Let us approach boldly and assuredly the throne of grace . . .

     Although I thought Hebrews a weird place from which to preach stewardship last week, it seems to have resonated.  I have been engaged in a number of follow up conversations in Bible studies and other groups as well as individual conversations.  I have been particularly pleased to hear that most folks have not focused on the money side of our thankfulness, that people understood what I thought God was calling me to teach last week, that we are to respond to everything in our lives in love and thanksgiving for the work He has accomplished on our behalf.  Financial stewardship is an easy way to measure such thankfulness, but folks certainly have other ways of living as a true counter-cultural herald of the Gospel.  In that sense, it has been a great week.

     Unfortunately for both of us, the world rolls on, as does the lectionary.  As much as we might want to bask in the glow of thankful giving, we are thrust ahead in the stories of Scripture.  In our OT reading, we get the story of Hannah, a faithful woman who is unable to get pregnant for many years, who bears a son and prophet named Samuel to the glory of God, in spite of the men around her, including a priest, who are indifferent to or misunderstand her plight.

     In our Gospel lesson, we get the so-called prophesy of Jesus that tells of the destruction of the Temple.  The disciples are impressed by the size of the Temple.  Only those who lived during the splendor of Solomon’s Temple to God would have been unimpressed!  The disciple points out to Jesus the magnificence and permanence of the Temple only to have Jesus tell him that all of it will be destroyed.  The apostles, of course, ask for a bit more information.  Jesus tells them to listen to His teaching and ignore the voices of the false teachers that will follow.  All these things, He tells them, are but birth pangs of the Kingdom of God.  For those of you who know history, Jesus was correct.  Rome attacked Judea again in 66AD.  The result of that war was the utter destruction of Israel and the obliteration of the Temple in 70AD.

     Since I have acknowledged two of the four readings, you’ve no doubt figured out I will likely be preaching on Hebrews again this week.  Given the conversations this week, and in particular on the system of sacrifice in the Temple, it seemed an obvious place to go.  People have argued with me that repentance and forgiveness are too easy, ignoring that looming fact that Jesus suffered and died for our sins to make it “easy” for us.  I wonder, naturally, how easy it really is for us.  If it is so easy, why do not more people take Him or the Church up on His offer?  Put a bit more practically, what is lost following Jesus if we are wrong?  What is lost if rejecting Jesus is wrong?  Ouch.  Too deep this early on a Sunday?

     I have had a number of great conversations on the mechanics of worship under the sacrificial Temple system.  Suffice it to say, most Adventers are not thrilled at the prospect of slaughtering their own animals for their sins.  I have teased a few that they should give more since the sacrifice of money has replaced the sacrifice of life in the blood in the new system, but I get their unease.  I have also recommended Nathan’s book on temple worship for those who are looking for the connections between the Temple, our worship, and what is happening in God’s holy Temple to those who really want to spend time in various rabbit holes.

     I have even had a few conversations about the relative ease of being a priest in the Church versus being a priest in the OT days.  As a couple Adventers put it, I don’t have to worry, really worry, about God zapping me because I do stuff wrong.  Imagine my fear and trembling if I had to wear bells and a rope.  I have reminded people that Jesus Himself tightened that noose for us clergy and pastors.  Those who are called to be pastors and teachers and warned by our Lord that the millstone around our neck would be a better outcome than what He has planned for us, if we cause members of the flock to stumble.  I have even reminded people that they are free to move from church to church as their whims move them.  I am charged by God to pastor all His flock, even the ones who hate me and work hard against me, and get them all to His Holy City.  The path, it is true, is made plain by Jesus, but it is left for us pastors to coax the sheep who stubbornly want to take a shortcut through a valley of death or bramble patch to get them and keep them on the right road.  And if I ever get to the point where I encourage such sheep to go their own way, I run the risk of that worse punishment.  I know.  Y’all thought this job was working for a couple hours on Sunday mornings and full of glory and privilege.  It’s quite a bit different than you think.  At least we are compensated as if people value the cure of their souls.  Ouch!  A stewardship zinger close to Thanksgiving?  That hardly seems fair!

     I was, though, drawn back to Hebrews this week.  Part of the draw was that four letter word in the new church, atonement, and its importance to us.  In conversations with those Adventers who wondered whether their sins were covered by Jesus in the aftermath of our quick sojourn through Job and in conversations this week about what has been accomplished for us by Christ, the discussion of atonement came up.  I had to chuckle as some wider Episcopal forums in which I participate were also discussing whether such teaching was “in error” or “out of touch with the world,” as if we should ever worry that our teachings are out of touch with the world.  Guess what, our teachings are supposed to be “in touch” with God, no matter what the world thinks.  And, as we begin to speed toward the feast of the Incarnation, St. John will repeatedly remind us that the world rejects the One who created and redeemed it, but that’s a sermon for next month.

     What has been done for us, why is it important, and what are the consequence of what has been done for us?—All our questions with which you and I should struggle.  Last week, particularly in conversations in my office and in Bible studies, we reflected on the life of a sincere believer during OT times.  Were you and I living in the time between Solomon and Jesus, barring the Exile, we would be expected to offer animal sacrifice for our sins.  We would evaluate our lives, assuming we were faithful and not “cultural” Jews like folks who claim to be “cultural” Christians, and figure out what sins we had committed since our last sacrifice.  In the beginning, we would walk or carry our appropriate animal to the Temple to be sacrificed.  The priest would hold or bind the animal accordingly and we would kill it.  The priest would butcher the animal, burning the appropriate sacrifice, and then we would be given part of the meat back and sent out into the world to share in our joy at our forgiveness.  I compared it once to the greatest potluck or tailgating experience the earth has ever know.  And this all took place in an age when meat was a sign of wealth and opulence.  There was no McDonald’s to get meatish products into the mouths and stomachs of the hoi polloi.  We knew the cost of our forgiveness.  We had taken the life from the blood of the animal that dies in our place.  And we were sent out with that meat to proclaim our joy and to invite others to share in our wonder and joy and being made righteous before God.

