Tuesday, July 19, 2016


The Lord’s Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come

Matthew 6:10

            I first moved to York five months after the riots which began on July 17, 1969.  The community was still reeling. Feelings ran high. People were talking. They were talking a lot. They were angry. Those in the city and those outside of the city were frustrated and they were fearful.

For some those events built an unseen dividing wall around the city.  They would never again cross that line between suburb and city.   They were afraid.  They did not want to get hurt. So, they stopped shopping at Bear’s and Shelly’s and McCrory’s and Jack’s and Bon Ton.  Those stores are not there anymore.  They closed or moved to the suburbs.  It’s almost fifty years now and the city has never fully recovered.  Almost every child in the York city school system qualifies for Title 1 assistance because their families fall beneath the poverty line.  It’s getting worse.

            Another, even more dangerous consequence of that unseen dividing wall built that day is that there is for many little contact with someone of another race.  People in the city stay in the city.  People in the suburbs stay in the suburbs.  Birds of a feather flock together in schools and communities and in churches. Someone once said Sunday morning is the most segregated day of the week.

            After a while tensions eased and life got back to normal, but evidently the problem, the misunderstanding, the suspicion, the mistrust remained. It lingered and festered and simmered.  Over the last couple of years racial unrest has reached a boil once more and expressed itself through an ad hoc grass roots movement called “Black Lives Matter” which came to be after Treyvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. Protests in the streets followed Zimmerman’s acquittal. Closer to home we saw riots in Baltimore after Freddie Gray died while in police custody. More recently we have seen anger which prompted a man to kill five police officers in Dallas because of the color of their skin.  There are victims black and white.

            No one wants to live like this. No one wants to fear for their life.  We know this is that way it’s supposed to be.  It is not our vision for America.  It is not what we pray for every Sunday when we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”     

            This morning we’re going to think a little more about that prayer for God’s kingdom to come.  How would we recognize it if it did come, even if only in part?  That’s are question.  Let’s pray for an answer:

            Deep in our primeval memories, O Lord, is a remnant of an idea, a vision, and hope of a world kinder, gentler, more compassionate and more just.  That is not our present reality and so we pray and work for change.  Give us a vision of what might be, of your will fulfilled in our world as it is in heaven.  Amen.

The kingdom of God was central to the teaching and mission of Jesus. It is mentioned dozens of times throughout the gospels. But the concept is a hard one to understand. Jesus didn't give us a bullet point summary of the kingdom. He did not offer a legal definition. Instead, he paints a picture. He told stories and used metaphors and similes in order to expand our understanding of the kingdom of God.

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a banquet and a great wedding feast; the door will be closed to those who have no interest. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field; you would be wise to sell everything you own to buy that field to get the treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast wide; it pulls in all sorts of fish, and the good fish must be separated from the bad. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who hired laborers to work in the fields. He hired them at different times of day, but at the end of the day, he paid them all equally.  The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed; from a small beginning comes a great tree. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast; it permeates all, silently and pervasively.

That’s what Jesus said. That’s how he understood the kingdom.

 How have people understood the meaning of kingdom through the years and in our world?  Mostly, it has to do with control and power and who has it.  For centuries everyone understood this. The king ruled the kingdom, the chief was in charge of the tribe.  Everyone in the kingdom was subject to the whims and wishes of the king or chief. If the king told you to jump you asked “How high?” If the king was good – great! If the king was bad – too bad he is still the king. You still had to do what he said or bear the consequence.

The great experiment in democracy created by our founding fathers changed all that. Now the people can decide who will be President or Senator or Governor or dog catcher.  We now have control and vote over who will be in charge.  That will be your choice in November – God help us.

So, in a way we create our own kingdom. It is the place you have arranged to suit your purposes and your values. It is an environment arranged according to how you like it. You decide where the couch goes and where the T.V. should be. One preacher said, “My car is my kingdom. I arrange it to suit me. I have my seat set just right for me. I have my mirrors adjusted for my height. I tune my radio to the stations I like. It drives me crazy when my teenage son sits in the passenger seat and starts punching buttons, resetting my stations and messing with my treble and bass. He doesn’t realize my car is my kingdom! Hands off!”

So a kingdom is one's sphere of control and we don’t want anyone messing with that. Today everyone wants to be the captain of their ship and the master of their fate. And if someone else’s sphere of control conflicts with mine, I will at the very least express my displeasure on Facebook or through Twitter or any of the other social media platforms that appear to be designed to let bias and prejudice, ignorance and anger and hatred move and multiply at the speed of light.

When the words don’t seem to be enough, or because the words incite, some will pick up a gun, or a knife, or pack a pressure cooker with explosives and set it off.

That’s where we are today.  Everyone is trying to rearrange the world so that we can all live in justice and in peace, but we’re not even close.  We can’t even see it on the horizon because every time someone wants to change a rule so they can use the public bathroom they want to, someone else says, “wait a minute I don’t want to worry about who is going into the restroom with my daughter.”  Everyone’s vision of justice is a little different.  People have different understandings of right and wrong and what is fair.

