The Wonder of Mary

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
December 9, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Luke 1:33-65
“The Wonder of Mary”

            We have heard the announcement of a royal birth!  A child will be born who will rule!  A new King will be born… or a queen depending on the sex of the child of Kate and William.  The world is dying to know about this child.  Will Kate’s morning sickness be something graver?  And those who are truly interested in the lives of British Royal family can add to this list.

The best news is that this is Advent… and Christians know something about waiting for the birth of a child.  The problem is that no one was really waiting for the birth of Jesus except Mary and Joseph.  The world did not get a play-by-play of Mary’s morning sickness.  The world press of Rome did not take notice of this upcoming birth.  No one noticed that a young, soon to be married woman was going to have a child.  No one noticed and no one cared. 

And why should they care?  After all, this woman and her family came from a village of less than two hundred people.  Nazareth was a small village where most, if not all people, still lived in caves.  To make matters worse, the hill country of Judea was known for little else than bandits, revolutionaries, and backwoods troublemakers.  Who would or even should notice the upcoming birth of a person who had no value to the Roman Empire?  The life of this child, let alone the mother, and even her whole village, wasn’t worth noticing at all.

In a world based on balance sheets, and insurance formulas, the life of Mary and the future life of Jesus her son had no value.  But the good news is that God is not bound by such foolishness.  Where we see waste, where we see death, where we see loss … God is at work turning the whole world upside down.  And the good news is that Mary new her faith well enough to recognize when God was at work.

Maybe it was the stories she had heard on the Sabbath … stories about Sarah … Leah, Rachel, and Hanna … stories where God had done the unexpected … stories of the Exodus … And now, stories of her cousin Elizabeth.  God was going to work through her.  Someone no one expects, someone no one knows, someone no one, outside of the Judean hillside and cave dwelling town had ever heard about.  It is this person who God calls, the most blessed woman. 

It is safe to assume this because of what we call the Magnificat.  This beautiful piece of poetry that has been set to music in so many memorable ways is one of THE most revolutionary statements ever made.  I say one, because there is another woman who has spoken in similar ways.  Instead of proof texting let me read it for you here.  I Samuel 2:1-10.  “The bows of the mighty are broken and those who stumble are lifted up … those who are full are hungry and the hungry are filled with good things.”  Mary clearly knew the song of Hannah but takes it and makes it her own.  The power of knowing the stories of our own faith is that we are able to see more clearly when God is at work all around us.

Mary must have been in awe and wonder.  Mary probably felt fear and uncertainty as well because, despite having heard the word from the angel, she was going to have to tell other people as well.  This would mean the possibility of ridicule, shame and possibly being shunned from her village.  We have no record of what happened or who the first person was she told.  But it is clear that others had heard of Elizabeth and that is why Mary goes to see her cousin.  Despite the community talk Mary knows that Elizabeth will understand. 

 It is a pretty incredible story.  Not the part about how Jesus is born, but just about everything else.  We know the story so well that we forget the raw power and frightening implications of how this happens.  The creator of the universe, the author of love, becomes vulnerable in the form of a baby.  This happens not where anyone is going to notice but in the person of a poor young woman on the outskirts of the Roman Empire.  No one waits for the birth of this child except those closest to Mary.  God is born in obscurity, risk and even scandal.  And that is how it all started.

The problem is that the church throughout history has taken this revolutionary story, this revolutionary ballad, and this revolutionary woman and domesticated it all.  We tell stories about how Jesus was born on a quiet night when all was beautiful.  I have seen a couple of births – three to be exact - and while a beautiful thing, it was not neat clean or remotely quiet.  And then with Mary the church has focused on her virginity, her purity, and so obscured the fact that she is God’s first disciple that we either scorn her as unimportant or domesticate her into fairly harmless intercessor.  So what are we to do with the revolutionary ballad?

With all due respect to Handel and to the versions we use this morning, I think that it is time someone does a version of the song that expresses the struggle, the anger, and the hope for our own time.  I have heard it said that the reason it was sung in Latin for so long was to keep people from hearing how dangerous it was for those in power.  But more importantly than how the story is told is that it is told in each and every age.

If God chose to enter the world in this way it has very serious implications for our lives, and our journey of discipleship.  Because of Mary we are reminded that god is always working on the margins of our world.  God’s revolution of love will not be televised.  It will be ignored, and ridiculed and be risky.  It will not occur in the great cathedrals or in the transformed sports stadiums but in the least expected places... the abandoned houses in forgotten places… rural hamlets… but what is more important than the place will be the people.

I love nativity scenes.  I like to see how people interpret what happened when God entered into the world in such a strange and obscure way.  All our attempts at historical accuracy really do not matter all that much.  What matters is figuring out how we can enter and how we tell the story.  Having the announcement of the impending royal birth gives us the opportunity to remember that Jesus was born in desperate times and was not chronicled in the 24 hour news cycles.  And so this week … as you remember the witness and wonder of Mary … as you hear the music of the Magnificat … ask yourself – if God was going to be born today … where would it be?  What would it look like?  And how should I respond?   We answer that question most faithfully when we answer it with our whole lives.  Amen.

