I have been preparing a sermon based on Romans 11, which is where the Apostle Paul reflects on the troubling question of whether God has rejected the Jews whom God had previously chosen as a special people destined for God's blessings and redemption. Paul's answer is a resounding: "No, God is faithful and true even if no one else is; and God will keep his promise to Israel and save this special people of God." Read Romans 11 and then marvel at how the Church through the centuries has ignored this very plain affirmation of the Jewish people by the leading voice of early Christianity. Somehow as I was reflecting on this, I was realizing how Paul's experience as a Jew, as a persecutor of Christians and then as one who proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah from God and joined Christians as a leader/Apostle - I was realizing how all of this must have opened Paul's heart up in a remarkable way. This letter to the Romans shows just how big Paul's heart got, just how big his Gospel was, just how universal his hope was. This was one of his latest letters, it seems. Well, all of this raised my hopes for us all and below is what I have written as the concluding portion of the sermon for Sunday, August 7:
"Paul understood so well just how easy it was as a human being to be deluded about oneself and life in general. Paul understood very well how terribly easy it was for a human being to fall into a false way of living and lose all touch with the reality of God. And, Paul knows the God of Jesus and has experienced that God’s will to save is so much greater than our will to reject life from God. Paul’s life is a life of hope. His preaching is preaching filled with hope, not just hope in general, but hope in the living God who is at work reconciling the world and every human being in it to himself. Paul sees this and feels this at every turn in life, and as he proclaims it, he awakens this hope in others. And, I proclaim this same truth today to you and among you.
'God was in Christ reconciling the world and all of us in it to himself. God’s Spirit is working right now to bring reconciliation to your life: reconciliation with God, reconciliation with others, reconciliation of your broken and divided self. God’s Spirit is at work right now to bring reconciliation between groups of people who have been hostile towards each other. I tell you this is a reality in our world. And, this reality of God’s reconciling Spirit is the most important reality there is. And, it is a reality that you can experience, and participate in because in truth it is the reality by which you live. In this reality, “we live and move and have our being” whether we are aware of it or not.
"You do not have to live out your life stuck in the ruts of despair and meaninglessness and hopelessness. You are a child of God. That is what Jesus came to reveal by the way he treated people, by the way he cared for the sick, by the way that he upheld the dignity of the poor, by the way he respected authorities enough to tell them the truth even if it hurt their sense of importance and even when it threatened their sense of power and control in life.
"You do not have to live out your life cut off and alienated from the life-giving Spirit of God. As Paul once said: “In God, we live and move and have our being.” The Spirit of God is closer to you than you are to yourself, but somehow you and I are keeping this life-giving and gracious power at arms length. Somehow we are living like strangers when we need to realize we are at home in this world. You are a child of the living God, made to live at peace with God on this earth, made to be at home on this earth, with other human beings, and at home in your own life, at peace in your own body and with who you are in God’s will.
"Although many of us gathered today have experienced the gracious presence of God at many times in our lives, still so often we live as if God’s Spirit is not at work in the world and in our lives. Although many of us gathered today have sung praises that we really mean this morning, when we turn to face the realities of our lives, we will begin to lose touch with the reality of God in our lives and in our world. But, we don’t have to. We don’t have to. A few of you in here today really know this – you know it better than I do. You know that there is a way to live close to God’s Spirit and consistently be at peace with God and others – I didn’t say live perfectly, but consistently at peace with God and others in the Spirit of God. There is a way to walk into the world and not lose touch with the Holy presence of God. At times, I have experienced this, and at times it slips away. But, there is a way to stay nearer this reality that is more basic and essential than all the other realities we deal with. To stay nearer, it takes some real devotion to God, and openness to learning how God is present not just in the time of worship but in the time of leisure and the time of work and the time of anger and in the time of humor. It takes an openness to the Spirit of God in all of life to learn that God is a God of reality; God is present in our world in all aspects of life. God does not abide in houses made of human hands, but in all the living beings he has made.
Jesus revealed the way of living near to God in all of life. He was at home on the sea, fishing with his disciples; he was at home in the desert surrounded by wilderness and wild animals; he was at home with tax collectors and sinners, even at the parties they held; he was at home eating and drinking wine with common people or religious leaders; he was at home in his own body; he was at home reading the scriptures in holy worship; he was at home alone in prayer with his God; he was at home in times of celebration, and he was at home in times of sorrow and grief. Jesus knew what is was to live on this earth as a child of God, near to God, living close to the reality of God and so living fully in the reality of life in this world.
"And, God’s Spirit remains free to move with or without us; God’s Spirit continues to create good out of evil, love out of hate, order out of chaos, chaos and then new order out of unjust and oppressive order. If we have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand and experience – then, we can experience and be near this reality of God throughout our lives. To be near God is everything. It gives life purpose and hope and renews our strength when we feel we have nothing left to life for, nothing left to live on, nothing left at all. To be near God is everything in life. I am convinced we can remain a lot nearer to God a lot more often than we have ever imagined before. I am convinced that it is more natural to do so, than not to do so. It is how we are made in our depths. And, if we will start living from the depths of our lives, and quit living out of the shallows of our lives, we will come to a more natural, less fabricated, way of living, and then one day we may say very simply what a lot of sane, genuine people who love life have said for centuries:
“For me, it is good to be near to God. . . ."
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Expectations
I remember the words of John Donne: "There are light hours enough in each day for a man to complete his whole journey intended by Thee."
It makes me think of expectations. The expectations we have of ourselves, the expectations we have of others, the expectations others have of us, and the expectations we think others have of us, and the expectations others think we have of them. And, that makes John Donne's words seem so wonderful, because these words reveal a way of freedom from all these expectations and anticipations of what is expected and suggest that there is an ultimately gracious expectation that overcomes all else - the expectation of God that we live within the gracious provisions and bounds set out for us that happen to be not what we expected or what others expected of us, but just what we need and desire in the depths of our being.
It makes me think of expectations. The expectations we have of ourselves, the expectations we have of others, the expectations others have of us, and the expectations we think others have of us, and the expectations others think we have of them. And, that makes John Donne's words seem so wonderful, because these words reveal a way of freedom from all these expectations and anticipations of what is expected and suggest that there is an ultimately gracious expectation that overcomes all else - the expectation of God that we live within the gracious provisions and bounds set out for us that happen to be not what we expected or what others expected of us, but just what we need and desire in the depths of our being.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Thinking About Preaching
Sunday after Sunday for most every Sunday for the past 22 years I have led or helped lead worship and preached a sermon to a group of people gathered for worship in a church. Since July of 2006, I have shared the preaching/worship leading with two other pastors, so that one time a month and sometimes two times a month I would not preach. But, preaching sermons is something that is just a part of my life.
Now that I am not going to be preaching this coming Sunday, I am stopping to think about preaching on this day when I would normally start thinking about what I would be preaching this coming Sunday.
Preaching has become for me the end of a process that I go through each week in which I engage in a reflection on different parts of the Scripture as these scriptures relate to my experience in life: both experiences I have had and experiences that are being formed in the present. But, it gets beyond the text of scriptures, or usually it does. At some point, I begin to feel some sense of engaging with a power beyond me; at some point, I begin to feel that I am finding some freedom from my own ideas, though I always must rely on my ideas to express what I am finding in this experience of the spirit.
At some point, if the process produces something that gives hope and begins to open a path of trsnformation in life, I end up finding that I am prone to assert my ideas, and in a strong sense, most every sermon on the first run or two simply has too much self-assertion in it. It is through working through this first one or two versions that I am working through my self towards something more than self. What I mean is that in the first round or two of writing sermons, I seem to usually have this desire to put forward a really sharp idea of mine or demonstrate something about a peculiar view I have or throw out a criticism or two of other's views. In the second round, I begin to separate the wheat from the chaff. And, if I really come to a sermon worth preaching, it is usually after I feel my self fading towards the end of the week in the sermon preparation process because I get so interested in communicating something about seeking a real transformation of our selves in faith that I lose a desire to assert or put forward my self and my ideas.
As I write these words, I realize that I usually don't get to "stage 3" of sermon preparations. Most of my sermons get preached somewhere in stage 2 and many have gotten preached while still in stage 1. But, these days, I am working harder until I get some freedom from self in this process. Last week, I worked hard but didn't quite get to clarity between two different messages from the passage in 2 Corinthians. I posted one sermon I had written out beforehand, but I had another one prepared as well. And, I couldn't find the one message that brought them together and I didn't feel like just preaching one or the other. So, I just stood up and tried to bring it together in my talking. I was doing well at first, but then I got off track by not letting the message I had started with carry on. I switched gears to the second message. Well, someone might have heard something worth hearing in the somewhat disjointed talk that highlighted two distinct parts of Paul's words without being able to find that powerful way of expressing the one message waiting to be preached.
So, did I fail on Sunday in the sermon? I don't think so. Because even though it lacked coherence, and certainly could have had a better movement and clearer theme, I did have my focus on communicating something to others that could really help us awaken to God's transforming reality in this world and in our lives. I think I am going to rewrite and repreach from that passage in the next Sunday I preach. Because I was on the way to somewhere and didn't arrive. I didn't break through to what I was getting a glimpse of. I am going to go back, work my way through the two different messages I had prepared and then revisit that passage, and see if I can get a clearer sense in my spirit what I kept being inspired by but could never quite express. There is a liberating word that I have just about seen and just about heard, but it slipped away right as I tried to grasp it, express it. Maybe I need to quit trying so hard and relax my spirit.
Now that I am not going to be preaching this coming Sunday, I am stopping to think about preaching on this day when I would normally start thinking about what I would be preaching this coming Sunday.
Preaching has become for me the end of a process that I go through each week in which I engage in a reflection on different parts of the Scripture as these scriptures relate to my experience in life: both experiences I have had and experiences that are being formed in the present. But, it gets beyond the text of scriptures, or usually it does. At some point, I begin to feel some sense of engaging with a power beyond me; at some point, I begin to feel that I am finding some freedom from my own ideas, though I always must rely on my ideas to express what I am finding in this experience of the spirit.