     Now, as Christians (and so did the Jews), we understand the offering was not because God like the smell of burnt flesh or because we needed to make ourselves holy in His eyes again.  It was a type and shadow of the cost of our true righteousness, of our true deliverance.  Paul, perhaps, understood this best of all, how many times does St. Paul remind us that he was righteous under the law.  Paul is not bragging, nor is he mistaken.  He sinned.  But he fulfilled the obligation of atoning for those sins under the law.  In the moments between that sacrifice and his next sin, Paul was righteous.  Of course, we also know it was Paul’s faith in God and God’s system that truly caused God to judge him as righteous, but that is another sermon for another time.

     Think of that life, though.  Imagine we lived in OT days.  Day after day you would bring doves and goats and lambs and oxen, during those particularly bad periods of your lives.  You would sacrifice the animal for your sins, and I would butcher the animal and pronounce you righteous under the law . . . again.   And we would repeat that ritual as long as you lived and I was priest.  Imagine the blood.  Imagine the loss of life.  How much more would we mourn the loss of that life when it came from our own herds?

     What happens now, though when we gather?  What sacrifice are you and I offering?  That’s a real question.  What sacrifice are we offering to God during the Eucharist?  That’s right!  A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving!  What makes that sacrifice acceptable to God?  The fact that Jesus offered Himself for our sins.

     Think back to the little you know about the sacrificial system of the OT.  What is usually offered?  Good!  Unblemished, first born lambs!  That’s a great place to start, since Jesus in the Lamb.  Maybe that imagery makes a bit more sense to you now than a few weeks ago.  The animals offered did have to be without blemish, though.  More costly sins required first born, but some sins required only an unblemished animal.  In what way was Jesus unblemished?  Wow!  You guys are engaged today.  That’s right!  He did not sin.  What makes Jesus the appropriate sacrifice for the worst of sins?  Unblemished and first born!  See how the OT system points to the need for the atonement of Jesus?  Paul actually understood what he was talking about.  His three years wrestling with what he thought he knew and the fact that he had encountered the Risen Jesus pointed him to this.

     Look at our author of Hebrews today and how he or she picks up on that.  Every day every priest makes the same sacrifices.  Can those sacrifices take away sin?  No.  But Jesus, being the firstborn and with blemish can.  Because He lived a life in perfect submission to the will of God, His sacrifice is of infinitely more valuable than anything you and I can offer.  What livestock could we offer in His place?  How much money is such an offering worth?  In light of such magnificence and uniqueness, what can we truly offer by comparison other than praise and thanksgiving?

     Our editors, unfortunately, skip over the next four verses.  They are rather important in the author’s understanding of Christ’s work.  The author takes the reader back to Jeremiah , in particular, and reminds each one of us that God intended all along to write His laws on our hearts and in our minds.  That authoring is made possible only through the flesh and blood of Jesus.  Only through Jesus’ obedience unto death are you and I made ready to receive His law on our hearts and in our minds.  Until that point in salvation history, His torah is an external evaluator.  Now, though, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, the torah is written on our hearts and on our minds.  We may not study the torah very much, but the presence of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts makes us look like rabbinical or scribal experts!

     And because Jesus’ offering for sins was perfect—because He was the Firstborn Son and the Son without blemish, there is no need for further offerings on our part.  So when we gather week in and week out to remind ourselves what He has done, we give Him thanks and praise. 

     Last week I spoke a bit about the fear and trembling of faithful people and priests during the Day of Atonement.  If we were truly trying to live a life pleasing to God, we would be worried about those sins unknown and those things left undone that were beneath our notice.  Conscientious priests and people likely truly worried each and every time the Day of Atonement came around.  What if the priest forgot part of the ritual?  What if another member of the people forgot to offer the appropriate sacrifices?  What if this was the time where God declares He is sick and tired of our stiff-necks?  The pulling back of that curtain of the Holy of Holies served as a public and visible reminder of the mercy of God.  For a few minutes each year, all could see the Mercy Seat and be reminded of the Lord who had called them into relationship with Him and each other!

     After a few minutes, of course, the high priest would instruct the others to close the curtain.  God does not tolerate sin.  The longer the curtain remained pulled back, the greater the increasing danger.  Now, of course, we are under the blessing of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ.  Now we know we share eternally in His righteousness and holiness.  To use the language of our Baptist brothers and sisters, we have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb.  To use the language of our worship and baptism and the language of the author of Hebrews, we have been washed clean with pure water and our hearts and consciences sprinkled clean!  Now we can approach boldly.  We can ask of God anything, because He knows us and loves us and is proud of us in His Son our Lord Christ.  That curtain, that veil, has been torn aside!  And you and I can approach God boldly, assuredly.

