Thoughts as I Exegete Matthew

You asked me what is the good of reading the Gospels in Greek.

I answer that it is proper that we move our finger

Along letters more enduring than those carved in stone,

And that, slowly pronouncing each syllable,

We discover the true dignity of speech.

Compelled to be attentive we shall think of that epoch

No more distant than yesterday, though the heads of caesars

On coins are different today. Yet still it is the same eon.

Fear and desire are the same, oil and wine

And bread mean the same. So does the fickleness of the throng

Avid for miracles as in the past. Even mores,

Wedding festivities, drugs, laments for the dead

Only seem to differ. . . .

And thus on every page a persistent reader

Sees twenty centuries as twenty days

In a world which one day will come to its end.

--Czeslaw Milosz

Christ the King Sunday - Col 1:11-20, Lk 23:33-43

At the end of the Magician’s Nephew, the first book in C.S. Lewis’ chronicles of Narnia series, the magical land of Narnia is created. The evil Jadis runs away as the children Polly and Digory stand spellbound, listening to beautiful and creat-ive music. As they listen, the sun and stars appear, revealing the lion Aslan, who is singing Narnia into being. With his high playful notes, the flowers appear, and by his music and breath the animals grow, come to life, and talk. Aslan places the carriage driver and his wife as king and queen over Narnia and they bow before Aslan and serve him well.

In Narnia, Aslan lives before Narnia is created, and Narnia is created by Aslan and for Aslan. C.S. Lewis has given us Colossians 1 in story form. Look at Colossians 1:11-20 with me now.

He is the image of the invisible God…the firstborn over all creation…in him all things hold together…he is the head of the body, the church. Listening to Paul’s words, we are as speechless as Polly and Digory watching Aslan. What a perfect passage for Christ the King Sunday.

Through Paul’s words, we see the majesty of Christ. He is the ruler after all. Christ rules over all things. Did you notice the repetition? In him all things were created…all things were created through him and for him…He is before all things…in him all things hold together…in all things he might have supremacy…through him all things were reconciled. There is no doubt that Christ is above us. And if we had any lingering doubts, this passage reminds us that we cannot compare with Christ.

What a necessary reminder. Christ the King Sunday returns year after year, and we are reminded once again that Christ is the ruler of the world and our lives. We try to remember that every day, don’t we? But we hear so many conflicting messages.

We tell our children to choose their vocations, and their high schools and colleges train them to make the choices to run their own lives. We decide who comes into our homes and who impacts our lives. We choose where to invest our time, energy, and money.

Our lives are filled with decisions we have to make. It is easy to wake up in the morning and forget to thank God for bringing the sun up again. It is easy to go to work and school without asking God for the strength to live faithfully. And it is easy to worry about homework, the cars, laundry, and dinner, and to fall into bed exhausted without thanking God for helping us through another day. John Wesley said that most people live as practical atheists, worshipping, praying, and serving God on Sundays and at Bible study, but running our lives as if God did not exist the rest of the time.

It’s easy to get caught up in our tasks, in the lists of chores that never seem to be finished. But Christ the King Sunday is our yearly reminder that God rules our lives; we do not. It is our yearly call to repentance for the days and hours when we have lived as though God does not exist.

For how could we ever compare to Christ? He is the image of the invisible God. We know God because we know Christ, because he lives and walks among us. As Christians, Christ lives in us, and so we become an icon as well, a window through which others can see Christ.

He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, of the rulers and powers. Even all of our scientific advances don’t allow us to create. We can clone cells, but God gives life. We can genetically engineer plants, but God makes them grow. We can elect presidents, but God rules above them all.

And Paul gives us more reasons to celebrate Christ as King. The end of this passage brings us to the resurrection, and finally to the cross. Christ is the firstborn from the dead. He is the first of many, the first of those of us who follow him. Christ is the first to be resurrected, and in that resurrection, he is the victorious conqueror. How did he conquer? He reconciled all things to him, making peace through his blood on the cross. Paul has brought us right to our passage from Luke, the crucifixion.

At first glance, Colossians 1 and Luke 23 seem like an odd combination for Christ the King Sunday. We can understand the Colossians passage. It is majestic. It exalts Christ as the creator, as the one who holds all things together. It recognizes him as the one who has supremacy over all things.

But Colossians draws us to Luke and Luke draws our attention to the cross. In the cross we see a different kind of majesty and a different kind of strength. Perhaps C.S. Lewis can stir our imaginations. In the passage right before the one I read to our children, Lewis writes, “A howl and gibber of dismay went up from the creatures when they first saw the great lion pacing toward them, and for a moment even the Witch herself seemed to be struck with fear. Then she recovered herself and gave a wild, fierce laugh.

“The fool!” she cried. “The fool has come. Bind him fast.”

Lucy and Susan held their breaths waiting for Aslan’s roar and his spring upon his enemies. But it never came. Four hags, grinning and leering, yet also (at first) hanging back and half afraid of what they had to do, had approached him. “Bind him, I say!” repeated the White Witch. The Hags made a dart at him and shrieked with triumph when they found that he made no resistance at all. Then others – evil dwarfs and apes – rushed in to help them, and between them they rolled the huge Lion over on his back and tied all his four paws together, shouting and cheering as if they had done something brave, though, had the Lion chosen, one of those paws could have been the death of them all. But he made no noise, even when the enemies, straining and tugging, pulled the cords so tight that they cut into his flesh. Then they began to drag him toward the Stone Table.

