I, the Teacher

 

I, The Teacher

 

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23

Search out wisdom 

 

1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

 

1:12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

 

1:13 I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to humans to be busy with.

 

1:14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

 

2:18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to my successor,

 

2:19 and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

 

2:20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,

 

2:21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

 

2:22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?

 

2:23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

 

Teachers have always been my heroes in life. I owe so much to my teachers, from the earliest Sunday School volunteer instructors through my seminary and post-graduate professors. To this day (and mind you, I am about to turn 71!), I can remember the wonder my favorite elementary school teachers displayed as they taught us geography, history, science, and language arts, not to mention READING, in the earliest grades! Their own fascination with learning, and the joy with which they taught, fueled what I assume was some kind of innate curiosity in me, something I have always figured came from my father, who was himself a curious and well-read individual. Miss Korb introduced me to Tom Sawyer and instilled a love of classic literature. Mr. Pelesari made mathematics palatable for me, which was a major stretch, given my penchant for the conceptual and aversion to anything that actually had to “add up.” The principal of our elementary school picked up on my love of science and “fed” it by ordering some special equipment for our classroom, and when I got involved in shortwave radio (I built a Heathkit receiver when I was 10), he got permission from my folks to take me to the home of one of his friends, who was a serious Ham radio operator. Miss Reid taught me how to write a lick, and tried to warm me about the difference between creative and academic writing, something I never really learned, as I spiced my term papers with humorous anecdotes, and my news stories with fictional references (and some might say, my sermons with malarky). Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Allen had such a passion for Pennsylvania and U.S. history and government that I couldn’t help but catch it, too, which is probably why I am so enraged by a U.S. President who clearly doesn’t have a clue about any of it.

 

I could go on AND on, detailing the teachers and professors who made a major impact on my life; you’d be shocked at the specific details I still recall of just how and even when they made key learning “connections” for me. And I can hardly talk about my two sojourns at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary without shedding a few tears over the monumental influence those teachers had on my understanding of faith, biblical studies, and social justice. The late Scottish pastor and leader, Rev. George MacLeod, wrote of places on earth where the “veil” between heaven and earth was so “thin” that one could almost “feel” the presence of the Divine. (As the founder of the Iona Community, he believed Iona to be such a “thin” place.) For me, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was truly a “thin” place, and those professors were beloved guides on my journey of exploration. 

 

I will forever be indebted to one of my college professors—Dr. Franklin Takei—who taught philosophy with an almost giddy glee, and who helped guide me to the perfect graduate school, based on how he saw my mind work. (And yes, he WAS related to Star Trek’s “Sulu”!) Oh, and no father could have ever been more proud than I was when both of my children were chosen by the landmark program, “Teach for America,” and were sent to struggling school districts for two years to inspire troubled students. Nothing like having your KIDS as your heroes, huh?

 

Now, here in this wonderful passage from Koheleth—“the teacher.” I’m tempted to think of the author of Koheleth as a preacher, for he/she speaks for God, but honestly, ANY good teacher does, too, whether they know it or not. All great teachers could echo this author’s central pursuit: “I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven…” This is the curiosity I spoke of, earlier! Friends, are YOU curious about life, the universe, and everything? Are YOU developing a passion for fascinating facts and discoveries, and if so, what are you doing about it? I know I’m prejudiced about this “life-long learning” thing, but I find it hard to believe ANY person can say they believe in God without applying one’s mind to seek and search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven! After all, God didn’t create out of some parental duty or because of some celestially-mandated need. God CREATED because God first LOVED, and then out of a curiosity of what relationships with the created might look like. If you don’t believe that, you need to go back and read your Bible again!

 

I believe that the frustration Koheleth is dealing with in this passage is over rote acceptance of life as a drudgery. How many of us might echo the author’s thoughts here, especially if your own life consists of eating, sleeping, and working to pay the bills, so you can move on to the next day of eating, sleeping, and paying the bills. The teacher here may be trying to jar us into understanding that God wants WAY more for us than this! It would be Jesus himself, who would later say, “I came that you might have LIFE, and it ABUNDANTLY!” Any good preacher or teacher will tell you that “abundant” life is not at all about monetary or temporal wealth, but about the richness of relationships and the love we culture, as well as the serendipity and passion of curiosity-driven learning. Short of these things, life is nothing but vanity—how do I LOOK, how do I FEEL, or what do I WANT? Life is a vast, empty canvas and our Creator offers us a broad palette of colorful paints and textures to go crazy upon it. When our children were little, Dara and I learned to never view something one of them created and ask, “What is it?” Instead, we would say, “Tell me about this…” A spirited conversation always followed this latter inquiry, rather than the “explanation” that would have occurred as a response to the former. If you want to have a good conversation with your pastor, friends, ask them to “tell me more” about their sermon, rather than just grading it, or disagreeing with what she/he said. Want to know what the stupidest thing I ever heard a professing “Christian” say? Here it is: “I’m just not getting fed at that church.” Really? What kind of appetite are you bringing? Are you looking for just dessert, and your pastor is trying to spread the board with decent nourishment for your soul? Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.

