that they should suffer
a Hebrew in disguise.
Jonah, Jonah, where you going to?
Don’t you know that God will follow you
to the ends of the earth,
He will follow you,
He will follow you.
Jonah, Jonah what was that you said?
Aren’t you really wishing to be dead
to the love of the Lord,
what He wants for you,
what He wants for you?
The captain asked, “What shall we do?
We wish our lives to keep.”
Said Jonah “Throw
me in to the briny deep.”
They feared his blood was innocent,
and on their heads would be
the dreadful onus
of acting out the deed.
The sailors rowed with all their might,
they failed against the wind.
When all was lost
they threw poor Jonah in.
And as he plunged into the waves,
the hurricane was through.
The sailors knelt and prayed
to the God that Jonah knew.
I am cast out.
Submerged in doubt.
But if I pray and turn about,
my God delivers me.
And from the belly of a whale
prayed Jonah day and night.
The Lord was well
aware of Jonah’s plight;
for soon the whale had spit him out,
he lay upon the sand
a sinner saved
by God’s almighty hand.
I was cast out.
Submerged in doubt.
And when I pray and turn about;
my God delivers me,
my God delivers me,
my God delivers me.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
SERMON ~ 09/14/2014 ~ “PROPHET SHARING” ~ A TWO CHARACTER PLAY WITH A NARRATOR
READINGS: 09/14/2014 ~ 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ (Proper 19) ~ Exodus 14:19-31; Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21; Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35 ~ First Day of Church School in the Fall Term, A.K.A. Rally Day.
09/14/2014 (On Sunday This Year) ~ Feast of the Holy Cross ~ Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 98:1-5 or Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24; John 3:13-17.
NOTE: The following hymn was used as the Opening Hymn (v. 1, 2, 3) at this service. Verses 3 and 4 were used as the Closing Hymn and verse 1 as a Congregational Response at the end of the service.
Come You Faithful, Raise the Strain (NCH # 230 - TUNE: ST. KEVIN)
© J. F. Connolly 2014
Come you faithful raise the strain
of our grateful gladness;
God has brought all Israel
into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke
Jacob’s sons and daughters;
Let them with unmoistened foot
through the reed filled waters.
We the people of the land,
tribes but yet one nation
Follow God’s redeeming Word:
promise of salvation.
When in depths of grief and pain
We, in supplication,
Pray to Yahweh, God of love,
God of all creation.
Spring has dawned and God has saved;
Noone is forsaken;
Marched we boldly toward the East,
Trust in God unshaken.
Archers, horses, chariots—
Pharaoh sent to take us.
God protects us, liberates;
Never will forsake us.
Now the joy of seasons, bright,
pass each day in splendor;
God will lead us to the light,
with a love so tender.
On this day we seek God’s will,
grace and love bestowing,
Peace and joy which evermore
passes human knowing.
Note: this setting is somewhat based on but significantly deviates from the lyric of # 230 in The New Century Hymnal.
A READING FROM THE TANAKH IN THE SECTION KNOWN AS THE TORAH — Exodus 14:19-24, 15:20-21 [ILV]
INTRODUCTION OF READING:
This reading has two segments: the first is a part of the story which retells the crossing of The Sea of Reeds. This episode has commonly been connected to The Red Sea, not The Sea of Reeds, but that designation displays a poor understanding of the location and the nature of the event. The event described is much more likely to have been the crossing of marshland, a sea of reeds. Now, this event is also the primal, saving story of the Hebrew Scriptures, a tale of liberation in which Israel receives its identity and hears a clear disclosure about the nature of God. Therefore, to see this story as merely a miracle is to fall short of understanding its implications. The second segment of the reading is found at the end of the 15th chapter of Exodus. Most of the 15th chapter is comprised of what is commonly called The Song of Moses. We will hear the end of the 15th Chapter, commonly called The Song of Miriam. Miriam is the sister of Moses and Aaron. What is of interest here is we know The Song of Miriam is a much older text than The Song of Moses, perhaps as much as 500 years older. Therefore, not only is it likely that the older text is a more accurate representation of tradition, we also need to realize the song is a primary description of that primal event in the history of Israel and it is recorded as being intoned by a woman. Hear now this reading as it come to us from the Tanakh, in the section called the Torah, in the work known as Exodus.
[19] The angel of God, who was going before the Israelites, moved and went behind them; the pillar of cloud left the front of their number and took its place behind them, between the Israelites and the Egyptians. [20] All through the night the cloud provided light to one side and darkness to the other side, so there was no contact between them.
[21] Then Moses stretched out a hand over the sea. And Yahweh, God, swept back the sea by a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned the sea into dry land. When the waters were thus divided, [22] the Israelites marched into its midst on dry land, with water on their right and on their left.
[23] The Egyptians followed in pursuit and went into the midst of sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. [24] At the morning watch, at dawn, Yahweh, God, looked down upon the Egyptian forces from the fiery cloud, and threw the army into confusion and panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they could hardly turn. The Egyptians turned to flee from the Israelites, saying, “Their God fights for them against us.”
And after the description of the crossing this is what was written in the last two verses of the 15th Chapter:
[15:20] Then the prophet Miriam, the sister of Aaron, the sister of Moses, picked up a tambourine; and all the women following her danced and kept a constant rhythm with the tambourines as [21] Miriam sang this:
“Sing to our God,
Who has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider
is thrown into the sea.”
Here ends this reading from Scripture.
PROPHET SHARING
(OR MIRIAM AND AARON)
A TWO CHARACTER PLAY WITH A NARRATOR
By J. F. Connolly
NARRATOR
When the Israelites pass through the waters it is probably not the Red Sea as Hollywood and Cecil B. DeMille might have us believe. It is much more likely to be a marshy area called the Sea of Reeds. So, that’s not the R-E-D Sea. That’s the Sea of R-E-E-D-S. Now, it needs to be noted that when we heard the reading from Exodus we heard that the Song of Miriam is more ancient than The Song of Moses. Just as we can tell the difference between Elizabethan English and Modern English, we can tell the difference in Hebrew which has been recorded in different eras. So, let me repeat the words said my Miriam in that passage. “Then the prophet Miriam, the sister of Aaron, the sister of Moses, picked up a tambourine; and all the women following her danced and kept a constant rhythm with the tambourines as Miriam sang this: ‘Sing to our God, / Who has triumphed gloriously; / horse and rider / is thrown into the sea.’”
