Ecclesiastes 3
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRg9NkIdjVs
The book of Ecclesiastes is part of a genre of writing in the Hebrew Scripture known as Wisdom Literature. Job, Proverbs, Psalms are other examples. This particular passage is most often read at funerals, but the more I hear it the more I wonder if we are hearing it with the right pair of ears. We tend to hear it as if everything is preceded by “God has ordained........”, as if everything is out of our hands - and I am not convinced that’s what the passage means.
The question I have, always, is “Is this something God will do without us? Or is this something God will do together with us, when we have the will to do it.” Does planting just happen by itself, and harvesting? Or is it something we have to work at? Does loving and hating happen by itself?
Does peace just happen? Is it just absence of violence? Or is it a choice? I think peace will only happen when people have such a collective desire for war to be ended that there will be no other option, and there will be the will to make it happen. It is not that the differences between nations cannot be overcome - it is that we make choices, and get so attached to believing in the rightness of our way, that we cannot see beyond those things to a different way of being and doing.
It seems to me that this passage is a perfect description of the human condition. Yes, for each of us there is a time to be born and a time to die - and there are times between birth and death where we have a life to live; when there is death we mourn and where there is new life we celebrate. But we also make choices in the life we are given. Remember the words from Deuteronomy - “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Choose life!
So re-read Ecclesiastes now - but read it this way -
*we* choose the time to plant and a time to uproot,
*we* choose a time to kill and a time to heal,
*we* choose to tear down or to build up
*we* choose to weep and to laugh,
*we* choose to search and to give up
*we* choose to embrace and to refrain from embracing
*we* choose to keep or to throw away,
*we* choose to love or to hate
*we* choose to be silent or to speak
*we* choose war, and *we* choose peace
Between birth and death, our life is a journey. We are travelling a road, whether we like it or not. At Christmas God brought us life and light, and through the Christmas season and Epiphany, the light shines on the road. Every Christmas, God sets before us life and death, blessings and curses - but the *choices* are ours.
As I wrote this I had in the back of my mind the phrase “history repeats itself”, and a kind of niggling memory that it has its roots in Ecclesiastes. Sure enough, in the very opening passage of the book, we read Ecclesiastes 1:9-11
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new?’ It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who come after them.”
In Viet Nam I saw enough of war to believe that if we spent as much time and effort on making peace as we do on making war, we would have had real peace a long time ago. As I watch the news, and people who have become so obsessed by power and control that they will crush others, it becomes almost too much to bear. It seems as if people never change, and the possibility for change is not there.
And yet, the Revelation of John tells us that God creates a new thing, God can do something new, and will bring about a time when there is no more suffering or sorrow, no more pain, only peace and fulfillment for humanity. The question for me is, again, does God it alone? Or are we the ones who make choices to work for those things, with God’s help. As human beings there are lessons we need to learn, and choices which only we can make. As long as we choose hatred, or tearing down, we will not find love, or the building up. The new heavens and the new earth cannot come, so long as we make the wrong choices.
The birth of Jesus, and the life and teaching of Jesus, were a statement that it *is* possible to choose love over hate; it *is* possible to choose peace instead of war; it *is* possible to speak out instead of choosing to remain silent. So in this time, as we step off into a new year, another season in the life of faith, we have to ask what it means to us, individually and as a congregation. Do we take Christmas seriously? Do we take the birth, life and death of Jesus seriously? If we do, we have to believe that life and death, blessings and curses - are ours to choose - and that God wants us to make the right choices - but make no mistake, the choices *are* ours. And we want to make sure that the generations which follow will remember those lessons, instead of repeating the cycle, as we have been doing. Doing nothing is also a choice we make. Trying to hang on to things and keep them from moving is a choice - and with every choice there are consequences.
In his teachings, the Dalai Lama talks about basic steps for everyday living. Here is a smapling of them - what would happen if we all worked at these things?
Great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
Follow the three R’s: Respect for self. Respect for others. Responsibility for all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the earth.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
There is no other person on this planet exactly like you.
“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
May it be so.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Angels and Stars a sermon based on Luke 1:26-38 Fourth Sunday of Advent Humber United Church
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. He came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." She was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now, you will conceive and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. Now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
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How many people here believe in angels? There are, of course, many kinds of angels. Have you noticed that there is a lot of interest in angels today? There is some question as to whether or not belief in angels is a sign of spiritual confusion, or spiritual awakening. Believing in angels is not part of the articles of belief of Christianity. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament had to contend with the beliefs of a cult devoted to angels as the superior divine beings.
Angels are mentioned several times in the Christmas narratives of Luke and Matthew - an angel coming to Zechariah, to Mary, to Joseph - and then again when Jesus is about two years old and Joseph takes them into Egypt. Obviously this was important enough to mention.
Angels are depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Bible, and the Quran. Both the Hebrew and Greek words originally mean messenger; they can refer to a human messenger such as a prophet or priest, or to a supernatural messenger, the "Mal'akh YHWH," who is either a messenger from God, an aspect of God (such as the Logos), or God as the messenger.
There are also the cherubim and seraphim (the chayot in Ezekiel's vision and the Seraphim of Isaiah). However, while cherubim and seraphim have wings in the Bible, no angel is mentioned as having wings.
The original word from which all the others come is “angello” which means "to bear a message, announce, bring news of". The Greek philosopher Philo identifies the angel as the immaterial voice of God. According to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, God, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers
The Bible uses the terms “mal'akh Elohim; messenger of God”, “mal'akh YHWH; messenger of the Lord”.
Gabriel (translation: the strength of God), performs acts of justice and power
Raphael (translation: God Heals), God's healing force
Uriel (translation: God is my light), leads us to destiny
Satan (translation: the adversary), brings people's sins before them in the heavenly court
Chayot HaKodesh (translation: living beings)
I have never seen an angel, to the best of my knowledge, although I believe I have encountered one. What I do know about angels is the mention in Scripture, pictures and drawings, literary depictions of angels, movies. Up until recently, there was little talk about angels, except at Christmas where they suddenly proliferate in scripture and hymn and Christmas card art. I really do not like the way angels are depicted.
C.S. Lewis, who wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia”, was one of the foremost Christian authors, and critics of the church. Lewis said that angels, along with much of Christian thought and symbol have been made sweet and unoffensive, soft and comfortable, so we don’t have to really grapple with what they actually were.
I believe angels are messengers of God, not Santa's elves here to help us attain our wishes. Nor do I believe they are around to protect us or watch over us somehow. I believe angels are messengers of God who bring both the mystery and meaning of God's power, presence, and purpose into the actuality and reality of our limited dimension of existence and being. Angels bring messages of great things to come - they are not soft, fluffy and white. They mean there is something of earth-shattering change about to happen.
Then there’s the star. Whatever it was - a comet, or an exploding or imploding body deep in space, it was seen as a portent of something great. We don’t know for sure if it was even there. Biblical scholarship tells us that if there were Magi, they came along a couple of years later, when Jesus and is family were living in Egypt, waiting for Herod to die. Yet in our Christmas narrative the star has been put in there right with the angels. Well, the star wasn’t an angel - but it was certainly something cosmic. The event of whatever caused it was violent and cosmic. It was not a sweetly shining, twinkling star that just kind of sat there serenely every night. This was another event big enough to make people afraid - and I am sure some of the more superstitious people were. The star - a cosmic ball of gas - or a comet of ice and rock - was a huge event which caused a whole number of people to leave their homes and their comforts, and go looking, no matter how long it took.
There is an old saying, "After the ecstasy is the dishes." What happened afterwards seemed so ordinary. There was a birth. There was a child to be raised. There was cleaning and meals and washing, and all the needs of life and work. Angels are not mentioned much after the shepherds returned to the fields. They went back to being shepherds; back in their ordinary fields. The magi had to go back home, back to their ordinary lives. And It was into such a world of ordinary needs and deeds that the most extraordinary event occurred. Jesus was born into an ordinary world, ate the same ordinary food as everyone else around him - yet the birth was important enough that it was announced by a cosmic event of some kind, and a being which started off saying “Don’t be afraid.”
So let’s put the angels and the stars back into Christmas. Because that’s how life is, isn’t it? There are these great cosmic events, and then we go back to being ordinary people living in an ordinary world. Let’s see the angels for exactly what they were - beings which commanded fear at the sight of them - which brought messages of life-changing events.. Let’s look again at what we call a star - a violent and frightening cosmic event in the universe which served as a portent of a birth which would change the lives of people everywhere. Amen.
Sources:
1. Angels and Stars - a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota December 2005
2. The Messenger, the Mystery, and the Meaning by DG Bradley, 1996.
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How many people here believe in angels? There are, of course, many kinds of angels. Have you noticed that there is a lot of interest in angels today? There is some question as to whether or not belief in angels is a sign of spiritual confusion, or spiritual awakening. Believing in angels is not part of the articles of belief of Christianity. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament had to contend with the beliefs of a cult devoted to angels as the superior divine beings.
Angels are mentioned several times in the Christmas narratives of Luke and Matthew - an angel coming to Zechariah, to Mary, to Joseph - and then again when Jesus is about two years old and Joseph takes them into Egypt. Obviously this was important enough to mention.
Angels are depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Bible, and the Quran. Both the Hebrew and Greek words originally mean messenger; they can refer to a human messenger such as a prophet or priest, or to a supernatural messenger, the "Mal'akh YHWH," who is either a messenger from God, an aspect of God (such as the Logos), or God as the messenger.
There are also the cherubim and seraphim (the chayot in Ezekiel's vision and the Seraphim of Isaiah). However, while cherubim and seraphim have wings in the Bible, no angel is mentioned as having wings.
The original word from which all the others come is “angello” which means "to bear a message, announce, bring news of". The Greek philosopher Philo identifies the angel as the immaterial voice of God. According to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, God, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers
The Bible uses the terms “mal'akh Elohim; messenger of God”, “mal'akh YHWH; messenger of the Lord”.
Gabriel (translation: the strength of God), performs acts of justice and power
Raphael (translation: God Heals), God's healing force
Uriel (translation: God is my light), leads us to destiny
Satan (translation: the adversary), brings people's sins before them in the heavenly court
Chayot HaKodesh (translation: living beings)
I have never seen an angel, to the best of my knowledge, although I believe I have encountered one. What I do know about angels is the mention in Scripture, pictures and drawings, literary depictions of angels, movies. Up until recently, there was little talk about angels, except at Christmas where they suddenly proliferate in scripture and hymn and Christmas card art. I really do not like the way angels are depicted.
C.S. Lewis, who wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia”, was one of the foremost Christian authors, and critics of the church. Lewis said that angels, along with much of Christian thought and symbol have been made sweet and unoffensive, soft and comfortable, so we don’t have to really grapple with what they actually were.
I believe angels are messengers of God, not Santa's elves here to help us attain our wishes. Nor do I believe they are around to protect us or watch over us somehow. I believe angels are messengers of God who bring both the mystery and meaning of God's power, presence, and purpose into the actuality and reality of our limited dimension of existence and being. Angels bring messages of great things to come - they are not soft, fluffy and white. They mean there is something of earth-shattering change about to happen.
Then there’s the star. Whatever it was - a comet, or an exploding or imploding body deep in space, it was seen as a portent of something great. We don’t know for sure if it was even there. Biblical scholarship tells us that if there were Magi, they came along a couple of years later, when Jesus and is family were living in Egypt, waiting for Herod to die. Yet in our Christmas narrative the star has been put in there right with the angels. Well, the star wasn’t an angel - but it was certainly something cosmic. The event of whatever caused it was violent and cosmic. It was not a sweetly shining, twinkling star that just kind of sat there serenely every night. This was another event big enough to make people afraid - and I am sure some of the more superstitious people were. The star - a cosmic ball of gas - or a comet of ice and rock - was a huge event which caused a whole number of people to leave their homes and their comforts, and go looking, no matter how long it took.
There is an old saying, "After the ecstasy is the dishes." What happened afterwards seemed so ordinary. There was a birth. There was a child to be raised. There was cleaning and meals and washing, and all the needs of life and work. Angels are not mentioned much after the shepherds returned to the fields. They went back to being shepherds; back in their ordinary fields. The magi had to go back home, back to their ordinary lives. And It was into such a world of ordinary needs and deeds that the most extraordinary event occurred. Jesus was born into an ordinary world, ate the same ordinary food as everyone else around him - yet the birth was important enough that it was announced by a cosmic event of some kind, and a being which started off saying “Don’t be afraid.”
So let’s put the angels and the stars back into Christmas. Because that’s how life is, isn’t it? There are these great cosmic events, and then we go back to being ordinary people living in an ordinary world. Let’s see the angels for exactly what they were - beings which commanded fear at the sight of them - which brought messages of life-changing events.. Let’s look again at what we call a star - a violent and frightening cosmic event in the universe which served as a portent of a birth which would change the lives of people everywhere. Amen.
Sources:
1. Angels and Stars - a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota December 2005
2. The Messenger, the Mystery, and the Meaning by DG Bradley, 1996.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
“The Words of the Prophets” December 11, 2011 Third Sunday of Advent Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Luke 1:47-55
The spirit of God is upon me, because God has anointed me, and sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom God has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in God, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Luke 1:47-55
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name. God’s compassion extends to those who are filled with awe, from generation to generation. God has performed mighty deeds with his arm, and has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. Rulers have been brought down from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. The hungry have been filled with good things, but the rich have been sent away empty. God has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as our ancestors were promised.”
Play “The Sound of Silence”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsX03LOMhI
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls nd tenement halls, and whispered in the sounds of silence.”
The prophecy, according to Simon and Garfunkel.
In the third section of the Book of Isaiah, the prophet says these words: “The Spirit of God is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners.” In today’s language, that would be those people who pack the subways, who live in tenements, who are held captive by failing economic systems, by corrupt systems, by war or famine.
What does it mean, to preach good news? Is it only salvation? Is it that getting into heaven is the most important thing. That's not what Isaiah said. This is not about some kind of future salivation where we will inherit some wonderful experience in the sweet by and by. The words of the prophet Isaiah are stark and different. The words of the prophet Mary are equally stark.
Think for a moment; the poor, the heartbroken, captives and prisoners. These are real people in the here and now, not folks who are looking for something way ahead in the future. Salvation, according to Isaiah, is not about getting to heaven, but about a quality of life in the here and now.
And what would that look like?
Isaiah says “God sent me to announce the year of jubilee - to comfort all who mourn, to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.
Isaiah says God called HIM. So I we read those words now, what do they mean or us? Don’t they mean God calls US? Yes, God calls US to mission. Mission happens when we turn our attention to those who are named as recipients of the Good News: the poor, the oppressed, the broken, the captives, the poor in spirit. But when we are called to turn our attention to those God names, we are also called to engage with them, not only through donations or overseas relief or the food bank - those are part of engagement - but we are also called to engage right in the here and now, in Corner Brook, with those on the streets, or living below the poverty line but out of direct sight.
Each time I read Luke, I am always amazed by the revolutionary words that spring from Mary’s mouth. The hungry are filled with good things, and the rich are sent away empty. Mary, even as a young woman of about fourteen, already understands the radical nature of these words.
As we look at the book of Luke, we see that the perspective of the participants in the birth of Jesus was always from the underside. These were not the movers and shakers of their society. These were not the people that all the world was watching. No, indeed, in this story, the good news comes to those who live on the fringes of society, to the poor and obscure, to the oppressed.
But if we want to see what God is up to, we need to look, and listen to those who are on the margins. And that is one of reasons that many of us have chosen this group of people as our faith community. Because through this community, we are able to connect with those who live on the margins, to hear those songs of the underside.
I want to tell you a story of a friend of mine rom Iran, who at 15 was married to her high school English teacher, a man twice her age. He and her parents came to an agreement, and she agreed - as she said she was happy with him as a choice. So she was married at 15 and had her first child at 16. Shortly after her daughter was born her husband decided to go to school in the US, to get a PhD, and she went with him. She was terrified, having to leave her country, go to a new place with a baby, not speaking English, not knowing anything about the culture.
