Category: Preaching Notes
Living without Excuses
This morning I offered a few words on Matt 22: 1-14, for the chapel service at Phillips Theological Seminary. These words, as you will see, are context specific to the seminary community, but I think remain relevant for general consumption. I’m grateful to my companion, Rev. Dr. Lisa W. Davison, for her conversation that helped shape these words.
Jesus, Jesus, What’s It All About?
Matthew 22:1-14
A Tale of a Magic Monastery
“Why not?” that was the first thing the monk said to me. He had never seen me before. I hadn’t said a word. “Why not?” I knew he had me. I brought up excuses: “My partner . . . the people I have to work with . . . not enough time . . . I guess it’s my temperament . . .”
There was a sword hanging on the wall. He took it and gave it to me. “Here, with this sword, you can cut through any barriers.” I took it and slipped away without saying a word. Back in my room in the guesthouse I sat down and kept looking at the sword. I knew that what he said was true.
But, the next day I returned the sword. How can I live without my excuses?(1)
This morning we heard Matthew’s Jesus speak of a banquet. Those invited had excuses, reasons why they would not or could not accept the invitation. Some actually kill the messengers that carry the word that it is time for the party. Violence escalates and there is collateral damage. Then, the invitation list grows to include the “B List” people, the good and the bad. I would call this the ethical and those that lack a moral compass. One person, who apparently is supposed to know better, shows up underdressed and is made an example of “what not to do.” Matthew’s Jesus proclaims, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” This is what the kindom of heaven is like? Had I been one of the disciples, given all that I had seen and experienced, I might have shouted, “Jesus, Jesus, what’s it all about?”
If you are having those kinds of moments in seminary, good. You may not have read it in the fine print of your acceptance letter, but that is one thing this experience is supposed to do. No one comes to seminary without baggage. You may have been de-churched, consider yourself part of the un-churched, or were at church every time the doors were open. No matter which it is, you’ve brought theological baggage with you that needs to be unpacked, aired out, washed, and sorted to determine what can be kept and what needs to be let go. This process, painful and frightening as it can be, helps you hear the nuance of what “called and chosen” can mean in the biblical story, as well as what it can mean in your life, or the life of the Church. The invitation to make your journey with God available to others is often more subtle than overt.
If you want to discuss the authenticity of these words of Jesus, I encourage you to visit with any of the Jesus Seminar scholars that are part of this faculty. In fact, I would encourage students to visit with every faculty member and ask about the hermeneutic she or he brings to the biblical witness. Those conversations enhance what you absorb from courses, whether they are in person and online.
This banquet story is not giving us a glimpse into why Jesus lived as he did and preached what he preached. Rather, this text is telling us about the conversations, arguments, and power struggles in the early Christian community and how they used stories about Jesus to determine who was part of the kindom of God and who was not. Those struggles continue today. What do you have to do to secure a seat at the table? I often look into the parables as if they are a mirror. What are these teaching stories, authentic and not, trying to show me about my practice of Christianity? How are they challenging my discipleship and my “love / hate” relationship with “institutional Church”? It is frightening, it is liberating, and it is humbling, to consider how these stories enable or disarm my excuses?
I think it is helpful to approach this text in Matthew by remembering that Jesus is involved in an argument with the religious leadership of the Temple. Remember, back in chapter 21, Jesus enters Jerusalem humbly to shouts of hosanna and at the end of that parade the entire city is asking, “Who is this Jesus?” Without a pause in the story, Jesus rides right up to the Temple, goes in and trashes it. He leaves for a day, and then returns. It is during this second visit, when the “authority” questions and debate begins. Jesus answers the religious leaders by telling parables that question their own understanding of where their authority derives from and what that authority obligates them to do. When you graduate from this institution of higher learning what authority is conferred in the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of your diploma? If you are studying for ministry and seeking ordination, I encourage you to begin thinking about this question, “What authority is conferred on you at ordination?” A second it like it, “How will you be different when you are ordained into Christian ministry?”
I don’t like hospitals, but hospital visits are part of a ministers life if you are serving a congregation and sometimes even when you are not. I was carrying the pager the night that Phyllis had begun to slip away. Family had gathered at her bedside and I received the call for one of her ministers to come to the hospital quickly. I had only met Phyllis one time before, three months earlier, when the other ministers were showing me the hospitals and the nursing home facilities that cared for our members. I remember driving to the hospital thinking, “But I’m the youth minister. Why am I carrying the hospital pager?” I went into the room and greeted her family. One of them told me that Phyllis had been unconscious since yesterday and her breathing was slowing and blood pressure dropping. The nurses said it would be hours now. I went and sat on the left side of her bed and took her hand. I don’t remember what I said. In the silence, as I was looking for the next word, Phyllis opened her eyes and said in a whispered voice, “It’s about time you got here. I’ve been waiting for your prayer.” We prayed, she looked around at family, and closed her eyes. The next day she quietly claimed the promise of her baptism. That hour of my life still works on me, on my excuses, and on my understanding of ministerial authority.
