SermonStudio

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, published in 1962, was for its
generation a sign that the end of the world was near. But then so
were some of the books by the muckrakers at the turn of the
century. Changes in weather patterns and rising oceans are other
signs that we view with alarm. Some look upon any conflict in the
Middle East, like the recent Gulf War, as a potential Armageddon.
Christians may properly view such things as signs, not only
that Jesus will come again to judge the world, but also that he
is continually present, judging and calling to repentance. One of
the themes of Advent is a call to prepare the way of the Lord,
for the coming of Jesus Christ to live within us, by repenting
and changing our actions. It is a call to turn around our
behavior. Among other things, we are to change from being wasters
to being recyclers, and from being polluters to being those who
clean up air and water. Jesus calls us to repentance for public
and common sinfulness as well as for private and personal
disobedience.
Ecologists and all who help us to care for the earth and its
resources, and sociologists and others who help us to live
together, have a lot to tell us about the repentance we need to
experience and the stewardship we are to exercise as our Advent
preparation while we wait for God to return to walk with us. Will
that return find us hiding from the judgment we fear, like Adam
and Eve? Or will we be able to "stand up and raise [our] heads,
because [our] redemption is drawing near" (v. 28)?

2 ADVENT

Malachi 3:1--4

Science--based technology is a pervasive feature of our
culture. People from the time of this "messenger," transported to
our time, would be astounded at the things our technologies can
do. But the existence of technology itself would not be strange
to them. They knew about practical metallurgy and other ways of
changing the world, largely by trial and error and through
tradition rather than through systematic understanding of the
world. The later development of such craft traditions, however,
was one of the things which made science possible. The Bible
traces these traditions back to the earliest periods of the human
race (Genesis 4:22).
Prophets like Malachi could use the technology of their time
as "sermon illustrations." The metallurgical metaphor is also
developed in other places in the Bible, such as 1 Peter 1:7.
Preachers today can do more than simply repeat the Bible's
technological metaphors. They can go on to use images taken from
today's cutting--edge technologies to communicate the gospel.
Heart transplants suggest a modern metaphor which could be used
with verses like Ezekiel 11:19 and 18:31, which speak of God
giving people a new heart.


1 CHRISTMAS

Psalm 148 is discussed for this Sunday in Year A.

Psalm 111 is assigned for this Sunday each year by LBW. We treat
it for 4 Epiphany B.

Hebrews 2:10--18, the Second Lesson in LBW, is assigned to this
Sunday in Year A in RCL. See the discussion there.

Luke 2:41--52

The comments for this Sunday's Gospel for Year B, focusing on
Luke 2:40, are also applicable to v. 52 here.

2 EPIPHANY

Psalm 36:5--10

For with you is the well of life,
and in your light we see light.

It is fascinating to see how the image of "light" is used in
Scripture. Sometimes the word refers to "ordinary" light,
sometimes to spiritual or mental illumination, and sometimes it
isn't possible to separate the meanings. "Light" is a metaphor
for God's glory (kabhodh), but then in Revelation 21:23 the
metaphorical light seems to get back its "ordinary" meaning when
the glory of God takes the place of sun and moon.
Why the quotation marks around "ordinary"? Simply because
there is nothing ordinary about light as a physical phenomenon.
It provides most of our signals from the external world (and
almost all those from beyond the earth). The study of light has
been the impetus for many of the major developments in physics,
such as relativity and quantum theory. Advanced forms of life
depend, in one way or another, on photosynthesis by green plants,
so that there is an intimate relationship between light and life.
(Cf. John 1:4.) While many biblical uses of "light" are symbolic,
scientific descriptions of light have a metaphorical quality as
well. Light is a real phenomenon obeying definite laws and
bringing about definite effects. But when we come to say what
light is, whether we try to picture it as a stream of particles
or as a wave disturbance, or content ourselves with writing down
the equations which describe its behavior, we are using symbolic
language. (See the comments on Maxwell's equations for Proper 4
B.) It is no accident that poets often make use of light imagery.
The Bible doesn't tell us about the physical nature of light.
It can't be used as the basis for lectures on physical optics or
photochemistry anymore than a book on telescope design can
proclaim salvation. Both science and theology provide us with
metaphors of light and darkness (though neither is exclusively

metaphorical); it is worthwhile to explore ways in which
different metaphors can enrich one another.
A preacher is not limited to repeating the Bible's uses of the
light image. The different roles which light plays in modern
science can be used to carry on the biblical tradition. The
process of photosynthesis is an absolutely crucial connection
between light and life like that spoken of in today's Psalm, and
this may suggest metaphors for God as the source of life. The
fact that Einstein's relativity theory gave the speed of light an
absolute character (as we discussed in the commentary on John
14:1--14 for 5 Easter A) suggests one way of illustrating God's
absoluteness.


3 EPIPHANY

Isaiah 61:1--6 is LBW's First Lesson for this Sunday. See the
discussion for 3 Advent B.

