Old Mystic, November 29, 2009
First Sunday in Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Summary
The season of Advent always renews our hope in God’s gracious promise of deliverance in the face of uncertainty, fear, and despair. Such a hope is founded on Jesus Christ, the liberator, God establishing a new relationship with us of justice and righteousness.
Sermon
We begin the season of Advent focusing on hope and, aided by our lectionary reading, we can see a glimpse of hope in the words of the prophet Jeremiah in the midst of many warnings about the inevitable doom pending upon the people of Israel. Jerusalem had been under siege for quite some time and, in spite of some signs of potential help from Egypt, the fall under the armies of Nebuchadnezzar was certainly going to take place. Jeremiah himself, often overtaken by grief, had announced that Israel’s failure to be faithful to God had brought them into such a predicament. He had prophesied to them but their ears were deaf and, for his zeal, the prophet had been imprisoned.
But hope shines powerfully in the words of Jeremiah, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made.” The prophet knew that destruction, devastation, and death were going to befall Jerusalem. Yet, he trusted God and also knew that there was a future. And the image of that future, in the hope of a descendant of David, was significant. The days of the glorious kingdom of David and his son Solomon were long gone; many failed leader-kings had driven the nation away from God. Still, he could dwell in the hope of a “new branch” from the house of David, a king that “shall execute justice and righteousness.”
Indeed, Israel went into exile in Babylon for sixty years and, after their return, there was not such a thing as a ruler of the house of David who reigned with justice and righteousness, not at least as David had been. How far did Jeremiah’s expectations go? We do not know for sure. What we know is that his hope is enlarged by the Messianic interpretation that has been brought to bear upon this passage. God is a gracious God that came into the world through his son Jesus Christ to bring the hope of a new relationship; a relationship of justice and righteousness. This was Jeremiah’s hope, it is the hope of the present, and the hope of the future; our ongoing hope.
Hope is always focused on an expectation; something good, peaceful, joyful, and beautiful lies ahead. But it also implies waiting, not a kind of passive lingering but an active endeavoring to embrace the long expected hope. And Advent returns again and again—as long as we are hopeful—to remind us that our ongoing hope is in Jesus Christ. The remembrance of his birth renews our hope, enhances our expectation, and encourages us to do what the Prophet Jeremiah promoted throughout his life: to “plant and to build.”
Jesus came to bring—and it is an ongoing process—justice and righteousness, just as Jeremiah preached about the future king of the Davidic line. In the context of our 21st century, it is about a new relationship. In the Old Testament, the word justice stands for “judging with equity.” It means dealing fairly with everyone and giving everyone what is due. Jesus’ coming into this world signaled the beginning of his kingdom. He began his ministry announcing that that kingdom was near and, indeed is near, and it is here. It has already begun. Jesus inaugurated a new system of justice! What does that mean today? It would be long to list again all the maladies that surround us and how many of the atrocities that plague our century—and have been consistent throughout human history—are pervasive and signs of the many ways in which injustice still prevails. But the kingdom that Jesus inaugurated has set a new course, a course through which things will be transformed.
We have hope in Jesus Christ. The movement is on and, if we follow Jeremiah’s advice, we are in the time of “planting and building.” There is a journey illuminated by the hope of Advent. Jeremiah had said to the people in exile, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” We are challenged in the name of the Lord of Advent to seek the welfare of all those around us. It is by seeking justice for all—sounds familiar?—that we will find justice. And that is a journey of hope—our ongoing hope.
The promised branch of David was also to be a ruler who would “execute” righteousness. The expression seems to indicate the implementation of some rules of conduct since our understanding—misled for generations—has primarily been legalistic. We often see a righteous person as “morally right;” as someone who does what is ethically correct from a personal stance and for the sake of being right. The promise of Davidic king in Jeremiah’s message was speaking of a future person/ruler who was coming to ‘fulfill the demands of a relationship.” And God is serious about God’s relationship with humankind! For that reason one of the names given to the Messiah is Emmanuel, that is, God is with us.
Can we see this perspective, we 21st century onlookers? We can only be righteous in relationship with others and this is what virtue is all about—at least in this sermon! Righteousness is about loving, embracing, caring for, supporting, and surrendering to our neighbor! It also means fulfilling the demands of our relationship to the widow, the orphan, and the stranger—to use the Hebrew Bible language. Jesus came to set things right between us and God and between brothers and sisters.
