July 24, 2022 "Latitude Is Our Style" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Psalm 85; Luke 11.1-13

J.P.L

Justice, Passion, Latitude …

These three words capture the heart and soul of the Christian Faith …

Justice is what we do.

Passion defines our commitment.

Latitude is our style.

I’m a train buff?

Anyone here love trains?

A good afternoon for me is a trip out to Cajon Pass on the 15 … get off at Cleghorn Road, a terrific place to watch trains … huge trains laboring up and over the mountains out of LA, or coming in from the north and the east for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Huge trains … multiple engines … sometimes with DPUs … Distributed Power Units - in the middle of a long train, or at the end, pushing hard … all of those units linked by radio-control - all working together to move tons of cargo across the nation.

It takes energy to move a train.

It takes energy to do justice - call it passion … the passion needed to join with God in the tasks of justice.

Which is why last week’s sermon was all about passion … passion is the energy needed to move justice into the world … just like those huge engines pulling those trains across the land.

Passion defines our commitment … a determination to stay the course, follow the Christ … abide in God’s Word, to be wise in what is good … to work for the good of all.

Passion asks of us everything we are, everything we hope to be … it’s a passionate deal … not for the halfhearted or those weak at the knees … 

Passion is the energy needed to move justice into our world

Which brings me to the third word, Latitude.

If Justice is what we do.

If passion defines our commitment.

Then latitude has to be our style.

Why? Why latitude?

Because Christian history is full of bloodshed and suffering … sad stories, tragic tales … when latitude was rejected, and domination accepted.

In the early 4th Century, the once-persecuted church became the all-powerful church of the Roman Empire - Christianity grew increasingly narrow and judgmental, as it grew more powerful … too many laws, too little love … the once-persecuted church now persecuted others … the Inquisition … the Hundred Years War, the Thirty Years War … colonial domination and enslavement of millions … the Salem Witch trials, burnings at the stake … the abuse of women and children … Christianity turned an ugly face to the world, to protect and promote its power.

Power is a good thing … it moves trains across the nation, it creates a just society … it wins the Civil War … it defeats fascism in Europe.

But when power is unregulated,  unchecked, when power is allowed to run its course, power runs amok … power becomes an end in itself … more power is needed to protect the power already gained - a vicious cycle that ends badly … that’s why we need latitude, a wideness of mercy … a broader view of the universe and God’s majestic love.

We need latitude … we all do … it makes life possible.

Let me tell you a story - college, 1968, or so, I was a middlin’ sort of a student, B B- kinda student … I took an econ course and had a terrible time with it - more my fault than anything … I was doing poorly, like flunking-poorly. 

One day, in the library, I saw my professor and I told him that I was doing poorly, that I knew it, and somehow or other, I just didn’t get it … I asked for some allowance on the final grade, and then said: “Professor Brouwer, I promise to never ever again take an econ course.” He laughed. 

When the grades came out, there it was … it wasn’t the F I deserved, but a generous C- … I’ve never forgotten him.

He gave me latitude.

I end now with some troubling thoughts about a ten-year old girl in Ohio … 

Abused and pregnant … 

Denied an abortion in Ohio, she and her family traveled to Indiana. 

A tragedy … aided and abetted by those who would force a ten-year old girl to bear a pregnancy … because somehow or other it’s “god’s will.”

An anti-abortion Indiana lawyer said that “his law only provides exceptions when the pregnant person’s life is in danger.”

He goes on: “[The girl] would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child.”

Tell a child with a broken arm: “It’s god’s will for that arm to be broken; it’ll heal on its own, and you’ll learn to live with it. Later on you’ll realize it was all for your benefit.”

Tell the parents of child ill with cancer - “Just pray about it - if it’s god’s will, the child will get better; if not, then accept your child’s death. Medicine is bad. Science is no good. Trust god!”

I, for one, do not want to live in that kind of world.

Latitude has to be our style … open minds, open arms, open hearts …

Flexibility, agility, adaptability … creativity, innovation, risk … doubt, uncertainty, caution … generosity, charity, thoughtfulness … perplexity, bewilderment, confusion … being able to say, “I don’t know” … “I’m not sure” but I’ll do my best to live the love of Christ … 

I’ll leave room, lots of room, for fellow travelers, strangers and stragglers, the world around me, a big world, a world beyond my touch, beyond my understanding, beyond my control … latitude has to be our style. 