1 Corinthians 12:12--31a (LBW has vv. 12--21 and 26--27 for this
Sunday and 12:27----13:13 for the next.)

This is Paul's most detailed development of the image of the
Body of Christ. The Church is seen as an organic unity of members
with different gifts and functions, whose head is Christ. J.A.T.
Robinson traced this concept to Paul's Damascus Road experience
and the revelation that in persecuting Christians he was
persecuting Christ himself.1
Teilhard de Chardin used this idea in his discussions of the
theological significance of evolution. He pointed out that a
major step in evolution had been the development of multicellular
organisms and then of creatures with diversified organs. This
meant that specialized tissues could develop for structural
purposes, sensors, signal transmission, assimilation of
nutrition, and other needs. Because these different parts of a
body are united and dependent upon one another, they can fully
develop their unique functions. A heart can be a much better

heart when it only pumps blood and depends upon other organs for
other things. Thus this development in evolution did not mean
homogenization of organs but their opposite, diversification. As
Teilhard put it succinctly, "union differentiates."2
That is precisely the point Paul is making here about the
Church as the Body of Christ. There are different abilities and
functions, and the body achieves its full potential when each is
recognized and honored. (Cf. Ephesians 4:13.)
Reader's Digest used to have a series of articles on the
different parts of the body, told in the "first person" by the
different organs ---- "I Am Joe's Heart" and so on. The preacher
could use this idea for a story sermon on the Body of Christ,
allowing different members to speak about their functions. Some
parts of the body to which we give little thought are actually
essential to our well--being. Or perhaps the whole idea of the
cooperation and interdependence of different members could be
explored in story fashion with conversations among the different
members.
We can go on to speak of the Body of Christ as the next stage
in evolution. The future of human evolution has received varied
treatments from different writers. Nietzsche proclaimed "the
superman" (but definitely not the superwoman), and science
fiction writers have had a field day picturing advanced or
degenerated products of evolution beyond us. The possibility of
human genetic engineering seems to put us in charge of evolution,
so that we can choose the superhuman that we wish. All of these
speculations have in mind the development of the individual human
being beyond its present capabilities.
Teilhard's image, taken from Saint Paul, is quite different.
The superpersonal union of believers with God Incarnate is the
real evolutionary future, a qualitative change in the course of
evolution as radical as the development of multicellular
organisms a billion years ago. It is the Christian Church which
is the new humanity.
That idea may arouse concern. It might suggest a completely
uniform society where everyone is the same as everyone else,

and there are no personal boundaries between individuals ---- the
kind of thing family systems theory calls "undifferentiated ego
mass." ("Slime mold" is a good biological illustration with a
suitably repulsive name!) And Teilhard did sometimes show too
much fascination with the totalitarian regimes of his time.
But the basic point which we noted about the body, and Paul's
use of this image, argues against such ideas. "Union
differentiates." The real body is not just a lot of identical
cells or organs which share the same space, but different types
of cells and organs which are able to operate together just
because they are different and interdependent. "So it is with
Christ" ---- with God's new humanity.
Just as each of us is fully human only in human community, the
Body of Christ is fully what God intends for it to be only in
communion with the rest of creation. There is an inescapable
ecological dimension to the calling of the Body of Christ.


4 EPIPHANY

Jeremiah 1:4--10

In the prophetic tradition, the technological activities of
building and planting were metaphors for the human vocation.
(See, for example, Isaiah 65:21; Jeremiah 31:28, 35:7; Ezekiel
28:26; and Amos 9:14.) Jeremiah's call uses such language:

See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.
(v. 10)

Thus the prophet's role parallels that of humanity.

Jeremiah continually had to denounce human sinfulness, the
tendencies to make "mere flesh" our strength and to "boast" of
our wisdom (17:5 and 9:23). Sin is often displayed in our use of
technology, upon which we rely for our present security and hope
for the future. The exemplar of this theme is the Tower of Babel,
where the people begin to "build ourselves a city, and a tower
with its top in the heavens, [and] make a name for ourselves"
(Genesis 11:4). (See the commentary for Pentecost C.)
The prophets picture God's ultimate response to such sin in
terms of the coming "Day of the LORD," when God will overturn the
sinful worldly order. On that day no human technology will be
able to stand against God's righteous wrath. (See the commentary
for Proper 28 A on Zephaniah 1:7, 12--18.)
But this is not the last word on technology or God's purpose.
The prophetic vision is also one of redemption and renewal. The
metaphor of building and planting describes a human vocation
responsive to the will of God. With it we can preach the hope for
renewal and the responsibility to develop technology which is
appropriate to the will of God. (For a discussion of "appropriate
technology" see the commentary for 1 Advent A.) Technology of
redemption and renewal is technology which promotes justice,
sustainability, and participation.
Preaching this vision is a call to responsible life now, not
at some time in the distant future. We are called by God to build
and plant in our Age. Thus our technological being can be viewed
as part of our God--willed human vocation.


7 EPIPHANY

1 Corinthians 15:35--38, 42--50

The Christian hope is the resurrection of the body. It is not
just a mental or spiritual part of a woman or man which

is given the promise of eternal life in Christ but the whole
person. That puts the Christian faith in an adversarial position
against common ideas of an afterlife. An immortal soul was all
right for Paul's philosophically inclined audience at Athens, but
"when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed"
(Acts 17:32). Many people today would join them.
"How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?" There is a basic foolishness about such questions if they
fail to recognize that the resurrection comes only by passing
through death, and if rational explanations of the process are
demanded as a precondition of belief. But Paul does go on here,
not so much to explain the nature of the resurrection body as to
provide some analogies which can sustain faith.
It is not simply the body which died which is raised.
Resuscitation of a corpse is described in, for example, the story
of the raising of Lazarus, but this idea is inadequate to
describe the resurrection of Christ, who "being raised from the
dead will never die again" (Romans 6:9), and the future
resurrection consequent upon that. Paul says that the body which
dies is like the "seed" of the resurrection body, the same though
different. (See the discussion of Philippians 3:20--21 for 2 Lent
C.)
There is one concern in this area to which modern science can
give an answer. Some people considering organ or tissue donation
worry about the effect this might have on bodily integrity in the
resurrection. That can be a problem if one has a common--sense
understanding of material identity. How can the same matter be
part of two bodies in the resurrection? In fact, that argument
provided a classic argument against resurrection in terms of the
problem posed by a person eaten by cannibals with which Augustine
and other theologians attempted to deal.
The donation of an organ is an act of self--giving which is
certainly consistent with the example of Christ. If there is any
lack in the risen body of one who has donated an organ, it can be
compared with the wounds which the risen Christ still bears. This
is not something to be afraid of. But that

