29 May 2005: "Getting Perspecitve"
Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19, 9.9-15
These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them." Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. …
And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days. ...
In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families. ...
[God said:] “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you… I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.” God added: “This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I will set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings. “Getting Perspective”
Perspectives and StoriesIt’s really interesting what happens when we watch news reporters present their stories. Sometimes, you hear one reporter say one thing, and another one say something quite different. That doesn’t mean that one was present and one was absence when the event took place. Two reporters can be at the scene of the same story and see two completely different things. I think that such occurrences remind us of the importance of perspective. Our life experience and questions that we enter into an event with form lenses through which we interpret the event. It’s not a good thing, or a bad thing. It’s just a real life thing.
And it even remains the case when people engage religious classics, like the Bible.
The Story of Noah’s Ark as a Religious ClassicThe category “Religious classic” sounds really spectacular and awe inspiring category. Perhaps so much that some stories in the Bible don’t quite seem to fit into it. Take, for example, the story of Noah’s Ark.
When we think of the story of Noah’s Ark, it’s so easy to think of it as a children’s story. When we hear it, we can almost see the mural on the wall with the rainbow and the animal heads sticking out the ark’s windows. This is unfortunate, because this text truly does earn the title “religious classic.” It’s not just a children’s story. It is a story for adults.
The basic rundown of the story goes something like this:
God gave humanity the responsibility of tending to the earth. However, humanity has chosen to immerse itself in an overabundance of wickedness. One day, God peers down from heaven and is aghast! “What happened!” God realizes that this whole program was a cosmic mistake and decides, “I have to take care of this once and for all.” God then makes plans to destroy all mortal creatures on the earth.
However, God decides to spare Noah and his family, for Noah alone was truly a just man. And God has Noah make preparations for repopulating the earth by gathering specimens for later breeding purposes.
Then the waters come. Doors in the heavens open and pour out the water above. The earth is flooded. Everything dies. Everything except that in the ark.
Eventually, the waters recede and the ark lands. God decides that this whole mass destruction thing was a terrible idea, and places a sign in the sky that reminds God not to make this mistake again.
An Adult ReadingThere are a variety of ways to look at this story from an adult perspective. And, much as in the case of news reporters, our life experience and questions that we bring to the text form lenses through which we find it’s meaning for our lives.
Option #1: FamilyLet’s say, for a moment, that I am a big family-oriented kind of person. Let’s say I have children and grandchildren running around the house on a regular basis. (Which I do not have, in case you didn’t know.) This whole family-orientation, because it is such a concern in my life, might guide my reading of this text. I might see that this is the story of Noah and his family. They all work together to build this ark. They all share in the ridicule of those who think they’re all wacked for building a ship in the middle of the desert. They strengthen each other when the insanity of it all challenges their faith.
Then they find themselves trapped together…for a very, very ,very long time…on a boat…with nowhere to run…from each other. And then they emerge and enjoy this new world together.
Yes, this is the story of a family. A family who pulls together in this really trying time. As they pull together, they learn to work as one, a unity that takes them to a whole new level of what it is to be community. They learn how to work with each other, sometimes despite themselves. Through it all, the word “we” takes on a whole new meaning.
What might this story tell us about what God intended for humanity? Maybe it tells us of the importance of community.
Question #2: GodOr maybe I might come to this text with a different question, wondering if I can find out more about who God is.
Okay, now I have to warn everyone, while this is an important and vital question that we need to bring to the Biblical texts on a regular basis, today’s text is throwing us a pretty wild curveball.
Typically, in Christian theology, we hear about how perfect God is, how God never ever makes mistakes. God always does the right thing. God always does the best thing. God is never in error. That’s typical Christian theology.
Today, however, we encounter a Bible story that starts with God recognizing that God has indeed made a mistake. God should have never invested that much responsibility into humanity. God accepts responsibility for this mistake by taking measures to fix the situation.
And then, as if one mistake wasn’t enough, God realizes that another mistake was made in dealing with the first one. And then, to help exercise a bit of self-control, God has to put a reminder in the sky that can’t be missed.
When I was in college, a friend of mine had this huge phone bill. To prevent herself from doing that again, she put this really big note on the handle of her phone that said “No.” She saw this whenever she went to make a call.
Same idea here. The rainbow isn’t up there for us to see. It’s a great big post-it in the sky that says “Don’t,” and it’s there for God to see.
This is a very different version of God than we’re used to in traditional Christian theology. In the book of Genesis, God makes mistakes, and God learns from them. Maybe that’s what this text reveals to us about God, that God is more complicated than traditional Christian theology often allows.
Option #3: The Divine-Human RelationshipOr maybe I could come to the text wondering what it might say about the relationship we have with God. In a situation like this, I could look at the story as a metaphor for the life of faith.
I could look at all the images that it presents. There’s a storm, chaos all around. Maybe that symbolizes uncertainty and vulnerability. We have the ark itself, a shelter that keeps the people from being pulled under. Maybe it’s of questionable durability, leaking, creaking. We can go back to that family imagery. There’s a sense of togetherness, common bond, community. And of course we have God, who proves to be a very confusing God. In one sense God is behind all the mess they’re in, and in another sense God is helping them through it. Is it divine presence or absence that drives this story?
When I step into these images with my imagination I see a family of faith that is being tossed and turned by the storms that rage around them. I see a people who are struggling with the extent to which God is actually with them, struggling with the meaninglessness of it all.
But then, in the midst of their struggle, they look around and they say, “Hey, look. We’re in an ark.” The ark itself, in that moment, becomes their primary symbol of faith. And it reminds them that whatever happens as a result of the journey that they are currently on, they can rest knowing that God is indeed with them.
That’s what religious symbols do. They keep us afloat during the stormy seasons of life. When life becomes a blur and feels intangible and uncontrollable, much like the wind, the symbols of faith are tangible things we can touch and hold.