 

 

 

Was Ruth and Illegal Immigrant?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
November 4, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ruth 1:1-18
“Was Ruth and Illegal Immigrant?”

            When we take scripture out of context we can make is say what we want.  We can take a single passage, divorce it from the passages around it, and turn it into something strange and unrecognizable to the original text.  This has always been a problem for the followers of Jesus.  And while I am aware that it happens in other faiths and with the rise of new atheism, that is a topic for another day.  I want to focus on Christianity particularly in the political season that has seen an explosion of ignorant fundamentalism.  But this error is not limited to fundamentalist interpretations.  This beautiful passage from the beginning of the book of Ruth has been used for marriage ceremonies and commitment ceremonies.  But this passage does not express that sort of love and frankly is not appropriate for a marriage ceremony, unless you hack off the rest of the book.  So, let’s find out why that is the case.

            The book of Ruth is a story about famine.  It is set in a time of insecurity, dislocation, despair and death.  It is a story about immigration, economic migration, and how the people of God are called to respond to those events.  Naomi has lost her husband and all her sons.  She is left with two daughter-in-laws and no way to support herself in a foreign land.  And, she is not only in a foreign land; she is in an enemy land. 

The Moabites have a low reputation in Israel.  Even the name Moab indicates the scandal of their founding.  Moab means “of the father.”  It is meant to remind us that the people of Moab came into being through the union of Lot and his two daughters during a drunken stupor.[1]  But despite this reputation, the famine was so bad in Israel that the land of Moab offered the only hope for Naomi and her family.  But now things have changed.  Her sole means of support – her husband and sons – are dead.  So Naomi changes her name to “bitter” and decides to head back to Israel.

When faced with dislocation and devastation the natural reaction is to return to your own kind.  But this turn for Naomi is deeper than xenophobia.  She turns back to Israel because she knows that in a time of nation crisis, famine and economic struggle, the followers of God will not choose the way of austerity.  At least in Israel, the poor, the widow, and the immigrant alien, will not become a national scapegoat but instead have enough to survive.

Throughout Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the law is very clear.[2]  When the harvest comes in, you are not to take everything from the olive trees and fields.  God demands that enough of the harvest be left so that the poor, the widow, and the immigrant alien, be able to eat.  There is no conversation about creating a culture of dependency.  There is no tirade about taking away initiative if you provide for those people.  No, in fact, God does not suggest, or say it would be a ‘nice thing to do.’  God DEMANDS that the people of God leave enough so that those who do not have enough will have enough.  PERIOD!  And this is not conditional on whether or not there is a famine in the land.    

            In times of national struggle and financial difficulty we have been told everyone, with the exception of the richest one percent, has to tighten their belts.  God says that is hogwash.  So it might mean that those who lounge on ivory couches will have to give up weekend home in the Galilean mountains.[3]  You may have to check the book of Amos on that one if you think I am making this up.  But let me get back to Ruth.

            Naomi knows that she can find food, so she returns home.  But now with Ruth by her side, pledging fidelity to her and to God, she has a problem on her hands.  She has to explain why she left Israel for Moab, the enemy territory, why she allowed her sons to take foreign wives and why she brought one of those people, home, not just to dinner, but for good.  And yet, despite this expectation from this reader, Naomi does none of that.  She does not do it, because Naomi knows that people who follow God protect the vulnerable.  She goes, and will eventually arrange for a leading citizen, a relative, to marry this Moabite woman.  And this Moabite woman becomes the great-grandmother to the great King David.  It is a scandal that needs no explanation to those who first heard this story.

            About the same time that the story of Ruth was put into its final form, a couple of other books came into being.  Those books are those of Ezra and Nehemiah.  This is important because they have a very different take on what to do with outsiders.  In Ezra and Nehemiah the leaders – the politicians and priests – seem to know well what had caused all their trouble.  They know why the economy is bad and the standing in the world has fallen.  They know – but God never actually agrees with them in the book.  The issue was purity.  If they could just remove the impurity, God would surely be on their side once again.  So they did everything in their power to purify the land.  And in this great scapegoating it was decided the cancer was foreign women and their children.  So in a national move to please God they expel them all.  But God never says this is what I want.  It is always the people of God putting words in God’s mouth when it comes to such things.

            So, in many ways Ruth is a protest against the expulsion of foreign women.  Ruth, an enemy, a foreign woman, a Moabite is the model of faithfulness to God.  It is this woman who shows all of Israel what faith in action looks like.  It is this woman who reminds even Naomi that bitterness is not God’s last word.  It is a story that needs a retelling anytime the national mood becomes exclusivist or begins to bang the drums for purity or suggests that the poor, the widow, or the alien immigrant are the problem that can be solved with austerity. 

So is Ruth an illegal alien?  After all, that was the title of the sermon.  Well, the answer to that is quite simple.  In the bible, no people are illegal.  In the bible God isn’t concerned about green cards and proper identification.  In the bible God isn’t concerned about the taking of jobs.  God is concerned that all people have enough to eat and to survive.   This is not to suggest national policy, but to put the whole conversation in a different light.  And to say, those who wish to talk policy with the bible better be prepared to find out . . . that God isn’t on their side.  I am not suggesting that I have a plan for our nation’s leaders.  That is way above my pay grade.  However, it is a simple truth that God is always on the side of the most vulnerable.  God is always on the side of the silenced.  God is always on the side of those we call enemy.  God is always calling us to do the same.  This is the way of our faith.  Amen!