     Make no mistake, brothers and sisters, it is an incredible promise.  Because of Him, you and I have full assurance.  Because of His work, you and I have full communion with our Lord God.  And it is a promise of which we need to be reminded from time to time.  I heard it the last couple weeks and over our stroll through Job, that specific sins were too much or that repentance and forgiveness were too easy.  In wider church forums the discussions were worried that the focus of atonement meant salvation was too much about Jesus and not enough about us.  Even our author reminds us that there is a danger, when we do not remind ourselves of God’s promise and God’s truth, that we can be misled.  One of the reasons we come together to worship God is to remind ourselves of those promises, of His enduring faithfulness, and of our need for Him.  But in that quest for reminding ourselves, we should also discover something far more important to us.  To make this all possible, to make it possible for you and I to enter boldly and assuredly into His presence, our Lord had to make that possible.  In human terms, we would say that He had to figure out how to balance His righteousness, His justice, His mercy, His wrath toward sin, and all those other characteristics about God that we so lovingly admire.  Of course, before the foundation of the world He knew this was the plan of salvation, but you get the idea.  The chasm that existed between us because of our sins could not be overcome by anything we did or had to offer.  It could only be overcome by our Lord Christ, the Son of God and architect of our salvation.

     And that “easy” thing that you and I do, where we are baptized into His death and Resurrection, that easy thing where we accept His blood and His flesh as the atoning sacrifice for our sins?  That easy thing for us is His enduring testimony to us of His love for us!  How can we approach His throne boldly and assuredly?  How do we know that He has made us worthy to stand before Him, to use our Eucharist language?  Because He willed Himself to accept the humiliation, the pain, and the death.  Had Christ Jesus wished the suffering over, it would have ended.  Had Christ Jesus thought to Himself that the angels needed to rescue Him, they would have.  But He willed Himself to His purpose.  And while the benefits of His death and Resurrection are still unimaginable to us, we have that ultimate testimony of His love for each one of us in what we call the Passion and death of Christ.  While we did not yet believe, still He died for us, and not just for us, but for all those in the world with us.

     The internal and external struggles regarding the fancy word we call atonement are understandable.  On an internal level who wants to think that our life cost the life of another animal, let alone the Son of God?  Who really wants to acknowledge that our sins are messy, filthy, disgusting?  We like to pretend we are the ones who cost Jesus a whisker pull or maybe a blindfolded punch.  We like to pretend we can clean up all the messes we make.  On an external level, who really wants to remind people that they are messy, that their way of living often puts them in opposition to the Lord and Creator?  It’s not exactly the best marketing plan.

     Yet that was precisely His plan of salvation from the beginning of the world.  He knew before He made us that we would not trust Him.  He knew before He made us that we would dishonor Him and hurt one another.  Yet, because of His love for each of us, He made it possible for us to return to His Fatherly arms.  He made possible what was most impossible in the work and person of His Son our Lord.  Brothers and sisters, you are dearly loved by our Lord.  You and I were redeemed at the ultimate cost to Him.  And just as He loves us He loves all those around us.  And so, as the author this morning reminds, let us always approach Him boldly and assuredly with whatever concerns that prick our consciences, and let us exhort one another to good deeds and sacrificing love as first modeled for us in Christ Jesus, even as we long, absolutely long, for that Day of His appearing!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

Stewards of reality . . .

     If you are visiting today, I apologize.  You are visiting church during the season of stewardship and on a day where our Gospel reading, in particular, lends itself to encouraging a preacher to preach on giving.  One of the visitors at the earlier service complained that every church he visits asks for money.  I asked how often he visits churches and the timing, pointing out that many Episcopal churches actively engage in budget talks and support during the fall.  That got an elbow from his wife.  But I can assure you, I do try to work my way through the lectionary discerning which lesson we need to hear, as a parish, and preaching faithfully on it.  Truthfully, I had one of those weeks where I wanted to shoe-horn in a good stewardship sermon at the beginning of the week.  Vicki, and the rest of the stewardship committee, as you all know, have been working hard to make Adventers aware of the mission and needs of the parish, and to get all of us Adventers to support the burden of those needs, not just financial, but expertise and time as well.  Any stewardship committee loves it when the preacher supports their work, so this was my first chance since the fall campaign began.

     Like you, I have heard dozens of sermons that called us in the pews to be like the widow, to give faithfully, even if we don’t necessarily trust the leadership making the decisions.  When I have preached on the passage, I have really worked hard to avoid the guilting and shaming that goes on in some sermons that points out the widow is far more faith than most of us.  My study this week pointed out some great information.  For example: did you know that Mark has not used the word devour since his discussions of the messianic temptations by Satan in the wilderness?  Knowing Mark’s penchant for connecting words, for whom do you think Mark is alleging that the Scribes and other enemies of Jesus work?  Or, how about this: this is only the second time in his Gospel account that Mark speaks of widows.  Why is that?  And what message does he wish to convey about them?  Good tidbits of knowledge, no?  Interesting questions to consider, are they not?  But they really don’t speak to stewardship or to us.

     But, a curious thing happened during my studies and prayers and conversations with Adventers during the week.  I found myself in Hebrews preaching a stewardship sermon.  Those familiar with the letter, and chapter 9 in particular, may find it a weird place to begin a stewardship sermon.  In truth, I did, too.  It makes me hope that it is of God and not Brian, even though I may be forcing a sermon on you about stewardship you may not need to hear.

     The reason the letter to the Hebrews is a great place to talk about the realities of stewardship and budgeting and all those financial things about which we concern ourselves this season is the simple fact that the letter often speaks to the types and shadows and realities to which our work, our preaching and teaching, our witness, if you will, points.  What do I mean by that?