So, this is a play about the Exodus event. And this is a play about how events can illuminate the relationship of humanity with God. The setting is at the time of the Exodus, on the evening after the people of Israel have crossed the Sea of Reeds and the Egyptians have been vanquished by the power of Yahweh. The play takes place on a rock strewn plateau, overlooking the encampment of the Israelites. As the curtain rises it is night and we can see out into a valley in the distance. There are many camp fires burning in the valley. There is an occasional flash of lightning. We can hear rolling thunder. We can hear people singing.
CHOIR
Song of Miriam
Music by Becki Slagle Mayo
Words from Exodus 15, alt.
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
How awesome is your power, Lord;
you made a path in the mighty sea.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us from the enemy!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
Your majesty forever reigns.
You led your people from Pharaoh’s land.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us with your mighty hand!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
For the Lord is my song!
NARRATOR
Miriam comes on stage laughing and giggling. Aaron follows.
MIRIAM
Oh Aaron, Aaron. Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it amazing? Who would have believed this? Who could have predicted this?
AARON
Marion, you could have predicted this.
MIRIAM
Me?
AARON
You do not give yourself enough credit, Miriam. I have seen you. I have seen you predict things, and they come true as surely as the sun rises.
MIRIAM
Speculate? Yes. Predict? I think not. And this? Predict this? This triumph is too... too... incredible.
AARON
Not at all. It is not only possible, but predictable. And these things that have happened are things that came about because you had a hand in them! You are the one who is most apt to have seen these times coming. Did you not know? Were you not aware? How could you fail to see them coming?
MIRIAM
But I had no hand in vanquishing the Pharaoh. It was not I who set our people free. It was not I who led the escape from the land of oppression.
AARON
Oppression is never overcome overnight, or by an individual, my sister. It takes years, decades, centuries. It takes many people, thousands of people, doing small things, working, building over a very, very long period. Then when the timing is right... no, when Yahweh’s timing is right, it, it just happens! (He sings joyously, clapping as he sings.) “I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;...” (Now he laughs.)
MIRIAM
(Irritated.) You mock me.
AARON
(Shocked.) Never! It is you who have had a great hand in this night, Miriam. You will be remembered by many for what you have done.
MIRIAM
But what is it that I have done?
AARON
You still do not know?
MIRIAM
I am at a loss.
AARON
(He now becomes a reluctant teacher.) Very well. I will explain. Our brother, Moses, and I went to Pharaoh and said “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.’” Who was it who sent Moses to do this thing, to say these things to Pharaoh, and who told him that these things would come to pass?
MIRIAM
(Hesitantly, knowing that it was not her.) It was not I.
AARON
No. You know who.
MIRIAM
(Again, hesitantly, as if she is worried that what she full well knows is the right answer, might be the wrong answer.) It was the God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and Rebekah and the God of Jacob and Leah and Rachel who sent Moses.
AARON
(With a small condescending chuckle.) Very good. Now, why did Moses believe God, this one called Yahweh, the one known as I am who am. Why did Moses believe? After all, Moses told us Yahweh spoke from a burning bush. How is that possible? Why would Moses believe?
MIRIAM
(Miriam thinks that Aaron is making fun of her and that this question is ludicrous, so Miriam uses a mocking tone toward Aaron.) Oh, yes, how is it possible that Yahweh might speak to Moses from a burning bush and Moses would believe? And well of course, who would not believe a command given from the midst of a burning bush which fails to be consumed? And, indeed, who would not believe when a rod is turned to a serpent or a hand made leprous and made well again in the blink of an eye?
AARON
No, no, no. You don’t understand what I’m getting at. Of course, anyone who has amazing experiences of God believes— a burning bush not consumed, a rod that becomes a serpent, a hand made leprous and well. But I want you to think about this in a broader perspective. But I’m not asking how is it Moses believed God. I’m asking ‘why?— ‘Why did Moses believe God’ (Pause.) Tell me, who was it who taught Moses about the God of our ancestors?
MIRIAM
Well, Mother and... (She begins to realize what she is about to say and her voice trails off in wonderment.) ...I, we both took turns... No! Why, we never dreamt!
AARON
Of course, you didn’t dream. But you had a hand in this— a large hand. And you didn’t dream about it, you never could have dreamed of a night like this, a night of freedom, a night when God’s salvation becomes real and tangible back then. Who could have dreamed about these things when we were bound, as we were, in slavery. Who would have believed the reality of what has happened? But without your part— your part— in teaching Moses about the God of our ancestors he never would have stopped to hear Yahweh speak! As soon as he saw the bush, he would have run away. He would have been just another shepherd having delusions from too much desert sun! And now! Now we have our freedom! Because Moses listened to Yahweh! And you did it! It is obvious to me that you were part of a plan, part of a hope that would not die, part of a legacy that we will pass from generation to generation. This is what makes us the people of Yahweh. We are a light to the nations! They shall bless us! Our God, Yahweh, saw our affliction, and heard our cries, delivered us out of the hands of our oppressors and shall bring us to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. He shall take us to this land, a land flowing with milk and honey!
MIRIAM
Aaron, you are always the politician!
AARON
Am I?
MIRIAM
You go on and on. You enjoy hearing yourself speak.
AARON
(He chuckles.) You cut me to the quick. You’re right. I do enjoy hearing myself. But it is you to whom Moses listened.
MIRIAM
Moses listened to Yahweh.
AARON
You are too modest.
MIRIAM
I am too honest.
AARON
And you are no politician? (She nods affirmatively.) Will you tell this politician what it is you told Moses when he was a boy and lived in the palace of the Pharaoh?
MIRIAM
Why?
AARON
Curiosity.
MIRIAM
Killed the cat.
AARON
We are no longer in Egypt. That’s where cats abound. I am interested in hearing this. I want to listen to what you said, to how you told the story. Perhaps I can say it the same way to my children. Perhaps I can convey something of the same meaning and feelings that you imparted to Moses.
MIRIAM
What is it I told Moses? (Pause.) Over the years it was so much. And it is now many, many years ago. Of course, it started with the stories of Abram. But I do not think I was very concerned with the facts of the stories. Mother was. I can never remember details. I am only concerned with what things mean, not with what actually happened.
AARON
And what did you say to Moses about what the story of Abram means?