Latitude softens the instincts of power … latitude keeps us honest and humble … latitude keeps our passion balanced and patient … 

Latitude finds a way, a reasonable way, a thoughtful, kindly way, a generous way, for that ten-year old girl … we know that life isn’t easy, and too many rules only make it harder. 

Latitude is God’s way … forgiveness and mercy … long-suffering and deep patience, forbearance and calmness; tenderness toward the vulnerable, mindfulness of the overlooked and forsaken … a divine Yes to the realities and challenges of life … more forgiveness than anything else … latitude is God’s way.

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,

like the wideness of the sea.

There’s a kindness in God’s justice,

which is more than liberty.

Justice is what we do.

Passion defines our commitment.

Latitude is our style!

Amen and Amen!

7.17.22 "Passion Defines Our Commitment," Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Psalm 52; Luke 10.38-42 

I have a friend!

He grows sunflowers … he’s been doing it for years … and every September 11, early in the morning,

he brings sunflowers to his local fire station, to commemorate the courage of the first-responders … when the planes crashed into the Towers, and the walls came tumbling down … brave women and men ran into the smoke and dust to save the perishing.

 Every year, my friend does this quietly, anonymously … he needs no recognition … the doing of this deed is sufficient … his wife and children know, and I know, too. And most of all, he knows … in his heart of hearts, he knows … this is a good deed!

 He’s a passionate man … passionate about sunflowers, and passionate about gratitude …

 He inspires me … 

 He inspires me to be passionate, about faith, hope, and love … passionate in grace, mercy, and peace … maybe it’s just to read a book … or have lunch with someone I haven’t seen for awhile … or sign up for a course, watch a good movie, take a day trip … pay attention … pay attention to the news, to the world in which I live, pay attention to what’s going on, who’s making the headlines, who’s making the noise, who’s telling the truth, and who isn’t.

To be passionate about the things of life, things that make a difference, things that count … things centered in the earth and its wonder … the people and cultures of our world … a full moon on a clear night, the welfare of the church and the truth of the gospel.

Last week Sunday we focused on the word Justice …

Today, the word is Passion … the second of our three-part series, J.P.L … Justice, Passion, Latitude.

If Justice is what we do.

Passion defines our commitment …

Passion … the deep and abiding energy of care … 

Focused by the love and care of God.

God cares deeply about God’s creation … God is passionate about you and me … the birds and the bees … the lily of the field, Zacchaeus up a tree, the children at the edge of the crowd.  

Commitment … care … concern … passion.

Not all passion is good.

Those who stormed the Capital on Jan. 6 were passionate all right, but their passions are of a world-view very different from mine, a world-view of fear and panic, bitterness and rage, religious domination, racial supremacy, homophobia, guns and scaffolds.

Christ and his passion is the model we follow … that of Jeremiah and Amos, John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul, Mary and Lydia … a thousand examples of compassion, wisdom, courage, and sacrifice … doing the right thing … careful thinking and sound solutions to the ills of the day.

The word passion is often associated with the suffering of Jesus … his trial, his crucifixion, his death … his passion.

Passion involves a deep and profound self-giving … giving ourselves to a cause, a purpose, a need … to those we love.

Love creates a cross … 

To love God with all that we are, to love our neighbor as ourselves … with Christ at the center.

Think of it visually … two vectors … Christ at the center.

The vertical bar - rooted in this earth, stretching toward heaven … the horizontal bar spreading wide around the world … Christ at the center … through Christ, heaven and earth, held together … through Christ, the world of need and hurt, embraced.

To follow Christ is to be with Christ at the center of the cross.

Jesus invites us to carry our own cross!

We turn now to the story of the day … a tale of two sisters.

It’s Martha who welcomes Jesus into her home … 

It’s her sister, Mary, who sits at the feet of Jesus.

Mary is a disciple … in a world restricted to men … Mary breaks convention.

Martha is uncomfortable, to the point of anger.

Martha asks Jesus: Don’t you care? Don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself. Don’t. you. care?

Tell my sister to get into the kitchen with me to make lunch; tell her to dust the mantle, sweep the floor, wash the dishes … tell her to get off her duff and do something.

Jesus responds pointedly: Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.

Preachers and theologians have complimented both Martha and Mary … softening the response of Jesus … suggesting that we need both Martha and Mary … we need Martha in the kitchen, and Mary at the feet of Jesus … we need both of them, because both of them are right, in their own way and world.

