Mocking Birds

 

Mocking Birds

 

Jeremiah 20:7-13

The prophet must speak 

 

20:7 O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

 

20:8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out; I must shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

 

20:9 If I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

 

20:10 For I hear many whispering: "Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. "Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him and take our revenge on him."

 

20:11 But the LORD is with me like a terrifying warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

 

20:12 O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous; you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.

 

20:13 Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers

 

This text begins with two very interesting words: “enticed,” and “mocks.” Both of them are poignant illustrations of how differently words can be perceived. When I think of “enticed,” I am tempted to think of “tempted.” (Sorry, didn’t mean to do that…) The dictionary says something like “entice” means to offer something desirable to someone in an attempt to get them to do something. Sounds like the proverbial “carrot on a stick” thing to me. First of all, the entice-ee must like carrots, or the jig is up for the enticer. So, the choice of “bait” used must be appropriate to the intended audience. As they say, don’t holler “sermon” in a crowded casino or a busy bar, as you’ll be quite disappointed at the response, if not outright injured. In a negative context, the enticer is looking to benefit his/her self by getting some unsuspecting actor to DO something that they might not otherwise do on their own, and to the benefit of the one doing the enticing. As we read in 4^th grade, Tom Sawyer masterfully entices his neighborhood friends to whitewash the fence in the eponymous Mark Twain novel by using reverse psychology. Politicians entice citizens to vote for them by offering outlandish promises, such as the town council candidate who says he will control immigration or the schoolboard candidate who says she will curtail abortions, if elected. Such promises, while initially casting aspersions on the political candidates themselves, truthfully indict the voters, for these kinds of candidates DO get elected, as we have witnessed, so some hoodwinked or mentally questionable majority had to exercise their legal right, albeit foolishly. 

 

“Entice” can have a benevolent meaning, however, as we see here in this text from Jeremiah. The prophet writes that it was God who did the enticing, in this case, to speak God’s word to an audience that is, at best, unprepared to hear it, and at worst, is hostile to it (remember “sermon” in a crowded casino?). When God does the enticing, God promises to have the backs of the entice-ees, and as this text shows, generally does. Of course, this thought takes me to another of my favorite movies (as the Bible often does)—“Oh, God,” the original, staring George Burns as God and John Denver (yes, THAT John Denver) as Jerry Landers, the supermarket manager and reluctant “prophet” God enlists to “give his word” to the world. In this entertaining story, God is much higher on the “calling” scale, and not quite so much on the “having his back” on the defensive side, at least until late in the film. In the Bible, I’m guessing most of the prophets would identify with Jerry Landers, at least until “the word” turns out to be “the truth,” even to the often hostile audience. Remember Elijah, hiding in the cave, paranoid about his future after defeating the prophets of Baal? Still, God ultimately does defend God’s spokespersons, unless you count John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul, all of whom met an untimely end, after challenging authority. George Burns’ portrayal of the Almighty in the movie caught God’s occasional reticence in standing up for God’s human “mouthpieces.” God may have a higher aim in mind, and martyrdom may be on the docket, if for nothing else, to prove a point to the human community that God’s ways are decidedly NOT our ways. In short, God’s enticements to the would be prophets are with the intended audience in mind, not the messenger, who may “get shot” in the line of duty. Part of faith is believing that all things will come out in the “great wash” at the end of the line.

 

The other word in verse one of this text is “mocks.” Now, here’s another verb that can have differing “nuances,” depending on what the “mocker” has in mind. I have usually viewed being “mocked” as a negative. “Don’t MOCK me!” is not a statement made by someone who is feeling flattered by the act. To repeat someone’s statement in a snide way is most often labeled as “mocking,” but to repeat it as a point of recall or emphasis, may be viewed as a high compliment. Given what Jeremiah is saying here, he wasn’t hearing the “word of the Lord” that he was proclaiming coming back at him for clarification or to endorse the message. There’s this: For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. As Jerry Landers found out, even a “good word” turns sour in some peoples’ minds when it is given as “from God.” The problem is, if it really IS from God, it’s hard to argue with, unless you’re Moses. And many folk have a hard time with that kind of finality or “last word” on anything. Since Jeremiah is writing somewhere around 600 B.C.E., I’m guessing we can say this kind of “derision” is universal among humans. Jeremiah’s mocking was not praise for his eloquent rhetoric; not praise at all.

