tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63602857555946614572024-03-13T14:04:19.034-04:00Reflections from the Dartmouth ChaplaincyUpdates from the Dartmouth Chaplaincy. Thoughts from Dartmouth College Chaplain and Dean of the Tucker Foundation, Richard Crocker on life, faith, the academy and everything else.Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-29684808367662550312018-08-01T10:30:00.000-04:002018-08-01T10:30:07.606-04:00Irreconcilable Differences?<br />
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Richard R. Crocker<span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span>Psalm
89:20-38<o:p></o:p></div>
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Irreconcilable differences?<span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span>2
Samuel 7:1-17<o:p></o:p></div>
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Norwich Congregational Church<span style="mso-tab-count: 5;"> </span>Ephesians
2:11-22<o:p></o:p></div>
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Norwich, VT<span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span>Mark
6: 30-34-53-56<o:p></o:p></div>
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July 22, 2018<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All of us are
different. None of us have exactly the same opinions or experiences or
perspectives on life. Even if we all speak the same language, we can use the
same word and have different meanings. We want different things. But, most of
the time, in our common life, we can manage those differences. We don’t allow
the differences to interfere with normal courteous interaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But sometimes people have
irreconcilable differences. They can be about trivial things – like the trope
going around on the internet where people disagree about the color or shape of
an object. There is no way that dress is purple; it’s green, not purple., and
that’s a fact! Luckily, we do not usually come to blows over such differences,
because they are trivial. But then, what about our political opinions? Have you
ever been able to convince someone who voted for Trump that they should have
voted for Hillary, or vice-versa? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably
not. And those political opinions can become so strong that we can’t stand
being around those who disagree with us. I am no longer using Facebook. I simply
could no longer deal with being assaulted by the posts of my many friends who were
so eager to make me see the light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Differences can become
irreconcilable; that is, they become so important that they break apart
friendships, or families, or churches. Or nations. Remember our own Civil War –
from which our nation has not yet fully recovered. Lincoln was correct when he
said “ a government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.” That
irreconcilable difference led to a war that is still, by far, the bloodiest in
our national history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the memory of
different feelings about the Vietnam War still resonates in my life - as
perhaps also in yours.</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Irreconcilable differences also occur
in religion. All of us Protestants, whether we know it or not, stand with
Luther when he said, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” We became Protestants
because of irreconcilable differences with the authorities of the Roman Catholic
Church. Wars resulted. But then the Protestants began to split, endlessly. My
own church, the PCUSA, split in the 1960’s when some churches could not agree
to the ordination of women; it split again in the 1990’s over the issue of
ordaining gay church officers. These were seen as irreconcilable differences. They
still are. They no longer matter so much to most of us now because we have
agreed, most of us in this congregation anyway, I expect – that God loves us
all, despite our differences in theology. But that perspective was hard-won, and
it is not shared by everyone – not even by all Christians; and it is still
quite fragile – especially when we remember the religious conflicts still
prevalent in places as close and recent as Northern Ireland and as far away,
but contemporary as Egypt, Sudan, and Syria and perhaps even in our own nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My intention
today is to help us understand persistent and sometimes virulent differences in
our own religious tradition – especially the differences between Christians and
Jews. We cannot really understand the scripture passages that we have read
today without addressing these differences, and seeing how they became
apparently irreconcilable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we look
at our old testament lessons today – the lessons from Psalm 89 and from 2<sup>nd</sup>
Samuel – there is one concept that is central to both of them – which is God’s
promise to David, and to the Hebrew people, that the royal lineage of David
will be preserved forever. In second Samuel God speaks to David through the
prophet Nathan and says: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with
your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth
from your body, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever….. Your house
and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be
established forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And in Psalm 89:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>v. 20: I have
found my servant David. With my holy oil I have anointed him; my hand shall
always remain with him; my arm also shall strengthen him; … (27) I will make
him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Forever I will keep
my steadfast love for him, and my covenant with him shall stand firm. I will
establish his line forever, and his throne as long as the heavens endure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…(34) I will not violate my covenant, or
alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once and for all I have sworn by
my holiness; I will not lie to David. His line shall continue forever, and his
throne endure before me like the sun. It shall be established forever like the
moon, an enduring witness on the skies.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These are
pretty definite statements, made almost 3000 years ago. After David, there were
kings in Judea – good ones and bad ones – but kings, for almost 1000 years.
Even when the Israelites were overrun and taken captive, there was the hope
that the throne of David would be re-established, because it was the promise of
God. And in those many years, the books of Jewish law, the priestly law – what
we call the ritual law, or the codes of purity contained in books like
Leviticus and maintained through the teaching of the rabbis and the words of
the prophets, guided Jewish life. When the great kingdoms of Assyria and
Babylonia and Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire subjugated the Jews, two
things held them together: the expectation of a king in the line of David – a
Messiah; and the laws that governed their daily lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And then came Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We know about Jesus, don’t we? We are like those people in
the gospel lesson today – those who flocked to him, because of his teaching and
because he healed them – those people who came to think that he might indeed be
the long awaited Messiah, the along awaited King. He gave them a new
understanding of the law; he said he had not come to the righteous ones, but to
sinners. Well, the Romans put an end to that, didn’t they, when they crucified
him. Didn’t they? Didn’t they put an end to it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Strangely, no they didn’t – because
his disciples said that he had risen from the dead, that he continued to teach
them, that he ascended to heaven, and promised them that he would come again to
bring in his rule – a rule that transcended earth and death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now this was a very hard thing to
understand. It was very hard for his followers; they were confused and yet they
were certain that he had been raised. Who was he anyway? A carpenter? The son
of Joseph, who was from David’s line? Well, yes, some of his followers said,
Jesus was descended from David, through Joseph, his father. He was the promised
king. But others said he wasn’t really physically descended from Joseph; rather
he had been born directly from God. He was God’s son. Or at least some of them
thought that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So far, I am sure are with me, I am
not telling you anything that you haven’t heard before, I am sure. But now I
want to tell you something that you don’t hear so often, even though it is
true. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The Christian Bible as we have it was
not consolidated, verified, authorized or canonized until almost 300 years
after Jesus’ life. During those three hundred years, there were many different
kinds of Christian communities, with many different<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- sometimes rival – leaders and beliefs.
There were differences that became irreconcilable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the major differences was among those
who, following Peter, and perhaps Jesus’ brother James, saw continuity between
the Jewish and Christian traditions – who saw a place, in Christian life, for
observance of Jewish law and ritual --- and others, supremely in Paul, who saw
in Jesus a new covenant, inclusive of Gentiles, dependent only on God’s grace,
not on the Jewish law. There was rivalry between these groups, and many others,
about what exactly Christian faith was, what its message was, and what
constituted discipleship. This rivalry continued until the Emperor Constantine,
after having become a Christian, wanted his empire to have one religion even as
it had one Emperor, and in the conference of bishops from all the world that he
called at Nicea, in what is now Turkey, in the year 325. He kept them confined
until they could come up with one authoritative scripture – one Bible, and one
authoritative church, with its all powerful bishop in Rome - the one who came
to be called the Pope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We now know,
through the almost miraculous discoveries of modern archeology, that the
gospels selected for inclusion in what we call our New Testament were not the
only gospels. There were other gospels, attributed to Thomas and Mary Magdelene
and Peter and others, that were discarded, condemned, destroyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in the canonical gospels – Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John - there are different ways of understanding Jesus. This
tension is implicit in <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">the beautiful and challenging words of Ephesians - a letter
to an early group of Christians either written by Paul or written by one of
Paul’s disciples. The group contained ”gentile Christians” as well as, perhaps,
some “Jewish Christians.” What was being addressed was the emerging issue, the
emerging irreconcilable difference, in their understanding of the authority of
Jewish tradition, especially Jewish law, versus their understanding of Jesus. in
it, we hear Paul say – in these lovely, powerful, but in the context of the
first three centuries of the Christian era, very controversial words: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth,
called “the uncircumcision” – a physical circumcision made in the flesh by
human hands – remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who
were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our
peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the
dividing wall; that is the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its
commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity
in place of two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in
one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So
he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those of you
who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the
Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens
with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the
cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a
dwelling place for God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These words of
Paul, or his follower, have been used by Christians to discount Judaism; indeed
they have been used, recklessly and blasphemously, to justify the persecution
of Jews. They came to represent irreconcilable differences. For Jews, the
expected Messiah has not arrived; there is no king on the throne of David; their
law has not and can never be repealed. For Christians, the king has arrived and
reigns in a spiritual sense even now; he will reign more completely in time to
come. For Jews, the laws remain, as God told them. For Christians, the spirit
of Christ has replaced the written law. The walls have been broken down. Some
early Christian groups emphasized continuity with Jewish tradition; others
emphasized discontinuity. Differences of opinion became irreconcilable; church
and synagogue became mutually exclusive, with sometimes disastrous results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my career
as a pastor, chaplain, professor, I have been blessed to know many wonderful
young people – over extended periods of time. I recall, especially today, a
student from long ago who was among those who was a spiritual pilgrim, a seeker
– attending chapel, political discussions, social protests, He was very
confused about his vocation after college – considering all sorts of option. He
was a from a Jewish family, but he was interested<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>even in ministry. Finally he decided to
become a psychologist. I saw him once, later, in New York City, and we
discussed his pilgrimage. By this time, he was not only a psychologist, but
also had become an Orthodox Jew – one who attempts to observe in his daily life
all of the 641 laws in the Hebrew scriptures. In our discussion, I asked him
why, having considered becoming a minister, he had embraced orthodox Judaism.
He answered, characteristically, with a question of his own: if Christians
believe in the Bible, why don’t they observe the law?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I could have
said, “read Ephesians.” Instead I said, “I am glad you find living your life
according to Jewish ritual law meaningful. We are different in our
understanding of faith, but Christ has made us one.” I knew that, and I think
he did too. Once we were far off, but now we have been brought near. Christ came
to create “one new humanity.” Our differences remain, but they are not
irreconcilable. They are all subsumed in the two great gospel proclamations: first,
God loves us all, and, second, in the central, unique teaching of Jesus –“Love
your enemies.” And the proof of both of these teachings is this: That while we
were sinners, Christ gave his life for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, it’s
time for his sermon to end, and I can hear some of you saying in your minds,
“Well, preacher, you’ve talked a lot, but what is the take-away message of this
sermon?” Fair question. The take away is this: Christianity is about overcoming
differences, not erecting them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He drew a circle that shut me out--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But Love and I had the wit to win:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We drew a circle that took him in!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>-
Edwin Markham (1852-1940)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-79459520175761275612016-07-26T15:06:00.002-04:002018-04-27T10:55:40.770-04:00Essntial Prayer<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Essential Prayer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">July 26, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Matthew 6:5-15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Luke 11:1-13 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> As you might have gathered from the scripture readings,
this is a sermon about prayer. You will notice that I have done something
unusual in in choosing, for our hearing, two gospel passages – the lectionary
passage for today from Luke, and its somewhat parallel passage from Matthew. I
know that this is against the rules, but I will take the risk, since neither
Tom nor Ernie is here. Both passages, as you heard, talk about Jesus giving
instruction in prayer, and, in particular, giving his disciples a model prayer,
the words of which we have come to call the Lord’s Prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Now, I assume that all of you
know, by heart, the Lord’s Prayer. You probably know the prayer as it is
recorded in Matthew’s gospel, rather than the shorter version we find in Luke.
Luke’s version, as saw in your pew Bibles, omits some of the phrases that
Matthew includes. The problem is that the various ancient biblical manuscripts,
which form the basis of our Bible, sometimes say different things. Because the
manuscripts were, of course, hand-copied, usually by monks, over many
centuries, words were added or omitted through the ages. Any good study Bible
will tell you, through footnotes, the variations. Thus, if you are a Catholic,
your acquaintance with the Lord’s Prayer comes from the traditional Vulgate,
translated by St Jerome from Greek to Latin. In manuscripts that he was using,
what we Protestants call the ending of the prayer - “For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever (and ever) -Amen” is not there. If you are attending
Catholic worship and start to add those phrases when the prayer is recited, you
are outed as a Protestant. But when the premier English Protestant Bible, the
King James Bible, was translated in 1611, the authorities used a Greek
manuscript that had, added in the margin, For thine is the kingdom, the power,
etc. So it was incorporated into our Bible, and our tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">But
these are merely items of interest; they are not the point of this sermon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">“What
is the point?”, you ask? Well, I haven’t got to that yet. I’ll tell you when I
do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Actually,
the main question I kept thinking about, after I received the kind invitation
to preach today, was: Why bother with church? And that still is the underlying
question I’m pondering. I hope to approach some sort of answer by the time I
conclude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Why
bother with church? I realize of course that you may not be asking that
question right this minute – though perhaps you are – because you are here. You
must have a reason to be here. But what is that reason? And why is it that
fewer and fewer people, according to recent surveys – seem to bother with
church?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I
think the answer has something to do with prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Note
the different ways in which these two gospels introduce the Lord’s prayer. In
Matthew, it is part of a longer discourse that Jesus is giving on prayer, where
he talks about hypocrisy and public display. But in Luke, Jesus responds to a
direct request from his disciples, who come to him and ask him to teach them to
pray. But why do they do that? It’s funny. Luke says the disciples say, “Lord,
teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” Hmm. Very interesting.
Paraphrasing, the disciples say, “Lord, John has taught his disciples to pray,
but you haven’t taught us. John’s disciples know more than we do. Teach us to
do what they can do.” Hidden beneath the surface of this text is perhaps a
latent competition between disciples of John and disciples of Jesus. Which knew
more? It reminds me of a time when my children were small. Stephen, in first grade, was envious of his
older brother, Daniel, who was in third grade. One day Stephen complained to
us, ”Daniel knows all about vowels, but I don’t even know what vowels is.”
Jesus’ disciples did not want to fall behind John’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Now
we assume that the John mentioned here is John the Baptist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">So
you see the problem: John’s disciples were Baptists, and Jesus’ disciples were
Congregationalists. Or maybe Presbyterians. In the Baptist tradition, which I
know very well, having been brought up in it, people are taught to pray, aloud,
when called on. And in most Baptist congregations, the preacher often calls on
a member of the congregation – often a deacon, but not always – spontaneously
and without warning, to lead the congregation in prayer. And if you are
properly trained, you are prepared to do that. You stand up and pray, often for
a long time, making an all-inclusive list of things to be prayed about. If I called on anyone in this congregation
today to lead us in prayer spontaneously, some of you might need medical
attention. Jesus’ disciple, who were Congregationalists and Presbyterians, needed
a definite prayer, preferably short, that they can read, or memorize. Else they
have no idea what to say. The prayer that Jesus gave his disciples, whether it
is Luke’s version or Matthew’s version, is short and memorable. It is the
Christian prayer, shared by all disciples, including Baptists. And, as Saint Augustine says, this
prayer covers <b>everything</b>. And it is the
only thing that Jesus ever taught his disciples
to <b>say. He said: SAY THIS. </b>This
is the only liturgy authorized by Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">So let’s
see, sticking with the short version, Luke’s version, what it says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Father </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> - that’s how it
starts. It acknowledges that we did not create ourselves. We have come into
being as a gift, and we are part of a great magnificent mystery – a mystery
which our scientific discoveries only deepen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Hallowed be your name. </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> The mystery is
holy. We should approach all being as mystery and treat it with holiness, never
losing sight of the holiness of life and its giver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Your kingdom come.</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> Things are not finished yet. We, and our world, are
in process, moving toward a purpose yet to be realized, a reality that will fully
embrace the holiness of life, made manifest in perfect love, mercy, justice.
And we are a part of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Give us each day our daily bread. </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> We are also
material creatures, whose material existence depends upon nourishment, which we
require every day, upon which we depend, but which we never create. We merely
cultivate what is already in our world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">And forgive us our sins as forgive
everyone indebted to us. </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> We mess up, continually, in small ways and in
very large ways. We hurt other people, intentionally or accidentally. None of
us can do without forgiveness, and we cannot be forgiven unless we also
forgive. That’s just the way it works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">And do not bring us to the time of
trial. </span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">There will be things that we
just don’t think we can handle – that we know we cannot handle. Save us during
those times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Now,
I know that there are people who have problems with parts of this prayer. Some
don’t like it because they say it assumes, or promotes, patriarchy: by talking
about God as Father, some say, male privilege is perpetuated. And there is a
valid critique there, because heaven knows in its history the church has been
slow to fully embrace gender equality. So if it is important for you to say
“our Mother,” I don’t think Jesus would object. It’s the meaning, not the
precise word. Mother/father – God is the source of our very being. But let’s not
use “Parent.” – a term which, I think, depersonalizes the prayer. And if
kingdom is offensive to you, use queendom, or divine purpose. But learn this
prayer, because it is the prayer that Jesus taught us, and it is what we need
to say, to believe, to live for, and to live with. It is the prayer we must
pray, as Jesus said, continually. We must keep on praying it, keep asking, keep
knocking, keep seeking – even when it seems that no one is listening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">So
finally we are back to my question: Why bother with church? You know, when,
many years ago, after my seminary education at Vanderbilt, I recognized that I
had been predestined to be a Presbyterian, I was comforted by the old adage;
When Presbyterian ministers stand up to preach, they know that everyone who is <b>supposed</b> to be there <b>is</b> there. But it seems more and more
that God intends people to be somewhere else. And why is that? I think it’s
because, for many, church has become an empty obligation rather than a joy.
It’s natural. Human beings seek joy and hope. If they are not finding it in
church, they ask, “Why bother?” If you get nothing out of going to church, you
will stop going. That simple. So what is there to get? Two things. A reminder
of the mysterious love that encompasses us all, known for us supremely in Jesus
Christ, and a community that shows that love to one another, and to the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">People
are attracted to different styles of church. Roman Catholics and Episcopalians
are deeply attracted to a liturgy, a format or prayer and praise that does not often
change, where the words become second nature. Protestants, whether they are
staid Congregationalists or Presbyterians, say they want a stimulating sermon
and beautiful music. Younger millennials want lively music, projected on a
screen, with simple lyrics, informal sermons, and no dress code. But what all
want is a sense of community that affirms and expresses the love of God, the
mystery of being, and the hope that our lives can contribute to increasing
goodness in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">You
know, I sometimes worry about this church a bit. That may surprise you. I worry
that, when new people come here, they may find it hard to connect. Tom has been
trying to encourage us all to come to coffee hour. He’s right, but coffee hour
doesn’t work if you only talk to people you already know. I think people often
huddle in familiar groups because we feel reluctant to engage people we don’t
know. Maybe we think: “ I should know who these people are, but I don’t. Are
they visitors? What will they think if I introduce myself to them? Will they be
offended that I don’t know them?” Rather than risk being wrong, we are shy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I
am suggesting that it is awfully hard for visitors to know how to break the
ice. William Sloane Coffin once told me that most congregational churches in
New England are so cold that you can ice skate down the center aisle. That’s
what he said. I’m just quoting him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Of
course, the point is to welcome people into a community where Christ is at the
center. A community where people continually pray, with words and hearts and deeds, the Lord’s prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">I
will say one other thing that I hope it will challenge you, lovingly. I know
how important it is to many of you to close each of our services with the
recitation of your covenant, which you revised just last year. I have no
problem with the covenant, except for one
word: “our.” I become uncomfortable when I am asked to pledge allegiance
to “our church.” No, it’s not our church. It’s Christ’s church. The Church of
Christ at Dartmouth College, I think it’s called. Perhaps it would help if, at
the conclusion of worship, a word was said such as this: “Whether you are a
student or a newcomer to town or a long-time resident, we invite you to be a
part of this community of Christ. We want to get to know you. In this
congregation, it is our custom to close our worship by remembering and reciting
our church covenant, which reminds us of our commitment to each other and to
the world. We invite you to join us in this weekly renewal of our commitment,
if you wish. And afterward, we invite all of you to join us for refreshment and
conversation at the coffee hour downstairs. You are very welcome here. ”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Some
things need to be said over and over. As Jesus reminded us in today’s Lukan
lesson, prayer never ceases. We have to keep at it. When it seems that the forces of violence and
greed and hatred and ignorance and indifference will overwhelm us, we have to
keep praying that prayer “thy kingdom come” – knowing that our puny efforts, if
we make them consistently, will make a difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Why
bother with church? Because that’s where people learn to pray the Lord’s
prayer. That’s the point. I told you I
would tell you when we finally reached my point, so there is it. That’s the
point. Why bother with church? Because it’s the
place where people learn to pray the Lord’s prayer, together, over and
over, continually, until our lives are
shaped by it and we really mean it. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-80882678565812441442016-03-28T13:18:00.000-04:002016-03-28T13:19:50.646-04:00What Happened on Easter<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Easter Sunday<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">March 28, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">What Happened on Easter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">What Happens on Easter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">All of you, I am sure, are familiar
with the Easter story. Jesus, the Christ, rose from the dead. That is what we
celebrate. But what do we really know about what happened? I want to make two
assertions. First, we as Christians cannot claim to know more than we know.
And, second, we as Christians cannot claim to know less than we know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">What actually happened on
Easter? The only accounts we have about what happened on what we now call
Easter Day are in the Bible, in the Gospels. There was no news story published
in The Jerusalem Times! And although the four gospels all assert that Christ rose
from the dead, the details are quite different. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><br />
All the gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified, and that his body was put in
a tomb, which was sealed with a large stone. But then, the stories differ. All
four gospels say that Mary Magdalen went to the tomb early in the morning. She
is the only person so mentioned in all four gospel accounts. But John says that
she went alone; Mathew says she was accompanied by “the other Mary”; Mark says
she was accompanied by Mary the mother of James and Salome; Luke says she was
accompanied by Mary the mother of James, Joana, and other unnamed women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">What they reportedly saw
varies. John says that Mary Magdalen saw a young man, who she first thought was
the gardener, but who was in fact Jesus himself. Matthew says there was an
earthquake, and the two women saw an angel “descending from heaven”, ”whose
appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow”. And then they saw Jesus himself, who said
“Greetings!” Mark says ”they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting
on the right side” of the tomb. Luke says they saw “two men in dazzling
clothes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> In each story, the woman, or the women,
received a message from the young man, or the angel, or the angels – but the
messages vary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">In Mark, the angel says: “Do
not be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He
has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee;
there you will see him, just as he told you.” And the women, afraid, fled and
told no one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">In Matthew, the risen Jesus
himself tells the women to go and tell the disciples that he will see them in
Galilee. The women delivered the message, and the disciples then left for
Galilee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">In Luke, the men in dazzling
clothes asked the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” and
told them, “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he
was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be
crucified, and on the third day rise again.” So the women went and told the
disciples, who did not believe them, except for Peter, who got up and ran to
the tomb, where he saw only the cloths in which Jesus had been buried.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">In John, after he called her
name, Mary Magdalen recognized that the
young man, whom she thought was the gardener, was in fact Jesus, and she heard Jesus himself say: “Do not hold
on to me, because I have not ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say
to them ‘I am ascending to my father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Which Mary Magdalen did. And the frightened disciples, except Thomas, huddled
in the upper room in Jerusalem, where we remember that Jesus himself appeared
to them on Easter night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">My point in going through
these stories is to show that we really do not know exactly what happened. The
stories vary; the details are significantly different, and the substance of the
story – that Jesus rose from the dead - is beyond comprehension. It is,
perhaps, a mark of authenticity that these stories do not agree in all details.
