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Rules, Rules, and More Rules

2/26/2023

Genesis 2:15-17
God took the Man (created just moments before) and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”

Today is the first Sunday in Lent. The lectionary choice for the Gospel reading today is the Temptation in the Wilderness – which we already read and discussed last week. (I believe I mentioned that things can get a little confused at the end of Epiphany.)

The reading we’re using instead is the lectionary’s Old Testament reading for today. It comes in the second chapter of Genesis, which means from the second of the two versions of the creation of the earth and of humankind that are found here.

The Man had been created only a short time before and put in the newly created garden to be its caretaker. The Woman was not even created yet when God issued this rule against eating from “the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil” – basically, just don’t eat it -- or you will die.

Okay, there’s just a couple of brief points I want to make here and then we’re going to move on from Genesis. The first is simply to reiterate that The Woman was not even in existence when God issued the “don’t eat this” rule.” She was created later, She presumably heard of it later on but she did not hear it directly from God. And yet, she’s the one who’s been blamed for the whole mess that followed for lo, these thousands of years. Just thought I’d remind us all of that.

The second point, and the one that is more germane to my message here, is that this was the very first rule given to human folk– at least in biblical time and as recorded in scripture. I read chapters one and two three or four times and didn’t find one any earlier. But think of the hundreds, or thousands of rules we’ve burdened ourselves and each other with in the centuries since then – all too often claiming these rules came directly from God..

And Rules are what I really want to talk about today. Do we really, really need all those rules? We have the Ten Commandments. That was OK for a start, but then people just ran with the whole idea. We have the Holiness Codes, the Levitical Laws, the Purity Laws – Hebrew scholars of the OT counted up their laws and came up with 613 of them, just in the Torah alone. Humans had to have 613+, while God seems to have made do with 10.

Do they do any good? Think about it. Some rules are definitely good — stopping for red lights is a good rule. Most of us obey it. We may grumble, but we do it. We literally could not get in our cars everyday unless we had some level of trust that others were obeying that one, too.

But all too many rules exist only to enforce power by some over others. Dress codes, for instance. One of the more useless things we’ve invented. Or laws restricting people of color, but not anyone else – definitely not good.. No tattoos? Or any law that comes with a “because we said so” or worse yet, “because we can.”

In my Facebook “memories” for the day as I sat down to type this out, one popped up from 2018 – five years ago.. It was one of our daily quotes from that year’s Lenten readings book and this particular one was written by Quinn G. Caldwell. He had me from the very first line:

Listen, and I will tell you a mystery: God doesn’t give a crap about your rules.
Actually, that’s not totally true. God knows you created them for what you believe are good reasons, and that you (or your ancestors) did so after years of faithful practice and study. And God thinks that’s nice. Really.
It’s just that what God actually cares about is the impulse behind the rules, not the rules themselves. The love that undergirds the expectations more than the expectations themselves.....
Listen, and I will tell you a mystery: God doesn’t love your rules. God loves God’s people.

I hope you didn’t find the language offensive because it is the absolute truth and I was so happy to have it pop up from nowhere that day. I needed to read it. I’ve read it a dozen time in the past few days. I’m grateful to whatever angels dropped it in front of me. And I’m grateful to Quinn Caldwell, wherever he may be, for saying it in the first place.

And one last point – this one from Jesus. When he was asked which is the greatest commandment he, according to the writer of Matthew’s gospel, answered: Love the Lord God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. But you know, you cannot mandate Love or enforce it by rules.

I always picture Jesus here sighing and thinking “this wouldn’t have to be a commandment if you all just thought for a minute and lived properly.” This isn’t delivered like a Law or a Rule, there’s no “do this or we’ll throw you into Hell!” It sounds to me less like a rule than a suggestion – just try it this way, it’s easy. I promise...just love.

God doesn’t love our rules. God loves God’s people.

AMEN.

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ASH WEDNESDAY - LENTEN REFLECTION

2/22/2023

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Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. I don’t have any long teaching, no lengthy message today – only a brief reflection to help us focus on what this time is all about.

Lent has traditionally been a time for focusing our attention on our living and our relationship with God. That’s taken many different forms over the centuries -- but I like to think of it as a time for making space for the holy in our lives; a time for clearing out some of the garbage we all tend to accrue and carry around with us, leaving us little time or room for growth of any kind.