At some point, if the process produces something that gives hope and begins to open a path of trsnformation in life, I end up finding that I am prone to assert my ideas, and in a strong sense, most every sermon on the first run or two simply has too much self-assertion in it. It is through working through this first one or two versions that I am working through my self towards something more than self. What I mean is that in the first round or two of writing sermons, I seem to usually have this desire to put forward a really sharp idea of mine or demonstrate something about a peculiar view I have or throw out a criticism or two of other's views. In the second round, I begin to separate the wheat from the chaff. And, if I really come to a sermon worth preaching, it is usually after I feel my self fading towards the end of the week in the sermon preparation process because I get so interested in communicating something about seeking a real transformation of our selves in faith that I lose a desire to assert or put forward my self and my ideas.
As I write these words, I realize that I usually don't get to "stage 3" of sermon preparations. Most of my sermons get preached somewhere in stage 2 and many have gotten preached while still in stage 1. But, these days, I am working harder until I get some freedom from self in this process. Last week, I worked hard but didn't quite get to clarity between two different messages from the passage in 2 Corinthians. I posted one sermon I had written out beforehand, but I had another one prepared as well. And, I couldn't find the one message that brought them together and I didn't feel like just preaching one or the other. So, I just stood up and tried to bring it together in my talking. I was doing well at first, but then I got off track by not letting the message I had started with carry on. I switched gears to the second message. Well, someone might have heard something worth hearing in the somewhat disjointed talk that highlighted two distinct parts of Paul's words without being able to find that powerful way of expressing the one message waiting to be preached.
So, did I fail on Sunday in the sermon? I don't think so. Because even though it lacked coherence, and certainly could have had a better movement and clearer theme, I did have my focus on communicating something to others that could really help us awaken to God's transforming reality in this world and in our lives. I think I am going to rewrite and repreach from that passage in the next Sunday I preach. Because I was on the way to somewhere and didn't arrive. I didn't break through to what I was getting a glimpse of. I am going to go back, work my way through the two different messages I had prepared and then revisit that passage, and see if I can get a clearer sense in my spirit what I kept being inspired by but could never quite express. There is a liberating word that I have just about seen and just about heard, but it slipped away right as I tried to grasp it, express it. Maybe I need to quit trying so hard and relax my spirit.
We Have This Treasure in Earthen Vessels: 2 Corinthians 4:7-11
“But, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
Right before this passage, Paul has been celebrating the ministry God has given him and his co-workers. He writes in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, vv. 5 & 6:
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said: “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
But, Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that the truth of the Gospel is God’s truth and God’s possession, not Paul’s truth or something Paul can claim control over. So, Paul makes a point of clarifying who he is as a preacher of the Gospel.
He says: “But, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to the show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul was not called to preach his own ideas, or to simply preach about his own life or to put on display his personal talents. He was called to proclaim Christ, the Son of God, to the glory of God.
Paul says, as for me and my fellow ministers, we are just barely getting by; there is nothing terribly impressive about our lives, and certainly I don’t think many of you would want to go through what we are going through.
“For we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be manifest in our mortal flesh.”
With these words Paul is speaking of the history of his ministry – he was afflicted in every way. We know from other parts of scripture that he had to be passed over a city wall in a basket to escape being killed by authorities; other times, he was flogged with whips and put in prison; another time, he was stoned, and left for dead, and he speaks at the beginning of this letter of 2 Cors of having been close to death in Asia. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul speaks of some of these hardships. Now, maybe in our day, speaking of going through so much trouble might be seen as bragging about one’s endurance and wanting attention for how much suffering one had gone through. But, back in those days, that was not how you improved your reputation as an apostle and minister of the Gospel. In fact, all of these sufferings of Paul were reasons that he was criticized. The common view at that time was that any minister who had the real anointing of God would have the blessings of God in his physical and material life as well (and that view may still exist in our culture). A true apostle, it was said, would have been victorious and strong in body, because God’s Spirit would be with him at all times. Well, Paul got beaten, arrested, almost executed, and on top of that he apparently had a sickness that caused him to be very unimpressive in physical appearance. No, Paul wasn’t the impressive looking and sounding religious leader they longed for. He wasn’t living “the good life;” he wasn’t walking 10 feet above the ground untouched by the troubles and struggles of human life.
And, in this holy letter to the Corinthians, Paul takes the time to make one point very clearly:
THE GOSPEL IS NOT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR ME; BUT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO THROUGH ME.
AND, I AM GOING TO STOP RIGHT THERE FOR A MINUTE. THE GOSPEL IS NOT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR ME; BUT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO THROUGH ME.
And, I’ll circle back around with a second point: WHAT GOD DOES FOR ME COMES AS A BY-PRODUCT OF WHAT GOD DOES THROUGH ME.
The false religion that Paul is opposing was teaching that the Gospel was all about what God can do for me and you. The false religion was ashamed of human frailty; and preached that human beings that were struggling with confusion and ailments and all sorts of weaknesses and tragedies were not faithful to God. False religion takes success as a sure sign of God’s favor, and defeat and struggle as a sure sign of God’s rejection. Sometimes defeat does come to us because of our sin; and sometimes success comes to us because of our faithfulness; but so often good things don’t necessarily come to the holy; and bad things often come to the holy as well as to the unholy. Jesus gave a strong reminder of this when he spoke of God’s blessings come to the evil as well as to the good.
But, Paul takes us a lot deeper than we are able to go with thoughts from our culture. Because he avoids talking about why good things come to bad people; or why bad things come to good people and all that. Paul takes us to a deeper level and silences all these questions.
Because, all the sudden, if you follow Paul’s words here, you become concerned with God’s will and what you can do to serve that will on earth. All the sudden, I am not worrying about whether I can have this or that, because the point of life is not what I can get but what God can do through me.
But, this is not an easy step from moving from concerns over my personal happiness to moving from concerns over God’s ministry being accomplished through me for others. CAN YOU AND I REALLY MAKE THIS MOVEMENT IN OUR LIVES – IN OUR MINDS, HEARTS AND ACTIONS. CAN I COME TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF FIRST OF ALL AS A CHANNEL OF GOD’S GIFTS TO OTHERS MORE THAN AS A RECIPIENT OF GOD’S GIFTS FOR ME?
But, some of us might wonder: “What about me? When am I going to be taken care of? When am I going to be blessed?” Today, we are going to put that question off, because of the way our passage goes. That’s the second point, that I speak of at the end.
Listen to Paul’s language here about a light of God that has shined in his heart, a light that he is saving and healing that he is letting shine through him to others.
But, as I tend to do more these days, I want to know how it is going to work. How can we hear these words and take them into our hearts and lives and really experience this transformation from seeing ourselves as recipients of God’s gifts to seeing ourselves as channels of Gods’ gifts to others.
Maybe a simple story will help. As a child, I remember the excitement of expecting gifts at Christmas time. My overwhelming viewpoint as a child at Christmas was the viewpoint of the recipient – the one who was expecting and excited about getting some good things. As an adult, my viewpoint at Christmas changed very much on gifts, especially when I had children. Because, I began seeing myself as a provider of gifts and the real excitement was about the giving and joy in seeing my little children receiving.
I think about all of us can relate to that and understand that transformation. And, I think this helps us understand what this transformation of faith is all about in our lives. There is certainly a time to be the recipient of gifts and to enjoy them fully. But, the main role of our lives in faith is to be channels of grace and good things to others. There is a time for an emphasis on self and self-understanding, especially in the younger years; but, the main emphasis of our adult lives in faith is to be on others and understanding others. There is a time when we have to look after ourselves and sustain ourselves, but the main focus in our lives of faith is to be upon looking out for others and sustaining others.
For the Apostle Paul, his commitment to being a channel of God’s grace seems so complete that it might make us say: “Well, that’s because he was an apostle; I am just some regular human being struggling to make it day by day.” If we take Paul’s words that way, he would be very disappointed. Because, what he is really getting at in this passage is that he, like us, is full of weakness and struggle and subject to disruptions and sickness and worries, but that God’s Gospel continues to shine through him and sustain him because of the surpassing power of God in Jesus Christ. Paul’s point in this letter is that his sicknesses, his weaknesses, his lack of impressiveness as compared to other preachers, is no hindrance to God working through him. In fact, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 that he has learned that ‘God’s power is made perfect in human weakness.’
I know that we all need to receive some gifts and blessings – some good things in life. I know we all yearn for some fulfillment of our good desires in life. I wish all of that for you as well. But, our identity, our worth, our deepest satisfaction in life will never be in these experiences of receiving or in these experiences of getting good things. Paul is passing onto us the holiest of secrets – the real secret of life if we have hearts and minds to hear it and to understand. I am hearing it like a song in my ear that I like the sound of, but I just can’t seem to learn to sing it.
Maybe one other story might help. I had a big disappointment once in college, And, I was debating this in prayer to God – I guess I was really complaining in my sorrow. And, I heard a voice within that was very strong – that didn’t seem like it came from me at all and it said: YOU ARE NOT HERE TO BE SATISFIED, BUT TO OBEY ME. And, that flat ended the complaining, the praying and the pity party. It was like a jolt of reality. I haven’t had many things happen that clearly to me in my life, but that one has stuck with me.
Maybe the way of faith that Paul is speaking of is not so hard to understand. How often have you experienced in life that you can only really help another person if you can get that other person interested in helping others? If you can help them focus with you on a good work that gets them to look outside self and become part of something with others. That is one way of understanding what God’s Spirit is doing for us.
And, that brings me to the second point I mentioned above. What about our happiness? What about you and me? Sure, this sounds wonderful about being a channel of God’s grace to others. And, yes, being in the role of giving gifts is a very inviting role. But, I know myself. I know that I have some real needs and desires. I know they aren’t going away. But, the best I know at this point in my life, our genuine needs get met on the other side of becoming a channel of grace and perhaps in some different ways than we would have expected and without us even trying to get these things. And, there is probably a good reason for this. My guess is that we do not understand our real needs until we are on the other side of commitment to God. Jesus did say to his disciples: “You father knows you need all these things; but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well.” Again, Jesus said: “He who gives up his life for my sake will find it.” The only way I know to be happy is to give up seeking happiness and seek to serve God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. When obeying God becomes our first commitment, things start falling into place a little at a time..Like I say, it’s a song I can hear playing in my ear that I can’t sing, but I can’t help listening. It’s a beautiful song. Someday, I am going to learn to sing it; Someday we are all going to learn to sing it in our living fully for the glory of God. Amen.