We have them here with us today. We have the Font, the Table, the hymns, this pulpit, the Bible, we have this building. They all help us to remember that this too will pass. Our situations, or even our whole world might change in the near future, but God (though often confusing) remains a constant factor in our lives.
The Point Is…So, what does this text mean? Well, it means that this is not a children’s story; it’s a story for adults. But I’d say that what it means for adults depends on where we are in life when we read it. So much of life, if not all of it, is a matter of perspective. So maybe sometimes it’s important for us to avoid asking the question “What is the ultimate meaning of this text?” and instead ask, “What does this text have to say to me today, right now, in this very moment?” And if that’s the question we need to be wrestling with, then don’t look at me, because only you can answer that one.
29 May 2005, Part 2
The way I will work out the stage-related themes (in a nutshell).
First of all, I will talk about the Noah story as a religious classic (as opposed to a cute story for children because it has lots of animals in it). A religious classic can be approached from a variety of different directions, but the questions we bring to the text determine what we find. Then I'll give some examples about how the Noah story can operate.
Stage 3: It can be a message about how important it is for families to stick together during times of crisis. Many a family shows on TV work with this. Even sit-coms fall back into this from time to time.
Note: Stage 3 picks up on these types of messages because the individual's identity seeks the security of conformity. It longs for everyone to bond and be alike. It is very "cliquish," if you will. Messages about the importance of community strengthen the sense of God working in their lives.
Stage 4: It can be a message about how the portrayal of God in Genesis defies "official" Christian teaching. How often do we hear about how "perfect" God is and how God "doesn't make mistakes." But here we have a story about how God made the mistake of placing stewarship responsibility into the hands of irresponsible humans. Bad idea. Catastrophe ensues. Ultimately, God accepts responsibility for the mistake by rectifying the situation. And
then, God admits that the way that the mistake was corrected was another big mistake. Basically, regarding the destruction of the earth, God says, "I was wrong; I'll never do it again." This is a very different message about God than we're used to hearing from Christian theology.
Note: Stage 4 really latches onto those insights that empower critical thinking. It loves to challenge "tradition." It loves to assert independence from the communal identity. Doctrine is often the standard of Christian community. Anything that challenges official teachings, rituals, and norms will open doors for people in stage 4 to explore more fully their own sense of individual spirituality.
Stage 5: It can become a metaphor for our faith-lives in the here and now. When the world is a mess and God's connection to it all seems confusing, symbols of the faith help us to keep afloat. Here we have a group of people being tossed around by their situation. But they were in the ark. The ark was built out of response to God. The ark, in a sense, was God's gift to them. The ark symbolized God's fidelity to them, reminded them of God's promise of deliverance, even in the miest of the situation they were in. The ark was a symbol of faith, and as such kept them aflot in the midst of crisis. Symbols of faith are tangible reminders of the divine reality that is beyond us and our situation and seems intangible in the moment.
Note: Stage 5 likes symbols and metaphor. No longer are the faith narratives taken literally. Now, they are "myth," stories that connect us to deeper reality in the universe. They are more about meaning and purpose and less about fact. Symbol and metaphor open them up to God in the depths of life.
29 May 2005, Part 1
The text for this week is
here. I think I’ll focus on the Genesis passage
I mentioned that I want to involve different stages of faith in my sermons. Generally, I’ll target stages 3, 4, and 5. That means that instead of having a single point, I’ll try to weave three together.
So far, as I look at the passage, these stage-related thoughts come to mind:
Stage 3: The family sticks together to ride out the storm. This stage resonates with group-forming language. Such things as “family,” “people,” and “grouping” speak to their life concerns.
Stage 4: God has made a mistake and is fixing it.This stage resonates with what I will call “counter-teaching,” those messages that enable them to challenge past belief structures. In this case, the idea that “God doesn’t make mistakes” is the target. The introduction to God as making mistakes allows certain larger questions to arise, such as “who is God for me now?”
Stage 5: The ship that they’re on symbolizes the hope that the rain will end.This stage resonates with symbols that speak to the messiness of life. God called Noah and his family to build an ark because the waters were coming. They did so, and while on the ark the ship that they are on is a reminder of God’s promised fidelity. They would know deliverance…eventually. I can tie together the images of the ark and the church building to which the congregations comes each week. The symbols of faith can anchor us in the storms of life.
Now, the big question is how to tie all this together into a coherent sermon. Can I pull it off?
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith
Attributes:
~Unlike in Stage 5, one is not caught between universalizing apprehensions and the need to preserve her or his own being and well-being
~Becomes and activist incarnation, heedless to personal “survival,” and threats to primary groups, or to the institutional arrangements of the present order that are involved
~A decision is truly just if and only if it takes into account all possible interests and perspectives, and then distributes the burdens and blessings equally among them
~Engages in spending and being spent for the transformation of present reality in the direction of a transcendent actuality: one of justice and love, the inclusiveness of a fulfilled human community
~They actualize the promise
~Exhibit qualities that shake our usual criteria of normalcy:
+++ Their heedlessness to self-preservation and vividness of their taste and feel for transcendent moral and religious actuality give their actions and words an extraordinary and often unpredictable quality.
+++ The devotion to universalizing compassion may offend parochial perceptions of justice
+++ Their penetration through the obsession with “survival” may threaten our measured standards of righteousness and goodness and prudence.
+++ Their enlarged visions of universal community disclose the partialness of our tribes and pseudo-species.
+++ Their leadership initiatives, often involving strategies of nonviolent suffering and ultimate respect for being, constitute affronts to our usual notions of relevance.
Gifts:
~Are contagious
~Ready for fellowship with persons at any of the other stages and from any other faith tradition
Dangers:
~Often seen as subversive by the powers that be
~Frequently become martyrs for the visions they incarnate
Note: This stage of development can’t be ignored or dismissed as being “beyond the congregation.” A significant part of the Christian call is the call to justice. Stories of heroes in the faith, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., can become a vision of becoming that frees people from their momentary concerns for self-preservation and empowers them to take extreme leaps of faith.
Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith
Attributes:
~Unusual before mid-life
~Involves the integration into self and outlook of much that was suppressed in Stage 4’s self-certainty
~A “second naivete”: symbolic power is reunited with conceptual meanings
~Reclaiming and reworking of one’s past
~Opening of the “voices” of the “deeper self”
~Recognition of one’s social unconsciousness
~Alive to paradox in truth
~Strives to unify opposites in mind and experience
~Generates and maintains vulnerability to the strange truths of those who are “other”
~Commitment to justice is freed from the confines of one’s culture
~Life half over, a readiness develops to spend and be spent for the cause of conserving and cultivating the possibility of others’ generating identity and meaning
~Remains divided: lives and acts between an untransformed world and a transforming vision and loyalties
~Social contract principle qualified with human rights/equality principle (a principled approach)
Gifts:
~Rise of ironic imagination: ability to see and be in one’s or one’s group’s most powerful meanings, while simultaneously recognizing that they are relative, partial, and inevitably distorting apprehensions of transcendent reality
~Can appreciate symbols, myths, and rituals (its own and others) because of being grasped, in some measure, by the depth of reality to which they refer
~Can see the division of the human family vividly because it accepts the possibility of an inclusive community of being
Dangers:
~Possible paralyzing passivity or inaction, giving rise to complacency or cynical withdrawal, due to its paradoxical understanding of truth
Transition:
~Overcoming the paradox of Stage 5 through a moral and ascetic actualization of the universalizing apprehensions
Note: Fowler actually suggests that sermons target this stage. However, I want to include Stages 3 and 4 to facilitate a smoother developmental process.
Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith
Attributes:
~Appears in late-adolescence or young adulthood
~Begins to take seriously the burden of responsibility of commitment, lifestyle, beliefs, and attitudes
~“Law and order” morality: “our laws are relative to our culture, but they must be obeyed for the sake of order” (a utilitarian approach)
~Facing these tensions:
+++ Individuality vs. group definition
+++ Subjectivity vs. objectivity
+++ Self-fulfillment vs. self-actualization
+++ Relativity vs. the possibility of the absolute.
~Double development:
+++ The self no longer claims an identity as defined by others (development of identity)
+++ To sustain that new identity, it composes a meaning frame, conscious of its own boundaries and inner connections, and aware of itself as a “worldview.” (Development of worldview.)
~Supremacy of the self’s ability to “figure it out” without interference of others
~Demythologizing: symbols become explicit, conceptualized meanings
Gifts:
~Can critically examine identity and worldview
Dangers:
~Excessive confidence in the conscious mind and in critical thought
~A kind of “second narcissism” arises in which the now clearly bounded, reflective self over-assimilates “reality” and the perspective of other into its own worldview
Transition:
~Restlessness with the self-images and outlook maintained by Stage 4 leads one to listen to the “anarchic” and disturbing inner “voices”
~Elements from a childish past, images and energies from a deeper self, and gnawing sense of the sterility and flatness of the meanings one serves appear
~Stories, symbols, myths, and paradoxes from one’s own or other traditions may insist on breaking in upon the neatness of the previous faith
~Disillusionment with one’s compromises and recognition that life is more completes than Stage 4’s logic of clear distinctions and abstract concepts can comprehend
Note: Too often, people are denied the opportunity to enter into a more fully “adult” faith by their faith communities. This “demythologizing” stage seemingly threatens to “undo” all of the previous stages. But it is vital for personal growth and the development of a vital and healthy faith.
Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith
Attributes:
~Begins in adolescence
~World extends beyond family/community
~Faith must synthesize varied values and information to provide a basis for identity and outlook
~Structures the environment in interpersonal terms; faith reflects qualities experienced in personal relationships
~A “Conformist” stage that is attuned to the expectations and judgments of others; does not have a firm “identity” and autonomous judgment
~Beliefs and values are deeply felt and are tacitly held; the person “dwells” in them
~Has not had the opportunity to step outside of the community and its values to evaluate them
~An “ideology” has formed, but has not been examined
~Differences with other people become differences with other “kinds” of people (classification)
~Authority comes from the traditional authority held
Gifts:
~Formation of a “personal myth”: the myth of one’s becoming in identity and faith, incorporating one’s past and anticipated future in an image of God’s plan unified by characteristics of personality
Dangers:
~Internalization (and sacralization) of others expectation and evaluations can jeopardize later autonomy of judgment and action
~Interpersonal betrayals can give rise to either
+++ Nihilistic despair about a personal principle of ultimate being, or
+++ To a compensatory intimacy with God unrelated to mundane relations.
Transition:
~Serious clashes or contradictions between valued authorities
~Marked changes by officially sanctioned leaders, policies, or practices that previously seemed sacred and unbreachable
~Encounter with experiences or perspectives that lead to critical reflection on how one’s beliefs and values have formed and changed, and how developed particularly from to one’s group or background
~“Leaving home” on an emotional or physical level that precipitates self-examination of personal history and values
Note: This is where I will start. Working at this level promotes transition from the Mythic-Literal Stage. It is necessary to work here in the process of “becoming.”
Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith
Attributes:
~Literal interpretation accompanied by moral rules and attitudes; episodic faith of the Intuitive-Projective becomes more linear
~Do not step back from the flow of stories to formulate reflective, conceptual meanings
~Take on beliefs and observances of community
~Begins to take on the stories for him- or herself
~The actors in the cosmic story are anthropomorphic
~Affected deeply and powerfully by symbolic and dramatic materials and describe in endlessly detailed narrative what has occurred
~Stories become a major way to give unity and value to experience
~Meaning is both “carried” and “trapped” in the narrative
~The world is based on reciprocal fairness and immanent justice based on reciprocity
~Increased accuracy in taking the perspective of the other persons
Gifts:
~The story, drama and myth serve as ways to find and give coherence to experience
Dangers:
~Limitation of literalness
~Excessive reliance upon reciprocity ads a principle for constructing an ultimate environment
~The above two points can result in either
+++ An over-controlling, stilted perfectionism or “works righteousness,” or
+++ an abasing sense of badness embraced because of mistreatment, neglect, or the apparent disfavor of significant others.
