February 3, 2013, "The Creation Story: What Does It Mean?"

Genesis 1 and John 1 (selections from both)

In the beginning … when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth had no form, and there was only darkness …

And God went to work … creating … with the Spirit hovering over the waters … and by the power of God’s spoken word … things happened … light emerged … water and land … plants and trees, critters and creatures of all sorts and shapes … and, at the last, human beings … in God’s own image … male and female … bidden by God to care for God’s creation … and it’s all good, supremely good, and it ends at the beginning of the Genesis 2, with a Sabbath Day … a day of rest for God and for humanity … because creating is hard work; caring is hard work … rest is essential.

As the proverb puts it, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Genesis 1 is powerful and beautiful … glorious and profound … gracious and kind.

Genesis 1 is poetry … it’s music and song, theology and reflection … and we’re pretty sure we know when it was written … sometime during the Exile in Babylon … 

A time when all was lost, and nothing made sense … 

It was all gone.

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept.

The glorious history of Israel was all gone.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel failed 150 years earlier under the domination of Assyria.

The Southern Kingdom, Judah, held on for dear life to make the best of it … but now Judah was defeated and taken captive by powerful Babylonian armies.

Prayers for deliverance failed … the walls of Jerusalem breached; the city of David destroyed … the best and brightest hauled off in chains to Babylon.

It was all gone now … the whole story was gone.

1500 years of kings and queens and marching armies and tales of conquest and victory, the ark of the LORD and the crossing of the Jordan … tumbling walls and enemies defeated … Saul, David and Solomon … palaces built, a glorious temple raised on Mt. Zion … all to the glory of God, or so it seemed, and now it’s dust … everything gone … the palace in ruins; the temple thrown town …. Jerusalem a pile of rubble … now what?

That’s the big question for the people in Babylon: “Now what?” … where do we go from here? … what do we tell our children? … what do we tell ourselves? … is there any hope for us? … do we yet have a future? … and what have we learned from all of this? … oh, if only we could start anew, things might be different? Could they be different?

A writer … a poet … a preacher … a theologian … began to muse … and began to write … 

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth ...

Here is something we can tell our children, the bigger story, the back story … there’s more to life than our own personal story … there’s a whole lot more to life than Israel and Judah, and our kings and queens and all of our marching armies and pomp and circumstance - those who live by the sword die by the sword … we’ve been there and done that … we have lived by the sword, and we have died by the sword but there’s more to the story …

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth ...

Genesis 1 is full of hope … God is creator still … 

Is life without form? … without purpose? … God gives form to the formless … and purpose to that which has no purpose. 

Is there only darkness? So dark we cannot see our hand in front of our face? … we cannot see tomorrow? … so dark, that all we can do is hide away and cry?

God creates light where there was once only darkness … the Spirit hovers over chaos and darkness … God speaks and life emerges … there is light.

There is yet hope for us!

Always hope … hope springs eternal, because God is full of hope, and we’re created in the image of God, and hope is powerful in all of us, God be praised!

What’s missing from Genesis 1?

There is no mention here of Israel or Judah … there are no national borders in Genesis 1, or lands to be conquered … neither enemy nor foe … neither kings nor queens, nor marching armies and gleaming steel … 

It is one world, a world without boundaries … God’s world … all of it created by the mighty Word of God … Let it be, says God, and it is … everything suffused with the light of God, full of creative energy … and supremely good!

The writer of Genesis 1 … the poet, the muse, the preacher, the teacher, a teller of tall tale tales in Babylon … we have to start all over again … from the beginning … we got it all wrong … we fell in love with ourselves … we thought we were better than others; others could never be equal to us, because we were God’s people, we were special … we believed in the power of the sword, and we gave ourselves over to violence …

We can start all over again … In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth … 

All of its creatures, great and small … and the strangest creature of all, you and me … created in God’s image … to care for God’s creation … to put our creative energies to work, shape the world, put our very own stamp upon it … help the world be fruitful and grow all the more glorious.

The poet, the writer, the muse, the preacher and the teacher … there is yet hope for us … our prophets were right: they told us to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks …

They told us to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.

They reminded us that no matter what, no matter where, God is our hope and our consolation … 

⁷      Though the fig tree does not blossom,

      and no fruit is on the vines;

      though the produce of the olive fails,

      and the fields yield no food;

      though the flock is cut off from the fold,

      and there is no herd in the stalls,

¹⁸      yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

      I will exult in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹      GOD, the Lord, is my strength;

      he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

      and makes me tread upon the heights. [Habakkuk 3]

500 years later, John puts pen to parchment and writes his gospel … In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … and the Word of God was incarnate … came to live with us, and we have seen his glory, full of grace and truth.