Politics is the way we try to work that out and today.  Politics today as it has always been about power and control.  Who has it? Who wants it?  How do you get it?  That’s how we try to build our kingdoms.

That’s what James and John were thinking about when they asked Jesus for places of honor in God’s kingdom.  The other disciples were not even mentioned because sharing with other is not how you get ahead in a dog-eat-dog world. You try to get yours even if it means others don’t get there’s.

Jesus responded, “You do not know what you are asking, for whoever will first in my kingdom must be last, whoever would be the greatest must become a servant.”

In other words God’s kingdom is not about who has the most power or greatest control. It’s not about the title on your door or the gun in your hand. It is not about boasting and bravado.  It is not for those who make the most noise.  It is for those who are willing to do the will of God.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. That was Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane only hours before his arrest and trial and crucifixion.  He knew what was coming, and like you and me looked for another way, an easier way, a plan B. Surely God could accomplish his will without too much bother.  Make it easier Lord and I’m with you.  I’m just not into sacrifice or commitment.  Frankly, for a moment that was Jesus prayer.  Then he caught himself and prayed, “Not my will be done.”  He laid down his life for you and me.

I saw a more contemporary example of that on Wednesday night on a sport’s award show called the ESPY’s.  The Arthur Ashe Courage Award is given each year to an individual "possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost."

This year it was presented posthumously to Zenobia Dobson on behalf of her son Zaevion.  He was a fifteen year old African American student and high school football player from the inner city of Knoxville Tennessee.  Two years ago during a wild, random and senseless drive-by shooting he shielded three of his friends, saving their lives but losing his own.

Zenobia, who was accompanied on stage by her two sons, pleaded the athletes in the audience to use their influence to prevent gun violence. 

"All the athletes in this room, you have a lot of power, people look up to you. I know Zaevion did. I urge you to think tonight about why he died and what you can do to prevent the next innocent young man or woman from being lost as well," she said. "If my son were here tonight I knew what I'd say to him, Zaevion, you're dream and visions are here with us to prove that your act of bravery and boldness revealed to the word the real you – handsome strong and with a beautiful spirit you were, and remain, a guardian angel to us in heaven is where you belong. Fly high our falcon…" 

            Now, until a few nights ago I never heard of Zevion Brown.  I’ve heard of Trayvon Martin, and Freddie Gray.  I’ve heard of the shooter in Dallas whom I will not name.  I’ve heard about every dark and depressing story the media wants to share about racial division and conflict, but I never heard of a young man who out of love and out of his sense of right and wrong made the ultimate sacrifice.

            Maybe we can begin there.  Maybe we can tell more stories about those who work in the trenches each and every day to make sure a kid has a backpack full of food to get him through the weekend.  Maybe we can tell more stories about those who go downtown to help kids learn how to read.  Maybe we can honor those who work for positive change more than we highlight those who just want to tear it all down. Maybe we take out light out from under a bushel.  Maybe we can be partners with God in building his kingdom.

For God's kingdom is the place that perfectly reflects his character and values. It is the place where things operate the way he likes them. It is a place of joy, truth, grace, health, light, and shalom. God's kingdom is a good place because he is good; it reflects him. People don't lie in the Kingdom; they love the truth because he is there and he is truth. People don't use each other in God's kingdom; no, they honor each other. They don't cheat; they love. That's how God likes it.

            I remember speaking once with a member of a church I served named Jerry.  He had just returned from our church mission trip to the country of Ghana in Africa.  He said one day while riding one of the local buses a native stared at him for the longest time.  He was clearly trying to work something out.  Finally, Jerry asked him why he was staring at him?  The man responded with his own question, “What color are you?”

            If Jerry were here today you would identify him as African American because clearly his ancestors came from Africa. It was the American part that puzzled this man from Ghana because the color of Jerry’s skin was clearly not the same as this African bus-rider.  If Jerry would take one of those DNA tests you see advertised on T.V. it would probably come back as most of ours would as a stew of genetic material from many racial and ethnic backgrounds.  We are a melting pot in more ways than one.

            Americans are not purebreds. We are all mongrels so there isn’t a one of us better than the other, more entitled than another, more deserving than the other.  That’s kind of the point of our country and it is certainly the point of Christ’s gospel.

            The Bible says, God shows no partiality.  God does not pick and choose favorites. If we do we are not following the will of God nor do we have a place in his kingdom.  We need to learn to see as God sees, for we look at the outward appearance but God looks to the heart.  For in Christ there is neither slave nor free, male nor female, Greek or Jew, black or white.  We are all one in Christ Jesus.

            That’s what you are praying for when you say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”  You are praying for the day when people do what they do not to build their own little kingdom, but to build the kingdom of God.

            We are never going to build a perfect or even a great society by getting our politics right, or our social welfare system right, or our economic system right or our judicial system right.  We continue to work on them and make them better, but anything created by sinful humanity and going have sin and selfishness built right in.  It is inevitable.

            Our only help, I think, is to turn to the one who is without sin, the one who was willing to sacrifice his life so that we might have life.  He is the one who taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Amen.





