Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] January 21, 2024 “Get a Grip, Jonah” Jonah 3: 1-10 – Common English Bible The Lord’s word came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and declare against it the proclamation that I am commanding you.” 3 And Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s word. (Now Nineveh was indeed an enormous city, a three days’ walk across.) 4 Jonah started into the city, walking one day, and he cried out, “Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant. 6 When word of it reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, stripped himself of his robe, covered himself with mourning clothes, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he announced, “In Nineveh, by decree of the king and his officials: Neither human nor animal, cattle nor flock, will taste anything! No grazing and no drinking water! 8 Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes, and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that’s under their control!” 9 He thought, Who knows? God may see this and turn from wrath, so that we might not perish. 10 God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and didn’t do it. God had a job for Jonah to do. Get up, go to Nineveh, and tell ‘em to shape up or ship out. Tell them to change their ways or they’re going to face the music. But Jonah was not happy about this assignment. Nineveh? Of all places!! Those people??! Jonah wanted them to face the music, to get what should be coming to them. He thought about it for a minute and then took a couple of steps forward… to make it look like he was going to do what God asked, but then he ducked around the corner and ran down to the docks to get on the next ship going anywhere in the opposite direction of Nineveh. As though that would get him anywhere!! God’s used to dealing with obstinate people, so God hurled a great wind upon the sea and immediately the ship slammed up and down on enormous waves so wildly that the sailors thought the ship was going to break apart in pieces. They frantically threw all the cargo overboard to try to lighten the ship, but to no avail. Somehow Jonah slept through all this until someone finally woke him up and dragged him up on deck to join the rest of them in pleading to their god, any god, for mercy. It had to be someone’s fault. The sailors cast lots to see who would be holding the shortest stick. “It’s you!” they screamed at Jonah. “What have you done?! Tell your God to stop!” Jonah admitted that he was trying to slip away from his responsibility and they looked at him in horror – why would you test your god like that? To his credit, Jonah told the sailors to throw him overboard. They did and the sea became as calm as glass. And they all worshiped Jonah’s God, while he sank until he hit bottom. But, God wasn’t going to just let Jonah drown, let him off the hook, so God sent a big fish to save Jonah; save him by swallowing him up! Give him a time out and let him think about what he had done, to stew in his own juices, as my mother would say, or rather sit in the warm gooey juices of the insides of a fish. At least, I would guess it would be warm and gooey and wet inside… He sat there for three days and three nights and finally prayed – who wouldn’t, right? Jonah promised, pretty please, that he had learned his lesson and would turn his life around and never disrespect God ever again. God accepted his word and as soon as Jonah finished saying “Amen,” the fish, according to the Common English Bible, “vomited Jonah onto the dry land.” While lying there, wiping fish guts out of his hair and pulling goo out of his pockets, God repeated, “OK, Jonah. Get up. Go to Nineveh and tell them to shape up or ship out. Tell them to change their ways or they’re going to face the music.” This time, Jonah got up and went. At least in the right direction. Nineveh is several hundred miles east so he had many days to walk and think and plot… how to do a bad job. To do what God asked, but just the bare minimum. He rehearsed it all in his head. Go to Nineveh, but not all the way in. Speak in a quiet enough voice that maybe they won’t hear. He practiced how to condense his message into as few words as possible – eight. The shortest sermon ever. “Forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.” But sadly, for him, it was the most effective sermon ever. They believed him. Like a wildfire out of control, within minutes, the entire city was convinced that their actions needed to change and all the people from the king on down to the youngest child and even the cattle fasted from eating and drinking, and covered themselves with sack cloth and ashes. They went in all the way. No requests for appeal, no ifs, ands, or buts. God saw what they were doing and accepted that they were indeed sincere about changing their ways and called off any plans to destroy them. Jonah, on the other hand, thought God’s change of mind was utter hogwash. “Come on, God. This is why I didn’t want to come here in the first place. I knew you are a merciful and compassionate God and how very patient you are. It’s terrible. It’s dreadful that you’re so full of faithful love; it’s a travesty that you are willing not to destroy those who should be destroyed. Since it’s your right to do what you want, go ahead. But please, just let me die. I can’t stand to see this… It’s just not fair.” God let Jonah have his temper tantrum and when he had finished his rant, God calmly asked Jonah, “Is your anger a good thing?” Isn’t that a great line? Not judgmental. God let him have his say, get it out of his system, and asked, OK, do you feel better now? But, of course, he didn’t. He stomped his way out of the city and sat sulking on a hillside across from Nineveh hoping to see fireworks, praying that God would get some sense and do what Jonah thought the Ninevites deserved – like sinners in the hand of an angry God dangling over a pit of burning coals of fire and brimstone. As he sat there watching, Jonah put up a little hut to shade himself from the hot sun. God had compassion on the retribution-craving Jonah and grew a little bush next to him, big enough to provide some shade and save Jonah from his misery. Jonah was very pleased about the shade from that bush. The next day, however, God sent a worm that attacked the bush and it died. And then, like the violent winds on the sea, God sent a dry east wind and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head. Once again, he begged to die. “It’s better for me to die than to live.” A second time, God calmly asked, “Is your anger a good thing? Why get angry over a bush?” But Jonah felt no remorse and replied, “Yes! My anger is a good thing!” The Book of Jonah ends with just two more verses. God said, “You’re angry about a bush? In one night, you went from feeling pleasure about a bush to anger about a bush that you didn’t plant, that you didn’t water. It just grew up one night and died the next. Now, if your feelings can change so quickly, why can’t mine? Why can’t I change my mind about how I feel about Nineveh – a city of more than 120,000 people who don’t yet know right from wrong, plus all those innocent animals. Why can’t I change my feelings from anger to pleasure about saving this great city?” That’s it, the end. God asked Jonah, “Why can’t I have compassion?” and the story ends there because what else can Jonah say? The story ends by requiring us to answer the question. But first of all, let’s make it clear that this is an exaggerated tale. I’m sure you already know that a man named Jonah didn’t literally sit in the belly of a fish that God had told to swallow and give the poor thing indigestion. I will say, however, that this is a true story, by which I mean – it tells something very true about human behavior. And it’s a deliberately funny story because truth often makes us uncomfortable. Oh, that Jonah, we may chuckle. Until we recognize ourselves.
So, I’m curious, what made Jonah think Nineveh was so sinful? Why was he so against helping them? Nineveh is, or at least was, a real city, basically in the suburbs of the modern-day Mosul in Iraq. For centuries, Nineveh was a major city of high culture and learning – about 700 years before the Common Era, around the time of Jonah, it was home to the largest library of inscribed clay tablets in the world. A cosmopolitan, educated city of art and statuary and tremendous wealth from commerce, traders interacting with cultures and people from all over the world. But between earthquakes and repeated destructive wars, the city rose and fell over and over until it was buried in the dust, only discovered again in the mid-1800s. Anthropologists now suggest Nineveh was home to the famous hanging gardens of Babylon. But what was their great sin? Did you know that San Diego is the 41st most sinful place in the US? At least according to a survey that purports to measure sin by categories of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lust, vanity, and laziness. Surprisingly, Denver is more sinful in 6th place – unexpectedly more sinful than New York - 14th. Vegas of course is #1, but if you’re looking for a more wholesome place to live, no need to move to Boise. Chula Vista is 164th out of 180. Measured (somehow!) by anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lust, vanity, and laziness. What was the great sin of Nineveh? Well, think about what some very religious people today think makes a city, for example like New York, “sinful.” Imagine Jonah gasping at seeing inter-racial couples, or same-gender, or "inter-racial same-gender!" couples walking down the street holding hands. Stopping at Starbucks and sputtering about gender inclusive bathrooms. Shocked at books in the library. Like some religious people, Jonah might have thought it’s sinful to see women working outside the home. Or angry about people who are informed, educated and conscious of social injustice and racial inequality. Come to think of it, perhaps calling the people of Nineveh “sinful” might be a little like calling someone today “woke.” Was Nineveh so sinful or did the Israelites have a very dim view of those they viewed as less religious – all that art, education, and openness poisoning people. The kind of thing Jonah might think God should stop. Now, there was something about how the Ninevites were acting that God wanted to see changed. Remember this started with “change your ways or face the music.” That’s what Jonah was trying to avoid. Might it have been the way they treated widows and orphans – the classic tale of biblical prophets? Not welcoming strangers? Had they been worshiping idols or disrespecting the Lord God of Israel? But they weren’t Israelites. Their form of worship wouldn’t have mattered to God. In fact, why would the Lord God of Israel have even cared about what these foreign people hundreds of miles away were doing anyway? The king of Nineveh seemed to understand, though. In announcing his decree to fast and put on sack cloth and ashes, he said: “Let all persons stop the violence that’s under their control.” Perhaps including the violence that comes from anger and a desire for people to suffer. But this story isn’t actually about the Ninevites at all, is it? It’s about what Jonah, or any one of us, wants to happen to whomever “they” may be. And so, the bottom line question at the end of this true story: Why can’t God have compassion and mercy on people we think don’t deserve compassion and mercy? Jonah said it himself. Because God is merciful and compassionate and very patient, full of faithful love; willing not to destroy. Jonah thought that was terrible, dreadful. But the moral of the story? Let God love everyone God loves. Which is everyone. Or maybe the moral is: do what God asks in the first place.