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[1] Genesis 19:30-37

[2] There are many references to glean in the Old Testament.  Two that illustrate this are Leviticus 19:9-10 and Deuteronomy 24:19-31. 

[3] This is an allusion to Amos 3:12-15

So You Want to Be Great?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
September 23, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Mark 9:30-37
“So You Want to Be Great?”

            Jesus is going to die.  This is probably as much as the disciples truly understand.  Jesus is going to leave, so a succession plan is in order.  Our future and the future of the movement are important so we need to plan.  The key question in all this is who is going to take Jesus’ place.  Or at least who is going to lead us when Jesus is gone.  And that is where the trouble starts. 

            Who is going to be in charge?  Well, Peter, James and John went with Jesus up to the Mountain.  It was these three that Jesus entrusted with the opportunity to see Elijah and Moses, and to hear the voice of God.  But among these three who is the logical choice?  Peter seems to always take the lead but often messes things up.  And if it were not for Andrew, Peter would never have met Jesus.  And before long you begin to hear each one of them making a case for their ascendency to leadership.  And this was all very important and serious business which needed their attention.  However, it devolved into an argument about who was worthy to take over when Jesus was gone.

            The disciples have finally put together that there is a problem.  And they compound the problem by addressing it before they fully understand and can even name the issue.  They think the problem is succession when the problem is about priorities and ministries.  The problems of the church are never really about power and control.  The problems in church are always, always, always based in a misunderstanding of priorities and mission.  Instead of worrying about gaining power or controlling the outcome of whatever is the most recent power struggle, Jesus’ followers are supposed to be focused on imitating Jesus.  It is a perennial problem for the followers of Jesus. 

From the congregation throughout our denomination and in every flavor of Jesus’ church we are still struggling with the same issue.  There are more arguments over who is worthy to lead.  We still argue about the arrangement of power.  Sometimes is it out front, but more often than not it is in the subtle ways we try to assert our control over others and the church.  This pride and hubris is alive and well.  The followers of Jesus – in every age – give lip service to mission while using vast resources on institutional arrangements and who is going to have the last word about how the money is used.  But the good news is that Jesus doesn’t beat us up and tell us what fools we are. 

With a question, Jesus reveals our foolishness, our egotistical nature, and our misguided energy.  So, what were you are talking about?  What is that discussion that was taking so much of your energy?  The silence of the disciples speaks volumes.  It is as if they received their wake up call.  Jesus did not need to tell them what they were doing was foolish.  All they needed was a little nudge, a reminder that the energy about [fill in the gap with your favorite argument] was a foolish waste of time.  But Jesus, like any good teacher, does not end there. 

Jesus recognizes that this is a teachable moment.  This is the time to drive home something truly radical for the disciples.  Whether they fully grasp what Jesus does next is another story all together but that does not stop him from teaching.  Using a live prop, Jesus says, welcoming a child is the same thing as welcoming God.  We know this story.  It is why we spend so much energy making sure there are events and activities for children.  But in doing so we have actually missed what Jesus was after.  It is not that we should not do these things.  It is that Jesus was after something even bigger than children.

In the ancient world children did not have the same social status as they do today.  In the ancient world children were lower in the social strata than slaves.  Slaves had a more prominent place than children.  Until they were of the age of majority they were non-entities.  So when Jesus picks up someone lower than a slave and says welcoming them is welcoming me… he is going way deeper than whether there is money in the budget for children’s programming. 

When Jesus says “welcome” he is saying that the disciples should treat those at the bottom as though they were equal or of greater status than themselves.  The normal social behavior in the ancient world dictated that you would only offer hospitality to those of equal or greater social status.  So Jesus is saying in these moments that we are supposed to throw the whole social structure on its head. 

In other words, God could care less about our arguments about who is worthy enough to be a leader in the church.  God could care less about our political games and attempts to control.  God could care less about how much money we have or don’t have.  What God cares about is how we are treating those who are truly at the bottom of the social structure.  In God’s world the poor are not victims to be scapegoated nor are they to be used for political power.  How we treat them is how we are treating Jesus. 

What were you discussing on the road?  Where are you spending your energy?  It is time we hear that question again.  Where do we need to hear that question?  Where do you need to hear that question?  The truth is that it is all about welcoming the powerless.  It is about turning the world upside down.  Those at the bottom will be brought up… there is a reckoning coming.  So what are we to do in the mean time?  The disciples of Jesus are called to live that reality right now.  Welcome the children… and anyone else who does not receive a welcome by the world.  Amen?  Amen!

The Trouble with Jesus

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
September 16, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Mark 8:27-38 
“The Trouble with Jesus”

            Before I went to bed last night I checked Facebook one last time.  One of my pastor friends wrote:  “Late night sermon writing fun on Facebook…Just answer this question in eight words or less:  Who do you say that Jesus is?”  Unless you know the author it can seem like she was trying to get others to do her work for her.  But, knowing her work well, she needs no help.  I was fascinated to find out what people had to say.  It got so interesting in fact, that I changed the beginning of my own sermon this morning.