Paul puts it beautifully in the language of reconciliation. “if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” When we are conscious about the complexities of human relationships, both interpersonal and corporate, the more we realize the importance of the Advent of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In spite of our claims of freedom and equality, we are still in bondage in so many ways and many in the world and even in our nation find themselves oppressed both by the system and their personal circumstances—is there any difference between these two? Advent once again brings the hope of a reality to be embraced, believed, and shared. Christ has come to have a relationship with us and he is in the process of setting us free; free to build a new world with different sets of relationships in a framework of justice; free to fulfill the calling of right relationships with God and with our neighbor.
I Am in the Midst
Old Mystic, November 22, 2009
Thanksgiving Sunday
Joel 2:21-27
Summary
The season of Thanksgiving is a time of celebration and of recognition of God’s presence in our midst. We constantly live in a tension between suffering and blessing and God’s promise of redemption is God’s very presence in us and with us and the opportunity to experience him in all circumstances.
Sermon
Our passage today is a passage of hope. It is a promise that can be located in the future; it speaks about the blessings that follow the “day of divine judgment,” blessings that according to the prophet come as a vindication because God’s people have returned to God in faith and repentance. But it is also the experience of the people of Israel after undergoing a devastating plague of locusts and the experience of all those who walk and want to walk with the Living God in the tension between blessing and suffering.
The blessings are described in beautiful poetry by Joel, in significant portrayals of the realities of his audience.
Do not fear, you animals of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness are green;
The tree bears its fruit,
The fig tree and vine give their full yield.
O children of Zion, be gladAnd rejoice in the Lord your God;
For he has given the early rain for your vindication,
He has poured down for you abundant rain,
The early and the later rain, as before.
Joel speaks to an audience that when deprived of the “green pastures,” the trees bearing fruit, and the vats full of oil and wine, would find life impossible, unsustainable, and even meaningless. We can’t perhaps help but compare their plight with ours in this time of “economic downturn.” A metaphor of a “plague of locusts” could very well be applied to life as it is experienced by many living in the world today, not just in the United States—if the current crisis has affected us, can you imagine what people may be going through in the impoverished third world?
The so called economic downturn can—and in fact it is—kind of “inconvenient” for most of us. Some might have taken pay cuts; others may not be able to change their cars, or take a cruise to the Caribbean, or buy a new and more comfortable home. Yet, we do not have to go very far to realize that the “locusts” may have hit us hard as a nation. Many auto workers have been laid off as we witness the shrinking and bankruptcy of GM; the unemployment rate is nearing to being the highest since the Great Depression and, as a consequence, people can not afford to pay their mortgage, are facing potential foreclosures, and have lost life savings and benefits, including retirement and health care insurance. It can certainly feel like a plague for many!
The eternal appeal, however, whether in good times or when the pastures are not so green and the trees do not bear fruit, is that God is always there. “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.” The passage bears the festive tone of people rejoicing because they have been blessed but at the same time it is in tension with the intense suffering they had gone through. God was in their midst during the plague of locusts as it is now that they have been delivered. Whatever the situation, we can come to God in worship and with thanksgiving because He is in our midst.
A call to be thankful is a permanent call when we acknowledge that God is in our midst, the both transcendent and immanent God. This message does not attempt to make theological statements about God in spite of my use of words commonly used to describe God’s nature. What I am trying to convey is the conviction that the God creator of heavens and earth, the One who is totally beyond our realm of existence, A God who is “completely other,” mighty and incomprehensible, is also very close to us; to our hearts, our lives, and even our bodies.
When we experience God’s closeness and we realize how present he is in the world around us and in our own lives, we enjoy a glorious walk even when the path may be difficult. Sometimes, we may feel like Saint John of the Cross in his Dark Night of the Soul, when escaping from prison after intense suffering, found himself in the middle of nowhere, in complete darkness, and desperately running for his life. Yet, at that moment, he also found that he could depend in that presence of God, even in the “dark night of the soul.”
Joel’s language about trusting God’s provision is powerful. “He has given the early rain* for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.” Needless, to say, rain was so important to an agricultural society as that of Israel in the time of the prophet’s writing. And it is a very powerful metaphor for us, 21st century onlookers. God is the sustainer of life. This is not to say that we are not responsible for what has been handed down to us. We are stewards of God’s creation, we have a calling and duties to fulfill, and we have work to do. Yet, we can dwell in God’s closeness. “I Am in the midst of Israel.”
