Religion and Politics: October 18, 2020

 Matthew 22: 15-22                                                              October 18, 2020

        At some point in 9^th or 10^th grade, I became obsessed with politics.  I think it was the presidential election that got me interested and maybe living in Northern Virginia, which was so close to Washington DC. I remained obsessed all the way through high school and majored in political science. My honors thesis senior year was on religion and politics. For a long time I have been fascinated by the intersection of religion and politics. One of the things that drew me to the Episcopal Church is the way that it’s governed.  The structure of the Episcopal Church was created at the same time as the structure of the United States government.  It was even created by the same people in the same city.  You will have to take the Episcopal 101 class to learn more, but there are some considerable parallels.          

Despite all of that, I have always been wary of getting too close to politics especially in the pulpit.  I preach the Bible and how it applies to our lives.  Sometimes there is some overlap, but I will never tell you how to vote or what I think of our current tax structure. Yet, I believe that Jesus was willing to confront the political and religious leadership of the day.  Since he was God, he had the right to do that as he had the absolute moral authority.  He deserved that right.

This Gospel reading is a familiar one. People like to depict it as Jesus’ definitive stance on the separation of church and state—as if Jesus had a political platform and this was part of it.  “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  The popular interpretation is that Jesus was telling people that there are two spheres with a clear wall in-between them--religion and the government. 

            There are a few problems with this interpretation.  First of all, we cannot compare the political environment of Jesus’ day to ours today…and thank goodness for that.  We live in a democracy, an imperfect democracy, but a democracy none the less.  Jesus was a Jew living in an occupied territory.  Israel was under the control of the Roman Empire. Because they were a people in an occupied territory, they had no rights.  They didn’t get a vote on who their leader was.  Even the Roman citizens didn’t get to choose their leader. They had an emperor—not an elected official. To complicate matters further, the Roman emperor considered himself a god and demanded the devotion of a god. There was no separation of religion and government.  That is impossible when the leader of the government portrays himself as a god. This put the Jews in a very difficult situation because the first commandment is to worship no other god but the one true God. 

            The Romans, while not known for their overall sensitivity, were fairly tolerant of other religions. They knew that the Jewish people would never worship another god.  The Jews would revolt before they did that.  The Romans were able to keep some modicum of peace by not forcing the Jews to worship the emperor.  But they did make them pay a tax…lots of taxes.  Those taxes were controversial because they actually supported the Roman occupation of Israel. The Jewish people were paying to be subjugated.  

In our story for today, there were two groups who came together to challenge Jesus.  We don’t know much about the Herodians.  There is only one other reference to them in the Bible.  People have assumed they were supporters of Herod who represented the Roman leadership. If that was the case, it was odd that they were teaming up with the Pharisees in trying to trap Jesus.  The Pharisees didn’t usually associate with Herod’s people. It just goes to show you how threatening Jesus was to every power structure that existed at the time. 

            They thought that they had the perfect question to trap Jesus. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?” If Jesus answered the question in a way that indicated that he supported the tax, he would alienate his Jewish followers.  If he said that they shouldn’t pay the tax, he could be accused of rebelling against Rome.  Instead of answering whether it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, he asked for the coin…the coin that would be used to pay this particular tax.  He did not have the coin.  The people asking the question did.  That is an important detail to note.

wikipedia commons

            They brought him a denarius.  We know what was on that coin because archaeologists have found examples.  It had a picture of the emperor with the inscription: “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus Pontifex Maximus.”  Augustus was a smart man and a very effective emperor.  When he took power, he made himself not only political leader, but a religious one as well.  When he died, he was a declared a god, making his son, the son of god.  It was his son’s picture on the coin.  Even possessing this coin was considered idolatry in the Jewish faith.  It broke the first commandment. The Pharisees should not have even had the coin, but they did.  When Jesus asked for the coin, he was proving that he was not complicit with the Roman government, they were…especially if they were allying themselves with the Herodians. It was a brilliant way to point out their hypocrisy.

            Jesus’ answer to the question wasn’t clear.  I am not sure he meant it to be.  “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God, the things that are God’s.”  Jesus paid his taxes.  We know that from chapter 17 of Matthew.  We also know it because otherwise he would have been arrested a lot earlier.  It would have been impossible to remain in a land occupied by Rome and not pay taxes.  That doesn’t mean Jesus respected the emperor or agreed with the tax. He just knew that was what he had to do.  The more important part of this response from Jesus is the 2^nd half, the half people don’t quote nearly as often.  “Give  to God, the things that are God’s.” We know (in theory) that everything is God’s.  Everything in creation is God’s.  This isn’t Jesus demarcating a separation between God and the government.  Everything is God’s.  Caesar can have his coins, but that’s because God is allowing it.  God doesn’t want part of our love and commitment.  He wants all of it—not just the change in our pockets.