Right before this passage, Paul has been celebrating the ministry God has given him and his co-workers. He writes in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, vv. 5 & 6:
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said: “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
But, Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that the truth of the Gospel is God’s truth and God’s possession, not Paul’s truth or something Paul can claim control over. So, Paul makes a point of clarifying who he is as a preacher of the Gospel.
He says: “But, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to the show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul was not called to preach his own ideas, or to simply preach about his own life or to put on display his personal talents. He was called to proclaim Christ, the Son of God, to the glory of God.
Paul says, as for me and my fellow ministers, we are just barely getting by; there is nothing terribly impressive about our lives, and certainly I don’t think many of you would want to go through what we are going through.
“For we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be manifest in our mortal flesh.”
With these words Paul is speaking of the history of his ministry – he was afflicted in every way. We know from other parts of scripture that he had to be passed over a city wall in a basket to escape being killed by authorities; other times, he was flogged with whips and put in prison; another time, he was stoned, and left for dead, and he speaks at the beginning of this letter of 2 Cors of having been close to death in Asia. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul speaks of some of these hardships. Now, maybe in our day, speaking of going through so much trouble might be seen as bragging about one’s endurance and wanting attention for how much suffering one had gone through. But, back in those days, that was not how you improved your reputation as an apostle and minister of the Gospel. In fact, all of these sufferings of Paul were reasons that he was criticized. The common view at that time was that any minister who had the real anointing of God would have the blessings of God in his physical and material life as well (and that view may still exist in our culture). A true apostle, it was said, would have been victorious and strong in body, because God’s Spirit would be with him at all times. Well, Paul got beaten, arrested, almost executed, and on top of that he apparently had a sickness that caused him to be very unimpressive in physical appearance. No, Paul wasn’t the impressive looking and sounding religious leader they longed for. He wasn’t living “the good life;” he wasn’t walking 10 feet above the ground untouched by the troubles and struggles of human life.
And, in this holy letter to the Corinthians, Paul takes the time to make one point very clearly:
THE GOSPEL IS NOT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR ME; BUT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO THROUGH ME.
AND, I AM GOING TO STOP RIGHT THERE FOR A MINUTE. THE GOSPEL IS NOT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR ME; BUT ABOUT WHAT GOD CAN DO THROUGH ME.
And, I’ll circle back around with a second point: WHAT GOD DOES FOR ME COMES AS A BY-PRODUCT OF WHAT GOD DOES THROUGH ME.
The false religion that Paul is opposing was teaching that the Gospel was all about what God can do for me and you. The false religion was ashamed of human frailty; and preached that human beings that were struggling with confusion and ailments and all sorts of weaknesses and tragedies were not faithful to God. False religion takes success as a sure sign of God’s favor, and defeat and struggle as a sure sign of God’s rejection. Sometimes defeat does come to us because of our sin; and sometimes success comes to us because of our faithfulness; but so often good things don’t necessarily come to the holy; and bad things often come to the holy as well as to the unholy. Jesus gave a strong reminder of this when he spoke of God’s blessings come to the evil as well as to the good.
But, Paul takes us a lot deeper than we are able to go with thoughts from our culture. Because he avoids talking about why good things come to bad people; or why bad things come to good people and all that. Paul takes us to a deeper level and silences all these questions.
Because, all the sudden, if you follow Paul’s words here, you become concerned with God’s will and what you can do to serve that will on earth. All the sudden, I am not worrying about whether I can have this or that, because the point of life is not what I can get but what God can do through me.
But, this is not an easy step from moving from concerns over my personal happiness to moving from concerns over God’s ministry being accomplished through me for others. CAN YOU AND I REALLY MAKE THIS MOVEMENT IN OUR LIVES – IN OUR MINDS, HEARTS AND ACTIONS. CAN I COME TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF FIRST OF ALL AS A CHANNEL OF GOD’S GIFTS TO OTHERS MORE THAN AS A RECIPIENT OF GOD’S GIFTS FOR ME?
But, some of us might wonder: “What about me? When am I going to be taken care of? When am I going to be blessed?” Today, we are going to put that question off, because of the way our passage goes. That’s the second point, that I speak of at the end.
Listen to Paul’s language here about a light of God that has shined in his heart, a light that he is saving and healing that he is letting shine through him to others.
But, as I tend to do more these days, I want to know how it is going to work. How can we hear these words and take them into our hearts and lives and really experience this transformation from seeing ourselves as recipients of God’s gifts to seeing ourselves as channels of Gods’ gifts to others.
Maybe a simple story will help. As a child, I remember the excitement of expecting gifts at Christmas time. My overwhelming viewpoint as a child at Christmas was the viewpoint of the recipient – the one who was expecting and excited about getting some good things. As an adult, my viewpoint at Christmas changed very much on gifts, especially when I had children. Because, I began seeing myself as a provider of gifts and the real excitement was about the giving and joy in seeing my little children receiving.
I think about all of us can relate to that and understand that transformation. And, I think this helps us understand what this transformation of faith is all about in our lives. There is certainly a time to be the recipient of gifts and to enjoy them fully. But, the main role of our lives in faith is to be channels of grace and good things to others. There is a time for an emphasis on self and self-understanding, especially in the younger years; but, the main emphasis of our adult lives in faith is to be on others and understanding others. There is a time when we have to look after ourselves and sustain ourselves, but the main focus in our lives of faith is to be upon looking out for others and sustaining others.
For the Apostle Paul, his commitment to being a channel of God’s grace seems so complete that it might make us say: “Well, that’s because he was an apostle; I am just some regular human being struggling to make it day by day.” If we take Paul’s words that way, he would be very disappointed. Because, what he is really getting at in this passage is that he, like us, is full of weakness and struggle and subject to disruptions and sickness and worries, but that God’s Gospel continues to shine through him and sustain him because of the surpassing power of God in Jesus Christ. Paul’s point in this letter is that his sicknesses, his weaknesses, his lack of impressiveness as compared to other preachers, is no hindrance to God working through him. In fact, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 that he has learned that ‘God’s power is made perfect in human weakness.’
I know that we all need to receive some gifts and blessings – some good things in life. I know we all yearn for some fulfillment of our good desires in life. I wish all of that for you as well. But, our identity, our worth, our deepest satisfaction in life will never be in these experiences of receiving or in these experiences of getting good things. Paul is passing onto us the holiest of secrets – the real secret of life if we have hearts and minds to hear it and to understand. I am hearing it like a song in my ear that I like the sound of, but I just can’t seem to learn to sing it.
Maybe one other story might help. I had a big disappointment once in college, And, I was debating this in prayer to God – I guess I was really complaining in my sorrow. And, I heard a voice within that was very strong – that didn’t seem like it came from me at all and it said: YOU ARE NOT HERE TO BE SATISFIED, BUT TO OBEY ME. And, that flat ended the complaining, the praying and the pity party. It was like a jolt of reality. I haven’t had many things happen that clearly to me in my life, but that one has stuck with me.
Maybe the way of faith that Paul is speaking of is not so hard to understand. How often have you experienced in life that you can only really help another person if you can get that other person interested in helping others? If you can help them focus with you on a good work that gets them to look outside self and become part of something with others. That is one way of understanding what God’s Spirit is doing for us.
And, that brings me to the second point I mentioned above. What about our happiness? What about you and me? Sure, this sounds wonderful about being a channel of God’s grace to others. And, yes, being in the role of giving gifts is a very inviting role. But, I know myself. I know that I have some real needs and desires. I know they aren’t going away. But, the best I know at this point in my life, our genuine needs get met on the other side of becoming a channel of grace and perhaps in some different ways than we would have expected and without us even trying to get these things. And, there is probably a good reason for this. My guess is that we do not understand our real needs until we are on the other side of commitment to God. Jesus did say to his disciples: “You father knows you need all these things; but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well.” Again, Jesus said: “He who gives up his life for my sake will find it.” The only way I know to be happy is to give up seeking happiness and seek to serve God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. When obeying God becomes our first commitment, things start falling into place a little at a time..Like I say, it’s a song I can hear playing in my ear that I can’t sing, but I can’t help listening. It’s a beautiful song. Someday, I am going to learn to sing it; Someday we are all going to learn to sing it in our living fully for the glory of God. Amen.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
By Faith: Sermon on Clifford Ross Scholarship Sunday
Hebrews 11:23-28
“By Faith”
The Egyptians became threatened by the growing minority population of Hebrew people. It was a cruel time long ago in Egypt when Pharoah, king of Egypt, ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be killed. They didn’t have sonograms back then; they didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl until the little one came out of the mother’s womb. So,every birth among the Hebrews of that time was surrounded with more than the usual worries and fears of child birth. There was a death sentence if you were a Hebrew baby boy or if you were someone hiding a Hebrew baby boy – that would get you the death sentence as well.
It was a cruel time. And, one day in that time over 3,000 years ago in Egypt, a Hebrew woman gave birth to a son, and she and the father of the child vowed that they would do everything in their power to save the life of this beautiful baby boy. The scriptures say: “By faith the parents of Moses hid the child for three months; seeing the child was beautiful, they were not afraid of the edict of the king.”
They hid him out as long as they could, but the authorities were always coming around trying to find baby boys among the Hebrews – to kill them. And, one day, they knew they were about to be found out, and so the parents waterproofed a basket the best they could, placed the little baby boy in the basket and hid the basket along the shallows of the Nile River among the plants. They hid him in the bulrushes.
But, they didn’t just leave him there alone. His grown sister sat a distance away to keep watch. And, when she saw Pharoah’s daughter coming to bathe, she saw that Pharoah’s daughter had compassion on her baby brother. And, then she walked forward and Pharoah’s daughter said: “Please find me a nurse among the Hebrew women; I am going to save this boy and raise this boy in my house when he is weaned.”
And, she named the baby boy, Moses, meaning “drawn out of the water.” Moses’ family defied the king’s edict to save the child’s life. By faith, they acted. And, they used their minds to form a plan that would work. They hid him out precisely in the place where Pharoah’s daughter bathed. They must have known she was as kind as her father was cruel.
It was a cruel bondage in those days. It was such a struggle just to preserve your life and the life of your children if you were a Hebrew slave. And, God heard the cries of his people, and God came down to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt bringing them out across the Red Sea to freedom. Our scripture says: “By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather to share the illtreatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” Through Moses’ faithfulness, God delivered the Hebrew people.