The reading I’ve chosen to focus on today comes from the prophet Isaiah and is just one small part of a much longer ‘sermon’ on all the things the people were doing wrong—and how much better their lives would be if they, instead, dedicated themselves to doing the right things, and doing them the right way.

Isaiah, speaking for God, points out that too often we fool ourselves into believing that what we are doing is what God wants, when in reality we are just doing what we want – usually the easiest thing, or something that make us look good without actually changing anything -- things like conspicuous fasting. After a few chapters spelling out how they are doing it wrong, Isaiah (still speaking for God) spells out exactly what God would prefer:

“Is not the kind of fasting I choose
to loosen the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free, and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter?
And when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and the Lord will say: “Here I am.”

Lent is a good time to spend sitting in silence, listening mindfully for what God is really saying to us. Or if there truly is no time for sitting, we can still listen. Can we hear it? Can we stop the world’s frantic rushing and nattering long enough to hear?

40 days in Lent. 40 days we can spend ignoring our spirit’s need for quiet and repose and connection—or we can open our hearts, our eyes, and our ears and mindfully receive all that the Spirit’s love is trying to show us and tell us.

Peace...and may we, this Lenten season, grow in listening and understanding and experiencing that deeper connection.

Peace...

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THREE TEMPTATIONS

2/19/2023

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Matthew 4:1-10

Soon after his baptism, the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness, to be tempted there. For forty days and nights he ate nothing and he became very hungry.

Then the Tempter showed up and tried to trick him into getting food by changing stones into loaves of bread. “It will prove you are the Son of God,” they said. But Jesus replied, “No! The Scriptures tell us that bread won’t feed souls -- the word of God is what we need.”

Then the Tempter took him to Jerusalem to the roof of the Temple and said, “Jump off and prove you are the Son of God, for the Scriptures declare, ‘God will send his angels to keep you from harm.’ Surely they will keep you from smashing on the rocks below.”

But Jesus retorted, “It also says not to put the Lord your God to a foolish test!”

Next the Tempter took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory. “I’ll give it all to you,” he said, “if you will only kneel and worship me.”

“Get out of here,” Jesus told them. “The Scriptures say, ‘Worship and obey God – and only God.’”

Today is the last Sunday in Epiphany season for this year. This coming week Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Liturgically speaking, Epiphany connects Christmas with Lent -- thirty years of Jesus’ life leading up to his public ministry. And now we begin Jesus’ public life of teaching and healing.

The reading I chose for today I chose for two reasons: First, It seems the perfect reading for this shift in focus, taking place as it does immediately after Jesus’ baptism and his recognition by God, and just before he begins publicly preaching and teaching. The second reason is just that I don’t think I’ve ever preached on this reading before!

In the translation I read, Jesus’ tormenter is named as the Tempter, which is pretty self-explanatory. In other translations this Tempter is called satan, which is a Hebrew word meaning accuser or adversary. The idea of the satan as a singular living being is rarely found in Hebrew scripture. When it appears it is usually in ways meaning the adversary, the obstructionist, the slanderer – more of a philosophical concept than a living being. When we get to Christian scriptures it becomes a little more solidified as a Being, but this, I believe, is largely a matter of translations.

In today’s story, this Tempter or Adversary, tries in three ways to convince Jesus to doubt himself and give up his vision. Having just come from a place where he heard his Father’s voice affirming him and setting him on his mission, the satan wants Jesus to lose his faith in both his God and himself.

Three times Jesus is offered satisfaction and power if he will just admit his father’s voice was nothing but an aberration, a fantasy, and give up this silly idea of saving the world...and three times he refuses to be baited. And it is these three refusals that interest me today.

The first offer was to have all his hungers fed, hungers which could be physical or spiritual. “You’re the Son of God, after all – why should you go hungry?” But Jesus’ response was to quote scripture – “The word of God is what we need to feed us.”

The second offer was to rely on his status as Son of God to keep him safe from all harm. “Surely angels will take care of you – nothing can hurt you.” His response was “Stop with the foolish trick questions! I know where my faith lies and I don’t need to test it. Don’t try to test me, and don’t try to test God!”