            My initial thought was to ask each one of you to weigh in on the same question.  Do not worry, I am not going to put you on the spot.  Instead, I am going to share a few of the answers.  It should come as no surprise that twenty-three people wrote in response and almost all of them used more than eight words.  Most of her friends are pastors after all.

            So here is some of what people said:  The face of God.  A Man of inclusive love and full of compassion.  God incarnate.  Brilliant social reformer.  Savior.  Lover of the world.  Pioneer and Perfector of my faith.  Teacher, Friend.  The reason I believe in forgiveness.  The Son of God.  A prophet.  And my favorite – God with flesh on.  Maybe some of those you can relate to and others you aren’t particularly sure of or even comfortable with.   

The question of who Jesus is and was is the essential struggle in the church.  The answer to this question is the foundation for the Christian faith.  And it is one reason that there are so many flavors and expressions of the Christian faith.  Some we embrace fully and others we wonder what bible they are reading.  But the good news is that at the end of the day, what we say about Jesus says more about us than it does about Jesus.  The parts of the Gospel we cling to can tell us more about our desires and wants that anything else.

And that is why Peter is so important.  Just like Peter there is the Jesus he wants and the Jesus he gets.  And the trouble is that we cannot take one without the other.  Now, Peter is always an easy target.  His pride, his arrogance, his energy and his love for Jesus come together to show us a real and deeply flawed human being.  His witness is a gift and a curse.  The curse is that he merely becomes a punching bag for us.  We point out his flaws and then congratulate ourselves at how unlike Peter we are.  The gift of Peter’s witness comes only if we are able to admit that Peter represents our flaws, our pride, and our arrogance – as the church. 

After all this work on who Jesus is, I am beginning to think it misses the point.  In fact, I am convinced that when Jesus asks this question to the disciples it really is not a question.  When we stop after Jesus asked the question it enables us to pick and choose.  It leaves us with the impression that we have the final say on the role and presence of Jesus in our lives.  Jesus is not asking a question so much as he is clearing up confusion about his identity.  It is not a matter of which version of Jesus you want to lift up.  It is not a matter of defining Jesus with the right theological lens.  Jesus doesn’t say – the proper answer to the question is… Instead, Jesus says he will suffer for his stance.  He will suffer and be rejected and die on a cross.  Our only choice in the matter is whether or not we will put our whole selves on the line.  Will we willingly pick up the cross – give our whole selves to the cause of loving justice? 

            “Everyone has their cross to bear…”  I heard this saying so many times as a child.  The problem is that it lost meaning for me.  The idea of picking up one’s cross became connected with doing things you might like not to do.  Or it had something to do with engaging people you did not particularly like in a kind manner.  Or it had to do with facing some illness or other personal struggle in life.  But I heard it so much that the idea of picking up one’s cross seemed like drudgery and something beyond one’s control.  But there is a choice, not in which version of Jesus we might like, but in whether or not we will pick up the cross.  And that is the troubling part.

            The cross was a symbol and instrument of state sanctioned torture.  It was a public execution that was intended to humiliate cultures and peoples who were unwilling to play by the rules of Rome.  It was a sadistic action that began with whipping.  It continued with the condemned having to carry the upper cross bar of the cross through the streets facing more public humiliation.  And then large nails would be driven through the fore arms and legs and the final death would come through suffocation.  Once the person was dead the body would be left for the vultures, ravens, and dogs.  It was the most horrific and humiliating way to die.  And this form of death was most often reserved for revolutionaries and rebels.  And this is the most common symbol of our faith today. 

            So when Jesus says pick up your cross it does not seem appealing.  But Jesus was talking to a people who had few choices.  When you were crucified the cross was placed upon you.  Jesus is talking about taking back power.  They may kill you, but you are not powerless.  And as a result of this, one of the most feared and a powerful symbol of death ever invented is now known as a strange religious symbol or some cool jewelry. 

            So what does it mean for us to talk about picking up the cross?  It is an important reminder about the heart of our faith.  The first is that we are called to proclaim hope in the midst of despair.  We are called to go to the places of greatest humiliation and suffering knowing that is where Jesus would be today.  It means that when the call to kill or go to war is made that Christians are called to say no and to pray with and for those called enemies.  We are to stand with any group that is being singled out as a scapegoat.  We are called to point out the places of suffering and go and plant ourselves. 

Picking up the cross is a choice – it’s a choice to live in a self-centered world drenched in rational self-interest and say no.  The cross is liberating when self-chosen but not when put upon by others.  And that is why Jesus says it is a choice.  And the trouble with Jesus is not in our theological arguments about who he is but in our living out those statements by picking up the cross and standing in solidarity with the humiliated and scapegoated of the world. 

            The greatest threat to faithfulness is not other people.  This passage makes it clear.  Those most troubling, those most likely to play the part of Satan are Jesus’ followers and the religious establishment.  When we lose sight of the heart of our faith the cross is a stark reminder of the simplicity and the struggle.  The cross we are called to bear is not one that will be thrust upon us.  And who we say Jesus is matters little.  What matters is always keeping our eyes open for those who are thrust aside and scapegoated in society.  And that is where we must go, that is where we must stand.  And that truly is the trouble with following Jesus. 