When everyone tells a story the same way, we know that they have probably been
coached. These stories reflect different voices. The only significant point of
agreement is that when Mary Magdalen, and possibly some other women, (and
remember that they all were women), went to the tomb early on Easter morning, they
did not find the body of Jesus, and they all reported extraordinary visions or
encounters. We don’t even know much about Mary Magdalen. Legends have grown up
about her, but the only thing the gospels tell us is that one of them, Luke, reports
that Jesus had healed her. She
apparently became very devoted to him. Matthew, Mark, and John report that she
stood by his cross while he was crucified, and they all report that she went to
the tomb on Easter morning. She is sometimes called the “apostle to the
apostles” because she carried the good news to his disciples, Some scholars
have even speculated that she was herself a disciple, even perhaps the unnamed
“disciple whom Jesus loved.” But that is all speculation. We do not know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">And so, when we talk about
what happened at Easter, we cannot claim to know more than we know. What
exactly happened is a mystery, and the point of a mystery is that we do not
know, we cannot explain it. If the writers of the gospels cannot explain it,
neither can we.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">But if we as Christians cannot
claim to know more than we know, we also cannot claim to know less than we know
– because we do know a great deal. And what we know does make all the difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">What do we know. We know that
whatever happened on Easter was so powerful that it not only transformed the lives
of his friends and disciples, but led them to be willing to die for what they
knew. We know that Jesus’s disciples - not only the 11, but his women friends,
his cousins, his family – came to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.
They didn’t know exactly how, either, but some of them later claimed that they
had seen the risen Lord. And these claims were not made casually, as a matter
of rumor; they were made openly, definitely, and sometimes defiantly. Peter,
who had denied that he knew Jesus only three days before, later was himself
crucified for his testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead. We do not know
how many early disciples testified to the truth of their belief by giving up
their lives, but we do know that many did. And of course we have the testimony
of Paul, who encountered the risen Lord in what was surely a vision, but a vision
so powerful that it totally changed his life, and led Paul also to imprisonment
and execution. This we know. It is not a matter of speculation. It is a matter
of fact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">During the last few
centuries, some skeptics have tried to discredit these testimonies by saying
the story of the resurrection was a hoax, based either on a plot to steal the
body of Jesus and claim that he was resurrected, or on hallucinations. Such skepticism, for me, fades in the face of
the facts that we know: disciples experienced imprisonment, torture, and
execution. Would they do that to perpetuate a hoax or a delusion?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Consider the testimony of
Paul, which we read earlier, but which we should listen to more carefully now,
“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he
was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. The he
appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of
whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to
all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared unto me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Paul’s account here is
different even from the account in the gospels - but remember, Paul had not read the gospels.
They had not been written when he wrote his letters. But he had received the stories,
the stories on which some people whom
Paul himself had been persecuting were betting their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">So we know for certain that
what happened on Easter caused many people not only to believe it, but to bet
their lives on it, to live for its truth, and to die for its truth. That is
what we know. We cannot claim to know less than we know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">We also know that the meaning
of Easter has not yet been fully understood. We are slow disciples. We know
that, in addition to proclaiming the love of God, and the power of the risen Christ,
as one who has experienced and transcended torture and violence and death, we
know that Christians have sometimes - indeed, far too many times – have
inflicted torture and violence and death on others. This is a sad but undeniable fact. We cannot claim
to know less than we know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">But we also know, beyond
dispute, that people, many people, thousands of people, millions of people have
gathered on every Easter Day for almost 2000 years to proclaim their hope,
their faith, their belief in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection, the victory
of the crucified one. In good times and bad, wartime and peace time, in youth
and in age, among admirable people and sometimes among unadmirable people, the
faith has endured. We know this, don’t we, even if we know nothing else. That
itself is miracle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">And we are part of that
miracle today. Some of us, some of you, may be, like Thomas, doubters. You have
heard the testimony, but you cannot fully believe it. You are not like the
apostles, who saw the resurrected Christ. You are not like Paul, who was
stunned into blindness by a vision of the resurrected Christ. You are still,
however, part of the throngs who have
heard the word, and whose life is
sustained by the possibility, the hope, the faith that God has shown us that
death does not win, that power does not prevail over goodness, that our
suffering, whatever it may be, is somehow redeemed in the crucified but risen
Lord. You are among those who yearn and work for the day when, as promised in
Isaiah, there will be an end to torture and violence and disease and war, and
“they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.” To the extent that
the story touches your heart and finds a place in it, you are also part of the
miracle. We do not know everything about what happened on Easter, 2000 years
ago. But we do know what happens on Easter, right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">We cannot claim to know more
than we know. But we also cannot claim to know less than we know. And what we
do know makes all the difference in the world. Amen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Easter Prayer March 27, 2016<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Almighty God, in Jesus
Christ, the resurrected one, you have conquered the power of death, cruelty,
violence, and despair, and you have called us to follow him, in faith. We pray,
O Resurrected One, <b>strengthen our faith:<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In a world where violence and
hatred are resurgent, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one, <b>Strengthen our faith.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For a world in which many
live in poverty, with no access to the riches around them; and where many a,
driven from their homes, are in search of refuge;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one<b>, Strengthen our faith</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For those facing the trials
of loneliness, disease, and despair; for loved ones who have died, and those of
us who are approaching our own deaths,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one, <b>Strengthen our faith.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For our families, whose lives
we value more than our own, but whom we know we cannot completely protect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one, <b>Strengthen our faith.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For those imprisoned, justly
or unjustly, and for those who are imprisoned by addiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one, <b>Strengthen our faith.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For the church, for all its
ministers and members, that we may more boldly follow in your way,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one, <b>Strengthen our faith</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For ourselves, in the trials we
face, the doubts that paralyze us, and the false gods in which we so often put
our trust;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">we pray, O resurrected one, <b>Strengthen our faith.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Give us grace¸ we pray, to
follow in the way of the Resurrected One, who taught us to pray:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Our Father<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-1101239673614651822016-03-09T21:09:00.001-05:002016-03-09T21:09:30.838-05:00Our Society is Corrupt<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker, Dartmouth College Chaplain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“The country is messed up,
and what are you going to do about it?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First Congregational Church,
Lebanon, NH<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">August 15, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Isaiah 5:1-7, Luke 12:49-56<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Summer is a
time when many people attend family reunions. Some of the reunions, especially
the large ones, can be very trying. Although you are related somehow to the many
people who gather, you may feel little kinship with them, and, if the truth be
told, you may not even want to talk to them. Indeed, you may discover, as soon
as you try to enter into a conversation, that there is no safe subject except
the weather. Just because you are related to them doesn’t mean that you share
deep beliefs about things that really matter.
Race, religion, politics – talking about these subjects reveals, very
quickly, deep seemingly unbridgeable disagreements, and each party seems to
think that they are absolutely right. Too many of my conversations at such
gatherings end up with one of my relatives saying to me, “Our society is
corrupt; what are you going to do about it?” – or, since most of my relatives
are southerners: “This country is messed up, and what are yewe goan do about
it?” Unfortunately, I don’t think many of them really want to hear my
suggestions. Especially is a nation as polarized as ours is now, we often find
the situation that Jesus described: father against son and son against father;
mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in law. This is of course not a universal
experience, but it is a common one. All of us prefer to have deep conversations
with people who share our basic values. We find it hard to talk comfortably
with people who hold strong convictions that are antithetical to ours. It is
hard to have a pleasant conversation with someone who is deeply convinced that
you are going to hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Now this
fact, this reality, is something we wish were not true. All of us love the
sentimental picture, I expect, of the large family gathering where everyone
agrees and is delighted to see each other; where there is no tension or
conflict; where everyone is right-thinking, appealing, and accepting. But that
just doesn’t describe reality. Even at the general assembly of the Presbyterian
church, where 1000 of the most saintly of Christians gather every two years,
the tension over issues like homosexual clergy, evangelism, abortion, the
second coming of Christ, the right way to interpret the Bible – sometimes
threatens to disrupt the fundamental Presbyterian love of doing things decently
and in order. Even people who claim to love Jesus sometimes find themselves in
violent disagreement with each other. The ideal picture of Christian love and
charity is sometimes very far from reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> So we know
that the simplistic description – if everybody just loved Jesus, we’d all get
along – is not true. I know most of my family deeply love Jesus, and most
Presbyterians do too – but that doesn’t mean we can always get along. Somehow
we seem to love Jesus in different and sometimes conflicting ways. And then there
are those people who say they don’t have any love for Jesus at all, yet who
seem, in some ways, to be more agreeable to us than the members of our own
family of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> This is not
a new situation. The passage that we read today from Isaiah states the
situation well. Isaiah speaks for God, who likens the people Israel to a
vineyard. God wants to sing a love song to Israel, a vineyard that he has
carefully planted and cultivated. But what God discovers is that the beloved vineyard,
which should be producing good grapes, is full of wild useless bitter grapes. So
God resolves to tear up the useless vineyard. It is a metaphor that is
explained in these words: The vineyard “is the house of Israel, and the people
of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;
righteousness, but heard a cry.” (Isaiah 5:7).
Even 2500 years ago, there was a fundamental
tension within Judaism about what it meant to be God’s people. Isaiah was among
the prophets who spoke in God’s name to tell them that their way of life was
wrong, leading to destruction – that God’s patience with his beloved vineyard
was running out. The demand of Isaiah – God’s demand, really, - was for
justice, but what God found was bloodshed; God demanded righteousness, but
heard instead the cry of people being abused. In other words, Isaiah proclaimed
to the people Israel, just as so many today proclaim, “Our society is corrupt,
and what are you going to do about it?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Throughout
our history, our nation, the United States of America, has often seen itself as
a second Israel – as God’s chosen people, a chosen nation. Certainly many of
the early English settlers saw it this way – a land they considered all but
empty, fruitful and fertile beyond measure, offering an opportunity to
establish a godly society, to start anew and do things right. John Winthrop, in
his famous sermon to the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay colony, (called A
Model of Christian Charity) proclaimed that they would be a city on the hill,
an example to the nations. And we have thought of ourselves in this way ever
since. We have always assumed that we are a righteous people – the most
righteous on earth. Our government is divinely inspired, our way of life
sacred, our mission to spread light and democracy and prosperity to the
world. This makes it extremely difficult
for us to hear criticism. Even if we have strong disagreements among ourselves,
we will hardly brook any criticism from "foreigners” – especially the
benighted Europeans. It makes it hard for us to hear the words of prophets who
call us into question today, who say, “What have you done with the advantages
you were given? I planted a vineyard and expected good fruit. I expected
justice, but what I see is bloodshed; I expected righteousness, but I hear
people crying.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Now the
irony is that although everybody thinks the society is corrupt, everybody also
thinks that they are righteous. And so we have people who condemn the inexcusable
greed of our financial system, rightly pointing to the inequality of wealth
that it perpetuates, but the investment bankers think that they are the victims
of corrupt politicians who are only grand-standing for public approval, and who
are themselves corrupt. We have supporters of the president blaming congress
for our corrupt society and opponents of the president blaming the president
for a corrupt society. There is blame and accusation coming from every quarter,
and those of us who sit out in the hinterlands observe it all as we would
observe two armies clashing in a far off field, each firing at the other, but
with smoke so thick and noise so great that he participants are
indistinguishable, and nothing is certain except carnage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Is this what
Jesus meant when he said, in this difficult passage, that he did not come to
bring peace, but rather division? Did he mean that people would always claim
his own name for their fights, cloaking their self-interests in piety? Did he
mean that there would be perpetual jockeying for power? Did he mean that there
would be endless violence, endless
greed, endless abuse of the poor, endless self destruction, all justified in
the name of God? Does not Jesus himself offer a way out of this endless
conflict?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> There is a
way out, but it requires great sacrifice. It requires that we give up the
desire to be right and seek instead to be compassionate. And that’s hard –
because most of us would rather be right than compassionate. But Jesus does not
so much expect that we be right as that we be compassionate. Compassion means
“Suffering with someone”, or feeling their suffering. It is hard to replace our
desire to be right – our own righteousness, if you will - with compassion, but it
is not impossible. Even in war, the most extreme situation of people willing to
die because they think they are right, those who serve under the red cross seek
to treat the wounded without ever asking which side the victim is on. Their
only concern is healing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Yet, it is a
sad thing that even compassion brings division – for there are those, always,
who argue against it, who see it as weakness rather than strength. Take, for
example, the current debate about immigration. What is to be done with people
who are in this country illegally? There is no right answer. Certainly borders need
to be respected, since we have not yet reached a world of totally unrestricted
movement. But how does one deport illegal immigrants whose children, born here,
are US citizens? Does upholding the law demand feeling no compassion for those
who are desperate?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> There is no
way always to be right. Compassion cares less about being right, and more about
alleviating suffering. Our scripture lesson today says that God looked for
righteousness, but heard, instead, a cry. Righteousness does not mean always
being right; it means being in right relationship, and the right relationship
between human beings is compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Compassion,
however, does not always tell us what to do. We may feel someone’s pain without
knowing how to alleviate it. In fact, our action may make it worse. We don’t
always know what to do. But at least it’s a start. Compassion does not ignore
the cry. And that’s a start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> I have been
reading a wonderful a book about the Civil War (or the War Between the States)
– that time when our country was most bitterly divided. The book, called <u>Upon
the Altar of the Nation</u>,<a href="file:///C:/Users/d11039q/Desktop/documents/Sermons,%20addresses/2010/Our%20Society%20is%20corrupt.doc#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
describes how both North and South were equally convinced that they were right,
and each side was fervent in its faith that God favored their cause. At first
each side thought it would be a short war; each side thought it would win
quickly. But, as you know, the war dragged on for four years, with over a
million people killed, countless others wounded. It was this war which inspired
Julia Ward Howe to write the hymn that we sing, The Battle Hymn of the Republic,
which, drawing upon Isaiah’s imagery, describes the judgment of God against the
South - God “trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored.” It has taken a long time for many Southerners
to be able to sing that hymn. Yet all of us now acknowledge the truth of President
Lincoln’s words, near the end of that bloody war, who said in his very brief
second inaugural address that it was our primary duty “to bind up the nation’s
wounds”<a href="file:///C:/Users/d11039q/Desktop/documents/Sermons,%20addresses/2010/Our%20Society%20is%20corrupt.doc#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
(“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as
God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in,
to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a
just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”)– for he knew
that a nation cannot cohere if it is divided between those who are right and
those who are wrong. Righteousness, as Lincoln knew, requires, above all, compassion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The country
is messed up, and what are you going to do about it? Let’s start by paying
attention to the bloodshed, and listening to the people who cry. That is what
God expects of us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/d11039q/Desktop/documents/Sermons,%20addresses/2010/Our%20Society%20is%20corrupt.doc#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Harry S. Stout, New York, Viking Press, 2006<o:p></o:p></div>
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Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-18265626667205375912013-08-05T08:41:00.002-04:002016-02-05T15:39:51.989-05:00"Jonah: The Unwilling Prophet" by Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jonah - The Unwilling Prophet</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">August 4, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jonah 1:1-17</span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">You have all heard the story, I am
sure, of the boy scout who reported at the weekly troop meeting about his good
deed for the week. He said that he had helped an old lady cross the street. His
friend immediately reported that he also had helped the old lady across the street,
whereupon the scoutmaster said, “Why did it take both of you to help her cross
the street?” To which they replied, ‘”Because she didn’t want to go.” It’s an
old joke, and I apologize for inflicting it on you. But it is a fitting
introduction to the last of our sermons on the minor prophets. Today we
consider Jonah, the unwilling prophet, the prophet who did not want to go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jonah is
different. If you have read the earlier prophets we considered – Amos, Hosea,
Zephaniah, Micah, and Haggai-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you will
note that the book of Jonah is very different. Jonah is the first prophet we
have considered who directs his words not to the Jews, but to the Assyrians.
And his book does not consist of a series of sometimes mysterious oracles. Instead,
it tells a story – a brief, fascinating, interesting, fantastic story. Some
have said that it’s the biggest fish story ever told.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Biggest or
not – it is a story. I expect that, of all the prophets we have considered, you
are most familiar with this book – because it tells a story. The bible contains
many kinds of literature, and this is a story – a story with a message. Scholars
date this book as the latest of the minor prophets: it was written, they say, after
the Jews returned from exile in Babylon. It is “post-exilic”. Yet the story
takes place at least 200 years earlier - back in the time of Amos and Hosea. The
story is about Jonah, a relatively unknown prophet, who receives a call to go
to Nineveh, that great city. We know that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria –
the empire that preoccupied Amos and Hosea, and that finally conquered the
northern kingdom. Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh to cry out against
its wickedness. He was not eager to go. Indeed, he was determined not to go. So
instead, he went to the seashore at Joppa and booked passage to Tarshish, which
is like someone today booking passage to Timbuktu – in other words, a place as
far away from Nineveh as he could possibly go. But his trip was interrupted by
a gigantic storm that struck so much fear into the boat’s crew that they decided
the gods must be against them (obviously they were not Jews), and they drew
lots to identify the offender. Now this logic seems strange to us. We do not
assume that storms are caused by God to get the attention of one particular
person – but, as I said, this is a story, and in a story, we are quite willing
to suspend our disbelief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the lot
fell<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>upon Jonah, he admitted his fault
and showed that he was not a coward, "Throw me overboard," he said,
"and the storm will stop." They did and it did. And the crew was
semi-converted by the miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But God
wasn’t done with Jonah. He was preserved and protected<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- and given a time out – by being swallowed
by a great fish, where he spent three days surveying his situation. When Jonah had
time to reconsider things, the fish spewed him out, and Jonah was willing to go
to Nineveh – that great sinful city, to cry out against its wickedness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now it is a
surprising thing that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. But it is even more
surprising that, when he got to Nineveh and cried out against its wickedness,
the people, including the king, immediately believed him and repented. As we
know, this was unusual, even for the people of Israel – much less for
Assyrians. They repented, and God changed his mind. But Jonah pouted. Here he
was, going to all this trouble after having been swallowed by the fish, and
all, and making the great journey, and crying out against wickedness , and what
was the result? The Lord changed his mind and didn’t destroy the city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What a bummer for Jonah! He went
outside the city and built himself a little hut to watch the fireworks, but
nothing happened. A bush grew up to shelter him- overnight, and he was happy
under the bush, but the next day the bush disappeared and he was hot and angry.
So God asked him why he was angry, and Jonah said; “I knew you would spare
them. That’s why I didn’t want to come. Why did I have to do all this and come over
here just to watch you spare them? Dog-gone it, I am mad.” To which God makes
this wonderful reply that ends the book:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it
right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to
die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did
not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and
perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great
city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do
not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">(Jonah 4:9-11)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Aren’t we glad that we have the story
of Jonah? Aren’t we glad that the picture of God presented in this story is a
picture of a God who is forgiving, who is concerned for all creation? Doesn’t
this story give all of us hope – especially after we have heard so many
prophecies of destruction and doom which went unheeded by the people of Israel
and Judah? Well, we ought to be, but often we aren’t. Jonah wasn’t glad and
neither are we. We are often people who do not want the salvation of our enemies,
but rather take pleasure in their destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think of two present situations that illustrate this point.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First: Jonah
going to Nineveh would be like to Benjamin Netanyahu going to Tehran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literally. Nineveh was the capitol of
Assyria, which is contemporary Iran. The fact that peace talks between Israel
and Palestine are possible once again should be a source of great rejoicing to
everyone. But taking initiative to start peace talks with one’s enemy is hardly
ever a popular political position. It’s not popular in Israel, or Palestine,
now, even though everyone knows that the present situation is untenable. So
also, of course, are the situations in Iran, and in Syria. Who knows what to
do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What prophet would want to be sent
to Damascus? Any volunteers? We are quite willing to send weapons, even perhaps
soldiers, but we don’t want to send peacemakers and negotiators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would have happened in Iraq ten years
ago if we had trusted the United Nations inspectors who told us there were no
weapons of mass destruction there? How many lives would have been saved?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second: a
few months ago, retired Bishop Gene Robinson spoke at the Dartmouth baccalaureate
service. During his remarks, he made one observation or assertion that I found
both provocative and strangely true. Bishop Robinson, speaking in reference to
Jesus’ first sermon in his home synagogue in Nazareth – the one where you
remember the townspeople got so angry that they tried to throw him off a cliff,
said this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“When you preach a God who is too merciful, too kind, too
loving, too accepting, too inclusive, there will be hell to pay, and you will
get into trouble, I promise you. You can preach a vengeful, hateful God and
nobody will mind one bit. But you talk about a God who is too loving and I
promise you you will get into trouble.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think the Bishop was speaking from
his own experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And certainly Jonah
seems a case in point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jonah preached a
message calling people to repent or face destruction, then sat and watched,
waiting for the destruction. When it didn’t come it made him so angry – that
God was far more loving and accepting and forgiving than Jonah. It is probably
true that some of us are unhappy with the mercy of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Some of us have been far too exposed
to hateful preaching and not exposed enough to loving preaching. We take
pleasure in the threat of God’s punishment, especially if it is directed at
other people, and take offense at the suggestion that God truly loves sinners.
And yet, of course, that is the essential Christian message – a message
foretold In the story of Jonah, where God’s acceptance and forgiveness went far
beyond the bounds of Israel to the people of a wicked city – and even to their
animals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a sense,
this is a great story for us to end on, isn’t it? But it’s also a challenging
story. It does not eliminate the call to repentance, does it? The message that
Jonah preached was one of repentance – of turning from evil. But the tragedy
was that he had a very hard time hearing that message himself – even though he
was the spokesperson for it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The bishop said that you will get
into trouble when you preach a God who is too loving. He’s right: it is a
challenge to proclaim the love of God in a way that is not simply indifference.
A God who is simply indifferent to the reality of evil is no God at all. But a
God who teaches us, inspires us, and helps us to overcome evil with good is a
God who saves us, and whose forgiveness is so inclusive that even our failures
are forgiven too.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">You know, I am very heartened – as I
think many of us are - that it seems that we Protestants have a pope who wants
to include us – a pope whose genuine concern for all people goes beyond
traditional Roman Catholic boundaries. His recent remarks (“Who am I to judge?”)