 

As I look back on my life, I am increasingly realizing how much I learned from those with whom I stringently disagreed. I may not have realized it at the time, but maturity and experience have a way of polishing the lenses, don’t they? I remember balking at many of the sermons by one of my home church’s more “liberal” preachers during my youthful, “evangelical” period. Thankfully, though, my curiosity-tuned brain filed away a number of those sermons in my noggin, and now, as I “re-listen” to them, I can “search them out by wisdom,” discovering the pearls. This reexamination has also illustrated just how blessed we all were by the heritage of pastors who sojourned at Grace UMC, Oil City, even a few we might have found periodically incomprehensible. 

 

Some of the futility Koheleth voices in this passage may be from an attempt by some to remain “self-taught.” Other than the “I’m not being fed” idiocy I mentioned earlier, the very concept of being “self-taught” may be in second place on my “stupid-O-meter.” No one is self-taught, about anything. We may learn from the experience of others, learn by reading or viewing videos of what others may teach us, or even by some personal measure of “trial and error,” but in any case, we don’t learn without at least comparing our results with those who have gone before us. Americans have that “rugged individualism” in our DNA from our historical frontier experience, but the notion that any of us is a true “rugged individual” without the experience of the wider community is fallacious. Show me someone who claims to be totally “self-taught” and I will show you “the fool” mentioned countless times in holy scripture.

 

Obviously, we have a wide variety of teachers in our lives, including God, via the scriptures, and certainly through the teachings of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. And was not the Holy Spirit sent to “teach us many things”? Most of us have generously benefitted by those with teaching gifts, in the schools and in the church. Ultimately, though, the effectiveness of the teaching we receive is best measured by how good of a student we make of ourselves. If we hold to an egotistical “self-taught” boast, or have only critical evaluations of those who tried to teach us the invaluable lessons of life and faith, then the resulting ignorance and error is on us. We have succumbed to the “vanity” Koheleth flags in this passage of scripture. Don’t be a victim of what this rejection of good learning leaves you with: “For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest.” May God help you sort out yourimportant lessons and be thankful for the bevvy of good teachers who have crossed your path! Amen!

The Dating Game

 

The Dating Game

 

Hosea 1:2-10

Hosea's marriage 

 

1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the LORD."

 

1:3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

 

1:4 And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

 

1:5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."

 

1:6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.

 

1:7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen."

 

1:8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.

 

1:9 Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God."

 

1:10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered, and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."

 

 

Most of you are too young to remember “The Dating Game,” a TV game show of the 1960s and 70s wherein a female contestant quizzed three eligible male “dates” whom she could not see. After her inquisition, she chose one of them for a date, to be paid by the show. Most of the “dates” were to some expensive, exotic place, and some of the “matches” were obviously setups arranged to give the show some appeal. If it sounds contrived and a bit overblown (as were most of its contestants, bachelors, AND the pre-determined “questions” the contestant would ask from que cards), you might not be surprised to hear that it was dreamt up by none other than Chuck Barris, who would eventually host his final creation, the irreverent and absolutely whacky “The Gong Show.” Of course, without “The Gong Show,” the world would have never discovered Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine…

 

Real dating was nothing like the TV show. In high school, most of my friends were looking for a much more shallow and lascivious weekend date than the well-scrubbed, auditioned “contestants” of “The Dating Game.” The young women of my era were largely looking for a handsome date and to avoid pregnancy, while the guys were wanting to push the envelope of the biological equipment of both sexes, either to just have a “good time,” or to snare an acknowledged “beauty” for bragging rights. I was one of a few odd balls in this game. Call me the Arnold Stang of the dating set. 

 

I actually had great respect for the women of the “opposite sex” to whom I felt attracted—or I should more rightly say, “interested in.” I did not think of potential dates in a lascivious vein. Yes, I started by filtering out the ones I thought had some physical appeal, but found myself more interested in what THEY were interested in. I felt “attracted” to a few girls in my higher academic circle as identified by the school system as “gifted” in some way. I also was aligned more with those whom I met in similar drama and music circles, as well. If I could meet up with her in the library, or shared the treble clef, I was interested. My wide interests in high school, academically and socially, kept me in the mid-regions of the top 20% of the class, but I picked my dating candidates from the top ten (not percent!). I dated quite a bit, partly because I thought it safer, and would keep me from “settling in” to a “steady,” which I knew would be unsustainable, come college. Also, my interest in women was like my academic and artistic interests—quite wide ranging. There were many “flavors” and “colors” of young ladies in our class, and as long as they were smart, I was interested. My best selling points as a date were that I wasn’t just interested in jumping their bones, and that I was genuinely interested in learning more about the girl, so I used my best journalistic practices to quiz them about themselves. I also could make anyone laugh, and that was apparently a desired come-on, as my physical attractiveness did not accompany my brain to the top 20% of the class. I enjoyed dating, had many a wonderful conversation with delightful young peers, and was frankly a bit disappointed, years later, when finding out in my delayed “maturing” process, that a couple of those earlier dates were disappointed that I DIDN’T try jumping their bones. (I have remained happy that I didn’t; held out for a better, smarter woman, and wound up marrying the smartest woman I have ever known. She’s a “looker,” too!) One very personally edifying truth is that most of those early dates fostered an empathetic “pastoral care” heart in me. Because I so enjoyed getting to know my dates through questions (much better ones than the “dating game” scripted ones), I wound up as a kind of defacto “counselor” to many of them. Turns out, a number of the girls I dated back then were dealing with “life stuff” that benefitted from good conversation and “getting it out in the open,” so to speak. I enjoyed playing the Rogerian in the room. I suppose I should have known then that God had something beyond journalism for me. True confessions, though—during my senior year, I struck up my longest-term high school relationship with a new sophomore who came into the band, and her personality was not the first thing I noticed…

