Proper 23/Pentecost 21/Ordinary Time 28
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Object:
Psalm 106 is recitation of the sins of Israel, an enumeration of the ways in which the nation failed to trust their well-being to the Lord. In verse 6, the psalmist confesses that his own generation has been as sinful as their ancestors, but the catalog of sins that follows sticks to those of the forebears.
In choosing verses 19-23 from this psalm as the reading, with its focus on the golden calf incident, the lectionary presents modern readers with a practice totally foreign to today's people. A cartoon some time ago illustrates this. It showed a man and wife sitting in church. Down in front, the pastor is vigorously preaching, and a sign on the wall behind him says, "Today's Sermon: The Ten Commandments."
The wife is glaring at her husband, and the husband, looking guilty, is saying to her, "Well, at least I haven't made any graven images."
Nor, I suspect, have any of us. If we were to ask for a showing of hands in our churches as to how many have ever worshiped an idol, not one hand would go up. In fact, when it comes to applying the second commandment to ourselves today, we have to take it metaphorically because we don't break it literally.
For example, we may talk about putting first priority on our own desires, rather than on God's will, as a kind of idolatry. There may not be an actual statue, but our own image reflected back in the mirror may serve about the same function. "There is no god but what I want." "The only authority I ultimately recognize is that which I can't get away with breaking." Or we may talk about those who worship God, but who hedge their bets by paying homage to some other "powers" as well. "I worship God but it can't hurt to stay home on Friday the 13th, or to make sure I don't walk under ladders."
But the real application from the idolatry stories today is to show how we treat God as less than God is, try to cut God down to a "manageable" size. We say such things as, "Surely God wouldn't condemn us for this," or "God wants me to be happy." When we define God to fit our desires, we are doing what the psalmist accused the Israelites of in verse 20, exchanging the glory of God for a less-adequate image.
By the way, since this is the only time in the three-year cycle that the Revised Common Lectionary uses anything from this psalm, it is a pity the editors omitted verse 15, which is the basis for an excellent sermon on the causes of spiritual poverty. God provided manna; the Israelites demanded meat. God gave them what they wanted, but, as the KJV puts it, God "sent leanness into their soul."
-- S. P.
In choosing verses 19-23 from this psalm as the reading, with its focus on the golden calf incident, the lectionary presents modern readers with a practice totally foreign to today's people. A cartoon some time ago illustrates this. It showed a man and wife sitting in church. Down in front, the pastor is vigorously preaching, and a sign on the wall behind him says, "Today's Sermon: The Ten Commandments."
The wife is glaring at her husband, and the husband, looking guilty, is saying to her, "Well, at least I haven't made any graven images."
Nor, I suspect, have any of us. If we were to ask for a showing of hands in our churches as to how many have ever worshiped an idol, not one hand would go up. In fact, when it comes to applying the second commandment to ourselves today, we have to take it metaphorically because we don't break it literally.
For example, we may talk about putting first priority on our own desires, rather than on God's will, as a kind of idolatry. There may not be an actual statue, but our own image reflected back in the mirror may serve about the same function. "There is no god but what I want." "The only authority I ultimately recognize is that which I can't get away with breaking." Or we may talk about those who worship God, but who hedge their bets by paying homage to some other "powers" as well. "I worship God but it can't hurt to stay home on Friday the 13th, or to make sure I don't walk under ladders."
But the real application from the idolatry stories today is to show how we treat God as less than God is, try to cut God down to a "manageable" size. We say such things as, "Surely God wouldn't condemn us for this," or "God wants me to be happy." When we define God to fit our desires, we are doing what the psalmist accused the Israelites of in verse 20, exchanging the glory of God for a less-adequate image.
By the way, since this is the only time in the three-year cycle that the Revised Common Lectionary uses anything from this psalm, it is a pity the editors omitted verse 15, which is the basis for an excellent sermon on the causes of spiritual poverty. God provided manna; the Israelites demanded meat. God gave them what they wanted, but, as the KJV puts it, God "sent leanness into their soul."
-- S. P.
