Saturday, September 30, 2017

Authority


Pentecost 17 Proper 21 October 1, 1017

The other day at dinner I heard about an event that happened over 60 years ago. A high school sophomore had been raised in a church. The church was central to the life of his family; uncles were ministers; he had been elected president of the youth group. This young man was interested in science, and one Sunday morning he asked his Sunday school teacher, the pastor’s wife, “Is it necessary to believe in the virgin birth to be a Christian?” She didn’t answer the question, but got offended that it had been asked. Later in the week a girl at school, a fellow student, told the young man that the the pastor’s wife, his teacher had told her to tell him that, she, the pastor’s wife, had removed him as president of the church youth group and appointed the girl in his place. The young man never came back to Sunday school – or youth group. He did continue to go to church and do his church job recording the service for the shut-ins. He later found out that the teacher, pastor’s wife, had been telling parents that the young man, “had a filthy mouth.” The young man later became an eminent scientist, but the story of the reaction to his innocent question in Sunday school continued to rankle more than 60 years later.

My immediate reaction to him was that the teacher had grossly misused her authority in the church. In 50 years of ordained ministry I have seen other examples of such misuse of authority. About half the congregations I know of have suffered from some kind of serious misconduct by either clergy or important lay leaders. The usual problems we see are with sex, substances – alcohol or drugs, and stealing money, but more subtle that these, and I think more dangerous, is misuse of power and authority.

One of the spiritual dangers of faith is a misplaced sense of entitlement - the sin of pride. We serve a risen Savior; we are not the savior.  Yet again and again I see Christian people asking for special treatment, which is an example of using the Lord’s name in vain. At the end of his first epistle St. John exhorts us, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” We can make ourselves and the things we want little idols that turn our attention away from our Lord Jesus. 

We see that in today’s gospel reading. The setting is the beginning of Holy Week, the day after Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. When he entered the Temple Jesus drove out those who were selling and buying in the Temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers; he cured the lame and blind, and accepted the cheers of the children, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” recognizing Jesus as Messiah.  

Jesus drove out the merchants and the moneychangers for God’s sake, to restore the Temple as a place of worship, to restore the people to God’s love and service.   

The Temple priests had a racket going. The four areas of the Temple were (1) at the center the building where the Ark of the Covenant had been kept and the Chief Priest worshipped once a year. (2) Surrounding the Temple building an open area -- the court of the priests - where animals were sacrificed. (3) Surrounding that the court of Israel, where Jewish men stood to worship and (4) Surrounding that the largest area, the court of Gentiles.

“For the convenience” of those who came to offer the animal sacrifices commanded by the Law, the priests had allowed authorized dealers of certified sacrificial animals to set up stalls in the court of the gentiles. The priests also required money contributions be made only in coins minted over 100 years before during the century of Jewish independence. So worshippers changed their Roman money into Jewish money at authorized money changers - and the priests controlled the rate of exchange. Two rackets – authorized animals and authorized money – and Jesus had broken up these rackets.

When Jesus came back to the Temple the temple authorities asked, By what authority are you doing these things; who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered that question with another question about John the Baptist. But the Jewish leaders for political reasons refused to answer.

Jesus in the controversies of Holy Week kept his mind and will focused on the will of God the Father.  God gives us his grace by his gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and of Power so that in our lives we can keep our minds and wills focused on the will of the Father shown us in Jesus. The correct answer to the question Jesus asked the Jewish leaders was “John the Baptist was of God, and we failed to believe him. We acknowledge our sin and repent.”  We who accept Jesus’ authority say the same, “We failed to believe. We acknowledge our sin and repent.”  But by the grace of God poured out on us in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are again forgiven, and we are given yet another opportunity to love and serve.

Jesus calls to a life of repentance. The 95 Theses begins, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” That is as true now as it was 500 years ago.  God allows us a small part of his authority in the world he has created. Our task is to live all our lives to his honor and glory, and when we sin and misuse God’s authority, when we make an idol of our desires, then to repent and confess. Amen.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Take up your cross


Proper 17A September 3, 2017

A Palm Sunday prayer sums up today’s Scripture lessons: “Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified:  Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” He asks, “what will they give in return for their life?” St. Paul says in the Epistle, “1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.  3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” Since the 16th century we have prayed, “here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee . . .”

The only way of true life and peace is the way of the cross, the way of self-offering in union with Jesus’ self-offering on the cross. Our final goal in life is God, and God’s way of life, his way of final peace is the way of the cross. God gives us life, and God makes it possible for us to give that life back to him. The more we give, the more we receive. We don’t have to fear that we will “give out.” God loves us and gives us the gift of love. God wants what is best for us. God is all-powerful and all wise, and God gives us what is best for us.