     About a decade ago, I had a young girl enter my office in Iowa and ask me where she needed to go to get her show.  I’m certain my face looked much like yours does now.  So I asked her what she was talking about.  This girl, she was 16 I learned in the conversation, has decided she wanted her own show.  Actually, she just wanted to be the subject of a show already on television.  Those of us of a certain age remember a channel called MTV that played music videos, music videos like the one that was filmed at Advent this week.  At some point, MTV gave up music for other programming, some of those programs being “reality” television.  Everybody here has some familiarity with the genre of reality television.  It is hard to believe it has been around as long as it has.  From time to time I get articles now discussing the challenges that reality stars face as parents.  Some former reality stars are discovering it to be a challenge to raise children without the kids finding out how mom or dad got their money or fifteen minutes of fame.  Go figure.  As hard as it was for us to grow up under our parents, remember it could be much worse.  Most of us cannot watch our parents doing drunk on a Jersey boardwalk or engaging in sex acts with men or women who are not our other parent!

     At the time, MTV had a show called 16 and Pregnant.  I hear from the moans that you all know where this conversation went.  You are right.  The girl was unhappy with her life.  I cannot remember all the details.  She was having to do without things that she thought were important, and she was, like most teenagers are, chaffing at the rules her mother tried to enforce.  She had decided that she wanted to get on MTV’s show.  So, like any normal 16 year old girl who understands how the world works in all its intricacies, she had gotten pregnant and was trying to figure out how to get on the show.  All her efforts to get on the show had failed, so she had come into my office to get me to help her.  She had friends who had told her I was a pretty good guy, for a priest, so she had decided maybe I could help.

     At the time, I confess I had never heard of the show.  Back in those days, on-demand was not a thing, and I’m fairly certain it was not on Netflix or Hulu, if those were even around—we are talking the dark ages, after all!  I had to find out when the show was on next and make sure I was home to watch it.  I might have made it through one commercial break.  I know I was furious at the producers and MTV after a few minutes.  I am sure all the adults who decided to make money off these girls, and sometimes the fathers of their babies, felt they were not glorifying difficult situations.  Those of us who have been around teenagers know better.  In a culture that was glorifying, hear profiting, off reality stars, this was yet another way.  In the months and years that followed, I was more aware of the stars of the program.  From time to time I would see them on the cover of magazines in the check-out line at Walmart with difficult headlines.  This girl saw the fame, the money, and the opportunity to get out of an, in her mind, oppressive home.  She did not understand that the vast majority of those 16 and pregnant were NOT on the show, that babies came with dirty diapers and a lack of sleep, and that young single moms inherited a certain stigma in society, which made the raising of the baby that much more difficult.  And if, by chance, the new moms really wanted to give their kids a better chance at life, they were ill-equipped to do that.  Many never finish high school.  Fewer finish college.  And have I mentioned the stigma?  The life presented on the “reality” show was anything but real life.  16 year old girls who were pregnant had less of a chance of getting on that show than high school athletes had making it to the NFL or NBA or Hollywood as stars, and that’s saying something.

      What does that story have to do with the letter to the Hebrews and stewardship?  As I shared last week in my sermon on Hebrews, the author discusses how the things and people who came before were types and shadows of the reality that is presented by and exhorted by Christ.  Last week, I focused more on the four-letter word we call atonement and how Christ’s work related to, and, in fact, surpassed that of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.  Let’s go back there again, but with a different focus.  And if you were not here last week, don’t worry, I’ll catch you up.

     The Day of Atonement was a huge day in the life of Israel.  Let’s be honest, it was a huge day in the life of those in Israel who tried to be faithful to Yahweh.  Like us today, there were varying levels of faithfulness to God.  It was the day when they all were reminded that they had been forgiven their sins and that Yahweh was keeping the Covenant.  If you think yourself a faithful servant of God, think of it as Christmas and Easter with a bit of New Year’s and All Saints’ tossed in together.  Just to remind you how it worked: the faithful High Priest would discern his sins and make the appropriate sacrifices for those sins.  Then the high Priest would make sacrifices for those sins that he could not remember or was unaware he had committed.  The High Priest would then make sacrifices for the sins of the people and for the sins of which they were unaware.  Then, the High Priest would take the blood of the sacrifice and enter the Holy of Holies, the off limit part of the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.  When the priest parted the curtain and entered the Holy of Holies, there was an air of uncertainty in the crowds, and probably more than one clergy.  If one entered the Holy of Holies unrighteous, God killed the trespasser.  One could not enter the throne room of God in an unrighteous state.  The priests wore bells and had a rope tied around them.  So long as the bells were tinkling, the priest was alive and working—more significantly, God had accepted the sacrifice.  Were the sacrifice not accepted by God, the rope would be used to pull the priest’s body out of the Holy of Holies.  I see the squirming.  Yes, God takes sin seriously.  He takes it so seriously that He sent His Son to die for our sins—that was the only way you and I could ever hope to enter His eternal throne room! 

     Place yourself in the crowds.  Imagine the air of angst, especially among the faithful.  What if the priest was not faithful?  What if he was a career clergy rather than true pastor?  You and I, unfortunately, know clergy who seem more focused on the privileges of serving God than the responsibilities.  The same was true back then. The possibility existed that God would not forgive their sins or, even worse, decide to withdraw His protection over the people.  At various times in the history, much like you and me, the people of Israel wondered if God had forgotten His people and the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Think of their enslavement in Egypt, the Exile, or the droughts.  It was a real worry.  And once a year, they had an opportunity to see, literally to see, into the Holy of Holies and the Mercy Seat of God on the Ark of the Covenant!  If God accepted the High Priest’s sacrifices, the curtain would be pulled back and the doors to the Temple flung open for just a few moments, reminding the people they were God’s people and He was their God!

