When Peter Parker was bitten by a spider, he was infused with special powers-things that he was able to do that no one else could do.
Enhanced moral judgment was not part of Peter's special powers. Peter still had to decide if we wanted to be a super-hero, or if he just wanted to be Mary Jane's boyfriend. Uncle Ben provided him with the best advice he was going to get,
“With great powers comes great responsibility.”
I know, you are all wondering why I am talking about Spiderman on Sunday morning. First, this is for Simon, who turned 6 yesterday, and got a bug vacuum for his birthday, and for his best friend Tristan, who told the pediatrician he was bitten by a spider, and now has special powers.
Second, this is because all great stories have something at their core which is the same. Our great story as Christians leaves us with the same problem of moral judgments that Peter Parker had.
You see, we are all faced with the question, do we want to use our special powers or do we want to offer Mary Jane a nice home in the suburbs? Are we safely saved or are we required to do something with our salvation?
1 John tells us what our responsibility is.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.”
If we love God, we obey his commandments. And his commandments are this:
Love God.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Tell other people about the good news of Christ.
How hard is that? Well, it's actually very hard. Because when Jesus said, Come, follow me, he didn't go to the art museum or the country club. He went to the slums and the places where foreigners congregated. When he said take up my cross, he wasn't talking about bow hunting or polo matches, he was talking about forgiveness.
The cross is the symbol of forgiveness. The cross is the key to our special powers. As the gospel of John puts it:
Jesus came after the resurrection and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” and then he breathed the Holy Spirit onto them and said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
We are being sent out into the world to continue the action of forgiveness. That forgiveness is the peace Jesus gives to us, the peace he brings from the father.
The peace of forgiveness is the most difficult of all to give and to receive. We are not naturally inclined to forgive the slights of others, let alone the really stupendous errors in judgment. As hard as it is to forgive someone for cutting us off in traffic, how much harder to give that grace to someone who has killed a loved one in a suicide bombing? As hard as it is to receive someone's forgiveness for our unintentional mistakes, like offering peanuts to someone allergic to them, how much harder to receive forgiveness from the family of someone we intentionally set out to harm?
It is much easier to believe that only in God, and only mediated through someone perfect like Jesus, can there be forgiveness. It is a lot more difficult to think that our actions and our ability to forgive is part of the great plan of salvation for all.
But we are not only promised this fantastic ability to forgive, we are told that it isn't too hard, and when we do it, we will conquer the world:
“And his commandments are not burdensome,” says 1 John, “for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.”
The world is full of fear. The world is full of hate. The world is full of people who are in pain, from what they have done, and from what has been done to them. But here we are promised that we can conquer these very real components of the human life,
---with our faith.
It's never been easy to believe in God and Jesus. And often it seems easier in Portland to just avoid any mention of our faith in mixed company; there are plenty of people who are going to be offended if we say “Christian,” and a lot of people will just stop listening to us because of the delivery of other Christians. We often think that our actions will speak louder than our words. But forgiveness is an action that requires words, lest it be confused with ignorance, with passive aggressiveness, and with uncaring.
We should no see that belief as burdensome.
Because the more people who are bitten by the spider,
the more people who are infused with the special powers of the cross,
the more people who take on the super-human power of forgiveness,
the closer we get to victory.
The closer we get to each other and most especially,
The closer we get to the kingdom of God.
And when that happens, we no longer have an either-or moral dilemma. We don't have to chose to do “whatever a spider can” or Mary Jane. We find ourselves in a win-win situation. The more we share our faith, the more we create the forgiveness of God, the sooner we conquer the world.
We have great powers. We have great responsibility. Thanks be to God.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Easter Sunday: Why I am a Christian
So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Well, someone must have said something, because here we are....
How were they feeling before they ran away and said nothing? Their beloved leader has been murdered. Jesus told them that he would not die, and they believed him. They don't really want to see the dead body, because it is proof of their own mortality, and their own gullibility. It is in the moments when we feel most helpless that the need for little rituals takes over. They decide that they must anoint the body. This is something for which they can take personal responsibility, something they have control over.
As they are walking to the tomb, they are thinking about facing their own mortality. Are they talking through their fear? No, of course not. They are arguing about how to get the door open. These women are going to anoint the body, and no stone is going to stop them, if they can just figure out how to move it.
But they don't have to. When they get there, the stone is rolled away and the door is wide open.
This is really scary. Because who would have done such a thing? The only people that loved Jesus enough to care for his body are standing outside. Everyone else interested in him was calling out, 'crucify him!” a couple of days ago. They thought they knew what they would find at the tomb. They didn't want to see such a sight, but there is comfort even in the knowing of the unthinkable.
Now the women are standing outside wondering what to do? What is the right thing to do? Do they give into fear and run away, or do they go inside and face the fear?
These women are now standing on the fence of indecision. When we run out of minor details, we are left with only our fears of the unknown. When we are laid off from a job, there are so many things to fill our time, unemployment forms, COBRA invoices, updated resumes. But eventually, we must face the fact that we have lost our job. Our identity is very wrapped up in what we do, so who are we when we are not working, when we are doing nothing at all?
For the women, the fear of not completing their ritual, is greater than their fear of knowing what is inside the tomb. Come what may, they step around the stone and into the tomb.
And find a guy in a white robe, like some sort of supernatural information clerk. 'Don't be alarmed,”' he says. When has that ever calmed anyone down?
We all encounter things that we cannot rationalize away. We are all afraid of them. And we don't talk about them. The biggest difference between these women and ourselves-we have modern science to help us rationalize a lot more of the world than they did. But science answers questions about who, what and where. Science can never answer the question, why. Science can tell us all about the feeding habits of household spiders, but it can never turn that fact into something that alleviate our fear of spiders. Why are we afraid of spiders? We cannot answer that anymore than the women could explain the scene at the tomb.
Because the body was just not there. These women do not think that Jesus is anything other than dead. They saw him on the cross; they were probably the last to leave and they are probably the first to return. Something larger than their ability to rationalize is at work. Something larger than their ability to explain away is at work. The guy in the white suit is simply beyond their ability to explain. If they do try to explain, they are going to get laughed at, or ridiculed, or told they are distraught with grief, or crazy. No one is going to believe them, and if this guy is passing on the message, it means he isn't going to stick around. So of course they flee in terror. Of course they don't tell anyone. What else can you do with a direct connection to God and a prophecy come true?