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Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] January 14, 2024 “The Kitchen Table” Photo above is the parsonage of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama Amos 5: 14-15, 21-24 – Common English Bible Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of heavenly forces, will be with you just as you have said. 15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord God of heavenly forces will be gracious to what is left of Joseph. 21 I hate, I reject your festivals; I don’t enjoy your joyous assemblies. 22 If you bring me your entirely burned offerings and gifts of food-- I won’t be pleased; I won’t even look at your offerings of well-fed animals. 23 Take away the noise of your songs; I won’t listen to the melody of your harps. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Before or after you read, I suggest you listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFVmvVFRaGY Michael King was born in the second-floor master bedroom of a lovely house on a beautiful street lined with elm and sycamore trees, an oasis in Atlanta where many Black middle-class families lived.[1] The house was perched on a small hill, set back almost forty feet from the street with a covered porch wrapped around two sides and big windows through which sunlight beamed in the afternoon. It was a house his parents shared with the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta – the associate pastor upstairs, the senior pastor downstairs, who is also the father in-law – an arrangement I would not find appealing! Michael’s childhood was absolutely idyllic in comparison to his father who was born the son of a sharecropper in a tiny shack – literally dirt poor. His father’s early life was brutal and their survival a miracle. Through all this, as a teenager, Michael’s father saw his potential in becoming a preacher, even though he could barely read or write or even speak clearly. He walked without shoes to Atlanta where he met his future wife, Alberta, who made him the force he became. Her father, A.D. Williams, was a prominent pastor, her husband his associate. But M.L. King didn’t serve long as the associate. His father-in-law died and suddenly he was the senior pastor of a large church with a good reputation that paid pretty well and he could provide a good life for his growing family. Yet, despite some relative privilege, Little Mike, as he was called, couldn’t be shielded from indignity. He learned an early lesson at age 6 when suddenly the little white boy he played with every evening told him that his parents wouldn’t let them play together anymore. Mike’s name was changed to Martin after his father had a powerful experience in front of the doors to the Wittenberg Church where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses. Martin Jr. was smart and at the end of his junior year in high school he tested to gain early admission to Morehouse College and because of that was afforded an opportunity to go north with other college students to work in Connecticut for the summer. They were tobacco fields, but he experienced a whole other way to be a young black man in the world outside of the South. With both his father and grandfather as pastors, Martin may have been expected to become a pastor but he imagined other callings – like practicing law or a professor. His parents were happy when he called home during his second summer in Connecticut to announce his intention to become a pastor. But friends teased that maybe this was more a preemptive attempt to avoid getting in trouble with his parents for something that had happened than a call from God. King described his calling not as miraculous or supernatural but that he recognized the central importance of the church in Black life and at age 18, he could imagine a career as a “rational” minister, one who dedicated his life to God and justice and new ideas, perhaps on a college campus. These stories and many more are part of a new biography called King: A Life by Jonathan Eig. I especially appreciated the stories that revealed his and his parents childhood and young-adulthood. Upon graduation from Morehouse, Martin made an unpopular choice in the eyes of his father. He chose to go to a predominantly-white seminary in a small town in Pennsylvania – Crozer Theological Seminary – which embraced liberal ideas and accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution and prepared students to think with a modern mind. Listen to this quote from one of his sermons in the 1950s. “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.”[2] Not necessarily what you might expect coming from a Baptist pulpit in Alabama. That pulpit was Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, a small church two blocks from the Alabama State Capital with a highly educated congregation. His father wanted him back in Atlanta, but he reluctantly accepted his son’s desire to go out on his own, so he pulled some strings in Montgomery in a church he thought would appreciate his son as a pastor-scholar, a place that would appreciate his frequent references to philosophers as often as biblical texts. But a year into his pastorate, things changed drastically. The young preacher with a PhD fresh from Boston University went to a meeting of ministers that was prompted by Rosa Parks refusal to give up her seat for a white man. The ministers were considering organizing a bus boycott, but who would lead the group? No one wanted to take charge – at least out front. And then they pointed to the new 27-year-old pastor in town with less to lose. It was a huge responsibility to thrust upon anyone, but he picked up the mantle, never imagining their boycott would drag out for over a year or that many people would want to call it off to get back to normal even if normal was wrong. And never knowing the full extent of vitriolic opposition from white residents in Montgomery. Martin Luther King, Jr., grew up in a house perched on a small hill with a covered porch and big windows through which sunlight beamed in the afternoon. He attended the prestigious Morehouse College where he studied with the best professors and the brightest students. He spent summers away from the soul-crushing oppression of Jim Crow South. He went to an intellectually challenging seminary, earned a PhD in Boston, and envisioned ministry surrounded by books and stimulating conversations. He never expected the life of a prophet. Neither did Amos envision his life as a prophet. He also grew up in relative privilege, perhaps a shepherd within a royal household or maybe the owner of flocks and groves – it’s not quite clear.[3] He was obviously educated during a time when few people were literate. He lived in the southern part of the divided kingdom and traveled north to the great marketplaces of flocks and wool. While he was there, Amos observed the moral excesses of the people and the influence on paganism on their shared religious practices. Reluctantly, he felt compelled to warn the people of impending disaster. He was a prophet for only a few months before being kicked out, but surprisingly his writings survived. It was this prophecy of Amos and other biblical prophets that impacted Martin Luther King Jr’s view of the role of religion in society. Amos claimed God hated religious rituals that were disconnected from doing good, seeking life. Amos wrote, “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the city gate.” “Take away the noise of your songs but instead let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Words that Dr. King quoted often. The phone rang a lot at the King family residence, the church parsonage. Between organizers calling about a meeting or opponents calling to harass, without caller ID or answering machines, you picked up the phone. And so it was one night around midnight, after a long night of meetings, Dr. King answered the phone. It was another racist spewing hatred, but this one was different. It was a threat to bomb his house and kill his family if he didn’t leave Montgomery. He said, “I sat at the kitchen table with my cup of coffee and was ready to quit. How could I step aside without appearing to be a coward?” With all courage gone, he decided to pray. Now, Pastor King was a man of faith but he was more likely to wrestle intellectually with questions of faith rather than turn to prayer. This is not to disparage him or suggest he wasn’t a prayerful man, but it simply wouldn’t have been his first impulse and shows how desperate he felt. “I’m afraid. I have no more strength and courage. I’m at the end of my powers. I have nothing left.” Have you ever gotten to that point? He said, “I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.” What do we do? We may believe in God, we may pray in church and take our faith seriously, but while some people feel very comfortable turning to God in prayer and can speak about it confidently, for many people, like Dr. King, it would take a lot to conclude: “all I can do is pray.” For this man of rational faith, it was a real turning point that he felt so discouraged that he would turn to prayer. Something I think some of us can relate to. And for us to be encouraged by, because that’s the moment he heard an answer to his desperate plea – the voice of God, an inner voice, saying: “Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and I will be at your side forever.” He said, “Almost at once my fears began to go, my uncertainty disappeared, and I was ready to face anything.” Not that he didn’t have any fears ever again, not that he wasn’t repeatedly uncertain over the course of the years to come, and not that he was always ready and willing to face anything, but he had been reassured, when you stand up for justice, when you stand up for truth, God will be at your side forever because that is what God desires over any kind of outward displays of religion. Take away the noise of your songs and stand for justice. But it didn’t take away the danger. A few days later his home was indeed bombed. Fortunately, providentially, no one was home at the time. When we’re sitting at our own kitchen table, when our resolve is almost gone and our way is unclear, when we are afraid and feel alone and ready to give up, you can turn to God in prayer too. God will be at your kitchen table, at your bedside, in your car, at the oceans edge, when you finally conclude, all I can do is pray. We remember this every year when we renew our baptismal vows: the moments when our fear of death is overcome by our commitment to keep choosing new life in Christ. First, I invite you to join me in a prayer of honesty: [1] This description and those to follow are based on stories in Jonathan Eig’s new biography King: A Life, 2023 [2] “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” 1959, preached at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church [3] Richard R. Losch, All the People in the Bible, Eerdmans, 2008 Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] January 7, 2024 “The Quest” Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13 – The Message There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: 2-8 A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace. 9-13 But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going. I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That’s it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift. Here is how the Book of Ecclesiastes begins in chapter 1: 1 2-11 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.] There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke. What’s there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone? One generation goes its way, the next one arrives, but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old planet earth. The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again, and again—the same old round. The wind blows south, the wind blows north. Around and around and around it blows, blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind. [Here’s a question for you:] All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea never fills up. [What’s with that?] The rivers keep flowing to the same old place, and then start all over and do it again. [grunt] Everything’s boring, utterly boring-- no one can find any meaning in it. Boring to the eye, boring to the ear. What was will be again, what happened will happen again. There’s nothing new on this earth. Year after year it’s the same old thing. Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”? Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story. Nobody remembers what happened yesterday. And the things that will happen tomorrow? Nobody’ll remember them either. Don’t count on being remembered. I think this guy might want to consider getting some therapy. Or a prescription for something. They say the author was an old king but it also kind of sounds like a 15-year-old with an attitude. “Boring to the eye, boring to the ear.” Either way, it might sound like the rants of a pessimist or a realist, but I don’t think so. Perhaps they are the uncomfortably honest reflections of someone who has seen it all – honest questions we may not dare ask. Not a rant but the human quest. What’s the point of all our efforts, our hard work and striving? He continues: 12-14 Call me “the Quester.” I’ve been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there’s not much to write home about. God hasn’t made it easy for us. I’ve seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke, smoke, smoke and spitting into the wind. 15 Life’s a corkscrew that can’t be straightened, 16-17 I said to myself, “I know more and I’m wiser than anyone before me. I’ve stockpiled wisdom and knowledge.” However, what I’ve finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind. 18 Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know, the more you hurt. Smoke, smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.] There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke. You may know the opening statement of Ecclesiastes as, “Vanity. Vanity. It’s all vanity.” Or, “Futility. Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” Or, “Utterly meaningless! Nothing matters!” We get the perfectly pointless point! He moves on to chapter 2: 2 1-3 [So], I said to myself, “Let’s go for it—experiment with pleasure, have a good time!” But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke. What do I think of the fun-filled life? My verdict on the pursuit of happiness? Who needs it? With the help of a bottle of wine and all the wisdom I could muster, I tried my level best to penetrate the absurdity of life. 4-8 Oh, I did great things: built houses, planted vineyards, designed gardens and parks and planted a variety of fruit trees in them, I acquired large herds and flocks. I piled up silver and gold, loot from kings and kingdoms. I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song, I had in my bed anyone I wanted. 9-10 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors behind in the dust. Everything I wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself for a hard day’s work! 11 Then I took a good look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. And I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing. The Book of Ecclesiastes is sometimes attributed to the great King Solomon, son of King David. A man who had it all, 700 wives and 300 concubines. He wanted for nothing. However, this was written 700 years after Solomon, about 200 years before Christ. One clue: In the time of Solomon, people believed that wisdom would bring a good life. The Book of Proverbs is optimistic. But here we are 700 years later and what did wisdom get us? Especially after the community had been carried off to exile in Babylon, would wisdom have really made a difference? So, we return to chapter 2: 12-14 And then I took a hard look at what’s smart and what’s stupid. I did see that it’s better to be smart than stupid. Except that, even though the smart ones see where they’re going and the stupid ones grope in the dark, they’re all the same in the end. One fate for all—and that’s it. 15-16 When I realized that my fate’s the same as the fool’s, I had to ask myself, “So why bother being wise?” It’s all smoke, nothing but smoke. The smart and the stupid both disappear out of sight. In a day or two they’re both forgotten. Yes, both the smart and the stupid die, and that’s it. Just when we start to think, this is all too dark, pointless, where can he possibly be going, that’s when he offers this beautiful wisdom, this insight which so many of us find inspiring. As Pete Seeger wrote in the 60s: To everything turn, turn, turn There is a season turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under Heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time of war, a time of peace A time you may embrace A time to refrain from embracing – someone observed that time was Covid A time to gain, a time to lose A time for love, a time for hate A time for peace, I swear it's not too late – Seeger’s excellent addition to Ecclesiastes The Byrds recorded the song and it became a hit. It was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 in December, 1965. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is so popular because it is so universal. Wisdom from someone who has had it all and seen it all. Not a prescription that there should be a time to love and there should be a time to hate. It’s a description of life as he has experienced it – there have been times of love and hate, or war and peace. It’s true. It’s universal. But it is also wisdom for those still yet to experience it. An encouragement for the younger and inexperienced: Don’t worry. There is a time for everything under the sun. Don’t worry. The times will turn. It gets better. And it may get worse again. And there is often nothing we can do about it but observe. And not panic. Don’t stress. The quester in Ecclesiastes asks: 9-13 In the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but God’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether God is coming or going. I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That’s it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift. 14 I’ve also concluded that whatever God does, that’s the way it’s going to be, always. God’s done it and that’s it. So simply worship God in holiness. 15 Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That’s how it always is with God. This is what I find as the core of Ecclesiastes: In the face of all the changing times, the smoke and nothingness, the turns in life from gain to loss and loss to gain, from building up and tearing down and building up, before it’s torn down again, there is one thing that does not change: God. The only thing that is Eternal. And with all that, what then? In chapter 5, The Quester said, 18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. I want to take a little issue with “just take care of yourself” and add a little Jesus – loving our neighbor and all that. Compassion and taking care of one another is closer to my philosophy of life than eat, drink and be merry. And yet I accept his point: There is often very little we can do to change anything even though I believe that is the way to have a meaningful life. But it’s true how he concludes chapter 6: It’s useless to brood over how long we might live. His concluding words from chapter 8: 8 16-17 I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking, you’ll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you’re not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won’t get to the bottom of it. That’s how the Book of Ecclesiastes whimpers to the end. Lots of words that are just smoke. Pointless. Vanity. Really? No. Ecclesiastes is powerful because it speaks universal truth about the challenges of being human in an ever-changing world. And in the midst his insistence that it is all pointlessness, it points us forward: To pursue the only thing that doesn’t change. The only thing that is truly eternal. Someone on to whom we may hold strong when everything falls apart and the bottom falls out from beneath us. God is that unchanging foundation, our Rock. And the redeemer of all that has been and will be – both the good and the ugly. The quest is for God. Now, after hearing all this, what do you think is the message of Ecclesiastes? Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] December 10, 2023 “We Find Joy in Connection” Luke 1: 26-45 – Common English Bible When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, 27 to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” 29 She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. 31 Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. 33 He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.” 34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I haven’t had sexual relations with a man?” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the one who is to be born will be holy. He will be called God’s Son. 36 Look, even in her old age, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son. This woman who was labeled ‘unable to conceive’ is now six months pregnant. 37 Nothing is impossible for God.” 38 Then Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.” Then the angel left her. 39 Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. 40 She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. 43 Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.” The Angel Gabriel proclaimed to Zechariah that Elizabeth would give birth to a boy who would achieve great stature with God, filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. An unlikely story since that womb had never been able to carry a child before. Zechariah was unable to grasp that with God anything is possible, and so he was unable to speak for 9 months. Which meant he was also unable to tell Elizabeth the news. Can you imagine their game of charades when he returned home and attempted to tell her she would soon be pregnant? Question: Had she been unable to get pregnant or had she been unable to conceive? Translations differ. But either way, I hear that and think nothing more. At least they’re better than translations that call her the horrible “B” word: barren. But I was in a Bible study this week with a group of mostly female pastors and they understood Elizabeth’s situation differently than I had ever considered before. Following this angelic announcement, Elizabeth did indeed conceive but then curiously went off by herself for five months. Again, I hear that and think nothing more. But my colleagues pointed out, that’s 20 weeks. Why would she have waited 20 weeks until letting her family and neighbors see her? What if it wasn’t that she couldn’t get pregnant but that she had suffered miscarriages for years – each time a devastating blow, each pregnancy less potentially joyful than hopelessly ominous. What if she went away for 5 months so she didn’t have to bear the burden of judgment by others, the shame of losing another child. And why not choose her own solitude? If she did indeed miscarry, because of the blood she would have had to isolate anyway. She returned after 20 weeks when the fear of losing another baby had lessened. Not out of the woods, but perhaps farther along than she had been before. This, of course, is just speculation, but it gave an insight into Elizabeth’s life and state of mind I hadn’t thought of before. And today, Mary. From improbable to improbable. At least Gabriel spoke to her directly. She didn’t express Zechariah’s skepticism, “you expect me to believe this?” She was more curious, asking, “how will this happen?” And then she consented – “let us be with me” – perhaps a rare occasion in a young girl’s life to be able to give consent to anything. How many decisions about her own life do you suppose she had a right to make? So many songs about Mary call her meek and mild. But she was brave and bold, which doesn’t mean she wasn’t also scared out of her mind. Thankfully she had someone she knew she could talk to about such a thing. For Mary – in her early teens – that person was Elizabeth – probably in her late 30s. You know, old. Do you have someone you can call or go visit who will listen without judgment, who won’t try to fix you or the situation? Someone who will listen to news that you don’t dare tell just anyone. How hard would you work to get together? Because this wasn’t just making a phone call. Elizabeth didn’t live around the corner or the next town over. She lived 80 miles away, the other side of a mountain range – an estimated 9 day walk. But an unmarried teenage girl doesn’t just take a walk by herself no matter how close or far away. How did she do it? Would she have tried to blend in with a caravan? Would she have walked on isolated, even-more dangerous trails, hiding along the way to avoid being seen? Her decision to confront the danger of this travel makes her even more bold and brave and bad “…”. Why did she do it? Why do people do it today? Make the improbable decision to take such a dangerous journey. And how? Blend in with migrant caravans? Choose isolated dangerous trails to avoid being seen? The Somali-British poet Warsan Shire (she-ray) always helps me at least grasp at the question “why.” no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbors running faster than you - breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land you only leave home when home won’t let you stay.[1] Now, in the Gospel of Matthew, the new family escaped the murderous King Herod by fleeing to Egypt where they lived as refugees until it was safe to return. But in the Gospel Luke, Mary wasn’t exactly fleeing this kind of danger, although, think about it. Not married and soon to be pregnant. That’s the kind of thing that got women killed – no questions asked, no defense of something considered so indefensible. All while men bragged in the locker room. You know, we may approach these stories like they are fairy tales, but these questions make clear that these are real lives. There are real people like Mary who face real danger and there are real people like Elizabeth who experience crushing grief. People then just like people face today. And in light of all that, what did Mary and Elizabeth do? They found each other. They shared their amazement. And they proclaimed they were ready. They found joy in their connection. Elizabeth hoping this child would come to full term. Mary hoping she was up to the challenge of being the mother of God’s son. 700 years ago, Meister Eckhart gave a sermon in which he said: “What good is it to me that Mary gave birth to the son of God if I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my own time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. God is always needing to be born.” Yes, but what if we feel like we’ve failed at it before? What if we don’t have time for that? What if we can’t understand how it can be that God would use us? Why me? Why would God bother with me? These may be a series of hard to believe stories, but there is at least one absolute truth: Because nothing is impossible for God. So join with Mary and give consent: “let it be with me just as you have said.” And with Elizabeth, bless anyone who says yes because “happy is she, anyone, who believes God will fulfill God’s promises through us.” Mary risked everything to find Elizabeth. And as soon as she saw Mary, the child in Elizabeth’s womb jumped for joy and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Her cousin Mary carried the child of her Lord. And hearing this greeting, confirming what she had been told, confirming what she had consented to. She saw the vision, the implications of her son coming into the world: the powerful toppled from their thrones and the humble lifted high; the hungry filled with good things and the rich sent away empty; the proud scattered in the thoughts of their hearts. Or in the words of the Modern Magnificat by Joy Cowley: My soul sings in gratitude. I’m dancing in the mystery of God. The light of the Holy One is within me and I am blessed, so truly blessed. I am filled with awe at Love whose only condition is to be received. The gift is not for the proud, for they have no room for it. The strong and self-sufficient ones don’t have this awareness. But those who know their emptiness can rejoice in Love’s fullness. It’s the Love that we are made for, the reason for our being. It fills our inmost space and brings to birth in us, the Holy One. But not only for us. What good would that be if we are not also the mother of God, giving birth to love to share with people living in grief and fear in our time and place? No one should have to do hard things alone. And so, Mary and Elizabeth found each other. May we all have, may we all be, such a friend. [1] https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/home-warsan-shire Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] December 3, 2023 “How Does a Weary World Rejoice?” Luke 1: 1-17 – The Message So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught. 5-7 During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old. 8-12 It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear. 13-15 But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God. 15-17 “He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.” And the angel Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayer. Elizabeth will have a son and you shall name him John.” You know what he said next? “Do you expect me to believe this?!” So, sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful birth. Well, not a tale, not a fantasy, but a gospel, good news that Luke sat down and took great pains to put together for a man he called the most honorable Theophilus. A story by Luke about Jesus that doesn’t start with Jesus but the messenger before him whose birth was improbable. Born of a couple too old to conceive, prompting the sentiment, “Do you expect me to believe this?” Too old to conceive. If that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s supposed to. Luke makes the connection that Abraham and Sarah were also too old to conceive. You heard their story this summer. 