     Back to that expectant angst for a moment.  Place yourself in the crowds.  What would worry you?  The sincerity of the High Priest?  Certainly.  His, for lack of a better word, liturgical training?  What if he said the wrong prayer or sacrificed the wrong animal or the animal struggled at an inopportune time?  How about your personal devotion?  Would you have examined that?  Have I made all my necessary sacrifices?  Did God accept them?  And what if the High Priest was killed?  Some would not be surprised to find that the High Priest was judged unrighteous by God, but others would think they had a role in the death of that priest.  I forgot I called Nancy the b-word 6 months ago.  I forgot to give my tithe 4 months ago.  There would be lots of self-blame, rightfully so, because at that time of the year everyone was supposed to be focused on those acts, those sins, which separated them from God.

     Look at us, though.  Do we have that same anxiety?  Should we have any anxiety?  The author of the letter to the Hebrews would say “of course, not!”  Into what sanctuary did the High Priest enter?  The copy of the one in heaven.  Into what sanctuary did Christ enter?  The real one, where He appears in the presence of God on our behalf!  Assuming the High Priest stayed faithful and made the appropriate sacrifices, how often would he have to do that?  Right, each and every year on the Day of Atonement.  Jesus, by contrast, only had to do it once.  Why?  Because He was without sin.  Because He was killed and sinless, His blood makes Him, and all those who claim Him as Lord, righteous in God’s eyes.  He is the new Adam who trusted fully in the mercy and grace and power of God!  You and I have sinned and will continue in the hours and days ahead.  As such, our blood has no power to redeem ourselves or any others.  But Christ’s blood?  Ah, His blood sanctifies us and makes it possible for us to enter the eternal embrace of our Lord God!

     In short, Christ perfected in His Passion and death that obedient faith to which all humanity is called.  And better still, as the author notes, sin has been dealt with once and for all.  Sitting here today, each of us has the freedom to accept or reject Christ’s offering on our behalf.  Some will, in misguided efforts, place their faith in what we call works’ righteousness.  Others, rejecters of the Gospel, will reject the offering.  Our assent or rejection has an eternal consequence, as the author notes.  When Christ finally returns, it will not be to deal with sin, as sin has already be dealt with completely.  Instead, He will come to save those who eagerly wait for Him.  The party, the Wedding Feast, will be on!

     In part, what the author of the letter to the Hebrews is noting is that the cycle of sin and guilt or sin and shame has been finally broken.  Part of the angst that surrounded the Day of Atonement for the faithful was the worry that they or someone else had not done what they were supposed to have done.  As a nation, we Americans like to pretend that we are God’s favored nation.  Israel had no such pretensions.  They really were.  But it was an uneasy relationship because they kept failing to live as God instructed them.  And when God’s punishment of their sins happened, there was always worry that THIS was the last straw for Him, that He had finally given up on them just as they had given up on Him.

     We share this attitude with our forebears of Israel.  How many of you came to visit me during the sermons on Job to explain to me why your sin made you irredeemable?  I have been here nearly four years now preaching God’s grace and love and still more than a few argued with me that their sins made them particularly unlovable in the eyes of God.  Oh, Father, if you only knew.  Oh, Father, your sermon sounds nice, but I know it’s not that easy.  It’s not easy.  Next time you think God forgiving you for your sin was easy, contemplate Jesus’ suffering for you in His passion, Crucifixion, and death!  It was hard, hard work atoning for all our sins and for each of us!  Just ask Him!

     And, I share this now because many of us will experience it and it relates to the why of what we do.  I do not care who you are, if you die a lingering death rather than a quick one, you will experience a Gethsemane moment.  Every person whom I have had the privilege to sit with, pray with, cry with, laugh with, as they died faced that moment whether they wondered about the truth of the Gospel, and its simplicity.  I have buried saints who I know, absolutely know, I will be lucky to be close enough to the throne to see the backs of their heads, who struggled with their faith at the end.  It’s why Last Rites are so powerful.  It’s why pastoral visits at the time of death are so meaningful and a privilege.  We get to remind people of His promise!  We get to remind them of the certainty they had in life!

     Because He completed the work He was sent to do, because He was obedient even unto undeserved death, that cycle of “did I do enough” and shame and guilt has been broken.  Is blood offered on that altar when we gather to give thanks to God week in and week out, or service in and service out?  No!  We make an offering of what?  Thanksgiving and praise!  All we can offer Him for this redeemed relationship is thanksgiving and praise.  We cannot offer God anything else, and He does not ask for anything else.  All that was required to restore us to Him was completed by Jesus!

     It is with that understanding that you and I come to that altar every time we gather, or it is with that understanding you and I should come to that altar.  It is that understanding which informs all our sacraments and rites in the church.  There is no shame in God’s love for us; there is no guilt in His redemption of us.  All the shame of our secret sins and all the guilts of our sins, both individually and collectively, were buried in that Tomb with Christ’s broken Body!  And were that the end of the story, we would be right to be miserable; we would be right to worry; we would be right to feel shame and guilt.  But that we might know, absolutely know, that we are forgiven by His work, God raised Jesus from the dead—breaking that cycle of sin and shame and atonement once and for all!

