God’s merciful blessings – fool’s gold?

  

(art: http://www.laurajamesart.com/religious.htm#)

We’re about at the midpoint of Epiphany season, a time we consider Jesus’s manifestation of God in our world (from the Greek epiphania).  We’re celebrating what his incarnation means to all of creation and recounting the significance of major events in his life.  After his birth, we heard of his baptism and then of his gathering of apostles.  Today we find ourselves on a hillside – a mount - somewhere likely along the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee listening to our Lord as he begins a famous sermon by offering a preamble for the constitution of the church as his body.  Before he really gets into his sermon, giving us ethical instructions, he clarifies for us who is already beheld and beloved in the eyes of God and what we can expect as part of that family. 

(anecdote about my readings the Beatitudes last year, as one of my first diaconal services, to fellow pilgrims from a cavern opening on a mount/hillside along a road in Capernaum)

·       home territory of several of the apostles

·       near sites of the Sermon on the Mount, metaphors involving fishing, walking on water, calming the storm, feeding thousands with fishes and loaves, etc.

·       a beautiful and unique place that is fed and drained by the Jordan River and still vital as a water source for modern Jerusalem

Let’s remember that we’re common Jews – rural poor and some trades people - in the Galilee about to listen to this prophetic rabbi who has a reputation for performing miracles and stirring up controversy, and who some of us believe is the chosen messiah who will liberate us from our current conditions under Roman rule and restore us to new life as God’s favored Israel. 

Probably, some of us are harboring resentments toward our fellow Jews who have cultivated status and power by aligning themselves with the dominant Roman rulers; and we’re waiting on the day that we will have such prestige and worldly wealth.  Yet, what we hear from Jesus this day has strong echoes of what we’ve heard from the ancient prophets Isaiah and Micah – a reminder that God is not pleased when we believe we’ve ‘made it to the top’, achieving status and stature, at the expense of compassion, mercy, justice toward others, especially those considered ‘least’ among us.

In today’s OT reading, the prophet Micah (likely a contemporary of Isaiah, who we’ve been hearing a lot of lately) presents a courtroom scene in which God is the injured party who brings a case against his people, Israel.  Micah is writing during a time of relative peace between periods of major invasion and devastation in which God’s people have become complacent, adrift in idolatry and material obsessions, and corrupt and exploitative to the point that leaders are manipulating economic systems to their advantage at the expense of vast numbers of people who are becoming more impoverished and displaced. With all of creation as his witness, God challenges the people to demonstrate cause for their loss of faith and attentiveness to their covenant, citing some of the major ways God has demonstrated fidelity to the covenant.  In an attempt to satisfy their aggrieved God, the people offer greater piety, ritual observance, and costly animal and human sacrifices.  The passage ends with the prophet saying that what is good to God is not transactional ritual offerings (we can’t ‘buy’ God’s favor), but rather offering ourselves as living sacrifices through consistently behaving in ways that honor justice, loving kindness to neighbors, and humility before God.

Jesus’s preamble to his sermon on the mount furthers this message with more explicit explanation that what is held in esteem in corrupt worldly systems is not what is blessed and honored in God’s kingdom. And, Jesus makes the provocative point that living into this kingdom will, in fact, be costly in a worldly sense. 

Micah says that God requires us to, “do justice.” Jesus Christ affirms that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are honored / have God’s blessing.

Micah says that God requires us to, “love kindness.”  Jesus Christ affirms that the merciful, pure of heart, and peacemakers are considered God’s children to whom God delivers mercy. 

Micah says that God requires us to, “walk humbly.” Jesus Christ affirms that the poor in spirit, who mourn, and who are considered meek are, in fact, inheriting God’s very kingdom.

Conventional wisdom of the worldly systems in Micah’s time, and during the period that our Lord delivered this sermon in the Galilee, and arguably in our own time now, revere the financially independent, the emotionally stoic and sure, those who are politically savvy and respected, and wealthy enough to perhaps offer some financial charity to those ‘less fortunate’ and less worthy of worldly fame and honor.  Worldly wisdom points toward value in scarcity by gaining ‘real’ gold for jewelry as a sign of your success and possibly sharing some of it only after you have enough for yourself.

