Sermon for July 4, 2010
"Live as Free People"
1 Peter 2:11-17
11Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. 12Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.
13For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, 14or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. 16As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. 17Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Today we remember and celebrate the moment that our nation separated itself from its past.
The declaration of Independence is one of the great documents within human history
Because it stands as a milestone in the progress toward equal rights for the inhabitants of earth
It is a document that begins a great declaration that freedom is an essential gift, not from governments, from God
Now in our nation, we assume freedom
Freedom to vote for our leaders
Freedom to pursue life, and prosperity
Freedom to worship as we wish
It is this last freedom that transcends and predates our nations history…
Yet is so essential to it.
The quote from James Manning, first pastor of Warren Baptists, after they left our fellowship to form what has become Brown Univ. indicates how closely these values are connected.
Manning calls upon our Christian Tradition that goes all the way back to the beginnings of the church
Today our lesson comes from a critical period in Church history
It was a time when the public witness of the early believers was crucial for their survival
If the mission of the early church was to succeed, the behavior of those members of that primal church had to be seen as beneficial to the society about them.
They could not afford to be seen as evil doers, or misunderstood as political insurgents
The author of 1 Peter, that early Bishop/overseer in Rome was concerned that they in Asia Minor would be able to maintain the delicate balance between their duty to faith and their civic responsibilities
Here is embedded deep, deep in our faith, a tension between church and state, a tension that eventually led to those believers called Baptists
The first image in our lesson is about being an “alien and an exile”
I think, to fully appreciate what it means to be free, one must differentiate oneself from one’s context
That is to say, we must understand how we are different, essentially different from others
The clearer we are about those differences, the clearer we will be about shaping our behavior
If we proceed from an understanding of our our values and aspirations are in contrast to those values and aspirations about us, then we can be seen more clearly as an alternative life style, a more valueable life.
For instance,
If we live in community (as did our founders) that holds each other accountable for public behavior, then we will be seen in definite contrast to the overly individualisitic society in which we live
If we proclaim our hope that all people (rich or poor, immigrant or long term resident, male or female, prisoner or prison guard) are entitled to the basic human rights and opportunities that we share, then those in a secular society will see how we differ from them.
Obviously when we express our differences, we will meet with controversy and conflict
But as our mission is to be God’s servants in this world, we must be ready to deal optimistically and positively with those around us, so that we won’t be understood as evil doers…but doers of God’s will
The second is about authority
Authority is an essential quality that expresses the will of an organization, or a person, or even the Godself
Exousia, from the essence of, means that what is expected as behavior is in concert, in accordance to the values of the authority.
We live in a world in which there are many voices of authority competing for our obedience
Government requires us to follow the laws so that everyone can be protected and be given opportunity to secure their own happiness
Businesses ask us to buy their goods and create a growing economy…so they speak through their ads
Schools require attendance and study so that each person’s learning enhance the quality of our society
Parents expect obedience and cooperation from their children so that they grow to be responsible, caring members of the community
God lays out divine expectations in our scriptures so that we can follow God’s will, aligning ours to it, and demonstrating our citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven
In our response to God, in our willingness to live within a beneficial relationship to other authorities, we must be authorities ourselves for our faith
We should be able to act and speak with clarity and persuasive voice, representing God’s will through ours
If we can be seen as agents of the divine, our mission will be easier, more efficient and more effective
This authority only comes when we are tuned by prayer, study and worship to the service that God requires
The third is about living as “free people”
So often in our society, freedom is mistaken for license
Freedom means (I believe) not simply doing willy-nilly what one wants to do, but doing that which is essentially good for all to do and enjoy
Freedom from tyranny, oppression, bad habits, or ignorance is but the first step
Freedom for loving service and sacrifice, for self improvement, for communal upbuilding is the next
If freedom is only seen as escape from the old boundaries imposed by a corrupted political regime, it is partial
Freedom must be seen as the ability, as individuals and as a community, to move into a future that is open and edifying for our own families, all nations, a future in which we engage God’s will to honor and make visible our faith in God
As we conclude this series on our mission, we should wrestle with a new understanding of freedom
The early Christians were freed from their fear of death and sin by their faith in Jesus, through the power of his resurrection
The early believers were freed to be servants to their families and communities by a faith in Jesus, through the power of his resurrection
It was this faith in the future, of the in breaking Kingdom of God, that allowed them to understand the proper role of civil government in cooperation with the freedom of their faith
It is this powerful witness that moved through the long years of tradition to manifest itself in what we now celebrate…a nation dedicated to freedom for all
But let’s not hasten beyond this point without hearing the caveat…
“…yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil”
evil for me, is worse than simply bad
Bad is when hurtful, unhealthy things happen (a bridge collapses, a disease destroys, natural disasters and such)
Evil is when intelligent beings, know what is right and choose to ignore or contradict what is good.
