Category: Preaching Notes
No one knows. Don’t even ask.
Sometimes I revisit words I crafted in the past for a new setting. This sermon, Edgy Advent, is a revision with ideas I’ve been thinking about for a couple of years. I was gifted the trust of the pulpit the first Sunday in Advent this year. The scripture text for the day is Matthew 24:36-44.
‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Matthew 24:36-44, NRSV
Edgy Advent
In the book, A Walk in the Woods, Bill, a travel writer in his 60’s has returned to America after living in Europe for many years. He is a bit restless in his new, old, surroundings. Seeking inspiration and a desire to explore, Bill decides to hike the Appalachian Trail, all 2000 miles of it. After reading about life on the trail and many stories about bears mauling hikers, Bill is afraid to be on the trail alone. He puts out a call to friends to see if anyone would take the journey with him. The only one who shows up is an old friend from high school. Stephen is overweight, significantly, has a slight drinking problem, only eats junk food, and insists he has has to eat every hour to keep from having seizures.
Bill and Stephen buy all the supplies they think they need. Bill pays for it all. They pick out the right backpack, tent, sleeping bag, bear repellent, hiking boots, and socks. They gather up the suggested food packets for the trail. They plan the days of hiking and depart on the best weather day after a last supper in a restaurant surrounded by other hikers preparing to set out as well. Their adventure has many low points and some mountain top vistas along the way.
It is easy to get all the stuff together, read the map, and plan. Any hike, any journey begins with that first step, and many, many more to follow. Christian tradition considers Advent one end of the Christian trail that has many entrances and some exits.
Some walk the trail anew each year traversing Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost into the expanse known as ordinary time. Some remember with fondness the first steps, the first mile, the first blisters. You will hear those stories in this sacred space and around tables in your home. And, along the way you will hear stories, maybe experience one or two of your own, that will make you anxious, irritable, and full of all the emotions a person can feel. You will hear and see things that set you on edge.
And remember, sometimes, being on an edge, or being on edge, requires risk. On the edge can be too hard. Too painful. The view from the top, though appealing, doesn’t feel worth the risk. You don’t usually get to mountain vistas or back to the safety of the valley without traversing a few edges. Even an edgy Advent.
The first Sunday in Advent begins a new year of Lectionary readings. This is Year A of Lectionay readings which means it is the year of Matthew’s experience of faith as the gospel reading. John the Baptist’s voice and Jesus’ voice echo through the faith of the writer of Matthew whose ‘good news’ story about Jesus is bound up in his cultural experience of the moment. All the gospel writers are active participants in their cultural moment. Their time was as edgy as our own.
Though first in our New Testament, Matthew is written after Mark. He takes Mark’s outline, the letters of Paul that are floating around, and a collection of Jesus sayings that modern scholarship calls “Q,” as source material to write his novella about Jesus. Along the way the author sorts-out his theology of proclaiming Jesus, “Christ,” in a thoroughly Jewish context.
Matthew’s gospel begins with a genealogy connecting Jesus, a peasant from Galilee, to his Jewish faith. It lists people who did small things and great things remembered down through time. Matthew’s context is fifty to sixty years after the death of Jesus. It is full of violence, revolution against Rome, and an internal power struggle in the Roman government. Matthew’s Jesus has been characterized by scholars as another kind of Moses story. One who has come, sent by “I am who I am” to lead the people, his people, away from bondage, again, anew.
There is a growing community of Jesus followers, some with Jewish roots and the rest like us, Gentiles. There are disagreements between them about who Jesus was and what he means now, in their historical context.
Who gets to claim Jesus?
Who gets to define what being a follower of the Way or being a Christian means?
How does one get to be identified as a Christian?
Harsh words are shared. Us and them wins the day. Family members do not speak to one another. Later in the gospel we hear some called a “brood of vipers.” Do you have one of those lists? What about a “hypocrites” list? Maybe we just have different labels for our lists.
Matthew doesn’t have time for a nice story about the baby Jesus and his growing up years. He needs the adult Jesus who challenges “the way it has always been.” The first three chapters layout the case for Jesus’ identity as God’s most recent change agent.
Dr. Warren Carter, one of the New Testament professors at Phillips Theological Seminary, summarizes the Gospel of Matthew this way:
The Gospel is a counter-narrative that helps its audience to live a counter-cultural, alternative existence. (in the midst of such claims and commitments.) The Gospel asserts that it is God’s world, not Rome’s (11:25; 28:18); that God’s reign and presence are manifested in Jesus, and not in the emperor (1:23; 4:17); that God’s blessings extend to all people, not just the elite (5:3-12); that Jesus, not Rome, reveals God’s will.