 

There’s another word that catches my self-diagnosed ADHD brain: “derision.” John Wesley and his fellow Oxford students that had banded together to study the Bible, nurture their mutual spirituality, and perform acts of mercy to the less fortunate of England back in the early 18^th century, were branded “Methodists” by other, far less pietist students. It was a term of derision—or “mocking,” as some might say. Of course, it stuck, and here we are today as “United Methodists.” United? Well, those of us who stayed are working at it, but the former United Methodists who chose to disaffiliate, not so much. Are we still “methodical” in our approach to social issues, spiritual formation, and prayer? I might suggest that the centuries of embellished polity, systemic, hierarchal posturing and politicking, and “spreading thin” of way too many good goals have eroded our “method” into a kind of mish-mash of great expectations and good intentions. We HAVE done many good works to the glory of God, and we HAVE helped many people with their human needs and fostered much discipleship, but some would say we created an overly bureaucratic structure that is not “taming well” after the loss of almost half of our denomination. Am I mocking this predicament? Perhaps. But I digress…

 

The Northern Mocking Bird is an interesting creature. It is able to duplicate the calls of neighboring birds, and even the human-made, mechanical sounds of society, I am told. I have an Audubon app on my phone that picks up a bird call and can tell me what specific bird produced it. From time to time, it will hear a call that I KNOW is of a Cardinal or a Chickadee, of some sort, but the app says it’s a Northern Mocking Bird, obviously displaying a keen, technical ability to discriminate “real” from “Memorex,” as the old recording tape used to say. Amazing. I looked up the Northern Mocking Bird, and all of the science on the little beast says that it does not “mock” the calls of other birds for any nefarious reason. It is not a predator, it is not trying to steal their mates, or anything like that. It just does this because it can, and possibly to entertain itself. Of course, it, too, is looking for a mate, and being skilled at mocking other birds’ calls may also demonstrate its abilities for a female of its species, who would otherwise be unimpressed with its dull, gray appearance. I guess some are show-ers, while others are, well, mockers. 

 

Humans who mock others may be showing off, too, but mostly lesser skills and possibly even displaying an inferiority complex. To paraphrase an old line, Those who can, DO, while those who can’t, make fun of those who DO. Human mocking birds are not attracting females in spades, either, and the few who may be “attracted” by the male mocker are sparing another, more gifted male a miserable existence. The prophets of God like Jeremiah—or Jerry Flanders, for that matter—may not like the mocking they endure, and may pray that God give them their comeuppance, but in the end, those with the REAL “good words” prevail with truth as their shield and buckler. The “mocking birds” who attack the messenger and eschew heeding their message wind up with egg on their beaks.

 

We live in a day when those “mocking birds” among us deride truth, embrace empty boasts and broken promises, and proclaim themselves superior to the immigrant and the downtrodden. Perhaps this makes them feel superior, in some way, but in God’s eyes, they are hanging a millstone around their own necks, which will silence their stolen song, in the long run. The prophets among us who speak the truth, even in the face of the mockers and the oppressors, will have the final say, but it won’t puff their egos, for they know that ultimate truths belong not to them, but to the Divine. Jesus wound up on a cross for telling the truth and calling out the “mocking birds” of his generation as “whitewashed graves.” All of the remaining twelve disciples died as martyrs, history tells us, for they dared using their words and deeds to keep the truth of Jesus alive (might this be the “second resurrection” Jesus spoke of?). Paul lost his head because he refused to stay silent about the inbreaking Kingdom of God. And down through the ages, countless “mocking birds” have taken the sword, the flame, and the lynching tree up against those who speak and live God’s rightful truth. They, too, will have their feathers ruffled at the judgment seat. To quote Jeremiah: They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. May we be “birds of a different feather,” Dear Ones, and may our song be that of the Mourning Dove that pines for peace and justice. Amen.