Evil is an unaligned willfulness that promotes self indulgence over communal good
Evil is a moral offence against humanity and against God
We know that the church has done evil (many killed over the centuries for disagreements and different practices)
Governments do evil, start wars, discriminate against particular populations, ignore the God given rights we express in our noble documents
But freedom to be Christian Freedom, works toward God’s will, toward justice and peace and healthy communities for all of God’s children
Here is our choice on July forth…
We can cook our burgers and drink our beers/sodas, shoot off our rockets and fire crackers without connecting this celebration to God’s word
Or we can listen to voice of authority in this.ancient letter and revise again what it means for us to live as free people
Free to love each other honestly and with accountability,
to serve our communities wholeheartedly,
to work for good and just government
and to honor God by doing God’s will
This should allow us to accomplish any and all parts of our mission as the FBC in Swansea
Because we will be seen as different in thought and behavior
Because we will be observed as interested in and committed to the good of all people upon the earth
And we will be seen living, persuasively, inspiringly as free people!
July 11: New Series: Issues we Christians face
War and Peace
1 Chronicles 22:6-12
6Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. 7David said to Solomon, “My son, I had planned to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. 8But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth. 9See, a son shall be born to you; he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10He shall build a house for my name. He shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’ 11Now, my son, the LORD be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you. 12Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, so that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God.
New series: Issues
I come to this series with some trepidation…talking about the issues that affect us in our daily lives can be controversial
Controversial because there is often disagreement based on different understandings, and differing values
But I want to approach these issues not because there isn’t a lot of information about them out there, and in spite of the risk of controversy, but because the church is to often silent when it comes to the discussion of the matters that most shape our lives
Theology, biblical theology, can, as I have often said, begin on either end of the hermeneutical bridge
We can begin with the scripture itself and after examining its context and exegeting its meaning, pull the import of its text into our lives.
That is an arduous and complex challenge
Such a process can end with an almost clichéd summary of well accepted Christian thoughts
Or it can end with an insight so radically challenging to the exegete that it is difficult to incorporate new behavior into a reluctant culture
We can also begin on the experiential end of the bridge, investigating the data that comes to us through our senses, our investigations, our searching
And take that experience back into the scriptures and let it find connections
Again there is great challenge, for much of our modern experience is not easily connected to a premodern world
And so much of our practice, our current behaviors would seem foreign or irrelevant to a world in which religious behavior was more powerful than science
I also want to say that it is not my intention to come to conclusions about the issues that have somewhat randomly selected.
My intention is more that we should raise the issues, ponder them and perhaps prod people to think more about them
I have long understood that my personal positions on most contemporary issues are seldom perfectly in concert with the views and opinions of others…even my family and colleagues…so I caution myself to be careful about claiming a true or right position
I am enough of a Baptist to know that each believer must sort things out for him/her self
But I feel that some of the responsibility of any pastor/teacher is to lead people to new insight and suggest new behavior, deeper and more faithful to the witness of our Traditions at the center of which is our Bible
Last year sometime I hear Al Gore asked what were the most important issues facing the world today
His answer was two fold
In the short term the wars which are being fought today, including the war on terrorism
And in the long term, the environment, so that the earth could continue to carry a sustainable human population
I want to address both of these but today, the long standing, short term issue: war and its correlative…peace
This is not the first time I have personally confronted such an issue
As a young man in the sixties and seventies, I was compelled to make a choice between a personal participation in war or to find some alternative
As some of you know, I sought the draft status of conscientious objector; a status that was ultimately denied, even though I indicated my faith journey was leading me to the ministry
But it was in this conversation with my heart, my God and my draft board that I began to formulate my own response…
a response that continues to be in flux
a response that I hope is broader and wiser now than when I was 21
But one of the factors that in play at that time was the silence of my church on the matter at hand…
There is a lot of material in the scriptures about war and peace
Our old testament is story after story of wars blessed by God, executed by his chosen leaders and, as reported by our common heritage, successful because of God’s favor
We have listed lots of heros: Joshua, Caleb, Saul
But most prominently: David
The figure of David reaches from the earliest days of the Kingdom of Israel to flavor and shape the role and message of Jesus
In the long history of our faith, in the Judaic portions, the prophets have both given blessing and warning to the kings as they went forth in war
So we might read the old testament as permission to wage holy war
In the NT, God’s revelation in Jesus seems to take us in a much different direction
The prince of peace, Jesus the Christ admonishes us to love our enemies, to forgive 70x7, and as he is being hauled off to execution, warns us “Those who live by the sword, shall also die by the sword”
How do we reconcile these seemingly disparate positions?
