This Sunday is the first Sunday of the Advent season. Just in case you don’t know, I celebrate Christmas. From the first Sunday of Advent till midnight of Christmas day, I sing carols, I buy presents, I watch Its a Wonderful Life, and I read Charles Dickens’ Christmas carol.
It is, quite simply, my favorite time of the year. I realize that some Christians are too 'spiritual' to celebrate Christmas. They think that we somehow offend the Holy Spirit if we get a lump in our throat about a Virgin Mother, three wise men, and shepherds.
I have never understood that attitude. It seems to me that this world is full of such sorrow, such poverty of spirit; that it offers so few times of wonder and delight – I can’t see why this season, which makes peoples’ eyes sparkle, and moves strangers to take an extra moment for a kind word, would offend Christian people. But some Christians are nonetheless offended. They are as offended at Christmas as the American Civil Liberties Union, which every year, in an effort to protect our liberties, go to war against public nativity sets and lighted crosses. Well, I plan to ignore all the Scrooges this year – heathen, atheist Scrooges and Christian Scrooges alike, just as I ignore them every year, and wish them all a Merry Christmas. What better way is there of infuriating all the sourpusses of the right and left, than to just be happy as we celebrate Advent?
The Advent Season is about the surprising visit of a divine king to this planet. It is the story of an offended God who searched the entire world to find one righteous man, and could not find any. It is the story of how this offended God, our Creator Lord, chose to come down among us so that we would see for ourselves how he truly loved us and how He wanted us to live with him forever.
The advent story takes surprising twists and turns. For one thing, the Jewish priests in the temple seemed oblivious to the story as it unfolded all around them. The king of Israel listened to the story with great alarm. In fact, it moved him to horrible violence, as he commanded that all the children of Bethlehem be killed. Far away, in Rome, the emperor kept collecting his taxes, oblivious that the king of all kings was sneaking into the backdoor o the world. Meanwhile, in Bethlehem, the Innkeeper could not find even a small room for Joseph and for Mary, whose body was crying for a place to deliver her divine baby.
And you wonder how could a priest in the temple could ever miss this baby born in Bethlehem? Week after week he had been swinging the incense, chanting the psalms, preparing the altar -- was there not the slightest spark of longing in his heart? When he put on his robes of his office and walked into the holy temple, was there not a spark of hope that today might be the day the words of the prophet would be fulfilled? Didn’t the prophet say “ suddenly the Lord, whom ye seek will come into his temple, the messenger of covenant whom ye delight in?” Di none of the priest burn with anticipation that perhaps this would be the year messiah would come to “purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord a sacrifice in holiness”? They chanted these words day after day. But no priests came to Bethlehem. There were no priests to care for the mother of the Lord. There were no priests there to burn incense to her newborn son.
And no scribes came to Bethlehem. No, the scribes were too busy looking up words in old scrolls. They were defining this Hebrew word, and comparing it to that Greek translation. They were talking about how this rabbi over here viewed a passage as opposed to that rabbi over there. The scribes kept writing and pondering; they kept studying and reflecting. Herrod asked the scribes to look into the scripture to see where the prophets were predicting the child would be born. Of course, they found the passage right away. They knew the Holy Scriptures. They were knowledgeable men. But still there were no scribes in Bethlehem.
Then there was the king. I don’t mean the king of Egypt. I don’t mean the king of the Parthians or Phrygians. I mean the king of Israel, the nation of covenant. Israel’s king was supposed to lead God’s people like a shepherd. He sat on the throne of David, the man who wrote the twenty third psalm. He descended from the mighty Macabees. But Herod was comfortable in his palace, and owed his throne to the Roman government far away. He was not interested in change. He had no burning hope in his heart for a coming messiah. So Herod didn’t make the trip to Bethlehem.
It was simple shepherds up on a hill and heathen astrologers in far away Persia who heard angels singing. The heathen noticed the star blazing in the heavens. You see, there were some people ready for a visitation from God. There were some people willing to take a chance, willing to toss off the pursuit of reputation and riches, for the outside chance that there could be some answer to the deepest longings of the human heart.
Let’s talk about the shepherds first. The simple people. Rough people. People who had no stake in the system. People who had never seen the inside of a palace. People who had neither the lineage nor the training to enter the holy temple. These people spent their days watching sheep. They were not real pious most of the time. They got mad and swore. They worried about how to get keep a job to support their children. They tried to stay clear of robbers. They didn’t expect life to change much. Maybe they didn’t even realize how much they needed a word from Heaven. They were just dimly aware, as all of us are dimly aware, of a sharp, deep, sweet pain that keeps saying, ‘there has to be something more than this’.
Then, without warning, without any thought that they would be chosen to be the first to get the news, they were suddenly surrounded with visitors from the court of Heaven -- these rough, country people who had never even visited with earthly royalty. They had no idea how to behave. They had no sense of protocol to guide them, no knowledge of how one is supposed to treat the messenger of a high potentate. They were just awe struck as they heard a sound like they had never heard before:
Gloria! In excelsis Deo!
Gloria! In excelsis Deo!
The angels told them, “come to Bethlehem and see. There is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, Christ the Lord!” When they got there, they were so smitten with amazement. They had no words for to express what they were feeling. They could just repeat what they had seen. We still repeat their words when we sing:
Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing ore the plane. And with rapture their reply echoing their joyous strain!
Gloria! In excelsis Deo!
Gloria! In excelsis Deo!
Meanwhile, in far away in ancient Persia, were a few old men watching the sky. They were called Magi, and were the last remnants of an ancient class of priests. A new religion had come to Persia, so few people now had the patience to listen to these old men guarding their ancient religion. But they kept watch. For there was a prophesy in their sacred writings – writings which, by the way were related to the oldest texts of India, the Upanishads – in these writings, there was an old prophesy. This prophecy told them that a child would be born in the West which would signal the end of their religion. This child would bring a new word from God. After he came, their work would be over. So they watched and waited.
These old gnarled priests, these Magi, just kept going about the duties of their dying, and almost extinct religion. I wonder which one was the first to see the strange sight in the Western sky. He had climbed the crumbling old Ziggurat that evening, just like he had for years. He compared the sky as he saw it that evening with the observations of the ancients. He probably didn’t expect to see anything different that night from any other night. But there it was something different. There was a star. The star stirred him. Something about it glowed with a different quality. It had a power that was pulling his heart against his chest.
He couldn’t contain his emotions. He had been trained to be prudent. He was a man trained in calm and serenity. But somehow he knew that this star shinning out in the West, held the answer to the sweet pain of the human heart. We have all sorts of names for this secret pain. We sometimes call that pain “romance”. We call is “joy”. Sometimes we musicians call it “soul”. Whatever we call it, it is an indescribable hunger of the spirit, a desire to communicate on another level that what we have known. It causes us to search in the strangest places for something -- we are not sure what. This hunger can take us from love affair to love affair. It can make us love a gourmet meal, or a symphony. It can push us into a drug experience. It can make us risk some high-risk adventure. All our art, all our music, all our romantic passion, finds its source in this sweet pain that emits from the vacuum at the core of our being.
Most people finally try to drown that sweet pain with the business of life. We start our lives searching to find the object of this deep desire of the heart. Then, after many disappointments, we usually conclude that there is no answer for the deepest hunger of our soul. We often call this decision, “getting real.” Sometimes we even call it “maturity”. But what “getting real” often means is that we have given up the search for joy. It often means that we have learned how to grow a thick callous layer over the deep wound of our soul. That is why it is so rare to find an old person whose eyes still sparkle with life. Life has a habit of disillusioning the most life-loving spirit.
But what that one lonely man at the summit of the ancient Persian Ziggurat saw ripped the scab from his heart. He started feeling things he had not felt for a long, long time. So, he went and gathered his friends. I wish we knew more about that meeting of the Magi. We don’t. All we know is this: “when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy”.
So they quickly put together the treasures from their temple -- gold, incense, and myrrh . They loaded it on their camels and started off for a land they had never seen.
Look at what a strange thing happened when the Son of God came to visit us. The priests of God, who he had prepared to receive his coming, did not actually come. They didn’t have enough curiosity. It was astrologers from a heathen land who came with tears and gifts. The theologians read their books. They knew where he would come, but they had lost their curiosity. They did not come. It was shepherds and heathen who actually made the trip.
Isaiah, the prophet, had told about the dawning of this day, the day when the nations of the earth would begin their journey toward the God of Israel.
