Sermon July 25, 2010

You Are Precious to God!

Scripture Psalm 85 and Colossians 2:6-19

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ July 25, 2010

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 85
During a time of national failure and sin, the people of Israel were strengthened in the knowledge of God’s righteousness. The psalmist reminds us that we must be quiet so we can hear what God has to say to us.

1Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah
3You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
4Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.
5Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?
7Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
8Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
10Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

Colossians 2:6-19
Theology is the study of God. Theologians seek to understand the will of God and then interpret their understanding for believers. Throughout the life of the church there has been conflict over theology. It was the beginnings of the Reformation and other times of division in the life of the church. Sometimes believers have fought over property use, politics and how money is handled but it the end most of our fighting has been over theology. What do we really believe about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit? And what does that belief mean for our lives and our relationships with one another? Paul had founded church after church that was on fire for Jesus Christ and then they would slip into theological wrangling about who belonged. The church in Colossae is no different. They have been arguing over what leads to righteousness in relation to food, drink, festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths. As if that was not enough to drag them away from their purpose to claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they also are concerned about heavenly powers and authorities, including some kind of veneration of angels. Paul’s letter is a challenge not to let go of what is important in their relationship with God and keep to their purpose in Christ Jesus.

6As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
13And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
16Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

SERMON
Do not let anyone condemn you or disqualify you. Terrible things have been done in the name of every religion. Sadly Christianity is not exempt from this condemnation. Further we have used our own interpretation of scripture and theology to deride not only enemies but friends and family. Many women still have a fear of stepping out in faith and taking a leadership role for God. Others tell me they have been told they don’t speak clearly so they should not be liturgists or don’t sing because they sing off-key. Young people hear they are too immature to take on certain tasks or they tell themselves no one appreciates them, and as people age they tell themselves that their time has past.

Do not let anyone condemn you or disqualify you, even yourself. For you are precious to God.

How do we know we are precious to God? The whole Bible speak volumes of God’s pursuit to save and redeem God’s chosen people for the purpose of leading the whole world back to righteousness, justice and love. Then God chose to come and dwell among us not just in a tent of meeting or a mountain top or a temple but as a human life lived within the divine parameters of God’s grace. Jesus the Christ is God with us. In him we are made perfect. Not by some act of piety, circumcision or worship of angels or even righteous behavior. Paul writes: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him.” Jesus promised that he and his Father will come and dwell with you. The divine, the wholly other dwells with you though the sacrifice of Jesus. How could you ever let anyone condemn you or disqualify you, because in that act they condemn and disqualify God. You are precious to God as God’s dwelling place. Through us, foolish and fearful though we may be, God speaks to the world of joy and hope and love. Through us, God touches the lost and gives shelter to the weary. This is your high calling, this is my calling, and this is the calling for every believer to be a dwelling place for God.

Rick Kohr shared this prayer with me that I think illustrates that we are all called by God into service and we are precious to God always.

The Knots Prayer
Dear God, please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart and my life. Remove the have nots, the can nots and the do nots that I have in my mind.  Erase the will nots, may nots, and might nots that find a home in my heart.  Release me from the could nots, would nots and should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear God, I ask that you remove from my mind, my heart and my life all of the am nots that I have allowed to hold me back, especially the thought that I am not good enough.  Amen.

Do not let anyone, especially yourself, condemn you or disqualify you. With so many people becoming jobless, homeless, penniless, directionless, we have a profound message that counters the violence of unmaking people into worthlessness. Do not let anyone condemn you or disqualify you. Let’s stop condemnation here and now. Instead be who God has called you to be, children of the light. Let us choose to affirm, exhort and bless others. Say to your family, your friends, even your enemies, “You are precious to God.” Amen!

July 11, 2010

Who Is My Neighbor?

Scripture Psalm 25:1-10 and Luke 10:25-37

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ July 11, 2010

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 25:1-10 read responsively
Have you ever had an ache in your heart in which you yearned that things would be put right? The psalmist knew this same pain. Sometimes its root is in broken relationships and sometimes in our own behavior, but for the writer of this psalm we are assured that God cares and acts on our behalf.

1To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
3Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
5Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
6Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
7Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!
8Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
10All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Luke 10:25-37
The story of the Good Samaritan is a favorite parable by most followers of Jesus. Maybe because the ones who seem to have all the answers in life: the priest, the leader and the lawyer do not have the answer this time or see what needs to be done. An ordinary person, the Samaritan, who for most of Jesus’ listeners would have been an outcast, is the one who sees what is needed. All the expertise and authority of the priest and Levi does not give them the eyes to see the real need and the real response they are called to give. David Lose, professor at Luther Seminary writes:

All the priest and the Levite see, I suspect, is a burden, a hassle, an obligation, a problem. And so, it turns out, they actually do do something: they cross over to the other side of the road. Why? Precisely so they don't have to see this person in need. The Samaritan, on the other hand, sees someone, sees a person, a person in need, a neighbor.