That's it. The gospel of Mark is the first story of the life of Jesus that was written down. This story about the women is the end. We don't find out if the disciples met up with Jesus in Galilee, we don't find out about doubting Thomas. There is no Paul, yet. There isn't anyone saying, you have to see Jesus, or have a personal relationship with the resurrected Christ, in order to do what he said. This ending is up to us. Do we take up doing what is right as Jesus was doing, or do we say, tough break, having the leader of such a cool movement die like that. Mark is the perfect altar call, for those of you who know what that is. We finish the story. The action is all ours.
Gospel means Good News. And, strange though it may seem, this story is Good News. If this were just a story, it would never get published with an ending like that. But, Mark is part of a whole series of gospels and letters that make up what we know and believe to be the Good News of Christ crucified and risen. And what Mark leaves up to the reader, Paul enumerates in great detail.
In our lesson from Acts today, Paul gives us the good news. “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
I need to offer an aside about translations here, and I am sorry, because I know it is boring, but fear is like love when we translate between languages-overused. So I want to clarify fear of God as opposed to the sort of fear we mean in our everyday conversations, the sort of fear I have been talking about. Fear is a bad thing that we don't want to have. We are afraid of things that are irrational, that hurt us, that don't make sense to us. But translators use the word fear to translate a Greek word that actually means something more like healthy respect.
For instance, I hope everyone here has a healthy respect for bears. Nothing a bear does is provoked by the desire to find a particular human and maul him to death. In fact, we don't really know why bears do the things they do. We rationalize bear behavior, and we try to predict bear behavior based on our own motivations, but we don't really know how bears think. God is so much bigger than a bear. When Paul tells us that God wants us to fear him, he is saying “Don't put God in a box, or think you can make God into a person that you can predict and manipulate.”
So, Paul is telling us some genuine good news- God is not something petty and prejudiced, and we don't have to be afraid because we cannot box God in, all we have to worry about is doing what is right- not following the rules, not doing what your mother taught you, but what is right.
How do we know what is right? Well, the many followers of God have fought many a war trying to tell people that they know what is right; but what is right is usually pretty obvious, and if it isn't -remember that the last shall and should be first. The poor family that cannot buy food. The widow who is homebound and has no company. The prisoner who is being incarcerated for any reason. The children who have no home to learn right in.
What is right is to reduce the everyday terror of the unknown in the world.
What is right is to reduce the pain in the world.
What is right is to share every good thing in the world, with everyone in the world.
Does that make Christians crazy communistic utopia driven hippies. Well of course it does.
Are we any good at it? No. The point is to do what is right. To do something. Do not worry if it is good or bad. Don't worry if it is correct. Don't worry what the neighbors will think. Do what is right, for the people who are being done wrong. And if you screw something up. If your consequences are not all they could be. Don't let the fear of that stop you from trying for the right thing.
Don't misunderstand me. The right thing is hard. Doing the right thing doesn't pay well, it doesn't come with a benefits package, and the hours are lousy. And the burnout is real. And the fear creeps into the exhaustion until we either start to triage this person as more deserving than that one, or we stop altogether, because we have only seen bad outcomes from all our effort.
So you may wonder why start? It doesn't sound like very good new at all. But Paul goes on. There is more good news to sustain us. That good news is the heart of Christianity. It is the thing that makes Christianity different from all other religions that follow the one God. It is the thing that makes Christianity worth telling all over the world.
Paul says, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Christianity says that we don't have to decide who is good and who is bad. That is Jesus' job. But even more important, it is Jesus' job to forgive. We are celebrating the Resurrection today. We celebrate the truth that Jesus isn't dead, and he isn't where we left him. Theologically, this is the reason that we can do good things and be forgiven. The death and resurrection are the last sacrifice, the last time we have to feel guilty for having done something and not getting the outcome we wanted. The last time we have to lash out in hurt, the last time we have to burn a cow or grovel in fear of a God that we have created in our own minds.
This means that you are free. You can do what is right. You do not need to be afraid of any of these things. You do not even need to be afraid that your actions will produce bad consequences. You will be forgiven.
The question I leave with you is, what are you doing with this Good News. Are you merely benefiting from it in silence? Are you not doing what is right, because you fear the consequences of your actions? Are you out doing what is right , because you know that you are forgiven the mistakes and circumstances that arise from doing what is right? Because you know that you are not required to triage the deserving from the takers? Because you know that what happens to you, or to anyone, is not some natural or crazy-God given consequence of actions?
(point)Are you telling anyone that the reason you can feed the homeless is that you are not afraid that you might become homeless? Are you telling people that you are not concerned that you might be interfering with someone's natural consequences, someone's opportunity to learn from their mistakes? Are you telling people that you don't care what they think of you for spending time with people who are not from your own social class?
(calm)What you need to do is share this idea-this truth-that we should not box God into something that looks like us, that we should do what is right, that we don't have to decide who is good and who is bad, and that we are forgiven our mistakes. Who doesn't need to hear this? Who wouldn't benefit from it? Those women were wrong not to spread the Good News of Jesus Crucified and Christ Resurrected. Yes, they were wrong for good reasons. They were wrong for fear of personal failure. They were wrong for fear of humiliation and punishment by the law. They were wrong for fear of ridicule for experiencing something supernatural, something that answered why, not just who what or where. They were wrong because they, like us, did not want to face their own mortality, their own humanness. But they were wrong. Don't you be wrong, too.
Amen.
How were they feeling before they ran away and said nothing? Their beloved leader has been murdered. Jesus told them that he would not die, and they believed him. They don't really want to see the dead body, because it is proof of their own mortality, and their own gullibility. It is in the moments when we feel most helpless that the need for little rituals takes over. They decide that they must anoint the body. This is something for which they can take personal responsibility, something they have control over.
As they are walking to the tomb, they are thinking about facing their own mortality. Are they talking through their fear? No, of course not. They are arguing about how to get the door open. These women are going to anoint the body, and no stone is going to stop them, if they can just figure out how to move it.
But they don't have to. When they get there, the stone is rolled away and the door is wide open.
This is really scary. Because who would have done such a thing? The only people that loved Jesus enough to care for his body are standing outside. Everyone else interested in him was calling out, 'crucify him!” a couple of days ago. They thought they knew what they would find at the tomb. They didn't want to see such a sight, but there is comfort even in the knowing of the unthinkable.
Now the women are standing outside wondering what to do? What is the right thing to do? Do they give into fear and run away, or do they go inside and face the fear?
These women are now standing on the fence of indecision. When we run out of minor details, we are left with only our fears of the unknown. When we are laid off from a job, there are so many things to fill our time, unemployment forms, COBRA invoices, updated resumes. But eventually, we must face the fact that we have lost our job. Our identity is very wrapped up in what we do, so who are we when we are not working, when we are doing nothing at all?
