James 1:17-27
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
St. Jerome said it back around the year 400 and it’s still being said today by people inside and outside the church: Why don’t you practice what you preach? The full quote goes like this: Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, “Why do you not practice what you preach.” It’s a matter of accountability, of authenticity. Do not let your deeds turn your words into a lie. A great deal of damage has been done to the church by people making pronouncements about sin and then getting caught in the very sin they denounced. “Hypocrisy!” we cry, but we quietly recognize hypocrisy in ourselves. In our world of easy documentation and quick access to information, the hypocrite is easily exposed, and not only do whole congregations get damaged, but those who have doubts about the church as institution are re-fueled with antagonism toward the church.
The book of James could effectively be summarized with these words. “Let us practice what we preach” James is not so concerned with theology itself, but that theology gets lived out. He’s a practical sort of guy, James. I like him. Martin Luther might not have liked him, but I do. Luther called the book of James the straw epistle. Nevertheless, I did find online a sermon by Luther on James chapter one – these very verses. But apparently he criticized James for missing the heart of the Gospel message, as it rarely mentions Christ. Being concerned to teach that salvation is by “faith alone,” Luther argued that James might lead us to think that we are saved by works, by what we do.
We are not saved by our works, but as James says, we must remember that “faith without works is dead.” So our works are the evidence of our faith. They are the fruits of our faith. And as our text says, those who do are hearers and not doers of the faith deceive themselves. They are like those who look in the mirror and then forget what they saw. It’s like the kid who looks in the mirror, see the food all over his face and then moves on to play, forgetting to do something about the mess.
Hearing the word, then, could be said to be time in front of the mirror – not the vanity of primping, but the more serious work of self-examination. Personal self-examination but also examination of the world in which we live and the church in which we serve. So let us peer into the mirror, friends, and do not despise ourselves, because God does not despise us, but loves us. In the full view of God’s love, let us but examine our hearts and see where the word has not taken root. Let us see where the mess of our lives is and do something about it. Let us be honest with ourselves about who we are, and submit ourselves again, more deeply to God to be changed by God’s Holy Spirit.
Let us prepare ourselves to hear the word of the Lord from the Book of James, but what we will hear is that hearing is not enough. We must be willing also to do something.
NRS James 1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-- they will be blessed in their doing. 26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Everything generous, everything good and perfect comes from God, the God who gives us birth by a word of truth. And what is that word? That word is the grace we have come to know through our Lord Jesus Christ, who practiced what he preached. He said, power is made perfect in weakness and he proved it by living it. He said, “The greatest is the servant of all, and he showed them by the way he became a slave to all.”
We are to welcome with meekness, with humility the word of God, which has the power to save our souls. I love that sentence. Welcome with meekness the word of God which save the power to save your soul. It is a gift from God, freely given, as the Apostle Paul would be quick to say. But James would emphasize that we have a role to play in welcoming with humility this word of power, the gift of God, which needs to be planted, watered, nurtured in our souls. I hear the good news and then I live a good news life. To sustain the good news life, I must spend time hearing good news and living a sacramental life.
James teaches us that there are two essentials to doing the word, not just hearing it.
The first has to do with communication. Communicate in love. There are three parts to communicating in love – listening well, guarding our words, and managing our anger.
You know there nothing more insulting that to be talking to someone and realize after a while that they have not been listening. They’ve been distracted. They haven’t cared enough to pay attention. They’ve been so quick to get their comments in, that they don’t take time to hear what you’re saying. Many arguments are started when one or two persons are not really listening, not really trying to understand what the other person is saying. And we all are bad listeners sometimes. It is an tremendous act of disciplined love to listen well.
Guarding your words, being slow to speak is a second discipline in conversation. As we are reminded in Proverbs, “It makes a lot of sense to be a person of few words and to stay calm. Even fools seem clever when they are quiet.” (Prov.17:27-28) I use the silent technique quite a bit. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, better to be quiet. No one will know just how uninformed you are.
Being slow to speak goes hand in hand with managing anger because quite often, if we can wait just a few moments and calm down, we will not say the damaging words which are yearning to come out of our mouths. Our heads will catch up and we’ll think before we speak. Always a good idea, thinking before speaking. But anger has a way of thrusting us into a conversation that should not have happened. Self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit must be cultivated by prayer and an attitude of humility.
The great Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel once said, “In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves” He also said, in the maturity of his latter years, “When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.”
We Presbyterians love to discuss things. Presbyterians are proud of the mind of faith. This is a strength and liability. How many session and presbytery meetings have soured because someone was desperately trying to be clever or right on a subject, rather than focusing on being kind. And how many churches, Presbyterians and other, spend so much time debating issues, they are slow to actually DO anything.
James said, there’s more than communicating well. He said we can’t just talk about the word of God, we have to do something. When a truth is learned, it must be practiced. Indeed, knowledge that is not put into practice is not truly learned; Religion that is pure means caring for the neediest among us. Doing the word means communicating well and taking care of others, especially those in desperate circumstances. In Jesus’ day, widows and orphans. In our day, the poorest of the poor, those on the margins of society.
The first item on our Leadership Team agenda this past Thursday night was figuring out how to be more supportive of Mission Beth-El, our covenant partner doing ministry with farmworkers and their families, as they struggle with budget cuts. The number of people coming for help increases while the funding from churches decreases in the recession. It is unacceptable for us to hear the word, knowing that Christ calls us to care for the needy, to hear that Mission Beth-El is struggling and do nothing. You will hear more about this soon.
St. Francis said, “Preach the gospel every day. When necessary, use words.” Actions speak much louder than words. Actions give words their power.
In 1982, Karen Olson was a marketing executive who developed promotional campaigns for consumer products. One morning, on her way to a meeting, she saw a homeless woman, someone she'd seen over and over again on her way to work. She decided to buy a sandwich for the woman. The stranger accepted the sandwich but asked for something else -a moment to be heard, to be comforted, and to be considered as more than a mere statistic on a cold street corner.
Soon, Karen and her two young sons began frequent trips to New York to hand out sandwiches to the homeless. As she came to know some of the city's homeless people, she began to understand the profound loss and disconnection that homelessness causes. That understanding turned into an enduring commitment. Karen is the founder of Family Promise, a ministry to homeless families started four years after this experience. She had heard the word for years. She had probably talked about her concern for the poor for years. But one day, she began to act on it. The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Family Promise provides shelter, meals, and housing and job placement support to more than 31,000 homeless family members annually, 60 percent of them children. (This story comes from the Family Promise website)
Mother Teresa said, "There should be less talk; Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough. It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters. Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed." Mother Teresa’s words have an authenticity because we know how she lived in service to the neediest of Calcutta. Mother Teresa practiced what she preached.
Will you?
Let us take a moment of silent prayer now to reflect on how we might simplify our lives a bit more, so that we are able to help those who desperate for assistance.... Let us pray for a humble spirit to receive the word implanted in our soul.... And let us ask God to build in us, as we take prayerful action, the ability to communicate with kindness and to reach out with compassion.....