            One commentator summed it up like this, “Live with the emperor but live for God.”[1]  We live with and within the government.  We might ally ourselves with a political party or a certain leader, but that is not our identity---that is not the heart of who we are.  Our heart is with Jesus, the one true God. We can never stop living for God, because then we lose ourselves. 

When we say that God doesn’t have a place in our government or that our faith and our politics can never touch, then I fear that we are missing the bigger picture.  God has no interest in a portion of our loyalty.  He wants all of it and he wants all of us.  Politics is occupying  large part of our attention these days.  Can you imagine if we spent as much time worshipping and serving God as we do complaining about politics? Try it. Just for a day.  Then maybe we will understand what it means to “Live with the emperor but live for God.”

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[1] http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?m=4377&post=5458

Rejoice? Peace? Really?: October 11, 2020

 Year A, Pentecost 19                                                              Philippians 4:1-9                                          

            “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice…The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything…”  When I read this, my gut reaction was, “Whatever Paul, you aren’t experiencing 2020.”  I am not proud of that, but I doubt I am the only one who had that reaction.  That said, Paul would never be confused for a Pollyanna.  As I mentioned in my last sermon, everything was urgent and of the utmost importance because all things circled back to Jesus Christ crucified for us.  While 2020 has been a rough year, I haven’t been beaten, shipwrecked, or imprisoned….not once.  Any of you?  But Paul experienced all of that after he became a disciple of Christ.  He experienced each of those things multiple times. He was writing this letter to the Philippians from prison.  Therefore, for him to be able to advise people to “Rejoice in the Lord always…” is rather astounding.

            If you look at the word “rejoice” in Greek, which is the language most of the New Testament was originally written in, you will find it is in the plural form.  He isn’t telling individuals to rejoice because their individual lives are joyful.  He is referring to the collective act of rejoicing.  It’s not a personal state of being, but a communal experience.  This communal joy doesn’t even come from communal good fortune, it comes because of the faith of the community. This is interesting given that it comes right after he has urged Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind.  Given that message and the reference to dissension in previous chapters, there is a clearly some division in the community.  It is a concern for Paul, but also an opportunity to a deeper experience of community.   

When he tells these two women to be of the same mind, he isn’t telling them that they need to agree on everything.  We all know that it is impossible.  He is reminding them of what they do agree on.  Right after he tells them to be of the same mind, he reminds them and the community that they have struggled beside him in the work of the Gospel.  Whatever their differences are, they believe in the same Gospel, the same Jesus Christ.  Not only that, but they have given their lives to proclaiming the Gospel, even though it is a struggle.  If they can do that, then they can get past these differences. 

I think the only thing harder than rejoicing in the time of COVID is Paul’ next request: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.”  Do not worry about anything—except a pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, murder hornets, a national recession, racial tension and an election more divisive than any other in recent history. Other than that, it’s smooth sailing.  It’s so annoying when people tell you not to worry because it feels as though they are downplaying a concern of yours, one that they probably don’t understand. The other thing that irritates me about Paul’s advice, is that he doesn’t seem to be able to follow it. Earlier in this very same letter to the Philippians, he said that he was sending his co-worker and minister so that he (Paul) would be less anxious.  But remember, for Paul, it was always about the other.  He was worried for them, God’s people, not about his own life.  He wasn’t stewing about when he would get out of prison or if he would get out of prison.  He was worried for this new Christian community.  So he sent his colleague, a fellow Christian who would carry the Gospel, which would in turn alleviate Paul’s worry.

Paul didn’t deny that there were things to be anxious about, he just didn’t want people to dwell on it.  He didn’t sit there in prison worrying about his friends.  He sent someone, someone he knew would help them and thus alleviate his anxiety and theirs.  “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  For Paul, as long as the relationship between Christians was strong, as long as the relationship to God was strong, then anxiety would never prevail.  It would never be the all-encompassing emotion it can be so often.

The following verse is my favorite part of his letter…the part that comforts me every time I hear it---the part I don’t feel the need to argue with. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” We could try to do all the right things, follow all Paul’s advice and every single commandment.  And things could still unravel around us.  There is so much in our lives we cannot possibly control.