For the women, the fear of not completing their ritual, is greater than their fear of knowing what is inside the tomb. Come what may, they step around the stone and into the tomb.
And find a guy in a white robe, like some sort of supernatural information clerk. 'Don't be alarmed,”' he says. When has that ever calmed anyone down?
We all encounter things that we cannot rationalize away. We are all afraid of them. And we don't talk about them. The biggest difference between these women and ourselves-we have modern science to help us rationalize a lot more of the world than they did. But science answers questions about who, what and where. Science can never answer the question, why. Science can tell us all about the feeding habits of household spiders, but it can never turn that fact into something that alleviate our fear of spiders. Why are we afraid of spiders? We cannot answer that anymore than the women could explain the scene at the tomb.
Because the body was just not there. These women do not think that Jesus is anything other than dead. They saw him on the cross; they were probably the last to leave and they are probably the first to return. Something larger than their ability to rationalize is at work. Something larger than their ability to explain away is at work. The guy in the white suit is simply beyond their ability to explain. If they do try to explain, they are going to get laughed at, or ridiculed, or told they are distraught with grief, or crazy. No one is going to believe them, and if this guy is passing on the message, it means he isn't going to stick around. So of course they flee in terror. Of course they don't tell anyone. What else can you do with a direct connection to God and a prophecy come true?
That's it. The gospel of Mark is the first story of the life of Jesus that was written down. This story about the women is the end. We don't find out if the disciples met up with Jesus in Galilee, we don't find out about doubting Thomas. There is no Paul, yet. There isn't anyone saying, you have to see Jesus, or have a personal relationship with the resurrected Christ, in order to do what he said. This ending is up to us. Do we take up doing what is right as Jesus was doing, or do we say, tough break, having the leader of such a cool movement die like that. Mark is the perfect altar call, for those of you who know what that is. We finish the story. The action is all ours.
Gospel means Good News. And, strange though it may seem, this story is Good News. If this were just a story, it would never get published with an ending like that. But, Mark is part of a whole series of gospels and letters that make up what we know and believe to be the Good News of Christ crucified and risen. And what Mark leaves up to the reader, Paul enumerates in great detail.
In our lesson from Acts today, Paul gives us the good news. “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
I need to offer an aside about translations here, and I am sorry, because I know it is boring, but fear is like love when we translate between languages-overused. So I want to clarify fear of God as opposed to the sort of fear we mean in our everyday conversations, the sort of fear I have been talking about. Fear is a bad thing that we don't want to have. We are afraid of things that are irrational, that hurt us, that don't make sense to us. But translators use the word fear to translate a Greek word that actually means something more like healthy respect.
For instance, I hope everyone here has a healthy respect for bears. Nothing a bear does is provoked by the desire to find a particular human and maul him to death. In fact, we don't really know why bears do the things they do. We rationalize bear behavior, and we try to predict bear behavior based on our own motivations, but we don't really know how bears think. God is so much bigger than a bear. When Paul tells us that God wants us to fear him, he is saying “Don't put God in a box, or think you can make God into a person that you can predict and manipulate.”
So, Paul is telling us some genuine good news- God is not something petty and prejudiced, and we don't have to be afraid because we cannot box God in, all we have to worry about is doing what is right- not following the rules, not doing what your mother taught you, but what is right.
How do we know what is right? Well, the many followers of God have fought many a war trying to tell people that they know what is right; but what is right is usually pretty obvious, and if it isn't -remember that the last shall and should be first. The poor family that cannot buy food. The widow who is homebound and has no company. The prisoner who is being incarcerated for any reason. The children who have no home to learn right in.
What is right is to reduce the everyday terror of the unknown in the world.
What is right is to reduce the pain in the world.
What is right is to share every good thing in the world, with everyone in the world.
Does that make Christians crazy communistic utopia driven hippies. Well of course it does.
Are we any good at it? No. The point is to do what is right. To do something. Do not worry if it is good or bad. Don't worry if it is correct. Don't worry what the neighbors will think. Do what is right, for the people who are being done wrong. And if you screw something up. If your consequences are not all they could be. Don't let the fear of that stop you from trying for the right thing.
Don't misunderstand me. The right thing is hard. Doing the right thing doesn't pay well, it doesn't come with a benefits package, and the hours are lousy. And the burnout is real. And the fear creeps into the exhaustion until we either start to triage this person as more deserving than that one, or we stop altogether, because we have only seen bad outcomes from all our effort.
So you may wonder why start? It doesn't sound like very good new at all. But Paul goes on. There is more good news to sustain us. That good news is the heart of Christianity. It is the thing that makes Christianity different from all other religions that follow the one God. It is the thing that makes Christianity worth telling all over the world.
Paul says, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Christianity says that we don't have to decide who is good and who is bad. That is Jesus' job. But even more important, it is Jesus' job to forgive. We are celebrating the Resurrection today. We celebrate the truth that Jesus isn't dead, and he isn't where we left him. Theologically, this is the reason that we can do good things and be forgiven. The death and resurrection are the last sacrifice, the last time we have to feel guilty for having done something and not getting the outcome we wanted. The last time we have to lash out in hurt, the last time we have to burn a cow or grovel in fear of a God that we have created in our own minds.
This means that you are free. You can do what is right. You do not need to be afraid of any of these things. You do not even need to be afraid that your actions will produce bad consequences. You will be forgiven.
The question I leave with you is, what are you doing with this Good News. Are you merely benefiting from it in silence? Are you not doing what is right, because you fear the consequences of your actions? Are you out doing what is right , because you know that you are forgiven the mistakes and circumstances that arise from doing what is right? Because you know that you are not required to triage the deserving from the takers? Because you know that what happens to you, or to anyone, is not some natural or crazy-God given consequence of actions?
(point)Are you telling anyone that the reason you can feed the homeless is that you are not afraid that you might become homeless? Are you telling people that you are not concerned that you might be interfering with someone's natural consequences, someone's opportunity to learn from their mistakes? Are you telling people that you don't care what they think of you for spending time with people who are not from your own social class?
(calm)What you need to do is share this idea-this truth-that we should not box God into something that looks like us, that we should do what is right, that we don't have to decide who is good and who is bad, and that we are forgiven our mistakes. Who doesn't need to hear this? Who wouldn't benefit from it? Those women were wrong not to spread the Good News of Jesus Crucified and Christ Resurrected. Yes, they were wrong for good reasons. They were wrong for fear of personal failure. They were wrong for fear of humiliation and punishment by the law. They were wrong for fear of ridicule for experiencing something supernatural, something that answered why, not just who what or where. They were wrong because they, like us, did not want to face their own mortality, their own humanness. But they were wrong. Don't you be wrong, too.
