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I don’t think many people realize how many things a Pastor takes in, in order to spiritually synthesize a message? Beyond starting most often, literally when I get back home, on a given Sunday, the Holy Spirit grabs you in taking on and internalizing the Word, in order for the Truth, to be truly revealed. This week held so much, spiritually, I would liken this message to what perhaps the prangs of childbirth, must feel like. My heart has been weighed down with much sadness and worry about where we are and how we are living into being God’s children.
This week’s Gospel begins with Jesus laying into the
Pharisees for their blatant cold hearts turned towards a false and showy legal
piety to God at best. The Gospel ends
with a beautiful note of one’s persistent humbling and amazing faith to have
Jesus truly break the boundaries of the current culture’s perspective on
people… to graciously and abundantly heal the spiritual divide between all
cultures, persons abroad.
In regards to, the notion of something being persistent,
this image, that I am sharing from a really old textbook that I studied from in
my studies as an Artist, started haunting me in connection to not only these
texts but all that has been weighing in my heart from this week’s worldly
activities abroad. This is the painting
by Spanish, 19th Century artist, Francesco Goya called ‘Saturn
devouring his children.’ Pretty gruesome
isn’t it? Basically, the myth is, that
he felt he had to devour each and everyone of his children, at birth, for the
fear that they would rise up, and steal his throne and powers he had amassed.
To him, Saturn, this was the only logical solution to
keeping his ego, his rewards and many possessions intact…. He really wasn’t
think much at all about cause and effect or better put—what goes around comes
around. Look at his expression, can you
hear his heart wrestling with this evil, he has justified, and is literally
committing! We don’t yet see tears in
this painting but wonder. Yesterday I
saw a bust of Abraham Lincoln that was greatly desecrated. It was also a horrible memory to see in a
flash of the moment, the tomb of Emmit Louis Till, desecrated a few years back
at a Chicago-area cemetery. This act was committed by corrupt managers, who
basically, illegally tried to resell his and many other unknown victims’
gravesites for profit.
Both situations were complex but the evil done, not so
much. Abe Lincoln was a “Republican,” Emmit
Till was the innocent victim of a hideous, lynching murder… Both are victims of self-righteous, justified
ignorance! Ignorance has certainly NOT
been bliss, the last several months happening globally abroad. Though so much has been distorted and so much
evil has raised its ugly power, that we can’t see the truth beyond what we want
to hear or “agree” with. The
existentialist in me, yes, that $20 dollar word again, simply being the deep
thinking of the reality of being and purpose…. Joined partners with the Holy
Spirit to see and feel this Goya painting as our spiritual internal “blackhole”
within us when we most willfully and most arrogantly justify ourselves, our
little all-too-important universe over and above not only God’s Grace, but His
love for us! How dare we? But then, this has been going on since the
days of Adam and Eve.
This willful destructive, divisiveness even made its way into
our constructions of faith. The Gospel
begins talking about that, in regards to, the Pharisees and to those we
consider outsiders… We hear once again,
another heartbreaking plea from St. Paul, as well, this week, preaching not
only to those who have rejected Jesus, but to us all, to not close our hearts
to the progressive, transformative, global mission of the Gospel to live into
the lifestyle of Grace. Living into the lifestyle of Grace is as mentioned last
week, we are blessed by God and we ARE called to be a blessing to others. “Blessed to be a Blessing.”
Our greatest and perhaps most evil, ongoing spiritual
battle we face daily, is being humble and persistent enough, to develop an
amazing faith, just like the Syrophoenician woman, that will take down and eventually
destroy the ideology of narcissism once and for all. The ideology of narcissism and its ugly fruit
are self-righteous pride, judgmentalism, contempt, “hate” and essentially the
absolute worst of humanity—the antithesis of the Gospel and the Golden
Rule. Unbelief is the only fruit
produced by those who cannot and will not move beyond their self-justified
evils. Why believe in God or love neighbor? It is irrelevant to my universe and its
agendas… but let’s see if we can bury it
in man-made politics, absolute oppression and terror tactics in various complex
forms.
Goya’s painting represents the most serious spiritual
death that is essentially the Evil One’s great victory upon the desecration and
demise of our first internal church—the heart!
These past few days I have been looking down at my Cursillo cross and
reading the back of it, holding back some tears… It says, Christ is counting on you! What it doesn’t say, my heart confesses for
me—What am I doing with the wondrous Grace He has indeed freed my heart, to
live within? The beautiful prelude we
heard this morning is from the wonderful film, Godspell. Next to Franco Zefferelli’s Jesus of
Nazareth, it is perhaps my most favorite Christian film. The Artist and the Pastor in me, greatly love
every aspect of that movie. From the
beginning of the film where the character playing Jesus is Baptized by His
messenger, John the Baptist, to Jesus’ painting images of love upon His
disciples faces. These disciples were
from all over the “global” city of New York.
