Third Sunday In Lent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle B
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Exodus 20:1-17 (C, RC, E)
We have an embarrassment of riches here, homiletically speaking. There are so many sermon possibilities in this text one hardly knows where to begin. Obviously, any one of the Ten Commandments could serve as the basis for a sermon. Or, we could use the concept of Law as over against PaulÍs teaching about the primacy of Faith over Law. But still we must have guidelines which we call laws. We canÍt have everyone driving down Meridian Street at whatever speed seems proper to them, given the fact theyÍre all very loving folks and all. I know some people who think 50 to 55 would be just fine. I also know one or two who would poke along at 20, while most of us would be in the 40 mph range. Imagine the chaos. However, there are signs which read ñspeed limit 30.'' We need laws.
The opening injunction is relevant. ñYou shall not make for yourself any idol.'' Goodness knows we all have our idols. Cars, for instance. How many people do you know who would die rather than be seen driving a _______________ (donÍt want to get in trouble here)? Clothing? I noticed a designer dress on sale in a ñsecondhand store'' for 1,500 dollars. That was out in L.A. We clergy arenÍt exempt. Size of church, honorary degrees, denominational recognition „ all very human, of course, but somewhat short of compliance with the word we have before us here.
Another passage just begging for attention is this one: ñI the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of their parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me....'' All in all, this is a challenging opportunity to be relevant to a world of people for whom morality is beginning to wither.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (C); 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 (RC)
Perhaps youÍll remember that wisdom, in ancient times, almost had a power of its own. Today we use the word in a complimentary way „ old Uncle Willie was a very wise man. But to the ancients, wisdom often undercut religion by examining its precepts under a microscope. It had two versions: one, advice to young men on proper conduct; two, the effort to interpret the meaning of life with all its pain and anguish. It was usually discouraging. Anderson wrote: ñWisdom came to be regarded as a semi-independent power „ the agent of GodÍs creation and the intermediary between God and the world.'' For Paul, wisdom was fulfilled in Christ.
Here we see that Paul is insisting that one cannot, by philosophically struggling with the meaning of GodÍs creation, come to any solution independently of Christ, nor can we fathom GodÍs ways by intellectual means. I know there are churches which use this and similar passages to argue that the clergy should not get a good theological education. It reminds me of the time such a preacher wrote John Wesley, a highly educated man, and said something like this: ñDear Mr. Wesley, the Lord has directed me to write you to say that he donÍt need your larninÍ to spread His word.'' I donÍt have the exact words before me, but WesleyÍs response was approximately, ñDear Sir. I received your letter in which you observed that the Lord directed you to inform me that He does not need my learning in order to spread his word. I reply, not by the LordÍs direction, but on my own to inform you that while the Lord does not require my learning, neither does he require your ignorance.''
Obviously, the more learning we acquire about the ancient world, about language usage, about theology, about the world in general, the better able we will be to understand the biblical word. But finally, we must be able to accept truths too great for our little minds and we must open ourselves to forces and powers far beyond our understanding, if the Faith in Christ is to be, for us, a saving faith.
Lesson 2: Romans 7:13-25 (E)
This surely speaks to me. Paul believed that sin was almost a cosmic power, having an existence of its own beyond the individual. Actually, itÍs sometimes hard to make the distinction between sin and evil in PaulÍs writings. Here, one suspects Paul was dealing with some personal problems. ThatÍs why Paul is so relevant; he wasnÍt writing formal dissertations for posterity, he was writing what was in his head as he dashed out the door. We all do things impulsively which we later wish we had not done. We all fail to do things which, on reflection, we wish we had done. ItÍs human, but thatÍs not an adequate excuse for the Christian, since the power of God is now at work setting us free from such destructive forces. Still, the complete process will not be done in this life. But in companionship with Jesus we are to press forward in the effort to overcome our sinful impulses and failures.
Gospel: John 2:13-22 (C, E); John 2:13-25 (RC)
Keeping in mind that JohnÍs Gospel was written much later than other New Testament material, we are reminded that sometimes the statements attributed to Jesus, while valid representations of the spirit of his message, are probably crystallized versions of developed theology. Which is to say that Jesus probably wasnÍt as boastful as this passage depicts. Quite the contrary, Jesus tended to be somewhat circumspect in his claims about himself according to the earlier gospels, so itÍs likely that verses 18 to 22 fall into this category.
