Who we say He is defines our family . . .

      As I was praying over the readings this week trying to discern a sermon, I was reminded about banners that hung here for several years.  I was being drawn to a thematic sermon, so it made sense after I realized what was going on.  I know, you are all confused.  Let’s start with Isaiah.

     For those of you here last week, we are jumping back into the second big section of Isaiah.  Yes, I know.  It drives me nuts, too.  Last week, I explained how Isaiah can be divided into three big sections.  In chapters 1-19, God accuses Israel of failing to keep the covenant.  Obviously, God is correct in His judgement.  Chapters 40 through 55 serves to remind God’s people that God will not be divorcing them.  Quite the contrary, He will redeem them despite their failures because of His love of Abraham.  But God is clear that they do not merit His faithfulness.  The rest of the book deals with the tension of living in that time before God has redeemed His people.  The promise is made but not yet realized.  We are very familiar at Advent with the second section.  We are Adventers and have one eye on the Incarnation and one eye on our Lord’s return, so we are very familiar with the messianic promises in Isaiah.  Good.  I see lots of nods.

     We go back into the second section this week, so we are reminded that God is promising to redeem His people.  In our section today, God is encouraging the righteous among His people.  Just to remind ourselves, righteous is a courtroom term.  It is NOT synonymous with holiness.  It means simply that one has gotten close to what God expects or commands.  In this case, if one sins, what should we do?  That’s right.  Repent.  You and I are righteous when we head to the altar rail to receive the Body & Blood of our Lord.  We confess our sins and are absolved.  We are then able to come forward to receive properly.

     Notice in verse two the examples that God names.  He tells the righteous to look to Abraham and to Sarah.  Now, this will be a bit of a trick question, in part because I remind us often that God called people into relationship with Him in Genesis 12 to be a nation of priests and lights in  the world.    God’s people are called to represent Him to those outside the family.  We would call it evangelism today, but that word has some baggage in the modern world and modern Church.  How many times, do you think, has God referenced Abraham and Sarah since Genesis, apart from the formulaic “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”?  Good guesses.  It makes sense we think it might be lots of references.  Abraham & Sarah, after all, are the patriarch and matriarch of the family chosen by God, who credits their belief in His promises as righteousness.  Amazingly, though, this is the first non-formulaic reference to Abraham and Sarah since Genesis.  I should have brought my Bible out to show you how many pages exists between Genesis and chapter 51 of Isaiah.  When you get home, check a printed Bible.  You will likely be stunned.

     God reminds His people through the prophet that He chose Abraham & Sarah.  The Lord blessed him and made them many.  In that quick note, we should be reminded of all twenty-five years of the unveiling of God’s promises to the holy couple.  And there is a lot, right?  I mean, how many of you ladies north of 70 are hoping to have a baby in your 90s?  Come on, show of hands!  How many of you guys in your 70s are looking forward to changing diapers when you turn 100?  Wow.  Nobody?!  We are laughing, like Sarah, but you get the point.  Before Sarah and Abraham get to that point in the story, there have been a lot of other issues, including Sarah & Abraham trying to help God keep His promises to them.

     God is reminding His people intentionally of the fact that He called a family.  It is the descendants of Abraham & Sarah, and those who choose the join the family, are the ones called by God to be His representatives, His ambassadors, His children reflecting His character in the world around them.  They are not Egyptian or Assyrian or Babylonian or Greek or Roman or any other nation state we think of in the ANE.  They are a family called by God their Father.  That is their identity.  That is how they are supposed to see themselves.

