| Sermons in June 2010 from the Rev. Dr. Charles K. Hartman |
June 6, 2010
Background:
- Context: This passage describes Jesus? ?commissioning? of his disciples. It takes place between Jesus early ministry and his first prediction of is passion.
- The ?authority? is the translation of the Greek ?exousia? which indicates the same or very similar capacity to command that Jesus? had. It is essentially the same authority that Jesus wielded. Because it is the same authority as Jesus, the disciples would need to take very little on their journeys.
- The demonic (in the sense of evil forces/spirits) were thought to cause illnesses.
- The primary mission here is described as two-fold: the proclamation of God?s Kingdom (good news/gospel) and curing illness.
The text: Luke 9:1-6
1Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3He said to them, ?Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money?not even an extra tunic. 4Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. 5Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.? 6They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
The points for reflection?
Responses to the text...questions?feelings?words/images?
? Did the disciples/do we feel that we carry the same ?authority? as Jesus? Why or why not?
? Should all disciples of Jesus expect to become ?missional? in the manner here described? What would an effective strategy be today?
? What diseases do we feel competent to cure? Does this include emotional illnesses and social dysfunctions?
? How does the church authorize and empower the people in the pews to go forth to do proclaimation and healing?
? Does the Kingdom of God conflict in any way with our obedience to earthly governance?
? How might we respond after being rejected for what we say about God?
? How are individual congregations invovled with ?healing??
Empowered and Sent Out
Why are we here?
It?s a question I come back to every once in a while because its basic
and the way we might answer it probably changes on a week to week basis
Most likely those of us who are here on hot sticky days are here because we
Know we should go to church
have always gone to church
like to see and be with the folks we go to church with
But as we push the question a little, back to the original reasons?
Its because our parents brought us to church
because their parents brought them to church
because there was some sense, long ago, that going to church was a good thing?necessary for one?s development of moral character, and social contribution
But why did people long ago, go to church??
If we keep going way, way, way back?back into the earliest days, way before the Puritans and the protobaptists, long before there was a differentiation between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox flavors of Xnty, way back when they folks that knew Jesus were still called ?the Way??
We have to say: people joined up because someone convinced them to do so
This morning is a transitional sermon
This morning we are going to connect the authorization/empowerment theme that we have been following with a brief look at ?mission?
These two themes connect easily as we have seen in our scripture lesson for this morning.
While we have read the Lukan version, the same story appears in all three of the synoptic gospels and all three accounts challenge us in a very similar manner.
Nowhere else in the gospels is it any clearer, that the mission of the followers of Jesus is assigned not to Jesus, but to the disciples?
Jesus (knowing that he would most likely be arrested and killed) began early in his career to authorize and equip his followers to convey the message he brought,
[the gospel, the announcement of God?s kingdom,]
and the herculean task of personal and social therapy
to the little band of former fisherman, tax collecters and other marginalized persons
who most likely felt ill equipped to attempt such activities
Who had never done this missional task of evangelization (as we call it now!)
My guess is that we, sitting in the pews this morning probably could identify with the 12 in their anxiety
Feeling overwhelmed by the anticipation of the scope of the project
and ill suited by reason of inexperience
?so that pretty much is probably the way we feel to day, about the mission of this congregation
I have come to believe that it is critical for us, at the congregational level, to understand our particular setting and define the unique mission which we share as the members of the FBC in Swansea
In military operations, a clearly defined and planned mission is necessary
To be precise in describing what is to be accomplished and how it is to be done leads to success
A misdirected goal or incomplete planning is a sure bet for failure
So when we ask ?Why are we here this morning?? we might really be asking ?What is our mission??
If our mission is
to make us feel good, inspired, helped out
to feel connected to our fellow members?
I think we do that pretty well
The problem is when we compare that sort of outcome to the lesson this morning
Then the challenge emerges
And we find there is much more to do?and the anxiety increases
Let?s look at the passage and see what it tells us about the mission of the DISCIPLES?those who learn from and follow this fellow Jesus
First thing we see: Jesus imparts to them the same power and authority as he possessed! The same power and authority?the SAME/identical authority and power
How about that?anybody here feel like they have the same/identical about of spiritual energy that Jesus had?