does not answer the question about material identity. Can two
bodies contain some of the same atoms?
With the quantum mechanical understanding of matter, the whole
concept of "the same atoms" is radically different from what
common sense suggests. Particles of the same kind ---- electrons,
protons, carbon--12 atoms, etc. ---- are completely identical in
quantum theory. There is no way of telling them apart.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says that we cannot follow
particles carefully enough to be able to say which is which after
they interact. The question of whether or not "the same atoms"
are in a body therefore loses its meaning. We can only talk about
whether or not the same pattern of atoms is found. The problem of
material identity posed by transplants or cannibalism turns out
in the light of quantum theory to be a non--problem.
Of course what has been said here should not be understood as
giving any scientific "proof" of the resurrection. But it does
mean that, when the modern scientific understanding of matter is
taken into account, proclamation of the resurrection can be made
with some intellectual integrity.
This is a matter of considerable practical importance. Organ
donation can be literally a matter of life and death, and there
is a serious shortage of vital organs available for transplants.
People should not be deflected from allowing donations because of
an inadequate theology of the resurrection. It will be too late
if pastors wait to address such issues in an emergency room
waiting area. They need to be dealt with in Christian education
and (because many adults do not attend Sunday School classes) in
sermons.


8 EPIPHANY

Isaiah 55:10--13 is given as an alternative by RCL. For discussion
see Proper 10 A.

9 EPIPHANY

RCL provides readings for churches which do not observe this
as Transfiguration Sunday. For this year the Gospel is Luke 7:1--
10, which we discuss for Proper 4 C.


1 LENT

Deuteronomy 26:1--11 (LBW has vv. 5--10.)

The "historical credo" of Israel expresses the faith that God
is active in the events of history. It is the ancestor of the
phrases in the ecumenical creeds which speak of Christ having
suffered "under Pontius Pilate." The events of salvation history
are phenomena of the material universe.
The events of the historical credo are not just the salvific
ones like the Exodus. They are also the events of everyday
providence: the occasion for this confession is a celebration of
harvest (26:2). It is God who gives "the fruit of the ground." A
belief in creation which sees God at work through the processes
of agriculture is part of this early biblical creed.


2 LENT

Philippians 3:17----4:1

The King James Version says in vv. 20--21, "We look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." "Vile" is
a very negative word, and RSV's "lowly" seems more pleasant.
(NRSV's literal "body of our humiliation" is clumsy.) But perhaps
this reflects the ambiguity which we often do feel about our
bodies. We are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14),
and yet anyone who has witnessed an autopsy also knows how
fitting Luther's characterization of

himself as "a miserable bag of worms" can be. Human physiology is
awe--inspiring in its complexity and efficiency, but it takes a
strong stomach to deal with some parts of it.
Our bodies are "lowly" in some ways, but biblical faith
doesn't express shame at being bodily creatures, as at least one
non--Christian philosopher did. Instead it speaks with Paul of the
change, but not the annihilation, of bodily existence, its
transformation into the likeness of the risen Christ. Physical
reality is to be hallowed in order to share in God's final
future. With all the doubts Protestants have felt about the
veneration of bodies, or parts of bodies, of saints, they ought
to remember the solid kernel of truth in such practices. The
flesh is capable of sanctification. That is why Dante could speak
of "the glorious and holy flesh,"3 and why the mathematician
Jakob Bernoulli had a geometric figure, the logarithmic spiral,
which appears in many guises in mathematics, engraved on his
tombstone with the words eadem mutata resurgo, "I arise the same
though changed."4


5 LENT

Isaiah 43:14--21 (We begin two verses earlier than the
lectionaries.)

God's self--identification in Second Isaiah is as the creator
and the redeemer of Israel, and therefore the One on whom the
entire universe depends for its existence and well--being. The
promise here is that God's work of saving Israel will continue,
and in fact that there will be new salvific acts which will dwarf
those of old. God's creative involvement with the world is
ongoing. This foreshadows the New Testament themes of the
identity of creator and redeemer in Christ, and the work of
Christ as new creation. Salvation cannot be separated from
creation, as if the latter were merely a preliminary to the
former.
This passage is a reminder to preachers. Proclamation of the
gospel must include proclamation that the redeemer is the
creator.

EASTER

Exodus 15:1--11 is LBW's First Lesson for this Sunday. In RCL and
LBW it is part of the response to the fourth reading for the
Easter Vigil.

The Exodus is the basic saving event of the Old Testament, as
the death and resurrection of Jesus are of the New. God is
identified for Israel as the One who brought them out of Egypt.
It is interesting to see how this deliverance is described in
the Song of Moses, and perhaps a little surprising to see it
connected with the wind. Verse 10 in the poetic celebration
recalls the more prosaic statement of Exodus 14:21: "The LORD
drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned
the sea into dry land." The distinction between "miraculous" and
"natural" events which seems obvious to the modern mind was not
assumed by ancient Israel. The wind is God's wind (v. 10), the
blast of God's nostrils (v. 8). It is at God's command, and
accomplishes God's purpose. But there is no reason to think that
it was not in principle describable by the laws which
characterize other meteorological phenomena. God may work through
natural processes in the special events of saving history, just
as in the everyday things which maintain the world.


2 EASTER

Revelation 1:4--8 (See the discussion of Revelation for the
following Sunday.)