Transition:
~Clash or contradiction of stories that leads to reflection on meanings; previous literalism breaks down and is replaced by a “cognitive conceit” that leads to a disillusionment with teachers
~Conflicts between stories (creation vs. evolution) must be addressed
~A need for a more personal relationship with God
Note: I won’t be using anything from this stage either, though many adults are at this level. My reasoning is that I believe that God has called us all to grow. In the rest of life, we are expected to function as “adults.” I believe that sermons should more fully draw us into the faith-maturation process. Adult Christians are called to be “adults” in the faith. To empower people to function at this level actually promotes a form of “spiritual developmental disability.”
Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith
Attributes:
~Ages 3–7
~Fantasy-filled, intuitive phase
~Can be powerfully and permanently influenced by stories and images, as well as the moods and actions of faith around them
~Uninhibited by logical thought, but rather fluid thought pattern
Gifts:
~Birth of imagination
~Ability to unify and grasp the experience-world in powerful images
Dangers:
~Potential to become “possessed” by images of terror and destructiveness
~Use of imagination to reinforce taboos as well as moral and doctrinal expectations.
Transition to Next Stage:
~Emergence of concrete operational thinking
~A growing concern to know how things are and to clarify for him- or herself the bases of distinctions between what is real and what only seems to be
Note: I won’t be using anything from this stage, but I wanted to post it for reference.
James Fowler’s Stages of Faith
Something I’ve decided to do (again) is to incorporate intentionally James Fowler’s
Stages of Faith into my sermon prep. Basically, according to Fowler, human faith development corresponds with human development. (Simple enough, huh?) Faith perspective and reasoning, then, reflect a developmental process that naturally goes down a general path. Fowler’s focus in Christian Education is known as “Spiritual Formation.”
The following is from a chart that I put together for my own reference a few years ago. Some of it is in my own words, but there are also parts taken straight from the book. I don’t know what comes from where, so I can’t “quote” Fowler. This was meant for reference. I suggest to anyone interested in spiritual formation to pick up the actual book. Another book of interest (which I call the Cliff’s Notes version) is Fowler’s
Faith Development and Pastoral Care.
I’ll be posting them separately.
22 May 2005: "Life-Giving Creativity"
Saturday morning, I looked at my sermon that I wrote earlier in the week for Sunday, and I decided that I didn't like it. So, I scrapped it and started over. I decided to use the Genesis passage from the lectionary, but I've supplemented it with part of the "burning bush" narrative in Exodus. I've still dealt with the order/chaos theme that I originally wrestled with, but the final draft is vastly different. Even though it is Trinity Sunday, I did nothing with that.
***************
"Life-Giving Creativity"
Exodus 3.1–2, 7–10Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but the bush was not being burnt up… The LORD then said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. And I have come down to rescue them from the clutches of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that country, to a country rich and broad, to a country flowing with milk and honey, to the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Yes, indeed the Israelites’ cry for help has reached me, and I have also seen the cruel way in which the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
Genesis 1:1-2:4aIn the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so. God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
God as Chaos-InjectorThe first year I was here, we walked our way through the book of Exodus. It’s a wonderful story about how the Hebrews, who were once a respected people in the land of Egypt, had been reduced to the status of slaves. They had been subject to back-breaking, crushing labor, and they cried out to God for deliverance.
God hears them. God does not ignore them. God delivers them from the malicious tyranny of Pharaoh. From this story, we find that the God of Israel is a God who will not tolerate the oppression of the weak by the strong.
Sometimes, human society can, and does, go beyond any sense of purposeful order and enter into the realm of malicious tyranny reminiscent of the reign of Pharaoh. It is a situation in which order has gone awry, and indeed become destructive to some of those who participate in it. When this happens, we enter into the world of marginalization and oppression. Something God cannot stand.
But order doesn’t just go awry in the social arena. It can become oppressive in the personal arena as well.
When I was taking a psychology class at Parkland Community College down in Champaign, I had an instructor named Lu Snyder. And she was talking about…who knows what on a particular day. Anyway, she told us a story about an eye-opening conflict she had with her teenage son. In the middle of her jumping all over him about his refusal to make his bed every morning, he asked a simple question, “Why? Why do I have to make my bed every single morning when I’m just going to mess it up every single night? It makes no sense. So, why?”
I don’t know how the particular argument ended, but it did make her think. “Why indeed?” So, she decided to try something new. She actually stopped making her bed every morning. She did make it from time to time, but not every morning. And, lo and behold, the world did not spin off of its axis. The sky did not fall. The sun actually did not explode. None of these bad things happened, despite the fact that she did not make her bed. Quite the contrary, a good thing happened: she had a little bit of extra time in the morning. And, she said, it felt really good. She felt liberated.
The bottom line is that she had imposed on herself a specific kind of order that was constraining. A little bit of chaos was injected into it, and she was free from her self-imposed bonds. You see, a rigid, self-imposed order can crush the human spirit just as quickly as any malicious, tyrannical social order gone awry.
Where there is too much order, whether it be on a social or personal scale, we find God actively working to inject chaos into the system, to bring freedom and liberation to the oppressed. This is part of what God does in this world, so we learn from the Exodus story.
God as Orderer-of-ChaosThe passage we read from Genesis gives us a very different, but complimentary, view into God. In the beginning, there is nothing but chaos. Chaos is the power of possibility and creativity, generation and fertility, individuality and self-expression. Chaos is the stuff of potential beauty, potential life, potential…period. It is the stuff of raw potential, the power of “what could be.” But, in the beginning, we also see that it is all over the board and that it cannot bring any of that possibility into being. And so God starts to work. God takes that raw power of potentiality and harnesses it. When God gets the divine hands working with what can be, we see that it becomes real.
God is a God who steps in when chaos reigns and no good can seemingly come of a situation, and makes something out of it. God is a God who brings order to chaos when chaos goes awry.
