from my stewardship series, First Fruits, from Deuteronomy 26:1-11
This past Monday was Martin Luther King Day, a holiday. The church office was closed, and I got to take a day off. How many of you had that as a holiday too?
So my wife Cathy and I drove out to Inks Lake State Park to do some hiking and birding. On the way out, Cathy turned to me and said, "I heard just the best sermon last Sunday." I start to beam, because I know that she is talking about me. Then she says, "I heard it on the radio." Suddenly I am deflated. She said, "It was by a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, Alistair Begg. He was talking about how we have lost the honoring of the name of God."
I started getting interested in what she was saying. What is the 4th commandment about? Not taking the name of the LORD in vain. What did just say in the Lord's prayer? Our Father, hallowed be thy Name. We remember the first commandment, I am the LORD, your God, who took you out of bondage in the land of Egypt; you shall have no other gods before me. We remember how God revealed God's self to Moses in the wilderness through a burning bush. When Moses asked for the name of God, he got the response, "I AM."
Whenever you see in your Bibles, in the Old Testament, the name of God as LORD, all capital letters, that is the verb form, "I AM." So the Rev. Begg was saying that we have only one true God, whose name is I AM. Everything else that pretends to be God is really only, I am not.
Let's practice. LORD. I AM. (picture of house) I am not. LORD. I AM. (picture of powerboat) I am not. LORD. I AM. (picture of expensive car) I am not.
In our stewardship emphasis, we are trying to get our priorities straight. There is only one God; everything else are only little pretend gods. We can only worship the one true God rightly.
The key verse for our stewardship emphasis is Proverbs 3:9, "Honor the LORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce." We are to worship the LORD with our first in time and first in quality gifts. It is a helpful way to keep our priorities straight.
Today's scripture from Deuteronomy strengthens this message. As you read it closely, you find that it is an order of worship. We begin by taking the first fruits of everything to the worship center and giving them to the priest to place on the altar. We have been passing the collection plates a long time. What would giving first fruits mean to you today? When you get paid, making a check to the church your first priority? Making a budget that includes the church as a first priority?
The order of worship continues with a confession, "I was a wandering Aramean..." We realize that it is not about how hard we work or how smart we are. We are all vulnerable. Maybe you have come here today broken hearted, or with a broken relationship, or with a broken body, or with a broken spirit. Maybe you can look back over your life and see how the LORD has sustained you, has forgiven you, has healed you. Maybe then you can enter the next act of worship which is to give thanks. Out of thanksgiving for God's deliverance, we make our first fruits offerings back to God. What has the LORD done for you?
Our first fruits offerings come as an act of worship. It's piety. We remember who God is, what God has done for us, and we give thanks. Worship...piety keeps the little gods in their proper place.
We still practice this piety today. I remember the first time I worshiped in a black Methodist church. It is sad that we use such ethnic labels, "that's the Korean church, the white church, etc." When I was at Texas A & M, our Wesley Foundation, the student ministry, formed a relationship with the black United Methodist church in Navasota. We did work projects together and worshiped together. The first time I went I was impressed with the way they took the offering. They didn't pass the collection plate. You got up out of your pew. YOu walked down front to the altar table. You put your offering in the basket as you passed by the table, up in front of God and all the congregation. There was no hiddenness. It is very much like our scripture passage today, about bringing your gifts to the altar. I never saw it, but I heard tell, that if the first pass-by didn't produce enough, then a second round took place!
When I was a student at Edinburgh University in Scotland, I worshiped at Niccholson Square Methodist Church. There, they didn't pass a plate either. They had something that looked like a bag of cloth at the end of a long pole. The bags appeared before you in the pew as the ushers swept the pews with their poles.
I know a lot of you place cash or a check in the offering plates as they pass by us here. The plates don't come by me. I give by credit card on-line at our website. I use my Southwest Airlines Visa card and rack up airline miles! I may be an Aggie, but I am not stupid!
Some of you give shares of stock. We have the Texas Methodist Foundation as our broker.
Some of you suggested that we put an iPad with a scanner up front here at the altar for people to swipe their credit cards!