I think our text this morning helps, at least a little
David, the great king, the iconic faithful leader, who established the politically strong nation in a warring ancient world had a message directly from God,
David, whose ancestory is connected to Jesus, who wanted to create a center place, a sacred place for his people to worship the God who had given him victory, heard this message from the GODSELF:
‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth.
Here I believe is a message that helps us sort out our response to war
I have come over the years to understand that defensively, war is logical
That when attacked by an enemy that would destroy homes and kill family, a pathological, implacable, hatefilled enemy, might only be stopped by the use of deadly force
That the survival of self and loved ones becomes paramount
and violent response is the only method for survival
But the question remains…for me at least…can the taking of human life ever be right, life that was granted by God
For the taking of human life provokes the revenge response…lex talionis, an eye for an eye
And this cycle of violence perpetuates itself…as we have seen in the life and history of Israel…even to this very day
For me the message to David from God is a caveat
It suggests that there are long term consequences to waging war
And one of them is that we can not quite ever be “clean” enough to offer pure worship to god
I’m pretty sure that does not mean that God will not forgive us
For I believe God must forgive us our foolish wars
But it does mean for me, that the human/divine relationship is further tarnished, damaged and possibly broken
In our passage, the building of the temple was given to Solomon
Solomon is famous for his wisdom (remember the baby incident?)
Solomon is here charged with being a man of peace, of shalom
This word shalom is deep with meaning
It is not simply the absence of strife and conflict
It is the healthy state of being in right relationship with fellow humans and with God
It is a context of growth and mutual upbuilding
It is salvation itself, that extends beyond the boundaries of time as a God given grace
The wording in our passage this morning is similar to the prophet Isaiah’s great foretelling:
“See, a son shall be born to you, he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies on every side…He shall be a son to me and I will be a father to him, and I will establsh his royal throne in Israel forever”
The question I leave for us to ponder this morning, as we look about our world, see the experience of war and peace on almost every side…
What does God prefer…
War…
Or peace?
July 18
Issue: Family
Genesis 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a grat nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of earth shall be blessed.'
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram too his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said 'To your offspring I will give this land' So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he build an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
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How many of you think that...
Family is the basic social unit?
Family is critically important in your life?
The Bible describes family as mother, father and kids?
That the family is the best place for children to learn social values?
That the family can do as much damage as good?
That the family is the most effective transmitter of religious belief?
I chose to include “family” in this summer's list of “issues” because it is a social institution that has had a lot of stress on it in the last 50 years.
I grew up in a “nuclear” family: Parents, 3 kids
We had family in other states and saw them occasionally but not often.
We were typical for the 50's and 60's an enclosed unit, striving and struggling to move along on life's journey.
In my family, I learned
about God by reading the bible at bedtime with my parents and siblings,
I went to church,
I was taught responsibility by doing chores
and encouraged to think as had family discussions about many topics.
We traveled and camped and made decisions as a family as to our future...praying together about them
When I was 18, a freshman in college, my mother died in an auto accident
and my family fractured
My father remarried to a woman with whom it was difficult for me to relate
I felt adrift and abandoned.
When I married (the first time) I married into a family that was functional and took me in, in spite of shoulder length hair and green bell bottoms
I learned anew about communications and mutual responsibility
I learned about love and trust
I learned about how much work being a family was
As I went to seminary and did my clinical work, I began to understand and appreciate the process of being family from the psychological and sociological theories I was learning
And then I became a father and family took on a depth of meaning and importance that can only be appreciated in the experience
I won't bore you with my more recent history, for you are all more familiar with that...
But I've also come to appreciate how congregations function like families
we have a sign in front of our meeting house that says: Be one of the family
Churches use family terms to address each other “father” Brother Sister
the emotional awareness and interpersonal communications learned in families is directly applied to how we interrelate in our churches
The reason we choose this as an Issue is because families are beseiged.
The nuclear family of the 1950's we learned is becoming anomalous.
The extended family of the depression is really a more historical model but is in our current society harder to find
Now families can now be seen as nuclear, extended, single parent, no parent, two same gender parents, random associations of non-biologically related groups (communes!), re-blended after divorces, or those who group together from economic need.