As we approach our traditional celebration of Thanksgiving, we are once again reminded of how God sustained the pilgrims, the first settlers in America. It was God’s providence through the Native Americans who generously brought food to help them get through the brutal winter. It was not an easy time; not everyone was able to survive in those days. Yet, God was in their midst. Roger Williams, our Baptist forefather and the founder of the State of Rhode Island, knew that God was sustaining the new settlement when Chief Canonicus of the Narragansetts gave him the large piece of land that became the nucleus of what we know as the state of Rhode Island and the Providence plantations. God was in the midst of them in times of suffering and in times of blessing. He is the sustainer!
Joel was what scholars call a “temple prophet.” He lived in the time after the return from Babylon when life and worship were again centered on the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem. He summoned the people to “Praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.” Joel is also the prophet who quoted God as saying, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams.” Indeed, Joel’s appeal is a powerful call to experience God’s presence, as close as God’s spirit upon us. And also, it is a call to worship God; to express our love and our thankfulness to a God who is with us in good times and in those times that are not so good; the God who is in the midst of his people.
So, Thanksgiving is here, once again. And we may be tempted, as it is so prevalent in our culture, to measure God’s blessings in material terms. In a sense, we would be right, if we understood that God is our sustainer and we only counted what the essentials are for us to lead happy and blessed lives. Yet we can go deeply wrong if we surrender to the wiles of the gods of materialism and we are not satisfied with what we have and therefore want more; when we keep succumbing to our human nature and seek more and more possessions. We must be thankful at all times and that could mean to be happy with very little or nothing. And, even if we are reduced to having virtually nothing, let us say, the prophet Habakkuk put it,
Though the fig tree does not blossom,
And no fruit is on the vines;
Though the produce of the olive fails
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock is cut off from the fold
And there is no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
And makes me tread upon the heights.
Thanksgiving Sunday
Joel 2:21-27
Summary
The season of Thanksgiving is a time of celebration and of recognition of God’s presence in our midst. We constantly live in a tension between suffering and blessing and God’s promise of redemption is God’s very presence in us and with us and the opportunity to experience him in all circumstances.
Sermon
Our passage today is a passage of hope. It is a promise that can be located in the future; it speaks about the blessings that follow the “day of divine judgment,” blessings that according to the prophet come as a vindication because God’s people have returned to God in faith and repentance. But it is also the experience of the people of Israel after undergoing a devastating plague of locusts and the experience of all those who walk and want to walk with the Living God in the tension between blessing and suffering.
The blessings are described in beautiful poetry by Joel, in significant portrayals of the realities of his audience.
Do not fear, you animals of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness are green;
The tree bears its fruit,
The fig tree and vine give their full yield.
O children of Zion, be gladAnd rejoice in the Lord your God;
For he has given the early rain for your vindication,
He has poured down for you abundant rain,
The early and the later rain, as before.
Joel speaks to an audience that when deprived of the “green pastures,” the trees bearing fruit, and the vats full of oil and wine, would find life impossible, unsustainable, and even meaningless. We can’t perhaps help but compare their plight with ours in this time of “economic downturn.” A metaphor of a “plague of locusts” could very well be applied to life as it is experienced by many living in the world today, not just in the United States—if the current crisis has affected us, can you imagine what people may be going through in the impoverished third world?
The so called economic downturn can—and in fact it is—kind of “inconvenient” for most of us. Some might have taken pay cuts; others may not be able to change their cars, or take a cruise to the Caribbean, or buy a new and more comfortable home. Yet, we do not have to go very far to realize that the “locusts” may have hit us hard as a nation. Many auto workers have been laid off as we witness the shrinking and bankruptcy of GM; the unemployment rate is nearing to being the highest since the Great Depression and, as a consequence, people can not afford to pay their mortgage, are facing potential foreclosures, and have lost life savings and benefits, including retirement and health care insurance. It can certainly feel like a plague for many!
The eternal appeal, however, whether in good times or when the pastures are not so green and the trees do not bear fruit, is that God is always there. “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.” The passage bears the festive tone of people rejoicing because they have been blessed but at the same time it is in tension with the intense suffering they had gone through. God was in their midst during the plague of locusts as it is now that they have been delivered. Whatever the situation, we can come to God in worship and with thanksgiving because He is in our midst.
A call to be thankful is a permanent call when we acknowledge that God is in our midst, the both transcendent and immanent God. This message does not attempt to make theological statements about God in spite of my use of words commonly used to describe God’s nature. What I am trying to convey is the conviction that the God creator of heavens and earth, the One who is totally beyond our realm of existence, A God who is “completely other,” mighty and incomprehensible, is also very close to us; to our hearts, our lives, and even our bodies.
