Devotion - Monday, November 25

I failed to find an opportunity yesterday to ask our retired pastors if they remembered the years when the last Sunday of the Church Year was referred to as "Judgement Sunday."  I listen to a podcast (Sermon Brainwave) each week, and one of the professors stated that until the 1960's most Lutheran congregations referred to the last Sunday of the Church Year as "Judgement Sunday."

We shy away from "judgement."  We most often use the word with negative connotations.  Seldom do we ask to "be judged."  In our tame, mainline congregations, we avoid speaking of any time of judgement.

I wish there were someone who had lived long enough to be able to help me understand how this has changed, over time.  I wonder if Christians feared judgement when they were the ones being persecuted?  I wonder if judgement became something to worry about only after Christians became well represented among the wealthy and powerful?

Are we so concerned about judgement because our lifestyles have judged us already and we have been found wanting?

This coming Sunday we will begin the new Church Year.  Once again, we will speak of the One who would come among us to reveal to us God's propose.  The encouragement will be to look for and to look at the places in our lives where we need Messiah.  For these brief days between Christ the King and Advent, let us consider what difference our previous year of readings and observances have made in our lives.

  Can you judge, for yourself, whether any change has occurred.

Sermon - Christ the King Sunday

Christ the King Sunday – Year C

November 24, 2013                                                                                                    

Luke 23:33-43  

A King by Any Other Name 

Gene – I need to acknowledge that I didn’t cast a positive vote on issue of your being asked to serve as University Lutheran’s Pastor Emeritus.  I am sorry; but I need to be honest.  There was a period of time at the end of the last academic year when I took full advantage of the students being out of town.  I missed three Congregational Council meetings in a row.  It was during those months that the Council talked this through and took action.  I would have voted, “Yes”; but didn’t have the chance. 

I was around when dates for this celebration were discussed.  Is it accurate that you are the one who suggested this date?  No?  That is good.  I wondered why you would pick Christ the King Sunday.  My wondering turned into worry this past week at the most recent Council meeting, when someone began to ask “What do we call this thing we are doing on Sunday?  Is it an Ordination?  No.  Is it an Installation?  No.  Well then, is it a coronation?”  Let’s hope not.  In some situations it might be appropriate to call you “King Copenhaver.”  But I am not sure Christ the King Sunday is one of them. 

 But then again, it may be.  Because in a world where “Kings” are all too often self-serving and self-promoting, it would be great to have a new and different notion of what a king can be.  Gene, your humble response to what you one time called “All this fuss,” is a powerful reminder of how it is that Jesus defines positions of honor and responsibility.  It is just one more in a long line of teachable moments in which you can help all of us understand that when we call Jesus “King,” we seek to bring to mind a kingship like none other.  

The “King” Jesus seeks to be is a king who gently guides his people to the protected places.  He is the shepherd spoken of in Jeremiah’s prophesy who will rise up and execute justice and righteousness.  This king will not add to our misery and suffering, but (as the Psalmist points out) is one who becomes our “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  Any talk of “kings” among God’s people, must be heavily peppered with examples of service and compassion and love. 

 

As faithful, committed followers of Jesus, we will have but one real king.  But we might be aided, in our pilgrimage, to have more immediate and real-life models.  And Gene Copenhaver has certainly been a model of that for many of us. 

But, before we get there – and continue with this coronation – it might serve us well to talk a bit more about the attempts of a title to help teach us something, and the inability of any title to come without baggage.  By this I mean to ask whether or not it is possible for Christians living in the 21^st century to continue to benefit from the use of “king” language. 

With apologies to our visitors, I refer you back to the notes which were sent out with this Wednesday’s e-news.  I encouraged you to do some advance thinking about the language of “kings,” and whether such language remains helpful.  I made a huge error – Gary Smith is the one who replied first – I sent you off to Luke to find the two words from the cross in which Jesus gives instructions.  Yes, I did get it wrong.  It should have been Luke, chapter 23, not chapter 21.  Errors aside, what thoughts did you have - with regard to the use of Royal imagery?  Let’s try this – turn to someone next to you and name as many countries as you can in which there continues to be a “king,” or Royal Family.  Go ahead – come up with as many as you can……. 

Now, next question.  Of those you were able to name, which would you consider to be positive examples?  Which of those would you find it easy to embrace as a desirable form of governance?  And I do mean a form of governance.  No doubt, many of you probably listed England as countries with a royal family.  But the United Kingdom’s monarchy is much more of a figure-head than a ruler – wouldn’t you agree?   

Another thought came to me overnight – if England is our prime image of what a King is supposed to be, and we transfer that example to our talk of Christ the King, don’t we teeter fearfully close to the horrible situation of naming a King, and then making of him little more than a figure-head?  Does our opinion about the royal family in the United Kingdom “teach” us that we can speak of Christ as our “king” and then go on about our business? 

