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October 28, 2007
George Bennett - Student Associate Pastor
Standing by Himself
Joel 2:23-32
23O
children of Zion, be glad and 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.
24The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall
overflow with wine and oil. 25I will repay you for the years that
the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my
great army, which I sent against you. 26You shall eat in plenty
and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord
your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again
be put to shame. 27You shall know that I am in the midst of
Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there
is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
28Then
afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young
men shall see visions. 29Even on the male and female slaves, in
those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30I will show portents in
the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31The
sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and
terrible day of the Lord comes. 32Then
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape,
as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall
be those whom the Lord calls.
Psalm 65
1Praise
is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed,
2O
you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come.
3When
deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions.
4Happy
are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be
satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
5By
awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you
are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.
6By
your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might.
7You
silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of
the peoples.
8Those
who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the
gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9You
visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is
full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared
it.
10You
water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with
showers, and blessing its growth.
11You
crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12The
pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
13the
meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with
grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
Luke 18:9-14
9He
also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10“Two men went up
to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The
Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am
not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax
collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my
income.’ 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not
even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be
merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to
his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will
be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” NRSV
Prayer
God, you are the creator and designer of all that we are. We pray that you use
us in ways that make this entire service – readings, music and sermon all that
you intend for them to be & that your inspiration, present in the Holy Spirit
dwell in our hearts. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Introduction
The scriptures of this week are filled with images that point to the fact that
we have much for which to be thankful. The prophet Joel first reminds us that
God's grace has filled our bellies saying, "26You
shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the
Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. NRSV"
Then, he ads a reminder that God is also responsible for our bountiful spiritual
lives claiming, "28Then afterward I will
pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29Even
on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. NRSV"
Along the same vain, our Tongan brothers and sisters gave us a reading of Psalm
65 titled Thanksgiving for the Earth's Bounty in which David sings,
"2O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh
shall come.
3When deeds
of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions.
4Happy are
those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be
satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. NRSV"
We are compelled by these readings to recognize that our gifted lives are
calling us to take a certain posture in life. What is the posture of gratitude?
How do we see ourselves in relation to God and to the world around us? The
parable from the gospel of Luke has something to say about posture. Do we see
ourselves like the tax collector, far off? Can we describe ourselves like the
Pharisee, standing by himself?" When we know which posture is the correct one
for us, just like the characters in this parable, we will express this posture
in our prayers and in our actions.
Exegesis
Jesus had a target audience for the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax
collector. He wanted to reach people who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt. Whenever I catch myself engaged in
a character assassination, (you know, one of those comments that is designed to
caste someone else in an ugly light while I remain looking good), I fit the
description of Jesus' target audience. It is just awful if I do this sort of
thing publicly and I am embarrassed if I even catch myself doing it verbally;
but since I know for a fact that I do it mentally, and I believe that God knows
every thought in my head, I have to admit that this parable is aimed right at
me. Maybe some of you feel the same way.
Something that I find difficult about this parable is the fact that it is told
from the perspective of a culture that is now nearly two thousand years old.
Even with all of the scholarly factoids that are available to us, I find it hard
to put these to characters into my own context in ways which bring deep meaning
to this parable. The original hearers of this story had everyday experiences
with Pharisees and Tax collectors. Pharisees were people thought to be devoted
to God because they performed hundreds of daily rituals to show their commitment
to God. Tax collectors were thought of as sinners and traitors to the nation of
God because they collected money for the Romans and often kept more than their
fair share. Even though the target audience of this story could as easily be
you, me, or someone that lived in first century Palestine, the symbols lose
meaning over time. So let’s look at it with some modern symbols to gain
perspective. What if this story was about a hammer and a toilet brush created by
someone named Emanuel? We'll pretend that the new characters have human
behaviors like cartoon characters and Emanuel will be their higher power.
The hammer and the toilet brush go to the temple to pray to Emanuel. The hammer
stands alone and prays. “Emanuel, thank you for making me a hammer and not a
spatula or a gun or even like this toilet brush. I build homes for people and I
hang pictures of your dear family.” The toilet brush stands far off and prays,
“Emanuel, please clean me.”
Why was the Hammer standing alone? Both are tools of Emanuel and in the presence
of Emanuel. In the same way, the Pharisee and the Tax collector are in service
to God. Yet, when the hammer prays she sees herself in comparison to other
tools. She fantasizes about how Emanuel must prefer her to the other tools by
stating her special purposes as virtues and she even goes as far as to claim
some of the work of Emanuel in her list of attributes.
As a twenty-first century being, I know how and why the hammer was created. The
head is hard and heavy so that it can focus its force when I swing it. The
handle is long and fits my hand so that I am comfortable when I put it to use.
The hammer was created for Emanuel and if Emanuel doesn't lift it, it has no
purpose at all. When the hammer prays her prayer, she sets herself apart from
the other tools in her state of mind and she separates herself from Emanuel by
failure to know her place. She stands alone.