In fact, this is a very old practice. Mary was betrothed to Joseph in an agreement made between him and her parents - she likely could have refused, but it would not have been wise. I don’t visualise Mary as thrilled about the marriage; I don’t visualise her as thrilled by the angel’s announcement. I see her as sullen, and somewhat argumentative. In the movie “Nativity”, Mary asks why she has to get stuck with a man she doesn’t know and doesn’t love. Not long after the engagement, she becomes pregnant, and goes to her cousin Elizabeth, to spend time thinking.
When Mary returns from visiting Elizabeth, and it is clear she is pregnant, her parents are angry, Joseph considers cancelling the agreement; in Hebrew culture, she could be stoned to death. Yet Mary is also a rebel, in my mind, and I see her refusing to be put down or put aside. She is going to wear her pregnancy and wear it openly. She believes that she is meant to have this child - knowing that she could be disowned by her family, cut off by Joseph, and even stoned for committing adultery, she still somehow finds faith to be open to the unprecedented event, and trust that God knows what will happen.
Perhaps she recognised that regardless of how it happened, the child is not at fault. Perhaps her acceptance was a way of stating again the sanctity of life. While the commandments said “No killing”, stoning was allowable for adultery; sending a woman into prostitution, or to beg was considered appropriate. The religious “laws” which supported the cultural ethos were man-made, not God-given. Yet from somewhere she gets the strength to trust God, and have the baby. She moves from a sullen girl in a snit, to a strong woman of faith.
Into the text comes a song - lifted from the Hebrew Scriptures, the song of Hannah - words inserted 75 years after Jesus’ death when Luke was writing the text. Luke who states right at the beginning that he is writing down what he has been told. So *he* doesn’t know whether or not Mary was happy - it’s a story, handed down by word of mouth and embellished along the way.
Yet many of us would take offense at these words, if they were not written down as Mary’s words. We tolerate them because Mary said them. But they are harsh nonetheless, and make us a little uncomfortable. They are the words of a prophet.
Mary’s story is one of turning the recognised way of things upside down. God has given a gift, not a king to the wealthy, but to a young peasant girl in a backwater village in a tiny country under occupation. Her family are labourers - not quite the bottom o the social heap, because carpenters were in demand, but they were close enough. So the one who is to free Israel from its oppression is being born to a nobody, nowhere. Mary recognises that to God, that’s exactly the idea - to turn everyone’s preconceived notions upside down, and do something no one expects. In this turnabout, the rich are sent home with nothing, while the poor are fed; the proud are scattered, the mighty are taken down from their thrones. - and the most stunning part of all, God comes to a simple young girl - a child by our standards - who is to be married off by her parents against her will - a piece of property, a good trade for having a strong man like Joseph look after the whole family.
The great Reformers in the church didn’t give a lot of attention to Mary, and given that God’s grace was central to their faith, Mary probably should have had more attention. She illustrated that every one of us is, in a sense, a virgin recipient of God’s calling. Christianity is a religion of what God has done for us and to us, and then calls us to do. God has given this gift to the poorest on our streets, to the captives of economic insecurity, of wars for profit. God has given this gift to those who struggle to eat, and ind a place to sleep, whose children die of hunger.
So to preach good news means we cannot remain passive recipients of God’s grace. Mary received the gift, but then took an active role. God graces us so that we will be active and creative, but at the root of everything is God’s initiative and grace. Everything that is comes from God; every hope for the redemption of all things comes from God. If we think in these terms, how can we fail to realise that we are all Mary, made pregnant with the gifts of God’s grace.
Isaiah says “God has anointed me, and sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor....”
Mary sings prophetic words - the hungry will be filled with good things, and the rich will be sent away empty.
The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls.....
And so I hold up Mary, the humble servant - a young woman at the bottom of the social scale, receiving a great gift. Each of us at Humber is called to be a humble servant, and we are individually, and collectively, the humble, barefoot recipients of a grace and a call that are the foundation of all we can ever hope to accomplish. Maybe God needs us to continue to sing the song of the prophets, which came down through the ages, through Isaiah, through Mary, and more like her.
Sources:
1. Sermon “The Words of the Prophet”, by Rev. David Shearman, December 11, 2011.
2. Song From the Underside, a sermon based on Luke 1:47-55 by Rev. Cindy Weber
3. Singing of Joy , a sermon based upon Luke 1:47-55 December 14, 2008 Rev. Fran Ota
For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom God has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in God, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Luke 1:47-55
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name. God’s compassion extends to those who are filled with awe, from generation to generation. God has performed mighty deeds with his arm, and has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. Rulers have been brought down from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. The hungry have been filled with good things, but the rich have been sent away empty. God has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as our ancestors were promised.”
Play “The Sound of Silence”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsX03LOMhI
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls nd tenement halls, and whispered in the sounds of silence.”
The prophecy, according to Simon and Garfunkel.
In the third section of the Book of Isaiah, the prophet says these words: “The Spirit of God is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners.” In today’s language, that would be those people who pack the subways, who live in tenements, who are held captive by failing economic systems, by corrupt systems, by war or famine.
What does it mean, to preach good news? Is it only salvation? Is it that getting into heaven is the most important thing. That's not what Isaiah said. This is not about some kind of future salivation where we will inherit some wonderful experience in the sweet by and by. The words of the prophet Isaiah are stark and different. The words of the prophet Mary are equally stark.
Think for a moment; the poor, the heartbroken, captives and prisoners. These are real people in the here and now, not folks who are looking for something way ahead in the future. Salvation, according to Isaiah, is not about getting to heaven, but about a quality of life in the here and now.
And what would that look like?
Isaiah says “God sent me to announce the year of jubilee - to comfort all who mourn, to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.
Isaiah says God called HIM. So I we read those words now, what do they mean or us? Don’t they mean God calls US? Yes, God calls US to mission. Mission happens when we turn our attention to those who are named as recipients of the Good News: the poor, the oppressed, the broken, the captives, the poor in spirit. But when we are called to turn our attention to those God names, we are also called to engage with them, not only through donations or overseas relief or the food bank - those are part of engagement - but we are also called to engage right in the here and now, in Corner Brook, with those on the streets, or living below the poverty line but out of direct sight.
Each time I read Luke, I am always amazed by the revolutionary words that spring from Mary’s mouth. The hungry are filled with good things, and the rich are sent away empty. Mary, even as a young woman of about fourteen, already understands the radical nature of these words.
As we look at the book of Luke, we see that the perspective of the participants in the birth of Jesus was always from the underside. These were not the movers and shakers of their society. These were not the people that all the world was watching. No, indeed, in this story, the good news comes to those who live on the fringes of society, to the poor and obscure, to the oppressed.
But if we want to see what God is up to, we need to look, and listen to those who are on the margins. And that is one of reasons that many of us have chosen this group of people as our faith community. Because through this community, we are able to connect with those who live on the margins, to hear those songs of the underside.
I want to tell you a story of a friend of mine rom Iran, who at 15 was married to her high school English teacher, a man twice her age. He and her parents came to an agreement, and she agreed - as she said she was happy with him as a choice. So she was married at 15 and had her first child at 16. Shortly after her daughter was born her husband decided to go to school in the US, to get a PhD, and she went with him. She was terrified, having to leave her country, go to a new place with a baby, not speaking English, not knowing anything about the culture.
In fact, this is a very old practice. Mary was betrothed to Joseph in an agreement made between him and her parents - she likely could have refused, but it would not have been wise. I don’t visualise Mary as thrilled about the marriage; I don’t visualise her as thrilled by the angel’s announcement. I see her as sullen, and somewhat argumentative. In the movie “Nativity”, Mary asks why she has to get stuck with a man she doesn’t know and doesn’t love. Not long after the engagement, she becomes pregnant, and goes to her cousin Elizabeth, to spend time thinking.
When Mary returns from visiting Elizabeth, and it is clear she is pregnant, her parents are angry, Joseph considers cancelling the agreement; in Hebrew culture, she could be stoned to death. Yet Mary is also a rebel, in my mind, and I see her refusing to be put down or put aside. She is going to wear her pregnancy and wear it openly. She believes that she is meant to have this child - knowing that she could be disowned by her family, cut off by Joseph, and even stoned for committing adultery, she still somehow finds faith to be open to the unprecedented event, and trust that God knows what will happen.
Perhaps she recognised that regardless of how it happened, the child is not at fault. Perhaps her acceptance was a way of stating again the sanctity of life. While the commandments said “No killing”, stoning was allowable for adultery; sending a woman into prostitution, or to beg was considered appropriate. The religious “laws” which supported the cultural ethos were man-made, not God-given. Yet from somewhere she gets the strength to trust God, and have the baby. She moves from a sullen girl in a snit, to a strong woman of faith.
Into the text comes a song - lifted from the Hebrew Scriptures, the song of Hannah - words inserted 75 years after Jesus’ death when Luke was writing the text. Luke who states right at the beginning that he is writing down what he has been told. So *he* doesn’t know whether or not Mary was happy - it’s a story, handed down by word of mouth and embellished along the way.
Yet many of us would take offense at these words, if they were not written down as Mary’s words. We tolerate them because Mary said them. But they are harsh nonetheless, and make us a little uncomfortable. They are the words of a prophet.
Mary’s story is one of turning the recognised way of things upside down. God has given a gift, not a king to the wealthy, but to a young peasant girl in a backwater village in a tiny country under occupation. Her family are labourers - not quite the bottom o the social heap, because carpenters were in demand, but they were close enough. So the one who is to free Israel from its oppression is being born to a nobody, nowhere. Mary recognises that to God, that’s exactly the idea - to turn everyone’s preconceived notions upside down, and do something no one expects. In this turnabout, the rich are sent home with nothing, while the poor are fed; the proud are scattered, the mighty are taken down from their thrones. - and the most stunning part of all, God comes to a simple young girl - a child by our standards - who is to be married off by her parents against her will - a piece of property, a good trade for having a strong man like Joseph look after the whole family.
The great Reformers in the church didn’t give a lot of attention to Mary, and given that God’s grace was central to their faith, Mary probably should have had more attention. She illustrated that every one of us is, in a sense, a virgin recipient of God’s calling. Christianity is a religion of what God has done for us and to us, and then calls us to do. God has given this gift to the poorest on our streets, to the captives of economic insecurity, of wars for profit. God has given this gift to those who struggle to eat, and ind a place to sleep, whose children die of hunger.
So to preach good news means we cannot remain passive recipients of God’s grace. Mary received the gift, but then took an active role. God graces us so that we will be active and creative, but at the root of everything is God’s initiative and grace. Everything that is comes from God; every hope for the redemption of all things comes from God. If we think in these terms, how can we fail to realise that we are all Mary, made pregnant with the gifts of God’s grace.
Isaiah says “God has anointed me, and sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor....”
Mary sings prophetic words - the hungry will be filled with good things, and the rich will be sent away empty.
The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls.....
And so I hold up Mary, the humble servant - a young woman at the bottom of the social scale, receiving a great gift. Each of us at Humber is called to be a humble servant, and we are individually, and collectively, the humble, barefoot recipients of a grace and a call that are the foundation of all we can ever hope to accomplish. Maybe God needs us to continue to sing the song of the prophets, which came down through the ages, through Isaiah, through Mary, and more like her.
Sources:
1. Sermon “The Words of the Prophet”, by Rev. David Shearman, December 11, 2011.
2. Song From the Underside, a sermon based on Luke 1:47-55 by Rev. Cindy Weber
3. Singing of Joy , a sermon based upon Luke 1:47-55 December 14, 2008 Rev. Fran Ota
Saturday, November 19, 2011
“Hard Sayings of Jesus: One of the Least of These” a sermon based on Matthew 25:31-46 Reign of Christ Sunday Humber United Church, Corner Brook
“When the Son of Man comes in glory, with all the angels, he will sit on a glorious throne. All the nations will gather before him; he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on the right, goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on the right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by God; take your inheritance, the realm prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you gave them to me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will ask him, ‘When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
They also will ask, ‘When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
*************************************************************************
Here we go again, with Jesus throwing out an incredibly hard and harsh saying, which by its nature would seem to negate the grace of God. Somewhere back in Sunday school, we learned that separating sheep from goats means division - the good from the bad, the wrong from the right, the insiders from the outsiders. In our human tendency to arrogance we hold that all wrongs - perceived or otherwise - must be judged by our system and our sense; those who do the wrong thing must pay; all rip-offs must be brought to justice. We have told ourselves that this is how God does it, so we can as well. - and we tell ourselves that God reserves a special day on the calendar to do the same thing as we do here. We believe God goes to court to determine who’s innocent and who’s guilty.
That’s where we are this morning- in a courtroom with the gavel pounding, the doors opening and the Judge of all creation enters the courtroom. All humanity--like a flock of animals are herded into God’s huge Hall of Justice. There all humanity is separated into two camps based not on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age, but on the basis of what we’ve done in this present life. Judgment begins.
Theologians are all over the map when it comes to this gospel lesson. One says faith plays no role whatsoever in this vision, it isn’t even mentioned. Another says that all the nations --the word “ethnoi” in Greek, refers not to Jews or Christians only but to all the others. In the biblical stories, it didn’t take long for devout Jews to discover some genuinely good people among the gentiles, those they considered unclean. Or for Christians to discover some genuinely good and spiritual people among non-Christians who, though not converting to Christianity, offered a warm meal, the shirt off their back, and even visits in prison.
As I was researching this sermon, I came across website after website which claimed that God will take all the Christians, and those who have not found Jesus will be left behind. Who’s going to make it and who’s not. Harold Camping and his crew, who predicted the rapture, were sure all of them would go and those of us who don’t agree with his vision will be left. I remember commenting that I prefer to sit on my deck with some popcorn and watch, and stay down here with real people struggling with real life.
This whole issue bugged the daylights out of Paul the Apostle. He knew just too many good people who were not Christians. In Romans 2 Paul says that Gentiles with no connection to God through the Law can still fulfill the law. During the holocaust, there were an incredible number of non-Jewish in Holland and elsewhere, who were called "Righteous Gentiles" by the Jews, because they were the ‘ethnoi’, the ‘other nations’ who protected Israel’s little ones in the time of trial.
Catholic theologian, Karl Rahner calls such people "anonymous Christians" - people whose actions are more faithful than baptized, proclaiming Christians. The prophets spoke of those who do the right thing because the law of God is already written on their hearts. They do what is right not because they learned it in Sunday School or read it somewhere in the Bible, but because it is a part of their very being, and they could not be any other way.
In this visionary story, we hear that the one on the throne will separate sheep from goats. Sheep will be on the right and goats on the left. Matthew is clear that the shepherd will know which is which.
This is good, because Middle Eastern sheep and goats in Jesus’ time didn’t look anything like the sheep and goats we know now. We have to remember that over 2000 years, animals have been bred for particular characteristics. Swiss Saanen goats are large, big-boned and have been bred for milk production with high butterfat content; the Swiss Toggenberg is smaller, has lower milk production and a lower butterfat content. The Welsh Llanwenog sheep, and the Sussex sheep, have been bred for different kas well. These are modern animals - larger and more inbred than the kind of sheep and goats of biblical times. Sheep and goats in Asia and Africa are often similar in appearance; sheep and goats are related animals, coming from the same origins and family of animals..
Those who are not shepherds would find it difficult to distinguish such sheep and goats, but the shepherd knows the difference and easily separates them. It has often been believed that sheep are good followers, and goats go their own way. Well, that’s true to some extent. But then we have biblical passages about sheep going astray. Anyone who has bred sheep and goats will know that there are some really pig-headed sheep, and some really docile goats.
The key, I think, to this “sheep and goats” thing is contained in Jesus’ distinction between those who care about others, and those who don’t. And it is this story which prompted Paul, and others, to look closely at the realisation of what Jesus had said all along - that those who say “Lord, Lord”, but do not care for their neighbour will be the ones who may find themselves at the end of the line rather than the front. Notice that Jesus keeps talking about the “least of these”. There is no distinction of race, colour, belief or anything else. Jesus talks about how people treat each other, about their acceptance and care for strangers, for those who are not like them.