MIRIAM
I told him the obedience of Abram when God told him to leave the land of his parents. And yes, of course, God promised to make Abram a great nation, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I told Moses about that. But it was Abram who accepted the challenge, was it not? He packed his family and crossed miles of desert first to Shechem, then to Egypt, but always in obedience. He never questioned. And the covenants! The covenants! God’s promises! I told Moses about those! And I told Moses that Yahweh was Abram’s God— personal, real, familial! And I told Moses God made promises with ancient ceremonies of animals and fire! God promised to give us the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites!
AARON
I thought you were not good on details.
MIRIAM
I’m not. I have no idea where these lands are. But I know that God has promised to grant them to us and our God is a God who keeps promises. Is our freedom not proof of this? God promised to free us from our bondage, and God has. Yes, it has taken time. How did you put it? God’s timing? That is an apt phrase. Often we have to wait and often we do not understand what it is that God has promised, but God always delivers what God promises.
AARON
Tell me more of what God and Abram did.
MIRIAM
Of course, God changed the name of Abram to Abraham. And that of Abraham’s wife from Sarai to Sarah. That was important. The naming was an outward sign of the covenant. And then God gave them a child in their old age. Such a joy to have a child in their old age! And this, (she sweeps her hand toward the congregation) this nation called Israel, these are the people of God, they will be God’s congregation. And it is all from that seed!
AARON
So what have we learned from Abraham?
MIRIAM
God’s love for us. God will provide, if we are obedient.
AARON
And what of Isaac?
MIRIAM
The boy named laughter. That son of Abraham’s old age.
AARON
The son God would have Abraham destroy.
MIRIAM
But God did not have Abraham destroy Isaac.
AARON
No.
MIRIAM
No, indeed! God provided for the sacrifice when all seemed lost. Trust! That is what we learn! Trust!
AARON
Trust is hard sometimes.
MIRIAM
Is trust ever easy?
AARON
Well... no.
MIRIAM
I digress. Trust is, indeed, one of the things we learn from Isaac. Trust and God will provide.
AARON
Trust? The stories of Isaac make life seem so easy. It’s easy to trust when life is easy.
MIRIAM
Is that so? Life was easy? May you be blessed with two son’s like Esau and Jacob and we’ll see how easy life is for you!
AARON
I see your point. So... you said that from the story of Isaac and Rebekah the people should learn something of trusting God, but what is it you told Moses of Jacob? (Playing the devil’s advocate.) What is it you could have told Moses of Jacob— Jacob, the great conniver— Jacob the schemer. How could you have said anything good about him?
MIRIAM
Jacob, the one who wrestled with God?
AARON
Yes, Jacob— the one who wrestled with God.
MIRIAM
The story of Jacob is the simple story.
AARON
Simple?
MIRIAM
Yes. If you wrestle with God, if you listen to God, if you grapple with God, then you may be the weakest clay that God, the potter, has, but God will mold you into the finest pot, fit for use at a sovereign’s table— at Yahweh’s table! And if you wrestle with God your name shall be called Israel, for you have striven with God.
AARON
Miriam, you amaze me.
MIRIAM
How?
AARON
You have spun out the history of our salvation in these several minutes. It is no wonder Moses listened to you. You have summed up the meaning of Yahweh.
MIRIAM
You are mistaken. It is not possible to really say in words what Yahweh means.
AARON
Even as you say it, I know you are right. I have experienced Yahweh, and yet I can’t express it. Not fully. Not adequately. Maybe that is why I asked to hear you talk about it. There is no way to really express the inexpressible, is there?
MIRIAM
Only in metaphor, Aaron. We can express the inexpressible only in metaphor.
AARON
Ah ha! So, the only way we can describe the unspeakable is to speak, not with our mouths, but with our hearts, to say things with song and dance and stories and myths, to speak of the deepest truths and to be free to express our feelings about God with our imagination.
MIRIAM
Well said, my brother, well said. And we must continue to tell and retell each other the stories. We must remember Yahweh by telling these stories, for there is no other way to express the experience of Yahweh except by telling these stories, our stories.
AARON
And it will be as you say, Miriam. We will tell and we will retell the stories of our ancestors. We will retell the story of this night forever.
MIRIAM
There is one thing I would like to know from you, one thing that I would like you to explain, Aaron.
AARON
As if I could. (Pause.) Well, what is it?
MIRIAM
I can tell you that we have escaped the land of Egypt, the land of our oppression, but now that we have done that, what does that mean?
AARON
I, for one, do not care to know what it means.
MIRIAM
Why not?
AARON
We can only know meaning partially, and only then in the past. I have no wish to know what it means now. The only thing that I want to know is: what is gong to happen next?
MIRIAM
That (pause) I can answer!
AARON
I knew you were a prophet!
MIRIAM
(She shouts.) Whatever will happen will happen in Yahweh’s timing!
(She runs offstage. He stands there for a moment stunned. Then he realizes what she has said.)
AARON
Why yes! How could it be otherwise! God’s time! God’s timing! (Aaron runs after Mariam.)
NARRATOR
As Marion and Aaron leave there is again a bolt of lightening and a roll of thunder. Singing is heard in the distance.
CHOIR
Song of Miriam
Music by Becki Slagle Mayo
Words from Exodus 15, alt.
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
How awesome is your power, Lord;
you made a path in the mighty sea.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us from the enemy!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
Your majesty forever reigns.
You led your people from Pharaoh’s land.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us with your mighty hand!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
For the Lord is my song!
THE END
09/14/2014 (On Sunday This Year) ~ Feast of the Holy Cross ~ Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 98:1-5 or Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24; John 3:13-17.
NOTE: The following hymn was used as the Opening Hymn (v. 1, 2, 3) at this service. Verses 3 and 4 were used as the Closing Hymn and verse 1 as a Congregational Response at the end of the service.
Come You Faithful, Raise the Strain (NCH # 230 - TUNE: ST. KEVIN)
© J. F. Connolly 2014
Come you faithful raise the strain
of our grateful gladness;
God has brought all Israel
into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke
Jacob’s sons and daughters;
Let them with unmoistened foot
through the reed filled waters.
We the people of the land,
tribes but yet one nation
Follow God’s redeeming Word:
promise of salvation.
When in depths of grief and pain
We, in supplication,
Pray to Yahweh, God of love,
God of all creation.