On the other hand, it sounds like Jesus to get angry with the dishonest and deceptive practices of some of the priests. So IÍm convinced Jesus did, indeed, do what is reported here in verses 13 to 17, and itÍs on these verses that I would preach. Righteous indignation. ThereÍs a place for that. Jesus never showed anger because of any mistreatment he received. But his zeal on behalf of the underprivileged and downtrodden people led to appropriate anger at times such as this. Therefore, I would preach on the necessity of allowing our sense of injustice to motivate us to do something to change things. Naturally, most of us are ill-equipped for such direct action, and these days the law takes a dim view of such goings-on. But there are means to make changes for those who are unable to care for themselves, and thatÍs the work of a Christian. If certain unfair situations make us a little angry, all the better, so long as we act in love and without selfish ends in view.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: ñRules For A Happy Life''
Text: Exodus 20:1-17
Theme: The problem with many ancient people of the Bible was that they placed too much emphasis on laws and not enough on the spirit of the law. JesusÍ problem with the Pharisees was not the fact that they had firm rules for civilized conduct. It was the fact that they believed that anyone who was fastidious in observance of those literally hundreds of laws was ñgood'' and anyone who broke those laws, regardless of the reason, was ñbad.'' This had the added disadvantage that it bred a judgmental attitude toward the latter. ñIÍm better than you are'' was a typical attitude even if there was not an iota of love or kindness in their obedience.
Today, we need laws just as the people of JesusÍ time needed laws. But we need ñlaws'' which are undergirded by kind spirit, by care about the welfare of other people. We need guidelines, if you will, by which to know what will accomplish such worthy ends. With apologies to the spirit of Harry Emerson Fosdick of Riverside Church in New York during the early part of the twentieth century, I propose six rules for moral decision making which follow from the basic ñlaw of love.''
1. The rule of common sense. Is what youÍre about to do something a prudent man or woman would do in a similar situation?
2. The rule of sportsmanship. We all grew up with some sort of sense of what is fair in games, in sports. Is what you propose to do fair to the other person?
3. The rule of your own best self. Is this who you really are; who you really want to be?
4. The rule of publicity. Would you want your friends, your daughter, your mother, the people you serve or work for to know what youÍre doing?
5. The rule of the most admired person you know. I have some role models. DonÍt you? Would you want them to see you now?
6. The rule of foresight. What will be the ultimate effect of your actions? Are you willing to live with them?
Title: ñIt DoesnÍt Make Any Sense''
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Theme: Well, it doesnÍt. I mean, how do you convince someone that the best way to live is to turn the other cheek, to give away a major portion of what you have earned, to never tell a fib, to go out of your way to help some guy with his problems when youÍre up to here with your own problems? How do you convince someone whoÍs looking to make sense out of his world following a tragedy that if heÍll just wait a bit, say a few prayers, things will turn out, not just all right, but better than ever? And if he shows interest, can you then go on to say that there is a God who created everything, who knows both of us by name and situation, who cares about us, then turns around and lets us abuse him and ignore him while he waits patiently for us to get tired of that and come back to him, following which he says, ñOkay, I see youÍre sorry about what you did, so IÍll erase it completely, and you and I will start over''? Give me a break. What kind of outrageous theory is this? Oh, and try telling this person that he neednÍt worry too much about dying either, because there is another life beyond this one, and it will be infinitely better than this one, even guaranteeing that heÍll see the loved ones again who just died and caused all his misery in the first place!
Ours is a world devoted to science and technology. Even you young folks surely know about Sergeant Friday on television who always told the people he questioned: ñI just want the facts, maÍam, just the facts.'' This whole Christian faith flies squarely in the face of everything we know and understand about our world. Little wonder that so many bright people find it hard to accept. But, of course, we canÍt accept it if we propose to make sense of it all first off. That way itÍs nonsense, foolishness. The world, even the Christian world, is full of well-intentioned but foolish people who just canÍt understand how it all really works. One aggressive woman leader recently argued, ñI donÍt think we need a theory of atonement at all. I donÍt think we need folks hanging on the crosses, and blood dripping and weird stuff.'' Poor lady, she probably meant well. She just doesnÍt understand.
But what about the feeling of love? How about the joyous pleasure at watching your two-year-old daughter find her first flower? How do you explain to a cynic how it feels to walk in the first warm spring sunshine, to experience the surge of new expectations, of renewed energy which comes of the beauty of your world? Or the nostalgia of a favorite song, or the memory of MotherÍs laughter and DadÍs insistence that your poor marks in third grade mean nothing, youÍre well on your way to success?