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have been exceptionally inclusive. I wonder
if those remarks will get him into trouble?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So, let us end this series by drawing
a few conclusions. I hope you have learned from considering these six sermons
that we must read the Bible in its context. Taken out of historical and
literary context, many of these passages are mysterious at best and very
misleading at worst. To read the prophets, especially the minor prophets, you
need an annotated study Bible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second,
all the prophets we have read, including Jonah, proclaim both God’s love and
faithfulness and God’s judgment. Love and judgment go together; they are not
unrelated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our modern context, we
often assume that loving people means making no judgment about them. That is
only partly true. If you see a car speeding down the road toward a bridge that
is washed out, it is a loving thing to try to stop them and tell them that the
bridge has washed out. The prophets are people who know that the bridge is
washed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their warnings are meant to
turn us toward God’s love. Mercy and judgment are all part of God’s love for
us. Amos in his demand for justice, Hosea in his drama of marrying a harlot,
Zephaniah in his demand for humility, Micah in his reminder of what God really
requires of us, Haggai in his encouragement to those who have experienced
devastation, and Jonah in his pouting spoke to our ancient ancestors about the mercy,
love, and judgment of God. These are messages not only for them, but also for
us.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-24468329558768964922013-07-29T09:32:00.000-04:002013-08-05T08:42:18.725-04:00"Haggai: Starting Over" by Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Starting Over</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">July 28, 2013</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Haggai 2:1-9</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I first
thought of doing this sermon series on the minor prophets, it was partly
because I had never heard such a series. Now I know why. I have been able to
muddle through Amos and Hosea, Zephaniah<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and Micah, but now I have come to Haggai. I bet none of you have ever
heard a sermon on Haggai. Me either. It’s a short book – only two chapters
long, practically invisible as you thumb through the Bible. “What,” I thought,
“can I make out of this?” But I quickly discovered that this short book was
preserved in our scriptures for a reason. Despite its brevity, or perhaps
because of its brevity, it has an important message, both for its time and for
ours.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a
sermon for people who have experienced devastation. It is a sermon for people
who have had to start over. There are many kinds of devastation, of course. Let
me list only a few:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">losing a loved one;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">the ending of a friendship or marriage, particularly on bad
terms;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">a life-altering illness or injury, for you or a member<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of your family;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">bankruptcy;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">unexpected unemployment;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">imprisonment;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">facing up to an addiction;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">the loss of your life savings in the stock market;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">a house fire;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">a tornado or hurricane that levels your home;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">a flood that invades your home;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">a war – particularly a war where you, or your loved ones, are
combatants, or where your home land is invaded;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">the theft or loss of something you have prized your whole
life;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">or, if you are in college –</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">the ending of a romantic relationship;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">getting a D in organic chemistry;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">not getting a fraternity or sorority bid that you wanted.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This is only a start – certainly not a complete list. I
expect many of you have, at some time in your life, experienced devastation;
perhaps some of you are in the midst of it now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">If so, Haggai is for you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We left off last week with Micah, who
prophesied in the southern kingdom of Judah around 700 BC. Micah predicted the
fall of Jerusalem, and, sure enough, in 586 BC, it happened. The Babylonians,
the kingdom to the southeast of Judah, across the Jordan – modern Iraq, finally
conquered the resistant Judeans, killing some its citizens, maiming others, and
carrying the most prominent citizens into captivity in Babylon. The beloved
temple, the center of worship, which many thought guaranteed the perpetual
safety of Jerusalem, was totally destroyed – leveled. A remnant of Jews was
left in Jerusalem, but they were poor, distraught, and bereft. Those taken into
captivity were devastated as well. You remember, perhaps, that plaintiff psalm,
recounting the grief and anger of exile: it’s psalm 137 – one of the most
beautiful, haunting and troubling psalms in our bible</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">By the rivers of Babylon—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there we sat down
and there we wept</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when we remembered
Zion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">On the willows there</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we hung up our
harps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">For there our captors</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>asked us for songs,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Sing us one of the
songs of Zion!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">How could we sing the Lord’s song</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in a foreign land?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">If I forget you, O Jerusalem,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>let my right hand
wither!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if I do not remember
you,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">if I do not set Jerusalem</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>above my highest
joy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the day of
Jerusalem’s fall,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">how they said, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Down to its
foundations!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">O daughter Babylon, you devastator!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happy shall they be
who pay you back</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what you have done
to us!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Happy shall they be who take your little ones</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and dash them
against the rock!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The first part is haunting; the second part is troubling –
troubling, but very human. The desire for revenge against those who have hurt
us is very deep, and it is not easily appeased by the thought that two wrongs
do not make a right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our rationality is
sometimes overwhelmed by devastation and we only want revenge – and this psalm
reflects that reality. Is such a desire right? No. Is it natural? Yes. We are
struck by stories we hear of people who have undergone enormous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>loss and who have been able to forgive the
offenders. I think especially of the Amish community in Pennsylvania here,
several years ago, a group of school children were killed by a deranged person.
The community gathered to express its grief, but also its forgiveness toward the
offender. As Christians, we see in them the example of Christ and the forgiveness
of God. But such stories are striking because they are exceptional. The more
common ones are stories of revenge. There is nothing more natural in the world
than to say to someone who has caused us great loss: “may you suffer as you
have made me to suffer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think, for
example – and it is only an example - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of
that battle in Gettysburg which occurred 150 years ago this month, the hot July
of 1863 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– the greatest battle of our civil
war, where 8000 soldiers were killed and almost 50,000 were wounded, maimed, or
missing. It is, of course, only one of many battles in many wars, but it is one
that somehow captures our imaginations and our sympathy. But I also recall the
occasion 100 years ago, in 1913, fifty years after the battle, when veterans of
both sides gathered at the battlefield, wearing their blue and gray uniforms,
if they had them, standing at the line of Pickett’s charge, grasping hands, and
weeping. It took them fifty years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The exiles
from Judah spent about fifty years in Babylon – fifty years of servitude, and
then the comforting prophecies of return were fulfilled. Cyrus, king of Persia,
conquered Babylon, and one of his first acts was to allow the Jewish captives
to return to their homeland. This was, to the captive Jews, both a miracle and
a fulfillment of prophecy. So when they returned, finding some of their
relatives still there in a devastated land, they faced the challenge of
starting over. Their temple had been reduced to rubble. They thought their way
of life had been reduced to rubble. Into this breach stepped the prophet
Haggai.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We know
nothing about this man, except his few, very specific words. His writings are
comprised of four very specific oracles, which he dates precisely. The first of
them he received “in the second year of king Darius, on the sixth day.” The
second one, which we read, came precisely one month and fifteen days later. The
oracles instructed Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel, the Persian-appointed
governor of Judah, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the Persian-appointed high
priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two messages, and the
remaining two that followed, all concern the state of depression, confusion,
and destruction that the returning exiles faced, along with the Jews who had
not been in exile. The message is simple: Get busy and rebuild the temple. The
temple that was destroyed, do you remember it? How can you pay attention to
building your own houses but neglect rebuilding the temple? And we know that,
under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, whose books we also have in the Old
Testament, that the returning exiles did exactly that. They went through the several
years-long process of rebuilding the temple, and, by some accounts, it was a
grander temple that the first. Only when the temple was built were the Jews
able to regain their sense of cohesiveness and the religion that bound them
together. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now we are
dealing here with historical facts. The original temple, build during the reign
of Solomon around 1000 BC, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. It had
lasted around 400 years. It lay in waste for at least fifty years – maybe 100
years. It was rebuilt after the exile and was the center of Jewish religion and
worship for another 500 years, until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70- AD. And,
as we know, it has not been rebuilt. What is referred to as the “wailing wall”
in Jerusalem today is the remaining wall of the second temple built by these
returning exiles and destroyed again by the Romans. The temple wall, or wailing
wall, is a source of contention because holy Muslim sites, including the Dome
of the Rock, were later constructed on the temple mound. This of course makes
the rebuilding of a Jewish temple extremely problematic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are a
couple of lessons for us in this story of rebuilding, which Haggai in some ways
spear-headed and promoted. The first is simply the scale of time, and what it
means for us. The first temple lasted almost five hundred years; the second
also lasted five hundred years. It has now been almost 2000 years since it was
destroyed. Empires rise and fall: the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians,
the Greeks, and the Romans. None of them endures forever. We Americans pay little
attention to the past; we are obsessed with the present and future. But we need
to know and remember things that have happened – such as the Civil War. Our
country is only 237 years old. The first European settlers arrived less than
400 years ago. We are now an empire. We do not like to think we are, but we
are. And like all empires, we will have our day, and then, usually because of
over-reach, the empire fades. We live in the heyday of the American Empire. If
it continues to behave as an Empire, it will eventually fall – perhaps not into
ruin, or insignificance, but like the British empire, as a shadow of itself.
Such has been life on this earth, and such it will continue to be. Our
life-times are short. We face devastation both as individuals and as nations,
and, no matter what, we must start over. Sometimes we simply do not have the
strength, as individuals, to do it, but we find strength in reaffirming our
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Second, destruction is never final.
When we face devastation and loss, we may become angry, depressed, sad, hurt,
despairing. This can and does certainly happen. When the loss is a material one
– of money or possessions, we can at least think of rebuilding. So, for
example, the homes lost in Hurricane Irene, despite the sadness, have been and
are being restored. People are adjusting and starting over, with help from
their neighbors and our government. But when the loss is immaterial, it is hard
to know how to start over. When a loved one has died, or when a reputation has
been lost, or when a symbol of our being has been destroyed, no material restoration
can give us new strength. Such losses are spiritual losses, and they can only
be borne by spiritual strength and comfort. Thus, when we face the death of a
loved one, as we surely have and surely will, we instinctively reach out for
the assurance<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of eternal life – or life
beyond the dimensions of time. For Christians, this is an explicit part of our
faith. But even people who claim to have no religion, even those who call
themselves atheists, seek some sort of ultimate meaning that allows them to
face this loss and move on – start over. If there is nothing that allows us to
do this, we are stuck in the saddest kind of paralysis. By no means does this
mean discounting or overlooking the loss. By no means. Grief is essential to
human life, but so is hope. And hope was, for the Jewish people, centered in
the temple. In some ways it still is.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
way of saying this is that, after devastation – whether it is a failed marriage,
an addiction, a death - no matter what it is, we must rebuild our spiritual
center. Just as the Jews rebuilt the temple after their exile, we also must
reconstruct the center of our being after it has been destroyed. Nothing else really
matters until we reconnect and reconstruct the spiritual center of our lives, where
lives the faith that sustains us in all of life. Haggai’s word to the returning
exiles is also a word to us – a word to remember:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage,
O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of
the land; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts …. My spirit abides
among you; do not fear. (Haggai 2:4-5)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is appropriate
that we also remember the words of another prophet who spoke fifty years ago,
next month, about a dream that he had for America and its people. That speech was
born out of faith, coming after hundreds of years of injustice. Dr. King would
not live long, but his words and his faith endure – reminding us, as Haggai
did, that we must work to rebuild the spiritual center of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-27616523849089953912013-07-22T11:42:00.002-04:002013-07-29T09:32:42.170-04:00"Micah - Picking and Choosing" - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Picking and Choosing</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Micah 6:6-16</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">July 21, 2013</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those of you
who were raised, as I was, in a Bible-centric culture might be familiar with the
old practice called sword drills. We did them often in youth fellowship. The
idea was that we each held a Bible, which was our sword, and the leader called
out “attention!”, then “present swords”, at which point we held the Bible
between our hands, and then the leader called out a random verse of scripture,
such as “Micah 6:6”, and then said “Charge!”. The first person who could find
that verse stepped forward and read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The person who was first most often won.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The other
practice that I sometimes heard about occurred when people wanted guidance
about a problem or dilemma and sought it in the Bible. Rather than thinking
about what Jesus may have said, or pondering the ten commandments, the practice
was simply to open the Bible at random. cover your eyes, and point to a verse.
Whatever that verse said was deemed to provide the needed guidance. This
technique produced rather haphazard results.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This way of
looking at the Bible both rests upon and perpetuates a uniformly revelatory
view of scripture, where very single part is seen as equally revealing the word
of God, and those who read the Bible differently are often condemned for
“picking and choosing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You can’t pick
and choose”, we are told. “You have to believe the Bible from cover to cover,
every single word.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Such a way of reading the Bible can
be extremely naïve, unhelpful, and sometimes dangerous. Every part of the Bible
is enriched when we know the context of the scripture we are reading, when we
do not pick isolated verses, but when we place passages into context, compare
them with other passages, and use our minds and spirits to discern the truths
that such serious study reveals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
result of reading the Bible through, from beginning to end, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as some of you have done, is that you may find
it very uneven in its helpfulness. Some passages stand out as more helpful,
more beautiful, truer, and more useful than other passages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some passages seem odd, useless, or even
horrible. Christians, for example, pay little attention to the rule in Exodus
and Deuteronomy (Exodus 23:19 and Deuteronomy 14:21), which tell us that we
should not boil a kid in its mother’s milk, while Jews see this injunction as
an important part of their Kosher laws. Christians and Jews alike reject the
injunctions to stone criminal offenders, including Sabbath breakers
(Leviticus20:2 ff and Numbers 15:35). It is impossible to read the Bible
without picking and choosing.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And nowhere
is this more evident than in reading the book of Micah. I chose for our
scripture reading for today a passage in Micah that is familiar to all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is perhaps one of the most familiar
passages in scripture - much quoted and much loved, and probably very helpful.
But you will have noted that the scripture reading did not end with those
familiar words. Rather, it proceeded to the next “saying”, which I would
venture to say you have rarely heard and which may not be as helpful to you.
Let us consider them both.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It would
probably be helpful today if in fact you took out one of the pew Bibles and
opened it to the book of Micah and followed along with some of the passages
that I will mention. Now, since you were probably never trained with sword
drills, you may have trouble finding the book of Micah. (Like Howard Dean, who
said that his favorite book in the new testament was the book of Job, New
Englanders are not known for their Biblical literacy). So I will tell you that
the book of Micah begins on page 866 in your pew Bibles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But first, let us remember: Micah
prophesied in the southern kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah around 700 BC, The northern
kingdom of Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians, and the southern
kingdom, under King Hezekiah, had also been invaded by Assyria and made a
vassal state. It was a time of turmoil, confusion, anxiety and distress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Biblical
scholars, using the tools of linguistic and historical analysis, have concluded
that the book attributed to Micah actually contains sayings from a number of
different writers from different time periods that were all collected into this
single book (or scroll). The earliest sayings are near the beginning of the
book. The passages after chapter 4 come from a variety of sourses – so <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that, ironically, the some of the most
well-known passages in the book may not come from Micah himself. That is really
not a problem for us, is it? It’s like my house in Lebanon. We say that it was
built in 1858.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in fact, only part of
it was built then; additions were made at a later time since they didn’t have
indoor plumbing in 1858.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s still one
house that we live in, and Micah is still one book, - a complex house, a
complex document. Would we expect anything else?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, most of us know very little about
how the books of the Bible were selected, put together and transmitted, do we? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of us know very little about architecture
and how houses grew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And most of us
don’t care. We just want to have a house to inhabit and a Bible to anchor us in
our faith.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, if you
look in Micah, chapter 6, beginning with verse 6 –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the passage that was read – you see the words
that have become a watchword for what constitutes true worship – words that cut
to the essence of worship rather than the periphery. “What does the Lord
require of us?” Does God require that we bring burnt offerings? Does God
require offerings of calves or rams or oil? – Remember that these were some of
the offerings customarily made at the temple in Jerusalem. Would God even
require that we give up our firstborn child – a practice that was not unknown
in the middle east at that time – and a practice that is reflected in the story
of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. NO – we are told. God
doesn’t requires any of these things. Rather, God has told us very simply, that
what is required is simply that we do justice, love kindness (or mercy), and
that we walk humbly with God. You will note that these words make no mention of
religious ritual. What is required is an attitude of humility as well as
actions of justice and kindness. Most of us feel comforted and reassured by
these words – challenged also to examine our lives, but mainly comforted and
encouraged. But then look at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the verses
that follow immediately upon this passage.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It is helpful to read them again. They are directed at the
city of Jerusalem:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(it is sound wisdom
to fear your name):</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">10<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can I forget the
treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the scant
measure that is accursed?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">11 Can I tolerate wicked scales</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a bag of
dishonest weights?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">12 Your wealthy are full of violence;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your inhabitants
speak lies,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with tongues of
deceit in their mouths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">13 Therefore I have begun to strike you down,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>making you desolate
because of your sins.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and there shall be a
gnawing hunger within you;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">you shall put away, but not save,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and what you save, I
will hand over to the sword.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">15 You shall sow, but not reap;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you shall tread
olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you shall tread
grapes, but not drink wine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and all the works of
the house of Ahab,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and you have
followed their counsels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants
an object of hissing;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so you shall bear
the scorn of my people.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">These words are not as familiar to
us, are they? Why? because they are not as comforting, or because they are not
as helpful? Perhaps because the earlier words are universal, applicable to all
times and places, whereas the latter passage is aimed directly at Jerusalem. Micah
is famous for having prophesied the fall of Jerusalem, which did indeed happen
in 586 BC, when the Babylonians invaded, laid the city waste, destroyed the
temple, and took the most prominent of its citizens into captivity into
Babylonia. Certainly the words of this prophecy are accurate in anticipating
and describing the devastation of that event – so accurate, in fact, that some
scholars see them as having been written after the fact. Certainly they were
preserved after the fact. But sometimes prophecies like this are seen as
applying not only to that time period, but to all. Consider, for example, those
who see this prophecy as applying not only to Jerusalem, but to New York City.
Does it accurately describe the greed and dishonesty of Wall Street and the
financial industry? Does it tell us of the certain doom that will happen unless
we repent? Some people think so. Their interpretation of biblical prophecy
allows them to do so. I think we may well see these as words of warning to any
society in which greed becomes rampant, and when the poor are ignored. That is
a proper use of prophecy, but thinking that the events of 9/11 were prophesied
in the book of Micah is probably a stretch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let us look at one other very famous part of the book of
Micah – the prophecy contained in chapter 5, beginning with verse 2. You have
all heard it, I am sure.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who are one of the
little clans of Judah,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">from you shall come forth for me</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one who is to rule
in Israel,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when she who is in
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">then the rest of his kindred shall return</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the people of
Israel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of
the Lord,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the majesty of
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the ends of the
earth;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">5 and he shall be the one of peace.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Where have you heard this before? From the Gospel of Matthew,
of course; we hear it every Christmas – where it is quoted as a prophecy about
the birth of the Messiah. When the wise men are seeking Jesus, they ask King
Herod where he shall be born. Herod seeks advice from the biblical scholars,
and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they quote this prophecy. Obviously,
it seems to us to refer to Jesus, the prince of peace, our messiah. It’s right
there in the Bible, isn’t it? And certainly the writer of Matthew’s gospel, and
Christians ever since have thought of it that way. Many now see it as referring
not only to the birth of Jesus, but also to the second coming of Christ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">While Christians are free to view the
prophecy this way, it is unlikely that Micah intended the prophecy to be
fulfilled 600 or 2600 years after he spoke it. Rather, he (or one of his
followers) was speaking a word of hope to a discouraged people – a word that
indicated that not all was lost, and that, just as King David was selected by
the prophet Samuel in a very unlikely setting in the little town of Bethlehem,
there would be another great king yet to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We Christians of course hope that Jesus’ birth will usher in a reign of
world-wide peace. At the moment, though, after 2000 years, it hasn’t happened.
I wonder why? Well, if Christians really acknowledged Jesus as the prince of
peace and as their Lord and Master, and if they refused to make war in his
name, there would be a lot less war, wouldn’t there? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This brings us back to the problem of picking and choosing
when we are reading the bible. At one end of the spectrum are those who believe
we should see every single word, every single letter of scripture as fully
revelatory, and any problems or contradictions this method produces are due to
our lack of understanding. At the other end are those who believe that we should
pay attention only to those words and verses that we happen to agree with.
Studying the prophets teaches us a different way. Some of their words and
images are limited to a time and place which is merely historical. What was
deemed acceptable human practice 3000 years ago is not deemed acceptable today.
But, at the same time, we should not see our era, and our sensibilities, as the
epitome of perfection. In some important ways, we have not advanced at all. I dare
say that greed is more fully rampant and more deeply ingrained in our society
than it was in the Jerusalem of Micah’s and Amos’s time. Their insistence that
greed, violence, and disregard for the poor would lead to the destruction of
society was true then, and it’s true now. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No doubt
Micah was right. For all time, for all people, in answering the question, “With
what shall I come before the Lord?” the answer is simple -. The Lord does not
require our material offerings. What the Lord requires is that we do justice,
love mercy (and kindness), and that we walk, every day, in humility before our
God.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those words
are as applicable to us today as they were 2600 years ago. These words grab us.
In a way, we don’t pick and choose them; they pick and choose us. Now it’s up
to us to live by them. Amen.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-19806931593983921482013-07-15T09:39:00.001-04:002013-07-15T09:40:26.282-04:00"Zephaniah: The Problem with the Prophets" - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Richard R. Crocker</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Zephaniah: The Problem with the Prophets</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth College</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">July 14, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Zephaniah 1:10-16</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today, in the
third of our series on the minor prophets, we consider Zephaniah. Zephaniah
brings us face to face with certain problems that most of us have with these
prophets – problems that we have acknowledged in the earlier two sermons but
not really addressed. The first problem is that we often do not like what they
have to say. The second problem is that their messages, delivered in the name
of God, often seem to some of us to contradict the God we know and worship in
Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the third problem is
that they require us to read the Bible with a degree of sophistication that goes
against the way that many of us were taught to read the Bible. Today we will
try to deal with these problems head on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But first a
little background. The book of Zephaniah is very short – only three chapters.
If you haven’t read it, you can do so in about ten minutes. Unlike Amos and Hosea,
Zephaniah prophesied in the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah sometime
around 630 BC, during the reign of the good king Josiah, after the northern
Kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians, and Judah had been reduced to a vassal
state, paying tribute to Assyria. In the opening verses of the book, Zephaniah
traces his ancestry back to Hezekiah, which was the name of a previous king of
Judah – so, in fact, Zephaniah may be a royal descendant – but this is
uncertain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What is certain
about Zephaniah is his message. In three short chapters, he proclaims doom,
gloom, and resume. Aside from the strained<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>rhymes, this three word summary is actually pretty accurate – not only
for Zephaniah’s prophecies, but for many of the prophetic messages we have
heard before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doom. The
first chapter of Zephaniah’s message is overwhelming doom. Beginning with verse
two, he says (speaking for God): “I will utterly sweep away everything from the
face of the earth, says the Lord. I will sweep away humans and animals; I will sweep
away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.” His message is one of utter
destruction. Why? Because of idolatry and false worship: the people of Judah
have worshipped Baal; they worshipped Milcom (the god of the Ammonites) and
worshipped the astrological gods of the Assyrians. The king’s sons have
“dress(ed) themselves in foreign attire, and some of them have “leap(ed) over
the threshold.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But in addition to these idolatrous
acts, the people have practiced violence and fraud and have been indifferent to
the God of Israel. And for this, utter destruction is promised.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now this seems pretty extreme to us,
doesn’t it? Utter destruction for leaping over the threshold? Maybe for fraud,
maybe for worshipping Baal with ritual prostitution, but for dressing in
foreign attire and leaping over the threshold? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now we need to confront the problems
of this passage directly. Granted, we know that these words were spoken (and
written) 2600 years ago. But they are part of our holy book. They are words
spoken on behalf of the God we worship, claimed as being the words of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do they mean anything at all to those of us
who hear them today – or are they only of quaint historical interest? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Do we believe that our God threatens
any nation – or humanity itself – with utter destruction because of false worship?