 

The Insecurity of Covenants

The Insecurity of Covenants

 

Exodus 19:2-8a

The covenant with Israel at Sinai 

 

19:2 They journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

 

19:3 Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites:

 

19:4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

 

19:5 Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine,

 

19:6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. 'These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites."

 

19:7 So Moses went, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.

 

19:8a The people all answered as one, "Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do."

 

The thing about covenants is that they are great…until they aren’t. Think about it. Marriage covenants are broken all the time, whether it is by alienation of affection and infidelity, or just reneging on all the promises we make when we “solemnize” them. I promised to “love, honor, and cherish” my partner, but that reminds me of the old Stephen Wright joke: A guy goes to a store advertising “Open 24 Hours,” and finds the door locked; he bangs on the door until the owner comes out, and he says, “I thought this store was open 24 hours,” to which the owner answers, “Well, not in a ROW!” “Love, honor, and cherish”…but not all at ONCE! Thankfully our 49-plus marriage covenant has not had to weather any storms beyond my occasional breaching of one of these “Honey, I love you” elements. True confessions? It’s usually the “cherish” one, when we are arguing. 

 

There are all kinds of covenants: some are like legal contracts; others are more akin to “handshake agreements.” All of them are some kind of “promise” to either do or DON’T do something. One of the things that may derail a covenant happens when both covenanting parties have divergent views of what the covenant means. Go back to our marriage covenant: when one partner thinks it just means not openly dating another person, while the other takes seriously the whole “love, honor, and cherish” part, bad things happen. Two parties can MAKE a covenant, but if there are varying understandings about how the covenant is kept, even a well-constructed covenant isn’t worth the paper (or “handshake”) it’s printed on. Of course, this reminds me of another joke from Seinfeld: Jerry makes a rental car reservation (a covenant, as he sees it), but when his flight lands, the rental desk has no cars available. He argues with the reservation clerk regarding just what a “reservation” means. He “explains” that a reservation should mean that they will hold a car for him. The indignant clerk protests by saying she knows what a “reservation” is, to which Jerry responds, “I don’t think you do! You know how to “take” the reservation, you just don’t know how to “keep” the reservation!” This goes to our understanding of covenants, doesn’t it? We know how to MAKE the covenant, we may just not agree on how to KEEP the covenant. One only needs to read the Old Testament to see that God and Israel had this problem much of the time.

 

Pastors spend much time “sermonizing” about covenants: reminding members of the “membership vows” (covenant) they took when they joined the church; of the baptismal vows they took (covenant) to raise their children in the life of the church; or of their “commitment to Jesus Christ” (covenant) they made, urging them to be faithful to it. Hopefully we preachers of grace ALSO remind them that in Christ, God made a covenant with humanity that will never be breached. If a “disconnect” occurs, guess who is at fault? This gets at the heart of my own practice of covenant-keeping, by the way. I FIRST assume that if there is a problem with a particular covenant, I am the one at fault. If I start there, it keeps me from immediately blaming the other party. You’d be amazed how many times it never gets beyond that, as I AM usually the party that is having a “promise problem.”

 

In their title song from David Merrick’s musical of the same name, Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote:

 

Oh, promises
Those kind of promises
Take all the joy from life

Oh, promises, promises

My kind of promises
Can lead to joy
And hope and love
Yes, love!

 

These lyrics illustrate the sometimes fickle nature of the covenants and promises we make. Some covenants lead to freedom, while others are designed to create boundaries or restrict. Human beings need both to have happiness and security. But when we bump up against covenantal walls when we’re looking for freedom, we get upset, and when we feel “too free” while needing a fence to rein in our inappropriate wanderlust, it is just as disconcerting. All this well summarizes my opening statement: covenants are great…until they’re not.