That’s true, in general - there’s work to be done - material work, hands-on-work, some assembly required … grocery shopping, lunch to be made, dishes to be washed and put away … we go to work, mind our business, pay the bills, do what we can.

Yes, to all of that.

But the point of the story is this: Martha’s mistaken … Mary makes the right decision … in that critical moment.

Nothing wrong with Martha … but in the moment, she missed the boat … she focused her energies in the wrong direction … she fussed with her many tasks when she should have been at the feet of Jesus.

Martha’s passion was misdirected … which is why she’s upset … when our passion is misdirected, it never works.

Nothing more is said in the story … 

I wonder …

Was Martha afraid to get outta the kitchen? … after all, a woman’s place is in the kitchen, isn’t it? If not in the kitchen, then in the laundry room.

Women had their place in life, and it wasn’t as a follower of a rabbi. Women didn’t go to seminary; women didn’t sit at the feet of a teacher.

A problem still present in our world:

Women denied opportunities of learning and work … suffering the loss of dignity … “men only” - the rule of the day in many a culture, and in much of Christianity.

To this day, issues of equal pay are still debated.

In conservative churches, women are denied their place in God’s kingdom … their voices silenced in the face of abuse and discrimination.

Conservative Presbyterians still believe that women ought not to be ordained to ministry - “men only.”

Around the world, women are treated as second-class human beings, or worse. Beaten and maimed, shunned and killed - in too many places, Christianity fails … fails to embody the passion of Christ.

Maybe Martha was afraid to step outta the kitchen. 

Yet, her frustration is evident …

How many women gave up their dreams? 

Because church and culture said “No!”

Women in ministry often had that calling early in their life … but they didn’t see women in the pulpit, so they had no model to follow … if they said something about it, they were likely told, “it’s for men only.”

Barriers have fallen in the last 100 years … women finding their voice … opportunities to explore their gifts.

We have more ground to cover, progress must continue, and still to be wary, wary of those who discredit women and take away their rights. As far as I can tell, the struggle is not about to end.

Today, we are called by Christ to be passionate in our commitment … nothing lukewarm here … nothing lackluster … nothing halfway will do.

We have models to follow!

Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Rosemary Ruether, Dietrich Bonhoeffer … they knew how to work; they weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, but they knew when to sit at the feet of Jesus, and they didn’t take “no” for an answer.

Sunday morning at Westminster - at the feet of Jesus … to learn of God, recalibrate our souls … ask deep questions … think things through … seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit … open ourselves up to the grace of God … pray and ponder … seek and find … in the far corners of our souls.

Here and now, in this place, in this moment, right now: we’re Mary, we sit at the feet of Jesus … tomorrow, we’ll be Martha, with many tasks to do.

Hallelujah and Amen!

May 27, 2012, "Winds of Change"

Acts 2.1-21

God doesn’t care what we believe!

That gets your attention, doesn’t it?

For the last 500 years, Christianity has made a huge fuss about “what we believe” … slicing and dicing the gospel into little bits and pieces:

The Trinity, predestination, salvation, damnation, virgin birth, heaven and hell, the last judgment, the resurrection, creation and eternal life, and 5000 other little points and pieces.

Doctrine.

Dogma.

Teaching points.

And then arguing about it, even going to war about it.

Methodists fought Baptists, Baptists fought Episcopalians, Episcopalians fought Roman Catholics, Roman Catholics fought Presbyterians, and Presbyterians fought amongst themselves!

All because of “what we believe”?

What does it mean to believe?

A living, vibrant trust and love and commitment.

But for many Christians, it’s all about ideas … cold, hard facts … points of doctrine.

What it comes to such belief ...

Even the Devil believes, says James.

The Devil believes in God, the Devil believes in Jesus, the Devil believes in the resurrection from the dead, and all the other things Christians fuss over … yes, the Devil believes, thoroughly and knowledgeably.

But there’s no love in the Devil’s heart … no loyalty … no commitment … not a shred of trust.

To simply believe that something happened, that something may be true, even to defend it and argue over it, this is not what God intends.

God doesn’t care what we believe about God! 

God cares deeply how we live for God!

The truth we live.

The mercy we show.

The forgiveness we practice.

The justice we seek.

The peace we create.