There are lots of right ways for us to worship the LORD with our first fruits. Watch this video of how the Schwarzendrubbers do this and why they do this.
We too can continue our worship all during the week by getting our priorities straight here for these hours here. It's piety. That's why we give. That's the good news I have to share today.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
It's a party
the start of my stewardship series, First Fruits, from Deuteronomy 14:22-29
For those of you who know me, you may find this hard to believe, but I am not a party animal (laughter). I am usually not the center of attention. I will be the one going around the room visiting with people one on one. How about you? Do you like to party? When you think of going to a party, what comes to your 5 senses? Do you smell perfume? Do you taste good food and drink? Do you hear music? Do you feel the touch of another in dancing? Do you see balloons?
I am going to tell you a story about a 16 year old young man who partied hearty. You are not going to like this story. I do not like telling it. It happened this past summer in north Texas. I don't mean to beat up on young men, but the setting was as follows: he got 7 of his friends into his F-350 pickup. I sure hope it was a crew cab, because that's a lot of people in one pickup. He and they went drinking and driving. That's all that they intended to do in partying. What he didn't count on was hitting 4 pedestrians, killing them. He was arrested, charged, put in jail, and went to trial. At his trial, his lawyer offered a unique defense. His lawyer said that this young man suffered from Affluenza. There is a book and several articles about this condition which is described as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." The judge gave a punishment of 10 years of probation and counseling. The family is currently paying $450,000/yr for treatment at a facility. Four civil court cases are pending. It seems that the rich and privileged expect to be treated differently. Do you know something about Affluenza? Have you seen examples of this condition around here?
Now I have a funny story about this desire for more. You are going to laugh at this story from Erma Bombeck. It just shows that Affluenza has been going on for a long time across genders and ages. It is a Jewish grandmother story. So this Jewish grandmother takes her grandson to the beach to play, to have a party, to have fun. She slathers him with sun screen, puts on his sun hat, gives him his sand bucket and sand shovel. He is there by the shore building his sand castles. She sits down in her chair reading a book nearby. With the sound of the waves and wind, she nods off. She wakes to hear a huge wave come upon shore, which sweeps her grandson out to sea. She is bereft. She falls to her knees in prayer. Dear God, why did you take my grandson? Please bring him back. I will do anything. I will go to temple. I will volunteer at the hospital. I will give to the poor. Please give him back. Just then another wave washes her grandson back at her feet. She hugs him. His cheeks are ruddy. His eyes are clear. Then she puts her hands on her hips with a look of displeasure. She looks up at heaven and says, "He had a hat, you know."
When is it ever enough? How is it that we always desire more? I believe in America, especially in our neighborhood, there is a lot of Affluenza going around.
I have a cure for this disease. It comes from the Bible and our faith tradition. It is called First Fruits. For the next 4 weeks we will be looking at this ancient practice. Our key verse for this series is Proverbs 3:9, "Honor the LORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce." We are called to give the first in time and the first in quality to God who has first given everything we have to us. It helps us to keep our priorities straight.
Our worship team pushed me on defining some of these terms, so I got out my Hebrew lexicon. Honor could be translated as revere, worship, or glorify. It has a quality of weightiness about it. It is not something taken lightly. Substance could be translated as wealth, sufficiency, enough. Produce is a form of a verb for coming in, or harvest, or gathering, so literally, one's income. So the verse could be translated as "Glorify the LORD from your wealth and from all the first fruits of all your income."
Around here, we make our stewardship emphasis not at the end of the year to make a budget, but at the beginning of the year in order to make a faith statement that all we have comes from God. You may think it is my job as pastor to talk you out of your money. But my job is to preach good news about gratitude and generosity so that your souls might be saved. So that you can party with God.
This party is well illustrated in the Deuteronomy passage. When you read it, you find we are to bring our gifts to the place of worship so that the poor can have a party with God. We are to buy food and drink, even wine and strong drink....my worship team said, "if we must." But you see it is not drinking and driving. It is a party in the worship center with the priests, the widows, the orphans, the sojourners in the land. Wouldn't you give, if you knew that your gifts were going so that the most vulnerable ones around could have a party with God?