           





           














Lord’s Prayer: Our Father
Luke 11:1-2
Ezekiel 36:22-28

            The other day I was browsing through an old worship book and stumbled on this prayer:
            We give thanks to thee, Almighty, eternal, and omnipotent God, that thou hast refreshed us with thy salutary gift; and we beseech thee, out of thy bounteous and wondrous mercy, to strengthen us through the same gift, in faith toward thee and in fervent love toward one another through Jesus Christ, thy dear and beloved Son, our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee, one God, world without end.  Amen.
            That’s the way people used to pray.  That’s the way they were taught.  The thinking was the more flowery adjectives you used to describe God and the longer the prayer went, the better God liked it; and so would be more inclined to answer your prayer.  Preachers especially were good at this and sometimes would go on and on pulling out of their thesaurus every fancy word they could think of.
            I’m not sure why they did that, because that’s not the way Jesus prayed.  In fact he warned against it. “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and street corners so they may be seen by others.”[1]  Jesus was not a big fan of showy prayers designed to impress others rather than to be heard by God.  So, how does Jesus want us to pray?
Today and for the next four weeks we are going to explore a simple prayer that Jesus gave us.  We say it every Sunday, but because we say it every Sunday we can fly through the words on automatic pilot without really thinking about what they mean.  So, before we dive in let us pray:
Open our eyes and hearts O God so that we may receive and believe the promise you have given to us through your Word and through your son Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            One of his disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Why?  Did he not know how to pray?  Had he never prayed before? Did he not understand the concept of prayer?  I don’t think so.  I’m sure his mother and father prayed for him when he was little.  I’m sure they taught him to pray, because every little Jewish boy and girl learned to pray the Shema which was taken from Deuteronomy 6.  “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is one.”  I’m sure he prayed before because every child prays when afraid of the dark at night or when facing an Algebra test.  No matter what kind of history you have in prayer, everyone at one moment or another in their lives has looked to sky and said, “Oh my God.” I’m sure this disciple was the same.  So, why did he ask, “Lord teach us to pray?”
            Well, he had been around Jesus long enough to hear him pray, and I think this disciple sensed that Jesus’ prayers were different than his.  They were more like a conversation between a father and a son.  There was an intimacy to them, an immediacy to them. It was real.  There was no doubt in Jesus’ voice, no wondering is God really there.  Does God really care? Is he listening?  Will he answer?  Jesus prayed with confidence.  That’s what this disciple wanted.  He wanted that kind of confidence, that kind of assurance that God was listening.  So, he asked, “Lord, teach us to pray?”
            Jesus begins.  “Father”.  Now there were a lot of words in the Old Testament for God.  Yahweh, Adonai, El Shadai, Jehovah and on and on and on.  There were other words used to describe a particular characteristic of God, powerful, merciful, just, and wise. “Rock, light, fortress, shield, shepherd.”  Jesus had many choices and could have used any of them to begin this prayer, but chose this one – “father”.
            For years there was not much thought given to this.  Jesus referred to God as father and told us to do the same and that was good enough for most.  But, when I attended seminary and in the years that followed some began to question this appellation.  They believed this was an expression of paternalism which negated and delegated women to a second class status.
            While no one thinks of God as being male or having a gender the use of this term became offensive to some so they began to look for other ways to address God.  Some just reversed the gender from masculine to feminine referring to God as mother rather than father.   Others just removed any name or pronoun that could be identified as male or female.
            In fact, when I was working on my Doctorate of Ministry dissertation I went to McCormick seminary in Chicago for a two week class on how to write a dissertation.  The professor told us that we were not allowed to us any gender specific language when referring to God.  If we did, we would not pass. We could not refer to God as father or Lord or he or him. Now this was the last thing I needed to do before I could graduate so I was willing to go along with that.  It makes writing stilted and awkward when cannot use any pronouns at all, but if that’s what they wanted I was willing to do it.
            Then she said, when quoting scripture we are to make the same changes.  That’s when I raised my hand and said I did not believe I have the authority to change the written word of God and neither did I believe that McCormick seminary have that authority. 
            Well, we went round and round on that. She held out my graduation diploma as incentive to make these changes. The implication was clear.  If I refused to modify or change the written Word of God I might not graduate. I saw this as blackmail. It was hill I was willing to die on because the moment we believe we can alter or change God’s revelation is the same moment we fire God and hire ourselves in his place.  Notice I said “his.”
            I don’t believe Jesus chose the word “father” because he was sexist or paternalistic.  I think he was saying something very specific about the nature of God. To understand what that was you have to look at Israel’s neighbors. Many of them worshipped other deities and many of these were goddesses. Aherat and Anat, Nut and Isis, Tiamat and the Queen of Heaven were all given feminine characteristics, most notably that of child-birth.
            In their creation stories the world and everything in came out of the goddess in the same way a child is born from the mother.  As a result the world and everything and everybody in it was seen as part of the mother and do divine.  Not only is everyone like God, in some way they are God.  If you are God then there is no such thing as sin and since there is no such thing as sin there is no such thing as salvation.
            There are a number of religious views today that hold onto that idea, most notably the spirituality of the New Age movement.