 

All this talk about dating comes from the totally bizarre text that is one of this weekend’s lectionary selections from Hosea. As seriously as I took SERIOUS relationships from my early dating days, and as SERIOUSLY as I took selecting the type of person I might like to invest my life with, I freak out every time I read this passage! "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution…”? Seriously? And supposedly from the lips of the Almighty? This whole idea is just nuts. Frankly, I cannot believe this story as anything but a parable or a crude object lesson. Tell me all you want that it is eventually a tale of how God can take something terrible and “redeem” it into something wonderful, and I will still balk. And while I DO believe God can and does do this all of the time, when it comes to matters of the heart, I do NOT believe God would ask a trusted servant to “marry a prostitute” to make a point. Now that I’m done pontificating about this, it dawns on me that my dating practices were a sort of “subset” of that? Several of the girls I dated were “from the other side of the tracks,” as my mother labeled them, and I dated them to hear their stories and to encourage them, knowing they were dealing with some rough spots in their journeys. Was I being a type of Hosea, here, more concerned with the personal and interpersonal, than with the “reputation” or history of these women? My “safety valve,” though, was my set-in-stone conviction that I was going to do NOTHING to encourage a long-term relationship, knowing that college beckoned, and that I did not want to go off encumbered by a “girl back home.” Hosea was told to MARRY a besmirched woman, and even to start a family with them. Great story, emblematic of a Shakespearean play, possibly, but not sounding like something that might emanate from a “just and benevolent” God. I suppose that a key thing about God we are to learn from this bizarre story is how much God loved God’s people, even willing to ask a loyal prophet to warp his whole life to make a point to them. Sounds really weird until you realize that this same love eventually caused God to send is “only begotten Son” into a hostile, hurting world to rescue it, including a willingness to be horribly murdered in the process! 

 

Can we GET this message strongly enough? God DOES love humanity, and has been willing to sacrifice all kinds of things to prove it, and to keep us in a connected relationship with God. Someone has said that the Son of God will be “forever changed” to prove just how much God loves us. What a profound thought. That’s a lot to go through to be able to proclaim that we are all “Children of the Living God,” but aren’t we blessed and happy because of it? NOW maybe we can see why Jesus so passionately tried to get us to “pay if forward” by loving each other? Here we are, over two-thousand years later, still trying to get THAT right, and most recently, it seems like we are SO backsliding at it. Much, much work is left to do for we Christ-followers. 

 

Like Hosea and his “object lesson” life, I have my own story to share. In offering my high school (and later) dates my ears and heart rather than the more widely utilized male parts, I developed both a love of persons’ stories and a willingness to offer my best counsel and encouragement on their journeys. Meanwhile, not being under some Monty Python-esque “command” of God to MARRY someone whose life was in moral disarray, I held out for the best possible alternative. 48-plus years ago, I married the best possible choice in my quest to “marry up.” She is the most intelligent, spiritually mature person I have ever known, and her high degree of organization and intellectual curiosity has enabled her to put up with my randomness and psychological “ADHD.” On my end, she is still the best thing I can possibly look at on a daily basis, and she still “trips my trigger” when she enters the room. However, the BEST thing about our relationship is that I have never run out of questions about her, and she still remains a mystery to me, just like God. There are many days when I think I know Jesus more than I know her, but hardly a day goes by that she doesn’t demonstrate that she loves me just like Jesus does—willing to forgive, redeem, and reconcile. I know that I’m being arrogant believing that I am blessed to share my life with the greatest woman on earth, but good luck proving me wrong. I SO feel sorry for Hosea in this text…ACCEPT that he seems to find himself blessed in the end, too. I suppose both of our scenarios are basically a GOD thing.

 

During my years in ministry, I have told many a teenage boy that unless God tells you directly something STUPID like God did Hosea, date the women that you respect and who make you curious about themselves. In this day and age, it is easy to date someone who just wants to “hook up,” and even to be seduced to BE that kind of person. But the truly Godly-loving person dates with a deep sense of interest and curiosity about the other life involved in any relationship, knowing full well that the One who created them loves them like a mother/father, and will not look kindly upon a dating partner who doesn’t respect this. The worlds greatest aphrodisiac is meaningful conversation born out of mutual respect for our common humanity. If you want to win “The Dating Game,” take each other’s lives and faith seriously, and don’t trivialize the relationship with an undue emphasis on sensuality. Friends ultimately make better lovers than premature lovers make friendships.

 

Hosea married a prostitute and had kids with her, or so the story goes, as a sign of how seriously God desired to rescue and reconcile Israel, even after they had “prostituted” themselves with other Gods and excessive self-interest. Think modern Israel could use another Hosea? Youbetcha! 