Not to say worldly success is bad, per se (certainly not if it’s put to good use), but this isn’t necessary for God’s favor; and, in fact, success predicated on notions of scarcity often distract us from the generosity God wants us to live into.  We’re told that God’s blessings are already with those who are weak, who struggle, and who are unsure yet faithful and loving.  Godly wisdom points us toward making faithful and loving use of what the world otherwise considers fool’s gold.

Jesus knows that Godly wisdom is counter-cultural and costly.  Yet, he assures us that when we follow divine wisdom, and are persecuted, mocked, and reviled, we’re in good company – fellowship with faithful prophets who speak Godly truth to worldly power, even to the assumed religious establishments of their days, in the spirit of justice and mercy.

Paul keeps this good news alive in what he writes to the church in Corinth, which is struggling to maintain focus on divine wisdom in the context of seductive systems of esoteric knowledge, urban sophistication, and emerging internal divisions/factions in their church community.  Paul knows that following Christ can seem as foolish as paying attention to pyrite rather than ‘real’ gold.  He invokes both the ancient words of Isaiah and then Jesus’s beatitudes in what we heard from his letter today…

“[God] will destroy the wisdom of the wise…. For… in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe…. not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor 1:19, 21

(pause)

As we take a moment to let our minds and hearts absorb the implications of this consistent message being preached across these scriptures, about conditions and situations that God considers blessed in his kingdom and expectations God has of our behavior – all of which run counter to what the world seems to expect of as valuable, allow me to say a little something about pyrite, or ‘fool’s gold’ as it known.

I remember being given a delightful chunk of pyrite by my grandmother many years ago.  As a child, I had no appreciation of how valuable this material was in comparison to ‘real gold’ in a worldly sense.  I considered it a precious token of my relationship with my grandmother.  For a long time I kept it in special, prominent place on one of my shelves.  People would occasionally say things like, that’s just ‘fool’s gold… it’s not worth anything.”  Nonetheless, when I looked at it, it seemed valuable and miraculous to me – a beautiful golden surface seemingly magically emerging from a clump of otherwise uninspiring rock.  And, it reminded me of my grandmother’s unconditional love for me. 

In fact, unlike the ‘real gold’ that we use to store value by turning it into bullion to keep in vaults as guarantee for our wealth or to adorn ourselves with as signs of status, pyrite is a very abundant, practical, life enhancing substance.  It can serve as an ignition source because it sparks when struck against iron; it’s been used in radio receivers and other electronics because it’s a sensitive detector; and I’ve read that it has been proposed as a low cost mineral component of solar panels.  What the world might label as substance that only fools would consider golden actually has practical value and merit because of its affordable, easily shared, more universal applications.

So, do we consider Godly wisdom like fool’s gold?  If we’re really honest with ourselves, do we believe in the truth and value of the counter-cultural expectations of God spoken of by the prophets and lived as an example by Christ?

What would our lives look and sound like, what would our church community be doing more or less of, if we lived further into this Godly wisdom?  Do any of us quietly consider this path too costly and rather foolish in the end?

Remember, we heard today, that “God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor 1:25)

God’s requirements as summarized by Micah, and God’s blessings as affirmed by Jesus, have been given to us in love through relationships that don’t represent wealth on Wall Street, but hold divine value in God’s kingdom family.

·       Blessings are not things we earn or achieve.  God already considers blessed those who conventional wisdom says are the least among us and those who hunger and thirst with them for justice and shared mercy.

·       Walk humbly with God, deeply aware that it’s not all about you, that you’re ultimately not in control, and that everything you have and are is inter-dependent with God and your neighbors.

·       Do justice – hunger and thirst for what is right.

·       Above all, love kindness - show compassion and mercy toward others… as our creator, redeemer, and sustainer does toward us.

AMEN.

St. Paul's 2020 - come and see!

(delivered Sunday, January 16, 2011 to the community at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Manhattan, KS before their annual parish meeting)

Come, Holy Spirit, on this day of our annual parish meeting, and on the eve of a day when our nation remembers a contemporary prophet of social justice; take our lips and speak through them; take our minds and think through them; and take our heart and set them on fire with love for your work.  AMEN

“What are you looking for?”

“Where are you living?”

“Come and see.”

These two questions and one instruction/invitation from today’s Gospel lesson are profound… and particularly poignant today as we gather for our annual parish meeting – a time when we consider where we are today, who we aspire to be in the future, and begin making decisions to help us get ‘there.’  I wonder what the St. Paul’s community of 2020 will look and sound like?  What all can happen in the next 11 years through this community?