You shall know them by their fruits, says Jesus.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. … If we live by the Spirit, Paul writes, let’s follow the Spirit … 

When the New Testament talks about belief in Jesus, it’s all about trust and commitment and love and loyalty … a way of life that follows in the footsteps of Jesus … a way of life that embraces the life Jesus reveals … the quality of life laid out for us in the Beatitudes … the Golden Rule … Matthew 25, kindness to the least of these is kindness to me, says Jesus.

Think of the Apostles Creed …

I believe in God the Father Almighty … and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord… and I believe in the Holy Spirit.

I’ve heard the Yellow Pages read with more passion.

Lots of folks say the creed, claim to believe it, even fight over whether it ought to be “ghost” or “spirit” or “living” or “quick” - but saying the creed, or even fighting about what we believe about the virgin birth and resurrection, isn’t enough; not even close.

To capture the power of the original word credo, “I believe” … from the Latin, two words: cor, meaning “heart,” from which we get the word “cordial” or “accord” - and do, meaning to set, place or give… thus, to say, credo, “I  believe” means, to set the heart upon, or give the heart … to God!

We might translate the Apostles’ Creed like this:

I give my heart to God the Father Almighty … I give my heart to Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord … I give my heart to the Holy Spirit … and to the life of the Spirit … the church … forgiveness … resurrection … eternal life.

If we say to someone, “I believe in you” … 

It’s not their “physical existence” we believe.

We believe in THEM!

We rely on them, admire them, trust what they’re doing, and more than that, we want the best for them.

Think of saying all of that to God:

Dear God:

I rely upon you.

I admire you.

I trust you.

I want the best for you.

At the heart of the Christian life, a deep and abiding surrender … life given to God … love for God, love for the things of God … to love what God loves; to do what God does.

John Calvin’s motto … O LORD, promptly and sincerely, I give my heart to you … 

The surrender of the self.

All to Jesus I surrender;

Now I feel the sacred flame.

O the joy of full salvation!

Glory, glory, to His Name!

The Holy Spirit comes to the church.

The first breath of a new life.

The creation story all over again … a handful of dirt, the breath of God, the dirt becomes a living creature!

Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry bones.

Can these bones live again? God asks. 

Of course they can … by the word of the LORD … and breath from the four winds.

The word for Spirit in the New Testament, pneuma … we get the word “pneumatic” or “pneumonia” … breath, wind, Spirit … the same in the Old Testament, ru-ach - breath, wind, Spirit.

Like a mighty wind comes the Spirit, and with fire!

Life to the church.

The flames of love came to all in that upper room.

No one’s flame was bigger or brighter than anyone else’s flame.

All were empowered to proclaim the gospel in all the languages of the world …

The gift of many languages compels us to pay attention to one another … to listen carefully … speak clearly … strive for understanding … ask questions … learn other languages … in a world of many languages.

On the street of any major city anywhere in the world … Paris, London, Cape Town, Rome, Cairo and Los Angeles … many tongues, all kinds of dress … restaurants with foods from around the world … music and dance from every corner of the globe.

More and more even in small towns … the world is on the move, and getting smaller every day … peoples, languages … all on the same sidewalk, shopping in the same stores, going to the same schools.

Many languages … a gift from God!

Because there are so many ways to speak the language of love.

The language of love is bigger than one language!

The glory of God requires many languages, many words, many tongues … 

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace! 

Amen and Amen!

February 22, 2009 - "Clear"

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Two young boys were spending the night at their grandparents.
At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers when the youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs, "I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE. I PRAY FOR A NEW PLAYSTATION. I PRAY FOR A NEW DVD..."
His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf."
To which the little brother replied, "No, but Gramma is!"

That little boy knew exactly what he was doing.
He was crystal clear in purpose.
He wanted Gramma to hear what he wanted.

Clarity is a good thing.

Can we be clear?

About a few things … we have to be very clear.

To be a Christian, to be the church of Jesus Christ … to be a Presbyterian congregation … to be Covenant on the Corner …

To embody within ourselves something of Christ … his purpose and his passion, his grace and his goodness.

Purpose
Passion
Grace
Goodness

Such things must characterize the life of the church that bears his name … each of us must embody these things, in some form or fashion, because we are, as Paul describes us, ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Purpose
Passion
Grace
Goodness

As for purpose: simple! To the point and on target!
It’s all about love.

Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
Don’t judge one another.
Get the log out of your own eye before you mess around with the speck in your neighbor’s eye.
Forgive one another, and forgive one another many times over.
Pay attention to one another – see people around you: the woman at the well, Zacchaeus up a tree, blind Bartimaeus by the side of the road – there’s a world of hurt out there, a world of sorrow and pain, and we can do something about it; so pay attention; don’t be in such a hurry that you pass by one another with little heed and skimpy regard.
Honor God – God is, and God will always be, the guarantee of a life larger than life itself.
We’re all tempted to live small lives.
Life reduced to want and need.
Reduced to “my comfort and my consolation.”
But God won’t allow that to happen … at least not the God of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos; the God of Peter, James and John – a very large God, and when we let God into our heart, God begins remodeling – old walls torn down; little rooms expanded; additions made – the house of our mind and the rooms of heart grow large, to make space for a very large love!

When the disciples shoo away the children, Jesus invites the children to sit on his lap.
When the disciples want to call down fire from heaven and burn up a few towns, Jesus cautions them to show love and kindness instead.
When the disciples don’t get it, Jesus chides them, because Jesus knows full well how easily we pretend ignorance, how easily we let old ideas prevail; how we feign confusion.  When in fact we really DO understand, but would rather not.

I hear Jesus saying, “You DO understand. You know full well what all of this means and where it’s all going. Don’t feign ignorance.”

It’s all about love … and sometimes, tough love.

Religious systems self-absorbed; Jesus overturns the tables.
The uppity self-righteous; he tweaks their nose.
The powerful showing off their authority; he ignores them and shows them something better.

It’s all about love – that’s his purpose; and it has to be our purpose, too!

The next word is passion …
Full-out engagement!
Christianity is no armchair philosophy, but a life lived in the love of God for the sake of the world!

Jesus always calls for our engagement.
Jesus requires a piece of our life!
Sacrifice … not all the time, but some of the time.
Jesus wasn’t born with the cross on his back, but he carried the cross when needed, and when needed, he didn’t run away!

Sometimes the cross is needed.
That critical moment when someone has to speak up … stand in the breach and bear the burden of faith, hope and love.

A prophetic voice:
To trouble the kings and queens of the land.
Those who live in the power and glory of self-made importance – they need to hear a clear reprimand and a reminder of what life really means!
The subtle and not-so-subtle racism that still plagues our land … every form of exclusion and discrimination … anything that closes a door and deprives people of a fair and honest chance to make something of themselves.

Someone has to shine the spotlight of God’s love on these dark corners – these stinky places, as Jesus puts it– whitewashed tombs – all clean and pretty on the outside, but full of corruption within.
Bernard Madoff’s 50 billion dollar scam.
Allen Stanford’s banks and homes.
Millions spent lobbying Congress.
Over-the-top CEO salaries, protected by self-serving boards of directors, manipulated by fast-talking money-managers … too many MBAs looking to make a fast buck rather than make a living.
I suspect Madoff and Stanford are just the tip of the iceberg …
By the way, philosopher and all-around curmudgeon, W. C. Fields said: “You can fool some of the people some of the time - and that's enough to make a decent living.”

We have unleashed the horses of greed and desire …
We have worshipped at the alters of excess and glamour …
Everything bigger and everything better … on the backs of workers and at the expense of our nation’s health, and the impoverishment of millions of children.

Someone has to speak up:

For a living wage for LAX hotel workers.
For healthcare.
For better schools and a more equitable tax system, where everyone really pays their fair share!
For a way of life that’s more restrained and thoughtful, rather than driven by want and acquisition.
For politicians who are transparent and global in outlook, rather than secretive and nationalistic.
For business leaders who care for their employees and tell Wall Street to take a hike.
For religious leaders who build bridges rather than big buildings, who proclaim inclusion and welcome rather than separation and judgment.

There are those moments in life when we have to speak up and join together for the life imagined by Jesus – a world that’s true and right, good and fair.

“But preacher,” you say, “that’s impractical.”

Is Jesus impractical?

If anything is impractical, it’s our present world!

Look at the results; immeasurable suffering … wars and rumors of war … death, sorrow and sadness on every hand – the scorecard is in – our present world and the values we live are not practical at all.

Jesus is practical!
Jesus is the most practical reality in all the world.

His world and his way are the truth and the life.
It’s not that Christ has been tried and found wanting; rather Christ has been tried, and found to be hard!

But why so hard for us?
Why so hard to make the change?
We’re smack dab up against a sorrowful mystery.
The Bible calls it sin – the unyielding spirit of self-interest!
An even deeper mystery:
A world perishing will often choose to perish rather than live … blinded by the gods of this world, as Paul says.