And, the first thing God did for his people when they were free is that he began to educate them by giving them instructions about how to honor God and show respect for each other. Liberation and education. They go hand in hand. You have to educate to liberate; you have to liberate to educate. God knew that if his people didn’t learn how to live together, their freedom would once again turn into a type of bondage.
For a people to be free they have to be free on the outside and on the inside.
Bob Marley used to sing: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.”
God spoke through Moses teaching his people, opening their minds to a clear way of thinking about life. He began to teach them how to understand the culture they lived in, how to understand themselves and each other; God taught the people a holy way to live in the world. You shall have no other gods before me. Don’t bow down to idols. Don’t take the holy name of God in vain. Keep the Sabbath rest. Honor your parents. Don’t kill. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t tell lies about each other. Don’t envy your neighbor.
The Hebrew people had been in bondage. Now they were to learn what free people must learn – how to use their own minds to comprehend and shape their own destiny on earth.
At the heart of the faith of Israel were the written and spoken words of the prophets and the words of the law. The people of Israel were to learn these words by heart so that their minds would be awakened and able to understand the challenges of life. God liberated them from their external bondage, and God was educating them to liberate themselves from their internal bondage (from a mind that was asleep and could be fooled, to a mind that was awake and coming to wisdom).
At the heart of every social revolution that brings justice and freedom is education, and the awakening of the mind. Because education brings self-respect and with knowledge also comes power. In the Reformation in Europe, the words of scripture were translated into the language the people could understand so that they could comprehend the Biblical message in their own minds. So that the people would not be kept in the dark but come into the light. Jesus had once said: “they will know the truth and the truth will set them free.”
In the Civil Rights Movement, leaders emerged, and among those leaders none was greater than M.L. King, Jr. He was an intellectual, received his Ph.D in philosophy from Boston University. He studied modern theories of Biblical Interpretation and understood philosophies of social change from Marx to Ghandi’s non-violent revolution in India. And, though many people don’t know as much about Malcolm X’s intellectual training, he also was one who loved to learn and awakened to the power of knowledge. Malcolm X educated himself while serving a prison term as a young man. You don’t have to be in college to learn. Books are everywhere and accessible. Malcolm X said his alma mater was “Books.” But, he didn’t become deeply interested in learning until some religious men in prison taught him that he was a child of God, cared for and valued by God. M.L. King Jr. was raised in a household that reminded him daily that he was a child of Almighty God and that no one could ever take that from him.
It is this first great lesson that is the foundation of life, and the foundation of learning. Once a child experiences in his or her heart that he or she is truly a child of God, cared for and valued by God – once that living faith takes root, then a child can truly discover his abilities, gifts, dreams in life. Then a child can awaken to the desire to learn and engage in life in a positive and creative way.
So long as young people don’t know that they have ultimate worth because God values them, then young people can come to feel worthless in this world. And, when a young person feels worthless then they can be manipulated and fooled, and when you feel worthless, you just don’t appreciate your abilities or respect the importance of learning and education.
When you feel worthless you do worthless things, are interested in worthless pursuits, and hang out with people who share that sense of worthlessness.
So, as a young person comes to have a true belief that they are loved and valued by God, he becomes able or she becomes able to see that they can do many things. But first of all, a person needs to understand that they are able to learn, and we all are. And, to be able to learn as human beings are able is a truly amazing thing. Until this respect and love of learning is awakened a person doesn’t truly come alive.
Moses knew he was a child of God. And, God taught Moses that his fellow Hebrews were children of God. Moses was called to awaken his fellow Hebrews to this knowledge. And, God called Moses to take action in the world on the basis of this knowledge. And, Moses did. He knew who he was, and he learned what he was to do in life. That is what every human being needs. To know who he or she is, and to discover what he or she can do well in life. This is the goal of real learning and using the mind. The human ability to learn is an amazing thing.
It is this appreciation of God’s gift of learning and education that brings us to emphasize the work of the Clifford Ross Scholarship which is given each year to support and encourage learning among college bound male senior basketball players at Austin-East. Mr. Ross had a concern that young people truly become strong and good citizens, and he knew that a commitment to education was one of the most important things in developing into a good and capable person. And, Mr. Ross knew that these young men he taught and coached needed some encouragement and support to get over the internal and external barriers to achievement in our society. He had grown up and faced these barriers that were very heavy at times for black youth, and perhaps continue to be heavy for different reasons in our time especially for young black men.
Howard Thurman said that there are two basic questions that a human being needs to be able to answer deep down in his or her soul:
1) Who am I?
2) What am I?
The first question is about a sense of belonging in the world. And, Thurman says Jesus great answer for all human beings is: “You are a child of God, cared for and valued by God.”
The second question is about a sense of achievement and accomplishment in life. What am I? What am I able to do? And, Thurman says that unless a person finds a way to achieve and accomplish something in life, he or she is likely to begin to doubt whether he or she really belongs in this world, whether she or he really has worth as a person. We have spoken a good word to our youth, saying , “You are loved by God and us; you belong.” But, it seems we are not doing enough to help our youth realize their value as we don’t seem to be helping them get over those barriers to achievement and purpose in society. And, those barriers are a less visible than in former days, but still strong.
Erik Erikson was a famous psychologist that had a theory of human development. He teaches that the first two stages of human development are Trust v. Mistrust (that is when a child learns to either trust his environment or distrust it by virtue of how he is treated by those who care for him); and Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt (that is when a child learns whether his will is valued by others or not). And then the third stage is Industry v. Inferiority (that is when a child begins to learn tasks and skills and achieves a certain sense of competency or comes to a feeling of incompetency/inferiority). There is really some wisdom in this analysis of Erikson. A child learns a sense of belonging and value through those who care for him and how they care for him. A child learns a sense of industry or inferiority based on how he or she is able to perform certain meaningful tasks, how he or she is able to learn or not learn.
These are some basic points about human development. We would do well to get back to basics in the way we care for and teach and support our young people.
What human beings need is a sense of belonging and a sense of accomplishment. A family and friends can certainly give a sense of belonging. But, a sense of accomplishment can’t be given to you by someone else. It can be encouraged and supported by someone else. But, it has to be achieved by you. And, the foundation of a strong sense of accomplishment in life is to develop the mind, to learn and come to understand how to learn and how to live. If you cultivate your ability to learn, your ability to learn will grow and bless your life and the life of others. Because you can learn what others have done; you can learn what others have thought, and then you begin to do and think on your own and teach others as well.
If you go through life without awakening to the powers of learning that you have been given, you are like a plane without a pilot. The pilot of a human life is the mind. If your mind is the captain, the one to direct your movements in life – if that pilot is asleep or not wise, well, you are in trouble. To fail to learn what you are able to learn is to devalue your own life, and to in a sense doom yourself to underachievement. Now, we are all called to learn what we are able to learn, and if we do, that will be enough knowledge to be what we are to be in God’s good will for our lives.
We can do better in our society and in our churches and even in our homes with our children. Our children have these minds that are so capable. But, are they developing these minds? That is a question I send you away with. If our children aren’t reading books or aren’t interested in reading books, then how will they develop their minds? (a short educational video or a short blip on the internet about something are not a substitute for reading books – whole books, but any reading is better than none). It takes a confidence that you can understand, and it takes a desire to understand to read books. And, it takes an imagination. If our children aren’t learning what we feel they should be learning in school, why aren’t they? If our youth don’t think it is a good thing to be a good student, why don’t they? These are questions not just about young people but about us, those who are responsible for encouraging and educating young people.
Malcolm X writes in his autobiography:
“I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened up to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. I certainly wasn’t seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status upon its students. My homemade education gave me, with every additional book I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me from London, asking questions. One was, “What’s your alma mater?” I told him, “Books.” You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man.”
pp. 206-207, The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Malcolm X’s own liberation came on the inside – in his own mind - before he was released from prison. And, he never went back to prison. When he got out, he was a new man. He had a new life. He had a mind awakened. From a man who could barely read and write, he came to be a man who debated with Harvard professors and more than held his own. Education is one of the greatest ways to freedom. For all of us, those words of Bob Marley bear repeating: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.” A mind asleep is a mind enslaved. True education, the awakening of the mind, is a glorious freedom.
By faith, we learn who we are. We are children of God. By faith, we learn what we can do in life. One thing we can surely do as human beings is keep learning until the day we die.
Glory be to God who has created humanity in God’s own image and has blessed us with the ability to learn and to think and plan and discuss and create. May we honor this gift of God in the way that we live and learn and teach others, and especially as we encourage our young people.
By faith, Moses’ parents risked everything that he might survive. By their wisdom which came of faith, they figured out a way that he might not just survive but thrive. By faith, let us give of our time and energy to protect the young. And, let us learn so that in our wisdom we can teach them, not only how to survive, but how to thrive.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“By Faith”
The Egyptians became threatened by the growing minority population of Hebrew people. It was a cruel time long ago in Egypt when Pharoah, king of Egypt, ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be killed. They didn’t have sonograms back then; they didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl until the little one came out of the mother’s womb. So,every birth among the Hebrews of that time was surrounded with more than the usual worries and fears of child birth. There was a death sentence if you were a Hebrew baby boy or if you were someone hiding a Hebrew baby boy – that would get you the death sentence as well.
It was a cruel time. And, one day in that time over 3,000 years ago in Egypt, a Hebrew woman gave birth to a son, and she and the father of the child vowed that they would do everything in their power to save the life of this beautiful baby boy. The scriptures say: “By faith the parents of Moses hid the child for three months; seeing the child was beautiful, they were not afraid of the edict of the king.”
They hid him out as long as they could, but the authorities were always coming around trying to find baby boys among the Hebrews – to kill them. And, one day, they knew they were about to be found out, and so the parents waterproofed a basket the best they could, placed the little baby boy in the basket and hid the basket along the shallows of the Nile River among the plants. They hid him in the bulrushes.
But, they didn’t just leave him there alone. His grown sister sat a distance away to keep watch. And, when she saw Pharoah’s daughter coming to bathe, she saw that Pharoah’s daughter had compassion on her baby brother. And, then she walked forward and Pharoah’s daughter said: “Please find me a nurse among the Hebrew women; I am going to save this boy and raise this boy in my house when he is weaned.”