My worship team reminded me that one doesn't buy a party. Oh, we buy things for a party. But we don't possess a party, we give a party, we throw a party.
I think we do that around here. This past week, we hosted 3 families at our church as part of Interfaith Hospitality Network. These families lived here for one week as transitional housing as they move towards more stable housing. We ate with them. We became community. How many of you helped with IHN this past week or some other time? We were giving so that we could have a party with the poor and with God.
Also this past week, we celebrated another build of a Habitat for Humanity house. See this picture of the family who is to live in the house with the faith family who helped to build it around them. There is one in the picture in the back row who has now led the building of 30 homes for Habitat. He shall remain nameless, but his initials are Gerard VanderWerken. How many of you here have helped to built Habitat homes? You have given so that we could have a party with the poor and with God.
Then, we have a long history with Mobile Loaves and Fishes. We house their offices in our Building M. Many of you prepare the meals and go out on the truck runs to feed those living on the streets. I heard a story in Sunday School last week from one of our members. He regularly goes out on the runs. He has learned to call many of those coming to get a meal by their names. One day, a "newbie," a first timer came up to him. This man who lives on the streets said, "What do I have to do to get a meal? Go ahead, do I have to listen to a sermon?" "No....here's your food." "Who are you guys?" Our church member said, "Tell me your name." The man did. After several more trips and meals, our church member had learned his name. The man kept asking, "Who are you guys...you don't make me listen to a sermon like other places." Finally our church member had the opportunity to say, "I am a Christian. My church is Westlake UMC. Let me tell you my story." You see, we don't treat people like objects. We treat people like people, like they are our brothers and sisters, like they are God's family. How many of you here have helped with Mobile Loaves and Fishes? You have given so that we could have a party with the poor and with God.
I know tomorrow is Martin Luther King day. I looked through many websites trying to come up with the perfect example of Dr. King sitting down to have a party with the poor and with God. Then it hit me....this is what he was doing every day ...in his life and in his ministry. I did come across a good quote from him about this party with God and with the poor. Before he was assassinated in 1968, he was starting to move his emphasis off of the inequality between blacks and whites to stress the inequality between the wealthy and the poor. He said that "materialistic hedonism" was the biggest spiritual crisis facing America. It sounds like Affluenza to me. The cure is first fruits, to give our best, our first in time and first in quality to God, so that the poor can have a party with God.
I was trying to come up with an example from my ministry too. Then it came to me that month after month I lead worship here and invite people to this table. And in our United Methodist tradition, who is welcome at this table? That's right, everybody! We want to have a party with the whole family of God. When we come to this table, we remember that God gave his first fruits to us. He gave his only Son, Jesus. Out of gratitude for this gift, we make our gifts, so that the vulnerable ones around us can have a party with God.
That's the good news I have to share.
For those of you who know me, you may find this hard to believe, but I am not a party animal (laughter). I am usually not the center of attention. I will be the one going around the room visiting with people one on one. How about you? Do you like to party? When you think of going to a party, what comes to your 5 senses? Do you smell perfume? Do you taste good food and drink? Do you hear music? Do you feel the touch of another in dancing? Do you see balloons?
I am going to tell you a story about a 16 year old young man who partied hearty. You are not going to like this story. I do not like telling it. It happened this past summer in north Texas. I don't mean to beat up on young men, but the setting was as follows: he got 7 of his friends into his F-350 pickup. I sure hope it was a crew cab, because that's a lot of people in one pickup. He and they went drinking and driving. That's all that they intended to do in partying. What he didn't count on was hitting 4 pedestrians, killing them. He was arrested, charged, put in jail, and went to trial. At his trial, his lawyer offered a unique defense. His lawyer said that this young man suffered from Affluenza. There is a book and several articles about this condition which is described as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." The judge gave a punishment of 10 years of probation and counseling. The family is currently paying $450,000/yr for treatment at a facility. Four civil court cases are pending. It seems that the rich and privileged expect to be treated differently. Do you know something about Affluenza? Have you seen examples of this condition around here?