The third offer was power and riches; all he had to do was bow down to the Tempter and it could all be his. This was maybe the easiest one, because these aren’t really the Tempter’s to give – doubt and slander and fear – not to mention greed – are surely powerful in this world, but ultimately, the world belongs to God. Jesus’ response was again to quote scripture, “I will worship and obey God – and only God.”

When we are hungry I suspect most of us think of pancakes or hamburgers or fried chicken (or some such) as the answer to that physical hunger, but do we ever think about other things that feed us? When we find ourselves transfixed by a scenic view, or a bird’s song, or ocean waves—what hunger is being fed in us? Or a line of poetry that touches our heart, a piece of music played in a way that reaches our soul? There are many hungers beyond those of our physical bodies. Jesus tells us that God’s word, in some way, feeds all those hungers.

The Tempter offered Jesus safety. Challenging established realms of power is never a safe thing to do. It requires sacrifice. The Tempter was mocking that sacrifice and stripping it of its power by reminding Jesus there was no “real” risk for him – his sacrifice would be fake, so why bother? Jesus told him to take his phony equivalences and, basically, “stuff it.” He knew his safety or heart and mind rested in God’s hands – nothing more was needed.

And finally, while there appear to be many in our world who are more than willing to worship wealth and fame and power, Jesus was entirely clear that he would worship only the one who was worthy of that worship – and he was not willing to trade that off for momentary glory.

Have we ever thought of this particular story as more than just a “Jesus story”? Maybe as something to applies to us every day? When the Tempter, in the form or the world around us, throws us roadblocks in the shape of doubts, or accusations, or fears, or lies, or adversity – all to get us to doubt ourselves and doubt God, how do we respond? Do we allow ourselves to be turned away from our goals, or do we—like Jesus in our reading today, just answer “Get out of here, Tempter!” I’m sticking with God!”

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PUT ON A HILLTOP TO SHINE

2/12/2023

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Matthew 5:13-16 (The Message)

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be the salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ll have lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous God in heaven.

Last week we read and discussed the Beatitudes, comparing Matthew’s version with Luke’s. This reading today comes directly after the Beatitudes in Matthew’s gospel. Here, Jesus tells his listeners (among whom we should be including ourselves) that they are salt and light. If we are indeed listening, then we are salt; we are light. He doesn’t tell them, or us, that we are similar to, or kinda like – he says we ARE – full-stop – no qualifying adverbs. We are salt. We are light. That’s an odd thing to say to someone, but then Jesus says a lot of things that are pretty odd sounding until we take the time to dig into them.

The world needs salt. In Jesus’ time, and for hundreds of years both before and after, salt was a major preservative in a world with no refrigeration. Meat was routinely brined or salted as a way to extend its shelf-life. Fruits and vegetables were pickled for the same reason.

Then and now, salt is necessary for the human body. In our culture today most of us eat too much salt, not too little. It’s a balancing act to get it right.

Since I am a lucky possessor of a wonky thyroid I go in regularly for blood tests to make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be – and the times when my blood sodium tests out too low, my doctor gets excited and I have to shift all my meds until it’s back up where it should be. This is also why athletes chug Gatorade when they are sweating a lot. For a people living in a largely hot and dry country, salt was and is a necessity for life itself.

We are salt.

In an earlier world work began at sunrise and ended at sundown – there wasn’t a lot of choice – especially for the poor who couldn’t well afford the oil for lamps in order to continue working into the dark. Lamps allow us to see immediately around us – at least well enough to do some things, to eat, to mend nets and clothing – small things. Even a burning branch would do for emergencies but generally speaking, life settled into quiet mode after the sun went down.

But Jesus tells us that we are lamps. And not just lamps to light the dark corners of our own houses, but lamps to be placed up high on a lampstand in order to shine brighter. And placed on a hill so our light can go farther – so that others can see by our light.

We are light.

We are salt. We are light. These are compelling statements. Being the salt that is a necessity for life is pretty darn important stuff. Being the light that lets others find their way is a big deal. Maybe too big a deal. Maybe we’d just like to say, “no thanks, Jesus,” because we are pretty sure that we are really not either of these things. We aren't that strong; we’re not that important. Just ask us. I suspect that most often we don’t feel particularly salty or light-ish.