 

For all the rest of us, reinvest in your most intimate relationships, as they can be the best metaphors of how much God loves each of you, if you do it right. It’s the only way to win “The Dating Game.” Shalom, Beloved! Amen.

 

Holding Together

 

Holding Together

 

Colossians 1:15-28

A hymn to Christ 

 

1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,

 

1:16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.

 

1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

 

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

 

1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

 

1:20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

 

1:21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

 

1:22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,

 

1:23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.

 

1:24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

 

1:25 I became its minister according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

 

1:26 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.

 

1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 

1:28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

 

 

Have you ever thought much about what things actually hold disparate people in some form of togetherness or unity, even for a season? 

 

As a Steelers fan from the early 1970s, I can tell you that rooting for a suddenly emerging championship sports teams certainly can! Steelers fans of that era couldn’t possibly have been more diverse—steelworkers, investment bankers, teenagers, housewives, and even the incarcerated were all rooting for the object of “Franco’s Italian Army,” “Gerela’s Gorillas,” and “Dobre Shanka’s” affection, the Pittsburgh Steelers. And Steelers fandom knew no color barriers, either. And speaking of sports, if you are old enough to remember when the Pittsburgh Pirates played championship baseball, you might recall that they, too, had a broad-based following that seem to bring people together.

 

Of course, war has often been a force to congeal people into a unified group, unfortunately. All except for Vietnam, which drove us apart, as a nation. 

 

But what about music? Don’t you find that some forms of it—most especially popular songs—often do the same thing? Dara and I often attend concerts of the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall, and see a great variety of persons brought together by a love of a similar style of music, in this case, classical. Who among us anywhere near our vintage didn’t experience “Beatlemania,” and carry out a life of enjoying Beatles music, from the originals, to garage band covers, to tribute bands, and even to “elevator music” renditions of “Hey Jude,” “I Wanna’ Hold Your Hand,” or “Yellow Submarine”? “Deadheads” and “Margaritaville” have come together for decades over love of a singular band or artist, haven’t they? Sometimes it is the love of the tunes—such as classical or jazz—or the words and a song’s meaning, like we experienced with later Beatles songs, that draws us in and holds us together as a “fan block.” We social justice types have almost memorized the lyrics of “Abraham, Martin, and John,” “One Tin Soldier,” or “Give Peace a Chance.” Nature lovers mimic John Denver’s rendition of “Almost Heaven,” or “This Land is Your Land.” Country music often taps into the deeply emotional experiences, ranging from our love lives, to troubles with friends, work, or booze. All of these may attract folk into an empathetic community, if even for an evening or a single concert. Music rarely tears people apart, but it most assuredly can bring them together. 

 

Oh, there are those songs like “Ooo-eee, ooo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla walla bing bang,” or “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” that puzzle me as to their popularity, but I suppose it can be the beat OR the tune? “Wing-a-weppa, wing-a-weppa…” Sometimes we just need a little “silly” in our lives to get through the daily morass. 

 

This weekend’s lectionary passage from Colossians begins with what scholars call a “Christ Hymn,” probably one of the first praise songs of the early Christian church. The author’s original audience would have recognized it immediately, kind of like one of us beginning a letter with:

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

 

Of course, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, is no ooo-ee, ooo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla bing bang, the latter being a kind of “universal” song many of us have mocked and sung since we were children. The former “Christ Hymn” would have been familiar only to those who had some experience with early church worship. So it is with the contemporary Christian praise songs of our time, and even then, for those of us who prefer the “old hymns” of the faith, and tend to worship in more “traditional” settings, even the modern tunes are a mystery. Our worship at the United Methodist Annual Conference meetings has gone almost exclusively “contemporary,” with praise bands eclipsing choirs and church organs. I admit to knowing few of their songs, which means I am not “held together” with them like those who sing them regularly. Interestingly, the past couple of years at this conference, a gifted praise band leader and composer has been invited, and he has featured praise music he has written. His songs not only are theologically quite sound (unlike some of the ooo-ee, ooo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla bing bang numbers that might have the occasionally recognized Jesus in their over-simplified lyrics, which are repeated 25 times), but quite pleasant to sing. The fact that the assembled body must learn them together DOES draw and hold us together. I find this all quite worshipful, and glad that we are not rejoicing that “the horse and the rider are thrown into the sea.” 

 