Spring has dawned and God has saved;
Noone is forsaken;
Marched we boldly toward the East,
Trust in God unshaken.
Archers, horses, chariots—
Pharaoh sent to take us.
God protects us, liberates;
Never will forsake us.
Now the joy of seasons, bright,
pass each day in splendor;
God will lead us to the light,
with a love so tender.
On this day we seek God’s will,
grace and love bestowing,
Peace and joy which evermore
passes human knowing.
Note: this setting is somewhat based on but significantly deviates from the lyric of # 230 in The New Century Hymnal.
A READING FROM THE TANAKH IN THE SECTION KNOWN AS THE TORAH — Exodus 14:19-24, 15:20-21 [ILV]
INTRODUCTION OF READING:
This reading has two segments: the first is a part of the story which retells the crossing of The Sea of Reeds. This episode has commonly been connected to The Red Sea, not The Sea of Reeds, but that designation displays a poor understanding of the location and the nature of the event. The event described is much more likely to have been the crossing of marshland, a sea of reeds. Now, this event is also the primal, saving story of the Hebrew Scriptures, a tale of liberation in which Israel receives its identity and hears a clear disclosure about the nature of God. Therefore, to see this story as merely a miracle is to fall short of understanding its implications. The second segment of the reading is found at the end of the 15th chapter of Exodus. Most of the 15th chapter is comprised of what is commonly called The Song of Moses. We will hear the end of the 15th Chapter, commonly called The Song of Miriam. Miriam is the sister of Moses and Aaron. What is of interest here is we know The Song of Miriam is a much older text than The Song of Moses, perhaps as much as 500 years older. Therefore, not only is it likely that the older text is a more accurate representation of tradition, we also need to realize the song is a primary description of that primal event in the history of Israel and it is recorded as being intoned by a woman. Hear now this reading as it come to us from the Tanakh, in the section called the Torah, in the work known as Exodus.
[19] The angel of God, who was going before the Israelites, moved and went behind them; the pillar of cloud left the front of their number and took its place behind them, between the Israelites and the Egyptians. [20] All through the night the cloud provided light to one side and darkness to the other side, so there was no contact between them.
[21] Then Moses stretched out a hand over the sea. And Yahweh, God, swept back the sea by a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned the sea into dry land. When the waters were thus divided, [22] the Israelites marched into its midst on dry land, with water on their right and on their left.
[23] The Egyptians followed in pursuit and went into the midst of sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. [24] At the morning watch, at dawn, Yahweh, God, looked down upon the Egyptian forces from the fiery cloud, and threw the army into confusion and panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they could hardly turn. The Egyptians turned to flee from the Israelites, saying, “Their God fights for them against us.”
And after the description of the crossing this is what was written in the last two verses of the 15th Chapter:
[15:20] Then the prophet Miriam, the sister of Aaron, the sister of Moses, picked up a tambourine; and all the women following her danced and kept a constant rhythm with the tambourines as [21] Miriam sang this:
“Sing to our God,
Who has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider
is thrown into the sea.”
Here ends this reading from Scripture.
PROPHET SHARING
(OR MIRIAM AND AARON)
A TWO CHARACTER PLAY WITH A NARRATOR
By J. F. Connolly
NARRATOR
When the Israelites pass through the waters it is probably not the Red Sea as Hollywood and Cecil B. DeMille might have us believe. It is much more likely to be a marshy area called the Sea of Reeds. So, that’s not the R-E-D Sea. That’s the Sea of R-E-E-D-S. Now, it needs to be noted that when we heard the reading from Exodus we heard that the Song of Miriam is more ancient than The Song of Moses. Just as we can tell the difference between Elizabethan English and Modern English, we can tell the difference in Hebrew which has been recorded in different eras. So, let me repeat the words said my Miriam in that passage. “Then the prophet Miriam, the sister of Aaron, the sister of Moses, picked up a tambourine; and all the women following her danced and kept a constant rhythm with the tambourines as Miriam sang this: ‘Sing to our God, / Who has triumphed gloriously; / horse and rider / is thrown into the sea.’”
So, this is a play about the Exodus event. And this is a play about how events can illuminate the relationship of humanity with God. The setting is at the time of the Exodus, on the evening after the people of Israel have crossed the Sea of Reeds and the Egyptians have been vanquished by the power of Yahweh. The play takes place on a rock strewn plateau, overlooking the encampment of the Israelites. As the curtain rises it is night and we can see out into a valley in the distance. There are many camp fires burning in the valley. There is an occasional flash of lightning. We can hear rolling thunder. We can hear people singing.
CHOIR
Song of Miriam
Music by Becki Slagle Mayo
Words from Exodus 15, alt.
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
How awesome is your power, Lord;
you made a path in the mighty sea.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us from the enemy!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
Your majesty forever reigns.
You led your people from Pharaoh’s land.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us with your mighty hand!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
For the Lord is my song!
NARRATOR
Miriam comes on stage laughing and giggling. Aaron follows.
MIRIAM
Oh Aaron, Aaron. Isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it amazing? Who would have believed this? Who could have predicted this?
AARON
Marion, you could have predicted this.
MIRIAM
Me?
AARON
You do not give yourself enough credit, Miriam. I have seen you. I have seen you predict things, and they come true as surely as the sun rises.
MIRIAM
Speculate? Yes. Predict? I think not. And this? Predict this? This triumph is too... too... incredible.
AARON
Not at all. It is not only possible, but predictable. And these things that have happened are things that came about because you had a hand in them! You are the one who is most apt to have seen these times coming. Did you not know? Were you not aware? How could you fail to see them coming?
MIRIAM
But I had no hand in vanquishing the Pharaoh. It was not I who set our people free. It was not I who led the escape from the land of oppression.
AARON
Oppression is never overcome overnight, or by an individual, my sister. It takes years, decades, centuries. It takes many people, thousands of people, doing small things, working, building over a very, very long period. Then when the timing is right... no, when Yahweh’s timing is right, it, it just happens! (He sings joyously, clapping as he sings.) “I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;...” (Now he laughs.)
MIRIAM
(Irritated.) You mock me.
AARON
(Shocked.) Never! It is you who have had a great hand in this night, Miriam. You will be remembered by many for what you have done.
MIRIAM
But what is it that I have done?
AARON
You still do not know?
