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It was once said by Groucho Marx: “Please
accept my resignation, I don't wanna belong to any club that would have me as a
member....” Another Marx said: “The criticism of religion ends with the
doctrine that man is the supreme being for man. It ends, therefore with the
categorical imperative to overthrow all those conditions in which man is an
abased, enslaved, abandoned and contemptible being.”
In today's Gospel, Jesus just simply
tells His disciples to shake the dust from their sandals and move onward. Being
a rebel in this day in age, is not understood or would be treated in the same
way as it was in Jesus day. I believe it was much easier in many aspects, to
stand out and be a voice heard or rejected... Today we have too many well-established
boxes that would put each other in. I've said this before, but the “Scarlet
Letter” is alive and well. In fact, it's become perhaps even a tool of
indoctrination above the use of the label...
It is true we are in a time of great
testing... Are we passing the test? Or are we rewriting the rules? It's even harder
for a disciple of Christ to stand firm against the strong waves of many things,
coming from many sides these days. Saint Paul this morning gives us just a
glimpse into his final arguments of trying to pastorally lead a people, who
were in some senses rejecting a lot of what he was saying. The Corinthians
didn't want to hear about being accountable, yet alone hear the imperative of
what God is calling upon each of them to do. Does this sound familiar? Joel
Olsteen and other people like that, certainly don't make their money telling
people to be accountable and live up to the cost of discipleship, do they? No,
that wouldn't sell too many tickets to the auditorium....
There's been another noted figure in
the quote rebellious post-modern church making waves with flashy statements and
other things. Perhaps she feels like she's “James Dean” and feels she IS a “rebel
with a cause,” but it's not necessarily about the Gospel. it's still coming
from that “feel-good” justification of living life the way we'd like to live it—"our
way, or the highway.” The title of her empowering video is ‘Forgive the Assholes.’
Just like a sermon that goes on too long, she loses people with sensationalism
and scandal. You lose people from hearing the Gospel when you resort to politics,
as well. The same Marx you heard above once said a horrible comment that
religion can become the “opiate of the masses,” and in some senses, when all we
do is want to circumvent being responsible for ourselves, in loving neighbor
selflessly; we become prey to “feel-good,” bad theology, feel-good “have your
cake and eat it too,” nihilism.
Take away the motivation and the
drive to do something beyond the self, be responsible beyond the self and for
the self, there's not much left. One of the tragedies of the 19th century’s Enlightenment
was the dark philosophy of people such as Frederick Nietzsche, and socialist
philosopher, Karl Marx. Frederick Nietzsche created a character or a quote
ideal that divorced itself from the reality of being both aspiring saint and
sinner, and created the “Superman,” better known as the Ubermensch. To
put it in plain English, the Ubermensch is idolatry. The moment we make
ourselves the idol of our worship, the moment we lose our bearings with
understanding the profound power the Gospel of Jesus Christ, calls us to be
obedient to.
It's such an easy, sad and troubling
thing to be forced, to start to feel like you're choosing sides. Sometimes this
could be when someone puts a box on you, anyway, whether you like it or not.
Poor St Paul was in this boat. The powerful tool he uses to really speak to
them sounds like a radical contradiction, he says: “I will boast, but not on my
own behalf. I will not boast except of my weaknesses.” He just literally cut
the ego out and talked about the spirit of the disciple needing and being, much
stronger than what some people think of others who let the Spirit empower
them.
Empowering others with the Gospel,
God's word, God's love and mercy is not cheap psychology or "feel-good"
philosophy and it certainly is not political(!) It is radical and from the
Kingdom of God! We have a hard time with this today, that's for sure. Even some
of those people today in the “religious world,” still don't get it. I started
with some powerful radical quotes from two polar opposite peoples, you could
say. One is a Jewish comedian who went through a good part of the 20th century
making light and transforming the bias and prejudices against him and his
brothers, with humor. The other is a philosopher, who became a political idol
to many with the delusion of ultimate control, being the communist manifesto.
Socialists, yet alone Communists are people with no faith. They have no faith,
because faith is not something that can be controlled. There's not too many
communist or socialist countries out there who allow people to have religious
freedom, because they can't control it.
A better way to look at this is that
the Gospel can't {{really}} be controlled. People may try to rewrite it or
revise it to make others happy or paint a picture they think is the answer to “having
your cake, and eat it too,” but they will never be completely successful. They
will diminish and die out. One of the fellow Church planters that worked
alongside Paul, that is suspected to be the author of Hebrews, says something
profound as well. He says: “… the Lord is our helper, do not be afraid. Remember
your leaders those who spoke the Word of God to you and consider the outcome of
their way of life and imitate their faith.” Barnabas completes his thoughts in
saying: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” He has a great
warning as Paul has tried to warn the Corinthians. This warning was, “… to not
be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is well for the heart
to be strengthened by Grace.”
It's hard for us as a people of
Faith, persevering as Christians currently, to realize how much of a
marginalized figure Jesus was, and how much of a rebel He was with a cause,
with His Gospel of Grace. I don't know how many of you saw the digital artwork
I made for this Sunday's message, but the figure in the foreground is the
outline of James Dean from that 1950’s classic, ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’ Within
the outlines of his frame is Jesus resurrecting within the heart of the person
going out with God's Word. That's the most rebellious thing that we must
remember and never forget— we are living into a resurrected life. We are living
into a resurrected life because we were saved by Grace and our faithful
response is our testimony and rebellion against the world. This is a world that
wants to live for itself and its ultimate end.
