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.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
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...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Redefining Possibilities
John 6:1-15
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
My four grandparents all died before Apollo 11 went to the Moon. I’m sure they would have considered it impossible. Not to mention the impossibility in their minds of talking to someone on a cell phone or sending an email or doing research via internet. Even in the two decades of my adulthood, technology has changed everything in communications. I remember how wonderful it was when I had toddlers that the cordless phone was invented.
I remember struggling to write papers in college because of the write and scratch it out and erase with a pencil method. It was so frustrating. What an amazing thing it was to have a word processor with a delete button, a backspace, with cut and paste so you could move your paragraphs around, with a save and a print button. It redefined writing for me, because no longer did I have to be sure, I could just got with the flow and fix it later.
When Richard and I went to England the first time, we had no telephone in our seminary apartment. So we went to a pay phone every Sunday night to wait for calls from our parents in the US. There was a delay in the phone, which interrupted the flow of conversation. When we returned twelve years later, trans-Atlantic conversations were like speaking to a next door neighbor, and there was email too. When Emily flies to England tomorrow night, she will have a fairly inexpensive cell phone with a virtual US number so we can talk as she moves from England to France to Switzerland to Italy to Greece. Then too, she’ll have Skype,
so we can both see her and talk to her via the internet. Impossible that so much has changed in the last twenty years in communications.
If we human beings, created in the image of God can invent such marvels, dare we say miracles as this, in the short span of a twenty years, just imagine what God can do. In fact, our epistle lesson says God’s power is at work in us to accomplish amazing things. Ephesians 3:20, which we will read as our call to discipleship later in the service says this: Now to God, who by the power at work in us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be the glory... God can accomplish not far more, but ABUNDANTLY far more than we can ask or imagine. This God is amazing. This God can redefine what is possible in your life. This God is the one who came as Jesus Christ and demonstrated such power by turning a boy’s lunch into a feast for 5000. Hear now that story, and be amazed again.
(Read text)
Just to remind us of the 1st Century context: There were no refrigerators and no pantries filled with canned, bagged, and boxed foods. People often drank wine because it was cleaner than water. It goes without saying there was no fast food of any type. Getting food to eat was no small matter. That’s why it was a crisis to have 5000 hungry people on the side of the mountain. And Passover was near, and it just wasn’t right for people to go hungry that day. And perhaps it still is not right for people to go hungry when if we’d just listen to Jesus, there is enough, enough for the masses. There’s enough healthcare too, enough for everyone. We just need to find a way to share the cost of it, so everyone gets what they need.
Now Jesus, who had a plan, asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip gives the rational answer. I’ve heard the same rational answer given in many church meetings by sensible people like Philip. It would take an impossible amount of money to accomplish that. But Jesus knew what he was planning. He asked the question to test Philip. Andrew, who had a bit more imagination than Philip, said, “Well here’s what we have. Five loaves and two fish from the adolescent boy who thought he had an ample meal for himself and perhaps one or two others. ” Now whether you’re from an African village or from a melting pot culture like ours, you know that five loaves and two fish are not enough. But Jesus says, “Tell the people to sit down.” And Jesus breaks the loaves and does the impossible.
Jesus was always doing the impossible at mealtime. He turned water into wine. He shared meals with impossible mixes of people. It might not matter whom you sit with to eat these days, but it did in Jesus’ day. And how could Jesus tell Martha, the one providing the meal, that she should just rest and listen like Mary? Who was providing the food, Jesus? Impractical man. But he fed 5000 with two fish and five loaves, so I guess he could have thrown something together for Martha and Mary and their household. He managed to catch a bunch of fish when there were no fish at all. He believed in throwing a veritable feast for the irresponsible son, who threw all his money away in wasteful living, but then decided to go home.
Jesus did impossible things at mealtime. He broke bread and said it was his body and that the wine was his blood. He said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” So how is it that a little piece of bread and a sip of wine or grape juice have the power to fill us completely?
The church has sadly divided itself over trying to explain with rational thought the impossible to understand reality of Christ’s real presence in the communion meal. Instead of arguing over interpretations of words, we should have just been weekly sharing the meal all Christians together, being filled with all the fullness of God.
Our Ephesians passage speaks of being filled with all the fullness of God, as we know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. Surpassing knowledge. That what feasting with Jesus is all about – surpassing knowledge, being filled full of the love of God. And when we are filled full of the love of God, the possibilities are endless.
We are tested like Philip to define what is possible, and then Jesus, who knows what he’s planning to do, supercedes the possible with the impossible. Is it possible for someone with lung cancer to live the remaining life full of abundant joy – yes, when the possibilities are redefined. Is it possible for a teenager who feels misunderstood by parents and out of step with friends, to be at peace in her soul? Yes, when the possibilities are reshaped by Jesus’ love. Is it possible for burned out, stressed out, worn out parents of preschoolers to find any time to get energized again? Yes, when possibilities are defined by the Creator of those parents and preschoolers.
Is it possible for the unemployed to be sustained financially in these economically turbulent times? Yes, when the possibilities are redefined by the Lord of life, who said “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” It seems strange to say this, but I am worrying less about our finances now than I was before Richard’s job loss. Back when he was still employed, I thought we were in control. Now our situation is such that I am constantly reminded that I cannot control it, that I must rest my anxieties with God and live one day at a time with gratitude. I know God has a plan, like Jesus had a plan to feed all those people, and that we are simply being tested like Philip.
Is it possible for you with your hidden struggle, your addiction, your insecurity, your secret, your depression, your doubt, to move forward with healing, strength, and confidence? Yes, possibilities redefined by God. Is it possible to find some way through to a new medical system which controls costs and provides excellent health care to a broader spectrum of society? Only when possibilities are redefined by the spiritual compassion that is God, not by the greed of the marketplace.
Is it possible to have growth in a new church in a denomination just learning to do evangelism instead of despairing over membership decline? Is it possible to have develop new church with no building in a suburb filled with upscale housing? Can you grow a new church when you’re daring to blend traditional and contemporary worship enough to stretch many beyond their comfort zones? Can you sustain a new church determined to give away 20% of budget even in a recession? Is it possible for such a new church to thrive? Yes, when the possibilities are redefined by the Lord of life who makes the loaves abound.
That little bit of bread and juice is enough to transform us, to fill us up with the fullness of God’s love. And that love which fills us is enough to spread around and still have twelve baskets full. I cannot explain it, just like I cannot explain how Skype will work to help us talk to and see Emily half way around the world? We don’t have to explain how it works. We just need to marvel in it and give thanks for it and enjoy it. That’s the way it is with faith in the miracles of Jesus too. You don’t need to explain how they could have happened. Just revel in the possibilities that are ours when we believe that Jesus lives again and Earth can breathe again. Know that God can accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine. Pass the Word around. Loaves abound.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
My four grandparents all died before Apollo 11 went to the Moon. I’m sure they would have considered it impossible. Not to mention the impossibility in their minds of talking to someone on a cell phone or sending an email or doing research via internet. Even in the two decades of my adulthood, technology has changed everything in communications. I remember how wonderful it was when I had toddlers that the cordless phone was invented.