3 EASTER

Revelation 5:11--14

The Second Lesson for each Sunday after Easter this year is
from this strange Book of Revelation, a book whose picture

of the world seems in many ways at odds with the scientific view
of things. Some of the difficulty disappears when we grasp the
basic theme: in a time of great difficulty for Christians, when
the whole world seems in turmoil, God is still "the Almighty"
(4:8). This does not mean "almighty" in the crude sense of being
able to achieve arbitrary purposes by raw power. God is, rather,
almighty through "the Lamb that was slaughtered" (v. 12).
Revelation shows God in charge of world history, and does this in
part by alternating between the drama going on on earth and the
scenes like that in our text of rejoicing in heaven for God's
already accomplished victory.
The heavenly choir which sings the praise of "the one seated
on the throne" and "the Lamb" contains angels and elders and the
"living creatures."5 "Every creature in heaven," but also those
"on earth and under the earth and in the seas, and all that is in
them" praise God. The whole universe praises God, as in Psalm 148
or the Song of the Three, because all are to share in God's
salvation. (Cf. also Philippians 2:10.) There is no part of
creation too insignificant to share in the ultimate worship of
God.


5 EASTER

Revelation 21:1--6 (LBW has vv. 1--5.)

There is not as much in the Bible as one might think about
"going to heaven." In the present passage, near the culmination
of the cosmic drama of Revelation, the motion is in the opposite
direction. "The holy city, the new Jerusalem" is coming down to
the new earth (v. 1), and God's dwelling will be with humanity.
The whole course of Scripture has prepared for this, from the
consecrating presence of the Spirit in Genesis 1:2 through God's
wilderness journey with Israel and promise to place the divine
"name" in the Temple at Jerusalem. God already "came down from
heaven" to dwell with humanity in the

flesh (John 1:14), taking the place of the Temple (John 2:21).
Now this movement reaches its climax in the descent of the holy
city, whose "temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb"
(21:22).
This has clear implications for the way we view and treat the
world. The physical universe is to be transformed in ways that we
cannot now fully grasp. We can understand the world as it now is
by scientific means because we are on the "downstream" side of
God's original creative work. We are not in that position with
respect to the new creation except as we experience it
proleptically in the risen Christ in Word and sacraments. The
earth, like humanity, will be transformed in the resurrection ----
but it is to be a new earth. Like the human body, it will "arise
the same, though changed." (Cf. 2 Lent C.)
And so the nonhuman part of the world is not to be seen as
dispensable stage settings. It shares in the hope for newness, a
hope finally free from the threat of destruction because "the sea
was no more." The "chaos monsters" of the old creation myths
(e.g., Psalm 89:10) will be gone for good.

Psalm 148 is given as an alternative by RCL. For discussion see 1
Christmas A.


6 EASTER

Psalm 67

The first part of the sixth verse speaks of the produce of the
earth in a way which any atheistic materialist could accept. It
is "the earth" which brings forth food (with the help of solar
energy, etc.) through natural processes. But the psalmist sees
God as the One who provides such blessings. God is the one who,
in Genesis 1, commands the earth and the waters to bring forth
life, and who has been sustaining the universe in that way since
the beginning of time. It is not too hard to imagine a God who
makes things. It is more amazing that God makes things make
themselves!

Acts 14:8--18 is LBW's First Lesson for this Sunday.

This is the first clear confrontation in Scripture of the
Christian message with pagan religious practices, and one of the
few appeals in the Bible to natural theology. Polytheism, as we
pointed out for Proper 26 B, means dissolution of the world into
separate domains governed by different deities and obeying
different rules. Over against that, Barnabas and Paul proclaim
that there is one God, the living God, who has created all
things.

Revelation 21:10, 22----22:5 (LBW has 21:10--14, 22--23. The former
selection is preferable.)

Much of Revelation has pictured the rebellious battle of
earthly powers against God, and their defeat. The "kings of the
earth" were destroyed by the Word and the heavenly armies in
19:17--21. But then, rather surprisingly (but not completely so if
we realize that this book is not about the chronological ordering
of future events), here they come riding into the heavenly city
bringing "the glory and the honor of the nations."6
History matters! What happens in the world, even the smallest
bit of good accomplished, will somehow be brought into God's
ultimate reality. There is good reason to understand the world
and use what we know to improve it. This present life is not only
a time of testing but a time to contribute to the glory and honor
of the nations. After you've taken a test and gotten the result,
you can throw the paper away. When a new experiment is carried
out, when a new computer is built or surgery succeeds, the
results are kept. So it is with the world. Only we must recall
that the final evaluation is God's. We are not the final judges
of what belongs to the glory and honor of the nations and what is
their shame.


PENTECOST

Psalm 104:25--35, 37 (See commentary for Year A.)

Genesis 11:1--9

The shadow of that hyddeous strength
Sax myle and more it is of length.

Those lines of Sir David Lindsay on the Tower of Babel are on
the title page of C.S. Lewis' novel That Hideous Strength, the
concluding book of the "space trilogy" in which, half a century
ago, he argued against what he saw as dangerous and dehumanizing
aspects of the modern scientific view of the world.7 Lewis'
picture of science is somewhat dated now: "The National Institute
for Co--ordinated Experiments" is a minor league operation in
comparison with today's research establishments.
Yet the basic warning remains valid. Science and technology
can play the role of the Tower of Babel if they become our means
of exalting ourselves and usurping the position of God. Humanity
senses its insecurity and the possibility that it will be broken
up. But, confident of their abilities, people try to provide
their own security by their technical capabilities. At the time
Lewis was writing his book, the nation which had had the most
advanced science in the world was trying to protect its "racial
purity" by devising efficient scientific ways to exterminate the
Jews, and was looking forward to Hitler's grandiose architectural
visions.
Technology itself, as part of God's gift to humanity in
creation, needs no apologies. And yet, like all gifts, it can be
misused. The builders of the Tower were not ---- at least from what
we can tell from the story in Genesis ---- consciously trying to
oust God. They don't even mention God! They might be at home in
our post--Christian era, in which many intellectuals don't even
think that Christianity is worth arguing with.
The failure of Project Babel comes about because people with
their single--minded focus on the technical endeavor are unable to
communicate with one another. Language has become divisive
instead of unitive. And perhaps it is not too farfetched to see
the misuse of language in social and political

propaganda, dishonesty in advertising, and the appalling state of
scientific prose as symptoms of the Babel syndrome in our
culture.
The Pentecost story of Acts 2 reverses Babel. Through the Holy
Spirit we are able to talk to one another, and the gospel can be
communicated to all people in their own tongue.