Amen.
Sunday, April 2, 2006
The Day is Surely Come
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. God already had a covenant with Israel. He gave it to Moses on the stone tablets as the 10 Commandments. God had a lot of work to do in the old covenant. He had to lay down a lot of rules and he did a lot of smiting and smoting and smelting.
Much like a parent-child relationship. In fact, I have a lot of lists in my house that look like the 10 commandments and the book of Leviticus.
Thou shalt not hit thy sibling.
Thou shalt not write upon the wall, or the refrigerator, nor shall you write upon the toilet seat in permanent marker, nor on the couch, nor on your clothing, Thou shalt write only upon the paper approved by the parent in charge. Only on the paper granted by the parent in charge shall you write.
It is a lot of work trying to think of all the things they are going to write on, before they do it. What I really want them to do is see the rightness of paper, but to also intuit the exceptions of whiteboards and chalkboards with the appropriate writing instruments.
This is what God is dreaming of when he says,
I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
God dreams of the day that his children will grow up and see the rightness that binds all the rules together. To see how all the laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus and all the cheater notes attached to the Torah ever since add up to just a simple bumper sticker of a religion. He wants us to see that they all wind up in Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
In the old covenant, it is all one-sided. God, like a parent, is handing down all these rules, and we, like the child, are not personally invested in them. We didn't get to have a family meeting and come up with the rules and consequences, so we are pretty much committed to breaking them as much and as well as often.
But God didn't just keep dreaming wistfully that Israel would get it. Not like me. He did something about it, he sent Jesus to both show us the way, and provide the means to accomplishment a new covenant. And Jesus was no Moses; he didn't have any problems with being a leader-he was totally uninterested in being a good leader, too much politicking and not enough action. And he didn't have Moses' problems with scribes either-he didn't need anything written down.
The covenant Jesus was to deliver is written on our hearts.
Speaking of heart, here is a 1 minute history lesson. For the Israelites, heart wasn't the seat of indigestion that it is today; a symbol of passionate love and squishy feelings. The heart was the measure of one's intelligence and will power. So for God to imprint the new covenant on our hearts doesn't mean he was trying to make us stupider; he was trying to make us smarter.
But smart people can do stupid things. So Jesus didn't complicate the message this time, hoping that we would get it by decyfering the beatitudes and the parables: he said, love god, love your neighbor. And when we wanted to narrow down the definition of neighbor, he said-a Samaritan makes a good neighbor, which would be whoever is lowering property values in your neighborhood. He just flat said, love your enemies and for good measure, pray for your persecutors, too. These are the tenants of the new covenant. In the new covenant, the action belongs to us. Because the new covenant happens in the realm of realization, in the world, in us.
The goal didn't change for God. God has always desired for us a life that is radically different than our inclination. Remember that Jews, in worshiping the one God were already radically different than their neighbors in Palestine and Egypt and the rest of the diaspora. They were radically different than their Roman rules. They had hospitality rules, and forgiveness of debt rules and they had to give their pagan workers the Sabbath day off too. But they got too busy keeping themselves different, that they had little or no room for anyone else to realize the bounty of God.
The realm of action needed to change. Enter Jesus, stage left, walk across, exit stage right. He wasn't here very long, and he didn't do very much. Half of the Old Testament is about Moses, doing this or that or the other thing. Jesus came, showed us what to do, and died, just so we could believe.
What exactly happens, though, when we get the law of God written on our hearts? What makes a Christian out of any old nice person, or even not so nice person? Recall, this isn't a warm fuzzy feeling, it is a new strength of will and intelligent behavior that come from being 'in christ.' as Paul would say. Baptism is being born into Christ. The water allows us to symbolically share in Christ's death and to be resurrected as his “hands and feet.” As the body of Christ in the world, we are the visible signs of God's grace in the world.
Listen to that – We are the visible signs of God's grace in the world.
Do the people who know you, know you are a Christian? And, how do they know it? Did you have to tell them, have you told them? If we are walking around as the hands and feet of Christ, and not doing the work of Christ's hands and feet, and no one know that we are Christians----Then are we really showing the grace of God in the world? Can we really be surprised when people say there is not God, when we don't act like it ourselves?
And if God has forgiven our iniquity, and remembers our sin no more --
but we are finger pointing, and blaming, and turning away and minding our own business, exactly what does that say about us? About God? We never should have to tell people who God is- they should know by looking at us.
Don't get to wrapped up in the idea that this is all just a metaphor. And don't get too lost in literalness. Don't be afraid to show yourself to Christian because Christians have a bit of the bad name right about now. Be afraid because you are acting like Jesus-calling down justice for the poor and the prisoner; calling a self-righteous religious spade the spade he is. Be afraid because you are acting like Jesus-after all, this is the sort of behavior that got Jesus killed.
Not much smoting coming from above these days. Because God has changed our covenant. He has let us into the family meeting and we have a say in the consequences of our actions. God still cares about justice. We are his voice, and the words are written on our hearts.
Amen.
Much like a parent-child relationship. In fact, I have a lot of lists in my house that look like the 10 commandments and the book of Leviticus.
Thou shalt not hit thy sibling.
Thou shalt not write upon the wall, or the refrigerator, nor shall you write upon the toilet seat in permanent marker, nor on the couch, nor on your clothing, Thou shalt write only upon the paper approved by the parent in charge. Only on the paper granted by the parent in charge shall you write.
It is a lot of work trying to think of all the things they are going to write on, before they do it. What I really want them to do is see the rightness of paper, but to also intuit the exceptions of whiteboards and chalkboards with the appropriate writing instruments.
This is what God is dreaming of when he says,
I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
God dreams of the day that his children will grow up and see the rightness that binds all the rules together. To see how all the laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus and all the cheater notes attached to the Torah ever since add up to just a simple bumper sticker of a religion. He wants us to see that they all wind up in Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
In the old covenant, it is all one-sided. God, like a parent, is handing down all these rules, and we, like the child, are not personally invested in them. We didn't get to have a family meeting and come up with the rules and consequences, so we are pretty much committed to breaking them as much and as well as often.
But God didn't just keep dreaming wistfully that Israel would get it. Not like me. He did something about it, he sent Jesus to both show us the way, and provide the means to accomplishment a new covenant. And Jesus was no Moses; he didn't have any problems with being a leader-he was totally uninterested in being a good leader, too much politicking and not enough action. And he didn't have Moses' problems with scribes either-he didn't need anything written down.
The covenant Jesus was to deliver is written on our hearts.