As the king who rules over the rulers of this world, Jesus could have destroyed Pilate and the high priest. Instead, Jesus silently accepts the crucifixion. As the one who created the world, Jesus could have come down from the cross, but he chooses to die there. One word and his captors would have fallen at his feet, but Jesus speaks no words. A different kind of majesty.

The people’s taunts are ironic. “He saved others, he cannot save himself.” “Save yourself and us!” Ironic because he is saving the people by not saving himself. The King of heaven and earth offers himself as a ransom for many, and in dying remains King.

The cross shows us a different type of strength. People without power follow orders. They have no choice in their interactions with others. The King has the power, power to condemn and kill or to pardon and forgive. Jesus reveals this power. He prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Jesus pardons his killers. He reveals his mercy and grace.

Jesus, the King, dies on the cross because we have betrayed God. In the cross, we see the King who would suffer for our sake. We see Jesus, the one who created the world and who is before all things, choose to die. We see the head of the body, the church, give his life for that church. We see the King Jesus reconcile to himself all things, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

It is Christ the King Sunday. Today we see Jesus exalted, magnified above all of creation, and we see Christ submit to death on the cross. Today we are reminded that we exist because we are created by the King, and we remember that our lives are held together only by him. Today we hear the taunts, and recognize that we are saved by the one who chose not to save himself. Today we see our King. Let us remember that we serve Jesus, our King, every day of our lives, in all of our decisions. Let us repent of practical atheism, wherever it may appear in our lives, and allow Jesus to shape us into people who pray and worship God in all of our lives.

As we spend some time in prayer and repentance, ask God to reveal any areas in your life where you have distanced yourself from him. Ask Jesus to reveal himself as the King of your life, and repent of any ways you have ignored him. Then trust him to help you love and serve him. Jesus will not let you down.

Joel 2:23-32

23 Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm ^[a]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

^[b] 28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
even among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.

The last week has been quite crazy for Californians and those who know and love them. The whole country has been caught up in the news of the fires which have swept across hundreds of miles of fields and cities. With the hot Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert, the normally temperate 60 and 70 degree weather rose into the 90’s and 100’s. One spark from a tractor, one lightning strike, one fallen power line, one arsonist’s match exploded into a raging inferno. As 80-100 foot walls of flame approached homes, businesses, and fields, residents and firefighters alike fled.

Californians know that fires are disastrous. Only four years ago, we watched as fires engulfed 2,500 homes. As separate fires expanded, they joined together and flattened entire cities. Driving the once tree and house-lined streets, all you could see were charred remains and fallen ash. Houses were distinguishable only by the slight rises which had once been computers or refrigerators. Much of Southern California looks this way now. Houses that are being rebuilt from 2003 are threatened again, and crops are being destroyed.

Normally, as you drive along the valleys and coastline of Southern California, you pass miles of orchards, vineyards, and fruit fields. Now crops have burned. Over ½ of the avocado crop has burned. Apple, orange, and peach orchards, and strawberry fields have literally gone up in smoke.

It is right that as we wonder and fear the fires in California, our lectionary directs us to the book of Joel. Joel teaches us that both disasters and blessings reveal the glory of God.

As shocked and horrified as we have been during the fires of the past week, Joel was prophesying an even greater destruction in Israel. Before the passage we read this morning, Joel describes an invasion of locusts and calls the people to lament. Locusts can hatch and move through an area in numbers of thousands per square yard eating every living plant. Joel says that the first locusts came through and ate the plants, and a second, and a third, and a fourth wave swarmed through Israel eating whatever the group behind them had left. The vines were laid waste, fig trees were ruined, the bark was stripped off the trees, and the fields and grain were destroyed. Locusts leave a shortage of food in their wake, but four waves of locusts leave widespread famine in the land.

In the midst of the destruction, Joel calls on the priests and temple servants to put on sackcloth, the traditional mourning attire, and wail. They are to declare a holy fast and summon the elders and all the people to come to the house of God and cry out to the Lord. We understand Joel’s words, “To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.” (1:19-20)

As God responds to the people, we learn that God is at the head of the army of locusts calling the people to repent. The Lord declared, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”

Our passage this morning is part of the Lord’s response to the fasting and praying of his people. “Be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God! for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.” Rejoice. Rejoice? The land has been destroyed by the locusts, and the people and animals are starving. Rejoice? No crops means no seed. How will the people survive the coming year? Yes, rejoice. God will repay his people for the years the locusts have eaten, God’s army which God sent among the people.

God’s grace and mercy are abundant in the midst of his people Israel, for he will repay them for the years the locusts have eaten. God entered into a covenant with his people at Sinai after he led them out of Egypt and across the desert. God would be faithful to care for his people and bring them into their own land which would produce abundant crops. God would protect his people from the people groups around Israel, and he would make other nations afraid of Israel because of God’s presence and power among them. In return, Israel would love and worship God alone. They would obey his commandments and worship him faithfully, and as God’s people, they would be a light to the nations. Israel, however, stopped trusting God as soon as the covenant had been created. They turned to worship other gods, they were led astray by the people around them, and they stopped worshipping God and keeping his commandments. When Israel turned away, God brought armies or famines to discipline his people and call them back, and he was always faithful. He never left the midst of his people in spite of their unfaithfulness.

