WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
September 28th 2008
“Living Ego-Overdrive”
Ps 78:1-4, 12-16; Phil 2:1-13
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
Since we have been told by the powers-that-be, that we stand on the precipice of economic Apocalypse you might assume that I would toss out my plan for this weeks’ sermon. I considered looking for scriptures that would speak directly to this crisis and come up with a new sermon all together. I considered that for about five minutes and decided against it. My decision was based on two reasons: 1) The passages read this morning are relevant and 2) the current crisis, while real, is nothing new. Folks in the middle and the bottom of the economic spectrum have been in crisis for years. Health care has become a privilege, housing is precarious, education is savagely unequal, and one out of every ninety-nine people in this country is in prison, but politicians and the nightly news only seem to notice when folks who have over 100,000 dollars in one bank start to feel the trouble. So, I hope you can understand why I chose not to follow their lead since we have been talking about this crisis for a long time. So let us go back to our ancient, yet relevant scriptures so we can place this current crisis in proper perspective.
“Listen, up!” The teacher begins a lesson directed to parents, grandparents, and all adult figures in the community. That lesson is clear: If you don’t teach the coming generation, if you do not make sure the coming generation learns the stories how will they know? How will they survive? Do not hide the story that was passed along to you. Do whatever you need to do to make God’s work and Word known.’ How can we, as a people of faith share hope in the midst of these difficult times? The psalmist makes it clear. Remember. Remember what God did in Egypt. In Egypt, God made some things clear: Empire, particularly those built on the backs of slaves will not stand. The great army of Egypt found itself in a Red Sea quagmire destroyed because their leaders’ heart was hardened. The psalmist need not mention the details but only mention Egypt and the divided waters and everyone remembers that whatever we face in the future, God is with us.
The psalmist continues to recount God’s action. Nothing ends at the Red Sea, except the Egyptian chariots. God not only held back the waters to save the ancestors, but God brought water in the desert places. This is the story that we know, this is the story sustains us; this is the story which the next generation must know. We cannot continue to keep it a secret. This teaching, this instruction, is an antidote to despair. Because we know that when the powers-that-be claim that the world is neatly ordered and there is no other way, we know it is simply not true. We know the world is not fixed because we remember that water can come from a rock and the world’s greatest military is not invincible. The psalm opens up these places that are closed and enable us to get up and continue when faced with the next crisis in our lives.
But the story we have to share, that we must share does not end there. When faced with a community facing struggles, or dare I say; crisis, Paul employs the same strategy as the psalmist. “If there is any encouragement… any consolation,” follow the example of Jesus. Remember! Remember that all we do and all we are, is based in him. The community at Philippi was faced with changing times. The privileges they once received being part of the Roman Empire were being eroded as they followed the way of Jesus. So for the first time, in many of their lives they faced a loss of privilege and began to share in suffering faced by others, including Paul.
With a community facing struggles the natural tendency was to turn inward and cannibalize themselves. This is why Paul must appeal to the followers of Jesus in this way:
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus
For Paul to speak in this way, we know that the Philippians’ community faced challenges and that they were at risk of not being of the same mind. Ambition, conceit, and selfishness were the orders of the day. And at its root, this type of splintering in communities is a sign that humility has been lost. Instead of focusing on the good of the community folks begin to, overtly or more often covertly, work to remake the community in their own image. (This is probably one of the greatest sins of most clergy. I mention that so you know I am not exempting myself.)
Humility is a spiritual discipline that is often neglected. There are others which are neglected but truly humble people are rare. Most of us, and I am including myself, feign humility even if we really attempt it. That is the hard part about humility, when we attempt to become humble we have already started off on the wrong foot. It is not possible to sit down with our daily to-do list and say: “Ok, today I will master humility.” Instead humility is actually a byproduct of a holistic approach to our faith. In other words, the focus of our faith is directed in the service of others, in this community and the outside world.
Now I am not saying we shouldn’t seek humility but what we should do is approach it from a different angle. Instead of trying to check humility off our spirituality check list we need to instead measure our life, and accomplishments through the life of Jesus. This is a big task and can leave us feeling overwhelmed but the good news is that the work is not solely our responsibility. It is a helpful reminder to know that God invites us, to not only leave our egos at the door, but to make sure we don’t pick them up on the way out. Whenever we forget, who we are and whose we are, humility is the first thing to suffer.