When we experience God’s closeness and we realize how present he is in the world around us and in our own lives, we enjoy a glorious walk even when the path may be difficult. Sometimes, we may feel like Saint John of the Cross in his Dark Night of the Soul, when escaping from prison after intense suffering, found himself in the middle of nowhere, in complete darkness, and desperately running for his life. Yet, at that moment, he also found that he could depend in that presence of God, even in the “dark night of the soul.”
Joel’s language about trusting God’s provision is powerful. “He has given the early rain* for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.” Needless, to say, rain was so important to an agricultural society as that of Israel in the time of the prophet’s writing. And it is a very powerful metaphor for us, 21st century onlookers. God is the sustainer of life. This is not to say that we are not responsible for what has been handed down to us. We are stewards of God’s creation, we have a calling and duties to fulfill, and we have work to do. Yet, we can dwell in God’s closeness. “I Am in the midst of Israel.”
As we approach our traditional celebration of Thanksgiving, we are once again reminded of how God sustained the pilgrims, the first settlers in America. It was God’s providence through the Native Americans who generously brought food to help them get through the brutal winter. It was not an easy time; not everyone was able to survive in those days. Yet, God was in their midst. Roger Williams, our Baptist forefather and the founder of the State of Rhode Island, knew that God was sustaining the new settlement when Chief Canonicus of the Narragansetts gave him the large piece of land that became the nucleus of what we know as the state of Rhode Island and the Providence plantations. God was in the midst of them in times of suffering and in times of blessing. He is the sustainer!
Joel was what scholars call a “temple prophet.” He lived in the time after the return from Babylon when life and worship were again centered on the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem. He summoned the people to “Praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.” Joel is also the prophet who quoted God as saying, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams.” Indeed, Joel’s appeal is a powerful call to experience God’s presence, as close as God’s spirit upon us. And also, it is a call to worship God; to express our love and our thankfulness to a God who is with us in good times and in those times that are not so good; the God who is in the midst of his people.
So, Thanksgiving is here, once again. And we may be tempted, as it is so prevalent in our culture, to measure God’s blessings in material terms. In a sense, we would be right, if we understood that God is our sustainer and we only counted what the essentials are for us to lead happy and blessed lives. Yet we can go deeply wrong if we surrender to the wiles of the gods of materialism and we are not satisfied with what we have and therefore want more; when we keep succumbing to our human nature and seek more and more possessions. We must be thankful at all times and that could mean to be happy with very little or nothing. And, even if we are reduced to having virtually nothing, let us say, the prophet Habakkuk put it,
Though the fig tree does not blossom,
And no fruit is on the vines;
Though the produce of the olive fails
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock is cut off from the fold
And there is no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
And makes me tread upon the heights.
Friends Are For Ever
Old Mystic, November 15, 2009
1 Samuel 17:55-18:5; 20:41-42
Summary
When God is at the heart of human relationships, such as David and Jonathan’s friendship, we can all be brought together for the fulfillment of God’s purpose of building God’s kingdom, a kingdom of love, peace, and justice.
Sermon
I once heard a friend say that friendship is like a beautiful rose garden that has to be fenced, cultivated, watered, nurtured, and loved. It takes time, work, and effort to do so but the enjoyment of its beauty is the best thing we have in life. This amounts to saying that people are the most important thing in life! Because it pleased God to make us relational beings; we were created to be with people, to enjoy people, to care for people, and to love people. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is broken because relationships are broken; so very often friends are not friends and God is kept out the picture. When friends are real friends God is between them and building friendships has then the potential to change the world.
In today’s narrative we have one of the most well known friendship stories ever heard. David and Jonathan discovered they had a very special connection since their very first encounter. They developed such a relationship that later on they were able to say, “The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, for ever.” It reminds me of some of the solemn commitments we made when we were children and we developed friendships pledging to be “friends for ever.” In our childhood innocence we may not be aware of many things yet we can discern that friendships are forever. God wants to build his kingdom of peace, love, and justice through honest, loyal, loving, and long lasting friendships.
