Epiphany 5B: Spending Time With God

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Spending time with godOLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 40: 21-31

To read the Old Testament Lectionary passage, click here

Many scholars claim that at Chapter 40 in the Book of Isaiah, we cross a significant boundary. The Babylonian victory over Judah and Jerusalem is now presupposed and Judah has shared in that defeat. This is now the time when the “former things have [truly] passed away.” The passage begins by appealing to what Israel already knows. It is a reminder of what the Creator God has been doing since the beginning of Creation. It is a basic notion in their understanding of God that God’s ongoing creative activity asserts that things are always moving, always headed toward the way they are supposed to be.

But the image of us as grasshoppers is not meant to denigrate us but rather to remind us that Creation is bigger than anything that we can possibly be or imagine. We are only a small part of the whole. So, for the writer, “who are we to question the vastness of God?” Even though Assyrian rule is probably firmly in place here, there is a reminder that no sooner do they put down roots against Israel that God will put them away with what can be conceived as terrifying power. We remember from earlier passages in Isaiah that an entire generation in Isaiah’s lifetime had their ears shut and their eyes closed. This is the beginning of a new generation and the writer appeals to them in the strongest possible terms: to listen and see and know again, for God’s word does not require assent to remain true and abiding. It stands forever. So, our faith allows us to live in two orders of Creation—the already and the not yet, but always strengthened by the master Creator of them both.

Now understand that it was not that the earlier generation did not have God present; it was that they failed to hear, receive, and heed the Word that God put forth. In other words, our ears must be opened to hear aright. Each generation must be taught to hear and see God. God is the only one capable of “flipping the switch”, so to speak on how the world works. We have to be open to what God does and be prepared to hear and see it.

As an aside, it might just be a play on words or images, but did you know that grasshoppers have five eyes? They are able to see everything in what could be described as panoramic view. That’s sort of interesting, given the comparison of humanity to grasshoppers, to insinuate that we have the capability, if not the sensibility, to see all there is within the perspective of where it is. Perhaps what most gets in the way is that we think we have already figured everything out.

And yet God continues to persevere, holding us when we need to be held, leading us when we need to be led, and perhaps waiting, oh so patiently, for us to notice it all. And when we open our eyes and open our hearts to all that God holds for us, our future is ours. But are we, too, patient enough to wait for it to come? In all truth, we live in a world order that is slipping away. Maybe not tomorrow; maybe not for centuries; maybe not even for eons, but slipping away nevertheless. We are fleeting. But the everlasting God has promised that if we just open our lives and our hearts and our eyes, we will see and know that an everlasting order waits for us. But it’s different; it’s not the one in which we live. And, really, hasn’t that been said from the beginning? What we have now is not ours. We’re not meant for it. But, oh, the future one that waits for us…it is ours. It is home. And nothing is impossible.

 

This story is taken from “The People Who Could Fly”, a sermon by Otis Moss, III, 12/31/2006, available at http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/moss_5012.htm:

 

There is a story that I am told has been passed from mouth to ear somewhere along the palmetto dunes of South Carolina, a story passed down from West Africa to the North Atlantic. It is the story, a unique story, of the people who could fly. Depending upon whom you’re talking to, it is a little bit different, depending upon who is telling the tale.

The story takes place in St. Johns Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, as Africans who had been mislabeled slaves are toiling in the hot sun. They are working so very hard to pick cotton. There is one young woman and beside her is her small boy, maybe six or seven. She’s working in the fields and she has such incredible dexterity that she is able to pick cotton with her right hand and caress the forehead of her child with the left. But eventually, exhausted by working so hard in the fields, she falls down from the weight and the pressure of being—in the words of Dubois—“problem and property.” Her boy attempts to wake her very quickly, knowing that if the slave drivers were to see her the punishment would be swift and hard.

He tries to shake his mother, and as he’s trying to shake her, an old man comes over to him. An old man that the Africans called Preacher and Prophet, but the slave drivers called Old Devil. He looks up at the old man and says, “Is it time? Is it time?”

The old man smiles and looks at the boy and says, “Yes!” And he bends down ands whispers into the ear of the woman who was now upon the ground and says these words: “Cooleebah! Cooleebah!”

At that moment the woman gets up with such incredible dignity. She stands as a queen and looks down at her son, grasps his hand and begins to look toward heaven. All of a sudden they begin to fly. The slave drivers rush over to this area where she has stopped work and they see this act of human flight and are completely confused. They do not know what to do! And during their confusion, the old man rushes around to all the other Africans and begins to tell them, “Cooleebah! Cooleebah!”