Now I have a funny story about this desire for more. You are going to laugh at this story from Erma Bombeck. It just shows that Affluenza has been going on for a long time across genders and ages. It is a Jewish grandmother story. So this Jewish grandmother takes her grandson to the beach to play, to have a party, to have fun. She slathers him with sun screen, puts on his sun hat, gives him his sand bucket and sand shovel. He is there by the shore building his sand castles. She sits down in her chair reading a book nearby. With the sound of the waves and wind, she nods off. She wakes to hear a huge wave come upon shore, which sweeps her grandson out to sea. She is bereft. She falls to her knees in prayer. Dear God, why did you take my grandson? Please bring him back. I will do anything. I will go to temple. I will volunteer at the hospital. I will give to the poor. Please give him back. Just then another wave washes her grandson back at her feet. She hugs him. His cheeks are ruddy. His eyes are clear. Then she puts her hands on her hips with a look of displeasure. She looks up at heaven and says, "He had a hat, you know."
When is it ever enough? How is it that we always desire more? I believe in America, especially in our neighborhood, there is a lot of Affluenza going around.
I have a cure for this disease. It comes from the Bible and our faith tradition. It is called First Fruits. For the next 4 weeks we will be looking at this ancient practice. Our key verse for this series is Proverbs 3:9, "Honor the LORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce." We are called to give the first in time and the first in quality to God who has first given everything we have to us. It helps us to keep our priorities straight.
Our worship team pushed me on defining some of these terms, so I got out my Hebrew lexicon. Honor could be translated as revere, worship, or glorify. It has a quality of weightiness about it. It is not something taken lightly. Substance could be translated as wealth, sufficiency, enough. Produce is a form of a verb for coming in, or harvest, or gathering, so literally, one's income. So the verse could be translated as "Glorify the LORD from your wealth and from all the first fruits of all your income."
Around here, we make our stewardship emphasis not at the end of the year to make a budget, but at the beginning of the year in order to make a faith statement that all we have comes from God. You may think it is my job as pastor to talk you out of your money. But my job is to preach good news about gratitude and generosity so that your souls might be saved. So that you can party with God.
This party is well illustrated in the Deuteronomy passage. When you read it, you find we are to bring our gifts to the place of worship so that the poor can have a party with God. We are to buy food and drink, even wine and strong drink....my worship team said, "if we must." But you see it is not drinking and driving. It is a party in the worship center with the priests, the widows, the orphans, the sojourners in the land. Wouldn't you give, if you knew that your gifts were going so that the most vulnerable ones around could have a party with God?
My worship team reminded me that one doesn't buy a party. Oh, we buy things for a party. But we don't possess a party, we give a party, we throw a party.
I think we do that around here. This past week, we hosted 3 families at our church as part of Interfaith Hospitality Network. These families lived here for one week as transitional housing as they move towards more stable housing. We ate with them. We became community. How many of you helped with IHN this past week or some other time? We were giving so that we could have a party with the poor and with God.
Also this past week, we celebrated another build of a Habitat for Humanity house. See this picture of the family who is to live in the house with the faith family who helped to build it around them. There is one in the picture in the back row who has now led the building of 30 homes for Habitat. He shall remain nameless, but his initials are Gerard VanderWerken. How many of you here have helped to built Habitat homes? You have given so that we could have a party with the poor and with God.
Then, we have a long history with Mobile Loaves and Fishes. We house their offices in our Building M. Many of you prepare the meals and go out on the truck runs to feed those living on the streets. I heard a story in Sunday School last week from one of our members. He regularly goes out on the runs. He has learned to call many of those coming to get a meal by their names. One day, a "newbie," a first timer came up to him. This man who lives on the streets said, "What do I have to do to get a meal? Go ahead, do I have to listen to a sermon?" "No....here's your food." "Who are you guys?" Our church member said, "Tell me your name." The man did. After several more trips and meals, our church member had learned his name. The man kept asking, "Who are you guys...you don't make me listen to a sermon like other places." Finally our church member had the opportunity to say, "I am a Christian. My church is Westlake UMC. Let me tell you my story." You see, we don't treat people like objects. We treat people like people, like they are our brothers and sisters, like they are God's family. How many of you here have helped with Mobile Loaves and Fishes? You have given so that we could have a party with the poor and with God.