The Colossians passage preserves an early church hymn, as we said earlier, and it’s important to note that it plays well into our Wesleyan heritage! The Christ Hymn is substantive in its theology: Christ IS God, and the “visible” image of an invisible Creator God; Christ, as an essential element of the godhead, was not only “present” at the creation, but it was done “in him, through him, and FOR him,” according to the hymn. In Christ, all things “hold together”; Christ is the head of the Body of Christ, the church; Christ is the “firstborn of the dead,” a decidedly Pauline theological construct, endorsing this letter as either FROM Paul, or at least by one of his disciples, fully immersed in Paul’s theology and teachings. In Christ, the fullness of God is represented, and Christ is reconciling “all things” to himself—including US! (Note that this is God’s work, not ours. We are called to be witnesses of “the mystery,” and to “offer them Christ,” but we are not “saving souls” or collecting spiritual pelts like some heaven-appointed trapper going after muskrats.) So it was with the hymns that flowed from the pen of Charles Wesley—they were deeply theological and substantive. AND, such as was the case with the corpus of the Wesleyan hymns, the early church “learned” its theology through its worship experience, including most assuredly, its hymns. The Wesley’s ministered to “the masses,” who were largely uneducated, or at least poorly educated, in what we might call “book learning.” Ergo, to teach them about the Bible, one used preached sermons, and to help them learn the important rudiments of Christian theology and moral teachings, one would teach them songs that, like most music does, would “bore” into their brains as they sang each song. The first song I remember in my whole life went like this: “Jesus loved me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…” How about you. (Incidentally, the second song I remember was “Itsy-bitsy, Teeny-Weenie, Yellow Polka-dot Bikini,” but the whys and wherefores of that will have to wait for another sermon.) 

 

[A funny story comes to mind about the power of songs and tunes: Being of the generation that tuned in weekly to the TV sitcom called “Cheers,” a “Coach” story pops up. At one point, Coach, an aged bartender who took too many to the bean while playing baseball, is taking a class and must memorize the countries of the world, and their placement. He does so by incorporating their names and those of neighboring nations into a song sung to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” We all laugh at the folly of this until at least a few of us must admit that we can only recite the alphabet by singing it, right?]

 

The point of all of this is that, of all the things that “bind” us together, even in a nation so terribly divided, our love of music and songs can. I’ve heard passionate conversation about music—or the latest Grammy Awards—between two people whom I know have not a single point of intersection when it comes to religion or politics. And yet, in discussing something like music, they find common ground, even to the point of being able to venture into conversation about less benign things, from time to time. The Wesleys knew this, and two things they used to draw together the vastly diverse society they were creating in the early Methodist movement were Charles’ hymns AND a common emphasis on helping the poor and incarcerated. 

 

So, what does it mean, then, that the author of this Colossians Christ Hymn says that CHRIST is that which holds all things together? I have two thoughts. Years ago, I preached a sermon at the Coraopolis UMC (where this particular sermon will be preached on Sunday, July 20) about what science tells us about the nature of matter. Turns out, we and all matter we think is “solid,” is nothing but a series of energy bundles or “events,” held together by some mysterious force. Is the hand of God that force? Are we, literally, a “construct” in the mind of the Divine Creator? Or are we the “words” to a hymn or song composed by the creator, to think of it in a more exotic or “romantic” way? These things fascinate me, but since they don’t trip the trigger of everyone, lets move on…

 

For the author of this text, Christ is that which holds all things together, however you choose to understand that. At a most practical level, it is our common faith in Jesus Christ that has the power to hold the church together and to give it momentum to move forward in mission and “acts of mercy,” as John Wesley described it. We can argue about how Christ is reconciling the world to god-self, and even about what part we have in this ministry (which Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5 we ARE called to be a part of, by the way), but if we find common ground in Christ himself, we CAN hold things together. This is what grieves me so about the recent disaffiliation in the United Methodist Church. I had hoped we could find some common ground in Christ and in Christ’s effort to reconcile the world to God, but that apparently wasn’t enough for many folk, who chose a few other things they felt they had to “hold in common” to find unity. Unfortunately, for many of us who “stayed,” we were not happy that these elements meant cutting off a whole group of people who we believe to ALSO be children of God. I hope those who disaffiliated find the kind of unity they are looking for, and I pray our “remnant” United Methodist Church finds its way as a fully welcoming, diverse body, especially when the tide of American society seems to be kicking against the reality that we ARE a diverse people.

 

In short (and when am I ever “short”?), I believe that Jesus Christ is the key to us holding together, whether we are talking about the church as Christ’s body, our “being,” if we’re talking about the nature of what we call matter, or even our mental health, which probably always needs a divine “GPS” to keep us on path. 

 

Trusting in Christ as the bonding “song” of our life together is worth our exploration, Dear Ones. Otherwise, I suppose we could just “Ooo-eee, ooo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla bing bang” and hope that something sticks? Amen.

Illegals

 

Illegals

 

Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the merciful Samaritan 

 

10:25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

 

10:26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?"

 

10:27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself."

 

10:28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

 

10:29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

 

10:30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead.

 

10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

 

10:32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

 

10:33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion.

 

10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

 

10:35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.'

 

10:36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

 

10:37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

 

 

