Prophets and Prophetic Faith

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
February 3, 2013
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Mark 3
“Prophets and Prophetic Faith”

Now that he is safely dead
Let us praise him
build monuments to his glory
sing hosannas to his name.
Dead men make
such convenient heroes: They
cannot rise
to the challenge of the images
we would fashion from their lives.
And besides,
it is easier to build monuments
than to make a better world
-Carl Wendell Hines Jr.

            The first celebration for Black History Month I ever attended was in 1986.  I was a sophomore in high school.  The Black Student Union held a special assembly early one Monday in February.  I remember being dumfounded and thinking, “Why don’t we celebrate White history month?”  And the only thing I remember from that assembly was something about a guy named King and hearing the words, “I have a dream.”

            A great deal has changed since that time, for me personally and for our country.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a national holiday, and now even a national monument.  Celebrating Black history is now part of many schools curriculum – not all, but almost all people know February is Black History Month.  And maybe one day even those who assume this month is for black folk will find out that it is everyone’s history. 

            But I worry.  I worry because as well known as the name Martin Luther King is, and his connection with his “Dream,” I believe his legacy and his deepest convictions have been whitewashed.  Yes, I really just said that.  Dr. King and his dream are now more often put in the service of our consumer economy than used to transform a broken and unequal nation.  Apparently someone thought it would be worthy of his legacy to sell Coke-a-Cola.  And now, the poorest of the poor are arrested if they show up at his tomb. 

In the latest edition of the Washington University newspaper I noticed something rather disturbing.  At their annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, the chancellor began the celebration by tying Dr. King’s legacy to their current fundraising campaign.  He was able to do this without being laughed off the stage because he claimed this would help with increasing diversity.  This is what happens when prophets are safely dead.  You can turn a man whose final work was about creating an economic bill of rights and claim he would support one of the wealthiest academic institutions in the country to build more buildings and grow their endowment.  Yes, it is a good thing Dr. King is dead or the chancellor would have to answer for his foolishness.

This is just one of the many reasons why I believe we need to do things differently this year.  Instead of looking at many of the contributions and achievements of black folks, we are going to do a bit of work digging deeper into the life of a rather inconvenient prophet.  In order to do this we are going to focus on three of the speeches he gave in the final years before his death, all from 1967. 

In those speeches, Dr. King went from civil rights leader to national pariah.  His struggle for integration and the voting rights act moved to taking a stand against the Vietnam War and making a clear connection between economics and militarism.  He pointed out how racism was exploited in the service of capitalism and how militarism was supporting the entire system.  But unlike today, Dr. King didn’t just become a talking head on MSNBC.  He wrote in clear detail with extremely well researched positions before speaking.   And when he spoke even his closest allies believed he was hurting the cause.

Dr. King was a follower of Jesus Christ and one of the problems with discipleship is that at some point in our journey it is going to cost us something.  And before it cost Dr. King his life, it cost him prestige and support from many of his former allies.  Militarism, Consumerism, and Racism were the three great evils that drove Dr. King to call us to the love of God.  And yet, we are hard pressed to hear anyone talking about these things when we celebrate Dr. Kings’ birthday or celebrate Black History Month.  Where is the conversation about the Poor Peoples Campaign?  Where is the stance by the followers of Jesus against the calls for cuts for the poor when the pentagon’s budget remains sacred?  Where are the followers of Jesus when Universities’ Chancellors steal the legacy of the drum major for Justice? And where are the voices of the faithful today which says any economic order which does not bring life for all is sinful and must be transformed or cast aside?

          This is the legacy of the inconvenient hero.  But it is a legacy that has been lost.  The next generation will not know if we do not go deeper.  We won’t know if we do not go deeper.  It is time to reclaim his story because it is built on the very foundations of our faith.  If you want to get serious in this work, we have first got to go back and reclaim and then get to work making a better world – the world has enough monuments… what we need is a new movement built on an old story.  Amen?  Amen.

Why Bother with the Bible?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
January 27, 2013
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
“Why Bother with the Bible?”

     I don’t know what to tell you other than give you a bit of a witness.  What are we supposed to do with this book?  We call it an authority and a rule for faith and life.  But in our honest moments most of us cannot tell you what that means.  What we say and believe about this book will have a tremendous impact in our relationship with it.  So I am going to tell you a bit about my own journey.  Hopefully you will find it interesting and, I hope, may even be able to connect with it – hopefully it doesn’t drive you running for the hills.

