4.21.24 "A Promise Made ..." Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Zechariah 10.1-12; John 10.11-18 

Across the pages of the Bible, the ups and downs of life … sunrise, sunset … all is good, and then it isn’t … 

The Bible has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember …

My home had s large family Bibles, illustrated by Albrecht Durer … dramatic, violent, wonderful, images … Moses on the mountain smashing the Stone Tablets … David’s victory over Goliath … Jesus baptized in the Jordan … the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse …  

The Bible’s a remarkable book … a conversation of a entire culture, spanning 1800 years or so … people of faith, in different settings, bane and blessing, peace and war, victory and defeat … trying to figure it out … just like you, just like me.

The Bible has inspired greatness of soul and mind.

And driven some to madness.

Proclaimed by great orators, women and men of great faith … and used by grifters, shysters, and hucksters.

Families and nations have been divided by it.

Nations and families have been healed by it.

Wars have been fought over it.

And its words have brought peace.

Never let anyone tell you: “The Bible is a simple book” … it isn’t.  

Parts of the Bible are - wonderfully simple …  and beautiful.

Other parts of it, dense, strange, bewildering, weird, and unpleasant …

The Bible is a library!

A library of a thousand different voices - they argue with each other, they contradict one another … some clamor for law and order, some proclaim grace and peace … some are afraid of the stranger, and some cross boundaries and reach for the world.

It’s a complicated book, but it’s clear about a few things, crystal clear: God is truth … God is love … God is light … 

God can be trusted when everything else is upside down.

God remains faithful even when we our faith fails … 

we can run from God, but we can’t hide … 

in the end, God will get us … 

not to punish, but to redeem … 

not to hurt, but to heal.

I’ve gone through a lot of Bibles in my lifetime - when I went to seminary, my Dad gave me a Bible … I have no idea what happened to it.

Since then, more Bibles - some fell apart with use … I’ve switched translations … I left a Bible on top of the car when putting something away, then drove off, and so did the Bible - I retraced my route, never saw it again. I hope it flew off the car intact, and maybe somebody found it and read it.

In Confirmation last week Sunday, the question came up about “science and religion.” 

I said, “there is no conflict whatsoever!”

if I want to know something about the universe, I’ll check with my friends at JPL … 

if I want to know why I am here and for what purpose, I’ll read the Bible. 

Science tells me what and how! 

The Bible tells me who and why! 

Science tells me about my body …  

The Bible tells me about my soul …  

They’re good partners … they dance well together.

Both are complicated, but they get along well together.

You don’t need a theological degree to read the Bible … 

You don’t need a driver’s license to drive a car … 

but a license to drive requires knowledge and passing a test; it’s the law … to keep the roads as safe as possible … no absolute safety, of course, so we carry insurance.

 

The Presbyterian Church has always required a “licensed” ministry - knowledge and tests  … like a driver’s license, it’s pretty good, and keeps things safe, but if a driver’s license doesn’t guarantee good driving, a theological degree doesn’t guarantee a trustworthy interpreter of the Bible.

Our tradition has also encouraged YOU, the laity, to read and study the Bible … to engage the ideas of faith from your own perspective of prayer, and reflection.

I encourage you to read your Bible.

It’s a slow process … folks try to read through the Bible in a timely manner, and some succeed at that, but I recommend random reading, at least for much of the time … 

just pick it up, 

let the pages fall where they may, 

thumb through it, and read … 

read often … 

not a lot at any one time, but often.

Don’t worry about understanding … just read.

A pen is helpful - draw symbols in the column … 

a heart beside a verse that speaks to your heart … 

a question mark for something that seems odd, or strange … 

an exclamation point for something that seems important … and little faces, a sad face for things that are sad … 

and a smiley face for humor - 

there’s humor in the Bible - some of it dry, some of it dark, but who can talk about life without a joke now and then?

and always underline … 

make THE Bible YOUR Bible … 

It’s good to rely on a minister to interpret the Bible … but it’s better for everyone if you’re working at it, too.

Don’t be afraid to use Google or Wikipedia … not everything on the internet is reliable. But it all helps.