2 In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
‘‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.
So advent is the season where the church remembers His first visit. But it also is the season where we rehearse what Christians call the blessed hope -- the belief that Christ will come again. We say it during the Eucharist; “here then is the mystery of our faith: Christ has, come, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again”.
This message, that Christ will come again, has continued to stir seeking hearts since the days of the apostles. In the fifth century, there was an aristocratic young man from Northern Africa who was studying in the city of Milan, Italy. He had been going to hear the sermons of St. Amborse, bishop of Milan. Now the words were piercing his heart. One morning in the garden behind his house, Augustine heard the voice of a child saying, “take this and read it”. He looked around and saw no one. But there was a book lying on a table. He took it up and saw that it was St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans. He opened the book and read these words:
The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Awake from slumber! That is the first word for the person who wants to start the spiritual journey. Wake Up! Dare to hope again that the longings of your soul can be satisfied. Dare to feel again.
The advent story reassures us that we will not miss his coming if we are looking for him. But the story also warns us that it is possible to miss His coming. If we get caught up searching for thrills and sensation, if we get to full of lust for things, or we just get preoccupied with the cares of life, we can miss the thing for which the soul yearns. Many ministers will be too caught up with church work when the day of the Lord comes. Many theologians will be too interested declining Greek, or answering a question no one is asking. Many a businessman will be making yet another $100, 000 dollar deal, and many musicians will be working on the next hit song. They will all miss the only event that will make life worthwhile.
While many Christians are caught up with the latest gospel fad, the newest spiritual buzz, or the most up to date preaching style, there is a stir among the heathen. The heathen are buying crystals. They are trying to find peace by squatting on a rug and humming. While many Christians are spending all their energies on trying to resurrect the Eisenhower administration and pretending that the world has not changed, many of the heathen, without knowing what they are doing, are preparing for the coming of the Lord. They are listening for him. And all who truly listen for him, whether they be Christian, Jew, Muslim, or pagan, will hear him. For He, says the Bible, is not willing that any should perish.
No one knows when he will come. All those who say they do are lying. We buy their books and their tapes because we deeply desire to see the Lord. But only God Himself knows when he will come. He has not told us when that will be. He just tells us to live right, to be ready at all times, and to live our live in the glow of His glory.
No, we don’t know when He will come. But He will come. And when he comes, the pains and sorrow of life will melt like frost before the heat of the noonday Summer sun. In a flash we will forget all the hurtful things we have experience here. In a flash we will become immortal beings. We will live forever. All human limitation will be a thing of the past. We will suddenly know secrets that we have longed to know all of our lives. The look in his eyes as we see his face for the first time will make the entire journey of life worthwhile.
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.
Earth’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.
One look at his dear face, all sorrows will erase
So let us gladly run the race
Till we see God.
The shepherds were drawn into the drama of the ages in just a moment’s time. It took just a flash for the Magi to take the risk and start off toward the Holy Land. In that brief second of choice, the Magi and shepherds decided whether they would or would not trade their mortal lives for immortality. They took the plunge. They obeyed the deepest part of their heart, and journeyed toward that for which the soul longs.
My friend, this morning you may think religion is full of fraud and deceit. I wish I could argue with you, but I have often been dismayed myself at the religious tomfoolery that enslaves people and numbs their minds and spirits. And I will confess that religious deceit is not just to be found in other people’s religion. It is in my own. And I do not doubt that you will find it in this church, or that you will find it in any church you may visit. But I know something else. I know that if you haven’t found out already, you will sooner or later discover that the deepest desire of your soul cannot be found in money, in fine art, in collections of antiques, or even in the arms of a loving human being. All these are things are wonderful. I would not say otherwise. In their place, they are all good things. But the joys which come to us from art, music, companionship, romantic love, are all like the light of the moon. The all are borrowed lights. And sooner or later, the human soul longs to see the true light of the eternal sun, the light of lights, the light from which all other lights derive their own luminosity.
I want to invite you to join the pilgrims. Come join the magi and the shepherds. Come join the seekers. We will soon see something ever bit as grand and glorious as the choir of angels and a star in the East. We will soon see the eternal city of God coming down as a bride adorned for her husband. The Son of God will descend and evil will melt away in the brightness of his coming. An angel of the Lord will put one foot on land and one foot on sea and proclaim that time shall be no more. The pilgrims will see it. Something deep in your being wants to see it with us. Now is the time. Decide now. Make your choice.
And in this season, perhaps for the fist time, celebrate it as a spiritual experience. Sing the carols. Learn all the old words. Ponder and reflect on the messages they teach. Put lights all over your house. Wish people a Merry Christmas. Give unexpected gifts to people who don’t seem to have many friends or family. Tell people that you love them. Be a child again and feel wonder and joy. Watch the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and let the questions and hopes it raises in the heart stir you and wake up your spirit. Most of all – prepare your heart to live forever with God. Decide that this will be the season in which you really come to know Him.
Monday, November 24, 2008
EPIPHANY!
I was reading a book by Madeline L'Engle -- I forget which one -- and came across a sentence that burned into my memory. The sentence was, look for the epiphany. The word “epiphany” refers specifically to a Christian feast day, January 6. It is the celebration of the wise men’s visit with the baby Jesus. The word comes from Greek, as many good words do, and means simply “appearance”. My daughter's name, Tiffany, comes from the word epiphany.
Tiffany was well named. She came to us on January the 22nd, in the middle of the worst blizzard we saw while we were living in Montreal. The streets were all but closed down. I went to and from the hospital on the subway. One evening when I returned to our apartment, the car had been broken into. The thieves had broken the steering wheel trying to get the lock to release. Then I went on into the apartment, and the oil stove had clogged up. It was 15 below zero outside, and I had Talitha, my three year old daughter in a house without heat, and before I could get the oil flowing the phone rang. It was a church in Florida wanting to know if I wanted to be their pastor. I died a real death telling them that God had called me to Quebec, and I just couldn't consider their wonderful offer. Tiffany came in the middle of all of that, a wonderful, healthy child, full of life and joy.
Tiffany was right name for her. Because an epiphany is an unexpected appearance of God. He often visits us in a way we don't expect. The men on the way to Emmaus discovered this. They were worried and troubled. Their spirits were cast down. They walked looking at the road. (By the way, we should never do that. Only practical, pragmatic people walk that way, and those are not usually the ones who get to see the wonder that can suddenly settle on the world when least expected. Usually the impractical dreamers are the ones who get to witness such things. ) But these men on their way to Emmaus were so practical. Jesus was dead. Hope was lost. Their dreams were shattered.
I don't know when they noticed that they had a fellow traveler. It was dusk, and they were on a well traveled road. Also, their grief was too overpowering to pay much attention to the stranger who had just decided to walk along beside them.
"You look sad, my friends", the stranger said. "Why are you so troubled?"
"Oh, you must be a stranger to our area", one of them replied. "We have seen terrible things these last few days".
They talked on like this for a while. Then they came to the town. They were about to turn into the road home. They noticed that the stranger was about to move on. They pressed upon him to go home with them, to eat dinner and sleep. Then he could continue on his way. Finally the stranger turned in to their home.
They recognized him in the breaking of the bread. When he held up the bread, they were seized with who he was. It was the Lord. Then, like so many times, just as he was recognized, he vanished.
It was only then that they realized how they had felt while he was there. "Did not our hearts burn within us as we talked with him along the way?" But that was hindsight. They had said nothing about that while they were walking. It was the epiphany that helped them see what had been there all along.
The first year we lived in Montreal, Trish and I were in language training. On Sundays we went to the church pastored by our friend, Lewis Fontalvo. It was a wonderful congregation and we enjoyed the services. But like most pastors of growing churches, he was very busy. We didn’t see him personally very often.
One evening though, Lewis decided to pay us a visit. He came to the house and stayed for about a half an hour, maybe more. The only problem was Talitha, my daughter. She wouldn't leave the man alone. She brought him cookies, paper, scissors - anything she could find. She had gone into her room to look for something else when he left. When she came back into the living room, she said, "Daddy, where did God go?"
"God?, what do you mean, honey"
"Well God was here"
"Where?"
"Right here, he sat in this chair"
Then I realized. We always talked about going to God's house. Lewis was the guy in the front at God's house, and was in charge of things. He must be God. And God had come to Carrignan street on the East side of Montreal, to visit two parents and a little girl. It didn't seem strange to her. God does things like that. And she was right.