TRINITY

Psalm 8

The majesty of God in the universe is seen by those who
believe it to be God's handiwork, even "infants and children,"
those incapable of following sophisticated cosmological arguments
for God's existence. To say it is God's glory which is chanted by
the heavens, and not the glory of the human discoverer or an
autonomous universe, is an expression of faith. On the other
hand, the heavens themselves, without faith in God, can be
fearsome. "The silence of those interstellar spaces fills me with
dread," said Pascal, a profound Christian who was unimpressed by
arguments of natural theology.
Indeed, what is a mere human being to be considered by God in
the vastness of the cosmos? That question comes in the middle of
the Psalm, at the end of a descent from "O LORD our Lord, how
exalted is your name in all the world!" And there follows a
reascent, through statements about the dominion God has given to
humanity, to that same praise of the God of Israel. Humanity is
placed at the center of a chiastic structure, with God as
beginning and end.
If our universe were just a little different, life would not
have developed. As one example, while most substances contract
when they freeze, water, which is crucial for life as we know it,
expands on freezing. Thus ice floats. If this were not so, lakes
would freeze from the bottom up, aquatic animals would not be
able to survive winter, and higher forms of life would probably
not have developed on earth. In this and

in many other ways, the universe seems to be rather finely
"tuned" to allow the development of intelligent life.
Some scientists have seen this as more than a series of
coincidences. They have proposed "anthropic principles" which say
that intelligent life has a special status in the universe, and
may even be crucial for the existence of the cosmos.8 Such ideas
remain controversial, and other scientists reject them.
The Bible does see the human race as having a crucial place in
the universe. It does not, however, simply place humanity in the
starring role in the universal drama. That role is filled by
humanity indwelt by God, human nature "enpersoned" in the person
of the Word. Thus the writer to the Hebrews extends the thought
of the psalmist by seeing these verses fulfilled in Jesus
(Hebrews 2:5--9). Our discussion of Colossians 1:13--20 for Christ
the King Sunday of this year expands further upon that theme.

Proverbs 8:1--4, 22--31 (LBW has only vv. 22--31.)

This text has been a center of controversy, but it is also one
rich with meaning for our understanding of God's relationship
with the world. In verse 22 Wisdom says the LORD "created [KJV,
"possessed"] me at the beginning of his work." In the
christological debates of the fourth century, the Arians cited
this verse as proof that the Logos was a creature while the
Catholics maintained that it referred to the incarnate Word.
Both, however, assumed that Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8 referred to
Christ.
There is uncertainty in the critical verse 30. The rare word
'amon, rendered "master worker" by NRSV, might also mean
something like "little child." (Cf. KJV's "one brought up with
him.") The picture is either of Yahweh's co--worker or of a child
playing in her father's workshop.
But these questions should not obscure the basic theme of
Wisdom present with God in creation. The Wisdom found in the
basic ordering of the world, the truth which will be enunciated
in all the maxims in the following chapters of Proverbs, was
involved in the origin of things. When God "drew a

circle on the face of the deep," Wisdom was present. This is
similar to what we mean today in saying that the natural laws
which we observe today were valid in the beginning, or the Greek
idea of the logos of the universe. While we should not
uncritically amalgamate Wisdom and Word and scientific law, there
are significant connections made available to Christian thought
through the New Testament ideas of Christ as God's Word and
Wisdom.
The final verse tells us that Wisdom also rejoices in the
inhabited world and in humanity. There is an intrinsic joy in
creation, so that scientific work is not just a grim search for
facts. Beauty and pleasure in the discovery of beauty are parts
of the scientific enterprise.9 The biblical tradition allows us
to see that as a share in the rejoicing of God's own Wisdom from
the first moment of creation, a rejoicing which is continuous
with the eschatological doxology of the universe.


PROPER 4

Psalm 96:1--9 is the RCL selection. See the discussion for Proper
24 A.

1 Kings 8:22--43 (RCL and LBW for 2 Pentecost each have shorter
selections. The entire passage is preferable.)

Some elements of this prayer may go back to the dedication of
Solomon's temple, but its present form reveals concerns of later
generations. God would be present on Mount Zion, but Israel's
later history would show that God was not restricted to any
single location. The entire universe is accessible to God. Verses
27--30 here recognize the tension: God is present in the entire
universe and beyond (whatever "beyond" may mean, since spatial
metaphors are necessarily transcended here), but God has promised
to be present in a special way in the Temple.
This tension has not disappeared in Christian thought. There
is no special "holy place" for Christians, as John 4:20--24 makes
clear, but the one whom "heaven and the highest heaven

cannot contain" is present fully and uniquely in Jesus, and is
given unreservedly to people in the Lord's Supper. The tension
continues in Lutheran--Reformed differences about the presence of
Christ in the Eucharist and the related christological issues. We
seem to be called to new attempts to understand the relationship
between God and the space--time of our universe, such as
Torrance's work from a Reformed standpoint.10
Perhaps what we should hope for is simply a realization that
this tension exists, and a sense of wonder at the idea that,
however we try to make sense of it, the omnipresent God is
present in Jesus of Nazareth. It is the sense which should be
conveyed by the marvelous verse of Christina Georgina Rossetti's
Christmas hymn:

Heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.11

Luke 7:1--10 (LBW for 2 Pentecost.)