MIRIAM
I am at a loss.
AARON
(He now becomes a reluctant teacher.) Very well. I will explain. Our brother, Moses, and I went to Pharaoh and said “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.’” Who was it who sent Moses to do this thing, to say these things to Pharaoh, and who told him that these things would come to pass?
MIRIAM
(Hesitantly, knowing that it was not her.) It was not I.
AARON
No. You know who.
MIRIAM
(Again, hesitantly, as if she is worried that what she full well knows is the right answer, might be the wrong answer.) It was the God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and Rebekah and the God of Jacob and Leah and Rachel who sent Moses.
AARON
(With a small condescending chuckle.) Very good. Now, why did Moses believe God, this one called Yahweh, the one known as I am who am. Why did Moses believe? After all, Moses told us Yahweh spoke from a burning bush. How is that possible? Why would Moses believe?
MIRIAM
(Miriam thinks that Aaron is making fun of her and that this question is ludicrous, so Miriam uses a mocking tone toward Aaron.) Oh, yes, how is it possible that Yahweh might speak to Moses from a burning bush and Moses would believe? And well of course, who would not believe a command given from the midst of a burning bush which fails to be consumed? And, indeed, who would not believe when a rod is turned to a serpent or a hand made leprous and made well again in the blink of an eye?
AARON
No, no, no. You don’t understand what I’m getting at. Of course, anyone who has amazing experiences of God believes— a burning bush not consumed, a rod that becomes a serpent, a hand made leprous and well. But I want you to think about this in a broader perspective. But I’m not asking how is it Moses believed God. I’m asking ‘why?— ‘Why did Moses believe God’ (Pause.) Tell me, who was it who taught Moses about the God of our ancestors?
MIRIAM
Well, Mother and... (She begins to realize what she is about to say and her voice trails off in wonderment.) ...I, we both took turns... No! Why, we never dreamt!
AARON
Of course, you didn’t dream. But you had a hand in this— a large hand. And you didn’t dream about it, you never could have dreamed of a night like this, a night of freedom, a night when God’s salvation becomes real and tangible back then. Who could have dreamed about these things when we were bound, as we were, in slavery. Who would have believed the reality of what has happened? But without your part— your part— in teaching Moses about the God of our ancestors he never would have stopped to hear Yahweh speak! As soon as he saw the bush, he would have run away. He would have been just another shepherd having delusions from too much desert sun! And now! Now we have our freedom! Because Moses listened to Yahweh! And you did it! It is obvious to me that you were part of a plan, part of a hope that would not die, part of a legacy that we will pass from generation to generation. This is what makes us the people of Yahweh. We are a light to the nations! They shall bless us! Our God, Yahweh, saw our affliction, and heard our cries, delivered us out of the hands of our oppressors and shall bring us to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. He shall take us to this land, a land flowing with milk and honey!
MIRIAM
Aaron, you are always the politician!
AARON
Am I?
MIRIAM
You go on and on. You enjoy hearing yourself speak.
AARON
(He chuckles.) You cut me to the quick. You’re right. I do enjoy hearing myself. But it is you to whom Moses listened.
MIRIAM
Moses listened to Yahweh.
AARON
You are too modest.
MIRIAM
I am too honest.
AARON
And you are no politician? (She nods affirmatively.) Will you tell this politician what it is you told Moses when he was a boy and lived in the palace of the Pharaoh?
MIRIAM
Why?
AARON
Curiosity.
MIRIAM
Killed the cat.
AARON
We are no longer in Egypt. That’s where cats abound. I am interested in hearing this. I want to listen to what you said, to how you told the story. Perhaps I can say it the same way to my children. Perhaps I can convey something of the same meaning and feelings that you imparted to Moses.
MIRIAM
What is it I told Moses? (Pause.) Over the years it was so much. And it is now many, many years ago. Of course, it started with the stories of Abram. But I do not think I was very concerned with the facts of the stories. Mother was. I can never remember details. I am only concerned with what things mean, not with what actually happened.
AARON
And what did you say to Moses about what the story of Abram means?
MIRIAM
I told him the obedience of Abram when God told him to leave the land of his parents. And yes, of course, God promised to make Abram a great nation, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I told Moses about that. But it was Abram who accepted the challenge, was it not? He packed his family and crossed miles of desert first to Shechem, then to Egypt, but always in obedience. He never questioned. And the covenants! The covenants! God’s promises! I told Moses about those! And I told Moses that Yahweh was Abram’s God— personal, real, familial! And I told Moses God made promises with ancient ceremonies of animals and fire! God promised to give us the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites!
AARON
I thought you were not good on details.
MIRIAM
I’m not. I have no idea where these lands are. But I know that God has promised to grant them to us and our God is a God who keeps promises. Is our freedom not proof of this? God promised to free us from our bondage, and God has. Yes, it has taken time. How did you put it? God’s timing? That is an apt phrase. Often we have to wait and often we do not understand what it is that God has promised, but God always delivers what God promises.
AARON
Tell me more of what God and Abram did.
MIRIAM
Of course, God changed the name of Abram to Abraham. And that of Abraham’s wife from Sarai to Sarah. That was important. The naming was an outward sign of the covenant. And then God gave them a child in their old age. Such a joy to have a child in their old age! And this, (she sweeps her hand toward the congregation) this nation called Israel, these are the people of God, they will be God’s congregation. And it is all from that seed!
AARON
So what have we learned from Abraham?
MIRIAM
God’s love for us. God will provide, if we are obedient.
AARON
And what of Isaac?
MIRIAM
The boy named laughter. That son of Abraham’s old age.
AARON
The son God would have Abraham destroy.
MIRIAM
But God did not have Abraham destroy Isaac.
AARON
No.
MIRIAM
No, indeed! God provided for the sacrifice when all seemed lost. Trust! That is what we learn! Trust!
AARON
Trust is hard sometimes.
MIRIAM
Is trust ever easy?
AARON
Well... no.
MIRIAM
I digress. Trust is, indeed, one of the things we learn from Isaac. Trust and God will provide.
AARON
Trust? The stories of Isaac make life seem so easy. It’s easy to trust when life is easy.
MIRIAM
Is that so? Life was easy? May you be blessed with two son’s like Esau and Jacob and we’ll see how easy life is for you!