When they hear the word, they all begin to fly. Can you imagine? The dispossessed flying? Can you imagine the disempowered flying? Three fifths of a person flying? The diseased flying? The dislocated flying? They are all taking flight! And at that moment the slave drivers grab the old man and say, “Bring them back!”

They beat him, and with blood coming down his cheek, he just smiles at them. They say to him, “Please bring them back!” And he says, “I can’t.” They say, “Why not?” He said, “Because the word is already in them and since the word is already in them, it cannot be taken from them.” The old man had a word from West Africa, cooleebah, a word that means God. It had been placed into the heart of these displaced Africans and now they had dignity and they were flying.

 

 

  1. What is your response to this passage?
  2. What parallels for our time do you see?
  3. What most stands in our way of “hearing” and “seeing”?
  4. How much more do you think we’re capable of hearing and seeing than we do?

 

NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23

To read the Lectionary Epistle passage, click here

Well, in case it seems like we’re walking into the middle of a discussion, this passage is actually a continuation of the veritable “meat saga” that we read last week. Paul anticipates a possible misunderstanding in what he had said earlier and he counters by denying that he is only saying these things so that he benefits more from his position. Paul understands that he did not just “decide” to preach the gospel but rather that he is entrusted with a commission, or a calling. He does not take that to mean that he is due any wage or benefit. Paul sees himself as a “slave” to God, one who has been renewed and revitalized. He is in it solely for the purpose of spreading the gospel of grace.

Paul is not “giving up” his freedom or his free will but is rather choosing not to exercise them in certain circumstances. That is a very different understanding of freedom and is interesting given our understanding of the Gospel as “setting us free”. St. Augustine said this: In Christ’s slavery, there is freedom indeed. But it’s hard to get our heads around. Paul does all things and becomes all things for the sake of the Gospel, showing his understanding of the dynamics of community in the life of faith.

In Everything Belongs, Richard Rohr says that “we have defined freedom in the West as the freedom to choose between options and preferences. That’s not primal freedom. That’s a secondary or even tertiary freedom. The primal freedom is the freedom to be the self, the freedom to live in the truth despite all circumstances. That’s what great religion offers us. That what real prayer offers us. That’s why the saints could be imprisoned and not lose their souls. They could be put down and persecuted like Jesus and still not lose their joy, their heart, or their perspective. Secular freedom is having to do what you want to do. Religious freedom is wanting to do what you have to do.

Perhaps freedom is having the ability and the wherewithal to be who we are called to be by God. It is not the freedom to become enslaved to the things of this world, thereby giving up our freedom. The thing that we are called to do is the thing we HAVE to do. It is the thing that we must do to be who we are. That is the freedom God gives us—to be who we have to be and to empower others in the world to do the same. Therein is the hope of Christ.

 

  1. What meaning does this passage hold for you?
  2. What does Paul’s view of “freedom” mean to you?
  3. What does “freedom” mean in our society?
  4. How does that affect our notion of “reward”?

 

GOSPEL: Mark 1: 29-39

To read the Lectionary Gospel passage, click here

It is evident here that Jesus’ reputation is swiftly increasing. Right after they left the synagogue, the first healing episode occurs inside a house. Jesus cures the woman, who then serves him dinner. The next thing you know, all of a sudden the “whole city” (Really? A WHOLE city—like, ALL of Houston?) shows up begging to receive some of what Jesus is offering. You can imagine a hoard of townspeople crowding around the door of the house. And it says that he cured many—not the whole city, interestingly enough—but many.

But keep in mind that for the writer of the Markan Gospel, Jesus did not come to win the adulation of the crowds by working miracles but rather to claim the authority and identity of the Christ, which, for this writer, includes the cross itself. The crowds apparently begin to represent a problem for Jesus. He did not come to settle into the town as a local healer, but to preach the Gospel throughout the region. So he leaves Peter’s house in the darkness well before dawn, returning to a deserted place to pray. For the writer of this Gospel, it was clear that Jesus comes to do God’s will, not to seek his own advantage or popularity.