We must be like my little child, we must keep looking for the epiphany. I find Christmas time an easy time to see Him. Sometimes he’s in the face of the Salvation Army man, collecting change and ringing a bell. He may show up in a Christmas play, and a little doll will suddenly really becomes the baby of Bethlehem. But maybe He will show up in a long distance telephone call -- from a person that has been hard to get along with. He may suddenly be very present in the reading of the Holy Scripture, or in a praise chorus.
But you have to watch for him. Don't miss Him.
Watch for the epiphany.
Tiffany was well named. She came to us on January the 22nd, in the middle of the worst blizzard we saw while we were living in Montreal. The streets were all but closed down. I went to and from the hospital on the subway. One evening when I returned to our apartment, the car had been broken into. The thieves had broken the steering wheel trying to get the lock to release. Then I went on into the apartment, and the oil stove had clogged up. It was 15 below zero outside, and I had Talitha, my three year old daughter in a house without heat, and before I could get the oil flowing the phone rang. It was a church in Florida wanting to know if I wanted to be their pastor. I died a real death telling them that God had called me to Quebec, and I just couldn't consider their wonderful offer. Tiffany came in the middle of all of that, a wonderful, healthy child, full of life and joy.
Tiffany was right name for her. Because an epiphany is an unexpected appearance of God. He often visits us in a way we don't expect. The men on the way to Emmaus discovered this. They were worried and troubled. Their spirits were cast down. They walked looking at the road. (By the way, we should never do that. Only practical, pragmatic people walk that way, and those are not usually the ones who get to see the wonder that can suddenly settle on the world when least expected. Usually the impractical dreamers are the ones who get to witness such things. ) But these men on their way to Emmaus were so practical. Jesus was dead. Hope was lost. Their dreams were shattered.
I don't know when they noticed that they had a fellow traveler. It was dusk, and they were on a well traveled road. Also, their grief was too overpowering to pay much attention to the stranger who had just decided to walk along beside them.
"You look sad, my friends", the stranger said. "Why are you so troubled?"
"Oh, you must be a stranger to our area", one of them replied. "We have seen terrible things these last few days".
They talked on like this for a while. Then they came to the town. They were about to turn into the road home. They noticed that the stranger was about to move on. They pressed upon him to go home with them, to eat dinner and sleep. Then he could continue on his way. Finally the stranger turned in to their home.
They recognized him in the breaking of the bread. When he held up the bread, they were seized with who he was. It was the Lord. Then, like so many times, just as he was recognized, he vanished.
It was only then that they realized how they had felt while he was there. "Did not our hearts burn within us as we talked with him along the way?" But that was hindsight. They had said nothing about that while they were walking. It was the epiphany that helped them see what had been there all along.
The first year we lived in Montreal, Trish and I were in language training. On Sundays we went to the church pastored by our friend, Lewis Fontalvo. It was a wonderful congregation and we enjoyed the services. But like most pastors of growing churches, he was very busy. We didn’t see him personally very often.
One evening though, Lewis decided to pay us a visit. He came to the house and stayed for about a half an hour, maybe more. The only problem was Talitha, my daughter. She wouldn't leave the man alone. She brought him cookies, paper, scissors - anything she could find. She had gone into her room to look for something else when he left. When she came back into the living room, she said, "Daddy, where did God go?"
"God?, what do you mean, honey"
"Well God was here"
"Where?"
"Right here, he sat in this chair"
Then I realized. We always talked about going to God's house. Lewis was the guy in the front at God's house, and was in charge of things. He must be God. And God had come to Carrignan street on the East side of Montreal, to visit two parents and a little girl. It didn't seem strange to her. God does things like that. And she was right.
We must be like my little child, we must keep looking for the epiphany. I find Christmas time an easy time to see Him. Sometimes he’s in the face of the Salvation Army man, collecting change and ringing a bell. He may show up in a Christmas play, and a little doll will suddenly really becomes the baby of Bethlehem. But maybe He will show up in a long distance telephone call -- from a person that has been hard to get along with. He may suddenly be very present in the reading of the Holy Scripture, or in a praise chorus.
But you have to watch for him. Don't miss Him.
Watch for the epiphany.
Monday, November 17, 2008
God, Our Mother?
It is becoming increasingly common for people to use feminine terms in reference to God. Well, why not? In one way, this is not so radical. After all, the Bible itself uses feminine metaphors for God. We know that God created male and female in “His own image and likeness.” Therefore, women as well as men bear God’s image and likeness. This means that something of God’s essential nature is revealed through women in a way that it is not revealed through men. So why can’t we call God, “Mother”?
Lets begin our answer with this: we believe that the Bible is much more than a human document. Were it merely a human document, we would be free to edit it to reflect our growing sensitivities about such things. After all, women have often been greatly harmed by male domination, even within the church. Throughout much of history, a father or husband has been able to beat a woman of his household without answering to anyone for his actions. He could approve or disapprove his daughter’s choice of husbands. He had control over any income the women of the family might make. Most of us no longer believe that such male domination is an acceptable practice. So, naturally enough, some believe that addressing God as a Father only reinforces the old culture of male domination (the formal term for that culture is patriarchy). They argue that by sometimes calling God “Mother” or escaping from the dilemma altogether by calling God, “Parent”, will help us to avoid the reinforcement of patriarchy.
These arguments make sense. They will gain strength as new generations become the teachers and pastors of the faith. They are often made in all sincerity by sincere and capable people. They are not as Biblically weak as some conservatives might believe. Nonetheless, however noble the cause may seem, we simply do not have the authority to edit Holy Scripture.
When we develop theology from an orthodox view of the Bible, we are constrained by the belief that God inspired the Bible to be written in such a way that it reveals God as He wished to be revealed. In the Bible, God nearly always chooses to speak of Himself in masculine terms. Even the most conservative believe agrees that God “as He really is,” is beyond all gender distinction. Nonetheless, God “as He reveals Himself” in Scripture is nearly always masculine. The orthodox believer must ask, “should we do otherwise?” The answer one gives to this question depends on one’s view of the Bible.
Is the Bible the product of fallible human beings who strained to give us a divinely inspired message, in the best way they knew how, but distorted nonetheless by their own cultural biases?
Or, is the Bible, though certainly a product of human minds and hands, so inspired that its message is divinely protected from error?
Christians who are more liberal tend to give the first answer. More conservative Christians give the second one. It is a question that every Christians has to settle for himself or herself.
I am a conservative Evangelical. Although I am a fallible human being, and therefore realize that my interpretation of the Bible and of God’s intentions can be faulty, I believe that God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture comes to us through history as He intended. I do not believe we have the right to edit that revelation, however noble our reasons.
There is another reason why conservative Christians are reluctant to use feminine language in reference to God. Through history, when people have spoken of God as feminine, they have tended to drift into a sensual, pantheistic, fertility worship. (Pantheism is the idea that the earth is God’s body, and that everything that exists is a part of God.) “Goddess” spirituality seems to produce an earth religion, a sexualized spirituality without ethical demands. Through the centuries, Christian and Jewish thinkers have seen this as a dangerous seduction that takes us away from God’s Word. That redefines God, making human beings the judge of how God should be understood rather than accepting God as He wishes us to understand Him.
For all the reasons stated above, orthodox Christians conclude, together with the saints throughout history, that we should reject the current fad of so-called “gender inclusive language,” where the nature of God is concerned. This is not, or at least should not be, a political or social bias. We do this on the basis of a godly fear, resisting the potential for heresy at the core of our faith: God’s revelation of Himself to us.
The challenge facing Christians regarding so called gender inclusive language, is how to be orthodox without being reactionary. When translating the Bible from the original languages, we should feel free to be gender neutral where the original languages are gender neutral. In older English translations of the Bible, words that in the original Greek and Hebrew had been gender neutral, were often translated into gender specific words in English. The translators did not do this on purpose, they were merely reflecting the culture of their times. Also, we must remember that until fairly recently, the words “men” or “mankind” were often used to include both men and women. Nowadays, that practice is more rare. When modern Bible translators attempt to address these changes of linguistic habits, it does not necessarily mean that they have a liberal bias'.