When the people repent and turn to God, he promises to repay them for the years the locusts ate. In spite of the people’s failures, God sends his merciful gifts. The people, not God, are guilty for the famine. It is the people’s unfaithfulness which has required God to use the locusts to bring them back. Still, God repays Israel in abundance. God says that he is sending grain, new wine, and olive oil to satisfy the people. The threshing floors which were empty during the famine will be filled and the presses will overflow with oil and wine, and the people will praise God. They will know that God is present with his people and that there is no other god.

God continually has to teach and train his people to love and serve only the Lord. Joel’s proclamation that the people will know that God is “in Israel, that [he] is the Lord your God, and that there is no other” (vs27) hearkens back to God’s redemption of Israel in the Exodus. The Exodus is the defining event in Israel’s history, and it reveals God’s presence to both Israel and Egypt alike.

When God promised that he would deliver Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, he proclaimed, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” (Ex 6:6c-7)

God also sent Moses to Pharaoh, declaring that the Egyptians will know that the Lord is God when he performs signs and wonders in their midst. (Ex 7:5) Even though the Israelites had been living and worshipping God in Egypt for generations, the Egyptians did not recognize the Lord as God. Ten times God manifest his power in Egypt, by turning the waters to blood, bringing forth frogs, gnats, and flies, and finally the death of the firstborn children. Only through the 10 signs did the Egyptians recognize the authority of the Lord.

It seems that even hundreds of years of God’s presence in Israel had not taught them to trust only God, but God promises that after the terrible day of the Lord, his people will know that the Lord is their God and they will never again be put to shame. Israel will finally worship and trust God alone for their strength and salvation. They will know both the power of his armies and the majesty of his gracious provisions.

As Israel learns to trust God alone forever, they will become like the prophets in Israel. “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” (v28-29) Joel, and the other true prophets in Israel, were the men and women who served God even when the rest of Israel was worshipping other Gods. They listened to God’s voice and spoke his words to the people to call them back from their idolatry. The prophets proclaimed both God’s judgment on and God’s restoration of Israel. They knew the Lord and walked with him. God’s Spirit was poured out on the prophets, speaking God’s word to them. God knew his prophets and his prophets knew him.

God’s promise to send his Spirit on all people, both male and female, young and old, rich and poor, means that God’s people will hear his voice. They will follow him and speak his word to the rest of the world. Even when others turn away from God, his people will worship him faithfully.

In that day, God says that he will perform wonders in the heavens and on earth, “blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The world as we assume it is, the natural laws which science teaches to our children, become void in the hands of the creator. God’s wonders vividly display his power and majesty for all to see. The wonders are more evidence to convince us that the Lord is our God and there is no other.

And if we doubted that these are signs to us, we can be reassured by their parallels in the Exodus account. The first sign God performed in Egypt was turning all of the waters to blood. Normally clean drinking water and abundant water for crops became undrinkable and toxic blood. In the last sign before the Passover, God turned the skies dark for three days. None of the Egyptians were able to see or move about while the sun was darkened. And the fire and billows of smoke are reminders of the Passover when the people slaughtered a lamb and roasted it over the fire. While the fire also displays God’s presence among his people: when the Egyptians chased the Israelites out of Egypt, God appeared in pillar of fire between them, so Israel could safely cross the desert.

Joel proclaims the word of the Lord as the anticipation of future events where God’s people will finally trust him alone, but the New Testament proclaims the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. At the crucifixion, the skies turned dark from noon until 3:00 in the afternoon, and on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. Both men and women proclaimed the arrival of the kingdom of God and called Israel and Rome to serve Christ as their Lord. They proclaimed his resurrection and recounted his teachings and miracles.

We have seen the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and we can rest in the promise that we will never again be put to shame. Though the world tries to silence and shame the church by killing her prophets, their deaths are witnesses to the world of God’s presence in the midst of his church. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul tells us from prison, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (4:6-8) Paul has faithfully served God and proclaimed the resurrected Jesus Christ to the world. He knows that his death will not put him to shame put will be a further witness to the majesty of God. And we who faithfully follow in Paul’s footsteps in following Christ and proclaiming the power of his resurrection will also declare that we have fought the good fight, we have finished the race, we have kept the faith. Praise be to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Notes on the Anglican Communion

I have been meaning to write up my notes from when Lord George Carey, the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury from 1990-2002, came to speak at Duke Divinity School last year. The title of his talk was "The Anglican Communion: Past Blessings, Present Challenges, Future Hopes." I found his perspective very interesting, especially as he deliniated the many reasons why the worldwide Anglican Communion could not support the American election of Bishop Robinson. Here are my notes from the day.

The Anglican Communion: Past Blessings, Present Challenges, Future Hopes
Lord George Carey

Past Blessings

The Lambeth Conference of 1867 was gathered to deal with a crisis in the church over the uneasy growth of the Church of England. It was called by the colonies, and it eventually led to reformation in the Church of England. There were 76 bishops present with only one black bishop, and the Bishops of London and York were abstaining. The 16th century church was profoundly broken by the break with Rome, and the 17th century had seen excessive violence. By the 19th century, the church was debating theology. By the 1920 conference, women were included on the platform.