It is easy to make the stories of healing in the ministry of
Jesus more comprehensible by calling them "psychosomatic" and
ascribing them to the profound influences which, even within the
realm of "pure nature," the mind can exert on the body. The faith
required for such healing is trust in healing itself, or faith in
wellness. No doubt some of the healings in Scripture are of this
type. (See, e.g., our discussion for Proper 25 B.) But a story
like today's Gospel warns against reduction of all our Lord's
cures to such effects. As the story is told, the healing takes
place at a distance, and the faith which is involved is not that
of the person who is healed. Perhaps more important is the fact
that that faith is not of the Positive Thinking type, but a
confidence in the person of Jesus. The story

is difficult to fit within scientific theories of causation, but
reality is not necessarily that simple.


PROPER 5

1 Kings 17:17--24; Luke 7:11--17 (LBW for 3 Pentecost.)

Here we follow up the comments made on the healing story for
the previous Sunday. Today there are extreme stories of
"healing," resuscitations of the dead. Explanations of "faith
healing" in the usual sense are difficult because it is not easy
for the dead to believe. But genuine faith in God is God's own
work and gift (see Luther's explanation of the Third Article in
the Small Catechism), and therefore has an essential relationship
with the divine creatio ex nihilo. Thus in Romans 4 Paul connects
justification of the ungodly with the resurrection of the dead,
creation out of nothing, and hoping against hope.


PROPER 12

Colossians 2:6--15 [16--19] (LBW has vv. 6--15 for 10 Pentecost.)

As we reflect on the warning here against "philosophy," we
should remember that the natural sciences used to be described as
"natural philosophy." Two mistakes are to be avoided in such
reflection: limitation of the warning to the types of gnostic
mythology which the writer of Colossians had in mind, and anti--
intellectualism which rejects everything outside the Bible.
The proper object of concern is the elevation of any
philosophical or scientific system to a religious level. This
happens when a scientific explanation, such as evolution through
natural selection or behavioral psychology, is presented as an
alternative to theological views of reality. When that happens,

the energies of nature are endued with ultimate power in our
lives and become modern counterparts of the "elements" (stoicheia
---- NRSV's "elemental spirits" is interpretative) of Colossians
2:8. Inordinate claims for created, penultimate entities are
unmasked and defeated through the cross of Christ and returned to
their proper role of creatures through whom the creator is at
work.
It is not only atheists who contribute to the divinization of
natural forces. Christians who think that the Bible gives
scientific explanations which are competitors with, for example,
evolutionary theories, may push people in the same direction.
Things like "scientific creationism" are poor science and can't
compete with good theories. People who are convinced by
"creationists" that they have to choose between the Big Bang and
Genesis 1 as a scientific account may well take the defenders of
the faith at their word and become atheists. The warning of
Matthew 18:5 is relevant here.


PROPER 13

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12--14; 2:18--23 (LBW has 1:2; 2:18--26 for 11
Pentecost.)

A laboratory manual for a general physics course which one of
us taught contained the warning: "In this laboratory, use the
first five letters and not the last seven." In science, labor ----
whether physical, intellectual, or a combination of the two ---- is
vital. Mere oratory accomplishes little. But the words of
Qoholeth strike this kind of work as well as any other.
Scientific work can be "vanity," emptiness, unless it is
genuinely open to truth about reality. That truth may force us to
abandon illusions and cherished dreams about the world, and lead
to the type of skepticism which we find in Ecclesiastes.


PROPER 14

Psalm 33:12--22 (LBW has the entire Psalm for 12 Pentecost.)

This first part of the Psalm is praise to God for creation. In
particular, verse 6 proclaims that all the universe is created by
God's word ---- the same word, the same source of justice and order
that came to the prophets. Creation "by the word of the LORD" and
"by the breath of his mouth" in this verse is an example of
parallelism in Hebrew poetry. In the canonical context provided
by the New Testament, God's "word" and "breath" are seen as the
Son and Holy Spirit.
Verses 16 and 17 should also be noted. They address the idea
of security and salvation through weapons systems.


PROPER 15

Jeremiah 23:23--29 (LBW for 13 Pentecost.)

"Omnipresence" is often attributed to God by philosophical
theology. Being everywhere seems a reasonable property for God to
have. But on further study the idea becomes more difficult. Is
all of God everywhere? How is the idea to be related to our
scientific theories of space and time?
Jeremiah speaks here of God's presence throughout "heaven and
earth," but not of God's just passively "being there." The
emphasis is on the efficacy of God's word, the word for which the
prophets are instruments. This word is more than information ----
it does things. It is irresistible (v. 29 ---- cf. Isaiah 55:10--
11). Thus God's presence throughout the universe is pictured as
an effective presence by which God's will is accomplished "in all
places of his dominion" (Psalm 103:22).
This text is fundamental to the calling of the preacher, for
the message which is to be proclaimed from the pulpit is the Word
of God, the word which accomplishes all of God's work. The man or
woman who receives this call should be both humbled and
encouraged by that realization.

PROPER 16

Jeremiah 1:4--10 is given as an alternative by RCL. For discussion
see 4 Epiphany C.


PROPER 18

Proverbs 9:8--12 is LBW's First Lesson for 16 Pentecost.

