Sermon Short

Every minister (pastor) has a process for creating the sermon.  Mine includes study of the text through the help of biblical scholars, the context of the author’s experience, awareness of a 21st century context, silence, and holding the way Jesus of Nazareth made God knows as a compass for navigating interpretation.  Then, I free write some paragraphs.  Then, I come back to those paragraphs and start to sort and order into what becomes the finished text.  Here are a few of the finished paragraphs that provides a sermon short.

The scripture text for the sermon is Matthew 23:1-12. Verse twelve drew my attention and was the focus of the sermon.

“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

This is Year A in the Lectionary which is a resource that, if followed, would help us read through most of the entire bible in three years.  During Year A, we learn about the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth through the Gospel of Matthew’s experience.  It is often a ’salty language’ good news.  Salty language is often thought of as vulgar, but I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind.  When I think about it, given the state of our world and particularly our Nation, the good news of God that Jesus proclaimed might sound like salty language to those that profiter from partisan-ism, and from the working poor and middle class of all races and religions.  Salty good news shines light in our lives and in the lives of leaders: religious and political.  Salty good news is exactly what Jesus preached and sometimes he even used words.

So, it is not surprising that the biblical story afflicts the comfortable as well as comforts the afflicted.

The gospel writers often put difficult questions into the mouths of the Pharisees, scribes, and others, seeking to test or entrap Jesus in wrong answers.   Last week it was a question about paying taxes to Caesar.  The 23rd chapter of Matthew should come with this warning, “Rant alert.”  Jesus has been questioned by Herodians, Sadducees, scribes, and Pharisees since he entered Jerusalem on parade day.  Matthew uses these groups like character actors playing the antagonists role opposite Jesus who Christendom casts as the protagonist.  But, I think a fair reading of all the gospels shows us that Jesus of Nazareth was the antagonists, in his context and often in our own.

Jesus questions the motives and character of his questioners; and by extension anyone that takes on leadership.

Those two English words, humble and exalted, are not a part of our daily vocabulary.  We hear or use the words humility or praise which are adequate alternatives, but these do not give us the clue we need to our practice of faith today.  I quick review at Dictionary.com gave me these definitions. 

Humble: courteously respectful, not proud or arrogant; modest. 

Humble:  who do you see in your mind’s eye that fits that word?

Exalted: to praise, but it can also mean: to stimulate the imagination.

Exalted: We live in a hyper-stimulated culture.  I indulge in it, benefit from it, and am limited by it.  We all are.  The always on internet, instant news and information from the far side of the world, energy drinks, very realistic video games that simulate everything, video on demand, blogging, Facebook, YouTube, texting and tweeting, hey Siri or hey Google.  Our culture stunts a part of the imagination, but, not enough to wall off the human heart.  This is why the imagination can be puzzled and inspired by words and images.

Words like, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Images: strangers seeing neighbors when natural disasters and human made disasters happen.

The words and life of Jesus inspired Paul to have a moment of clarity and see in a mirror dimly, “Love is patient, kind, not envious or boastful, arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable, resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.” 

Maybe that’s the best we can do: actions based in moments of clarity.

Jesus asks if we understand humility in our own time: the difference between living an open invitation and rounding up the perceived ‘D’ list folks for a party.  The difference between Christianity’s “believe and be saved” invitation, rather than practice the ways Jesus made God known in the world.

Momentary clarity.  I’m not completely sure, but I think this is how we experience exalted humbleness and maybe put it into practice.

, 11/06/2017. Category: Michael D, Theological Rant.

Living Through . . .

“In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”
Baba Dioum, Senegalese (Gratefulness.org)

When I visit a congregation I often read the prayer list first.  The list is dominated by many, many living through serious health issues.  There is the nod to those serving in the military and their families; and prayer for local, state, and federal representatives in government.  Rarely, are their mentions of government workers that serve no matter the party in power.  Many congregations are thriving and even in those there is no plain mention of the current context in which religious and non-religious people are living through.   And what is that?  Hold on and live through anxiety and conflict brought on by uncontrollable change.  This change is devolving American culture into political crime families supported by their version the facts and truth which is blessed by their religious imperialism of choice.  The fear of Y2K kept it from happening at the turn of the century, but that fear of global technological catastrophe only postponed what we are living through.  All around the planet, authoritarian leaders provide the group to blame for (you fill in the blank) and how those persons, fellow citizens or not, need to be isolated, abused, cast out, and roundly defeated.  People of all colors and creeds have this in common: anger, fear, and hate.  Scarcity, real and perceived, has eclipsed love as a common human experience.  “Don’t tread on me”, but I’ll tread on you to get my way, which is absolutely the only right way.  It appears that no amount of education can change a person once operating out of anger, fear, and hate.

White Nationalism, some Christian and some political, has returned from hibernation in our melting pot turned mulligan stew American way of life.  And like the current President of these United States, it appears that Americans can only find unity or happiness or fulfillment fighting with an “other” or an “enemy.”  The current version of the Grand Ole Party, with the help of Democrats, has used ‘divide and conquer’  with such precision that the United States of America has undergone a metamorphosis into a loose union of States that look more like the Nation States of Europe rather than, “Out of many, one.”  The current President embraced the soft systemic racism of whites whose job loss and anxiety is real, and blessed the idea “I may be poor or middle class, but at least I’m not . . .” which polite culture (now derided as political correctness) had at least shamed in muffled whisper.

So, when I visit congregations I’m aware that this is what religious and non-religious people are living through.  And that “cultural anxiety” is in the pews and effecting how people deal with one another in good times and hard times.  Even evangelical brands of Christian witness are experiencing what mainline denominations are dealing with: are you on my side or not?  Like walking grief, we are living through it.  I’m not sure you can do much more, but be aware of it and try to be self differentiated.  At some point, people of good will, will, gain the public eye, ear, and successfully lead.

 

My Monday Reading . . .

How a WWII-era forger saved lives, one fake document at a time
Anderson Cooper, 60 Minutes

This one quote shows what angry white guys mean when they talk about government overreach
David Roberts, Vox.com

Is $100,000 middle class in America?
Heather Long, Washington Post

College Advice I Wish I’d Taken
Susan Shapiro, The New York Times

John Boehner Unchained
Tim Alberta, Politico Magazine

, 10/30/2017. Category: Monday Morning Reading.
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