“The one who showed him mercy.” Such simple words, aren’t they? And yet, we live in a time when many root for an administration that touts showing NO mercy to immigrants and “illegals” from places “less desirable” than the Good Ol’ USA. Even Shakespeare, who wrote those immortal words, “The quality of mercy is not strained…” knew that mercy was a highly moral and even “divine” thing. Showing mercy was better than any sacrifice, according to Hosea’s telling of God’s feelings about it. The old hymn says that Jesus “could have called ten thousand angels,” but that he instead showed mercy to those who were crucifying him, and through HIS sacrifice, to all humankind. Might our generation be in trouble with the Almighty for how we are treating those looking for a better life—or even just basic safety—here in our country? Might we be judged for not showing mercy in this way? I am at a loss as to why we might take the chance, let alone FEEL this way about “strangers in the land.” Remember, God told Israel to treat the “foreigners” and the sojourners in their land JUST LIKE A CITIZEN, and to welcome them. Are we privileged to “do less,” just because we are uncomfortable with people who don’t look like we do, or who speak a different “native” language than do we? You tell me. I’m writing these sermons for “church people”—Christians—who proclaim to believe the Gospel, and yet, according to the most recent “power polls” we call elections, we have put in charge people who hate these “sojourners” and “foreigners” in our land. It would be bad enough that they would want to send them packing back to where they came from, but no, they want to PUNISH them by sending them to ANOTHER land, foreign to them, and who will incarcerate them, away from family, language, and culture. “Evangelicals”—people who proclaim to follow Jesus—have endorsed this treatment at an 80% level, according to post-election polling. I’m sure Jesus is quite proud of them, and YOU, if you are one of them.

 

I’m not going to say this “isn’t a political sermon,” for in a way, they are ALL political, and they, if true to the gospel, should all “hurt,” to some extent. I know I should personally be doing more to support these immigrants and refugees, but short of sending some money to organizations who are helping them and helping raise awareness of their plight, I’m not losing much sleep over the issue—and I should be. So should you. I know, one of my seminary professors told us we should not “should all over” our people in our preaching, but on this issue, I think we need some “shoulding” or “should-not-ing.” We are a big, prosperous country, with loads of “menial” work for people who are willing to work hard for what is probably unjustly low pay. And yet, the “powers that be” are successfully telling us they are “stealing our jobs” and our resources. This is an outright lie, and it needs to be called out as such. Unfortunately, in order to uphold this lie, the current administration has set goals of deporting 3,000 “illegals” per day, so they can boast of “keeping their promise” of getting rid of the “criminal element” who have crossed our borders—another lie, by the way. The fact is that immigrants and refugees commit crimes at a far lower rate than the “legal citizens” do. But they have you hoodwinked. So to “keep their promise,” they are going after the “low-hanging fruit”—those persons who are doing their best to BE here legally, and to obey our laws, even while they do the work that ordinary Americans don’t want to do. THEY are the ones being rounded up at Home Depots, farmer’s markets, and courthouses, and who are being sent to other third-party nations where NO ONE speaks their language or understands their plight. And families are being separated, possibly to never see each other again. Some gospel these “evangelicals” believe in, huh?

 

This sermon is a rant, just like the rant Jesus goes on when the lawyer dares ask Jesus, “Who is my neighbor.” Jesus was most likely so indignant that if he ever WERE to “call ten thousand angels” to the scene, this might have been it. I can imagine him glaring at the privileged, Jewish lawyer, and then turning to the angels, uttering, “He’s all yours…” But no, even in what must have been an excruciating rage for Jesus, he launched into the parable in today’s text. We’ve come to call it “The Good Samaritan,” and we’ve managed to whitewash it into a kind of fairytale. How “nice” that this man happened by and “had compassion” on the man who had been beaten and robbed, especially when the priest and the lawyer were “too busy” to stop to help. Bull pucky. They didn’t stop because they DIDN’T have compassion, pure and simple. Their religion and privilege got in the way of one of the most basic things God tried to create in humans—empathy. False platitudes about God, on the part of the priest, and “legal liabilities” on the part of the lawyer, kept them from helping the suffering victim, but truth be told, I would say it was a sad lack of empathy on both their parts that drove them away. Now we KNOW why the chicken(s) crossed the road, don’t we?

 

Along came a Samaritan. I’m sure you’ve heard the patter about how the Jews hated Samaritans, and about how deep this hatred ran. I remember hearing a preacher say, just after the horrible terrorist attacks of 9-11, that the Samaritan would be like Bin Laden coming to our rescue, should you have been likewise victimized. On one hand, this was a ridiculous assertion, given that Bin Laden was the ring-leader of the terrorists, but on the other, it may have been true that the victim in this story—who would have been Jewish, according to the form of the parable—might have seen the Samaritan man approaching him as the robber returning to finish the job! In his rage over the lawyer’s ridiculous question, “Who is my neighbor,” which demonstrated a supreme lack of empathy, Jesus tells a story wherein a hated Samaritan was the only one IN the story who HAD empathy, and specifically a degree of empathy that led to a compassionate response. In my opinion, Jesus may have told this parable as much to shame the lawyer for his stupid, arrogant question as to “give a lesson” to the rest of us about empathy and compassion. In a way, Jesus may have been saying, “The hated SAMARITAN would never have asked a dumb question like yours, Mr. Barrister!” But then, Jesus had far more empathy for even the extremely-privileged that I tend to. Sorry. 

 

In the wake of the horrible floods and monumental loss of life in Texas this past week, a story has emerged that searchers and rescue teams had crossed the border from Mexico to help look for victims of the tragedy. Samaritans, were they? Apparently they were welcomed by the hurting Texans, in their time of need and grief. I’m guessing that a number of new relationships were born out of this empathetic and compassionate endeavor by those who came from one of “those” nations. If this were so, IT would be a perfect real-life parable of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about in his book, “Life Together.” Bonhoeffer understood that “living among” or alongside those whom are strangers to you offers the opportunity for the common “spark of divinity” in each of us to fire and germinate relationships. Walls and deportations deny both parties of this chance.