 

Covenants that are too constraining are most inconvenient, and while designed to give us boundaries, they may actually make us feel even more insecure. It’s kind of like the Dutch reclaiming land from the sea using dikes. Having the land is nice, but the more the sea strains against our “covenantal” dikes, there is always the chance that one of them will let loose. Now THAT’S an insecurity! Dara and I just signed a binding covenant with a retirement community where we will be moving to next month. And while this has been our plan for some time, and while this is a wonderful retirement community that has fantastic independent living options like the one we’ve taken, there is both a “finality” and a fear about permanently aligning ourselves with both a set of agreed upon rules and standards, and committing so much of our retirement resources to it. You know what is performing a “healing” on my initial apprehensions about this major “covenantal” leap? Beginning to sort and pack our “stuff” to both prepare for the move, and to “stage” our home for sale, as directed by our realtor! Fatiguing myself beyond reason in the process is fully convincing me we made a wise choice. Had we stayed where we are, none of this “weeding out” would have occurred, and our two adult children would have been left with a mess, when we “shuffle off this mortal coil.” At least in the retirement community, they know how to guide survivors as to how to deal with the remaining stupid “stuff” accumulated, may even have others in the community who would like to pick through it like scavengers.

 

Today’s text is about the Sinai Covenant between God and Israel, as brokered by Moses. God, after reminding Israel of all God had already done for them by liberating them from slavery in Egypt, promises to care for them and hold them as a “treasured possession” before all other peoples, if Israel promises to keep the covenant and obey God’s voice. In short: “If you will be my people, I will be your God.” Sounds simple; sounds like a good idea, having such a close relationship with the God of the universe, especially when their “blessings” look so tempting to other “peoples” surrounding them. Here’s the thing that caught my preacher’s eye, though—the last verse of the pericope: “The people all answered as one, ‘Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do.’” Knowing human beings, THAT sounds too good to be true. Everything that the LORD has spoken? They will “do” it? It sounds like the teenage boy whose father is gifting him a car. The father says, “I’ll give you this car on the condition that you keep it in good condition, pay for the necessary auto insurance, and drive it safely and obey the traffic laws,” to which the teen hurriedly answers, “Yeah, yeah, I will! GIVE ME the keys!” You know where that one is headed. In this text, God is giving Israel the keys. Oh, and we Christians should remember the parable Jesus told about the father and two sons (no, the OTHER father and two sons), one of whom said he would go work in the vineyard and the other, who said he wouldn’t. The one who “covenanted” to go, didn’t show up, but the one who didn’t commit, DID show up. Jesus praised the latter. Covenants may sound good on paper, but if there is no actual action proposed by them, what are they?

 

I don’t want to get overly negative here. Dara and I were blessed with two wonderful and generally compliant children. We really trusted them, and they rarely gave us any reason to NOT trust them. When they said they would do something, they did it (at least to the best of our knowledge). Similarly, Israel DID often obey God and keep the various covenants they had with the Divine. When they did things went well with them. When they didn’t, the old “What you sow, you will also reap” thing applied. (With Israel’s herky-jerky track record, it’s no wonder that Jesus brought this little chestnut back into prominence through his teachings and parables.) Our experience with our two children reminds us that people CAN keep covenants, and occasionally DO what they say they will DO. However, too anxiously saying “Yeah, yeah, give me the keys” and driving off can sow seeds of impending doom, when it comes to covenants. 