So as you listen to this scripture, ask yourself, “Who is my neighbor?”

25Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

SERMON
So who is your neighbor? Jesus’ story seems to point us to those in need but also to those God brings into our path. Have you ever bought something that you just had not seen many of it before you purchased it and now you see it everywhere? They were probably already there, but your purchase has brought them to your attention. God uses this focused attention to confront us with those people and things for which we are called to care. There is also the reality that one cannot have a neighbor without being a neighbor.

I like Mary Hinkle Shore’s somewhat ironic comment on this passage:
Surely someone should call a meeting of the county commissioners and get some lights put on that stretch of highway between Jerusalem and Jericho. Until the work is done, we could organize escorts, too. The bandits could be trained for honest work. Of course, all of this means that some of us run the risk of compassion fatigue and will have to read and write more books on self-care.

But look.... For mercy's sake, look in the ditch. There is someone hurt. Do something. Do what Moses taught you, namely, show the kind of mercy that means rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty. Do this, and the guy in the ditch will have a chance at life. Do this, and you will live too.

Look, look! Pay attention! Remember Jesus’ ministry is about bring the kingdom of God near. As disciples we bring the kingdom near in our attention, our actions, and our advocacy for healthy change in human behavior.

The lawyer had been following the law all his life, but something was missing. He knew this in his very being. So he asks this obviously well respected Rabbi, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The more I looked at his question; I keep coming back to the word “inherit.” He didn’t ask, “What must I do to receive eternal life; or to earn eternal life; but he asked what must I do to inherit eternal life? The Hebrew people are heirs of the promise to Abraham, to David and Solomon. For that matter they see themselves as heirs of the promise to Noah. What is the promise? Life! Life for all of creation, life for generations to come, life in the faith community, life with meaning and purpose, but most of all life in communion with God; this is not just a lawyer’s question about the law, this is our question about life itself. How do I stay connected to the Giver of life?

You have read the Bible, maybe even studied it. What does it say? Isn’t there a passage in one of Paul’s letters that we like to read at weddings and sometimes even at funerals? What is the greatest of these? LOVE! Love makes us heirs to the kingdom of God. Love binds us to our Creator and grants us eternal life because we become one with Christ Jesus in our love. It is to be our first response and our last response.

What must we do to be lovers of the world and one another and God? We need to practice the fine art of compassion. Along with compassion you’ll need to watch out for its enemies, cynicism, bitterness and apathy. At one point Jesus took a child and place the child in the midst of his disciples and then he said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." Children are not cynical or bitter and they are certainly not apathetic. Be child like in your love of the God and neighbor and you will not lose your compassion.

Years ago I went on a mission trip to the North Carolina/Tennessee area, where flooding waters had wiped out whole neighborhoods. One family told of being trapped in their home when some “good ol’ boys” realized they needed help and risked life and limb to save the whole family, including the cat. So I am not going to tell you to go be a Good Samaritan, because believers for centuries have claimed and redeemed that title, so it has lost its power to shock us when the outcast is the redeemer. He quite literally saved the man by the side of the road. So who would it shock us to be charged to become? What if I ask you to go be a “good ol’ boy” or a good Tea Bagger, or the good gay guy or a good community organizer? Whatever pushes your buttons is what you are charged by Jesus’ story to go and be like. You’re not expected to be perfect or know all the laws, you just have to let your compassion to lead you to love your neighbor as God does and life will become so much more precious and beautiful because you cared and responded to needs in your family, community and around the world. Who is your neighbor? Everyone! Isn’t great! Amen.

Resources:
David Lose, Marbury E. Anderson Biblical Preaching Chair Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. see: www.workingpreacher.org
"The Neighbor is Near You," Mary Hinkle, Pilgrim Preaching, .July 8, 2004.
see: Luke 18:17

Sermon July 4, 2010

Like Lambs Among Wolves

Celebration of our Lord’s Supper

Scripture Psalm 46 sung as the Psalter #191 and Luke 10: 1-11

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ July 4, 2010

INTRODUCTION TO SCIPTURE
Luke 10: 1-11
As we have discussed in other scripture readings we know the ancient world had strong customs about hospitality. The mission of the disciples relied on these customs. The result was quite confrontational: you either welcomed these people or you turned them away into the elements. It was accepted that enemies should not be offered hospitality, but were these enemies or friends? To reject someone who is not an enemy, to refuse to offer hospitality, was shameful. It brought disgrace and promised misfortune. The disciples claimed to be envoys of peace and wholeness, including healing. They claimed to be announcing the reign of God and by their actions, bringing its reality into life in the here and now. To receive them was to receive the one who sent them and to receive him was to receive God, to be open to the kingdom. That is the expectation here. Would you welcome these “lambs” into your home?