     Look ahead to Matthew’s Gospel.  Jesus is with His disciples and Apostles in Caesarea Philippi.  Caesarea Philippi was commission by one of the Herods, I think the Great, as a monument dedicated to Caesar, and as a “must see” destination on the eastern side of the Mediterranean.  Temples to the gods of Rome were all over the place.  In the midst of that setting, Jesus asks the disciples who people say He is.  The disciples answer that the people think Jesus is a prophet.  Some think Elijah, which tells us some of the messianic expectations growing around Jesus’ ministry, but others think He is one of the other prophets.  Then Jesus asks the pointed question, “Who do you say that I am?”  Peter, who just a couple weeks ago walked on water and the sank, responds with the answer that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus commends Peter for his correct answer, but He instructs the Apostles and disciples that God has given them this insight.  Part of the problem is that all those gathered with Him have their expectation of how Messiah was going to work.  Jesus will defy all their expectations.  In fact, the next few verses will have Jesus predicting His betrayal, condemnation, death, and resurrection.  Peter shows his expectations by saying the Lord must forbid it from happening to Jesus.  Jesus, who just praised Peter for the correct answer and reminds everyone that Peter does not understand what he has confessed, calls Peter Satan and instructs us all that we are often focused on the human things rather than things of God.  We may talk about that next week.

     This week, we are talking about Jesus’ identity.  Who is He?  Who do we say that He is?  Is He just a hippie kind of guy who liked parties and had some wise words?  Is He a lunatic, as some thought?  Is He just some wise man who spouted some cool aphorisms?  Or is He, as Peter confesses, the Messiah and Son of the Living God?  How we answer that question forms our identity.  If He is the Messiah, it has consequence on our lives.  His pattern of holy living, that we prayed a couple weeks ago to emulate, is one of dying to self, one of recognizing the fear of death is removed, and one of citizenship in another kingdom, God’s kingdom.  If Jesus is who He said He is, and if He was truly raised from the dead and ascended to the Father, as the witnesses testified and as we experience in our Holy Spirit moments, then He is the Seed of Abraham.  Jesus is the head of the family, even though He came into the world long after Abraham & Sarah and long after David, who called Him Lord!  If Jesus is who He claims to be, He is the head of our community, God’s community.  It’s not me; it’s not you.

     No doubt some of you have already figured out the banners I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon.  For the first few years I was here, we spent intentional time trying to figure out who we were and to what kind of life to which we were called.  I forget whose idea it was, but early in my ministry here, people hung up white and purple banners that read “We are family.”  It was a part of the discernment about who God was calling us to be.  We know the competition is great in our minds.  Everyone assumes every church should be like St. George’s or Christ Church or St. Paul’s Murfreesboro.  The big churches are the Promised Land of the modern Church.  Bigger is always better, right?  They have all the dollars, all the volunteers, and everything else they need to do ministry.  But Adventers figured out that part of what made Advent Advent was the idea that we are a family.  We know each other.  Sometimes too well.  We know our hopes and dreams; we know our mournings and fears.  We know those who are competitive when it comes to Mexican Train in dominoes and those who prefer beer over wine.  We know those who can cook and eat good spicy food and those who are experts in other cuisines.  The more time we spend with each other, the more we get to know one another.  In time, I would argue, as we spend more time together in worship and praise of our Lord, at our very best we come to love and value each other in much the same way that God loves us.  I think it explains part of why non-Adventers notice that our funerals are so tender, so mournful, and so full of hope.

     The idea behind the banners in the Parish Hall caught the thematic teaching of today’s readings.  God reminds His people through the prophet Isaiah that we are a family.  We are a family whose head is Jesus Christ.  The great thing about claiming Jesus as Lord is that one is not to the concerns of the world.  I have not met an Adventer who does not love their country.  There have been many who loved their country enough to serve, risking life and limb and willing, were duty to call, to lay down their lives for the idea our country represents.  As great as our country is, and I know some of us hail from other countries they adore, none of us are now identified by God by our nationality.  We are identified as sons or daughters, part of the intimate family that God calls for His purposes.  The family unit of God transcends time and space, and it knows that this world is not its home.  To use the language of Paul this morning, we are called as a family to transformed by the renewing of our minds to discern the will of God in our lives.  We expect to discern the call of God on our lives precisely because His Son our Lord reminded us that His Ascension meant the coming of the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  Because Jesus was raised that third day from the dead, we know the separation of sin is removed, the fear of death is removed.  And we are free to do those things God has called us to do, knowing that if He does call us to give up our lives for those around us, He has power and will to restore those lives!