Yet God’s peace operates beyond our daily life.  We often hear people refer to inner peace.  I think that’s because people want to hold on to it and claim it as their own.  They want it to be something that they can attain.  God’s peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding is bigger and  bolder than whatever peace we think we can attain and grasp by ourselves.

Paul says that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. I love that image. I have never thought much about it until I read a commentary explaining it this week.  It said that the literal translation is “The peace of God will stand sentry over your hearts and minds.”  I read that as I sat on my deck, ½ mile from Norfolk Naval Base as planes flew over my house, so close the pictures hung on my wall are always a little slanted because of the vibrations. I feel safer when I hear those planes and helicopters, knowing that such strength and power is so close and omnipresent.  I wish that I, like Paul, felt God’s peace as strongly as I feel the planes that fly overhead.  I don’t now, but I believe I can one day, I will one day.  That feels more attainable than never worrying or always being happy. The thing about God’s peace is that like so many things Paul discusses, it is best experienced communally.  God’s peace doesn’t just guard us…it guards everyone. If we can accept that, then we will know that God’s peace isn’t simply guarding us, it is enfolding us.

REMEMBER THE BIG PICTURE: September 27, 2020

Year A, Pentecost                                                                               
Philippians 2:1-13                                                                           

                                                                             

           The Apostle Paul was in intense man. He was not the kind of person you wanted to bring over for dinner for casual and enjoyable conversation.  Sometimes I like to imagine what he would have been like in an age of e-mail and text.  There probably would have been a lot of ALL CAPS, and cross emoji✞✞✞✞✞✞✞✞✞. For Paul, everything was urgent and significant. Most points that he made eventually came back to the cross. 

 Paul was most likely writing to the Philippians during one of his imprisonments in Rome. He knew the community he was writing to and was obviously fond of them. He had been to visit them before and was hoping to return. It doesn’t appear that they had any major issues like other communities Paul wrote to.  He commends them for their obedience.  But they weren’t perfect. There was clearly some dissension in the group.  There is evidence of that in our reading for today.  Paul is even more explicit in the 4^th and final chapter of this letter when he mentioned two women and encouraged them to “come to an agreement in the Lord.”  Paul was incredibly concerned about the unity of the Christian community.  We see that theme over and over in his letters.  He didn’t need everyone to agree all the time, but he wanted people to care for one another and live alongside one another, even when they were disagreeing.

In our reading for today, it’s not clear what the dissension is. He says, “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.”  He goes on to talk about the importance of considering the interests of the other above your own interests.  This has come up a lot lately in our readings from Paul.  For him, it was always about the other, never about the self.  That was something he was continually preaching.

That’s a tough pill to swallow because it is contrary to everything we experience in this day and age.  I mean, most of us walk around glued to a device called an “iphone.”  However, we know from reading Paul’s letters that even before Apple products, people were preoccupied with themselves.  Otherwise, Paul would not have had to talk about putting the needs of the other above your own as much as he did. 

What makes this text distinct from the ones we have been reading over the past few months is verses 6-11.  They are familiar verses because we hear them every Palm Sunday.  “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself…he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death---even death on the cross.”  This is often referred to as a Christological hymn, which means it was essentially a statement of belief about who Jesus was.  It’s an interesting thing to put in the middle of a letter—it almost seems out of place.

But that is the beauty of Paul.  Paul felt that every problem, every disagreement could be solved by knowing Jesus and knowing the sacrifice that Jesus made for God’s people.  You don’t agree on what traditions to follow in this new community, remember that Jesus died for you.  You are having some leadership disputes, remember that Jesus was a born a human and died a horrible death, for you.  It almost seems a little manipulative, as if nothing we face compares to Jesus’ sacrifice.

It was more than that for Paul.  For Paul, every issue was theological. In other words, it always came back to Jesus Christ—but not just the name of Jesus, but who he was and what he did.  How can we squabble about who gets to make decisions or be in charge when Jesus (God in the flesh) agreed to come down to the earth, be born in a barn, live like one of us, then be betrayed, denied and ultimately killed by humans who he was trying to save.  He truly emptied himself of privilege and to some degree power by living with us on earth.  So when Paul says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” he is talking about embodying Christ by emptying ourselves from selfish ambition.  It’s the opposite for being full of oneself. 

            Apparently there has been significant debate about what Paul really meant when he said, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”  Was he saying that we have to follow his example, perhaps even make the same kind of sacrifice?  I think it is more than that---because it is so easy ignore that.  Who wants to follow Jesus’ example of death on the cross? It’s impossible.  If that is what we have to do, it’s tempting just to give up.