 

 

Armor?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 26, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ephesians 6:10-20 
“Armor?”

    I have never said this before, and it might come as a surprise coming out of my mouth, but here it is, “There is a fundamental moral failure in our society.”  This is not all that shocking of a statement really.  All we have to do is begin to list the troubles in our time - or even for the last few weeks.  The epidemic of unreported black on black crime is astounding.  And as soon as we do that the natural tendency is to figure out who is to blame . . . mental illness, poor parenting, poverty, lack of jobs, or just bad people.  And then begins the litany of things we must do.  What we need is to figure out a way to create right action.  The reaction of the church is to talk - without actually using these words - about finding a better moral theology.  What I mean by this is that if we can teach right then people will act right.  But the truth is that this type of moral theology is an abysmal failure. 

    It is a failure because at the end of the day we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.  And if we cannot name the problem, any solution will miss the mark.  The symptoms of the problem we know well.  So we address the symptoms and wonder why things do not get better.  We are taught that there is a formula for every problem.  So when our formulas do not get better we begin to scapegoat.  The problem is poor people, rich people, white people, black people, gay people, Muslim people, atheists, liberals, conservatives . . . and then once the problem is identified we simply plug in the formula.  But from the programs of the Great Society, to ending all corporate regulations, nothing seems to work.  We hunger for the next great savior who promises jobs with no specifics or law and order at the price of freedom - or at least some people’s freedom.  But each of these fails because we have missed the root of the problem. 

    As Christians we have language to address this problem but we have not done a good job of expressing it.  Instead we have been drawn into partisan battles and too often have led the charge of scapegoating.  The problem with our public face is that we have forgotten a simple but basic doctrine of the church.  Yes, it really is about bad theology.  There is really only one problem and that problem is what we call the doctrine of the Fall.  Yes we are all sinful.

    The issue can seem outdated, but the real problem is with how we have taught this doctrine.  We have said that human beings are inherently evil.  We do not like to say this because we like to think of ourselves as basically good people.  But at times like this it is important to remember that behavioral psychology and evolutionary biology have shown that given the right circumstance and opportunity we will act in horrific ways.  But the church has stopped short with this.  We have forgotten that the doctrine extends to anything and everything that human beings have created or will create.  In other words, our institutions, our governments, our schools, our communities, and even our nations are affected by the power of the Fall, and are at their core – sinful.

    So what does this mean?  It means we cannot join the calls for scapegoating.  The trouble with society, the trouble with our country, the trouble with our world, the trouble in our neighborhoods, our churches, and our schools is not something “out there” but something inside all of us.  And the language of bad guys and good guys sounds ridiculous and ignorant after about third grade.  It also means we shouldn’t be surprised when all our best efforts or hopes for a new day are undermined.  We shouldn’t be surprised that advances in women's health are under a full-on assault or that the voting rights act is in danger of extinction.  It does mean we better stand up against these assaults, but we should not be surprised or fall into despair.  And this is where Paul comes in.

    The language of Powers and Principalities may seem strange but it is all a matter of interpretation.  Some of us are quite comfortable imaging embodied demons walking around out to get us or trip us up.  For others this may seem to be nonsense.  The good news is that Paul is not talking about embodied demons or spirits but something more.  Modern lay Episcopal theologian William Stringfellow addressed this in amazing fresh ways.  The powers of this world are explained as:  institutions, systems, ideologies, political and social powers.  Whether we give them mythic or spiritual power these things have a power that goes beyond the simple gathering of people. 

    Think of it as mob mentality.  People caught up in the mob often talk about being almost outside themselves doing things they might not otherwise have done.  Moving beyond the mob for a few moments, think about institutions or political systems or governments.  The power of each of these or the goal of each of these is self-preservation.  And self-preservation, selfishness, is the basic mark of a toddler.  Add to this the greatest military might the world had ever seen and you have the mix of holy terror. 

    Now we can begin to understand the plight of the Christians at Ephesus.  They lived as a religious minority in a Roman and pagan place.  They were under the thumb of military occupation.  Rome understood how to keep order and how to keep the empire running smoothly.  In the end the empire had two faces.  The first face was one of seduction and the other was pain.  Rome was generous to its friends and allies.  It would heap lavish power and wealth to those willing to follow.  But, for those who refused, came crucifixion, taxation, military conscription and other forms of slavery.  This is how the fallen powers of this world work.  But despite their many ways of functioning they ultimately work in one realm, death. 

    The legacy we are left from the Christians of Ephesus is the reminder that all of our institutions, our countries, our best efforts and even our best people are fallen.  Despite our belief in the goodness of people, we must admit that inside each of us is the power of death and destruction.  We might not have blood on our hands but we are all part of the war machine.  We are part of the systems that have created the violence on our streets and the violence in the board rooms.  The problem is not out there or with other people but part of us. 

    There are symptoms with which we must wrestle.  It does not mean that we overlook when young men pull guns out in a crowded Colorado theatre or in Heman Park last Friday.  Those men are responsible for their crimes.  But they are not animals, they are not evil, and they are not unlike you and me.  It does not mean that we stand idly by when making more people hungry as the solution to our deficit problem.  It does not mean that those who propose it are the spawn of Satan.