David was a hero and he was received as one by King Saul, his army, the members of his court, and his own son Jonathan. He had just completed the incredible feat of defeating Goliath, the giant, and had led Israel to overpower the strong army of the Philistines. He was just a lad, an improbable hero, too young to even wear armor. And with no spear or shield, just with the aid of a slingshot and stones, he was able to knock down the champion of the Philistines that was terrorizing the forces of Israel. In a matter of minutes, David became a national hero and won the admiration and approval of all the people including King Saul. The passage tells us that Saul wouldn’t let him return to his father house in Bethlehem and even more, he set him over his army. David was on his way to becoming the king of Israel, something that would not happen without pain and King Saul’s fierce opposition and death threats.
Among all the great things that happened to David on the day of the epic victory over Goliath was the connection he made with Jonathan. The scripture tells us that “When David* had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” It is hard to explain why and how it happened; we can only say that there was a human connection that bound them for life. David and Jonathan’s friendship was for ever and lasted until Jonathan’s death and it was the kind of relationship of love and faithfulness that helped David to survive in the most difficult circumstances.
Sometimes I wander how much are we open to making connections, to having encounters with people. To what extent we fear being bound to someone else and how much we dread the risk of the intimacy of face-to-face relationships? These two young men were spellbound by God’s love. A love that was greater that the love of their own souls. In an age when saying “I love you” is sometimes so difficult, how much we need to be open to new encounters with the prospect of making connections that will bound us with someone in friendship for life—until we are all bound to one another!
To seal their friendship, David and Jonathan made a covenant. It is very interesting since a covenant was and is something very formal. It was like an oath whereby they made a commitment of loving, supporting, and protecting one another for ever—an oath that they made out of the profound love that God gave them. Their covenant was not a contract that was drawn with legal language about the rights and duties of their mutual friendship. It was not a set of rules they agreed upon that regulated their relationship. In fact, we have no account of such a covenant in the scriptures. Yet, the strength of their friendship was based on their mutual commitment as Jonathan put it: “Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, “The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, for ever.”
We are the church, God’s people, because God has brought us together. God is in our midst, and between you and me. And the more we let God be between ourselves and our neighbors the more our friendships will grow. Let us covenant to make the same claim David and Jonathan made: may God be between you and me, my friend, and between each other until we are all bound by the same love which is none other that God’s love.
It is not a surprise that when these two men became friends a special exchange took place. It was a warriors’ exchange. Jonathan wanted to honor David for his accomplishment and at the same time he wanted to offer him his friendship. The scripture says that Jonathan “stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.” We have no report of what David gave Jonathan, yet the gifts received by David were a sign of a friendship that was born at that very moment. The story of their friendship found David on the run most of the time, trying to escape the rage of Saul while being protected by his friend even at the risk of his own life. Jonathan knew that friendship is about giving—not about taking, and that it is a commitment for ever.
To give up, to sacrifice, to grant, to surrender—these are actions related to friendship. Only those who are willing to give are the ones who will receive. Giving for Jonathan meant not just the symbolic surrender of his robe and sword; it meant giving up his crown, the crown of his kingdom. He exchanged many privileges for the joy of friendship! There is so much joy in friendship—a joy that nothing or nobody can take away because God honor friendships; God is between friends.
Most of us are here because of friendships. Someone brought us by the hand; in many cases, perhaps, many years ago. I pray we all grow in awareness about the beauty of being friends with one another and with God. That is how God’s eternal project is being built—fostering relationships one by one; building a community where everyone is loved, everyone is welcomed, and everyone is embraced; a community of friends where everyone gives and therefore everyone receives. Let us a build community where God is at the center through Jesus Christ, God’s own incarnate Son, who in his human form provides us with the most perfect example of love; Jesus, our friend, who will make us all friends.
1 Samuel 17:55-18:5; 20:41-42
Summary
When God is at the heart of human relationships, such as David and Jonathan’s friendship, we can all be brought together for the fulfillment of God’s purpose of building God’s kingdom, a kingdom of love, peace, and justice.
Sermon
I once heard a friend say that friendship is like a beautiful rose garden that has to be fenced, cultivated, watered, nurtured, and loved. It takes time, work, and effort to do so but the enjoyment of its beauty is the best thing we have in life. This amounts to saying that people are the most important thing in life! Because it pleased God to make us relational beings; we were created to be with people, to enjoy people, to care for people, and to love people. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is broken because relationships are broken; so very often friends are not friends and God is kept out the picture. When friends are real friends God is between them and building friendships has then the potential to change the world.
In today’s narrative we have one of the most well known friendship stories ever heard. David and Jonathan discovered they had a very special connection since their very first encounter. They developed such a relationship that later on they were able to say, “The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, for ever.” It reminds me of some of the solemn commitments we made when we were children and we developed friendships pledging to be “friends for ever.” In our childhood innocence we may not be aware of many things yet we can discern that friendships are forever. God wants to build his kingdom of peace, love, and justice through honest, loyal, loving, and long lasting friendships.