            Fathers are different though.  They don’t give birth.  They are partly responsible for the creation of life, but they don’t have labor pains or stretch marks.  There is not the same connection as that between a mother and child, which is why Mother’s day is always a bigger deal than Father’s day.
            What Jesus is telling us about God when he uses the word Father is that while he is there at the creation of life, he does not give birth.  There is a separation.
            That’s why Jesus gives us an address immediately after.  “Father, who art in heaven.”  That does not mean that Jesus believes that God is out there, up there, somewhere, but not in here (heart) where it counts.  He does not believe that God only knows the parts of us that we are willing to share. So, why this modifier, “who art in heaven.”
            From the very beginning of the Bible, well after chapter 3 anyway, God has always been assigned a special location or a special time.  It began with a box, the Ark of the Covenant and that box was kept in a Tabernacle, a tent to carry on the journey, and the Tabernacle was replaced by a Temple.  No one believed the Ark of the Covenant contained God.  They did not believe God could be put in a box.  They did believe that human beings by nature are physical, tactical beings and we understand things by looking at them, touching them, tasting them, hearing them.  Since you cannot see, touch, taste, or hear God these things were created at the command of God to help us focus.  To help us worship. A special day was created for this purpose – Sabbath.  These were to be a blessing.
            Every blessing can be morphed into a curse if we’re not careful.  Food is great.  Too much food can be bad. Wine is good.  Too much can be bad. We can turn almost every blessing into a curse.  In this case the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and even the Sabbath itself became idols.  People began to worship the thing rather than the creator.  What was given to help them focus on God became a distraction that led them away from the Lord.
            When Jesus placed God in heaven he was reminding us that though God is present in this world, and though we can catch glimpses of the divine in a sunrise at Bethany Beach or in the smile of a newborn or at a family reunion, we cannot or will not see and understand and appreciate the full glory of God in this life and in this world.
            So, he says, we hallow or make holy the name of God.  So, what does it mean to make holy God’s name and while we’re at it, what is the name of God?
            Believe or not wars have been fought over this question. Churches have divided. In some religions misusing their understanding of the name of God will get you killed.
            At the time of Jesus many were especially sensitive to this because of their understanding of the fourth commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The Hebrew name referred to is today sometimes pronounced “Yahweh”.  Rabbi’s though when reading the scripture and coming upon this word spoke another “Adonai” usually translated as Lord, because they were afraid they might take the name in vain because of their life or conduct.
            Most of you probably this is much ado about nothing. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. It’s the same God people see going by different names and it doesn’t really make a difference what you call God.  You might be surprised to learn that God does seem to care.
            In the passage read from the Old Testament, God says, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my Holy name which you have profaned among the nations.”[2] Similar sentiments are repeated many times in the Old Testament.  So, why does God care what you call him?
            Let me bring this down to earth.  Does it matter what people call you.  Sometimes when meeting someone for the first time, I’ll ask what should I call you, “Robert, Bob, Bobby?”  He may respond you can call me Robert, you can call me Bobby, just don’t call me late for dinner.”
            That’s not what this is really about.  What it is about is your reputation.  High School kids pay a lot of attention to what people say about them because they know that what others hear others will believe to be true, whether it is or not.  Before even meeting you for the first time, they’ve already drawn a conclusion about you because of what they have heard and they will treat you accordingly.
            People draw the same conclusions about God, not by what they’ve read in the Bible or because they have put a lot of thought in it. They believe what they believe about God because of what others have said about him whether it’s true or not.
            That’s why it is important to make God’s name holy. 
            Let me give you an example.  A couple of weeks ago I flew down to Florida to visit my folks.  I was supposed to be away for less than two days, but Allegiant cancelled by return flight and told me the next one would not be until Monday which would mean I would have missed Church last Sunday.  I told the lady at the counter about how disappointed you would be if that happened and was there anything she could do. She said if I could somehow get to Orando there would be a flight on Saturday.  So, I took the Amtrak and then a taxi and made the flight.
On the way back I was seated next to a truck driver from Elizabethtown. He was very angry because the airline had messed up his seat assignment and so could not sit next to his family.  I said, “You think that is bad…and then told him my story. We fell into conversation and had a great time.  The miles flew by.  About an hour into this he asked me what I did and I told him and immediately I saw a darkness cover his face.  Clearly he had something against Pastors and so something against God.
            He told me his brother had been abused by a Methodist Pastor 35 years before and since then he had no time for clergy and no time for God. He projected the sin of that pastor onto all pastors.  In fact he had not spoken with a pastor in all of that time, but he liked me and liked what I was saying.  The last thing he said to me after we landed was, “I think God cancelled your flight in St. Petersburg so that you could sit next to me on this flight out of Orlando.”  Well, I don’t know that I would blame God for that either, but I understood his sentiment.
            When we pray “hallowed be thy name” what we are really saying is “Lord, by my actions and attitude and by the words that I speak I want to add and not diminish your name, your reputation so that others may see that they also can speak to you as “father”, so that they can catch a glimpse of your glory in this world and hold onto the promise of a vision of your full glory in heaven.