 What if Paul was talking about something deeper…the idea of being in Christ.   It comes back to the mission statement of St. John’s: “To live in the Spirit of Christ.” That is more than following an example.  It is living the Christian life knowing deep down what Jesus did for us.  It is being transformed by that understanding of radical love and acceptance. 

Jesus is not a role model to follow.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  Often times when I am facing a difficult decision, I start combing through the Bible, hoping I can find the verse to convince myself and ultimately everyone else.  But you know what, that almost never works.  What might be more effective is too back up and look at the big picture like Paul does.  Don’t ask what would Jesus do.  Ask: What does a person transformed by Jesus’ sacrificial love do?

Throughout our Sunday morning liturgies and virtually every other liturgy of the church, we have reminders of who God is and what has done for us.  If you just look at the Eucharistic Prayer, it is full of prayers to remind us of who Jesus is and what he did for us. What if we extended that idea beyond Sunday morning and found a way to remind ourselves of the way and the truth and the life, every day. The last verse of our reading reminds us that God is at work in us, enabling us to do God’s will.  God is at work in us---- but we also need to make space, empty ourselves so God can do that work.  We need to remind ourselves of the sacrificial love that God poured out for us, his children. 

In a time of our lives where everything is different—nothing goes according to plan—hold fast to Jesus Christ.  Perhaps find a Christological hymn for yourself, something you keep coming back to.  It could be the one we had in our reading for today.  It could be “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again” from our Eucharistic prayer.   Write it down, put it on your iphone as a daily reminder. Embrace it as the part of our world that doesn’t change, that remains true and holy.  Embrace God as not simply part of the world, but a part of who you are, the best part.  Don’t let anyone or anything take that part away from you.  God is bigger than any disagreement or conflict the world will ever see, as long as we give him the space.

For the Good of the Whole: Sept 13, 2020

Year A, Pentecost 15                                                            Romans 14:1-12                                                                                    

           If you had asked me one year ago, if I would ever use this tacky gadget to distribute communion, I would have told you, “Absolutely not.”  If you would have told me a year ago that we would go 7 months without receiving communion, I would have declared you to be slightly insane and definitely not Episcopalian.  If I knew there would be no congregational singing, I would have started predicting the apocalypse.  Every business, family, group, school, has seen such changes in the last 7 months—changes they never imagined they would have had to make.  When you compare the changes the church has made to the rest of the world, they don’t seem very radical.  But all of us here know that the church has never had an easy time with change. While all of this change has been unsettling to say the least, the experience has also helped us determine what is truly important in the church, in our faith and in our lives.

            The church has not always succeeded in seeing the bigger picture.  Like humans everywhere, we get bogged down by the details. Since Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the church has been led by humans…well meaning humans, but imperfect.  We are also different from one another. God created us to be so.  It makes life beautiful and interesting; it also makes it a challenge to live in community. It comforts me to know that even Paul and the earliest Christians struggled with coming to terms with their differences and how to manage in a new community, based not on ethnicity or social class, but belief in Jesus Christ.

            Much like the Christian Church today, the church in Rome was a mishmash of people.  There were the Jewish converts who were holding onto to the traditions of the Jewish faith. There were the pagan converts who were trying hard to let go of their old ways.  There were people like Paul, who had grown up Jewish, but were ready to follow the new covenant that Jesus had established. These people were not as worried about following all the rules they once followed.  They had found a new way to be, a new way to worship.  All of these people from different backgrounds and faiths were trying to live and worship in one community that had little structure and no tradition to fall back on in times of uncertainty. 

            In his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of the weak and the strong.  As a vegetarian, I have to admit, I don’t appreciate Paul’s comment on the weak eating only vegetables.  However, he wasn’t talking about vegetarianism. The reason these people were eating only vegetables was because they were worried about how the animals were slaughtered.  The people who were pagan converts did not feel comfortable eating an animal that might have been sacrificed in a pagan ceremony.  On the other side, the Jewish converts were concerned about keeping the dietary laws of the Torah.  Just because they believed in Jesus now did not mean they were willing to throw out all the laws that were given by God to the Hebrew people.

 Both of these groups had religious reason for avoiding meat. The reason these vegetable eaters were being labeled “weak” was because they were unwilling to move away from these old rules.  They were worried about the letter of the law, but not the purpose.  It is easier to obsess about superficial things, like what we eat and drink, then who we love, and how we show that love.  What was interesting is that while Paul associated with the strong, he told those who were strong to make compromises (like avoiding meat) so that the faith of the weak would not be shaken.  For him, it was worth making small sacrifices for the sake of the other.