90-year-old Sarah improbably gave birth to a child named Isaac, whose son was Jacob and onward, the beginning of a line of descendants so large it’s like trying to count the stars in the night sky. That whole story we followed has continued here with Zechariah in the line of descendants from one of Jacob’s 12 sons named Levi. Elizabeth, too, by the way, was in this line, a descendent directly through Aaron which was even more special. Most of Jacob’s sons had been designated a piece of land, but everyone in the line from his son Levi were to be priests, dispersed among all the tribes. They were not priests because they individually felt a special calling from God. It was their family business. No son ever sat under the stars looking up and wondering what he might do when he grew up, although it wasn’t a full-time profession in the way we might think. About every six months, among hundreds of priests, a division would serve for a week, but an individual would only go into the inner sanctuary if chosen by lot – randomly chosen. It might be a once in a lifetime privilege. Zechariah happened to be chosen that day, although with God, things like that are rarely random, a coincidence. Imagine his joy over such an incredible honor. He would have been as giddy as he was reverent and would have expected to be alone with his thoughts, which made Gabriel’s presence even more shocking, not to mention Gabriel’s improbable news. To which Zechariah exclaimed, “Do you expect me to believe this?” Gabriel responded indignantly – “Hey, you ungrateful peon, don’t you know who I am?” Well, not really, but he did offer his credentials, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to you to bring this good news,” before adding, “But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time – God’s time.” And with that, Gabriel left. Zechariah emerged from the inner sanctuary looking dazed and the congregation, which had wondered what was taking so long, saw that something incredible had happened. They could see on his face that he had had a vision. But when he tried to talk, to explain what had just happened, no words would come from his mouth. He was literally speechless and he communicated with them with his hands. Bewildered by it all, he finished up his week at the Temple and returned home. Now who do you suppose told Elizabeth? There’s no mention of the angel stopping by and letting her know in advance, “By the way, you’ll soon be pregnant.” At least Sarah overheard a conversation between Abraham and some travelling strangers. She eavesdropped and laughed to herself. She didn’t ask, “Do you expect me to believe this?!” even if that’s what her laugh meant, but at least she and Abraham could whisper to one other late at night when no one else could hear them discussing something so absurd. Elizabeth and Zechariah couldn’t talk, but somehow, she knew. Perhaps not even surprised. She said, to no one in particular, maybe just to herself, so this is how God has removed the disgrace I’ve been burdened with by other people’s judgments. Yes, of course, in those days, if a woman didn’t have children, it was her fault – not for some biological reason, but some sin or character flaw. A disgrace, a punishment. A belief not so far from the surface even today. Never, of course, a mention that men had any role or responsibility for pregnancy or lack thereof. But it’s a beautiful line. “This is how God has removed the disgrace I’ve been burdened with by other people’s judgments.” She knew, the burden wasn’t of God; it was people judging her. Back to Zechariah. Some people say that his inability to speak was punishment for doubt. But must we always explain why things happen as punishment? Maybe this silence was a recognition of something extraordinary, too important for mere talking. A time when speech itself is pregnant, waiting for the fullness of time. So, Elizabeth conceived and went off by herself for five months – where or specifically why we don’t know. But since Zechariah couldn’t speak, it wasn’t to escape his incessant chatting. You know, the kind of retirement, go get a hobby, I need some peace and quiet. After five months, Elizabeth finally went back home and the next month, she was overjoyed to see her favorite, much younger, cousin Mary walking toward the house. Except that this not-yet-married, teenage girl, was walking toward her house with a baby bump. I can imagine Elizabeth seeing her condition and fearing the worst, the same kind of disgraceful looks by neighbors that Elizabeth had been burdened with. She stood ready to offer Mary the unconditional love she knew no one else would give. But Mary told Elizabeth it’s OK, she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and Elizabeth knew immediately she was right. It was just as improbable and wonderful as her own pregnancy. Elizabeth’s baby jumped for joy in her womb upon hearing Mary’s voice. Mary stayed until Elizabeth gave birth and then she went back to Nazareth. When Elizabeth gave birth to a son, her family and neighbors were overjoyed and celebrated with her. When they all went to his circumcision 8 days later, they expected the baby to be called Zechariah after his father. She said, no, his name shall be John. Those celebrating family and neighbors stopped smiling and looked at each other suspiciously. Delicately they asked, “Honey, who is John? Why would you name your baby John when there are no other Johns in our family tree? Is this not Zechariah’s son?” So, they turned to him and asked what he wanted the baby’s name to be. He asked for a tablet and wrote “John.” The time for his pregnancy, nine months without speech, had now been fulfilled. His mouth opened, his tongue unloosened, and he began praising God: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who came to set the people free, deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand. Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, the sunrise will break in upon us. Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, my child shall prepare the way for salvation. He will show us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. The crowd marveled and a deep, reverential fear settled all over the Judean hill country. People could talk about nothing else. And all they could say is, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God’s hand is in this.” Thirty years later, this John would be known as the Baptist, the Baptizer, offering people a way to begin again unburdened from disgrace and judgments, like his mother. He preached a fresh start through forgiveness from our own past faults and failures. And he was clear that his role was to prepare the way for his cousin Jesus. Every year we come around to these same stories, somehow always fresh, somehow always relevant. This Advent, when we watch the news and hear of the horrors experienced in war, we might wonder how a weary world can be hopeful. Do you expect me to believe this? With our own personal tragedies and health and strained relationships… It’s hard to feel cheerful when we talk with family or neighbors who are just as fiercely polarized as in Washington. How can a weary world rejoice this Advent? Many people are not feeling very optimistic about a lot of things. Dr. Cornel West explains how “hope and optimism are different. Optimism tends to be based on the notion that there's enough evidence out there to believe things are gonna be better.” At this moment in history, that’s a hard sell. But Dr. West describes how “hope looks at the evidence and says, ‘It doesn't look good. Doesn't look good at all.” Hope, on the other hand, goes “beyond the evidence to create new possibilities based on visions that become contagious enough to allow people to engage in heroic actions always against the odds, no guarantee whatsoever." That’s hope. That’s the possibility Elizabeth knew was real. While Zechariah asked, “Do you expect me to believe this?!” Elizabeth said Yes. Absolutely. Believe this: God loves taking unlikely and ordinary people facing daunting or impossible obstacles to do extraordinary things through them. Ordinary people like you and me who say yes despite not seeing a way forward, who can’t seem to overcome an impediment, especially those created by the judgments of other people… God loves to surprise the world. That’s why I can say, without a doubt, Luke is not telling a tale or selling a fantasy, but proclaiming gospel. You and I may not feel optimistic right now. But, hear the good news: the more improbable hope may seem, the more possible it becomes. Can you dare believe it? Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] November 19, 2023 “Because of You, Our Church Changes Lives” Matthew 25: 14-30 – Common English Bible “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He called his servants and handed his possessions over to them. 15 To one he gave five valuable coins,[a] and to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He gave to each servant according to that servant’s ability. Then he left on his journey. 16 “After the man left, the servant who had five valuable coins took them and went to work doing business with them. He gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two valuable coins gained two more. 18 But the servant who had received the one valuable coin dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. 19 “Now after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received five valuable coins came forward with five additional coins. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained five more.’ 21 “His master replied, ‘Excellent! You are a good and faithful servant! You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’ 22 “The second servant also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained two more.’ 23 “His master replied, ‘Well done! You are a good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’ 24 “Now the one who had received one valuable coin came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest grain where you haven’t sown. You gather crops where you haven’t spread seed. 25 So I was afraid. And I hid my valuable coin in the ground. Here, you have what’s yours.’ 26 “His master replied, ‘You evil and lazy servant! You knew that I harvest grain where I haven’t sown and that I gather crops where I haven’t spread seed? 27 In that case, you should have turned my money over to the bankers so that when I returned, you could give me what belonged to me with interest. 28 Therefore, take from him the valuable coin and give it to the one who has ten coins. 29 Those who have much will receive more, and they will have more than they need. But as for those who don’t have much, even the little bit they have will be taken away from them. 30 Now take the worthless servant and throw him out into the farthest darkness.’ “People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.” Let’s just be clear up front. This is a terrible parable. Or it sure ends like one. Why would Jesus say these awful things? Or did he? Before judging this as a terrible parable, perhaps I should give Jesus a break and ask Matthew – why did you put these terrible words into the mouth of Jesus? Did Jesus say these things? You may have heard of a group called the Jesus Seminar – a group of scholars in the study of the historical Jesus who built on the work of previous scholars. I respect and mostly trust their words of wisdom. These scholars notably went through all four gospels plus the Gospel of Thomas to determine what Jesus undoubtedly said, what he may have likely said, what he didn’t say, and what he undoubtedly didn’t say. Each word or phrase was printed in corresponding red, pink, gray and black. There are shockingly few words in red – like love your enemies, meaning Jesus undoubtedly said it. More are in pink, which means Jesus would have likely said it or something similar – “Don’t fret about your life, what you’re going to eat and drink.” Even more are in gray, words, in their opinion, Jesus didn’t say but are perhaps in the spirit of his teaching. But the vast majority are words they assert Jesus did not say, put in his mouth by the gospel writers who represented different perspectives and different traditions. It wasn’t done with malice. We all tell stories that advance our point of view – as each gospel writer did. Plus, these were all oral stories not written down until decades later. During the time Jesus walked the earth no one was recording what he said because no one knew what would happen to him. So, according to the Jesus Seminar, very little was undoubtedly said by Jesus. But, I was quite surprised to see that these scholars think Jesus likely did say today’s parable or something similar. Without, however, the offending verses at the end. “Those who have more will be given more and from those who don’t have, even what they have will be taken away.” That may describe how it really is in the world – rich getting richer – but it’s hard to believe, and it’s unlikely, Jesus would say such a thing as a promise of punishment. Maybe about hypocrites whom he regularly called broods of vipers, but he reserved those words for religious authorities and legal experts, not ordinary people trying to survive. Such harsh words are consistent, however, with Matthew’s penchant for stories about final judgment, along with threats of outer darkness and the weeping and gnashing of teeth. It’s not only unlikely Jesus said that but highly doubtful. Of course, we can’t go around picking and choosing what we like. Seminar scholars cautioned: beware of finding a Jesus who says only the things you want Jesus to say. Very true, because there are things Jesus said that I would prefer not to hear – things that challenge my point of view, things that challenge my privilege. Whenever we get too comfortable or complacent, Jesus calls us to change our hearts and lives. But back to the parable, without that terribly offensive ending, there is wisdom here to explore. The master gives the first servant five talents. Let’s see, I’ll take singing, dancing, fiddle-playing… but maybe I should ask for talents in accounting and financial planning because Jesus isn’t talking about talents in the way we think. A talent in this context isn’t a skill or special ability, it’s explicitly about money. And a talent, Greek for talanton, isn’t just a valuable coin given at the end of a day’s labor. According to my study Bible, one talent is worth approximately 16 years’ worth of wages for an average worker.[1] According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary in San Diego is $69,337. Of course, remember that this is a story and not a literal description of a real transaction, but in this parable, that would mean the first servant was handed the equivalent of $5.5 million to handle – which he then doubled. And the second servant $2.2 million – which she doubled. But the third buried 16 years of salary, $1.1 million, in a hole, accusing the man of being wealthy through ill-gotten means. Harvesting crops he didn’t plant. Maybe it’s true that he’s a no good SOB. But behind it, this servant was afraid of failing. Therefore, he put nothing at risk so he wouldn’t fail. Which is how he failed. He failed by doing nothing. Doing nothing so nothing will be lost. That’s not you. That’s not this church. Rather, because of you, our church is changing lives. You might think that sounds overly dramatic, but here’s a couple of examples:
Correction: Because of you, our church is changing lives. Back to the parable of the talents. The third servant doesn’t trust himself, perhaps because he’s been told he is worth-less than the others. Theologian Eduard Schweizer says the one who won’t risk also doesn’t trust God. After all, is Jesus really talking about the power of investing in the market or the wisdom of a good business venture? Or is this a lesson that God multiplies all gifts entrusted to us when we use them – true of money, and love, as well as talents like singing, dancing, fiddle-playing, using your leadership, cooking, being good at taking care of the details behind the scenes, and every other skill and ability that each of us have to invest in the common good. Like the third servant, it’s easy to get caught in fear and therefore, put nothing at risk so we don’t fail. It’s safer to do nothing so nothing will be lost. Except that’s how he lost everything. Rather, invest everything into loving – with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Your time, talents, and treasure without fear. Because then, only then, can they be multiplied. [1] Different sources cite different numbers ranging from 15 to 38 years’ worth of average salary Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] November 12, 2023 “Yes I Can. No, You Can’t” Joshua 24: 1-6, 14-23 – Common English Bible Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. 2 Then Joshua said to the entire people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods. Among them was Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. 3 I took Abraham your ancestor from the other side of the Euphrates. I led him around through the whole land of Canaan. I added to his descendants and gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau to take over. But Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron. I plagued Egypt with what I did to them. After that I brought you out. 6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians chased your ancestors with chariots and horses to the Reed Sea. 14 “So now, revere the Lord. Serve him honestly and faithfully. Put aside the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve the Lord. 15 But if it seems wrong in your opinion to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “God forbid that we ever leave the Lord to serve other gods! 17 The Lord is our God. He is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. He has done these mighty signs in our sight. He has protected us the whole way we’ve gone and in all the nations through which we’ve passed. 18 The Lord has driven out all the nations before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.” 19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the Lord, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you leave the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn around and do you harm and finish you off, in spite of having done you good in the past.” 21 Then the people said to Joshua, “No! The Lord is the one we will serve.” 22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” They said, “We are witnesses!” 23 “So now put aside the foreign gods that are among you. Focus your hearts on the Lord, the God of Israel.” This is finally the end of our great sweep of history. Today’s text has neatly summarized our readings since the beginning of the summer – from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, through slavery and the Exodus. The people are now firmly established in the Promised Land and it’s already nearly the end of Joshua’s life. Who was Joshua, again? We mentioned him only briefly before. Soon after leaving Egypt, Joshua led the wandering Israelites to victory when they were attacked by the Amalekites, a detail I wouldn’t blame you for not remembering, but you might remember how Joshua led them to victory. Was it his brilliant strategy? Not really. When Moses held up his arms, the Israelites began winning the battle. When he put them down, they began losing. So, when Moses was too tired to hold them up anymore, two men stood alongside him and held his hands up in the air and that’s how Joshua was victorious. That is this same Joshua. Post-Ten Commandments and golden calf debacle, 40 years later, Moses stood on top of a mountain and finally saw the land they had been traveling toward stretched out as far as he could see and then he died on that very spot. It was now up to Joshua and Caleb to lead the people into the land. Why those two men? According to scripture, they were the only two who never once doubted. All those complaints about food and water and the lack of watermelons and weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that we could die in comfort – Joshua and Caleb were selected to lead the people into the Promised Land because they were the only two who didn’t complain on the way and believed that one day they would indeed reach the Promised Land. They believed God would provide. Joshua and Caleb were also the only two people alive who had once been slaves in Egypt. To be clear, along the way, every single other person that escaped Egypt died. Which, along with Moses not entering, seems quite unfair, but as I’ve said before, our call is faithfulness to the journey, not the destination. But first, wait a minute. All the people died along the way? How many would that be? I’ve never really given this any thought because storytelling deals with the search for meaning, not a recitation of “facts.” So first, how many people escaped from Egypt? As I try to imagine a group of people crammed up against the edge of the Reed Sea before it opened up so they could walk through on dry ground… What seems reasonable? A few hundred, a thousand or two? Or as I imagine how many people were camping at night under the stars or how many voices were demanding water or complaining they are hungry… 5,000? And then I think, how many quail descended at suppertime every night… Are we talking about maybe more than ten thousand dead birds – every night? Night after night for 40 years. Well, according to Exodus 12: 27, the number who escaped was 600,000 men, plus women and children. The Book of Numbers reports 603,550, which one scholar estimated at 2.5-3 million total men, women, and children. So, let’s use a conservative number. Imagine moving the entire population of San Diego, 1.4 million people, to Sacramento, not up the freeway, but first by going to Las Vegas, through the Salton Sea, then San Francisco, back down to Yuma and over Los Angeles before getting to Sacramento. Enough water in Barstow for 1.4 million people and everywhere else in the desert. But along that zig zagged way, all but 2 of 1.4 million San Diegans lay dead, bodies littered all along the way, although they would have been