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Courageous Faith
Daniel 1-6 (Children’s Everyday Bible)
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Sometimes preserving your faith requires you to take an unpopular stand. Whether we are Muslim, Jewish, or Christian, sometimes our faith does not square with the prevailing culture around us. That was the case for the Hebrew youth Daniel and his three comrades. They were away from home and could have accommodated to the culture. They could have fit in with the crowd. But instead they set themselves apart by their faithfulness. They had courageous faith.
I was talking to one of you this week who said, “In my workplace, colleagues had relatives die, even young ones in tragic deaths, and everybody went on with business as usual.” She said, “I couldn’t do that. It was not right. I went to the service. I thought we should provide extra love and support.”
A college student that I happen to know very well said last spring, “Everybody drinks in excess and then hooks up with anybody, whomever they were dancing with last. People don’t even know what they did the next day. I just can’t do that. I have to say to my friends, ‘No, I really don’t want to go to the frat party. I’d rather stay here in the dorm, watch a movie, maybe drink a glass of wine.”
Some of the violent movies and video games are not okay at my house. They don’t breed Christian values. They are the opposite of Christian values. Some of the talk shoes on television, where people are screaming at each other, trying to win points in a argument, are no good. We change channels. The opposite of the scripture we read last Sunday about how we speak gracefully to each other.
Spending too much time in shopping centers, reading some of the magazines which obsess over the lives of celebrities. These detract from Christian faith. Four-letter words don’t bother me too much, but throwing God’s name around does. But mostly living our faith is about how we respect God and treat one another.
In our day, tolerance of others is highly valued. But when does tolerance for others’ beliefs become indifference about our own. Are we afraid to pray in public because of offending others? Does it really offend people that you bow your head in a restaurant or does it just make you uncomfortable? I’m not advocating for prayer in public schools led by school officials because we’re all coming from different positions on faith. I’m only saying that we need to speak up about our faith when it matters.
We should be speaking up, carefully and respectfully, when we think people are mistreated because we worship a God who cares about such things. We cannot be indifferent. The worst lesson we can teach our kids is that it doesn’t matter what you believe. It matters a great deal. To be respectful of others who do not share your faith, is not to deny or hide your own faith, but to live and speak it forthrightly, making plenty of room for them to live and speak theirs.
Usually here at Peace we read short passages (15-20 verses) of scripture and focus on the details. But today, instead of reading a short passage from the book of Daniel, we’re going to read the first half of the book of Daniel from a children’s Bible. That’s so we can get on board with these narratives because most of us are not deeply acquainted with this narrative and apocalypse from the Old Testament. By the way, children’s Bibles are wonderful for people of all ages. Some of my best theological training came after seminary when I started reading Bible stories to my children. I haven’t done enough of that, but what I do know about Daniel comes mostly from that.
The children’s Bible from which we are reading deals with the six stories from the first six chapters of Daniel. The second half of Daniel tells four visions or revelations for the future, the apocalyptic part. Those are not in the children’s Bible and we will not read those. The six vignettes which we will read are set in the 6th century BCE, but the author is writing sometime around 200 years before Jesus was born. He’s writing to encourage their faith. Hear the word of the Lord:
Daniel 1 – Daniel and his friends
The king of Babylon told his servant to pick some young men who had been taken prisoners from Jerusalem. “Take them to my palace to be trained as advisers,” he ordered. A man named Daniel and three of his friends were among the chosen few. When they arrived at the palace, they were given the best royal food. But they refused it, asking instead for simple food that would not conflict with their worship of God. Their master agreed to give them the diet of plain food for ten days. When he saw how healthy they looked, he agreed they could eat as they wished.
Daniel 2 – The king’s dream
One day, the king summoned his advisors. “I have had a strange dream,” he said. “Tell me what I dreamed, then explain it to me or you will die.” That night, God told Daniel about the king’s dream. The next morning, Daniel spoke to the king. “You dreamed of a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of clay,” said Daniel. “Then a great stone fell on the statue and smashed it.”
The king was amazed. “That’s right!” he said. “Your empire is the statue’s golden head,” said Daniel. “After you, other empires will rise, inferior to yours. But one day God will send a king whose kingdom will last forever. This king is the stone you saw in your dream.”
Daniel 3 – The golden statue
The king could not forget the big statue in his dream. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make a real statue, just like the one I dreamed about?” he thought. “But this statue would be the image of me, and I would make it in gold from head to toe.” The king ordered the work to start on his statue right away. When it was finished, it was an incredible sight. The gleaming figure stood fifteen times taller than the tallest man. “Now people must bow down to my statue,” commanded the king. “Anyone who refuses will be burned alive!” Everybody knew the king always meant what he said.
Daniel 3 – Thrown into the furnace
Daniel’s three friends refused the king’s command. “We will not worship a statue,” they said. “We must be true to our God.” The king was furious. “Throw them into the fire,” he shouted. So, Daniel’s friends were put into a blazing furnace. It was heated seven times hotter than usual. As the king watched, he saw another person among the flames. The fourth man looked like an angel. The king ordered Daniel’s friends to come out of the furnace. They emerged, unharmed by the fire. Mysteriously, the fourth man had disappeared. “Your God has saved you!” the king said. “Your God is great and must be praised.”
Daniel 4 – Another strange dream
The king of Babylon had another strange dream, this time of a very tall tree. “Cut down this tree,” ordered an angel. The tree stump turned into a man. “This man must live like a wild animal,” said the angel. “He has to learn that God rules the world.” Daniel explained the dream to the king. “You are the tree,” he said. “If you don’t obey God, you will lose your power.”
But the king did not obey God, and everything happened as Daniel said. A madness came over the king, and he lived like an animal for many years. When he finally returned to his palace, He never disobeyed God again.
Daniel 4 – Belshazzar’s banquet
Belshazzar, the new king of Babylon, held a big banquet for his friends. “Get the golden cups,” Belshazzar ordered. He made everyone drink from the holy cups that his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly, Belshazzar went pale with terror. “I can see a hand, writing on the wall over there!” he cried.
The king asked Daniel to tell him what the words meant. “You have disobeyed God, and your empire is about to end,” said Daniel. That night, Darius, the king of Persia, attacked Babylon and killed King Belshazzar.
Daniel 6 – Daniel refuses to obey
King Darius was very impressed with Daniel’s wisdom, so he made him his chief adviser. But this made some of the palace officials jealous, and they plotted to get rid of Daniel. Soon they had a plan and went to see the new king. “We think that there should be a law against people praying to any god but you,” they said. “If they do , they should be thrown to the lions.” The king liked the idea so much, he passed a new law to put it into practice. The jealous officials knew that Daniel prayed to God three times a day. Daniel heard about the new law, but he refused to obey it. He carried on praying three times a day, as usual.
Daniel 6 – Daniel and the lions
Daniel’s enemies were delighted when they caught him breaking the law. They arrested him and took him to the king. Reluctantly, the king had to admit that Daniel had disobeyed him. “Throw him to the lions!” cried the palace officials. King Darius had no choice but to send Daniel to his death.
At dawn, the king ran to the lion’s den. “Did your God save you?” the king called out. “God sent an angel to protect me, because I have done nothing wrong!” replied Daniel. King Darius was overjoyed that Daniel was safe. Then he ordered Daniel’s accusers to be thrown into the den.