            For a very long time in the church, we have been arguing about things that some might consider are on the periphery of our faith.  Easy examples would be things like the color carpet we are  using or whether we demand that ushers wear a coat and tie, or whether we kneel or stand at certain times of the service, or even if we have communion wine in the midst of a pandemic. I think we can agree that those things are not critical to the faith.  But the problem is that we cannot always agree on what is and is not critical to the faith.  Something I might consider periphery, you might consider incredibly important.  If you read Paul’s letters, you will see the areas that he considers critical to the faith.  There are also some things (like what we eat and drink) that Paul determines are not critical to the faith.  One thing that is consistent for Paul is the importance of caring for the community and for our neighbors.  Paul’s concern is not for the self, but for the other. 

            Over the course of this pandemic, many of us have realized how important community is.  We have realized it because we have missed it and yearned for it.  We have also yearned for the sacraments in the context of the community. The one thing we have never lost during this pandemic is Holy Scripture.  This experience has given me a greater appreciation for scripture, but it has also reminded me of how hard it is to apply scripture to our daily life.  How do we use it to consider present day issues? In many ways, that was what Paul was struggling with, how to apply the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) to disagreements in the new Christian community. 

            A year or so ago we used a book in Christian formation called “Making sense of the Bible.” The author used a really helpful analogy in how we determine what is and what isn’t critical to our faith. He said that the Great Commandment (which is “You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”) is like a colander. You put all the other verses of the Bible through that colander.  If the verses aren’t consistent with Jesus’ Great Commandment, then they drain through.  What remains is what is critical to our faith.[1] For example, verses about slaves being obedient to their master would filter through.  Verses about parents beating their children would filter through. Verses about women covering their heads in worship would filter through.  It doesn’t mean we erase these verses from the Bible.  It just means we don’t use them to defend our actions, because they are not consistent with the Great Commandment.

            This analogy made a lot of sense to me and it is also consistent with what Paul said in his letter to the Romans. I am sure we could still find things we disagree about in terms of what does and doesn’t filter through the colander, but it provides a helpful baseline, unless we are talking about carpets, in which case we can just be grateful we don’t have a carpet in the church.  One thing I think we can all agree on is what Paul says about the danger of judging one another: “Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.  And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.” We will disagree at times.  Sometimes we will have to make compromises that seem anathema to us.  The way we stay together through whatever may come is to try desperately not to judge one another.  Remember that in the end, we all fall short of the glory of God, it is only God’s grace that allows us to stand. 

 

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[1] Hamilton, Adam. Making Sense of the Bible. Page 176.

Genuine Love: August 30, 2020

Year A, Pentecost 13                                                     Romans 12:9-21      

              When I was in 10^th grade, I decided to take on a new discipline for Lent. My plan was to go out of my way to show kindness to someone who I felt had wronged me.  This started as a genuine attempt to follow Jesus’ and Paul’s words regarding love for our enemy.  But here is where I went wrong, I told a number of people what I was doing.  So everyone knew that the person who I made cookies for was someone who had really ticked me off.  And it went as far as to make the recipient of my kindness a little paranoid.  I will be honest with you, at the time, it was extraordinarily gratifying.  I was doing the Christian thing while also delivering a clear rebuke to my enemy.  In the back of my head, I had some doubts that what I was doing was the Christian thing because I was pretty sure (even at the age of 15) that loving my enemy wasn’t supposed to feel this good.  That knowledge did not change my actions.  Now, I know I was doing exactly the opposite of what the apostle Paul was telling people.  He wrote, “Let love be genuine…”  There was nothing genuine about that display of love.

            But in my defense…what makes love genuine anyways? I mean, that can be hard to decipher. Well, not really…not if you actually read the rest of this chapter from Romans.  There is lot of explanation in these 11 verses.  I could preach a sermon for every verse, but I am only going to reference the ones that help define genuine love.  “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.”  Those first few exhortations seem like they should be easy.  Rejoice with those who rejoice.  That’s easy if it’s a birthday or an anniversary.  But what if someone is rejoicing over a new job, a job that you wanted…or a promotion, a promotion you will never receive. Or…the election of a candidate you don’t support. The same year (in 10^th grade) when I had that Lenten practice, I wore black for a week when the candidate I supported didn’t win. I was that mad and I wanted everyone to know it.  Therefore, I am well aware of how hard it can be to rejoice when you don’t feel like rejoicing.

