9.29.24 "Traditional Worship: Progressive Values" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Esther 9.20-23; James 5.13-20

Music has beat … rhythm … tempo …

Poetry has beat … rhythm … tempo …

We have four seasons … winter, spring, summer, fall …

We have morning, noon, and night …

We have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year …

We go to sleep - and awake - in patterns of time … 

Coffee in the morning, leftovers at night … brush our teeth before going to bed.

We rely on repetition … 

Time is not a personal privilege, 

time is a matter of rhythm, tempo, and beat … 

we all honor it.

We follow speed limits (mostly), we have maps - paper maps, and digital maps … 

We expect Colorado to be south of Foothill, we expect the 210 to run east and west, and the 605 north and south … nobody gets up in the middle of the night and changes the interstate numbers …

Routine is a time-saver … I nearly always know where my glasses are because I set them in the same place … I usually know where my phone is, my billfold, my caps and hat, and so on, because I usually set them in the same place.

Routine in prayer is helpful … Our Father, who art in heaven … Hail Mary, full of grace … Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open …

Routine is the rhythm of life … the beat goes on …

But life begs for innovation, too … something new … a new cut of clothing, a new style of music, the latest novels, and the latest podcast … an untried recipe … a new Asian-fusion restaurant …

Rhythm and innovation … life moves along … if it’s all routine, the human spirit grows lethargic … if it’s all innovation, we grow bewildered.

A cook learns how to cook by following the recipes …  

After awhile, the cook learns how things work … and begins to play with recipes … room for improvisation … 

Writers, poets, musicians, scientists and engineers, learn the basics, and then take liberties in the search for something new …

Bach and Beethoven … Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.

JPL … Ford Motor Company … science and medicine …

The movie industry - managers, accountants, distributers … writers, directors, actors - which side of the camera?

It’s pumpkin time at Trader Joe’s, but not just a pie or so, uh uh … Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew, Pumpkin Streusel Muffins, Pumpkin Spice Pretzels, Pumpkin Loaf and Pumpkin Butter … and Pumpkin just about anything you can imagine.

Theme and variation … tradition and innovation … the tried and the true, the inventive and the daring.

The Church at its best - a combination - of these two energies.

The tagline on our bulletin cover: traditional worship - progressive values …  

Traditional worship … the routine of worship … the essential rhythm, the beat …

Postlude, Prelude, the LORD’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, Bible readings, Prayers of Confession, moments of silence …  

Progressive values … 

What are progressive values? 

Sort of like asking, “what’s a nice day?” … it’s a hard question to an swear clearly, but let me give it a try. 

I’ll speak personally … this is me … this is me in Christ, as best I can, and I hope, Christ in me!

I welcome everyone to the Lord’s Table … I cross boundaries with Jesus, I take chances, I experiment, I pray, I think … 

I know where I must go … 

like the voyages of the starship Enterprise … to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man [or woman] has gone before!

I defend those without a voice … I welcome and affirm those excluded by the old norms … 

I acknowledge the sins of my land: racism, bigotry, lies … sins that have infected and impacted me when I was a child.

I don’t ban books, I read ‘em … 

I support public education, I stand with our teachers … and all forms of education that lift a students mind rather than suppressing it.

I am not afraid of those who think … I am afraid of those who don’t.

I believe in responsible capitalism … I trust our scientists and historians …

I wave the flag … 

I believe the insurrectionist of Jan. 6 are traitors to the nation.

I believe in Democracy, the freedom of choice … I believe good government is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people … I pay my taxes … I work for equal opportunity … I celebrate diversity … I try not to be greedy … I try to keep others in my world-view … 

I do all of this because of Scripture, and the large traditions of the church … I do this because of Christ.

I have no intention of imposing my faith on the world … that’s wrong … 

What I intend is that my faith shapes my life, so I can fulfill the words of Christ: You are the light of the world … let your light shine …

Progressive Values … Traditional Worship …

Think of a fire and a fire place … they need each other to realize their potential …

Some of us are more like the fireplace - steady, tried and true, but in need of fire to fulfill our purpose … some of us more like the fire - full of adventure, daring do, and ready to go, in need a fireplace to guide and to guard our enthusiasms.

Each element needs the other to maximize it’s potential …

We need rules, structure, tempo and rhythm.

We need energy, innovation, guess work, and playfulness.

The church needs theology, doctrine, and dogma.

The church needs flexibility, improvisation, and fun.

There is tension … disagreement … uneasiness …

The prophets of ancient Israel proclaim justice and peace …

the priests hold the line … 

Moses points the way ahead … the people wanna turn back.

Jesus crosses boundaries … the traditionalists are appalled … 

It all plays out in the Apostle Paul … on the Damascus Road, he’s all rules and regulations - then the light … Paul sees a new day, a new way ahead.

The new doesn’t throw the old away … 

Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

The old and the new work together … they need each other … the new doesn’t throw the old away … the old doesn’t crucify the new.

Matthew 13.52, Jesus says: … every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.

Our Scripture readings this morning put it together … 

Mordecai’s regulations for the people in Persia … after a harrowing moment of time, when it seemed as if all the people were doomed, God turns the tide, Queen Esther rises to the occasion, the people are saved.

