Unconfinable God: December 24, 2023

 Year B, Advent 4                       2 Samuel, 7:1-11, 17 & Luke 1:26-38, 46-55

                Being a prophet has got to be a horrible job.  In our Old Testament reading, we hear from the prophet Nathan for the first time.  It’s already clear that he has a rough road ahead of him.  The new king, chosen by God, mentioned to Nathan what seemed like a reasonable idea—the ark of God needed a real home.  King David had this lovely house of cedar (which was very opulent at the time) and the ark of God was sitting in a tent.  I mean, that’s just embarrassing.  Nathan affirmed the idea by saying, “the Lord is with you.”  Don’t forget, God had chosen King David. He had pulled him out of obscurity.  Why wouldn’t Nathan affirm his idea? 

Alas, that was a mistake. On the same day as that conversation with David, the Lord came to Nathan and told him in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want a temple.  The Lord never asked for a temple.  He liked to move among the people.  He didn’t want to be confined.  But then God added later (and this boggles my mind) that while he didn’t want King David to build him one, perhaps the King’s unborn son would build him a temple after King David died.

            Nathan had the rather unfortunate task of telling King David that God didn’t want David building him a house.  Now you might think, well that shouldn’t upset David too much.  It would have been a difficult task with a high price tag.  Why undertake that kind of project if God was happy with his tent?  There might have been some self-interested reasons for King David’s building project.  Building a temple was a sign of great piety and also a way to gain political capital.  Building a fancy temple made the new king appear powerful.  Not only that but the temple guaranteed God’s presence.  And if God was with them, then all things were possible.  The future was limitless.  But…that is not what God wanted.

            That must have been an uncomfortable conversation for Nathan to have with the with the new king.  Fortunately, God provided some good news that would hopefully soften the blow.  God said, don’t worry about making me a house---"the Lord will make you a house.  Your house and your kingdom shall be made forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”  Not only does that display an incredible love for David and his future family, it also shows that God’s house isn’t a place---it’s a family…it’s the people of God. 

            But it’s almost Christmas…why is the priest talking about King David and Nathan when she could be talking about the Angel Gabriel and the Magnificat? Why? Because these stories are all connected.  King David’s son built an incredible temple.  It lasted for over 400 years before it was destroyed by the Babylonians.  After the Babylonians, they built another, less impressive temple, that was still in place when Jesus was alive.  But that was not the home that God chose. 

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of God’s newest home.  This one wasn’t in the Davidic Dynasty (although Joseph was part of the house of David), but this home was in the womb of a young woman.  She didn’t come from royalty.  She had no special status.  In fact, we know almost nothing of Mary…except the most important thing, she was chosen by God. She was considered highly favored---which can also be translated to full of grace.  God chose a young woman, a girl really, to be the newest temple—the newest house of God. 

            Much has been made of the fact that she was young, unwed, and someone who had little money or status.  This choice should not surprise us as it is totally characteristic of God.  When God chose David to be king, he was a shepherd.  God chose him not only to be king, but to be the head of the household of God.  God has always refused to be confined by our expectations.  God defies our expectations. 

Of course Mary’s body was only the home of God for 9 months. After that, Jesus found homes with all kinds of people.  He worshipped in the temple---the official house of God.  He was a regular attendee of the temple.  But he spent most of his time wandering from place to place.  In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  This was not said as a lament.  It was in response to someone who wanted to follow him.  He was saying that the person was welcome to follow him, but there would be no permanent home. Jesus would not be confined.

            Despite the fact that the God we read about in the Old Testament and Jesus refused to be confined, it’s amazing how desperate we are to confine our God. Sometimes it’s to a place, but more often, it’s to our expectations or narrow definitions.  Voltaire once said, “In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since.”  To some extent that’s a natural thing to do.  Most people have limited imaginations and we assumes that others---even the divine---think and work like us.

Fortunately, that’s not true.  The person who did have an imagination was Mary.  In the Magnificat she proclaimed, “He has shown the strength of his arm, he scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.”  Actually, for Mary, it wasn’t so much imagination, it was faith.  She had read the Holy Scriptures.  She knew that God was a God of justice and mercy.  We heard it in our reading from Isaiah last week.  But unlike so many others, she had not relinquished hope.  That was what made her different.  Many people knew the character and love of God, but she understood what that meant for her and her people. 

Often at this time of year, we focus on sweet baby Jesus in the manger.  We talk about the miracle, the angels and the star.  All of those images are important.  But our readings for this morning reminds us to look beyond those more sentimental images and remember that the God we worship is a God who refuses to be confined and who wants to see beyond our limited imaginations.  To dream like the prophets and to read the glorious Magnificat, and wonder what it means for us today. We, the people of God, are called to bring our unconfinable God beyond the church walls, into all parts of our community and world—to be not just a light that shines down on us in this holy day and night, but a light that shines on all, that reaches all people

A piece of the weight of glory: June 6, 2021

(This will be my last post until Aug 16th as I am leaving for sabbatical.)

