April 17, 2022, "The Tower Still Stands," Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

 Isaiah 65.17-25; John 20.1-18

It’s been quite the week.

A little of this and a little of that.

A week of good things.

And even some sad things.

We’ve been on top of our game.

And we’ve been kicked around the block.

We knew what we were doing.

And we didn’t have a clue.

We were pleased and happy.

We were disappointed and ticked off.

We ran outta gas.

And a friend helped us.

It’s been quite the week … 

Holy Week we call it … and holiness means special, set aside, noteworthy; calls for our attention; God is holy, and holy smoke and holy mackerel - the smoke of incense rising to heaven, and fish eaten on Friday … 

Holy Week: a special week, a week that calls for our attention, a week that sums up, and gathers in, the ebb and flow of life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

What a week it’s been.

 

Christ enters Jerusalem, the people shout their dreams … disappointment sets in, the crowds turn ugly … the powers that be grow uneasy … things get messy real quick.

Pilate takes charge … Jesus is just another political dissident, a trouble maker, one of the usual suspects; better to crucify him now, fast and furious, to show the world some Roman muscle. 

Religious people had their own ideas, too … protect the turf, keep things smooth, don’t upset the applecart … keep the Roman Empire happy … a deal had been worked out - no one liked it, yet everyone lived by it.

The power of Rome and the power of religion!

They got together that week, the infamous week we call holy.

Judas was willing to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver … Pilate was ready to sign the death warrant and wash his hands of the affair.

When political power, and religious domination, come together, we can be sure it’s going to end badly.

From the bloody crusades of the 11th Century to the Inquisition of the 15th Century … from the suppression of Galileo’s scientific work to the burning of witches in Salem … from England’s Oliver Cromwell to Governor George Wallace of Alabama, from Luther’s hatred of Jews to the horror of the Nazi Holocaust.

When hyper-religion and power-politics meet up in the public square, it ends badly - there is blood to be drawn and death to be had.

What a week it’s been.

But time moves on, and so does God … another week:

The Empty Tomb … the surprise of it all, the truth about God’s creation, and our place within it … 

The Empty Tomb shouts to the world: life prevails … love wins!

The Empty Tomb shouts to the world … don’t give up, don’t give in … cry your tears, and look for deliverance … like Mary Magdalene by the tomb, weeping her eyes out, wondering what has happened … alone in that quiet place.

The rest of the disciples scurry away to the safety of their homes … Mary stays the course; she’s willing to weep … she waits in the sorrow of a broken heart. 

All her life, she’s heard the message: Wait for the LORD! And that’s exactly what Mary does … she waits!

And then it happens … a rare and impossible gift … two angels in white … and finally … Jesus himself … 

The angels give Mary a chance to pour out her heart … isn’t that what angels do?

These angels offer no advice; they ask about her tears, and they listen.

Pastoral care at its best - no advice, no preaching, no scolding, no goals to be had - just a question, a question, about her tears, and then, the angels listen. 

A gift for anyone in distress … God’s angels listen to us, and we can be angels for one another: we ask how it is; then we listen … listen for as long as it takes … angels aren’t in a hurry. They listen to a broken heart.

Listen … and be Silent - two powerful words: spelled with the same letters … Listen … Silent … Silent … Listen.

Sometimes I come home with my own little pile of burdens, and say to Donna: “Don’t say anything; just listen to me.”

To listen to someone, we have to be silent.

To be silent, means we can listen.

Mary turns around … wonder why she turned?

Was she done pouring out her heart to the angels? 

Did she hear something? Sense something?

She turns … there’s Jesus.

She thinks it’s the gardener.

I love that moment of misunderstanding.

Jesus IS the gardener … all things through him created, the Word of God … the first Garden of Eden … the Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb … the final Garden, the Garden of the new heavens and the new earth … the river of life and the tree of life, for the healing of the nations.

Jesus IS the gardener … 

Creating … giving life … making all things new … then and there; here and now … making all things new … here in this place and in our time, our lives, our world .. right here in our midst … in this place, and all around the town.

People of Westminster - the Tower still stands … 

When I drive up Lake Avenue, there it is … shining bright against the mountains to the north … the Tower still stands.