But, of course, Jesus is eventually “hunted down” by Simon and his companions. You can imagine it: “Come on, Jesus, everyone is looking for you, everyone needs you…what are you doing out here by yourself when there’s so much work to be done.” (OK, I think this is rather humorous!) Jesus’ answer? (Wait for it!) “OK, then let’s go somewhere else.” (GREAT answer!) Because after all, his mission was to spread the Gospel not get “bogged down” in answering every need of the town.   What a great lesson this could provide for us! Jesus did not feel the need or the compulsion to be “all things to all people”. He rather had what could be called a “big picture” view of what the Gospel meant. I mean, after all, the whole world order was changing, remember?

There’s a lot that this passage holds. It’s a lesson about Sabbath time; it’s a lesson about prayer; it’s a lesson about understanding others’ needs; it’s a lesson about who Jesus was. Or maybe it IS a call to see the “big picture”, to know in the deepest part of our being that even in the midst of chaos and disorderly fray, even in the midst of too many people expecting too much of us, even in the midst of those who misunderstand who we are, we, too, can be lifted up with wings like eagles and be taught how to fly. We just have to see it. The Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, is only partially about what Jesus can do for us. Mostly it’s about who we can become with Jesus by our side.

 

  1. What meaning does this passage hold for you?
  2. What does this say about answering God’s call?
  3. What does this say about the totality of the Gospel?
  4. What could we learn from Jesus’ reactions?
  5. What “big picture” scenes are you missing from your life?

 

Some Quotes for Further Reflection:

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences. (Susan B. Anthony)

We are what we repeatedly do. (Aristotle)

 

One of the saddest lines in the world is, ‘Oh come now—be realistic.’ The best parts of this world were not fashioned by those who were realistic. They were fashioned by those who dared to look hard at their wishes and gave them horses to ride. (Richard Nelson Bolles)

 

Closing

 

Holy God—in this precious hour, we pause and gather to hear your word—to do so, we break from our work responsibilities and from our play fantasies; we move from our fears that overwhelm and from our ambitions that are too strong. Free us in these moments from every distraction, that we may focus to listen, that we may hear, that we may change. Amen. (From Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, “That We May Change”, p. 61.)

Epiphany 4B: A Listening Faith

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can-you-hear-me-nowOLD TESTAMENT: Deuteronomy 18: 15-20

To read the Old Testament Lectionary Passage, click here

The book of Deuteronomy, which means “second law”, is broadly described as the components of the terms of the covenant that was given through Moses at Mt. Sinai between God and the people of Israel. The book begins with a narrative that summarizes the story of Israel’s life in the wilderness and then presents the “law code” as the framework of the remainder of the book. The book was probably not written, though, by either one person or even in one setting or time. It is rather sort of a compilation through which we can understand one of the most formative periods in the development of Israel’s faith.

Up until the time of the passage that we read, there have been essentially three classes of leaders—royalty, priests, and power structures. The passage that we read introduces the idea of public leaders, prophets who would arise from time to time to bring a new word from God that could affect both the national and the private lives of persons in Israel. At this point, they were used to Moses and his particular style of leadership. But someone else would soon be in the leadership position. Essentially, it’s a reminder that true and effective leadership is not about the leader; it’s about the people being led and the message that those people receive.

For the Israelites’ religion, prophets were very prominent. They were usually eloquent speakers and claimed authority that was given by God. They gave expression to the Word of God and were intended to be heard by the people. They effected change. And here, there is an implicit warning against “false prophets”. It is interesting that in this time prophets, who were known to often speak to not only religious issues, but also social and political ones. Prophets spoke for change in the world—the whole world. They were acutely political (of or pertaining to citizens or citizenship.) An interesting question for our time is to ask who our prophets are. Who are the ones calling for total and complete change in the world? Who are the ones calling for justice or peace? To be honest, in both Old Testament times and now, prophets were never that popular. Their message was too harsh, too biting, to close to home. Their message called us to change our lives. But, contrary to the way perhaps I try to imagine God, God is not a perfectionist. I don’t think there’s some static master plan of what the world should someday be. Instead, it’s about listening. It’s about the Creator and the Creation growing into each other. It’s not about keeping up with God. It’s about following wherever God goes. Our faith informs our lives and our lives inform our faith.

William Sloane Coffin said that the final end of life lies not in politics, but the final end of life is concerned with the proper ordering of power to the end that it may enhance and not destroy human life. Only a fool hasn’t learned in the twentieth century that the political order in which people live deeply affects the personal lives they lead…The separation of church and state is a sound doctrine, but it points to an organizational separation. It is not designed to separate Christians from their politics. For our faith certainly should inform our common life, as well as our personal, more private lives.