David was a hero and he was received as one by King Saul, his army, the members of his court, and his own son Jonathan. He had just completed the incredible feat of defeating Goliath, the giant, and had led Israel to overpower the strong army of the Philistines. He was just a lad, an improbable hero, too young to even wear armor. And with no spear or shield, just with the aid of a slingshot and stones, he was able to knock down the champion of the Philistines that was terrorizing the forces of Israel. In a matter of minutes, David became a national hero and won the admiration and approval of all the people including King Saul. The passage tells us that Saul wouldn’t let him return to his father house in Bethlehem and even more, he set him over his army. David was on his way to becoming the king of Israel, something that would not happen without pain and King Saul’s fierce opposition and death threats.
Among all the great things that happened to David on the day of the epic victory over Goliath was the connection he made with Jonathan. The scripture tells us that “When David* had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” It is hard to explain why and how it happened; we can only say that there was a human connection that bound them for life. David and Jonathan’s friendship was for ever and lasted until Jonathan’s death and it was the kind of relationship of love and faithfulness that helped David to survive in the most difficult circumstances.
Sometimes I wander how much are we open to making connections, to having encounters with people. To what extent we fear being bound to someone else and how much we dread the risk of the intimacy of face-to-face relationships? These two young men were spellbound by God’s love. A love that was greater that the love of their own souls. In an age when saying “I love you” is sometimes so difficult, how much we need to be open to new encounters with the prospect of making connections that will bound us with someone in friendship for life—until we are all bound to one another!
To seal their friendship, David and Jonathan made a covenant. It is very interesting since a covenant was and is something very formal. It was like an oath whereby they made a commitment of loving, supporting, and protecting one another for ever—an oath that they made out of the profound love that God gave them. Their covenant was not a contract that was drawn with legal language about the rights and duties of their mutual friendship. It was not a set of rules they agreed upon that regulated their relationship. In fact, we have no account of such a covenant in the scriptures. Yet, the strength of their friendship was based on their mutual commitment as Jonathan put it: “Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, “The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, for ever.”
We are the church, God’s people, because God has brought us together. God is in our midst, and between you and me. And the more we let God be between ourselves and our neighbors the more our friendships will grow. Let us covenant to make the same claim David and Jonathan made: may God be between you and me, my friend, and between each other until we are all bound by the same love which is none other that God’s love.
It is not a surprise that when these two men became friends a special exchange took place. It was a warriors’ exchange. Jonathan wanted to honor David for his accomplishment and at the same time he wanted to offer him his friendship. The scripture says that Jonathan “stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.” We have no report of what David gave Jonathan, yet the gifts received by David were a sign of a friendship that was born at that very moment. The story of their friendship found David on the run most of the time, trying to escape the rage of Saul while being protected by his friend even at the risk of his own life. Jonathan knew that friendship is about giving—not about taking, and that it is a commitment for ever.
To give up, to sacrifice, to grant, to surrender—these are actions related to friendship. Only those who are willing to give are the ones who will receive. Giving for Jonathan meant not just the symbolic surrender of his robe and sword; it meant giving up his crown, the crown of his kingdom. He exchanged many privileges for the joy of friendship! There is so much joy in friendship—a joy that nothing or nobody can take away because God honor friendships; God is between friends.
Most of us are here because of friendships. Someone brought us by the hand; in many cases, perhaps, many years ago. I pray we all grow in awareness about the beauty of being friends with one another and with God. That is how God’s eternal project is being built—fostering relationships one by one; building a community where everyone is loved, everyone is welcomed, and everyone is embraced; a community of friends where everyone gives and therefore everyone receives. Let us a build community where God is at the center through Jesus Christ, God’s own incarnate Son, who in his human form provides us with the most perfect example of love; Jesus, our friend, who will make us all friends.
The Feet of Christ
Mission and Ministry Series
Old Mystic, November 8, 2009
Romans 10:8-15
Summary
Good news bring hope; sometimes the hope of change, of a better future, and of peace. Paul explained the work of Jesus Christ in his letter to the church in Rome with the expectation that people would receive that message of hope in Christ—the good news—and go to places to share it with others.