     With the Gospel, there is always even better news than we think.  You and I are called into a world that claims it has figured out how to live.  Capitalists live by comparing who has the most money; those supporting despots measure the world by the power they accumulate.  Every system has a way of keeping score and encouraging others to accept it as the way it is.  God, of course, broke in to the systems of the dark world.  He came and lived as the Light in the darkness, that we might become children born of the will of God rather than humans.  More amazingly, He demonstrated His love and power among all peoples, as our Collect reminds us this 13th Sunday after Pentecost, by laying down His life for the love of others, thereby saving us AND demonstrating the pattern of holy living that God expects of all His children.

     Make no mistake, the world fights hard to snuff out the light.  The world chooses darkness again and again.  But you and I and all Christians whom we meet in that wider world are called into a family, that our Lord might show forth His power to all peoples and nations, through our faithful living.  It is a crazy way to reach the the world around us; it is even crazier that our Lord calls people like you and me to this work.  Our Lord is as likely to use our failures as our successes as evidence of His love of us.  But such was His Will when He called Abraham and Sarah to walk with Him, just as it was His Will when He called you and He called me.  And the end promise, of course, after we have done His will here, is that wonderful family gathering He promises, the Great Wedding Feast, that amazing event where He is joined to His Bride forever!

In His Call,

Brian+

Even white chocolate lovers are invited . . .

      As much fun as I would have had preaching both the metaphor and Canaanite woman from Matthew’s Gospel today, I had to remind myself that my job is to help us grow in faith, particularly during the green season after Pentecost.  That being said, if you are new to the parish and have never heard me preach on the metaphor, let me remind you that the metaphor is incredibly graphic.  The closest we have to this in English is “diarrhea of the mouth,” though I suspect few of us actually think it through.  Those listening to Jesus could not help but be reminded that the skubala coming out of their mouths was nasty.  Of course, the sins that Jesus names are nasty, too, so it is an apt metaphor, especially for a group that largely used to be fishermen!

     The Canaanite woman serves as an antidote to the idea that God is misogynistic.  Advent women know they are created by God in His image, so we do not struggle too much with that claim about God.  Understand that there are men and women who self-identify as Christians around us in Middle Tennessee, who are fed that nonsense that Eve is responsible for sin and men have the right to rule the woman.

     If you get really bored with my sermon today, I would encourage you to turn to page 337 in the BCP in front of you and read the Prayer of Humble Access.  8 o’clockers get a healthy dose of this prayer week in and week out.  We do not at 10:30am because the SCLM, in its wisdom, decided to remove the prayer from the new Eucharist in 1979.  The woman’s banter with Jesus, and her understanding about the purposes of God, is captured in that prayer.  We are never trusting in our righteousness when we go to receive the Sacrament; we are always trusting in God’s manifold and great mercies when we approach to receive the nourishment of God.  Better still, her banter recognizes that Jesus did come to the House of Israel in completion of the promise made to Abraham.  But the House of Israel was charged with the responsibility of carrying that understanding of God’s mercy and grace into the world around them, that all the nations might turn to and trust God.

     Part of my discernment about preaching on Isaiah today was the fact that about three months ago, I had Candida include the entirety of the passage.  Often, our lectionary editors have us skip verses, and Candida has me decide a couple months in advance whether to add the omitted verses.  Obviously, as you can see from the Orders of Worship, I had.  Part of the draw this week, I think, is the fact that we spend most of our time in Isaiah thinking messianically.  There’s nothing wrong in that, to be sure, and it makes sense given our focus on Isaiah during Advent and into the season of the Incarnation.  But there is more to Isaiah than Jesus, a lot more!