Families can include multi generations and be legally or non legally related
We have seen in the past few years huge amounts written on the family, from James Dobson, to Al Gore. Last week's time magazine had an article on single child families as a resurgent trend! (and commented on how families were often formed from religious beliefs)
How ever we see the family now, the need for a nurturing and sustaining emotionally, culturally functioning institution is still great
For persons are challenged at every point to learn the skills that will provide success through life
skills that include economic understanding, communications, work attitudes, and religious behavior
Some of these skills must now be how to sort out all the demands upon the family from schools, work, sports, and church
The ability to prioritize that which is most important and respond to it is a learning that is often family based
We read in our scripture lesson this morning that it is from the promises made to Abram that all the families on earth, all the families through history will be blessed.
While God may have a plan for this, it is harder for us to see how it is working
If we assume that the promise works through the judeo christian traditions, the trend seems to be in the direction of less involvement rather than more participation
At our founding, families were clearly the primary religious teachers
over the centuries that function went more and more toward the church as the sunday school became the dominant model
Parents work time and the fractioning of the family in the industrial age encouraged the church to take on the responsibility
now we have a situation in which most parents (in main line churches) feel inadequate to the challenge
And too often we hear “I'm just tired of arguing with them, to get them to church”
The options for kids today on Sunday are varied...work, sports, recovery from Saturday night.
This leaves the church with a dwindling population of young people
And for those families who are looking for a religious community that provides opportunity for young people...the promises of blessed families are not always available in every church
The point...the issue...is how can we as a congregation begin to restore the intimate and edifying relationship between family and congregation?
The authority and value of church is so diminished in our society that we often have less influence on families than the band director or the football coach
We often verbalize the value of marriage and parenting, but offer little more than ceremony
As a transmitter of religious values, our educational offerings are mostly limited to less than 1 hour on Sunday morning (that's why for me the camp model is essential!)
If the church is to be influential in our society in the future, as it has been in the past, the relationship between church and home must be re-prioritzed
For the church to do that it must understand and be more responsive to the pressures and challenges which families experience
and families must be more willing to give time and effort to the church
While I do not feel that this brief sermon will fix the problem or solve the issue, but merely raise it to consciousness
I know that if we are to receive and transmit the promises given to Abram and Sarai, we need to take seriously the challenge of being Christian families in a world that tears at o our faith
In the 3rd chapter of Mark, Jesus is told that his mother and siblings were outside waiting for him. He replied:
“Who are my mother and brothers?...Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Herein lies the essential issue for both church and family!
For we live in a world that changes more rapidly than we can compute and offers more options than we can count and the traditions we carry are more difficult to convey... even across the family dinner table
July 25 was a sermonic dialogu
Issue: Money
Background:
Context: Timothy is a letter of pastoral advice written in the first part of the second century. The church now included several generations of believers. It was a time when the church had begun to attract people from across the socio-economic spectrum. As the earliest generation of believers began to die, it was also a time to review and hold fast to the normative Traditions which had been the founding principles of belief.
Sociologically there are four “institutions” that organize society: kinship, which provides a sense of belonging, economics, which creates provisions, politics, which is the means of collective decision making and religion, which creates meaning. In Biblical times, economics was “imbedded” within the kinship relationships, where wealth was provided primarily through family.
In the first century there were three assumptions that shaped the meaning of words: 1, that all “goods” were limited; 2, that no one goes without necessities, 3, that the rich person is inherently evil. These assumptions connoted “poor” to mean those who were marginalized by dynamics beyond their control, and “rich” as those who were supposed to share what had been provided them.
The text: 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19 (NRSV)
6Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
17As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
The points for reflection…
Responses to the text...questions…feelings…words/images?
Do we identify with the “poor” as marginalized or the “rich” as those with something to share?
At what level does economic sufficiency end and greed take over?
Is our need to be “successful” based in our faith in God to provide or in our desire to accumulate wealth?
Now that we have removed economics from relationships of kin, should we let “experts” run the economy without our input?
How would we respond to the following proverbs:
10The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.
11The wealth of the rich is their strong city; in their imagination it is like a high wall.
Do we make an idol of money?
What part does God play in our accumulation of wealth? How do we express that part?
How can we be rich toward God and poor towards the world?
Is there a connection in our world between economic wealth and power? ….was there in the ancient world? What kind of power did Jesus utilize?
Given the fact that we live in a consumer oriented society in which the assumption is that we can create more wealth, should we use political power through social programs to reorient our culture?
Jesus often taught about money: 24“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” | 21Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. What do these lesson mean to us today?
In our society, who is given more “honor,” the rich or poor? What would Jesus think about that?
Given our discussion today, what did we learn about the economy of “rich” and “poor” that helps us with our household & church budgets?
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