     How does this relate to stewardship?  A few minutes ago, I reminded each of us that everything that goes on here should point to that love and mercy and grace of God.  That is the reality we are called to proclaim, in both word and deed, in those wildernesses where we live and work and play.  All that goes on here, as far as I and the Vestry and the bishop have any say, prepares us to be heralds of the reality that God’s grace and God’s love are freely offered.  We have only to grasp what He offers.  But that reality is so counter-cultural to the world’s teaching.  That voice that convinces Adventers that their sins were too bad or too shameful to be forgiven is not God’s voice.  That voice that convinces a young 16 year old girl that the only way she can realize her dreams is to pimp herself out to producers or that she can know love is to have a baby is not God’s voice.  The voice that convinces us that members of the other political party are enemies, sub-human, or whatever other descriptor we might like to use, is not God’s voice.  That voice that says the evils of the world are too big, too strong and that we are too weak, too feeble, and too stupid to do anything about them is not God’s.  And we need to be reminded of THAT reality so that we are more effective heralds in the world around us.  That’s why we do what we do!  And that’s why stewardship is important.

     Over the last couple years, I have had this conversation with some of you in softer words.  Those of you who have come into my office to complain that paying to mow the acreage or salaries or upkeep of the facilities is not sexy can speak to your fellow Adventers about those conversations.  All of it is important.  If the buildings are crumbling or the heat or air does not work as needed, who comes?  Right now, this sanctuary space provides a place for Armenians, Southeast Asians, and missionaries to worship.  It provides a place for women to find support and healing in a 12-step group, a program that was developed by Episcopalian in New York.  It allows fiddlers and banjo players to share their love of what they call music with one another, and, because they play here, me to make a bad musical joke!  It allows amateur geologists to show others “what they’ve found” and to marvel at God’s creation.  It has provided a space for Adventers to study God’s word and to wrestle with what God has to say on any number of subjects.  It has allowed various fellowship groups to meet and explore common interests, some religious and others maybe less so.  It has allowed us to invite others in, our neighbors, to share in fellowship and good food and god drinks and even hikes.  It has allowed us to care for those less fortunate than ourselves in His name!  It may not seem sexy, by the world’s standards, but it is important to God and should be important to us.

     The same is true of salaries.  I serve in and you attend a denominational expression that values educated clergy.  We duke it out with the Lutherans to have the best educated, best trained clergy, or so we claim.  There’s a value to that expertise and ability attached—there’s certainly a cost to that training.  Usually the minimum value is set by a diocese, but other parishes influence it, too.  You may think Tina’s salary unsexy, but how much communication and coordination would be lost were she not here?  What value do we place on that work?  You may think Waldemar’s salary unsexy, but how much joy do we derive from worship sans music?  If we were transported in time and space by liturgy without music, more of us would be at 8am service!

      All of this is to say that everything we do around here, whether worship or committee work or hospitality or private rite or whatever, should be done for the purpose of proclaiming the reality that God loves us, that God has redeemed us, and that God has called us to be His heralds, His ambassadors, of that great news, that Gospel news, in this world.  That is the reality He has given us to proclaim; that is the reality that He has promised; and that is the reality He has made possible in the obedient work of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord!  It is that reality to which the author of Hebrews points us today.  That is the reality He has opened to us; that is the reality for which He makes intercessions on our behalf; and that is the reality which we will all one day experience, when He returns to call those eagerly waiting for Him home!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

seeing is believing

     I have to admit I was happy to hear this week that Randy preached on Job last week.  Since neither he nor I talked about the fact that I had been preaching on Job, I like to think his independent discernment just confirms my own.  Of course, if I said that in front of him, knowing Randy a bit, he might remind us all that it just confirms neither of us knows what we are doing.  It’s ok, you can laugh a bit.

     I know we have some folks here for the Stewardship luncheon and a few that have been forced to miss, by virtue of life’s circumstances, the other three readings from the book of Job.  So, to catch y’all up, Job has been cursed by Satan, with God’s permission.  Job has lost his health, his family, his wealth, and his reputation.  For a week, his friends sat in silence with him, but then they offered horrible counsel.  Job, man, you need to repent of whatever sin it is that you did.  The more that Job protests his innocence, the more they insist he’s not the man they thought they knew.  Job, not to be deterred, simply wishes he could argue face to face with God.

     God, of course, shows up in a whirlwind, interrupting Elihu’s “defense” of Him and begins to question Job.  I know some commentators make a big deal about the whirlwind, and some of us in the pews, who have been reading the book the last four weeks, wonder about this imagery.  I guess it strikes some as weird and others as dubious.  How else, though, would you describe the Indescribable?  They cannot yet see His face, particularly the three friends.  And it’s not as if the whirlwind is unlike the description of the back of God during His encounter with Elijah.  It is toward the end of that questioning that we turn our attention today.  God has recounted some of the story of creation.  He has described the planning and wisdom that went in to all that He has made.  Towards the end, of course, God reminds Job and his friends that He plays with leviathan as a kid might a tadpole and behemoth as only its Creator can.  And He asks Job, “Will you even put me in the wrong?  Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?”  He goes on to instruct Job to deck himself with his own glory and to execute his perception of justice.

     Some commentators and preachers seem to want to criticize God for browbeating Job into submission.  To them, God seems to be saying only “look how great I am” (pun intended!).  To critics of God in this passage, God seems to justify Himself in the worst case of might makes right ever known, but is that really what’s going on?  Is God simply saying to Job, and his friends, “how dare you puny humans question Me?”  I think quite the opposite.  In fact, I would argue that those commentators and preachers who like to sit in judgment of God in this passage are far closer to Elihu than Job.  Make no mistake, the result is the same.  As God points out the mysteries of creation, Job and the other humans present, including us, are forced to reconsider what we really know about God and His purposes.