Present Challenges

The juridicial structure has been resisted, leading to the increasing independence of the various communions which had only to follow the Book of Common Prayer. The Bishops meet together for various functions such as overseeing liturgical development, but there are many strong leaders and indiginous pastors now which have often abandoned the Book of Common Prayer and a common ministry.

There are serious threats to the unity of the Communion. The move to ordain women was so gradual and so discussed that schism was avoided. The Church of England still does not recognize women bishops in England, for example, and there is still great discussion over the ordination of women versus the ordination of women as bishops; however, the church still remains in communion.

Fast footwork and close communion are needed to prevent schism in the current emergency, the debate over homosexuality. This debate has been quick. The debate has been going on since before 1990 when Lord Carey became Archbishop, and he was a controversial figure in the debate. At the 1998 Lambeth Conference, Resolution 110 clarified the position of the Anglican Communion stating that practicing homosexuality was incompatible with Holy Scripture. Five years later, the United States' decision to accept an openly gay priest threw the church into debate (August 2003). There have been many meetings in the Anglican Communion for discussions with homosexuals, but unfortunately, the discussion with the General Synod in the U.S. was "dead in the water."

The debate over homosexuality is an emergency and causing division because it is a bigger issue than just the acceptance of homosexual priests. There are five major theological and ecclesial reasons why the Anglican Communion could not agree with the U.S.'s decision. 1)The acceptance of homosexuals was a departure from the ordinal and theological teaching of ministry that priests have to be either celibate or married. 2)It was a departure from the orthodox interpretation of the Bible which is universal in its condemnation of homosexuality. Every group, even those supporting homosexual ordination, with which the Anglican Communion has been in communication agrees that Scripture speaks against homosexuality. 3)It was a departure from the Anglican understanding of the sacramentality of marriage. 4)It was a departure from the understanding of unity. By choosing to forsake the discussions and accept an openly homosexual priest, the United States was proclaiming that they had no need of the rest of the Anglican Communion. 5)It was a departure from the Anglican understanding of authority because the United States church ignored the Communion's decisions.

Hope for the Future

Pray for resolution that does not involve schism. The leaders and parishioners need to engage with the conflict and with the problems of the world to avoid the worst possibility, that the minority leaves. Once churches divide, union is rare, and the split between the Church of England and the Methodists is an example. Hope can be sustained if groups stop threatening to leave and realize that the conservative voice is not always heeded and that some behavior done in disagreement is un-Christian.

Unfortunately, increasing schism seems to be the reality, so Lord Carey's fears about division in the Anglican Communion are more and more real. He is correct that once churches divide, they tend to remain divided, even when the churches eventually come to align closely in their theology. Issues such as the validity of ordination and leadership tend to keep them separated. While the Wesleyan Methodists, Free Methodists, and Nazarenes divided from the Methodist Episcopal (current United Methodist Church) for different reasons, none of them have united with each other or reunited with the UMC. Attempts at reconciliation between the Wesleyans and Free Methodists were hindered by different positions on the ordination of women. Attempts at reconciliation between the Free Methodists and United Methodists would be greatly hindered by the pluralism and hesitancy to follow Biblical discipline by some leaders in the United Methodist Church as well as the historic theological "conservativism" (for lack of a better term) by the Free Methodists. While I do not fault the founders of Free Methodism for their actions following the removal of their ordination credentials by the Methodist Episcopal Church when the Free Methodists spoke out against slavery and discrimination against Blacks and the poor, our division is still a hindrance to our witness to the Kingdom of God and to a Savior who has come to reconcile us with God and one another. All of our prayers should be with the Anglican Communion and for reconciliation within our divided churches.

1 Cor 12:5-30 Spiritual Gifts

“Just do it.” “Look out for number one.” “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” L’Oreal “Because I’m worth it.” Army “Be all you can be.” “Be yourself.” AT&T “It’s all within your reach.” “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” All of these are either advertising slogans or common sayings. Our entire lives, we seem to be hearing one constant message: “The world is yours to conquer. Do what you need to get ahead, and don’t worry because you are the only person that matters.” We are encouraged to act like the toddlers who are not yet aware that their actions affect others because they have barely figured out that their actions affect themselves.

The problem with this message is that we are not solitary creatures. Our actions affect both ourselves and those around us. Even if media and advertising tempt us sto forget that lesson as adults, we learned as children that the people around us matter. If you stand on a playground and one child hits another, the wounded child begins to cry. Actions affect others. If one teenager decides to date his friend’s girlfriend, his friendship is destroyed by the betrayal. Actions affect others. If one person at work doesn’t fulfill her responsibilities, the contract cannot be fulfilled and the whole company pays. Actions affect others.