Warren Carter, “Matthew Introduction.” The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Abingdon Press, 2003, p. 1746.
This year, Advent begins with a warning, “No one knows. Don’t even ask.” We are near the end of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus has just painted an apocalyptic vision that includes the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the disciples want to know, “When will that happen? What are the signs that is going to happen.” Jesus responds, “No one knows that day or hour. Not even me. Only God knows.” And in v42 he says, “Keep awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Well, if that doesn’t make you a little edgy I’m not sure what will. Then Jesus goes a step farther and compares the coming of the Lord to a thief breaking into a house. Tense, nervous, irritable, unable to relax, all these describe what it means to be “on edge.” Do you feel it? Can you sense it in yourself and others? Do you hear it? Something louder than a little squeaking sound.
Our devices give us instant access to all the terrors and the wonders of the world. The FOMO, fear of missing out, makes commitment harder. On edge. It seems like it has been this way since the last fireworks faded from the night sky New Year’s Eve in 2000. It was amped up in Sept 2001. Again during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Viral political profiteering. Mass casualty gun violence. Covid-19. I don’t think your politics, theology, religion, or ideological perspective matters. Little has felt normal for a long time.
But it is Advent and we are invited to hike the trail. There is a big sign at the entrance. In big letters is reads: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love. In smaller lettering, near the bottom, it says, “No one knows when. Don’t event ask. Just stay awake.” And still, some of our cousins in Christian faith think they can manipulate the Holy into acting on their timetable. They see signs or create signs that fit their perspective. But, that’s not hope. Not peace. Not joy. Not love. That is despair.
The longer I live, I have come to think of Advent through the lens of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. We are visited by hope, peace, and joy which are the building blocks of knowing love.
Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s business partner in life, appears in spirit form. He is weighed down by a long chain and his ledger books. Scrooge tells the spirit that Jacob was a good businessman in life. And Jacob, recounting his life and how he made his chain link by link shouts at Scrooge, “Human kind should have been my business during life. But, you Ebenezer, you still have a chance to change.”
In advent, we are visited by these spirits, these glimpses reminding us of what the writer of Psalm 122 said:
Psalm 122: 8-9, NRSV
For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
At the end of his second inaugural address, President Lincoln said:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address.” March 4, 1865.
Those words always jar my being. They are a big idea and commitment these United States struggle with today.
When my cousin Matthew was in the 6th grade, his mother bought him shoes three times that year. The summer before 7th grade she bought him shoes two sizes too big, and did so each year until he left home after high school. Matthew looked pretty goofy walking around in shoes too big, and often stumbled even after learning to navigate the bigger size. Lincoln gave the Nation a vision back in 1865, an idea at least two sizes too big.
And the same is true for the prophets in the Hebrew bible. We hear Isaiah and Jeremiah spin an image of God’s comfort, reminding us that it is our task to comfort exiles wherever they are found. We must cry out and act out through the lessons taught by our own grief, suffering, growing, and maturing. Act out: the Lord our God is revealed in the way we live and move and have our being. God is revealed in the way you practice hope; practice peace; practice joy, and practice love.
And here in the 21st century, disciples from all the branches of Christianity go to Jesus and ask, “When? What are the signs of the reign of God?” The Jesus that preached about the kindom of God and the good news of God responds, “You can’t know. Even I don’t know. Don’t even ask. Stay awake.” That counter-cultural Jesus. That Jesus who lived a daring and provocative hope, peace, joy, and love.
An edgy Advent challenges the distracting sentimentality and consumerism of our time. It’s an Advent that names the wilderness and points to the good news of God.
It’s a compass to help us prepare a way,
our way,
the Lord’s way,
and navigate the trail’s wilderness, valleys, mountain tops, and edges.
Is Advent one of those two sizes to big ideas?
I don’t know if you plan to enter the Christian trail this year through Advent. The experiences in your life may be too painful, too confusing, or you just aren’t feeling it: Advent and Christmas. Though you’ve hiked the trail many times, maybe you can’t imagine what the trail looks like anymore. If so, you are not alone. I know many embodying that space, admit it or not. Maybe the best you can do is hear the stories of others who walk this part of the trail. It’s ok. You don’t have to enter the trail here.
Sometimes, all we can do is hear stories and ponder them. Stories like this one about the Magic Monastery.
They have a Brother there who was one of the shepherds who first greeted the Christ Child. Of course this Brother is very old now, but when you hear him play his flute, you will become very young. (Be careful. You may do something silly.)