So if you take the United Kingdom out of the mix, did you come up with a positive examples of modern-day kings?  Anyone? 

Once you have tasted democracy, returning to blood-line as a selection process for our ruler becomes a bitter pill to swallow.  Would you agree?  Might I even be able to get an “Amen”? 

In such a world, the Church has a lot of work to do if it is going to continue to use the language of “king” as the chosen title for Jesus.  It takes a lot of explaining about what a king “ought to be,” before you can get wide-spread agreement that Jesus is truly the king to whom we will devote our lives.    

A quick search on Wikipedia will inform you that the Christian church hasn’t always had a “Christ the King Sunday.”  Christ the King Sunday came into vogue in response to the life of the Church in real time.  If, in responding to the life of the Church in our time, we come to doubt whether there is a benefit to retaining Christ the King Sunday, or for that matter Christ the King language, we could choose to drop the designation and the kingship language.

The goal of this festival Sunday isn’t to whip us into submission to the One True King; the goal is to help us understand the way of Jesus’ reign. 

With enough good examples of gracious “kings”, we might be able to salvage the image.  King Copenhaver – UniLu’s Pastor Emeritus – you are about to come into your kingdom.  We are expecting great things. 

What is reasonable to expect is that the journey we have been on for these past twelve months is making a difference in our lives.  Remember that Christ the King is the designation for the final Sunday in the Church year.  Today is the Church’s December 31.   

What is reasonable to expect is that we have had sufficient time and opportunity to learn the stories and to form our responses.   

What is reasonable to expect is that we are all – each and every one of us – ready to state our allegiance to the one who came among us last Christmas, died for us on Good Friday, and rose again on Easter Sunday. 

For some ninety years the Church helped that process along by designating the last Sunday of the church year as Christ the King Sunday and then asking everyone “Which king will you serve?”  Maybe the time has come to speak of the choice in differing language.  Maybe there is a better way – in our day and time - to speak of the choices we are free to make and ask us whether the choices we made yesterday and the choices we will make tomorrow are an accurate reflection of that which we speak of as our God and Master.  The way we live our lives is the question; not at which throne do we bow our heads. 

We come together as Church in response to the call to live our lives differently.  We gather in our congregations in order to more clearly see the world as Jesus sees the world.  We acknowledge all that has been given to us and we come prepared to give something in return.  Let’s acknowledge that talk of “kings” and “kingship” may not be the best way to summarize all of that.  So what language do we use?  What titles would you prefer?  What names do you find more appealing – and by appealing I don’t simply mean which would you choose.  I mean what names inspire you to follow where Jesus has led the way.

What names?   

I am only going to tell one Gene story.  During these weeks of preparation he continued to speak of the campus ministry parts of his work here.  He said “The ministry with students allowed us to get away with a lot of things.  “We were free to experiment and push the boundaries and everyone just sort of went along with it.”  It is my hope that as Pastor Emeritus, his example will help us seek approaches to ministry which are responsive to the world in which we live rather than approaches designed to mold the world as we might prefer it. 

We need persons to guide and direct our steps.  Good and faithful kings certainly have the opportunity to do that.  So do faithful servants.  Let’s pick them wisely, whatever title we use for them.  It isn’t the title which matters.  What matters is the role we allow them to have in our lives and the challenge which they bring to bear on our lives. 

Amen.

Devotion - Thursday, November 21

I continue my morning reading from Revelation.  We also covered "last things" in our concluding mid-week bible study on Tuesday.  As Christians speak of "last things," it is natural to look to the last book of our bible.  Though, as we learned on Tuesday, Revelation is a particular way of looking at last things - not the only way.

That way is "apocalyptic".  You can look up the word and learn more about when you finish here.  For this morning, the aspect of "last things" I want to address is the establishment of justice.

"Justice" seems to be a clear and straight forward thing.  Everyone wants justice, right?  The subplot of Revelation tells us that what some might allow to pass as justice is not necessarily just.  The "Beasts" whose disastrous effects are felt across the cosmos rarely set out to be concentrated embodiments of evil.  In Revelation's apocalyptic style things are clearly dualistic - i.e. there is good and there is evil and little is in between.  Sometimes there are miss deeds committed in the name of justice, as in when one party acts out of retribution for past injuries.

Revelation speaks of a time when God's justice will be established.  In the 19th chapter, John writes, "Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just."

There may be times when we should fear God's justice.  There may be reasons why we would prefer our own sense of what is just.  Is it just that we consume such a disproportionate portion of the world's resources?  Is it just that we fill our closets with t-shirts of every color and design because garment workers come so cheap?

Revelation is written by one who is in prison, who has been punished because of his devotion to God, who lacks enough to eat.  Sure, he has his own vision of what God's justice might look like.  And it probably differs from the justice we define by the way we live our lives.