AARON
I see your point. So... you said that from the story of Isaac and Rebekah the people should learn something of trusting God, but what is it you told Moses of Jacob? (Playing the devil’s advocate.) What is it you could have told Moses of Jacob— Jacob, the great conniver— Jacob the schemer. How could you have said anything good about him?
MIRIAM
Jacob, the one who wrestled with God?
AARON
Yes, Jacob— the one who wrestled with God.
MIRIAM
The story of Jacob is the simple story.
AARON
Simple?
MIRIAM
Yes. If you wrestle with God, if you listen to God, if you grapple with God, then you may be the weakest clay that God, the potter, has, but God will mold you into the finest pot, fit for use at a sovereign’s table— at Yahweh’s table! And if you wrestle with God your name shall be called Israel, for you have striven with God.
AARON
Miriam, you amaze me.
MIRIAM
How?
AARON
You have spun out the history of our salvation in these several minutes. It is no wonder Moses listened to you. You have summed up the meaning of Yahweh.
MIRIAM
You are mistaken. It is not possible to really say in words what Yahweh means.
AARON
Even as you say it, I know you are right. I have experienced Yahweh, and yet I can’t express it. Not fully. Not adequately. Maybe that is why I asked to hear you talk about it. There is no way to really express the inexpressible, is there?
MIRIAM
Only in metaphor, Aaron. We can express the inexpressible only in metaphor.
AARON
Ah ha! So, the only way we can describe the unspeakable is to speak, not with our mouths, but with our hearts, to say things with song and dance and stories and myths, to speak of the deepest truths and to be free to express our feelings about God with our imagination.
MIRIAM
Well said, my brother, well said. And we must continue to tell and retell each other the stories. We must remember Yahweh by telling these stories, for there is no other way to express the experience of Yahweh except by telling these stories, our stories.
AARON
And it will be as you say, Miriam. We will tell and we will retell the stories of our ancestors. We will retell the story of this night forever.
MIRIAM
There is one thing I would like to know from you, one thing that I would like you to explain, Aaron.
AARON
As if I could. (Pause.) Well, what is it?
MIRIAM
I can tell you that we have escaped the land of Egypt, the land of our oppression, but now that we have done that, what does that mean?
AARON
I, for one, do not care to know what it means.
MIRIAM
Why not?
AARON
We can only know meaning partially, and only then in the past. I have no wish to know what it means now. The only thing that I want to know is: what is gong to happen next?
MIRIAM
That (pause) I can answer!
AARON
I knew you were a prophet!
MIRIAM
(She shouts.) Whatever will happen will happen in Yahweh’s timing!
(She runs offstage. He stands there for a moment stunned. Then he realizes what she has said.)
AARON
Why yes! How could it be otherwise! God’s time! God’s timing! (Aaron runs after Mariam.)
NARRATOR
As Marion and Aaron leave there is again a bolt of lightening and a roll of thunder. Singing is heard in the distance.
CHOIR
Song of Miriam
Music by Becki Slagle Mayo
Words from Exodus 15, alt.
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
How awesome is your power, Lord;
you made a path in the mighty sea.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us from the enemy!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
Your majesty forever reigns.
You led your people from Pharaoh’s land.
Faithful to your promise,
you rescued us with your mighty hand!
I will dance and sing and play the tambourine;
I will sing all day long!
I will dance and sing and play tambourine,
for the Lord is my song.
For the Lord is my song!
THE END
Sunday, September 7, 2014
SERMON ~ 09/07/2014 ~ “Without Malice”
09/07/2014 ~ 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ (Proper 18) ~ Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149; Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20 ~ Communion Sunday ~ Colorscape Weekend.
Without Malice
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love never wrongs anyone; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” — Romans 13:10.
I am sure my late mother did not invent this. But she often said it. “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.” (Slight pause.)
Let me take that thought somewhere else for a moment. Amy Butler is a single mother of two in her mid-forties. She is also an ordained pastor who has just been called to lead the largest church in the New York Conference, one with a national reputation: Riverside Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
She recently posted a blog about being a stranger. By definition, the day she arrived in Manhattan she was a stranger since before landing there she had only visited.
In her post she says: “It’s a commonly accepted biblical mandate that we welcome the stranger. In our better moments people of faith manage to cross wide valleys of opinion to agree on that.”
“And while we can be good about quoting Scripture, we are rarely the stranger, ourselves. What does it feel like to be a stranger?” she asks.
“After my first week in a new city, I remembered being a stranger has not been a common experience for me. And I acknowledge my experience as a stranger has very little desperation associated with it, but this brush being new reminded me of what it might feel like.”
She continues: “First, I experienced anonymity. Navigating the world with no recognition from the folks around you can be freeing, but there is also something a bit unmooring about it.”
“Freedom comes at the price of irrelevance. And I remembered: we all need to be recognized, to fill a role in the lives of those around us.”
“Being a stranger also comes with strong discomfort. Nothing feels quite normal; everything is brand new. And as soon as the excitement of the new passes, a nostalgia for the familiar rises to the surface.”
“It’s not that the familiar was better but the territory was readily navigable. We all long for familiarity and comfort.”
“Constant newness also brings to mind the built-in sense of incompetence being a stranger imposes. Need to get across town? Need milk for your cereal? Need a doctor? How is that done? Who do I know who knows?”
“These are all puzzles of varying degrees. At first a challenge, they readily grow tedious. The feeling of incompetence humbles, then wears down the spirit. Reminder: competence and value go hand in hand in our society; it’s discouraging to live with a steep learning curve.”
“Indeed, the stranger finds a constant need for getting help, which isn’t the most comfortable exercise; life as a repetitive receiver can be frustrating. To learn to accept help can be a challenge for those of us accustomed to the other end of the equation.”
“So, strangers do see the world around them with new eyes. In that window of time before anonymity becomes familiarity, before discomfort relaxes into ease, before incompetence develops skill, strangers can see a world with a clarity familiarity does not afford.”
“Welcoming the stranger, you see, should not be an issue-specific anomaly, not be a one time occurrence. It should be, rather, a regular, daily Christian practice” — The Rev. Amy Butler, Senior Pastor, Riverside Church, New York City. [1] (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the work known as Romans: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love never wrongs anyone; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Slight pause.)
Like most pastors in Main Line Churches, I have a 90 credit Master of Divinity Degree. Something I may never have said from this pulpit is my Bachelor’s Degree is in Creative Writing.