There’s an old southern spiritual called “Judgment Day’s a- Rollin’ Around”.
Judgment, Judgment day is a-rollin’ around
Judgment, Judgment, Oh, how I long to go.
I’ve a good ole mudder in de heaven, my Lord, Oh, how I long to go there too.
I’ve a good ole fadder in de heaven, my Lord, Oh, how I long to go there too.
Dur’s a long white robe in de heaven for me, Oh, how I long to go there too
Dur’s a starry crown in de heaven for me, Oh, how I long to go there too
My name is written in de book ob life, Oh, how I long to go there too
Ef you look in de book you’ll fin’ em dar, Oh, how I long to go there too.
Brudder Moses gone to de kingdom, Lord…
Sister Mary gone to de kingdom, Lord …
Dar’s no more slave in de kingdom, Lord …
All is glory in de kingdom, Lord …
My brudder build a house in Paradise …
He built it by dat ribber of life …
Dar’s a big camp-meetin’ in de kingdom, Lord …
Come, let us jine dat-a heavenly crew …
King Jesus sittin’ in de kingdom, Lord
De angels singin’ all around de trone …
De trumpet sound de Jubilo…
I hope dat trump will blow me home …
This is a spiritual sung by a people in slavery - the “least of these” Jesus talked about - and if you listen, there is an absolute conviction that they will be vindicated in the next life. *They* will be the ones going.....
In fact, most of us are kind of sheep, and kind of goats, aren’t we? So what is God going to do with us???? Earlier in Matthew, Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment; He answers with the “Sh’ma”. “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. You shall love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second of these is likewise, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two hang ALL of the law and ALL of the prophets.” So here is Jesus demonstrating to the listeners again what it means to obey the greatest commandment. Maybe the vision of Matthew is that God will judge us by how we have treated others - which may mean that a lot of people who call themselves Christian may be left out; and those who are not Christian but follow the WAY, will be included.
Jesus doesn’t ask a whole lot here, just a natural kindness and compassion shown to others in need. Maybe Jesus is saying we need to work on the side of ourselves which doesn’t come so naturally. Maybe Jesus hopes that we half sheep, half goats, will bear the kind of fruit that often comes naturally for the “least of these”.
Sources:
1. Judgment Day’s a Comin’ a sermon based on Mathew 25:31-46 by Rev. Thomas Hall
2. http://creation.com/separating-the-sheep-from-the-goats
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat
“Then the King will say to those on the right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by God; take your inheritance, the realm prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you gave them to me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will ask him, ‘When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
They also will ask, ‘When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
*************************************************************************
Here we go again, with Jesus throwing out an incredibly hard and harsh saying, which by its nature would seem to negate the grace of God. Somewhere back in Sunday school, we learned that separating sheep from goats means division - the good from the bad, the wrong from the right, the insiders from the outsiders. In our human tendency to arrogance we hold that all wrongs - perceived or otherwise - must be judged by our system and our sense; those who do the wrong thing must pay; all rip-offs must be brought to justice. We have told ourselves that this is how God does it, so we can as well. - and we tell ourselves that God reserves a special day on the calendar to do the same thing as we do here. We believe God goes to court to determine who’s innocent and who’s guilty.
That’s where we are this morning- in a courtroom with the gavel pounding, the doors opening and the Judge of all creation enters the courtroom. All humanity--like a flock of animals are herded into God’s huge Hall of Justice. There all humanity is separated into two camps based not on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age, but on the basis of what we’ve done in this present life. Judgment begins.
Theologians are all over the map when it comes to this gospel lesson. One says faith plays no role whatsoever in this vision, it isn’t even mentioned. Another says that all the nations --the word “ethnoi” in Greek, refers not to Jews or Christians only but to all the others. In the biblical stories, it didn’t take long for devout Jews to discover some genuinely good people among the gentiles, those they considered unclean. Or for Christians to discover some genuinely good and spiritual people among non-Christians who, though not converting to Christianity, offered a warm meal, the shirt off their back, and even visits in prison.
As I was researching this sermon, I came across website after website which claimed that God will take all the Christians, and those who have not found Jesus will be left behind. Who’s going to make it and who’s not. Harold Camping and his crew, who predicted the rapture, were sure all of them would go and those of us who don’t agree with his vision will be left. I remember commenting that I prefer to sit on my deck with some popcorn and watch, and stay down here with real people struggling with real life.
This whole issue bugged the daylights out of Paul the Apostle. He knew just too many good people who were not Christians. In Romans 2 Paul says that Gentiles with no connection to God through the Law can still fulfill the law. During the holocaust, there were an incredible number of non-Jewish in Holland and elsewhere, who were called "Righteous Gentiles" by the Jews, because they were the ‘ethnoi’, the ‘other nations’ who protected Israel’s little ones in the time of trial.
Catholic theologian, Karl Rahner calls such people "anonymous Christians" - people whose actions are more faithful than baptized, proclaiming Christians. The prophets spoke of those who do the right thing because the law of God is already written on their hearts. They do what is right not because they learned it in Sunday School or read it somewhere in the Bible, but because it is a part of their very being, and they could not be any other way.
In this visionary story, we hear that the one on the throne will separate sheep from goats. Sheep will be on the right and goats on the left. Matthew is clear that the shepherd will know which is which.
This is good, because Middle Eastern sheep and goats in Jesus’ time didn’t look anything like the sheep and goats we know now. We have to remember that over 2000 years, animals have been bred for particular characteristics. Swiss Saanen goats are large, big-boned and have been bred for milk production with high butterfat content; the Swiss Toggenberg is smaller, has lower milk production and a lower butterfat content. The Welsh Llanwenog sheep, and the Sussex sheep, have been bred for different kas well. These are modern animals - larger and more inbred than the kind of sheep and goats of biblical times. Sheep and goats in Asia and Africa are often similar in appearance; sheep and goats are related animals, coming from the same origins and family of animals..
Those who are not shepherds would find it difficult to distinguish such sheep and goats, but the shepherd knows the difference and easily separates them. It has often been believed that sheep are good followers, and goats go their own way. Well, that’s true to some extent. But then we have biblical passages about sheep going astray. Anyone who has bred sheep and goats will know that there are some really pig-headed sheep, and some really docile goats.
The key, I think, to this “sheep and goats” thing is contained in Jesus’ distinction between those who care about others, and those who don’t. And it is this story which prompted Paul, and others, to look closely at the realisation of what Jesus had said all along - that those who say “Lord, Lord”, but do not care for their neighbour will be the ones who may find themselves at the end of the line rather than the front. Notice that Jesus keeps talking about the “least of these”. There is no distinction of race, colour, belief or anything else. Jesus talks about how people treat each other, about their acceptance and care for strangers, for those who are not like them.
There’s an old southern spiritual called “Judgment Day’s a- Rollin’ Around”.
Judgment, Judgment day is a-rollin’ around
Judgment, Judgment, Oh, how I long to go.
I’ve a good ole mudder in de heaven, my Lord, Oh, how I long to go there too.
I’ve a good ole fadder in de heaven, my Lord, Oh, how I long to go there too.
Dur’s a long white robe in de heaven for me, Oh, how I long to go there too
Dur’s a starry crown in de heaven for me, Oh, how I long to go there too
My name is written in de book ob life, Oh, how I long to go there too
Ef you look in de book you’ll fin’ em dar, Oh, how I long to go there too.
Brudder Moses gone to de kingdom, Lord…
Sister Mary gone to de kingdom, Lord …
Dar’s no more slave in de kingdom, Lord …
All is glory in de kingdom, Lord …
My brudder build a house in Paradise …
He built it by dat ribber of life …
Dar’s a big camp-meetin’ in de kingdom, Lord …
Come, let us jine dat-a heavenly crew …
King Jesus sittin’ in de kingdom, Lord
De angels singin’ all around de trone …
De trumpet sound de Jubilo…
I hope dat trump will blow me home …
This is a spiritual sung by a people in slavery - the “least of these” Jesus talked about - and if you listen, there is an absolute conviction that they will be vindicated in the next life. *They* will be the ones going.....
In fact, most of us are kind of sheep, and kind of goats, aren’t we? So what is God going to do with us???? Earlier in Matthew, Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment; He answers with the “Sh’ma”. “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. You shall love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second of these is likewise, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two hang ALL of the law and ALL of the prophets.” So here is Jesus demonstrating to the listeners again what it means to obey the greatest commandment. Maybe the vision of Matthew is that God will judge us by how we have treated others - which may mean that a lot of people who call themselves Christian may be left out; and those who are not Christian but follow the WAY, will be included.
Jesus doesn’t ask a whole lot here, just a natural kindness and compassion shown to others in need. Maybe Jesus is saying we need to work on the side of ourselves which doesn’t come so naturally. Maybe Jesus hopes that we half sheep, half goats, will bear the kind of fruit that often comes naturally for the “least of these”.
Sources:
1. Judgment Day’s a Comin’ a sermon based on Mathew 25:31-46 by Rev. Thomas Hall
2. http://creation.com/separating-the-sheep-from-the-goats
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat
Saturday, November 12, 2011
The Talents A sermon based on Matthew 25:14-30 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, Newfoundland November 13, 2011
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five talents went at once, put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two talents gained two more. The man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents, and I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Then the man who had received one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Then you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the talent and give it to the one who has ten. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
*************************************************************************
Today’s Gospel is one of those ‘hard sayings of Jesus’ which we often avoid preaching. If God is loving and forgiving, if Jesus taught that all people had worth in the eyes of God, then how do we explain this one? It sounds like a vengeful, hard God rather than a loving God. But it’s my contention that Jesus was turning everything around, and the listeners would have known exactly what he was doing.
Looking at Matthew’s original audience provides some clues. Most of Matthew’s congregation were Jewish Christians, steeped in the laws, customs, and justice traditions of the Jewish faith. Even the ‘talent’ itself would be a problem according to this traditionally Jewish audience. A talent was one of the largest values of money in the Hellenistic world. It was a silver coinage weighing between fifty-seven and seventy-four pounds, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was an average subsistence wage for a day's labor, so one talent was worth more than fifteen years wages. In the modern era, we might roughly translate the assets made available for investment at about 2.5 million dollars.
The Old Testament prophet Amos sternly warned against the practice of wealth accumulation. Israel is indicted for the sinful accumulation of wealth on the backs of others - at the expense of slaves - and without honest, ethical labor. In Exodus 16 and Leviticus 25 God strictly prohibits the lending of money at interest. Although there was some interest-based investment and lending, the highest legal - or at least ethical - interest rate was believed to be at 12 percent. Clearly, the heart of Jewish scripture tradition - as revealed in the Old Testament - is for equality and justice, and is opposed to vast concentrations of wealth.
Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, in their Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, tell us that the Greco-Roman world operated according to a principle of "limited good." The Greeks and Romans believed that the amount of capital in the world was finite, and that it was ethically suspect to invest money to earn a profit. To make money on investment - to loan it out at interest - was ultimately to take wealth from someone else. So, what the wealthy did instead was to use knowledgeable slaves to invest the money. "Such behavior could be condoned in slaves," Malina and Rohrbaugh write, "since slaves were without honor anyway".
The original audience would have seen in this parable a portrait of a great household – in our terms, a modern trans-national corporation. The powerful patriarch or CEO would frequently be away on economic or political business. His affairs would be handled by slaves, who in Roman society often rose to prominent positions in the household hierarchy.
To entrust money to slaves sounds strange to our ears, but in fact it was a common enough practice in the first-century Mediterranean world. Many slaves were educated, and demonstrated better management abilities than their masters. For Jesus to tell of slaves who were serving their master as investment counselors would not have sounded strange to his listeners. The sums, however, are staggering and border on hyperbole.
Later rabbinic law declared that burying money was the preferred method of safe-keeping. So safe was this method considered to be, that a person who had buried money could not be held accountable for the loss, if the money should be dug up and stolen.
An article by Ched Myers and Eric DeBode, "Towering Trees and 'Talented' Slaves," offers insight into the parable of the talents. They argue that the parable suggests that we should *resist* the economic system that makes such doubling possible in the first place.
On the surface, this story promotes ruthless business practices and the cynical view that the rich will only get richer while the poor become destitute. It is a severe portrait of a hardhearted, ruthless absentee landlord who cares only for profit.
Might it be that we have imposed upon the parable our capitalist presumptions about the glories of a system that rewards "venture capital," and thus read the story exactly backwards? So we have traditionally read it as a story about ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ stewardship. Myers and Bode argue that it actually isn’t about that at all.
The first two slaves double their master's investment. In fact, this feat would have elicited disgust from the first-century audience. The ideal was stability, not self- advancement. Anyone trying to accumulate inordinate wealth imperiled the equilibrium of society and was understood to be dishonorable. Greed characterized the rich, who extorted and defrauded other members of the community through lucrative trading, tax collecting, and lending money at interest. In fact, usury was understood to be responsible for the destructive cycle of indebtedness and poverty; profiting from commodity trading was explicitly condemned by none other than Aristotle.
The scripturally literate among first-century Christians would recall the warning against stored surplus in Exodus 16, the prohibition against profiteering in Leviticus 25, or Isaiah's condemnation of those who "join house to house and field to field" in their real-estate dealings. Yet the slaves’ doubling of the amounts was likely based in precisely such condemned practices. Large landowners made loans to peasant small holders based on speculations of future crop production. With high interest rates and vulnerability to lean years and famine, farmers often were unable to make their payments, and faced foreclosure. After gaining control of the land, the new owner could continue to make a killing by hiring laborers to farm cash crops.
In fact, this is a process of economic exploitation and wealth accumulation that is still all too characteristic of our own global economy today - and we don’t have to go far to find examples, in the tied-aid programmes of many governments, or the practices of large trans-national corporations.
In the story the master commends the first two slaves: "Well done, good and trustworthy slave--enter into the joy of your master." At the plain level of the parable it is a promotion, but also a reminder that these are still slaves, still dependent on the master’s good mood, and by their actions even more enslaved than ever to the world controlled by their lord.
That the third slave buried the money may seem strange to us at first glance, till we remember the context. And perhaps Jesus is employing some wry peasant humor, since many of his audience were farmers. Those who work the land know that all true wealth comes from God, the source of rain, sunshine, seed, and soil. Remember too, that it was the acceptable practice to bury money. The silver talent, when "sown" in the ground produced no fruit!
Here is the clash between two economic worldviews: the traditional agrarian notion of "use - value" and the elite's currency-based system of "exchange - value." Money cannot grow the natural way like seed - it only grows unnaturally. Is this symbolic act of "planting" the talent a way of revealing that money is not fertile?
The third slave clearly speaks truth to power. "I knew you were a harsh man. You reap where you did not sow, and gather where you did not scatter seed". The third slave unmasks the fact that the master's wealth is derived entirely from the toil of others, profiting from the backbreaking labor of those who work the land. Unwilling to participate in this exploitation, the third slave takes the money out of circulation, where it can no longer be used to dispossess another family farmer. His repudiation of the master is simple and curt: "Here, take back what is rightfully yours". But he admits that through it all "I was afraid." It is instructive that the master does not refute the whistle-blower's analysis of his world, but castigates him as "evil and lazy" (and isn’t this the favorite slur of the rich toward those who don't play their way). He wonders rhetorically why the slave didn't at least seek market-rate return. He then dispossesses him and gives the single talent to the obedient slave, to illustrate how the real world works: "For to those who have, more will be given – but for those who have not, even what they have will be taken away".
To those who buy into the accepted ways of doing things, they will be rewarded. To those who speak the truth to the powerful, even what they have will be taken from them.
This parable reads coherently as a cautionary tale about the world controlled by corporations. To read in it a divine endorsement of mercenary economics and the inevitable polarization of wealth is to miss the point completely – and to perpetuate both dysfunctional theology and complicit economics in our churches. The consequence of the third slave's non-cooperation is banishment to the "outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth".