Will God actually destroy a whole people because some of them have leaped over
the threshold? What does leaping over the threshold mean, anyway?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here we confront a very basic
problem. This God does not seem very likable. More important, this God does not
seem to be the God with whom Abraham argued. You remember how God threatened to
destroy the city of Sodom, but Abraham argued with him – you remember how:
Abraham asked God; would you destroy a whole city if there were as few as a
hundred righteous people in it? And God says no. And Abraham argues with him
further, reducing the number each time, and finally asks: would you destroy the
city if there were only ten righteous people in it, and God said, No – I will
not destroy it even for ten righteous people. Is this the same God who says he
will destroy all humanity? What happened to the story of Noah and the rainbow –
the promise that God would never again destroy the earth?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And then, of course, we face the fact
that this God does not seem the same as the God we know in Jesus Christ – the
one in whom God offers salvation to the whole world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So how are we to understand these
words of Zephaniah? Is he just being dramatic? Is he exaggerating? Or is he
speaking an important truth that we need to hear, even though the language
makes us cringe with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>discomfort? How do
we discover the God of love, whom we know in Jesus Christ, in the words of
Zephaniah?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Let us grant the words of the prophets
are frequently dramatic- designed to get and hold our attention. But can they
be therefore dismissed as irrelevant? Can they be reduced to words that are
more pleasant, less drastic, and perhaps more forgiving? Only by the most
strenuous effort. We must start out by facing the fact that these words are
very hard to hear and understand; they were hard to hear and understand then,
and they are hard to hear and understand now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But, as Christians, we believe that
those words both hide and reveal the same God we know in Jesus, the one in whom
we put our trust. Jesus also is reported to have spoken some harsh words –
words that are also prophetic and hard to hear – words like “I have come not to
bring peace, but a sword;” and “Depart from me into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels;” (Matthew 25:41) and “if your right hand causes
you to sin, cut it off;” (Matthew 5:30) and “if you eye offends you, pluck it
out” (Matthew 5:29). The problem is not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>that we cannot envision a God who loves us; most of us can, since we
have heard the gospel – and the story of the rainbow - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>preached to us since childhood. But we have a
much harder time (those of us in the liberal tradition, anyway) picturing and
understanding a God who judges us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the Presbyterian tradition, worship
services begin, after a hymn of praise, with a prayer of confession, in which
the congregation acknowledges its collective and individual sin and asks for
forgiveness. One of my colleagues (the same one I mentioned last week, whose
church is a union church of several denominations), after trying to introduce
the prayer of confession into the morning worship service, reported a
conversation with a parishioner – a conversation that is probably more common
than not, in which the parishioner objected to this confessional prayer,
saying: “Why should I say a prayer like this? I don’t have anything to
apologize to God for.” My feeling, when I heard this was, “This church
definitely needs to be more Presbyterian.” Such words remind me of Zephaniah’s,
when he said: “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will
punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their
hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” (Zephaniah 1:12)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So often, we say that we believe in
God, but we don’t expect God to do anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That belief, of course, can be a
reaction to those who believe that God does everything, whether it involves
helping us with a parking place or helping us pass a test for which we have not
prepared, or inflicting illnesses on us or destroying cities with tornadoes and
hurricanes. Once perhaps people believed that everything that happened was an
act of God; some of us may still believe that, but now, many of us see no room
at all for acts of God – only the acts of chance produced at random in a vast
and impersonal universe. Unlike Zephaniah, we do not want to see anything as
God’s blessing or God’s punishment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Certainly we do not believe, do we,
that God caused Hurricane Katrina to destroy New Orleans, or Hurricane Irene to
wreak havoc in Vermont, or super storm Sandy to destroy whole sections of New
York city and New Jersey? Do we, or do we not? Certainly some Christians believe
that such events are punishments for wickedness; most of us, however, have a
hard time believing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that. Well, then, if
God didn’t cause it, who did? No one, we say; it just happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What the prophets are trying to say is
that the way people live has consequences. Beneath our too easy embrace of
tolerance sometimes lies the assumption that nothing really matters. The
prophets remind us that things matter very much. Where we put our heart, our
allegiance, our hope matters very much. And from that we can say: the kind of
God we worship matters very much. Not the God we say we worship, but the God we
really worship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And prophets remind us that we may say
we worship the God of Israel but our behavior proves otherwise. Whether our
words are compromised by partaking in rituals that we know are disgraceful, or
whether our professions of faith in God are compromised by our worship of
things we can make and buy, prophets call us to account and remind us that our
worship has consequences. Not every disaster, of course, is directly
attributable to our actions – but some are. We are properly horrified to think
that God would destroy a city, but let us remember: who has destroyed cities in
our lifetimes? Certainly, there have been tsunamis for which we have no explanation
at all, but we do have an explanation for the monstrous destruction of
Hiroshima – and Sarajevo and Baghdad? We do have an explanation for the
destruction of the World Trade Center and for the bombing of Baghdad. Who did
that? People. What we do matters; what we believe to be true matters, where we
put our hearts matters.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I said earlier that Zephaniah, like
many of the prophets we are reading, proclaims doom, then gloom, then resume.
The doom is painted as absolute, but it frequently softens to simply being a
period of gloom, when what had been depended upon for wealth or safety no longer
provides wealth or comfort or safety. When security falls away, be it our
finances or our health or our family stability, we experience gloom. But gloom
is rarely the final word, certainly not in Zephaniah. In the third and last
chapter, Zephaniah’s words become more comforting. After chastisement and failure
there is hope and comfort – not because people become fundamentally better, but
because they have learned humility. Here is what he says:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Therefore, wait for me, says the
Lord,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">for the day when I arise as a
witness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For my decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">to pour out upon them my indignation,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">all the heat of my anger,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">for the fire of my passion</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">all the earth shall be consumed.
(Zephaniah3:8)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But then, the tone changes:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At that time I will change the speech
of the people</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">to a pure speech,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">that all of them may call on the name
of the Lord</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">and serve him with one accord. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On that day you shall not be put to
shame</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">because of the deeds by which you
have rebelled against me,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">for then I will remove from your
midst</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">your proudly exultant ones,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">and you shall no longer be haughty in
my holy mountain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For I will leave in the midst of you </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">a people humble and lowly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">They shall seek refuge in the name of
the Lord – the remnant of Israel;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">they shall do no wrong and utter no
lies,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">nor shall a deceitful tongue </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">be found in their mouths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">They will pasture and lie down, and
no one shall make them afraid. (Zephaniah 3:9-13)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Doom, gloom, resume. What dooms us is
our unaccountable pride. The gloom that follows is painful. This is a continual
theme in all of scripture. What results is a new humility. It is a mistake to
read the Bible unhistorically. Indeed, it is dangerous to do so; it is
dangerous to infer from prophets like Zephaniah any precise predictions
about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>specific events of our time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as extreme as the prophetic language may
be, it is still valuable for us. We too have been through destruction. Our
pride has been, and will continue to be, our downfall, resulting in suffering
and destruction for many. From all of this, we – by which I mean all of us –
may learn a proper sense of humility. We are not God. Our knowledge will always
be incomplete, and sometimes simply wrong. In such a world, humility is
appropriate, even though it is not popular. It is dangerous and arrogant to proclaim
that any disaster is God’s doing, But it is also ignorant not to see God’s presence
with us even in those situations and circumstances that overwhelm us. Doom, gloom,
resume – having learned not to trust our own goodness, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the goodness of God. We don’t always like
this message, but there it is. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-62184188035792152912013-07-01T09:02:00.002-04:002013-07-03T13:35:56.657-04:00Hosea: Love that Will Not Let Us Go - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Love that will not let us go
…..</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Richard R. Crocker</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Hosea 11:1-9</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have
chosen for our text this morning one of the tenderest parts of the book of the
prophet Hosea. Those of you who read the entire book, or who plan to read it,
will note the difference in tone between this passage and many of the others, which
are not nearly as tender.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>This
is the problem with prophets. Their words are so often disturbing, provocative,
extreme, and unsettling that we don’t want to hear them. Only later, in
hindsight, can we say they were right and appreciate the severity of their
language. In the present, prophets do not make pleasant dinner guests.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
contemporary example: Bill McKibben is a very kind man. But when you talk with
him about climate change, his language is not measured. His warnings are
severe, unsettling, disturbing, and downright unpleasant. It is much nicer to have
dinner with those people who assure us that nothing is wrong.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But back to
Hosea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You remember that after King Solomon,
the united kingdom of Israel broke up into the Northern kingdom of Israel and
the southern kingdom of Judah. Last time we spoke about Amos, a southerner who
went to the more prosperous north to proclaim the priority of justice over
greed. Hosea was Amos’ contemporary. He also prophesied in the northern kingdom
– just a little later than Amos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amos,
as you remember, spoke during the time of the great king Jeroboam II, under
whose rule Israel had prospered. Hosea began prophesying under Jeroboam, but
saw four kings assassinated in the next fourteen years. Things were falling apart,
and the kingdom of Israel was struggling to come to terms with its great<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>neighbor, Assyria.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Assyria.
2700 years ago, the nations of Judah and Israel were constantly worried about
their more powerful neighbors – Assyria to the northeast and Babylonia to the
southeast. Fast forward 2700 hundred years to today, and the nation of Israel
is still constantly worried about its more powerful neighbors – Iraq (formerly
Babylonia) to the south, and Iran and Syria (formerly Assyria) to the north. We
are talking here about enduring geo-political realities, and about an enduring
faith. What we consider ancient history is also quite contemporary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither Assyria nor Babylonia exists today as
an empire, but the geo-politics remain. The fragile coalition of tribes who
struggled to remain faithful to the revelation of the God of their ancestors,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who brought the children of
Israel out of captivity in Egypt and established them on the strip of land
along the eastern Mediterranean, still struggle to understand and embody
faithfulness, and prophets have continued to encourage them, to condemn their faithlessness,
and, alas, to proclaim the calamities that will result when they forsake the
commandments of their God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As a side
note, let me remind you of a singular resource that some of you may not know
about. Only two blocks from here, in the Hood museum, in the first room you
enter, is a permanent exhibit that will bring you into immediate contact with
the Assyrian empire. There you will find a marvelous display of stone plates,
spread across an entire wall, that were taken from the palace of Ashurnasipal
II at Nimrud near Ninevah – stone reliefs that decorated the palace of this
ruler of Assyria in the years around 850 BC. The story of how these stone reliefs
came to Dartmouth is quite interesting and is outlined at the exhibit. Suffice
it to say that it had to do with the influence of American missionaries and
British archaeologists in the 19<sup>th</sup> century, along with the rivalry
between Dartmouth and Williams colleges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a fascinating story – and you should go and look at the exhibit,
which is permanently on display. But my point now is that the exhibit reminds
us of the reality of the situations that Amos and Hosea addressed; a struggling
small kingdom constantly at the mercy of a larger empire. Both Amos and Hosea
were right in asserting that the northern kingdom of Israel would be destroyed.
In the year 721 BC, after several more minor invasions, the northern kingdom of
Israel was devastated by the Assyrians, who populated the area and produced, by
intermarriage and conquest, the people known in New Testament times as the
(despised) Samaritans. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Are prophets
always speaking doom? No, not always, but frequently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Amos and Hosea called Israel to account,
calling them to return to the true worship of God, but the two prophets are
very different. Hosea’s message was, like Amos’, a call to repentance, but it
was also, and perhaps primarily, a message of God’s faithfulness, even amid and
despite the faithlessness of the people of Israel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As you will
know from reading the book, Hosea’s message begins with a very dramatic event.
He feels called to go and marry a prostitute – one whom he knows will be
unfaithful to him, even while he is faithful to her. This marriage symbolizes
God’s faithfulness to Israel, even when his bride, Israel, is unfaithful to
him. Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, the prostitute, is the central metaphor of Hosea’s
prophecy – but it is not simply a metaphor, it is a reality. Scholars have
debated – did Hosea really do this, or was he just speaking metaphorically. The
strong opinion<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is, yes, he really did
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophets often really did (and
really do) strange things that other people only talk about. But Hosea’s action
makes more sense when one looks more closely at the situation he was
addressing.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You see,
when the tribes of Israel established themselves in the land called Canaan,
contrary to the impression given in some parts of the Bible, they did not really
obliterate the people living there. Rather, they inserted themselves into a
culture that already had its own religion – and this religion was quite typical
of the fertility cults that were prevalent throughout the middle east, and, indeed,
elsewhere. Fertility cults were based on the need to seek good conditions for
crops and flocks. Today, many of us have forgotten what our ancestors knew –
that we human creatures are dependent upon the earth for our very survival, and
that we cannot control all the conditions that make for good crops. Therefore
actions and imprecations to the powers beyond us have been prevalent throughout
history. In ancient times, often these actions and imprecations involved ritualized
sexual activity, designed, it seems from a removed perspective, to encourage
fertility in the earth and powers beyond us. So sites of sacred or ritualized
prostitution were part of Canaanite religion – practices that occurred on the
“high places” where cultic prostitutes were part of the sacred rituals to the
God called Baal. Israelite religion, of course, was incompatible with such
practice. We know that Israelite religion involved the sacrifice and sacred
consumption of animals and fruits and grains: Israelite worship was something like
the annual homecoming service at my church in Alabama: an hour of prayer and
sermon and singing, followed by a gigantic feast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sacrifices offered to Yahweh were
consumed by the priests but also by the people. Food is still a part of our
worship experience. But fertility cults, the worship of the god often called Baal
by having sex with sacred prostitutes – this was not part of Hebrew worship.
Still, one can perhaps understand its continuing appeal. By contrast, Hebrew
worship was somewhat austere, and the emphasis on the holiness of the one God
whose name could not even be uttered was hard to maintain. It faced continual
competition.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It was in this context that Hosea was called to dramatize the
nature of the God of Israel – by marrying one of these cultic prostitutes,
having children who may or may not have been his own, and proclaiming thereby,
dramatizing, that though the people of Israel were forsaking Yahweh, Yahweh,
the true God, the holy one, would never forsake them. Yes, they were doing things
that would lead to destruction; Hosea saw the coming Assyrian invasion as a
direct result of God’s rebuke of his people. All Hosea could say was that, even
so, God would be faithful, and his people would not be totally destroyed, and
that Judah would continue faithful to Yahweh. Hosea continues to use the word
Ephraim, as he does in the passage we read, to refer to the love that God has
for the people who have forsaken him. Ephraim was, you may know, the favorite
son of Joseph, who was the favorite son of Jacob. So Ephraim represents the
beloved son of the beloved son (Joseph) – perhaps the most beloved. The genealogy
in Chronicles indicates that King Jeroboam was in fact a descendant of Ephraim.
So when Hosea decried the faithlessness of Ephraim, he was speaking of the pain
of a lost son, and at the same time of the faithfulness of a loving God, a
loving parent, who will never forsake the beloved wife, or the beloved child.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so,
though Hosea’s words are word of discipline and destruction, they are also
words of comfort and pleading, words of constancy and faithfulness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At Dartmouth,
it has been a pleasure and honor for me to work with so many outstanding
students, who are generally motivated by a great desire to succeed and,
usually, to please their parents. These high achievers are often so motivated,
but not always. I have also, over the years, seen the child who chooses a
different path, sometimes a self-destructive path, usually marked by abuse of
drugs and alcohol, whose parents mourn the loss of the promise that they had
cherished in their child. Sometimes there is nothing a parent can do except
stand by and watch and pray – like the father in the story of the prodigal son,
when messages even of love and support are spurned and rejected. There is no
pain like it, I know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And such is
what we feel when we read these tender words from Hosea;:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">When Israel was a child, I loved him,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">and out of Egypt I called my son.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The more I called them, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">the more they went away from me;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They kept sacrificing to the Baals,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">and offering incense to idols.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I took them up in my arms;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">but they did not know that I healed them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I led them with cords of human kindness,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">with hands of love.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bent down to them
and fed them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">How can I give you up, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O Ephraim?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The essence of Hosea’s prophecy can be summarized in one
sentence: we are loved by a love that will not let us go.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let us return for a moment to Bill
McKibben, our contemporary prophet. Bill has spoken to us continual words of
warning. He has pointed to our extreme climate events – floods and hurricanes
and tornadoes. He has pointed to the melting icepacks, to the rising sea-level,
and to the rising level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. There have been
warnings and crises, but little change. I asked a student, a thoughtful, good
student – the other day how he thought about the inevitable climate change that
would create a crisis for his generation. He replied, honestly, “well, I guess
I’ll just have to move to higher ground.” If Bill McKibben is right, it won’t
be that simple. We continue, as a people, to live carelessly, extravagantly,
and heedlessly. Unfortunately, humans, as a group, do not usually -change
unless they are forced to do so by a crisis of gigantic proportions. And
sometimes, it is too late. The warnings come; God’s love for us remains, but we
sit like paralyzed frogs in a pan of warmer and warmer water until inevitable
destruction comes. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Hosea wanted Israel to remember its
history and its God. He counseled the nation to be aware that self-indulgence –
whether it be financial or sensual - is not what the God of Israel expects from
us; indeed, Hosea predicted that by such behavior we will destroy ourselves and
grieve the God whose love for us is unfailing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As another prophet – Jesus – said: “Those who have ears to hear, let
them hear.”</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-60525658508918162162013-06-17T08:42:00.002-04:002013-07-03T13:37:20.896-04:00"God of the Prophets: Amos" Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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God of the Prophets</div>
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Richard R. Crocker</div>
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Church of Christ at Dartmouth College</div>
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June16, 2013</div>
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Amos 2:4-16, 7:10-17<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I am honored to be asked to preach
several times (six to be precise) during this summer when Carla is focusing her
attention on preparing for the bar exam. I have decided to use this opportunity
to preach a series of sermons on a topic that I have never addressed before. I
will be speaking about six of the so-called minor Hebrew prophets<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- so-called minor, not because their message
was unimportant, but because their writings are concise. I have planned the
series so that you can either go back and read the book of the prophet after
you have heard my sermon on it, or, even better, prepare for worship by reading
the book ahead of time. There is a schedule of the sermons in the bulletin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today we begin
with Amos. But before we dig in, there are a few things you should know.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First, I have
selected these minor prophets in chronological order, based upon the time of
their ministries, rather than on the canonical order, which is the order of the
books in the Old Testament. This arrangement will allow you to place these
prophets in a chronological, historical context.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second,
because these prophets must be understood in their historical context, you will
be remembering, or perhaps learning, some of the basic, key events of Old
Testament history. I will try to provide just enough context to make the
messages more understandable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Third, I will
often refer to these prophets, and their writings, as Old Testament. I notice
that your lectors prefer to use the term “Hebrew Scriptures”. Such a preference
is fine. However, I assure you that I have it on good authority that many biblical
scholars, both Jewish and Christian, agree that, for Christians, the term Old Testament
is not derogatory. It is simply descriptive. These scriptures are not only <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hebrew scriptures. They are also Christian
scriptures. But for Christians, they are the Old Testament. I certainly mean no
offense by using this term, and I hope that none is taken.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fourth,
although often we have an Old Testament lesson in our worship service, it is
unusual to have sermons and readings dealing exclusively with Old Testament
texts. This series is therefore unusual. I will not be preaching from the lectionary,
so there will be few or no New Testament readings during this series. I hope
that the power of these prophetic readings will show why they deserve our
focused attention. Often when Christians use texts from the Old Testament or
Hebrew Scriptures, they use them almost as proof texts, without paying adequate
attention to their original context. I hope that this series will not make that
error.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fifth, this
series will certainly introduce us into the study of the nature of prophecy.
While many of us think of prophets as simply predictors of the future, we will
come to understand that they are more accurately understood as interpreters of
the present.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Finally – do not worry – I will not
repeat this explanation every Sunday. You’ll just have to remember it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, to Amos. Chances are that Amos
is better known to you than any of the other minor prophets, but he is still a
mystery. To appreciate his message, you will need to remember the history; The
twelve tribes of Israel, after the exodus, spread across the territory that we
now call Israel/Palestine and lived under tribal rule until they demanded a
king. You remember how Saul was anointed as King over all Israel – over all the
12 tribes - by the prophet Samuel. But the Israelites remained scattered and
not united until King David and King Solomon conquered and centralized their
authority in the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. The united kingdom of Israel
reached its greatest height under Solomon in the year around 1000 BC. After his
reign, things began to fragment once again, until by about 920 BC the kingdom
had been divided into two parts – north and south. The southern part was Judah,
with its capital at Jerusalem. The northern part was comprised of the other tribes
and was called Israel, with its capital at Samaria. Each part had its own
kings. There was tension and bitterness between Israel and Judah, and of course,
both kingdoms were constantly worried about their more powerful neighbors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amos, a man who
called himself a shepherd and a pruner of sycamore trees, lived in the south, in
Judah, in Tekoa, near Jerusalem. The south was the more religious part of the
region. The northern part had become more secular and much more prosperous. Amos
felt called, however, to go from the south to the north, during the time when
the north was experiencing its greatest prosperity under King Jeroboam II. The
Israelites attributed their power and prosperity in part to their formal piety
and to the sacrifices they made at the official temple in Bethel. Amos made his
way to Samaria and to the shrine at Bethel to deliver bad news – to tell the
Israelites that their piety was not pleasing to the Lord. At the royal temple,
he gained a hearing first by working up his audience<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- by proclaiming God’s judgment on all their
unrighteous neighbors. But then he turned the tables and saved his harshest
words for Israel. When he started doing that, he had, as the saying goes, stopped
preaching and gone to meddling. We read part of his word to the Israelites in
our first scripture reading today. It is not surprising that Amos’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>scathing indictment of Israel was unwelcome.
In our second reading, we heard how the official priest of the national shrine,
Amaziah, after speaking to the King, told Amos to go back home and never
return. The words of a prophet can be very troubling. Israel was, in its own
eyes, just fine. It was more prosperous and powerful than it had ever been.