The statement of verse 10, that the fear of the LORD is the
beginning of wisdom, is repeated with variations several times in
Scripture (Job 28:28, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, 9:10 and 15:33,
and Sirach 1:14). Since the concept of "wisdom" comes closer than
anything else in the Bible to our idea of science (though the two
are certainly not identical), such a statement ought to influence
our approach to the science--theology dialogue.
There is a sense in which "the fear of the LORD" is not
necessary for science. People can be good scientists without even
knowing about, let alone believing in, the God of the Bible. God
has made it possible to understand the world without any
reference to its creator. When Napoleon (according to the story)
challenged Laplace for making no reference to God in his great
work on celestial mechanics, Laplace was quite right to reply,
"Sire, I did not need that hypothesis."12
But there are a couple of ways in which the motto of Israel's
wisdom literature does apply to science. First, it is an
historical fact that the type of science which actually works to
give understanding of the physical world arose within a culture
molded in fundamental ways by the Judaeo--Christian tradition.
Historians of science have debated the reasons for this, and for
the corresponding negative fact that science never really took
off in, for example, China or Meso--America. But it does seem
that, historically, the fear of the LORD (the biblical God, not
simply the object of natural theology) was the beginning of
science.

Secondly, an understanding of the world does not tell us what
we should do with the knowledge and consequent power which we
gain. We have enough examples of the misuse of science and
technology in recent centuries to make this clear. Science does
not generate an ethic for its own use. That does not mean, of
course, that one must search for such an ethic in the Bible: an
ethic based on "the fear of the LORD" must be presented on its
own merits. But such an ethic must make use of the wisdom
tradition, which culminates in Paul's picture of Christ as the
crucified Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18--31). Our comments on
1 Corinthians 2 for 5 Epiphany A are relevant here.

Psalm 139:1--6, 13--18 is given as an alternative by RCL. For
discussion see 3 Easter B.


PROPER 20

Amos 8:4--7 (LBW for 18 Pentecost.)

If asked to use some government official as a metaphor for
God, we would probably think of a president, a judge, or a police
officer. But Amos calls our attention to another figure. In one
of our counties that official has the title "Sealer of Weights
and Measures." That person's responsibility is to ensure that
store scales, gas pumps, and so forth are accurate, so that when
you pay for a gallon of gas you get a gallon, not nine--tenths of
one. Amos' criticism of a measure of volume which gives the buyer
less than the ephah of grain which was paid for and of a measure
of weight which demands more than the shekel of silver which
should be paid suggests that the prophet would have liked to have
an honest "Sealer of Weights and Measures" in the Northern
Kingdom.
But that is more than merely the concern of Amos. It's also
God's concern. God cares about justice, not simply as an
abstraction but as a concrete matter of ephahs and shekels.

In some cases justice can be quantified and accuracy of
measurement and precision of thought are essentials for the doing
of justice. Perhaps we don't often think of the Bureau of
Standards as a government department concerned about justice, but
in some ways it is. (Cf. also Proverbs 11:1 here.) And if this
adds to our repertoire of metaphors for God, so much the better.


PROPER 23

Psalm 111 (LBW for 21 Pentecost. See the discussion for 4
Epiphany B.)

Ruth 1:1--19a; Luke 17:11--19 (The reading from Ruth is LBW's First
Lesson for 21 Pentecost. RCL's selection, 2 Kings 5:1--3, 7--15c,
also deals with the status of a non--Israelite, but Ruth has a
more significant place in salvation history.)

Both of these texts address the issue of race, one of the
major problems of our time. The Book of Ruth is not simply a
romance or a story of trust in God. The writer emphasizes
throughout the book that the central figure is Ruth "the
Moabitess" (RSV) (hamo'abhiyah), who also will be the great--
grandmother of King David. In the Gospel, it is one of the
despised Samaritans who is singled out for praise by Jesus.
Scientific "proofs" of the superiority of one race over
another have, fortunately, fallen on hard times. It is also
wrong, and unnecessary, to argue that there are no objective
differences of any significance between races. Biblical
inclusivity does not ignore differences, but emphasizes that God
accepts people without reference to those differences. Racial
diversity is part of the delight of God's creation and
contributes to its health and strength.
Racial exclusiveness is a strategy by which a group's gene
pool can be protected. It is not always a wise genetic strategy,
for the dangers of inbreeding are well known, and it is espoused
only in limited ways in Scripture. Nehemiah's policy against

foreign marriages was a response to a situation in which the Jews
were a small minority surrounded by hostile people, and there was
a danger that the worship of Yahweh would be swamped by pagan
religions if intermarriage were allowed.
But Scripture from beginning to end points away from the idea
that there is a chosen biological group of humans. Finally the
saints will include those "from every nation, from all tribes and
peoples and languages" (Revelation 7:9). And that comes about
through the great, great ... great grandson of Ruth "the
Moabitess" (Matthew 1:5).


PROPER 24

Psalm 121 (LBW for 22 Pentecost.)

We have a lot of problems today but, except for the tides and
the possibility of skin cancer, the malign influences of the
heavenly bodies which the psalmist spoke of (v. 6) are not among
them. The demythologizing of the universe, which is a proper part
of Christianity, and the development of science both have helped
to free people from such fears. The popularity of some New Age
thought, and especially of astrology, threatens to return people
to that ancient bondage. Warnings about pagan world views which
would have seemed hopelessly outdated from the pulpits of fifty
years ago may have to be dusted off by today's preachers.


PROPER 25

Psalm 65 is given as an alternative by RCL. For discussion see
Harvest in the section of texts common for each year.


PROPER 27

Luke 20:27--38 (LBW for 25 Pentecost.)