I remember struggling to write papers in college because of the write and scratch it out and erase with a pencil method. It was so frustrating. What an amazing thing it was to have a word processor with a delete button, a backspace, with cut and paste so you could move your paragraphs around, with a save and a print button. It redefined writing for me, because no longer did I have to be sure, I could just got with the flow and fix it later.
When Richard and I went to England the first time, we had no telephone in our seminary apartment. So we went to a pay phone every Sunday night to wait for calls from our parents in the US. There was a delay in the phone, which interrupted the flow of conversation. When we returned twelve years later, trans-Atlantic conversations were like speaking to a next door neighbor, and there was email too. When Emily flies to England tomorrow night, she will have a fairly inexpensive cell phone with a virtual US number so we can talk as she moves from England to France to Switzerland to Italy to Greece. Then too, she’ll have Skype,
so we can both see her and talk to her via the internet. Impossible that so much has changed in the last twenty years in communications.
If we human beings, created in the image of God can invent such marvels, dare we say miracles as this, in the short span of a twenty years, just imagine what God can do. In fact, our epistle lesson says God’s power is at work in us to accomplish amazing things. Ephesians 3:20, which we will read as our call to discipleship later in the service says this: Now to God, who by the power at work in us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be the glory... God can accomplish not far more, but ABUNDANTLY far more than we can ask or imagine. This God is amazing. This God can redefine what is possible in your life. This God is the one who came as Jesus Christ and demonstrated such power by turning a boy’s lunch into a feast for 5000. Hear now that story, and be amazed again.
(Read text)
Just to remind us of the 1st Century context: There were no refrigerators and no pantries filled with canned, bagged, and boxed foods. People often drank wine because it was cleaner than water. It goes without saying there was no fast food of any type. Getting food to eat was no small matter. That’s why it was a crisis to have 5000 hungry people on the side of the mountain. And Passover was near, and it just wasn’t right for people to go hungry that day. And perhaps it still is not right for people to go hungry when if we’d just listen to Jesus, there is enough, enough for the masses. There’s enough healthcare too, enough for everyone. We just need to find a way to share the cost of it, so everyone gets what they need.
Now Jesus, who had a plan, asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip gives the rational answer. I’ve heard the same rational answer given in many church meetings by sensible people like Philip. It would take an impossible amount of money to accomplish that. But Jesus knew what he was planning. He asked the question to test Philip. Andrew, who had a bit more imagination than Philip, said, “Well here’s what we have. Five loaves and two fish from the adolescent boy who thought he had an ample meal for himself and perhaps one or two others. ” Now whether you’re from an African village or from a melting pot culture like ours, you know that five loaves and two fish are not enough. But Jesus says, “Tell the people to sit down.” And Jesus breaks the loaves and does the impossible.
Jesus was always doing the impossible at mealtime. He turned water into wine. He shared meals with impossible mixes of people. It might not matter whom you sit with to eat these days, but it did in Jesus’ day. And how could Jesus tell Martha, the one providing the meal, that she should just rest and listen like Mary? Who was providing the food, Jesus? Impractical man. But he fed 5000 with two fish and five loaves, so I guess he could have thrown something together for Martha and Mary and their household. He managed to catch a bunch of fish when there were no fish at all. He believed in throwing a veritable feast for the irresponsible son, who threw all his money away in wasteful living, but then decided to go home.
Jesus did impossible things at mealtime. He broke bread and said it was his body and that the wine was his blood. He said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” So how is it that a little piece of bread and a sip of wine or grape juice have the power to fill us completely?
The church has sadly divided itself over trying to explain with rational thought the impossible to understand reality of Christ’s real presence in the communion meal. Instead of arguing over interpretations of words, we should have just been weekly sharing the meal all Christians together, being filled with all the fullness of God.
Our Ephesians passage speaks of being filled with all the fullness of God, as we know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. Surpassing knowledge. That what feasting with Jesus is all about – surpassing knowledge, being filled full of the love of God. And when we are filled full of the love of God, the possibilities are endless.
We are tested like Philip to define what is possible, and then Jesus, who knows what he’s planning to do, supercedes the possible with the impossible. Is it possible for someone with lung cancer to live the remaining life full of abundant joy – yes, when the possibilities are redefined. Is it possible for a teenager who feels misunderstood by parents and out of step with friends, to be at peace in her soul? Yes, when the possibilities are reshaped by Jesus’ love. Is it possible for burned out, stressed out, worn out parents of preschoolers to find any time to get energized again? Yes, when possibilities are defined by the Creator of those parents and preschoolers.
Is it possible for the unemployed to be sustained financially in these economically turbulent times? Yes, when the possibilities are redefined by the Lord of life, who said “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” It seems strange to say this, but I am worrying less about our finances now than I was before Richard’s job loss. Back when he was still employed, I thought we were in control. Now our situation is such that I am constantly reminded that I cannot control it, that I must rest my anxieties with God and live one day at a time with gratitude. I know God has a plan, like Jesus had a plan to feed all those people, and that we are simply being tested like Philip.
Is it possible for you with your hidden struggle, your addiction, your insecurity, your secret, your depression, your doubt, to move forward with healing, strength, and confidence? Yes, possibilities redefined by God. Is it possible to find some way through to a new medical system which controls costs and provides excellent health care to a broader spectrum of society? Only when possibilities are redefined by the spiritual compassion that is God, not by the greed of the marketplace.
Is it possible to have growth in a new church in a denomination just learning to do evangelism instead of despairing over membership decline? Is it possible to have develop new church with no building in a suburb filled with upscale housing? Can you grow a new church when you’re daring to blend traditional and contemporary worship enough to stretch many beyond their comfort zones? Can you sustain a new church determined to give away 20% of budget even in a recession? Is it possible for such a new church to thrive? Yes, when the possibilities are redefined by the Lord of life who makes the loaves abound.
That little bit of bread and juice is enough to transform us, to fill us up with the fullness of God’s love. And that love which fills us is enough to spread around and still have twelve baskets full. I cannot explain it, just like I cannot explain how Skype will work to help us talk to and see Emily half way around the world? We don’t have to explain how it works. We just need to marvel in it and give thanks for it and enjoy it. That’s the way it is with faith in the miracles of Jesus too. You don’t need to explain how they could have happened. Just revel in the possibilities that are ours when we believe that Jesus lives again and Earth can breathe again. Know that God can accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine. Pass the Word around. Loaves abound.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Rest for the Restless
Mark 6:30-34;45-53
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
“Before Barbara Agoglia left her job, she was on the verge of burnout. Aside from logging upward of 50 hours per week, she had a 90-minute commute to and from work and she had to be on call nearly 24-7. The breaking point came when her son started kindergarten and she didn't have time to wait with him at the bus stop.
“‘The hamster-on-the-wheel analogy is the best way to describe how I felt,’ she says. It's a feeling shared by many Americans who know that simply working hard isn't enough anymore. To get ahead, a 70-hour work week is the new standard. What little spare time is left is often divvied up among relationships, kids and sleep.