What right did that shepherd – not even an official prophet – what right did he
have to challenge their wealth and comfort?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now it is important
to understand that, in the time of Amos as well as in our time, there were many
prophets – some officially commissioned by the king and priests, who only spoke
good news, and some unofficial ones like Amos who told it like it was. This is
the problem we have with prophets. There are always too many of them, and they
speak contradictory messages. The prophetic writings that we have in our
scriptures are, of course, highly selected. These writings are remembered
because, in hindsight, the words proved so valuable and true. But at the
moment, Amos’ words were disturbing. The king and the official priests found
him a trouble-maker, not a prophet. Only in hindsight do we understand that his
words were the true ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
what were his words, precisely? Well, you can read them for yourself. Some of
them, like the passages we read, are familiar to us. Here are others that Amos
spoke to these very religious, very pious, very prosperous people who thought
that the anticipated “day of the Lord” would bring them even greater triumphs:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Alas
for you who desire the day of the Lord!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Why do you want the day of the Lord?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It is darkness, not light, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As if someone<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fled from a lion and was met by a bear;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Or went into the house and rested his
hand against the wall and was bitten by a snake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Is not the day of the Lord darkness,
not light,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And gloom with no brightness in it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I hate, I despise your festivals, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And I take no delight in your solemn
assemblies,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Even though you offer me your burnt
offerings and grain offerings,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I will not accept them; </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And the offerings of well-being of
your fatted animals I will not look upon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Take away from me the noise of your
songs;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I will not listen to the melody of
your harps. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But let justice roll down like waters,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream. (Amos 515-24)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No wonder he was declared unwelcome.
He was indeed a skunk at this garden party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It was unthinkable to these people
that their way of life was weakening them, so much so that, in about a hundred
years, their land would be captured by the dreaded Assyrians. Many of them would
be exiles; foreigners would come in and mix with them, so that the kingdom of
Israel would be utterly destroyed, leaving in its place only the despised
people known in Jesus’ time as the Samaritans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When we read the words of the
prophets, we are always tempted to overlook their original meaning and to apply
them to our own situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is
true, to a point, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that prophetic words
are always pointing toward a future. But they are anchored in a concrete and
immediate situation. Amos indicted Israel, not because it was impious, but
because it was unjust; not because of its wealth but because of its greed; not
because it was not religious, but because it was unrighteous. And these words
of warning to Israel are, quite properly, a warning another nation which is, by
all accounts very religious, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which
is arrogant, and greedy, and unconcerned about the gap between the rich and the
poor. No thoughtful American can read the words of Amos without seeing their
implications for our nation – or for any nation where the gap between rich and
poor continues to grow, where some have far too much and others have far too
little; where words of criticism, when offered, are called disloyal; where many
so-called prophets proclaim our goodness, and true prophets are exiled. It is a
message as unwelcome now as it was then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When I was a pastor in New Jersey, I
had a friend who was also a pastor, in one of the wealthiest suburban towns of
New Jersey, whose church was generally recognized as the best (most
prestigious) in town. Indeed, it was so prestigious that, in one of the state
elections, both the democractic and the republican candidates for governor were
members of that same congregation. The church, of course, had expanded, and it
built a beautiful new stone addition to its original building, with an ornate
entrance. Above the entrance was a space for an inscription. My friend, the
pastor, was showing a few of us around the new edifice. He pointed to the
entrance and asked for suggestions about what should be inscribed over the
door. Such passages as “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the
house of the Lord” were suggested. I, being a contrarian, and also something of
a skunk, immediately countered with another suggestion. I said, “Inscribe the
passage from Amos: I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in
your solemn assemblies.” I do not think my suggestion was taken seriously, even
though I meant it so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For indeed, if we are to be
Christians, if we are to follow the one, Jesus, who certainly stands in the
line of the Hebrew prophets, then all of our worship should take place under that
inscription. What is required of us is not piety but justice, not empty praise
but honest concern for those who have become lost in the greedy rush for gain.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Last week at this hour I sat on the
stage at Dartmouth’s graduation and watched the young graduates receive their
diplomas, after they had heard a stirring address by Geoffrey Canada,
challenging them to remember the children in Harlem, and in places like Harlem,
whose opportunities are stunted by the culture of poverty. It was an address
that I hope was heard by some, but I know how many of those graduates are
headed off directly to lucrative jobs in finance, where they will soon absorb
the pernicious message that they deserve to be rich. Mr. Canada left them an
out: he said that he hoped some of them would make a lot of money, because he
had tried raising money from poor people, but it didn’t go so well. And of
course, he is right. It is up to those who have been privileged to carry the
greater burdens in any society, and it is true that some rich people understand
that. But many do not. Wealth has a way of expanding our sense of entitlement
and diminishing our sense of responsibility.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The words of Amos are for me echoed
in the familiar words of Lincoln, spoken at the dedication of the cemetery in Gettysburg,
150 years ago this summer: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated
can long endure.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our nation has endured and has
increased in prosperity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
question posed by Lincoln, and by Amos, haunts us still with its truth: can a
nation deeply divided between rich and poor long endure? Can a nation so
obsessed with security that it undermines the liberty for which it was founded
long endure? These are questions posed by prophets and answered by us all. The
prophets who posed them, and the words they spoke, were judged so important by
their descendants that they were enshrined in sacred scripture, where we read
them today, and ponder them, and ask ourselves anew: what is the true religion
which we should practice – the religion to which Amos and Jesus call us? And
how have we answered? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-23230989859732224132013-06-13T11:36:00.001-04:002015-08-28T22:19:42.585-04:00Commencement Prayer - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Richard R. Crocker, College Chaplain<br />
Commencement Invocation</div>
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June 9, 2013</div>
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On such a day, at such a moment,</div>
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our hearts are full of gratitude, sadness, and hope –</div>
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<br /></div>
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Gratitude for all the goodness that we have received from
this place – for the love and support of friends, teachers, family, and
colleagues;</div>
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<br /></div>
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Sadness for opportunities missed, the prospect of parting,
and the painful absence of loved ones who are here only in spirit;</div>
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<br /></div>
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Hope – that our legacy will make Dartmouth a better place
and that our work in the world will increase justice and compassion;</div>
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<br /></div>
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And so, Great God, source of all, in whom we live and move
and have our being – we offer today our full hearts – our gratitude, sadness,
and hope – in sighs too deep for words. Amen.</div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-36010633864783611622013-05-21T10:15:00.000-04:002013-05-21T10:15:49.998-04:00"First and Last' - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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First and Last</div>
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Richard R. Crocker</div>
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Rollins Chapel</div>
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Dartmouth College</div>
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May 19, 2013</div>
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Mark 10:17-31</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today is
Pentecost – the Jewish celebration of the gift of law, and the Christian
celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today also marks my last “sermon” in
Rollins Chapel as College Chaplain at Dartmouth. Some of you here today have
never been to chapel before. Thank you for coming. Others are among the few who
have been regular chapel attenders. Your presence today is especially valued.
We have been thinking this term about “the good life” – a subject that I will
address today more implicitly than explicitly.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I came
to Dartmouth as College Chaplain ten and a half years ago, there were no
regular college-sponsored worship services in Rollins Chapel, and there had not
been for many years. There were occasional services, but no weekly ones. I did
not immediately start such a service, since all previous chaplains and Tucker deans
had failed in this task, but after a few months, I decided that I would try
again. I would like to share with you a few words that I spoke at that first
service, in October 2003:</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No matter how much we
might like to reinterpret the past, it is an undeniable fact that Dartmouth
College began as an effort to train Christian ministers to preach the gospel in
the wilderness. For some people, this fact is wonderful. For others, it is
embarrassing. But it is nonetheless a fact. Just a fact. For 156 years – until 1925
- gathering for worship was an essential part of Dartmouth College life. That
is why we have this building - built in 1885 to hold the entire college. It is
why we have our college motto (Vox clamantis in deserto). It is why we have a
history of ministerial college presidents, the last of whom was William Jewett
Tucker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There are some people
who will welcome this new chapel service. It is something they have hoped and
longed for. Others will oppose it because it seems to them a retrogressive way
of thinking, an anachronistic throwback to Dartmouth's sometimes embarrassing
history. Most will take neither view. They will not even notice it, or if they
do notice it, they will view it with the same indifference with which they
might view the daily tea parties in Sanborn House.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My perspective,
obviously, is different. I think this gathering is very important. I am a
preacher, employed by Dartmouth College to stand in a line of continuity with
its founders. The gospel I proclaim is a chastened one, to be sure. I, like
you, am aware of the errors and arrogance of Christian proclamation here in
this wilderness and elsewhere. None of us, in ignorance, is entitled to condemn
anyone's sincere convictions, nor to exclude any perspective from the college
discussion. But I also know that to have any conviction at all in our time
makes one vulnerable to the charge of "bias" or
"close-mindedness". Yet to live without any convictions is, I
believe, impossible. I live with that tension, and so do some of you. It is a
tension that I do not choose to abandon, or to resolve by sinking into
relativism.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We live in a culture
that sometimes seduces us with false and shallow promises based finally upon
the assertion that nothing really matters. In such a wilderness, we are called to
remember who we are. That is what I want us to do in these weekly services. We
will meet to think together about who we really are. We will meet in this place
that reminds us - whoever we are, we are belong to God. And that is both the
oldest and newest, the truest and most controversial, word I can say. Amen”</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perhaps I should stop there. Perhaps that is all there is to
say. But I will not. The chapel light that we lit ten years ago has not been
extinguished. Though congregations have fluctuated between small and smaller,
there has never been a service when no one showed up. I was right in saying that
the service would be greeted by most people with absolute indifference, but I
was also right in saying that it would be meaningful for some. Certainly it has
been for me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Throughout these years, there has been one text to which I
have repeatedly returned: it is the text that we read today. I have returned to
it because I have come to see it as the quintessential Dartmouth story – the
story that everyone at Dartmouth can relate to, whether they know it or not.
And so I return to it today.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We speak a great deal
at Dartmouth about diversity. And that is an important thing to talk about. We
need to realize, respect and celebrate the different experiences, backgrounds,
cultures, talents, and convictions that people bring to Dartmouth. Yet, amid
this diversity, I have come to realize that there is one trait that is shared
by almost every student and faculty member, as well as some of the staff, at
Dartmouth. </span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That trait, of course,
is ambition. Every student who comes to Dartmouth is ambitious - achievement
oriented, wanting to excel. It is the sine qua non for admission. Can you
imagine an admissions essay that discusses one's desire not to achieve? Or that
documents one's lack of success? And of course the same is true for faculty.
And some staff. We all are ambitious, high achieving people.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So what's wrong with
that? In many ways, of course, nothing is wrong with it. It is exciting to be
surrounded by people who are highly motivated to achieve. This is the very fuel
of our community. It is one of the things that makes Dartmouth a good place to
be. It is why this passage, recorded in all three synoptic gospels, speaks so
powerfully to us who live here. Nothing could be more ambitious than to want
eternal life. And the questioner - sometimes described as a rich young ruler -
is a very appealing person. He is a serious questioner. He wants to do the
right thing. He has been good all his life - got good grades, high scores on
his SATs, was involved in lots of extracurriculars, was an officer in youth
group and added a lot of community service to his resume as well. I read the
account from Mark’s gospel. Matthew's is almost identical - except for one
detail. In Matthew, Jesus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>simply says to
the questioner "You lack one thing." In Mark, we are told
"Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one
thing."</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus loved him.
Ambitious people - especially people who are ambitious to be exceptionally good
- are often very appealing and lovable. I have certainly found that to be the
case at Dartmouth. But at the same time, their ambition can be an obstacle to
achieving the very thing they really want.</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The very thing they really want. Now I am speaking to you as one of you.
I do not stand before you as a representative of perfect humility. I am very
much part of the culture of ambition that I am describing. And therefore I
realize what a radical challenge is posed by Jesus' words - especially the
final words ' "But many who are first will be last, and the last will be
first." It's a reversal of our way of thinking, isn't it? Think of what would
happen at Dartmouth is we tried to fill our campus with students who had been
last in their class. It's a stupid idea, isn't it? Much of what Jesus says
strikes us as counter to our normal way of thinking. But it also just stays
with us - like this passage has stayed with me - challenging us to think a
different way – to ask: “What am I ambitious for? What do I really want? And
wil my ambition really take me there?”</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How then do we get beyond ambition? (That of course is itself another
kind of ambition, the ambition to get beyond ambition - so we see the nature of
the difficulty). This is not a question that I can answer easily. But I will
make a suggestion. Transforming experiences. Students talk to me, sometimes,
about transforming experiences. Sometimes they happen in a classroom, when we
encounter a profoundly unsettling idea. Or they happen when we place ourselves
in a position where we are powerless and afraid like taking a leave term to
work in an orphanage in Morocco, or a prison, or an urban school. Or they
happen when we confront utter failure. These experiences can truly reverse our
priorities and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>preconceived notions. And
when they do, we get a glimpse about what it means for the first to be last,
and the last to be first. I think of that man in today’s text, so talented, so
ambitious, who encountered Jesus, but who chose financial consulting.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What we are talking about, on Pentecost, is receiving a new spirit. It
changes our ambitions. We seek to become teachers rather than tycoons,
protestors rather than protectors of the status quo, contributors rather than
consumers. Sometimes such changes happen right here, in these chapel services–
which is why I hope that they will never end.</span></div>
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i</div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-67961624758083480162013-04-22T11:19:00.001-04:002013-04-22T11:19:54.978-04:00Love and Marriage - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Love/Marriage</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Richard R. Crocker</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rollins Chapel, Dartmouth College</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
April 21, 2013</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Genesis 2:18-25</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Last week I spoke about kindness as a
chief component of a good life. This week I want to talk about a related
virtue, an essential part of the good life, which is love, and especially
marriage. Love is an essential part of the good life – perhaps the essential
part, and marriage is one of its truest expressions.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I mentioned
last week that, during my forty years as a chaplain/teacher/dean/counselor, I
have frequently been asked what one should look for in a life partner. I
replied “kindness.” One of you accosted me after chapel and expressed amazement
that I had been asked that question at all, much less that I had been asked it
frequently. This person stated that such a question (about choosing life
partner) was not on the minds of college students during this generation.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hmmm, I
thought. Maybe things <u>have</u> changed. It is certainly true that I do not
perform as many weddings as I used to. It is also true that dating is almost
taboo in college these days, while “hooking up’ seems to have been normalized.
Nevertheless, I stand by my assertion, slightly revised, to say that, during
the forty years of my ministry, thoughtful young people have often asked me
what quality they should look for in choosing a life partner, and I stand by
the answer: Kindness. Beauty, brains, and wealth are appealing but not enduring,
while the character trait of kindness is the key to a happy relationship.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recently Susan
Paton, a 1977 graduate of Princeton and the mother of two current Princeton
students, created quite a stir by her article in the Princeton newspaper telling
Princeton women that one of the chief parts of their Princeton education should
be choosing a mate. She wrote: “You will never again be surrounded by this
concentration of men who will be worthy of you.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6360285755594661457#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>
This argument has drawn understandable criticism from many – but it is still
true, isn’t it, that many of us do find our life partners during the college
years.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I thought I
should begin this meditation by going back to the beginning, to the Garden of
Eden, when, according to the story, God created Adam (man), and then, seeing Adam’s
essential loneliness, created Eve (woman) by taking a rib from the man and
making a woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, please remember
that this is a story – a profound and important story, but a story. It is not
history and not biology. Those who literalize the story are missing the point.
I remember that when I learned this story as a child in Sunday school I was
told that someone (a woman), somewhere in the world had my rib, and it was my
task to find<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her. This was not helpful.
But the essential point is profoundly true, because this story gives us the
best definition of love that I know. It is this: love is a connection that
alleviates loneliness.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A connection
that alleviates loneliness. The ancient story in Genesis says that God first
brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them. That is cute,
but also profound, because, for many people, their connection to a pet, to an
animal, is their chief antidote to loneliness. Some people love their pets more
than they love anything or anyone else. This is true. But the story says that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>connections with animals were not enough for
Adam. He needed another human connection, an intimacy so profound that the two
shared their very nature. And so Eve was created from Adam’s own flesh, as a true
companion, the essential companion, to alleviate loneliness. Now I am aware
that this story is offensive to some people, but it is the story, and its
essential point is profound. There is no feeling so miserable as loneliness.
Remember how you felt when you first arrived at Dartmouth? Remember how
desperately you sought friends, or at least a friend?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then remember how much better you felt
when you found one? Remember, even now, how difficult it is for some people to
go to commons unless they know they will find someone there to eat with?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Friends are
important to the good life. Indeed they are. But even if we make life-long
friends, they will not be with us every moment. They will not share our daily
successes and failure. They will be integral parts of our family on a daily and
perpetual basis. They will go their way and we will go ours. We will not share
our lives completely.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So most of
us desire and need a lifepartner ---<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not
a one night stand. Sex is the biological drive that fuels our search, but it is
only the fuel, not the essence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so
it is that marriage has evolved as the relationship in society that many people
find essential to the good life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I say many,
not all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us be aware that the forms
of marriage have been varied. Plural marriage was common in the ancient world,
and serial monogamy is common in the present one. Marriage between a man and a
woman has been, in the western tradition, the only legitimate form of marriage
for millennia, but same-sex life-long partnerships, though not always recognized,
have always existed. Now, in our society, many more people recognize that
same-sex relationships can have the same sacred legitimacy as heterosexual
ones, but this reality is very disturbing to some people who are more traditional
in their ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They sometimes cite the
Genesis story: you have heard them say, I am sure: God created Adam and Eve,
not Adam and Steve. And they point to the words of Jesus himself, when he said,
in reply to a question about whether divorce is permitted: “Have you not read
that the one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and
said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his mother and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall be one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:3-6)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This passage
both reflects and establishes a very traditional view of marriage. But note
that Jesus used the words in relation to a question about divorce. Just as we
have come to understand that divorce is sometimes necessary (though always
painful), so we may also say that the gender specificity in Jesus‘ words is not
the main point; rather, the devoted union of two human beings is.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What can I
say to you about this? My voice is only one of many. The Christian church is
quite divided on questions of gender, but I hope that it is united in its
understanding of God’s love. I can only say this: Love is the connection that
alleviates loneliness. Most of us seek and need a human connection that will
endure for our whole life-long, and that will include, for many, the nurture of
children. Such a relationship, when it is founded upon mutual kindness, and
directed toward increasing the amount of kindness in the world, is one of the
greatest blessings of a good life. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6360285755594661457#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> An
Alumna’s Advice for the Young Women of Princeton: Marry My Son” .
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/30</div>
</div>
</div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-14233629039069460062013-04-15T15:59:00.000-04:002015-08-28T22:22:37.187-04:00"Be Ye Kind ..." Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">Richard R. Crocker, College Chaplain</span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">Darmouth College</span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> John 21:1-19</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">Ephesians 4:25-33 </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> We have before us two scripture
passages – one, the lectionary passage, from the gospel of John, describing the
appearance of the resurrected Christ to his disciples, and his enigmatic
conversation with Peter. The other is a passage that I have chosen for this
occasion from Ephesians, which is a passage of instruction to the early church
attributed to the Apostle Paul.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The common
denominator of these passages is that they both have to do with the church –
what it is and what it should be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A great deal
of attention has been given during the last few weeks to the selection and
inauguration of a new Pope, Pope Francis the first. We Protestants watch this
process with interest and sometimes amusement, because, although we hold the
Pope in esteem as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, we have a very
different model of church and do not accord him the authority that he claims in
his own church. In the Roman Catholic tradition, authority comes down from the
top. God gave authority to Jesus, who gave it to Peter, who gave it to his
successors, who are the bishops of Rome or the Popes. It is very much a
top-down conception of the church.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Protestants
see it differently. The authority for most Protestant churches – especially
those of the congregational and reformed polity, comes from the bottom up. Churches
are gatherings of believers who voluntarily associate with one another. Ministers
in those churches have authority given to them by the members of the church and
symbolized by ordination. These are two different ideas or models of the
church.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Protestants
and Catholics have long argued about which model is the earliest or the purest
or the truest. We could have no earlier picture of the church than the one we
have today in the gospel of John, where the disciples , disillusioned, puzzled,
bewildered, have gone back to Galilee from Jerusalem after the crucifixion and
the rumored resurrection. They had to earn a living, so they returned to
fishing, and they were frustrated because they were catching no fish. It was
then that a mysterious figure appeared on the shore, telling them where to let
down their net. Someone recognized, or theorized, that it was Jesus himself, so
the impetuous Peter, who, we are told, was naked while he was in the boat
fishing, put on his clothes and jumped into the water. Now there was silly act,
wasn’t it? But Peter seems to have had a thing about getting wet: we remember
his impetuous attempt to walk on the water, which resulted in his becoming very
wet. The disciples remained puzzled, but they came to see clearly that it was
Jesus who prepared breakfast for them, eating, perhaps, some of the 153 fish
(who counted?). It was then that Jesus had the conversation with Peter about
love —asking Peter three times whether he loved him, hearing three times
Peter’s increasingly insistent declarations of love, and responding each time
with the statement: feed my sheep (or lambs). Although the precise nature of
this conversation is enigmatic, it is easy to see the parallel between Peter’s
three declarations of love, after the resurrection, and the three denials of
even knowing Jesus, before the crucifixion. So if, as Roman Catholics believe,
Peter was indeed commissioned by Christ himself to be the leader of the church,
it is clear that the church is built on the faith of very fallible people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Protestants
see no hierarchy in the early church – only the influence of teachers, like
Paul, who was not one of the original disciples and who, indeed, had been a
persecutor of believers, but who encountered the risen Christ in a vision on
the road to Damascus and who became the chief missionary teacher of the early
church. Through his missionary journeys, and through the letters he wrote to
the young churches in various cities of the Roman empire, we learn from a man
who had come to faith in Christ, and who was trying to help bands of believers
throughout the empire learn to live as Christians in a pagan world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The letter to the Ephesians is one such
Pauline letter, which, if not written by Paul himself, seems certainly to have
reflected some of Paul’s views on how the early church, and the early Christian
believers, should conduct themselves. This model of the early church, with no
apparent hierarchy but with concern for one another, is the model that lies
behind much protestant though – a model that was recovered during the
Protestant reformation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I turned to
this passage from the letter to the Ephesians today because it is contains one
of the earliest scripture passages I remember. When I was a very young child at
Sunday school, long before I went to school or learned to read, we were taught
memory verses, verses of scripture that we memorized each week. The first that
I remember is “God is love.” (I John4:8) Ephesians 2:32 was also one of the
very first. From the King James Bible (the only one I knew), we learned: “Be ye
kind, one to another.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was repeated
with such frequency that I cannot ever forget it. Later, when we were a little
older, we learned the second part of the verse: “Be ye kind, one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” I am
reminded of Robert Fulghum’s book, “Everything I Really needed to Know I
learned in Kindergarten.” I would say that everything I really needed to know
about Christianity I learned in the beginner class of Sunday school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This passage
from Ephesians was written to Christians who disagreed with one another and who
had become hurtful to each other through their disagreement. The scripture
counsels them bluntly: “Put away from you all the bitterness and wrath and
anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven
you.” It is inevitable, given our human condition, that we have disagreements.