 

Ultimately, it comes down to the integrity of those making the covenant in the first place. Then, have the two (or more) parties also hammered out at least a boilerplate shared agreement on what it means to KEEP the promises of the covenant in question? And what about accountability? Are there “penalties” for breaking the covenant, or is it truly just a “What you sow you will reap” system? In the case of God’s covenant with Israel—and with humanity through the Christ Event—the integrity of God is not really in question. Oh, there were those times when Moses had to argue with God and “remind” God of God’s culpability in creating humans with “free will,” n’at, but still, God is not one to be trifled with in covenantal matters. Humans, on the other hand, can have our issues with them. God can go out of God’s way to offer all kinds of blessings and rewards, but when God asks simply that Israel be a “royal priesthood” and be respectful of the Divine, Israel be like, “Oh, do we really have to have the car back by MIDNIGHT?” 

 

And finally, going full circle, we would be well to be reminded that covenants—if only made to offer security of the “lesser” party—may breed INSECURITY more than safety. The best covenants are between two respectful, faithful, and “loving” parties—more like a marriage than a legal contract. When covenants spell out positive actions, describe and “codify” a respectful relationship, and create an environment of mutuality, not dominance. Some naysayers of the Christ Event have suggested that God could have “fixed” the human sin problem by snapping God’s fingers instead of making the kind of sojourn among us that Jesus advanced. But not if you understand what I just said about the nature of a true covenant. Jesus came to “be” with humanity, to fully understand us, our temptations, our fears, and our need for healing at multiple levels. It didn’t matter that these may be “consequences” of our own choices. The fact is, we were separated and suffering, and this is not the life God created us to have. Jesus himself said it: “I came that you might have life, and life abundantly.” In this covenant, there is NO insecurity! Amen.

 

What Makes a Nation Great?

What Makes a Great Nation?

 

Genesis 12:1-9

Journey in the promise 

 

12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

 

12:2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

 

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

 

12:4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

 

12:5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,

 

12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

 

12:7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

 

12:8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord.

 

12:9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

 

Did you ever start out a sermon with an unrelated excursus? I’m sure I was told in seminary that this was anathema, but the last verse of this pericope of scripture caught my attention as I began to explore the text. “And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.” That “journeyed on by stages” is what is causing the detour on my OWN sermon-writing journey, presently. You see, I’m a “journey theology” kind of person. There are those who revel in doctrines and dogmas, in terms of their faith, while others swing from worship service to worship service like Spiderman on silk. Then there are those for whom their “incubator” of spiritual formation is prayer and meditation. I’m a journey guy. When John Wesley said that Christ followers should “go on to perfection,” it sounded like a direction to me, so I’ve set my spiritual GPS on “perfection,” and expect life will give me the proper prompts as to when to turn and what roads to take. That has worked well for almost 72 years now. Some would say I’m relying too much on the grace of God, doing it this way, but I fail to see how that is a bad thing? A big part of my “trip” has been academics—degrees, classes, reading, and writing. (Hence, in retirement, I write a weekly sermon, and if you’re reading this on my blog, you’ve stumbled onto my path, dear friend!)

 

If we’re being honest, I think we ALL are on a spiritual journey, if we are Christ followers. As I said in another recent sermon, we follow a peripatetic Savior, and regardless of which spiritually formative practices trip our personal trigger, we ARE going somewhere. And when we’re not? Look at the phrases we use: “I’m feeling stuck,” “I’m stagnant in my faith,” “I feel like my prayers are just hitting the ceiling,” “I’m feeling LOST.” These are all directional vectors, aren’t they? The text says that Abram is on HIS journey by taking it “in stages.” What this evokes in me is the idea that not all steps are equal, not each day’s travel is as far, and when it comes to delays or detours along the way, we can either rail against them as sidetracking us, or stop and check out the place where we are being detained, possibly meeting new friends along the way. This latter idea reminds me of the Camino de Santiago, which I also mentioned in a recent sermon. The “Camino,” as it is known, is a long, walking pilgrimage across parts of Europe that ends at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. People register to “take the Camino,” and off they go. Several of my friends have done one, and if you want to get a flavor for this unique faith journey, rent the movie, “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen. People meet people and encounter all kinds of “unexpecteds” along the Camino, which sounds exactly like what Abram did on his journey to reach the Negeb. Isn’t “real life” like that? Or are you one of those personalities that just HAS to have a plan for everything, and are “out of your element” if something happens you hadn’t planned for? Maybe it’s time for you to move out of your comfort zone for a while as a “spiritual sacrifice”? For those of you, like me, who relish the “unexpecteds,” especially when they mean new people, new lessons, and new experiences, then ENJOY your “journey in stages” like it is your own personal “Camino”!