The promise of this last book of our Bibles is that it is God's justice which will finally come and be established on all the earth.  That is the justice we desire and (if it were possible) hasten.

Devotion - Wednesday, November 20

Ezra, Nehemiah - these are far from household names, even for regular church attendees.  A Sunday School Teacher was asking me for help in putting together a study about Ezra.  "I always thought Ezra was a woman." was one of the discoveries of the research.

Ezra and Nehemiah were present when Israel returns from captivity.  They had been in a strange land, separated from their way of life and their religious practices for 3, maybe 4 generations.  Much of how God had instructed them to live their lives had been forbidden, forsaken, and forgotten.

In Nehemiah 7, Ezra sits among the people from morning till noon and reads from the books of The Law.  The people hear the words eagerly and set about righting their lives to match the words they hear.  

We have not been carried off to a foreign land.  Our places of worship have not been destroyed by an invading army.  But as I read Nehemiah I wonder about the possibility of our having forgotten or forsaken God's instructions.  The push in the last century to adhere to orthodoxy in thought and speech seems (to me) to have overshadowed God's insistence that our faith be expressed in our compassion and care for others.  Have we forgotten or forsaken the instructions on be blessed so that we might be a blessing?

There are a lot of weird names and unfamiliar practices in the book of Nehemiah.  But rather than get weighed down in the details and get lost in the search for who and what - i take from there a reminder that we must always take a look at our practices and ask how faithfully we are following the Word of God.  Not just the words we like, or the instructions we find easy.  But the Word.

Devotion - Monday, November 18

In Matthew 15 Jesus has another of his encounters with the religious folks.  We tend to lump the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes together, but they were distinctive groups.  Each had their own agenda; each were unhappy with Jesus; but sometimes for differing reasons.

In the end it will be the government of Rome which puts Jesus to death, but it was his arguments with religious leaders which brings him to the attention of those political leaders.

In Matthew 15 Jesus points out that what the religious leaders are teaching as doctrine is their own thoughts.  Drawing from the practice of giving credit for honoring one's parents by making gifts to God's Temple, Jesus shows how they have substituted their gain for God's instructions.

I read this and I think, "How could they do such a thing?"

Then I realize that what seemed to Jesus to be an outrageous decision had probably come into being as a result of some smaller, more subtle choices.  Knowing that the Pharisees and the scribes were attempting to serve God, I cannot believe that they intentionally started a practice which is so blind to God's directives.

With all that going on, I turn my eye to the practices which we take for granted; which we teach in our congregation.  And I wonder....

I worry.

I become concerned as to how Jesus would respond to the teachings of my church.

Nothing is as important in the life of a servant of Christ than to constantly be evaluating and re-evaluating our teachings and our actions.  Nothing in the traditions of our ancestors is to become as essential as the teachings of our Messiah.  To be part of a Reformation Church is to continually reform and re-consider what we have taught and what we teach.

This does not mean we become timid in our witness.  But as we share what it is that God has given us, we remember those words of Martin Luther.  They are often spoken as a declaration.  They are more appropriately said as a prayer and a request: "Here I stand.  I can do no other.  So help me God."

Devotion - Monday, November 11

Nehemiah is a book to which we seldom turn, or from which we rarely hear verses being quoted.  I am reading from it this week.

The basic story of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.  The captivity has ended; the Israelites are returning to their home; but the city has been destroyed.  Along with Ezra, Nehemiah works to see that the walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt.

The reading is somewhat dry.  There are a lot of names of persons who have become forgotten even by the most studious Bible scholar.  But through it all comes the amazing realization that God is directing the establishment of His city and that God is giving direction to how his people are to live.  And, more amazing still, is the realization that the people are turning to Nehemiah to seek instruction from God as to how they are to build and to live.

Who is guiding such decisions in our lives?  From what source do we derive the standards upon which we will establish our future?  

I hear that in some Quaker communities there are "Clearness Committees" which help individuals make important life decisions.  The one facing a decision invites a group of fellow believers to sit with them and help them think through what course should be taken.  I find that process to be very attractive.

We are constantly and continually building and rebuilding our lives and our fortresses. How are we involving God and God's servants in helping us to make those decisions?  Nehemiah lifts up an example of how strong a city becomes when it is built with the guidance of God's Word.

Devotion - Thursday, November 7

The parable in Matthew 13, which gave rise to the disciples asking Jesus why he spoke in parables, is that of the sower and the soils.

Jesus tells them of the sower whose seed falls - some on the path, some on the rocky ground, other among the thorns, but some on the good soil.  The fate of those seeds varies, depending upon the soil upon which they fell.

