What the Spirit is saying to the churches…

April 25, 2010

I didn’t preach today, but I do invite you to listen to what the youth had to say about their 30 Hour Famine experience. Audio can be found here at www.spcboise.org.

But I did teach the Adult Sunday School class and we are working on the Book of Revelation. Today we talked about the 7 churches mentioned in chapters two and three. It is kind of a long passage, but here it is:

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false.
I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary.
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life:
“I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:
“I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives.
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication.
So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:
“I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first.
But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication.
Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings;
and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.
But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call ‘the deep things of Satan,’ to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden;
only hold fast to what you have until I come.
To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,
I will give authority over the nations;
to rule them with an iron rod,
as when clay pots are shattered—
even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead.
Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God.
Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of the holy one, the true one,
who has the key of David,
who opens and no one will shut,
who shuts and no one opens:
“I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation:
“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.
To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

And as we talked about these different churches, we had some realizations that really stayed with me all day. I’m sure that other people have noticed this and spoke of it more eloquently, but it was what I needed to hear today for sure.

As these churches are both praised and reprimanded for their behavior, God never tells them “you should be more like that church. God tells each church to be the best version of themselves. And one church’s strength might be another church’s weakness. So if we’re listening in on what the Spirit is saying to the other churches, perhaps we could support each other and learn from each other.

And each church is different from the others.  But they are not reprimanded for being different. They are reprimanded when they aren’t being who they were called to be. There are seven churches listed and seven is the number of completion. In a world that seems to be intolerant of differentness I think we should all take a look at Revelation again. The message in the world often seems to be “if you don’t see things as I do, you are wrong”. The message in Revelation seems to be, “if you don’t see things as I do, God must have called you to be a member of one of those other churches….”

Why is that so hard for us? Why do we always have to have the only right answer? Why can’t we consider that the body of Christ might be stronger if instead of competing against, we supported all of the other congregations and denominations that make up the body?

On one level, I’m sure that the many denominations and versions of Christianity that are out there must bring God sadness, because we fight and worry about things that keep us from focusing on the important stuff. But on another level, I think the many flavors of Christianity give us a glimpse of the vastness of God. I think it is good that some of us like liturgy and pipe organs. I think it is great that others of us prefer drums and tambourines. I think it is good that some of us were called to be in the church in Ephesus and others in Thyatira.

But I think  we have to spend time listening to what the Spirit is saying to the churches, not just what we are saying to the churches.

And I think we have to come together, despite our differences, and gather around the throne of the Lamb (to borrow some Revelation imagery) singing

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.” (Rev 4:11)

Because, ultimately, if we don’t do that, we are not listening to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Leave a Comment » | church unity, Revelation 2 and 3 | Permalink
Posted by marciglass

Lines in the Sand

April 18, 2010

A Sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian on April 18, 2010

John 7:37-8:11

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?  Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So there was a division in the crowd because of him.
Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?”
The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!”
Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you?
Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.”
Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked,  “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”
They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”
Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

This is one of my very favorite passages in Scripture. I love this Jesus. This is the Jesus I wish I could be most like. This is also the Jesus who is so hard for me to emulate.
Because he is fearless.
Because he doesn’t get into petty fights with hypocrites.
Because he is willing to speak words of Truth, even though they will be dangerous for him.
Because he stands with the powerless and gives voice to those who are silenced.

This passage takes place at the end of the Festival of the Booths. Where Jesus had not wanted to go. Because he knew they were trying to arrest him. But he goes. And he stands up in public and starts teaching. That particular sermon was not recorded, but the authority with which he preached was. And it appeared to leave his opponents flummoxed. They couldn’t lift a finger against him. People started talking. Is he the Messiah? Could he be?

When they can’t counter his arguments, they try to impugn his character. “There’s no way the Messiah could come from Galilee, people. Of course he’s not the Messiah.” To us, Galilee sounds like the Holy Land. We think of Galilee and have positive images. But back then, it was a big insult. Whatever the bad part of town is, the most backward part of your community—that’s what Galilee meant. And when Nicodemus tried to ask a question they called him a Galilean as well.  And look at Nicodemus’ question again: “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”

Nicodemus isn’t really even clearly defending what Jesus has said. He’s just asking about what you need to know before you pass judgment. And they call him a Galilean.