Perhaps this is the hell on earth experienced by those rejected by the dominant culture: in the shadows where the light of the royal courts never shine, on the mean streets outside the great households, the dwelling place of the outcast poor like Lazarus sitting by the gate, hand outstretched. But is that not where we claim Christ is met - in places of pain and marginality; the "outer darkness."? The whistle- blower's punishment kicks him out of the rich man's system, but brings him closer to God, who dwells with the poor and oppressed.
Jesus used "folksy" stories like these to expose the most entrenched arrangements of power and privilege, whether Roman militarism or Judean elitism. He challenged the "tall trees" of imperial domination with his "mustard seed" movement of Jubilee justice - a tiny seed growing into a great tree which would displace the powerful and dishonest. As we move toward Reign of Christ Sunday next week, it is useful to see how Jesus provoked anger by insisting on naming the truth, speaking to the powerful religious leaders who pretended to uphold the law.
The third slave lost everything - yet the good news of Jesus was that the one willing to lose his life would find it. I don’t claim that there is much good news in this parable, but if there is, it is that the one who risks speaking truth to power will find the realm of God. The one who focuses on saving himself will, in the end, lose the realm of God. Jesus said that himself - the one who would save his life will, in the end lose it; the one who would lose his life will find it.
Sources:
1. Sermon “The Day of God”, by Fran Ota November 13, 2005, Glen Ayr United Church.
2. Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. Malina, Bruce and Rohrbaugh, Richard.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003; p. 124
3. Towering Trees and ‘Talented’ Slaves. Ched Myers with Eric DeBode. “The Other Side”, May 1999, article.
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Then the man who had received one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Then you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the talent and give it to the one who has ten. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
*************************************************************************
Today’s Gospel is one of those ‘hard sayings of Jesus’ which we often avoid preaching. If God is loving and forgiving, if Jesus taught that all people had worth in the eyes of God, then how do we explain this one? It sounds like a vengeful, hard God rather than a loving God. But it’s my contention that Jesus was turning everything around, and the listeners would have known exactly what he was doing.
Looking at Matthew’s original audience provides some clues. Most of Matthew’s congregation were Jewish Christians, steeped in the laws, customs, and justice traditions of the Jewish faith. Even the ‘talent’ itself would be a problem according to this traditionally Jewish audience. A talent was one of the largest values of money in the Hellenistic world. It was a silver coinage weighing between fifty-seven and seventy-four pounds, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was an average subsistence wage for a day's labor, so one talent was worth more than fifteen years wages. In the modern era, we might roughly translate the assets made available for investment at about 2.5 million dollars.
The Old Testament prophet Amos sternly warned against the practice of wealth accumulation. Israel is indicted for the sinful accumulation of wealth on the backs of others - at the expense of slaves - and without honest, ethical labor. In Exodus 16 and Leviticus 25 God strictly prohibits the lending of money at interest. Although there was some interest-based investment and lending, the highest legal - or at least ethical - interest rate was believed to be at 12 percent. Clearly, the heart of Jewish scripture tradition - as revealed in the Old Testament - is for equality and justice, and is opposed to vast concentrations of wealth.
Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, in their Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, tell us that the Greco-Roman world operated according to a principle of "limited good." The Greeks and Romans believed that the amount of capital in the world was finite, and that it was ethically suspect to invest money to earn a profit. To make money on investment - to loan it out at interest - was ultimately to take wealth from someone else. So, what the wealthy did instead was to use knowledgeable slaves to invest the money. "Such behavior could be condoned in slaves," Malina and Rohrbaugh write, "since slaves were without honor anyway".
The original audience would have seen in this parable a portrait of a great household – in our terms, a modern trans-national corporation. The powerful patriarch or CEO would frequently be away on economic or political business. His affairs would be handled by slaves, who in Roman society often rose to prominent positions in the household hierarchy.
To entrust money to slaves sounds strange to our ears, but in fact it was a common enough practice in the first-century Mediterranean world. Many slaves were educated, and demonstrated better management abilities than their masters. For Jesus to tell of slaves who were serving their master as investment counselors would not have sounded strange to his listeners. The sums, however, are staggering and border on hyperbole.
Later rabbinic law declared that burying money was the preferred method of safe-keeping. So safe was this method considered to be, that a person who had buried money could not be held accountable for the loss, if the money should be dug up and stolen.
An article by Ched Myers and Eric DeBode, "Towering Trees and 'Talented' Slaves," offers insight into the parable of the talents. They argue that the parable suggests that we should *resist* the economic system that makes such doubling possible in the first place.
On the surface, this story promotes ruthless business practices and the cynical view that the rich will only get richer while the poor become destitute. It is a severe portrait of a hardhearted, ruthless absentee landlord who cares only for profit.
Might it be that we have imposed upon the parable our capitalist presumptions about the glories of a system that rewards "venture capital," and thus read the story exactly backwards? So we have traditionally read it as a story about ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ stewardship. Myers and Bode argue that it actually isn’t about that at all.
The first two slaves double their master's investment. In fact, this feat would have elicited disgust from the first-century audience. The ideal was stability, not self- advancement. Anyone trying to accumulate inordinate wealth imperiled the equilibrium of society and was understood to be dishonorable. Greed characterized the rich, who extorted and defrauded other members of the community through lucrative trading, tax collecting, and lending money at interest. In fact, usury was understood to be responsible for the destructive cycle of indebtedness and poverty; profiting from commodity trading was explicitly condemned by none other than Aristotle.
The scripturally literate among first-century Christians would recall the warning against stored surplus in Exodus 16, the prohibition against profiteering in Leviticus 25, or Isaiah's condemnation of those who "join house to house and field to field" in their real-estate dealings. Yet the slaves’ doubling of the amounts was likely based in precisely such condemned practices. Large landowners made loans to peasant small holders based on speculations of future crop production. With high interest rates and vulnerability to lean years and famine, farmers often were unable to make their payments, and faced foreclosure. After gaining control of the land, the new owner could continue to make a killing by hiring laborers to farm cash crops.
In fact, this is a process of economic exploitation and wealth accumulation that is still all too characteristic of our own global economy today - and we don’t have to go far to find examples, in the tied-aid programmes of many governments, or the practices of large trans-national corporations.
In the story the master commends the first two slaves: "Well done, good and trustworthy slave--enter into the joy of your master." At the plain level of the parable it is a promotion, but also a reminder that these are still slaves, still dependent on the master’s good mood, and by their actions even more enslaved than ever to the world controlled by their lord.
That the third slave buried the money may seem strange to us at first glance, till we remember the context. And perhaps Jesus is employing some wry peasant humor, since many of his audience were farmers. Those who work the land know that all true wealth comes from God, the source of rain, sunshine, seed, and soil. Remember too, that it was the acceptable practice to bury money. The silver talent, when "sown" in the ground produced no fruit!
Here is the clash between two economic worldviews: the traditional agrarian notion of "use - value" and the elite's currency-based system of "exchange - value." Money cannot grow the natural way like seed - it only grows unnaturally. Is this symbolic act of "planting" the talent a way of revealing that money is not fertile?
The third slave clearly speaks truth to power. "I knew you were a harsh man. You reap where you did not sow, and gather where you did not scatter seed". The third slave unmasks the fact that the master's wealth is derived entirely from the toil of others, profiting from the backbreaking labor of those who work the land. Unwilling to participate in this exploitation, the third slave takes the money out of circulation, where it can no longer be used to dispossess another family farmer. His repudiation of the master is simple and curt: "Here, take back what is rightfully yours". But he admits that through it all "I was afraid." It is instructive that the master does not refute the whistle-blower's analysis of his world, but castigates him as "evil and lazy" (and isn’t this the favorite slur of the rich toward those who don't play their way). He wonders rhetorically why the slave didn't at least seek market-rate return. He then dispossesses him and gives the single talent to the obedient slave, to illustrate how the real world works: "For to those who have, more will be given – but for those who have not, even what they have will be taken away".
To those who buy into the accepted ways of doing things, they will be rewarded. To those who speak the truth to the powerful, even what they have will be taken from them.
This parable reads coherently as a cautionary tale about the world controlled by corporations. To read in it a divine endorsement of mercenary economics and the inevitable polarization of wealth is to miss the point completely – and to perpetuate both dysfunctional theology and complicit economics in our churches. The consequence of the third slave's non-cooperation is banishment to the "outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth".
Perhaps this is the hell on earth experienced by those rejected by the dominant culture: in the shadows where the light of the royal courts never shine, on the mean streets outside the great households, the dwelling place of the outcast poor like Lazarus sitting by the gate, hand outstretched. But is that not where we claim Christ is met - in places of pain and marginality; the "outer darkness."? The whistle- blower's punishment kicks him out of the rich man's system, but brings him closer to God, who dwells with the poor and oppressed.
Jesus used "folksy" stories like these to expose the most entrenched arrangements of power and privilege, whether Roman militarism or Judean elitism. He challenged the "tall trees" of imperial domination with his "mustard seed" movement of Jubilee justice - a tiny seed growing into a great tree which would displace the powerful and dishonest. As we move toward Reign of Christ Sunday next week, it is useful to see how Jesus provoked anger by insisting on naming the truth, speaking to the powerful religious leaders who pretended to uphold the law.
The third slave lost everything - yet the good news of Jesus was that the one willing to lose his life would find it. I don’t claim that there is much good news in this parable, but if there is, it is that the one who risks speaking truth to power will find the realm of God. The one who focuses on saving himself will, in the end, lose the realm of God. Jesus said that himself - the one who would save his life will, in the end lose it; the one who would lose his life will find it.
Sources:
1. Sermon “The Day of God”, by Fran Ota November 13, 2005, Glen Ayr United Church.
2. Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. Malina, Bruce and Rohrbaugh, Richard.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003; p. 124
3. Towering Trees and ‘Talented’ Slaves. Ched Myers with Eric DeBode. “The Other Side”, May 1999, article.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Great Pumpkins! Hallowe’en and the Church October 30, 2011 Year A Hebrews 12:1-2, Humber United Church, Corner Brook, Newfoundland
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This sermon is dedicated to my Dad, Rev. Russell Vickers, who died at the end of January 2004. In going through Dad’s sermons, I found one specifically about Hallowe'en, All Hallows and All Saints. The sermon is also dedicated to my mother, Kay Vickers, whose birthday was November 1, All Saints Day.
The sermon grew out of several things. Back in 2004, I saw an item in the news about one family which was not celebrating Hallowe'en because they considered it 'un-Christian' - they claimed dressing up as witches and goblins is a 'pagan' thing, not suitable for Christians. I was a little bemused, but then a couple of days later overheard a conversation at the check-out counter in the grocery store, about the non-Christian aspects of Hallowe'en. Just recently I saw an article about an evangelical church group in the US which is celebrating “Jesus-ween” as an alternative to Hallowe’en. It was clear to me that people simply don’t understand where Hallowe’en even originated - so they try to put Jesus into a festival where Jesus has been for hundreds of years anyway.
So, I have two thoughts to begin with - and of course a few more after that. First, in our scramble to be 'right', without even knowing the background of where our holidays come from, we can surely suck a lot of the joy out of life. To me, life would be flat and stale without at least one witch on a broomstick, or a ghost or small-sized devil out collecting plunder at the door! A couple of years ago one of my grandchildren was a firefighter, one was Xena, the Warrior Princess, and one was a knight. They had a wonderful time, and so did their Grandma.
Second, Hallowe'en is as Christian a celebration as any of the other observations. Christmas and Easter also incorporate elements of what we call "pagan" faiths. The Advent wreath was originally a huge wagon wheel hung from the ceiling of a meeting hall, decorated with evergreens and lit with candles. The egg at Easter is a pagan symbol, yes, but it denotes rebirth and new life. The early missionaries to what is now the British Isles used existing celebrations extensively. and drew parallels with Christianity.
Hallowe'en's origins go back to the ancient Celtic tribes of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated the festival of Samhain (Saween), in which the god of the earth died, to be reborn in the spring when new life returned. At the spring solstice, Beltane, the god rose again, the days lengthened, and life returned.
With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th. - but in the end Hallowe’en - or All Hallows and All Saints, became Christian celebrations.
During this festival of Samhain, the Celts believed that the barriers between this world and the other were at their most thin, hence the souls of the dead could return to mingle with the living. Christians at the time also believed this. Candles were placed in windows, to light the way for the spirits to return to their homes. An extra place was set at the table in case the spirit came. And in order to scare away any evil spirits, people wore masks and costumes, lit bonfires, carved out turnips and rutabagas, then put a light inside.
When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added their own touches to the Samhain festival; they made centerpieces out of apples and nuts for Pomona, the Roman goddess of the orchards. They also bobbed for apples and drank cider. Sound familiar?
Let's jump back a little in our Christian history. In 835, Pope Gregory IV decided to move the celebration for all the martyrs (later all the saints) from May 13 to November 1. The name “All Hallows Even” or 'all holy evening’ was contracted into our more modern word Hallowe’en. It coincided perfectly with the Celtic celebration of Samhain and the Roman festival of Pomona - and the similarities of the coming of the dark, and the rise of the light in the spring, were not lost on the early missionaries.
On November 2, the Church celebrates All Souls Day. These were feast days in the church, and their purpose was to remember those who have died, whether they were officially recognized by the Church as saints or not. It is a celebration of the 'communion of saints,' which reminds us that the Church is not bound by space or time. But while the church creatively substituted its own celebration, it did also incorporate some elements of the pagan faith, but elements which fit in with the superstitions of the time. Bear in mind that in the early church, witches and warlocks, imps, goblins, and evil souls were all part of the lore. Dressing up
in costume to scare these 'evil' things became a part of the whole, from the Christian perspective as well.
The modern view of death derives in part from Pre-Hispanic times, notably the Aztecs, who believed that after a person died, his/her soul would pass through nine levels prior to their final destination, Mictlan - the place of the dead. They also believed that a person's destiny was founded at birth and that the soul of that person was dependent on the type of death rather than the type of life led by that person. How a person died would also determine what region they would go to. Once they arrived in their specific region a person's soul would either await
transformation or linger, awaiting the next destiny. The tenth month of the Aztec calendar included a great feast for dead adults. The Spanish Conquest of 1521 brought about the fusion of Catholic attitudes and indigenous beliefs. The Day of the Dead, or All Souls Day, is a result of amalgamation of Pre-Spanish Indian ritual beliefs and the imposed ritual and dogma of the Catholic church.
So the three days - Hallowe'en, All Saints and All Souls - are just enough of a mishmash of different pieces of history and elements of, that to eliminate any one of them is a foolish and useless exercise. We cannot separate our Christian faith and its non-Christian roots.
But we can look at the Christian meaning that was once given to Hallowe'en - that we are an imperishable community from all across the ages. Hallowe'en in its Christian meaning is a source of courage and strength. Do we find it hard to stand up for justice, fair treatment, truth? Let's not forget that we are not the first generation of people to face such issues. Others have walked this same road in some way, in another time, and with the grace of God have come through it.
In the mid twentieth century, there was a great revolution in Hungary. Crowds gathered in the square named for the poet Sandov Petofi, who in 1848 launched the revolution against the Hapsburg monarch. A voice in the crowd shouted out "we vow we can never be slaves" - a line from one of his poems. Two hundred thousand marched to the statue of Josef Bem, hero of 1848 who fought for freedom. Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, they found courage.
In my mind, there is even a parallel between a belief in a God of the earth who dies in the fall, only to rise again in the spring. Yes, we believe Jesus rose on the third day - but once again, the parallels were not lost on the early missionaries either. They creatively found a way to use existing practices in the new country, to explain Christianity and make new converts.