From Ballerinas to a taxi driver, all of them connected to Jesus. Jesus himself, had a beautiful heart painted
on His forehead literally showing His gift to all, LOVE. On the outside, they all looked like fools,
in silly clown makeup and crazy colorful costumes… but they were ever so alive!
If I could dream myself into that film, I would be
skipping alongside the city parks with Jesus as well. All Good Gifts is the prelude we heard and
when I was thinking about the most gracious song I could ever share at my own
ordination. I had that as the Hymn of the Day that my friend Beau sang
operatically within ironically, the walls of an “understanding” Missouri Synod
Lutheran Church! He is gay, and as well
as we know, the Missouri Synod does not at all believe in women being ordained
yet alone, they, along with many hold a “bound-conscience…”
Another irony to that day, was that I had a young man
“crash” for the lack of a better expression, my ordination service… At first it was rather humorous, since this
man is definitely demonstrative, in more ways than one about WHO he is and WHAT
he believes… His piety, you could say, is definitely, in your face! I even delighted that he usurped the second
scripture reading at my ordination which was St. Paul’s magnificent passage
from Philippians 2 which you saw me perform for you on Palm Sunday. After the ordination service, and my cloud
nine of joy started floating back to earth…
I got a hate-filled, self- righteous and indignant email from this same
man, (who recently graduated seminary and is hoping to serve others….) stated how
dare I subject him to my ordination, being where it was, with all who were
there…. This hatred didn’t stop
there—this is the really sad part of this story, for out of the kindness of my
heart, I dared to send this same person a Christmas email card. Not only was his response despicable, to say
the least, but he accused my husband of being in the KKK since he was in
politics, etc.
Ignorance plus hate do not make the pastor, and I am sad
in wondering how this person will even come to serve others. With this thought,
we should return to the Pharisees in today’s Gospel. They were, most definitely blind guides and
probably most often exasperated Jesus with their closed, dark and empty
faith. They were those white washed
sepulcher stones, hardened so much by the justification of their narcissistic “faith,”
that they worked with the local “oppressors,” the Romans to plot to kill
Jesus. Can you for one moment, make a
collage in your mind of the Goya painting I shared, and think about Jesus
preaching His beautiful treatises of love in the Beatitudes, while the nails
are being driven into His bloodied body upon a humiliating torturous symbol of
death—the cross?
Symbols, art, sculpture, architecture are humanity’s
markers of creativity, statements and history.
They show all sides of our blessedness, and our depravity! Coming this October all Protestant churches
everywhere will be celebrating the amazing milestone of the 500th
anniversary of the spark of the Protestant Reformation or revolution of
evolving the church towards the extravagant inclusivity we prayerfully aspire
towards today, in not only the UCC but with all of Christ’s churches,
someday. Poor Martin Luther, a nobody
monk out of a little monastery in Germany nailed his 95 arguments to the
“locked” cathedral’s doors for all to see…
And here we are now! Indulgences,
by the way, what he was “protesting” were a legalized and justified political
agenda from the Catholic church at the time, to help pay for the Sistine
Chapel’s building…. Yes, the marvel of
the High Renaissance era of both art and architecture, had contractors to pay….
Michelangelo would be one of them, by the way!
Most of the medieval church, which yes, contrary to the
word of “Renaissance” being a period of enlightenment and “progress” in that
day… consisted of very poor peasants and very wealthy clergy and least we
forget, witch burnings began, at this time, as well. During this era of enlightenment, there was
definitely good and definitely evil! But
are we going to resuscitate the iconoclast movement and begin vandalizing and
tearing down the Sistine chapel?! I
certainly hope not, for if we are truly considering ourselves as progressive,
21st century people… we have, most humbly moved ON and most humbly
LEARNED from both, the good and the bad!
I’ll leave you with one last image or quote to connect with
all the “illustrations” I’ve laid before you.
It is a profound quote from 1984.
The George Orwell apocalyptic poetry of warning for us to spiritually,
as striving towards living as children of Grace and Promise need to hear (!):
“During times of Universal deceit, the Truth becomes a revolutionary and hated
act.” "Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten,
every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been
renamed, every date has been altered.
And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an
endless present in which the party is always right." I don’t know about you, but this is the
graceless, godless wilderness of hell and I would rather most humbly continue
to learn and grow from my saint/ sinner past than be a part of this kind of
potential reality…
Let us Pray:
Gracious Lord Jesus,
We need to put our hearts in the place of the
Syrophoenician woman
We must be persistent with pushing the boundaries of
ourselves
To not only be centered with You in our first church, the
heart
But be grounded by and for Your Grace to reflect Your
light
Creatively in the world as a Global mission of loving
discipleship
For all the world to not be ignorant of, but transform
their heart’s knowledge to see and become.
Help save us Lord from our own divisiveness and justified
evil
May our tears cleanse us of our depravity to truly grow.
AMEN
August 20th,
2017; Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 15; Year A; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon by:
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins, OSST
Psalm 67;
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15, 28-32; Matthew 15:10-28
Below is the link to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 9:30am
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