Sometimes these come from misunderstanding. Sometimes they result from
intentional hurt. Since these kinds of disagreements occurred in the earliest Christian
communities, we should not be surprised that they still occur. The question is
how we handle them</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Let us return for a minute to Pope
Francis. Whatever one’s view of the authority of the papacy, I think we would
all agree that Pope Francis is off to a good start. Why? Because he is
displaying extraordinary kindness. From his initial words to the throng in St
Peter’s square when he recognized and blessed those in the assembled crowd who
were not Catholic and not Christian, to his parade around St Peter’s square
where he stopped frequently to greet children, to his extraordinary actions on
Maundy Thursday when he went far beyond the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>customary ceremonial washing of feet to the unprecedented washing the feet
of two women --- not only women, but Muslim women – we see that this is a man
who is not pretentious, who wants to express simple human kindness. Kindness
is, in my estimation, the central and essential virtue. The word kindness comes
from the same word as kin – that is, being related to. When we recognize that
we are all kin, that we are not special, separated from others, but related to
one another – or, as Ephesians says, we “are members of one another”. Then we
must treat each other as brothers and sisters. The new pope is off to a good
start because he seems to know this. If he can in fact be an example of
Christian kindness, then he will do a service, not only to the Catholic Church,
or the Christian church, but to the whole world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Meanwhile, we can do the same thing.
If we can remember that we are members of one another, and if we can treat each
other that way, we can be examples as well. But there is a catch. The passage
is Ephesians begins by telling us to speak the truth: “So, then, putting away
falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members
of one another.” Sometimes, in an effort to be pleasant or to avoid conflict,
we fail to speak the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And of
course, sometimes kindness does prevent us from speaking truth unnecessarily. For
example, we learn as children that we should not tell Aunt Myrtle that she is
wearing an ugly dress. But we probably should tell Aunt Myrtle that she has egg
on her face, because that is an act of kindness. And when we have egg on our
face, as we all will, sometime, somehow, the person who brings it to our
attention is being kind. Jesus tells us, in another place, that the truth will
make us free. (John 8:32) Paul tells us, also in Ephesians (4:15) that we
should speak the truth in love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes the truth is painful to speak and painful to hear. But truth,
spoken in love, is always an act of kindness. Forgiveness can only be given,
and received, when we accept the truth. And when we know the truth about
ourselves, we know that we are in need of forgiveness, just as others are.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“God is love.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You shall know the truth, and the truth
shall set you free.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Speak the truth in love.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Be ye kind, one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” Elementary.
Essential. Profoundly true. Memory verses worth pondering, aren’t they?</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-11080286864744601682013-04-02T09:21:00.001-04:002013-04-02T09:21:07.485-04:00What Does the Resurrection Mean? - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Richard R. Crocker</div>
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What Does the Resurrection Mean?</div>
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Dartmouth College Chapel</div>
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Easter – March 31, 2013</div>
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Luke 24:13-35</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is now
evening on Easter Day, just as it was near evening on the first Easter Day,
when Jesus encountered Cleopus and his friend as they walked, disconsolately,
from Jerusalem to the their homes in Emmaus, seven miles away – just about the
distance from Hanover to Lebanon. Easter is full of mystery. The scriptures
never tell us how the resurrection happened; they simply tell us that it did.
And this mystery is symbolized by angels and visions – but mainly by absence. The
body that the disciples had expected to find was not there. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we
regard such a mystery, we would be foolish to think that we can explain it. Of
course, we can discount it as foolishness, or we can puzzle about it. Or we can
believe it. But we cannot explain it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the midst
of such mystery, it is good to be anchored in a simple story of disappointed
travelers. Cleopus and his friend – perhaps wife? – were humble people,
otherwise unremarkable. They had placed their hope in Jesus as “the one who
would redeem Israel” – by which we understand they meant that he would be the
one to liberate Israel from Roman rule. But their hopes were dashed. Their
messiah had been crucified – a death reserved for rebels and traitors to the
empire, and now his body had disappeared. They were disconsolate – beyond comfort,
disappointed beyond words.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I wonder if you have ever been
disappointed? I am sure you have, maybe in many small ways, maybe in big ways.
Disappointment, the loss of hope, the failure to realize something that you had
fully expected and wanted, is a terrible thing. It eats at us like a worm, We
cannot take our minds off of what we have lost. We cry, we ache, we run away,
we try to forget. But a truly significant experience of disappointment may well
haunt us all our lives. I cannot overstate the power of disappointment to maim
our spirits and poison our lives.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And so Cleopus and his companion were
disappointed people, when, out of the blue, a stranger appeared beside them who
was apparently ignorant of the events in Jerusalem. When they explained their
disappointment, he began to talk to them and to explain that their hopes for a
ruler to overthrow Rome were misplaced. Their expectations were flawed. They
found his words compelling and invited him to have the evening meal with them.
And as he broke bread and prayed, they suddenly recognized him. This was Jesus
himself. And then he disappeared.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now this
story is also mysterious – but it is less mysterious than the resurrection
itself. We all know, or can imagine, the thrill of recognition – when we
understand something that had previously mystified us; when we find something
that we had thought lost; when we meet an old friend unexpectedly in a crowded
airport, when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>someone that we had
thought lost forever reappears in our lives. It can happen in the most ordinary
circumstances. Our disconsolate spirits are suddenly consoled, and our hopes
are renewed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This story
of Jesus appearing after his resurrection to these two ordinary people on the
road to Emmaus is perhaps the most powerful of the resurrection appearances for
me, because it is so ordinary. No angels. No voices from heaven, just an
encounter with someone who helps us understand what we had not understood, and
who is for us, for a few minutes, Christ himself.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I said that
the resurrection of Jesus is mysterious. We cannot understand it. We cannot
account for it. We may find it hard to believe. But what the scriptures do establish
beyond doubt is that many people, like Cleopos, like Peter, like Mary, like
Thomas – said that they saw Jesus after had died. And their encounter with the
risen Lord compelled them to live in a different way. These are facts. We can
argue that these people were deceived, or imagined it; we cannot argue that
they didn’t claim it. That is beyond dispute.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Chapel this
term has the theme of the good life. That may mean many things. But one part of
a good life, I think, is not being overwhelmed by disappointment. It means
living hopefully, even in the midst of things that are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>distressing. Christianity at its truest and best,
enables us to do that. The agonies of the crucifixion are real, and they
continue. But cruelty, oppression, and death are not the last word. We can be
hopeful even when we are very sad and disappointed when we remember Jesus, when
we encounter him, even for a few moments, and realize that he is alive. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>I
expect that all of us could tell some story of disappointment. This week many
applicants will receive word of their acceptance or rejection at college. Some
will be very happy. Some will be very disappointed. I think particularly right
now of those who have their hearts set on coming to Dartmouth and who will be
disappointed. Some of us are perhaps still burdened by disappointment – in our
parents, in a love relationship, in our grades; or we are saddened beyond words
because we have lost through death our dearest friend. In such situations,
words sometimes help, but only a little. The only thing that can truly comfort us
is the hope that things will somehow still work out, that death and
disappointment are not the last words. Such was the faith that has kept true
hope alive in the world, and that we celebrate and remember tonight.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-11600249566213360522013-03-18T10:37:00.000-04:002013-04-02T09:22:04.079-04:00Sharing the Truth - Richard R. CrockerThis sermon was preached on March 17, 2013 at Colby College on the occasion of Kurt Nelson's installation as Dean of religious and Spiritual Life.<br />
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<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Sharing the Truth</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Colby College</div>
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March 17, 2013</div>
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2 Timothy 2:15-17a, 22-25; 4:2-5</div>
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<br /></div>
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Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by
him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of
truth. Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more
impiety, and their talk will spread like gangrene. ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shun youthful passions and pursue
righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord
from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies;
you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord servant must not be quarrelsome
but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with
gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the
truth… II Timothy 2:15-16; 22-25)</div>
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<br /></div>
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I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent
whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage
with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will
not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate
for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away for
listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober,
endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.</div>
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(II Timothy 4:2-5)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I am pleased to be back, speaking in
the Colby College Chapel, after a long absence. I last spoke here during a college
worship service thirty years ago, when I was College Chaplain at Bates. As you
will have concluded, there was no clamor for my immediate return.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I noticed during that visit long ago,
and have confirmed this very day, an impressive plaque in the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rose Chapel of this building commemorating 72 early
Colby graduates who were missionaries. This was interesting to me then, and it
is interesting now. Both Colby and Bates were founded as Baptist institutions,
and I feel a particular affinity to them, for I myself, like them, was once a
Baptist. Colby was the creation of the regular or Calvinistic Baptist movement
in Maine, while Bates was created by the Free Will or Arminian Baptists. These
distinctions probably have very little significance to most of you today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A hundred and fifty years ago, they were central
convictions about the truth, held with such passion that colleges were created
to perpetuate distinctions that may now seem quaint and perhaps trivial. And so
we learn and commemorate today the changing conceptions of truth –
acknowledging how convictions rise and pass away, how susceptible we are to
fashion, even in our religion. Of course, there are people in all religions who
think that there is a core of truth, unchanging and unchangeable, that is
usually the property of their own tradition. I have respect for that
conviction, and in some senses I also even share it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sharing the
truth. I always get uncomfortable when someone tells me that they want to <u>share
</u>something with me. It always feels like they really want to sell me
something - a sales person who wants to share a new life insurance policy. But
for lack of a better word, I understand when people want to share their deepest
convictions, because I realize that genuine sharing is a gift and a risk. Our
culture does not make it easy to share our deepest convictions; they often are
seen as divisive rather than uniting. A recent New Yorker cartoon entitled “how
to get space on the subway” portrays a man sitting in a subway car with an
empty seat of each side of him. He is wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with the
words: “Ask me about my religion.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet I do not
hesitate – in fact I have become rather famous at Dartmouth, for sharing, or
proclaiming, five truths with my students. I share them with no apology and
with no uncertainty. And, surprisingly, my students love them. Would you like
to hear them? Well, of course, your answer doesn’t matter. Here they are.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Alcohol
is dangerous.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Sleep
is essential.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Cuddling
is good.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Good
things will happen to you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Bad
things will happen to you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I think these truths are beyond dispute.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But when the
apostle Paul uses the word “truth” in his letters to Timothy, we rightly infer
that he is talking about something perhaps even truer. He is talking about the
gospel, the good news, that will free people from the fear of sin and death.
Yet, while he admonishes Timothy always to proclaim the truth,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>warns Timothy not to get involved in useless and stupid debates, and
instructs him always to be kind and gentle in advocating the truth to which he
is committed. In other words, Paul tells Timothy to be bold and clear in his
advocacy of the truth, while at the same time being kind, gentle, and genuinely
humble.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Many religious people have a hard
time living out this instruction. Some of us, no matter what our tradition,
feel duty bound to make sure everyone knows the truth as we see it; others of
us are so timid in our convictions that we refuse to talk about them at all. I
submit that both stances are failures to share the truth. The first stance
fails to share because it assumes that the other person has nothing to give;
the second fails to share because it assumes that we ourselves have nothing to
give. Sharing implies mutuality.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We have gathered today to formally
acknowledge and celebrate Kurt Nelson’s ascension to the position of Dean of
Religious and Spiritual Life at this formerly Baptist College. We are here, I
believe, because we wish him well in what all of us know is an important and
difficult job. But I take special pleasure and pride in this occasion because I
know Kurt so well. From his having served for five years as my assistant, I
know full well that he is a person of exceptional intelligence, and integrity,
and, if I may say so, he is exceptionally well-trained. Kurt has convictions that
he is not afraid to share. He believes in a God who is the ground of creation;
he believes quite literally that he – and we – must act to save the world. He
is impatient with those who ignore scientific evidence of climate change. He is
willing to go to jail (for a brief time) to support his beliefs. At the same
time, Kurt is genuinely interested in the beliefs of others. He has learned to
listen respectfully to those with whom he may disagree, and to learn from them,
and to welcome what they have to share.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For you see,
there are a few other truths that I think you will agree are indisputable. Here
they are:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Religion
is not going away.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Despite the rapid growth of the
religiously unaffiliated and alienated in the US, and, I am sure at Colby
College, Islam is not going away, Hinduism is not going away, and Judaism, Christianity,
and Buddhism in all their varieties are not going away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The need to feel a connection with a “higher
power” is either biologically or culturally, or perhaps both, universal. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Also,
the critique of religion is not going away. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Nor should it. Religion is renewed
and purified by takings its critics seriously. Atheists are often people who
take religion quite seriously, and their critiques can be valuable. But, to the
surprise of some critics, people do not always get less religious as they get smarter;
instead:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We
believe different things.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Different people believe
substantially different things, and we believe different things at different
times in our lives. The general effect of a Colby education, or a Bates
education, or a Dartmouth education, is to make us less naïve in our beliefs. We
get more information, we acquire a more critical perspective, and our beliefs
change. But we still have beliefs. And, contrary to those who say that we are
all climbing up the same mountain but along different paths, I think we may
indeed be climbing different mountains. I do not think our beliefs converge or
lead us to the same destination – unless you consider death the ultimate destination.
Rather, we have very different beliefs – different one from another, and
different from ourselves at various periods of life. In view of this truth, I
also assert:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We
learn and grow from talking with each other.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This is what we do best at college.
We talk to one another, in an atmosphere of openness, respect, and genuineness
that college – and college alone – provides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is why it is so important to have someone like Kurt at Colby – a
person who has convictions, who does not endorse relativism, and who is open to
learning, growth, and change. Because he understands that our beliefs change as
we grow, Kurt is not invested in proclaiming an exclusive truth. He is, rather,
invested in exploring the truth, indeed, if you will, sharing the truth, with
believers and critics. And he has come to a community which, I hope,
understands and supports such a dialogue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Kurt is a graduate of Yale Divinity
School. But he is too young to have known William Sloane Coffin. Many of you
youngsters, unfortunately, have no idea who William Sloane Coffin was.
Oldsters, like me, remember him as a mentor, as a champion of civil rights and
social justice, as a wonderfully articulate and courageous Presbyterian
Christian minister chaplain of Yale University. For years now, to insure that I
am exposed to at least one good sermon every Sunday, I read one of his. Please
allow me to close by sharing with you this brief passage from one of his sermons
at Riverside Church.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said; “I once asked a group of Yale faculty
if they thought the existence of God a lively question. Said a political scientist:
‘It’s not even a question, Bill, let alone a lively one.’ That he didn’t
believe in God didn’t bother me that much. … But what did bother me was this: I
can see doubting the quality of the bread, but I can’t see kidding yourself
that you are not hungry – unless of course your soul has so shriveled that you
have no appetite left for all that elicits astonishment, awe, and wonder. It’s
this shriveling up that is so disturbing. What’s so boring at universities is
not that scientists specialize. It’s that specialists generalize, insisting not
only in their particular area, but in all areas of life the only truths that
matter are the truths that can be proved, mysteries that can be explained. They
see only those truths that they can dominate. They have no truck with those to
which one can only surrender. Their minds are both powerful and frighteningly
narrow. No wonder there is a widespread withdrawal from wisdom in the
universities today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>__ Not that we
churchgoers have great cause for smugness. We believe religion is a good thing
like social security and regular exercise, but we don’t want to overdo it. It
might affect the heart!”<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Coffin, 2008, p. 15)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
spoke William Sloane Coffin.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6360285755594661457#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And so Kurt, I exhort you: “Do your
best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who need not
be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. … Have nothing to do with
senseless controversies… Do not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt
teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. … Always be sober,
endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” as
you share the truth in this wonderful place. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .25in; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And I hope for all of you that this
will be, increasingly, a community in which, by your interaction, you will find
the courage to express your own beliefs, the patience to listen to the beliefs
and critiques of others, and thereby that you will indeed more fully share the
truth. Amen.</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6360285755594661457#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a>
William Sloane Coffin, The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The
Riverside Years, Volume I, page 15. Louisville; Westminster John Knox,2009</div>
</div>
</div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-59384896025316024912013-03-12T14:35:00.002-04:002013-04-15T16:00:26.160-04:00Reflections on the Good Samaritan - revised Richard R. CrockerReflection on the Good Samaritan - Richard R. Crocker (Revised)<br />
<br />
<br />
Church of Christ at Dartmouth College<br />
<br />
March 9, 2013<br />
<br />
Luke 10:25-37, Deuteronomy 30:9-14; <br />
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<br />
<br />
Probably most of us have heard the story of the good Samaritan 100 times at least, and we have listened to many sermons on the subject. Perhaps there are some in the congregation hearing it for the first time. It would be nice if this were true. But I am assuming that all of you, like me, suffer from the problem of over familiarity. We do not really listen to the story because we have heard it so often, and we think we know what it means. So as soon as the scripture lesson starts, we may tune out. There is nothing new here for us. Only an exhortation. We listen, and we carry away from the story an admonition to “go and do likewise.’ And that admonition means that we are supposed to be like the Samaritan and be attentive to the needs of anyone we encounter – especially people we are supposed to dislike. Well, that message doesn’t gain much traction in our lives, does it? Help out anyone in need – that’s what it means to be a neighbor, right? Isn’t that what we take away? And don’t we try to do that by giving money to our church and to other charitable organizations – and by having the Friday night community dinners and giving tone Great Hour of Sharing? Now I would not for a minute discourage those charitable activities, but I have discovered after listening to the story of the good Samaritan for many years that I have been hearing it wrongly. Perhaps you have too. Because you see this story is really very surprising. And sometimes the surprise catches us. And when it catches us, it comes alive again.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We know the outline: A lawyer – wouldn’t you know it would be a lawyer? A lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Since lawyers get a portion of every other inheritance, it only makes sense that they would want to know how to cash in on inheriting eternal life. Sorry – I’m being snide. Please forgive me. But it is a lawyer who asks, and Jesus says: you know all the rules. What are they? (Lawyers are people who know all the rules, and who know how to get around them.) But the lawyer answers sincerely, quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus: Your shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Then Jesus says: you are right. Just do that. That’s all you have to do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But, of course, the lawyer has another question. “Precisely who is my neighbor, the one I have to love?” It’s a good question.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
To answer, Jesus tells a story that presupposes that we know that the Jews and the Samaritans were long-time enemies. Not enemies, really; they just detested each other. Like Red Sox versus Yankee fans except much more intense. There was long-standing animosity between them. So the Jewish traveler was on a dangerous journey, and he fell among thieves who robbed him and beat him. Two other Jews come along: a priest and a Levite – both holy church-going people. Neither of them stopped to help; they both were busy, on important (maybe even divine or religious) business. Then a Samaritan comes along, and he, of all people, stops to help – not only stops but goes beyond the call of duty by taking the wounded man to the hospital and paying his bill. It’s a great story. Then Jesus asks: ”Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” <br />
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<br />
<br />
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Now here’s where it gets tricky. The lawyer answers: “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”<br />
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<br />
Now, you say – what’s tricky about that? It’s obvious, isn’t it? We’re supposed to help people in need. That’s what I’ve always thought: that’s what I think whenever I pass a hitch-hiker, don’t you? I think – That man‘s in need, and here I am, a Levite passing him by. What a hypocrite I am! I better send some more money to Church world Service or Doctors Without Borders.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But that’s not (as I recently realized) what the text says. Jesus asks: which of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? The man who was the neighbor was the Samaritan. And the commandment is to love our neighbor. So the commandment here is to love the one who comes to aid us in our need. It is not –in this story – that we are duty bound to go out and do kind deeds. It’s that we are to love those people who show us God’s mercy and grace; to love those who help us become better people; to love those who give to us extravagantly. The command here is not to the Samaritan: it’s to the man in the ditch. The man in the ditch wasn’t a neighbor. It was the Samaritan who was a neighbor. The man in the ditch didn’t learn a darn thing from the priest or Levite; he didn’t receive a single thing from them. But from the Samaritan, he received more than he could have expected. So who was the neighbor – the one we are commanded to love? It was the one who showed overwhelming generosity. So, if we are to love our neighbor, we are to love those who show us God’s love, often in surprising ways. Now I know in other places Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and he also tells us that if we love only those who love us, there is nothing special about that. I know that we are to love Red Sox fans as well as Yankee fans – but that’s not what this story says. This story is about who is a neighbor. And it makes the point that a neighbor is someone who risks something to help us, and we are to love them. There’s no big onerous guilt-inducing duty in that. Love people who give to you. Love because you have received grace. Give because you have been given unto. Forgive because you have been forgiven There should be nothing here but joy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I hope I have made it clear why this story has become surprising to me --- and maybe to you too. But just to be safe, I want to drive it into the ground. The story is surprising because it does not say that the neighbor we are to love is the person in need. It says that our neighbor, whom we are to love, is the person who helps us. The neighbor is the person who helps us.<br />
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<br />
<br />
I will conclude with three brief stories that illustrate this point.<br />
<br />
First, remember a story familiar, I expect, to all of us – Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, the story of Jean Valjean. Most of us know it form movies and the musicals. Few of us have read the 1900 page French novel. It is a work of fiction, of course, but still, if you know it, it is a powerful story and you remember how it starts. Jean Valjean, a thief, has been a prisoner in the galleys for 19 years, convicted for stealing bread. Upon release, with no place to go, he seeks shelter from Bishop Myriel, and, in the night, he steals the Bishop’s silver. He is apprehended the next day with the stolen silverware, but when the police take him back to the Bishop’s residence, Bishop Myriel insists that he had given Valjean the silverware, and, indeed, he says Valjean forgot te silver candlesticks, so he gives those to the starled prisoner as well. So Valjean is now a free man, with resources. The Bishop urges Valjean to go and make something of himself.<br />
<br />
Who is the neighbor in this story. The one we should love? It is not Valjean, the thief. Rather, it was Bishop Myriel who helped him. And Valjean, who had benefitted from grace, was set on a new path. The rest of the story is incidental, but heartbreaking. What is important here is this: the neighbor was the one who helped Valjean and thereby transformed his life. And we are like Valjean; when we receive grace, unmerited favor, we are to love the one who showed it to us, and then, perhaps, we may become channels of grace for others. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
A second illustration:<br />
<br />
I went to Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.<br />
<br />
The first week-end we were there, entering students were required to participate in an experience called “The Plunge.” I am sure it would not be required now. What this plunge consisted of was that each of us was allowed $5. We were dropped off in various parts of the city of Nashville on Friday afternoon and told to return on Sunday afternoon. We had to fend for ourselves for two days on the streets of Nashville, not returning to our homes, with $5.00. I, like most of my class-mates, wandered around, became exhausted, spent one night sleeping in shrubbery at the state capitol and the next night on a construction site, making conversation timidly with anyone who seemed friendly.<br />
<br />
The next week, of course, we compared notes. This was in 1970, a time when of unrest and deep strain in American society over the war and civil rights. Things in Nashville were still largely segregated. My divinity school class, as I recall, was almost entirely white. Each of us told how we managed; some gave up and came home. Many of us asked for shelter in churches, and were denied. But one student, who had been dropped off in a black section of town, reported that he had approached a family sitting on their porch. He told them that he had no place to stay and need shelter for two nights. He was invited in and spent, he said, a very comfortable and educational week-end. Who was his neighbor? Not the person he went out of way to help: it was the person who helped him.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
What we are talking about, you see again, is grace. It is something given to us in our need, not because we deserve it, but because simply because we are. And the person who gives it to us is our neighbor – the person who shows us grace, and who thereby shows us God. Our neighbor is the good Samaritan, the one, the unexpected one, who shows us God’s grace.<br />
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<br />
<br />
What we have been talking about is grace, and Lutherans, of course, are all about grace. So I will conclude with a Lutheran story. It’s about how hard it is to really understand grace. I had this Lutheran pastor friend, who once told me about a sermon he preached about grace. He told me that he preached his heart out, saying over and over and over again that salvation comes from God’s free grace, not from anything we can do to earn or deserve it. Then, when the congregation left after the service and were shaking hands with him, one parishioner said to him, “Fine sermon, Pastor. You’re right. In the end, it’s what we do that matters.”<br />
<br />
Grace. William Sloane Coffin often said that many people have just enough religion to make themselves miserable. I think that’s because we understand religion as duty rather than as grace, and so we are motivated more by obligation than by gratitude.<br />
<br />
Over and over and over again I have heard the story of the good Samaritan and drawn from it a maxim of duty. Now I see that it is really a story about grace. Our neighbors, the ones who show us God, are the ones who show us grace. And we respond in gratitude, for gratitude is all we can offer – to God, and to each other. Amen.<br />
<br />Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-51822803493814396242013-02-19T08:11:00.002-05:002016-02-05T15:47:18.809-05:00The Wrong Way - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The Wrong Way</div>
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United Church of Christ at Dartmouth College</div>
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First Sunday in Lent</div>
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February 17,2013</div>
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Richard R. Crocker</div>
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Deuteronomy 26:1-11</div>
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Romans 10:8-13</div>
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Luke 4:1-13</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am relieved
that I have been invited back to the Church of Christ at Dartmouth, and especially so since it is not
yet again Transfiguration Sunday. Relieved, yet challenged, for preaching on
this first Sunday in Lent requires a great deal of honesty and self-examination
--- qualities that we might think always characterize worship, but qualities
that are especially important in Lent and qualities that, perhaps more often
than not, can make us uncomfortable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Indeed, I
must begin with an uncomfortable word of warning. Three words of warning
actually, because the story of Jesus’ three temptations is indeed a
warning<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- a warning to us individually,
and to the whole church, that just as Jesus was tempted in three ways, so also
may we expect to be tempted. And although Jesus resisted all the temptations of
Satan, we are not able to do so. Indeed, we often succumb to temptation, and in
doing so, we go the wrong way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The wrong
way. I was brought up going to Sunday School during my whole childhood – now in
the distant past - and a distinctive feature of that experience, from the very
earliest times, was the task of mastering a weekly memory verse – that is a
verse of scripture to be memorized each Sunday, beginning with the simplest
(yet most profound) truth that “God is love,” (John 4:8)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and “Be ye kind one to another,” (Ephesians
4:32) and proceeding to lengthier ones. Memorizing is now out of fashion in
educational theory in general, and certainly in Christian education; it is as
out of fashion as the King James Bible, which was, of course, the only truly
authorized version, so truly authorized that most of us grew up convinced that
Jesus himself spoke Elizabethan English. So I can’t help it if I still think of
scripture first in Elizabethan English, and in terms that are certainly not
gender neutral, even though of course we know that such language is no longer
viewed as inclusively as it was once seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So you will forgive me, I hope, for opening our service today with a
hymn found only in the Pilgrim Hymnal; it certainly could not be rendered acceptable
for the New Century. And you will forgive me when I preface the rest of my
remarks, and make my text, one of those memory verses of long ago that came
stubbornly and persistently to my mind as I contemplated today’s message. The
verse is this, from Proverbs (14:12): “There is a way that seemeth right unto a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”(Not even grammatical, but
there it is.) This verse described, for my teenage-self, and for my now old
self, and for us all<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- men and women,
the essence of temptation. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For you see,
we are generally not tempted to do what we know clearly is wrong. Rather, we
are tempted to do what seems right, or what we can justify or rationalize as right;
and then we may discover that we have in fact taken the wrong way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The wrong
way is laid out for us in the story of Jesus’ temptation. Almost all of our own
temptations, and the temptations of the church, are summarized here. Jesus is
hungry, and Satan tempts him to eat bread – to make a stone into bread. This is
the temptation to seek our salvation, our ultimate well-being, in materialism –
to think, contrary to scripture, that we really do live by bread alone. It is
the temptation to acquire goods, to nurture our outward physical selves while
neglecting or discounting that which makes us truly beings made in God’s image.