Finally, I want to tell a story of a little boy named Linus, from the Peanuts comic strip. Linus believes in a strange hybrid of a jack-o-lantern, Santa Claus and prophetic saintly God-character named "The Great Pumpkin." Linus believes the Great Pumpkin will arise from the most sincere Pumpkin Patch on Halloween night and deliver toys to all the true believing children. Of course, Linus actually wants to be in the garden when the benevolent giver of Halloween toys rises from
among the pumpkins. What's important, I think, is that Linus believes. He's never seen the Pumpkin, yet he believes that this saintly and benevolent character exists - he goes into the Pumpkin Patch every year, hopeful - and never gives up.
We have those saints who have gone before, to dispel the darkness and light the way - call them Great Pumpkins if you like - they light the way and they help us to keep in our sight the light of the world, the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. By understanding the origins of Hallowe'en, we find ourselves invited into the grandeur of the community of the cloud of witnesses which will never perish and which is never touched by death.
The early Christians, first dispersed by fear and the loss of Jesus, soon found themselves coming together again, a community of living saints bound by faith and a vision - a light in the darkness, the light of faith and commitment. When we come together as a community - yes, to celebrate Hallowe'en or All Hallows, and All Saints, we remember that we are surrounded here in this community, in this church, by the witness of those who have gone before, who support us unseen.
And let’s enjoy the fun and frolic of Hallowe’en, the little faces at the door, the funny costumes - and the joy children get from it. Let’s not try to put meanings into it which were never there, except perhaps in Hollywood movies. Let’s not take the fun out of life, and out of our faith, because we are afraid of something which really holds no threat at all. ... and remember when you carve and light your pumpkins, that they are there to light the way and dispel the darkness, banish fears and give courage and faith.
Sources:
1. “Hallowe’en and the Saints” a sermon by Rev. Russell K. Vickers
2. “Great Pumpkins! Hallowe’en and the Church” (or How to Take All the Fun out of Life). A sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, October 2004.
Original paper published in the book “Treat or Trick: Hallowe’en in a Globalising World” , Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007.
This sermon is dedicated to my Dad, Rev. Russell Vickers, who died at the end of January 2004. In going through Dad’s sermons, I found one specifically about Hallowe'en, All Hallows and All Saints. The sermon is also dedicated to my mother, Kay Vickers, whose birthday was November 1, All Saints Day.
The sermon grew out of several things. Back in 2004, I saw an item in the news about one family which was not celebrating Hallowe'en because they considered it 'un-Christian' - they claimed dressing up as witches and goblins is a 'pagan' thing, not suitable for Christians. I was a little bemused, but then a couple of days later overheard a conversation at the check-out counter in the grocery store, about the non-Christian aspects of Hallowe'en. Just recently I saw an article about an evangelical church group in the US which is celebrating “Jesus-ween” as an alternative to Hallowe’en. It was clear to me that people simply don’t understand where Hallowe’en even originated - so they try to put Jesus into a festival where Jesus has been for hundreds of years anyway.
So, I have two thoughts to begin with - and of course a few more after that. First, in our scramble to be 'right', without even knowing the background of where our holidays come from, we can surely suck a lot of the joy out of life. To me, life would be flat and stale without at least one witch on a broomstick, or a ghost or small-sized devil out collecting plunder at the door! A couple of years ago one of my grandchildren was a firefighter, one was Xena, the Warrior Princess, and one was a knight. They had a wonderful time, and so did their Grandma.
Second, Hallowe'en is as Christian a celebration as any of the other observations. Christmas and Easter also incorporate elements of what we call "pagan" faiths. The Advent wreath was originally a huge wagon wheel hung from the ceiling of a meeting hall, decorated with evergreens and lit with candles. The egg at Easter is a pagan symbol, yes, but it denotes rebirth and new life. The early missionaries to what is now the British Isles used existing celebrations extensively. and drew parallels with Christianity.
Hallowe'en's origins go back to the ancient Celtic tribes of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated the festival of Samhain (Saween), in which the god of the earth died, to be reborn in the spring when new life returned. At the spring solstice, Beltane, the god rose again, the days lengthened, and life returned.
With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th. - but in the end Hallowe’en - or All Hallows and All Saints, became Christian celebrations.
During this festival of Samhain, the Celts believed that the barriers between this world and the other were at their most thin, hence the souls of the dead could return to mingle with the living. Christians at the time also believed this. Candles were placed in windows, to light the way for the spirits to return to their homes. An extra place was set at the table in case the spirit came. And in order to scare away any evil spirits, people wore masks and costumes, lit bonfires, carved out turnips and rutabagas, then put a light inside.
When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added their own touches to the Samhain festival; they made centerpieces out of apples and nuts for Pomona, the Roman goddess of the orchards. They also bobbed for apples and drank cider. Sound familiar?
Let's jump back a little in our Christian history. In 835, Pope Gregory IV decided to move the celebration for all the martyrs (later all the saints) from May 13 to November 1. The name “All Hallows Even” or 'all holy evening’ was contracted into our more modern word Hallowe’en. It coincided perfectly with the Celtic celebration of Samhain and the Roman festival of Pomona - and the similarities of the coming of the dark, and the rise of the light in the spring, were not lost on the early missionaries.
On November 2, the Church celebrates All Souls Day. These were feast days in the church, and their purpose was to remember those who have died, whether they were officially recognized by the Church as saints or not. It is a celebration of the 'communion of saints,' which reminds us that the Church is not bound by space or time. But while the church creatively substituted its own celebration, it did also incorporate some elements of the pagan faith, but elements which fit in with the superstitions of the time. Bear in mind that in the early church, witches and warlocks, imps, goblins, and evil souls were all part of the lore. Dressing up
in costume to scare these 'evil' things became a part of the whole, from the Christian perspective as well.
The modern view of death derives in part from Pre-Hispanic times, notably the Aztecs, who believed that after a person died, his/her soul would pass through nine levels prior to their final destination, Mictlan - the place of the dead. They also believed that a person's destiny was founded at birth and that the soul of that person was dependent on the type of death rather than the type of life led by that person. How a person died would also determine what region they would go to. Once they arrived in their specific region a person's soul would either await
transformation or linger, awaiting the next destiny. The tenth month of the Aztec calendar included a great feast for dead adults. The Spanish Conquest of 1521 brought about the fusion of Catholic attitudes and indigenous beliefs. The Day of the Dead, or All Souls Day, is a result of amalgamation of Pre-Spanish Indian ritual beliefs and the imposed ritual and dogma of the Catholic church.
So the three days - Hallowe'en, All Saints and All Souls - are just enough of a mishmash of different pieces of history and elements of, that to eliminate any one of them is a foolish and useless exercise. We cannot separate our Christian faith and its non-Christian roots.
But we can look at the Christian meaning that was once given to Hallowe'en - that we are an imperishable community from all across the ages. Hallowe'en in its Christian meaning is a source of courage and strength. Do we find it hard to stand up for justice, fair treatment, truth? Let's not forget that we are not the first generation of people to face such issues. Others have walked this same road in some way, in another time, and with the grace of God have come through it.
In the mid twentieth century, there was a great revolution in Hungary. Crowds gathered in the square named for the poet Sandov Petofi, who in 1848 launched the revolution against the Hapsburg monarch. A voice in the crowd shouted out "we vow we can never be slaves" - a line from one of his poems. Two hundred thousand marched to the statue of Josef Bem, hero of 1848 who fought for freedom. Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, they found courage.
In my mind, there is even a parallel between a belief in a God of the earth who dies in the fall, only to rise again in the spring. Yes, we believe Jesus rose on the third day - but once again, the parallels were not lost on the early missionaries either. They creatively found a way to use existing practices in the new country, to explain Christianity and make new converts.
Finally, I want to tell a story of a little boy named Linus, from the Peanuts comic strip. Linus believes in a strange hybrid of a jack-o-lantern, Santa Claus and prophetic saintly God-character named "The Great Pumpkin." Linus believes the Great Pumpkin will arise from the most sincere Pumpkin Patch on Halloween night and deliver toys to all the true believing children. Of course, Linus actually wants to be in the garden when the benevolent giver of Halloween toys rises from
among the pumpkins. What's important, I think, is that Linus believes. He's never seen the Pumpkin, yet he believes that this saintly and benevolent character exists - he goes into the Pumpkin Patch every year, hopeful - and never gives up.
We have those saints who have gone before, to dispel the darkness and light the way - call them Great Pumpkins if you like - they light the way and they help us to keep in our sight the light of the world, the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. By understanding the origins of Hallowe'en, we find ourselves invited into the grandeur of the community of the cloud of witnesses which will never perish and which is never touched by death.
The early Christians, first dispersed by fear and the loss of Jesus, soon found themselves coming together again, a community of living saints bound by faith and a vision - a light in the darkness, the light of faith and commitment. When we come together as a community - yes, to celebrate Hallowe'en or All Hallows, and All Saints, we remember that we are surrounded here in this community, in this church, by the witness of those who have gone before, who support us unseen.
And let’s enjoy the fun and frolic of Hallowe’en, the little faces at the door, the funny costumes - and the joy children get from it. Let’s not try to put meanings into it which were never there, except perhaps in Hollywood movies. Let’s not take the fun out of life, and out of our faith, because we are afraid of something which really holds no threat at all. ... and remember when you carve and light your pumpkins, that they are there to light the way and dispel the darkness, banish fears and give courage and faith.
Sources:
1. “Hallowe’en and the Saints” a sermon by Rev. Russell K. Vickers
2. “Great Pumpkins! Hallowe’en and the Church” (or How to Take All the Fun out of Life). A sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, October 2004.
Original paper published in the book “Treat or Trick: Hallowe’en in a Globalising World” , Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
“Living Commandments” a sermon based on Matthew 22:34-40 October 23, 2011 Humber United Church
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
*****************************************************************
In his sermon “Final Jeopardy”. Rev. Randy Quinn talks about all the commandments listed in the scriptures - all 613 of them. Someone had too much time on their hands. Someone – some unknown person centuries ago – carefully examined the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy and determined that there were exactly 613 different commands God gave the people of Israel.
Well, clearly they didn’t have enough to do, if they had time to tabulate all the commandments! Nevertheless, there were clearly plenty of laws. How would one decide which was the greatest?
This week’s story from Matthew picks up on last week. The Sadducees and the Herodians, if you remember, tried to trap Jesus by posing him a question they thought he could not answer - and Jesus of course, not only answered it, but turned the tables and showed them to be hypocrites. So now the Pharisees get into it. They get an expert in the law to pose a question they are absolutely sure will stump him. After all, there *are* 613 commandments......and once again, they fail miserably.
Let’s try something else. Of all the things Jesus said, what do you think is the most important? Here’s a few....
I am way, truth, life (Jn. 14:6).
God so loved the world (Jn. 3:16)
Love one another (Jn. 13:34).
Let the children come (Mk. 10:14).
Seek first the Kingdom of God (Mt. 7:7)
Jesus makes it sound so simple, to go through the commandments and pull out just two, one from Deuteronomy, one Leviticus.
How about these quotes?
Human beings do not live by bread alone (Dt. 8:3; Mt. 4:4).
The poor will be with you always (Dt. 15:11; Mt. 26:11).
Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18; Mt. 22:39).
Three quotes, two from Deuteronomy and one from Leviticus - he is not only familiar with scripture, he is just as familiar with the law as the expert Pharisee.
Is it possible that Jesus really hit on something - he always was able to take older scriptures and repeat them in a way that made them sound new and different.
In a sense we are talking about the right thing, the main thing. So I’m asking you, “what is the main thing?”
Is it to have a full sanctuary on Sunday morning?
Is it to be excellent preachers?
Is it mission?
Is it to equip the laity to be effective in their individual ministries?
Is it to provide food to the hungry?
Is it to gather in prayer for one another?
What is the purpose of this church? Of all the things we consider are part of church, what is the one thing we are called to do and be as a congregation?
Jesus has given us a conundrum......we can’t love God without loving our neighbour and we cannot love our neighbour without loving God.
Perhaps the best example of putting those two aspects of the Christian faith together is Jesus himself, who clearly loved God and just as clearly loved the people he met. He spent time alone with God and he spent time with his disciples as well as the multitudes. Loving God led to and was reflected in his love for people.
So who is our neighbour?
We come to church on Sunday morning, and sit in the same place every week. Sometimes we come and sit so far away from everyone else, that when we sing our voice sounds so weak we swallow it. How radical it would be for everyone to sit with everyone else, and sing as if we really meant it.
Or we come and sit with the people we know, and don’t make a move to the people we don’t. We always sit with the same people. It’s strange how congregations do that - people we have attended church with for years - and yet act as if we are strangers when we come to the gathered community.
How about outside the church? A few weeks ago, at lunch at Harbour Grounds, I sat and spoke with a family who didn’t know there was a church up here. Are we good neighbours to the people who are right around us? How do they know we are here?
What would happen if someone who was a known pedophile came to church? Or someone who walks in off the street, dirty and smelly, reeking of alcohol.....would we escort them gently out the door? How about a family who came here as refugees? And are waiting for a hearing?
Just as the Prayer of Jesus is the most radical prayer we have, and we should not repeat it by rote, but think carefully about it - Jesus quotes two commandments which have been in the law for centuries, yet the religious leaders have not lived them out. And it seems to me the Prayer of Jesus goes hand in hand with the commandments - doesn’t it?
So once again the religious leaders try to trip him up and he turns the tables - they are caught. Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and love your neighbour the same way you love yourself. On these two hang ALL the law, and ALL the prophets.
This is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild. This is quintessential Jesus, tired of them trying to find a way to discredit him, Jesus at his very harshest. There is a challenge here - to them, and to us. Do we LIVE the commandments? Do we really LIVE them?
Rev. Thom Shuman wrote a poem for this week:
Seems easy to love our neighbor when she is the grandmother across the street,
who always seems to make 'too many chocolate chip cookies'
and brings a plate full over to our house;
it's never hard to love our neighbor when he is the retired gent right next door
who is willing to share his tools, and when we don't have the know-how,
patiently shows us one-more-time how to unstop a drain,
change the oil in our car, get the mower started
without pulling our arms out;
it is so simple to love our neighbor when it is the kids who come by each fall
selling Christmas wreaths for their scout troops,
and each spring offering popcorn and candy to support the drama club;
but what if Moammar Gahdafi had moved in down the street;
if the single mom whom we admire so much turns out to be a parolee;
if the local Muslim population petitions the school board
to allow time for Dhuhr?
what then?
Sources:
1. Howell, David B., editor. Lectionary Homiletics. October 1999 (Vol. X, No. 11) and October 2002 (Vol. XIII, No. 11).
2. Quinn, Randy L. “Daring to Ask.” Sermon preached October 24, 1993 at Allen Blanchard; based on Matthew 22:34-46.
3. Final Jeopardy, a sermon based on Matthew 22:34-40, Rev. Randy Quinn
4. It’s So Easy, a poem by Rev. Thom Shuman, 2011.
*****************************************************************
In his sermon “Final Jeopardy”. Rev. Randy Quinn talks about all the commandments listed in the scriptures - all 613 of them. Someone had too much time on their hands. Someone – some unknown person centuries ago – carefully examined the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy and determined that there were exactly 613 different commands God gave the people of Israel.
Well, clearly they didn’t have enough to do, if they had time to tabulate all the commandments! Nevertheless, there were clearly plenty of laws. How would one decide which was the greatest?
This week’s story from Matthew picks up on last week. The Sadducees and the Herodians, if you remember, tried to trap Jesus by posing him a question they thought he could not answer - and Jesus of course, not only answered it, but turned the tables and showed them to be hypocrites. So now the Pharisees get into it. They get an expert in the law to pose a question they are absolutely sure will stump him. After all, there *are* 613 commandments......and once again, they fail miserably.
Let’s try something else. Of all the things Jesus said, what do you think is the most important? Here’s a few....
I am way, truth, life (Jn. 14:6).
God so loved the world (Jn. 3:16)
Love one another (Jn. 13:34).
Let the children come (Mk. 10:14).
Seek first the Kingdom of God (Mt. 7:7)
Jesus makes it sound so simple, to go through the commandments and pull out just two, one from Deuteronomy, one Leviticus.
How about these quotes?