           



           



[1] Matthew 6: 5
[2] Ezekiel 36:22

Thursday, February 18, 2016

The Value of Life

Exodus 20:13
Matthew 5:21-24


            Go out on the street and ask any passerby to name any of the Ten Commandments and chances are they will mention this one first. “Thou shall not kill.”  It’s the one everyone seems to remember.  Ask those same people if they believe they’ll go to heaven when they die and chances are they’ll say, “Yes”.  Ask them “why” and often you’ll hear, “I’m not a bad person, I’ve never killed anyone.”  Keeping the sixth commandment for some becomes the bare minimum required to enter God’s Kingdom.

            I guess this is so because the command seems so simple and straightforward and easy to understand. But, is it?  Some of the most controversial and contentious issues of our day swirl around the question of life and its value and when it might be taken.  Several years ago, the State of Florida, the United States Congress, the President of the United States and every talk show from here to Honolulu involved themselves in a family conflict between the husband and parents of Terry Schiavo who lay unresponsive in a coma for many years. Should she be taken off of life support?  Is it right to withhold food and water?  Is that murder?

            Around the same time our government began preparations to enter into a war with Iraq.  One of the reasons given was to prevent a cruel dictator from possibly using suspected weapons of mass destruction against our country or our allies.  Condolezza Rice, then Secretary of the National Security Agency and Sunday School teacher at the National Presbyterian Church justified this by saying, “You don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” Many theologians and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that year were troubled by this new pre-emptive strike policy and wondered if this fit into what had become a traditional understanding of the requirements needed to begin a “just war”?

            Shortly after that new Supreme Court Justices were needed to fill vacancies and that re-opened the debate on Abortion and Stem Cell research.  “Pro-choice” once again squared off against “Right to Life”.  People of faith found themselves on opposite sides.

            The sixth commandment is evidently not so clear as it would seem on a first read. So, how do we interpret and understand this basic right to life?  Do we plant our flag in a pacifist camp and say under no conditions is life ever to be taken?  No war, no capital punishment, no abortion under any circumstance.  Or do we march across the battleground and claim our cause is righteous and just and declare a holy war?  Or do we find ourselves somewhere in the middle puzzled by the questions raised by scientific advances in medical technology and worried about weapons of mass destruction and befuddled by legal distinctions only a lawyer can understand?  Chances are that is where most of you find yourself, so this morning we’ll try to look at these questions through a theological lens as we each make our own decisions.  Let us pray:

            Creator of life, you have made us in your image so we are bound to be our brother’s keeper.  We are to value the life you have given and protect it as best we are able.  Grant us your wisdom as we make important and complex decisions on life and death.  Amen.

            First off, we need to get the language right.  Hebrew has a word for “kill” and a word for “murder”.  One is used on a chicken and the other on a person.  This commandment does not forbid chicken soup or even justifiable homicide.  It does forbid the taking of innocent human life.

            Now, I wonder how Moses felt the first time he read these commandments.  He may have checked them off one by one:  “No other Gods” – sounds great.  That’s what I’ve always believed.  “No graven images” is good when you’re traveling because you don’t want to be carrying around any heavy statues.  “Do not take the name of the Lord in vain”.  Well, he may have paused over that one and made a mental note to clean up his language.  “Sabbath” was just the ticket because if there was ever anyone who needed a day off it was he.  “Honor your father and mother” was easy because if not for their sacrificial love Moses would have never made it beyond his infancy.[1]  Then he came to this one, “Thou shall not murder”.

            I imagine Moses must have taken a deep breath when he got to that one because he had already broken it. He had taken the life of an Egyptian overseer back in Egypt.[2] The verse describing this act tells us this was premeditated because “he looked this way and that before he killed him”, but was it justified?  To be sure the Egyptian had been beating a Hebrew slave, but was there no other way to defend him?  Moses after all was Pharaoh’s adopted son, so not without power or influence. Was this a righteous act or the flash of a hot temper? Was this justice or vengeance? It’s not always so easy to tell.  Did the punishment fit the crime?

            To answer that question you have to go back to the beginning of the Bible.  The fourth chapter of Genesis obviously follows the third, which described the entrance of sin into the world and the fall of humanity.  That’s the well-known story of the garden and the snake and the forbidden fruit.  When the dust settled, Adam and Eve found themselves on the outside looking in and so began a new life far from the home into which they had been born.

            They made a new home for themselves and began to raise a family – two boys, Cain and Abel.  Now the Bible says Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer, so each brought what they had as an offering to the Lord, but God for reasons only God knows accepted one but not the other. The sacrificial lamb was apparently more significant than sacrificial zucchini, so Cain in jealous rage killed his brother.  Murder was the first sin committed outside of Eden.