To be scientific for an instant, Christianity is mainly a left brain experience. It transcends intelligence, and learning, and explanation, and good sense. Not that those are unimportant. But itÍs when you can open yourself with abandon to realities too extravagantly beyond understanding that Jesus Christ enters in.
Title: ñTermites In The Woodwork''
Text: John 2:13-17
Theme: Somewhere is a medieval document bearing this insight: ñThe Church is like NoahÍs Ark; if it werenÍt for the storm outside, you couldnÍt stand the smell inside.'' The Church does have its problems inasmuch as itÍs made up of folks like you and me. Bishop Gerald Kennedy once attended a board meeting of one of the churches under his jurisdiction. He said the main order of business was an item of one hundred dollars for ñtermite control.'' Kennedy said that upon reflection, he decided that was a reasonable price to pay to get rid of the termites in the church. I thought of that as I read this passage. We do, after all, have some termites in the church which we could well do without.
1. There is some financial misdoing as Jesus knew. I have known of two ministers who got in trouble with their congregational leaders by diverting funds from accounts for which they were donated to other accounts where the clergy wished them to be. In our tradition, clergy donÍt make those decisions. They can advise but they donÍt decide. I also know of a layman who used to cash a small check many Sundays a year, putting it in the offering plate and removing the same amount of money. The checks were always good, so the treasurer didnÍt mind until he learned the man was under investigation by the IRS. It seems he had used those checks as evidence of contributions to the church.
I also have a bias against clergy benefiting from our ordination beyond fair compensation. All this business of leading tours and going free „ one minister I know says he put two children through college by leading tours „ needs to be carefully controlled. Gifts. One large church gave their pastor a large retirement ñgift'' „ nontaxable. Fine, but he made a contribution of several thousand dollars to his own gift and took a tax deduction. Not good.
2. Another kind of termite in the church is the member who doesnÍt want all these new people coming in. One large, prestigious church passed out questionnaires to their members, asking how they felt about a new church growth emphasis. One lady responded with this: ñWe have enough people here. Let them get a church of their own.'' Termite. I told earlier of a young girl of whom I know who got off on the wrong foot in life. She took drugs, sold her body. Finally, she came to herself and went for counseling. She concluded that her best hope for change would be to find a loving church and get to know Jesus. When certain people found out about this girlÍs past, they made it very clear to her that her kind didnÍt belong in that church. Termites.
3. Another kind of termite consists of clergy and parishioners. The termite clergy are those who fear to say what they really believe from the pulpit. DonÍt misunderstand, IÍm not big on preaching controversial sermons just to feel like a prophet. But sometimes you have to stand up and be counted. ThatÍs our job. The lay counterpart is the worshiper who doesnÍt like to hear anything from the preacher with which he disagrees. I happen to be thoroughly heterosexual myself, as are all my relatives. But I also happen to believe that homosexuality is not a sin unless the homosexual person commits a sin. Same is true for the rest of us. I have friends, and I have worked with people who fall into that category, and they are just as good in every way as I am. They are good people. Of course I am outraged at predatory sexual conduct. But these people I know donÍt do that. I stated this from the pulpit one Sunday and the following week one of our most ñloyal'' and generous members called to tell me his family was leaving the church. I asked him if we could talk about this and he said, ñNope. IÍm outa here.'' Now that is termite conduct. I didnÍt ask that he agree with me, only that he understand where I stand. Same with clergy. If you disagree with me, okay. But if you agree, then the only way this unhappy dilemma will ever be disarmed is for clergy to stand up and tell their people what they really believe. The good folks will not necessarily agree. But theyÍll admire you for it.
4. Another termite, and these are maddening, are the people who never miss a board meeting, talk endlessly, and are always opposed to whatever it is the pastor and others feel is important. One pastor tells of a lay leader in his congregation who chaired a building committee for a year, then voted against the project at a congregation meeting. His was the only nay vote. When asked why he opposed the building, he explained that he wasnÍt against the building, he just hated to see anything approved unanimously. Termite.
You can think of your own list of termites. Ninety-plus percent of church members I know are great, salt of the earth people. But a few termites can mess everything up. Jesus didnÍt put up with that, so why should we?