I know tomorrow is Martin Luther King day. I looked through many websites trying to come up with the perfect example of Dr. King sitting down to have a party with the poor and with God. Then it hit me....this is what he was doing every day ...in his life and in his ministry. I did come across a good quote from him about this party with God and with the poor. Before he was assassinated in 1968, he was starting to move his emphasis off of the inequality between blacks and whites to stress the inequality between the wealthy and the poor. He said that "materialistic hedonism" was the biggest spiritual crisis facing America. It sounds like Affluenza to me. The cure is first fruits, to give our best, our first in time and first in quality to God, so that the poor can have a party with God.
I was trying to come up with an example from my ministry too. Then it came to me that month after month I lead worship here and invite people to this table. And in our United Methodist tradition, who is welcome at this table? That's right, everybody! We want to have a party with the whole family of God. When we come to this table, we remember that God gave his first fruits to us. He gave his only Son, Jesus. Out of gratitude for this gift, we make our gifts, so that the vulnerable ones around us can have a party with God.
That's the good news I have to share.
Monday, January 6, 2014
star child
from my message on Jan.5, 2014, when we celebrate Epiphany, from Matthew 2:1-12
I like the way the Revised Standard Version has verse 10, "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy."
I have long been fascinated by stars. Growing up in the Panhandle of Texas on a farm, away from city lights, the stars seemed so close. I got a telescope for Christmas one year. Not a refracting telescope that uses lenses but a reflecting one that used mirrors to focus the light. At Texas A & M, I was a physics minor, getting 24 hours in this field. One of my favorite courses was Astronomy 310. It was my junior year, in the fall of 1973, when comet Kohoutek was approaching the sun. In fact this comet came at Christmas time, making its closest approach to the sun on Dec. 28 of that year.
The wise men saw a star in the sky and followed it to a child. The word for star in Greek is vague. We don't know if the wise men were guided by a comet, or a star like a super nova exploding in the heavens, ora conjunction of planets. This is what we know, some scholars from the East, non-Jews, left everything to go in search for a king of the Jews.
I could just imagine them telling their wives about this adventure. "Honey, I'm going on a trip" "Oh, how long will you be gone?" "I don't know." "Where are you going?" "I don't know. And honey, I have cleaned out all of the gold in our bank account. I am following a star in the sky."
I am sure this went over well at home. We don't realize the sacrifice made by the wise men and their families in order to find this star child.
Maybe you know something about sacrificing to follow this star child. There are other places you could be today, other things you could be doing, but you are here. We may be giving up our agenda, our time lines, and that most precious thing of all, our control. To find this star child means sacrificing.
To find the star child means making mistakes. The wise men are not always so wise. They go into talk with Herod and basically say, "Say king Herod, can you tell us where to find your rival king?" This is not the smartest thing the wise men ever did.
We are going to stumble around too, following this star child. We are going to make mistakes, even sin. I like what Lutheran theology teaches: that we are all sinners and all saints, all at the same time. The star child is going to welcome us, even in, especially in our brokenness, our incompleteness, our sin.
To find the star child is going to be an inexact science also. We can forgive the wise men for approaching Herod to ask for directions. How specific is a star in the sky? Can it point to a house in Bethlehem? We are going to wander around also. That may be why we are here today. It is the beginning of a new year, and we need direction. We want the guidance that comes in worship, in prayer, in scripture study, in community discernment. We need help to find the star child.
We are just beginning the Healthy Church Initiative steps, starting with a Day of Prayer next Sunday. What a great way to start! We need guidance from God. We don't have specific answers, just a direction to start. This is like the wise men looking for the star child. It will be a journey for them and for us.
They find him and so will we. To follow the star child is the path of life. That's the good news I have to share today.
I like the way the Revised Standard Version has verse 10, "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy."
I have long been fascinated by stars. Growing up in the Panhandle of Texas on a farm, away from city lights, the stars seemed so close. I got a telescope for Christmas one year. Not a refracting telescope that uses lenses but a reflecting one that used mirrors to focus the light. At Texas A & M, I was a physics minor, getting 24 hours in this field. One of my favorite courses was Astronomy 310. It was my junior year, in the fall of 1973, when comet Kohoutek was approaching the sun. In fact this comet came at Christmas time, making its closest approach to the sun on Dec. 28 of that year.