“Just how bad have things gotten? That's the subject of Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek, a recent study from the Center for Work-Life Policy. The study found that 1.7 million people consider their jobs and their work hours extreme, thanks to globalization, BlackBerries, corporate expectations and their own Type A personalities. No industry is immune. According to the report, extreme jobs can be found throughout the economy — from retail to media to Wall Street. But this extreme and exhausting trend is taking its toll.” (Tara Weiss, Forbes 2-18-07)
And perhaps this frenzied work week is what blinded us to the mess we were making of our economy, until it was too late for an easy repair.
Why are we so frantic about getting ahead? Or not falling behind? We need to learn to relish life not rush through it. We need to take a step back to pray, to listen for the still, small voice of God. But we don’t.
Even in churches we are tempted to overwork – whether we are church employees or church volunteers. Let’s make sure at Peace that we always give people the space to say “no.” While we hope everyone will be meaningfully involved, we also want everyone to feel free to say “enough.” When Jesus was depleted from healing people, teaching people – who often didn’t really get his message, he needed time away. The Lord of the Universe needed time alone to pray and get refreshed. Hear how Jesus moves from work to rest, from ministry to sabbath, from movement to stillness. By the way, when we get to the feeding of the 5000 miracle, I will simply reference it, but not read the whole story because that’s our story for next week. But it is important to remember how Jesus was in and out of busy times. He did not just rush from one exhausting activity to the next, like many of us do. He escaped the rat race. Hear the story:
Read scripture text.
When the disciples reported to Jesus all they had accomplished, he did not slap them on the back and send them back to work, he said, “Come away with me to a quiet place. Come away with me”
(Singing).
Come away with me to a quiet place, apart from the world with its frantic pace, to pray, reflect, and seek God’s grace. Come away with me. Come away.
Come and pray with me on the gentle sea, on top of a hill in Galilee, in gardens like Gethsemane. Come away with me. Come away.
Come today with thoughts of the countless ways that God’s steadfast love blesses all our days, and join with me in silent praise. Come away with me. Come away.
Come and say, in words whispered from your soul, the feelings and actions you can’t control. Your spirit needs to be made whole. Come away with me. Come away.
Come away with me to a quiet place, to God’s loving arms waiting to embrace all those who come in hope of grace. Come away with me. Come away.
How many of us have taken time this week to just sit. Not sit and think. Not sit with your calendar. Not sit and work out some issue. Just sit, and breathe in God’s care. The trouble with prayer and meditation is that we expect results immediately, if not sooner. We approach meditation with the same feverish task mode that is the busy side of life, rather than recognizing that prayer is a wholly different exercise. Thinking that we should feel exceptionally spiritually refreshed the first several times we commit ourselves to prayer and mediation like someone stepping into a swimming pool for their first week of training and expecting to swim like Michael Phelps.
Studies on the brain have shown that those who have meditated or prayed regularly with exceptional discipline are 90% better at focusing on their meditation and actually calming the stress in their minds. Their amygdala and right prefrontal area which register negative emotions settle down. Those who are relatively unpracticed are not very good at this calming exercise. So we too quickly give up the training, thinking that we are just not spiritual enough for such a practice.
And we return to the vicious cycle of desperately trying to fulfill all the obligations that press upon us. We juggle family and work responsibilities. We volunteer at church and in the community. We move between phone messages and computer messages and then collapse in front of the television to be inundated with more messages – most of them telling us how we can improve some aspect of our life, if we would do this or take that.
And we are breeding busyness in our over-scheduled children with their teams and lessons and piles of homework. I doubt there were many high schoolers a generation ago who were stressed out over homework, but now all the college bound are pressured into competitive academics. I took one AP course in high school. Catherine took eight of them. Many children do not know how to handle a free day, how to sit quietly with a book and not be entertained every minute.
But God gave us a rhythm for life, a gift in the Sabbath. Six days you shall labor and on the seventh day, stop. “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” St. Augustine said. Sabbath is the privilege of resting in the arms of God.
There was a family, a mother, father and five children, one of whom was a little girl born with brain-damage. She could not sit up and was unable to speak. She died before reaching adolescence. She spent her entire life lying in bed in the sunniest room of the house. Several times during the day one or the other member of the family would go up to the girl’s room and keep her company. When she died many people said it was a blessing. But the family mourned for a long time. Someone asked the mother, “Why does the death of this child who has never spoken or moved among you make you all feel so deeply sad?” “You don’t understand,” was the answer. “Whenever one of us was sad or happy, joyful or depressed, we would go to her room and laugh or cry or just put our head on the pillow next to hers. The room was always quiet. When we left we would feel restored.” “But she could not even speak.” “That’s right,” her mother answered, “she could not even speak.”
This little girl whom some would say had a useless life, was a presence where her parents, her brothers and sisters, found Sabbath rest and felt restored.
Hear these quotes from Wayne Muller’s book on the Sabbath:
Sabbath time is time off the wheel, time when we take our hand from the plow and let God and the earth care for things, while we drink, if only for a few moments, from the fountain of rest and delight…honoring those quiet forces of grace or spirit that sustain and heal us. pg 8
Sabbath time is not spiritually superior to our work. The practice is rather a balance point at which, having rested, we do our work with greater ease and joy, and bring healing and delight to our endeavors. pg 8
Sabbath time can become our refuge. During the Sabbath we set aside a sanctuary in time, disconnect from the frenzy of consumption and accomplishment, and consecrate our day as an offering for healing all beings. pg10
Jesus, for whom anything was possible, did not offer "seven secret coping strategies" to get work done faster, or "nine spiritual stress management techniques" to enhance effectiveness. Instead he offered the simple practice of rest as a natural, nourishing, and essential companion to our work. Learn from me, he said, and you will find rest for your souls. For Jesus when the moment for rest had come, the time for healing (others) was over. He would simply stop, retire to a quiet place, and pray. pg 24
Richard Foster, in chapter 5 of Freedom of Simplicity, speaks of living out of the Divine Center. He distinguishes between our invitation to let God into our lives, a crucial step, and our willingness to enter into God, a deeper communion, which puts God at the focal point, at the center. When God comes into us, we still maintain autonomy. But when we delve into God, we are inviting God to take control. We are resting in the arms of God, entrusting all our worries to God. This is the place of communion with God that can only be learned through the regular, disciplined practice of sabbath and prayer and simplicity of life.
Foster tells the story of Frank Laubach, who devoted his life to practicing the presence of God. Every day in his journal, he would mark down the percentage of time he figured he had been conscious of God’s presence. What a difference it would make if we were more conscious every hour of every day. I admire the Muslim practice of praying five times/day. I’d like to think I’m praying without ceasing as I go through the day, but truthfully, there are hours when I am living an autonomous life, unaware of the Holy Spirit communicating with me. How many blessings am I ignoring? How many moments of guidance do I miss? How much peace do I forfeit, all because of a lack of consciousness about the presence of God.
Here’s what I’m going to try this week and I invite you to come away with me and do it too. I plan to pray on the hour, every waking hour for just a minute or two. And I plan to write in a journal just two or three sentences each night describing my awareness of God that day. I plan this afternoon to take the phone off the hook, close my computer and sleep for an hour or two, and then wake up and relax with my family. I will actively seek to accomplish nothing from lunch time Sunday to lunchtime Monday. To simply be and trust that God will bless the discipline of sabbath rest, to bask in the peaceful wholeness of God’s love, and to listen and wait for God to be more fully revealed to me.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
“Before Barbara Agoglia left her job, she was on the verge of burnout. Aside from logging upward of 50 hours per week, she had a 90-minute commute to and from work and she had to be on call nearly 24-7. The breaking point came when her son started kindergarten and she didn't have time to wait with him at the bus stop.