     For our purposes today, I am treating Isaiah as if it is divided into three major parts.  There are other ways to read the prophet, but I have a particular lesson in mind today.  The first 39 chapters deal with God’s correct accusations that Israel is faithless and hard-hearted.  In fact, the book begins with God pointing out to the heavens and earth that the ox knows its master and the donkey knows its crib, but Israel forgets that it is the Lord God who redeemed Israel, planted Israel, defended Israel, and blessed Israel.  Basically, anything we would not want to hear God saying about us, He says in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah.

     Chapters 40-55, however, has God reminding His people that He will not abandon them despite their failures and their hearts.  This section begins with that wonderful Advent reading we read and sometime sing “Comfort, comfort O My people.”  From that point on, God is promising His people that He will not abandon or divorce them, that He will restore them to Himself despite their sin.  We know the solution is Jesus, and so that is why we focus on those passages during Advent.

     Chapters 56 and on deal with the tension.  If God’s people are truly faithless and hard-hearted and God is serious about restoring them to Him, what does that mean for today?  How does God’s people live knowing sins and God’s right judgment of them and His promise of restoration?  Much as Carola taught you during the interim period before I came here, there is this incredible tension between the already and not yet.  Good I see some surprise and nods.  Carola will be happy you remember!

     God begins this section on the tension with two well known truths and an amazing promise.  The first truth is that eunuchs were forbidden from entering the Temple and worshipping God.  On that, everyone can agree.  Deuteronomy certainly spells it out, and I would not be shocked if it was written in Leviticus.  Where the fight is in that discussion is over the why.  Why were eunuchs excluded from worship in the OT?  Some experts like to argue that physical appearance was tied to spiritual purity.  One could not be physically altered and be spiritually poor.  For some, physical deformity was a sign of some sin.  Another reason offered by experts is that eunuchs often serve idolatrous purposes or served those who engaged in the worship of idols.  In some parts of the ANE, eunuchs served as temple prostitutes.  In other parts of the ANE, they served as functionaries, making the worship of the idol possible.  In the torah, God was giving Israel strict instructions to prevent Israel from slipping back into idolatry.  In other ANE cultures, though, eunuchs were used as administrative functionaries.  Think of the Ethiopian Eunuch.  The thought among rulers was that if the servants had no families, there would be no temptation to squirrel away choice appointments or embezzle money for the family.  As a eunuch had no possibility of family, they were thought to care less about securing a future for their families.  Everybody with me so far?  Good.  Does it mostly make sense?  Good.  As I said, these are serious discussions in academia, and these are just a couple highlights.

     The other person mentioned as forbidden in the Temple is the foreigner.  Foreigners were not allowed past the Court of the Gentiles under pain of death.  In fact, by the time Rome has conquered Israel in the days of Jesus, the warning was written repeatedly in Latin, in Greek, and in Hebrew.  Those who pay close attention to the Book of Acts will remember that Paul famously is accused of leading a foreigner into the inner courts of the Temple.  The false accusation nearly causes a riot.

     Now we know why Isaiah has God saying, “Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people’ and do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am just a dry tree’” in verse 3.  The Israelites were often fastidious in the observance of some of the torah even as they were lax in other areas, much like those of us who call ourselves “Christian.”  Who is allowed in the Temple was one of those areas that guarded, pun intended, with all seriousness.  You could be a Godfearer, but you still were not really an Israelite.  And lest anyone get all anti-semitic on me, we Christians do the same thing.  We are quick to draw our boundaries of who is in and who is out of the kingdom of God, who is truly “saved.”  And far more often than many would ever notice, we Christians love to do God’s judging for Him, since He’s so busy.