The bottom line is that we must be faithful to the Word of God; we should not be resistant to change unwarranted discriminatory language. Words change. (Just think of how the word “queer” has changed.) To insist on freezing language in print when the meaning has changed on the street is foolish. It does injustice to God’s word, which was not written in English to begin with! The point in Bible translation is to make the Word of God clear to those who read it in languages other than Hebrew and Greek.
This is all easier said than done! We Christians can get downright testy when we think someone is guilty of deliberately tampering with our faith. We also have a tendency to elevate the cultural idiosyncrasies of a particular bygone era to a pedestal of special honor. Certainly, we should honor the Christians of the past. We should preserve their contributions. However saintly they may have been though, they were not right about everything. Peoples’ opinions about gender roles, like much of what we call “common sense,” is usually based on the accepted practices of the particular time and culture in which they live. One of the responsibilities of a Bible translator or a theologian is to carefully, prayerfully, and honorably separate what the Bible claims to be unchangeable truth from that which merely relates to his or her own cultural comfort.
In the matter of God’s 'gender', we must recognize that both male and female are made in His image and likeness. From that truth, we infer that both maleness and femaleness have their origin in God Himself. This obviously means that God transcends gender. Even so, for His own reasons, God chose to refer to Himself most often as male. This must be respected. But we should not make more of it than the Bible itself does.
Lets begin our answer with this: we believe that the Bible is much more than a human document. Were it merely a human document, we would be free to edit it to reflect our growing sensitivities about such things. After all, women have often been greatly harmed by male domination, even within the church. Throughout much of history, a father or husband has been able to beat a woman of his household without answering to anyone for his actions. He could approve or disapprove his daughter’s choice of husbands. He had control over any income the women of the family might make. Most of us no longer believe that such male domination is an acceptable practice. So, naturally enough, some believe that addressing God as a Father only reinforces the old culture of male domination (the formal term for that culture is patriarchy). They argue that by sometimes calling God “Mother” or escaping from the dilemma altogether by calling God, “Parent”, will help us to avoid the reinforcement of patriarchy.
These arguments make sense. They will gain strength as new generations become the teachers and pastors of the faith. They are often made in all sincerity by sincere and capable people. They are not as Biblically weak as some conservatives might believe. Nonetheless, however noble the cause may seem, we simply do not have the authority to edit Holy Scripture.
When we develop theology from an orthodox view of the Bible, we are constrained by the belief that God inspired the Bible to be written in such a way that it reveals God as He wished to be revealed. In the Bible, God nearly always chooses to speak of Himself in masculine terms. Even the most conservative believe agrees that God “as He really is,” is beyond all gender distinction. Nonetheless, God “as He reveals Himself” in Scripture is nearly always masculine. The orthodox believer must ask, “should we do otherwise?” The answer one gives to this question depends on one’s view of the Bible.
Is the Bible the product of fallible human beings who strained to give us a divinely inspired message, in the best way they knew how, but distorted nonetheless by their own cultural biases?
Or, is the Bible, though certainly a product of human minds and hands, so inspired that its message is divinely protected from error?
Christians who are more liberal tend to give the first answer. More conservative Christians give the second one. It is a question that every Christians has to settle for himself or herself.
I am a conservative Evangelical. Although I am a fallible human being, and therefore realize that my interpretation of the Bible and of God’s intentions can be faulty, I believe that God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture comes to us through history as He intended. I do not believe we have the right to edit that revelation, however noble our reasons.
There is another reason why conservative Christians are reluctant to use feminine language in reference to God. Through history, when people have spoken of God as feminine, they have tended to drift into a sensual, pantheistic, fertility worship. (Pantheism is the idea that the earth is God’s body, and that everything that exists is a part of God.) “Goddess” spirituality seems to produce an earth religion, a sexualized spirituality without ethical demands. Through the centuries, Christian and Jewish thinkers have seen this as a dangerous seduction that takes us away from God’s Word. That redefines God, making human beings the judge of how God should be understood rather than accepting God as He wishes us to understand Him.
For all the reasons stated above, orthodox Christians conclude, together with the saints throughout history, that we should reject the current fad of so-called “gender inclusive language,” where the nature of God is concerned. This is not, or at least should not be, a political or social bias. We do this on the basis of a godly fear, resisting the potential for heresy at the core of our faith: God’s revelation of Himself to us.
The challenge facing Christians regarding so called gender inclusive language, is how to be orthodox without being reactionary. When translating the Bible from the original languages, we should feel free to be gender neutral where the original languages are gender neutral. In older English translations of the Bible, words that in the original Greek and Hebrew had been gender neutral, were often translated into gender specific words in English. The translators did not do this on purpose, they were merely reflecting the culture of their times. Also, we must remember that until fairly recently, the words “men” or “mankind” were often used to include both men and women. Nowadays, that practice is more rare. When modern Bible translators attempt to address these changes of linguistic habits, it does not necessarily mean that they have a liberal bias'.
The bottom line is that we must be faithful to the Word of God; we should not be resistant to change unwarranted discriminatory language. Words change. (Just think of how the word “queer” has changed.) To insist on freezing language in print when the meaning has changed on the street is foolish. It does injustice to God’s word, which was not written in English to begin with! The point in Bible translation is to make the Word of God clear to those who read it in languages other than Hebrew and Greek.
This is all easier said than done! We Christians can get downright testy when we think someone is guilty of deliberately tampering with our faith. We also have a tendency to elevate the cultural idiosyncrasies of a particular bygone era to a pedestal of special honor. Certainly, we should honor the Christians of the past. We should preserve their contributions. However saintly they may have been though, they were not right about everything. Peoples’ opinions about gender roles, like much of what we call “common sense,” is usually based on the accepted practices of the particular time and culture in which they live. One of the responsibilities of a Bible translator or a theologian is to carefully, prayerfully, and honorably separate what the Bible claims to be unchangeable truth from that which merely relates to his or her own cultural comfort.
In the matter of God’s 'gender', we must recognize that both male and female are made in His image and likeness. From that truth, we infer that both maleness and femaleness have their origin in God Himself. This obviously means that God transcends gender. Even so, for His own reasons, God chose to refer to Himself most often as male. This must be respected. But we should not make more of it than the Bible itself does.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Serve Somebody
Friends,
All through the presidential election, people kept pressing me for my opinion. I decided to remain silent for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my repugnance at the politicizing of the pulpit in recent years on both the right and the left. Also, we have a racially mixed congregation whose unity I want to guard. Finally, I felt I simply did not have the grace and permission from God to speak about it. Now the election is over. So as I prepared for the sermon, I noticed that the Common Lectionary reading included Joshua 24. That’s when I felt permission from God to speak about the present climate of our nation.
You will not find specific praise or blame for any of the candidates in the sermon. Instead, you will see my passion to keep the people of God focused on eternal things and to not allow themselves to be highjacked by transitory things.
Here at Christ Church, we are experiencing an ingathering of people from many walks of life. God is at work in a mighty way. I want us to keep the main thing the main thing: “loving God, loving each other, making music with our friends.”
May God Bless each of you, our new president and our beloved country.
You Gotta Serve Somebody
(Joshua 24: 14-24)
The people of the United States have entered a new era. Future historians will note how drastically our nation’s culture shifted during the years between the bombing of the World Trade Center and the presidential election that we experienced last Tuesday. This shift of our national culture makes many Americans anxious. For them, the changes represent an unmitigated disaster and a lunge toward an uncertain future. For others, the shift represents the opening of new opportunities and a deeper connection with the rest of the globe. Therefore, these Americans view the cultural shift with a sense of excitement
So, we are divided about what these historic changes mean. The truth be told, none of us yet know what they mean. Those who fear the cultural changes worry that their most cherished values may be in danger. Those who celebrate these changes hope that we are stumbling toward a more globally aware and equitable society.
History suggests – and our faith asserts – that both our fears and our hopes of cultural change are often overblown. Nations and cultures go through seasons. The French Revolution, the October Revolution, the Cultural Revolution; the long march, the war to end all wars, the great society; the reformation, the renaissance, the enlightenment; all these great movements announced their arrival with great sound and fury, made their impact and then became the cultural artifacts that our children learn about in school.
After seventy years of Communism, Russia returned to being Russia. After sixty years of Marxism, the Chinese realized that being Chinese was more important than being Communist. The French have been as French without their monarchy as they were before they stormed the Bastille. Neither the League of Nations, The United Nations, or the North American Treaty Organization ever delivered even a fraction of what some people hoped. However, they also did not deliver even a fraction of what some people feared.