It’s fitting that today’s Gospel was set-up by hearing the salutation/greeting from one of Paul’s letters to the early emerging church in Corinth.  In his salutation to this earlier counter-cultural church community that was growing in into the fullness of their future, we hear reassurances from Paul that we can heed today as we enter our annual meeting and envision our own future:

-          our gathering here is linked to the larger church of Christ, with all who believe;

-          Christ guides our wisdom and our words when we gather in his name; and

-          and our community is blessed with many spiritual gifts.

As we hold these truths – that we’re a living part of the larger body, Christ is guiding us, and that we have many gifts – let’s consider the provocative and inspiring questions being raised in the second part of the Gospel passage.

In the first part of John, the author is making the case for Jesus as the Word of God living among us and setting the stage for the implications of this incarnation.  God’s very Word – God’s creative essence – has come among us to repair our relationships and pave the way toward a church that more fully incarnates God’s will for creation.

In today’s reading, you get the sense of a torch being passed to a new generation – a new race beginning, as a revered leader who has nurtured quite a following himself becomes very convinced and convicted upon encountering Jesus and begins pointing passionately beyond himself and explicitly toward this beloved Lamb/Son of God as the way forward into a new kingdom.  Something miraculous begins happening as seemingly unlikely or ‘unqualified’ characters are called into following Jesus and he begins commissioning them to lead us toward a new way of living in community. 

In our passage this morning, Andrew, upon his mentor’s urging, begins to literally follow Jesus – to walk with him.  Soon, he’s doing more than just walking curiously with Jesus, he’s inspired to recruit other to come along and he begins with inviting his brother (who we know as Peter).   And, if we read the next few verses, we’re told that within another day, a Galilean named Philip begins to walk with Jesus and is then inspired to invite along an initially hesitant and suspicious friend, Nathanael, who is also soon swept up like the others into the ways and vision of this messianic teacher, Jesus.   

And so it goes – both the original and our contemporary Christian community is built through vision, curiosity, experience, and invitation.  Jesus leading the way, and then family member to family member, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor, the invitation to “come and see” and share in a vision is extended with a captivating sense of curiosity and grace.   

How are we participating in this ancient process here in our own community?

In gathering people to carry out the work of justice and love in God’s name, Jesus doesn’t begin with doctrinal statements, marketing schemes/brochures, or slick stump speeches – he begins by dignifying and honoring the natural curiosity and deeper needs of the other person by engaging in a relationship with them through a simple, yet loaded question, “What are you looking for?”

What are you looking for?   What a wonderful way to begin any relationship.  Are we asking this enough of each other?  Of our family, friends, and neighbors here in Manhattan?  Asking this of each other and of people who have yet to become of part of our church community sets the tone and example that we’re truly interested in each other – we want to really know the deeper needs and aspirations of our fellow people. 

We might hear or answer that question with personal and immediate concerns of what we seek, or needs we have in our lives right now – revealing what we’re hungry for today and what will nourish us in this moment.  We also might approach the hearing or answering of this question in a more future-oriented way, focusing on a vision of something yet to be true that inspires us, draws us forward, and motivates and sustains us over the longer term. 

This simple question can invoke powerful, transformational passions in people… particularly in times of trouble or change.

Tomorrow, as a country, we’re called to remember the vision and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..  Like John the Baptist, and Jesus, Dr. King led during a time of struggle and was masterful at tapping into latent hopes and dreams of what people were really looking for.  He, like our biblical prophets, was bold in proclaiming his vision of Christ’s kingdom of justice and love that he, and many others, were looking for.   We don’t even need to recite all the words of his famous ‘sermon’ in D.C., – merely invoking “I have a dream, today!” quells up powerful, motivating emotions in many of us.

In asking his followers “What are you looking for?” Jesus, too, was tapping into creative passions and talents that were just waiting to burst forth the new life and energy.

What is it that each of you is looking for?  Why are you following Jesus here?  What dream or vision do you have of our possible future together?  What bold new realities might we all be looking for that we haven’t realized yet?

Another leader in the era of Dr. King, Robert F. Kennedy, once said, “The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of bold projects and new ideas.  Rather, it will belong to those who can blend passion, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the great enterprises and ideals of American society.”