And, she named the baby boy, Moses, meaning “drawn out of the water.” Moses’ family defied the king’s edict to save the child’s life. By faith, they acted. And, they used their minds to form a plan that would work. They hid him out precisely in the place where Pharoah’s daughter bathed. They must have known she was as kind as her father was cruel.
It was a cruel bondage in those days. It was such a struggle just to preserve your life and the life of your children if you were a Hebrew slave. And, God heard the cries of his people, and God came down to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt bringing them out across the Red Sea to freedom. Our scripture says: “By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather to share the illtreatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” Through Moses’ faithfulness, God delivered the Hebrew people.
And, the first thing God did for his people when they were free is that he began to educate them by giving them instructions about how to honor God and show respect for each other. Liberation and education. They go hand in hand. You have to educate to liberate; you have to liberate to educate. God knew that if his people didn’t learn how to live together, their freedom would once again turn into a type of bondage.
For a people to be free they have to be free on the outside and on the inside.
Bob Marley used to sing: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.”
God spoke through Moses teaching his people, opening their minds to a clear way of thinking about life. He began to teach them how to understand the culture they lived in, how to understand themselves and each other; God taught the people a holy way to live in the world. You shall have no other gods before me. Don’t bow down to idols. Don’t take the holy name of God in vain. Keep the Sabbath rest. Honor your parents. Don’t kill. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t tell lies about each other. Don’t envy your neighbor.
The Hebrew people had been in bondage. Now they were to learn what free people must learn – how to use their own minds to comprehend and shape their own destiny on earth.
At the heart of the faith of Israel were the written and spoken words of the prophets and the words of the law. The people of Israel were to learn these words by heart so that their minds would be awakened and able to understand the challenges of life. God liberated them from their external bondage, and God was educating them to liberate themselves from their internal bondage (from a mind that was asleep and could be fooled, to a mind that was awake and coming to wisdom).
At the heart of every social revolution that brings justice and freedom is education, and the awakening of the mind. Because education brings self-respect and with knowledge also comes power. In the Reformation in Europe, the words of scripture were translated into the language the people could understand so that they could comprehend the Biblical message in their own minds. So that the people would not be kept in the dark but come into the light. Jesus had once said: “they will know the truth and the truth will set them free.”
In the Civil Rights Movement, leaders emerged, and among those leaders none was greater than M.L. King, Jr. He was an intellectual, received his Ph.D in philosophy from Boston University. He studied modern theories of Biblical Interpretation and understood philosophies of social change from Marx to Ghandi’s non-violent revolution in India. And, though many people don’t know as much about Malcolm X’s intellectual training, he also was one who loved to learn and awakened to the power of knowledge. Malcolm X educated himself while serving a prison term as a young man. You don’t have to be in college to learn. Books are everywhere and accessible. Malcolm X said his alma mater was “Books.” But, he didn’t become deeply interested in learning until some religious men in prison taught him that he was a child of God, cared for and valued by God. M.L. King Jr. was raised in a household that reminded him daily that he was a child of Almighty God and that no one could ever take that from him.
It is this first great lesson that is the foundation of life, and the foundation of learning. Once a child experiences in his or her heart that he or she is truly a child of God, cared for and valued by God – once that living faith takes root, then a child can truly discover his abilities, gifts, dreams in life. Then a child can awaken to the desire to learn and engage in life in a positive and creative way.
So long as young people don’t know that they have ultimate worth because God values them, then young people can come to feel worthless in this world. And, when a young person feels worthless then they can be manipulated and fooled, and when you feel worthless, you just don’t appreciate your abilities or respect the importance of learning and education.
When you feel worthless you do worthless things, are interested in worthless pursuits, and hang out with people who share that sense of worthlessness.
So, as a young person comes to have a true belief that they are loved and valued by God, he becomes able or she becomes able to see that they can do many things. But first of all, a person needs to understand that they are able to learn, and we all are. And, to be able to learn as human beings are able is a truly amazing thing. Until this respect and love of learning is awakened a person doesn’t truly come alive.
Moses knew he was a child of God. And, God taught Moses that his fellow Hebrews were children of God. Moses was called to awaken his fellow Hebrews to this knowledge. And, God called Moses to take action in the world on the basis of this knowledge. And, Moses did. He knew who he was, and he learned what he was to do in life. That is what every human being needs. To know who he or she is, and to discover what he or she can do well in life. This is the goal of real learning and using the mind. The human ability to learn is an amazing thing.
It is this appreciation of God’s gift of learning and education that brings us to emphasize the work of the Clifford Ross Scholarship which is given each year to support and encourage learning among college bound male senior basketball players at Austin-East. Mr. Ross had a concern that young people truly become strong and good citizens, and he knew that a commitment to education was one of the most important things in developing into a good and capable person. And, Mr. Ross knew that these young men he taught and coached needed some encouragement and support to get over the internal and external barriers to achievement in our society. He had grown up and faced these barriers that were very heavy at times for black youth, and perhaps continue to be heavy for different reasons in our time especially for young black men.
Howard Thurman said that there are two basic questions that a human being needs to be able to answer deep down in his or her soul:
1) Who am I?
2) What am I?
The first question is about a sense of belonging in the world. And, Thurman says Jesus great answer for all human beings is: “You are a child of God, cared for and valued by God.”
The second question is about a sense of achievement and accomplishment in life. What am I? What am I able to do? And, Thurman says that unless a person finds a way to achieve and accomplish something in life, he or she is likely to begin to doubt whether he or she really belongs in this world, whether she or he really has worth as a person. We have spoken a good word to our youth, saying , “You are loved by God and us; you belong.” But, it seems we are not doing enough to help our youth realize their value as we don’t seem to be helping them get over those barriers to achievement and purpose in society. And, those barriers are a less visible than in former days, but still strong.
Erik Erikson was a famous psychologist that had a theory of human development. He teaches that the first two stages of human development are Trust v. Mistrust (that is when a child learns to either trust his environment or distrust it by virtue of how he is treated by those who care for him); and Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt (that is when a child learns whether his will is valued by others or not). And then the third stage is Industry v. Inferiority (that is when a child begins to learn tasks and skills and achieves a certain sense of competency or comes to a feeling of incompetency/inferiority). There is really some wisdom in this analysis of Erikson. A child learns a sense of belonging and value through those who care for him and how they care for him. A child learns a sense of industry or inferiority based on how he or she is able to perform certain meaningful tasks, how he or she is able to learn or not learn.
These are some basic points about human development. We would do well to get back to basics in the way we care for and teach and support our young people.
What human beings need is a sense of belonging and a sense of accomplishment. A family and friends can certainly give a sense of belonging. But, a sense of accomplishment can’t be given to you by someone else. It can be encouraged and supported by someone else. But, it has to be achieved by you. And, the foundation of a strong sense of accomplishment in life is to develop the mind, to learn and come to understand how to learn and how to live. If you cultivate your ability to learn, your ability to learn will grow and bless your life and the life of others. Because you can learn what others have done; you can learn what others have thought, and then you begin to do and think on your own and teach others as well.
If you go through life without awakening to the powers of learning that you have been given, you are like a plane without a pilot. The pilot of a human life is the mind. If your mind is the captain, the one to direct your movements in life – if that pilot is asleep or not wise, well, you are in trouble. To fail to learn what you are able to learn is to devalue your own life, and to in a sense doom yourself to underachievement. Now, we are all called to learn what we are able to learn, and if we do, that will be enough knowledge to be what we are to be in God’s good will for our lives.
We can do better in our society and in our churches and even in our homes with our children. Our children have these minds that are so capable. But, are they developing these minds? That is a question I send you away with. If our children aren’t reading books or aren’t interested in reading books, then how will they develop their minds? (a short educational video or a short blip on the internet about something are not a substitute for reading books – whole books, but any reading is better than none). It takes a confidence that you can understand, and it takes a desire to understand to read books. And, it takes an imagination. If our children aren’t learning what we feel they should be learning in school, why aren’t they? If our youth don’t think it is a good thing to be a good student, why don’t they? These are questions not just about young people but about us, those who are responsible for encouraging and educating young people.
Malcolm X writes in his autobiography:
“I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened up to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. I certainly wasn’t seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status upon its students. My homemade education gave me, with every additional book I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America. Not long ago, an English writer telephoned me from London, asking questions. One was, “What’s your alma mater?” I told him, “Books.” You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man.”
pp. 206-207, The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Malcolm X’s own liberation came on the inside – in his own mind - before he was released from prison. And, he never went back to prison. When he got out, he was a new man. He had a new life. He had a mind awakened. From a man who could barely read and write, he came to be a man who debated with Harvard professors and more than held his own. Education is one of the greatest ways to freedom. For all of us, those words of Bob Marley bear repeating: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.” A mind asleep is a mind enslaved. True education, the awakening of the mind, is a glorious freedom.
By faith, we learn who we are. We are children of God. By faith, we learn what we can do in life. One thing we can surely do as human beings is keep learning until the day we die.
Glory be to God who has created humanity in God’s own image and has blessed us with the ability to learn and to think and plan and discuss and create. May we honor this gift of God in the way that we live and learn and teach others, and especially as we encourage our young people.
By faith, Moses’ parents risked everything that he might survive. By their wisdom which came of faith, they figured out a way that he might not just survive but thrive. By faith, let us give of our time and energy to protect the young. And, let us learn so that in our wisdom we can teach them, not only how to survive, but how to thrive.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 73: Wrestling with Envy
Psalm 73: “Wrestling with Envy”
The Psalm writer remembers a time when he was worn out with the unfairness of life. He remembers a time when his mind was riddled with doubt. He says: “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet had nearly slipped, I had almost tripped and fallen . . .”
But, what had happened to cause this holy man to fall into a place of doubt and trouble? What happens in our lives to make us fall into a place of spiritual struggle?
For this man who surely spoke for many men and women of Israel, it was a painful struggle with envy and a painful struggle with the unfairness of life.
He says TROUBLE CAME TO MY SOUL BECAUSE I ENVIED THE PROUD AND SAW THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED.
Have you ever looked around and noticed that there are a good number of people that seem to get many of the good things of life even though they continue to do a lot of bad things towards other people? There was a book written about 20 years ago entitled: “Why bad things happen to good people.” This Psalm is concerned about that, but the title of these complaints would be: “Why Do Such Good Things Happen to Such Bad People?” That’s what really filled the Psalmist soul in his time of trouble. “Why Do The Best Things Seem to Happen to Some of the Worst People?”