This is why Paul reminds the fellowship at Philippi to remember the whole enterprise is centered on Jesus. While Jesus was equal with God, he did not exploit it. So, if we are to maintain our faithfulness in the midst of changing times and in the midst of crisis we have to begin by remembering. We remember that it did not begin with us. God has been at work long before we got here and God will continue to be at work long after we are gone. And all along the way God has never left us alone. God is as work in us and through us. So as we face the next crisis, as we wait to see what Monday brings, let us remember and keep it in a larger perspective. Amen? Amen.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Worthy Living
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
September 21st 2008
“Worthy Living”
Ps 105:1-6, 37-45; Phil 1:21-30
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
With a title like “Worthy Living,” you could expect that this morning we will talk about how to be more worthy followers of God. Using the term worthy with Presbyterians can lead us to some misguided interpretations. It can be like saying: “You better live a worthy life if you want God to love you, you worthless worm.” It is an enterprise almost doomed from the start. However, given Paul’s words, and the words of the Psalmist, worthy living has nothing to do with somber, joyless living. When Paul writes to the church in Philippi to live their lives in a worthy manner he is after something different. Living in a worthy manner is our calling to live a life that is worth living. It is a call to live authentically as God’s people, without the masks and pretences which seem to permeate our lives.
Now, that is not particularly deep. After all, I could have come up with that simply walking down the self-improvement section at Barnes and Noble. Nor is what I am saying part of the long line of Christian ministers who, though well intentioned, teach that God will give us whatever we want in life. Contrary to much of that teaching the God we serve is not a divine ATM machine. Instead, I believe Paul’s call to live worthy lives is about living authentically as a disciple of Jesus.
Before I say more about that though let me put some things in context. Christian and other self- help gurus are not a new phenomenon. In fact, as I read Paul’s words I was reminded the ancient words of Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” It is an age old human question rooted in our innate need to make sense of our lives. Our Christians heritage is full of a great cloud of witnesses which have all sought similar answers to the question of authentic and worthy living.
Who are we? Who is God? These questions are often the driving force of such examination. Living worthy lives has something to do with our search for the knowledge of God. The quest for the knowledge of God, a hunger to know God and experience God more fully is our driving motivation. The African theologian, St. Augustine had a short prayer which summed up this well: “Lord, that I may know Thee and that I may know myself.” Later, John Calvin, echoing Augustine, said that there could be no knowledge of self without the knowledge of God. In other words, a hunger to know God more fully is a hunger to know ourselves. Living worthy, means a holistic and integrated life. In other words, we are charged to; ‘keep it real.’
One of the risks of seeking to live and integrated life is that it will become an excuse to look inward and to indulge our selfish wants and desires. To avoid this pitfall we must follow closely the witness of the bible. It begins, in the words of the psalmist, with remembering. Remember! Remember what God has done bringing the people out of slavery, providing for them in the desert places and bringing salvation for all in Jesus. In order to live with authenticity we remember what God has done and know that God can be trusted.
Unless we take time to step back and reflect upon our lives – what we do each week- we will forget that God is a God who provides in the wilderness places of our lives. Unless we take time to reflect and remember we become susceptible to those who claim faith in Jesus is a roadmap for personal gain. Paul reminds us to remember the faith we have in the crucified one. And because we also know the empty tomb, we are able live authentically as Jesus’ disciples.
While it is the way of joy, living authentically, keeping it real, is not always easy. The truth is that, like the church in Philippi there will be struggles and even suffering. As a result there is the temptation not to follow the path of our spiritual ancestors. Instead, the temptation continues, we can choose to simply exist, going through life without much thought as to the meaning and depth in our lives. But the truth is that this way of living is in fact, a living death. It is for this reason that Benjamin Franklin quipped: “Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five.” I will give you a minute to catch that. In his book Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes of his long struggle to live a life-worth-living – an authentic life. He says speaking of his struggle to let go of living death:
As long as I clung to this living death, life became easier; little was expected of me, certainly not serving others. I had missed the deep meaning of a biblical teaching I had always regarded as a no-brainer. “I set before you life and death, blessing or curse. Therefore, choose life” I had failed to understand the perverse comfort we sometimes get from choosing death in life, exempting ourselves from the challenge of using our gifts, of living our lives in authentic relationship with others.