            That brings me to the next part of genuine love—humility.  “Do not claim to be wiser than you are.”  Have you ever noticed that the truly wise people are those with the most humility, the people most willing to admit that they’ve been wrong a lot and probably will be wrong more in the future? They are not the overly confident know it alls.  They are the people willing to listen.  And man is that hard in an election year when so many of us know exactly how right we are, and how clearly wrong the opposition is.  If we can love people, even when we disagree with them fiercely, then we know we have found genuine love.  And I don’t mean the kind of love where we say, “I love them but I can’t stand to be in their presence right now.”  Nope.  I am pretty sure that doesn’t count. 

            Now, it’s ok if you aren’t there right now.  Paul never said this was easy. You might need to take baby steps toward that genuine love. You might even have to say, I might not get there in this election cycle.  But there is a clear beginning in the path toward humility---that is to admit that we don’t know as much as God.  Start there. It seems obvious, but I think we forget that a lot. 

            “Do not repay evil with evil.”  This is tricky, because so far we have been talking about how to genuinely love people who we already love or have some affection for.  But this is Paul assuming that we are not just talking about people we already have a good relationship with, but people who we don’t even like...people who may not necessarily be evil, but do evil things.  Paul is saying that if our love for God is genuine, then we won’t respond to evil with more evil.     That almost seems like we are being asked too much---few people can be that selfless.  Yet a few verses later, Paul returns to this idea. He closes with, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  When we respond to evil with more evil, we are not merely hurting the other person, we are hurting ourselves. Someone once said that “Resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die.”  We could say the same of repaying evil with more evil.   If we are repaying evil, it means that we are carrying it around in our soul, and that is a dangerous place for evil to reside. 

            There is a specific line in this reading that is rather confusing.  Paul writes, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”  When I first read this, I thought this was Paul’s humanity coming out a little---that he was saying, “If you show goodness, don’t worry, your enemies will get what is coming to them.”  But that interpretation probably said more about me than Paul.  One commentator suggested that a better interpretation is that genuine love and action has the potential to bring about repentance in your enemy.  Repentance is often associated with the refiner’s fire.  It is not a fire that burns to punish.  It burns to purify.   Good deeds, genuine love---can burn away the heat of the enemy.[1]         

     

       Let us love our enemies not because they deserve to be loved, not because they have earned our love, but because God has taught us that this is the only way to overcome evil.  It is the only way to defeat the darkness that surrounds us.  It is the only way to heal the fissures in our hearts and souls.  It is not merely about treating others better, but it is the path to redeeming ourselves.  Genuine love isn’t only about how we love others, it’s how we love ourselves and more importantly, how we love God. 

            Paul was particularly sensitive to the need to love the enemy, love those who persecute you, because he had been a persecutor of Christians. He had been the enemy.  Then God showed him love and Christians gave him the chance that he didn’t deserve.  He was redeemed as a result of that love.  While I don’t think any of us persecuted Christians like Paul did, most of us have embodied the enemy at one point in our lives.  But the amazing thing about our faith and God’s love for us is that we never stay the enemy for long.  Redemption is as close to us as the words in our mouth are to our heart.  Let love be genuine, because that that is the love that will not merely hold the darkness at bay, it will defeat the darkness. 

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[1] Achtemeier, Paul. Interpretation Commentary on Romans, page 201.

Photo by Mel Elías on Unsplash

Happily Ever After: 1 Kings 3:5-12

Year A, Pentecost 8                                               July 26, 2020

 Early in the quarantine, we purchased Disney Plus.  Every Friday night is movie night and Joshua gets to pick out the movie.  Early on, he got obsessed with Peter Pan and we watched every iteration of Peter Pan you can imagine. I finally got him to watch Aladdin recently.  If you haven’t seen it, Aladdin is a poor young man who falls in love with a princess, but can’t marry her because he isn’t a prince.  Then he finds this lamp with a genie and gets to make a wish…any wish. He of course wishes to be a prince so that he can marry the princess.  Of course, that is not the end of the story, but you get the idea. 

 There is no genie in any of our readings for today, but God poses a genie like question to King Solomon in our Old Testament reading.  God comes to King Solomon in a dream and says, “Ask what I should give you.” It sounds too good to be true.  It must be a trick question.  God doesn’t usually give people this option.  It’s usually him deciding what we need or us asking for something and waiting for an answer.

            King Solomon doesn’t seem surprised by the question, maybe because it was a dream. Whenever a weird thing happens in a dream, it always seems totally logical.  Solomon started by praising God for his love and the way he treated his father, King David.  He praised God for keeping his promise to David and allowing Solomon, his son, to take the throne.  Then Solomon admitted that he was inexperienced and didn’t know very much—but he was given this big and important job.  It’s a nice little speech, especially for a dream. It almost sounds like he is buttering God up, preparing for a really big and outlandish request.  But then he comes out with this, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”  It’s not just wise, it’s also an extraordinary display of humility.