 

I have a friend who engaged me in a debate a few years ago about these “illegals,” as he called them. His appeal was that if persons wanted to immigrate to the United States, they should do so “legally.” My counter was that those who opposed allowing “those people” to come here had made the pathways to legal entry so difficult, and then so understaffed the portals for such entry, that it had become nigh unto impossible to get here “legally,” especially if one was a refuge, seeking asylum from the violent gang culture of some of the Central American nations. I also asked my friend to consider how the laws of Native American tribes and nations applied to our European ancestors who stormed the Americas in THEIR attempt to find a new home? Were we not the “illegals” of that time in history? Of course, we had the power to “negate” any such laws and rights the Native American peoples claimed, and even enough to imprison and murder those who resisted our “neighborliness.” In the Good Samaritan story, WE are the robbers, not the good guys.

 

Friends, there is no way to turn this message around to make it a sweet little lesson about being more “compassionate.” This parable forces us to either swear at it and do what we damn well please, OR repent of the heinous sin we continue to perpetuate against “the least of these,” and turn to Christ for forgiveness. We must also ask for God’s transformational power to “remold and make us” back into the “good neighbors” we must be, if we are to claim allegiance to Jesus Christ and to God. So, how do you respond? If you choose to swear at it and walk away, to continue on your own privileged path, I will pray for you. If you choose to repent, THAT outcome is in the hands of the Living God. I confess that I keep putting myself there, but it is SO EASY to slip back into the privilege I enjoy as a white American, and a MALE, at that. May God save us all from ourselves, and may Christ have mercy on those we victimize, either intentionally or by default. And may we all learn how to no longer strain the quality of our mercy. Amen.

 

Idols

 

Idols 

Isaiah 66:10-14

Jerusalem, a nursing mother 

 

66:10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her—

 

66:11 that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast, that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom.

 

66:12 For thus says the LORD: I will extend prosperity to her like a river and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream, and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm and bounced on her knees.

 

66:13 As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

 

66:14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass, and it shall be known that the power of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies.

 

Jerusalem is an idol. America is an idol. Jesus is an idol. Dogmas and doctrines are idols. Family is an idol. Love is an idol. Even grace may be an idol. Surprised?

 

We’re used to thinking of things like “false gods,” money, power, excessive love of sports, gambling, sexual excesses or aberrant practices, politics as idols, and they certainly can be. If we make our own gods, are we not then erecting idols? This is what Israel of old fought against, isn’t it? However, as I have pointed out before, Ludwig Feuerbach, a 19^th century German anthropologist and philosopher, criticized Christians by suggesting that most of us write OURSELVES on the heavens and call it God. As others have pointed out, isn’t it interesting that “God” seems to like the same people we do and dislike the same people we do? Or that “God” likes worship just the same way we do, and dislikes too strong an emphasis on social justice, just like we do? For WAY too many Christians, “God” also dislikes people who aren’t “straight” about their sexuality, just like we do, and “God” even endorses our dividing an entire denomination right down the middle over this. Feuerbach would point to all of these instances as evidence of his thesis. In his book, “The Essence of Christianity,” the philosopher is not writing an apologetic for what some would call “biblical authority” or “orthodox Christianity.” He is saying we are “godifying” ourselves and our own ideas. We are making ourselves and our values an idol, and then erecting an entire denomination to it.

 

As creative human beings, we can make an idol out of almost anything. Here is the “idols made easy” directions for making your own idol:

 

1.Narrow your focus of interest to some “thing” or idea that is currently grabbing an undue share of your attention.

 

2.Brainstorm various ways to justify why this disproportionate emphasis IS important or essential to what “people” should believe.

 

3.Create a system of belief around it, including rules or doctrines, and promote these evangelically.

 

4.Let it grow to such importance that you come to believe EVERYONE ought to bow to your new “god.”

 

Why is this such a popular pursuit among so many who would call themselves “people of faith”? There are reasons, the first of which is that in creating such an idol, or “god,” we maintain control. After all, we are the “Popes” of the system! A second reason is that in thus being deviated, we lesson our responsibility to Yahweh, the teachings of the Bible (responsibly interpreted, and not just by US), and even Jesus, himself. Rarely do our self-styled “gods” care much about things like civil rights, social justice, or an overly strong interest in the plight of the poor or otherwise marginalized. In fact, if you are a “Joel Osteen” Christian, your self-contrived system of faith might just include the belief that “god” WANTS you well, wealthy, and significantly of control of both. Now THAT sells! And what of the troubles of the nation and the world beginning to boil up all around your comfortable “island”? Well, Jesus is coming back soon, and he’ll take care of those! After all, YOU are a child of “god”—or at least THIS god.

 

I know, I’m sounding pretty dark and judgmental here, but let us not forget the only group of people Jesus really got riled up over, shall we? It was the religious leaders who had begun to turn Judaism into idolism, with themselves as its arbiters. Jesus forgave every sinner that came before him. From the cross of his death, he said about the people who had unjustly sentenced him to capital punishment: “Father, forgive them, for they do not realize what they are doing.” Nope, it was only the religious leaders who angered him and elicited his earthly wrath. If you make your own “god” and system of religion, surprise! YOU are now a religious leader! And you may be judged accordingly.