This first piece of art on the screen is from the Christian catacombs of Priscilla, Rome, Italy, late 3rd century – The Hebrew youth in the Fiery Furnace. Second is Peter Paul Rubens, 17th Century – Daniel in the Lion’s Den. The last two are more modern pieces of art. These stories – the story of the fiery furnace and the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den – have empowered the faith of many persecuted Jews and Christians through the centuries.
We are not persecuted. We have the freedom to say what we believe and we are not going to be thrown in jail or into a fiery furnace because of it, but think about what being Jewish meant during the Third Reich. In 1947 a group of Hasidic Jews, all of them Holocaust survivors, gathered to enact the fiery furnace scene from Daniel as a way of re-constructing what happened in the concentration camps. They re-lived it through the drama. This has been a powerful part of their healing process. Standing up in front of their own people dressed as SS Officers and declaring their own faith with courage, they said, “Hear, O Israel, The Lord is our God. The Lord alone. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
That’s courage, if you’re still saying that, when you’re being put in the fiery furnace. It’s courageous to be a Christian in Iraq or in Pakistan.
Courage for us may mean something very different. We are not going to the fiery furnace or to the lion’s den. We’re not likely to die from a religiously motivated car bomber. But maybe we are going to lose a friend or two because we don’t wear the right clothes or drive the right car. Maybe we are going to approach Christmas celebrations or retirement lifestyle much more simply than our parents did because we believe that we should tithe, really give sacrificially to make a difference for others. Maybe we are going to support a healthcare system that means the wealthy, insured people receive fewer excessive scans and testing, so that all people can receive basic healthcare.
Peace, you are a courageous church. Did you know that our new church development is giving more to mission through the presbytery than 2/3 of the other churches in presbytery. In this terrible economy, many churches are not giving and as a result, Mission Beth-El is suffering. The church camp, Cedarkirk is struggling too. We may well lose our ministry to farmworkers in Immokalee, where the poorest of the poor live, because there not enough courageous faith in the churches of presbytery.
Courageous faith could be like the first story we read from Daniel. The four guys had the opportunity to eat more meat and richer food, but in the spirit of their faith, they continued to eat simply and they turned out healthier. The very same could be true for us, if we would just simplify our eating habits for the sake of faith, for the sake of others who are hungry.
Courageous faith may be doing what you think is right in your workplace, even if you suspect you might lose your job by following your Christian ethics. I’ve known someone who did just that. Courageous faith requires a strong belief in the sovereignty of God. For if you think down in the depths of your soul that God is powerless to help you, then why would you take a chance with powerful human beings by defying them? Why not just bow down and worship them? Give them what they want. But Paul said to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” No fires or lions can ultimately harm us. No kings or cultures can pull us away from the God in whom we trust.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the King, “O Nebuchadnezzar, if the God we serve will deliver us from the fiery furnace, then we will be delivered. If not, then let it be known to you, O King, that will not serve your gods nor worship the golden statue you have set up.”
And when the three young men stepped out of the flames, Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How great are his signs. How mighty are his wonders. And everlasting is this God’s sovereignty.” Amen.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Sometimes preserving your faith requires you to take an unpopular stand. Whether we are Muslim, Jewish, or Christian, sometimes our faith does not square with the prevailing culture around us. That was the case for the Hebrew youth Daniel and his three comrades. They were away from home and could have accommodated to the culture. They could have fit in with the crowd. But instead they set themselves apart by their faithfulness. They had courageous faith.
I was talking to one of you this week who said, “In my workplace, colleagues had relatives die, even young ones in tragic deaths, and everybody went on with business as usual.” She said, “I couldn’t do that. It was not right. I went to the service. I thought we should provide extra love and support.”
A college student that I happen to know very well said last spring, “Everybody drinks in excess and then hooks up with anybody, whomever they were dancing with last. People don’t even know what they did the next day. I just can’t do that. I have to say to my friends, ‘No, I really don’t want to go to the frat party. I’d rather stay here in the dorm, watch a movie, maybe drink a glass of wine.”
Some of the violent movies and video games are not okay at my house. They don’t breed Christian values. They are the opposite of Christian values. Some of the talk shoes on television, where people are screaming at each other, trying to win points in a argument, are no good. We change channels. The opposite of the scripture we read last Sunday about how we speak gracefully to each other.
Spending too much time in shopping centers, reading some of the magazines which obsess over the lives of celebrities. These detract from Christian faith. Four-letter words don’t bother me too much, but throwing God’s name around does. But mostly living our faith is about how we respect God and treat one another.
In our day, tolerance of others is highly valued. But when does tolerance for others’ beliefs become indifference about our own. Are we afraid to pray in public because of offending others? Does it really offend people that you bow your head in a restaurant or does it just make you uncomfortable? I’m not advocating for prayer in public schools led by school officials because we’re all coming from different positions on faith. I’m only saying that we need to speak up about our faith when it matters.
We should be speaking up, carefully and respectfully, when we think people are mistreated because we worship a God who cares about such things. We cannot be indifferent. The worst lesson we can teach our kids is that it doesn’t matter what you believe. It matters a great deal. To be respectful of others who do not share your faith, is not to deny or hide your own faith, but to live and speak it forthrightly, making plenty of room for them to live and speak theirs.
Usually here at Peace we read short passages (15-20 verses) of scripture and focus on the details. But today, instead of reading a short passage from the book of Daniel, we’re going to read the first half of the book of Daniel from a children’s Bible. That’s so we can get on board with these narratives because most of us are not deeply acquainted with this narrative and apocalypse from the Old Testament. By the way, children’s Bibles are wonderful for people of all ages. Some of my best theological training came after seminary when I started reading Bible stories to my children. I haven’t done enough of that, but what I do know about Daniel comes mostly from that.
The children’s Bible from which we are reading deals with the six stories from the first six chapters of Daniel. The second half of Daniel tells four visions or revelations for the future, the apocalyptic part. Those are not in the children’s Bible and we will not read those. The six vignettes which we will read are set in the 6th century BCE, but the author is writing sometime around 200 years before Jesus was born. He’s writing to encourage their faith. Hear the word of the Lord:
Daniel 1 – Daniel and his friends
The king of Babylon told his servant to pick some young men who had been taken prisoners from Jerusalem. “Take them to my palace to be trained as advisers,” he ordered. A man named Daniel and three of his friends were among the chosen few. When they arrived at the palace, they were given the best royal food. But they refused it, asking instead for simple food that would not conflict with their worship of God. Their master agreed to give them the diet of plain food for ten days. When he saw how healthy they looked, he agreed they could eat as they wished.
Daniel 2 – The king’s dream
One day, the king summoned his advisors. “I have had a strange dream,” he said. “Tell me what I dreamed, then explain it to me or you will die.” That night, God told Daniel about the king’s dream. The next morning, Daniel spoke to the king. “You dreamed of a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of clay,” said Daniel. “Then a great stone fell on the statue and smashed it.”
The king was amazed. “That’s right!” he said. “Your empire is the statue’s golden head,” said Daniel. “After you, other empires will rise, inferior to yours. But one day God will send a king whose kingdom will last forever. This king is the stone you saw in your dream.”