     Way back around 700 years before Christ walked the earth, God had Isaiah prophesy to the eunuch and foreigner, reminding Israel of their responsibility as an adopted people of God.  To the eunuchs who claim the Lord, the Lord promises a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; to the foreigners who claim the Lord, the Lord promises to bring them to the holy mountain, to make them joyful in His house f prayer, and to accept their burnt-offerings and sacrifices on His altar.  Those of us who pay close attention to Scripture should be reminded of God’s covenant with Abraham way back in Genesis 12.  God calls Abraham into an intimate relationship with Him and declares that through the seed of Abraham, the world will be drawn into an intimate relationship with God.  The Israelites were given the torah as a description of holy living and as a way of drawing the foreigner into right relationship with God.

     Perhaps unsurprising to some of us, when Israel did a good job of keeping their end of the covenant, others flocked to them.  Sometimes their best witness was in their suffering or cutoffness of exile.  People would wonder how they could trust that their God had not been defeated in the cosmic battles of the heavens, and the Israelites would tell of God’s redemptive activity and provision.  Sometimes, say under the reign of Solomon, Israel was seen as materially blessed.  Again, people wanted what they had.  Wise Israelites could point out the promises of God to those who feared and obeyed the Lord.

     Of course, there is a big difference in inviting a foreigner into one’s community in the cities of the Assyrian or Babylonian or even Roman empire and inviting a foreigner into one’s community in Jerusalem.  We understand that.  But that is not what God commands of His people.  He reminds them over and over that nations who do not know them, and nations they do not know, will one day come to the great city to dwell with the Lord.  All who wish to dwell with Him will come, and He will accept them.  Even those considered outcasts by His people.

     The best example of this understanding, and the consequences of God’s people telling others they are excluded, happened a couple weeks ago.  If you have heard the story of the ice cream, now is a good time to turn to the Prayer of Humble Access on page 337 of your BCP.  The conversations drive me nuts and feed me.  I had a woman who called about the pantry one afternoon since I returned from vacation.  She needed food, was ashamed to admit her need, but she was desperate for her kids.  She wanted to know if the pantry was real, as she had heard about it from other people.  Then she wanted to know what she needed to get food.  Again, that’s a common expectation.  Churches are called to declare to people that there will be food purchased in God’s kingdom with no price and no money, but many of us love to create hurdles for those oppressed by hunger.  Oh, we rationalize by telling ourselves we are teaching them to be wise with their funds, but wisdom goes only so far when one is oppressed by poverty.

     When we got to the hours of the pantry, the woman had that forlorn tone in her voice.  She sounded in my ears as if I had painted this wonderful picture of protein, kids’ snacks, fresh produce, and whatever else I had said we had.  I had told her the only requirement was that she take what she and her kids would eat and leave the other stuff for other moms and kids who loved those things.  And then our schedule did not align.  I asked her when she could get here, expecting to tell her she could come Monday evenings or other times when groups use our buildings, but she answered between 4 and 4:30, depending on traffic.  I told her I had work to do and would meet her when she got here.

     She came that afternoon.  She shared her story.  In some ways it was like everyone else’s story.  Rent, gasoline, groceries, and back to school supplies were killing her.  She did not make enough to cover everything.  And some lady had told her about these nice church people who feed you with no questions asked.  So she had called.  I assured her we do.  She did not have to convert to receive food.  The things that we limit, I told her, we do so that we can reach more families.  She wanted to take a lot of chicken and beef because those are so expensive and can be kept in the freezer, and I reminded her that we try to feed as many people as we can.  I understood her need, but I told her God would have more for us to give her next time she came.

     As she shopped, she shared her story and her gratitude.  Then she spoke of her wonder.  Why do we do this?  I answered her questions.  She did not know the Bible well, so there was no understanding that we will one day buy food without price or money or that God calls us to the Wedding Feast.  She knew she was not invited because of her condition.  Christians had explained to her time and time again that struggles were the sign that God was not saving them.  I apologized for those lies and reminded her that the book of Job, besides lots of other stories in the Bible, were instructions against that understanding.  She wished it were true, but she knew better.