“‘The hamster-on-the-wheel analogy is the best way to describe how I felt,’ she says. It's a feeling shared by many Americans who know that simply working hard isn't enough anymore. To get ahead, a 70-hour work week is the new standard. What little spare time is left is often divvied up among relationships, kids and sleep.
“Just how bad have things gotten? That's the subject of Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek, a recent study from the Center for Work-Life Policy. The study found that 1.7 million people consider their jobs and their work hours extreme, thanks to globalization, BlackBerries, corporate expectations and their own Type A personalities. No industry is immune. According to the report, extreme jobs can be found throughout the economy — from retail to media to Wall Street. But this extreme and exhausting trend is taking its toll.” (Tara Weiss, Forbes 2-18-07)
And perhaps this frenzied work week is what blinded us to the mess we were making of our economy, until it was too late for an easy repair.
Why are we so frantic about getting ahead? Or not falling behind? We need to learn to relish life not rush through it. We need to take a step back to pray, to listen for the still, small voice of God. But we don’t.
Even in churches we are tempted to overwork – whether we are church employees or church volunteers. Let’s make sure at Peace that we always give people the space to say “no.” While we hope everyone will be meaningfully involved, we also want everyone to feel free to say “enough.” When Jesus was depleted from healing people, teaching people – who often didn’t really get his message, he needed time away. The Lord of the Universe needed time alone to pray and get refreshed. Hear how Jesus moves from work to rest, from ministry to sabbath, from movement to stillness. By the way, when we get to the feeding of the 5000 miracle, I will simply reference it, but not read the whole story because that’s our story for next week. But it is important to remember how Jesus was in and out of busy times. He did not just rush from one exhausting activity to the next, like many of us do. He escaped the rat race. Hear the story:
Read scripture text.
When the disciples reported to Jesus all they had accomplished, he did not slap them on the back and send them back to work, he said, “Come away with me to a quiet place. Come away with me”
(Singing).
Come away with me to a quiet place, apart from the world with its frantic pace, to pray, reflect, and seek God’s grace. Come away with me. Come away.
Come and pray with me on the gentle sea, on top of a hill in Galilee, in gardens like Gethsemane. Come away with me. Come away.
Come today with thoughts of the countless ways that God’s steadfast love blesses all our days, and join with me in silent praise. Come away with me. Come away.
Come and say, in words whispered from your soul, the feelings and actions you can’t control. Your spirit needs to be made whole. Come away with me. Come away.
Come away with me to a quiet place, to God’s loving arms waiting to embrace all those who come in hope of grace. Come away with me. Come away.
How many of us have taken time this week to just sit. Not sit and think. Not sit with your calendar. Not sit and work out some issue. Just sit, and breathe in God’s care. The trouble with prayer and meditation is that we expect results immediately, if not sooner. We approach meditation with the same feverish task mode that is the busy side of life, rather than recognizing that prayer is a wholly different exercise. Thinking that we should feel exceptionally spiritually refreshed the first several times we commit ourselves to prayer and mediation like someone stepping into a swimming pool for their first week of training and expecting to swim like Michael Phelps.
Studies on the brain have shown that those who have meditated or prayed regularly with exceptional discipline are 90% better at focusing on their meditation and actually calming the stress in their minds. Their amygdala and right prefrontal area which register negative emotions settle down. Those who are relatively unpracticed are not very good at this calming exercise. So we too quickly give up the training, thinking that we are just not spiritual enough for such a practice.
And we return to the vicious cycle of desperately trying to fulfill all the obligations that press upon us. We juggle family and work responsibilities. We volunteer at church and in the community. We move between phone messages and computer messages and then collapse in front of the television to be inundated with more messages – most of them telling us how we can improve some aspect of our life, if we would do this or take that.
And we are breeding busyness in our over-scheduled children with their teams and lessons and piles of homework. I doubt there were many high schoolers a generation ago who were stressed out over homework, but now all the college bound are pressured into competitive academics. I took one AP course in high school. Catherine took eight of them. Many children do not know how to handle a free day, how to sit quietly with a book and not be entertained every minute.
But God gave us a rhythm for life, a gift in the Sabbath. Six days you shall labor and on the seventh day, stop. “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” St. Augustine said. Sabbath is the privilege of resting in the arms of God.
There was a family, a mother, father and five children, one of whom was a little girl born with brain-damage. She could not sit up and was unable to speak. She died before reaching adolescence. She spent her entire life lying in bed in the sunniest room of the house. Several times during the day one or the other member of the family would go up to the girl’s room and keep her company. When she died many people said it was a blessing. But the family mourned for a long time. Someone asked the mother, “Why does the death of this child who has never spoken or moved among you make you all feel so deeply sad?” “You don’t understand,” was the answer. “Whenever one of us was sad or happy, joyful or depressed, we would go to her room and laugh or cry or just put our head on the pillow next to hers. The room was always quiet. When we left we would feel restored.” “But she could not even speak.” “That’s right,” her mother answered, “she could not even speak.”
This little girl whom some would say had a useless life, was a presence where her parents, her brothers and sisters, found Sabbath rest and felt restored.
Hear these quotes from Wayne Muller’s book on the Sabbath:
Sabbath time is time off the wheel, time when we take our hand from the plow and let God and the earth care for things, while we drink, if only for a few moments, from the fountain of rest and delight…honoring those quiet forces of grace or spirit that sustain and heal us. pg 8
Sabbath time is not spiritually superior to our work. The practice is rather a balance point at which, having rested, we do our work with greater ease and joy, and bring healing and delight to our endeavors. pg 8
Sabbath time can become our refuge. During the Sabbath we set aside a sanctuary in time, disconnect from the frenzy of consumption and accomplishment, and consecrate our day as an offering for healing all beings. pg10
Jesus, for whom anything was possible, did not offer "seven secret coping strategies" to get work done faster, or "nine spiritual stress management techniques" to enhance effectiveness. Instead he offered the simple practice of rest as a natural, nourishing, and essential companion to our work. Learn from me, he said, and you will find rest for your souls. For Jesus when the moment for rest had come, the time for healing (others) was over. He would simply stop, retire to a quiet place, and pray. pg 24
Richard Foster, in chapter 5 of Freedom of Simplicity, speaks of living out of the Divine Center. He distinguishes between our invitation to let God into our lives, a crucial step, and our willingness to enter into God, a deeper communion, which puts God at the focal point, at the center. When God comes into us, we still maintain autonomy. But when we delve into God, we are inviting God to take control. We are resting in the arms of God, entrusting all our worries to God. This is the place of communion with God that can only be learned through the regular, disciplined practice of sabbath and prayer and simplicity of life.