Yes, it’s steel and stone, and it’s so much more.

It embodies the hopes and dreams of every soul that has ever lived … the hopes and dreams of everyone alive today … and all the children still to come … a reminder … a reminder … in our world there IS a place where tears are honored with a holy silence, a place of peace and hope, renewal; a place where truth is told, love given, mercy extended, humility practiced, justice pursued, … with a generous welcome to all.

Dear friends …

The Tower still stands … and Christ is Risen!

Hallelujah and Amen!

"Politics and Religion" - July 19, 2009

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Did ya’ hear about the man who planted a light bulb in his garden?
He was hoping to grow a power plant!

Power … as Spock would say, “Fascinating.”
Power of all kinds fascinates us …
Thunder storms and lightening …
Crashing waves …
An F-16 roaring off the deck of an aircraft carrier …
The mushroom cloud …
And the power of powerful women and men …

Power is a strange thing …
In the right place, the right hands, power works miracles …
Power is a dangerous thing …
There is no soul more damaged than a soul damaged by power.

It was Lord Acton who said:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

It was Henry Kissenger who noted: power is an aphrodisiac.

Power seduces the powerful and beguiles them with the illusion of invincibility … powerful people are tempted to think more highly of themselves, and to value their opinions over others, simply because they have power.
Power is easily translated into moral confirmation and political privilege.
A friend of mine was pastor a very wealthy congregation – he constantly noted how difficult it was – the captains of industry rarely learned; what they were good at was giving orders!
Sure, these are simple human sins – we all play one-upsmanship, and “my ideas are bigger and better than your ideas” …
But power and wealth have a way of magnifying the sins.

Which is why Jesus offers a chilling reminder: It’s easier for a camel to slip through the eye of a needle than a person of wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven.

King David is a powerful man …
A string of victories as long as your arm …
Troubadours sing of his valor …

David is the quintessential philosopher king …
A visionary and a leader …
A warrior and a poet …

Power gravitates to people like David.
Power flows all the more to powerful people.
Sort of like the rich get richer.
The powerful accrue more power.
Power goes to people like David …

Maybe you know powerful people …
Maybe you’re powerful …

We’re all powerful with someone …
But with David, we’re dealing with power of another kind …
The power of kings and queens, popes and potentates …
Boardroom power …
Vested power …
The power of wealth and influence …
Power exponential …
Power of the highest kind …

Power from God …
All power comes from God …
Pilate says to Jesus: Do you not know that I have power … power to release you, and power to crucify you?
Jesus says: You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above [John 19:10-11]
All power comes from God!

David wants to build a palace for God.
David has a fine palace, so now it’s time for God to have one.
The crowning touch for David’s rise to power.

A city conquered.
A nation consolidated.
The Ark of the Covenant safe and secure.
David has it all.
David’s the king.

And now, to finish the deal, a palace for God.
A temple.
A fitting touch to an amazing journey.
To God be the glory.

David’s spiritual advisor says, Go for it.”
It’s a good idea.
A fine thing.
Just do it.

Ever notice how powerful people like to have spiritual advisors?
David and Nathan.
Nixon and Graham.
President Bush and Rick Warren.
Powerful people recognize the need for spiritual advice.

But it’s tough being a Nathan.
Did you notice Nathan’s first response?
Sure, go ahead. Do what you think best!
The LORD is with you.

But God has another idea.
That very night, God speaks to Nathan.
It’s not what David can do for me.
It’s what I will do for David.
God will David a house …

Verse 17 says it all: In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

I wonder if it was hard for Nathan to say No! to David.
I suspect it was.
Power is not easily challenged!
But powerful people need powerful people to challenge their power …
Without challenge, power becomes madness.
Without restraint, power, like a fire without a fireplace, burns the house down.
Power challenged is power chastened …
Power challenged is power cleansed …
We learn from Billy Graham, and from others who’ve been Nathans to the powerful:
Spiritual advisors are tempted to be toadies.
Perks and privileges.
Country clubs and yachts.
You bet, Mr. King, it’s a good idea! You’re da man!