I would not for a moment minimize either the fears or the hopes of any American facing the current changes of our culture. Our economic changes are real. The election results are clear. Globalization has overwhelmed our borders and overturned our provincial views of the world. It is therefore impossible (and ultimately irresponsible) to ignore these realities. We certainly cannot live in any other era than our own. If we try to escape our own era of history, we become mere curiosities – like the people who insist on driving buggies and banning cell phones in order to escape the evils of modernity. Nations, churches and individuals do that at the cost of becoming entirely irrelevant.
As your pastor, it is not my responsibility to weigh in on political issues anyway, except when those issues clearly relate to our spiritual lives. However, it is my responsibility to remind you that we are an eternal people and that we serve an eternal God who is faithful in every era and in every culture. Therefore, we do not have to fear any culture; we were made to thrive in them all.
Moses led the children of Israel, out of slavery and into the Promised Land because God was with him. Then he died. Joshua was the nation’s next leader. He conquered the cities and villages of Canaan because God was also with him. When Joshua was an old man, he addressed the people who had followed both him and Moses. The Israelites now lived in very different circumstances than when Joshua was a young man marching from Egypt. The days of slavery were now far behind them. The battles for Canaan had been won. The Israelites were no longer nomads and wanderers. They were a settled people living in their own homes.
As so often happens, the man who had led the Israelites for so many years felt more connected to the era of his youth than to the one in which he was now living. He was fearful that the values that had brought God’s people from a place of bondage to a place of security and safety might be destroyed. The complacent and dispassionate attitudes that often develop when a people are no longer in danger, could undermine the very purpose of Israel’s existence.
Joshua is concerned about these things as he gives his final address to his people. So this passage is an impassioned plea: do not forget the Lord! Do not fall into idolatry and the debauched life styles of your neighbors. Remember that you are the people of God. Hold on to the past as you move on into the future.
Joshua goes on to say that living as a covenant people in any era requires that they make a deliberate choice. He is saying that covenant requires intention, awareness, mindful actions and disciplined thoughts. He understands that one can drift into apostasy but that fidelity to covenant requires an intentional choice. Every generation of believers must make such a decision and then they can adapt themselves to live in their own times as children of God.
“Choose you this day who you will serve,” the old man insists. Then he does what all real leaders must do; he makes his own choice. His choice will not be predicated upon the choice of the people. Although a political man decides what the people think and then makes his choice, a leader chooses his path and then invites others to follow. “Whatever you decide to do,” he says, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”
This is the heart of the matter: we must deliberately decide whether we intend to be people of covenant or if we will merely drift along with the flow of public opinion and popular culture. As Leon Kass so capably points out in the greatest commentary written on the book of Genesis in our lifetime[1], The God of Israel does not base his work on those who do heroic deeds in order to become “men of renown” but upon those who remain faithful to their God, to their families and to the teachings of covenant. These kinds of individuals have the courage to appear insignificant to others as they just do the right thing day after day.” In other words, covenant people live in their own times but are not obsessed with their own popularity. They realize that popularity can be a detriment to one’s character and productivity.
I am not unaware of the importance of the historic events of our times or of the impact of our great leaders. Occasionally, some event really does change the world. Sometimes a person really does galvanize nations into action. However, I want to remind you that great events and great leaders ultimately do not impact the world nearly as much as the small actions of small people who live in insignificant places. Nero is dead and is barely remembered. I dare say that few of us in this room would be able to say when he lived or what he did. That may be deplorable but it is probably the truth. However, what person here will not know who St. Paul was, or what he did?
The Bible implores us, pleads with us, to resist the allure of fame and fortune and to focus our fleeting lives upon making a real difference in the world. The Bible insists that the way we make a difference is by learning and applying the teaching of Holy Scripture to our lives and by organizing our deeds around long-range plans that will rarely come to fruition in our own lifetimes. Covenant people live their lives in service to God and they act in order to benefit their descendents and their neighbors. This way of life is completely contrary to anything the secular world teaches, on either the right or the left side of the aisle. However, it is that sort of kingdom living or “serving God” that ultimately changes the world.
Let me tell you some stories that will illustrate what I mean.
In the gospel of St. Mark, chapter 12, Jesus watched as the people came to the temple to give their offerings. He watched several of them conspicuously drop in great sums and heard the onlookers gasp in amazement. Then he saw one widow bring a mite (approximately two pennies in American currency) and place it in the offering. Jesus stopped to say to His disciples, “the others all gave from their surplus but this woman has given everything she has.”
In a real sense, that woman’s actions impacted the world far more than the actions of the Emperor. I say that not only because of that one widow who gave that small sacrificial offering; I say it because she is merely one of multiplied millions who have given small and seemingly insignificant offerings, year after year, decade after decade and century after century. These accumulated offerings of money, time and action have changed the world. Those who have given the offerings - widows and farmers, maids and butlers, soldiers and carpenters -- are mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts and babysitters of great leaders and of mighty kings. I guarantee you that some Chinese child of some well respected Communist leader is being diapered and loved today by an insignificant Christian maid who makes no money and takes all sorts of abuse. As the years pass, this child will be learning songs and memory verses from the maid whom he will love all his life. Someday, when he is called to leadership, the words of scripture that she taught this child will mold his thoughts and guide his decisions. That is what a “widow’s mite” does. It changes the world because it is a tangible expression of serving God.
Last Sunday, as I was leaving the church, a lady came to me with just such an offering. I have known her for years. I know that her life has been difficult. She has had very little money and has always struggled with poor health. She lives alone and in poor circumstances. She had an accident not long ago that resulted in a financial settlement that she did not seek and did not expect. She was able to use her modest settlement to help pay her rent and to get a more reliable car. However, she also wanted to give something back to the church because the church has helped her several times through the years. It was only when I got home and looked at the check, that I realized it was for $1,000.00!
The offering that this economically challenged woman gave last week was given to help the people of this church who may run into temporary difficulties in the next few months because of the economy. When I told Bill Spencer (the leader of NarrowGate Ministries) about this offering, he said, “I want to add $500 to that fund.” Trish and I also decided this week to make a sacrificial gift toward the fund. What the church will do with this money is keep our people solvent and stable through the challenges ahead. If someone has trouble with a light bill or a car payment, we can help them. Naturally, we will first help those who have been faithful to the congregation. This will help keep our church financially sound. It is also the way scripture instructs us to care for people – “to the household of faith first.” We will also pay close attention to our widows, single moms and others who work hard but can barely keep their heads above water. If we all pitch in, no one should be devastated by this temporary downturn in the economy.
I am not going to make a big deal about contributing to this fund. You have already been giving generously. Our tithing has increased and our mission’s commitments were almost $250,000 for the coming year. So this is not a sales pitch or a marketing ploy. We will take whatever money comes in and then we will disperse whatever we receive. However, I do want you to know that this woman’s gift was a holy thing and that it is the sort of action that Jesus said changes the world. It demonstrates, far more than my words, the lordship of Christ.
There is another story that the gospel writers tell about a boy who offered five loaves and two fish to Jesus when a multitude had run out of food. (You can read the story in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark.) The Lord’s disciples looked for food but the little boy’s lunch was all they could find. They also reported that they did not have enough money to buy food. But they found out that Jesus knows how to make much out of little!
He still does!
For over a year we have been engaged in a philosophical debate in this country about the role of government. Many Americans believe that it is not government’s place to care for the elderly, the poor or the sick because the government has no capacity to distinguish those who are truly in need from those who simply refuse to work.
If this is our view, then as Christians we must become even more responsible to care for our own widows, sick and elderly. We can hardly rebuke the state for trying to care for people if we refuse to step up to the plate to care for our own families or our own church members. So let us resolve to do this. Let us resolve to put action behind our words. Instead of speaking bitterly of those whom we believe are asking the state to do what the state cannot do, let us demonstrate with our money and our actions what a responsible and Christian community does. Perhaps the nation needs some good examples of how things ought to work.
This is an essential part of what it means to be a person of covenant: to demonstrate our discipleship in deeds as well as words. We don’t yell at people; we serve people. We don’t theorize; we act.
As the elderly Joshua spoke to his people, he urged them to decide who they intended to serve. When they insisted that they wanted to serve the Lord, he urged them to get rid of their idols and ungodly practices. He was teaching them that following God is much more than merely praising God in song and word.