And, then he takes us back into that time of trouble. His mind goes back to that time of bitterness and he begins speaking like he did back in that past time of trouble. Here is what he was talking like back then:
“These proud and wicked people suffer no pain, and their bodies are sleek and sound; they don’t have to share in the misfortunes that the rest of us bear in life. They wear their pride and arrogance like a necklace for all to see. They wrap their violence around them like a cloak. Their sins arise from corrupt minds, and their hearts overflow with wicked thoughts. They make fun of others and enjoy hurting others with the way they talk. They are conceited and they make plans to exclude and deprive others of their rights.”
This holy man gets all worked up again recalling this state of mind and soul when he was so overwhelmed with complaining and so sick of the evil people getting the good things in life while the righteous were struggling to just get by.
Truth was, he was complaining to God, and angry in his soul. The Psalms contain many complaints showing that true prayer often contains complaints as part of the song of faith. Of course, as the Psalm writer shows us, if the complaining spirit continues to turn to the Holy God, something more happens in the heart and in the soul. Something more than just complaining.
And, though we are going to be involved in complaining in our hearts and minds and conversations and even prayers at times, we get tired when we get to the point of having a COMPLAINING SPIRIT. Because once that complaining spirit takes over within us, it alienates others from us. Now, we know everybody has got to complain some in life. And, if someone never complains, we may think they are putting on an act in life. But, we do get tired of being around someone who complains all the time about things being unfair to that person. And, we start complaining about our friend complaining so much, who may in turn be complaining about someone else who complains so much. But, surely we all do have some serious complaints in our hearts and minds, whether we speak them or not.
Because we can’t help but wonder at times in life why one person is given so many advantages and another person is not; why it is such a struggle for one child to get a decent education while an education just seems to come as a matter of course for other children. We may wonder why some seem to find a good man or good woman so easily while that is something we can’t ever seem to find. We may wonder why some of our good desires in life don’t ever seem to get fulfilled. We may wonder why someone we love and care about so much just has such a struggle to get by in life while others just breeze by as if living was the easiest thing in the world to do.
And, when those complaints reach a point of deep bitterness, it gets hard for us to do anything positive in life. When we fall to the point of having a COMPLAINING SPIRIT, it gets for us like it was for the Psalmist. He says: “I had reached a breaking point. I turned to God and said: ‘In vain have I kept my heart clean, and washed my hands in innocence. I have been troubled all day long and beat down each morning as if I had done evil.”
I remember conversations over the years with parents who had children, small children, who were suffering from debilitating, irreversable diseases. I remember these parents talking about their struggle to keep their will to live and work and stay strong for their child and families in the face of such a tragic reality.
I think of these parents as I think on this Psalm. Who knows, our Psalm writer might have had a child like that. And, I think of all of us who deal with our own disappointment and worries and struggles in life and are tempted to just give up and give up caring as much because life seems unfair. And, then I remember what happened to the Psalmist one day. He says: “Had I gone on in this complaining spirit, I should have betrayed the generation of your children.” He knew he had to pass on more than a complaining/bitter spirit to his children. He says: “When I tried to understand it all – why things like this continue to happen – it was too much for me to understand
UNTIL . . .
UNTIL I ENTERED INTO THE SANCTUARY OF GOD AND DISCERNED THE END OF THE WICKED and EXPERIENCED THE PRESENCE OF GOD.”
He says: “When my mind became embittered, I was sorely wounded in my heart . . . (I was hurt by the disappointment and worry and sorrow of life) . . . it was as if my mind and heart were numb . . ..”
But, when he went into the sanctuary, something happened to his mind and heart. He experienced the reality of God, the presence of God. It is a mystery what happened when he went into worship.
But, he came out saying TO GOD: “Yet, however low I had sunk in my heart, I am always with you; you hold my right hand. You will guide me by your counsel, and afterwards receive me with glory. My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
What happened? How was this holy man who had about lost his way transformed from having a complaining, bitter spirit to having a greatful, trusting spirit?
When he was alone, he surely had the chance to pray and read the scripture. Why was it so important to him to go to the sanctuary of God? Certainly, he could have had a transforming experience of God when he was alone or with one or two others. But, for this man, his transformation came in worshipping God with others in the sanctuary.
And, I can only begin to guess what happened. I am thinking today that it has something to do with looking around and seeing and feeling other human beings coming before God and really praising God. Maybe the real antidote to a bitter and envious spirit is to experience the truth that there are a good number of human beings who do want something better for this world, who are sorry for hurting others when they do, and who really yearn for God’s justice on earth. To hear other human voices raised in praise OR to see other human heads bowed in confession is sometimes to experience the presence of God in human flesh. It is a mystery of grace in human community.
Or, it may have been something he observed as he walked into the sanctuary one day. He may have walked in and seen the devotion and commitment of those who kept things going in the temple. . . like I did last week. I came into the sanctuary on Friday evening – day 5 of Vacation Bible School – and I was tired from the work day in court. And, I was frustrated by it, and angry about some of it, in a complaining spirit. And, I look over and noticed two women from our church, both of them in their 80’s who were cheerfully working their fifth evening in a row of Vacation Bible School, caring enough about passing on something to the children to do what it takes. And, that hopeful determination and belief in the next generation lifted my spirit, encouraged me.
It is my guess that something like that happened to the Psalmist that day he went to worship. Maybe some other human being looked him in the eyes and showed him love. He may have experienced reconciliation with someone he was estranged from. He heard some other people singing God’s praises with a pure heart; repenting of sin with a broken spirit; and felt embraced by something greater than them. Yes, we can experience the presence of God powerfully when we are alone, but for those of us who have well nigh slipped and fallen as we so often do, there is something powerful and mysterious about coming together to worship with other human beings – human beings who are struggling just as we are but who continue to find a way to praise the living God. And, then we can say together: “MY HEART AND MY FLESH MAY FAIL, BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART AND MY PORTION FOREVER.“ It is my hope that whatever struggles you have, that you are able to find these words in the depths of your heart – MY HEART AND MY FLESH MAY FAIL, BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART AND MY PORTION FOREVER. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.
The Psalm writer remembers a time when he was worn out with the unfairness of life. He remembers a time when his mind was riddled with doubt. He says: “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet had nearly slipped, I had almost tripped and fallen . . .”
But, what had happened to cause this holy man to fall into a place of doubt and trouble? What happens in our lives to make us fall into a place of spiritual struggle?
For this man who surely spoke for many men and women of Israel, it was a painful struggle with envy and a painful struggle with the unfairness of life.
He says TROUBLE CAME TO MY SOUL BECAUSE I ENVIED THE PROUD AND SAW THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED.
Have you ever looked around and noticed that there are a good number of people that seem to get many of the good things of life even though they continue to do a lot of bad things towards other people? There was a book written about 20 years ago entitled: “Why bad things happen to good people.” This Psalm is concerned about that, but the title of these complaints would be: “Why Do Such Good Things Happen to Such Bad People?” That’s what really filled the Psalmist soul in his time of trouble. “Why Do The Best Things Seem to Happen to Some of the Worst People?”
And, then he takes us back into that time of trouble. His mind goes back to that time of bitterness and he begins speaking like he did back in that past time of trouble. Here is what he was talking like back then:
“These proud and wicked people suffer no pain, and their bodies are sleek and sound; they don’t have to share in the misfortunes that the rest of us bear in life. They wear their pride and arrogance like a necklace for all to see. They wrap their violence around them like a cloak. Their sins arise from corrupt minds, and their hearts overflow with wicked thoughts. They make fun of others and enjoy hurting others with the way they talk. They are conceited and they make plans to exclude and deprive others of their rights.”
This holy man gets all worked up again recalling this state of mind and soul when he was so overwhelmed with complaining and so sick of the evil people getting the good things in life while the righteous were struggling to just get by.
Truth was, he was complaining to God, and angry in his soul. The Psalms contain many complaints showing that true prayer often contains complaints as part of the song of faith. Of course, as the Psalm writer shows us, if the complaining spirit continues to turn to the Holy God, something more happens in the heart and in the soul. Something more than just complaining.
And, though we are going to be involved in complaining in our hearts and minds and conversations and even prayers at times, we get tired when we get to the point of having a COMPLAINING SPIRIT. Because once that complaining spirit takes over within us, it alienates others from us. Now, we know everybody has got to complain some in life. And, if someone never complains, we may think they are putting on an act in life. But, we do get tired of being around someone who complains all the time about things being unfair to that person. And, we start complaining about our friend complaining so much, who may in turn be complaining about someone else who complains so much. But, surely we all do have some serious complaints in our hearts and minds, whether we speak them or not.
Because we can’t help but wonder at times in life why one person is given so many advantages and another person is not; why it is such a struggle for one child to get a decent education while an education just seems to come as a matter of course for other children. We may wonder why some seem to find a good man or good woman so easily while that is something we can’t ever seem to find. We may wonder why some of our good desires in life don’t ever seem to get fulfilled. We may wonder why someone we love and care about so much just has such a struggle to get by in life while others just breeze by as if living was the easiest thing in the world to do.
And, when those complaints reach a point of deep bitterness, it gets hard for us to do anything positive in life. When we fall to the point of having a COMPLAINING SPIRIT, it gets for us like it was for the Psalmist. He says: “I had reached a breaking point. I turned to God and said: ‘In vain have I kept my heart clean, and washed my hands in innocence. I have been troubled all day long and beat down each morning as if I had done evil.”
I remember conversations over the years with parents who had children, small children, who were suffering from debilitating, irreversable diseases. I remember these parents talking about their struggle to keep their will to live and work and stay strong for their child and families in the face of such a tragic reality.
I think of these parents as I think on this Psalm. Who knows, our Psalm writer might have had a child like that. And, I think of all of us who deal with our own disappointment and worries and struggles in life and are tempted to just give up and give up caring as much because life seems unfair. And, then I remember what happened to the Psalmist one day. He says: “Had I gone on in this complaining spirit, I should have betrayed the generation of your children.” He knew he had to pass on more than a complaining/bitter spirit to his children. He says: “When I tried to understand it all – why things like this continue to happen – it was too much for me to understand
UNTIL . . .