Yes, too much chaos is just as destructive as too much order. Imagine what society would be like if we didn’t have any laws. People could do anything to anybody without any repercussions. If we ever wanted an image of what social chaos would be, all we have to do is to imagine what would happen if one were to yell “fire” in a theatre. All these people running to get through these little bitty doors, everybody out for themselves, to the expense of anyone who got underfoot. Too much social chaos is truly destructive.
And then there’s the chaos of our lives. How often do we feel as though we are living on a little dinghy in the middle of a vast and stormy sea? One minute life seems to be going well, the next minute everything seems out of whack. We move from one job to another, we have new additions to families that increase responsibilities, we have losses in families that leave vacuums in our lives. We have financial crises, relational crises, health crises, spiritual crises. The storms brew, the storms rage, chaos ensues. And the world in which we once felt at home, seems suddenly unredeemable as the little dinghy of our lives feels like it’s a bout to tip.
And then there’s God. The God of the Universe becomes our anchor in the midst of the storms of life. God is a God who brings order to the chaos, not only of the creation around us, but also of our lives. It is God who works in our lives to redeem seemingly impossible situations. It is God who ultimately makes our lives meaningful.
When we find ourselves becoming swamped and know the threat of being pulled under, all we have to do is look out our windows and see the birds, trees, grass, sky, and clouds, and think “That was once chaos, too.”
A God of Life-Giving CreativityThere are those out there who like to say, “God is a God of order and that chaos is the enemy.” It is as if they are afraid of the power of chaos in this world. In their minds, it seems that the power of order is divine and the power of chaos is evil.
But when we look at these two images of God that we get from the Hebrew Scriptures, we find God can’t be identified with one or the other. Neither the power of order nor the power of chaos can be considered good or evil in and of themselves. Both can be good; both can go awry and be bad. The images that we face today defy any attempts to identify God as being either a God of order or of chaos.
But there is a certain cohesion in these images that cannot be ignored, something that is quite revealing about who God is. In the Exodus story, God injects chaos into the order and liberates the Hebrews so that…they can become a new people. In Genesis, we see God bringing order to the chaos, thus bringing into being…a new creation. In both cases, we see that the God of the Hebrews is neither a God of order nor chaos, but a God of Life-Giving Creativity, sovereign over both. Yes, the divine fingerprints left by the heavenly Potter are nothing less than a full and vital life.
May you open yourselves up more fully this day and everyday to the Life-Giving, Creative Spirit, becoming everything that you can become, to the honor and glory of a sovereign God.
22 May 2005: Trinity Sunday
Why am I doing this in the wee hours of the morning you ask? Because I can’t sleep. If I’m going to be up anyway, I might as well be productive.
The lectionary passages for this week are
here. I think I’ll focus on the Genesis creation story.
Some thoughts that come to mind as I read this…
This is the story of God ordering the chaos
There is a place for everything, and everything is in its place
This story says some things about God: God is all about creative ordering and sovereign.
Humans are made in the image of God
The human call to be conformed to the image of God includes being creatively life-giving, being responsible stewards, and living in human community
Since I seem to be running down the “humans are intended to reflect the image of God” path, I may pull out something from a recent sermon. I may run once again with the theme: “from story to Scripture.” Stories are great, and we can study them until the cows come home with enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment. But it isn’t until we enter the story in such a way that we encounter more about who God is in such a way that draws us into becoming more like God in our everyday lives that the story actually becomes Scripture. “Story” is in the details; “Scripture” is in the personal transformation.
Even though it is Trinity Sunday, I don't yet know whether I will pull in anything specific about the Trinity. We'll see.
Pentecost Sunday, Part 2: "The Universal Language"
"The Universal Language"Speaking in Tongues?“So, Bo, what do you think of this whole speaking in tongues thing?” Yes, I have been asked this in the past.
There are a variety of ways that people understand the significance of "speaking in tongues." Some people believe that if one has not “spoken in tongues” then they do not partake of the Holy Spirit. And by “speaking in tongues” they mean entry into this ecstatic state in which one prays in a babbling like activity that does not make sense to mortal ears. Others say Christians do not necessarily have to speak in tongues in order to be “real” Christians, but if one speaks in tongues, then that is a good sign of one’s salvation. And, I’m sure that there are also Christians out there who say that the whole spectacle of speaking in tongues is the product of self-induced delusions of grandeur, a mental concoction intended to bring about feelings of self-importance and belonging. Different people understand the significance to speaking in tongues differently.
“So, Bo, what do you think about this whole speaking in tongues thing?” I think that we have to look at the Scriptures in their context and in light of “who” God is as revealed in Jesus Christ if we truly want to understand what they reveal. And investigation into the meaning of speaking in tongues is no exception.
Speaking in Tongues, Version 1In our passages today, there are two different versions of speaking in tongues. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he speaks of himself and others having this particular gift. In that letter, to speak in tongues is to go into an ecstatic state in which one if filled with a divine spirit that leads to ecstatic utterances that were then interpreted as a divine message to the community.
Something that is very important to note (but is too often overlooked) is that these ecstatic utterances were
not unique to Christian communities. Such ecstatic utterances were relatively commonplace in Greco-Roman religion. And in the Greco-Roman religious atmosphere, the ability to enter into that eccstatic state and give such utterances was seen as a sign of deep spiritual connection. This person who could enter into such ecstatic states, or speak in divine tongues, was considered to be an oracle, one who had a special relationship with the divine.
Paul dismisses all of this. To have the gift that allows one to enter into an ecstatic state and speak in tongues…doesn’t mean anything with regards to a person’s spiritual maturity or even their spiritual connection. For Paul, this ecstatic version of speaking in tongues is no more spectacular than the spiritual gifts of preaching, teaching, administrating, or bringing healing to peoples’ lives. These are all spiritual gifts. All such good things come from the Spirit of God. So in that sense they are evidence of divine blessing. But they are not in any way indicators of one’s being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living Christ.