 

  1. What is your response to this passage?
  2. What parallels for our time do you see?
  3. Do you think there is a prophetic word of God in play today?
  4. How does this speak to the separation of church and state?
  5. How do you think we know when it IS the Word of God?
  6. What is the cost of following a prophetic voice?
  7. So how does this passage depict leadership? Is that the way we usually think of it?

 

 

NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 8: 1-13

To read the Lectionary Epistle passage, click here

In this passage, Paul attempts to answer a question about eating meat offered to an idol. He takes their question, though, about a specific practice and gives a much wider explanation of moral reasoning and community relations. Eating, then, becomes a metaphor for the larger issues of living as a person of faith within the community. The point is that there is always more to it than just being right. The question is whether we follow knowledge or love.

Typically, the widespread practice of the community was to sacrifice an animal to a deity, burning some of the flesh on an altar, and then eating some of it in a cultic meal, which was always a festive, social occasion. (Yeah, that’s MY idea of a party!) The remainder of the sacrificial animal was sold to the meat market for resale to the public. So believers would have the chance that they might be eating meats that had been sacrificed. The question here is essentially how one honors and protects holiness, lives set apart for God, while one is living in the world with all of the worldly customs and norms.

But, of course, Paul is much more concerned with how believers relate to others and how believers claim to whom they belong. It is not what you eat, necessarily, but what controls and takes over your life. When something takes over your life, begins to run it for you, causes you to change who you are or what you do or how you live before God, then, according to Paul, you have idolatry. You will not be of any good for yourself or for the building up of the faith community. It is not a question of eating holy or unholy meat; it is a question of faithfulness or idolatry.

There’s actually quite a bit here for us. Who is it we follow? (Again, what constitutes leadership for us? It is issues? Beliefs? Power? Do we follow (or vote!) for the one who will change society for the better or the one who will do the most for our lives?) What issues, or causes, or beliefs control our lives? What is so important to us that we might risk the community relationships surrounding us? Are we more affected by knowledge than we are by love?

The point is that faith is about relationships. It is about relating to the world around us. We are not called to hold ourselves up in some tiny holiness-filled environment so that we can be pure and undefiled. Rather, we are called to go into the world, sometimes with reckless abandon, and take the message of love. It has nothing to do with telling people about God; it has to do with revealing God’s presence in their lives.

 

  1. What meaning does this passage hold for you?
  2. What are the “idols” that consume our lives today?
  3. How does that affect ourselves and others around us?
  4. What message does this hold for today?

 

There is a scene in Tom Hanks’ movie, Forrest Gump, that came to mind when I read this text in 1 Corinthians. As a young boy, Forrest has to wear these clumsy, heavy leg braces. For the most part, he doesn’t care. In fact, the braces become so much a part of his life that he doesn’t even realize much how they have trapped and confined him. And then one day, some bullies chase Forrest and he has to run away but the braces slow him down. As the bullies get closer and closer and Forrest struggles to run faster, the braces finally break, fall off his legs, and suddenly he is set free to run fast. The point is this, Forrest never knew what it felt to be free or how fast he could run until he took that step or, in a better sense, was forced to break out of braces, and live differently, to live beyond himself. He never went back to the braces.

 

In 1 Corinthians, the issue was dietary laws. When Paul was asked in Corinth about eating meat sacrificed to idols he said, “This is not a problem. We know that those idols are made of stone or wood. There is no god there. The sacrifice meant nothing. Pass the steak sauce and eat.” There is complete freedom in the gospel to eat meat sacrificed to idols because we are not saved by what we eat or don’t eat.

 

Forrest could have kept those leg braces on his whole life and he wouldn’t have known it. All he would know is what he couldn’t do. He couldn’t run, can’t swim, couldn’t dance, couldn’t play ball, couldn’t cross his legs, couldn’t put his foot behind his head, or couldn’t do yoga. He would spend his life defining himself by what he couldn’t do. There are Christians like that. They define themselves by what they can’t do. Can’t drink, can’t smoke, can’t dance, can’t play cards, can’t watch movies. Oh, we are long past talking about circumcision and dietary laws but the same issue is at stake. Freedom. What am I allowed to do? If I am saved by grace, then am I free to do as I please? There is an old, subtitled movie called Babette’s Feast. It is the story of a woman, Babette, who has escaped the French Revolution with nothing but the clothes on her back. She ends up in a very small, parochial Danish village where she is employed by two spinster sisters whose minister father founded the village. The town has no joy. Religious rules are overbearing. Pleasure, music, laughter, and frivolity are vices to be scorned. There is a deep, heavy shroud of weariness blanketing all the people. Babette is an accomplished chef but is told to prepare each day a thin broth with bread. When she suggests some variation in the meal, she is quickly told that such pleasures are not of God. This is a place defined by what they cannot do. One day, Babette receives news that she has won the French lottery. The amount of money that she now has will enable her to move from that dreary village and reestablish her life wherever she wants. Faced with all of this freedom, she makes her choice. Babette takes all of her winnings and purchases the most extravagant food from live quails and turtles to unusual spices and seasonings. For the next week, she prepares the most exquisite feast that this village has ever had. And they come. They come hesitantly at first but then through this feast, open up with conversation, laughter, and joy that they have never before experienced. The only problem is that Babette is once again penniless. She has used her freedom as a servant to her neighbors. But in doing so, she not only set herself free but allowed this small village to taste the true freedom of life in the Spirit.