The point is: keep on reading … become familiar with it … don’t hurry … it’ll take a lifetime, and then some … and the Holy Spirit helps us all along the way.

With all of this, I’m trying to be a good shepherd … that’s the thrust of today’s readings … in Zechariah, God says, I’ve got a problem with the shepherds! They’ve neglected my people.

Jesus applies the image of Shepherd to his own work - I am the good shepherd, says Jesus.

I’m trying to be a good shepherd … have I failed? Yeah, sure … let me count the ways.

But I’ve tried to be faithful … I’ve tried all my career to honor the Bible, treat it well, study it thoroughly, learn from it, grow in my life, and invite folks, just like you  to enter into its pages, ponder its words, and open your hearts to the love of God!

When I wrote this sermon, a parade of people came to mind … people whom I was privileged to shepherd along the way, and people who were shepherds to me.

Toots Adkins … 5’2” - not a tooth in his mouth, lousy health, shoes too big, lived all by himself in a tarpaper shack at the head of Camp Creek … taught himself to read by reading the Bible … prayed with the voice of angels - Camp Creek Presbyterian Church, Camp Creek, West Virginia.

Marge Bennet, organist and choir director … her husband, David - piano player, drama producer … Third Presbyterian Church, Altoona, Pennsylvania

James Lee, president of Gulf Oil Company … travelled across the world to get back for an important Session meeting … Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh.

Ray Madson, volunteer fire fighter, contractor, a man who got things done … Radisson Presbyterian Church, Radisson, WI

Carol McMasters and her husband Clyde, First Presbyterian Church, Sapulpa, OK.

Bob Seymour, an architect, who heard the call of God, went to seminary, became a chaplain … St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Livonia, MI.

Don Battjes, high school classmate, puppeteer, museum administrator, and a faithful member of First Congregational Church, LA.

Sharleen Piereson, George Coulter, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena. 

They’re gone now … they did the needed work … they were good shepherds, in their time and place.

God bless them, one and all … and now it’s your turn: God bless each of you … 

Amen and Amen!

9.10.23 "Be Careful What You Say!" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Psalm 119.33-40; Matthew 18.15-20

Our reading this morning from Psalm 119 is a prayer … 

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law …

Lead me in the path of your commandments …

Turn my heart to your decrees …

Turn my eyes from looking at vanities …

There is a body of knowledge available to us … a world of guidance and insight … 

We are not at a loss as to what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, nor are we at a loss for what it means to love our neighbor as we love ourselves …

The Christian Life is something we all want to achieve … it’s a journey of a lifetime, and then some … we never arrive … we’re always in motion … life is motion, change, movement, all the time …  

In the mix of time, the presence of God … the love of  God at work in all things, for good … at work in every form of life, in every soul, in every one of God’s creatures, in the ebb and flow time.

We’re connected … connected to God, connected to one another … the whole human race is our kinfolk … as President Biden recently said: “One Earth, one Family, one Future.”

 The world is our family, because “this is my Father’s world.”  

He’s got the whole world in his hands … he’s got the wind and the rain … the tiny little baby … you and me, brother and sister, in his hands … he’s got everybody here, the whole world, in his hands.

I cannot explain such things - my mind simple isn’t big enough, nor do I have words grand enough.

I cannot explain such things - but I can practice goodness.

I cannot explain such things - but I can dig into the treasure house of God’s Word … yes, the Bible … from Genesis to Revelation, and everything in between, including the index, the footnotes, and the maps.

Now … let’s be clear about something … there are people who fill their lives with the Bible, and live like hell … 

Folks came to these shores in search of religious freedom, and quickly took it upon themselves to mistreat and destroy the indigenous population … and they did it in the name of Jesus.

They scoured the coasts of Africa, and took on board thousands of people in chains … and they did it in the name of Jesus.

Every day, I see the news - screaming and scuffling, disrupting - books banned, freedom curtailed, seeds of mistrust and confusion sown all over the land … and much of it in the name of Jesus.

The Rev. Fred Craddock said, “It’s possible to get an A in Bible and still flunk Christianity.”

With that in mind, we pick up this Sacred Text, the Holy Bible, God’s Word, and read it with intelligence, wisdom, restraint, and hope … 

Read it like we would any book - parts make sense, parts are downright strange, odd, and even disagreeable. 