    Our battle is not against flesh and blood.  This language reminds us that the struggle will not go away when this group or that group is gone.  If we elect the right politician or enact the right policies everything will not be alright - it might be better but it will never be perfect.  And anyone who tells you otherwise has forgotten the lessons of utopian thinking and the doctrine of Sin.  Instead, we are called to figure out how we can live out our faith and hope in a world drenched in death.   

    The language of the armor might be a bit much or maybe too militaristic for our modern liberal ears.  But what Paul is doing is undermining the very militaristic culture in which they lived.  Each piece of this outfit is not about going on the attack but preparing oneself for attack.  It was intended to remind the hearers of the need for spiritual preparation.  And though this passage has been twisted and distorted for evil in the name of Christianity – it is intended to take the very implements of war and use them for non-violent, uplifting and peace seeking tools.  In the end the image is intended to give Christians a sense of hope and support in difficult times.  And we live in difficult times.  The easy thing to do is to see people, our enemies, as inherently evil.  But the call for Christians is to work for justice and remember our struggle is not against flesh and blood.  Amen.

What is a Christian Life?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 12, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ephesians 4:25-5:1 
“What is a Christian Life?”

          My first reading of the passage this week left me with one distinct thought.  Clearly, Paul never lived through an election cycle.  How could he with the call for no falsehood, slander, bitterness, wrath, malice, and anger?  Add to this his call that instead of prison we give criminals jobs so that they can support the needy.  It is not very likely this would be part of any platform for any candidate who expected to win. 

         The more I thought about this, the more I assumed the sermon would focus on just such things. There would have been some comment, or even diatribe, about corporate executives and other robber barons that function like Robin Hood in reverse on steroids.  Imagine for a moment if those same folks spent a little time working with their hands and then giving the fruits of those labors to support the needy?  Would that not, in fact, be a better example of how a Christian nation functions? 

I will say that as I wrote that sermon there was a lot to say. It would have also said something about the falsehoods spread about people of other faiths and the power of speech that leads to the shooting of Sikhs in Minnesota or the burning of Mosques in Joplin, MO or Nashville, TN.  That sermon would have been a call to make powerful stands against the growing hate and hate filled language that is tearing at the very fabric of our society.  However, that is not where the sermon is going today.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that such a sermon might actually lead us into a self-righteous posture.  Or, having heard, it might lead us to believe we have done all we need to do as good followers of Jesus.  But despite my initial inclinations for that sermon, this text really is not about those people out there. 

          The letter to the Ephesians was written to a community of Jesus’ followers as a communal ethic.  It was not written as a prophetic text against the abuses of society.  Instead, it was intended to be a teaching tool.  It was intended to enable and encourage Christians to grow up and grow deeper in their faith.  This passage and this book are about the disciplines and practices of the Christian life.  And at the heart of it is the basic assertion that faith is not about mental assent but following Jesus, imitating him, in speech and action.

The practices in this passage begin with our words.  Put away falsehood, or as we might say in church circles, put away all gossip.  And why would we say that?  Well, falsehood, or gossip, is really just tied to unresolved anger and even feelings of personal insecurities.  And because we have been doing it so long many times we are not even aware that is what happening.  What do I mean?  Have you ever thought any of the following:  Why are we doing that?  How can they wear something like that to church?  I do not know how they could think that?  How could he say that?  Can you believe?  Even if these questions do not ever come out of our mouths, they are toxin to our spirits when we think them.  Often, these are questions come to us in the guise of, “how people are supposed to act.”  But in reality, they reveal our judgmental natures, our personal insecurities and even unresolved anger. 

If people have a different view of the world or understanding of how to live out their faith it can lead us to question our own.  And if we are not secure enough to live and let live we will begin to see different as simply wrong.  In its more toxic form, particularly when we are at odds with another person, everything they say or do will be perceived as wrong by us.  In the end we put them under a microscope and tearing them to shreds over everything they do.  In its worse form we begin to look for allies in our anger which is where the gossip rears its head.  And this type of behavior leads to factions and infighting and left unchallenged and unchecked will eventually tear a community apart.  This is not unique to our community, or the larger Christian community, it is part of the human sinful nature.  And the sad part is that this very thing can even exist under the guise that we are all getting along just fine.  And this is exactly why Paul addresses anger and ties it to falsehood.  Gossip is really just unresolved anger at peoples and actions that are different from our personal experiences.  And this is why there is the repeated call for love.  Love keeps us from needing everyone to act and think like we do.  Love will help us learn that those who are different do not need to be reformed.

Speak truth to our neighbors for we are all members of each other.  It is a powerful theological statement but it is not what you might think.  We know the language of being part of the body of Christ.  However, the language here goes beyond the community and the body of Christ.  The assertion is that we are all tied together whether we are part of the faith community or not.  There is an assumption of a social network.  In other words, the community is connected and our participation is essential.  However, before Paul sends the Ephesians out into the world to practice this, he reminds them that it has to be happening in the community.  We will not speak truth in love, we will not put away falsehood and gossip, and we will not deal with our anger well ‘out there’ if we refuse to practice this in the community of faith.