I remember a painted clay ash tray I made in 3rd grade and gave my mother. We were living in Philadelphia and on a school trip to the science museum I had been fascinated by the stegosaurus dinosaur – the one with the small head, big body, long tail, and the plates that stick up along the back. The ash tray was more or less shaped like a stegosaurus, painted red and blue, and so ugly only a mother could love it. But I remember how proud I was when I gave it to her, and I remember how she said she appreciated it. The ash tray was really ugly, but she received it in love.    We give God our lives, all our lives, ugly and misshapen as they may be. And God receives our gift in love, and God makes us beautiful, and holy, and acceptable. We have all fallen short; we have all made a mess of least parts of the lives God gave us. But God receives our self-offering, and God makes us beautiful, and holy, and acceptable.

God makes us worthy by the cross, by the complete self-offering Jesus made on the cross. Jesus died on the cross to defeat the power of sin and death and Jesus rose from the dead to offer new life to all who will receive him.

Try as we might, we can do nothing to make ourselves acceptable, holy, worthy to God. God has done it all in Jesus Christ. We receive the new life God in Jesus offers us, and offer ourselves in thanksgiving and service.  The cross we are called to carry is this gospel, the good news of God’s perfect love in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose to give us new life.

The cross and the gospel are not acceptable by the standards of this world. By the world’s standards, we are measured by the acceptability of the things we have. By the standards of the world, we don’t give; we buy and sell. The world is basically me-centered, not God-centered. When we conform to the standards of the world, we think of ourselves - first, and last.

But St. Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what the will of God— what is good and acceptable and perfect.” St. John learned in his exile on Patmos that Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of the alphabet, the first and the last. When we are made new people in Christ Jesus, we think of God first, and last.

As new people in Christ we learn a new way of life. We learn to put God first, to live the good news of God’s perfect love in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose to give us new life. It takes regular practice. It takes daily self-offering in prayer and worship and thanksgiving. And God makes us worthy to bear that cross.

 “Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified:  Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

Reconciliation and Forgiveness


Proper 18 Sept 10, 2017  Pentecost 14

Alleluia. In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. Alleluia. Reconciliation and forgiveness are possible only by the power of God working through the spirit of Christ is us. 

In today’s gospel reading Jesus gives his disciples God’s direction to deal with conflict. He gives three steps: First when we are offended, speak directly one on one. Second, if that doesn’t work, try again with one or two others. And third, only then, seek the help of the whole community.

I, and others generally don’t work that way. When I am offended I don’t tend to deal directly. I go not to the person who offended me but I go look for a sympathetic ear, for someone who will agree that I have a right to be offended, who will support and affirm me. I’ll tend to minimize or excuse. “He didn’t mean it; it’s not that important.” And I’ll nurse that grievance.  I’ll remember it in the middle of the night – and other times. Sometimes I’ll try to avoid dealing with the person, avoid contact, “unfriend them” on Facebook. Left to my own devices, I’ll try hard to avoid conflict and confrontation.   If I can’t avoid the person sometimes I’ll deflect my anger and try to hide what’s really bothering me, picking on something else. Frequently I’ll find myself doing this without noticing it.

But I’m a sinner saved by God’s grace in Christ Jesus. And sometimes God gives me both the insight to see more clearly what’s really bothering me and the  courage to do what Jesus tells us to do. In Christ I will find some way to speak one on one, andtry to speak directly, not in accusation, but simply reporting my feelings.  “When you did - whatever, I felt – what I felt – disrespect – or whatever I felt.”  That kind of language tends to reduce automatic defensive reactions. I’m not making a direct accusation; I’m simply reporting how I felt.  Generally the response I get is, “I’m sorry you felt that way,” followed either by an explanation of what the other person was trying to accomplish or by an offer of some action in mitigation. I’ve never had to go back with witnesses or take the matter to the church.

My witness is that the gospel pattern, when we use it, really does work better than the pattern we learn in the world. It works because God acts through Christ’s spirit to help us see our situation clearly and to give us the courage to do what Jesus tells us to do.   

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. Reconciliation and forgiveness are possible only by the power of God working through the spirit of Christ is us.

Since 1983 The Church of the Savior has been a witness to the power of the spirit of Christ Jesus to bring together Lutherans and Episcopalians in one congregation. When I served in Shelby in the 1980’s  Bishop William Weinhauer of this diocese was the Episcopal co-Chair of the national Lutheran Episcopal Dialogue.  