Serving God is about applying God’s words to everyday life. That’s what one lady did in our church last week with her check. She was not acting from compulsion or guilt; she was full of joy because she was finally able to contribute. It was her attitude as much as her gift that changes the world.
I believe her gift is a seed. I believe it will encourage many of us to give sacrificially so that everyone in this community can weather the storm. If we do what God teaches us to do, none of us will need the government to help. That will become a testimony to the world that we practice what we preach. That’s what a “widow’s mite” does; it grows small seeds into big fruit.
Of course, a “widow’s mite” is not always money. Sometimes it is a small action or a short word.
In early 1960, the Evangelical community was terrified at the possibility of a Kennedy presidency. John Kennedy was a well known Roman Catholic and there were all sorts of dire predictions circulating about how the Pope would be secretly taking over the government and so forth. So, although I was from a family of union organizers and coal miners, they all intended to vote for Richard Nixon.
As you know, John Kennedy won the election.
A few days later, after the election, I was singing a jingle I had learned at school about John Kennedy. It was not very flattering but not all that bad either – just a cute campaign jingle form the Nixon campaign.
My father will probably not remember stopping me and taking the opportunity to teach me how godly people deal with authority.
“Son, Christians do not speak ill of the leaders of their country."
“But dad,” I protested, “I thought we voted for Nixon.”
“The election is over now,” he said. “The Lord decided to appoint Senator Kennedy to the presidency. Now, it is our responsibility to pray for him. Four years from now, we will get another chance to vote. Until then, Kennedy will be our president and we will respect him.”
Do we really believe that God “puts up kings and removes kings?” if we do, then we must manage our emotions and pray fervently for President-elect Obama as he makes his selections for cabinet positions, ambassadors and all of that. We must pray also that God will send people into his life who fear God. This is the way Christians behave.
I learned this from my father in 1960. I have tried to manage my attitudes toward national leaders accordingly. I was dismayed by the movie ridiculing President Bush that came out recently because it violates the honor of our highest office and it is an ungodly and heathen act to ridicule and humiliate someone who is trying to wrap up a most difficult term of office. I pray the movie becomes a disaster and a disgrace to its producers.
I hope I am making myself clear this morning. We are a people who order our lives and attitudes differently than the unbelievers. We are called to deliberately think and act differently than those who do not know the Lord.
Tuesday is Veteran’s Day. We will honor those who serve our country in the armed forces on that day. That is important in my family. My uncles all served in World War II. My wife’s uncle was killed in the Normandy invasion and her cousin was severely injured in Vietnam. I have a son-in-law serving right now in Iraq. So I know that when we ask people to put their lives on the line on our behalf, they deserve our respect – not only while they are on duty but when they return home.
All those who want to follow Christ must also “put their lives on the line.” It is possible that years of prosperity and comfort have made us numb to the seriousness of being covenant people. It is possible that some of us have allowed immorality and greed to take over our lives. Well, now is the time to get that stuff out of our lives. It is time to choose. We all have to serve somebody; it’s time to decide who that will be.
God is obviously doing something powerful in our church. He is asking us to get serious about our service to Him. We may feel we have little to offer – perhaps merely a “widow’s mite” but let us offer that “mite” today. Tomorrow, let’s give it again. Then, let us do the same thing the following day.
If we all do what we are able to do, God’s work will go forward in this, or in any other era or culture. At any rate, as Bob Dylan said many years ago, we all have to serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but we have to serve somebody!
You may be an ambassador to England or France,You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,You may be a business man or some high degree thief,They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,You may be the head of some big TV network,You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,You may be living in another country under another name
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a construction worker working on a home,You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,You might own guns and you might even own tanks,You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,You may call me anything but no matter what you say
You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Copyright ©1979 Special Rider Music; Bob Dylan
[1] The Beginning of Wisdom, Leon Kass, Chicago University Press
All through the presidential election, people kept pressing me for my opinion. I decided to remain silent for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my repugnance at the politicizing of the pulpit in recent years on both the right and the left. Also, we have a racially mixed congregation whose unity I want to guard. Finally, I felt I simply did not have the grace and permission from God to speak about it. Now the election is over. So as I prepared for the sermon, I noticed that the Common Lectionary reading included Joshua 24. That’s when I felt permission from God to speak about the present climate of our nation.
You will not find specific praise or blame for any of the candidates in the sermon. Instead, you will see my passion to keep the people of God focused on eternal things and to not allow themselves to be highjacked by transitory things.
Here at Christ Church, we are experiencing an ingathering of people from many walks of life. God is at work in a mighty way. I want us to keep the main thing the main thing: “loving God, loving each other, making music with our friends.”
May God Bless each of you, our new president and our beloved country.
You Gotta Serve Somebody
(Joshua 24: 14-24)
The people of the United States have entered a new era. Future historians will note how drastically our nation’s culture shifted during the years between the bombing of the World Trade Center and the presidential election that we experienced last Tuesday. This shift of our national culture makes many Americans anxious. For them, the changes represent an unmitigated disaster and a lunge toward an uncertain future. For others, the shift represents the opening of new opportunities and a deeper connection with the rest of the globe. Therefore, these Americans view the cultural shift with a sense of excitement
So, we are divided about what these historic changes mean. The truth be told, none of us yet know what they mean. Those who fear the cultural changes worry that their most cherished values may be in danger. Those who celebrate these changes hope that we are stumbling toward a more globally aware and equitable society.
History suggests – and our faith asserts – that both our fears and our hopes of cultural change are often overblown. Nations and cultures go through seasons. The French Revolution, the October Revolution, the Cultural Revolution; the long march, the war to end all wars, the great society; the reformation, the renaissance, the enlightenment; all these great movements announced their arrival with great sound and fury, made their impact and then became the cultural artifacts that our children learn about in school.
After seventy years of Communism, Russia returned to being Russia. After sixty years of Marxism, the Chinese realized that being Chinese was more important than being Communist. The French have been as French without their monarchy as they were before they stormed the Bastille. Neither the League of Nations, The United Nations, or the North American Treaty Organization ever delivered even a fraction of what some people hoped. However, they also did not deliver even a fraction of what some people feared.
I would not for a moment minimize either the fears or the hopes of any American facing the current changes of our culture. Our economic changes are real. The election results are clear. Globalization has overwhelmed our borders and overturned our provincial views of the world. It is therefore impossible (and ultimately irresponsible) to ignore these realities. We certainly cannot live in any other era than our own. If we try to escape our own era of history, we become mere curiosities – like the people who insist on driving buggies and banning cell phones in order to escape the evils of modernity. Nations, churches and individuals do that at the cost of becoming entirely irrelevant.
As your pastor, it is not my responsibility to weigh in on political issues anyway, except when those issues clearly relate to our spiritual lives. However, it is my responsibility to remind you that we are an eternal people and that we serve an eternal God who is faithful in every era and in every culture. Therefore, we do not have to fear any culture; we were made to thrive in them all.
Moses led the children of Israel, out of slavery and into the Promised Land because God was with him. Then he died. Joshua was the nation’s next leader. He conquered the cities and villages of Canaan because God was also with him. When Joshua was an old man, he addressed the people who had followed both him and Moses. The Israelites now lived in very different circumstances than when Joshua was a young man marching from Egypt. The days of slavery were now far behind them. The battles for Canaan had been won. The Israelites were no longer nomads and wanderers. They were a settled people living in their own homes.
As so often happens, the man who had led the Israelites for so many years felt more connected to the era of his youth than to the one in which he was now living. He was fearful that the values that had brought God’s people from a place of bondage to a place of security and safety might be destroyed. The complacent and dispassionate attitudes that often develop when a people are no longer in danger, could undermine the very purpose of Israel’s existence.
Joshua is concerned about these things as he gives his final address to his people. So this passage is an impassioned plea: do not forget the Lord! Do not fall into idolatry and the debauched life styles of your neighbors. Remember that you are the people of God. Hold on to the past as you move on into the future.
Joshua goes on to say that living as a covenant people in any era requires that they make a deliberate choice. He is saying that covenant requires intention, awareness, mindful actions and disciplined thoughts. He understands that one can drift into apostasy but that fidelity to covenant requires an intentional choice. Every generation of believers must make such a decision and then they can adapt themselves to live in their own times as children of God.