Speaking of heart, here is a 1 minute history lesson. For the Israelites, heart wasn't the seat of indigestion that it is today; a symbol of passionate love and squishy feelings. The heart was the measure of one's intelligence and will power. So for God to imprint the new covenant on our hearts doesn't mean he was trying to make us stupider; he was trying to make us smarter.
But smart people can do stupid things. So Jesus didn't complicate the message this time, hoping that we would get it by decyfering the beatitudes and the parables: he said, love god, love your neighbor. And when we wanted to narrow down the definition of neighbor, he said-a Samaritan makes a good neighbor, which would be whoever is lowering property values in your neighborhood. He just flat said, love your enemies and for good measure, pray for your persecutors, too. These are the tenants of the new covenant. In the new covenant, the action belongs to us. Because the new covenant happens in the realm of realization, in the world, in us.
The goal didn't change for God. God has always desired for us a life that is radically different than our inclination. Remember that Jews, in worshiping the one God were already radically different than their neighbors in Palestine and Egypt and the rest of the diaspora. They were radically different than their Roman rules. They had hospitality rules, and forgiveness of debt rules and they had to give their pagan workers the Sabbath day off too. But they got too busy keeping themselves different, that they had little or no room for anyone else to realize the bounty of God.
The realm of action needed to change. Enter Jesus, stage left, walk across, exit stage right. He wasn't here very long, and he didn't do very much. Half of the Old Testament is about Moses, doing this or that or the other thing. Jesus came, showed us what to do, and died, just so we could believe.
What exactly happens, though, when we get the law of God written on our hearts? What makes a Christian out of any old nice person, or even not so nice person? Recall, this isn't a warm fuzzy feeling, it is a new strength of will and intelligent behavior that come from being 'in christ.' as Paul would say. Baptism is being born into Christ. The water allows us to symbolically share in Christ's death and to be resurrected as his “hands and feet.” As the body of Christ in the world, we are the visible signs of God's grace in the world.
Listen to that – We are the visible signs of God's grace in the world.
Do the people who know you, know you are a Christian? And, how do they know it? Did you have to tell them, have you told them? If we are walking around as the hands and feet of Christ, and not doing the work of Christ's hands and feet, and no one know that we are Christians----Then are we really showing the grace of God in the world? Can we really be surprised when people say there is not God, when we don't act like it ourselves?
And if God has forgiven our iniquity, and remembers our sin no more --
but we are finger pointing, and blaming, and turning away and minding our own business, exactly what does that say about us? About God? We never should have to tell people who God is- they should know by looking at us.
Don't get to wrapped up in the idea that this is all just a metaphor. And don't get too lost in literalness. Don't be afraid to show yourself to Christian because Christians have a bit of the bad name right about now. Be afraid because you are acting like Jesus-calling down justice for the poor and the prisoner; calling a self-righteous religious spade the spade he is. Be afraid because you are acting like Jesus-after all, this is the sort of behavior that got Jesus killed.
Not much smoting coming from above these days. Because God has changed our covenant. He has let us into the family meeting and we have a say in the consequences of our actions. God still cares about justice. We are his voice, and the words are written on our hearts.
Amen.
Monday, March 20, 2006
It's All about Me, Right?
You are the determiner of your own destiny. This is the truth statement that underlies popular Western culture. This is the same under-pining of most salvation motivated mainstream Christian believers. This is the bottom line for the self-help movement.
We operate in a universe that says we can change our stars with enough hard work and a little luck. That hard work is fixing the behavioral damage of our parents and the genetic legacy of our appearance, but we can all reach our potential with enough surgery and medication. In the midst of all the available options to become all we can be via the secular world, the Christianity we encounter in the media is portrayed as able to sell us perfection in the afterlife, if only we believe.
Except that isn't actually what Jesus was talking about. He wasn't offering us looks or fame or charisma. He wasn't even selling the afterlife. He was selling this life. And he wasn't telling us how to get rich and famous, he was telling us how to actually be happy, actually matter, actually be human. Jesus did not become the Christ, the resurrection and the atonement so we could go to heaven. It was so that we could be fully human. It was so we could have meaningful happiness. And the way home isn't by taking care of our own selves, it is by taking care of each other.
People, by design or by nature, are communal creatures-we cannot live alone. The miracle of self-awareness creates exactly this need to live in community. “Is there anyone else like me?” is the first question we ask with our self-awareness. Earthworms are not awake at 2am wondering if anyone really understands them. People are. Children explore this question – babies and grade schoolers and high school students. Adults do it – college students and barflies, secretaries and parents, retirees and nursing home patients.
Christianity teaches us a simple and profound truth. We must consider other people before ourselves if we want to satisfy the itch of self-awareness. When we worry about our relevance, if we are needed and if we are contributing to society, we are being self-absorbed. We cannot answer own question. It is only in relation to another person that we become relevant, contributory and needed.
Have you ever taken the trust test where you stand with your back to someone and fall? Always sure that we are going to fall, and we are always amazed and surprised when we don't land on our backs. Christianity is just like this test. And like this test, we cannot do it alone.
We operate in a universe that says we can change our stars with enough hard work and a little luck. That hard work is fixing the behavioral damage of our parents and the genetic legacy of our appearance, but we can all reach our potential with enough surgery and medication. In the midst of all the available options to become all we can be via the secular world, the Christianity we encounter in the media is portrayed as able to sell us perfection in the afterlife, if only we believe.
Except that isn't actually what Jesus was talking about. He wasn't offering us looks or fame or charisma. He wasn't even selling the afterlife. He was selling this life. And he wasn't telling us how to get rich and famous, he was telling us how to actually be happy, actually matter, actually be human. Jesus did not become the Christ, the resurrection and the atonement so we could go to heaven. It was so that we could be fully human. It was so we could have meaningful happiness. And the way home isn't by taking care of our own selves, it is by taking care of each other.
People, by design or by nature, are communal creatures-we cannot live alone. The miracle of self-awareness creates exactly this need to live in community. “Is there anyone else like me?” is the first question we ask with our self-awareness. Earthworms are not awake at 2am wondering if anyone really understands them. People are. Children explore this question – babies and grade schoolers and high school students. Adults do it – college students and barflies, secretaries and parents, retirees and nursing home patients.
Christianity teaches us a simple and profound truth. We must consider other people before ourselves if we want to satisfy the itch of self-awareness. When we worry about our relevance, if we are needed and if we are contributing to society, we are being self-absorbed. We cannot answer own question. It is only in relation to another person that we become relevant, contributory and needed.