All things were created by him, through him … and though there be darkness in many places, the light shines bright and clear in that darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome the light.

And his name is Jesus … 

To believe in Jesus is to believe in life … to follow him is to spread life abroad where there is no life … to bring light where there is darkness … to bring peace where there is war … and welcome where there is rejection … 

To believe in Jesus is to refuse the boundaries and borders that require death and blood to defend … 

An aside here … something I read in the LA Times (January 13, 2013) this week ...regarding the immigration issues facing our nation, and most of the nations of the world … human beings are always on the move … check any of our genealogies, and we’ll find how much our families moved, all over the place, across borders, legally and illegally … to flee war, or poverty or starvation. Anyway, a 70-year old gentleman is interviewed, and he “wants gun towers along the border and guards with orders to shoot.” He says: "The point is some would have to lose their lives, but when they realized that they can't cross without being shot, they would stop."

I’m not surprised that someone should feel like this, but it’s the next piece that truly disturbs me - it says of him, “he sings in his church choir.”

And I have to ask, What the hell kind of church choir does he sing in, and what kind of church does he worship in, and what has he heard from the pulpit? … while he sings about Jesus, he talks about shooting people along our borders.

Could he stand before Jesus on the cross and say that?

To Jesus, dying at the hands of a powerful empire that killed all the time to defend its borders … could he say that Jesus?

I’m not surprised that some should think this way … but Christians can’t think this way … not with Genesis 1 and not with John 1.

The poet, the muse, the teacher, the preacher, calls us to transcend the boundaries that divide, the borders that kill … a world defined by God’s creation and God’s love. 

To believe in Jesus is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth … to love what he loves and do what he loves.

To believe in Jesus is to see all humanity as the family of God, sisters and our brothers are we all … red and yellow, black and white … they are precious in his sight … Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Turn to the beginning, when all things seems lost and hopeless.

Turn to the beginning, when hatred and fear take root in our hearts.

Turn to the beginning, when death seems so strong.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth … in the beginning was the Word.

There is yet hope for us and for our world; turn to the beginning.

Amen and Amen!

August 12, 2012, "The Blood Runs Red"

1 Kings 2.31-34

The great English novelist, Charles Dickens …

His Tale of Two Cities ...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, 

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, 

it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, 

it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, 

it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, 

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, 

we were all going direct to Heaven, 

we were all going direct the other way ...

Dickens’ description of Paris and London just before the French Revolution … describes well those fateful last days of King David … the transfer of royal power to Solomon.

David is old and David is dying.

What will happen now?

David’s older son, Adonijah, proclaims himself king.

He and his friends throw a party.

Bathsheba runs to David … tells him what Adonijah has done.

David may be old … infirm and weak.

But he knows betrayal when he sees it.

David declares that Solomon is the king.

David’s friends rally around Solomon.

Adonijah’s friends fear for their lives and flee to the four corners of the country.

There will be blood; everyone knows it. It is the way of kings.

David’s finals words to Solomon - a death sentence on General Joab - who killed General Abner when Abner came to David in peace … who killed Uriah so David could marry Bathsheba. Joab, a man of blood - David used him, but never trusted him.

David knows there can be no security for Solomon if Joab should live.

David breaths his last. David enters death ordering death for another.

Solomon secures the throne.

At his command:

Adonijah, the elder brother, is executed.

General Joab is killed, as David wanted.

The high priest, Abiathar, who supported Adonijah, is exiled.

Shimei, a member of Saul’s household, is put under house arrest in Jerusalem, and eventually killed at Solomon’s command.

The Bible says: In these ways, royal power was handed over to Solomon.

In the telling of these tales, a search for meaning and purpose.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel long gone under Assyrian domination.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah fallen to the Babylonians.

The City of David in ruins.

Solomon’s Temple destroyed.

Judah’s leadership exiled to Babylon.

How did we get here?

How did this come about?

One has to be brave to tell these kinds of stories … let the world see our dirty laundry … now is not the time for glossing over our failures … only truth will do … the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God!