At the very least, this should give us pause. In a culture where it is easier to call someone a name than it is to sit down and have a conversation, we should be wary of our tendency to call people Galileans.

So, the next day, after Nicodemus has questioned the tendency to judge someone before the facts are known, they bring to Jesus a woman, caught, they say, in the very act of committing adultery.

We don’t even need to go into the problems with this story. She was alone? committing adultery? They caught her in the very act? I’m guessing we don’t want to know why they were in her bedroom….

But Jesus is asked to give summary judgment on this woman, caught in the act of adultery all by herself, so that they can stone her. “What do you say?”, they asked him.
And he says nothing.

You know me well enough by now to know that I would most certainly say something. I would rise to the oratorical challenge and let them know exactly how wrong they are and how Moses will come back from the grave to get them for misusing Scripture!
Which is reason 743 that God didn’t make me the Messiah.

Jesus stoops down, and starts writing in the dust. Doesn’t say a word. Jesus doesn’t take the bait. And it takes the wind right out of their sails. Because it is hard to have a screaming match when you’re the only one screaming. It is hard to fight with someone when you have to look down to the ground to find him.

If I were the woman standing by his side, however, I would probably not, in that moment, have appreciated his action. “Gee, thanks mister. Coward. Tell these guys what’s wrong with their argument! A woman can’t commit adultery by herself! Exactly how much sexual freedom do you think a woman has in the year 33 AD anyway?”
But he continues to scribble in the dust.

I, of course, want to know what he’s writing in the sand. Some good Aramaic word for “mean, jerkface bullies”?
No, wait. That’s what I would do.

Whatever he’s writing in the sand it gives them time to take a breath. Maybe it even gives Jesus time to take a breath.

And there is advantage to writing things in the sand.
As opposed to publishing them online.
Or etching them in stone.
Or putting them on the front page of the Jerusalem Times.
Or turning to violence or anger.
Because things in the sand are not permanent. They allow you to change your mind. The sand will blow away. Or you can move your hand across it and it will disappear.  Or rains will come.
Things written in the sand allow you to reconsider and to write something else. To slow down on passing judgment and to consider another perspective.

After a while, as they continue to throw questions at his silence, Jesus stands up and tells them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Once again, at this point, I suspect the woman was having some second thoughts about Jesus’ plan.
Because Jesus invites them to stone her and then stoops back down and starts playing in the dust.

But they don’t stone her.
They were certainly more than ready to do it a few minutes ago.
But this time they just silently disperse, dropping their stones to the ground, where they each make a thud, sending up little clouds of dust.
And Jesus speaks to the woman for the first time.
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
To the person whose side of the story had not so far been requested, Jesus gives her a chance to speak. “No one, sir”, she replies.
What must that have been like to realize that for the first time, that day at least, nobody was condemning her. “No one, sir”, she replies.
“Neither do I condemn you.” Jesus tells her.  “Go your way and from now on, do not sin again.”

But what does that mean?
Everyone sins. We aren’t proud of it, for sure. But a part of our life in faith is acknowledging that we make mistakes. That we turn away from being our best selves.
Even our would-be stone throwers acknowledged that none of them were without sin. Is Jesus expecting her to be perfect? Is he referring specifically to the adultery?
But Jesus is rarely just talking to the character in the text. He is talking to us as well. And while I’m sure he would tell us all not to be caught in the act of adultery by ourselves, I suspect he’s telling us something more.

Go and do not sin again.

Maybe it is to go from here and start living as if you know you are God’s beloved child, worth more than cheap relationships.
Maybe it is to go from here and not leap to judgment again.
Go from here and stop calling people adulterers or Galileans.
Go from here and stop using Scripture as a weapon.
Go from here and try to consider the other person’s perspective.
Go from here and worry more about your own relationship with God and less about your neighbor’s.
Go from here and do not return anger and hatred when it is thrown at you.

At the beginning of the text today, Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

If we want to call ourselves believers, if we want to go and sin no more, perhaps we have to check and make sure that is rivers of living water that pour forth from our hearts.