We can trust that it was true back then?the disciples were empowered to do what Jesus had done?they went about the ancient world and convinced others to follow, to believe the gospel and to be about the tasks of healing.
The church spread and grew and human history was changed?
?because the earliest disciples felt the power and exercised the authority that Jesus gave them.
That sure challenges us?doesn?t it?
Jesus knew there were bad things and bad people out there in the world?it hasn?t changed that much?
Bad news is on the Google home page everyday
Bad news is what the TV loves to share for the first 25 minutes finishing with just a quick look at some ?uplifting human interest story? to offset the anxiety they have created in telliing us about the recession, the oil spill, the wars, the unrest in the middle east, the natural disasters and the several murders that happen so frequently?
Yes, just like in Jesus day?there is the demonic and plenty of illnesses, emotional, physical and social
Jesus says?you, you, and you?have the power and authority to dispell and disperse all that
Go?
That leads to the second thing that really causes some emotional disturbance: Jesus sent them OUT
He didn?t say, come to our nice little white church, come and feel like one of us?he said out there, that?s where you are to be engaged in preaching & healing
Out there with folks that you don?t know, out there with those who will reject you, out there where the issues are sticky and complex, out there where things are not simple?and you have no experience?and you have nothing to support you on your journey?.not even a change of clothes?go out there
Mission is directed outward
The mission to proclaim and heal isn?t about church programs?
its about the uncomfortable grappling with overwhelmingly nasty issues like oil spills, environmental change, poverty, health care, immigration and international politics
Jesus, as much as we would like to pretend otherwise, was all about being engaged with his social environment?justice issues, right relationships and interpersonal reconciliation
OK, this even makes me a little shakey in the knees because it is overwhelming?
But this might be why the church (not just our congregation) is in trouble these days: people often see what we do as irrelevant to the problems in the world
It might be why some think of the church as hypocritical
They cry peace, peace?when there is no peace!
The third thing that is really clear in this passage: we are dreadfully unprepared and underequipped for the mission
No staff, no luggage, no food, no money (!!)?nothing but what you are wearing now
Now go into the world?remembering that some people will tell you to scram, get off their lawn, don?t knock on their door, don?t bother them with this religious nonsense!
What do you do then?turn politely about, shake your shoes and go on to the next point of engagement, believing that at some point you can say? ?I told you so??
How can we do this?
Remember: we have Jesus? power, the power of GodSpirit, the authority of the transcendent One, the God of the father?s, the God of history, The CREATOR God?isn?t that sufficient?
When you show up and say: God sent me, his kingdom is coming, let?s be about healing and healthiness?
we have to trust God?s power flowing through us
we have to sense that we have the right, the authority to address and speak competently about the demonic issues of our time?
don?t we?
The passage this morning ends with this statement: ?They departed and went through the villages?bringing good news and curing diseases?
Here we have the challenge to shape and hone and practice our particular mission
As we depart this morning?we go to the villages and towns in which we live and work and play...Somerset and Swansea, Rehoboth and Seekonk, E. Providence and Bristol, Warren and Fall River?
That is where we are to engage the people that we meet
and BE good news
this is not simply about beliveing in Jesus as your personal savior?(limiting???)
This is about a message that GOD is sovereign over all of life, over all of human history, over all the physcial world: God is in charge
Too often we don?t believe that ourselves (because of the clear evidence of the demonic!)
But we have to live and relate to others out of the truth of it
If we don?t, the church withers and dies
and be about healing!
We are not talking only about physical health, the kind of healing that medical doctors and psychiatrists are about?
we are talking about the healing of spirits, of minds and hearts, of human relationships, in families and social organizations,
we are talking about bringing wholeness and health, by living whole and healthy lives, practicing good and honest communications, asking forgiveness and forgiving others
We are talking about bringing reconciliation to relationships torn and damaged by misunderstanding, prejudice and hatred.