            One of my first memories of the bible was of a little blue gift bible that was given to my parents when I was born.  I remember flipping through it – mostly the pictures.  One night, we were on our way home from church and it was raining.  I took that bible and held it over my head to keep my head from getting wet.  I got in trouble for that and wasn’t allowed to have the bible back for a long time.  So my first learning about the bible was that the book was special, different from other books and intended to be protected. 
     I also remember being deeply fascinated by the stories in the bible.  Particularly the stories about Jesus, baby Moses, and David and Goliath.  The pictures from another children’s bible still remain with me today.  So my early understanding was that it was a fascinating book with possible magical powers – though I never fully figured out what those powers were.
Then, my relationship with this book began to ossify.  Beyond bible school and Sunday school the bible, its stories, its way of viewing the world became fixed.  Or more like they were settled in a way that each story meant what it meant and the idea of interpretation seemed like heresy since every bible story had one meaning. 
            I was always a questioning child and so as I grew older and got into high school there was something about the settled nature of the bible and the stories that did not seem quite right.  I began to distrust some of the authority figures who told me what the bible meant.  This led me to spend time reading beyond the bounds of what was read on Sunday morning in church or in Sunday school.  (That is a dangerous thing… trust me…)  And then add to that, somewhere along the line I had learned that the bible was not actually written by King James - or even originally in English.  And one day in a very arrogant way I said that I would not fully believe what the bible said until I could read it in the original Greek and Hebrew.
            The truth was that I had come to the very educated belief that anyone who believed what the bible said was probably a fool.  Fortunately God was not finished with me yet and I found my way back around to the stories of Jesus.  Not to bore you with details of that part of the journey, let me say that I became very fundamentalist in my interpretation as I re-read a number of the stories of Jesus.  (hold up Black Bible).  It was during this period that this book began to be my constant companion.  I was a really pleasant person to be around – as long as you thought like me and believed like me… and of course liberal Christians were not really Christians… Indeed, God has quite a sense of humor.
            When I was living in Northern Ireland, a local pastor told me to go home and underline every instance of the words poor, widow and orphan and then come back and tell him what I found.  Using a concordance I did that in this blue bible.  And for the first time in my life I found out that I did not actually have a clue about the bible at all.  It turns out that God seems to get really angry when the rich hoard things and the poor suffer.  In fact, nations are destroyed when they do this… it happens on a couple of occasions.  I was shocked to find out that the bible I knew so well was a book that was completely foreign to me. 
            And then I went to seminary.  (Pull out your big bible and slam it down)  I found out everything I learned so far was wrong.  Or, that is the way I heard it, even if my professors never really said that.  I found out that we do not have the original manuscripts and that the scrolls we do have are often corrupted texts.  I learned that not all Christians use the same books of the bible.  I learned about the history, setting, style, background, and different ways of interpreting and I wrote papers just to prove my knowledge… LOTS of papers.
            And when the papers and the theologians and classroom discussions became too much I found that it all made a LOT more sense when I was doing something for other people.  I went back to the stories of Jesus and realized he spent a LOT of time with people on the margins of society.  So I spent time on the streets getting to know people who lived and survived on the streets of Atlanta.  I read the bible with homeless men and women and listen to them talk about how God was active and alive in the world.  I had deep theological conversations with men in homeless shelters and it was there that the Word of God written in the bible became alive for me in ways it never had before.  And that is where this pocket bible came in so handy.
            So why bother with the bible?  If you came hoping I would tell you why we can’t toss out the bible as an ancient relic, I won’t do it.  No amount of trying will convince you that is a bad idea if you are already flirting with it.  If you came worried I was going to question the inerrancy of the bible – too late.  But what I will say is this.
            The bible did not change at all from this bible to this bible. (go through the stack)  What changed?  Me, my understanding, my social location, my education, and the people with whom I read the bible.  What was the constant?  I actually kept reading it.  And what this taught me is that everyone has a lens a view and understanding of this bible –interpretation – your experience – your language - your economic status – your race – your gender – your sexual orientation - and even what high school you went to impacts your interpretation. 
            For those willing to take the bible on its own terms it has the power to bring life and transformation.  In the end it is an alien book.  When we assume to know what it is all about or become too familiar we only make ourselves look foolish.  In the end the bible is a witness written by human beings in community that have tried to convey their encounter with the divine.  We look to the life of Jesus to inform our interpretation and do so with humility.  And the next time someone says… “Well, the bible says”… your response can be… “Oh really…”  How is it changing you.. how is it changing the world around you… take it on its own terms…
 

Called to...

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
January 13, 2013
Baptism of the Lord / Installation and Ordination of Officers
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

            Calling is a word that is rather troubling to me.  When we use that word it carries a heavy religious weight.  The language we use for church leadership is that of “calling.”  A church looking for a new pastor or a pastor looking for a new church is called, interestingly enough, the “call process.”  If we talk about a sense of biblical calling, we might think about the prophets who receive a call to proclaim God’s peace and justice.  There is also Paul who is said to have received a calling on the Damascus road.  And a little later on in the gospels Jesus will call disciples to come and follow.  Even in our passage this morning we even refer to the baptism of Jesus as Jesus’ call story.  So it seems that calling has something to do with a special mission for a few specially chosen few. 

But is this what we really believe about calling?  What is it that we believe about calling?  How is it that we are to understand this word?  In the reformed tradition, of which Presbyterians are a part, calling was something for all followers of Jesus.  Calling is not something reserved for session members, or preachers, or ministers of music, or seminary students.  Calling is not something reserved for the especially religious or those who are worthy.  Calling did not have to include a flash of light and the voice of God.  Though, for some, that could very well be the case.   

So if this is what calling is not, what is it?  In our tradition we place a high value on what is called, “the priesthood of all believers.”  This concept really turns the sense that only some are specially called on its head.  Despite having ruling elders, teaching elders, deacons, and people who are needed to fulfill all ministries inside and outside of the church; calling involves everyone who has been baptized.  This is why we say, “Your baptism is sufficient for your calling.”  In other words, everyone who has been baptized has been called.  However, this only answers the question of who, not the question “to what?”

As good Presbyterians we often want details.  We form committees, we create work groups, we love standards, and credentials.  The details are where we spend a lot of our time.  We crunch numbers and do not let spell check have the last word.  So when it comes to working out to what we have been called we get a bit, well, edgy.  We get edgy because calling cannot be reduced to a job description.  It cannot be reduced to a position on the session; it cannot be reduced to any particular job in the life of the church, or in society.  In truth, calling has little to do with those things at all.  So what is it then?

Calling is not really about a specific job, or task, or responsibility.  It is a way of life.  When Jesus says come and follow me he does not give each disciple a specific work to do.  Instead, Jesus shows them how to live their lives.  Jesus teaches them essential values on which to base their life.  And what are those values, what is a way of life built on hospitality, generosity, and no vengeance. 

Being called, means being called to enact these values in all areas of our lives.  It means that no matter what job, what work, what role, we are fulfilling, these values inform it all. 

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.