 

I have seen people—good people—turn wholesome things like family, or even their own offspring, into “gods” and idols, always putting them first, and spending inordinate resources on them, while others—sometimes even in their own family—had myriad needs. I have even seen folk turn JESUS, himself, into an idol by making everything about “worshiping Jesus” or “praising Jesus.” These things are certainly good, as part of a healthy faith, but what of following the TEACHINGS of Jesus in one’s life? Believe me, that is a LOT harder to do, and probably requires a lifetime of trying and practicing to get it “right,” something Methodism’s Mr. Wesley called “going on to perfection.” It’s even harder than singing one of those modern praise songs. (I’m convinced that one of the reasons they repeat the chorus 35 times is so you can eventually get up and down “zips” right, at least enough that your neighbor thinks you can sing.)

 

One of the nice things about idols is that you can keep them in front of you. The real God is kind of pesky that way, as Yahweh can be all around you, just as St. Patrick said in his oft-quoted “Breastplate” prayer. You can hide things from idols, if you even need to—idols actually don’t care about your behavior, as long as they are getting their due. Truthfully, if they are just a contrived thing, do they care at all? As Doctor Evil would say, “How about NO!” Another nice thing about idols is that, when we feel compelled to move on to something else, they can just either be packed away or discarded. This is another nasty thing about the real Yahweh—the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Apostles, and Paul—is always hanging around, keeping an eye on us and the world. And NOT because God is nebby, or even desiring to judge the world, but as the Bible tells us, because God “SO LOVED the world.” If God was more judgment than love, God would have sent Jesus to bring the hammer down, not have one put nails into his hands and feet.

 

I have a confession to make. I have idols. Every day, I erect a couple, just to order my schedule. Then, after a time of reflection and meditation in the presence of Yahweh and the Holy Spirit, I decide to tear them down, doing my best to yield to the will of God. Some might call this “taking three steps forward and 2.75 backward,” but I see it as just growth. Oh, there are days when my idols stay perched, and dictate what I do that day, and then I have to call upon that Christian practice of “confession” to fix the side-tracking (if not outright harm) my idols have caused. As a retired person—and now “newly retired,” after having served a church for a year again—one of my idols is television. You see, in serving busy churches for 36-plus years, I missed a lot of TV shows I thought would be interesting to watch, but which aired on nights I was busy, or were initially only on pay services to which I did not subscribe. Now I have the time to “catch up” on those, and doing so can certainly become an idol, especially when my retirement “curriculum” includes continuing to be a growing Christian servant. About this particular idol, I have found it to be a real seductress. Being an unapologetic “multi-tasker,” I had convinced myself that I could be watching “Law and Order,” “Ted Lasso,” or some other show, AND be doing some writing, or painting, or even reading—you know, the actual stuff that feeds the soul. Nope. I’m just not that good a multi-tasker, I guess. (Of course, maybe it’s my choice of TV shows? Ones that actually require brain activity on the part of the viewer, unlike most of the “sitcoms” or “reality” shows that now populate the airwaves?) 

 

That last comment sure sounds like one of those “GET OFF MY LAWN” things…sorry. I AM getting older…

 

Here’s another righteous idol for you: “perfection,” or “becoming Christlike.” If there’s one thing I have learned in almost 71 years, it is that neither of those is a reasonable goal. (John Wesley didn’t think so either. Prove me wrong.) I will settle for a serious effort at understanding the basic teachings of Jesus—such as the Sermon on the Mount—and trying with all my heart to incorporate these core teachings into my values AND whatever efforts of thought I engage in daily. If I EVER come to anything even CLOSE to fully loving God and my neighbor as myself, I’ll let you know. Of course, if I ever actually do this, THEY will let you know! This is another thing I have learned. Unlike the lyrics of a modern praise song, just repeating verses from the Bible over and over again—even ones Jesus said, like “Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself”—doesn’t bring them to pass. This requires one of my favorite “seminary” words to make work: “Praxis.” 

 

You can make an idol out of about anything. If it distracts you from loving your neighbor, or allows you to compartmentalize your faith so it is easy to carry, it’s an idol. If it allows you to believe you are “right” about things, it is an idol. The Hebrew Bible shows how “land,” and most particularly the “holy city” of Jerusalem became an idol for Israel. Still is. Jesus said “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” not “Fight for control of her.” The Jews were (are) convinced that if they had control of Jerusalem, everything would be right with the world, and God would be on their side. Christians feel the same thing about “manifest destiny” and nationalism. Don’t believe that? How many Christians do you know who will tell you that if America just: “puts prayer back in schools,” “outlaws abortion,” or “returns to its Christian roots,” it will be “great” again? These are all idols. 

 

Fact is, GOD LOVES US ALL, and sent the only begotten Son into the world because God didn’t want us to “perish,” but have “everlasting” life. This great “mission statement” of Jesus Christ is about including everyone into the “non-perishables,” and that “everlasting” part is less about heaven and more about a just, sustainable, and nurturing society NOW. Prove me wrong. And don’t spend so much time idoling. Amen.