 

What I really wanted to address in this message, though, is the word from God that God wants to make from Abram “a great nation.” WHAT is a “great nation,” I wondered? Diehard literalists will probably tell me that “great” here means “large,” “numerous,” or “exceedingly wealthy and powerful.” These might be the hallmarks of a “great nation,” and I can see the truth here, at least from a political perspective. But what truly makes a nation great? If one takes the Torah seriously, one comes to the conclusion that what God, and God’s Jewish people, think is a great nation has little to do with just population, power, and geography. If you get caught up in the contemporary rhetoric about political Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and this Netanyahu/Trump stuff, you may fall into both the pit of despair and the “black hole” of a timeless war that threatens to consume us all, neither of which are welcome detours, frankly. Wrangling over “who is right” and “who is wrong” in this one gives new meaning to “pitstop,” for it is a pit that will stop everything, for there IS no right and wrong in it, other than that I hope we can agree that innocent people dying on either side is a bad idea.

 

No, the Torah postulates a great nation as one that “welcomes the stranger” in its midst, treating the sojourning foreigner like a fully-vested citizen, and providing radical hospitality for them! The Hebrew code of hospitality is one of the strongest commands God gave Israel, pretty much next in line behind loving God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind. Netanyahu should read the Torah. Donald Trump should just read…something. And Christians who back “strong man” Israel against the residents of Gaza and the Arab world should read their Bibles. Great nations are ones made up of citizens who truly want to honor God and their fellow human siblings. Torah, Koran, and the canon of scripture of the Christian all describe “greatness” in terms of honoring God by LOVING God and LOVING neighbor, with the understanding that “neighbor” is anyone other than one’s immediate family, and often especially those with presenting needs.

 

Truly great nations would have little issue with the benevolent teachings of these holy books, and most especially with the teachings of Jesus Christ. One of the things I have always appreciated about John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, is that he wasn’t about just “saving souls” by leading them to a relationship to Jesus Christ. While he certainly did this, he also believed firmly in saving the PEOPLE involved, too, not just their “soul.” As much as he preached, he visited the sick and those in prisons, and not just to pray for them. He launched ministries aimed at feeding the poor, reforming the prisons, and providing access to education, of which he profoundly understood the value. England credited this holistic ministry of Mr. Wesley’s as one of the most effective “engines” (or at least catalysts) of the Industrial Revolution that cemented that country’s fortune and helped lead many of its people OUT of poverty, in that day. When I made my first trip to England, by the way, it was around the 250^thanniversary of John Wesley’s famous “Aldersgate experience,” which launched the Methodist movement. All over London the GOVERNMENT had hung banners with Mr. Wesley’s visage on them, celebrating alongside the Methodists, validating the importance of this historic movement in the successful history of England’s “great nation.” (As it turns out, though, nations have a hard time keeping their focus on the welfare of their poorest citizens, which is a tragedy we will NOT find celebrated in the Kingdom of God, either “here, there, or in the air,” as they say.)