And no temptation holds greater sway over many of us who live in our affluent
world than the temptation to make material goods the purpose of our lives.
Jesus knew this was the wrong way, but it has seemed the right way to many of
us – individuals and church – and we have gone down that path, traveling<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a long way on it, perhaps before we discover,
to our sorrow, that it is the wrong way. Indeed, we may travel so far on it
that we end up as the man Jesus described , the one who gained the whole world
but lost his soul.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The second temptation that Jesus
faced is the desire for power. Satan showed the whole world to Jesus and said, “I’ll
give you the power over this world if only you worship me.” Now, this is frightening.
It’s frightening to think that Satan has power over the world, but a little
thought makes us realize that those who have power will do almost anything to
preserve it. We may start out wanting power to do good. But we end up wanting
power to keep our power. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the
end thereof are the ways of death.” There is nothing more intoxicating than
power – the power to exercise our wishes over others – wishes that we may justify
and rationalize as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>being in the best interest
of others, but which are really, we come to realize, in the best interests of
ourselves. We may start out seeking power to do good, but, all too often, in
the history of states, churches, businesses, families even, we discover that we
have gone the wrong way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is the third temptation, however, that perhaps calls for the strongest word of
warning for us today. It is, you recall, that Jesus is taken to a high place,
the pinnacle of the temple, and told to jump off, so that God will catch him
before he falls. Surely, seeing this, Satan argues, the people will be amazed
and listen to him. But Jesus replied (in the words of the NRSV) “You shall not
put the Lord your God to the test”, or, in the King James version, “Thou shalt
not tempt the Lord thy God.” Now you may well say, this is not a temptation for
me at all. I have no desire to jump off a temple pinnacle. Why do you say that
this is the greatest temptation of all? You do not need to warn me about
jumping off of towers.” Well, what I mean is this: Jesus was told by Satan that
he should show that he was exempt from the ordinary laws of humanity. He should
prove that he was an exception. And I believe, based on experience with myself
and with others, that our most common temptation is to think that we are
exceptions, that we are somehow exempt from the laws that govern others. Now,
although it is true perhaps that Jesus could have claimed a special exemption
from harm, he obviously did not. Although he could have avoided death, he did
not. Although he could have avoided suffering, he did not. Or perhaps he knew
that he could not. If he was truly to be, for us, a savior, a fully human one,
he could not be exempt from the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>perils
that beset all of us. Yet it is our temptation to think, often and perhaps
always, that we are exempt from the perils of life. Somehow affliction should
not come near us; we should not experience the deprivations, cruelty, violence,
oppression, and injustice that so afflicts others in the world. This belief was
put to me quite bluntly when a student, a number of years ago, --- a young woman, a devoted evangelical Christian who was disappointed that she had not
found suitable employment before graduation –asked me: ”What’s the point of
being a Christian if God doesn’t help you get the job you want?” This young
woman said what many of us truly believe. We believe that our faith gives us
special claims to be exempt from the very nature of humanity. Such a belief is
not only wrong, it is extremely dangerous. When we began to believe that we are
especially entitled to exemptions from humanity’s perils, we are headed the
wrong way. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof
are the ways of death.” We who claim that Jesus Christ is our teacher, our
Lord, and our Savior – how can we believe such a thing? He who spared not
himself, but gave himself up for us all – is this a man who told us that we
ourselves should have exemption from woe? No, not at all. Of course, we believe
that we are in God’s hands, no matter what. But being in God’s hand, no matter
what, is not at all the same thing as thinking we are entitled to avoid human
suffering and limitation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am afraid that all too often we go the wrong way because of a mistaken idea of
faith; we confuse the promise of salvation with a promise of privilege – and in
Christian life there is no promise of privilege. There is only the promise
that, in our suffering, we are joined with the suffering of Christ, he who did
not seek exemption, but who brought redemption – that is, he who by his suffering
has made our suffering a meaningful part of the larger context of God’s work in
this world. Our suffering is not to be sought or desired – just as Jesus did
not seek or desire suffering – but it is to be expected, accepted, and transformed
through faith. Even when we face the greatest suffering that the world can deal
out to us, such as those parents who recently lost their children in a
senseless slaying, we remember that God has not promised us exemption from
suffering but redemption of suffering. How can we look at the cross of Christ
and expect otherwise? The good news for us is not that we are immune to the
human condition, but that God is deeply immersed with us in the human
condition, and that by his suffering, we are healed. Our own suffering is
transformed into compassion, and it is this compassion that will heal the
world. When we think otherwise, we go wrong. We come to feel entitled rather
than blessed, privileged rather than supported, special rather than simply
accepted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There is a
way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
If we are to follow the path of life, we must remember the cross – which seemed
to the world the way to death, but which has become, for us, the way to true
life. For beyond the cross is life, health, peace. The world has not yet fully
learned this way. Instead, it tempts us with the promises of materialism,
power, and privilege. During Lent, we examine ourselves and ask: How have we
succumbed to temptation? Are we going the wrong way?” The good news is that
Christ died to save sinners – not because he was impressed with our
righteousness. It is grace that helps us to know we are on the wrong way, and
grace that turns us round. In the words of the hymn, “It was grace that taught
my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” During Lent, we remember again the
way that our Savior chose. He fully trusted in a way of servanthood, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>non-violence, and sharing. This is the way
that appears to the world foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it is the
power of God and the wisdom of God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Amen.</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-13144380372369193602013-02-06T13:53:00.002-05:002013-02-06T14:18:32.506-05:00"Eternity Within our Hearts", Steve Swayne<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Rollins
Chapel, February 3, 2013</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Steve
Swayne, Professor of Music, homilist</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This
homily is offered in honor of the many Dartmouth community members whose music
making has greatly enriched my life and the lives of countless others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Prelude:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Johannes
Brahms, Sonata in D minor for Violin and Piano, op. 108, mvts. 1 & 2</i></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Emily Hyun,
violin; Richard Fu, piano</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Hymn:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For
The Beauty Of The Earth</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">1 For the beauty of the earth,<br />
for the glory of the skies,<br />
for the love which from our birth<br />
over and around us lies,<br />
<br />
[Refrain:]<br />
God of all, to you we raise<br />
this our hymn of grateful praise.<br />
<br />
2 For the beauty of each hour<br />
of the day and of the night,<br />
hill and vale, and tree and flower,<br />
sun and moon, and stars of light, [Refrain]<br />
<br />
3 For the joy of human love,<br />
brother, sister, parent, child,<br />
friends on earth and friends above,<br />
for all gentle thoughts and mild, [Refrain]<br />
<br />
4 For each perfect gift sublime<br />
to our race so freely given;<br />
graces human and divine,<br />
flowers of earth and buds of heaven. [Refrain]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Reading:
Ecclesiastes 3:1–14</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There is a time for everything,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and a season for every activity
under the heavens:<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to be born and a time to
die,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to plant and a time to
uproot,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to kill and a time
to heal,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to tear down and a time
to build,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to weep and a time to
laugh,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to mourn and a time to
dance,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to scatter stones and a
time to gather them,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to embrace and a time to
refrain from embracing,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to search and a time to
give up,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to keep and a time to
throw away,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to tear and a time to
mend,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to be silent and a
time to speak,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time to love and a time to
hate,<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a time for war and a time for
peace.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What do workers gain from their
toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has
made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the
human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning
to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy
and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and
drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of
God. (New International Version)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Invocation:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord
of all, to You I raise</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These words and thoughts, in grateful
praise.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Can
the beauty of the Brahms</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cause combatants to seek peace?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Can
sonatas stifle bombs?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Can song make all warfare cease?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">I
believe in music’s place</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In making us a better race.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Yes,
I know that music can</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Compel us to the barricade</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">To
fight against our fellow man,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To fight for those who need our aid.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Music
is a potent force</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That can, unbidden, set our course.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Will
you agree there is a time</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For music and a time for none?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Since
music can compel us, I’m</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Convinced our work has just begun</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">To
wrestle with a larger task:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From us, pray, what does music ask?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Ponder
how our yearnings let</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our lives be lived in fits and starts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Meanwhile,
we read God has set</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eternity within our hearts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Might
music center us in sound</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That bids us seek more timeless ground?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">For
sound there is, and sound are we</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we seek sound to make us whole,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">When,
unapologetically,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We seek for music such a role:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Come,
push us into higher spheres!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Come, reach beyond our mortal years!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Imagine
how we might draw near</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To such ineffable delight,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">To
trust in things we only hear,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Believing they can make us right,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">To
practice toward that selfless cause</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of harmony and not applause!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Do
we dare to aspire thus,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To make earth more like heaven above?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Indeed,
we must. It’s up to us</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In making music, sharing love</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">And
art and faith and hope and grace</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In concert, freed from time and space.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;">Closing
prayer: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord of all, to You we raise</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our hearts and lives, in grateful
praise.</span></i></b></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-48753716632396213382012-11-05T11:21:00.001-05:002012-11-05T11:21:12.062-05:00"God is ... Mind" - Professor Peter Bien<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">GOD IS . . . MIND</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Peter Bien</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are always
told that God is love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Might we extend
this by saying that God is also mind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps, although I’m sure that some (even many) will object.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In exploring
this, let’s start from the very beginning: chapter 1 of Genesis: “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The earth was without form and void, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The earth was without form and
void.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>It can’t be both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it is “without form”—that is “formless”—it
consists of unformed substance; it is not void.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, a choice is given here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Theologians exploit this by saying that God is either <u>volitional</u> (creating
something out of nothing, out of a void, by wishing it) or <u>rational</u>
(transforming formlessness into form, chaos into cosmos, by an act of intelligence,
of mind).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A loving God can wish the
universe out of nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a God who
transforms chaos into cosmos needs to be an intellectual power capable of
forming the formless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The editors of the
Revised Standard Version prefer rationality over volition, since they declare,
“Out of primordial chaos God created an orderly world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They declare as well that creation out of
nothing was a later doctrine and cite Maccabees 7:28: “. . . look at the sky
and the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider everything you
see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing . . . “.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, too, prefer the rational God—or why not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">both</i> rational and volitional?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s give Him or Her a mind for thought,
organization, and understanding, as well as a heart for loving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is still
more evidence for mind in Genesis 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Remember, “darkness was upon the face of the deep. . . . And God said,
‘Let there be light’ . . .” (verse 3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But sun, moon, and stars don’t come until verse 16, two day’s later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once did an extensive study of the meaning
of “light” in Genesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I discovered that
all the ancient sources equate this light with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intelligence, enlightenment—</i>in other words, with mind: the divine
power that organizes, giving form to the formless. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ancients were entirely clear about
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Listen to Plotinus (3<sup>rd</sup>
century </span>A.D.<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">): “The One [God]
remains absolutely at rest, and Intellect springs from it like light from the
sun.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Light here is equated with God’s intellectual
energy, the divine Mind that creates differentiation out of undifferentiated
chaos, the finite out of the infinite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Listen also to Saint Thomas Aquinas (13<sup>th</sup> century):
“Brightness . . . agrees with the property of the Son [S-O-N, NOT S-U-N], as
the Word, which is the light and splendor of the intellect.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A modern Biblical scholar concludes that the
Word in John’s Gospel, equated with both Light and God, is “the rational
principle in the universe, its meaning, plan or purpose.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, listen to Dante (late 13<sup>th</sup>,
early 14<sup>th</sup> century): “All that which dies and all that cannot die /
Reflect the radiance of that Idea / Which God the Father through His love
begets: / That Living Light, which from its radiant Source / Streams forth.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, wonderfully, the two possibilities are
joined, light being the “Idea” generated by “love.” Yes, God can be both love
and mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
overall topic for this term’s chapel services is “Loving God with Your
Mind.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why I am attracted to
Romans 7:25 as an appropriate Biblical verse:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“On my own I can serve God’s law only with my mind, while my human
nature serves the law of sin.” Or, as more freely translated in the New English
Bible, “I myself, subject to God’s law as a rational being, am yet, in my
unspiritual nature, a slave to the law of sin.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This seems to derive from Stoic philosophy, which greatly influenced
early Christian thinkers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Stoic view
was that God equals nature and that nature is rational.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accordingly we, imitating God and thereby
fulfilling our own natures, should strive to be rational, loving God with our
minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I qualified this view at the
start by saying “Perhaps” and by worrying “that some (even many) will
object.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed Saint Augustine, at the
end of the 4<sup>th</sup> century, did vigorously object to Stoic influence,
claiming that it exhibited “an exorbitant belief in the power of human reason
and the ability of the wise man to perfect himself,” a belief that “struck at
the heart of Christian teaching, by ignoring the Fall and eliminating the need
for divine grace”.<sup>1</sup> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
hard to argue against Saint Augustine, and furthermore hard to argue against
postmodern philosophical thinking with its emphasis on the vagueness and
imprecision of everything, on the omnipresence of mutability, the absence of
any final point of stability in the swirl of existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I am a Quaker and Quakers really do not
place the Fall at the center of Christian belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were of course accused of heresy on this
account, perhaps justifiably; nevertheless Quakers in general and I in
particular are more attracted to the conviction—at least the hope—that by
imitating God we may become capable of thinking and acting rationally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Stoic philosopher Epictetus (ca. </span>A.D.<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> 50–130), whose ultimate guru was
Socrates, put it this way: “Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing
except reason in everything he encountered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, should live as someone who
at least wants to be a Socrates.”<sup>2</sup></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This appeals
to me because I believe that we and our circumambient universe are part of a
cosmic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">order</i> established in the
beginning when God said “Let there by light.” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>As I observe and contemplate
the regularity of sunrise and sunset, the circling of planets around stars, the
predictable cycle of living creatures’ birth, growth, maturation, reproduction,
and senescence, the intricate interdependence of animate and inanimate
creation, I really do sense rationality at work around me and inside me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course unpredictability, chance, and
inexplicability are also present, but I prefer to see them as defects of our
system rather than that system’s essence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Stoics assert that this cosmic order is constituted by Zeus
(God).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not a “creationist,” but if
God is just shorthand for “the nature of things”—the predictable regularity
characterizing cosmic order—then I have no problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, I can subscribe to the Quaker
assurance that something of God— something of the rational universe—resides in
each person.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of course a
viable religious system should be more than just a comfortable intellectual doctrine;
it should also direct our behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
God is mind as well as love, then we, imitating deity, should behave rationally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps we ascribe good behavior chiefly to
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is fine; however, good
behavior must also derive from understanding, discrimination, correct choices, allegiance
to a reasonable table of values, the ability to differentiate between that
which is subject to our control and that which is beyond our control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In sum, good behavior depends not only on
love but also on rationality, perhaps (who knows?) primarily on rationality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In any case,
although we are always told that God is love, I hope that I have convinced you
that we may extend this by saying that God is also mind, even though some (even
many) will object.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Hanover, New Hampshire</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">October 30, 2012.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">NOTES</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1 </span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Noel Malcolm, reviewing Christopher
Brooke’s “Philosophic Pride” in TLS, September 28, 2012, p. 5.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">2 </span></sup><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A. A. Long, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life</i> (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 2002), p. 272, citing Epictetus’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Encheiridion</i>
51.</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-33604250573225642842012-10-30T08:14:00.001-04:002012-10-30T08:14:04.652-04:00Knowing God - Judy Anne Williams<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
idea of seeking to “love God with our minds” raises a pretty basic question. How
can we love what we do not know? And yet, how is it possible to truly know God,
the infinite, the Creator, the Source of Life? On the one hand, Jeremiah tells
us that God has said, </span></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 63.0pt; margin-right: 76.5pt; margin-top: 5.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast
in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let
those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Jer 9:23-24).</span></h2>
<h2 style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 63.0pt; margin-right: 76.5pt; margin-top: 5.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(Ps 27:8).</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But although we are told
metaphorically to seek God’s face, it is clear that this isn’t our literal
charge. In fact, the Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly and rather graphically assert
that God’s holiness is so enormous and unapproachable that it is not meant for
our human bodies. Nobody wants to burst into flames, people!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So the question then
becomes, what is the nature of this knowledge of God that we are supposed to
attain, how are we to do it, and how will it allow us to love God more dearly?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">One simple way to know God,
of course, is through His works. In the 19<sup>th</sup> Psalm, the poet says, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">1 The
heavens speak the glory of God;<br />
and the firmament</span></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6360285755594661457"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">*</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> proclaims
his handiwork.<br />
2 Day unto day pours forth speech,<br />
and night unto night declares knowledge.</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">– </span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">(Ps 19:1-2)</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 200%;"></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Having been raised without
faith, my first inklings of the Divine were in my experiences of the natural
world. “Majesty” is not a concept that Americans are very down with, but that
was exactly the reaction that I had to encountering the beauty of Creation in
its most natural state (often through trips “up” here to New Hampshire from my
native land of Boston). I think many people have had that spiritual encounter,
and some of them made their way to college up here in the North Country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I <u>do</u> want to say that
my early sense of the Divine in nature was more than just, “This is so pretty,
there must be a God who created it!” I don’t personally need a concept of
“intelligent design” to see the Divine in the Creation, nor do I have a problem
with evolution, or geological time. Creation is the more beautiful to me in the
infinitesimal time of its development, the endless turning of the earth’s crust,
the cascade of random mutations over millions of years creating the chameleon’s
swiveling eye. I don’t need a God with hands to have molded it all out of clay
in some specific amount of time. The ancient light of the stars, the
descendants of the Big Bang, are no less a testament, in my heart, to the
existence of God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I see the Divine in the
Creation when I am pierced by its beauty, but also by seeing its overwhelming
power. The primary sport in my family during my childhood was whitewater
boating. If you’ve ever tried to pick up even a large bucket of water, you have
a visceral sense of how surprisingly much it weighs. River flow is measured in
CFS, or cubic feet per second, and whitewater is created when a great weight of
water, powered by the undeniable force of gravity, hits the resistance of unmovable
rocks. When you are in the midst of a churning mass of thousands of pounds of
water, your mortality, and the limits of your human power, are very
obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was humbling in a way that
was sometimes terrifying, but also spoke to me, even before I knew what faith
might be, about my place in a relationship with a force that was clearly far
greater than me. By working in collaboration with that power, I could come
safely to the end of a small, but intensely thrilling journey.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Like others before me, I
also see God in my fellow human beings. I’m not just talking about the cool
stuff that we sometimes create, although it can be impressive. If you’ve never
seen the giant arch in St. Louis, it’s incredible, and as magnificent as a
mountainside. But to me, the truest testament is our occasional ability to
transcend our animal origins and our inherent sinfulness. I think the fact that
we manage to love each other at all is miraculous. Look at me. I’m annoying! I
talk too much, I’m a know-it-all, I’m impulsive and emotional and I can get
really self-righteous. Somehow across the divides of all of our many faults, we
manage to connect with each other. And not just connect, but love ,deeply and
unconditionally. If there were not a loving Divine, how would this ever be
possible? I think we might all have killed each other long ago. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I’ve been talking about a
lot of personal experience, but there’s actually a scriptural basis, and
Christian theology, behind these assertions, even if I might have come to them
initially in a non-intellectual way. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘Righteous Father, the world does not know
you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your
name known to them, and I will make it known, so <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in
them</b>.’ </i>(John 17:25-26). I usually use the NRSV, but I like the
translation of this passage from Ephesians in the New International Version: ” <span class="text"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="background: white; color: black;">13 </span></sup></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">And
you also were <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">included in Christ</b></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">when
you heard the message of truth,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">the
gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a
seal,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">the promised Holy Spirit.” </span></i><span style="background: white; color: black;">(Eph 1:13).</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">More “conservative” Christians than myself interpret
the larger context of these passages as indicating the necessity of a specific
belief in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. The message is that to be a true
follower, and to receive the salvation that Christ offers, one has to profess a
particular belief in Jesus’ role as the Son of God, the exclusive incarnation
of the Father. Without this action of mind and will, access to the grace of the
New Covenant is lost. It’s not at all difficult to see the Gospel of John in
this manner, and I would never “argue” with those who base their theology in
this approach.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">However, I have chosen and pursued a different strain
of Christianity in my journey, a more “liberal” (or even “radical”)
denomination that focuses on opening doors and creating an inclusive community
of “Seekers of Truth.” We look to the authority of our communities and of tradition,
but we also emphasize a mystical relationship with God over Biblical literalism
and scholasticism. Our sense is that our “knowledge” is grounded in the gift of
the Holy Spirit, which has resulted from our “inclusion” in Christ’s closeness
to and knowledge of the Eternal Father. Christ, the active, loving, Divine
principle, which existed before the incarnation, has come to give us a new
knowledge of God. He continues with us through the Holy Spirit. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">When we embrace that knowledge of God, we are transformed,
regardless of our attestations. In my experience, opening one’s heart to the
Divine power through the Holy Spirit inspires a new level of clarity and
unhappiness about one’s own sinfulness, and an urgent desire to live in the Way
of Light and holiness. Every step of the Christian journey then proceeds from
that process. Our Way is one of service, humility, and love. Or, as Paul names
them in Galatians, the “fruits of the spirit are: “Patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal 5:22-23).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We will always be aware that our knowledge of God
is imperfect, and incomplete. “How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How
vast is the sum of them! I try to count them – they are more than the grains of
sand by the sea.” (Ps 139:17-18). We live with our smallness, our inability to
fully know the Creator. The day when we may “see face to face” is not yet with
us. But, through grace, we may still know and be known by God, in a way that
does not require perfection of knowledge, or of ourselves, but only the simple
choice to step forward, arms open, into the relationship with the infinite
Divine.</span></span></div>
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Benediction:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jesus said to us, “I will not leave you
comfortless…But the </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Advocate, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything,
and remind you of all that I have said to you. </span></span><sup><span style="background: white; color: #777777; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">27</span></sup><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to
you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them
be afraid.” (John 14:18, 26-27)</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">May God make you an instrument of His peace.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Amen.<span style="background: white;"></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-32246646743335605782012-10-29T14:53:00.000-04:002012-11-22T18:40:20.603-05:00Christianity's Unique Claim - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christianity’s
Unique Claim</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Richard R.