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’

SERMON
What is it like when the kingdom of God comes near? Is it easy to welcome into your home. Sara Miles was a reporter before she found Christ. Now she is Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. She tells a story of hospitality in the midst of terror that speaks profoundly about being lambs among wolves. She writes about being in Alexandra township during the “final throes” of apartheid. Remember what the disciples were told to take? Nothing! Sara had a guide/companion from the African National Congress, Mzwanele. She stuck a notebook in her pocket and Mzwanele took nothing but a bandana to wipe the sweat off his face.

They drove through the homemade barricades that were mushrooming at intersections. Then at one point they got out of their car and stood next to an injured boy who was facing a semi-circle of gigantic police tanks. There was the pungent blast of tear gas and smoke from burning tires.

Sara recalls:
I could see a line of armored personnel carriers descending a hill towards us. People scattered, running down alleys and dodging out of sight of the army. There was a rush of voices and a sound of breaking glass somewhere close by. And then the shooting started. I stumbled. A grandmotherly woman in a flowered skirt standing at the door of her shack beckoned urgently to us. “Come here,” she said. Mzwanele deposited me inside, saying he’d be back. I’ve seldom been as visibly an outsider as I was in Alexandra that day: a foreigner, the wrong color, someone whose very presence meant danger for the people around me. The woman calmly motioned me to sit down at her kitchen table, under a print of Jesus, a calendar, a broken clock. She took some spoons and mugs off a shelf… Then the woman smiled at me, pouring the hot dark tea from a banged-up kettle. She stirred sweetened condensed milk into my cup, humming under her breath. “Here, my dear, drink it,” she said. I had no idea that what was settling upon me in that moment, as I sipped my tea and traced my finger over the pattern in the linoleum, was the peace of God. But I knew the woman’s offer of peace was stronger than anything I was afraid of. The gunfire and the shouting were still there, outside, but in that kitchen some other power prevailed. Sara recalls Jesus’ words: Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide. The kingdom of God is very near.

In the late afternoon, Mzwanele came back for me, and we walked over into the township stadium, where ten thousand unarmed people were gathering for a march, despite police orders. The stadium was ringed by tanks with gun mounts on their turrets, riot-police vans, armored cars; policemen with pistols and army troops with automatic rifles; white soldiers with tear-gas grenade launchers and black police with shotguns; plainclothes cops with radios; sharpshooters, dog handlers and spies. Sara asks: have you noticed, there remains on Earth the very real threat of powers and principalities? And still the kingdom of God is very near.

She remembers that a helicopter hung overhead. The police bullhorn bleated at them to disperse. “Watch,” said Mzwanele, and through the haze of smoke she saw young girl, her dress whipping around her knees, dancing in front of the tanks. Out of nowhere, out of everywhere, people began to sing in harmony and clap, and with a deep collective sigh the whole crowd began to move forward singing out of the stadium, dancing toward Calvary, the place of the skulls.

The kingdom of God is very near. Entering that kingdom is as simple as welcoming a stranger into your house, and saying, “Peace be with you.” It is as difficult as welcoming a stranger into your house, and saying, “Peace be with you.” The air is full of tear gas, and the streets of this world are full of broken children, and the Kingdom of God is very near.

In South Africa fifteen years ago, in Kabul this morning, in a hundreds of communities all over the world where armies and violence rage, the Son of Man sends out his lambs to be instruments of peace. He sends us out to eat with strangers, who become friends. He asks us to go into the future even when we do not have everything in order. He asks us to trust him to provide when the whole world seems to be shouting about want and need and be afraid. The kingdom of God is very near, see the table is set and Jesus is beckoning you to join him in his hut or on a hill or an upper room or right here at Unity. Peace be with you, oh lambs of God. Amen.

RESOURCES: Pentecost 6, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia
“Like Lambs Among Wolves: Gospel Reflections on the Temptations of Violence” A guest essay by Sara Miles, author of Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion (2007). Sara is the director of ministries at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, where she founded The Food Pantry. For Sunday July 8, 2007. See: http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20070702JJ.shtml