While we shall address some of the hows as we continue in the next few weeks to think about the unique mission of our gathering here, we must reclaim our sense of mission or ?
If we learn from this passage, it is to remind us that we have one great resource:
GodSpirit, the Holy Spirit that falls into our minds and hearts and empowers us to be those who claim and proclaim God?s sovereignty over all of life
A faithful resource that transcends the human needs we feel
If we learn from this passage, it is to remind us that the critical field of operations is not here in the sanctuary or in our classrooms
But what happens here is the preparation for what is more importantly happening out there
Here is where we are empowered and sent out as the disciples of Jesus
June 20, 2010
"Spying out the Land"
Joshua 2:1, 22-24
1Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there.
22They departed and went into the hill country and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched all along the way and found nothing. 23Then the two men came down again from the hill country. They crossed over, came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that had happened to them. 24They said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has given all the land into our hands; moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us.”
Imagine
Returning to a land that your ancestors left generations ago
Realizing that it was full of those who were powerful and hostile
Imagine, you feel entitled to that land, that it is yours by right
Imagine, that you have traveled hundreds, even thousands of miles and now you stand on the border…anxious to make your new home…
What do you ?
Do you just go in a build a house?
Do you go in and remind the folks that live their now that it is now their land; they should move out & move on
(remember they are armed, have no memory of you and think the land is theirs!)
What do you do?
Joshua sent a small part to reconnoiter, to spy out the land
Their mission was to collect intelligence, to assess the situation
And return so that the intelligence could be used in a military attack
A campaign to retake the ancestral home
The land promised to the first generations
That now lies tantalizingly at hand
Joshua’s spies sneaked in
They hid themselves in the home of a marginalized person, one who was deemed unimportant in the political process of Canaan
They made an alliance with her, and her family, and beat it aback to tell their commander: “Truly the Lord ahs given all the land into our hands, moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us!”
Even allowing for idealized reporting: this is a pretty bold claim: all the inhabitants will melt in fear”… yea!
As we ponder a renewed sense of our mission, it seemed that this passage was appropriate to charge our thinking, and push us to consider…why we are here, and how do we perceive our future
The model of a military reconiscence mission seems helpful
This tactic was clear in its objectives, balanced in its implementation and critically important to the overall mission of the Israelites
With the information obtained and alliances formed, they attacked Jericho….and the walls came tumbling down.
It seems to me that we are in a very similar position and need a similar recon
Scholars tell us that we live in a “post-Christian” era
While that may seem difficult to believe, the evidence in New England especially in the Baptist world seems to support it (we lost two more denominational jobs in MA this week)
The dominant religious choice Pew researchers have discovered is: none
Theorists describe the productive well being of organizations in two terms
Mission and Maintenance
The mission is the purpose for which the organization exists
A clearly stated and commonly understood mission is critical to get all the operatives within the organzation to work cooperatively
Without a clear mission…the ambiguous fog of indecision begins to deconstruct the organization
The maintenance is the methodology and logistics of supporting the mission
Because maintenance tasks are often clearer, organization can easily spend more time on them, maintaining the organziation instead of obtaining success in the mission
And as the mission becomes more clouded, the maintenance can be seen as disconnected allowing the fervor of the followers to fail
In the period of the settlement of Canaan the Israelite Mission was clear
In the period of the early church: the mission was clear
When John Myles and James Brown and those who founded our congregation were pushed “further into the wilderness,” the mission was clear…to create a community of purified Christians, a living VISIBLE example of how Jesus wanted us to live.
But now?
One thing I am totally convinced of is that a critical part of the reformulation of our mission…is to understand the world in which we live
We need to spy it out, to assess the enemy, to form alliances that will be helpful when we attack
…because I am really certain that no longer will “the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us”
So how do we do that?
First tactic: read…research
Older forms of media:
Written material: Time magazine…
TV…watch the news?