God’s people came face-to-face with sobering truth:

We did it wrong … we closed our ears to the prophets; we choose violence over peace … we thought we were the only nation that God was interested in … we were filled with pride, and without sorrow … our best kings, sometimes wise and humble, were still kings: men of violence, war and death … death on every side … the blood ran deep.

Is there hope for us?

Answers are found in the Prophets - Isaiah for one, Jeremiah for another … Hosea and Amos, Micah, Jonah, Nahum and Malachi … hope:

There is yet another king to come.

One night, wise men in the east see a star, and follow it ... angels sing to shepherds in the field … the king is born.

Born in a stable, David’s town, Bethlehem.

30 years later, Jesus is baptized in the Jordan - the river of boundaries - on one side, the wilderness, on the other hope … in that river, on that boundary, to join wilderness and hope together, Jesus is baptized.

For three years, Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God, turns a few heads and overturns a few tables … until the powers-that-be can stand it no more … a mob is dispatched, Judas kisses the master … the powers-that-be choose Rome instead of redemption, choose power rather than peace.

A disciple draws a sword to defend Jesus; Jesus shouts at him, Put away your sword; those who live by the sword die by the sword.

I show you another way.

Beyond violence, war and death.

The way of peace … the way of a cross.

To follow me will take courage and require risk.

You, too, will have to take up a cross if you want to be a part of my work.

Dear friends in Christ:

Can we really choose the power of love today, or shall we remain stuck in old ideas?

A friend of mine recently wrote:

Everyone has a love; something they love or something they love to do. I have a niece who loves animals beyond measure and the art of animation too. And another niece who loves history. I have sons who are athletes with a love for all things baseball. If I ask them for a reason, I might just get a shoulder shrug or an "I don't know. I just do." And that's enough. Your love never needs a reason or a defense - it's yours. All we can do is support each other in finding what it is we love. And when we do, support each other in cultivating it.

Only in love and kindness … if we learn anything from the Prophets, we learn to live justly, to see that all are treated fairly, with special regard for the down and out: the widow, the orphan and the alien.

Because we belong to the real King … the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that the world might be reconciled to God … 

Dear friends in Christ:

Heaven is already ours; we don’t have to fret about the afterlife, or what happens to us when we die.

It’s earth that needs some fretting … earth waits for our redemption.

Our neighbors wait for love.

The dead in Colorado and Wisconsin wait for us to choose peace.

Millions caught in the crossfires of war wait for so called “christian nations” to put away the sword.

The world waits for God’s People to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, to seek wellbeing as God seeks, to calm the storms, to heal the sick, to take care of the poor, to build just societies that love peace more than war.

The world waits for God’s people to final figure it out: Death does not produce life; war does not produce peace; greed does not produce justice.

The world waits for “christians” to be Christians.

God waits for us to seriously follow Jesus.

The one who governs by the Spirit, not the sword.

By his own death, not the death of others.

A cross for a throne.

A wreath of thorns for a crown.

The King of kings, and the LORD of lords.

The Alpha and the Omega.

Jesus is his name.

And it may it be said of us: Those people followed him, and we knew it by their love. Amen and Amen!

July 29, 2012, "Takes Two to Tango"

2 Samuel 11.1-5

“Where did you get that filthy story?” she asked - pounding her fist on the table.

“From the Bible,” I said.

I can still see it in my mind, plain as day … the church kitchen … adult Sunday School … gathered around a table.

The lady had never heard the story of David and Bathsheba.

A grim story, for sure.

We might well ask, “Why did Israel tell such a terrible story about it’s fabled king?

It helps to remember where most of this material comes from. 

The Babylonian Exile - Judah defeated, Jerusalem in ruins, temple destroyed, leaders hauled off to captivity in Babylon.

Who went into exile?

Not the factory worker.

Not the tenant farmer.

Nor the single mom.

But religious leaders, political leaders ... shakers and movers … bankers and business leaders.

A time for tough questions:

“Why are we here?

“Did we fail?”

“Did we go wrong in our attitudes?”

Sometimes great failure is the heart and soul of great learning.

Let’s take a look at the story … 

In the springtime of the year … all sorts of things a-poppin’ after the cold and rainy winter months.

When kings go out and make war … ironic humor here? 

Like flowers in the springtime, kings make war when the weather turns - for what purpose? - “Oh, I don’t know; thought it was a good idea at the time.”

David stays home … an ironic smile or two right here - “If only David had made war instead of love.”

David pacing in the cool of the evening on his palace roof … 

And there he watches a woman bathe in her nearby home.