Foster tells the story of Frank Laubach, who devoted his life to practicing the presence of God. Every day in his journal, he would mark down the percentage of time he figured he had been conscious of God’s presence. What a difference it would make if we were more conscious every hour of every day. I admire the Muslim practice of praying five times/day. I’d like to think I’m praying without ceasing as I go through the day, but truthfully, there are hours when I am living an autonomous life, unaware of the Holy Spirit communicating with me. How many blessings am I ignoring? How many moments of guidance do I miss? How much peace do I forfeit, all because of a lack of consciousness about the presence of God.
Here’s what I’m going to try this week and I invite you to come away with me and do it too. I plan to pray on the hour, every waking hour for just a minute or two. And I plan to write in a journal just two or three sentences each night describing my awareness of God that day. I plan this afternoon to take the phone off the hook, close my computer and sleep for an hour or two, and then wake up and relax with my family. I will actively seek to accomplish nothing from lunch time Sunday to lunchtime Monday. To simply be and trust that God will bless the discipline of sabbath rest, to bask in the peaceful wholeness of God’s love, and to listen and wait for God to be more fully revealed to me.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Revering God's Holy Power
2 Samuel 6:1-19
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Central to our Judeo-Christian heritage is our commitment to worship God, to revere God’s holy power. The word “worship” comes from two words – worth and ship. To worship God means to devote ourselves to giving worth to God.
If I give worth or value to my house, then I devote myself to decorating it and keeping it clean. I spend money on its upkeep. I admire its beauty and try to figure out ways to make it more beautiful. Some people worship their homes. You can feel it when you walk in. Some congregations worship their buildings.
If I give worth or value to my relationships – my children, my husband, my friends, parents – then I spend time building those relationships. I spend money sharing meals and other enjoyable experiences. I spend energy relating to those people. Some people worship families and friends. You can see the way they orbit around and cling tenaciously to those relationships, sometimes to the detriment of the very relationships they treasure.
Some are totally career-focused. They give primary worth to their employment. Work, work, work. Everything comes second to work. Some people worship their careers, while other worship the entertainment that their careers allow them. For the money to have a boat or season tickets or money to eat out at all the best restaurants. Some of us worship the entertainment world. Some of us love our books or our music or our computers or our televisions, and spend most of our time and energy adoring them.
When I was in the 7th grade, I got some great new Converse shoes. It’s been fun to watch Converse make a come-back as a throw-back. Yes, those green suede Converse shoes were the best. I remember spraying them with that suede protectant stuff. Those shoes mattered too much. I was too crazy about those shoes. Just like it mattered way too much to me to own a house when we were moving here. We had never owned a house before. People always said, “Why are you still renting – you’re in your forties? 4 years rent in Atlanta. 9 years rent in Montgomery. 3 years rent in England. 2 years in a manse Why don’t you build up equity? Own a house. Too much concern for home-ownership.
I’m guessing that most of you would agree that life is a balancing act. All things in moderation can be a good motto. But all that we love, all that we adore, all that we worship is not worthy of such veneration. Let’s make sure that we’re focused first on the Holy One who made us, the Holy One who sustains us, the Holy One who will never abandon us.
We are created to worship God. Today’s text is a fascinating look at the worship of the Israelites under King David’s leadership. We can learn a great deal about worship from this story. You’ve heard me explain to the children about the ark of the covenant, the focal point of their worship, and such a revered symbol of God’s presence and power. It is difficult for us to appreciate just how revered the ark was. Even if you’ve watched every movie in the Raiders of the Lost Ark series, and you can quote Indiana Jones lines like Harrison Ford, you still cannot begin to appreciate the value of the ark of the covenant.
So, as I read the text, I’d like you to say with me any words in the passage about the ark. They will be marked in yellow. Please join me on all the yellow words.
Read scripture
Let’s talk about the most troubling part of the passage first, the shocking part. Uzzah and Ahio are doing their job with the ark. Then because the ark looks like it is unstable, Uzzah does the natural thing, using common sense he reaches out to steady it. Zap! He’s gone. We could have skipped over and not read that part of the story, but it’s there and I think we can find something meaningful in it. There are consequences for our behavior, even if our motives were pure. I mean, if you run out in front of a car to save your child, and you get hit in the process, we would simply say, “What a devoted parent, sacrificing life for the good of the child.” Touch the hot electric wire, and you get electrocuted. We could get angry at God or we could say it was natural consequences. What we have trouble believing is that anything like the ark of the covenant could be so mysteriously sacred and dangerous. Hot to the touch. We have trouble believing it because we cannot explain it like we explain electricity. Just like we have trouble explaining why one child with cancer recovers and another doesn’t. David gets mad with God, because he figured this death was unjust. It did not need to happen – Uzzah’s motive was pure. “God’s power is too dangerous for me to trust it,” David says, and so he waits for three months, leaving God’s mysterious power in the ark at the Gittite’s house, until he hears that blessings have come upon that house. Then he trusts God again.
So we can learn from David that the human problem of viewing God’s power as unfairly utilized is not a new thing. We don’t really need to dispense with this Old Testament God, as some might want to do, saying “I don’t believe in a God who strikes people down.” Obviously, David had a problem with it too. He got angry about it, and essentially said, “Let’s leave the holy power of God at the Hittite’s house.” I’m not going to say that God strikes people down, but I am willing to say that God allows bad things and sometimes even ordains things that seem bad to us, in order to teach us or bring something better than we could have had otherwise. God is holy and does things, which sometimes seem wrong to us. We are the children. God is the parent. Parents often do things that their kids think are horribly unfair.
Karl Barth addressed this problem we humans have with making God in our own image: "One cannot speak of God simply by speaking (of humanity) in a loud voice." (The Word of God and the Word of Man, pp. 195-196.) In the words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 8, God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
And what we learn from Uzzah and from Isaiah and from Job too, is that God’s holiness is not to be trifled with. It is to be revered with utmost respect, with awe, even with fear and trembling.
Second point. We learn from David and the house of Israel traveling with him that worship is to be joyful and liberating. They did not just dance. They danced with all their might. Have you ever seen someone dance with all their might? I bet it was not in worship. With all liturgical arts, with visuals, with movement, with singing, and with instrumental music, we should pour ourselves into the worship of God. It is not wrong for people to worship God with all manner of enthusiasm and vigor, with any form of music or dance.
It is however, wrong, for God’s holiness to be handled carelessly, without deep, deep respect. So when we judge worship which is different from ours, as we inevitably do, let us judge it not by criticizing volume, style or vigor, but by the way God’s holiness is communicated or handled. Are the worship leaders and the music reverent toward God or does the music and the worship draw more attention to the leaders themselves or the music itself? Who or what is being worshiped? Sometimes one feels in worship that the human leader is being revered more than God’s own self. Pomposity, arrogance, self-aggrandizement can be seen in the leaders of many mega-churches. We talked last week about the danger of human power corrupting people’s souls.