Daniel 3 – The golden statue
The king could not forget the big statue in his dream. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make a real statue, just like the one I dreamed about?” he thought. “But this statue would be the image of me, and I would make it in gold from head to toe.” The king ordered the work to start on his statue right away. When it was finished, it was an incredible sight. The gleaming figure stood fifteen times taller than the tallest man. “Now people must bow down to my statue,” commanded the king. “Anyone who refuses will be burned alive!” Everybody knew the king always meant what he said.
Daniel 3 – Thrown into the furnace
Daniel’s three friends refused the king’s command. “We will not worship a statue,” they said. “We must be true to our God.” The king was furious. “Throw them into the fire,” he shouted. So, Daniel’s friends were put into a blazing furnace. It was heated seven times hotter than usual. As the king watched, he saw another person among the flames. The fourth man looked like an angel. The king ordered Daniel’s friends to come out of the furnace. They emerged, unharmed by the fire. Mysteriously, the fourth man had disappeared. “Your God has saved you!” the king said. “Your God is great and must be praised.”
Daniel 4 – Another strange dream
The king of Babylon had another strange dream, this time of a very tall tree. “Cut down this tree,” ordered an angel. The tree stump turned into a man. “This man must live like a wild animal,” said the angel. “He has to learn that God rules the world.” Daniel explained the dream to the king. “You are the tree,” he said. “If you don’t obey God, you will lose your power.”
But the king did not obey God, and everything happened as Daniel said. A madness came over the king, and he lived like an animal for many years. When he finally returned to his palace, He never disobeyed God again.
Daniel 4 – Belshazzar’s banquet
Belshazzar, the new king of Babylon, held a big banquet for his friends. “Get the golden cups,” Belshazzar ordered. He made everyone drink from the holy cups that his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly, Belshazzar went pale with terror. “I can see a hand, writing on the wall over there!” he cried.
The king asked Daniel to tell him what the words meant. “You have disobeyed God, and your empire is about to end,” said Daniel. That night, Darius, the king of Persia, attacked Babylon and killed King Belshazzar.
Daniel 6 – Daniel refuses to obey
King Darius was very impressed with Daniel’s wisdom, so he made him his chief adviser. But this made some of the palace officials jealous, and they plotted to get rid of Daniel. Soon they had a plan and went to see the new king. “We think that there should be a law against people praying to any god but you,” they said. “If they do , they should be thrown to the lions.” The king liked the idea so much, he passed a new law to put it into practice. The jealous officials knew that Daniel prayed to God three times a day. Daniel heard about the new law, but he refused to obey it. He carried on praying three times a day, as usual.
Daniel 6 – Daniel and the lions
Daniel’s enemies were delighted when they caught him breaking the law. They arrested him and took him to the king. Reluctantly, the king had to admit that Daniel had disobeyed him. “Throw him to the lions!” cried the palace officials. King Darius had no choice but to send Daniel to his death.
At dawn, the king ran to the lion’s den. “Did your God save you?” the king called out. “God sent an angel to protect me, because I have done nothing wrong!” replied Daniel. King Darius was overjoyed that Daniel was safe. Then he ordered Daniel’s accusers to be thrown into the den.
This first piece of art on the screen is from the Christian catacombs of Priscilla, Rome, Italy, late 3rd century – The Hebrew youth in the Fiery Furnace. Second is Peter Paul Rubens, 17th Century – Daniel in the Lion’s Den. The last two are more modern pieces of art. These stories – the story of the fiery furnace and the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den – have empowered the faith of many persecuted Jews and Christians through the centuries.
We are not persecuted. We have the freedom to say what we believe and we are not going to be thrown in jail or into a fiery furnace because of it, but think about what being Jewish meant during the Third Reich. In 1947 a group of Hasidic Jews, all of them Holocaust survivors, gathered to enact the fiery furnace scene from Daniel as a way of re-constructing what happened in the concentration camps. They re-lived it through the drama. This has been a powerful part of their healing process. Standing up in front of their own people dressed as SS Officers and declaring their own faith with courage, they said, “Hear, O Israel, The Lord is our God. The Lord alone. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
That’s courage, if you’re still saying that, when you’re being put in the fiery furnace. It’s courageous to be a Christian in Iraq or in Pakistan.
Courage for us may mean something very different. We are not going to the fiery furnace or to the lion’s den. We’re not likely to die from a religiously motivated car bomber. But maybe we are going to lose a friend or two because we don’t wear the right clothes or drive the right car. Maybe we are going to approach Christmas celebrations or retirement lifestyle much more simply than our parents did because we believe that we should tithe, really give sacrificially to make a difference for others. Maybe we are going to support a healthcare system that means the wealthy, insured people receive fewer excessive scans and testing, so that all people can receive basic healthcare.
Peace, you are a courageous church. Did you know that our new church development is giving more to mission through the presbytery than 2/3 of the other churches in presbytery. In this terrible economy, many churches are not giving and as a result, Mission Beth-El is suffering. The church camp, Cedarkirk is struggling too. We may well lose our ministry to farmworkers in Immokalee, where the poorest of the poor live, because there not enough courageous faith in the churches of presbytery.
Courageous faith could be like the first story we read from Daniel. The four guys had the opportunity to eat more meat and richer food, but in the spirit of their faith, they continued to eat simply and they turned out healthier. The very same could be true for us, if we would just simplify our eating habits for the sake of faith, for the sake of others who are hungry.
Courageous faith may be doing what you think is right in your workplace, even if you suspect you might lose your job by following your Christian ethics. I’ve known someone who did just that. Courageous faith requires a strong belief in the sovereignty of God. For if you think down in the depths of your soul that God is powerless to help you, then why would you take a chance with powerful human beings by defying them? Why not just bow down and worship them? Give them what they want. But Paul said to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” No fires or lions can ultimately harm us. No kings or cultures can pull us away from the God in whom we trust.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the King, “O Nebuchadnezzar, if the God we serve will deliver us from the fiery furnace, then we will be delivered. If not, then let it be known to you, O King, that will not serve your gods nor worship the golden statue you have set up.”
And when the three young men stepped out of the flames, Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How great are his signs. How mighty are his wonders. And everlasting is this God’s sovereignty.” Amen.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Speaking the Truth in Love
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Last Sunday afternoon, after preaching about our need for a humble spirit, I had the worst spirit of impatience and irritability ever. I just hate when that happens. I’m supposed to practice what I preach, and I was doing a lousy job of it. Now, it’s not that being angry was wrong. But how I handled my anger.
Well, it seems that God, through the gift of this lectionary of scripture readings and the relentless return of Sunday preaching, keeps me focused on this point. Be humble. If I can maintain a spirit of humility, then I might not get angry for the wrong reasons. And when I am angry for the right reasons, I might handle my anger constructively, rather than being a bull in a china shop.
So it seems to me that last week’s humble spirit is the inner attitude and speaking the truth in love, dealing with anger in fruitful ways is the outer expression of that inner attitude.
Yesterday, I was sitting at my computer, wishing that I had a good story about anger. I had several stories down in my notes, but none of them seemed just right. So I was actually praying that God would put the right story in my head, when the story happened to me. Really it did. I spotted my new neighbors outside, the new neighbors who just did a complete overhaul of their yard. They have added at least one hundred new plants – no exaggeration. It looks great. I had watched their team of landscape specialists put in lights, fencing, trees, shrubs, pavers, and flowers over the last month. I had talked to the landscaper guys about the hedge between the two yards, about how I thought it needed a significant pruning. The head landscaper agreed.