Sometimes it seems that we live in a landscape of stones waiting to be thrown, of dry river beds, harsh words, and parched souls. But Jesus says, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”

Friends, the world may tell you that there isn’t enough of the Living Water of God’s grace to go around, that the lines we draw in the sand are permanent. The world tries to tell you that the best way to feel better about yourself is to judge someone else, but Jesus says, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”

And this living water that Jesus offers us will wash away whatever lines we make in the sand, washing it clear and clean and new.

My prayer for us all this week is that “Out of our hearts shall flow rivers of living water.’”

May it be so.
Amen.

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by marciglass

Easter Sermon

April 4, 2010

Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD—
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.
The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
This is the day the church comes together to celebrate the GOOD news that is, quite frankly, unexpected, and a little hard to make sense of. We know all about death. That is the normal course of things in our life.
It is resurrection that is unfamiliar.
Even Jesus’ own followers, the people who walked, talked, and ate dinner with him, weren’t expecting it.
Even though he had, not long before, brought Lazarus back from the dead.
Mary wasn’t on her way to talk with Jesus in the garden. She was on her way to anoint his dead body.
So we gather this morning to make sense of this remarkable and unplanned news.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

I confess that I am often drawn to Mary’s story in this text. It is easy for me to race past the story of Peter and the Beloved Disciple on my way to Mary’s encounter with the gardener.
But this year, as I read this text, I remembered a painting I saw at a museum a few years ago. It was painted by Eugene Burnand and is a depiction of the footrace of Peter and John on their way to the tomb.

The picture doesn’t quite do the painting justice, but I like the looks on their faces. Is it hope? Is it fear? Some combination of the two?

Randy preached last week about Peter’s betrayal of Jesus, and you can understand the look on Peter’s face—both good and bad—what if Jesus comes back? What will he say to me? But maybe betrayal doesn’t have to be the final word—maybe I can apologize before he says anything!
The other disciple, or “the one whom Jesus loved” is referred to as the Beloved Disciple by scholars and is commonly thought to be the persona of the author of the 4th gospel, John. If Peter is the disciple most like us—most likely to make mistakes, yet live his faith with great passion—the Beloved Disciple is the one who tends to respond correctly the first time.

But look at what they do in this story. Mary has gone to the tomb to anoint a dead body. As far as she knows, Jesus is still dead and so she goes to care for his dead body. But she rushes back to where the other disciples are hiding and tells them that the stone has been rolled away and that someone must have taken his body.
So our two friends here, Peter and John, race to the tomb. Now that I’ve had years of living in a home with boys, I no longer find it weird that they choose to have a footrace on the way to the tomb, because the three males who live in my house will turn any event into a competition, even a trip to the empty tomb.
But I know there’s more to it than that. Perhaps they each have something to prove. Peter had, after all, just spent the last days running away from Jesus. And John—maybe he’s just showing us how ideal disciples behave—running head on into the mystery, willing to see for himself, whatever the news might be.
And so they reach the tomb. John gets there first and looks inside, sees the linen wrappings, but doesn’t enter. Peter gets there, goes inside and also sees the wrappings. John joins him in the tomb and the text tells us, “he saw and believed.”
What do you think he believed? The text doesn’t tell us. The text does go on to say, “for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” It is possible, perhaps even probable, that the Beloved Disciple believed without understanding. That may be where many of us are. We believe, but we still don’t understand what the Resurrection means in our lives. But our belief is enough to sustain us.
Or maybe we are like Peter. Doing our very best after our very best wasn’t good enough, to make it up to Jesus. To be the best disciple we know how to be, even though we’re no model disciples. Peter is willing to have a relationship with Jesus at any and every cost.