Finally, let’s talk about Michal’s reaction to this service of worship. There’s always somebody upset about the worship, isn’t there? She is disgusted. Why? Later in chapter 6 we learn that she thought David was inappropriately dressed, that he was too intimate in front of the crowd. He had girded himself with a fancy set of boxers, called an ephod. Actually, an ephod was a decorative ceremonial article of clothing, ordinarily made of linen. It would have been elaborate and may have covered most of the torso. But Michal was not happy. Let’s remember that Michal is Saul’s daughter and David’s wife. Dear old dad has been displaced by her husband, who is too full of himself. Michal herself had been taken from another husband to appease David. She’s probably thinking that good ole dad would have never worn an ephod without a tunic over it. She’s probably feeling angry about being passed around between David and Palti, to make peace between the regions of Israel and Judah. She’s got issues and her complaint comes out in the form of frustration with David’s worship.
In summary I could say, “In churches, there’s always somebody dying, somebody questioning “Why God?” and somebody complaining about worship because they really mad about something else.” Someone’s dying, Lord. Kumbayah. Someone’s doubting, Lord, Kumbayah. Someone’s dissing, Lord. Kumbayah. Oh, Lord, Kumbayah. Meanwhile, the holiness of God continues to be a powerful force for good, and the majority keep singing God’s praise and celebrating God’s goodness.
Peace people, you have made good progress in loosening up the frozen chosen to celebrate in song and dance the goodness of God. Let’s keep working at that, while also remembering that we should never lose a sense of the sacred in our services. Annie Dillard said we should be wearing crash helmets in worship, in case the Holy God decides to show up in full power. There should be an element of respect, of awe toward the power of God.
When we see the water, when we hear the word, when we taste the bread, when we touch each other with the peace, when we pray the prayers, God’s holiness abounds. We are here to give God worth with all our might, with every fiber of our being, in spirit and in truth, to give God all the honor and all the glory. And to remember that God is an awesome God and we are merely God’s humble and thankful children. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and forever.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Central to our Judeo-Christian heritage is our commitment to worship God, to revere God’s holy power. The word “worship” comes from two words – worth and ship. To worship God means to devote ourselves to giving worth to God.
If I give worth or value to my house, then I devote myself to decorating it and keeping it clean. I spend money on its upkeep. I admire its beauty and try to figure out ways to make it more beautiful. Some people worship their homes. You can feel it when you walk in. Some congregations worship their buildings.
If I give worth or value to my relationships – my children, my husband, my friends, parents – then I spend time building those relationships. I spend money sharing meals and other enjoyable experiences. I spend energy relating to those people. Some people worship families and friends. You can see the way they orbit around and cling tenaciously to those relationships, sometimes to the detriment of the very relationships they treasure.
Some are totally career-focused. They give primary worth to their employment. Work, work, work. Everything comes second to work. Some people worship their careers, while other worship the entertainment that their careers allow them. For the money to have a boat or season tickets or money to eat out at all the best restaurants. Some of us worship the entertainment world. Some of us love our books or our music or our computers or our televisions, and spend most of our time and energy adoring them.
When I was in the 7th grade, I got some great new Converse shoes. It’s been fun to watch Converse make a come-back as a throw-back. Yes, those green suede Converse shoes were the best. I remember spraying them with that suede protectant stuff. Those shoes mattered too much. I was too crazy about those shoes. Just like it mattered way too much to me to own a house when we were moving here. We had never owned a house before. People always said, “Why are you still renting – you’re in your forties? 4 years rent in Atlanta. 9 years rent in Montgomery. 3 years rent in England. 2 years in a manse Why don’t you build up equity? Own a house. Too much concern for home-ownership.
I’m guessing that most of you would agree that life is a balancing act. All things in moderation can be a good motto. But all that we love, all that we adore, all that we worship is not worthy of such veneration. Let’s make sure that we’re focused first on the Holy One who made us, the Holy One who sustains us, the Holy One who will never abandon us.
We are created to worship God. Today’s text is a fascinating look at the worship of the Israelites under King David’s leadership. We can learn a great deal about worship from this story. You’ve heard me explain to the children about the ark of the covenant, the focal point of their worship, and such a revered symbol of God’s presence and power. It is difficult for us to appreciate just how revered the ark was. Even if you’ve watched every movie in the Raiders of the Lost Ark series, and you can quote Indiana Jones lines like Harrison Ford, you still cannot begin to appreciate the value of the ark of the covenant.
So, as I read the text, I’d like you to say with me any words in the passage about the ark. They will be marked in yellow. Please join me on all the yellow words.
Read scripture
Let’s talk about the most troubling part of the passage first, the shocking part. Uzzah and Ahio are doing their job with the ark. Then because the ark looks like it is unstable, Uzzah does the natural thing, using common sense he reaches out to steady it. Zap! He’s gone. We could have skipped over and not read that part of the story, but it’s there and I think we can find something meaningful in it. There are consequences for our behavior, even if our motives were pure. I mean, if you run out in front of a car to save your child, and you get hit in the process, we would simply say, “What a devoted parent, sacrificing life for the good of the child.” Touch the hot electric wire, and you get electrocuted. We could get angry at God or we could say it was natural consequences. What we have trouble believing is that anything like the ark of the covenant could be so mysteriously sacred and dangerous. Hot to the touch. We have trouble believing it because we cannot explain it like we explain electricity. Just like we have trouble explaining why one child with cancer recovers and another doesn’t. David gets mad with God, because he figured this death was unjust. It did not need to happen – Uzzah’s motive was pure. “God’s power is too dangerous for me to trust it,” David says, and so he waits for three months, leaving God’s mysterious power in the ark at the Gittite’s house, until he hears that blessings have come upon that house. Then he trusts God again.
So we can learn from David that the human problem of viewing God’s power as unfairly utilized is not a new thing. We don’t really need to dispense with this Old Testament God, as some might want to do, saying “I don’t believe in a God who strikes people down.” Obviously, David had a problem with it too. He got angry about it, and essentially said, “Let’s leave the holy power of God at the Hittite’s house.” I’m not going to say that God strikes people down, but I am willing to say that God allows bad things and sometimes even ordains things that seem bad to us, in order to teach us or bring something better than we could have had otherwise. God is holy and does things, which sometimes seem wrong to us. We are the children. God is the parent. Parents often do things that their kids think are horribly unfair.
Karl Barth addressed this problem we humans have with making God in our own image: "One cannot speak of God simply by speaking (of humanity) in a loud voice." (The Word of God and the Word of Man, pp. 195-196.) In the words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 8, God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
And what we learn from Uzzah and from Isaiah and from Job too, is that God’s holiness is not to be trifled with. It is to be revered with utmost respect, with awe, even with fear and trembling.
Second point. We learn from David and the house of Israel traveling with him that worship is to be joyful and liberating. They did not just dance. They danced with all their might. Have you ever seen someone dance with all their might? I bet it was not in worship. With all liturgical arts, with visuals, with movement, with singing, and with instrumental music, we should pour ourselves into the worship of God. It is not wrong for people to worship God with all manner of enthusiasm and vigor, with any form of music or dance.
It is however, wrong, for God’s holiness to be handled carelessly, without deep, deep respect. So when we judge worship which is different from ours, as we inevitably do, let us judge it not by criticizing volume, style or vigor, but by the way God’s holiness is communicated or handled. Are the worship leaders and the music reverent toward God or does the music and the worship draw more attention to the leaders themselves or the music itself? Who or what is being worshiped? Sometimes one feels in worship that the human leader is being revered more than God’s own self. Pomposity, arrogance, self-aggrandizement can be seen in the leaders of many mega-churches. We talked last week about the danger of human power corrupting people’s souls.