 Year B Pentecost 2                                                 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1                                                                             

This may shock some of you, but camping is not my thing. I like the idea of camping, but not the actual sleeping on the ground part. I blame my dislike of camping on some early childhood experiences.  You see my family was never big into preparation—like checking weather. One of my earliest memories was when we lived in Belgium.  For some reason we decided to go camping right before a huge storm.  All 6 of us were in one tent, which was not nearly strong enough for the rain and the wind.  My dad and oldest brother held the tent up while the rest of us slept. I was only 4 or 5 at the time and didn’t recognize how hard that must have been for them.  I just remember waking up periodically in the night, seeing them, and having no doubt that we would be safe. 

Photo by Jarhead Core

            Paul used the image of the tent when talking about our earthly existence.  It’s not surprising that he used this image since he was a tent maker.  He was probably intimately aware of the usefulness of a tent, while also mindful of its limitations.  A tent was never meant to be a permanent home, much like our earthly bodies are not meant to be a permanent home.   

In this letter to the Corinthians, Paul was attempting explain to the Corinthians why we can’t use human standards when trying to determine the success of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or our success as disciples. In the first part of the letter, he spent a lot of time defending himself and his suitability as a leader. 

Since his first visit, the people of Corinth had been wooed by false prophets---ones who spoke more articulately, looked more powerful and performed numerous miracles.  These prophets also told the people of Corinth what they wanted to hear. Paul wasn’t impressive in speech or appearance and he never told people what they wanted to hear. It was usually quite the opposite.  Therefore it is understandable that the people of Corinth had wandered off the path.

As a result, Paul had the rather Herculean task of convincing these people that suffering and hardship wasn’t a sign of failure or weakness---it might even indicate you are doing things right.  Suffering was and is inevitable when following a crucified Messiah.

To make his point, Paul contrasted our outer natures and our inner natures.    When Paul referred to our outer nature, it was more than just our bodies.  It’s all that is ephemeral—all that is passing. That includes our bodies, our minds, our social networks, our homes, our victories and our defeats.  It’s everything that is seen.  The inner nature is the new life we experience when we come into a relationship with God. 

We might assume that when Paul refers to our inner nature, he is talking about the afterlife, but that is not the case. He is clearly describing the present when he writes, “Our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”  That inner nature is what gives us the strength to handle what is happening all around us—what is happening to our outer nature.

He then wrote, ^“For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen…” I found myself quite enraptured by the phrase “eternal weight of glory.”  I always associated that phrase with heaven and eternal life.  But if we have an inner nature that is being renewed day by day ---right now, we must therefore have a portion of that weight of glory right now as well.  It’s not the eternal weight of glory, but it is glory none the less. 

But what is the weight of glory? It is the thumb print of God on our souls.  It is the part of us that cannot be touched by all the stuff that life throws at us.  It’s the weight that holds our tent upright.  So even when our tent is falling apart, even when the world seems to be falling apart, we do not lose heart.

As Christians, we live in this in-between place.  We are in a place where our bodies limit us yet our hope remains in that which is limitless.  Right now our bodies are fragile and not meant to last forever.  Most of us have seen evidence of that in our own health.  But it’s not just our bodies that our fragile, it’s our whole world. 

The fragility of our world has been abundantly clear over the last year.  Most of the things that we took for granted were compromised by a virus.  Entire industries and governments were brought to their knees. Even those things we hold sacred, our houses of worship and our families were separated from us. We lost people who were incredibly important to us and some were denied the opportunity to mourn in our Holy spaces.  Yet, we do not lose heart, because we carry (right now) the weight of glory.

That is what Paul had that the false prophets could never convey, a faith that no matter how bad things get, pain and suffering never has the final word, not when you are grounded by the weight of glory.

We have a tradition at the Annual Council of our diocese where we read memorials for people who have died who were active in the diocese, whether as clergy or lay people.  After the names and stories were read, we would have a moment of silence and then our previous bishop would say, “May they rise in glory.” I always liked that phrase.  It sounds triumphant. Here on earth the weight of glory steadies us.  It gives us a strength that only God can give.  But when we die, then that glory allows us to rise into a new life with Christ. 

As Christians, we are in an in-between place and sometimes that feels precarious and exhausting.  Yet God doesn’t abandon us in this in between world.  He gives us something, something that never decays, never wastes away.  He gives us an inner nature that is being renewed day by day and a weight of glory that holds us up so we can stand against even the greatest and most unexpected storms.  Today, may we all stand with the weight of glory holding us up.  One day, may we all rise with the eternal glory of Christ.