As trusted institutions, including the Church, fail to evolve and adapt to the rapidly changing culture, people are embracing what I call a “Holiday Inn Express” mentality or approach to living in more ways than we want to entertain. You know those commercials. Each one is built on a scenario in which a person knows what to do when it is needed, but they do not know the “why” behind their actions, except to say, “I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.”
My favorite one opens with a rodeo clown coaching a nervous cowboy about the best way to ride the bull he is sitting on. The clown gives the cowboy details about the bull and tells him to hang on. The cowboy, looking more calm, says, “You rodeo clowns sure are a life safer.” The clown responds, “Rodeo clown, ha, no, I’m with the birthday party. Hello kiddies.” The cowboy looks into the stands to see a group waving back to the clown. He turns back to the clown. His facial expression changes from calm to disbelief, disappointment, as the clown says, “But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night”. The clown jumps down, the gate opens, and the wild ride begins.
A marketing company took the old idea of “learning by osmosis” and created an effective ad campaign. Good outcomes can happen when people who know what to do, get involved, even if they do not know the “why” behind their actions. It is also a comforting excuse. Bill Cosby highlights the frustration of parenting. A child or youth has broken something, colored outside the lines, or disobeyed. The parent asks, “Why did you do that? The child responds, “I don’t know?” I imagine the parent of us all has had a similar frustration.
You can learn a lot by watching and doing what others do, even in the practice of Christianity. Some of it may come to make sense after a while, but life has a way of insisting that humans wrestle with belief, wrestle with the “why” when bad things happen, and wrestle with God. This kindom of heaven parable wakes us from the slumber of righteousness and startles our sense of privilege. Dr. Delores Williams, a womanists theologian writes,
Though we may think that the king’s treatment of the guest is a bit harsh, the message implied, here is that one must find a way to become properly equipped for what the occasion demands — even if one is not so equipped in the beginning . . . Jesus makes the point that many, many people are called but few are chosen. But this chosen-ness has nothing to do with elitism. It does have something to do with preparation.(2)
Rev. Dr. M. Jack Suggs, a New Testament scholar, was also the President of Brite Divinity School while I was a student. It was my second semester of seminary. I was sitting in a pew with friends at opening convocation. I don’t remember much of anything Dr. Suggs said that night, but these words caught my attention and have stuck with me. “Sometimes ministry is reduced to turning the crank that births the bade of Bethlehem and points the way to the empty tomb each year. Sometimes, that is all we expect of the minister or the Church. The Church, the Gospel, needs ministers that will do more than this.”(3)
You have responded to the invitation to attend seminary. This is one step in the journey of preparation. Your presence is a recognition that serving in the priesthood of all believers means more than turning the crank of Christian tradition. There are plenty of people who can do that.
If the kindom of God, that the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth embodied, if that kindom is ever to be an alternative to the current Age of Empire, here and now, it will happen because the many called or the few chosen will decide to live, without their excuses.
Notes
1. Theophane the Monk, Tales of a Magic Monastery, Crossroad, 1994, p. 86.
2. Delores S. Williams, “Excellence Beyond Standards”, The Christian Century, October 17, 1990, p. 931.
3. Paraphrase of Dr. M. Jack Suggs, from notes taken during opening convocation of Brite Divinity School, January 1988.
This and That: a mixed post.
It has been sometime since I posted my own words. I’ve been working on words for the Dmergent site, but cannot get anything on the screen that doesn’t have a tone of complaint to it. What follows represents many of the things I’ve been pondering and thinking about, talking about with my peers or my companion, and flat out struggling with while I serve in ministry. It could be that my subconscious is reminding me that I will have served in ordained ministry for 20 years this November and almost all that time focused on ministry with youth, children, and young adults. Like some of my colleagues that are “boomer” age, I think I’m revisiting, rather than wondering, what I’ve given my life too and why? I’ve been thinking systemically and theologically about Christianity and my expression of it though the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Below I am not commenting about any specific congregation, Region, nor any persons’ call to ministry, nor anyone’s belief in God or their expression of what “Christ” means. So, here it is, this and that.
This . . .