Finally, let’s talk about Michal’s reaction to this service of worship. There’s always somebody upset about the worship, isn’t there? She is disgusted. Why? Later in chapter 6 we learn that she thought David was inappropriately dressed, that he was too intimate in front of the crowd. He had girded himself with a fancy set of boxers, called an ephod. Actually, an ephod was a decorative ceremonial article of clothing, ordinarily made of linen. It would have been elaborate and may have covered most of the torso. But Michal was not happy. Let’s remember that Michal is Saul’s daughter and David’s wife. Dear old dad has been displaced by her husband, who is too full of himself. Michal herself had been taken from another husband to appease David. She’s probably thinking that good ole dad would have never worn an ephod without a tunic over it. She’s probably feeling angry about being passed around between David and Palti, to make peace between the regions of Israel and Judah. She’s got issues and her complaint comes out in the form of frustration with David’s worship.
In summary I could say, “In churches, there’s always somebody dying, somebody questioning “Why God?” and somebody complaining about worship because they really mad about something else.” Someone’s dying, Lord. Kumbayah. Someone’s doubting, Lord, Kumbayah. Someone’s dissing, Lord. Kumbayah. Oh, Lord, Kumbayah. Meanwhile, the holiness of God continues to be a powerful force for good, and the majority keep singing God’s praise and celebrating God’s goodness.
Peace people, you have made good progress in loosening up the frozen chosen to celebrate in song and dance the goodness of God. Let’s keep working at that, while also remembering that we should never lose a sense of the sacred in our services. Annie Dillard said we should be wearing crash helmets in worship, in case the Holy God decides to show up in full power. There should be an element of respect, of awe toward the power of God.
When we see the water, when we hear the word, when we taste the bread, when we touch each other with the peace, when we pray the prayers, God’s holiness abounds. We are here to give God worth with all our might, with every fiber of our being, in spirit and in truth, to give God all the honor and all the glory. And to remember that God is an awesome God and we are merely God’s humble and thankful children. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and forever.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The Power of Weakness
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
What is it about our culture that we get so enthralled with celebrities’ fall from power? Unless we are personally connected to these folks, we relish the sordid details of a John Edwards’ or a Mark Sanford’s fall from power. We watch for countless hours the remembrances of Michael Jackson, analyzing the complexities of an insecure yet powerful personality. We wait with baited breath for more news about Sarah Palin, to figure out whether her resignation was motivated by weakness or the desire for more power. How can people possibly live a normal life when we are so determined to put them on a pedestal and examine every inch of their lives, until we find the chink in their armor, the weak spot, and then exploit it?
Power is a dangerous thing. Lord Acton was right, when in 1887 he said to the bishop: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
A Gallup poll of 1,015 adults nationwide — conducted in May just before we were treated to the saucier details of the lives of South Carolina’s Republican governor and Nevada’s Republican senator — found that 92 percent of Americans think it is morally wrong for a married man or woman to have a fling. We may think it is wrong, but we sure do enjoy learning all about it. We have this affinity for the weakness of others.
The Corinthians were enjoying a good bash of the celebrity preacher Paul. I am not insinuating that Paul’s weakness, his thorn in the flesh, was infidelity. He was not a married man, so he could not have been cheating on his wife. It is more likely that Paul had a physical weakness or infirmity. Richard, in his dissertation, on Paul’s understanding of mortality from 2 Corinthians, asserts that Paul had a sickness which had left him close to death, and that “this near-death experience precipitated a crisis of confidence regarding the apostle’s authority and reliability.” (Richard Deibert, 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Gospel of Human Mortality”)
Hear now Paul’s very careful way of speaking about his struggle. Hear how he sets up the great irony by speaking about all the things about which he might boast, but then addresses his weakness and claims he’d rather boast of that.
Read scripture
Through the years, scholars have speculated about Paul’s thorn in the flesh with as much curiosity as we have about philandering politicians. Some have said he had a problem with his eyes. Others have claimed he had epilepsy. Some have said he is speaking about persecution. But most have concluded that it is some kind of physical ailment. Paul makes it nearly impossible to figure out, and perhaps that it good because we can all relate to some kind of weakness. “Whatever it was, this repeated or sustained experience of physical distress was so humbling and distressing to Paul that he prayed for its removal: “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me" (2 Corinthians 12:8). Just like our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42), Paul prayed three times for the difficulty to be taken away.
And the answer to his prayer is this message: “'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength, my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Through his painful experience, and the prayer prompted by this experience, Paul discerned the working of divine grace in his life; he learned that his weakness was the way in which the power of the risen Christ was revealed in him. He learned through personal experience that divine power is made perfect in weakness.
This insight, the fruit of prayer, provided Paul with a permanent template, a common paradigm, for all his life in Christ. It became an interpretive key capable of opening in his life numerous doors otherwise closed. He found that this vision sustained him in every sort of suffering and misfortune: “So I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me.. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (12:9-10).
This experienced pattern of strength rendered perfect in weakness is what enabled Paul to discern that “though our outer nature nature is perishing, yet the inner nature is being renewed day by day” (4:16). His prayer on the subject of his physical affliction enabled the Apostle to see that “we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus may be made known in our mortal flesh” (4:11). (Father Patrick Reardon)
Whatever weakness you have, physical or other, remember that through prayer and seeking God’s grace, your weakness can become the power of God at work in you. While we were in Montreat, my mother apologized to me every time we needed to leave the house, walk down the irregular stone staircase to go to worship or some other event. She would say “I’m sorry I slow you down. I’m sorry I’m so dependent on your help. I’m sorry. You don’t have to wait for me.” I kept telling her it was no problem, but she continued to apologize until I finally said, “You know, Mama, it is a gift to me to move slowly because in my day-to-day normal life, I have to move fast.” Her weakness empowered me to slow down.
What could be perceived as a weakness – unemployment for Richard – will by God’s providence, prove to be a strength. Our family life will enjoy a respite from the frenzied schedule of two ministries. We will have the opportunity to work harder to achieve greater simplicity in life, as the class studying Foster’s book on the measure of freedom is learning. But most importantly, our entire family will realize again in a deeper way just how dependent we are on the grace of God to get us through life. We will be on our knees in dependency.
“My grace is sufficient for you.” I was planning to say a few things about that before I was weakened by the uncertainty of Richard’s unemployment. But now those words take on real meaning. God’s power is being perfected in Richard, along with us, his family. Some folks don’t experience much weakness until the aging process begins to erode their confidence and render them powerless in many areas of life. I’m not sure any of us who have experienced weakness – physical, emotional, or psychological – are immediately glad for the experience. Most, like
Paul, pray for it to be removed. Lord, I am sick of taking medication for depression or anxiety. I’m tired of this hearing deficit or mobility trouble or cancer treatment. I wish I were not an alcoholic. I wish I did not have this chronic disease or this mental illness. Lord, deliver me from it. But most often we are not delivered from something, but delivered through it. Through grace of the Lord, we are empowered in our experience of weakness.