In a time when anger is at a premium in our society, we need to learn how to deal with our own anger.  I know that this is a loving community that values getting along and working by consensus.  Those are good and important values.  But I also know that we cannot live with people in community or worship in a community long, before anger comes into play.  We might be more comfortable using the words disagreement or minor frustration, but I prefer not to mince words.  Eventually someone is going to do something that makes us angry, particularly those we love.  Paul even gives us permission.  “Get angry.”  It is all right, anger is not a sin.

Get angry but do not sin.  And that is the hard part.  It is easier to nurse a grudge or to bury anger and decide to disengage because someone has hurt us.  But reconciliation in Jesus Christ means more.  We are members of one another, which means that we have to figure a way through the anger.  It does not mean giving in with your words but not in heart, but it does mean being vulnerable and caring enough about others and the ministry of this church to risk getting angry and then figuring out how to navigate the anger with love and justice.  It is hard work, but that is the calling of a disciple. 

Even as I say this, the trouble with anger is that we cannot share our anger until there is a safe space to honor it.  What I mean is that, until folks feel safe to say to each other, brother or sister, you hurt me when you did this, or when you said that, and know they will not be dismissed with a, “that was not my intention,” then no one will come forward.  Instead, when faced with someone who is willing to share their anger, our response needs to be, whether it was our intention or not, to listen and not get defensive.  To say, ‘oh, wow, I am sorry that you were hurt by that.’ Or, how can we figure this out? Or, is there another way for me to say this or do that, so I do not hurt you or cause offense?  When this happens, true community begins to flourish.  This is what the message of reconciliation is about.  And that is why Paul says we have to practice it in here because it is not easy.

This passage from Ephesians is not simply a way to live a more moral life.  It is not about learning to be nice.  It is about growing up in our faith.  Last week, I mentioned that in Greek rhetoric we needed to be on the lookout for the “therefore.”  The ‘therefore’ this week comes in a different way.  In the last passage the therefore took a long conversation on theology and moved it into practical application.  This week, the reverse is true.  The therefore this week says that all our practice of reconciliation, all our practice of not lying and not harboring anger is a sign of our faith in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

          Being a Christian, and offering a witness to the world means imitating the ways of God that we have come to know in Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, our name, our witness with our neighbors is abysmal.  The Christian witness is one of division, scandal; abuse, pettiness, and worse, hatred towards those not like us.  When I was a child, I learned a song about unity where the refrain was simple… They will know we are Christians by our love… that can only happen when we are practicing our love in here.  Which leads me to ask the really hard questions…How are our relationships with one another?  Where are we in need of reconciliation, where are we in need of dealing with our anger?  This is what it means to live a Christian life…it begins right here.  Amen?  Amen!

Unity Not Uniformity

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 5, 2012
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Ephesians 4:1-16 
“Unity Not Uniformity”

It is easy to get lost in most of the Letters in the New Testament.  Or at least it is for me.  For weeks we have been reading the Gospel stories and they are… well… stories.  And stories are much easier to follow.  The Greek rhetoric translated into English is easy to get lost in all the divergent thoughts and miss the essential parts.  Our passage from Ephesians is no different.  I do not promise what I am about to say will make all those letters make sense.  I can only hope to unearth what was going on in this convoluted message.

The keys are really quite simple.  The first rhetorical trick is the Therefore.  It serves as a marker for those who have drifted off during the reading.  Each of the letters was read publically, often like a sermon, so the idea that someone might nod off is not unheard of.  But the therefore comes along as a marker that the entire previous statement has been leading to what comes next.  So if you have missed everything that has come before, pay attention now.

Therefore, lead a life worthy of the calling.  That is the simple message.  But can be lost if we do not understand or have a sense of what calling is all about.  Some reduce this sense of calling to those who have been ordained or hired in some professional capacity in the church.  However, at the time this letter was penned, there was no paid staff in the community.  The calling was for everyone.  Anyone who claimed faith in Jesus Christ was called and that message is no different today.  Each one of us in this room, or who will read this, or hear a recording of this, has a calling.  But what does it mean to have a calling?

Fortunately, the letter is pretty clear about grounding this sense of calling in some things with which we can relate.  The idea of calling is connected to the conversation about grace.  Each was given grace accordingly.  Another way to think about this is as giftedness.  And the giftedness has to do with specific work within the community.  Some are gifted to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers.  It is a pretty short list but they are not job descriptions.  In other words it does not say that what you will need to do to build the body of Christ is to hire a pastor for apostleship, a pastor for prophecy, a pastor for evangelism, a pastor for pastoral care, and a pastor for teaching, if you are a large church.  Or if you are a small church you need to hire one person who has the ability to do it all for you. 

Paul assumes that in the community of faith each person will have a responsibility that reflects their God-given giftedness.  And to this I can hear a familiar chorus of, “I used to do all those things.  I used to teach, I used to sing, I used to serve on the session, I used to have energy for that, I am a teacher so I don’t want to teach at church, I am not able to give like I used to, I don’t know those people’s names, I am not sure I can speak up, I can’t… I can’t… I can’t… anymore.”  To those, and as many others as we can come up with, I want to say this as gently and as lovingly as I can, I am not interested in what you can no longer do or are not interested in doing.  It is time to let that go.  Let go of the belief that our best days and your best days are behind you.  Don’t let that belief stand in the way of what God has called you to do at this stage of your life.