Distrust of institutions and the overt ways that many of our institutions, secular and sacred, have failed humanity in general, American society specifically, has given way to a questioning of authority and credentials that would have made the 1960’s Woodstock generation ecstatic without the drug assist. My post will seem “joy” depleted and I am aware that much of what I write appears to be negative rather than the critical reflection I think is necessary for a time such as ours. I can still hear our GMP telling me to not let the “bad wolf” howl on my shoulder. Well, one cannot adapt, improvise, and overcome without preparation, which includes critical reflection, to give one the confidence and ability to change, willfully, rather than react. I guess that passes as “bad wolf” these days. It is ironic that someone like me, who is anti-institution, now argues what must appear to many to be a conservative, institutional position. I trust that Dr. Edens and Rev. Margaret Harrison are having a good laugh in eternity. It is from their example, and many others that continue to serve in ministry, that I blog, speak, and serve in ministry with children, youth, and young adults that are the Church today and tomorrow. I am working on being dispassionate about my observations and concerns for our little frontier movement and for Christendom. Why today? It is a convergence of things I’ve been reading, conversations overheard and held, and an awareness that the systemic defunding of ministry with children, youth, and young adults coupled with generic ecumenism within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is one of the root causes of the decline of many of our congregations. I want for statistics to ground my claims, but no one has done that kind of research. The academic work of Kenda Creasy Dean, Andrew Root, and others are pointing a way back to a ministry based in theology, practice, and relationship, from the edutainment experiments of the past twenty years. When asked what someone interested in youth or children’s ministry should be studying in seminary or after the degree I respond, “All the bible, theology, preaching, education, and pastoral care courses you can. Read research in sociology and anthropology too.” When asked by some what they should be reading, but not going to seminary I often respond, “Why not go to seminary if you feel called to youth ministry?”
That . . .
What is typically called “contemporary” or “blended” worship in non-denominational, independent, and some mainline congregations generally means a “praise band” or “praise team,” video screens rather than hymnals, and a dressed-down minister/pastor (no liturgical garb except maybe a large cross). TV preachers almost always dress for success. It is a marketing and fund raising technique that “like asks like” brought to the preaching craft. The pastor may or may not have any formal training or education for ministry and this is considered an asset. Sanctuary space with symbols inspiring silence, reverence, noting that something important and mysterious happens here, have given way to stadium style concert venues or club settings where the preacher, the band, or praise team set the tone for mystery. Pulpits give way to wandering preachers that are performers and the biblical story is evidence, almost an idol, something to be believed like a book of spells, rather than teaching stories of ancient peoples dealing with similar human struggles that we in the 21st century face: meaningful existence, sorrow, community, the knowledge of God, and joy. What makes these services and congregations “contemporary,” “blended,” or “emergent” is the style of worship rather than the content of worship. Liturgy. The band or team has replaced the choir and it has a performance feel to it. Christian creeds have been reduced to praise chorus, something I once heard Fred Craddock describe as 7/11, “Seven words, eleven times.” This new form of creedal Christendom has found its way into non-creedal denominations like mine, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) primarily through church camp settings, things picked up a workshops, but not integrated into Disciples practice, or ministers following non-denominational trends that are “growth” strategies. For others these “7/11” are another form of chant or prayer that draw on monastic life. The ecumenical movement has been a success! Observe the way Protestant and non-denominational Christianity has become generic, not unified in building a kindom of God that is just, equal, or stands against the consumerism culture, but generic through contemporary style and pop-theology. Christianity has been tamed in the West as a means of liberation for the least of these in society or as the voice of conscious in government. I understand that many, many persons have been “de-churched” in their lives and that creating a space that doesn’t feel like the institutional Church that drove them away, or invited them to leave, is one answer to questions of “hospitality.” But, the content, the liturgy is what creates relevance in a service of worship that makes it traditional, contemporary or emergent. Some Disciples of Christ congregations are doing this well without simply borrowing from “successful” ministries. The most contemporary or emergent worship I’ve participated in has been Unitarian. Much of what is called “contemporary” or “emergent” worship that I’ve experienced is repackaged and dressed down orthodox Christian theology. Emergent seems more like a style of worship than a developing or evolving theology or way of being. Orthodox and Neo-Orthodox Christianity blurs the divinity of Jesus making him co-equal to God so that worshiping Jesus is worship of God. A first century Jew would have not spoke such words nor suggested such a thing. Not even the over confident Apostle Paul, an educated ancient Jew, would have suggested such a thing unless spinning a story to help Gentiles understand God through the lens of their Roman imperial culture and how God’s kindom is different. The overall picture of Jesus is a person that always pointed to God and away from himself. For me it is about the way(s) of Jesus more than the Christ of faith. Why am I thinking about this today?