            Cain did what people do when they are caught red-handed.  He lied.  When God asked, “Where is your brother?”  Cain said, “Don’t know” and then asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Well, it turns out he was or at least was supposed to be his brother’s keeper and since he did such a poor job of it, God sent him into exile.  In those days, that was tantamount to a death sentence because away from the protection of family you stood little chance in a cold and cruel world.  Cain knew that and so pleaded for leniency.  God granted this request for grace and marked Cain in some way in order to protect his life.[3] Grace and justice became intertwined in that moment. Cain was punished for the crime, but the reprieve from capital punishment allowed for the possibility of redemption.  That would not be the last time God would weave grace and justice together.

            The next scripture that speaks to this question of life and how it is to be protected and when it may be taken is found a few chapters later in Genesis. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.”[4] With this declaration human life is valued because we have been created in the image of God.  For that reason life is to be protected and when it is not, when an innocent life is taken, capital punishment in this particular verse is not only appropriate – it is required.  Murder was seen not only a sin against society, but also a sin against God.  “The Lord gives life and the Lord takes life.”[5]

            When you read the chapters that follow these Ten Commandments you will find a number of infractions listed that fall under this capital punishment rule:

            “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.”
            “Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.”
            “Whoever steals a man, (kidnapping) shall be put to death.”
            “Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.”[6]

            The list goes on.  When you are a wandering through the wilderness of Sinai imprisonment was impractical, that left only three forms of punishment: death, exile, which was just about the same thing, or a financial fine and court costs. Justice was best understood then, as it is for many today with the verse, “Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth”.[7] 

            As time passed by the people settled down into the Promised Land.  They built houses and courthouses and jails, so justice mellowed a bit and was not enforced quite so severely, but still the death penalty was handed down for a variety of offenses. We find an example of this in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. 

            In the well-known story of the woman caught in adultery scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus whether or not he agreed with the law and its requirement that people guilty of this sin should be executed?  That is, did Jesus agree with Moses?  Was he for law and order or was he soft on crime?  Since Jesus was already known for his emphasis on God’s grace, they thought they had boxed him into a corner.  Either he repudiates his earlier words or he offends all who believe justice must be done.

Most of us know what happened next.  Jesus knelt, doodled in the sand and said, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.”  The Pharisees now found themselves in a box, unable to fulfill their understanding of justice lest that same standard be applied to them and so they melted into the shadows.  Jesus then said to the woman, “I don’t condemn you, but go and sin no more.”[8]  Grace and righteousness were interwoven once more.

            This story highlights one of the problems inherent with capital punishment and that centers on the question of equality.  That is, if capital punishment is to be used to serve justice; it must be fairly applied.  Everyone must be treated the same regardless of gender, race, or position in society.  Notice, in this story, only the woman caught in adultery faced an angry mob with rock-laden hands.  The man, and there would have had to have been a man, was not dragged into the town square.  No one was calling for his life.  So, in this case capital punishment was one sided, to be enforced on one and not the other.  If that happens justice is not really served.

            Since there is no correcting a mistake made in this matter, the process for determining when it should be used needs to be perfect. You’re looking to score a hundred per cent on this test, because even one mistake is too many.  On this scripture is clear, no one, not even the government has the right to shed innocent blood.

            This same principle of protecting the innocent would apply to the other right to life questions of our time.  The debate on abortion and stem cell research must ultimately focus on the question of life and when it begins?  On the back end there is another question on when life ends?
           
In these areas, medical advancements in technology and information has both muddied and cleared the waters.  Today, almost every parent has seen through a sonogram his or her little one wriggling around in the womb long before the child is born and since “seeing is believing” conclude that life is present and to be protected. But, how far back do you go?  Some in the Christian community say life begins at conception and so forbid the use of birth control methods that do not allow a fertilized egg to make a home in the womb.  Others protest and say that restriction will result in the unwanted pregnancy you’re trying to avoid in the first place.

            All of this can get pretty complicated so people of faith do come to different conclusions on the question of when life begins. There are those though who believe this question is irrelevant and so these decisions are to be made only on the basis of power, on individual rights and the ability to do what you want. On that Richard Neuhaus once observed, “In the absence of truth, power is the only game in town.”  All that matters then is that you have the power to do whatever you want for whatever reason you decide is valued. The only qualifier nearly everyone accepts is that no one has the right to infringe upon the right to life of another.  So we come full circle to the question of when life begins.

            On the other end of life we run into the opposite question on when life ends. Anyone who has ever stood next the intensive care bed of a loved one and watched medical technology perform all the functions needed to sustain life knows that as with the questions of life’s beginning, the questions of life’s ending can be confusing as well.  While measuring quality of life to determine when life must be sustained or when it may be concluded can be a slippery slope and very subjective leading to decisions based on convenience or cost; it is equally true that modern medical technology creates ethical questions our grandparents never had to consider.

Waiting rooms in hospitals everywhere are filled with people who wonder, “Is this what Mom would have wanted?”  “Is it right to keep Dad in this medical purgatory where machines to sustain every bodily function without any hope of recovery?”  These are all tough decisions and very personal, so the important question becomes, “whose interest is being protected – the one laying in the bed or the one standing by his side?”  Motive matters.