So on Thursday, I gave this hedge of viburnum a good cutback with both saw and clippers. And today I went out to explain to the neighbors why I had cut it as I did. The neighbors were not happy. In fact, they took that opportunity to chew me out about it, saying the hedge was half theirs and that I should have conferred with them before I “mutilated it.” It took every ounce of self-control for me to explain myself to them calmly. Their sustained anger was shocking. In fact, it ruined my afternoon. I felt so misunderstood. I had, in my mind, done something great for them, as well as for us. I had worked so hard to make sure no clippings landed on their side. I really could not believe they were so angry over a pruned hedge that in Florida will grow back in two or three months time.
But I tried very hard to maintain a humble spirit and acknowledge that my actions had disturbed them and for that I was truly sorry. I was. I apologized, explained, and clarified that this hedge had always been maintained by us, such that we thought it our job to cut it back, especially since their landscapers had not touched it. But I said, that if they really wanted to control the maintenance of the hedge, it was fine with me.
I did not utter a single sassy or unkind word, but since 2:30 yesterday afternoon, I have felt hurt and angry at how unkind they were to me. Wow, I still cannot believe how a bush was more important to them than me, a person. So I thought I’d just be going to bed angry. Instead, I re-wrote nearly the whole sermon. I had anger issues and I needed to struggle with them, with this scripture, and with you. And if my sermon on speaking the truth in love did not have something to contribute to this miserable experience with the neighbor, then it was not worth your time.
I have some embarrassing anger stories. Don’t you? We’ve all got anger stories of what kind or another. In nineteen years of ordained ministry, I’ve made a few people angry, and sometimes I’ve received their displaced anger. I remember the mother of a troubled teen who was mad that the church was not helping her kid. We were involved with him, but there was no way to have a quick fix on that boy. She was angry at him, at herself, and at the world, but the church was an easy target.
I control anger reasonably well, until I reach the end of my rope. In twenty-four years of marriage, the rope has gotten fairly short a few times. One time in a memorable fit of rage I threw down a handful of books in my arms. I forgot I was holding a camera on top of the books. It broke. How do we speak the truth in love when we are angry? How do we let go of anger?
These are questions that beg an answer. Hear the word of the Lord:
Okay, you heard my story about the neighbors. You can probably see that I have an internal problem with anger, with bitterness festering. I have pretty good self-control such that I don’t usually blurt out things that I will regret in the heat of the moment. I have more trouble with internalizing anger and feeling embittered for a while. Richard, sometimes gets embittered, but he has more often had trouble with the external issue of anger. Saying things that should not have been said. Wanting to win the argument at all costs. He does not tend to hold grudges as much as I do.
So how about you? Do you have an internal weakness or external weakness with anger? How many of you keep your mouth shut successfully but then have explosion of anger going off inside you? How many of you wish you could control your tongue when you’re angry? You just say what you think – no matter what.
Anger is okay. It’s just what you do with it that matters. Some of us were taught that the feeling is bad, but anger by itself is not sinful. We should always write angry letters to people who have hurt us. But we should almost never mail them. That’s the danger with email. Mailing is just one click away. Richard regular reminds me “Pray before you click.”
Mark Twain said, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” Twain must have been coaching people like me with the internal problem with anger.
Here’s a quote from the satirical stort-story writer, Ambrose Bierce, for those of you who have more of an external problem with anger: “Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
But here’s my favorite quote on this subject – from the Irish American writer, Malachy McCourt: “Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
Okay, so how do we find our way to speaking the truth in love? How do we mature enough to avoid all evil talk and bitter thoughts? How do we find the strength of character to say only what is useful for building up? How can we develop our ability to speak words which give grace to all who hear them?
There’s only one way I know to get rid of bitterness, be tenderhearted, and forgiving, and completely focused on building others up. The only way is to be built up internally with the knowledge of God’s love in Jesus Christ. To spend much time in worship, Bible study, and prayer. Enough time to know deeply that you belong to God, that God defines your worth. Your shouting neighbor does not define your worth. Your embittered ex-spouse does not define your worth. Your alcoholic parent, who routinely cut you down, does not define your worth. Your criticizing boss does not tell you who you are. Your irritated spouse does not tell you who you are. Your needy children do not tell you who you are. Your middle school friend, who is loyal one day and disloyal the next does not tell you who you really are.
God tells you. God says, “You are my beloved child. You are my treasure. You are special, valuable, precious. I love you.” That’s the message God wants to implant in your soul every day in a deeper and deeper way. And then all those angry people, all those people who mistreat you, all those people who do not understand love because they have not seen this love, all those who people who know God’s love but for whatever reason, lose their focus and act unkindly toward you, all those people, who are not rooted and grounded, cannot get to you because you are rooted and grounded. You are praying and you are knowing that God has this explosive situation in control.
And by the power of the Holy Spirit working in your wounded but healing heart, you can face that person without need for revenge, without bitterness eating at your soul, without shame. You can, by the grace of God, find graceful words to say. You can build up because you are imitators of God, who loves everyone of us, even those of us who have grieved the Holy Spirit with our unkind words, those words we should have never said. You are imitating the God, who as Christ said from the cross, “Father, forgive, for they know not what they do.”
My neighbor wanted to argue over the hedge, over which inches of it were his and which were mine, but I gave it to him. I don’t need that hedge. I don’t need to win the argument either. Someone wisely said, “You don’t have to attend every argument to which you are invited.” I don’t need my neighbor’s approval. I have everything I need, everything I want, everything that will fill me up. I have God’s love, Christ’s example, and the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And I pray that freedom, that joy, that security for all those who would try to drag me downwith wrangling. I’m not going there. I like peace too much. We’re not going there, are we, friends. It’s not worth it. Speak the truth. Speak the truth in love. In love build up one another. In love, take whatever people want to throw at you and know that those arrows cannot pierce God’s child, those wild words cannot wound a soul that is filled up with love, those out of control emotions cannot mess with the fragrant and beautiful love of Jesus Christ, a love that will never, ever, ever end.
Speak the truth in love. Pray for your enemies. Outdo one another in showing honor. Be gentle, tender-hearted and kind. Bless those who persecute you. Be imitators of God, and the peace that God is trying to build in this world will grow.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Last Sunday afternoon, after preaching about our need for a humble spirit, I had the worst spirit of impatience and irritability ever. I just hate when that happens. I’m supposed to practice what I preach, and I was doing a lousy job of it. Now, it’s not that being angry was wrong. But how I handled my anger.
Well, it seems that God, through the gift of this lectionary of scripture readings and the relentless return of Sunday preaching, keeps me focused on this point. Be humble. If I can maintain a spirit of humility, then I might not get angry for the wrong reasons. And when I am angry for the right reasons, I might handle my anger constructively, rather than being a bull in a china shop.
So it seems to me that last week’s humble spirit is the inner attitude and speaking the truth in love, dealing with anger in fruitful ways is the outer expression of that inner attitude.