     She finished shopping and I asked her if she wanted ice cream for the kids.  She made that face of “you have got to be kidding me” or “my ears are not working right.”  Volunteers can tell you all kinds of stories like this.  When we get to something that is unique to the individual and offer it to them, they are blown away.  I remind them, and I remind our volunteers to remind them, that God knew they would come and wanted to make sure you knew His love for you.  At various times during her shopping, she had teared up.  But giving ice cream to the kids clearly meant a lot to them and to her.

     She thanked me repeatedly for that amazing gift and apologized for keeping me late.  I told her I had offered, so she did not make me do anything.  But we were not done.  She asked what I meant and I took her into the little kitchen freezer and asked what kind of ice cream momma needed.  Hilary and Nancy had filled that little freezer with Hagen-Daz and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  She looked at me like I was nuts.  She asked if I had any idea how expensive those ice creams were.  I pointed to my belly and asked her if I looked like a guy who did not know the price and value of ice cream.  She laughed and covered her mouth.  Then she expressed that she couldn’t, those little ice creams cost $6, $7, and $8 each; besides, I had given her a half gallon for the kids.

     I told her I knew the cost and the value.  I was not offering that ice cream to children who did not understand it.  I was offering it to parents who did, who needed that special treat from their Father in heaven, to remind them of His love of them.  She was shocked at the choice.  We had two shelves full of those pints.  I asked her what her favorite was.  She said she just loved chocolate.  The more chocolate the better!  I laughed and went digging for her.  I did find a white chocolate one quickly and commented it was hard not to toss it.  She asked why.  I told her white chocolate was not chocolate and that I was not sure if was going to be at the dessert buffet at the Marriage Feast.  She started giggling, but she offered to eat it if I wanted to stop looking.  

      Eventually I found some Ben & Jerry’s chocolate brownie batter with chocolate syrup in chocolate ice cream pint.  That had enough chocolate for her.  I handed it to her and reminded her that God had this in the freezer for her.  He had given her ice cream to make the kids happy, but the pint was for her.  She uttered one of those phrases that drives me nuts, that she wished more Christians were like us.  I shared my agreement and frustration.

     She thanked me for everything as we carried her groceries out to her car.  She quadruple-checked to make sure she could really come back when she ran out of food.  But then she asked if I thought it true that everyone could go to that Wedding Feast.  I told her absolutely, and to be clear, if anyone can make white chocolate taste good, it was God.  She laughed and asked if even white chocolate lovers would be let in.  I told her that yes, even those with bad taste would be let in.

     You and I are reminded intentionally this day, the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, in the middle of the growing season, of God’s mercy and desire to draw everyone to Himself.  We spent two weeks reminding ourselves that the judgement of eternal salvation is for Jesus and the angels.  Jesus does not need our help with that.  Jesus does ask us, however, those who claim Him as Lord of their lives, to be heralds of mercy and inviters.  To us has been given invitations to the great Wedding Feast.  Our only instruction is to invite others in His Name.  We are reminded intentionally that everyone is created in His image, are bearers of His breathed characteristics, and that they can learn from us the love and value with which He sees them.  Those things that we use to distinguish ourselves from others do not matter to God.  He created everyone, descendants of Abraham and citizens of Nineveh.  And He desires nothing less than all might turn to His saving embrace.  We should know this better than the world around us and those denominations who are so quick to judge the salvific state of others even as they are blinded to their own by the log in their.  We remind ourselves as Adventers that His love for each human being was such that Jesus made intimacy with God possible again, that He loved each one of us as He hung dying on that Cross, and that He promised to accept all who come to Him in Christ’s Name.  Our job, having been reminded of that in our readings and nourished through His Body and Blood, is to go back out into that world and share that message of hope, of mercy, and of promise to all whom we encounter in our daily lives.  That has been the call of God on His people since the Garden, the Flood, on Abraham & Sarah, and all who proclaim Him as Lord.  May we all be reminded of that call this day, and every day, until His return or He calls us home!

In His mercy and promise,

Brian+