The wise men saw a star in the sky and followed it to a child. The word for star in Greek is vague. We don't know if the wise men were guided by a comet, or a star like a super nova exploding in the heavens, ora conjunction of planets. This is what we know, some scholars from the East, non-Jews, left everything to go in search for a king of the Jews.
I could just imagine them telling their wives about this adventure. "Honey, I'm going on a trip" "Oh, how long will you be gone?" "I don't know." "Where are you going?" "I don't know. And honey, I have cleaned out all of the gold in our bank account. I am following a star in the sky."
I am sure this went over well at home. We don't realize the sacrifice made by the wise men and their families in order to find this star child.
Maybe you know something about sacrificing to follow this star child. There are other places you could be today, other things you could be doing, but you are here. We may be giving up our agenda, our time lines, and that most precious thing of all, our control. To find this star child means sacrificing.
To find the star child means making mistakes. The wise men are not always so wise. They go into talk with Herod and basically say, "Say king Herod, can you tell us where to find your rival king?" This is not the smartest thing the wise men ever did.
We are going to stumble around too, following this star child. We are going to make mistakes, even sin. I like what Lutheran theology teaches: that we are all sinners and all saints, all at the same time. The star child is going to welcome us, even in, especially in our brokenness, our incompleteness, our sin.
To find the star child is going to be an inexact science also. We can forgive the wise men for approaching Herod to ask for directions. How specific is a star in the sky? Can it point to a house in Bethlehem? We are going to wander around also. That may be why we are here today. It is the beginning of a new year, and we need direction. We want the guidance that comes in worship, in prayer, in scripture study, in community discernment. We need help to find the star child.
We are just beginning the Healthy Church Initiative steps, starting with a Day of Prayer next Sunday. What a great way to start! We need guidance from God. We don't have specific answers, just a direction to start. This is like the wise men looking for the star child. It will be a journey for them and for us.
They find him and so will we. To follow the star child is the path of life. That's the good news I have to share today.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
dreaming in a time of Herod
from my message on Dec. 29, 2013, from Matthew 2:13-23
Now here is a hard passage. Here are some verses we would just as soon leave out of the Bible. I was trying to get a handle on how to talk about this passage, so I was reading other preachers' sermons on-line. One was from a former Anglican priest. She entitled her message, "Putting Herod Back Into Christmas." Her point was that we have sanitized the Christmas story. We have power washed the manger and perfumed the stall. We don't like to address the Slaughter of the Innocents, as this story has come to be called.
I was all prepared to shake us up, make us face the death, danger, and destruction of our world, till yesterday. Yesterday, it came to me that we know plenty about Herod. We see Herod every day on the news. Herod is actually not news; Herod is old, old hat, commonplace. What we need, the reason we have come to worship today is not to hear more about Herod, but to keep the dream alive.
There is no outside source that mentions this event happening. However, the ways of Herod ring true. Rulers still operate out of paranoia. They are threatened and threatening. The dictator in N. Korea had an uncle who was supposed to be his mentor. Oops, he has now been killed by his young protege'. The leader of Thailand disbands the parliament. In South Sudan the President and Vice-President are at odds and choosing up sides. In Egypt, the Military ousted the elected leader and has disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood. These are just a few examples of the Herod effect going on today.
Lest we just look at others, we need to own that there is a little bit of Herod in each one of us. We find Herod in our business relationships, universities, even the church. Oh, we preachers can get defensive and protective of our churches and positions. We can suffer from "pulpit envy." We don't have to look any further than the door of our hearts to find Herod.
And children....it seems to be the children who always get hurt. The most vulnerable among us get caught in the crossfire of Herod. One of the sermons I read on-line had all 20 children of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting interspersed with the words. It was too much for me. Their pictures next to the sermon. The children get the worse side of the Herod effect. In Texas, it is hard for children to get healthcare. Other places, the children don't have access to clean water or adequate nutrition. The slaughter of the innocents is sometimes slow and understated.