Maybe some days we are like Mary. After Peter and John have left to go back to their homes, apparently determined that there is nothing left for them to see at the Tomb, Mary stands at the entrance to the tomb. Weeping. Because insult to injury. Her teacher, her Lord, her friend is dead and now his body is missing. And this is not the way it was supposed to be. As if it wasn’t bad enough that they tortured and murdered him, now they’ve stolen his body!
And so she weeps.
Before we move on to what happens next, remember that weeping can be an appropriate response to the Resurrection. Some days weeping is the best testimony we can offer.
Because people we love are unjustly murdered by the powers of this world and then their bodies are stolen!
On this day, 42 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated, reminding us that we weep over the violence in this world that tries to silence the prophets.
Or some days we weep because loved ones get sick.
Because justice does not rain down as it should.
Because we lose our jobs.
Because children in this world are hungry.
Because wars wage across the face of the earth.
Because people die.
And that is why Jesus calls Mary’s name; that is why God calls our names. Because he walked out of the tomb to bear witness to the fact that death does not have the final say. That God has unleashed a new creation with the Resurrection of Jesus.
“Mary”, he calls out. She turns around, away from the empty tomb, away from her tears, away from discarded grave clothes, and toward the living Christ.
But she can’t hang on to him in that moment. Because the story is still unfolding.  There is work to do. She is instructed to proclaim the Resurrection to a hurting world, where people weep and suffer and worry. She is instructed to proclaim the good news of the resurrection and she does.
“I have seen the Lord!”
We’re gathered here 2,000 years later because this woman told people when she saw God.
It matters that you tell people when you have seen God, because all these years later, we’re still telling her story, even though in this text, at least, Mary’s best qualification for the job of evangelist seems to be that she recognized his voice when he called her name.
And so, like Mary, the church is called to bear witness to where we have seen God.
Just as Mary couldn’t hang on to the resurrected Jesus in the garden, we can’t leave it there either. Because God’s new creation is still in process and there is a world out there that needs to hear a message of hope instead of the world’s message of fear and anxiety. We can’t just stop on Easter morning. We have Good News to share!

The prophet Isaiah also gives us a glimpse of this new creation, this world God is bringing about. Isaiah was speaking to people who knew about exile, so he describes a world where you, and not some Assyrian invader, get to eat the crops you plant. A world where you get to live in the house you built. A world where children will not be born for calamity, but will live good and long lives—where a 100 year old person will be considered a teenager.

Many of Isaiah’s images of this new creation are not crazy impossible ideals. He’s talking about health, and adequate food and shelter, and I think his images should instruct us as a church.
How are we going to respond to the Resurrection in our community? I think that working in our community for those basic needs to be met—health, food, shelter—is a way to bring about the other, less normal, images in Isaiah.

Where the lion becomes a vegetarian who eats straw and the lamb invites the wolf to join him for a movie.

Isaiah makes it clear that things will change. But we’ve spent so many years where things don’t seem to change that I wonder if we can even imagine what would happen if everyone were able to live a long and healthy life? What would happen if everyone had adequate food and shelter? When that comes about, I suspect wolves and lambs hanging out together won’t seem so odd any more.
Hear again the voice of the prophet:
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;

New creation is not for sissies. New creation and resurrection faith call us to work for a better world, here and now, for all of God’s creation.

“I have seen the Lord!”, we proclaim to a world with our very lives, seeking to make God’s new creation visible in a world that tells us it will never be so. The witness of the empty tomb reminds us that this world doesn’t have all of the answers though. So we proclaim, “I have seen the Lord!”, even though the world thinks he is dead and gone.

Friends, on this Easter morning, whether we are Peter and John, who are already at home recovering from their footrace, or whether we are Mary, weeping at the tomb, we are called to remember that Easter is a beginning, and not an ending. We are called to remember that we have been invited to witness to the New Creation by sharing hope in a hurting world. We are called to tell the world that we have seen the Lord. And we are called to share the words of the prophet Isaiah with  people weeping beside empty tombs of their own:

But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.

Friends. Before we even called, God has answered. Thanks be to God. Amen.

1 Comment | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by marciglass

Come Together

April 1, 2010

A Maundy Thursday Meditation

April 1, 2010

Southminster Presbyterian Church

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

I love the LORD, because God has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because God inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on the LORD as long as I live.

What shall I return to the LORD
for all his bounty to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.

O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.

I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all God’s people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

I Corinthians 11:17-29
Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it.
Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.
When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper.
For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk.
What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.  Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.