If the church is to be of any real value at all, we have to offer an image of something better!
Look, we’re all in this together, and we’re not going to build Utopia – but can we do better?
After all Jesus prays, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Can we lift up for the world an image of justice and peace?
Can we link arms with folks of faith all around the world?

It’s not a matter of “if we can.”
I think it’s a matter of “we have to!”

And if you leave here today with only one idea firmly fixed in your heart: let it be this:
Jesus is the most practical reality in our world … 

And it’s our pleasure, our joy, our task, our burden, to embody his purpose, and to live his passion!

And sometimes carry the cross.

Now comes grace … amazing grace we all it!
A friend of mine said, “We call it amazing, because it’s such a rarity, but for God, grace is standard operating procedure.”

Can we make grace a little less amazing, and a little more common?
Religion can easily and often become anything but gracious.
In the last forty years, we’ve seen a hard brand of fundamentalism emerge from the backwoods of our nation to main street attraction – a hard-faced evangelicalism … a conservative movement harsh and unyielding in its denunciation and its judgments – tailor-made for TV and the fast-paced world of religious publishing.
We’ve seen the rise of what I call “bedroom religion” with a sexual fixation, anti-choice bias and a swift and certain condemnation of gays and lesbians …
A fundamentalism associated with wealth and power, big numbers and expensive ministries.
“My Bible verse is bigger and better than your Bible verse.”

How different the works of Jesus.
Of big buildings and expensive ministries, Jesus says, “None of them will last.”
But your love for one another – that’s what counts … 
Grace is the power of God to make all things new.

Grace abounding, says Paul.
Grace for the masses, for the lost and the lonely.
A place at the table for everyone.
Especially for those rejected by the usual suspects of power, wealth and religion.
The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ … and to work all the harder for grace – to make grace less amazing and much more common – a day-to-day thing in our life, the way we think and talk, the way we deal with one another – grace, plain old grace, to welcome and to accept, to encourage and to help – grace for the moment, and grace for the long-haul … grace today and more grace tomorrow – standard operating procedure.

The last piece - goodness.
To be good …

Micah put it well: God has shown us what is good: to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God.

To be faithful to something other than ourselves …
To grow constantly and grow beyond ourselves.
To pray often and pray deeply.
To be content and patient.
To be faithful in hard times and even more faithful in good times.
To search the soul diligently and seek the love of God.
To speak out and to speak up.
To defend the cause of the widow, the orphan and the stranger at the gate.
To be sure that the balance scales are accurate and there are no bribes in the land – that kings and queens govern with kindness, relying less on military prowess and more on economic justice.

Can we be clear about such things?
Of course we can … we have to be clear.

In the name of our LORD Jesus. Amen and Amen!

Passion - August 3, 2008

Romans 9:1-5

I like the Apostle Paul.

He’s my middle name.

I’ve often joked that my parents gave me the perfect name … Thomas Paul … Thomas the Doubter; Paul the Believer … and I’m somewhere in between: “LORD, I believe; help my unbelief.”

Believing always includes pieces of unbelief … and unbelief always flirts with believing … Thomas Paul … the Doubter, the Believer … for me, it’s a good combination … and I’ve always been grateful.

I’ve always been glad to share Paul’s name, and I’m glad to share in Paul’s vocation.

He’s a pastor …
He’s a missionary …
He’s a teacher …

Utterly humbled by his Damascus Road experience …

Paul is patient …
Paul is a man of Good News …
A preacher of grace … passionate about grace.

Paul is real … he frets and fusses like we all do … he gets angry, has regrets; he defends himself and then apologizes for being defensive; he’s at a loss for words, and he’s eloquent; he’s tender and he’s testy … in other words, just like you and me, he’s a sinner saved by grace.

I like Paul.

His credentials make him a voice worth listening to.
No armchair philosopher.
His faith is forged on the anvil of suffering.
Paul puts himself on the line again and again.
Paul knows the pain and humiliation of a Roman lash.
The filth of a prison in Philippi.
He’s been shipwrecked and robbed.
Beaten and belittled.
He’s been hungry and cold.

At one point, Paul asks, “Am I doing this for human approval?” If so, I must be nuts. But what I do I do for God [Galatians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:4].