     Job begins his answer this morning with a new perspective.  God has reminded Job of both His power and His scope.  Has God’s confrontation with Job been rather awe-inspiring?  Of course.  Much of nature is.  Think of your favorite nature scene.  Who created it?  God.  What about that scene do you like?  What about that scene could you or I recreate.  Some of us might be able to paint a beautiful sunset, but can we capture the peaceful sounds we hear or the pine smell?  God accounted for all that when He created these vistas for us.  Perhaps you prefer a beach scene.  Think of the knowledge and expertise that went into that scene.  The roll of the waves and cry of the gulls.  The smell of the salt water.  The beauty of the swells and waves and whitecaps.  The light reflecting off the water which at times seems blue and at others different colors.  Or look into the night sky.  How many stars can you count?  How many colors can you see?  And, if we are far enough north, add in the borealis.  Again, think of the night sounds—the hoot of an owl, the howl of a wolf, or the foraging of a skunk or raccoon.  Can we replicate that?  Of course not!

     As God works through the mysteries of creation, Job rightly understands that it was ridiculous for him to think that he could defend himself before God, even that he needed to defend himself before God.  And so Job realizes that he uttered things he did not understand.  Like his friends at the beginning of the book, he assumed the outward circumstances reflected his relationship with the Lord.  Because he was suffering unjustly, he thought it unfair.  And so his complaints were rightly bitter.

     One other note in Job’s response: commentators and preachers get really upset that Job is driven to despise himself and to repent.  A loving, nurturing God would never drive a human being to despise him or herself.  Job has no need to repent in this exchange.  Job simply reflects the behavior human beings have when confronted by the glorious presence of the holy, righteous, just, merciful, and all our favorite adjectives God.  Each and every encounter with God, unmediated through Christ in the Bible, results in what?  Fear!  The Greek word is actually phobia.  Why do Adam and Eve hid from God after they eat the fruit?  Moses sees the Burning Bush.  Elijah is put in a cleft and allowed only to see God’s back.  Even the angels, who simply reflect the glory of God, inspire awe and fear in human beings.  Why?  Because we know, we know intuitively and in our inmost parts that we are sinners and deserve death.  Even Job, whom God judges as righteous both in the beginning and end of this book, is a sinner.  Job now understands that he has been misrepresenting God to others.  True, he has made the appropriate sacrifices faithfully, which God credits as righteousness, but Job now understands far better how much he does not know about God.  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.  Put simply: Job understands his mortal, finite, limited perspective in light of those of God.

     God is not done in this scene, though our lectionary editors would have us believe otherwise.  I have included the omitted verses because they speak to the lesson that God wanted recorded in Scripture for us.  As frightening as the whirlwind was for Job, imagine yourself as one of his friends.  You have spent considerable time telling Job that he needs to repent, that God blesses those whom He loves and curses those whom He despises.  Out of that same whirlwind, God’s voice tells you He is angry with you because you have spoken falsely against Him.  Worse, He tells you that unless you give the sacrifices to Job and Job makes intercession on your behalf, His wrath will be kindled against you in your folly.  Brothers and sisters, if that doesn’t produce real fear, I don’t know what will!  We laugh nervously, right, but that’s the real situation in which Job’s friends find themselves.

     The friends bring the animals to Job, and Job offers the sacrifice and makes intercession for his two friends.  Again, we see the judgment of God true.  When our friends wrong us, how quickly are we to forgive?  How quickly are we to make intercession on their behalf?  Place yourself in Job’s shoes.  You’ve lost everything-your family, your wealth, and even the respect of your friends.  Would you not be a bit tempted to let them face God’s wrath in their folly?  Yet, how does Job respond?  He does as God instructs, never once arguing that he should not.  In this act, we might argue, Job shows forth the accuracy of God’s judgment in the very beginning.  In Shemah terms, he loves his friends as himself and does simply as God commands, trusting that He will sort everything out.  Oh, and by the way, who in this story shows himself to be the true friend?  Job.  But that’s another sermon . . .

     The book ends rather quickly.  Job’s family comes to console him—remember, travel in those days were slow and by foot or animal.  It would have taken time for the extended family to hear and get ready to travel and then to travel.  They arrive and comfort Job.  God, we are told, blesses Job’s latter days even more than the former.  Notice, Scripture says that God blessed Job, but Scripture does not describe Job’s emotional state.  Why?  Those of us who have lost spouses or children understand that Job’s emotions in his later years were probably complex.  Would more children and a new wife (I understand Scripture does not say this and that the tradition has argued about it), make up for the loss he experienced?  Of course not.  He would find joy in the new family, to be sure, but there would be sadness over the loss of his earlier kids.  How about the wealth?  Well, in one sense, wealth is wealth.  But Job has a different perspective now.  Heck, we know he does as evidenced by the giving of a full share of inheritance to each of his daughters—talk about a counter-cultural act!  Job, of course, has seen with his own eyes what he used only to hear about.  My guess is that the encounter with God has given Job a new perspective, one rooted in the shalom of God.  And I have no doubt he trusts that God will make all the hurt and pain and loss and reward and blessing and life make sense, when God decides its time.  He knows God now.  He knows that no purpose of God’s can be thwarted.