We can tell what is important in our society by the way we spend our money and the way we pay our workers. We drive by billboards and flip open magazines all showing men and women with the “perfect” bodies urging us on to success. We pay our professional athletes and television or movie actors salaries into the millions of dollars every year. Then we drive a little further, or we close the magazine and walk into our front yards, and we see the teachers, substance abuse counselors, and police officers struggling to make ends meet. Human lives are broken down into the important and the unimportant, the famous and the normal. Actors, musicians, and politicians can receive special treatment. They sit in first class on airplanes, are members of exclusive country clubs, and are invited to private parties hosted by the rich and famous.

On the streets we walk or drive every day, we are normal. Most of us will never be noticed by the famous people who live and work only miles away from this church, yet the good news of the Kingdom of God is that the normal are noticed, and the last shall be first. Paul reminds us that we all serve the same God, and we have all been redeemed by the same Christ.

^12:4 There are varieties of grace-gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, ⁶ sand there are varieties of actions but the same God is working in everything and everyone. ⁷ But to each he gives the manifestation of the Spirit for the common goods. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

Once again Paul’s instructions teach us not to listen to many of the messages that we hear every day. Christians live in the Kingdom of God present now, although not in its fullness. When we follow Christ and are baptized into Christ’s church, we die to ourselves and to the world around us, and we are raised into new life and the new kingdom. Peter tells us that Christians live as foreigners in the lands where they once lived as citizens because Christians are citizens of a new kingdom. As members of God’s Kingdom, our lives are governed by freedom and grace instead of competition and struggles for power. In God’s Kingdom, all who allow the Holy Spirit to draw them up onto the life of Christ are accepted around the table, and all who enter into God’s Kingdom are given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit.

In today’s passage, Paul provides us with a partial list of spiritual gifts which are given to each Christian to support the whole church. Every Christian has at least one spiritual gift to share with the body, and no single person has all of the gifts. I encourage you to explore what spiritual gifts you have been given, so you can share them with the church. If you don’t know, there are tests online that you can take or you can meet with a pastor who will walk you through one.

Knowing what our gifts are is essential for us to be able to share them with the rest of the church, but Paul’s list of gifts is less important than his desire for each of the gifts to be recognized and honored in the church. You see, the church is the body of Christ, and like a human body, there are many members but only one body. Each individual part is necessary and important. We might survive if we are missing limbs or organs, but our bodies were not designed to have missing pieces. I had a friend who injured her shoulder. While it was healing, she was unable to drive, write, or lift any objects. No one would have said that she was less than a person, but she was obviously injured. The church is the same way. We may survive if only a few people run everything and no one else participates, but we cannot flourish without every member using the gifts which the Spirit has given to him or her. Every person and every gift is necessary in the body of Christ, and when some members don’t share their gifts, the body is visibly wounded.

It can be hard to hear that we are needed and important. We live our entire lives based on our status and power level. It is easy to believe the messages that only the famous and “important” people can make a difference or are really needed. We see news stories about the work that Al Gore or Bono in the fights against global warming and AIDS, and they are recognized around the world by their faces and names. We can be tricked into thinking “Surely I’m not important, and no one misses me. I’m not famous like those people.” The problem is that one of the organs in our bodies is no more important than the others. It doesn’t matter whether our liver, kidneys, heart, or arteries stop working, they can all kill us. If even the smallest blood vessels in our bodies become blocked, the cells around that blood vessel die. We truly need every part of our bodies to be working properly. The same is true of the Body of Christ. We need those people who are not known by the world if we are going to be able to reach out to our neighbors who are hurting right next door.

But the Body of Christ does not just need every single member, it also reverses the power structures of the world. Paul tells us, “Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” We know that God cares for the outcast and ignored people of the world. We saw that he provided instructs to Israel so that the poor would have food to eat. Jesus tells us to “Let the little children come to him” and that “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” God exalts those who seem unimportant or unworthy of his attention.

Too often, we determine the worth of those in the church based on the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to people, without realizing that those gifts are necessary to the church. Too often, we pay more attention to the work of our teachers and preachers, to those with the flashy and visible gifts. We sound like the Corinthians who were much the same way. They were determining which gifts were most important and causing chaos in the church because everyone was trying to exercise the same gifts at the same time. The Corinthians all wanted the visible gifts; gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, and performing miracles. That is why Paul writes this long discussion on spiritual gifts and the body. The Corinthians don’t understand why the Spirit is giving them spiritual gifts. We need to hear this message from Paul when we base someone’s worth or importance on whether they have the visible and “flashy” gifts of the Spirit. And we need to remember that God has given more honor to the parts of the body that lacked it.

No one spiritual gift is more important that the others. When I think about the ways that we determine a person’s importance, it reminds me of the many concerts and speeches I have seen. Too often, the speaker or singer ignores or abuses the people running the sound or lighting boards. They have become consumed with their own importance and forget that without those people who work hard behind the scenes, no one would even know there was a person on stage. They would have no chairs to sit in, no lights to see the stage, and no microphones or speakers. It may seem like the person on stage is more important; he or she is the person who drew the crowd after all. But the person on stage doesn’t matter if no one can here what they are saying. Those gifts which seem less important, gifts like service, mercy, and helping, are necessary if the preachers and teachers are going to do their jobs.

So what are your gifts? We each have a place in God’s body, and we each have gifts to give to others. Since no one person can have all of the gifts, we need each other to be able to share our gifts. We can only have all of the gifts when we come together. This is why it doesn’t work to be a Christian who isolates himself from the church.