Information barrage:
Google news? Changes come updated every 15 minutes
Pew Research .com
And as you read this stuff, ask the question…what does our church do to attract people from this world…
How attractive are we to those who are persuaded by high tech, glossy media pitches for the consumer good life?
Where are we visible to all of them out there?
Second tactic: target
Who do we think is going to come through those doors on Sunday?
Young people? Old people? Rich people? Poor people?
What demographic do we attract?
Who are we aiming at?
It is often said…if you are not aiming at anything …you won’t hit anything.
Once you have a target…then you can find the right bullet to fire, and then when you pull the trigger…
But underlying these two tactics is a more basic one…
We must assess our own motivations and inspirations
How committed to being the church are we?
If it is not important to us to accomplish a Xn mission…
If it is the case that the “mission” is assigned to others…
If it is the case that the “mission” is low in the priorities of our lives…
If our mission is to be VISIBLE as living community of caring Christians…and our coffee house is that tactic…
…Doris is the example to the Wizard Rocks fans that drove 2 ½ hours to the concert
If the priorities are low, then the mission will fail, and the organization of the church will disappear as the maintenance tasks overwhelm it.
This morning we sang that grand old hymn “Faith of our Father’s”
The images in the lyrics depict a time long ago when the challenges of being a Christian were even more overwhelming than they are now
But it was a time of high spiritual energy…a time of great vision
I wonder, will people a hundred years from now…be writing hymns like that to describe our faith?
It all depends on how we understand our mission, how well we understand the world in which we live, and how willingly we are to commit to the strategies and tactics that will bring success to our mission.
Acts 19:23 and following is the text for next weeks sermonic dialogue
If you could read it and pray over it
…then when talk next week, we can perhaps move closer to understanding what we must do to clarify our mission beyond any nostalgic cliché and begin again to reclaim the land that once we owned.
June 27, 2010
"Neither Temple Robbers, nor blasphemers"
This was a dialogue sermon based on the following background, scripture and questions....
Background:
- Context: Acts is Luke’s second work, an account of what happened with and in the early church after the Ascension. It is addressed to Theophilus (God lover).
- Most of the second half of Acts is the story of Paul’s journey toward Rome, planting and nurturing new congregations across the ancient world. The images of Paul’s journey parallel in power and suffering Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. The message/Good News is spread and the church grows through great effort, through suffering and success.
- Ephesus was a large commercial center with a thriving silver business. Demetrius might represent the “silversmith union” and its concerns. Artemis was the “multi-breasted, bountiful earth mother,” goddess of “banking and protector of debtors.” Her temple was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world and her worship was the syncretism of “idolatrous religious devotion and economic interest.” (W. Willimon)
- Underlying this near riot is an argument between monotheism and polytheism. Judaism & Christianity both challenge the pagan pantheon, especially when one of the gods is concerned with economic interests.
The text: Acts 19:23-41 (NRSV)
23About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. 25These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”
28When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions. 30Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him; 31even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater. 32Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people. 34But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven? 36Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another. 39If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. 40For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
The points for reflection…
Responses to the text...questions…feelings…words/images?
- With whom do we identify in this narrative?
- What happens when there is tension between “real world, economics” and religious values?
- When might Christian preaching cause a riot?
- Was the town clerk’s description of Paul and his companions accurate…were they not temple robbers or blasphemers of Artemis?
- Is there an Artemis in our day, with her worshipers? Might “Wall Street” represent such a faith today?
- Does our religious faith take second place to real world concerns? How might a conversation between concerned Christians and the oil industry parallel this event in Ephesus so long ago?
- What can we learn about the overall Christian mission from this story?
- Have we caused a public “riot” recently? Why not?
- With an understanding of some of the images that we have heard in our sermons this month (empowered witnesses, spies in the land, inciters of riot), how do shape our “mission”?
- What is the next step we might take to move beyond the comfort of our congregation and engage the world around us?
- What must we have in order to move forward?
- What is the consequence of not being missional?
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