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
A news article recently reported a prediction that in the not terribly distant future, a spaceship will fly to another galaxy from our own, and that the trip will require some yearsÍ time, so the crew will return a few years older. However, for reasons explained by Albert Einstein, but totally unexplainable to me, when those folks get back here, several hundred years will have passed on earth. Their families will be gone, their great-grandchildren may have died of old age, while the crew members are still young, and the world will be unrecognizable to the men and women who made the trip. (I can, of course, think of one or two advantages to this.)
I only mention this to bring to our minds the fact that there are realities about which you and I know nothing at present, truths too great for the minds of men and women. H. G. Wells once wrote a story about a bishop who was visited in church by an angel. The bishop asked the angel for the real truth about life and about death. ñYes,'' replied the angel, gently pressing his hands around the bishopÍs head. ñYes, I could tell you the truth. But this little head could not contain it.''
____________
Some time ago, the national news services reported on a survey done in some universities to determine how widespread cheating has become. It was discovered that cheating is so widespread that some universities are automatically suspicious of anyone who gets a very high grade on a test. One university took the forty highest grades on a major examination and called each student in for an intensive re-exam. It was concluded that 38 of those students had cheated. Not many of us want to live in a world like that. But if we want it otherwise, we will have to act otherwise.
____________
The Indiana Pacers of the NBA defeated the New York Knicks by two points in a hard-fought seventh game of their playoff series for the Eastern Conference championship in 1997. Pacers star Reggie Miller had embarrassed himself and many of his admirers after their opening game with some things he had said about the Knicks. But Reggie was interviewed immediately after the final game in Madison Square Garden. His first words were, ñI want to thank Jesus Christ; heÍs why weÍre here.'' (Actually, they were there because Miller scored 29 points „ presumably some of the Knicks had also prayed.) But then he apologized in front of the entire nation for his ill-advised earlier remarks and said, ñI was wrong.'' That took courage and integrity. For some of us, that, more than the high-scoring game, qualified Reggie Miller as a role model for all the children who want to be like him. To bear witness to his faith, and to admit an indiscretion „ obviously, someone has set a high standard for that young man and in that moment, he was passing it along to others. How good the world begins to look when we can conduct ourselves in this way.
____________
When I first entered seminary I, along with several other first-year students, had spent several years in ñthe real world'' before deciding to become a clergyman. So, too, had a new classmate. Toward the end of our first quarter, our class in church history gathered for our final exam. Those of us who had been away from the classroom for several years were quite apprehensive about the threat of final exams. Soon, the exam books were opened and we all began to write. Suddenly, we were appalled to see the professor walk over to the desk where my classmate was seated and roughly yank the exam booklet away from the poor fellow. For a moment he sat there, his face flaming red. Then quietly he gathered his books and a briefcase and left the room. I never saw him again. He had cheated, and the professor had caught him.
I have often wondered about that man in the years since. What explanation did he give his wife and children for suddenly leaving seminary? Did he lie and make matters worse? Did he tell them what happened and forever lose their respect? What explanation did he give the members of the church which had proudly sent this second-career member off to be a Methodist minister? How has he lived with himself? Where is he now? What is he doing? He never became a minister. What a tragedy, all because a man failed to think what his actions could cost.
____________
George Buttrick, former preacher to the student body of Harvard University, wrote a fanciful definition of what death is all about. In a fine book on God, Pain and Evil, he wrote this:
Good News. But if you ask me what it is, I know not. It is a trace of feet in the snow. It is a lantern showing a path. It is a door set ajar. This I know: when we are born, our feet are set to a journey. And it will lead over mountaintops drenched with sunshine, and through valleys dark with fear and pain. These things I cannot explain, but this I know: one day, you will arrive at a dwelling place, and the door will stand ajar. As you step inside, you will see half a glimpse of a table that has been set for you. And you will hear the sound of a fire crackling in a hearth. And in the other room, you will hear the sounds of laughter and voices which are familiar to you. And you will discover that at last, you have arrived home. And this I know, itÍs worth the journey.
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 19 (C); Psalm 19:7-14 (E) „ ñThe law of the Lord is perfect.''
Psalm 18 (RC) „ ñI love you, O Lord, my strength.''
Prayer Of The Day
Keep us faithful, O God, to the precepts of our faith. Be with us in our temptations, guide us through the turbulent hours of life, empower us to face difficulty, help us to smile at the joy of life, and forgive us when we slip and fall. In ChristÍs name we pray. Amen.