Living worthy lives, living authentically is about getting in touch with our God given passion. It is not about becoming perfect. When we begin living worthy lives we will find a real freedom. It is a freedom that allows us to put aside the pettiness which takes up our days, or the grabbing for that next thing, or the clinging to those things which are of no significance in the long run. When we stop trying to fool everyone else and simply choose life it is only then will we really be on the journey to live a; life-worth-living. Amen.
September 21st 2008
“Worthy Living”
Ps 105:1-6, 37-45; Phil 1:21-30
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
With a title like “Worthy Living,” you could expect that this morning we will talk about how to be more worthy followers of God. Using the term worthy with Presbyterians can lead us to some misguided interpretations. It can be like saying: “You better live a worthy life if you want God to love you, you worthless worm.” It is an enterprise almost doomed from the start. However, given Paul’s words, and the words of the Psalmist, worthy living has nothing to do with somber, joyless living. When Paul writes to the church in Philippi to live their lives in a worthy manner he is after something different. Living in a worthy manner is our calling to live a life that is worth living. It is a call to live authentically as God’s people, without the masks and pretences which seem to permeate our lives.
Now, that is not particularly deep. After all, I could have come up with that simply walking down the self-improvement section at Barnes and Noble. Nor is what I am saying part of the long line of Christian ministers who, though well intentioned, teach that God will give us whatever we want in life. Contrary to much of that teaching the God we serve is not a divine ATM machine. Instead, I believe Paul’s call to live worthy lives is about living authentically as a disciple of Jesus.
Before I say more about that though let me put some things in context. Christian and other self- help gurus are not a new phenomenon. In fact, as I read Paul’s words I was reminded the ancient words of Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” It is an age old human question rooted in our innate need to make sense of our lives. Our Christians heritage is full of a great cloud of witnesses which have all sought similar answers to the question of authentic and worthy living.
Who are we? Who is God? These questions are often the driving force of such examination. Living worthy lives has something to do with our search for the knowledge of God. The quest for the knowledge of God, a hunger to know God and experience God more fully is our driving motivation. The African theologian, St. Augustine had a short prayer which summed up this well: “Lord, that I may know Thee and that I may know myself.” Later, John Calvin, echoing Augustine, said that there could be no knowledge of self without the knowledge of God. In other words, a hunger to know God more fully is a hunger to know ourselves. Living worthy, means a holistic and integrated life. In other words, we are charged to; ‘keep it real.’
One of the risks of seeking to live and integrated life is that it will become an excuse to look inward and to indulge our selfish wants and desires. To avoid this pitfall we must follow closely the witness of the bible. It begins, in the words of the psalmist, with remembering. Remember! Remember what God has done bringing the people out of slavery, providing for them in the desert places and bringing salvation for all in Jesus. In order to live with authenticity we remember what God has done and know that God can be trusted.
Unless we take time to step back and reflect upon our lives – what we do each week- we will forget that God is a God who provides in the wilderness places of our lives. Unless we take time to reflect and remember we become susceptible to those who claim faith in Jesus is a roadmap for personal gain. Paul reminds us to remember the faith we have in the crucified one. And because we also know the empty tomb, we are able live authentically as Jesus’ disciples.
While it is the way of joy, living authentically, keeping it real, is not always easy. The truth is that, like the church in Philippi there will be struggles and even suffering. As a result there is the temptation not to follow the path of our spiritual ancestors. Instead, the temptation continues, we can choose to simply exist, going through life without much thought as to the meaning and depth in our lives. But the truth is that this way of living is in fact, a living death. It is for this reason that Benjamin Franklin quipped: “Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five.” I will give you a minute to catch that. In his book Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes of his long struggle to live a life-worth-living – an authentic life. He says speaking of his struggle to let go of living death:
As long as I clung to this living death, life became easier; little was expected of me, certainly not serving others. I had missed the deep meaning of a biblical teaching I had always regarded as a no-brainer. “I set before you life and death, blessing or curse. Therefore, choose life” I had failed to understand the perverse comfort we sometimes get from choosing death in life, exempting ourselves from the challenge of using our gifts, of living our lives in authentic relationship with others.