Let me briefly review some of that history. From 1969-72 in the United States the Lutheran Council – then including the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod – and the Episcopal Church committees met in dialogue. Worldwide Anglican-Lutheran International Conversations from 1970 to 1972 led to a “Pullach Report” recommending mutual recognition.The American dialogue resumed in 1976 and agreed in 1982 to Interim Eucharistic Sharing.

In 1988 the ELCA was formed and continued dialogue leading in 1999 to the Called to Common Mission agreement for full communion and shared ministry. In Europe from 1994 to 2010 Anglicam and Lutheran national churches have come to share communion under a Porvoo Common Statement. And in 2001 the Waterloo Declaration established full communion between Anglican and Lutheran churches in Canada.

The ELCA has been in full communion since 1997 with the Presbyterian Church, USA, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, since 1999 with the Moravian Church and since 2009 with the United Methodist Church  I helped write the 2012 Moravian- Episcopal full communion agreement. Recently a United Methodist and Episcopal full communion proposal was published. It will take 6 to 8 years for that to pass the national conventions. Other Christian and interfaith dialogues continue. Issues of history and theology are complex.    

As a society and as individuals we all badly need the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation. Alleluia. In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. Alleluia. Reconciliation and forgiveness are possible only by the power of God working through the spirit of Christ is us.  Our good news is in Jesus we forgiven sinners have our part in his redeeming, forgiving, and reconciling ministry. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

 

77 or 70x7?


Proper 19A   Sept 17, 2017 Pentecost  15

 In the Great Thanksgiving today we say, “we give thanks to you, O Lord God Almighty, not as we ought, but as we are able.”  In our gospel reading Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

Because Jesus died on the cross for us, God forgives us all our sins – all our sins – unconditionally and eternally. God forgives us many more than 77 times. The Greek text says ebdomekonta’kis epta, translated in the King James Version as 70 times 7 or 490 times.

Two passages of Hebrew Scripture relate to today‘s gospel. One is about 77 times and the other about how many times we should forgive. In Genesis 4:24 Cain’s 6th generation descendant Lamech says to his wives “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”  The Hebrew text has 77; the Greek version of the Hebrew bible, the Septuagint, has the same words as St. Matthew, ebdomekonta’kis epta, translated 70 times 7. 

The second passage is at the beginning of the prophet Amos, “For 3 transgressions of Damascus and for 4 I will not revoke the punishment.”  From that passage the rabbinic tradition drew the rule that one must forgive 3 or at most 4 times. So when Peter said forgive 7 times he was doubling the usual number.

And 7 is a biblical number of perfection. God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th rested. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and the 7th rest. Luther’s comment on this commandment is, “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.” (Page 1160 in the Worship book.)

God forgives us our sins against him, and as we are forgiven sinners, God gives us grace to forgive those who sin against us. We can pass only what we have received. Because we know God’s forgiveness we also know that God makes it possible for us to forgive others. We don’t have to hold on to grudges; we really can let them go. And when they come back to bother us in the middle of the night we can let them go, and let them go, and let them go again  And so the circle of God’s love in Christ Jesus expands wider and wider to include more and more lost sheep.

This is grace, free grace. It is not cheap grace. It costs. It cost Jesus his life on the cross. It costs us the effort and the shame of climbing down from our peak of moral superiority and letting go – taking the sting out of the memory. Forgiveness does not excuse evil. Forgiveness recognizes evil.  Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, but Joseph forgave them and his forgiveness served to save the people of Israel.  Forgiveness recognizes that bad things have been done, recognizes that people have been hurt, and sometimes badly hurt. Forgiveness recognizes that we have done bad things, that we have hurt other people, and ourselves. Forgiveness recognizes that bad things have been done to us, that we are hurt, sometimes badly hurt. And forgiveness lets it go, and lets it go, and lets it go. Forgiveness lets us out of our debtor’s prison of mind and memory and soul.  

In Jesus Christ God makes it possible for us to break the cycle of evil and revenge for evil. Cain’s 5th great grandson Lamech could not do that. He said, (Genesis 4:23b) “I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”  Lamech’s way is the way of “don’t get mad, get even,” the way of reciprocal wrong-doing, tit for tat, eye for eye until all are blind.

God in Jesus offers us the gift to see how to break cycles of sin and revenge. Because we are forgiven, we can forgive. God in Jesus forgives eternally and unconditionally. God’s love is unconditional and eternal.