This brings us to the second question, “Where are you staying/living?”  Or, in today’s colloquial language, before following something or someone new, we might hear someone ask “Where are you coming from?”   In asking Jesus this question, we can imagine that Andrew wasn’t simply seeking to know literally where Jesus would rest his head that night… rather; we can hear Andrew wanting to know what world Jesus was living in?  From what sense of place was he operating and to where might Andrew might be led if continued to follow this teacher?

We should be asking ourselves the same thing.  Where are we are we coming from today when we talk to people about our church family at St. Paul’s? 

If we answer factually, with attention to the immediate, we might note the evolving demographics of our community (e.g., predicted patterns in enrollment at K-State or enlistment at Ft. Riley); or the trends here at our parish in the larger church over the last ten years with regard to average Sunday attendance, composition of membership, stewardship, etc.; or cite some of our favorite features or traditions of our parish today.  In other words, we might simply describe our circumstances today – where we find ourselves at the moment.

If we engage that question the way I believe this Gospel passage is encouraging us to, we might pause and reflect on where we’re ultimately coming from as members incorporate of Christ’s body and the universal church – what we believe our ultimate mission to be, beyond our present circumstances or situation.  Though we might say we’re in/with Christ, that definitely doesn’t mean we’re standing still.  We’re called to move with, to follow Christ’s example in the world, proclaiming by our words and example the Gospel of our Lord, seeking to love and serve our neighbors, and striving for peace and justice, respect and dignity, within our community among all people.  That’s where we’re coming from.

Given this, whether much attention is given to it in today’s annual meeting, or whether this becomes a longer-term, on-going dialogue among our parish family, it’s prudent to continue to honestly ask ourselves, where are we coming from and what are we really looking for… and compare our answers to the vision and example of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  In what we say and do in the Manhattan community, in how we cultivate our time, talent, and treasures, are we a serving as a Christian family and way of living to which we are eager, with Christ, to invite people to “come and see”?

“Come and see.” Surely the early disciples didn’t quite know what they were getting into, when they accepted this invitation.  There might have been some anxiety about the risk of venturing into something new and unknown.  Yet, this warm invitation captivates our imagination and reassures that we’re not alone -- come (with me/us) and see (let’s see/realize this together).

Like our ancestors, who were hoping that following this messianic teacher would lead them to a better place, are we hoping that following Christ here in this church home will lead us toward a better life with each other?

If you imagine, right now, asking your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, classmates, etc. to “come and see” what we’re up to in God’s name here at St. Paul’s, are you excited?  nervous? hesitant? confident? 

If you’re on fire with love for this place and can’t wait to have more people join us on this journey with Jesus, be bold in evangelizing for us – ask people what they’re seeking and invite people to “come and see” what we’re up to here that can nourishg them.

If you have any hesitations about inviting people into our family – perhaps because you fear we’re not as welcoming as we could be to certain types of people; or maybe you’re worried that we don’t offer the things that newcomers are needing or looking for; or maybe you’re concerned that we’re not yet ready for a bunch of new people; or you’re quietly anxious about how our parish family might change if we invite more neighbors in who don’t look, sound, or think like you do.  If any those things resonate with you – take heart.  Realize that you’re in good company - the earliest disciples struggled with these same concerns (cite the believers in Corinth to whom Paul was writing).  And reassure yourself that this is the work with Christ – this is what Jesus asks us/his followers to do – to go out, beyond the bounds of any existing congregational family, and grow God’s family in Christ’s name.

So, as we head into the annual meeting today… wonder with me, are we asking ourselves big enough, bold enough questions where we’re coming from and what we’re looking for in our life together at St. Paul’s?  What would motivate and inspire more of us more often to follow the example of Jesus in inviting more people in our community to “come and see” what we’re up to in God’s name?

I wonder about St. Paul’s eleven years from now – Epiphany of 2020.   Who is here worshipping with us in this building?  Who in town identifies as a member of our church family?  How are we known and recognized as a Christian community in Manhattan?  What types of people – from what cultures, ages, races, stations in life are engaged with us in building toward the kingdom of God?  What types of additional missions and ministry programs are we supporting in 2020? 

What are you looking for?  Come and see.

Quoting again from the modern words of Robert Kennedy, although I can easily imagine Jesus our Christ saying this as well to his early followers: “There are those who look at things they way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Where are coming from here at St. Paul’s as people of God?

What are we looking for as Christians?

What is our dream for this church?

Come and see!

It is Christ who invites us today and every day to keep asking these questions of each other and extending this invitation in His name. 

AMEN.