But still, there’s Jesus saying: You are salt. You are light. And he seems pretty firm about it.

And it turns out there are strings attached. Apparently it matters to other people how well we do the salty thing: If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? What good is salt that has lost its saltiness? It gets tossed out, into the garbage.

And light? Light that hides quietly in a corner might be OK but it’s not doing the world a lot of good. In our reading Jesus says, You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world… you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? Again, Jesus seems to be pretty clear about this – there’s rarely anything remotely wishy-washy about the things that Jesus says. And then he continues, Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, where you can be seen—shine!

We are not here lifting ourselves up. We’re not claiming something for ourselves that seems out of our reach. This is Jesus talking. This is apparently how God sees us. God always seems to see so much more in us than we see in ourselves.

We are salt to flavor the world, not just to make our own lives tastier. We are light for others to see by, and not just to light up our own darkness. If we are going to call ourselves God’s people, this is what we do – and we do it not only for ourselves but for the whole world – for all God’s people.

So stand up, you salty people and shine!

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BLESSINGS AND ... WOES?

2/5/2023

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Luke 6:17-19
Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

We are still in Epiphany season and after today we will have two more Sundays until we enter Lent. The past two weekends we got sidetracked into the Prologue to John’s Gospel (well, I got sidetracked and you had to come with me,) but we’ll spend these last three weeks on actual Epiphany readings.

The specified reading for today comes from Matthew’s gospel and it’s the reading on the beatitudes. Most of us here, I suspect, are familiar with Matthew’s version of the beatitudes. It begins like this:

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...”

It then continues, “Blessed are those who mourn,..blessed are the peacemakers, the merciful,” on and on through eight blessings (or nine, depending on if you count the last as a separate command or as a general statement that simply sums up the rest. It’s not a huge issue either way).

But are you aware that the beatitudes also appear in Luke’s gospel? You probably have heard them occasionally, but we are so familiar with Matthew’s version that it’s easy to overlook that found in Luke and think that it’s just more of the same.

They are, however, not the same in at least two ways. The first is relatively minor, but interesting. Matthew’s version begins, as I read a moment ago: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak. It doesn’t tell us why Jesus went up the mountain – maybe he went up to pray as he often did, maybe it was so the people gathered below him could hear him better, but because of the one line this version is known as the Sermon on the Mount.

Luke’s story begins: Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place or plain with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people ..... and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Matthew’s Jesus went up; Luke’s Jesus came down onto level ground and spoke among the people. And this version is known as the Sermon on the Plain. There could be theological points to be made here, but the difference is still relatively minor.

The second difference is more substantive. Matthew gives us eight (or nine) blessing statements. Luke gives us only four blessings:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man,

but then he follows these with four “woe to you” statements:

“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now,
    for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

There is no demand for change on our part in the woe statements – nothing that says, “woe to you...unless you change your ways.” These are simple psychological truths: If you have it all now, it’s not going to get any better. You can’t get happier than happy, or richer than rich.

If you are among the “blessed are you” crowd who already lack so much, then it is going to get better, but if you already have it all? And for many people, not getting more, feels just like losing.

Although both of these gospels have the beatitudes coming in the earliest days of Jesus’ public ministry there are still differences between these two gospels all the way through their telling. It’s assumed they both relied somewhat on the same source material (most likely the Q source) because much of the same material turns up in both stories, but often in different places and sometimes with slight changes in who and where and when.

These differences do not imply that the writings are untrue or mistaken, but simply that they reflect the memories of different communities of believers and sometimes emphasize different memory banks. I recently came across a quote from New Testament scholar and theologian Marcus Borg which reads, “The Bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees things.”

This is why we read and study scripture together, using our group discernment to determine God’s truth held therein. We read from different sources, different translations, and we discuss and share our individual understandings until we come as close as we can to what it is God wants us to learn and to know.

So when we read scripture, we’ll keep working together to find the truth there and to understand it so that we can live it and apply it in our living.

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Rules, Rules, and More Rules

ASH WEDNESDAY - LENTEN REFLECTION

THREE TEMPTATIONS

PUT ON A HILLTOP TO SHINE

BLESSINGS AND ... WOES?

Rev. Cherie Marckx

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