Have you ever taken the trust test where you stand with your back to someone and fall? Always sure that we are going to fall, and we are always amazed and surprised when we don't land on our backs. Christianity is just like this test. And like this test, we cannot do it alone.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
The Devil's in the Details
This mornings lessons are about the difference between intent and practice. We always start with the best of intentions when we create a law, and we always muddled them up in the execution. So it is no surprise that the hardest laws of all, those of God, are abused in the worst ways.
What are God's laws? I'll give you a hint, there are only two.
Love God.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It is easy to see the intention for us in these laws. An awareness of God, of the larger and better nature to be found in the universe will center us and allow us to treat others with the respect and dignity that we would like to be offered. If we all actually did these two simple things, we could spend far more time dealing with the actual problems in the world, like hunger and homelessness.
Sign me up. This sounds great. This looks like something we can do. It certainly seems like something we want to do. We have been given this perfect law, and it will allow us to lead wonderful lives, but we haven't changed all that much from the Israelites. And that is why we still drag around the 10 commandments. Because people needed some rules to go with those laws.
God sent Moses down the mountain with the 10 commandments. Because the Israelites were trying to Love God and Love their neighbor. But they didn't know what God looked like, and so they started making idols. They were very nice idols, they used a lot of precious metal and they treated it very nice. What more did God want? And they were trying to love their neighbor, but of course, the best way to show you love someone is to kill their enemies. So Moses got stuck climbing the mountain and facing the music.
These rules are much more explicit. Much easier to follow.
There are three rules about loving God. Such as knowing which one he is. And not boxing God in, because we easily get confused and start making objects the thing that cannot be desecrated, instead of God. And don't use the name God lightly, because it is all we really have to hold onto.
All the rest are rules about neighbors. Because we spend more time with neighbors than God. And first on the list, don't keep your neighbor from what little time they do spend with God. And be nice to your parents, don't kill anyone, don't confuse sex with relationships, don't take other people's stuff, don't lie, and stop trying to keep up with the Jones.
That seems to sum it up. But, of course, there are always those special cases, like what if my coworker is an atheist, is it OK to ask them to work on Sunday? What if my parents were abusive? What about child molesters? Would it be OK to kill them? Is it stealing or free market economics? Exactly what is a lie when everyone has a right to their own opinion?
Then there is a whole class of special cases that relate to God. Sit stand or kneel? Do we blow out the candles before during or after the closing hymn? Sola scripture? Works or grace? Does the secret recipe for communion bread make it more sacred than Wonder Bread?
Is anyone starting to see why Jesus went after the people in the temple with a whip? With some work, I could probably show how each one of the 10 commandments were being broken by the production line worship happening in the temple. The Jews at the time were so busy applying all the rules to their lives, and making sure that they knew who they were, that they had forgotten the law completely.
The intention was good. That is what we often forget in this story. We make out the money changers and animal vendors as horrible people who make a living off people's need to worship God. What about our own priests, some of whom actually get paid. What about Forward Movement, which sold us our photocopies of the scripture this morning. What about the companies that sell vestments and altars and 12 foot tall crosses. Our intentions are good.
It was the execution that went all wrong for the Jews in Jerusalem. They had made the temple into their God. What about our execution? Well, we have a lot of committees. Someone will get back to you.
Seriously, this is what Paul was trying to say in the Epistle to the Romans today. Our intentions and our execution do not match. “I do not understand my own actions.” says Paul, “For I do not do what I want, but the very thing that I hate.”
Love God, love your neighbor. It looks easy on paper, and we get up every morning with the intention of doing both. But we find ourselves at the end of the day having done the wrong thing.
I want to love my neighbor, and I know she needs someone to talk to her, but I do need to go get my kids from school. I know that my employee wants to go to church on Sundays, but we need the coverage for the 3 day sale. I know that life is hard in Mexico, but I don't want to pay for illegal immigrants to go to the hospital. I know running red lights is wrong, but I'm late. I know my faith helps me get through the day, but I wouldn't want to tell anyone else how to live.
Our intentions are always for the best. Our execution always brings us back to confession.
The psalmist warns us in his pleas:
Who can tell how often I offend? Cleanse me of my secret faults. Above all, keep me from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me.
Then I shall be whole and sound and innocent of a great offense. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
A-men.
What are God's laws? I'll give you a hint, there are only two.
Love God.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
It is easy to see the intention for us in these laws. An awareness of God, of the larger and better nature to be found in the universe will center us and allow us to treat others with the respect and dignity that we would like to be offered. If we all actually did these two simple things, we could spend far more time dealing with the actual problems in the world, like hunger and homelessness.
Sign me up. This sounds great. This looks like something we can do. It certainly seems like something we want to do. We have been given this perfect law, and it will allow us to lead wonderful lives, but we haven't changed all that much from the Israelites. And that is why we still drag around the 10 commandments. Because people needed some rules to go with those laws.
God sent Moses down the mountain with the 10 commandments. Because the Israelites were trying to Love God and Love their neighbor. But they didn't know what God looked like, and so they started making idols. They were very nice idols, they used a lot of precious metal and they treated it very nice. What more did God want? And they were trying to love their neighbor, but of course, the best way to show you love someone is to kill their enemies. So Moses got stuck climbing the mountain and facing the music.
These rules are much more explicit. Much easier to follow.
There are three rules about loving God. Such as knowing which one he is. And not boxing God in, because we easily get confused and start making objects the thing that cannot be desecrated, instead of God. And don't use the name God lightly, because it is all we really have to hold onto.
All the rest are rules about neighbors. Because we spend more time with neighbors than God. And first on the list, don't keep your neighbor from what little time they do spend with God. And be nice to your parents, don't kill anyone, don't confuse sex with relationships, don't take other people's stuff, don't lie, and stop trying to keep up with the Jones.
That seems to sum it up. But, of course, there are always those special cases, like what if my coworker is an atheist, is it OK to ask them to work on Sunday? What if my parents were abusive? What about child molesters? Would it be OK to kill them? Is it stealing or free market economics? Exactly what is a lie when everyone has a right to their own opinion?
Then there is a whole class of special cases that relate to God. Sit stand or kneel? Do we blow out the candles before during or after the closing hymn? Sola scripture? Works or grace? Does the secret recipe for communion bread make it more sacred than Wonder Bread?
Is anyone starting to see why Jesus went after the people in the temple with a whip? With some work, I could probably show how each one of the 10 commandments were being broken by the production line worship happening in the temple. The Jews at the time were so busy applying all the rules to their lives, and making sure that they knew who they were, that they had forgotten the law completely.
The intention was good. That is what we often forget in this story. We make out the money changers and animal vendors as horrible people who make a living off people's need to worship God. What about our own priests, some of whom actually get paid. What about Forward Movement, which sold us our photocopies of the scripture this morning. What about the companies that sell vestments and altars and 12 foot tall crosses. Our intentions are good.