Belief in an afterlife on the basis of something intrinsic to
human nature is common in many cultures and religions. The idea
of immortality of the soul is a good expample. Israel's thought
was different in this regard. There was quite early the concept
of a shadowy kind of half--existence in Sheol, but explicit
statements about resurrection of the dead are found only in late
texts of the Old Testament, Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:3. Thus
the conservative Sadducees did not accept the idea.
Jesus uses a "proof text" whose relevance is not obvious to
the modern exegete, but the passage about the burning bush is
from the Torah, and therefore authoritative for the Sadducees.
From the standpoint of the New Testament, it is a statement about
the resurrection because Jesus interprets it that way. There is a
"backward in time" aspect to the interpretation of the Exodus
text which means that it cannot be fully understood only in its
setting in the Hebrew Scriptures. (Cf. Luke 24:25--27.) The idea
that actions can occur "backward in time," that effects can
precede their causes, has been used most prominently in science
fiction, but it has also been taken seriously by physicists.13
Jesus describes the continued existence of those who have died
by saying that they are all alive to God. It is because of God
that life does not end with death. This need not (though it
could) be interpreted in terms of a continued existence of souls
or spirits of the dead in our present. If we picture God as in
some sense outside our time, our future resurrection is in God's
present. The emphasis here is on a continued relationship between
each person and God rather than on an intrinsic human
immortality. Even the text in the Apocrypha which speaks of
immortality of the soul points in that direction: "The souls of
the just are in God's hand" (Wisdom 3:1 NEB).

Psalm 98 is given as an alternative by RCL both for this Sunday
and the next. See the note for 6 Easter B.


CHRIST THE KING

Colossians 1:11--20 (LBW begins with v. 13.)

The biblical text which is authoritative is that which stands
in Scripture now. It is important to try to discern the various
sources and redactions which lie behind the canonical text, but
the final concern of those who are to preach these texts is with
their present form. Verses 15--20 of this passage from Colossians
may be based on a pre--Christian hymn in which the specifically
Christian phrases tes ekklesias (v. 18) and eirenopoiesas dia tou
haimatos tou staurou autou (v. 20) were inserted.14 The canonical
text then speaks of a cosmic role of the crucified Christ who is
the head of the Church.
Christ's activity is past, present, and future. All things
were created in him and through him. He is "before all things"
and was the agent of creation in the beginning. He is the agent
of the ongoing maintenance and preservation of the world: "In him
all things hold together." And all things were created "for him":
the universe finds its fulfillment in him.
It has often been argued that Copernicus began a process of
removing humanity from a central place in the world. In some ways
that is an exaggeration: in the medieval view, the earth (with
Hell at its core) was the bottom as well as the center of the
universe, and heaven was more important than earth. The theory of
evolution through natural selection played a larger role in
removing humanity from a central position, for it seemed to say
that our species came to be only through a chance assortment of
random circumstances.
In recent years, the controversial "anthropic principles" of
modern cosmology have moved in the opposite direction, suggesting
that the development of intelligent life is a critical feature of
the cosmos. (See our discussions for Proper 10 B and Trinity C.)
Perhaps the universe could not even exist if such life did not
develop within it. These ideas remain speculative even within
science. They cannot prove that Christianity is true, nor can
Christian theology prove the anthropic principles as a matter of
science. But Christian thought provides a strong parallel to
anthropic principles. The picture in the Christ Hymn of
Colossians is of the universe (ta panta) reaching its goal, not
simply in humanity as such but in humanity

indwelt by God in Jesus Christ. This can be referred to as a
theanthropic principle. What makes the universe possible, what
holds it together and is its final purpose, is Jesus Christ.15
And it is the crucified Christ who is all that. It is "by the
blood of his cross" that "all things" are reconciled to their
creator and are brought to the purpose God intends for them. If
there is a theological "Copernican revolution," it involves the
radical belief that "all things" are centered on the crucified
Son of God. (See the discussion of 1 Corinthians 1:18--31 for 4
Epiphany A.)
"All things" must include any extraterrestrial beings.
Scientists are divided over whether or not intelligent life is to
be expected anywhere else in the universe, and people tend also
to be divided in their instinctive reactions to such an idea.
Some who have dismissed the idea of God may cling with religious
fervor to belief in ETs to mitigate cosmic loneliness. Others are
wary about the prospect of alien visitors. Americans, remembering
the history of the conquest of their continent, may be ambivalent
about the possibility.
What would be our religious response if ETs visited us, or if
we were to encounter them in our explorations of space? The
preacher does not have to speculate on the scientific probability
for life elsewhere in the universe, but this Sunday might be an
opportunity for a story sermon using science fiction motifs to
bring out some of the cosmic significance of the Colossians text.


DAY OF THANKSGIVING

Deuteronomy 26:1--11 (See the commentary for 1 Lent C.)



Endnotes
1. John A.T. Robinson, The Body (Westminster, Philadelphia,
1977), p. 58.

2. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Activation of Energy (Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1970), pp. 115--116.

3. Dante, The Divine Comedy, "Paradise," canto 14, line 43.

4. Dirk J. Struik, A Concise History of Mathematics, 2nd revised
ed. (Dover, New York, 1948), p. 165.

5. For an interesting fictional use of the latter see Madeleine
L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (Dell, New York, 1962).

6. G.B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (Harper &
Row, New York, 1966), pp. 279--280.

7. C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (Macmillan, New York,
1946).

8. Barrow and Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle.

9. S. Chandrasekhar, "Beauty and the Quest for Beauty in
Science," Physics Today 32, July 1979, p. 25.

10. Thomas F. Torrance, Space, Time and Incarnation (Oxford,
London, 1969).

11. Christina Georgina Rossetti, "In the bleak mid--winter," Hymn
#36 in Service Book and Hymnal (Augsburg, Minneapolis, 1958),
Verse 2.

12. Kaiser, Creation and the History of Science, p. 267.

13. Nahin, Time Machines.

14. For detailed discussion of the passage with numerous
references see Eduard Lohse, Colossians and Philemon (Fortress,
Philadelphia, 1971), pp. 32--61.

15. George L. Murphy, "The Incarnation as a Theanthropic
Principle," Word & World XIII, p. 256, 1993.