Lesson 1: Exodus 20:1-17 (C, RC, E)
We have an embarrassment of riches here, homiletically speaking. There are so many sermon possibilities in this text one hardly knows where to begin. Obviously, any one of the Ten Commandments could serve as the basis for a sermon. Or, we could use the concept of Law as over against PaulÍs teaching about the primacy of Faith over Law. But still we must have guidelines which we call laws. We canÍt have everyone driving down Meridian Street at whatever speed seems proper to them, given the fact theyÍre all very loving folks and all. I know some people who think 50 to 55 would be just fine. I also know one or two who would poke along at 20, while most of us would be in the 40 mph range. Imagine the chaos. However, there are signs which read ñspeed limit 30.'' We need laws.
The opening injunction is relevant. ñYou shall not make for yourself any idol.'' Goodness knows we all have our idols. Cars, for instance. How many people do you know who would die rather than be seen driving a _______________ (donÍt want to get in trouble here)? Clothing? I noticed a designer dress on sale in a ñsecondhand store'' for 1,500 dollars. That was out in L.A. We clergy arenÍt exempt. Size of church, honorary degrees, denominational recognition „ all very human, of course, but somewhat short of compliance with the word we have before us here.
Another passage just begging for attention is this one: ñI the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of their parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me....'' All in all, this is a challenging opportunity to be relevant to a world of people for whom morality is beginning to wither.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (C); 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 (RC)
Perhaps youÍll remember that wisdom, in ancient times, almost had a power of its own. Today we use the word in a complimentary way „ old Uncle Willie was a very wise man. But to the ancients, wisdom often undercut religion by examining its precepts under a microscope. It had two versions: one, advice to young men on proper conduct; two, the effort to interpret the meaning of life with all its pain and anguish. It was usually discouraging. Anderson wrote: ñWisdom came to be regarded as a semi-independent power „ the agent of GodÍs creation and the intermediary between God and the world.'' For Paul, wisdom was fulfilled in Christ.
Here we see that Paul is insisting that one cannot, by philosophically struggling with the meaning of GodÍs creation, come to any solution independently of Christ, nor can we fathom GodÍs ways by intellectual means. I know there are churches which use this and similar passages to argue that the clergy should not get a good theological education. It reminds me of the time such a preacher wrote John Wesley, a highly educated man, and said something like this: ñDear Mr. Wesley, the Lord has directed me to write you to say that he donÍt need your larninÍ to spread His word.'' I donÍt have the exact words before me, but WesleyÍs response was approximately, ñDear Sir. I received your letter in which you observed that the Lord directed you to inform me that He does not need my learning in order to spread his word. I reply, not by the LordÍs direction, but on my own to inform you that while the Lord does not require my learning, neither does he require your ignorance.''
Obviously, the more learning we acquire about the ancient world, about language usage, about theology, about the world in general, the better able we will be to understand the biblical word. But finally, we must be able to accept truths too great for our little minds and we must open ourselves to forces and powers far beyond our understanding, if the Faith in Christ is to be, for us, a saving faith.
Lesson 2: Romans 7:13-25 (E)
This surely speaks to me. Paul believed that sin was almost a cosmic power, having an existence of its own beyond the individual. Actually, itÍs sometimes hard to make the distinction between sin and evil in PaulÍs writings. Here, one suspects Paul was dealing with some personal problems. ThatÍs why Paul is so relevant; he wasnÍt writing formal dissertations for posterity, he was writing what was in his head as he dashed out the door. We all do things impulsively which we later wish we had not done. We all fail to do things which, on reflection, we wish we had done. ItÍs human, but thatÍs not an adequate excuse for the Christian, since the power of God is now at work setting us free from such destructive forces. Still, the complete process will not be done in this life. But in companionship with Jesus we are to press forward in the effort to overcome our sinful impulses and failures.
Gospel: John 2:13-22 (C, E); John 2:13-25 (RC)
Keeping in mind that JohnÍs Gospel was written much later than other New Testament material, we are reminded that sometimes the statements attributed to Jesus, while valid representations of the spirit of his message, are probably crystallized versions of developed theology. Which is to say that Jesus probably wasnÍt as boastful as this passage depicts. Quite the contrary, Jesus tended to be somewhat circumspect in his claims about himself according to the earlier gospels, so itÍs likely that verses 18 to 22 fall into this category.