Most of this week I have been
battling/ trying to get well and get my voice back for this morning… but in the
in-between time, I have been reaching out to many people, in being a prayerful
listening presence to their needs. During our time of prayer this past Tuesday,
our prayer group discussions got very heated and uncomfortable. What became
uncomfortable is that the truth is neither black nor white, but it is nestled
in the middle, hard for us to find, and hard for us to speak to. The world
wants us to choose one side or the other, and sometimes uses scripture as a
stamp of condemnation and judgement. Now there is a loaded word, that was not
only in the Psalm for the day, but is in our Gospel: condemnation, contempt,
taking offense. It is definitely a word that does not mean or bring peace. It
is divisive. It can be violent and is often most disturbingly paired with
self-righteous action.
It makes just as much sense as
what's St. Augustine developed as a theory to “a just war.” There is no such
thing as a just war, but then our quagmire is: how do we realize peace when
something horrible is happening, and we need to do something? I have a very
ambivalent opinion of protest. I don't think protest can be justified by faith,
yet alone by grace. And in all honesty, I really don’t think they are all that
effective. Yesterday we had some protest in parts of America against handgun
violence. A Catholic priest and perhaps many of his flock marched down a part
of the Dan Ryan expressway to the cost of millions of dollars in police
protection, to point fingers and condemn politically… what is truly more a
problem of the need for hands on restorative justice.
Our nation is very divided.
Everything is partisan. Everything is categorized. All people are put in “little
boxes…” concerning what they feel on the matter. Jesus was put in a little box
as well, you could say, with today's Gospel. He goes back to his hometown of
Nazareth, and He's met with offense and contempt. They can't see Him with the
eyes of faith and appreciate what He's been doing and where He's been going and
how He's grown... They can only see Him as the little boy of the carpenter.
They know Him from His family. They don't know Him at all regarding His heart,
and His mission, and that's a problem. We do that all the time, though. They
say the first five minutes is when someone accesses who you are or who they
think you are and what you're all about. The scary truth is though, that many
people are way off and don't really understand or don't want to understand your
journey. This is the fate of the disciple of Christ in the 21st century.
Everyone here is a disciple of Jesus,
(whether you think you do enough discipling on the Eastside of Vegas…), your
living response of your life, to care and reach out to others, because of
Christ, makes you a disciple. It's like we've never heard Jesus's Words to us:
“… be not one who judges, lest you be judged.” We judge everyone all the time. We
condemn people all the time and find contempt, because their ideas don't match
ours. Many of us have incorporated a political lens over everything and find
that a convenient tool to polarize one another. If I was going to be putting
labels on my head right now I'm a soon-to-be middle-aged, married, white woman,
and pastor.... pretty boring... I am certainly not popular or fitting the
category of what some deem to be the postmodern “trendy” church. I am my own
person. It only took me half of my life, or to this point I should say, to
begin to realize my authentic self through Christ, who gave me a New life. And
I like to boast in my weaknesses. If Popeye can say it, so can I— I am, who I
am… BUT
I keep trying, with God's help, to be better.
It's not psychobabble psychology, “Oprah-isms,”
it is the language of a living faith. Saint Paul had a living faith. His faith
is something that we should marvel at and be amazed in. It's not only going
past his fantastic conversion from a killer Pharisee to a missionary, church
planting pastor and disciple, but even the character, the voice of his heart is
laid bare here, in this reading we have this morning from Corinthians, to all
of us. Paul had weaknesses that were visible. It is speculated by some
historians that he may have suffered from epileptic seizures as well as had
problems perhaps with speaking and had a challenged temperament with people he
was beginning to feel like he was losing. I still have it stuck in my head,
from a class I was in a few years ago, that pointed out that
perhaps Paul was yelling during most of his letter to the Galatians.
When I think of looking at those scriptures, I kind of see it! The Corinthians
wanted a first-century Joel Olsteen... I know, I keep using him as an
example and I guess I apologize if there's anyone out there who’s a fan.... The
bigger point is, that they wanted easy answers, like we like easy answers. They
didn't want to be accountable, they wanted a quick solution.
The genuine authentic Gospel of
Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Lord, is by no means a “health wealth Gospel,”
that most people think it is. It is an unpopular message of putting down the Old
Nature, the old Adam & Eve, putting away the ego, and living in loving
service to others through the empowerment of God's Word, as our ultimate
guide. These past few weeks of Faith X Faith squared, the sub theme I'm
seeing with many of these scriptures, is to start building us up. We do not
build one another up enough as a people of faith. Perhaps we don't have enough
faith in ourselves, yet alone in one another to be strong, especially in the
face of great challenges.
Standing boldly in the face of
challenges takes some realizing the foundation, that's at the center. The
foundation that is at the center of our hearts, as children of Grace and
promise is Jesus Christ. Once that Foundation is realized and we are empowered
by it, and His Everlasting Word; we, as well, can begin to realize our
authentic selves. Who we truly are deep down inside is a uniquely and most
profoundly loved person that God has made with a purpose and a mission. We are
certainly not “super women or super men” and we should never, ever become
swayed to idolize, but we need to be become active through our voices hands and
feet for a cause much greater and beyond ourselves, the Gospel.
Let us pray,
Loving and Gracious Lord Jesus,
There are so many things we need to
continue to grow in and learn.
Help us to truly realize that change
of heart and mind.
Help us to put down our sinful ways
and see the truth
Of Who We Are through Your Gospel of
Grace.
Help us to grow in loving one
another and You,
In thought, word and deed and in
what we have done and left undone.
We lift all of these concerns to Your
most Holy ear. Amen
July
8th, 2018; Seventh Sunday after Pentecost; Year B; Proper 9; Green; SOLA
Lectionary
Sermon
by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm
123; Ezekiel 2:1-5; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10; Mark 6:1-13
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 10am:
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