Living worthy lives, living authentically is about getting in touch with our God given passion. It is not about becoming perfect. When we begin living worthy lives we will find a real freedom. It is a freedom that allows us to put aside the pettiness which takes up our days, or the grabbing for that next thing, or the clinging to those things which are of no significance in the long run. When we stop trying to fool everyone else and simply choose life it is only then will we really be on the journey to live a; life-worth-living. Amen.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Living Together
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
September 7th 2008
Communion Meditation
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Living Together”
Psalm 149, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20
“Love is a revolutionary force with can change the world.” For Christians, this is not something which is open to debate. Love, the love we know embodied in Jesus Christ, has already fundamentally altered the world. In the resurrection of Jesus, the revolution has already begun. Because of that event we are invited to participate in the coming new reality. Divisions along race, class, gender, and sexual orientation no longer keep us from being members in the household of God. This is revolutionary news.
But for all the grand rhetoric: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female,” the apostle Paul knows that living out this reality is not so easy. To a group of urbanite Romans, living together was clearly easier said than done. Despite living in the great cosmopolitan city of Rome social divisions were not easy to overcome. While it is true that in Rome you would encounter people from all walks of life, it was unheard of to socialize or share anything on a more intimate level, let alone live in Christian community. So, when this Roman fellowship is formed, daily life together became a struggle.
It is clear from Paul’s letter that the followers of Jesus were imitating the social life of Rome. Instead of living out the new reality people began to fall back into familiar patterns of power sharing, worship style, and other customs. Instead of being a living and transformed witness they were a microcosm of a divided Roman society. While they could boast of their diversity, they were not really living out God’s radically inclusive household. In order to address this, Paul, who had yet to visit the community, simply reminds the community that: “Love, fulfills the law.”
Do not owe anyone anything other than love. These familiar words from Paul have lost some of their revolutionary character over the ages. The entire social fabric of Roman society was held together through a system of reciprocity and honor and shame. The reason people would serve others was so they would be indebted to you. In our own culture it similar to when someone invites you over to their house. The social expectation is that you will invite them to yours to pay back the debt. Now you might like the person and enjoy doing it but if they do not eventually offer most of us might be a little angry and felt that we were owed something. This is what Paul is talking about but on a larger scale. Paul simply says that in a community which follows Jesus, you do things for others out of love without expecting something in return. Now you can see how this could be revolutionary. The community of faith is not to be built upon the system of reciprocity but instead doing for others because of what God has done for us in Jesus. This is what it means to be called into community.
Jesus too knew the perils of authentic communal life together. In fact, the most amazing thing about the gospel reading is that Jesus teaches us to expect conflict. And instead of ignoring the reality Jesus jumps right into teaching us how to handle conflict with an eye toward reconciliation. The driving force behind all of Jesus teaching is about reconciliation. How, in the midst of conflict, can we bring healing and wholeness, is Jesus prime concern for the community of faith. Jesus plan for reconciliation is extremely detailed. Begin by going to the person directly, then bring in others, then the church leadership, and finally bring it before the assembly. When this does not bring about reconciliation finally Jesus says treat them as tax collectors and Gentiles. This is hard work and calls for a willingness to stick it out but this is what it means to be in a community that follows Jesus.
Even to that end, what sounds like a rejection is not. When Jesus finally says: “let such a one be to you as a Gentile or tax collector,” it is not rejection. These words are simply a change of focus. While the person may no longer be considered a member of the community they are still objects of mission. In other words, it means the community must work to bring reconciliation and welcome to them. The community is never called to be judgmental but always called offer God’s radical welcome for all people.
Jesus ends this passage with: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” I have often heard, and believed it might have been better for Jesus to say: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there is going to be conflict.” This is not a condemnation of the reality but an affirmation that people who are passionate in the life serving God are bound to disagree with one another. But the good news is that Jesus expected this and promised to be present with us.
As followers of Jesus there can be no more powerful witness to the strength of a community than its willingness to share pain and anger. When we are able to share the places of our pain and anger, not just our joys, we are saying to one another: “I trust you and I love you.” But this is not easy, authentic community never is. And while it is not always the case, historically it has not been safe for black folks to share their pain and anger with white folks. As a result, as a survival technique, black folks are taught to make white folks feel comfortable, safe, by swallowing the anger and pain and putting on a happy face. And while this is not universally true, it is true enough to impact our work and witness.
While we know that the revolution of love found in Jesus Christ has begun it is easy to get discouraged when the way get rough. It is particularly hard when we find ourselves in conflict with those us in our own community of faith. But the simple adage is still true: Love is a revolutionary force. When we hold that close to our hearts, and hold close to it when times get tough, we will live into the call to become a community which shows that the dividing walls of hostility have been broken down. Amen.