A Foretaste of the Kingdom

May 27, 2007. Pentecost Sunday. Global Day of Prayer. Glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

Pentecost was a reversal of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The people built a tower to the heavens to make a name for themselves, and God confused their language. Then he scattered them throughout the whole earth.

We too have been so scattered. Tribes fight against tribes (Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia); nations fight against nations (USA, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan). We have let the slightest differences divide us in radical ways, so we kill each other instead of living in unity. Unfortunately this is true of the church as well. We refuse to recognize each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, so my sister Thera cannot partake of the Eucharist with her Catholic students. My Orthodox brother Chris cannot celebrate Easter with his classmates. (And yes, my decision to use the words "sister" and "brother" was intentional.)

In the midst of daily division, the Global Day of Prayer was a brief sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. This event began as a result of a vision given to a man in South Africa. Beginning in his hometown, flaming arrows spread out into the rest of South Africa. From South Africa, flaming arrows spread to all of Africa, and from Africa, the arrows spread to the entire world. He gathered Christians in his city to pray, and the season of prayer and blessing, spread throughout the globe. On Pentecost Sunday, Christians gather to pray, in 205 countries and many languages. This is not just one more gathering of Christians who already think alike. It pushes our boundaries.

In Santa Barbara, CA, the Evangelical Prayer Breakfast organizes the logistics, and we are pushed to greater unity. As the pastors discuss which churches to invite, they are asked to view other denominations in full unity. Calvary Chapel is asked to accept the Catholic churches as Christians; a difficult task in view of their history. The United Methodists are asked to limit the service to those who confess Christ; a position contrary to their commitment to "open doors." The Catholics and Orthodox are asked to view the Protestants as members of the one body of Christ, a position difficult for those who believe that Protestants are in broken communion with the one true church. The Free Methodists are asked to be patient with their brothers and sisters who have difficulty recognizing the faith of the other groups. Somehow, though, the Global Day of Prayer service happens every year. The various churches commit their time, their people, and their buildings. They open their doors for Christians from all over the city to come and pray 24/7 for the week before Pentecost. Finally, they gather at the Sunken Gardens to praise God and pray.

This global gathering is a visible sign of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is a foretaste of what we will experience when Christ returns. By now the saying has become almost cliche: "When we arrive in heaven, we will find many we did not expect, and we will be missing some of those whom we did expect." The Global Day of Prayer enacts this saying; we would not expect our brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel and the Catholic Church to have a part in the same service, "non-Christians" from their position. Their very presence in the service indicates an acceptance of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christianity by all involved, an acceptance that those whom we think are outside of God's grace may in fact be a part of his body.

Likewise, the divisions between tribes and languages becomes a mark of unity instead of one of division. When we break into small groups to pray, the circles include latinos, Asians, Caucasians, Africans, and Middle Easterners together, praying in their native languages. No one tells us to break into "diverse" groups; it is natural. Everyone is present to pray, and we are all praying to the one God with a united heart. Pastors from different ethnic churches lead us in prayer or translate for others. Languages and cultures are too weak to break the bond of Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst overcomes our divisions because we are all obedient to the same One who has called us to follow our Savior alone.

Global Day of Prayer is true Pentecost, a time when those of all tribes, tongues, and nations gather together, pray the same prayer, and work as one body to seek God's face. We seek not as in Babel, to make a name for ourselves, but as the body of Christ, servants of the God who as taught us to seek him and to live as the Church. We are a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the kingdom of God.

The Broken Women Among Us

Yesterday, the senior pastor and I went out to the Westside Pregnancy Resource Center in Santa Monica. Talitha Phillips, the Executive Director, gave us a tour of the facilities and then the three of us sat down to hear about the work the center does. This is an amazing organization. Not only do they do pregnancy care, crisis counseling, abortion alternatives counseling, single mother support groups, and ultrasounds, but they also provide supplies for new moms, help them find jobs and housing, work with pregnant women to tell their parents or boyfriends/husbands, and do abstinence/healthy dating instruction for youth groups and schools. As Talitha recounted stories of the women who come back to the center, broken and distraught after having an abortion, I was broken again for these women.

One of the most common groups of people who come in after having an abortion are Christians. "It is easier to come to the church with an abortion that to come to the church with an unplanned pregnancy." Talitha said that this quote epitomizes so much of the work they do. What is wrong with our churches that we tell our women that God will forgive them whatever they decide? God will, but why are we sending our women into pain, regret, and emotional turmoil? These women are so broken, and we send them from one sin straight into another, from one mistake into another. At what point do we truly partner with the organizations like Westside? When do we stop to spend time with them? To learn from them how we can love and support the women in our midst who are dealing with the turmoil of an unplanned pregnancy or the heartbreak of a past abortion? When will we start providing the resources and assistance that these women need so that abortion doesn't become their only option?