            Maybe that’s where Jesus was going when he linked murder to anger in his beautiful but impossible Sermon on the Mount.  “You have heard it said, “you shall not murder”, but I say to you if you are angry with a brother or sister, if you insult a brother or sister, if you call them “Raca”, fool you shall be liable to judgment.”[9]  Intent, motive, matters of the heart, have always seemed to matter as much to God as the actions we take.  The Bible says, “While we look at the outward appearance, God looks to the heart.”[10]

            So, while someone may boast, “I’m going to heaven because I’ve never killed anyone”; they would likely fail this litmus test on anger.  If God’s justice is measured by our attitudes as well as our actions, then none of us can stand tall before him proud and unblemished.  For that reason, Jesus said, “we must take care when we judge another, lest we be judged.[11]

            All of us look for justice and wonder what it must look like.  All of us believe life is a gift of God and so to be protected by this sixth commandment, but we don’t always agree on what that means.  The stakes are high, a matter of life and death, so we wrestle with these questions of life and when it must be protected and when it may be taken.  In confusing and complicated times we all run the risk of being wrong, and that is why we all must rely upon the grace of God in order to fulfill the justice of God.

            From the beginning of God’s Word to the end, from the cross on Calvary to the empty tomb God weaves together justice and mercy in ways we can barely comprehend. Faith becomes our only hope for making our way in such a world and in making our way to the next.

            Lord, in Jesus Christ you have promised life abundant.[12] Help us to celebrate and share that life so that all might see you way, understand your truth, and experience your life.[13]  Amen.

           

           


           




[1] Exodus 2:1-8
[2] Exodus 2:12
[3] Genesis 4:16
[4] Genesis 9:5
[5] Job 1:18
[6] Exodus 21:12-17
[7] Leviticus 24:20
[8] John 8:11
[9] Matthew 5:21-22
[10] 1 Samuel 16:7
[11] Matthew 7:1
[12] John 10:10
[13] John 14:6

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

                                                            Family Ties

Exodus 20:12
Mark 7:1-13


             
   
            Eugene Peterson in his book, Under the Unpredictable Plant, wrote, “In infancy, as our eyes gradually focus, the face becomes our first vista.  By means of the parental face we know ourselves as ourselves and in its expressions learn our place in the world.  In the face we acquire trust and affection (or in some terrible cases, rejection and abuse).  Our formative years are spent looking up into the face, and we grow up toward what we are looking up to.”
           
            Every parent who has ever looked into the face of a newborn knows this is true.  Even pastors who baptize these children see it.  When I’m holding a little one and saying God’s words and dipping my hand into the water, he or she one will look up at me with wide-eyed wonder believing and trusting I will not drop or drown.

            That’s the nature of those early years.  Children really have no choice. This seems to be hardwired into their nature. They will invariably look into the face of the one who holds and feeds and sings to them with pure love and trust.  They will listen to what their parents say and accept whatever they say as gospel truth. They are eager to please and proud to show off each new accomplishment.

            Somewhere along the way all that begins to change. As the years go by absolute trust in parental teaching comes into question. The transition is gradual moving from the conviction that parents know everything, to the belief that they do not know as much as they think they do, and ending with adolescent certainty that they know nothing at all.   In those years they become more eager to please their friends than parents.  Pride in accomplishment is sometimes hidden beneath veiled aloofness in an attempt to appear “cool” or “grown-up”.

            This is as it should be.  Separating from parents and establishing your own identity is part of growing up.  But it is never easy – on the child or the parent. Even in the best of relationships some kind of generation gap will emerge.  Parents will invariably reminisce about the old days when they had to walk to school barefoot through three feet of snow - uphill – both ways.  Kids will roll their eyes and then shake their heads when their parents can’t figure out how to use an ipad or program their cell phones.  We are each a product of our times, so our children are a product of theirs as we are of ours.  They have their own culture, their own songs, and their own icons. 

            For this reason God gave this fifth commandment as a reminder to “Honor your father and your mother.” This command concerns the struggle between the generations and tries to bridge the gap between traditions, which sometimes focuses too much on the past and narcissism that says, “Nothing really important happened in this world before me.”  This commandment establishes a connection between the past and the present so that together we may have a future.  This is the only commandment that comes with a promise, “so that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving.”

The word for honor is in Hebrew “kabed”, which literally translated means “heavy” or “to give weight to”.  It’s opposite would be to “take lightly”, to “treat flippantly”.  Note, neither absolute obedience nor total subservience is implied.  The word does not mean, “love” or even “like”.  It means you have to take your parents seriously, to give them their due. 

This is an important distinction because for some Dad did not follow the patient, wise, compassionate and caring model of “Father Knows Best”. Mom did not bake chocolate chip cookies while wearing pearls and high heels.  Rather for some, childhood memories were nightmares forged in homes wracked by rage or consumed by a bottle or confused by a revolving merry-go-round of partners so you never knew who would show up at the breakfast table.

That’s why for some even the Lord’s Prayer becomes problematic because father was not a positive image. “If God is like my father”, some think, “he is to be more feared than loved, better avoided than embraced.” Some wonder, “How can I honor those who are responsible for my some of my most bitter memories? I cannot change the way I feel.”