Now please do not hear me wrong.  I am not saying that you need to force yourself into doing something that sounds like drudgery.  This is not a call to recruit people to do hours of committee work and four hour session marathons or to teach children, when frankly you cannot stand them except at a distance.  But, as an aside, we have done away with the hours of committee work and four hour session meetings for the very reason that that takes all the joy out of using our gifts for the building up of the community.  But on the children piece, you might want to be praying on that one, but I promise we won’t ask you to teach.

Lead a life worthy of the calling.  Those words remind us that Paul thought it was possible to be worthy of the calling.  Unfortunately, the history of the church has implanted into too many of our heads that we will never be worthy.  That there will never be enough we can do to get to the stage of being worthy.  But the good news is that being worthy of the calling is really about being willing to share your great joy in the life of the community.

Calling and giftedness in the life of faith is about finding out what brings you the greatest joy and where your aptitudes lay.  The problem is that historically we have been on the lookout for any warm body to serve on session or a committee and then drain every last ounce of energy and every last ounce of joy for as long as we could.  And this is why many of us keep our heads down and dare I say even keep our giftedness a secret so we do not end up doing everything by ourselves.  This does not build up the body of Christ.  This is not what Paul is getting at.  And this eats away at the unity of the body because some are doing too much and others are afraid of doing too much or don’t believe they have anything to offer.  Being called and having gifts is not about killing ourselves. 

It’s about living out and sharing our greatest joys in community.  Maybe you don’t have the energy to do much hand’s on work, but you can pray and you can use the phone to check on folks you haven’t seen for a while.  Those two things alone go miles to building up the community especially if that means you are living out your calling.  Taking time to reconnect on a Sunday morning or sharing a meal with friends and inviting someone new to join the group, whatever group of which you are a part… it really can be that simple…at least to start.  But if you aren’t sure and still don’t think this applies to you then we should talk because I know that each person in this place has important gifts for the work of building up the community in love and joy.

It is clear in this letter that the love and joy serves one ultimate purpose.  And that purpose is for the building up of the body of Christ.  The strength, vitality, the love of the community that worships and serves Jesus Christ together is the whole purpose of ministry.  It is the whole purpose of our gifts, our resources, and our time and energy.  That really is it.  That might be evident when we gather for worship or study the Bible or bring food for the pantry or do a hands-on mission project.  But it is also true when we gather to decide how to use our resources for the repair and maintenance of the building or when check in on friends or members we haven’t seen for a while.  And the beauty of this is that there is no one right way to do it all.  There is no one right way to praise God, there is no one right way to do the work of the church, there is no one right way to have a parking lot conversation, and there is no one right way to organize our community. 

The only thing that matters is that we keep one goal in mind.  And to do this we need to ask ourselves, does this build up the community in love?  Is this binding us together to serve God?  Imagine really taking time to ask that question whenever we gathered officially or unofficially as community members?  What might change if we began each of our gatherings with that question?  Will this build up the community in love?  Imagine the possibilities.

While this is a call to unity is it not a call to uniformity.  And the unity to which Paul speaks is the unity of the faith and knowledge of Jesus.  There is plenty of room for divergent beliefs and individuality.  This has not often been the way this is lived out.  This week some of you might have seen the call to support Chic-Fil-A in the ongoing fast food culture war.  And as a Christian I am not really happy about the way junk food and consumerism have been wedded to the unity of faith.  But an evangelical and conservative blogger asked a question that seems to get at the idea of building the community up in love.  The question that was asked was this:  Does anyone truly believe that the message being sent last Wednesday was a message that expressed the love of Jesus Christ?  Whether or not you think the fast food chain supports a Christian message or not, did this event sound more like a battle cry or a call to share the love of God in Jesus Christ?  In other words, the love of God and the unity of faith were not served up with a side of waffle fries on Wednesday.

For those of us who do not stand with our brothers and sisters in this action or even believes what we have to remember is that unity does not mean uniformity.  I do not stand with Mr. Cathy but that does not mean I am not a Christian or even for that matter a Bible believing Christian, because I am.  And the good news is that Paul did not write that unity must come on every issue of faith.  Unity is not uniformity of thought.  The unity is on the faith of Jesus Christ.  The unity is not based on our opinions about political issues or parties.  The unity is not in the style of worship.  The unity is not in how we express our faith.  The unity is on the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  But unity is an elusive thing.  The key to this comes when Paul writes that we must grow up in every way. 

            Growing up means that we no longer need other people to think like us or act like us to extend the love and grace we know in Jesus Christ.  The truth is that the immature mind cannot hold two opposing thoughts and believe that both might hold some truth.  That is where love comes in.  Leading a life worthy of the calling means we are always being called to grow up in love.  For one ultimate purpose, and that purpose is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. And to do so by speaking the truth in love, and grow up in every way.  So I challenge all of us… and invite you to challenge me... to lead everything we do with one simple idea… does this build up the community in love?  Does this equip others to do the same?  Amen?  Amen!