But way before I had that degree not only was I a professional writer— paid for my work— I was involved in writing workshops and writing classes. One of the basic premises taught in such venues is called particularization.
Put succinctly, this is what particularization is about: no one really cares about the million people starving in— fill in the blank with the name of a country. Why? You see, when numbers get large they are hard to conceptualize. It’s difficult, numbing, to grapple with something that big.
Writers learn if the situation is particularized— if, as a writer, you write about the needs, the wants, the pain of one person, one family, one child— then people not only pay attention. They give money, food— nearly anything to help that one person, one family, one child, in need, in pain, in want.
Why? A million people starving is a concept. One person starving is personal, tangible, real— particularization. (Slight pause.)
I think the Rev. Butler is on to something. When you place yourself in someone else’s shoes, see things from another person’s perspective, that’s particularization. But I also think seeing things from another person’s perspective is harder than we realize.
There are two reasons it’s hard. First, to see things from another person’s perspective we need to leave our own, personal way of life, our way of seeing the world behind.
Another way to say that is we all have our own baggage. In order to really see the world from another person’s perspective we need to leave our own baggage behind. We should not force our vision, our solutions, our life, our way of seeing things on someone else.
To be clear, our baggage, our way of life, may be quite successful for us. But we cannot presume our baggage, our way of life will be successful for someone else.
The second reason it’s hard to see things from another person’s perspective comes back to what my late mother said. “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.”
Now, this is a truth none of us likes to admit: eventually people get on our nerves. And when I say people, I’m not talking about the million people somewhere out there.
I’m taking about your spouse or your child or your in-laws. I’m taking about your neighbor who just put up a fence you don’t like. I’m taking about the person who jumped in front of you in the supermarket line.
I’m talking about the people in the restaurant three tables down who are talking way too loud. This noise is flowing over you as you try to have a quiet dinner with your closest friend and ask them for advice because you are having a life crisis.
And you know your friend will help, even if it’s to just listen, to offer an attentive ear. But that noise from the next table persists and you cannot be heard. (Slight pause.) In the words of Andy Rooney— “Don’t you just hate that? (Slight pause.)
Well, I suppose all this is to say at least at first we should not worry too much about humanity, the one million people. Rather, we need to find ways to love those who, in terms of distance, are much, much closer to us. No matter how much those at hand get on our nerves, we need to put ourselves in their shoes, see things their way.
I think what I’m trying to say is Mom had it backwards. First, we do need to love people— those at hand. Once loving people becomes, in the words of Amy Butler, not an issue-specific anomaly, a one time occurrence but a regular Christian practice, that will empower us to not just love people who are near by. It will empower us to love humanity also.
Theologian Bruce Epperly adds this: Paul tells us to put on the spiritual armor of light. This is the armor of character, the armor of love, the armor of healing. And if we do so, we find out the armor is called self awareness. [2]
When self awareness becomes real, true, that can empower us with a sense of divine awareness. And, indeed, a sense of divine awareness helps us realize what divine protection is about.
Divine protection invites us to go beyond our own fears, our own sense of self protection. Divine protection invites us to go beyond a sense of scarcity to a realization of abundance. A divine self awareness does, in fact, allow us to see things from another person’s perspective.
Hence, when we understand God is with us always— that the Divine presence is with us, tangible, real— when we understand God is with us always, we can occasionally get to that place Epperly calls divine self awareness— divine self awareness. And, indeed, this is what the Apostle Paul had to say about what happens when divine self awareness becomes tangible (quote:) “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love never wrongs anyone; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Amen.
09/07/2014
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
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: “It is sometimes said ‘don’t sweat the small things.’ It is sometimes said ‘don’t sweat the big things.’ I disagree with both. Why? It’s not about choosing one or the other. Life is about discerning things, one step at a time. And if w36e consistently strive love one another as we attempt to always discern the presence of God and always and strive to do the will and the work of God, that’s the kind of exercise will work up a sufficient sweat. And then we’ll have to sweat neither the big stuff nor the small stuff because in so doing we will accomplish the work and the will of God more often than not— both the big stuff and the small stuff.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go forth in the Spirit of Christ. Let us seek the will of God. Let us put aside ambition and conceit for the greater good. Let us serve in joyous obedience. (Slight pause.) Hear this is prayer of Melanesian Islanders: May Jesus be the canoe that holds us up in the sea of life. May Jesus be the rudder that keeps us in the straight road. May Jesus be the outrigger that supports us in times of trial. May the Spirit of Jesus be our sail that carries us through each day. Amen.
[1]
http://www.abpnews.com/opinion/item/29167-welcoming-the-stranger
Note: this was edited slightly for the context of this sermon. Any change in meaning is unintended and my fault, not the fault of the Rev. Butler.
[2]
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2014/08/adventurous-lectionary-september-7-2014-pentecost-13/
Note: this was edited slightly for the context of this sermon. Any change in meaning is unintended and my fault, not the fault of the Rev. Epperly.
Without Malice
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love never wrongs anyone; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” — Romans 13:10.
I am sure my late mother did not invent this. But she often said it. “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.” (Slight pause.)
Let me take that thought somewhere else for a moment. Amy Butler is a single mother of two in her mid-forties. She is also an ordained pastor who has just been called to lead the largest church in the New York Conference, one with a national reputation: Riverside Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
She recently posted a blog about being a stranger. By definition, the day she arrived in Manhattan she was a stranger since before landing there she had only visited.
In her post she says: “It’s a commonly accepted biblical mandate that we welcome the stranger. In our better moments people of faith manage to cross wide valleys of opinion to agree on that.”
“And while we can be good about quoting Scripture, we are rarely the stranger, ourselves. What does it feel like to be a stranger?” she asks.
“After my first week in a new city, I remembered being a stranger has not been a common experience for me. And I acknowledge my experience as a stranger has very little desperation associated with it, but this brush being new reminded me of what it might feel like.”
She continues: “First, I experienced anonymity. Navigating the world with no recognition from the folks around you can be freeing, but there is also something a bit unmooring about it.”
“Freedom comes at the price of irrelevance. And I remembered: we all need to be recognized, to fill a role in the lives of those around us.”
“Being a stranger also comes with strong discomfort. Nothing feels quite normal; everything is brand new. And as soon as the excitement of the new passes, a nostalgia for the familiar rises to the surface.”