 

(Excerpt from “The Struggle for Freedom”, by Scott Suskovic, available at http://www.sermonsuite.com/free.php?i=788031597&key=h4Nhveasvp1vrfaL, accessed 23 January, 2012)

 

 

GOSPEL: Mark 1: 21-28

To read the Lectionary Gospel passage, click here

After Jesus called the first disciples, which we read last week, they made their way to Capernaum. He enters the synagogue there and astonishes the crowd with the authority of his teaching—teaching that brings him constantly in conflict with the scribes, who were the resident “experts” in interpreting the Law. For the scribes, Jesus’ activities and teachings posed a threat to their traditions.

As for the man who Jesus healed, the whole idea of someone with unclean spirits (or who was essentially “impure”) entering the synagogue was against the law as it existed. This person was an interruption. He didn’t fit. He didn’t belong. But not only did Jesus acknowledge him but he also healed him. For the writer of Mark, this was a great depiction of Jesus’ authority; after all, this is the authority to which even the impure, even the unclean, even the demons listen. You will remember that in The Gospel According to Mark, the heavens were ripped open upon Jesus’ baptism, upon the beginning of his ministry. The world as it was known was ending. Continuing that understanding, for the Gospel writer here, the end of these demons, the end of evil, signifies that the worldly age is coming to an end. Evil is being broken and redeemed. This whole idea of exorcism is odd for us, but the point is that God is bringing everything into the Kingdom of God. All of earth, with everything that is wrong, and all of the earthly power structures are being recreated and redeemed.

So, really, was it a demonic possession or just a voice competing with the one to which the demoniac should have been listening? And if that’s the case, then where are we in this story? Jesus brought an unquestioned authority to his teaching. What was that? Well of course, it was the word of God? But what does that mean? It was not an overpowering; it was not a violent overtaking; it was a silencing. Maybe that what we’re called to do. Maybe that’s how God speaks—in the silences, when we’re listening. Shhh! Can you hear me now?

You see, Jesus’ teaching was not just about words; it was instead about transformation. It was about taking that which we perceive did not belong and speaking Creation once again.

 

  1. What meaning does this passage hold for you?
  2. How does this relate to our world today?
  3. How are we called to silence the voices of this world?
  4. What voices are we called to silence?
  5. What voices are we called to empower?

 

 

Some Quotes for Further Reflection:

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction. (E.F.Schumacker)

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)

 

My ego is like a fortress. I have built its walls stone by stone to hold out the invasion of the love of God. But I have stayed here long enough. There is light over the barriers. O my God…I let go of the past. I withdraw my grasping hand from the future. And in the great silence of this moment, I alertly rest my soul. (Howard Thurman)

 

 

Closing

 

“Silence! frenzied, unclean spirit,” cried God’s healing, holy One. “Cease your ranting! Flesh can’t bear it. Flee as night before the sun.” At Christ’s voice the demon trembled, from its victim madly rushed, while the crowd that was assembled stood in wonder, stunned and hushed.

Lord, the demons still are thriving in the grey cells of the mind: tyrant voices, shrill and driving, twisted thoughts that grip and bind, doubts that stir the heart to panic, fears distorting reason’s sight, guilt that makes our loving frantic, dreams that cloud the soul with fright.

Silence, Lord, the unclean spirit, in our mind and in our heart. Speak your word that when we hear it all our demons shall depart. Clear our thought and calm our feeling, still the fractured, warring soul. By the power of your healing make us faithful, true and whole.

                        (Thomas H. Troeger, 1984, The United Methodist Hymnal # 264.)