September 7th 2008
Communion Meditation
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Living Together”
Psalm 149, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20
“Love is a revolutionary force with can change the world.” For Christians, this is not something which is open to debate. Love, the love we know embodied in Jesus Christ, has already fundamentally altered the world. In the resurrection of Jesus, the revolution has already begun. Because of that event we are invited to participate in the coming new reality. Divisions along race, class, gender, and sexual orientation no longer keep us from being members in the household of God. This is revolutionary news.
But for all the grand rhetoric: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female,” the apostle Paul knows that living out this reality is not so easy. To a group of urbanite Romans, living together was clearly easier said than done. Despite living in the great cosmopolitan city of Rome social divisions were not easy to overcome. While it is true that in Rome you would encounter people from all walks of life, it was unheard of to socialize or share anything on a more intimate level, let alone live in Christian community. So, when this Roman fellowship is formed, daily life together became a struggle.
It is clear from Paul’s letter that the followers of Jesus were imitating the social life of Rome. Instead of living out the new reality people began to fall back into familiar patterns of power sharing, worship style, and other customs. Instead of being a living and transformed witness they were a microcosm of a divided Roman society. While they could boast of their diversity, they were not really living out God’s radically inclusive household. In order to address this, Paul, who had yet to visit the community, simply reminds the community that: “Love, fulfills the law.”
Do not owe anyone anything other than love. These familiar words from Paul have lost some of their revolutionary character over the ages. The entire social fabric of Roman society was held together through a system of reciprocity and honor and shame. The reason people would serve others was so they would be indebted to you. In our own culture it similar to when someone invites you over to their house. The social expectation is that you will invite them to yours to pay back the debt. Now you might like the person and enjoy doing it but if they do not eventually offer most of us might be a little angry and felt that we were owed something. This is what Paul is talking about but on a larger scale. Paul simply says that in a community which follows Jesus, you do things for others out of love without expecting something in return. Now you can see how this could be revolutionary. The community of faith is not to be built upon the system of reciprocity but instead doing for others because of what God has done for us in Jesus. This is what it means to be called into community.
Jesus too knew the perils of authentic communal life together. In fact, the most amazing thing about the gospel reading is that Jesus teaches us to expect conflict. And instead of ignoring the reality Jesus jumps right into teaching us how to handle conflict with an eye toward reconciliation. The driving force behind all of Jesus teaching is about reconciliation. How, in the midst of conflict, can we bring healing and wholeness, is Jesus prime concern for the community of faith. Jesus plan for reconciliation is extremely detailed. Begin by going to the person directly, then bring in others, then the church leadership, and finally bring it before the assembly. When this does not bring about reconciliation finally Jesus says treat them as tax collectors and Gentiles. This is hard work and calls for a willingness to stick it out but this is what it means to be in a community that follows Jesus.
Even to that end, what sounds like a rejection is not. When Jesus finally says: “let such a one be to you as a Gentile or tax collector,” it is not rejection. These words are simply a change of focus. While the person may no longer be considered a member of the community they are still objects of mission. In other words, it means the community must work to bring reconciliation and welcome to them. The community is never called to be judgmental but always called offer God’s radical welcome for all people.
Jesus ends this passage with: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” I have often heard, and believed it might have been better for Jesus to say: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there is going to be conflict.” This is not a condemnation of the reality but an affirmation that people who are passionate in the life serving God are bound to disagree with one another. But the good news is that Jesus expected this and promised to be present with us.
As followers of Jesus there can be no more powerful witness to the strength of a community than its willingness to share pain and anger. When we are able to share the places of our pain and anger, not just our joys, we are saying to one another: “I trust you and I love you.” But this is not easy, authentic community never is. And while it is not always the case, historically it has not been safe for black folks to share their pain and anger with white folks. As a result, as a survival technique, black folks are taught to make white folks feel comfortable, safe, by swallowing the anger and pain and putting on a happy face. And while this is not universally true, it is true enough to impact our work and witness.
While we know that the revolution of love found in Jesus Christ has begun it is easy to get discouraged when the way get rough. It is particularly hard when we find ourselves in conflict with those us in our own community of faith. But the simple adage is still true: Love is a revolutionary force. When we hold that close to our hearts, and hold close to it when times get tough, we will live into the call to become a community which shows that the dividing walls of hostility have been broken down. Amen.
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