Sermon
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” These words by the prophet Isaiah quoted by Paul in his letter to the Romans portray the joy that good news brings to recipients, often expressed in appreciation to the messenger. On the other hand, when the news is not so good, when it is not what we are expecting, or when it is hurtful, we get angry with the envoy!
Isaiah was conveying to the people who were in exile a message of peace and of salvation; the messenger was announcing to the people of Israel that God reigns and therefore it was good news. Paul is extending this good news to everyone, to the Jew and to the Greek; he is making the case for Jesus Christ carefully explaining how salvation for all human beings takes place through his work. And Paul is concerned about those who have not believed. They need couriers, heralds, carriers of the message of the gospel of peace.
The metaphor of the feet is a powerful image of what it takes to bring the gospel. It is an image associated with effort, the use of time and energy, and the realization that the delivery of the message will come with no little pain. Messengers in antiquity had to walk before the talk and always spoke for the one who sent them! In these days of multimedia, we have found so many ways to “proclaim” the good news that the message has sometimes become a sort of a formula to which people can assent or reject altogether—not to mention how the message offered comes many times with strings attached. We have very often lost the personal touch of the messenger; we have become entrepreneurs of the communication of the gospel.
In a world that needs sincere, personal, and human expressions of peace and of the love of God, we are the feet—and the hands—of Jesus. Paul speaks about people that need to hear and messengers that need to speak; people who will believe through those who are sent to share and are willing to go where the others are.
When we go where people are, in first place, they might hear us. Because going to the places where they are makes a difference. Some people may be tired of the megaphone, or the crusades of big crowds and stages, or the impersonal message conveyed through printed or recorded media. The warmth of our human presence in the name of Christ, showing God’s love and mercy will bless lives more powerfully than any articulated and detailed message about how the work of salvation is effected—or any rational and oversimplified version of it. Being silently and lovingly there, by the side of those who suffer, of those who need God, the good news of God’s love can sometimes make a greater impact on them.
Going to the places where people are, in their homes, or in the hospital, or in their jobs, we engage in face-to-face relationships with them. And this is difficult and risky but, as we develop friendships, we also share with them the best of what we have. Friends will be open to hear what we have to say; their hearts will be prepared to receive what we have to offer. They will hear us because their hearing will be more that the use of that sense, it will be experiencing the love we have to offer in the name of our lord Jesus Christ.
In second place, when we go where people are and they are open to hear us, we can proclaim the good news. But our proclamation will not necessarily be preaching a sermon, or teaching a lesson, or reciting certain “spiritual laws.” It will be a proclamation of the heart when our heart opens to pour out the concrete reality of our experience with the Living God. As Saint Francis said, “preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” An encounter with the Living God who desires to have a relationship with us will connect us also with others in a way in which words are hardly necessary. Our deeds, our walk, and our life will be open books about God’s love.
Yet, salvation must be received and confessed. As Paul said, “one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” We are being saved to be part of God’s project, the project of God’s kingdom that has already begun. It is the hope of peace, the realization that we have a God that loves us and loves us deeply, and the expectation that God’s righteousness and justice will be established forever. Our awareness of the greatness of that salvation will prompt us to confess it with our mouth. This confession, however, does not amount to memorizing and reciting a creed. It means sharing what Jesus Christ means to us from the bottom of our hearts, not with the purpose of convincing our hearers to do the same—only the Holy Spirit convinces—but for the sake of expressing what Christ means to us.
Some will hear with respect, others will perhaps despise us. Yet, our openness to the relationship, because we are there for them, will out shadow all differences, disagreements, or even rejection. God’s love in Jesus Christ deserves to be shared! But sharing must not be imposing, or oppressive, much less threatening. The Gospel is a gift, not a package to unload that someone else is compelled to bear; it is good news to bring and to share.
We have heard enough complaints about the way in which Christianity has conducted itself in its efforts to evangelize the world. The work has been done with honesty, with great effort, and out of love for the lost. At the same time we have often done it with arrogance, with self-righteousness, and judgmentally. Messengers, those with “beautiful feet,” those who go to places to be where people are will only open their mouths to utter words of love, to tell real good news, to share hope and possibilities with people—not to tell them what is wrong with them. Salvation is at hand! God wants to save us through Jesus Christ and invites us to enter into a special relationship with him and, as we go to the places where people are and we develop friendships, that salvation will be spread trough the whole world.
Old Mystic, November 8, 2009
Romans 10:8-15
Summary
Good news bring hope; sometimes the hope of change, of a better future, and of peace. Paul explained the work of Jesus Christ in his letter to the church in Rome with the expectation that people would receive that message of hope in Christ—the good news—and go to places to share it with others.