     Notice, too, at the end, Job never asks nor ever receives an answer regarding his suffering.  We know that Satan has challenged God.  We know that God has given Job to Satan to do with as he pleases, but nowhere along the journey is Job told that he is the focal point of a cosmic battle of why people love God.  And Job seems content to trust that God allowed or caused whatever evils for His purposes.  Again, some of us get upset at the lack of knowledge given to Job.  But, has God not done the same with you or with me?  Maybe you are all more like Job than I, but I wonder how many paths we have walked blindly by faith.  More to the point, I wonder how many paths I would have avoided had God given me His perspective?  How many would you?  I know, we like to think we are smarter and wiser and more faithful and all that, but human nature is human nature.  Would you have born the crosses that God gave you, had He told you ahead of the time the specifics?

     Why the focus on Job for four weeks?  I think it raises for us an important question after it imparts significant information.  One of the chief pieces of wisdom that the book of Job imparts is that our circumstances do not necessarily reflect our relationship with God.  Job’s friends had an understanding that those who suffer are accursed by God and that those who were doing well were pleasing God.  They understood us to have a tit-for-tat relationship with God.  If I am faithful, God will bless me.  If I am a sinner, God will curse me.  It is an attitude which plagues us still.  In the Church, we hear it grossly proclaimed boldly in the prosperity Gospel.  Such Gospel blames each of us for not claiming our inheritance and has no understanding of the Cross or the Suffering Servant.  But that attitude pervades society around us. 

     We live in the Brentwood Bubble.  Part of the reason it is described as such is because there is an attitude that we deserve the blessings of wealth and good families and great jobs and health and whatever else we value because we are good people.  Those people, the ones who serve us or who live in less desirable places, who suffer illnesses, job losses, relationship hardships and whatever else, those people deserve what they get, too.  Right around the year 2000, one polling group asked Americans whether the poor were lazy or whether circumstances dictated their lives.  Americans who described themselves as Christian nearly split the answer.  Really?  Do half of us really believe that half the poor are lazy and half just live in unfortunate circumstances?  Perhaps you did before the last four weeks began, but I hope you have heard God’s voice in my and Randy’s preaching.  The truth is that we likely do not know why people are suffering why they suffer.  Only God knows.  Are you absolutely sure that “lazy” man or woman you know has not given up, because the circumstances and the judgment of men and women like ourselves, was just too much to overcome?  Are you certain their bosses or owners have been fair and legal?  It gets complicated, doesn’t it?

     How about the people like us?  Are you sure they are hard-working and intelligent?  How do you know they just did not get lucky?  How do you know they did not get credit for someone else’s work?

     Our job, as we have reminded ourselves these last four weeks, is that we are called to love folks.  Period.  We express that love by serving them.  What do you need?  What can I do to help you?  Take what you will use from our pantry, but leave the stuff you don’t like for those who come after.  We have lots of ways to express God’s love to them, we need only to be attuned to their need and His desire to draw all to Himself.  It really is that simple.  Why is it, when we claim to represent an infinite God, we are so quick to limit the amount of help, the amount of grace, He has revealed to us?  Why do we insist on sitting with Job’s friends, when the Job’s around us could use our mournful silence, our shoulders to cry upon, our reminder that they are loved by God in spite of the circumstances?

     And, although those are good questions, I wonder if they are THE question of Job.  I used some gallows humor a few minutes ago to provoke some nervous laughter, but I wonder whether we really inwardly digest the lessons of Job.  Do we really know ourselves to be loved by God, no matter our circumstances?  Do we live and act as if we are secure in that knowledge of His love?  The nervous laughter was rightfully nervous.  One of the real blessings of this four week sojourn has been Adventers’ willingness to share more of their lives with me as a result.  And let me say this in front of the community here gathered today: there are some horrible crosses and circumstances among the folks in the pews.  Horrible.  I have heard stories of loss and survivor guilt that understood on another level my discussions of loss of babies and planned futures.  I have even heard stories of redemptive acts of God that, numerically based, may pale in comparison to what God did for Job, but in the eyes of those who have experienced the redemption, have given them a perspective of Job.  They have seen with their eyes now rather than heard by their ears.

     Perhaps most concerning or agonizing, though, have been the nature of the crosses and the faith of some before that cross bearing began.  Some have been rather certain that, had they known beforehand, they would have wiggled out of the cross-bearing that God had planned for them.  Knowing that causes some shame.  And yet, by virtue of our conversations, I think most have come around to understanding the idea that maybe that cross and God’s redemption was necessary to get them to the place in faith where they are now.  Had they not experienced God’s redemption, they might be more like Job’s friends than Job.  And so, part of my job has been to remind you, not teach you, but remind you, that you are who you are as a son or daughter of God who has born a cross to His glory.

     You see, brothers and sisters, that shame, that guilt, that judgment that we find ourselves participating in is not of God.  You and I live with an advantage that Elihu and the others, heck even Job, did not have.  We live on this side of the Incarnation, on this side of the Cross, on this side of the Resurrection, and on this side of the Ascension.  We know the Advocate for whom Job longed, we know that God loves us beyond all measure.  We know that God has the power to redeem all things, all sufferings, even death, thanks to the work and person of Jesus Christ.  We know that He has born all the consequences of our sins—the pain, the humiliation, the separatedness from God—and buried them in that Tomb.  And now He has promised that we can do amazing things in His name.  Do we believe that?  Do we truly believe that He can use you and you and you and you and me to glorify Himself?  Have we seen with our eyes what we heard only by our ears?

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†