The three Wise Men are there also. Each Christmas one of them will give the sermon. Listen very carefully. You may have difficulty with his language, but that is because he is so wise and you are so foolish. I thought he was superficial, talking about incense on Christmas. It was only later that I realized he had been talking about the Real incense, and now I can smell that wherever I go. Perhaps when you go there he will be speaking about the real gold, or the real myrrh.
And then there are the angels. You’ll hear them singing. What shall I say? It is God’s music. It gets into your bones. Nothing is the same afterwards.
But all of this is nothing. What really matters is when the Word becomes flesh. Wait till you experience that.
Theophane the Monk, Tales of a Magic Monastery. Crossroad, 1981.
Greeting Distant Promises
I was gifted the trust of the pulpit at a congregation that is beginning a search for a minister. It is a common practice for a person in my position to preach for a congregation soon after a Sr. Minister (lead minister or preaching minister) departs. I chose to dig around one of the Lectionary readings for the day instead of words from Romans 12 that I’ve used in the past. I think a sermon from a Regional Minister or Associate Regional Minister, my denomination’s term for middle judicatory personnel, a sermon in these moments should contain: encouragement, an invitation to reflection as a community of faith and individually, and reassure that the skills, experience, and faithfulness needed for the search process exist within the congregation. And, it should dig in the biblical text.
The scripture text for the sermon is Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16.
Looking around the room, I opened the orientation to the Search process with these words, “Let me say it for you, ‘What’s next?’”
What’s next? It’s the backstory that determines the tone.
Excitement! Like kids at Christmas or people that love amusement parks anticipating the next ride. “What’s next?!”
Frustration. Like getting a flat tire for the second time in a month or maybe co-workers aren’t doing the job well or right and you are picking up the slack, but not being recognized. “What’s next?”
Exhaustion. You’ve heard of the rule of three? It’s late and the phone rings about another family member, friend, or co-worker. Or maybe it’s the voices of nurses or doctors during the pandemic. “What’s next?”
Apathy or ambivalence. It’s that irritating tone of a twelve year old, from a teen or someone who is actually an adult. “Whatever . . . what’s next?”
Every morning I get an email from my favorite marketing guru, Seth Godin. It is pithy thoughts of varied length that help kickstart my day. The July 30th email was called,
“Strength through resilience.” It said:
Strength through resilience
Brittle systems are weak. Short-term wins feel like a demonstration of will by those that seek to be strong.But the only run is the long run.
When we embrace flexible, renewable and diverse approaches, we create actual progress.
Seth Godin, July 30, 2022. https://seths.blog/2022/07/strength-through-resilience/
My father worked in the wholesale pharmaceutical business his entire professional life. He worked for three companies. Beginning as a warehouse worker stocking products and pulling orders. When given the opportunity he took a field sales position, and then sales manager, and then division manager with oversight for all the aspects of the business from the warehouse, sales, and accounting.
When one company was nearing its lifecycle he moved to another, then another as capitalism did what it does: bankruptcy, hostile takeovers, regional family businesses sells to a larger company, and then after some time the buyouts or “early retirements” euphemism begin for longtime essential employees that help the transition, but are too expensive to keep. In the tough moments of growing up my father would remind my sister and I, “You’ve got to have the RMA, the right mental attitude.” That came from a sales class, no doubt, but it was a good way to redirect and reframe a situation. He would add, “You’ve got to do the work to the best of your ability. Have the RMA and do the work to the best of your ability then, no matter the outcome there will be something you can be proud of, or learn, that you could apply the next situation.”
As the search for another minister begins, the power of positive thinking could be helpful. You will hear someone suggest that, “You’ve got to take it on faith.” You will need conviction or assurance. And, you will need patience with one another, with yourself, and with God. Buried in the reading from Hebrews today, we are reminded that belief and faith are about greeting distant promises. Of all the hard things in life right now, that maybe the hardest thing for a culture built on have it your way, have it all, and have it right now.
I bear the greetings, prayers, and gratitude of your siblings in faith all around the Region. Thank you for being a voice of gospel from this corner. If you are visiting today you will notice that this congregation is beginning to search for a minister:
A person who will connect this congregation to its local story;
A person who will connect this congregation to its Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) story, and the ecumenical story of Christendom locally and broadly;
A person who, though their ministerial leadership as preacher, teacher, prophet, and pastor will help this congregation greet the distant promises of its mission and witness as followers of Jesus. No pressure.