Does Paul understanding everything there is to understand about the Gospel? … not at all, and he’d be the first to say so.
Should we take everything Paul writes with unquestioned literalness? … Paul would say like any good theologian – “Let’s talk about this. Let’s think deeply about Jesus. Let’s talk about grace.”

“I’m not the issue,” Paul would say.
“Jesus is the issue.”

Paul believes that God did something profound in Jesus …

For a moment, we have to put on our thinking caps … we have to remember that Paul is a Jew … when Paul talks about God, it’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … the God who led the children of Israel out of slavery, through the wilderness to the Promised Land … the God of King David and the God of the Prophets … the God who sent His people into exile and then brought them home again …

Paul believes that the whole story was headed for the moment when Jesus was born … that all the hopes and fears of humankind are focused in that Bethlehem babe … Jesus of Nazareth, the man of sorrows.

Paul believes that Jesus is the fulcrum on which the whole world is balanced – Jew and Gentile, free and slave, male and female; past, present and future – the whole world, the universe …
In Jesus, God is at work, reconciling the world to Himself.
Doing for humankind what humankind could never do for itself … to shoulder the burden and pay the price … to lift up the weary and heal the sick … to give sight to the blind and set the oppressed free.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is often dense and difficult … Paul is writing to a community he’s never visited … but he knows a few of them … Paul hopes one day to visit Rome and then travel on to Spain.

Paul never stops thinking about the world.
Paul’s vision is large.
Paul cares about the spiritual wellbeing of people … because God loves the world … God’s grace and mercy are present and obvious everywhere … yet Paul sees the terrible confusion that fogs the mind and heart of humankind.
Paul is passionate about people.

Paul lives in the Roman Empire … he’s a Roman citizen … he’s no one’s fool … Paul has seen the world and he’s seen it all.

Roman says, “Caesar is lord” … Paul says, “Jesus is LORD.”
The world expects salvation from Rome … Paul says, “The hope of the world is Jesus.”
Folks called Caesar savior … Paul replies, “Jesus saves!”

The end of Paul’s life is not recorded … the last we hear of him, he’s in Rome, imprisoned … under house arrest of sorts, with a guard. He’s free to have visitors, free to write his letters …

Tradition is murky at this point … but everything suggests execution … this is what Rome did to anyone who challenged its authority, who created a disturbance, and Paul created lots of disturbance wherever he went.
Paul is passionate about truth.

Our reading today is a fascinating piece of a very large puzzle …

[read text …]

Putting it as simply as we can, folks wondered if something had gone terribly wrong with God’s plan of salvation.

If Jesus is from the Jews, by the Jews, for the Jews, then why have only a few Jews acknowledged Jesus as LORD and Savior?

And if something has gone wrong, could Paul be wrong?
And if Paul is wrong, is the gospel wrong?
Have we gotten it wrong?
Have we bet on the wrong horse?
Have we hung our hat on the wrong peg?

People were putting their lives on the line for the gospel … so folks wanted to know: Is Jesus the One?

Is Jesus is the long awaited Messiah?
If Jesus is the way, the truth and the life?
Is Jesus is everything you claim Him to be, Paul?
Then why have so few of His own welcomed Him?

Paul was caught between an expectation of how things might to work and how things were really working.

Who hasn’t been there a time or two? Caught between expectation and reality.

We’ve made our plans, figured it out, put pencil to paper – googled it and talked it out with friends and family, and everyone says, “Yup, that’s a good idea.”
Then life takes an unexpected turn – events unfold in their own chaotic way, and who would’ve guessed.
Monday morning quarterbacks tell us we should’ve done it differently.
We find ourselves saying, “If I knew then when I know now, I would have made different decisions. I would have gone in another direction.”

That’s the hard edge for Paul …
Paul is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

Let’s step back for a moment … and think a bit more about Paul!

Paul is brilliant and well-trained.
He knows the story of Israel inside out and backwards.
He’s has spent a lifetime with God.

With a life-changing moment on the Damascus Road.

You know the story:
A blinding light hurls him into the dust of the road …
A voice addresses him, using his Jewish name, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Who are you, LORD? Paul replies.
I’m not persecuting you.
I’m defending you.
I’m on your side.
I’m doing what’s right.
I’m living my faith.
And I’m persecuting you?

In a blinding moment of realization, Paul’s certainty is shaken to the core.
The world, as he knows it, is suddenly turned upside down.
Everything up for grabs.
The story Paul knew so well suddenly grows strange.
This is an unexpected twist.
A turn he didn’t see.