UNTIL I ENTERED INTO THE SANCTUARY OF GOD AND DISCERNED THE END OF THE WICKED and EXPERIENCED THE PRESENCE OF GOD.”
He says: “When my mind became embittered, I was sorely wounded in my heart . . . (I was hurt by the disappointment and worry and sorrow of life) . . . it was as if my mind and heart were numb . . ..”
But, when he went into the sanctuary, something happened to his mind and heart. He experienced the reality of God, the presence of God. It is a mystery what happened when he went into worship.
But, he came out saying TO GOD: “Yet, however low I had sunk in my heart, I am always with you; you hold my right hand. You will guide me by your counsel, and afterwards receive me with glory. My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
What happened? How was this holy man who had about lost his way transformed from having a complaining, bitter spirit to having a greatful, trusting spirit?
When he was alone, he surely had the chance to pray and read the scripture. Why was it so important to him to go to the sanctuary of God? Certainly, he could have had a transforming experience of God when he was alone or with one or two others. But, for this man, his transformation came in worshipping God with others in the sanctuary.
And, I can only begin to guess what happened. I am thinking today that it has something to do with looking around and seeing and feeling other human beings coming before God and really praising God. Maybe the real antidote to a bitter and envious spirit is to experience the truth that there are a good number of human beings who do want something better for this world, who are sorry for hurting others when they do, and who really yearn for God’s justice on earth. To hear other human voices raised in praise OR to see other human heads bowed in confession is sometimes to experience the presence of God in human flesh. It is a mystery of grace in human community.
Or, it may have been something he observed as he walked into the sanctuary one day. He may have walked in and seen the devotion and commitment of those who kept things going in the temple. . . like I did last week. I came into the sanctuary on Friday evening – day 5 of Vacation Bible School – and I was tired from the work day in court. And, I was frustrated by it, and angry about some of it, in a complaining spirit. And, I look over and noticed two women from our church, both of them in their 80’s who were cheerfully working their fifth evening in a row of Vacation Bible School, caring enough about passing on something to the children to do what it takes. And, that hopeful determination and belief in the next generation lifted my spirit, encouraged me.
It is my guess that something like that happened to the Psalmist that day he went to worship. Maybe some other human being looked him in the eyes and showed him love. He may have experienced reconciliation with someone he was estranged from. He heard some other people singing God’s praises with a pure heart; repenting of sin with a broken spirit; and felt embraced by something greater than them. Yes, we can experience the presence of God powerfully when we are alone, but for those of us who have well nigh slipped and fallen as we so often do, there is something powerful and mysterious about coming together to worship with other human beings – human beings who are struggling just as we are but who continue to find a way to praise the living God. And, then we can say together: “MY HEART AND MY FLESH MAY FAIL, BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART AND MY PORTION FOREVER.“ It is my hope that whatever struggles you have, that you are able to find these words in the depths of your heart – MY HEART AND MY FLESH MAY FAIL, BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART AND MY PORTION FOREVER. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Sermon Notes: "Thinking About Worry"
Exodus 32:1-6, 15-20; Psalm 94:19
“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.”
Howard Thurman was a black Baptist minister and theologian who used to write meditations to be read and used by the members of his church, the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples which began in 1944 in SanFrancisco and continues to this day. At the beginning of one meditation on the subject of worry he quotes a little rhyme called the “Worry Cow.” It goes like this:
The worry cow
Would have lasted till now,
If she hadn’t lost her breath.
But she thought her hay
Wouldn’t last all day,
So she mooed herself to death.
Thurman goes on to say of worry:
Most often . . . worry is a lack of confidence in life, in its purpose, in God. Faith in life, in God, is native to the human spirit. It cannot die as long as a man lives. It turns into pessimism, into depression, into anxiety, into worry, into drawn-out fear, but it will not perish. . . when we worry, the most obvious things to do in our situation are overlooked, we should relax our tension by trusting in God and putting at the disposal of that trust a clear head.
I want to focus on two particular points Thurman makes as a way of understanding our scriptures today. One point is this: 1) when we worry we overlook the most obvious things to do in our situation of concern; 2) if we can relax our tension, our natural faith in life, in God arises and we can offer to God a clear heart and mind.
Our second scripture today says: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.” The Psalmist had found his way from anxiety to trust in God. But, many times in human life, we get lost in our anxiety, we get lost along the way.
Our first scripture today was about such a time of lostness among the Hebrew people. As I was thinking this week about the Ten Commandments, I was remembering the rest of story of the Exodus that I don’t tell each week. I tell of God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery. I tell of the giving of the Holy Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, but I don’t tell of how those first two tables of stone were shattered into pieces before Moses even told the Hebrew people what was written on them.
And, the reason I am referring to this incident is because while the Hebrew people waited for Moses to come down from the cloud of darkness on the mountain, they got anxious – they got real worried. They were in the wilderness, and for all they knew Moses was dead and they had no one to lead them. They were overwhelmed with anxiety; they were desperate to have something to rely on to calm their nerves (they didn’t have xanax back then or valium). And, they hadn’t had time to grow grapes and allow them to ferment. There they were at the foot of the smoking mountain, scared to death and needing some assurance of religion, needing the assurance of some god. So, they went back to the religion they had known before. They asked Aaron to make them gods to worship –that would go with them and save them. And, so he made an idol.
And, they were having a real religious celebration and worshipping these false gods and relieving their tension when Moses finally came down from the mountain with two tables of stone in his hands. You heard the rest of the story. Moses got so mad, he broke the tables of stone, grabbed the false gods, the golden calf, ground it into dust and put it in the water and made the people drink it!
Their anxiety led them into idolatry. Idolatry is to submit yourself to some force or being or substance that should have no such power over you. The high or relief feels good for a time, but then it passes leaving you lower than before. That is the emotional side of idolatrous living. In the end, it is demeaning, because human beings are made in the image of God and are not to bow down to anything in all the earth but the living God.
We don’t make idols of golden calves any more, but we still bow down to people and forces and things that don’t deserve such homage. A more clear way of stating the first commandment for us might be: your girlfriend can’t save you so quit spending all your time serving her and serve the living God; your drinking can’t save you from worry so quit spending all your extra money and time serving the bottle and serve the living God; your boyfriend can’t save you; and, if you don’t have a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife and you want one, remember, they can’t save you either; your looks can’t save you – so quit wasting all that time and effort on that; quit bowing down to these idols and trust in the living God for salvation in this life and the next.
Their anxiety led them into idolatry. But, the people could have alleviated their anxiety in some other way, but turning to the wrong solution for anxiety and worry is such a common, human mistake. It may be at the root of most of our problems in life.
I return to Howard Thurman’s two points about worry: 1) when we worry, we tend to overlook the very things that we need to do to address a problem; 2) when we can relax the tension, faith in life and God arises, clearing our mind and giving God room to work with us and through us. We are not created for idolatry but to worship the living God – that is what is natural to us. If that is what is natural to us, then why does our anxiety so often lead us to idolatry instead of reliance on God? How do we relax the tension and rediscover the goodness within? This is not simply a question about how to relieve a psychological problem but a crucial question about how to keep a psychological state from turning into a devastating problem, idolatry, that twists body and soul.
The Hebrews who were waiting for Moses in anxiety could have surely done a few practical things to help themselves, like set up camp, prepare a fire, seek out some food from the land. And, they could have worshipped the One who brought them across the Red Sea, instead of looking to a lifeless golden calf made by Aaron for their help. But, when we turn ourselves over to something or someone who has no business ruling over us, we become so much less than we are meant to be. Or, as I heard someone say once: “When you bow down to stupid, you become stupid.”
The Psalm writer shows us a better way: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.” Somehow this holy man had found a way into God’s presence in the midst of his worry. He had been able to experience God in the depths of his soul and feel a calm repose of heart and mind. When we turn ourselves over to God, we become so much more than we ever dreamed we could be.
So, why is it that the Hebrews at the foot of Mt. Sinai found their way from anxiety to idolatry, whereas the Psalmist found his way from anxiety to worshipping and trusting in God?
Why is it that one woman who is anxious finds her way to praise God or rest in God while another woman finds her way to some hydros or a bottle of vodka or crack to relieve her anxiety? Or, why does she find her way to God one day and fall into the hands of false gods on other days?
And, for many of us, we have known two very different ways of relieving anxiety: through over consumption or even addictive behavior on one hand; but also we have known healthy ways like moderate exercise, fellowship, prayerful solitude to relieve our anxious thoughts, communal worship, or perhaps we have had some good counseling or proper medication as well. God’s help comes in a number of different way.
Thurman says: When we worry, we ignore the very things we need to do to address the concern.” And, he adds: “If we can offer to God a clear mind and heart, God can really do something with us and through us.”
But, how do we get to that place of having a clear mind and heart? How do we get there, so that we can see clearly what needs doing and have the resolution to do it? It is all good and well to say to someone: “trust in the Lord,” but trust in the Lord is an experience you have to find your way to, not some ritual you can enact or state of mind you can always will.
I think we can start right now with seeking God’s Holy Presence in this time of worship and trying to let our anxious thoughts come to rest before God.. Stop trying so hard to think your way out of your worry. Just let your thoughts run until they run themselves out before God. Some scriptures might help us with that right now. “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.” “Be still and know that the Lord is God.” “O, Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great or too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul. Like a child at its mother’s breast, like a child that is quieted, is my soul.” We will find our way to trust and peace with God when we learn that we enter into the place of holiness – not by coming to a place of knowing, but by coming to a place of not knowing, not by getting ourselves all full of ideas and inspiration, but by emptying ourselves of all thoughts and presumption. I have calmed and quieted my soul . . .
This is the inner path to peace.
But, there is also an outward path of human fellowship that leads to peace. Sometimes our need for shelter or friendship or medical care or food are just so pressing that it does little good for someone to tell us: “Trust in the Lord,” when we are in desperate need of these necessities of life. Maybe those of us with these necessities ought to be turning those words back on ourselves:”trust in the Lord,” and sharing what we have with others, trusting that God will take care of us. Then, a feeling of belonging and the ability to relax in the human community will come to those of us in need – whether those desperate needs be shelter or friendship or medical care. The inner path to peace; the outer path to peace – they are the same path of faith and trust in the living God who cares for body and soul, who calls us to care for self and other. They go together. We will always need to take the inner path, but we must not forget the importance of the outward path to peace, because we are created both for solitude and for community. We come to true peace when we know how to walk both paths with God and each other.