Human beings do not live by bread alone (Dt. 8:3; Mt. 4:4).
The poor will be with you always (Dt. 15:11; Mt. 26:11).
Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18; Mt. 22:39).
Three quotes, two from Deuteronomy and one from Leviticus - he is not only familiar with scripture, he is just as familiar with the law as the expert Pharisee.
Is it possible that Jesus really hit on something - he always was able to take older scriptures and repeat them in a way that made them sound new and different.
In a sense we are talking about the right thing, the main thing. So I’m asking you, “what is the main thing?”
Is it to have a full sanctuary on Sunday morning?
Is it to be excellent preachers?
Is it mission?
Is it to equip the laity to be effective in their individual ministries?
Is it to provide food to the hungry?
Is it to gather in prayer for one another?
What is the purpose of this church? Of all the things we consider are part of church, what is the one thing we are called to do and be as a congregation?
Jesus has given us a conundrum......we can’t love God without loving our neighbour and we cannot love our neighbour without loving God.
Perhaps the best example of putting those two aspects of the Christian faith together is Jesus himself, who clearly loved God and just as clearly loved the people he met. He spent time alone with God and he spent time with his disciples as well as the multitudes. Loving God led to and was reflected in his love for people.
So who is our neighbour?
We come to church on Sunday morning, and sit in the same place every week. Sometimes we come and sit so far away from everyone else, that when we sing our voice sounds so weak we swallow it. How radical it would be for everyone to sit with everyone else, and sing as if we really meant it.
Or we come and sit with the people we know, and don’t make a move to the people we don’t. We always sit with the same people. It’s strange how congregations do that - people we have attended church with for years - and yet act as if we are strangers when we come to the gathered community.
How about outside the church? A few weeks ago, at lunch at Harbour Grounds, I sat and spoke with a family who didn’t know there was a church up here. Are we good neighbours to the people who are right around us? How do they know we are here?
What would happen if someone who was a known pedophile came to church? Or someone who walks in off the street, dirty and smelly, reeking of alcohol.....would we escort them gently out the door? How about a family who came here as refugees? And are waiting for a hearing?
Just as the Prayer of Jesus is the most radical prayer we have, and we should not repeat it by rote, but think carefully about it - Jesus quotes two commandments which have been in the law for centuries, yet the religious leaders have not lived them out. And it seems to me the Prayer of Jesus goes hand in hand with the commandments - doesn’t it?
So once again the religious leaders try to trip him up and he turns the tables - they are caught. Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and love your neighbour the same way you love yourself. On these two hang ALL the law, and ALL the prophets.
This is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild. This is quintessential Jesus, tired of them trying to find a way to discredit him, Jesus at his very harshest. There is a challenge here - to them, and to us. Do we LIVE the commandments? Do we really LIVE them?
Rev. Thom Shuman wrote a poem for this week:
Seems easy to love our neighbor when she is the grandmother across the street,
who always seems to make 'too many chocolate chip cookies'
and brings a plate full over to our house;
it's never hard to love our neighbor when he is the retired gent right next door
who is willing to share his tools, and when we don't have the know-how,
patiently shows us one-more-time how to unstop a drain,
change the oil in our car, get the mower started
without pulling our arms out;
it is so simple to love our neighbor when it is the kids who come by each fall
selling Christmas wreaths for their scout troops,
and each spring offering popcorn and candy to support the drama club;
but what if Moammar Gahdafi had moved in down the street;
if the single mom whom we admire so much turns out to be a parolee;
if the local Muslim population petitions the school board
to allow time for Dhuhr?
what then?
Sources:
1. Howell, David B., editor. Lectionary Homiletics. October 1999 (Vol. X, No. 11) and October 2002 (Vol. XIII, No. 11).
2. Quinn, Randy L. “Daring to Ask.” Sermon preached October 24, 1993 at Allen Blanchard; based on Matthew 22:34-46.
3. Final Jeopardy, a sermon based on Matthew 22:34-40, Rev. Randy Quinn
4. It’s So Easy, a poem by Rev. Thom Shuman, 2011.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
"Caesar's or God's?" World Food Day October 16, 2011 Matthew 22:15-22 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, Newfoundland
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
(Imperial tax - levied on subject peoples, not the Romans.)
******************************************************************************
I love the plot in this story, really. It’s all the more humourous because it’s supposedly written by Matthew, one of the temple tax collectors. Now, we all know that the one thing we like to gripe about more than the taxes we pay, is the collector who takes the taxes from us. Some things haven’t changed in all these thousands of years.
The Pharisees are most concerned about the affairs of the temple. They have an understanding with the Romans, that as long as they remain docile, they can worship in their own traditions. While they resent the Roman thumb of authority, they are willing to pay to keep peace and have freedom to operate as they wish. In other words they have a vested interest in the status quo.
The other group, the Herodians, are more concerned about the state of political affairs. They, too, have an understanding with the Romans that as long as there is a sense of peace within the territory, Herod’s family can rule by proxy and they retain their prominent political positions of power. They also have a vested interest in the status quo.
Together, Pharisees and Herodians feign approval of Jesus’ ministry. Now, everyone and their Aunt Petunia knows that Pharisees and Herodians simply don’t hang out with each other on a usual day. No one is fooled by this ploy, least of all Jesus. He sees right through them.
So they have come together with a trick, they think (rubbing hands in glee.) They ask “Is it lawful to pay taxes”. ...and here’s the trap: if Jesus says ‘no’, he clearly opposes Rome and they can have him arrested. If he says ‘yes’, he then is agreeing to the oppression of Rome, and will lose support in the opinion polls.
In Jesus' time, at least three languages were spoken: Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, just for starters. Nor was there just one legal tender or currency, but at least three different groups which struck coins. There was the Roman silver denarius, equal to ten weights of "as", the principal silver coin of the Empire. There was the Greek silver drachma, equal in value to one denarius; and there was the Jewish silver shekel, equal in amount to 4 drachmas or 4 denarii; but unlike the other coins, the shekel was used exclusively by the Jews.
This was essentially a multi-cultural society with a variety of currencies. But in order for the Jews to do business with others they had to exchange their own Jewish currency into the other's and vice versa. Hence, there were the money changers in the temple courtyard.
And there were at least two taxes: one for the temple, one for the King. The temple tax was paid by one of the twelve tribes of Israel on a rotating basis, so that each tribe paid the expenses for one month a year. The same system was set up for the house of David.
As well, the Romans had their own taxes; one was the “head tax”, a “per capita” tax on each person living in the land. The larger the family, the larger the tax. The Romans collected their taxes through mercenary tax collectors who were allowed to set their own profit margins; but since by this time the tribes of Israel were no longer distinguishable, a “worship tax” was instituted for each worshiping family in Israel, but the “temple tax” was also required of those who lived in far away lands. It was a religious obligation put upon the people in addition to the scriptural mandates.
Now, here’s where the fun started. The Roman tax could only be paid with Roman coins, and the temple tax could only be paid with the Jewish shekel. The shekel was a silver coin, but with no engraved image on it, because the Israelites had a very clear commandment given about graven images. There were only symbols on it, like candles or grain. The graven image commandment was used to interpret the first chapter of Genesis - the statement that we were created in the image of God. That is why murder was wrong in Jewish law - destroying or defacing the image of God.
In contrast, the Roman denarius bore the image of Tiberius Caesar, with the inscription “Son of a God”. To use Roman coins in the temple would have been blasphemy; if they were to use Roman coin, they would have been saying that their oppressor was God.
Naturally the Pharisees were particularly disturbed by the attribution of divinity to Caesar. The coin would be seen by the Torah as idolatrous; this coin and all Roman and Greek coins would have been repugnant to the Pharisees; even having the coin would break Jewish law.
Yet, the Romans occupied the Jewish territories. In Jerusalem, the temple and the Roman garrison were literally across the street from each other. The Romans could look into the temple and see what was going on - and likely they could hear a good deal. The Jews were allowed to continue their own religious worship practices, so long as they gave the taxes Caesar demanded. Herod was allowed to rule - sort of - so long as he upheld the Roman laws, including the paying of taxes. They were between a roack and a hard place, because anything which looked remotely like rejection of Roman authority would mean loss of some freedoms, if not loss of life, for the Israelites.
Jesus, of course, has been fairly consistent in calling out both the Herodians and Pharisees, and drawing attention to their show of religious piety and adherence to law. So they cook up a plan to challenge Jesus on a question which they hope he cannot answer without incriminating himself in some way. “Is it lawful to pay taxes?” Seems simple enough on the surface, but maybe we can sense how much of an indictment it would be for anyone in that crowd to bring out a coin with Caesar’s image on it.
Jesus, however, puts the religious leaders on the spot. He says “Show me the coin.” and what happens? Oops. The religious leaders themselves are in possession of the Roman coins with the image of a man who claims to be son of a God - and Jesus has none.
Then he says give to Caesar those things which rightfully belong to Caesar, and to God those things which rightfully belong to God. The religious leaders are now in the position of defending their own actions, and whether or not they actually follow their own religious teaching. Yet he hasn’t actually accused them of anything, nor committed a crime; even so, all the people standing around also hear and understand - give to Caesar what is rightfully Caesar’s, give to God what is rightfully God’s. Jesus is not saying don’t pay the taxes, he is telling people to make a judgment about the taxes, the coins, the wealth, and what they do with them.
Take a coin out of your pocket, or a folded bill. We have long since accepted the images without thinking of the Ten Commandments; but the Commandments haven’t changed, only our understanding of them. We no longer see these images as idols.
Who really is our God? Who makes the decisions in your life, God or money? How many of us have savings accounts? How many of us have pension funds? How many of us worry about how the bills are going to be paid this month? How many of us put our trust in the bank? or in the stock market? How many of us believe the church should be run like a business? A good look at our lifestyle says a lot - and the question for us, the questions Jesus asks, is where do we draw the line?
Jesus isn’t talking about the separation of church and state in his answer. He is providing a caustic indictment of the entire system, and pointing out to the religious leaders how they have subverted the law of God to protect their own interests. - and he is saying they have taken the gifts of God and used them for political gain in a political system.
What belongs to God is our life. We were created in the image of God. If the image of Caesar belongs to Caesar, then certainly the image of God belongs to God. Do we carry the name of God written on our hearts, or the name of Caesar? Is it God’s name which motivates our lives, or Caesar’s?
God calls us to have compassion and generosity for all the people of the world. How do we express that in our lives? If we are made in God’s image, how have we lived God’s name? God has given us many gifts, including the gift of income and wealth. After giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, what do we give to God? Is that the right order?
Today, World Food Day, we have to look at what is God’s, and what is Caesar’s. Do we give freely, and without reservation? Do we look after all the bills and taxes, and then if there is anything left over we give something? Did God call us to parcel out leftovers? One of the enduring truths in our time is that there is more than enough to go around; the problem is its distribution. We placate Caesar by paying up, take care of ourselves, and then give.
And that’s the hidden question in the answer Jesus gave. Whose are we? God’s or Caesar’s? And where do we go next?
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
(Imperial tax - levied on subject peoples, not the Romans.)
******************************************************************************
I love the plot in this story, really. It’s all the more humourous because it’s supposedly written by Matthew, one of the temple tax collectors. Now, we all know that the one thing we like to gripe about more than the taxes we pay, is the collector who takes the taxes from us. Some things haven’t changed in all these thousands of years.
The Pharisees are most concerned about the affairs of the temple. They have an understanding with the Romans, that as long as they remain docile, they can worship in their own traditions. While they resent the Roman thumb of authority, they are willing to pay to keep peace and have freedom to operate as they wish. In other words they have a vested interest in the status quo.
The other group, the Herodians, are more concerned about the state of political affairs. They, too, have an understanding with the Romans that as long as there is a sense of peace within the territory, Herod’s family can rule by proxy and they retain their prominent political positions of power. They also have a vested interest in the status quo.
Together, Pharisees and Herodians feign approval of Jesus’ ministry. Now, everyone and their Aunt Petunia knows that Pharisees and Herodians simply don’t hang out with each other on a usual day. No one is fooled by this ploy, least of all Jesus. He sees right through them.
So they have come together with a trick, they think (rubbing hands in glee.) They ask “Is it lawful to pay taxes”. ...and here’s the trap: if Jesus says ‘no’, he clearly opposes Rome and they can have him arrested. If he says ‘yes’, he then is agreeing to the oppression of Rome, and will lose support in the opinion polls.
In Jesus' time, at least three languages were spoken: Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, just for starters. Nor was there just one legal tender or currency, but at least three different groups which struck coins. There was the Roman silver denarius, equal to ten weights of "as", the principal silver coin of the Empire. There was the Greek silver drachma, equal in value to one denarius; and there was the Jewish silver shekel, equal in amount to 4 drachmas or 4 denarii; but unlike the other coins, the shekel was used exclusively by the Jews.
This was essentially a multi-cultural society with a variety of currencies. But in order for the Jews to do business with others they had to exchange their own Jewish currency into the other's and vice versa. Hence, there were the money changers in the temple courtyard.
And there were at least two taxes: one for the temple, one for the King. The temple tax was paid by one of the twelve tribes of Israel on a rotating basis, so that each tribe paid the expenses for one month a year. The same system was set up for the house of David.
As well, the Romans had their own taxes; one was the “head tax”, a “per capita” tax on each person living in the land. The larger the family, the larger the tax. The Romans collected their taxes through mercenary tax collectors who were allowed to set their own profit margins; but since by this time the tribes of Israel were no longer distinguishable, a “worship tax” was instituted for each worshiping family in Israel, but the “temple tax” was also required of those who lived in far away lands. It was a religious obligation put upon the people in addition to the scriptural mandates.
Now, here’s where the fun started. The Roman tax could only be paid with Roman coins, and the temple tax could only be paid with the Jewish shekel. The shekel was a silver coin, but with no engraved image on it, because the Israelites had a very clear commandment given about graven images. There were only symbols on it, like candles or grain. The graven image commandment was used to interpret the first chapter of Genesis - the statement that we were created in the image of God. That is why murder was wrong in Jewish law - destroying or defacing the image of God.
In contrast, the Roman denarius bore the image of Tiberius Caesar, with the inscription “Son of a God”. To use Roman coins in the temple would have been blasphemy; if they were to use Roman coin, they would have been saying that their oppressor was God.
Naturally the Pharisees were particularly disturbed by the attribution of divinity to Caesar. The coin would be seen by the Torah as idolatrous; this coin and all Roman and Greek coins would have been repugnant to the Pharisees; even having the coin would break Jewish law.
Yet, the Romans occupied the Jewish territories. In Jerusalem, the temple and the Roman garrison were literally across the street from each other. The Romans could look into the temple and see what was going on - and likely they could hear a good deal. The Jews were allowed to continue their own religious worship practices, so long as they gave the taxes Caesar demanded. Herod was allowed to rule - sort of - so long as he upheld the Roman laws, including the paying of taxes. They were between a roack and a hard place, because anything which looked remotely like rejection of Roman authority would mean loss of some freedoms, if not loss of life, for the Israelites.
Jesus, of course, has been fairly consistent in calling out both the Herodians and Pharisees, and drawing attention to their show of religious piety and adherence to law. So they cook up a plan to challenge Jesus on a question which they hope he cannot answer without incriminating himself in some way. “Is it lawful to pay taxes?” Seems simple enough on the surface, but maybe we can sense how much of an indictment it would be for anyone in that crowd to bring out a coin with Caesar’s image on it.
Jesus, however, puts the religious leaders on the spot. He says “Show me the coin.” and what happens? Oops. The religious leaders themselves are in possession of the Roman coins with the image of a man who claims to be son of a God - and Jesus has none.
Then he says give to Caesar those things which rightfully belong to Caesar, and to God those things which rightfully belong to God. The religious leaders are now in the position of defending their own actions, and whether or not they actually follow their own religious teaching. Yet he hasn’t actually accused them of anything, nor committed a crime; even so, all the people standing around also hear and understand - give to Caesar what is rightfully Caesar’s, give to God what is rightfully God’s. Jesus is not saying don’t pay the taxes, he is telling people to make a judgment about the taxes, the coins, the wealth, and what they do with them.