On the other hand, it sounds like Jesus to get angry with the dishonest and deceptive practices of some of the priests. So IÍm convinced Jesus did, indeed, do what is reported here in verses 13 to 17, and itÍs on these verses that I would preach. Righteous indignation. ThereÍs a place for that. Jesus never showed anger because of any mistreatment he received. But his zeal on behalf of the underprivileged and downtrodden people led to appropriate anger at times such as this. Therefore, I would preach on the necessity of allowing our sense of injustice to motivate us to do something to change things. Naturally, most of us are ill-equipped for such direct action, and these days the law takes a dim view of such goings-on. But there are means to make changes for those who are unable to care for themselves, and thatÍs the work of a Christian. If certain unfair situations make us a little angry, all the better, so long as we act in love and without selfish ends in view.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: ñRules For A Happy Life''
Text: Exodus 20:1-17
Theme: The problem with many ancient people of the Bible was that they placed too much emphasis on laws and not enough on the spirit of the law. JesusÍ problem with the Pharisees was not the fact that they had firm rules for civilized conduct. It was the fact that they believed that anyone who was fastidious in observance of those literally hundreds of laws was ñgood'' and anyone who broke those laws, regardless of the reason, was ñbad.'' This had the added disadvantage that it bred a judgmental attitude toward the latter. ñIÍm better than you are'' was a typical attitude even if there was not an iota of love or kindness in their obedience.
Today, we need laws just as the people of JesusÍ time needed laws. But we need ñlaws'' which are undergirded by kind spirit, by care about the welfare of other people. We need guidelines, if you will, by which to know what will accomplish such worthy ends. With apologies to the spirit of Harry Emerson Fosdick of Riverside Church in New York during the early part of the twentieth century, I propose six rules for moral decision making which follow from the basic ñlaw of love.''
1. The rule of common sense. Is what youÍre about to do something a prudent man or woman would do in a similar situation?
2. The rule of sportsmanship. We all grew up with some sort of sense of what is fair in games, in sports. Is what you propose to do fair to the other person?
3. The rule of your own best self. Is this who you really are; who you really want to be?
4. The rule of publicity. Would you want your friends, your daughter, your mother, the people you serve or work for to know what youÍre doing?
5. The rule of the most admired person you know. I have some role models. DonÍt you? Would you want them to see you now?
6. The rule of foresight. What will be the ultimate effect of your actions? Are you willing to live with them?
Title: ñIt DoesnÍt Make Any Sense''
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Theme: Well, it doesnÍt. I mean, how do you convince someone that the best way to live is to turn the other cheek, to give away a major portion of what you have earned, to never tell a fib, to go out of your way to help some guy with his problems when youÍre up to here with your own problems? How do you convince someone whoÍs looking to make sense out of his world following a tragedy that if heÍll just wait a bit, say a few prayers, things will turn out, not just all right, but better than ever? And if he shows interest, can you then go on to say that there is a God who created everything, who knows both of us by name and situation, who cares about us, then turns around and lets us abuse him and ignore him while he waits patiently for us to get tired of that and come back to him, following which he says, ñOkay, I see youÍre sorry about what you did, so IÍll erase it completely, and you and I will start over''? Give me a break. What kind of outrageous theory is this? Oh, and try telling this person that he neednÍt worry too much about dying either, because there is another life beyond this one, and it will be infinitely better than this one, even guaranteeing that heÍll see the loved ones again who just died and caused all his misery in the first place!
Ours is a world devoted to science and technology. Even you young folks surely know about Sergeant Friday on television who always told the people he questioned: ñI just want the facts, maÍam, just the facts.'' This whole Christian faith flies squarely in the face of everything we know and understand about our world. Little wonder that so many bright people find it hard to accept. But, of course, we canÍt accept it if we propose to make sense of it all first off. That way itÍs nonsense, foolishness. The world, even the Christian world, is full of well-intentioned but foolish people who just canÍt understand how it all really works. One aggressive woman leader recently argued, ñI donÍt think we need a theory of atonement at all. I donÍt think we need folks hanging on the crosses, and blood dripping and weird stuff.'' Poor lady, she probably meant well. She just doesnÍt understand.
But what about the feeling of love? How about the joyous pleasure at watching your two-year-old daughter find her first flower? How do you explain to a cynic how it feels to walk in the first warm spring sunshine, to experience the surge of new expectations, of renewed energy which comes of the beauty of your world? Or the nostalgia of a favorite song, or the memory of MotherÍs laughter and DadÍs insistence that your poor marks in third grade mean nothing, youÍre well on your way to success?