It was the execution that went all wrong for the Jews in Jerusalem. They had made the temple into their God. What about our execution? Well, we have a lot of committees. Someone will get back to you.
Seriously, this is what Paul was trying to say in the Epistle to the Romans today. Our intentions and our execution do not match. “I do not understand my own actions.” says Paul, “For I do not do what I want, but the very thing that I hate.”
Love God, love your neighbor. It looks easy on paper, and we get up every morning with the intention of doing both. But we find ourselves at the end of the day having done the wrong thing.
I want to love my neighbor, and I know she needs someone to talk to her, but I do need to go get my kids from school. I know that my employee wants to go to church on Sundays, but we need the coverage for the 3 day sale. I know that life is hard in Mexico, but I don't want to pay for illegal immigrants to go to the hospital. I know running red lights is wrong, but I'm late. I know my faith helps me get through the day, but I wouldn't want to tell anyone else how to live.
Our intentions are always for the best. Our execution always brings us back to confession.
The psalmist warns us in his pleas:
Who can tell how often I offend? Cleanse me of my secret faults. Above all, keep me from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me.
Then I shall be whole and sound and innocent of a great offense. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
A-men.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Why Study Sex at Church, Lenten Study Series
The following is an article I wrote for the church newsletter as an explaination for why we are studying the issue of homosexuality for Lent. As for me, I rarely give anything up for Lent anymore, but like to use the time to address something that is missing in my life. For instance, this year I am adding exercise, again. But for our study at church, I thought that something we are missing is our connection to the church writ large, and I wanted to make sure at least my tiny neck of the woods was prepared for the broohaha that will be General Convention 2006.
So, this is why we are studying sex at church....
At a Sunday service last summer, a young man who is not from a liturgical tradition asked me why we pray for the catholic church since we are not catholic? I explained that the word catholic meant universal and that when we pray for the catholic church we are praying for all bodies of Christians, no matter what kind or where they are. Hot on the heels of this came a question about why we pray for the dead, wasn’t that ancestor worship. I explained that no, we were not praying to the dead, but that we were including all Christians, both the living and the dead, as part of the church. These may be the short answer, theologically, but they are fundamentally true. As the sign says, all are welcome here.
In fact, I came from a tradition much like this young man’s and one of the reasons I sought out a new place to worship was my own belief that all who profess Christ are Christians, and that the Holy Spirit will not let evil profess Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:3) Do I think the church of my youth is not a body of Christ? No, but it was not my body.
The Episcopal Church in particular, and the Anglican Communion of which it is a part, is a practicing catholic church. We gather together as Anglicans, and we gather together in ecumenical bodies such as the World Council of Churches to consider our common Christian mission. This is practicing a belief, that all Christians are fully Christians.
The result of such welcome, however, is tension. We are all different people who see the world in different ways and bring different values and needs to our practicing faith. It takes a lot of work, on the part of individuals and institutions to acknowledge an autonomy of practice while sharing an affirmation of faith. This is the reward of the transformational nature of conversion (being born again). In fact, this tension is possible only through the Gospel. In the fact of Jesus lies the full potential of the Gospel-we are free of the burden of sin. This freedom is the necessary ingredient for us to overcome our need to surround ourselves with like-minded people who can make us feel better about ourselves. And it compels us to go and do good in the name of that freedom, in the name of Jesus Christ.
But what does that good look like? The goodness of God is unchanging. We are not. For us, where we are in time and in place will have a lot to do with how we are able to understand that goodness. The variety itself is the goodness of God. For example, consider a chair. What passes for a chair varies by location. From a smooth rock, to a gold-encrusted six-legged high-backed throne, to a three-legged stool; these are all chairs. The goodness of God is just as varied. Deciphering the goodness of the world takes the prompting of the Spirit, and following that prompting takes reflection.
We are blessed in the liturgical tradition in that we celebrate seasons each year, not the seasons of winter and summer, but the seasons of Lent and Advent. Lent is a time for reflection. We are coming into the Lenten season, and have chosen, as a community, to study the decisions that have been made in our church, in common and particular communities, with regards to sexuality and fitness for ordination. Homosexuality is not the only issue that the catholic church has wrestled with in the last 50 years, but it is currently the most heated around the world. In a few months we will gather again as a national church and these issues will be at the forefront. It is our responsibility to be aware of the work of our church, not just our parish. It is our responsibility to allow the Spirit to move us in the same ways that it moves others. It is our gift to live in tension.
So, this is why we are studying sex at church....
At a Sunday service last summer, a young man who is not from a liturgical tradition asked me why we pray for the catholic church since we are not catholic? I explained that the word catholic meant universal and that when we pray for the catholic church we are praying for all bodies of Christians, no matter what kind or where they are. Hot on the heels of this came a question about why we pray for the dead, wasn’t that ancestor worship. I explained that no, we were not praying to the dead, but that we were including all Christians, both the living and the dead, as part of the church. These may be the short answer, theologically, but they are fundamentally true. As the sign says, all are welcome here.
In fact, I came from a tradition much like this young man’s and one of the reasons I sought out a new place to worship was my own belief that all who profess Christ are Christians, and that the Holy Spirit will not let evil profess Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:3) Do I think the church of my youth is not a body of Christ? No, but it was not my body.
The Episcopal Church in particular, and the Anglican Communion of which it is a part, is a practicing catholic church. We gather together as Anglicans, and we gather together in ecumenical bodies such as the World Council of Churches to consider our common Christian mission. This is practicing a belief, that all Christians are fully Christians.
The result of such welcome, however, is tension. We are all different people who see the world in different ways and bring different values and needs to our practicing faith. It takes a lot of work, on the part of individuals and institutions to acknowledge an autonomy of practice while sharing an affirmation of faith. This is the reward of the transformational nature of conversion (being born again). In fact, this tension is possible only through the Gospel. In the fact of Jesus lies the full potential of the Gospel-we are free of the burden of sin. This freedom is the necessary ingredient for us to overcome our need to surround ourselves with like-minded people who can make us feel better about ourselves. And it compels us to go and do good in the name of that freedom, in the name of Jesus Christ.
But what does that good look like? The goodness of God is unchanging. We are not. For us, where we are in time and in place will have a lot to do with how we are able to understand that goodness. The variety itself is the goodness of God. For example, consider a chair. What passes for a chair varies by location. From a smooth rock, to a gold-encrusted six-legged high-backed throne, to a three-legged stool; these are all chairs. The goodness of God is just as varied. Deciphering the goodness of the world takes the prompting of the Spirit, and following that prompting takes reflection.