And, when we take ourselves too seriously, we can turn to the little rhyme and maybe laugh at our worrying selves a little:
The worry cow
Would have lasted till now,
If she hadn’t lost her breath.
But she thought her hay
Wouldn’t last all day,
So she mooed herself to death.
What good does our worry do us?
In their anxiety, in their worry, the Hebrews worshipped a golden calf. Now, I doubt if any of us – even in our greatest anxieties -are likely to worship any golden calves. But, we may have been serving the worry cow lately instead of the living God, bowing down days without number to the way of the worry cow instead of the life-giving ways of our Creator God. . . wearing ourselves out with worry which Jesus said wouldn’t add a day to our life, and as we are finding out might end up taking days away from our life.
Our anxiety does not have to lead us into idolatry. Anxiety or worry is something that comes with living, and we can share it with each other and that helps it subside, and we can share it with God who will in turn share his peace with us.
God has revealed to us the way to peace: it lies in that native faith in God and life in the depths of our souls and that native trust in each other that waits to be discovered and celebrated.
As the prophet Isaiah was inspired to say: “In quietness and trust is your strength; in rest and returning you shall be saved.” God calls you to take the inner path of solitude, and the outward path of human community. Let those of you with ears to hear listen to the what the Spirit is saying in your own life.
May God have mercy on you and me and help us to hear this message in our minds, but also in the depths of our hearts where we need God’s help so badly.
Amen.
“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.”
Howard Thurman was a black Baptist minister and theologian who used to write meditations to be read and used by the members of his church, the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples which began in 1944 in SanFrancisco and continues to this day. At the beginning of one meditation on the subject of worry he quotes a little rhyme called the “Worry Cow.” It goes like this:
The worry cow
Would have lasted till now,
If she hadn’t lost her breath.
But she thought her hay
Wouldn’t last all day,
So she mooed herself to death.
Thurman goes on to say of worry:
Most often . . . worry is a lack of confidence in life, in its purpose, in God. Faith in life, in God, is native to the human spirit. It cannot die as long as a man lives. It turns into pessimism, into depression, into anxiety, into worry, into drawn-out fear, but it will not perish. . . when we worry, the most obvious things to do in our situation are overlooked, we should relax our tension by trusting in God and putting at the disposal of that trust a clear head.
I want to focus on two particular points Thurman makes as a way of understanding our scriptures today. One point is this: 1) when we worry we overlook the most obvious things to do in our situation of concern; 2) if we can relax our tension, our natural faith in life, in God arises and we can offer to God a clear heart and mind.
Our second scripture today says: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.” The Psalmist had found his way from anxiety to trust in God. But, many times in human life, we get lost in our anxiety, we get lost along the way.
Our first scripture today was about such a time of lostness among the Hebrew people. As I was thinking this week about the Ten Commandments, I was remembering the rest of story of the Exodus that I don’t tell each week. I tell of God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery. I tell of the giving of the Holy Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, but I don’t tell of how those first two tables of stone were shattered into pieces before Moses even told the Hebrew people what was written on them.
And, the reason I am referring to this incident is because while the Hebrew people waited for Moses to come down from the cloud of darkness on the mountain, they got anxious – they got real worried. They were in the wilderness, and for all they knew Moses was dead and they had no one to lead them. They were overwhelmed with anxiety; they were desperate to have something to rely on to calm their nerves (they didn’t have xanax back then or valium). And, they hadn’t had time to grow grapes and allow them to ferment. There they were at the foot of the smoking mountain, scared to death and needing some assurance of religion, needing the assurance of some god. So, they went back to the religion they had known before. They asked Aaron to make them gods to worship –that would go with them and save them. And, so he made an idol.
And, they were having a real religious celebration and worshipping these false gods and relieving their tension when Moses finally came down from the mountain with two tables of stone in his hands. You heard the rest of the story. Moses got so mad, he broke the tables of stone, grabbed the false gods, the golden calf, ground it into dust and put it in the water and made the people drink it!
Their anxiety led them into idolatry. Idolatry is to submit yourself to some force or being or substance that should have no such power over you. The high or relief feels good for a time, but then it passes leaving you lower than before. That is the emotional side of idolatrous living. In the end, it is demeaning, because human beings are made in the image of God and are not to bow down to anything in all the earth but the living God.
We don’t make idols of golden calves any more, but we still bow down to people and forces and things that don’t deserve such homage. A more clear way of stating the first commandment for us might be: your girlfriend can’t save you so quit spending all your time serving her and serve the living God; your drinking can’t save you from worry so quit spending all your extra money and time serving the bottle and serve the living God; your boyfriend can’t save you; and, if you don’t have a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife and you want one, remember, they can’t save you either; your looks can’t save you – so quit wasting all that time and effort on that; quit bowing down to these idols and trust in the living God for salvation in this life and the next.
Their anxiety led them into idolatry. But, the people could have alleviated their anxiety in some other way, but turning to the wrong solution for anxiety and worry is such a common, human mistake. It may be at the root of most of our problems in life.
I return to Howard Thurman’s two points about worry: 1) when we worry, we tend to overlook the very things that we need to do to address a problem; 2) when we can relax the tension, faith in life and God arises, clearing our mind and giving God room to work with us and through us. We are not created for idolatry but to worship the living God – that is what is natural to us. If that is what is natural to us, then why does our anxiety so often lead us to idolatry instead of reliance on God? How do we relax the tension and rediscover the goodness within? This is not simply a question about how to relieve a psychological problem but a crucial question about how to keep a psychological state from turning into a devastating problem, idolatry, that twists body and soul.
The Hebrews who were waiting for Moses in anxiety could have surely done a few practical things to help themselves, like set up camp, prepare a fire, seek out some food from the land. And, they could have worshipped the One who brought them across the Red Sea, instead of looking to a lifeless golden calf made by Aaron for their help. But, when we turn ourselves over to something or someone who has no business ruling over us, we become so much less than we are meant to be. Or, as I heard someone say once: “When you bow down to stupid, you become stupid.”
The Psalm writer shows us a better way: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.” Somehow this holy man had found a way into God’s presence in the midst of his worry. He had been able to experience God in the depths of his soul and feel a calm repose of heart and mind. When we turn ourselves over to God, we become so much more than we ever dreamed we could be.
So, why is it that the Hebrews at the foot of Mt. Sinai found their way from anxiety to idolatry, whereas the Psalmist found his way from anxiety to worshipping and trusting in God?
Why is it that one woman who is anxious finds her way to praise God or rest in God while another woman finds her way to some hydros or a bottle of vodka or crack to relieve her anxiety? Or, why does she find her way to God one day and fall into the hands of false gods on other days?
And, for many of us, we have known two very different ways of relieving anxiety: through over consumption or even addictive behavior on one hand; but also we have known healthy ways like moderate exercise, fellowship, prayerful solitude to relieve our anxious thoughts, communal worship, or perhaps we have had some good counseling or proper medication as well. God’s help comes in a number of different way.
Thurman says: When we worry, we ignore the very things we need to do to address the concern.” And, he adds: “If we can offer to God a clear mind and heart, God can really do something with us and through us.”
But, how do we get to that place of having a clear mind and heart? How do we get there, so that we can see clearly what needs doing and have the resolution to do it? It is all good and well to say to someone: “trust in the Lord,” but trust in the Lord is an experience you have to find your way to, not some ritual you can enact or state of mind you can always will.
I think we can start right now with seeking God’s Holy Presence in this time of worship and trying to let our anxious thoughts come to rest before God.. Stop trying so hard to think your way out of your worry. Just let your thoughts run until they run themselves out before God. Some scriptures might help us with that right now. “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.” “Be still and know that the Lord is God.” “O, Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great or too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul. Like a child at its mother’s breast, like a child that is quieted, is my soul.” We will find our way to trust and peace with God when we learn that we enter into the place of holiness – not by coming to a place of knowing, but by coming to a place of not knowing, not by getting ourselves all full of ideas and inspiration, but by emptying ourselves of all thoughts and presumption. I have calmed and quieted my soul . . .
This is the inner path to peace.
But, there is also an outward path of human fellowship that leads to peace. Sometimes our need for shelter or friendship or medical care or food are just so pressing that it does little good for someone to tell us: “Trust in the Lord,” when we are in desperate need of these necessities of life. Maybe those of us with these necessities ought to be turning those words back on ourselves:”trust in the Lord,” and sharing what we have with others, trusting that God will take care of us. Then, a feeling of belonging and the ability to relax in the human community will come to those of us in need – whether those desperate needs be shelter or friendship or medical care. The inner path to peace; the outer path to peace – they are the same path of faith and trust in the living God who cares for body and soul, who calls us to care for self and other. They go together. We will always need to take the inner path, but we must not forget the importance of the outward path to peace, because we are created both for solitude and for community. We come to true peace when we know how to walk both paths with God and each other.
And, when we take ourselves too seriously, we can turn to the little rhyme and maybe laugh at our worrying selves a little:
The worry cow
Would have lasted till now,
If she hadn’t lost her breath.
But she thought her hay
Wouldn’t last all day,
So she mooed herself to death.
What good does our worry do us?
In their anxiety, in their worry, the Hebrews worshipped a golden calf. Now, I doubt if any of us – even in our greatest anxieties -are likely to worship any golden calves. But, we may have been serving the worry cow lately instead of the living God, bowing down days without number to the way of the worry cow instead of the life-giving ways of our Creator God. . . wearing ourselves out with worry which Jesus said wouldn’t add a day to our life, and as we are finding out might end up taking days away from our life.
Our anxiety does not have to lead us into idolatry. Anxiety or worry is something that comes with living, and we can share it with each other and that helps it subside, and we can share it with God who will in turn share his peace with us.
God has revealed to us the way to peace: it lies in that native faith in God and life in the depths of our souls and that native trust in each other that waits to be discovered and celebrated.
As the prophet Isaiah was inspired to say: “In quietness and trust is your strength; in rest and returning you shall be saved.” God calls you to take the inner path of solitude, and the outward path of human community. Let those of you with ears to hear listen to the what the Spirit is saying in your own life.
May God have mercy on you and me and help us to hear this message in our minds, but also in the depths of our hearts where we need God’s help so badly.
Amen.
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