“Choose you this day who you will serve,” the old man insists. Then he does what all real leaders must do; he makes his own choice. His choice will not be predicated upon the choice of the people. Although a political man decides what the people think and then makes his choice, a leader chooses his path and then invites others to follow. “Whatever you decide to do,” he says, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”
This is the heart of the matter: we must deliberately decide whether we intend to be people of covenant or if we will merely drift along with the flow of public opinion and popular culture. As Leon Kass so capably points out in the greatest commentary written on the book of Genesis in our lifetime[1], The God of Israel does not base his work on those who do heroic deeds in order to become “men of renown” but upon those who remain faithful to their God, to their families and to the teachings of covenant. These kinds of individuals have the courage to appear insignificant to others as they just do the right thing day after day.” In other words, covenant people live in their own times but are not obsessed with their own popularity. They realize that popularity can be a detriment to one’s character and productivity.
I am not unaware of the importance of the historic events of our times or of the impact of our great leaders. Occasionally, some event really does change the world. Sometimes a person really does galvanize nations into action. However, I want to remind you that great events and great leaders ultimately do not impact the world nearly as much as the small actions of small people who live in insignificant places. Nero is dead and is barely remembered. I dare say that few of us in this room would be able to say when he lived or what he did. That may be deplorable but it is probably the truth. However, what person here will not know who St. Paul was, or what he did?
The Bible implores us, pleads with us, to resist the allure of fame and fortune and to focus our fleeting lives upon making a real difference in the world. The Bible insists that the way we make a difference is by learning and applying the teaching of Holy Scripture to our lives and by organizing our deeds around long-range plans that will rarely come to fruition in our own lifetimes. Covenant people live their lives in service to God and they act in order to benefit their descendents and their neighbors. This way of life is completely contrary to anything the secular world teaches, on either the right or the left side of the aisle. However, it is that sort of kingdom living or “serving God” that ultimately changes the world.
Let me tell you some stories that will illustrate what I mean.
In the gospel of St. Mark, chapter 12, Jesus watched as the people came to the temple to give their offerings. He watched several of them conspicuously drop in great sums and heard the onlookers gasp in amazement. Then he saw one widow bring a mite (approximately two pennies in American currency) and place it in the offering. Jesus stopped to say to His disciples, “the others all gave from their surplus but this woman has given everything she has.”
In a real sense, that woman’s actions impacted the world far more than the actions of the Emperor. I say that not only because of that one widow who gave that small sacrificial offering; I say it because she is merely one of multiplied millions who have given small and seemingly insignificant offerings, year after year, decade after decade and century after century. These accumulated offerings of money, time and action have changed the world. Those who have given the offerings - widows and farmers, maids and butlers, soldiers and carpenters -- are mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts and babysitters of great leaders and of mighty kings. I guarantee you that some Chinese child of some well respected Communist leader is being diapered and loved today by an insignificant Christian maid who makes no money and takes all sorts of abuse. As the years pass, this child will be learning songs and memory verses from the maid whom he will love all his life. Someday, when he is called to leadership, the words of scripture that she taught this child will mold his thoughts and guide his decisions. That is what a “widow’s mite” does. It changes the world because it is a tangible expression of serving God.
Last Sunday, as I was leaving the church, a lady came to me with just such an offering. I have known her for years. I know that her life has been difficult. She has had very little money and has always struggled with poor health. She lives alone and in poor circumstances. She had an accident not long ago that resulted in a financial settlement that she did not seek and did not expect. She was able to use her modest settlement to help pay her rent and to get a more reliable car. However, she also wanted to give something back to the church because the church has helped her several times through the years. It was only when I got home and looked at the check, that I realized it was for $1,000.00!
The offering that this economically challenged woman gave last week was given to help the people of this church who may run into temporary difficulties in the next few months because of the economy. When I told Bill Spencer (the leader of NarrowGate Ministries) about this offering, he said, “I want to add $500 to that fund.” Trish and I also decided this week to make a sacrificial gift toward the fund. What the church will do with this money is keep our people solvent and stable through the challenges ahead. If someone has trouble with a light bill or a car payment, we can help them. Naturally, we will first help those who have been faithful to the congregation. This will help keep our church financially sound. It is also the way scripture instructs us to care for people – “to the household of faith first.” We will also pay close attention to our widows, single moms and others who work hard but can barely keep their heads above water. If we all pitch in, no one should be devastated by this temporary downturn in the economy.
I am not going to make a big deal about contributing to this fund. You have already been giving generously. Our tithing has increased and our mission’s commitments were almost $250,000 for the coming year. So this is not a sales pitch or a marketing ploy. We will take whatever money comes in and then we will disperse whatever we receive. However, I do want you to know that this woman’s gift was a holy thing and that it is the sort of action that Jesus said changes the world. It demonstrates, far more than my words, the lordship of Christ.
There is another story that the gospel writers tell about a boy who offered five loaves and two fish to Jesus when a multitude had run out of food. (You can read the story in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark.) The Lord’s disciples looked for food but the little boy’s lunch was all they could find. They also reported that they did not have enough money to buy food. But they found out that Jesus knows how to make much out of little!
He still does!
For over a year we have been engaged in a philosophical debate in this country about the role of government. Many Americans believe that it is not government’s place to care for the elderly, the poor or the sick because the government has no capacity to distinguish those who are truly in need from those who simply refuse to work.
If this is our view, then as Christians we must become even more responsible to care for our own widows, sick and elderly. We can hardly rebuke the state for trying to care for people if we refuse to step up to the plate to care for our own families or our own church members. So let us resolve to do this. Let us resolve to put action behind our words. Instead of speaking bitterly of those whom we believe are asking the state to do what the state cannot do, let us demonstrate with our money and our actions what a responsible and Christian community does. Perhaps the nation needs some good examples of how things ought to work.
This is an essential part of what it means to be a person of covenant: to demonstrate our discipleship in deeds as well as words. We don’t yell at people; we serve people. We don’t theorize; we act.
As the elderly Joshua spoke to his people, he urged them to decide who they intended to serve. When they insisted that they wanted to serve the Lord, he urged them to get rid of their idols and ungodly practices. He was teaching them that following God is much more than merely praising God in song and word.
Serving God is about applying God’s words to everyday life. That’s what one lady did in our church last week with her check. She was not acting from compulsion or guilt; she was full of joy because she was finally able to contribute. It was her attitude as much as her gift that changes the world.
I believe her gift is a seed. I believe it will encourage many of us to give sacrificially so that everyone in this community can weather the storm. If we do what God teaches us to do, none of us will need the government to help. That will become a testimony to the world that we practice what we preach. That’s what a “widow’s mite” does; it grows small seeds into big fruit.
Of course, a “widow’s mite” is not always money. Sometimes it is a small action or a short word.
In early 1960, the Evangelical community was terrified at the possibility of a Kennedy presidency. John Kennedy was a well known Roman Catholic and there were all sorts of dire predictions circulating about how the Pope would be secretly taking over the government and so forth. So, although I was from a family of union organizers and coal miners, they all intended to vote for Richard Nixon.
As you know, John Kennedy won the election.
A few days later, after the election, I was singing a jingle I had learned at school about John Kennedy. It was not very flattering but not all that bad either – just a cute campaign jingle form the Nixon campaign.
My father will probably not remember stopping me and taking the opportunity to teach me how godly people deal with authority.
“Son, Christians do not speak ill of the leaders of their country."
“But dad,” I protested, “I thought we voted for Nixon.”
“The election is over now,” he said. “The Lord decided to appoint Senator Kennedy to the presidency. Now, it is our responsibility to pray for him. Four years from now, we will get another chance to vote. Until then, Kennedy will be our president and we will respect him.”
Do we really believe that God “puts up kings and removes kings?” if we do, then we must manage our emotions and pray fervently for President-elect Obama as he makes his selections for cabinet positions, ambassadors and all of that. We must pray also that God will send people into his life who fear God. This is the way Christians behave.
I learned this from my father in 1960. I have tried to manage my attitudes toward national leaders accordingly. I was dismayed by the movie ridiculing President Bush that came out recently because it violates the honor of our highest office and it is an ungodly and heathen act to ridicule and humiliate someone who is trying to wrap up a most difficult term of office. I pray the movie becomes a disaster and a disgrace to its producers.
I hope I am making myself clear this morning. We are a people who order our lives and attitudes differently than the unbelievers. We are called to deliberately think and act differently than those who do not know the Lord.