Yesterday, I was sitting at my computer, wishing that I had a good story about anger. I had several stories down in my notes, but none of them seemed just right. So I was actually praying that God would put the right story in my head, when the story happened to me. Really it did. I spotted my new neighbors outside, the new neighbors who just did a complete overhaul of their yard. They have added at least one hundred new plants – no exaggeration. It looks great. I had watched their team of landscape specialists put in lights, fencing, trees, shrubs, pavers, and flowers over the last month. I had talked to the landscaper guys about the hedge between the two yards, about how I thought it needed a significant pruning. The head landscaper agreed.
So on Thursday, I gave this hedge of viburnum a good cutback with both saw and clippers. And today I went out to explain to the neighbors why I had cut it as I did. The neighbors were not happy. In fact, they took that opportunity to chew me out about it, saying the hedge was half theirs and that I should have conferred with them before I “mutilated it.” It took every ounce of self-control for me to explain myself to them calmly. Their sustained anger was shocking. In fact, it ruined my afternoon. I felt so misunderstood. I had, in my mind, done something great for them, as well as for us. I had worked so hard to make sure no clippings landed on their side. I really could not believe they were so angry over a pruned hedge that in Florida will grow back in two or three months time.
But I tried very hard to maintain a humble spirit and acknowledge that my actions had disturbed them and for that I was truly sorry. I was. I apologized, explained, and clarified that this hedge had always been maintained by us, such that we thought it our job to cut it back, especially since their landscapers had not touched it. But I said, that if they really wanted to control the maintenance of the hedge, it was fine with me.
I did not utter a single sassy or unkind word, but since 2:30 yesterday afternoon, I have felt hurt and angry at how unkind they were to me. Wow, I still cannot believe how a bush was more important to them than me, a person. So I thought I’d just be going to bed angry. Instead, I re-wrote nearly the whole sermon. I had anger issues and I needed to struggle with them, with this scripture, and with you. And if my sermon on speaking the truth in love did not have something to contribute to this miserable experience with the neighbor, then it was not worth your time.
I have some embarrassing anger stories. Don’t you? We’ve all got anger stories of what kind or another. In nineteen years of ordained ministry, I’ve made a few people angry, and sometimes I’ve received their displaced anger. I remember the mother of a troubled teen who was mad that the church was not helping her kid. We were involved with him, but there was no way to have a quick fix on that boy. She was angry at him, at herself, and at the world, but the church was an easy target.
I control anger reasonably well, until I reach the end of my rope. In twenty-four years of marriage, the rope has gotten fairly short a few times. One time in a memorable fit of rage I threw down a handful of books in my arms. I forgot I was holding a camera on top of the books. It broke. How do we speak the truth in love when we are angry? How do we let go of anger?
These are questions that beg an answer. Hear the word of the Lord:
Okay, you heard my story about the neighbors. You can probably see that I have an internal problem with anger, with bitterness festering. I have pretty good self-control such that I don’t usually blurt out things that I will regret in the heat of the moment. I have more trouble with internalizing anger and feeling embittered for a while. Richard, sometimes gets embittered, but he has more often had trouble with the external issue of anger. Saying things that should not have been said. Wanting to win the argument at all costs. He does not tend to hold grudges as much as I do.
So how about you? Do you have an internal weakness or external weakness with anger? How many of you keep your mouth shut successfully but then have explosion of anger going off inside you? How many of you wish you could control your tongue when you’re angry? You just say what you think – no matter what.
Anger is okay. It’s just what you do with it that matters. Some of us were taught that the feeling is bad, but anger by itself is not sinful. We should always write angry letters to people who have hurt us. But we should almost never mail them. That’s the danger with email. Mailing is just one click away. Richard regular reminds me “Pray before you click.”
Mark Twain said, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” Twain must have been coaching people like me with the internal problem with anger.
Here’s a quote from the satirical stort-story writer, Ambrose Bierce, for those of you who have more of an external problem with anger: “Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
But here’s my favorite quote on this subject – from the Irish American writer, Malachy McCourt: “Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
Okay, so how do we find our way to speaking the truth in love? How do we mature enough to avoid all evil talk and bitter thoughts? How do we find the strength of character to say only what is useful for building up? How can we develop our ability to speak words which give grace to all who hear them?
There’s only one way I know to get rid of bitterness, be tenderhearted, and forgiving, and completely focused on building others up. The only way is to be built up internally with the knowledge of God’s love in Jesus Christ. To spend much time in worship, Bible study, and prayer. Enough time to know deeply that you belong to God, that God defines your worth. Your shouting neighbor does not define your worth. Your embittered ex-spouse does not define your worth. Your alcoholic parent, who routinely cut you down, does not define your worth. Your criticizing boss does not tell you who you are. Your irritated spouse does not tell you who you are. Your needy children do not tell you who you are. Your middle school friend, who is loyal one day and disloyal the next does not tell you who you really are.
God tells you. God says, “You are my beloved child. You are my treasure. You are special, valuable, precious. I love you.” That’s the message God wants to implant in your soul every day in a deeper and deeper way. And then all those angry people, all those people who mistreat you, all those people who do not understand love because they have not seen this love, all those who people who know God’s love but for whatever reason, lose their focus and act unkindly toward you, all those people, who are not rooted and grounded, cannot get to you because you are rooted and grounded. You are praying and you are knowing that God has this explosive situation in control.
And by the power of the Holy Spirit working in your wounded but healing heart, you can face that person without need for revenge, without bitterness eating at your soul, without shame. You can, by the grace of God, find graceful words to say. You can build up because you are imitators of God, who loves everyone of us, even those of us who have grieved the Holy Spirit with our unkind words, those words we should have never said. You are imitating the God, who as Christ said from the cross, “Father, forgive, for they know not what they do.”
My neighbor wanted to argue over the hedge, over which inches of it were his and which were mine, but I gave it to him. I don’t need that hedge. I don’t need to win the argument either. Someone wisely said, “You don’t have to attend every argument to which you are invited.” I don’t need my neighbor’s approval. I have everything I need, everything I want, everything that will fill me up. I have God’s love, Christ’s example, and the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And I pray that freedom, that joy, that security for all those who would try to drag me downwith wrangling. I’m not going there. I like peace too much. We’re not going there, are we, friends. It’s not worth it. Speak the truth. Speak the truth in love. In love build up one another. In love, take whatever people want to throw at you and know that those arrows cannot pierce God’s child, those wild words cannot wound a soul that is filled up with love, those out of control emotions cannot mess with the fragrant and beautiful love of Jesus Christ, a love that will never, ever, ever end.
Speak the truth in love. Pray for your enemies. Outdo one another in showing honor. Be gentle, tender-hearted and kind. Bless those who persecute you. Be imitators of God, and the peace that God is trying to build in this world will grow.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
A Humble Spirit
Psalm 51
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Richard and I watched the movie, The Other Boleyn Girl, a couple of weeks ago. It tells the story of King Henry VIII and the way he, like King David before him, abused power to take any woman he wanted, terrorizing or killing anyone who stood in the way of his self-indulgent behavior. Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, were left to compete for the love of the handsome but sickeningly self-serving King Henry VIII.