Friends, members, and visitors alike, don’t give in to consumer culture. Don’t just consume worship, bible study, mission opportunities, or congregational life. Get involved in this congregation’s witness of the good news of God and remember:
that the Lord’s mercies never cease;
that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning;
and the Lord’s faithfulness extends beyond our ability to see in a mirror dimly, or recognize the image of God in others as well as in our own face.
As you are willing and your spirit able, please join me in prayer:
Open our ears and our hearts, O God, that our meditations, words, and living are a reflection of our faith in You, who creates, who redeems, and who sustains creation and our lives. Amen.
Buckle up church. Here we go.
There are several ideas in the text today that are worthy sermon material or further study in Sunday school or a small group setting.
We could explore conviction or assurance as individual ideas or as an equation that, when worked well, leads to faith.
We could explore how Hebrews, and the Gospels, specifically Matthew, have been used as a crutch for Christian supersessionism. In its simplest form, this is the idea that Christians have become the chosen people of God succeeding the Jewish community because of Jesus. This kind of theology is subtly laid in the foundations of Christendom. Its tamest form shows up in pity, prayers, covert discrimination, and evangelizing Jews and non-Christians with the treats of hell. Its loudest form produces overt antisemitism, Christian dominionism, Christian nationalism, violence, and death. It can be argued that slavery is the original sin of these United States and at its core is a doctrine of discovery(1) fueled by Christian supersessionism. It’s thinking that the world is your oyster even if you have to steal it in the name of God.
We could ponder the significance of the other way to translate verse 11. We heard, “By faith he (Abraham) received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because Abraham considered the Lord faithful who had promised.” That verse can also be translated:
“By faith Abraham received power of procreation, even though he was too old. By faith, Sarah herself though barren, received power to conceive, even when she was too old, because she considered the Lord faithful who had promised.” That changes the object of verse 12.
“Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, ‘as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.’”
Hebrews 11:12 (NRSV)
Is the choice to remember Abraham over Sarah the author being consistent with the other males named in the text or is it something else, an authoritarian patriarchy that remains embedded in our culture even today?
Indeed, in good faith we could ponder what the rhythmic creedal cadence of “by faith” meant in ancient times, in the history of Christianity, and today in our lives.
Any of those ideas are worthy of our attention. To approach the text today, it is important to remember that the writer of Hebrews is using metaphorical language to describe the life of Jesus and his passion for God. The biblical scholar Marcus Borg and a small majority of New Testament scholars place the writing of Hebrews about the same time as the Gospel of Matthew, somewhere between 80 and 90 CE. These are second generation communities of Jews, Gentiles, and what Borg calls, “God-lovers,” people who knew the Jewish bible well, but were not necessarily Jewish. He goes on to urge modern readers not to “literalize the metaphorical language.”(2) So, when we read the texts, we need to remember there were power struggles, theological, economic, and political struggles, when these texts were written, just as there are today.
A thousand years after Jesus, St. Anselm transformed Jesus’ passion for God and the way he lived that passion into what became known as substitutionary atonement. A theological passion of Christ. A doctrinal formula for faith. But, Dr. David Lose reminds, “Faith, invites us to embrace mystery rather than merely solve a puzzle.”(3)
Rather than seeking to have faith and trust in God, as Jesus did, much of Christianity has placed its faith in Jesus and stopped following him most of the time.
Where does Jesus lead? Probably, more ministry like the Welcome Table. (feeding people)
Probably, more ministry providing shoes, clothing, and housing to neighbors needing a hand up.
Probably, church that looks more like intergenerational VBS rather than a social club.
Probably, places that require risk.
The Most Reverend Michael Curry is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. You probably know the name because he officiated the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan. In a sermon back in 2013 he said:
In one sense it’s pretty easy to worship Jesus on Sunday, but it is something else to follow Jesus out there in that world on Monday. It’s easy to be a member of a church in America. All you basically have to do is show up. Woodie Allen said, “Half of life is just showing up.” In America you can be a member of a church by just showing up, filling out the membership card, answering an altar call, visiting the pastor, new member committee. It’s not complicated. But discipleship in community is a much more difficult and demanding proposition. Discipleship is about following Jesus, by living his teachings, what he actually taught, and by living in the Spirit of his very life. And that’s not easy.
The Most Rev. Michael Curry, “Keep the Faith.” August 18, 2013, Day1.org
To parse out good news of God in the text today we need to do a bit of work with it, but mostly we need to work on ourselves. What are we bringing to the text from our life experience that hinders or enlightens our discipleship following Jesus? That is the hard part for each one of us, for our social systems, and our congregational system. To work on ourselves first and have faith that others are doing the same with integrity.