Then there are so many stories on the other side. Time and time again I hear the pain and anguish of the couples in my churches who have tried and tried to have children. These couples have been told that they are not able to have children, or they have grieved miscarriage after miscarriage. They are broken by their pain, and we are too often insensitive. I think about groups like MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). They gather to give support to other moms in their situations, which is exactly what we should do: share wisdom and encouragement. Then these women plan events like women's dinners or trips to special stores, and they exclude women who do not have children. So my sisters who have lost baby after baby are excluded from fellowship in the church because they have not been blessed with children of their own. They serve as Sunday School teachers or youth group leaders, working with the children of these other women, but they are not able to share fellowship with the women themselves. I think about the Father's Day sermon I sat through on Sunday, where we celebrated the men in the congregation who are fathers and prayed for a young boy in the congregation who's father died. Again, these were good things to do, but I wondered about the men sitting next to me that are unable to have children of their own. These men and women tell me that they really do rejoice with their brothers and sisters who have children. They pray for them, and they help raise the children up in the faith, just like they committed to do when the children were baptized/dedicated. We support our families, but when will we start supporting the other brothers and sisters in our congregations? When will we surround them with prayer and love, and welcome them into our lives without excluding them because of their own pain? When will we hear the pain of these couples among us?

James 3:1-12 The Power of Words

I want to start this morning by playing a clip from an episode of the Andy Griffith Show. In this episode, Andy has come into the drug store to purchase sulfur powder because Barney had cut his finger while he was cleaning his gun. Aunt Bee, Emma, and Clara Lindsey were in the drug store talking, and that’s where we’ll pick it up.

[View Andy Griffith, Those Gossipin’ Men Clip here.]

In Mayberry, Andy and Barney saw the results of the women’s gossip when the town thinks Barney has been killed. Unfortunately, the men of Mayberry are no less prone to gossip when Aunt Bee tests them. A shoe salesman comes into town, and Aunt Bee plants suspicions in Andy and Barney’s minds that the man is not what he claims. Before long, the men think that the salesman is a talent scout for a tv show and they arrive at his door to display their talents. The town’s actions are directly related to the words they have been speaking. Words have power.

We experience the power of words in our own lives. A friend calls and tells us she’s in trouble, and we tell her that we don’t have time for her. We have just told her that we don’t really care about her. We tell a bitter parent that we love them and watch them break down into tears and ask for forgiveness. Our words have power to heal or destroy. Throughout Scripture we see the power of the words we speak. In Genesis 1, we read, “And God said ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” “‘Let the earth be separated from the waters,’ and it was so.” “‘Let the earth be filled with living creatures,’ and it was so.” God’s word has creative power. He speaks and the universe is created. He speaks and plants and animals are created. He speaks and humans are created. But this was not a one-time act. Gabriel appears before Mary and says, “Behold the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…And you will conceive and bear a son.” And Mary responds, “Let it be with me according to your word.” And it is. Mary has a baby and names him Jesus. God’s word is creative and powerful.

We continue to see the power of words throughout the rest of the Bible. Elijah tells king Ahab that it will not rain in Israel for 3 years, and it doesn’t. Jonah goes to Ninevah and prophesies that God is going to judge the city and destroy it. The whole city repents. Jesus and his disciples pass a fig tree that is not bearing fruit; Jesus curses it and it withers. When Mary Magdalene comes to Jesus, she receives forgiveness for her many sins at his word. The apostles meet a lame beggar, Peter says, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The beggar does.

We like to think that our words are meaningless. You don’t have to stand on a playground long before you hear a child chant, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” The truth is, though, that words do hurt us. Our words have the power to heal or condemn, to bless or curse. We have been trained well to use words instead of actions, but our words are no less of an indication of what’s in our hearts. We use our voices to tear others down and to hurt those we care about most.

James 3:3-6 “the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

Last summer I worked as the director of Cliff Drive Care Center’s summer camp. This is a program for elementary school age children to learn through directed and free play and to learn to follow God while they interact. We had one boy who struggled constantly with anger. I spent a lot of time with Nick teaching him to use words when he was angry instead of hitting or kicking. He learned to go get his journal when he was mad and to write his anger instead of using violence. It was better for Nick to write than punch, but his words still displayed his angry and violent spirit; his words were a reflection of his heart.

James tells us that “All kinds of beasts, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being subdued and have been subdued by human beings, but no one can subdue the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” This is quite an amazing statement! All kinds of beasts are being subdued. Israel was not a place where the wilderness was friendly. If you ventured away from cities and roads, you were likely to be attacked by the wild beasts, lions, ostriches, wolves, and the like, and you did not necessarily expect to survive. The wilderness is not really any more friendly today. If I travel away from home in Nevada, I’m liable to run into a rattlesnake or grizzly bear. I don’t think that I would be much of a threat to either of them. But James is right, human kind is subduing these animals. The bears that show up in town are tranquilized and taken back into the mountains before they can hurt anyone. Doctors have used the rattlesnakes’ own venom to create an anecdote for their bite. Biologists used sounds to get the whales Delta and Dawn to turn back into the Pacific Ocean when they swam up the Sacramento Delta.

For James, subduing these animals is easy. All kinds of beasts are being subdued and have been subdued by human beings. There is no discussion of how humans fail to subdue wild animals. James just states that we do. We know better. We know that these wild animals are never fully tame. In 2003, Roy Horn was attacked by one of his own tigers at the Mirage in Las Vegas. He had worked with these animals every day for years, and he knew how to interact with them. He knew the personality of each tiger, and they followed his commands. This relationship did not prevent the tiger from attacking. Just this year we watched as the crocodile hunter was skilled by a sting ray. He probably knew more about these wild animals than almost anyone on the planet; he spent his life with these creatures, but in the end, the wild animals were not really controllable. The wild beasts were still wild.