This . . .
First, I am continuing to witness my denomination’s systemic devaluing of ordained ministry by creating paths to ordination into Christian ministry that do not include accredited higher education. For all the sacrificial language used at the table about Jesus and God, sacrificial leadership is no longer a valued part of preparation for ministry as a way to think theologically about “servant leadership.” The number of persons coming to seminary that cannot articulate a sense of call, with little long-term Christian experience, or fresh off an Emmaus Walk has required some seminaries to alter from “education” for ministry to “formation” for ministry. It has required a “Sunday school” approach to higher education rather than a balanced academic approach. A segment of the pastoral boomer generation feels ill-equipped by their seminary training to deal with the kinds of changes that have and are taking place in our culture and in the Church. I empathize, but ask, “What kind of continual life learning did you do after seminary? What kind of discipline or spiritual direction did you practice to maintain balance? What kind of relationships with other ministers, peers or friends, did you cultivate to walk with you through ministry?” Some of our leaders are embracing generic Christianity within our denomination under the cloak of freedom and out of their own vocational chaos. This will lead to an even greater divide among our congregations, some whom will have seminary trained persons and others that will have “alternative” track training, but all ordained and available in the search and call system of our denomination. I think this means we have to alter the “Promises of the Candidate” dramatically because alternative track is preparing persons for ordained ministry in specific settings and the “Promises of the Candidate” presupposes a larger understanding of Church. This does not account for those embracing a growing ethnic constituency whose culture does not place a value on educated “clergy.” The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is living through a reformation that will not end in a formal “split” because no one can financially afford it, but a schism is happening along racial, gender, sexual orientation, and educational lines all of which are based in our pragmatism and theology. Seminary education, once the standard, was the place where all these collided and set in motion ways for persons to be authentic and educated for service in Christian ministry through a denomination that placed education, lay and ordained, as a core value. Why would I make this claim? Observe all the colleges, universities, and seminaries that Disciples began back in the day and continue to support. The ability for Regions to offer unaccredited formal education of those wanting to be ordained into Christian ministry and serve beyond the congregation and Region that ordain her or him will further the generic ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Why would anyone choose our brand of Christian witness?
Second, I’m working on Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal and one of the Lectionary readings for October 9 is Philippians 4:1-9. These are often heard words from the Apostle in this text that speak of gentleness, thanksgiving, and peace. There are words about taking account of what is true, pure, honorable, pleasing, commendable, excellent or worthy of praise. We should keep doing these things. My background reading brought me to these two quotes that are working on me about this passage and what passes as popular, relevant Christianity today.
From Paul Tillich . . .
Pleasures can be provided and pain can be avoided, if we use or abuse other beings. But joy cannot be attained and sorrow cannot be overcome in this way. Joy is possible only when we are driven towards things and persons because of what they are and not because of what we can get from them. The joy about our work is spoiled when we perform it not because of what we produce but because of the pleasures with which it can provide us, or the pain against which it can protect us. The pleasure about the fact that I am successful spoils the joy about the success itself. Our joy about knowing truth and experiencing beauty is spoiled if we enjoy not the truth and the beauty but the fact that it is I who enjoys them. [I added the italics to the sentence above.]
(Paul Tillich, “Ch. 19: The Meaning of Joy”, The New Being, Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1955.) Click here to read more.
From Ronald Goetz . . .
Were we to try honestly to restate Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians from our own perspective, we would finally substitute our terms of value fir his. Where Paul would say, “Whatever is honorable,” we would better understand, “realistic.” Where Paul would say, “whatever is just,” we would settle for “acceptable.” Where Paul would say, “whatever is pure,” we would rather be “experienced.” Where Paul would say, “whatever is lovely,” we would say “functional.” Where Paul would say, “whatever is gracious,” we would be satisfied with “adaptable.” What Paul commends as “excellence,” we would translate as “cost-efficient.” And for us, what are the things most “worthwhile of praise”? Is not our praise most inspired by popularity and fame? In many ways the differences in fundamental values between the Moral Majority and those of us of a more liberal persuasion are fewer than we think. A neutral outside observer, seeing the similarities in our comfortable lifestyles, might well conclude that we are so alike in our praxis that our differences in theological theory are rendered trivial. This country’s liberals and fundamentalists alike are, after all is said and done, 20th-century American Christians.
(Ronald Goetz, “A Child of His Time”, The Christian Century, December 5, 1984, p. 1143.) Click here to read more.