To be scientific for an instant, Christianity is mainly a left brain experience. It transcends intelligence, and learning, and explanation, and good sense. Not that those are unimportant. But itÍs when you can open yourself with abandon to realities too extravagantly beyond understanding that Jesus Christ enters in.
Title: ñTermites In The Woodwork''
Text: John 2:13-17
Theme: Somewhere is a medieval document bearing this insight: ñThe Church is like NoahÍs Ark; if it werenÍt for the storm outside, you couldnÍt stand the smell inside.'' The Church does have its problems inasmuch as itÍs made up of folks like you and me. Bishop Gerald Kennedy once attended a board meeting of one of the churches under his jurisdiction. He said the main order of business was an item of one hundred dollars for ñtermite control.'' Kennedy said that upon reflection, he decided that was a reasonable price to pay to get rid of the termites in the church. I thought of that as I read this passage. We do, after all, have some termites in the church which we could well do without.
1. There is some financial misdoing as Jesus knew. I have known of two ministers who got in trouble with their congregational leaders by diverting funds from accounts for which they were donated to other accounts where the clergy wished them to be. In our tradition, clergy donÍt make those decisions. They can advise but they donÍt decide. I also know of a layman who used to cash a small check many Sundays a year, putting it in the offering plate and removing the same amount of money. The checks were always good, so the treasurer didnÍt mind until he learned the man was under investigation by the IRS. It seems he had used those checks as evidence of contributions to the church.
I also have a bias against clergy benefiting from our ordination beyond fair compensation. All this business of leading tours and going free „ one minister I know says he put two children through college by leading tours „ needs to be carefully controlled. Gifts. One large church gave their pastor a large retirement ñgift'' „ nontaxable. Fine, but he made a contribution of several thousand dollars to his own gift and took a tax deduction. Not good.
2. Another kind of termite in the church is the member who doesnÍt want all these new people coming in. One large, prestigious church passed out questionnaires to their members, asking how they felt about a new church growth emphasis. One lady responded with this: ñWe have enough people here. Let them get a church of their own.'' Termite. I told earlier of a young girl of whom I know who got off on the wrong foot in life. She took drugs, sold her body. Finally, she came to herself and went for counseling. She concluded that her best hope for change would be to find a loving church and get to know Jesus. When certain people found out about this girlÍs past, they made it very clear to her that her kind didnÍt belong in that church. Termites.
3. Another kind of termite consists of clergy and parishioners. The termite clergy are those who fear to say what they really believe from the pulpit. DonÍt misunderstand, IÍm not big on preaching controversial sermons just to feel like a prophet. But sometimes you have to stand up and be counted. ThatÍs our job. The lay counterpart is the worshiper who doesnÍt like to hear anything from the preacher with which he disagrees. I happen to be thoroughly heterosexual myself, as are all my relatives. But I also happen to believe that homosexuality is not a sin unless the homosexual person commits a sin. Same is true for the rest of us. I have friends, and I have worked with people who fall into that category, and they are just as good in every way as I am. They are good people. Of course I am outraged at predatory sexual conduct. But these people I know donÍt do that. I stated this from the pulpit one Sunday and the following week one of our most ñloyal'' and generous members called to tell me his family was leaving the church. I asked him if we could talk about this and he said, ñNope. IÍm outa here.'' Now that is termite conduct. I didnÍt ask that he agree with me, only that he understand where I stand. Same with clergy. If you disagree with me, okay. But if you agree, then the only way this unhappy dilemma will ever be disarmed is for clergy to stand up and tell their people what they really believe. The good folks will not necessarily agree. But theyÍll admire you for it.
4. Another termite, and these are maddening, are the people who never miss a board meeting, talk endlessly, and are always opposed to whatever it is the pastor and others feel is important. One pastor tells of a lay leader in his congregation who chaired a building committee for a year, then voted against the project at a congregation meeting. His was the only nay vote. When asked why he opposed the building, he explained that he wasnÍt against the building, he just hated to see anything approved unanimously. Termite.
You can think of your own list of termites. Ninety-plus percent of church members I know are great, salt of the earth people. But a few termites can mess everything up. Jesus didnÍt put up with that, so why should we?