            This command does not ask you to do that.  It take not take lightly the wounds you may have suffered nor pretend these hard memories do not exist.  It does not gloss over the sins of your parents, but neither does it gloss over yours.  On this scripture is very clear, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[1]  That’s something all of us need to remember when we set out to judge another.

            So, what exactly is the responsibility of children to parents?  If the relationship is strong and if the home has been nurturing and if the parental example has been uplifting, the answer is easy.  You say “thank you” in every way that matters. That may mean you make the time play golf with Dad or go shopping with Mom.  Each family has its own traditions that express an attitude of gratitude. Ultimately it means that you are there for them as they were there for you.

However, if the relationship has been strained and home-life distressing and the parental example poor, then the answer to the question, “How do I honor my mother and father” is a little harder to find. In the seventh chapter of the gospel of Mark Jesus seems to describe a bare minimum responsibility that is owed no matter what.

 The story began with a head-to-head confrontation with the Pharisees over some minor point of the law.  They had criticized Jesus’ disciples for failing to follow a prescribed ritual for properly washing their hands before eating.  Exasperated over one more case of trivial nitpicking Jesus turned the tables to demonstrate their hypocrisy by and citing the fifth commandment. 

Some of the Pharisees had evidently been using a tradition called “Corban” as a legal loophole to shield their assets from the IRS and also to absolve themselves from their responsibility to keep their aging parents off the streets.

Corban means, “dedicated to God”.  So, some Bible scholars believe that some of these financially savy Pharisees stamped this word with big red letters on their investment portfolio which indicated one day it would be given to the Temple and so to God.  Mind you that was not going to happen that day or the next or the next.  Rather it meant they were just intended to give it one day to the Lord, perhaps leaving him to him in their Wills to be executed the day after they died.  So, they got credit for being spiritual and generous while at the same time holding onto their money.  For them this was win/win.  For their parents living on the economic fringe in an age before Social Security it was lose/lose.

            Jesus understood the fifth commandment then to serve as protection for those who are at the back end of life.  They are not to be abandoned or forsaken or left alone in their rooms. He demonstrated that upon the cross when he said to his mother Mary, “Woman behold your son” and to his disciple “Son behold your mother.”[2]  Though he would no longer be able to look after her, he insured she would be looked after.

That means even if past nightmares have so strained the relationship that all you can handle is a short visit, then make a short visit.  If it is such that all you can manage is a phone call, then make the phone call.  If all you can do is to send a card, then send a card. If you can’t do anything positive at all, then refrain from doing anything harmful.  Sometimes all you can do is walk away from a fight, but even that can be an act of grace.

            Grace is never easy.  There is always a cost.  It requires you sacrifice your right to justice.  It means you don’t take vengeance, don’t try to get even.  It means you give even if you haven’t received.  Forgiveness is letting go of your desire for retribution and retaliation.  Those who have been wounded deeply know this is hard.

In fact, the only way this may be possible at all is to recognize that you have already received “grace upon grace”, experienced forgiveness, and have been embraced by the love of God.[3] Behind me is a symbol that confirms the reality of the sacrifice God made for us.  The cross tells us, no shouts to us, “We are forgiven.”  No matter what we’ve done, how far short we’ve fallen, God’s love reached down to us before we even thought of reaching up to him.   “God showed his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”[4]  So, the Bible says, “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”[5]

Remember what I said at the beginning of this sermon?  “By means of the parental face we know ourselves as ourselves and in its expressions learn our place in the world. We grow up toward the one at whom we are looking. ”   In the face of God our heavenly father reflected through the face of Jesus Christ his son we begin to see ourselves as God sees.  We find our place in the world and in our families. 

Jacob’s story had a happy ending.  He reconciled with Esau.  But, they all don’t end that way.  No matter who takes the first step reconciliation, renewal, and restoration may never happen because it takes two to shake hands and make up. So, what do you do then?

Scripture outlines our responsibility, “Love one another and outdo one another in showing honor. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”[6]  That’s probably the best way we fulfill this fifth commandment.  Show honor, be patient and pray.  Parents pray for your children.  Children pray for your parents.  Do this “so your days may be long” and your faith strong so you will know you belong to the family of God.

Let us close with the prayer we used to begin our worship.  Join me in a celebration for family people printed in your order of worship:

God, you have called us to live within the privilege of family life.  You have gifted us with mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and beyond these with friends who become like family.

Praise God for the gift of family life.

Lord, we thank you for older folk who link us with the past and enrich us with their experience.  We thank you for the newborn so rich in potential greatness and goodness.  We thank you for the gifts we see emerging in our children.

Praise God for the gift of family life!

Eternal Father of us all, enter our homes not as the occupant of a guest room, but as the senior member of each household, so that we may live out your love in the most ordinary parts of life.  Keep us human as you make us holy.

Praises God for the gift of family life! I is all your doing Lord, and wonderful in our eyes.[7]

            Amen.



[1] Romans 3:23
[2] John 19:27
[3] John 1:16
[4] Romans 5:8
[5] 1 John 4:11
[6] Romans 12:10,12
[7] Bryan Jeffery Leech