An eye-catcher, she was!

Did she know it?

But it isn’t question about Bathsheba - her beauty, whatever.

It’s a question about David.

Who sees what he wants, and wants what he sees.

He commands war, but lets others do the fighting.

Was David bored on his palace rooftop that evening?

Was Bathsheba lonely when she bathed?

The point is clear: David should know better!

He’s the man.

He’s the king.

He’s the one blessed by God.

He’s the one with the power.

David should know better!

Those to whom much is given, much is required, says Jesus.

David watches Bathsheba bathe, wants to know more … when he learns who she is, he sends messengers to get her … what can she do?

Her husband’s in the army!

Can she refuse the king?

She pays a fateful visit to the palace.

They’re intimate - she conceives!

She tells David who brings her husband home for some R & R.

“It’s Uriah’s child,” folks will say, conceived when Uriah came home, because King David is a kindly man.

More ironic smiles and raised eyebrows.

But Uriah stays at the palace: I have no right to be home while my men are fighting and dying in the field.

Uriah is an honorable man!

What’s David to do?

Food and wine, lots of it, that’ll do the trick.

But after an evening of food and drink, Uriah stays at the palace again … even more ironic smiles here.

David is out of tricks.

He pens a note and seals it, gives it to Uriah to deliver to General Joab.

David knows that Uriah will carry the note unopened. 

Unknown to Uriah, he carries his own death warrant.

Put Uriah in the front lines, find a battle; when the battle rages, call a retreat; abandon Uriah … Uriah must die.

General Joab does as commanded.

Uriah dies.

News is brought back to David … David sends a congratulatory note to General Joab. Well done, sir; well done.

When the time of mourning is over for Bathsheba, David sends for her.

They marry; a son is born.

The Bible says: What David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

How difficult it must have been for the leaders of Judah to tell this story about their fabled King David.

But Babylon requires truth … the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help us God.

National tragedies do that.

John F. Kennedy assassination … Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy … the Challenger explosion after launch … 9/11 … times that require deep questions, “Who are we?” and “What do we value.”

All was gone in Babylon … it lasted 70 years … that’s a long time to endure national disaster.

So they told stories, hoping to find some reasons for the suffering … maybe even some purpose … and hope.

The David story, sad as it is, isn’t about adultery, though adultery is wrong enough; the story isn’t even about murder, though murder is bad enough … this is a bigger story … the story of Judah - a nation having lost its way … when the blessings of God blinded them to God’s purpose … Judah gained the world and lost it’s soul.

The sins of Judah are detailed in the Prophets:

Wealth without responsibility.

Power without restraint.

Politics without compassion.

Religion without a conscience.

Disdain for the poor and the oppressed.

Unfair wages … scales and balances rigged.

Mortgage and banking systems tilted in favor of the wealthy; the poor couldn’t get ahead no matter what they did.

Sins of power and wealth destroyed Judah; Babylon was merely the instrument of God’s wrath.

Perhaps some said, “We should have had a stronger army!” … “We should have attacked first!” … “We should have spent more on defense.”

Others said, “Don’t worry. God will restore our greatness; we’ll be back home before we know it. This is a momentary blip in our story” [Jeremiah].

But no momentary blip.

No use crying over spilt milk and wondering what might have been.

This was a time for Judah to come face-to-face the sins of wealth and power … 

They told their stories with courage; they didn’t hold back or try to dress things up. They didn’t blink … and that’s why we have the Old Testament … and David’s tragic story.

Only in truth-telling, could they find hope - the God of salvation is the God of truth and the God of hope - God saves in the midst of our realities, not in some alternative universe.

Centuries later, the Son of David is born in David’s town of Bethlehem … angels sing to shepherds in the fields, and wise men follow a star.

The King of kings, the LORD of Lords; Jesus is his name … to finish the work; do it right.

Jesus gives his power away … and gives life to all.

No restless pacing in a palace, but walking the length and breadth of Palestine, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus welcomes the poor and the outcast … chides the wealthy for heartlessness and scolds religious leaders for hypocrisy.

He heals the blind … restores hearing to the deaf.

Cares for the lonely woman at the well in Samaria … forgives the woman brought to him for stoning.

Sees Zacchaeus up a tree, calls him down; gives him a second chance to use his money well.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

On this, the 29^th day of July, in the year of our LORD, 2012.

To God be the glory.

And to the Son of David, our thanks.

Because of him, we live. Amen and Amen!