But we are not God. We have limits, reasonable limits. Scripture can be misinterpreted, and this teaching of Jesus has been misinterpreted to mean that we must set aside issues of reasonable safety and self-protection. We can forgive sins done to us, but we don’t have to put ourselves in situations where we are likely to be injured again. God has given us a precious self. We are to preserve it. On rare occasions some of us may be called to dangerous situations, but only with great care and for the sake of others. We forgive and we continue to forgive up to our limit. That limit is different in every person and every circumstance. We don’t judge one another.

So in Holy Communion “we give thanks . . . not as we ought, but as we are able and in life we forgive “not as we ought, but as we are able.” We forgive because we are forgiven, and we forgive as much, and as often, as we can, with no arbitrary limit, but because God in Christ forgives us eternally and unconditionally.      

Pecking order in the vineyard


Proper 20 September 24, 2017

The University of Greifswald was established in 1456. It is the 4th oldest German university. From 1648 to 1815 it was part of Swedish Pomerania. At Greifswald on May 12, 1921, Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe defended his Ph.D. dissertation, “Gallus domesticus in seinem täglichen Leben.” – the daily life of chickens.  Thorleif, a 27 year old Norwegian scholar, drew on 17 years of observation and study to introduce the concept of pecking order in chickens. The technical term is “Dominance hierarchy.”  In social living groups members compete for access to limited resources and mating opportunities. Rather than fight each time they meet members of the group develop a set of relative relationships – a hierarchy that lets the participants know the proper order.

Such hierarchies are universal. We have ranks in the military, pay scales in business and the professions. The Pay Scale website says that in 2015 six of the highest paid CEOs make more than 300 times the salary of their typical employee. The average is about 70 to 1. In 1965 it was about 20 to 1. That is an economic hierarchy. Stockholders vote for boards of directors who approve executive compensation. Dominance hierarchy is the way of the world.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus calls the church to be different.  “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” Those who heard Jesus – and Matthew – immediately thought of Isaiah 5:5 “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting . . .”  The vineyard owner went out to hire day laborer because when the grapes are ripe lots of hands are needed to pick them. In Israel as today there is a place where day laborers go to be hired. And there is a dominance hierarchy to determine who gets first chance at any available job.

In the parable the owner goes out 5 times to hire pickers – at daybreak, at 9, 12, 3, and even at the last hour of daylight. Monastic communities traditionally pray at those 5 hours - daybreak, 9, 12, 3, before the evening meal and also Compline before bedtime and a night hour before dawn. The first time the vineyard owner agrees with the workers for the standard wage - one silver coin a day. To the other workers he simply says, “I will pay you whatever is right.”  And so they went. Better to take what you can than not work at all. The difference comes at the end of the day. The first laborers hired receive their agreed-on wage. Hierarchical thinking is an hourly wage. Part-time work gets part time money and no benefits. Half day half pay, and so forth. But the owner pays all the workers a full day’s pay. That upsets the hierarchy. Those who “have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” thought they should have received more than they had first agreed to.

What are we working for?  In the parable everyone receives a day’s wage, regardless of how many hours he worked. We receive not a silver coin, but a relationship. Our Creator offers us his unconditional and eternal love; he offers us his unconditional and eternal forgiveness for all our sins; he offers us a clear conscience; he offers us a relationship with his Son, our Lord Jesus. Jesus dwells in our hearts by faith. The Holy Spirit of truth and power guides us into all truth and gives us the power to do that truth. We get it all. All of us get it all, always. The relationship is permanent. Jesus’ resurrection assures us that this relationship of love continues through the gate of death into everlasting life.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  The Christian community is radically egalitarian. As we enter the church we leave behind the hierarchies of the world. When we are baptized into the one Lord, Jesus Christ, we receive a fundamental identity as a child of God.  Saint Paul wrote to the church at Philippi in northern Greece, “standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel,” Paul wrote to the church in Galatia in Asia Minor “You have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  (3:28)

No more dominance hierarchy, no more of Thorlief’s chicken pecking order. All share equally in God’s unconditional and eternal love. All share equally in the forgiveness of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. All share equally in his new and eternal life. All share equally in the gift of the Holy Spirit of truth and power.

Our task as a church, our task as Christian people in all of our relationships, is to live as much as we can in this new paradigm of love. In this world the chickens continue in a pecking order and all creation is bound by a dominance hierarchy, but we are spiritually free from these constraints, free to treat one another as loved and forgiven children of God, as St. Paul says, “standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and in no way intimidated by our opponents.”