When most people tell the story of King Solomon and this request, they say that he asked for wisdom.  However a better translation of the Hebrew is “a listening heart.” He asked for a listening heart. He could have asked for anything: long life, a strong nation, vanquishing enemies, wealth…..  But no, he wanted a listening heart, so he could govern God’s people and know the difference between good and evil.  That is amazing, especially given the fact that he was probably 15 or 20 years old at the time.  How many of you would ask for a listening heart?  You get one request (not 3 like you would a genie).  Would you ask for that? I don’t think I would…maybe if I had just preached on this text, but otherwise, probably not.

Yet when I think about it, that would be really helpful. Having an understanding mind or a listening heart means that you are open to God’s divine direction.  There have been so many times in my life when if I just listened to God the first time, things would have gone so much more smoothly.  And if I had this wisdom, I would never be indecisive.  Every decision would be clear…at least that is the Disney version of wisdom.  I think in reality, it’s probably a little more complicated.

            We get a little more elaboration on this request when God reflects the question back to Solomon.  He is of course delighted that Solomon didn’t ask for success or wealth.  God responded, “but you have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right…” That is actually slightly different than what Solomon asked for.  If you go back to the Hebrew, you will find that the word God used---is justice.  God said, “You have asked to hear justice.”   I wonder if Solomon got a little more than he bargained for.  Wisdom is one thing.  Hearing justice, acting justly, is quite another.  It’s one thing to be a person who can dispense wisdom.  It is quite another to be a person who can hear the cries of the oppressed, hear the cries of the people who are being denied justice and then act on their behalf.  That is what God wanted of King Solomon; that is what he wanted of every ruler.  Think about it, if you could just pick one description of your perfect leader---what would be better than someone who hears justice, God’s justice?

            That was God’s gift to Solomon.  Solomon didn’t earn this from years doing the job.  It was a gift. Most of us do not have a direct line to God’s justice, although I think there are some who think they do.  But honestly, I am not sure any of us really wants that, because that would be a hard life. God’s justice is rarely the popular option.  It is not determined by public opinion polls.  Even King Solomon, who was given this amazing gift, ended up chasing false idols.  Even he failed to live up to God’s view of justice. 

Maybe until we are strong enough to be the hearers and carriers of God’s justice, perhaps we can go with that first request that King Solomon made, having a listening heart.  That means that we truly listen to God, which isn’t east.  Sometimes it is hard to determine if it’s God talking, or me just talking to myself. One way I have discerned God’s voice from my own is that if it’s easy, it’s probably me talking.  A good step toward a listening heart, is to listen to one another---specifically to those who disagree with you, or who you disagree with. 

Thankfully, there is no shortage of topics out there that people are disagreeing about right now.  Masks, schools opening, the protests, the upcoming elections, confederate monuments and memorials…just to name a few.  Or if you are not ready to wade into that rather choppy water, watch a different news station than normal.  If you usually watch Fox News, watch CNN---for a whole week! If you are devoted to the New York Times, read the National Review….for a whole week!  It sounds like a small thing, but it’s a start.   When God created us, he didn’t use a mold.  God’s intention was never for us to think exactly alike.  It seems to me, that the more children of God we listen to, the better we can listen to God, the better we can hear God’s justice.

I have enjoyed watching most of the Disney movies. It’s been a good escape and I think we have all needed a little escapism lately.  Yet I often find myself dreading the time when Joshua learns that the world is nothing like Disney.  It’s not always Happily Ever After.  Yet as Paul reminds us, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  That is one thing we have in common at St. John’s.  We all love God.  We want to work for his purpose.  So let’s listen to one another---because that will enable us to do the work God wants us to do.  There is a happily ever.  It’s not Disney.  It’s what Paul tells us, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…. nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Living in the Spirit: Romans 8:1-11

Year A, Pentecost 6                                           

Romans 8:1-1                                                                                                             

            There has probably never been a time when people have not attempted to shame one another.  But in the age where almost every cell phone has the capability to take pictures and video, I fear that our shame culture has gotten a little out of control.  To be honest, I am conflicted.  There are many times when posting a video of an incident can get a lot of attention and hold people accountable who wouldn’t otherwise be held accountable.  A good example of this is the murder of George Floyd.  However lately, it seems that people are posting every horrible thing that people say and virtually demanding shame.  While some of the things I have seen and heard have been truly horrible, the reactions have been equally if not more horrible.  It is not unusual for these people who are called out on the internet to get death threats, to lose their job, to be kicked out of their home.  Many of these people are condemned before they can defend themselves. 