While the movie was entertaining and well-acted I thought, I was shocked by the unchecked power of this King, who,when the Pope said you cannot pawn off this wife for another, decided he’d create Church which he had control over. And thus the Anglican Church was born. We worshiped in the Anglican Church for three years, and I understood that part of history, but watching the movie made me think what an awful way for a new church or new denomination to start. Disgusting, when you think about it: the lust of a King starts a new church.
Makes me just as mad to read about this: Nine of the financial firms that were among the largest recipients of federal bailout money paid about 5,000 of their traders and bankers bonuses of more than $1 million apiece for 2008, according to a report released Thursday by Cuomo, the New York attorney general. Yes, I understand it is expensive to live in the big apple, but come on. A million dollars per person in bonus money, after receiving tax dollars to be bailed out. How can anyone justify that? I hope the new bill passed by the House of Representatives will effectively curb the power mongering of Wall Street execs.
The trouble with sin is that we deceive ourselves into acceptance or justification of our own sin. When I read the story of King David’s infidelity, his shocking abuse of power, to take someone else’s wife, then lie about it and try to trick poor honorable Uriah. Then when that did not work, to have him killed. I am shocked at how David is in denial about his own sin. Hear the confrontation of the prophet Nathan from 2 Samuel 12
NRS 2 Samuel 12:1 But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him."
5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."
7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man!
Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8 I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
But you see what I began to see as I studied what powerful David did, as I thought about what powerful bankers did, as I considered what powerful Henry VIII did, a self-righteous indignation rose up in me. Look what they did! I relish the moment when Nathan exclaims “You are man!” I like to see that David got what was coming to him. It is so easy to blame others. The blame game started early: Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. It is easy to delude ourselves that all the world’s problems are caused by the sins of others. The childish responses, “I didn’t do it.” and “It’s not my fault” and “I didn’t do anything wrong” are all the more prevalent among adults. Children are not learning to have humble spirits when their parents rush in to defend and excuse their every offense.
It is easy for me to contemplate David’s sin and David’s need to pray for God’s forgiveness. I can think about your sin and your need for forgiveness. I am very good at naming my other people’s sins. I like praying the prayer, “Create in him a new heart, O God.” Or “Renew a right spirit in them, those people who irritate me.” But the more I read David’s prayer, Psalm 51, I began to realize that God was really trying to get me to look at ME – not David, not others.
So as we read Psalm 51, I invite you into a spirit of humility with me, that God might scrub on your heart and mine, so we might take our eyes off others and take a look at ourselves.
(Read text)
So much could be said about the poetry of this psalm, about its beauty, about the number of musical pieces inspired by this poetry. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” I got so intimidated by the magnitude of this psalm, I could not write this sermon. Any conclusions I started to make felt artificial against the backdrop of this psalm. Who am I to be standing here proclaiming when I have much to confess?
Hear the opening of the Psalm from the colloquial Message, Presbyterian minister Eugene Peterson’s translation:
Generous in love-God, give grace! Huge in mercy-wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down.
Dating back to the 6th century many Christians have recited a prayer, which is often understood to be a short version of this psalm’s message. It is called the Jesus Prayer. Praying this prayer repetitively and deeply from the heart, mind, and soul and is a means of maintaining a humble spirit: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Say it with me. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The Jesus Prayer is also considered to be the response of the church tradition to the lesson taught by the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray by exclaiming: "Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican", whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility, saying "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18)
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sin, God who is faithful and just, will forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” These words from 1 John 1 are often used in worship as an invitation to confession of sin in the early part of worship. I believe confession of sin is not taken nearly seriously enough in most Protestant churches. I believe it is crucial to human health, to a right relationship with God, to restoring the joy of our salvation. Confession keeps us humble. Even Jesus who was sinless did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a lowly slave.
Perhaps you have not done anything so horrible as David. But let me remind you that Jesus in his sermon on the mount tied unresolved anger to murder; he tied lustful looking with adultery. We commit personal sins and we are part of a sinful condition that pervades all our institutions and the very fabric of our society. Unconfessed sin takes people down a path of lies, deception, and death. But sin confessed brings goodness, truth, and life – in the midst of our troubled consequences. The good news is that if God forgave scoundrel like David, God will certainly forgive us too, no matter what we’ve done.
Professor and Priest Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book Speaking of Sin, brings a fresh perspective to discomforting words like “sin” and “repentance” – words that the modern church often tries to avoid. She asks, “Why, then, should we speak of sin anymore? The only reason I can think of is because we believe that God means to redeem the world through us.”
“Abandoning the language of sin will not make sin go away. Human beings will continue to experience alienation, deformation, damnation and death no matter what we call them. Abandoning the language will simply leave us speechless before them, and increase our denial of their presence in our lives. Ironically, it will also weaken the language of grace, since the full impact of forgiveness cannot be felt apart from the full impact of what has been forgiven.”
(B. Brown Taylor)
St. Augustine of Hippo wrote in the 4th Century, “Pride is the commencement of all sin.” He wrote one of the world's first autobiographies and it was called, Confessions. A hallmark of that work is Augustine's willingness to confess his own sins and the perversity of heart which inclined him to sin. In our day, autobiographies usually confess the sins of others. They tell stories about how it was the parents’ fault or the non-affectionate spouses’ fault or the company’s fault. It’s never my fault. The aim of such books is to build self-esteem, but the deepest and most rewarding self-esteem comes from knowing that we are deeply loved by God, no matter how much we or our parents or our circumstances have screwed us up.
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity said pride is the greatest of all sin. He claims the other so called deadly sins – lust, greed, wrath, and so forth – really come down to pride. I can agree with him that pride defined as a pre-occupation with self might prove to be at the heart of all immorality.
But is there anything good about pride? We want a children to take pride in their accomplishments. We talk about taking pride in our work. We want the underprivileged not to be stripped of their pride or rather, their dignity. So how do we square that with our need for a humble spirit?
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.” A willing, a generous spirit is one fully submitted to God. A humble spirit is one ready to learn. A humble spirit is one ready to admit error but not to wallow in it. Wallowing in guilt is another form of pride or pre-occupation with self. A humble spirit is generous toward others and secure in the love of God. A humble spirit is not arrogant or rude or proud. A humble spirit uses the power of position, of words, and of silence for good. A humble spirit is not quick to mistrust motives of others. A humble spirit says “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I made a mistake. My fault. Please forgive me.” Those words don’t mean much apart from a genuinely humble spirit, from one who is truly sad about failure and ready to change.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God , you will not despise.
Let us pray (singing):
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Forgive me for my arrogance. Forgive me for my blind self-centeredness. Forgive me for mistreating others and not noticing that I have. Forgive me for holding my life back from your total control, for thinking I can manage it without your constant help. My heart is dirty. My life is messy. I need you to restore in me the joy of your salvation. Give me a more generous and willing spirit....control my impulses and attitudes with your Holy Spirit. (singing) Give me a clean heart...
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Richard and I watched the movie, The Other Boleyn Girl, a couple of weeks ago. It tells the story of King Henry VIII and the way he, like King David before him, abused power to take any woman he wanted, terrorizing or killing anyone who stood in the way of his self-indulgent behavior. Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, were left to compete for the love of the handsome but sickeningly self-serving King Henry VIII.