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
A news article recently reported a prediction that in the not terribly distant future, a spaceship will fly to another galaxy from our own, and that the trip will require some yearsÍ time, so the crew will return a few years older. However, for reasons explained by Albert Einstein, but totally unexplainable to me, when those folks get back here, several hundred years will have passed on earth. Their families will be gone, their great-grandchildren may have died of old age, while the crew members are still young, and the world will be unrecognizable to the men and women who made the trip. (I can, of course, think of one or two advantages to this.)
I only mention this to bring to our minds the fact that there are realities about which you and I know nothing at present, truths too great for the minds of men and women. H. G. Wells once wrote a story about a bishop who was visited in church by an angel. The bishop asked the angel for the real truth about life and about death. ñYes,'' replied the angel, gently pressing his hands around the bishopÍs head. ñYes, I could tell you the truth. But this little head could not contain it.''
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Some time ago, the national news services reported on a survey done in some universities to determine how widespread cheating has become. It was discovered that cheating is so widespread that some universities are automatically suspicious of anyone who gets a very high grade on a test. One university took the forty highest grades on a major examination and called each student in for an intensive re-exam. It was concluded that 38 of those students had cheated. Not many of us want to live in a world like that. But if we want it otherwise, we will have to act otherwise.
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The Indiana Pacers of the NBA defeated the New York Knicks by two points in a hard-fought seventh game of their playoff series for the Eastern Conference championship in 1997. Pacers star Reggie Miller had embarrassed himself and many of his admirers after their opening game with some things he had said about the Knicks. But Reggie was interviewed immediately after the final game in Madison Square Garden. His first words were, ñI want to thank Jesus Christ; heÍs why weÍre here.'' (Actually, they were there because Miller scored 29 points „ presumably some of the Knicks had also prayed.) But then he apologized in front of the entire nation for his ill-advised earlier remarks and said, ñI was wrong.'' That took courage and integrity. For some of us, that, more than the high-scoring game, qualified Reggie Miller as a role model for all the children who want to be like him. To bear witness to his faith, and to admit an indiscretion „ obviously, someone has set a high standard for that young man and in that moment, he was passing it along to others. How good the world begins to look when we can conduct ourselves in this way.
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When I first entered seminary I, along with several other first-year students, had spent several years in ñthe real world'' before deciding to become a clergyman. So, too, had a new classmate. Toward the end of our first quarter, our class in church history gathered for our final exam. Those of us who had been away from the classroom for several years were quite apprehensive about the threat of final exams. Soon, the exam books were opened and we all began to write. Suddenly, we were appalled to see the professor walk over to the desk where my classmate was seated and roughly yank the exam booklet away from the poor fellow. For a moment he sat there, his face flaming red. Then quietly he gathered his books and a briefcase and left the room. I never saw him again. He had cheated, and the professor had caught him.
I have often wondered about that man in the years since. What explanation did he give his wife and children for suddenly leaving seminary? Did he lie and make matters worse? Did he tell them what happened and forever lose their respect? What explanation did he give the members of the church which had proudly sent this second-career member off to be a Methodist minister? How has he lived with himself? Where is he now? What is he doing? He never became a minister. What a tragedy, all because a man failed to think what his actions could cost.
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George Buttrick, former preacher to the student body of Harvard University, wrote a fanciful definition of what death is all about. In a fine book on God, Pain and Evil, he wrote this:
Good News. But if you ask me what it is, I know not. It is a trace of feet in the snow. It is a lantern showing a path. It is a door set ajar. This I know: when we are born, our feet are set to a journey. And it will lead over mountaintops drenched with sunshine, and through valleys dark with fear and pain. These things I cannot explain, but this I know: one day, you will arrive at a dwelling place, and the door will stand ajar. As you step inside, you will see half a glimpse of a table that has been set for you. And you will hear the sound of a fire crackling in a hearth. And in the other room, you will hear the sounds of laughter and voices which are familiar to you. And you will discover that at last, you have arrived home. And this I know, itÍs worth the journey.
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Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 19 (C); Psalm 19:7-14 (E) „ ñThe law of the Lord is perfect.''
Psalm 18 (RC) „ ñI love you, O Lord, my strength.''
Prayer Of The Day
Keep us faithful, O God, to the precepts of our faith. Be with us in our temptations, guide us through the turbulent hours of life, empower us to face difficulty, help us to smile at the joy of life, and forgive us when we slip and fall. In ChristÍs name we pray. Amen.