It’s the story of a people, just like you and me, with good days and bad days, trying to live out the love and purpose of God - 

sometimes with success, 

sometimes in abject failure … 

sometimes proclaiming the gospel of forgiveness, 

sometimes smashing the world in the face with hellfire and damnation.

I encourage you to read the Scriptures as often you can … not to understand, but to become familiar with its cadence, the flow of its words … rhythm, beat, rhyme and form … 

The stately Creation Storie of Genesis 1, 

the struggle for identity in Leviticus … 

stories of greatness and failure - 

kings and queens, priests and prophets - 

the ultimate failure of the whole project … 

Israel destroyed under the iron heel of dominant powers 

And then that little manger in a little town in a time and a land far away … 

a little baby is born and becomes a boy, and then a man, who wades into the Jordan River to be baptized by John … 

we can hear and feel his work and words … 

and the work and words of the Apostle Paul … 

the wisdom of James and Peter … all the way to the wild and wooly Book of Revelation … and the end of time.

I’ve known people to start reading the Bible with great energy, but soon the task is more than most can handle … it’s a daunting book, and too many preachers have misled their people by telling them, “The Bible is simple book!” Which it isn’t.

“Read it in faith,” they say. But all the faith in all the world cannot replace common sense, knowledge, learning, and the diligent study.

Preachers tell preposterous stories.

The Bible in the pocket that saves a soldier’s life from an enemy bullet … impossible stories of healing and wealth, as if the Bible were some kind of magic amulet, a genie’s lamp to be rubbed, a good luck charm, a rabbit’s foot in the pocket.

Preachers read through the Book of Revelation and claim to know how the world will end - they devise elaborate calculations, they twist and turn, dance and prance, and the crowds flock to hear them.

These are catastrophic misreadings of Scripture … they lead to confusion, disappointment, and the growing violence of White Christian Nationalism … it sickens me, and keeps me awake at night.

TV and the internet haven’t helped, either … the preacher in Tennessee who tapes a Bible to a baseball bat and proceeds to smash to smithereens a Barbie playhouse … the audience goes crazy, cheering and screaming, yes, all in the name of Jesus.

It’s up to us, dear friends … to read the Bible well, to read it with care … lest we become lost in some religious foolishness, some religious bigotry, some outlandish nonsense, or simply give up, as so many are doing … abandoning the church, because the church has failed to lift up the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, has failed in the test of time, has spent way too much damning others rather than celebrating life and widening the circles of freedom.

I’ve entitled today’s sermon, “Be Careful What You Say!” 

Because words are powerful … are they not?

We try our best to speak with care, but words often come out, jumbled, upside down, and confused. 

“What did you say?” we might say to a friend, or they to us. 

We might say, “I didn’t mean that,” and our friend thinks, “Well, what the heck did you mean?”

We go to bed at night, our mind churns with the cruel words someone said to us  … maybe we lay awake, regretting what we said, in the heat of the moment, in the haste of anger and fear.

On the good side of the ledger:

A teacher compliments a student, and the student goes home with a smile a mile wide … a spouse says, “I love you all the way to the moon and back again,” and life is wonderful … a boss says, “Well done,” and new energy is released.

Words are a gift … by a word, God creates the world and says it’s good … the Word of God is born in Bethlehem …  

Whatever we do, it’s best when it’s done together … yes, together, the whole parade can go to hell and march into the pits of darkness - Mussolini’s Black Shirts, Hitler’s Brown Shirts, the mob that stormed the capital. There is power when we’re together, but the power can be demented, evil, destructive, deadly.

But, still, going it alone is a poor subtitle for the goodness of the sacred community, the church of Jesus Christ … not the buildings, the programs, but the people … who speak the language of love.

God speaks to the world … and we learn … we do it together - TOGETHER …  

Jesus says: where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there.

Jesus, in our midst … that we might know the goodness of God, that we might give ourselves to Christ, learn of Christ, learn the language of Christ, the language of faith, hope, and love; grace, mercy, and peace.

Watch what you say, and you might be surprised, when the words you say have the character and quality of Jesus.

Amen and Amen!