This is particularly significant during the interim time when a congregation is seeking another minister. It doesn’t matter why a minister leaves. It creates anxiety, grief, and questions. If you’ve been around this congregation a while you know the last decade has had its share of grief, some conflict, and important ministry serving the community and the congregation’s members. You’ve had to work on yourself as a community of faith. There is some basic maintenance to intentional Christian community that can make the hard times more tolerable, but it can’t keep hard times from coming. That kind of maintenance is always happening, but we are only aware of it in the hard times.
Ultimately, that is what the author of Hebrews is encouraging the readers of their time and ours to do. Work on yourself as a follower of Jesus. Realize that you are seeing in a mirror dimly. The opening words in chapter 12, will crescendo with the great cloud of witnesses that set the example. And chapter 13, is a melody of what life in Christian community looks like day to day. That life extends beyond Christian community, but it doesn’t impose it on the culture. It models life in the already, but not yet, kindom of God, but it does’t build an empire.
The 20th century preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, “The world has two ways of getting rid of Jesus. The first is by crucifying him; the second is by worshiping him without following him.”(4)
In ancient times is was a common practice to deify political and religious leaders. That was true of ancient Roman culture, and even today in the 21st century we humans still have a tendency of hero worship and history worship. Nostalgia can be an addictive drug. The rock-n-roll legend, Billy Joel, says it like this:
You can get just so much from a good thing
Billy Joel, “Keeping the Faith” An Innocent Man 1983.
You can linger too long in your dreams
Say goodbye to the oldies but goodies
‘Cause the good ole days weren’t always good
And tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems
I’m keeping the faith.
There is a film about three neighborhood kids, two boys and a girl, spend their time growing up until the girl moves away. Now in adulthood, the two boys, one a priest and the other a rabbi, have stayed connected and meet up with their long lost friend who is moving back to New York. She is some kind of corporate executive. Their friendship rekindles, but there are professional and personal struggles along the way. It is a story about relationships and the trust, honesty, and effort it takes to hold them together personally, professionally, and in congregational life. In the end they are “Keeping the Faith” in one another.(5)
Had we read the portion of Hebrews that was left out today, vv 4-7, we would have heard a kind of “hall of fame” of faithful stories of men, and following today’s reading beginning at v 23, the author offers their understanding of the faith of Moses. The chapter closes with a list of characters who have been remembered, some better than others, for their faith in God. It is important to note that a close reading of their stories are not always an example of what to do. Rather, the stories of Abraham and Issac, and Jephthah and his daughter, are cautionary tales about the extent to which people will go to put their ideas, or their communities’ ideas, of righteousness or faithfulness or salvation on God. We can hear the Holy One ask, “What kind of god do you think I am?” For more on this, invite my companion, the Hebrew bible scholar, to teach Sunday school for a few weeks.
Outside the fellowship hall there are images of ministers that have led this congregation. Their stories and leadership, like those whose images are not there, were not perfect. Few among us this morning remember all the stories, but we are recipients of their faithfulness. They are a reminder of what is possible. They are a reminder that a community of faith is more than one person, Sunday school class, or board vote. Like the faithful hall of fame in Hebrews this morning, we can imagine those persons had a trust in God that guided their journey in faith. They nurtured this congregation and served by greeting distant promises that they would not witness nor share in. Are we capable of doing the same?
And it wasn’t just them. Since the founding of this congregation in 1893, there have been laity, deacons, and elders that have given of themselves so that the next generation who gather for worship and witness of the good news of God would have a foundation upon which they could remodel, when necessary, what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a disciple of Christ. Are we capable of doing the same?
In his book, The Magnificent Defeat, Frederick Buechner wrote:
Faith is the word that describes the direction our feet start moving when we find that we are loved. Faith is stepping out into the unknown with nothing to guide us but a hand just beyond our grasp.
Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat, “Follow Me.” Seabury Press (New York) 1966.
Look around you this morning. There are hands to grasp. There are hands and spirits and lives ready to greet distant promises. You’ve heard me say this before. There is ministry to do and gospel to be in Enid that only you can do and only you can be. May God continue to bless your journey keeping the faith.
Notes
- For a simple explanation and links to further reading:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_doctrine
- Marcus Borg, Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written. Harper Collins (New York) 2012 p. 277-282.
- Dr. David Lose: Adam, Eve & the Bible. day1.org, August 18, 2011 https://day1.org/articles/5d9b820ef71918cdf2002ee1/dr_david_lose_adam_eve__the_bible
- The Most Rev. Michael Curry, “Keep the Faith.” August 18, 2013, Day1.org