buried. Paints a different picture, doesn’t it! While in the meantime, tens of thousands of babies were born who grew up and had tens of thousands of more babies. I have to say, I can’t quite get past a million dead quail every night for 14,600 nights or the logistics of just leftover quail bones. And the sewage… But, OK, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole. The logic of a story isn’t as important as its lesson. And so, back to today’s story. Of all the people who now stood in front of Joshua, none had the personal experience of freedom from slavery, though they would have heard the stories of their parents and grandparents. They wouldn’t have known how hard it is to maintain and sustain a covenant relationship with God through hunger and thirst and never having a place to rest that night that we can finally call home. Joshua was concerned they didn’t really understand what was expected of them as the people of God now that things were “easier.” Talitha Arnold, the pastor of the United Church in Santa Fe, said that if she was were to be as blunt as Joshua when presenting parents with the choice to baptize their child, she would get rid of the wimpy declaration from our Book of Worship: Do you promise to grow with this child in the Christian faith and offer them the nurture of the Christian church.” Instead, “I’d ask them, in front of God and the whole congregation, “Do you promise to get them out of bed, dressed, and here every Sunday morning for the next 18 years, even when you’ve had a long week or you’d rather sleep in or there’s a soccer match or when this darling infant has grown into a surly, tattooed teenager who thinks church is dumb?”[1] Or how about a membership vow like this: Instead of the theological niceties like fellowship and supporting one another on a shared discovery of our spiritual gifts, how about “Can you stick with this church when it doesn’t feel as interesting anymore; and can you promise not to complain when a request for money to help fix the roof comes right after a special offering for hurricane relief during a pledge campaign for the next year that comes just as someone asks you to help move tables for the upcoming rummage sale – for which you are supposed to both provide items and buy someone else’s discarded items; and can you commit to forgiving the minister for a few bad sermons in a row, or worse, an accidental unkind word; can you stick with people who sometimes get on your last nerve; and can you remain faithful through nearly two years of services on Zoom instead of in person? That’s a real one, isn’t it? Imagine someone who wishes to join the church, fully considers the depth of their commitment, and stands up for the membership ceremony and answers the questions, “Yes, I can,” imagine the minister saying, “No, you can’t. You will fail.” And she walks away and you’re left standing in front of the congregation unsure what to do other than sit back down… But will you stand back up and exclaim, “Yes, I can.” And now, you are ready. Faithfulness to God is easy when things are going our way, when we like how things are going, but not so much when things keep getting harder, our losses are piling up, and God feels very distant. Faithfulness to God is not easy when things are not going our way. And so, the people are finally living firmly in this place that once was just a promise. These are much easier times. So, I’m curious about the urgency to Joshua’s question. Once and for all, he urges, choose this day whom you will serve. Perhaps he could have said, “Choose every day” because no decision is ever done and over at the moment it’s made. We grow and change. The people around us grow and change – sometimes into even more difficult people. Us too. But perhaps choosing this day is knowing we must yet choose a thousand more times in our lives. But choose what? Events in the world that are both good and horrible can instantly change our trajectory. Make your lifetime choice to go deeper each day instead of going on to the next thing. When we say, “this is too hard” or “this is no fun anymore,” make your lifetime choice to choose this day not go somewhere else but to go deeper into the communities to which we belong and into God’s very self. The faith journey is not so much forward to something – like a promised land or heaven. The faith journey is a call deeper within someone – deeper into our God, to deepen our love for neighbor without giving up self, to deepen our love of self without becoming self-centered. But without going deeper, we risk the instability of shallow faith. And how will we handle it when things keep getting harder, our losses keep piling up, and God feels very distant? Choosing to go deeper may be very difficult to embrace for people who are goal oriented, success-driven, motivated by results. How do you measure, how do you win a trophy for depth of spirit and kindness and love? It may be difficult for those who think self-sufficiency means I can do this all by myself. It may be difficult for people always seeking an ever-elusive happiness that it seems like everyone else is enjoying. These are examples of “gods” we must give up. These are the gods that compete with our God. And so, choose this day whom you will serve. Joshua says, as for me and my house, we will choose the Lord, the God of Israel. And if we choose God, what then? For the last several months I have been hearing God calling us to three things: a deeper faith, deeper relationships, and a greater impact. Deeper faith through means we have yet to fully explore, but one has been this deep dive into the great sweep of history we have explored since this summer. I hope we understand these stories better than we have before. Deeper relationships with others in the church, with our neighbors around the church and around our homes, with God, a deeper relationship with Jesus and the Spirit. Our All Generations events and weekend at Pilgrim Pines were examples. And I hear God calling us not to more things but to the things we do with greater depth, which is how we have greater impact, all of which is dependent on deeper faith and deeper relationships. You don’t seek greater impact first. It’s too soon for me to ask, can you commit to a deeper faith? Or can you commit to pursuing deeper relationships? And can you commit to having a greater impact? It’s too soon to ask because you might too quickly answer Yes, I can and I would have to say, No, you can’t. Not until we fully grasp what God is calling forth from us. But I’m excited to find out with you. [1] Talitha Arnold, “True Grit,” The Christian Century, October 23-November 5, 2008 Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] November 5, 2023 “Ten Texts That Shape My Life” Some Bible texts change us when we hear them, at just the right time, and shape us to the core. I came home from work one night during college very distressed. It was probably midnight but before going to bed, I read this text and it changed my life. I had been struggling with coming out and these words provided me with reassurance. In a moment of recognition, I knew what I must do. It’s been one of my favorites ever since.
This past week I tried to compile a list of my 10 favorite Bible passages. Ten texts that have shaped my life and faith. It was a real challenge. I could only get it down to 104. After our discussion at Lunch and Lectionary, I had to change it to 106. But perhaps I could find my top 10 themes in the Bible. Here’s what I came up with. Your list will likely be different. #1 - It all starts with this: Life is a gift from our Creator and God is the source of our very breath.
Skipping all the way to the great escape from Egypt, we’ve been learning how God provided the Law as training for freedom that emphasized our relationship with God and how we are to treat our neighbors. And so theme #2 - God’s hopes for us, especially how we treat people who are vulnerable: like widows, orphans, and immigrants.
Theme #3 – God calls each of us to answer – or not. We know a lot about Moses reluctantly saying yes.
A recurring theme in the Bible is encouragement. Reassurance for the weary. So, theme #4 – When we feel low and afraid, God provides strength, comfort, inspiration, and hope. God may have repeatedly gotten really, really frustrated with humanity, but God never stopped loving.
As we transition to the New Testament, theme #5 – Jesus was sent by God to build upon the Law and prophets and call us to change our hearts and lives. Jesus offered his life as a model of sacrificial love for all. He invites us all to the Kingdom of God, the image of a feast that includes anyone who has ever felt like an outcast. It’s a vision of a world shaped by love and equity among poor and rich. For some reason, that really upset religious people – then and now.
Who was Jesus? #6: He was perfectly ordinary. He got tired, irritated, hungry, and needed to be left alone – and yet, perhaps the most amazing thing of all, he always found a way to show compassion and offer a path to forgiveness when our actions hurt other people or ourselves. But #6 is also – Jesus was extraordinary in ways we can’t explain. I can only embrace the mystery of his touch as a healer. His ability to work a miracle simply with words. How, I don’t know. I leave that to faith.
So, what happened? Theme #7 – Jesus was executed by a toxic collaboration of religion and Empire. Jesus dared to confront those in his own religious tradition to return to the best of their shared tradition.
But also understand, they lived under the stress of occupation by the violent Roman Empire and both sides were frightened of his message of inclusion and ability to heal and perform miracles and gather disciples. So, together they preferred to enforce violence rather than practice justice.
But God had the final word that death does not win and so on the third day,
But he left them behind and in the aftermath, men, women, and children gathered new communities to continue the presence and ministry of Jesus, a new Body of Christ in the world, to bless it. Theme #8 is how through the Holy Spirit, everyone – then and now – has a gift by which we contribute goodness to the world. Two of my absolute favorite verses in the Bible:
Likewise, theme #9 is how the Spirit enacts unity and equality among people of all genders, races, nationalities, abilities, orientations, and anything and everything else that separates us. Which, for whatever reason, also seems to upset some religious people.