Crocker</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First
Congregational Church, Lebanon, NH</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">May 22, 2011</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Acts7:55-60
and John 14:1-14</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We have before
us today two familiar but still puzzling texts that are important for us, as
Christians, to understand. The first is the account, in the books of Acts, of
the stoning of Stephen, whom we all know, probably as the first Christian
martyr. He was stoned by people who were offended by his preaching. This should
be a warning to any preacher that it can be a dangerous occupation. Truly. Now
why should this be? Why should proclaiming the love of God be dangerous? Could
it be that the love of God is really an unpopular, dangerous idea? – and that
many of us prefer to hear about God’s wrath? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, people
are killed, more often than we like to notice, for having unpopular beliefs. And
unpopular beliefs are more likely to be beliefs that call for change in the way
we think and act. Resistance to those who call for change is the default
position of the human race, and this is understandable, because not all change
is good. It is often seen as safer to stay with the tried and true. But if we
had stayed with the tried and true, we would still be driving horse and
buggies, as the Amish do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is
important for us Christians to understand that many people, in his own day, saw
Jesus as an innovator, a progressive, one improperly respectful of tradition,
custom, and law. Indeed, his crucifixion occurred because he challenged the
status quo. Stephen was stoned because he also challenged the status quo. We
must remember that Christianity was basically a challenge to the status quo,
until it itself became the status quo. It is probably fair to say that today
many people identify the Christian church as a conservative cultural force
rather than a progressive one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even protestant
Christians rarely protest (stand for) anything; they seem to be against more
things than they are for.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With that
background, I’d like to move to the gospel lesson, which is at once a passage
of great comfort to many Christians, and a passage that is very challenging,
even upsetting, to others. I refer, of course, to these wonderful verses from
the gospel of John, where Jesus assures his disciples of the reality of eternal
life with him. That is the comforting part. But those comforting words are
followed by other often quoted words “I am the way and the truth and the life;
no one comes to the Father but by me” - a verse that has been used to reinforce
a view of Christian exclusiveness that many people, in our pluralistic world,
find a stumbling block. I’d like to explore this tension in a little more depth
to see if we can understand these words more meaningfully.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But first, we will have to begin with
a little bible study that many of you will find very elementary, but others
will find very helpful. Since the custom or habit of Bible reading has largely
evaporated in our culture, I am assuming for this exercise that many of you
know really nothing about the Bible. Others may know much more. Please forgive
me if I have misjudged where you are. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps it
would help if you all took out the pew bibles and turn to the front, to page
___, to the table of contents. You will notice that the Bible is divided into
two parts – the Old Testament, which is the literature of ancient Israel, and
the New Testament, which are the documents of early Christianity. These parts
together constitute the Christian Bible, which many of us describe as the word
of God. By this most of us mean that it is where we find out about God. It does
not mean, for most of us, that every single word in this book is equally holy.
Taken as a whole, the Bible has, for many generations, taught people about the
most important relationship: the relationship between human beings and their
creator.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, look at
the New Testament. The first four books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
These are the four gospels – gospel being a word that means good news. These
four books are narratives, or stories, about the life and teachings, death and
resurrection of Jesus. Each of them tells that story in a different way. They
were written by different people, in different places, at different times, and
for different churches, and for different purposes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when we study these four gospels, we
notice that the first three – Matthew Mark, and Luke – are very much alike.
Despite differences, they seem to tell the story in pretty much the same order.
Mark has no stories about the birth of Jesus, Luke has an extensive story. So
there are differences, but these gospels actually use many of the same words. Stories
about Jesus that appear in one are likely to appear in at least one of the
others. We call these the synoptic gospels – synoptic meaning “read together”.
They cover much of the same grounds in much of the same way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the gospel of John, however, things are
quite different. Not only does it tell the story in a very different way, but
it arranges events in a different order. And, most importantly, while the
synoptic gospels often tell short stories, with short sayings of Jesus, John’s
gospel contains long discourses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus,
the passage we read today form John is part of a very long discourse that Jesus
gives on the night of his betrayal. We have the impression that the way Jesus
talks in John is just very different from the way he talks in the synoptic
gospels. In John’s gospel, Jesus often seems to talk more like a Greek
philosopher than a Hebrew prophet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now these
similarities and differences have been the subject of study for generations. It
is not important today that we do much more than acknowledge those differences.
It’s important to note that this gospel passage is not in the other gospels. It
is part of a way of speaking that Jesus employs only in John. It is beautiful,
but also difficult.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, these are beautiful
words of comfort: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe
also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” I am sure that many of you
know these words by heart. You have heard them many times – most often at
funerals.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">These words are followed by a
question from Thomas, always, in John’s gospel, the one who asks questions, the
one who doubts: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the
way?” This is when Jesus utters the words that have become the hallmark for evangelical
Christians: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Now, these words of Jesus have been
used by many people as a way of exclusion. If you do not “believe in Jesus”, if
you have not had a certain kind of religious experience, if you have not
“accepted Jesus as your personal savior” in a prescribed way, then there is no
hope for you. So the saying gets turned inside out. The words that Jesus
intended, I believe, as words of inclusion become words of exclusion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">How can they be words of inclusion?
Well, listen to Philip’s puzzled response to them. Phillip said: “Lord, show us
the Father, and we will be satisfied.” This leads Jesus to tell Peter that if
he hasn’t seen the father in Jesus, then he has been missing the boat, because
“I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” In other words, to see Jesus, to
live with him, to hear his words, is to know God, the Father. Jesus is God’s
revelation in human form. This is the unique claim that stands at the heart of
the Christian gospel. We believe that we know God because we know Jesus. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Now these are universal words, but
they are not exclusive words. Here is how I think we should understand them. We
as human beings cannot know what God is like. We are incapable of it, unless
God somehow shows us. All of us yearn for God, but we do not know God except
through revelation. Revelation has come to us through the law, which is a gift
of God that allows us to live together in peace and respect. But the law itself
does not fully show us who God is. Only God incarnate in a human being – and
not just any human being, but a human being who dramatically exemplifies
sacrificial love, shows us what God is like. And the only way to God is through
God’s own sacrificial love, shown to us in Jesus. Does that mean that every
person, to know God, must “believe in Jesus”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In some way, yes. Unless we know that we all were created in and for
love, we have no sense of eternal life. To know God is to know that God’s love
is unconditional, accepting, and sacrificial. But it does not mean that everyone
must recite a certain formula, or agree about every issue, or perform certain
rituals. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">When I think about this, I think
about Gandhi, the great Hindu of our time, who was very interested in the
teachings of Jesus. He is reputed to have said the words printed at the top of
your bulletin. “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Too often the
Christian witness has not been one that draws people to Christ, but drives
people away from Christ. That is a challenge to us, isn’t it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I saw a very disturbing and sobering
statistic a two years ago, during the debate about torture. According to the
research I read, the best predictor of whether or not a person favored the use
of torture was whether or not the person attended church. The more they
attended church, especially “evangelical churches”, the more likely they
favored torture. (articles.cnn.com/2009-04-30/US/religion.torture)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">If this statistic is true, it makes
us ask: do we really believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life? Do
we understand the love of God? Or do we really prefer the wrath of God,
directed, we trust, mainly toward other people? How would we really live if we
believed the gospel?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, we are
all here today. Aren’t we? The end of the world didn’t come yesterday, with the
favored few being saved and the many being destroyed. Apparently God’s
continuing mercy is a disappointment to many Christians.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Many people today argue that all
religions are basically the same. Christians – especially conservative
Christians – take offense at this and insist that Christianity has a unique
claim – that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, and that
it is our job to make people believe that. They are partly correct. Christianity
does have a unique claim. But it isn’t a claim that God’s love is conditional
upon our adopting or repeating a certain creedal formula. Rather, its unique
claim is that, in Jesus, God has shown us the way of unconditional love,
acceptance, forgiveness, and hope. Not just some of us, but all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what is required of us? After all, Jesus
said: “repent and believe the gospel.” What must we believe? Simply that God
loves us all. Of what must we repent? Believing that God doesn’t love us all.
It’s that simple. Why is that so hard for us to believe?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-24072002405800207482012-10-15T11:36:00.000-04:002012-11-22T18:41:28.503-05:00"Renewing our Minds" - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Richard R. Crocker</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Renewing Our Minds”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rollins Chapel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
October 14, 2012</div>
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Romans 12:1-2</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This is the third in my series of
sermons exploring the fundamental commandment to “love God with all our minds.”
The first explored the commandment itself, as given to Moses and expanded upon
by Jesus; the second considered Paul’s admonition that we should “have the mind
of Christ”; tonight, we shall explore this wonderfully beautiful passage from
Paul’s letter to the Romans instructing us not to be conformed to the world,
but to “be transformed, by the renewal of our minds, so that (we) may discern the
will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Long ago,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the 1830’s, when he was visiting America
to describe and interpret the growth of democracy, Alexis DeTocqueville
noticed a paradox. He noted that Americans prize their individualism, but that
there is also a danger inherent in it. He noted that this individualism may
easily lead to “the tyranny of the majority” - that is, that individuals will
be tyrannized by public opinion. How can this be? Wouldn’t individualism lead
to many, many different opinions? Yes, it should, but it also leads, all too
often, to the tyranny of group think, in which conformity is enforced not by
external authority but by internal acquiescence.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is no
more perfect example of this than a typical American high school, where
non-conformity is cool, but everyone non-conforms in the same way, so that
supposed non-conformity becomes conformity, and the true non-conformists are
exiled as nerds or geeks or losers. Most of you have been there; you know what
I mean. And most Dartmouth students were exiles, were true non-conformists in
high school. You were nerds; you were over-eager students; you were
over-achievers; you were not cool. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But then you
came to Dartmouth. And although I said that there is no more perfect example of
individualism deteriorating to the tyranny of the majority than the typical
American high school, I will have to take it back. There is a more perfect example:
it is Dartmouth College, where a group of nerds gather, and in their desperate
attempt to overcome social anxiety and become cool, most quickly conform to
expected social roles. Although there are of course significant exceptions, I
would have to say that, in my opinion, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dartmouth
college represents a strong culture of conformity.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We should not
be surprised. Human beings thrive in a herd. We are not creatures made for
individualism. The true dissenter is always an outcast, until she or she finds their
own group. Very few of us can stand erect amid the torrents of public opinion.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paul was not
calling the Romans to be isolated individuals, but he was calling them to be part
of a non-conformist community. And, in the Roman Empire of his day, being a
non-conformist was even more dangerous than in ours. The Romans were very
tolerant and pluralistic in most matters. People could worship as they choose,
have the Gods they choose, follow the customs they choose – except for the
demand that everyone swear allegiance to the emperor. Failure to make an
offering to the emperor was a capital crime because it was deemed a threat to
Roman civilization. So Christians in Rome - and Jews, who had a special
dispensation - were a group of non-conformists. Paul’s admonition to them that
they not be conformed to the world was personal, spiritual, and political.
Rather, their whole lives were to be transformed, because they had a new way of
seeing things, a new way of thinking; their minds had been changed by the story
and the continued presence of the crucified savior, the one who they now called
Lord, confessing “Jesus is Lord” and refusing to say, as was required, “Caesar
is Lord”, thereby risking, at best, banishment, and, at worst, death.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paul knew the
cost of such allegiance. That is why he spoke in the language of sacrifice:” I
appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, that you present your bodies as
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” – a sacrifice that he himself
endured and embodied, by his own execution.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So what does
this mean for us? Whenever I heard this passage preached, referred to, or
discussed, as I was growing up, it was taken as an exhortation to sexual purity
and abstention from unhealthy substances. I do not think this was really Paul’s
his primary focus, but I would say that in a culture where drunkenness and
hooking up are common, it is still an interpretation that has value. To refrain
from drunkenness and hooking up at Dartmouth is, I think, a healthy kind of
non-conformity. But Paul’s real admonition is not toward a specific kind of
morality, but toward embracing a different kind of mind. He described that mind
in his letter to the Philippians, when he described the mind of Christ – “who,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something
to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The renewal of
our mind, according to Paul, means making our minds new by thinking a different
way, by forgetting all the false ambitions that drive us, and by cultivating
the kind of compassion and humility that we see in Jesus. That’s what we are
called to do. That is the mind we seek.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have a good
friend who is a professor of Buddhism, and, in order to talk to him more intelligently,
I have been reading a book by the Dalai Lama that describes the various levels
of Buddhist practice. Some of you may know that the aim of Buddhist practice is
to cultivate a different kinds of mind – a mind full of compassion. And while I
do not agree with the basic Buddhist notion of reincarnation, I find the mind
of compassion that the Dalai Lama describes to be something very much akin to
the mind of Christ, to which we aspire.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Buddhism
prescribes techniques of meditation as a means for renewing our minds. Many
people, including many Christians, testify to the value of meditation. In its
simplest form, meditation means uncluttering our minds – renewing them in
quietness. Christian meditation has another focus. It is the cross – that point
to which all our minds are drawn. In our cluttered lives, we seldom think about
death, suffering, and injustice. We just plow ahead in the great scramble of
conformity along the road of our own ambitions. Paul urges us not to be
conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds by
thinking about the will of God. That is why I think worship is so important. It
is the time when, amid the clutter of the world, we renew our minds, seeking
what is good and acceptable and perfect. My hope is that this worship service,
and all the worship services we attend, will help us to do just that. Amen.</span></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-37323000786067168522012-10-01T11:40:00.003-04:002012-11-22T18:42:21.844-05:00The Mind of Christ - Richard R. Crocker<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Richard R. Crocker</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Mind of Christ</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rollins Chapel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
September 30, 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Philippians 2:1-8</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are
considering in chapel this term what it means to love God with our minds.
Today’s scripture passage encourages us to “let the same mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus.” The passage brings us directly to the mind of Jesus
as an example for us, who are to have the same mind as Jesus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">That, of course, is a tall order –
that we ourselves should have the mind of Christ. I am using the term mind
tonight to refer not strictly to the way we reason, but to the way we think.
Reasoning is one form of thinking, no doubt, but it is not the only kind of
thinking. Often our thoughts are formed at a level that is more powerful and
primitive than our reason. Indeed, we frequently use our reason to provide
support for thoughts and positions and ideas that we hold for emotional
reasons. This is why the world has never been able to agree on many very
important matters. Our emotional reasons are often primary, and our intellect
is secondary. So I am interpreting the word mind to mean that part of ourselves
by which we make decisions and commitments - the whole part, encompassing both
intellect and emotion.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am
encouraged to take this broad view of mind because of the context in which Paul
uses the word. Notice that in the scripture passage the word mind occurs three
times. Verse two; “be of the same mind”, “of one mind”; verse 5: “let the same
mind be in you….” But it is obvious when Paul uses this word that he is speaking
broadly about the basic attitudes that govern our behavior. It is, after all, a
highly emotional passage which is intended to offer encouragement to a church,
a congregation that was oppressed, written by a man who was himself in prison.
Listen to the emotionality of the passage:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“If there is any <u>encouragement</u> in Christ, any <u>consolation</u>
from <u>love</u>, any <u>sharing</u> in the Spirit, any <u>compassion</u> and <u>sympathy</u>,
make my <u>joy</u> complete….” These are all emotional words, which preface
Paul’s admonition that his joy will be complete if his hearers have the same
mind, the same love, and are of one mind. Then he explains what kind of mind he
is advocating: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility
regard others as better than yourselves.” Uh-oh. Here is where we begin to
squirm. And it continues: “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but
to the interests of others.” And here we see that we are in another world, for
what Paul is describing is the mind of Christ, whose mind should also be our
own. “Let the (this) same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There is so much that comforts us and
challenges us in this beautiful passage. But if we take it seriously, as I hope
we do, we must confront the immediate fact that the mind that Paul describes as
the mind of Christ – a mind that does nothing from selfish ambition or to
pursue our own advantage” is not the mind that we have, or that we are
encouraged to have, or, indeed, that many of us want to have. Indeed, this
passage confronts us with the basic discrepancy between the Christian ambition,
which is to have the mind of Christ, and the kind of ambition that most of us
have been taught and that we have absorbed throughout our education and that
has brought us to Dartmouth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">For if we are honest, we must admit
that in our time at Dartmouth, we, most of us, most of the time, are strategizing
on how to maximize our advantages in the world. Instead of asking the question,
“What must we do to be saved?”, we are much more preoccupied with the question
“What must I do to succeed.” Now, don’t get me wrong. All of us want to succeed
in the sense of accomplishing a goal. But it makes a great deal of difference
what our goal is. If our goal is to distinguish ourselves by our wealth and
cleverness, we are hardly seeking the mind of Christ. If, on the other hand, we
devote our minds to understanding the minds of others, to understanding what it
is like to be needy, to fail, and to love, then our goal is quite different.
The fact is that, with our whole being, most of us spurn the mind of Christ. We
have a different goal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But not all of us, and not all the
time. There are occasions throughout our lives, and even now, when the fact of
vulnerability breaks through the protective shield of privilege, when our
failure teaches us much more than our success, when suffering cannot be
avoided, when we recognize that needs of others are more important than our own.
Those experiences, if Paul is to be believed, bring us closer to the mind of
Christ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let me
illustrate by telling you two stories. They are hypothetical, composite stories
that are not about any particular person – because I do not want to betray any
confidences – but they are nonetheless true stories because they reflect many
true events. The first begins with a student who comes to my office, often
referred to me by a dean or someone else, because they are experiencing a deep
disappointment. Let’s say that this is a very ambitious student who, through a
mistake like plagiarism, is facing suspension from the college. Not only is the
student feeling guilty and ashamed, but she also feels that her chances to be
admitted to medical school, or law school, or to work in a hedge fund, have
been ruined. Her whole life plan has been shattered.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What words of reassurance can I
offer? I can’t say, “Oh, it doesn’t matter. You’ll still get into law school.”
Depending upon the offense, that is not likely to happen. What I can say is:
This experience is a very valuable part of your life. It can re-orient your
ambition. It can help you think differently about what really matters. This
time away from Dartmouth is a time to change your ambition. I can speak from my
own experiences of loss and disappointment – fully acknowledging the pain, but
also the acknowledging the growth. And, if the student is a Christian, I can
point to the deep paradox of what it means to have the mind of Christ – a mind
not set upon one’s own self-interest, but a mind that knows how frail we are,
and knowing that, loves and lives and hopes in a very different way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The second
story is about a student who decides to take a term off and do an intense service
experience in a place he/she has never been before. Whether it is in a poor
urban area or a rural reservation or a clinic in Africa, the student is
apprehensive, because he has never been there and done this, and doesn’t know
if he will fit it. Some of these students return simply relieved to be back in
the privileged comfort of Dartmouth. Others, however, return with transformed
ambitions. They find that their whole mind has been changed, and they have a
vocational direction that they never anticipated. Or even if they continue to
go through corporate recruiting, their ambition has been tempered by their
realization of the needs of the world.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What these
stories have in common is the discovery of vulnerability in ourselves and in
others. Discovering our mutual vulnerability is the first step in having the
mind of Christ. Amen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360285755594661457.post-88466067561966303472012-10-01T11:31:00.004-04:002012-10-01T11:33:35.247-04:00Kurt NelsonKurt Nelson has now become Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at Colby College, where he has started his own blog. You can access Kurt's blog at this link:<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://web.colby.edu/kdnelson">Web.Colby.edu/kdnelson</a>Richard Crockerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744013141123022184noreply@blogger.com0