Take a coin out of your pocket, or a folded bill. We have long since accepted the images without thinking of the Ten Commandments; but the Commandments haven’t changed, only our understanding of them. We no longer see these images as idols.
Who really is our God? Who makes the decisions in your life, God or money? How many of us have savings accounts? How many of us have pension funds? How many of us worry about how the bills are going to be paid this month? How many of us put our trust in the bank? or in the stock market? How many of us believe the church should be run like a business? A good look at our lifestyle says a lot - and the question for us, the questions Jesus asks, is where do we draw the line?
Jesus isn’t talking about the separation of church and state in his answer. He is providing a caustic indictment of the entire system, and pointing out to the religious leaders how they have subverted the law of God to protect their own interests. - and he is saying they have taken the gifts of God and used them for political gain in a political system.
What belongs to God is our life. We were created in the image of God. If the image of Caesar belongs to Caesar, then certainly the image of God belongs to God. Do we carry the name of God written on our hearts, or the name of Caesar? Is it God’s name which motivates our lives, or Caesar’s?
God calls us to have compassion and generosity for all the people of the world. How do we express that in our lives? If we are made in God’s image, how have we lived God’s name? God has given us many gifts, including the gift of income and wealth. After giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, what do we give to God? Is that the right order?
Today, World Food Day, we have to look at what is God’s, and what is Caesar’s. Do we give freely, and without reservation? Do we look after all the bills and taxes, and then if there is anything left over we give something? Did God call us to parcel out leftovers? One of the enduring truths in our time is that there is more than enough to go around; the problem is its distribution. We placate Caesar by paying up, take care of ourselves, and then give.
And that’s the hidden question in the answer Jesus gave. Whose are we? God’s or Caesar’s? And where do we go next?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
First Fruits A Sermon for Thanksgiving 2005 22 after Pentecost Year A
Deuteronomy 8:7-18 For God brings you to a good land, with flowing streams, waters in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, olive trees and honey; you eat bread whenever you wish, where you lack nothing. You shall eat and bless the good land. Take care that you do not forget God, or fail to keep God’s laws. When you have eaten, built your homes to live in, and you have all that you need each day, do not exalt yourself, forgetting God, who brought you out from Egypt, from slavery, led you through the terrible wilderness, made water flow, and fed you with manna that your ancestors did not know, to test you, and to do you good. Do not say to yourself, "My own power has got this for me.”
Luke 17:11-19 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus went through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." As they went, they were made clean. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He bowed at Jesus' feet and thanked him. This one was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
************************************************************************
God was out in the back yard of the summer home, Newfoundland, stretched out on a hammock, a tall cool something in one hand, and enjoying the fruits of creation - trees changing colour, asters and goldenrod blooming, beautiful sky and gently warm sunny afternoon, a bowl of bright red fall apples on the table. Life couldn’t be better, thought God - everything as it should be, and Thanksgiving coming up to boot.
Just as God was dozing off in the warm sunshine, there came a knock on the tree next to the hammock. “Yes?” said God.
“It’s me, God. Joe Scientist. I just wanted to let you know that now that humans can do what you can do, we won’t need you any more. So you can take a permanent holiday.”
“Really?” said God, off-handedly reaching down into the soil, bringing out a handful, and rather absent mindedly shaping it into a human. “So, you can create everything now, too?” said God.
“Sure” said Joe Scientist. “Watch”. - and he leaned down to pick up a handful of soil. “Um, what do you think you’re doing?” said God.
“Why, creating a human, just like you.”, said Joe Scientist.
“I see. Well, then”, said God, “you have to make your own dirt as well.”
************************************************************************
The Feast of Shavuot in the Jewish calendar follows Passover, but comes before Pentecost. On the day after Passover, a sheaf of new wheat or corn is waved over the altar, as a sign of gratitude to God for bestowing blessings. At Pentecost two loaves of leavened bread made from the new wheat are waved over the altar. It is clear that all the first fruits are to be offered to God - the law commands: “You shall bring the first fruits of your land to the house of Hashem, your God.”
When we think of the Exodus story, we usually think of the high points, the ones which bookend the time in the wilderness:
- the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the defeat of the Egyptian armies.
- the triumph of crossing the Jordan and shouting till the walls of Jericho fell.
We tend to forget that they were in that wilderness for 40 long years. We forget the death by snakebite; the monotony of desert life; we forget that it was so bad at times some wanted to return to slavery, since it was a known quantity, and it was seen as “better than this”. We forget that not all of those people who left Egypt would actually make it to the land of promise, but their children and grandchildren would be the ones to see it. Moses didn’t get there, but died with the promised land within sight.
We forget that while we know how it turned out, they didn’t know. They were living in the uncertainty day to day! Their story was still being lived, and had not yet been written. So, in the establishing of the law, there was a command to bring the first fruits of the harvest, in thanksgiving to God for their very survival.
Leprosy in Jesus’ time was seen as a highly contagious disease, with little likelihood of a cure. Since the names for diseases weren’t known, any skin disorder which did not heal was labelled leprosy. Acne would have been considered leprosy. Lepers were required by law to keep a safe distance from other people, and they were forbidden by law to enter Jerusalem. They were outcasts, considered unclean, as a result of sin.
Ten lepers call to Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus responds "Go and show yourselves to the priests." Now, that response may strike us as strange, but it was good news for the ten lepers. Since not everyone labeled as leper actually had leprosy, there were occasions when the skin disorder healed. To be healed meant that, once cleared by the priests, they were readmitted to mainstream society. But the way they went rushing off, you would think they had managed to heal themselves, and Jesus had little if anything to do with it.
So we have a group of ten rushing to be named as “acceptable”, and welcome to the temple again. Except that one of them, who is a foreigner and not of their faith, turns back to thank Jesus for the incredible gift of healing. Jesus asks, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And then he says , "Your faith has made you well." Only one recognised that his body had been healed, but more importantly, his spirit had been healed of its disease. Once again, Jesus holds up the person who is NOT of the common faith as the one who stops and thinks.
In the Konko Church of Japan, at about the same time we celebrate Thanksgiving, a fall harvest festival is celebrated. During the service, all the gifts - food, dance, music, scripture - everything is offered to God - called the Parent of the Universe - in gratitude for the gifts given in this life.
Canadian aboriginal peoples who practice traditional ways have a public thanksgiving ceremony every spring where everyone is invited. This is something done in the presence of the spiritual leaders. The people gather in order to give thanks for the land which produced the “first fruit”, which in the case of Canada is the wild strawberry. Everyone present receives the gift of the strawberry; no one is excluded.
Thanksgiving Day in Canada has only had its own date in the calendar since 1957. Yet long before Martin Frobisher became the first European to celebrate Thanksgiving in the new land in the 16th century, our first nations people celebrated the harvest and thanksgiving. Contrary to what many were raised and taught to believe, we didn’t get our Thanksgiving celebrations from the Puritans who landed at Plymouth Rock in the United States. Thanksgiving gradually became a tradition - at the end of the summer people would give thanks for the harvest which would keep them through what was usually a harsh winter. In Canada, because our fall comes sooner and winter is longer, Thanksgiving comes that much earlier.
Unfortunately, our world tends to reflect more of Joe Scientist, and less of wonder and thanks for who we are. We are led to believe we have control of everything. Genetic sequence mapping, organ transplants, in-vitro fertilisation, cloning, space travel. We know how to do it all, no need to give thanks any more, God isn’t needed.
At the same time we behave this way, we will react in horror at the number of deaths in a nursing home from Legionnaire’s Disease; we are shocked at the numbers killed in earthquakes in Kashmir and Pakistan; SARS, bird flu, cancer; plane crashes, useless wars. At the same time we act as if we are God, as if we can do it all ourselves, we blame God if something goes wrong. We talk about God “letting people die”, or “taking them away” when they die. When something bad happens, we ask why “God would do this”. Do we ask why God does the good things?
I gave you several examples of thanksgiving practices. In virtually every faith, there is a time in the year set aside for offering thanks for blessings. In the story from Luke, it was not a Jew, but someone of another faith, who offered thanks. The nine were preoccupied with themselves and could only think about that; the one saw that his blessings came from God. His faith that God heals also provided him with something that the others didn’t take away - a healing of the leprosy of his soul. It was a blessing he would take with him the rest of his life, and share with others.
We tend to get sentimental at Thanksgiving; sentimentality is not bad sometimes, yet I think we confuse sentimentality with giving thanks. This weekend has become more of a rush to have a big dinner, get everyone together, get to the cottage, whatever - don’t get me wrong: I like the turkey, the food, the family, the grandchildren - and hopefully there is an element of Thanksgiving in these celebrations. I plan to have lots of food and lots of fun. But I wonder if perhaps we’ve forgotten the meaning of the word “holiday”. It doesn’t mean a day off from life, it doesn’t mean time to do all the things we want and forget about our blessings. The word “holiday” literally means a Holy Day - a day to celebrate and give thanks, *precisely* for all the blessings we have.
Thanksgiving literally comes from the words “thanks” and “giving”. In every culture, the thanks is also connected with sharing of the blessings with others. In those ‘thanksgivings’, it is recognised that the fruits of creation are there not only to be used, but to be shared with those who may be considered outcast - the lepers who must always stand at a distance, and who are denied life because of a mistaken perception about them, or a prejudice against them. The fruits of creation are far more than strawberries, grains or bread - the fruits of creation are everything we have. These things are *not* ours alone; we have been given these things from the bounty of the creation we experience, to be shared with the rest of creation from who it has been taken away. When we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, we are literally celebrating a Holy Day in the life of people - not just the life of the church. Because we are the recipients of such generosity in creation, it is required of us to be generous as well, in whatever way we can.
The late American author, Helen Keller, was the first deaf and blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. She wrote these words:
I, who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine.... I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle
of Nature is revealed to me.
Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.... At times my heart cries out with longing to see these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight.
Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of color and action which fills the world is taken for granted.... It is a great pity that, in the world of light, the gift of sight is used only as a mere convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.
We often do not know what have - or we take what we have as our right, our entitlement. We forget that much of what we have is an accident of where we were born, and has come to us through the work of many hands, and the lives of many before us - who in their struggles learned to be thankful for the smallest of things.
May we learn how to give thanks, not only today, but throughout all our lives.
Sources:
1. Responding Abundantly to Abundance, a sermon by Rev. Beth Johnston October 9, 2011
2. First Fruits, a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, October 2005.
Luke 17:11-19 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus went through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." As they went, they were made clean. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He bowed at Jesus' feet and thanked him. This one was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."
************************************************************************
God was out in the back yard of the summer home, Newfoundland, stretched out on a hammock, a tall cool something in one hand, and enjoying the fruits of creation - trees changing colour, asters and goldenrod blooming, beautiful sky and gently warm sunny afternoon, a bowl of bright red fall apples on the table. Life couldn’t be better, thought God - everything as it should be, and Thanksgiving coming up to boot.
Just as God was dozing off in the warm sunshine, there came a knock on the tree next to the hammock. “Yes?” said God.
“It’s me, God. Joe Scientist. I just wanted to let you know that now that humans can do what you can do, we won’t need you any more. So you can take a permanent holiday.”
“Really?” said God, off-handedly reaching down into the soil, bringing out a handful, and rather absent mindedly shaping it into a human. “So, you can create everything now, too?” said God.
“Sure” said Joe Scientist. “Watch”. - and he leaned down to pick up a handful of soil. “Um, what do you think you’re doing?” said God.
“Why, creating a human, just like you.”, said Joe Scientist.
“I see. Well, then”, said God, “you have to make your own dirt as well.”
************************************************************************
The Feast of Shavuot in the Jewish calendar follows Passover, but comes before Pentecost. On the day after Passover, a sheaf of new wheat or corn is waved over the altar, as a sign of gratitude to God for bestowing blessings. At Pentecost two loaves of leavened bread made from the new wheat are waved over the altar. It is clear that all the first fruits are to be offered to God - the law commands: “You shall bring the first fruits of your land to the house of Hashem, your God.”
When we think of the Exodus story, we usually think of the high points, the ones which bookend the time in the wilderness:
- the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the defeat of the Egyptian armies.
- the triumph of crossing the Jordan and shouting till the walls of Jericho fell.
We tend to forget that they were in that wilderness for 40 long years. We forget the death by snakebite; the monotony of desert life; we forget that it was so bad at times some wanted to return to slavery, since it was a known quantity, and it was seen as “better than this”. We forget that not all of those people who left Egypt would actually make it to the land of promise, but their children and grandchildren would be the ones to see it. Moses didn’t get there, but died with the promised land within sight.
We forget that while we know how it turned out, they didn’t know. They were living in the uncertainty day to day! Their story was still being lived, and had not yet been written. So, in the establishing of the law, there was a command to bring the first fruits of the harvest, in thanksgiving to God for their very survival.
Leprosy in Jesus’ time was seen as a highly contagious disease, with little likelihood of a cure. Since the names for diseases weren’t known, any skin disorder which did not heal was labelled leprosy. Acne would have been considered leprosy. Lepers were required by law to keep a safe distance from other people, and they were forbidden by law to enter Jerusalem. They were outcasts, considered unclean, as a result of sin.
Ten lepers call to Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus responds "Go and show yourselves to the priests." Now, that response may strike us as strange, but it was good news for the ten lepers. Since not everyone labeled as leper actually had leprosy, there were occasions when the skin disorder healed. To be healed meant that, once cleared by the priests, they were readmitted to mainstream society. But the way they went rushing off, you would think they had managed to heal themselves, and Jesus had little if anything to do with it.
So we have a group of ten rushing to be named as “acceptable”, and welcome to the temple again. Except that one of them, who is a foreigner and not of their faith, turns back to thank Jesus for the incredible gift of healing. Jesus asks, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And then he says , "Your faith has made you well." Only one recognised that his body had been healed, but more importantly, his spirit had been healed of its disease. Once again, Jesus holds up the person who is NOT of the common faith as the one who stops and thinks.
In the Konko Church of Japan, at about the same time we celebrate Thanksgiving, a fall harvest festival is celebrated. During the service, all the gifts - food, dance, music, scripture - everything is offered to God - called the Parent of the Universe - in gratitude for the gifts given in this life.
Canadian aboriginal peoples who practice traditional ways have a public thanksgiving ceremony every spring where everyone is invited. This is something done in the presence of the spiritual leaders. The people gather in order to give thanks for the land which produced the “first fruit”, which in the case of Canada is the wild strawberry. Everyone present receives the gift of the strawberry; no one is excluded.
Thanksgiving Day in Canada has only had its own date in the calendar since 1957. Yet long before Martin Frobisher became the first European to celebrate Thanksgiving in the new land in the 16th century, our first nations people celebrated the harvest and thanksgiving. Contrary to what many were raised and taught to believe, we didn’t get our Thanksgiving celebrations from the Puritans who landed at Plymouth Rock in the United States. Thanksgiving gradually became a tradition - at the end of the summer people would give thanks for the harvest which would keep them through what was usually a harsh winter. In Canada, because our fall comes sooner and winter is longer, Thanksgiving comes that much earlier.
Unfortunately, our world tends to reflect more of Joe Scientist, and less of wonder and thanks for who we are. We are led to believe we have control of everything. Genetic sequence mapping, organ transplants, in-vitro fertilisation, cloning, space travel. We know how to do it all, no need to give thanks any more, God isn’t needed.
At the same time we behave this way, we will react in horror at the number of deaths in a nursing home from Legionnaire’s Disease; we are shocked at the numbers killed in earthquakes in Kashmir and Pakistan; SARS, bird flu, cancer; plane crashes, useless wars. At the same time we act as if we are God, as if we can do it all ourselves, we blame God if something goes wrong. We talk about God “letting people die”, or “taking them away” when they die. When something bad happens, we ask why “God would do this”. Do we ask why God does the good things?