Mordecai says: don’t forget this stuff … God’s love … deliverance, salvation, victory … then, Mordecai introduces a new celebration: every year, in this month, on this day, remember your deliverance … rain or shine, life or death, convenient or not. Celebrate! Something new, something old …  

James says: put it all to work with prayer … let it live and move and have it’s being  … sins forgiven, the sick are healed … joy is gained … the prayer of those who look to God is powerful and effective … something old, something new.

Mordecai and James …  

Traditional Worship, Progressive Values …

Theme and variation … the fire and the fireplace.

Hallelujah and Amen!

9.22.24 "The Big Experiment" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Psalm 1; James 3.13 - 4.3

The Bible is a big experiment … 

From Genesis to Revelation …

Can human beings live a good and decent life?

The Psalmist writes:

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked … or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers …

The wicked, the sinner, the cynic … 

An unholy trinity … 

A threesome of misery and greed …

A trio of lost souls and sorrow …

Don’t go there, says the Psalmist … 

There are other pathways to follow …  

But, still, the question:

Can human beings live a good and decent life?

We are creatures full of contradictions … 

beset with fear and frustration … 

We can be cruel.

Selfish … miserable.

But within each of us, there is faith, hope, and love … 

decency, devotion, and wisdom …

we are generous and kind, wise and winsome … 

we are merciful and loving … 

we are profoundly intelligent … 

we are inventive and resourceful … 

we pay attention, and we help one another.

Can human beings live a good and decent life?

The strategy of faith is laid out … 

First off: Don’t succumb to the trinity of darkness: the wicked, the sinner, the scoffers … with their false clues, absurd conclusions.

Rather: Take your delight in the law of the LORD … and on God’s law meditate, day and night … 

Like a tree planted by a stream of water, in due time, fruit appears … leaves remain fresh and green …  

In times past, travelers would scan the horizon, in search of trees … pioneers pushing westward searched for cottonwood trees - where the cottonwoods grow, there’s water.

Find the water, not the dust …

Look at the good, not the bad …

Be aware of the bad, but keep your eyes on the good.

Find a mantra … a word, a thought … say it throughout the day, and when you can’t sleep … Jesus my LORD … all will be well … I am loved … God at work in all things for my good … 

We’re talented with meditation - with consummate skill, we meditate on our fears and frustrations … we lay in bed at night and imagine the darkest kinds of outcomes … years ago, I had a bit of a health issue, and before I found out it was nothing, I laid in bed and had myself sick, dead, and buried … I lost control of my mind.

We’re talented with meditation: we remember and replay a insult, a harsh word, a terrible moment … our mind rummages around the in the past, digging it up again and again … our mind conjures up futures that are likely never, ever, to occur.

We’re talented with mediation; easy with the negative … so we work to settle ourselves on God’s love … to be patient, to stay steady … to believe, again and again, in the promises of 

God: I will never leave you or forsake you.

Do this, says the Psalmist, and be happy!

Happy??? - in the deep places of the soul … not the passing happiness, or giddiness, of a new car, or a new job, but the happiness of knowing the heart of God … the soul within … not the opinion of others, nor the possession of things … there is nothing “out there” than can make us happy … it’s only within our selves … day-by-day.

God’s Law! says the Psalmist. The Law of life, the law of love, the law of freedom and goodness … 

The Ten Commandments …  

How do the Commandments begin? (trick question …)

The Ten Commandments begin with a Declaration of Deliverance:

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery … 

Only then, is a commandment given: you shall have no other gods before me.

Or, as I put it: 

Don’t waste your time with other “gods” … 

don’t spend your spiritual capital on foolish ideas and silly pursuits … 

Center yourself in the One who liberates, 

the One who sets the people free … 

Spend yourself here, devote your soul,

build your life, on the Eternal God of Freedom, and make something of yourself.

This is how I read the Bible … seek the light, find the love … 

Others read the Bible differently … 

People read their Bibles and move into the land of hate … 

A copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of a schoolroom is not the best way to honor God’s law. 

What does the Bible say?

Write it on the heart …

Psalm 40.8 - I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart …

Jeremiah 31.33 - I will put my law within them, says God, and I will write it on their hearts …

Which commandment is the greatest? someone asks Jesus.

Jesus answers:

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. 

And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

The Apostle Paul writes:

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

I add my own translation:

I may preach the greatest sermons in the world, and know my Bible through and through, but if I do not have love, I am nothing.

I may have all the right answers, I may believe in Jesus with crystal clarity, but if I have trouble loving my neighbor, my belief system stinks.

I may build the most beautiful church in the world, with soaring steeple and great organ, but if I lack love, it means nothing.

I may accumulate wealth and power, and have the world at my command, but if I lack love, all of it is just so much dust and sorrow.

“What is love?”

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

I don’t know what love is like for you … 

I hardly know myself sometimes, but this I know:

It’s good to be here this morning, and touch the hem of God’s garment … like the woman in search of healing … 

It’s good to be here, with one another … to pray, weep for the sins of the world, ament our own sins … and sing the songs of Zion … 

It’s good to consider the birds of the air … the lilies of the field … all creatures, great and small … it’s good to take a deep breath and listen …

It’s good to look upward and beyond - search the far horizon for the cottonwood trees, the streams of living water …  

The LORD God Almighty … whispers to us in the darkest of times, and in the bright moments of joy - you are loved, you are loved, you are loved … all the time, and everywhere, morning, noon, and night … from the first breath of life, to the first breath of eternity, you are loved!

This - is the Law of God!

Mediate on this, day and night … 

Amen and Amen!