“It’s not that the familiar was better but the territory was readily navigable. We all long for familiarity and comfort.”
“Constant newness also brings to mind the built-in sense of incompetence being a stranger imposes. Need to get across town? Need milk for your cereal? Need a doctor? How is that done? Who do I know who knows?”
“These are all puzzles of varying degrees. At first a challenge, they readily grow tedious. The feeling of incompetence humbles, then wears down the spirit. Reminder: competence and value go hand in hand in our society; it’s discouraging to live with a steep learning curve.”
“Indeed, the stranger finds a constant need for getting help, which isn’t the most comfortable exercise; life as a repetitive receiver can be frustrating. To learn to accept help can be a challenge for those of us accustomed to the other end of the equation.”
“So, strangers do see the world around them with new eyes. In that window of time before anonymity becomes familiarity, before discomfort relaxes into ease, before incompetence develops skill, strangers can see a world with a clarity familiarity does not afford.”
“Welcoming the stranger, you see, should not be an issue-specific anomaly, not be a one time occurrence. It should be, rather, a regular, daily Christian practice” — The Rev. Amy Butler, Senior Pastor, Riverside Church, New York City. [1] (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the work known as Romans: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love never wrongs anyone; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Slight pause.)
Like most pastors in Main Line Churches, I have a 90 credit Master of Divinity Degree. Something I may never have said from this pulpit is my Bachelor’s Degree is in Creative Writing.
But way before I had that degree not only was I a professional writer— paid for my work— I was involved in writing workshops and writing classes. One of the basic premises taught in such venues is called particularization.
Put succinctly, this is what particularization is about: no one really cares about the million people starving in— fill in the blank with the name of a country. Why? You see, when numbers get large they are hard to conceptualize. It’s difficult, numbing, to grapple with something that big.
Writers learn if the situation is particularized— if, as a writer, you write about the needs, the wants, the pain of one person, one family, one child— then people not only pay attention. They give money, food— nearly anything to help that one person, one family, one child, in need, in pain, in want.
Why? A million people starving is a concept. One person starving is personal, tangible, real— particularization. (Slight pause.)
I think the Rev. Butler is on to something. When you place yourself in someone else’s shoes, see things from another person’s perspective, that’s particularization. But I also think seeing things from another person’s perspective is harder than we realize.
There are two reasons it’s hard. First, to see things from another person’s perspective we need to leave our own, personal way of life, our way of seeing the world behind.
Another way to say that is we all have our own baggage. In order to really see the world from another person’s perspective we need to leave our own baggage behind. We should not force our vision, our solutions, our life, our way of seeing things on someone else.
To be clear, our baggage, our way of life, may be quite successful for us. But we cannot presume our baggage, our way of life will be successful for someone else.
The second reason it’s hard to see things from another person’s perspective comes back to what my late mother said. “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.”
Now, this is a truth none of us likes to admit: eventually people get on our nerves. And when I say people, I’m not talking about the million people somewhere out there.
I’m taking about your spouse or your child or your in-laws. I’m taking about your neighbor who just put up a fence you don’t like. I’m taking about the person who jumped in front of you in the supermarket line.
I’m talking about the people in the restaurant three tables down who are talking way too loud. This noise is flowing over you as you try to have a quiet dinner with your closest friend and ask them for advice because you are having a life crisis.
And you know your friend will help, even if it’s to just listen, to offer an attentive ear. But that noise from the next table persists and you cannot be heard. (Slight pause.) In the words of Andy Rooney— “Don’t you just hate that? (Slight pause.)
Well, I suppose all this is to say at least at first we should not worry too much about humanity, the one million people. Rather, we need to find ways to love those who, in terms of distance, are much, much closer to us. No matter how much those at hand get on our nerves, we need to put ourselves in their shoes, see things their way.
I think what I’m trying to say is Mom had it backwards. First, we do need to love people— those at hand. Once loving people becomes, in the words of Amy Butler, not an issue-specific anomaly, a one time occurrence but a regular Christian practice, that will empower us to not just love people who are near by. It will empower us to love humanity also.
Theologian Bruce Epperly adds this: Paul tells us to put on the spiritual armor of light. This is the armor of character, the armor of love, the armor of healing. And if we do so, we find out the armor is called self awareness. [2]
When self awareness becomes real, true, that can empower us with a sense of divine awareness. And, indeed, a sense of divine awareness helps us realize what divine protection is about.
Divine protection invites us to go beyond our own fears, our own sense of self protection. Divine protection invites us to go beyond a sense of scarcity to a realization of abundance. A divine self awareness does, in fact, allow us to see things from another person’s perspective.
Hence, when we understand God is with us always— that the Divine presence is with us, tangible, real— when we understand God is with us always, we can occasionally get to that place Epperly calls divine self awareness— divine self awareness. And, indeed, this is what the Apostle Paul had to say about what happens when divine self awareness becomes tangible (quote:) “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love never wrongs anyone; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Amen.
09/07/2014
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
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: “It is sometimes said ‘don’t sweat the small things.’ It is sometimes said ‘don’t sweat the big things.’ I disagree with both. Why? It’s not about choosing one or the other. Life is about discerning things, one step at a time. And if w36e consistently strive love one another as we attempt to always discern the presence of God and always and strive to do the will and the work of God, that’s the kind of exercise will work up a sufficient sweat. And then we’ll have to sweat neither the big stuff nor the small stuff because in so doing we will accomplish the work and the will of God more often than not— both the big stuff and the small stuff.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go forth in the Spirit of Christ. Let us seek the will of God. Let us put aside ambition and conceit for the greater good. Let us serve in joyous obedience. (Slight pause.) Hear this is prayer of Melanesian Islanders: May Jesus be the canoe that holds us up in the sea of life. May Jesus be the rudder that keeps us in the straight road. May Jesus be the outrigger that supports us in times of trial. May the Spirit of Jesus be our sail that carries us through each day. Amen.
[1]
http://www.abpnews.com/opinion/item/29167-welcoming-the-stranger
Note: this was edited slightly for the context of this sermon. Any change in meaning is unintended and my fault, not the fault of the Rev. Butler.
[2]
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2014/08/adventurous-lectionary-september-7-2014-pentecost-13/
Note: this was edited slightly for the context of this sermon. Any change in meaning is unintended and my fault, not the fault of the Rev. Epperly.
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