I gave you several examples of thanksgiving practices. In virtually every faith, there is a time in the year set aside for offering thanks for blessings. In the story from Luke, it was not a Jew, but someone of another faith, who offered thanks. The nine were preoccupied with themselves and could only think about that; the one saw that his blessings came from God. His faith that God heals also provided him with something that the others didn’t take away - a healing of the leprosy of his soul. It was a blessing he would take with him the rest of his life, and share with others.
We tend to get sentimental at Thanksgiving; sentimentality is not bad sometimes, yet I think we confuse sentimentality with giving thanks. This weekend has become more of a rush to have a big dinner, get everyone together, get to the cottage, whatever - don’t get me wrong: I like the turkey, the food, the family, the grandchildren - and hopefully there is an element of Thanksgiving in these celebrations. I plan to have lots of food and lots of fun. But I wonder if perhaps we’ve forgotten the meaning of the word “holiday”. It doesn’t mean a day off from life, it doesn’t mean time to do all the things we want and forget about our blessings. The word “holiday” literally means a Holy Day - a day to celebrate and give thanks, *precisely* for all the blessings we have.
Thanksgiving literally comes from the words “thanks” and “giving”. In every culture, the thanks is also connected with sharing of the blessings with others. In those ‘thanksgivings’, it is recognised that the fruits of creation are there not only to be used, but to be shared with those who may be considered outcast - the lepers who must always stand at a distance, and who are denied life because of a mistaken perception about them, or a prejudice against them. The fruits of creation are far more than strawberries, grains or bread - the fruits of creation are everything we have. These things are *not* ours alone; we have been given these things from the bounty of the creation we experience, to be shared with the rest of creation from who it has been taken away. When we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, we are literally celebrating a Holy Day in the life of people - not just the life of the church. Because we are the recipients of such generosity in creation, it is required of us to be generous as well, in whatever way we can.
The late American author, Helen Keller, was the first deaf and blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. She wrote these words:
I, who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine.... I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle
of Nature is revealed to me.
Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.... At times my heart cries out with longing to see these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight.
Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of color and action which fills the world is taken for granted.... It is a great pity that, in the world of light, the gift of sight is used only as a mere convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.
We often do not know what have - or we take what we have as our right, our entitlement. We forget that much of what we have is an accident of where we were born, and has come to us through the work of many hands, and the lives of many before us - who in their struggles learned to be thankful for the smallest of things.
May we learn how to give thanks, not only today, but throughout all our lives.
Sources:
1. Responding Abundantly to Abundance, a sermon by Rev. Beth Johnston October 9, 2011
2. First Fruits, a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, October 2005.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
“ Fair Wage for Fair Labour???” September 18, 2011 Exodus 16:2-15, Matthew 20:1-16 Humber United Church, Corner Brook.
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into the vineyard. When he went out at nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again at noon, and at three o'clock, he did the same. Around five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' They replied, 'Because no one has hired us.' So he said, 'You also go into the vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired at five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. So when the first to be hired came, they expected to receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' He answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
***********************************************************************
There is a story of a man who sang in the church choir, who was embarrassed by the fact that his elderly father kept falling asleep during the sermon. He called his son, and asked him to give “gramps” a nudge every time he nodded off, and paid him $1.
Sunday came, the sermon started, and right on cue “gramps” nodded off. The little boy did nothing, just sat there.
After the service was finished, the father came down, and asked his son why he didn’t wake up “gramps”.
“That’s easy” said the boy, as he pulled out a five-dollar bill. “Gramps pays better!”
I remember when my kids were small - and I’d bake a cake or some dessert for dinner - measure each piece exactly, right down to the millimetre, and for sure one of them would say “He got a bigger piece than I did!!” No amount of showing and measuring would prove it different. I can still see the teary face and temper of my eldest son, accusing me of loving all the other three more than I loved him.
In the Exodus reading, we find the Israelites grumbling at Moses and Aaron, questioning God, claiming that they were better off as slaves back in Egypt than wandering along after Moses. They awake in the morning to find quail and a crystal edible substance on the sand which they called manna. While we now know that there are natural explanations for these things, for the Israelites, unfamiliar with desert life and the plants which did grow in the Sinai, it would surely seem like a miracle.
Read a little further in the story. When when the people went out to pick up the quail and manna, some greedy ones tried to squeeze extra into their baskets, somehow thinking they deserved more, and not thinking about whether or not any of the others would be cut short. And yet, when they sat down to eat, everyone had no more and no less than was needed, and they were not able to hold it over till the next day. They were given only enough for each day, all that they needed.
Imagine for a moment that we are some of those labourers in Jesus’ story, who didn’t get picked in the first call, or even the second or third. We are standing there, waiting, as person after person is picked for various jobs throughout the morning. The sun beats down on us, noon approaches, we take out our meager food, if we even have some. Every once in a while someone else gets picked, but as the day wears on, three o’clock comes, and we begin to think that we are going to have to return home tonight empty handed, to families who were depending on us. It’s a stubborn few that the landowner finds standing around at the hiring location at 5pm. And then, to our amazement we suddenly find ourselves being led to the landowner’s field with a promise of a wage. Hey, by this point, we are just happy to get anything, so we gladly set to work alongside those we haven’t seen since dawn. After an hour’s labor we are led to the person in charge of paying us our wages. Wait a minute, there must be some mistake. Did you get what I just got? A denarius? You too? Yes! But we all got the same thing. Is that fair?
Maybe we’ve experienced something like this at our own places of work. We’ve worked hard for our company for 15 or 20 years and have finally gotten a “decent” salary. Then suddenly, our employers decide to raise the starting salary for new hires; now, people who are just starting out in our department are making what we’ve worked years to achieve. When I started in ministry, I was earning almost a much as my father was earning as a minister when he retired. I remember Dad laughing about it - but it made me feel uncomfortable. ...and yet, if I am honest, I look at the salaries newcomers to ministry receive, or designated lay ministers - and I know they don’t have as much training as I have, or experience - and there is a part of me which feels it really isn’t fair.
Think about it. Every single one of the laborers waiting to be hired *needed* that denarius to support their families for the day. Without it children would have gone to bed hungry, necessities could not be bought, and worse, spirits would have been crushed. The landowner saw this and acted generously. The day laborers who had been working all day should have understood; without the grace of the landowner choosing them early in the day, they would have been in the same situation. Everyone got what they NEEDED. It was only the attitudes of the disgruntled workers that marred this occasion; they wanted more than they needed; so even though their needs were provided for, they were still comparing and insisting they should have got more.
What this parable calls out is our attitude to those who are poor, disenfranchised, less fortunate than we are. On my clergy discussion list, someone commented that people should just take responsibility for their own lives, rather than governments giving money for the poor. The question then is, how do the dirt-poor hillbillies in Kentucky or Tennessee “take responsibility” for their own lives - if their own federal government doesn’t know they exist, if they have no education, no way of providing for themselves. The poor black families in and around the outskirts of New Orleans - how are they supposed to take responsibility for themselves? How do those in the outport communities here, the small fishing communities, make ends meet? They are trying to be responsible.
Last December, outside the Royal Bank here in Corner Brook, I met a man who needed money. He had moved back here from Toronto, he said, hoping to find work - because finding work which paid enough in Toronto for someone like him was almost impossible. He had a place to live here in Corner Brook, but didn’t have enough money to get food. He was going to every single job training placement he was given, but there were no jobs. Here was a man *trying* to be responsible for his life, and almost beaten before he even started.
In this parable today, Jesus compares the realm of God to this man hiring labourers. Is this parable about what’s fair in our eyes, or about how God sees justice. Those people, particularly the ones who were hired last, were probably the ones nobody wanted. Maybe they seemed a little weaker, unable to do a full day’s work. Maybe some of them were physically disabled or mentally challenged. Being part of the realm of God means we might not get what’s “fair” in our eyes, but God gives us what we *need*.
We, in our arrogance, assume that we have all the things we have because we’ve worked our butts off; we develop a sense that we are entitled to have more than others, simply because we work hard. It also gives us that sense that if we were able to do it, others should be able to as well. Why should we offer them our help? Someone will pop up and say “God helps those who help themselves”. In fact, that statement isn’t even in the Bible at all; it originated in Aesop’s Fables. The Bible says the opposite - that God’s justice and mercy are *for* the helpless and poor. Remember the old notion of pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, as if all it takes is determination and hard work, and the doors will open.
Two years ago, on a cruise, I got into a discussion with some Americans about socialised medicine - the kind of health care we have here in Canada. Most of the people at the table were in the health care system, and felt the changes were needed in for Americans. But there were two at the table who were against the new changes. People should be able to buy their own, or go without. When asked what they did for a living, they replied they had recently retired from the military. “Oh’, said one of the others “then you already *have* socialised medicine, paid for by the Government.” Needless to say the air was a little tense for awhile.
God does not give us what we want. God doesn’t give us what we expect. And thank goodness, God doesn’t make decisions based on what other people think is right. We must be reminded of the few words of the prayer of Jesus; Give us *this* day our bread, give us enough for today, forgive our bad behaviour, help us in times of trial. To this I would add the words of Hosea the prophet - God requires us to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
Today we have stories of God's complete, utter and total generosity to everyone. It is a perfect example of what we humans would call foolishness, and God calls reality. It is the kind of generosity that turns things on their head. It is the kind of justice and gratitude we are called to do and be, because that's what God shows us. Jesus is pointing out to us that as his followers, we are called to model and emulate the characteristics God models and emulates for us in the example of Jesus. The good news is that God is there with us along the way.
So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
***********************************************************************
There is a story of a man who sang in the church choir, who was embarrassed by the fact that his elderly father kept falling asleep during the sermon. He called his son, and asked him to give “gramps” a nudge every time he nodded off, and paid him $1.
Sunday came, the sermon started, and right on cue “gramps” nodded off. The little boy did nothing, just sat there.
After the service was finished, the father came down, and asked his son why he didn’t wake up “gramps”.
“That’s easy” said the boy, as he pulled out a five-dollar bill. “Gramps pays better!”
I remember when my kids were small - and I’d bake a cake or some dessert for dinner - measure each piece exactly, right down to the millimetre, and for sure one of them would say “He got a bigger piece than I did!!” No amount of showing and measuring would prove it different. I can still see the teary face and temper of my eldest son, accusing me of loving all the other three more than I loved him.
In the Exodus reading, we find the Israelites grumbling at Moses and Aaron, questioning God, claiming that they were better off as slaves back in Egypt than wandering along after Moses. They awake in the morning to find quail and a crystal edible substance on the sand which they called manna. While we now know that there are natural explanations for these things, for the Israelites, unfamiliar with desert life and the plants which did grow in the Sinai, it would surely seem like a miracle.
Read a little further in the story. When when the people went out to pick up the quail and manna, some greedy ones tried to squeeze extra into their baskets, somehow thinking they deserved more, and not thinking about whether or not any of the others would be cut short. And yet, when they sat down to eat, everyone had no more and no less than was needed, and they were not able to hold it over till the next day. They were given only enough for each day, all that they needed.
Imagine for a moment that we are some of those labourers in Jesus’ story, who didn’t get picked in the first call, or even the second or third. We are standing there, waiting, as person after person is picked for various jobs throughout the morning. The sun beats down on us, noon approaches, we take out our meager food, if we even have some. Every once in a while someone else gets picked, but as the day wears on, three o’clock comes, and we begin to think that we are going to have to return home tonight empty handed, to families who were depending on us. It’s a stubborn few that the landowner finds standing around at the hiring location at 5pm. And then, to our amazement we suddenly find ourselves being led to the landowner’s field with a promise of a wage. Hey, by this point, we are just happy to get anything, so we gladly set to work alongside those we haven’t seen since dawn. After an hour’s labor we are led to the person in charge of paying us our wages. Wait a minute, there must be some mistake. Did you get what I just got? A denarius? You too? Yes! But we all got the same thing. Is that fair?
Maybe we’ve experienced something like this at our own places of work. We’ve worked hard for our company for 15 or 20 years and have finally gotten a “decent” salary. Then suddenly, our employers decide to raise the starting salary for new hires; now, people who are just starting out in our department are making what we’ve worked years to achieve. When I started in ministry, I was earning almost a much as my father was earning as a minister when he retired. I remember Dad laughing about it - but it made me feel uncomfortable. ...and yet, if I am honest, I look at the salaries newcomers to ministry receive, or designated lay ministers - and I know they don’t have as much training as I have, or experience - and there is a part of me which feels it really isn’t fair.
Think about it. Every single one of the laborers waiting to be hired *needed* that denarius to support their families for the day. Without it children would have gone to bed hungry, necessities could not be bought, and worse, spirits would have been crushed. The landowner saw this and acted generously. The day laborers who had been working all day should have understood; without the grace of the landowner choosing them early in the day, they would have been in the same situation. Everyone got what they NEEDED. It was only the attitudes of the disgruntled workers that marred this occasion; they wanted more than they needed; so even though their needs were provided for, they were still comparing and insisting they should have got more.
What this parable calls out is our attitude to those who are poor, disenfranchised, less fortunate than we are. On my clergy discussion list, someone commented that people should just take responsibility for their own lives, rather than governments giving money for the poor. The question then is, how do the dirt-poor hillbillies in Kentucky or Tennessee “take responsibility” for their own lives - if their own federal government doesn’t know they exist, if they have no education, no way of providing for themselves. The poor black families in and around the outskirts of New Orleans - how are they supposed to take responsibility for themselves? How do those in the outport communities here, the small fishing communities, make ends meet? They are trying to be responsible.
Last December, outside the Royal Bank here in Corner Brook, I met a man who needed money. He had moved back here from Toronto, he said, hoping to find work - because finding work which paid enough in Toronto for someone like him was almost impossible. He had a place to live here in Corner Brook, but didn’t have enough money to get food. He was going to every single job training placement he was given, but there were no jobs. Here was a man *trying* to be responsible for his life, and almost beaten before he even started.
In this parable today, Jesus compares the realm of God to this man hiring labourers. Is this parable about what’s fair in our eyes, or about how God sees justice. Those people, particularly the ones who were hired last, were probably the ones nobody wanted. Maybe they seemed a little weaker, unable to do a full day’s work. Maybe some of them were physically disabled or mentally challenged. Being part of the realm of God means we might not get what’s “fair” in our eyes, but God gives us what we *need*.
We, in our arrogance, assume that we have all the things we have because we’ve worked our butts off; we develop a sense that we are entitled to have more than others, simply because we work hard. It also gives us that sense that if we were able to do it, others should be able to as well. Why should we offer them our help? Someone will pop up and say “God helps those who help themselves”. In fact, that statement isn’t even in the Bible at all; it originated in Aesop’s Fables. The Bible says the opposite - that God’s justice and mercy are *for* the helpless and poor. Remember the old notion of pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, as if all it takes is determination and hard work, and the doors will open.
Two years ago, on a cruise, I got into a discussion with some Americans about socialised medicine - the kind of health care we have here in Canada. Most of the people at the table were in the health care system, and felt the changes were needed in for Americans. But there were two at the table who were against the new changes. People should be able to buy their own, or go without. When asked what they did for a living, they replied they had recently retired from the military. “Oh’, said one of the others “then you already *have* socialised medicine, paid for by the Government.” Needless to say the air was a little tense for awhile.
God does not give us what we want. God doesn’t give us what we expect. And thank goodness, God doesn’t make decisions based on what other people think is right. We must be reminded of the few words of the prayer of Jesus; Give us *this* day our bread, give us enough for today, forgive our bad behaviour, help us in times of trial. To this I would add the words of Hosea the prophet - God requires us to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
Today we have stories of God's complete, utter and total generosity to everyone. It is a perfect example of what we humans would call foolishness, and God calls reality. It is the kind of generosity that turns things on their head. It is the kind of justice and gratitude we are called to do and be, because that's what God shows us. Jesus is pointing out to us that as his followers, we are called to model and emulate the characteristics God models and emulates for us in the example of Jesus. The good news is that God is there with us along the way.
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