 

Some “believers” today are saying that their rendition of a “great nation” is one that believes in Jesus Christ (but not necessarily his teachings about the poor, the oppressed, and the identity of “who is my neighbor,” as he relates in the parable of “The Good Samaritan”). They have bought the embellished history that was “rewritten” in the late revivalist period of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and famously “retold” in the 1970s in a book called “The Light and the Glory” by Peter Marshall, Jr., son of the famous Senate chaplain, Peter Marshall, Sr. Marshall and his co-author made “use” of this rewritten revivalist history to assert that American was founded as a “Christian” nation by people like Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, and Adams, who were devote Christians (they were not). As I have stated in previous sermons, the veritable “pen” of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, was a confessed Deist who absolutely HATED Christianity and the “idea” that God would visit earth in human form. Paine wrote numerous treatises and pamphlets against the Christian faith. All of these historical facts didn’t stop Marshall from capitalizing on this false notion that America has a “Christian” foundation. All this said, this “evangelical” phenomenon has crafted a narrative that says that a “great nation” must be a Chrisitan one, oppose abortion, deify the Second Amendment, and support Israel at all costs. Obviously, there are numerous problems with this formulation. First of all, we were founded as a FREE nation, and these folk are ignoring the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution. And the unwavering support of Israel is advocated because these folk believe the Bible says we must (it does not). While the Bible does talk of Christians loving “God’s people,” it does not address the modern political state of Israel, which is a construct of the United Nations in 1948. It bears little resemblance to Israel of the Bible, especially on the worst days of both! Besides, most of the evangelicals who believe this are doing so because they claim that supporting modern Israel will lead to events that will precipitate the “return of Christ,” something they think will benefit them. (Frankly, the way many of the them are behaving, I don’t think they should be so eager to be face-to-face with the actual Jesus of the Bible. Things might not work out the way they think they will.)

 

So, what IS a “great nation”? Well, I do believe it is one that is “god-fearing,” in that its principles make it easier for people to worship the god of their choice. It is a nation that TRULY CARES for the “least of these,” and offers all people equal rights and opportunities to prosper (something Jesus labeled “abundant life”). A great nation is not racist or sexist, and it respects and cares for its elder citizens. It makes sure that the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” is always lessening, and the faster, the better. Great nations can have almost any kind of economic and governmental system, providing it supports and uplifts ALL of its people, with no political, religious, or economic group allowed to dominate all others. Great nations seek to edify and relate to all other countries of the world. “America First” is not the slogan of a truly great nation. And while we’re at it, can we take a good look at that MAGA slogan, “Make America Great Again”? When was that? Was it when our nation was drawn together over a World War, forgetting the trappings of “rich” and “poor,” largely, and rallying together to eliminate tyranny from the world? Was it after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when again we were “closer” as a people, feeling like an attack on New York City, Shanksville, PA, and Washington, D.C. was a full-on attack on ALL of us? While these were overly “simplified” times of at least some form of national unity, it doesn’t seem like this is what the MAGA folk are meaning. It doesn’t take reading much between the proverbial lines to see that the “America” they want was a strong WHITE America. A nation when other ethnic minorities “knew their place,” and immigrants were only welcome when they were willing to be basically underpaid “slaves” of the white supremacist majority. (Think back on biblical Israel—they were at their WORST with God when THEY thought they were “great.” In God’s world, it’s humility that counts for something.)

 

In this text about Abram and God’s plan for him, it is clear that there is a “road” to greatness. So I guess it IS a journey, after all, friends! Mature Christians understand this, and also know it is both a struggle AND a joy to follow the peripatetic Jesus on HIS journey to make us all “great” by leading us to be SERVANTS of all. Again, humility counts for something with him. Those who want the best seat at the banquet must first be the servant of all. Great nations understand this. Respect is earned, and then maintained, by being the most caring, the most “neighborly,” and the most welcoming of the downtrodden and oppressed. Emma Lazarus had it right. Great nations say “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Christ is God’s “lamp” lifted to light all of our paths toward the “golden door” of freedom, acceptance, compassion, and respect. Great nations have these as their stock in trade. Being Christian doesn’t make a nation “great,” but when its citizens LIVE and ACT in accordance to religious teachings that emphasize citizenship, neighborliness, compassion, and benevolence over an “I’ve got more than YOU do” mentality, it is on the right track. They have engaged the journey, and it is one that will unfold in stages. Just ask Abram. Amen.