But God had something else in mind.
God wanted David to sit back for a moment.
To consider the whole story, the rest of the story.
David, relax.
I don’t need a palace, I don’t need a temple.
I’m content with a tent!

This says a whole lot about God.
A humble God!
Modest and gracious.
Every Christmas, we celebrate the humility of God.
Born of Mary, in a stable, not a palace.
Born of Mary, in Bethlehem, neither in Rome nor in Jerusalem.
Born of Mary, not in the company of kings and queens, but in the company of shepherds and wise men.
Not power, but peace.
Not glory, but grace.
Modest and gracious is the LORD God Almighty.

God says to David:
I have been with you wherever you went!
In thick and thin,
In sick and sin.
I have been with you.

David, you’ve done a lot.
But it’s been my power at work in all things for good.
I took you from the pasture …
From following the sheep …
To be the prince over my people.
I cut off your enemies.
And I will make your name great.
And I will make you a house.

The greatest lesson powerful people can learn:
It’s God’s power.
When I was an associate pastor at Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh, Donna and I got to know Jim and Kathy Lee – Jim was head of Gulf Oil, then headquartered in Pittsburgh – Jim and Kathy were amazing Christians – they had learned well the lessons of godly power – they had given their lives to Christ, and practiced a Christ-centered life.
Godly power - power received from God and given back to god.
With godly power, God does even more!

There will be a temple, David.
But it’ll be built by someone else.

Another lesson the powerful need to learn: mortality.
Who can finish all the work that needs to be done?
David’s accomplishments were awesome.
But not even David could or should do it all.

It was Paul the Apostle who wrote:
I planted,
Apollos watered
But God gave the growth.
So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
[1 Corinthians 3:6-7].

Even the greatest of us is but a link in the long chain of history.
No one can do it all.
No one should even try.
We do our share, and then pass it on.

And God be praised, there will be others …
To take up the dream …
To gather the reigns as they slip from our hands.
Men and women of vision
Who will carry on, and finish the work.

In this remarkable story, God challenges a powerful man.
To teach David some powerful lessons:
God give us power.
God gives great power to some.
Great power is always a great temptation.
As if the power were ours.
As if the power were mine, to do as I please.

Like the rich man in the parable …
Rich indeed … powerful … everything he puts his hand to becomes gold …

He had more than he knew how to spend.
He says to himself,
I know what I’ll do, I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my good. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry’.

But God has another idea.
God says:
You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
Jesus says: So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.

David was on the verge of becoming poor toward God.
This is the temptation of wealth and power.

The blessing of God can go to our heads.
We assume we’re in charge.
And before we know it, we’re rich in the things of the world, and poor in the things of God, and we have lost our soul. What good does it do, asks Jesus, to gain the whole world if we lose our soul?

I learned a little mantra many years ago:
Power is from God.
Power becomes arrogant.
God brings power down.

David had to be challenged to hear the full promise of God!
Nathan had to say No! to David, so David could hear the Yes! of God!

I will build you a house.
Your family.
Your destiny.
Forever.

God blesses.
God challenges, chastens and cleanses.
God adds to the blessing all the more.

In the story that follows,
David accepts the challenge of God,
With humility and grace.
David comes and sits before the LORD.
Neither falling on his face,
Nor standing up.
Just sits.
Friend-to-friend …

David responds with humility …
Who am I, O LORD God? asks David,
And what is my house that you have brought me thus far?

David is a man after God’s own heart …

The simple realities of the story:
Religion and politics.

Religion at its worst: intimidated by power, religion is tempted to give its imprimatur to the plans of the powerful.

But God helps Nathan.
So Nathan can help David.
Because God loves David.
And God wants David’s power to remain clean and good.

David is politics; Nathan is religion.
David is the state; Nathan is the church.

Nathan couldn’t have figured this one out on his own.
But with God’s word, Nathan gains insight.
Religion at its best.
Guided by God’s word.
Willing to say no to even the biggest of dreams.
Powerful people need to be saved from the power God gives to them … to learn anew the lessons of humility …

God be praised.
In the nick of time, Nathan speaks to David.
Religion speaks truth to power!
And God be praised, all the more,
David learns the lessons of power.
All power is from God.
All power is for God.
And to God be the glory.

Amen and Amen.