Who are you, LORD?

I am Jesus!

But you’re not the one!
We tried you in our courts and found you wanting.
The Roman Empire charged you with sedition and executed you.
You’re dead and buried.
We put you away.
We’re done with all of this.
And I’m doing what I can to stamp out the remnants of this distorted movement.

Who are you, LORD?
I am Jesus!

There are some sidebars to this story.

The voice asks, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Ring any bells?
Of course … King Saul … Israel’s first king … from the tribe of Benjamin, just like Paul is from the tribe of Benjamin – like two folks discovering they’re both from Westchester.
Saul, Saul.

Echoes here of King Saul’s intent to kill David … the young shepherd boy, David, is hired to play the harp to soothe Saul’s depression, but in a fit of rage, Saul hurls a spear at David hoping to pin him to the wall.

David escapes … and the inevitable begins to unfold … David’s popularity eclipses that of Saul … time and again, Saul fails; David succeeds … Saul fusses and fumes and embarks upon a campaign to kill David, chasing David through the wilderness, persecuting David.

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

In this remarkable moment on the Damascus Road, Paul sees his murderous rage for what is - misdirected and ill-conceived … it’s all wrong.
Paul suddenly sees through fog of his own convictions and traditions – Jesus is the LORD God of Israel.
Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of the Cross … Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph … the LORD God of Israel.

The man on the road thought he knew so much, but now asks the simplest of questions: Who are you, LORD?

There’s a second element here … remember the call of Moses?
Moses the shepherd in Midian.
When off to the side, one day, Moses sees a burning bush … in the middle of nowhere.
I’d better check this out, thinks Moses.
And when he’s near to the bush, God calls him, Moses, Moses.

Twice named … just to be sure.
Saul, Saul, why do your persecute me?

When God commissions Moses to return to Egypt and lead the people to the Promised Land, Moses asks, Who are you, LORD? Do you have a name?

God replies, I Am Who I Am – Yahweh – I Am Who I Am.
When the people ask you, tell them “I Am has sent me.”

God’s name, I Am, Yahweh …
The sacred name … so sacred, Israel didn’t say it – they said, Adonai instead, and Adonai means LORD.

The LORD God Almighty … Yahweh … creator of the heavens and the earth … the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … the God of the Prophets …

On the Damascus Road, Paul realizes that Jesus is the LORD God Almighty … that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is Jesus of Nazareth.

Who are you, LORD?
I am Jesus!

And with that, Jesus says to Paul, Now get up and get on your way; I’ve got work for you to do.

And work Paul did.
To tell the story … now with a twist.
To tell the old, old story, with a new chapter.

What God started in Abraham has come to pass in Jesus.
Yes, we killed Him.
But God the raised Him from the dead and crowned Him LORD of lords and King of kings.

This is not what I expected, says Paul.
But who can guess the mind of God?
The ways of love are beyond our grasp.

A story to tell to the nations … a story of goodness and hope … a story to set nations free and liberate the soul from superstition and idolatry … to break the chains of sin and sorrow.

But it wasn’t long before Paul realized that others didn’t see it as he did.
Have you ever been convinced of something, tried to explain it to someone else, only to have them scratch their head and say “huh?”

The question plagues Paul:
If I have seen this, why can’t my brothers and sisters see it?

Could I be wrong?
Again?
I was wrong before.
Might I be wrong again?

Our text today has to be read in the light of the whole book.
Paul remains clear – all things work together for good, all things for the glory of God and welfare of creation.

Though my heart breaks for my own people, I know that God’s love for them remains intact … there will be a day when the barriers come down.

Paul is passionate.
He would trade his salvation for the sake of his own people.

Like a parent at a child’s hospital bedside, “I’d take my child’s place if I could.”
“I would suffer in their stead.”

So says Paul about his own people.
If I could, I’d change places with them.

But Paul doesn’t lose his confidence in the goodness of God … Paul knows that it will end well.

All things work together for good.
God is faithful.
The covenant God made with Abraham and Sarah remains … if there’s a strange twist to the story, so be it.

Stories have a way of taking a strange twist.
But God’s love remains.
The hope is right.
The vision secure.

I like Paul.
He’s a man of passion.

He met Jesus and followed Him to the end of his days.

I’m glad to share Paul’s name.

And with all of you, to know the Damascus LORD, our LORD Jesus Christ.

Amen and Amen!