Speaking in Tongues, Version 2That’s one version of “speaking in tongues” that we have in our texts today. The other version comes from the Book of Acts. In this passage, speaking in tongues is about speaking a language that is comprehensible across all language barriers. This is a reversal of the Tower of Babel. In the Tower of Babel story, humanity had become so arrogant that it wanted to be a high as God. So they built a large pyramid, or tower. (For those who may have heard the term, the technical term is a ziggurat.) The purpose of this tower was to allow them to climb all the way to the top and thus live with God.
God, it turns out, does not appreciate the neighbors just barging into the house uninvited. This attempted crossing of the boundary that separates the human and the divine is a gross trespass. So in order to prevent this from happening in the future, God first smashes the tower, thus preventing access to heaven. And second, God causes all the people to speak in different tongues, thus preventing them from uniting as a single people who are able to come up with such schemes.
The Tower of Babble story was an ancient way to explain why the various peoples of the world can’t unite as one people, united by a common spirit. Language barriers that were imposed by God prevent it.
This Pentecost story in the Book of Acts is a reversal of the Tower of Babble story. If God, in the past, divided people into linguistic groupings (and that was a major way of identifying people, by the language they spoke, and the customs they followed), then God was in the present re-uniting them by tearing down the boundaries that at one time separated them. The power of the Holy Spirit in the midst of this earliest Christian community was working to re-create a unified humanity. And when we read through the Book of Acts, we see that the language of the Holy Spirit really isn’t found so much in spoken language systems (whether Greek or Hebrew or Arabic). No, what we find is that the language of the Holy Spirit is far more universal. It is nothing less than the language of…love.
The Mark of GodYes, love is
the universal, divine language. Where there is love, there is God, for God is Love. And not just any kind of love, but other-centered, justice-oriented, self-giving love. It’s a certain quality of love.
What is the mark of the divine in the midst of human life? Is it spectacle? No. Is it success? No. Is it power? No. Rather, as Paul says,
If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
The mark of God, the mark of the Holy Spirit in our lives is nothing less than our becoming as vessels filled with divine love.
In Edward Hayes’ book,
The Ladder, he writes a fictional story of a student who goes to his teacher and asks him, “so what do you think the best translation of the Bible is, there are so many out there.” And his teacher replies to him, “The best translation of the Bible is the life of a saint.” I think that the world in which we live instinctively knows that on some level. That is why some people are singled out as somehow superior representatives of God.
Mother TheresaMother Theresa is perhaps one of the best known. How many years had she spent of her life living in the midst of the “nobodies” in India? How often did she speak out to remind the world in which she lives that the God of the Universe is an advocate for those who are different from us, an advocate for those whome we want to exclude, whether we like that or not. When gaze upon the work of Mother Theresa, they can point at something tangible and say that is love, and not just any love, but other-centered love, love that is truly divine. Where there is that type of love, there is God.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Another cultural religious icon is Martin Luther King, Jr. He had a vision. And what was laid bare before his eyes was nothing less than a glimpse into the Kingdom of God, a place where Justice reigned. And so he stood boldly and proclaimed that the God of the Universe does not tolerate the discrimination and devaluing of God’s children. And boldly, through word and deed, he demanded: “This segregation must end! And by God this must end now!”
And that vision, that dream, that call to unity, is becoming more and more a reality with the passing of every season. When people look at Dr. King, they know that God is a God of Justice, who does not forget the little people, and will not forsake them to the whims of the powerful. He reminds us that to the extent that we do not bear justice, they do not bear God and cannot speak for God. For God’s love is a certain type of love. God’s love is is a justice-oriented Love.
MomI feel very blessed to have the parents that I do. And whatever you do, don’t ever tell mom that I talked about her in a sermon, but there are some things that are worth sharing. You see, my mom is one of the most self-sacrificing people you will ever meet. I’m not sure where she learned this, whether it was from her parents or her circumstances, but I believe that she learned her way of self-giving-being ultimately from God. She is always helping others out, giving of her time and resources. When I was young, all the kids would come over and she would be “mom” for the whole block. She would go without before she allowed others to do so. I learned a lot from my mom about life and about God, more I’m sure than she realizes.
I tell you this now because usually those living icons into God’s Love aren’t great big public figures like Mother Theresa or Dr. King. More often than not, they are the people who are closest to us who show us that in this dog-eat-dog world there is indeed a more excellent way, a way of self-giving love. They can be parents, children, friends, neighbors, or even strangers. We all know them, they are the people who demonstrate to us a certain quality of life that somehow seems beyond that which is considered “normal.” They are ordinary persons identifiably empowered by the Holy Spirit into an extraordinary way of being. My mom is one of those people in life who taught me that God is not just any kind of love, but a certain kind of love. It is self-giving love that is divine.
Where There is Love, There is GodWhere there is true love, there is God. And where there is not that certain quality of love, there is not God. Divine Love is the mark that the Holy Spirit places upon the brow of humanity. It is the halo that identifies us as holy in the midst of the nitty-grittyness of life.
But what is it? What is this other-centered, justice-oriented, self-giving love? What does that look like in the midst of everyday life?
Hear, once again, the words of Paul:
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [it] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interest, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing [...pause...]
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails.
And as the Book of Acts tells us, this love is the tongue of the Holy Spirit, and the language of love is universal.
May you all be filled with the Holy Spirit on this wondrous day of Pentecost, going forth into your everyday lives, proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel, speaking boldly in the universal tongue of other-centered, justice-oriented, self-giving Love. May you do so, and thus, make a real difference in this world.
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Yes, I Deleted It
Earlier today, I posted my entire Pentecost sermon on here. I just deleted it. I figure I will post sermons
after I give them if I am going to post them at all. That way, nobody gets to jump the gun.
Now you have to wait for it.
Pentecost Sunday: 15 May 2005
I am changing the passage for the lectionary slightly. I will use Acts 2.1–21 and 1 Corinthians 12.3b–13, and 12.27–13.8a. The lectionary is
here.