If our experience teaches us that wild animals are not completely subdued by humans, how can James tell us that all kinds of beasts are being subdued? If we look around and see that wild animals are untamable, why does James use this as his example? He sets up quite a contrast for us: humans subdue wild animals but they cannot subdue their own tongues. If subduing animals is truly out of our grasp, then how much more impossible is it for us to tame our own tongues?

Our anger comes out in our words, someone cuts us off on the freeway and normally peaceful people start yelling at other drivers. We laugh with our friends, but then we spread deceitful gossip about them. We let minor differences divide us from those around us, and we spitefully attack the other side. And these things happen in churches and families where we care about each other and know each other. In spite of all of our desires to show those around us how much we love them, our tongues are unpredictable, and we too often find ourselves saying things that we later regret and for which we have to ask forgiveness. But again, our actions are no surprise to James. Look at verse 9. “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brethren, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brethren, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

What then, do we do with our tongues? If it is impossible for us to subdue and master our own tongues since we cannot even subdue the wild animals, how can we follow James’ instruction to be consistent in our praise? How can we subdue our tongues to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ?

James is clear that we cannot subdue our own tongues, but he is also clear that God’s power is great. Just a little bit later in chapter 4, James writes, “Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” We are unable to transform our tongues, but God is more than able to sanctify us and make us holy. The Holy Spirit transforms us as he changes our spirits and draws us up into the life of Christ. The Bible tells us that “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” We were creatures who were consumed with ourselves. We were broken and unstable, and we were unable to conquer the sin that reigned in our lives. But in Christ the power of sin is broken and we are brought into the new creation where Christ rules in power. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was comforted by the knowledge that although sin remained in his life, it did not reign over his life. He was victorious over sin because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

If you are anything like me, you rejoice that Christ has brought a new creation, but you still wrestle with sin in your own life. It seems that we can never escape it. The moment we have been set free from one sin, we begin to see that there is a different one waiting below the surface. This is part of the process of sanctification. The Holy Spirit begins to transform us little by little until we become the clear reflections of Jesus. The characteristics of our sinful natures begin to fall away. Paul lists them in Galatians 5: “Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” In their place, the Spirit gives us good fruit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” And we are comforted by the knowledge that we are being transformed, but praying for transformation doesn’t seem to be quite enough. After all, James repeatedly tells us to change our actions.

This is where our tradition is our greatest resource. We are Methodist Christians after all. The early church was given the name Christians – little Christs. They were imitating the life of their Savior. The early Methodists were given that name because they lived their lives according to the method laid out in Scripture. They met together every night and devoted their entire lives to studying the Bible and serving their neighbors. They relied upon the grace of God to transform their lives, but they participated in the “means of grace,” the practices God uses to transform us, to allow the Spirit to transform them.

This is also our path to transformation. This is our path to subduing our tongues and bringing our words to conform to the example of Christ. We participate in the means of grace. The first is to gather together to worship the Lord. You are here; you are seeking God’s presence in this place and opening your lives to be transformed as the Spirit speaks to you, to be transformed as you allow your hearts to be convicted by the Word of God as it is read, to be transformed as you bow your head and speak with the Living God.

We receive communion every month. God has promised that he will be present as we partake of the bread and cup, and we trust that he will continue to teach us as we come together, as one body. Together we pray for forgiveness, and any divisions that separate us are submitted to Jesus. Communion is a means of grace.

We read the Bible to learn what God has to say to us and to learn who God is. We read to grow closer to the Lord who is revealed in Scripture’s pages. Reading the Bible is also a means of grace; the Word begins to soak into our minds and hearts. We begin to think of our neighbors and enemies as children of God because the Bible tells us that God loves them. We begin to pray for peace because the Bible teaches us that Jesus came to bring reconciliation. We stop yelling at others because our hearts are transformed into love instead of bitterness.

Finally, we gather together in small groups; and this too is a means of grace. In small groups, we ask each other how we are growing in our faith. We ask if we are following God faithfully or if we are struggling. We pray for each other and help each other when we are struggling to be faithful. God gives us grace by giving us each other to love us and support us and to grow with us. In these small groups, we have the opportunity to tell each other when our tongues are controlling us instead of God controlling our tongues. We tell each other when the words we have spoken have caused pain instead of love. We learn to speak words of repentance and forgiveness, following Jesus who spoke forgiveness to the sinners who gathered at his feet. And as we receive grace, God transforms our bodies and our tongues.

So, as we follow James’ command to subdue our tongues, we trust God to transform us, knowing that we will never be able to subdue our tongues ourselves. But we don’t stop seeking transformation. We pray for the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and make us holy. We pray for the Spirit to transform us and change us into the image of Christ. And we participate in the practices of the church, the means of grace, which God has provided for us. We worship together, pray together, read Scripture together, and participate in small groups together. As we live our lives in the pattern of worship, we trust the Spirit to transform our tongues to match the praise we give to God. This is good news. Will you join me in praising God for his transforming power.