God turns everything upside down. In weakness is strength. In dependence is power. In dying to ourselves is eternal life. Earthly power, worldly strength, visual beauty have nothing to do with honor in the Kingdom of God. In fact, all those things can be an obstacle to true honor.
Our country is experiencing a season of relative weakness. You know, I think that this recession or depression could be the best thing that has happened to our country in a long while. I don’t mean to minimize the suffering. It is real and it hurts, but being weak, we have an opportunity to grow strong, to learn what real freedom is. Real freedom is not freedom from responsibility but freedom for others, sensitivity to others.
What Jesus Christ did in his life and death was live the very life we live – a life of joy and peace and love, but also of struggle, pain, and dejection. Jesus became what we are to raise us up to what he is. That’s why his grace is sufficient because Christ showed us the power of weakness, the power of freedom for others.
The East County Observer this week had a special insert for the 4th of July. In it was a picture of twin brothers, who were about 14. One of boys had lost a leg. He was trying to learn to run competitively with an artificial one. Having just read this scripture, I thought to myself that the irony is, the weaker twin, the one-legged one is probably the stronger one, especially if he has learned to turn to God for his strength.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
What is it about our culture that we get so enthralled with celebrities’ fall from power? Unless we are personally connected to these folks, we relish the sordid details of a John Edwards’ or a Mark Sanford’s fall from power. We watch for countless hours the remembrances of Michael Jackson, analyzing the complexities of an insecure yet powerful personality. We wait with baited breath for more news about Sarah Palin, to figure out whether her resignation was motivated by weakness or the desire for more power. How can people possibly live a normal life when we are so determined to put them on a pedestal and examine every inch of their lives, until we find the chink in their armor, the weak spot, and then exploit it?
Power is a dangerous thing. Lord Acton was right, when in 1887 he said to the bishop: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
A Gallup poll of 1,015 adults nationwide — conducted in May just before we were treated to the saucier details of the lives of South Carolina’s Republican governor and Nevada’s Republican senator — found that 92 percent of Americans think it is morally wrong for a married man or woman to have a fling. We may think it is wrong, but we sure do enjoy learning all about it. We have this affinity for the weakness of others.
The Corinthians were enjoying a good bash of the celebrity preacher Paul. I am not insinuating that Paul’s weakness, his thorn in the flesh, was infidelity. He was not a married man, so he could not have been cheating on his wife. It is more likely that Paul had a physical weakness or infirmity. Richard, in his dissertation, on Paul’s understanding of mortality from 2 Corinthians, asserts that Paul had a sickness which had left him close to death, and that “this near-death experience precipitated a crisis of confidence regarding the apostle’s authority and reliability.” (Richard Deibert, 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Gospel of Human Mortality”)
Hear now Paul’s very careful way of speaking about his struggle. Hear how he sets up the great irony by speaking about all the things about which he might boast, but then addresses his weakness and claims he’d rather boast of that.
Read scripture
Through the years, scholars have speculated about Paul’s thorn in the flesh with as much curiosity as we have about philandering politicians. Some have said he had a problem with his eyes. Others have claimed he had epilepsy. Some have said he is speaking about persecution. But most have concluded that it is some kind of physical ailment. Paul makes it nearly impossible to figure out, and perhaps that it good because we can all relate to some kind of weakness. “Whatever it was, this repeated or sustained experience of physical distress was so humbling and distressing to Paul that he prayed for its removal: “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me" (2 Corinthians 12:8). Just like our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42), Paul prayed three times for the difficulty to be taken away.
And the answer to his prayer is this message: “'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength, my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Through his painful experience, and the prayer prompted by this experience, Paul discerned the working of divine grace in his life; he learned that his weakness was the way in which the power of the risen Christ was revealed in him. He learned through personal experience that divine power is made perfect in weakness.
This insight, the fruit of prayer, provided Paul with a permanent template, a common paradigm, for all his life in Christ. It became an interpretive key capable of opening in his life numerous doors otherwise closed. He found that this vision sustained him in every sort of suffering and misfortune: “So I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me.. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (12:9-10).
This experienced pattern of strength rendered perfect in weakness is what enabled Paul to discern that “though our outer nature nature is perishing, yet the inner nature is being renewed day by day” (4:16). His prayer on the subject of his physical affliction enabled the Apostle to see that “we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus may be made known in our mortal flesh” (4:11). (Father Patrick Reardon)
Whatever weakness you have, physical or other, remember that through prayer and seeking God’s grace, your weakness can become the power of God at work in you. While we were in Montreat, my mother apologized to me every time we needed to leave the house, walk down the irregular stone staircase to go to worship or some other event. She would say “I’m sorry I slow you down. I’m sorry I’m so dependent on your help. I’m sorry. You don’t have to wait for me.” I kept telling her it was no problem, but she continued to apologize until I finally said, “You know, Mama, it is a gift to me to move slowly because in my day-to-day normal life, I have to move fast.” Her weakness empowered me to slow down.
What could be perceived as a weakness – unemployment for Richard – will by God’s providence, prove to be a strength. Our family life will enjoy a respite from the frenzied schedule of two ministries. We will have the opportunity to work harder to achieve greater simplicity in life, as the class studying Foster’s book on the measure of freedom is learning. But most importantly, our entire family will realize again in a deeper way just how dependent we are on the grace of God to get us through life. We will be on our knees in dependency.
“My grace is sufficient for you.” I was planning to say a few things about that before I was weakened by the uncertainty of Richard’s unemployment. But now those words take on real meaning. God’s power is being perfected in Richard, along with us, his family. Some folks don’t experience much weakness until the aging process begins to erode their confidence and render them powerless in many areas of life. I’m not sure any of us who have experienced weakness – physical, emotional, or psychological – are immediately glad for the experience. Most, like
Paul, pray for it to be removed. Lord, I am sick of taking medication for depression or anxiety. I’m tired of this hearing deficit or mobility trouble or cancer treatment. I wish I were not an alcoholic. I wish I did not have this chronic disease or this mental illness. Lord, deliver me from it. But most often we are not delivered from something, but delivered through it. Through grace of the Lord, we are empowered in our experience of weakness.
God turns everything upside down. In weakness is strength. In dependence is power. In dying to ourselves is eternal life. Earthly power, worldly strength, visual beauty have nothing to do with honor in the Kingdom of God. In fact, all those things can be an obstacle to true honor.
Our country is experiencing a season of relative weakness. You know, I think that this recession or depression could be the best thing that has happened to our country in a long while. I don’t mean to minimize the suffering. It is real and it hurts, but being weak, we have an opportunity to grow strong, to learn what real freedom is. Real freedom is not freedom from responsibility but freedom for others, sensitivity to others.
What Jesus Christ did in his life and death was live the very life we live – a life of joy and peace and love, but also of struggle, pain, and dejection. Jesus became what we are to raise us up to what he is. That’s why his grace is sufficient because Christ showed us the power of weakness, the power of freedom for others.
The East County Observer this week had a special insert for the 4th of July. In it was a picture of twin brothers, who were about 14. One of boys had lost a leg. He was trying to learn to run competitively with an artificial one. Having just read this scripture, I thought to myself that the irony is, the weaker twin, the one-legged one is probably the stronger one, especially if he has learned to turn to God for his strength.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)