Psalm 43; Matthew 6.5-15
Happy Father’s Day …
May it be a good day for all of you … maybe some hamburgers on the grill? … dinner out? … a stroll through the park? … a movie? … or just plain old relaxing - feet up, a drink, and some Netflix.
On a more somber note, it’s Juneteenth … June 19, 1865, our fellow Americans were finally and
And a reminder to all of us - the struggle still to realize - equality of all, equality of opportunity, equality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Which ties into the purpose of my sermon for today!
To be mindful of reality … the power of words.
For some, the word “father” has an unhappy meaning …
For millions of women throughout the Christian world, male supremacy, male domination, male control, has done a terrible injustice … women denied a place in life … the church deprived of their talent, leadership, wisdom, compassion, intellect.
For many women (and men, too), “father” has an unhappy meaning.
Language is powerful … the words we use, and how we use the words.
With words , God created the heavens and the earth … with words, Hitler seduced a nation and took the world to hell.
With words, Lincoln lifted up the noble ideals of equality and the abolition of slavery … with words, Jefferson Davis sought the destruction of the Union to perpetuate human enslavement.
Language is powerful.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” … is hardly the truth … words cut to the core, slash the heart … steal away a person’s sense of worth … words can destroy a child.
Language is powerful.
A change of language can help …
Here’s a feminist reading of Psalm 23:
Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.
She makes me lie down in green pastures. She leads me beside still waters.
She restores my soul. She guides me in the paths of righteousness for her name's sake.
To think of God only as a male is deficient … we are created in the image of God, both male and female … every version of humanity … every race, color, ethnicity, gender … tall, short, wide, and wonderful …
When Jesus addresses God as Father, what is his purpose?
To inspire trust …
Especially when life goes off the rails …
When we can’t see God, when our souls are depleted, when there’s nothing left of us … there is a yet a love woven into the fabric of our existence … a divine Yes! No second-thoughts or questions on God’s part … a love, total and eternal.
When Jesus is baptized, there’s a voice from heaven, This is my son, with whom I’m well pleased … words repeated on the Mt. of Transfiguration, with this added, Listen to him.
Listen to Jesus … his words carry the weight of life …
Born in a small town, at a time when the Empire forced everyone to return to their ancestral homes for registration … “registration” you ask?
Yes, for taxes, military purposes …
The Empire flexes its muscles, makes sure everyone knows who’s boss, who’s in charge, who runs the show. There’s no room in the inn, and there’s no room anywhere when an empire of steel and blood runs the world.
Herod, the puppet king, gets wind of a contender for the throne, when some Seers from the East come to Herod to inquire about what they’ve seen in the stars.
Herod, all oily and smarmy, says, “Oh yes, and when you find him, let me know where he is, so I can worship him, too.”
The Seers visit the Holy Child, and then warned by an angel, return home another way … they skip out on the meeting with Herod.
Herod’s furious … asks his advisors about the situation, and they say, “Well, it might just be Bethlehem!”
Herod dispatches the troops to kill all the children - his own version of Order 66.
Mary and Joseph, warned by an angel, run for their lives.
All the way to Egypt.
They escape the slaughter; but there’s no escape for that little town, and all of its children … Rachel weeps for her children, because they are no more.
After Herod’s death, Mary, Joseph, and the child return.
We know next to nothing of Jesus before his baptism - Luke says he’s growing up just fine … in the ways of the LORD.
And then his baptism, an ordination of sorts - Jesus is 30 years old, a time when a man could become a rabbi …
After his baptism, the Spirit sends him into the wilderness … the Evil One offers him easy answers … the easy way out … the slick way, the clever way, the religious way - easy answers … all of them dead wrong.
In that wilderness, Jesus is hungry, tired, weary, but he stays the course; he stands firm; he remains faithful.
Now his work begins …
People sick, desperate, poor, vulnerable, vulnerable to religious flimflam … some given to violence, others flee into the wilderness, to live in caves and eat locusts … some make an arrangement with the Empire, just to make a living, to get by, to survive, some thrive on the injustice of the Empire - some get rich, like Zacchaeus the tax collector … … and across the landscape of Palestine, the ever-present Roman cross - just to make sure everybody understands who’s boss.
In time, the work of Jesus goes south … literally south, from Galilee to the fabled city of Jerusalem, the city on a hill …
John the Baptist - arrested, executed.
Jesus - arrested and crucified.
In agony and death, Jesus knows what it means to doubt, to doubt everything - he cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And then, with his last breath, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
The words of Jesus point us in the right direction, to the love of God … the divine, unconditional, Yes … Our Father who art in heaven …
Call God Father, call God Mother, call God sister, brother … friend, fellow traveler … call God Mountain, Light, or Love … call God Hope, Peace, Kindness, or Promise … call God Mystery, Wonder, Rock, or Lamb … whatever you need.
Our Promise, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name …
Our Light and our Hope, who art in heaven … give us this day our daily bread.
Our Mother, our Friend, who art in heaven … thy will be done.
Words are all we have … we can play with words … we have to … words have been used to harm and to hurt … we have to use words to heal and to help … words to liberate, inspire, enlighten … words to set people free, throw open the doorways of the church - welcome everyone who wants a place in the sunshine of God’s love …
Our Father, our Mother, our hope, our help, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name …
Hallelujah and Amen!
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