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There was a really strange special on the History channel
the other evening that talked about ancient aliens… It included of course a lot of post-modern
skepticism and quote “progressive” commentaries on the origin of the Spirit and
the misunderstandings of faith. It
included its usual statements of that we’re created from nothingness, who we
thought was God is actually perhaps an alien… And last but not least, evil of
course is not Satan but the twist here was that there are evil and good spirits
that are extra-terrestrial… OOOoookay~
Outside of the ears and heart wringing from the heresies
and related being quote “scientifically” laid out for all to see… The one clear thought that came through for
me was that indeed they did at least affirm the reality of the spirit. They claimed the spirit was trapped by the
flesh perhaps by an alien experiment. Sound familiar? The Gnostics who failed
to really understand John’s metaphysical, mystical Gospel assumed or concluded
that Jesus could not be truthfully, fully human and fully divine; He must only
be divine and appearing to us as a “phantom.”
The Gnostics took this a notch further in claiming that the flesh is
bad, evil and that the Spirit is good alone.
The History channel’s special talked about cells and subatomic particles
being shaped by and for either good or evil…
Well, all these theories, contemplations and whatnot
could give you a really good headache just like Jesus did to His disciples in
today’s Gospel… BUT there’s much more to consider here and open our hearts to
HEAR. Basically in today’s Gospel, we’re
nearly seeing Jesus yelling at His disciples in deep metaphor about owning up
to being obedient to the task of discipleship.
We must remember that the word disciple share the same root with the
word discipline. Remember though what I’ve
said many a time before, we don’t like abstraction, we definitely don’t like
obedience… We’re like little children who refuse to listen to what God needs us
to hear. Why did Jesus feel he needed to
relay this to His disciples at this point in time? Simple really, we have or
hold a disjointed view of what the reality of living into the lifestyle of
Grace entails. It goes much further than bearing the cross and following Him.
If we can’t allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives and
central to our purpose as a free-willed disciple; how can we understand taking
in, ingesting the sacrifice which needs to be done in order to bear the fruit
of Gracious response, the fruits God is hoping we reap? I can tell you now, that the health-wealth
Gospel people wouldn’t touch these texts with a ten-foot pole! But neither
would the other lectionary touch most of these texts—too complicated, too metaphoric…
too much about obedience, eating Brussel Sprouts and other things we really don’t
like hear yet alone contemplate doing…
Since when did we conclude that we need to redesign God to suit our
needs? That’s my question!
In an existential understanding, being and purpose on one
level seem disjointed but they must go together to create the ebb and flow of
life—this IS reality. In some ways the
scientists and secular theorists in that History Channel special, found a
convenient gap-filler with saying that the reality of the Spirit must be alien
to our world. It is just as easy to
dismiss 98% of the Biblical intention of these texts we have this morning as
just being about the Eucharist, Holy Communion…
BUT, life is so much more! Christ
Jesus’ Gospel is so much more than what happened 2,000 something years ago in
ancient Israel. Jesus is Lord, and He is
the Living Bread we need, in order to realize our potential as His disciples! Our logic, our ethics, our minds however seem
to enjoy staying disjointed or disconnected from the Truth of God’s New
Covenant, relationship, which calls upon our lives to align to that spiritual
plumb line of Grace!
Well, I’ve done a lot of talking about the externals,
what about internally? What about my own
journey as a willingly obedient disciple of Jesus—artist, Pastor, writer and
all hats I have worn? If we can’t even GO there within ourselves and struggle
with what God is inviting us to DO and BE for His Gospel imperative… We have a
disconnected, disjointed view of what being a freely responsible servant of
Christ is all about. We can start to form our own idols out of our doubts and
creativity. Let me tell you that, that
special on the History Channel was super creative… Almost like a good-sci-fi you wanna break out
the popcorn for!
We have to GO there with ourselves even the preachers,
teachers and leaders of discipling others. All members of the Priesthood of all
believers have to GO there. It’s truly a matter of owning up to being a person
of integrity, humility and faithfulness! Do we have the cobbles to do it
however? Sometimes its easier to hide,
dodge the responsibility needed in the tasks of discipleship… this is what
Jesus’ wonderful speech of incorporating Himself INTO them was all about. St. Paul in today’s snippet from his letter
to the Ephesians basically lays down how this whole process is effective in your
life. The very first verse proclaims—let
no one deceive you with empty words! I would add a step further in saying to
not let anyone deceive you with empty actions as well. We also have to realize
that the ruler of this world, Satan has built a mighty kingdom upon empty words
and actions…
To have Gospel in the sense of living into the reality of
the lifestyle of Grace, we must be faithfully shaped, obediently shaped by a
New Law written upon the heart of the believer and lived through the hands and
feet in response with humility and authenticity. In order to Love God and
neighbor requires our discipline in doing the do’s of the Gospel and defeating
the don’ts of the world of the self and it’s needs. St. Paul basically is telling the Ephesians
to wake up and smell the coffee of the reality of the challenge they have to
take on if they take their relationship with Christ seriously.
Taking that commitment to Christ seriously has been a six
year plus journey, full of battling others’ disbelief and acceptance of me to
have the cobbles, the right stuff to serve Jesus Christ and His flocks! It’s been more than disparaging at times …
fishing and filtering through the alphabet soup of Lutheran groups to find
someone to take me seriously enough to DO, accomplish the tasks at hand. But we
are all guilty of it… Exclusion is the ugly fruit we dump on others when we
feel it necessary to want to control God’s fully inclusive call upon us all to
serve Him and neighbor! To whom are you obedient to? I listen to Him period!
The Spirit is willing and indeed the flesh may be weak at
times, but we are called, commissioned, loved and encouraged to sojourn onward,
complete the tasks! Thanks Be to God for
Jesus’ invitation to my heart some twelve years back! From that very beginning
conversion experience, to the breaking of the Bread and the Blessing of the
wine which I now have the delight to be able to consecrate for our spirits to
renew to, I am living, owning up to the challenge! A means of Grace on one
level here but an even greater reality of Grace lived in the world, but not of
it!
I’ll leave you with a story of someone I knew from my
days in the art-n-poetry world. He was an avid alcoholic. In fact his drinking was so out of control
most of the time the art galleries he would frequent for the free opening
reception wine would have to call him a cab because he’d be fading out. I drove him home once and waited for him to
stagger and sway to open his front door.
It was sad to see how much the “spirits” controlled him and how I never
really ever saw him sober. It was like
he was living in a dream of lights, colors and a complete delusion,
disjointedness to reality. I haven’t
seen this person in a number of years but I can only hope that he’s ok, sought
help, etcetera.
See how easy it is to stray? It’s not just the recklessness of this man’s situation
but how easy it can be when we fall away from realizing our potential, to
living fully ALIVE! Being fully alive as a disciple of Jesus is taking it ALL
in, building upon those tears, doubts and fears with HOPE, prayer, love and
most importantly FAITH! Living into the lifestyle of Grace takes us to
task. Jesus is not a Pez dispenser of
cheap grace… in fact, quite the opposite!
Being filled with the Spirit is tapping into that eternal fount of Grace
planted into our hearts—the New Nature. The New Nature is a covenantal creation
made by the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus at the cross, and the cross-roads of
our salvation to be fully and intentionally LIVED into as we are children of
Grace and promise set free! We have been
set free from the bondage of sin to obediently and prayerfully be shaped to
Love and serve both God and neighbor.
AMEN
August 16th,
2015; 12th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 15; Year B; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon by
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 34:12-22;
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians 5:6-21 & John 6:51-69
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