On Tuesday, Pastor Bryne spoke of this parable's invitation to sew the seed freely - that God provides ample seed and we need not be constrained in our sharing, that we should never pre-judge or evaluate the "soil" before extending the word of God and the promises of God.  Such a focus on the sower is helpful.

In those churches where entry to heaven is the central teaching, more emphasis is placed upon the soil - on asking what type of soil we are.  Will we be like the path were the birds (the evil one) comes and snatches the seed away.  Or like the rocky soil where no depth of root prevents a strong and vibrant faith.  Or, as suggested in the camp song we often sing, will our hearts be the good soil in which the word takes root and grows and produces.

My prayers this week, as I have repeatedly encountered this parable and the talk around it, have brought me round and back to those who for whatever reason are unable to believe that our loving and gracious God has shared seed with them.  By some twist of mood or attitude or circumstance they cannot see the good soil in them which has allowed them to share marvelous fruit.  I worry that they have become so pre-occupied with comparing themselves to others that they are blinded to the grace and mercy falling into their own lives and desperately attempting to flow to others.

Nothing I can say will convince them otherwise.  Maybe, from this week's readings and reflections, I might be able to tell them a story; a story of God's attempts to love us and care for us and save us.  Then, I will hope and pray that they might be allowed to some to see themselves in that story.

Devotion - Wednesday, November 6

In Matthew 13 the disciples ask the question that we continue to ask, "Why do you speak to us in parables?"  In another account, they add, "Why don't you speak to us plainly?" Jesus' reply suggests that there is no way to speak other than in parables.  Clear, precise pieces of information are seldom received as such.  Statements of truth are often refuted or at least debated.  

Parables set forth an image or a vision.  Parables leave open the application to my own life.  I can hear a parable and think, "That is a nice story," and never be offended.  We can discuss the meaning of the parable, but it is a difficult thing to challenge.  The most critical statement would be "That story has no connection to reality!"  (Maybe not to the reality of the one who speaks in opposition.)

Perhaps this is part of the difficulty contemporary evangelists encounter.  Do we speak too often in doctrine rather than in parables?  Are we quick to state what we have come to accept as universal truths, rather than lifting up an image of how God might be speaking in the lives of the one whom we are currently encountering?

The parables of Jesus invite persons to see themselves in the story.  It leaves open the option of walking away and not becoming entangled - should the person so choose.  Those who desire to understand will come to see how the parable is lived out in their lives; those who had rather not do so are given little reason to be offended.

Tuesday Devotion - November 5

Today's devotion is from Pastor Bob Bryne, St. Paul's Lutheran, Aiken, SC.

Freedom to Share

Matthew 13:1-9

All three of the Gospel accounts that share a likeness; Matthew, Mark and Luke contain the parable known as the Parable of the Sower.  All three also give us the meaning of the parable in terms of the type of soil upon which a seed may fall as being determinate to the germination and flourishing of the Word of God in the human heart.  It is a classic parable that seems to call on us to provide in ourselves good soil in which the Word of God may grow. In a parable we may put ourselves into the story as different and less than obvious characters.  As this happens meaning changes.  Today  try putting yourself into the character not of soil but of sower.  As the sower the parable changes from yet another demand on our lives and our conduct; to a freeing gift for our lives as disciples of the living Word.  The role of the sower is simply to sow the seed.  The seed is cast far and wide; carried by the wind and energized by the sower to wherever and whomever it falls.  The responsibility of the sower is simply the activity of casting out seed. Daily as one of God’s sowers each of us is energized to share our story of how the Word has been sown in us, has grown, bloomed and is enriching our lives.  This is our act of sowing; our sharing of the story of the Word growing in us. We share without a burden or responsibility to make sure of the growth.  This is God’s work and the work that will be done in God’s time. We sowers simply  thank God for and respond to the opportunity to sow the seed; to share the Word that frees us.  AMEN

Devotion - Monday, November 4

In my cycle of readings, I am currently starting on the Revelation of St. John.  It is also referred to as "The Apocalypse", or simply "Revelation."  (Sometimes, in error, it is referred to in the plural - as if it contained many revelations.  There is only one thing revealed in this book - God's care for us demonstrated by His victory over all that would oppose us.)

 

The opening chapters of Revelation address the seven churches.  These were actual, real churches.  In the words John writes to them, he exposes his understanding of what life was like in these congregations.

 

Too often, we allow the words of scripture to become a philosophy or a doctrine or a collect of abstract truths.  It is a collection of letters sent by real people to actual persons.  The events in the lives of those who send and those who receive affect the content.  They reveal a God who interacts with us, rather than send directives to us.

 

In preaching class we learned that if we prepare a sermon intended for everyone, no one will hear what we say.  If we prepare a sermon with 3 or 4 persons in mind, the majority of those in attendance will leave thinking the message was directed at them.

 

God speaks through scripture to us, to the real life situations we face, and to the very real challenges which come our way.