The text for 1 Corinthians 12.27–13.8a is as follows:
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But, I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [it] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interest, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Having posted that, I’ll start my thoughts in a different thread.
Luke 24.44-53; Acts 1.1-11: "Cleaning the Filters"
The lectionary is
here for Ascension Sunday.
I sat down to type up my notes for Hermetic Homiletics, and it accidentally just turned into my full sermon. I'm not going to post the whole thing here. But I will put the opening and other main parts. The elipses, of course, identify where other text is. I wanted to keep it as short as possible for this blog.
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"Cleaning the Filters"Does telling them “the plan” have to be done repeatedly? Apparently so. In the Acts passage, Jesus basically tells the disciples don’t leave Jerusalem but wait for the power from on high that is the Holy Spirit, then go out and proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name. He seems pretty clear and straightforward. All is good. Then the disciples speak.
“Uh, that’s nice. But is
this the time that you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel? I mean, is it time for the overthrow and punishment of Rome and the re-establishment of Israel as an independent nation? ‘Cause, we were kind of waiting for that.”
Were they actually present during this whole conversation with the risen Christ. That’s okay. It looks like they were a bit preoccupied. So, Jesus takes them through it all again.
“Look people, don’t worry about that. Some things are not for you to know and not your concern. Here’s what
is your concern. Keep up with me here. Number 1: Stay here in Jerusalem. Don’t leave. Number 2: Wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to come from on high. Number 3: Then you go out and proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name. And when I say go out for number 3, I mean
go out, that means to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to Rome itself. So, we’re clear now. In order, 1, 2, 3. Good.” And then, Jesus is up, up, and away.
As he disappears into the clouds, the disciples stand there, staring. You know this staring look. It’s the same type of look that overcomes people as they gaze into the night sky as it bursts with fireworks for whatever occasion. %
"Drama, Drama, Drama"
This week's sermon actually turned out differently than planned. But I think it stood out enough to put it on the web. Here is the link.***************
I've discovered that I like the idea of posting entire sermons on here rather than providing a link to them. Therefore, I've decided to edit this entry.
***************
The intro read by the liturgist and texts:Today’s readings will take a little different form than usual. Instead of Old and New Testament readings, both of them will come from the book of Acts. The first is a bit of a recap and expansion from last week’s lectionary. The second comes from today’s lectionary and is found much later in the same book.
The person to focus on in these readings is Paul, also known as Saul. It was common for ancient people to have more than one name due to language barriers, so remember that the person named “Saul” in the first reading is the same as the person named “Paul” in the second.
And now, having said all of that, hear the Word of the Lord as handed down to us through the generations and recorded in the Acts of the Apostles …
Chapter 7 verse 54 through Chapter 8 verse 3:
When [the Sanhedrin] heard [Stephen’s testimony], they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But filled with the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.
Now Saul was consenting to his execution. On that day, there broke out a sever persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.
Chapter 17 verses 22 through 31:
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.' Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." "Drama, Drama, Drama"Drama Queens“Drama Queens” and “Crazymakers.” You know the people. They are the ones who blow everything out of proportion and make sure that the entirety of existence revolves around them. And the effect is that they drive everyone around them crazy.
As we well know, the arena of religion is certainly not immune to its share of these crazymakers. You know them too. One minute you’re talking about a relatively simple issue, such as: “So, how do you celebrate Communion?” The next minute you are talking about apostasy, the next minute heresy, and then on to how Satan has deceived so many in "that church" and doomed them to the tortures of an eternity in hell. Well, isn’t that special. There’s a reason crazymakers make us crazy. Especially in the realm of religion.
For the most part religious crazymakers are, while admittedly of questionable spiritual health, for the most part benign. However, there is always a potential danger there. That is when simple zeal moves toward religious abuse.
Many will point out that religious abuse permeates Christian history. And they are right. Fantasy and delusion have led to the demise of many in the name of Christ. The story that abusive Christian crazymakers tell is quite the drama really. This world is immersed in a cosmic war in which they are participating when they carry out their own acts apocalyptic visions of judgment and terror. They’re actively saving the world from evil. They’re holding back the power of Satan. And they may even kill to make it happen. The story in which they participate is so grand that it is beyond comprehension of the unenlightened.
Drama, drama, drama, drama, drama. Sometimes, it seems there’s just a little too much drama in the world. Especially when it comes to religious crazymakers.
Stories to Live By Even though the excessive drama of even the benign religious crazymakers is really hard to handle at times, not all drama is bad. In fact, there are many versions of drama, or story, that are very, very good for us. Good dramas, good stories enrich us as human beings. They tell us about ourselves so we can grow.
And the stories that we find in the Bible take us even one step further: they don’t just help us to understand ourselves, but help us to understand ourselves and our God with whom we are in relationship.
Now, there are a variety of ways to read our sacred texts. One approach is to read them in order to learn names and places, events and customs. We can learn about the interaction of characters and plot devices. This is all really cool stuff. And when we engage the texts in this way, we encounter really good stories.
But there is another way to approach the texts. That is with the intent to encounter more of ourselves and our God. This is a much more challenging approach, for whenever we approach the texts in this way, we do so not from a position of strength that seeks to master the text, but from a position of vulnerability that seeks to be mastered by the text. We are open in a way that allows the texts to reveal who we are in the story and challenges us to examine our relationship with the divine in order to experience deeper intimacy in the Spirit. This approach is far less about “learning” in the traditional sense, and far more about “transformational encounter.” And when we engage the texts in this way, we are no longer just learning a good story; we are encountering nothing less than “Scripture.”
DichotomiesOne of the ways that the stories in the Bible invite us into transformational encounter is to present to us image-driven personified dichotomies. In other words, as we read the texts, we see the struggle between the opposites of light and darkness, truth and lie, life and death, good and evil. These are dichotomies. And the challengers in this struggle are people like you and I. Sometimes, as is the case in today’s readings from Acts, this dichotomy is presented within the very history of a single individual.