We are blessed in the liturgical tradition in that we celebrate seasons each year, not the seasons of winter and summer, but the seasons of Lent and Advent. Lent is a time for reflection. We are coming into the Lenten season, and have chosen, as a community, to study the decisions that have been made in our church, in common and particular communities, with regards to sexuality and fitness for ordination. Homosexuality is not the only issue that the catholic church has wrestled with in the last 50 years, but it is currently the most heated around the world. In a few months we will gather again as a national church and these issues will be at the forefront. It is our responsibility to be aware of the work of our church, not just our parish. It is our responsibility to allow the Spirit to move us in the same ways that it moves others. It is our gift to live in tension.
Reflections on Isaiah 6:1-8
This was going to be a sermon, now it is mostly just a mental exercise, since it is no longer the sermon due for class, but it was an interesting enough insight, that I wanted to share it all the same.
“Here I am; send me!”
I can't imagine Isaiah knew what he was getting into when he said that. And even more interesting is what God then asks him to do- harden the hearts of the people until they are in ruin so that they will again turn to the Lord.
This God is very difficult to reconcile with the Lord who cradles our every step and loves us all with reckless compassion. This God is the parent; the parent who believes in tough love. How could Isaiah want to do such a thing to his people after seeing such a vision of Lordly power? How indeed? I think some of that answer is found in the vision itself.
This vision of the Lord as a king on a throne is not unique to Isaiah. The book of Job begins with God holding court, and sounding a bit bored. Ezekiel is commissioned by God surrounded by glorious angels and enthroned.
The call to lie to the people is not unique to Isaiah either. It is also found in 1 Kings 22:19. The prophet Micaiah is also called by the Lord to mislead; in Deuteronomy 13:2, where the author warns against true prophets misleading people as a test of loyalty to the one God.
So, quickly, we have a God in the Old Testament who is represented in ways that are contrary not only to our desires and understandings of God, but who is represented in a way that is actually condemned by God himself. God did not want to place a king at the head of Israel. The people begged for a king of their own until God finally gave them David.
God had originally set the people of Israel up as a community lead by community leaders, called Judges, but not like our judicial figures. God did allow for a king, in Deuteronomy 17, but he is bound by the law. God does not allow him to be an absolute ruler. God knew that people would want someone to be responsible for them, but he would not allow them to abdicate their responsibility to Him.
Why then, if God has set up the Israelites in Canaan, just as he promised, and he has made them responsible to and for each other, would the Jewish prophets still describe God as an enthroned ruler?
It's a sad fact that no matter what God has done for us, we are still human. It is part of our nature for some of us to want to lead and for some of us to want to follow. Even in our democracy, we put up kings and idolize royalty. Consider English Royalty. They generate just as much fascination in America, where we threw out the King as they do in their own country. Maybe even more.
The truth of the matter is, we do want someone else to be responsible for our actions. We want to lay blame at the door of anyone else. This means that we are more responsive to truth coming from a God who is proclaimed in ways that we perceive as powerful. Those trappings of power, however, are not the true power, of God or of ourselves. This is what Jesus was trying to tell us before we stuck him to a tree and told him to shut up. This is why, after we realized what Jesus was trying to tell us, and we loved it for what it is, we blamed the Romans, and the Jews, leaders and laity alike, for killing him. We do not like to take responsibility for having killed our own leader, but we did. In fact, there are people walking around, even today, doing a remarkable job of actually following Jesus. If they do it in a foreign country, they are like Mother Theresa and revered, but if they do it in America, then they are like the prophets, and we vilify them, ignore them, and otherwise, attempt to hang them from a more modern tree.
The throne is important. It is the only thing. Just ask the Wizard of Oz. How frightened we will all be when we realize that the power of God is found in our own hearts.
“Here I am; send me!”
I can't imagine Isaiah knew what he was getting into when he said that. And even more interesting is what God then asks him to do- harden the hearts of the people until they are in ruin so that they will again turn to the Lord.
This God is very difficult to reconcile with the Lord who cradles our every step and loves us all with reckless compassion. This God is the parent; the parent who believes in tough love. How could Isaiah want to do such a thing to his people after seeing such a vision of Lordly power? How indeed? I think some of that answer is found in the vision itself.
This vision of the Lord as a king on a throne is not unique to Isaiah. The book of Job begins with God holding court, and sounding a bit bored. Ezekiel is commissioned by God surrounded by glorious angels and enthroned.
The call to lie to the people is not unique to Isaiah either. It is also found in 1 Kings 22:19. The prophet Micaiah is also called by the Lord to mislead; in Deuteronomy 13:2, where the author warns against true prophets misleading people as a test of loyalty to the one God.
So, quickly, we have a God in the Old Testament who is represented in ways that are contrary not only to our desires and understandings of God, but who is represented in a way that is actually condemned by God himself. God did not want to place a king at the head of Israel. The people begged for a king of their own until God finally gave them David.
God had originally set the people of Israel up as a community lead by community leaders, called Judges, but not like our judicial figures. God did allow for a king, in Deuteronomy 17, but he is bound by the law. God does not allow him to be an absolute ruler. God knew that people would want someone to be responsible for them, but he would not allow them to abdicate their responsibility to Him.
Why then, if God has set up the Israelites in Canaan, just as he promised, and he has made them responsible to and for each other, would the Jewish prophets still describe God as an enthroned ruler?
It's a sad fact that no matter what God has done for us, we are still human. It is part of our nature for some of us to want to lead and for some of us to want to follow. Even in our democracy, we put up kings and idolize royalty. Consider English Royalty. They generate just as much fascination in America, where we threw out the King as they do in their own country. Maybe even more.
The truth of the matter is, we do want someone else to be responsible for our actions. We want to lay blame at the door of anyone else. This means that we are more responsive to truth coming from a God who is proclaimed in ways that we perceive as powerful. Those trappings of power, however, are not the true power, of God or of ourselves. This is what Jesus was trying to tell us before we stuck him to a tree and told him to shut up. This is why, after we realized what Jesus was trying to tell us, and we loved it for what it is, we blamed the Romans, and the Jews, leaders and laity alike, for killing him. We do not like to take responsibility for having killed our own leader, but we did. In fact, there are people walking around, even today, doing a remarkable job of actually following Jesus. If they do it in a foreign country, they are like Mother Theresa and revered, but if they do it in America, then they are like the prophets, and we vilify them, ignore them, and otherwise, attempt to hang them from a more modern tree.
The throne is important. It is the only thing. Just ask the Wizard of Oz. How frightened we will all be when we realize that the power of God is found in our own hearts.
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