The toilet brush stands far off. He does not presume to be welcome in the
presence of the other tools. He knows that he needs Emanuel and Emanuel needs
him, but he does not feel worthy or welcome in the company of others. In order
to be of any use to Emanuel or the world, he is going to be full of you know
what every now and then. However, the toilet brush knows that Emanuel can clean
him and that is his prayer. The toilet brush sees himself as separate but
necessary. He is never stored with the other tools in the toolbox or in the
silverware drawer. He is far off; but in order to be useful, Emanuel must care
for him. As you know, a clean toilet brush does not need to be as far off as a
dirty one.
So, by a raise of hands, who wants to be a toilet brush?
Hermeneutic
I knew that would be a tough sell. Nobody wanted to be a Tax collector either.
The point of the story is not to convince anyone that the life of a toilet brush
or a tax collector even is the ultimate goal. Instead, Jesus is pointing to the
ways in which we become more justified, the ways that we become right in the
eyes of God. These two characters are engaged in prayer and we can see that they
are different in their postures. The one that stands far off is seen as more
justified than the one that stand by himself because at least the one who is far
off stands with God.
The posture of gratitude, the posture that I see as a true example in this
parable is neither standing by myself, nor standing far off. We are created by
God and called by God to stand ready and willing, to be instruments for God's
own purpose. Our differences are not assets and testaments to our own
accomplishments. Our differences are there by God's own design, to meet God's
own purposes. God made diversity because God needs diversity to do God's work.
Gratitude is recognizing that we are useful, and that we are used to do God's
work. Gratitude is having a relationship with God that allows us not to be
standing by ourselves, and using our relationship with God in ways that make us
comfortable not being so far off.
A prayer of forgiveness is where this parable leaves its listeners. Praying that
God would have mercy on us is the starting point of submitting our selves to
God's own purposes. By allowing ourselves to accept God's care and mercy, we put
ourselves in a place to be of the utmost service. Usually our own self-image
causes us to stand far off. You have heard it said, "I can't go in a church, the
roof would cave in." More specifically, who am I to be a public voice calling
for inclusiveness, diversity or economic justice? Haven't I been complicit in
these problems all my life? Wouldn't I just be one of those hypocrites that
people use as a reason to stay away from church?
If you are asking yourself these questions, I feel your pain. Last Wednesday the
banner you see on the alter was carried through San Francisco in a reconciling
witness demonstration meant to show support for our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender brothers and sisters in Christ. The Rev. Troy Plummer from Chicago,
helped us to remember our baptisms. He called us to remember that for most of
us, we were baptized into the body of Christ with our sexual orientations
unrevealed. We were infants and children. Furthermore, we were baptized by God,
not an institution, congregation, or person. We recalled the words of God at the
baptism of Jesus, "This is my child, with whom I am well pleased." Then we
claimed these words for ourselves as we stood in our great cloud of witnesses, a
crowd of over seventy people. As we remembered our baptisms we each understood
that by this time in our lives, our orientations were in some way revealed.
I was tempted to stand far off in this scene, but I had accepted a role from the
Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, the organizer of the event, that prevented me from doing
so (candle distribution). I was not one of the many people at this event that
could give testimony and witness to a life of oppression brought on by
heterosexist bigotry in church or anywhere else. In fact, my inclusive attitudes
are relatively new in my life. In high school, I was so well known for my
closed-minded opinions that I was frequently asked to take the conservative
stand in our school debates. Who was I to be carrying a corner of this banner?
Who was I even to be present at an event that honored the humanity of people
that I had previously tried to victimize?
Asking for and accepting God's gift of forgiveness is our first pathway towards
allowing ourselves to be made right with God. As I stood in this crowd secretly
feeling far off, the words "this is my child with whom I am well pleased" were
repeated time and again. To many they were words of affirmation, but to me they
were words of forgiveness. My new posture allows me to be used, and as a result
our banner marched in support of reconciliation. Our church was a witness in a
cause that is important to our identity, and we continue to be used by God as a
public voice within our community and our denomination.
You may want to know what came of this event, and for the most part the verdicts
have not come in. When we finished our candlelight march to the Hilton at
Fisherman's Warf, we all went into the hotel to see the room that we rented
across from the council's session. Just as we got there, the judicial council
itself was adjourning. I personally saw five of the council members and was able
to engage three of them in conversation. We spent this time mutually revealing
to each other the facts that we are worshipping members of the same connectional
church. I spent the most time talking with Lynn from North Carolina who is a
district superintendent in her annual conference and is married to one of the
lay members on the judicial council. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported
another interesting fact. Dr James Holsinger, Bush's candidate for Surgeon
General, announced on the day of our march that he would absent himself from the
judicial council's session. Holsinger is the chair of the council, and is one of
the conservative voices in a body that has a record of voting 5 to 4 on many of
these dividing issues. We are still waiting to read the councils decisions, but
we have reason to be hopeful. Wow, I am so glad that I did not find an excuse to
be far off during this witness.
So when we are overcome by the feelings that cause us to stand by ourselves or
to be far off and we are asking ourselves, "Who are we to be participating in a
mission trip? Who are we to be gathering food for the homeless? Who are we to be
protesting for peace, like the thousands of people that gave voice to their
outrage yesterday in San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Philadelphia? Who are
we to be involved and committed both personally and financially to our church
programs? We must allow ourselves to hear the answer coming from our own mouths.
Please repeat after, me nice and loud, the following words.
We belong to God. We are God's creation and we are valued by God to do God's
work. Praise be to God.
Amen.
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