Today, we meet Saul, who is Paul. As I refer to Saul and Paul, for simplicity’s sake I am going to talk about Saul as the pre-conversion Paul, and Paul as the post-conversion Saul. But, in the overall story, it is, of course, one and the same person.
I find it really interesting to see how the Book of Acts compares the two: Saul and Paul. And I think that the best part of this dichotomy is that both of them are really doing the same thing. They are both on a mission from God. They are both proclaiming God’s sovereignty. And the fascinating part is…how things change after the conversion experience.
Pre-Conversion SaulOn the one hand we have Saul. Notice quickly that Saul is portrayed as lurking in the shadows. That signals to us that whatever he represents is going to be very, very bad. And it may be that the thing that is highlighted here as very, very bad is his conception of God. And we can see what his image of God is, because that is the image that he bears, the image that he reflects.
The image of God that Saul seems to hold to is one of an overbearing, tyrannical parent who is on a divine ego-trip. And when that ego-trip isn’t fed, when people don’t follow the rules just because they are told to, then wrath is sure to follow. Saul’s vision of God seems to be that of a vengeful, abusive, fickle, and indeed childish omnipotent being. His appointed mission then, is to bring this God to the people, whether they want it or not. His vision of holiness demands it.
Remember the story and the darkness therein? The imagery that surrounds Saul is meant to say something to the reader: The god whom Saul proclaims isn’t the God of the Hebrews. Indeed, that god doesn’t exist at all. Saul’s god is a lie. And to worship that God is to engage in nothing less than idolatry. The imagery of darkness signals the way of the lie, the way of death. The texts reveal Saul as being nothing less than a mini version of the prince of darkness.
Post-Conversion PaulOn the other hand, we have Paul. It appears as though Paul has had a religious experience that reveals something about the nature of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that changes everything.
After his conversion, we see that the one primarily responsible for Stephen’s murder is now carrying out Stephen’s mission. How ironic is that? Now Paul is now the foremost agent of light.
In his story, he goes into the Aereopagus in Athens, a symbolic place which draws our minds the thought “Ah, Athens! The philosophers’ haven.” And when Paul goes to the altar of the “Unknown God,” perhaps it is Socrates who should come to mind. You see, Socrates, a Greek philosopher, believed that the High God of the universe was really the power of Love. But being the High God of the universe, this ultimate God was also ultimately unknowable. And so, the God of Socrates was called “The Unknown God.”
Could it be that Paul was saying to the Athenians…
See this idol. It testifies to a God who is Love. This God is true. But, it also says that the God who is Love is ultimately unknowable. That is why I am here, to tell you that the God whom you’ve been worshiping here, this God of Love, is truly knowable. Let me tell you how that is so, let me tell you the story of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we call ‘Christ.’
The philosopher’s god of Love as testified to by an idol does indeed exist and is true, while the terrible, ego-maniacal god of Saul doesn’t exist at all and its worship is idolatry.
Doesn’t the irony pour right off the page? Isn’t this just great stuff?
Putting Them TogetherSaul and Paul both have very different conceptions of God. Saul’s god is born of his own ego. It is the product of his desires. It is the extension of the wounds that he has been carrying with him. It is the manifestation of his anger,frustrations, and fears. The negative energy that he carries with him…that’s the god whom this idolatrous one worships.
Paul, on the other hand, is totally grounded in the Easter experience. He has experienced the loving grace of Christ and is filled with the Holy Spirit. As a result, he is not on a mission to bring God to the ignorant people (as Saul is), but rather he is all about looking to see where the God who is love is already at work in the lives of people, and it is his mission to help them strengthen their already present divine connection. Two different conceptions of God lead to two different approaches to the same mission.
Acts is Our StoryIsn’t it absolutely beautiful how the story in Acts portrays the spiritual life. We have light and dark, truth and lie, beatific Paul and deviant Saul. And woven into the fabric of it all, irony. It’s a truly magnificent story.
But as we pull back, we are reminded once again that this is really the story of a single person. And that single person can be called…“me,” or “you.” This is not just the story of Saul who is Paul, but this is our story, the story of our becoming as Christians who are continually dying to self and rising in Christ. Yes, as we read the story of Saul who is Paul, we encounter ourselves, whether we want to or not.
On the one hand, we resonate with and are inspired by Paul. We want to be truly spiritual people. We want to be fully attuned to God and God’s movement in the world around us. We want to be truly aware and passionately engaged on the divine mission. We want to herald of the God who is justice-oriented, other-centered, self-giving Love. And to a certain extent we truly are there. We are the bearers of light into this world. Paul’s story is our story. We find ourselves therein.
But so too is Saul’s. We dare not deny that his story is a part of the fabric of our lives. We can try to live in that denial, but we will be reminded when the darkness surfaces.
Yes, Saul too is real in our lives and makes his presence know anytime we look upon the face of Christ and hear his call to discipleship and reject it in one way or another, saying…
I will not serve others first.
I will not bend knee to them in love.
I will not die to self.
I will be safe.
I will be secure.
I will be powerful.
I will rule!
Yes, we know Saul when we tend our own selves, to the sacrifice of others. We live Saul’s story when we physically, emotionally, or spiritually abuse others because it makes us feel good in the midst of feeling bad. And all that negative energy, it certainly has a way of blowing everything out of proportion and threatening the fabric of life itself, potentially turning us all into crazymakers in one form or another.
Welcome to Good DramaDrama, drama, drama, drama, drama. This world’s just full of drama isn’t it? The drama of literature. The drama of film. The drama of our lives. And, yes, even the excessive drama of crazymakers and drama queens.
But sometimes drama isn’t that bad. Sometimes drama is good for us. Especially when it is the drama that connects us with ourselves and our God. Indeed, when the drama reveals to us our God in whom we live and move and have our being, and when it draws us into greater depths of intimacy with the divine, the drama for us becomes Scripture. And where there is Scripture, there is new life.
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