You know all too much about Herod. You are here today because you need to hear good news, that God's dream for us is still alive. Note this about the scripture today. One, God does not ordain suffering. Herod orders it. Two, the God who supplies the dream is always on the side of healing and hope. God is the one giving warnings, offering protection and direction. Three, God of the dream is always joining with the most vulnerable. When Jesus is born, he is almost immediately a political/religious refugee, homeless, outcast, and hunted.
We have plenty of Herod everyday. We need God's dreams. We see God's dreams come to reality in persons like Nelson Mandela and Pope Francis, those who stand with the prisoners, the poor, the dispossessed, the persecuted. Not just big names either, but fellow Christians around us, who live the dream.
Do you get Christmas cards? I got one yesterday from my friend, Suselle, in Scotland. She has spent her entire life in a wheel chair. She has never seen herself as a victim, always as a victor. Her whole life has been spent trying to help people like her. She has become an advocate for others with debilitating conditions. She goes before government committees pleading for money and services and respect. She is faithful in worship. She has every reason to give up, yet she doesn't. She inspires me. She lives the dream in a time of Herod.
We need to keep dreaming in a time of Herod.
Now here is a hard passage. Here are some verses we would just as soon leave out of the Bible. I was trying to get a handle on how to talk about this passage, so I was reading other preachers' sermons on-line. One was from a former Anglican priest. She entitled her message, "Putting Herod Back Into Christmas." Her point was that we have sanitized the Christmas story. We have power washed the manger and perfumed the stall. We don't like to address the Slaughter of the Innocents, as this story has come to be called.
I was all prepared to shake us up, make us face the death, danger, and destruction of our world, till yesterday. Yesterday, it came to me that we know plenty about Herod. We see Herod every day on the news. Herod is actually not news; Herod is old, old hat, commonplace. What we need, the reason we have come to worship today is not to hear more about Herod, but to keep the dream alive.
There is no outside source that mentions this event happening. However, the ways of Herod ring true. Rulers still operate out of paranoia. They are threatened and threatening. The dictator in N. Korea had an uncle who was supposed to be his mentor. Oops, he has now been killed by his young protege'. The leader of Thailand disbands the parliament. In South Sudan the President and Vice-President are at odds and choosing up sides. In Egypt, the Military ousted the elected leader and has disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood. These are just a few examples of the Herod effect going on today.
Lest we just look at others, we need to own that there is a little bit of Herod in each one of us. We find Herod in our business relationships, universities, even the church. Oh, we preachers can get defensive and protective of our churches and positions. We can suffer from "pulpit envy." We don't have to look any further than the door of our hearts to find Herod.
And children....it seems to be the children who always get hurt. The most vulnerable among us get caught in the crossfire of Herod. One of the sermons I read on-line had all 20 children of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting interspersed with the words. It was too much for me. Their pictures next to the sermon. The children get the worse side of the Herod effect. In Texas, it is hard for children to get healthcare. Other places, the children don't have access to clean water or adequate nutrition. The slaughter of the innocents is sometimes slow and understated.
You know all too much about Herod. You are here today because you need to hear good news, that God's dream for us is still alive. Note this about the scripture today. One, God does not ordain suffering. Herod orders it. Two, the God who supplies the dream is always on the side of healing and hope. God is the one giving warnings, offering protection and direction. Three, God of the dream is always joining with the most vulnerable. When Jesus is born, he is almost immediately a political/religious refugee, homeless, outcast, and hunted.
We have plenty of Herod everyday. We need God's dreams. We see God's dreams come to reality in persons like Nelson Mandela and Pope Francis, those who stand with the prisoners, the poor, the dispossessed, the persecuted. Not just big names either, but fellow Christians around us, who live the dream.
Do you get Christmas cards? I got one yesterday from my friend, Suselle, in Scotland. She has spent her entire life in a wheel chair. She has never seen herself as a victim, always as a victor. Her whole life has been spent trying to help people like her. She has become an advocate for others with debilitating conditions. She goes before government committees pleading for money and services and respect. She is faithful in worship. She has every reason to give up, yet she doesn't. She inspires me. She lives the dream in a time of Herod.
We need to keep dreaming in a time of Herod.
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