Tuesday is Veteran’s Day. We will honor those who serve our country in the armed forces on that day. That is important in my family. My uncles all served in World War II. My wife’s uncle was killed in the Normandy invasion and her cousin was severely injured in Vietnam. I have a son-in-law serving right now in Iraq. So I know that when we ask people to put their lives on the line on our behalf, they deserve our respect – not only while they are on duty but when they return home.
All those who want to follow Christ must also “put their lives on the line.” It is possible that years of prosperity and comfort have made us numb to the seriousness of being covenant people. It is possible that some of us have allowed immorality and greed to take over our lives. Well, now is the time to get that stuff out of our lives. It is time to choose. We all have to serve somebody; it’s time to decide who that will be.
God is obviously doing something powerful in our church. He is asking us to get serious about our service to Him. We may feel we have little to offer – perhaps merely a “widow’s mite” but let us offer that “mite” today. Tomorrow, let’s give it again. Then, let us do the same thing the following day.
If we all do what we are able to do, God’s work will go forward in this, or in any other era or culture. At any rate, as Bob Dylan said many years ago, we all have to serve somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but we have to serve somebody!
You may be an ambassador to England or France,You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,You may be a business man or some high degree thief,They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,You may be the head of some big TV network,You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,You may be living in another country under another name
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a construction worker working on a home,You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,You might own guns and you might even own tanks,You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,You may call me anything but no matter what you say
You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Copyright ©1979 Special Rider Music; Bob Dylan
[1] The Beginning of Wisdom, Leon Kass, Chicago University Press
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Election Day Response
Many of you have been calling, e-mailing, texting and otherwise communicating with me that you want to know my thoughts on the election outcome.
I am working on my response, but as this is such an important topic, I want to take my time with such a response.
As I sat down to write my thoughts, it quickly turned into a sermon. (I know you are surprised!) I am continuing to work on this material throughout the week, and will post something within the next few days.
Please check back. I look forward to your thoughts.
Dan Scott
I am working on my response, but as this is such an important topic, I want to take my time with such a response.
As I sat down to write my thoughts, it quickly turned into a sermon. (I know you are surprised!) I am continuing to work on this material throughout the week, and will post something within the next few days.
Please check back. I look forward to your thoughts.
Dan Scott
Monday, November 3, 2008
What Do Narnia and Physics Have In Common?
A few years ago, I wrote a paper with my son-in-law, Austin, that we presented at a C.S. Lewis conference held at Belmont University. Though the paper is largely about education, our premise centered on the idea that learning of any sort must be preceded by wonder. As we are entering the time of year when thoughts quickly turn to wonder, I thought this might be an interesting read.
“Wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Albert Einstein became the world’s most famous physicist because of a day dream. When he was sixteen years old day dreaming came more naturally than study, and he attributed his successes to the fact that he never gave up this propensity. The daydream came while he was reading Aaron Berstein’s Popular Books on Natural Science. The author asked his readers to imagine running beside an electric signal as it moved through a telegraph wire. It was a small leap for him to shift his imagination to something even more fantastic, running along side a beam of light.
This fantasy would preoccupy him through a number of alterations until the visions used him to incarnate themselves within mathematical equations, one of which is now as famous as any chant or incantation. “What would it be like to race a light beam?” This question does not exactly qualify as a scientific problem worthy of a hypothesis and study, but it is the very question that ended up toppling Newtonian physics.
Every educator dreams of igniting such dreams in even one student. It is the rare physics professor though who realizes such a lofty dream. Einstein was not intellectually conceived through the skills and disciplines of the field but rather through the flash of one powerful image in a moment of awe and wonder. In the beginning was the fantasy and the fantasy became flesh and dwelt among us. That is the path of all great ideas. The issue now is, from where will such ideas come in a world without wonder?
Knowledge after all is not a thing that can be possessed. It is a state of being. The moment a student comprehends a theory imposing order on a random string of information or grasps the essence of a particular object, she is wooed into an altered state of awareness. Like all altered states, the one provoked by a quest for knowledge is addictive to some and repugnant to others.
Thus, some seek for the minimal bits of knowledge needed for their basic survival but disengage from the quest as soon as possible. Others find themselves being seduced by the allure of the quest and find in learning a delight that rivals all physical joys. Education is the process by which this altered state takes place and through which a self becomes transformed.
C.S. Lewis understood that education was driven by wonder. He wrote on a wide range of topics with such a depth of knowledge that it is difficult for anyone to speak about his corpus as a whole. Many do not even attempt to find a single basic element in Lewis’ works. However, one basic element did inspire Lewis throughout his career and in all of his work—the ability to wonder. Awe united Lewis’ academic works to his fairytales and his faith to everything.
The Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel said,
“There are three aspects of nature which command man’s attention: power, loveliness, and grandeur. Power he exploits, loveliness he enjoys, grandeur fills him with awe. We take it for granted that man’s mind should be sensitive to nature’s loveliness. We take it equally for granted that a person who is not affected by the vision of earth and sky, who has no eyes to see the grandeur of nature and to sense the sublime, however vaguely, is not human.”
The world around us inspires awe and wonder, and the sense of the sublime and the feelings it inspired in Lewis became his muse.
--This was just a small excerpt of that paper, but I love the ideas that it presents. What things inspire awe in you? What brings you that incredible feeling of wonder? If you are busy in the activities of day-to-day life, you might, like myself, have a tendency to forget those awe-inspiring things. But it is important to remember and reflect. While we cannot always jump and act, we can always consider. Where would we be if C.S. Lewis had forgotten his sense of wonder? How much richer life is because he remembered!
“Wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Albert Einstein became the world’s most famous physicist because of a day dream. When he was sixteen years old day dreaming came more naturally than study, and he attributed his successes to the fact that he never gave up this propensity. The daydream came while he was reading Aaron Berstein’s Popular Books on Natural Science. The author asked his readers to imagine running beside an electric signal as it moved through a telegraph wire. It was a small leap for him to shift his imagination to something even more fantastic, running along side a beam of light.
This fantasy would preoccupy him through a number of alterations until the visions used him to incarnate themselves within mathematical equations, one of which is now as famous as any chant or incantation. “What would it be like to race a light beam?” This question does not exactly qualify as a scientific problem worthy of a hypothesis and study, but it is the very question that ended up toppling Newtonian physics.
Every educator dreams of igniting such dreams in even one student. It is the rare physics professor though who realizes such a lofty dream. Einstein was not intellectually conceived through the skills and disciplines of the field but rather through the flash of one powerful image in a moment of awe and wonder. In the beginning was the fantasy and the fantasy became flesh and dwelt among us. That is the path of all great ideas. The issue now is, from where will such ideas come in a world without wonder?
Knowledge after all is not a thing that can be possessed. It is a state of being. The moment a student comprehends a theory imposing order on a random string of information or grasps the essence of a particular object, she is wooed into an altered state of awareness. Like all altered states, the one provoked by a quest for knowledge is addictive to some and repugnant to others.
Thus, some seek for the minimal bits of knowledge needed for their basic survival but disengage from the quest as soon as possible. Others find themselves being seduced by the allure of the quest and find in learning a delight that rivals all physical joys. Education is the process by which this altered state takes place and through which a self becomes transformed.
C.S. Lewis understood that education was driven by wonder. He wrote on a wide range of topics with such a depth of knowledge that it is difficult for anyone to speak about his corpus as a whole. Many do not even attempt to find a single basic element in Lewis’ works. However, one basic element did inspire Lewis throughout his career and in all of his work—the ability to wonder. Awe united Lewis’ academic works to his fairytales and his faith to everything.
The Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel said,
“There are three aspects of nature which command man’s attention: power, loveliness, and grandeur. Power he exploits, loveliness he enjoys, grandeur fills him with awe. We take it for granted that man’s mind should be sensitive to nature’s loveliness. We take it equally for granted that a person who is not affected by the vision of earth and sky, who has no eyes to see the grandeur of nature and to sense the sublime, however vaguely, is not human.”
The world around us inspires awe and wonder, and the sense of the sublime and the feelings it inspired in Lewis became his muse.
--This was just a small excerpt of that paper, but I love the ideas that it presents. What things inspire awe in you? What brings you that incredible feeling of wonder? If you are busy in the activities of day-to-day life, you might, like myself, have a tendency to forget those awe-inspiring things. But it is important to remember and reflect. While we cannot always jump and act, we can always consider. Where would we be if C.S. Lewis had forgotten his sense of wonder? How much richer life is because he remembered!
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