While the movie was entertaining and well-acted I thought, I was shocked by the unchecked power of this King, who,when the Pope said you cannot pawn off this wife for another, decided he’d create Church which he had control over. And thus the Anglican Church was born. We worshiped in the Anglican Church for three years, and I understood that part of history, but watching the movie made me think what an awful way for a new church or new denomination to start. Disgusting, when you think about it: the lust of a King starts a new church.
Makes me just as mad to read about this: Nine of the financial firms that were among the largest recipients of federal bailout money paid about 5,000 of their traders and bankers bonuses of more than $1 million apiece for 2008, according to a report released Thursday by Cuomo, the New York attorney general. Yes, I understand it is expensive to live in the big apple, but come on. A million dollars per person in bonus money, after receiving tax dollars to be bailed out. How can anyone justify that? I hope the new bill passed by the House of Representatives will effectively curb the power mongering of Wall Street execs.
The trouble with sin is that we deceive ourselves into acceptance or justification of our own sin. When I read the story of King David’s infidelity, his shocking abuse of power, to take someone else’s wife, then lie about it and try to trick poor honorable Uriah. Then when that did not work, to have him killed. I am shocked at how David is in denial about his own sin. Hear the confrontation of the prophet Nathan from 2 Samuel 12
NRS 2 Samuel 12:1 But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him."
5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."
7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man!
Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8 I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
But you see what I began to see as I studied what powerful David did, as I thought about what powerful bankers did, as I considered what powerful Henry VIII did, a self-righteous indignation rose up in me. Look what they did! I relish the moment when Nathan exclaims “You are man!” I like to see that David got what was coming to him. It is so easy to blame others. The blame game started early: Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. It is easy to delude ourselves that all the world’s problems are caused by the sins of others. The childish responses, “I didn’t do it.” and “It’s not my fault” and “I didn’t do anything wrong” are all the more prevalent among adults. Children are not learning to have humble spirits when their parents rush in to defend and excuse their every offense.
It is easy for me to contemplate David’s sin and David’s need to pray for God’s forgiveness. I can think about your sin and your need for forgiveness. I am very good at naming my other people’s sins. I like praying the prayer, “Create in him a new heart, O God.” Or “Renew a right spirit in them, those people who irritate me.” But the more I read David’s prayer, Psalm 51, I began to realize that God was really trying to get me to look at ME – not David, not others.
So as we read Psalm 51, I invite you into a spirit of humility with me, that God might scrub on your heart and mine, so we might take our eyes off others and take a look at ourselves.
(Read text)
So much could be said about the poetry of this psalm, about its beauty, about the number of musical pieces inspired by this poetry. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” I got so intimidated by the magnitude of this psalm, I could not write this sermon. Any conclusions I started to make felt artificial against the backdrop of this psalm. Who am I to be standing here proclaiming when I have much to confess?
Hear the opening of the Psalm from the colloquial Message, Presbyterian minister Eugene Peterson’s translation:
Generous in love-God, give grace! Huge in mercy-wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down.
Dating back to the 6th century many Christians have recited a prayer, which is often understood to be a short version of this psalm’s message. It is called the Jesus Prayer. Praying this prayer repetitively and deeply from the heart, mind, and soul and is a means of maintaining a humble spirit: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Say it with me. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The Jesus Prayer is also considered to be the response of the church tradition to the lesson taught by the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray by exclaiming: "Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican", whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility, saying "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner" (Luke 18)
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sin, God who is faithful and just, will forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” These words from 1 John 1 are often used in worship as an invitation to confession of sin in the early part of worship. I believe confession of sin is not taken nearly seriously enough in most Protestant churches. I believe it is crucial to human health, to a right relationship with God, to restoring the joy of our salvation. Confession keeps us humble. Even Jesus who was sinless did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a lowly slave.
Perhaps you have not done anything so horrible as David. But let me remind you that Jesus in his sermon on the mount tied unresolved anger to murder; he tied lustful looking with adultery. We commit personal sins and we are part of a sinful condition that pervades all our institutions and the very fabric of our society. Unconfessed sin takes people down a path of lies, deception, and death. But sin confessed brings goodness, truth, and life – in the midst of our troubled consequences. The good news is that if God forgave scoundrel like David, God will certainly forgive us too, no matter what we’ve done.
Professor and Priest Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book Speaking of Sin, brings a fresh perspective to discomforting words like “sin” and “repentance” – words that the modern church often tries to avoid. She asks, “Why, then, should we speak of sin anymore? The only reason I can think of is because we believe that God means to redeem the world through us.”
“Abandoning the language of sin will not make sin go away. Human beings will continue to experience alienation, deformation, damnation and death no matter what we call them. Abandoning the language will simply leave us speechless before them, and increase our denial of their presence in our lives. Ironically, it will also weaken the language of grace, since the full impact of forgiveness cannot be felt apart from the full impact of what has been forgiven.”
(B. Brown Taylor)
St. Augustine of Hippo wrote in the 4th Century, “Pride is the commencement of all sin.” He wrote one of the world's first autobiographies and it was called, Confessions. A hallmark of that work is Augustine's willingness to confess his own sins and the perversity of heart which inclined him to sin. In our day, autobiographies usually confess the sins of others. They tell stories about how it was the parents’ fault or the non-affectionate spouses’ fault or the company’s fault. It’s never my fault. The aim of such books is to build self-esteem, but the deepest and most rewarding self-esteem comes from knowing that we are deeply loved by God, no matter how much we or our parents or our circumstances have screwed us up.
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity said pride is the greatest of all sin. He claims the other so called deadly sins – lust, greed, wrath, and so forth – really come down to pride. I can agree with him that pride defined as a pre-occupation with self might prove to be at the heart of all immorality.
But is there anything good about pride? We want a children to take pride in their accomplishments. We talk about taking pride in our work. We want the underprivileged not to be stripped of their pride or rather, their dignity. So how do we square that with our need for a humble spirit?
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.” A willing, a generous spirit is one fully submitted to God. A humble spirit is one ready to learn. A humble spirit is one ready to admit error but not to wallow in it. Wallowing in guilt is another form of pride or pre-occupation with self. A humble spirit is generous toward others and secure in the love of God. A humble spirit is not arrogant or rude or proud. A humble spirit uses the power of position, of words, and of silence for good. A humble spirit is not quick to mistrust motives of others. A humble spirit says “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I made a mistake. My fault. Please forgive me.” Those words don’t mean much apart from a genuinely humble spirit, from one who is truly sad about failure and ready to change.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God , you will not despise.
Let us pray (singing):
Give me a clean heart, so I may serve thee.
Lord, fix my heart, so that I may be used by Thee.
For I’m not worthy of all these blessings.
Give me a clean heart, and I’ll follow Thee.
Lord, fix my heart, so that I may be used by Thee.
For I’m not worthy of all these blessings.
Give me a clean heart, and I’ll follow Thee.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Forgive me for my arrogance. Forgive me for my blind self-centeredness. Forgive me for mistreating others and not noticing that I have. Forgive me for holding my life back from your total control, for thinking I can manage it without your constant help. My heart is dirty. My life is messy. I need you to restore in me the joy of your salvation. Give me a more generous and willing spirit....control my impulses and attitudes with your Holy Spirit. (singing) Give me a clean heart...
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