Sermon
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” These words by the prophet Isaiah quoted by Paul in his letter to the Romans portray the joy that good news brings to recipients, often expressed in appreciation to the messenger. On the other hand, when the news is not so good, when it is not what we are expecting, or when it is hurtful, we get angry with the envoy!
Isaiah was conveying to the people who were in exile a message of peace and of salvation; the messenger was announcing to the people of Israel that God reigns and therefore it was good news. Paul is extending this good news to everyone, to the Jew and to the Greek; he is making the case for Jesus Christ carefully explaining how salvation for all human beings takes place through his work. And Paul is concerned about those who have not believed. They need couriers, heralds, carriers of the message of the gospel of peace.
The metaphor of the feet is a powerful image of what it takes to bring the gospel. It is an image associated with effort, the use of time and energy, and the realization that the delivery of the message will come with no little pain. Messengers in antiquity had to walk before the talk and always spoke for the one who sent them! In these days of multimedia, we have found so many ways to “proclaim” the good news that the message has sometimes become a sort of a formula to which people can assent or reject altogether—not to mention how the message offered comes many times with strings attached. We have very often lost the personal touch of the messenger; we have become entrepreneurs of the communication of the gospel.
In a world that needs sincere, personal, and human expressions of peace and of the love of God, we are the feet—and the hands—of Jesus. Paul speaks about people that need to hear and messengers that need to speak; people who will believe through those who are sent to share and are willing to go where the others are.
When we go where people are, in first place, they might hear us. Because going to the places where they are makes a difference. Some people may be tired of the megaphone, or the crusades of big crowds and stages, or the impersonal message conveyed through printed or recorded media. The warmth of our human presence in the name of Christ, showing God’s love and mercy will bless lives more powerfully than any articulated and detailed message about how the work of salvation is effected—or any rational and oversimplified version of it. Being silently and lovingly there, by the side of those who suffer, of those who need God, the good news of God’s love can sometimes make a greater impact on them.
Going to the places where people are, in their homes, or in the hospital, or in their jobs, we engage in face-to-face relationships with them. And this is difficult and risky but, as we develop friendships, we also share with them the best of what we have. Friends will be open to hear what we have to say; their hearts will be prepared to receive what we have to offer. They will hear us because their hearing will be more that the use of that sense, it will be experiencing the love we have to offer in the name of our lord Jesus Christ.
In second place, when we go where people are and they are open to hear us, we can proclaim the good news. But our proclamation will not necessarily be preaching a sermon, or teaching a lesson, or reciting certain “spiritual laws.” It will be a proclamation of the heart when our heart opens to pour out the concrete reality of our experience with the Living God. As Saint Francis said, “preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” An encounter with the Living God who desires to have a relationship with us will connect us also with others in a way in which words are hardly necessary. Our deeds, our walk, and our life will be open books about God’s love.
Yet, salvation must be received and confessed. As Paul said, “one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” We are being saved to be part of God’s project, the project of God’s kingdom that has already begun. It is the hope of peace, the realization that we have a God that loves us and loves us deeply, and the expectation that God’s righteousness and justice will be established forever. Our awareness of the greatness of that salvation will prompt us to confess it with our mouth. This confession, however, does not amount to memorizing and reciting a creed. It means sharing what Jesus Christ means to us from the bottom of our hearts, not with the purpose of convincing our hearers to do the same—only the Holy Spirit convinces—but for the sake of expressing what Christ means to us.
Some will hear with respect, others will perhaps despise us. Yet, our openness to the relationship, because we are there for them, will out shadow all differences, disagreements, or even rejection. God’s love in Jesus Christ deserves to be shared! But sharing must not be imposing, or oppressive, much less threatening. The Gospel is a gift, not a package to unload that someone else is compelled to bear; it is good news to bring and to share.
We have heard enough complaints about the way in which Christianity has conducted itself in its efforts to evangelize the world. The work has been done with honesty, with great effort, and out of love for the lost. At the same time we have often done it with arrogance, with self-righteousness, and judgmentally. Messengers, those with “beautiful feet,” those who go to places to be where people are will only open their mouths to utter words of love, to tell real good news, to share hope and possibilities with people—not to tell them what is wrong with them. Salvation is at hand! God wants to save us through Jesus Christ and invites us to enter into a special relationship with him and, as we go to the places where people are and we develop friendships, that salvation will be spread trough the whole world.
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