And what does that accomplish?  Do we think that people will have a change of heart once publicly shamed?  Many of these people apologize, but those apologies are perceived as insincere, which they probably are.  Because shame doesn’t typically lead to a change of heart. Sometimes it leads to a change in action, but rarely a change of heart.  The problem with this shame culture is people who are well intentioned are wary of saying anything that might be criticized.  That also makes it difficult for people to have honest conversations, which is what we need if we really want to change hearts.

Photo by Zulmaury Saavedra

            When Paul said, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” he wasn’t just talking about social shaming. He was talking about something much deeper.  He was talking about being condemned by sin—which means you are punished for your sin.  Your sin, your guilt never leaves you.   When Paul says, “There is no condemnation…” ---it doesn’t mean that you are incapable of sin, or even guilt.  It means that you are free from the punishment that comes as a result of that sin. 

For a long time, God’s people believed that the only remedy for sin was the law of the Hebrew Scriptures. The law didn’t prevent sin, it controlled it.   While that was effective in some ways, according to Paul, it never freed people from the bondage of sin.  It was Jesus’ life, death and resurrection that provided that freedom.  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  He goes on to say, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  There is a new law and it isn’t really a law, it’s the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

            Paul believed that there were two realities, two worlds to which humanity can belong.  There was what he called “the flesh.”  In this passage flesh didn’t refer to the body.  It referred to the world of sin and death.  Then there is the Spirit, that is the world of life, life in Christ.[1] Now, it seems like an easy choice. Why would anyone choose sin and death when you can have life with Christ?  Why?  Because if we were living in Christ, then we could not shame people on the internet. We would not be able to buy loads and loads of toilet paper without considering others who might need it.  We would not be able to see injustice without acting.  Freedom in Christ doesn’t just mean freedom from sin and death.  It means freedom from self-interest, self-loathing and smug judgment of others.  Sometimes it seems easier just to be shackled to sin.

            Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live without fear of condemnation.  It doesn’t mean that you don’t sin.  It means that when you sin, you repent and you move on.  Now that still means you have to confess the sin and repent, but then you move on.  Nothing that you have done or said keeps you up at night.  Nothing that someone else does or says keeps you up at night because you are free from human condemnation.  You live in Christ Jesus.  While that might not be an easy place to live, it’s a place where you never doubt your worthiness.  You never doubt that you are loved.  And when it comes right down to it, isn’t that what we all need the most, to know we are loved and to know we are worthy of that love? 

            Often, the reason people shame others…the reason we find ourselves gawking at that shameful behavior is because it makes us feel better about ourselves.  I mean, hey I have said some stupid things, but I never said that.  Yet if we know that we are worthy and that we are loved—that unlike the internet where every wrong doing is cataloged and remains forever—that our sins are forgiven---then maybe we would not have to judge and shame others.

            If you look at the front of our service leaflet, you will see that our mission statement is to live in the Spirit of Christ.  I have often looked at that and tried to discern what that actually means for the people of St. John’s.  Paul would tell us that it means that sin is no longer our master, we live without fear of condemnation.  Our unofficial motto at St. John’s is “Fighten sin since 1610.”   Someone told me that they had shared that with an acquaintance and the response was, “Well you’re not doing a very good job.” The person was not attacking St. John’s, just pointing out that sin is still prevalent in our world.  And let’s face it, Christians have not done a great job fighting sin.  Christians used the Bible to support the crusades, the inquisition, the slave trade, Nazi Germany…just to name a few.  Not only have we not always fought sin, we have been the sinners.   

While I like the way, “Fighten sin” sounds, I think we have to admit it’s a losing battle.  However, that doesn’t mean we are defeated, not if we live in the Spirit of Christ.  If we live in the Spirit of Christ, even when we sin, we are still free.  We are not condemned by our sin or the sins of those who went before us.  We are not condemned by the fact that we have not effectively fought sin.  As Christians, I am not sure our job is to fight sin as much it is to resist it and then forgive it.  Jesus already fought sin and won.  Now it is our job to live in the Spirit of Christ.  That doesn’t mean we deny the sin that we as Christians have committed, but it also means we are not defined by it.  While I will still proudly wear my fighten sin baseball hat on my head, in my heart, I will be living in the Spirit of Christ---where there is no condemnation. There is love, truth, and forgiveness.

           

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[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4499