This is the night where all of our theology and traditions and practices as a church come together. Where the rubber meets the road, as they say.
Because this is the night we lift up our praise of God as the psalmist tells us in the 116th psalm—“I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all God’s people. In the courts of the house of the Lord—in your midst, O Jerusalem—Praise the Lord!”

And we are gathered in the presence of God’s people and we will gather around God’s Table—lifting up the cup of salvation—even as we remember that it was in the courts of the house of the Lord on this night, many many years ago, that Jesus was betrayed by one of his own, right after they had eaten a meal together around God’s Table.
What does it mean for us to call ourselves followers of Jesus, to try to be the Beloved Community, when we know that betrayal didn’t come from outside of the family, but from inside? It is easy to read the gospels and to think, “those evil Romans” or “those unfaithful Jewish leaders”, but we should remember that the ultimate betrayal was from one of his followers, from someone who loved him.
And Jesus knew it too. He knew that Judas would betray him, and yet he still ate dinner with him. And yet he still washed Judas’ feet. Listen to a portion of the text from John’s gospel that is assigned for tonight:

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am.
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.
If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And not only did Jesus wash Judas’ feet, but he wants us to do the same.  Jesus washes the feet of the disciples to give us a model for how we should treat each other. With trust, with humility, with forgiveness, and ever mindful of the fact that we are called to act as Jesus did. In all we do. And to all people, even when they betray.
Needless to say, that is easier said than done.
But the fact that, on some days at least, the job seems impossible, doesn’t mean we aren’t still called to it.
Tonight is NOT the night to say, “getting along with each other is too difficult, so we’re not even going to try.”
This is the night to say, “if Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, can love everyone in the room, than I will do my very best.”
Of course, it is sometimes easier to love the people in the room than to love those who are outside of this room. I look around at our nation and am saddened by the fracturing of our civic and political discourse. How did we get here? How can we get past it? How can we come together?
And so I think about Jesus, on the night he was betrayed—“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” If you were wondering what “Maundy” means, by the way, it is from this verse. It is from the Latin “mandatum”—This is my mandatum, my commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another.

The church in Corinth knew something about how hard it is to love one another as Christ loved us. When Paul writes to the church in Corinth, he is not happy with them. “Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.”
When they were coming together for the Lord’s Supper, it was a real meal. But not a communal meal. Everyone brought their own food. So one of you would have brought a peanut butter sandwich and someone else would have brought filet mignon. And their differences were dividing them, because communion became about personal satisfaction instead of living life abundantly in community. It was as if their own, private experience at the meal was all that mattered. But we can’t have life abundant and salvation if it is only for us and everyone else is going without. Life abundant is meant to be shared and to be passed around and to be given as freely to our neighbors as it has been given to us.
So Paul calls on them to remember—remember who they are and to remember whose they are. “Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread…”

For Jewish communities, the act of remembering around a meal was a familiar act. The Passover dinner every year was a time to remember the great deliverance of God’s people at the Exodus—not to just remember that it happened, but to connect their lives to it today, to see their lives as Exodus lives now. We’ll experience that tomorrow night at our Seder dinner as we connect our lives to the story of God’s people being delivered from slavery in Egypt into freedom in the Promised Land.
But Paul doesn’t call them to remember that Exodus. But to remember another act of liberation. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”.  We are called to remember this Table not as something that happened a long time ago and far away, but as an event that we are a part of tonight, right now.
“This is my body, broken for you”.
Betrayal from within, arguments over meals, and dissension within the ranks—that is the setting for this, our Holiest of Sacraments. It means that the Lord’s Meal is for people just like us—broken and breaking, wounded and wounding, loved and loving. But it also means that as we come together around this Table, we have to be aware. Paul told the Corinthians “Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
So, friends, I invite us to examine ourselves, and to remember that if Jesus could love and serve everyone in the room, even the one who betrayed him, then surely God will help us do the same. And as we come together for communion tonight, we will be a sign for the world that coming together is possible.
We will be a sign for the world that we take seriously Christ’s commandment to love one another as he loved us. And with our lives, we will proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.
Hear again the words of the psalmist:

I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

Amen.

Leave a Comment » | I Corinthians 11, Maundy Thursday, Psalm 116 | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by marciglass

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 511 other followers