In the end, #10 – it’s all about love. Our love of God, God’s love for us. Our love of neighbor, self, and enemy. Love is the point of our faith. And if it’s not, what’s the point? They will know we are Christians by our love. And without it, we will continue to watch people in America flee a Christianity that bears no resemblance to the kind of love Jesus practiced. Bottom line for us as Christians and as a church:
Are we clear? Because without love, we are nothing but noise. So, my 10 themes: #1 – Our very breath is a gift from God #2 – Treat vulnerable people like God hopes we will #3 – God calls you and I to personal responsibility #4 – When we need it, God provides strength, comfort, inspiration, and hope #5 – Jesus calls us to change our hearts and lives #6 – Jesus was perfectly ordinary and extraordinary #7 – The collaboration of religion and state is dangerous. But God does not allow such evil scheming to win #8 – The church exists to bless the world with gifts the Spirit gives each one of us #9 – The Spirit establishes equality in the church even when that isn’t experienced in the world #10 – The point of it all is love. And without love, what’s the point? And whenever necessary, return to theme #5 – Jesus calls us to change our hearts and lives. What are your 10 favorite verses? Or what are 10 themes from the Bible that shape your life? Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] October 29, 2023 “Not Quite” Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 – Common English Bible Then Moses hiked up from the Moabite plains to Mount Nebo, the peak of the Pisgah slope, which faces Jericho. The Lord showed him the whole land: the Gilead region as far as Dan’s territory; 2 all the parts belonging to Naphtali along with the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as the entirety of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea; 3 also the arid southern plain, and the plain—including the Jericho Valley, Palm City—as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I promised: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have shown it to you with your own eyes; however, you will not cross over into it.” 5 Then Moses, the Lord’s servant, died—right there in the land of Moab, according to the Lord’s command. 6 The Lord buried him in a valley in Moabite country across from Beth-peor. Even now, no one knows where Moses’ grave is. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight wasn’t impaired, and his vigor hadn’t diminished a bit. 8 Back down in the Moabite plains, the Israelites mourned Moses’ death for thirty days. At that point, the time for weeping and for mourning Moses was over. 9 Joshua, Nun’s son, was filled with wisdom because Moses had placed his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to Joshua, and they did exactly what the Lord commanded Moses. 10 No prophet like Moses has yet emerged in Israel; Moses knew the Lord face-to-face! 11 That’s not even to mention all those signs and wonders that the Lord sent Moses to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land— 12 as well as all the extraordinary power that Moses displayed before Israel’s own eyes! After 40 years of “Are we there yet?”, Moses can finally report – “not quite, but I can see it.” Kind of like driving on the flat plains west across Kansas and finally catching a glimpse of the snow-capped Rockies gleaming in the sun. I can see it, though it could still take weeks to walk there. But I guess, really, to match the scripture text, it’s like standing on top of a 14,000-foot mountain on the Front Range and on a clear day looking out as far as Kansas and Nebraska and Wyoming and New Mexico and even Oklahoma. Anyway, the land Moses was now looking at from the peak was the same land that Abram and Sarai had once lived in but felt called by God to move away. Here we are back full circle. It was in that other land that they, now Abraham and Sarah, gave birth to (let’s see if you know the names) Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac, who married Rebekah, whose offspring were the feuding twins named Jacob and Esau. Jacob, whose name later changed to Israel, and had a bunch of children by four women, but overtly favored one wife named Rachel, whose child was Joseph, and was sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers. Joseph whose ability to interpret dreams saved Egypt from starvation. Whose descendants were later enslaved by a different Pharaoh, to whose suffering God personally responded by sending Moses to free them – along with his brother Aaron and their tambourine-playing sister Miriam. People who escaped but then spent the next 40 years wishing they were still back in Egypt, enslaved, complaining and asking, “Are we there yet?” And here we are, from the top of Mount Nebo looking across the horizon all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, Moses can finally report – “not quite, but I can see it.” And with that, he died and was buried in a place no one knows so that no temple or shine could be built to idolize him. That makes sense, the “don’t worship him” part. But why wasn’t he allowed to enter? That doesn’t make sense and feels like the great snub of history. And so, we try to make sense of it. Why would Moses be denied entry into the land he had been leading the people toward for 40 years? Some say it was a punishment and stretch for any explanation to justify it. We have been following the Book of Exodus for weeks now – the plagues and escape and wandering and terrifying blaring of horns and pounding of lightning on Mount Sinai. The people hearing God’s own voice give the Ten Commandments, the golden calf debacle, and chapters and chapters of detailed instructions – like one of my favorites. If the donkey of someone who hates you falls under the weight of its load, even though you don’t want to help someone who doesn’t like you, still, you must free the donkey. A very practical instruction to treat others better than they treat you. Then chapter after chapter of laws and instructions, like how to build a chest to contain the second set of stone tablets after Moses broke the first ones because he threw them on the ground in disgust over the golden calf fiasco. And more detailed instructions about how to build a Tent of Meeting to contain the chest holding those stone tablets inside which would now move along with the people as they continued their journey. We skipped over all that. And then we skipped over the entire Book of Leviticus. And we skipped over the entire Book of Numbers. And since we may have been getting a little ancy about how long we have spent on this part of the Bible, we skipped over all but the last 12 verses of the last chapter of Deuteronomy because like the Israelites, we may have grown tired of this journey. Aren’t we there yet? Well, congratulations, we’ve stuck with it until Moses can finally report – “not quite, but I can see it.” And then he died. Why? Well, there’s one verse, not here in Deuteronomy, but buried in the Book of Numbers that people have cited as justification. Moses has faithfully followed God’s every command for 14,600 days, but one day he struck a rock to get water for the people who complained of thirst instead of speaking to it. He was supposed to speak to it even through previously he had been told to strike a rock. But, supposedly, because of this one thing, one day out of 14,600 days, as punishment Moses would be denied entry into the Promised Land. That’s ridiculous. But here’s just one theologian: “His death comes as a punishment for his sin, his impatience, and leading in his own way, rather than according to God’s instruction.” Punishment for sin. Instead of – he was 120 years old! Or anything else. What is this obsession religious people have with punishment as explanation for things that happen? What did they say? Prominent pastors said, “God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before.” Who also say, “marriage equality could lead to floods, fires, and tornadoes.” But not, let’s say, global warming caused by human activity?! My, what power. Pat Robertson was serious when he said an earthquake in Virginia in 2011 was caused by individuals who “act kind of gay." But when he tried to pre-emptively blame revelers at Disney World's Gay Days Weekend as the cause of a pending storm, he had nothing to say when it completely skipped over Disney World and slammed into his Hampton Roads, Virginia, 700Club headquarters instead.[1] But God would never do such a thing. The disciples asked Jesus, why is this man blind? Was it something he did to be born blind? When exactly would he have had time to do something wrong? Or was it because his parents sinned? And Jesus replied, or as I would have Jesus reply in my words, “That ridiculous. Why do you insist on punishment as an explanation for things that happen?” So then, why didn’t Moses enter the Promised Land? We wrestled with this question at our Thursday Lunch and Lectionary group and talked about our faith lives as a journey, not a destination. And that, like Moses, we aren’t necessarily called to complete the work but to be faithful to the call. I shared what I thought could offer an explanation why Moses reached the Promised Land but didn’t enter. It’s a piece call Prophets of a Future Not Our Own often attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, but he didn’t write it.
This is what we are about:
Moses was not being punished. He fulfilled his call and died at the age of 120. He led them to the Promised Land. He did his part. Just like what we’re all called to do. To participate in something greater than ourselves. To do our part. To see our role to completion even if that means we don’t see everything completed. The life of faith is faithfulness to the journey, not arrival at a destination – whether the Promised Land or as soon people see it, heaven. From my perspective, this text is not about punishment but a teaching on how God’s mission is bigger than any one person, no matter how significant that person may be. Even Moses. The Israelites mourned Moses’ death for 30 days and then at that point, the time for weeping and for mourning Moses was over. Because it wasn’t Moses’ mission, it was God’s. It was now Caleb and Joshua’s to fulfill. Brian Russell wrote, Moses didn’t have a mission. God had a mission. And the mission had Moses.[3] And in the same way, the church doesn’t have a mission. That may sound wrong because clearly the church has a mission. Right? But he makes the point: God has a mission. The mission has a church. The mission has us. When a church acts like it’s doing its own ministry, watch out. But when a church is aligned with God’s mission, watch out. What a powerful church that will be. It just takes all of us doing our part – risking and stretching and believing that what we need to participate in God’s mission will be provided. That’s why, right now, because of you, our church is changing lives. I marvel at watching it happen. And with the changes we have made to how we organize our church, we will spend more of our efforts finding ways for people to connect with ministry and grow deeper in their faith than finding enough people to serve on a committee – which we still need, and for which some people have remarkable gifts – while others will claim their unique part. A part that is rarely observer. Every one of us has a role to play and if you don’t know what yours is yet, we will help you find it. Just remember that Jesus said, “to whom much is given, much is required.” Martin Buber tells the story of the great rabbi named Zusya. On his deathbed he began to cry uncontrollably and his students and disciples tried hard to comfort him. They asked him, “Rabbi, why do you weep? You are almost as wise as Moses, you are almost as hospitable as Abraham, and surely heaven will judge you favorably.” Zusya answered them: “It’s true that when I get to heaven, I won’t worry so much if God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Abraham?’ or ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Moses?’ I know I would be able to answer those questions, after all, I was not given the righteousness of Abraham or the faith of Moses but I tried to be both hospitable and thoughtful. But what will I say when God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Zusya?’ Martin Luther King, Jr., told a group of junior high students to be the best of whatever you are and that when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty uniquely called you at this particular moment in history to do it. If you’re a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontine Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept their job well.[4] We are undeniably privileged and extraordinarily fortunate and deeply blessed to be entrusted with God’s mission in the world, gratefully following in the faithful footsteps of those who came before and responsible to provide a foundational path for the next generation. For as many years as each of us are given. That’s how our church changes lives. Including mine. How about yours? [1] https://www.advocate.com/politics/2012/10/31/10-disasters-gays-were-blamed-causing [2] https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/prophets-of-a-future-not-our-own [3] Adapted from Brian Russell in Connections, Year A, Volume 3, page 411 [4] “What is Your Life’s Blueprint” speech, Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967. Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] October 15, 2023 “All God Wants is Love” Exodus 32: 1-14 – Common English Bible The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods[a] who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “All right, take out the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took out the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He collected them and tied them up in a cloth.[b] Then he made a metal image of a bull calf, and the people declared, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf. Then Aaron announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” 6 They got up early the next day and offered up entirely burned offerings and brought well-being sacrifices. The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to celebrate. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Hurry up and go down! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, are ruining everything! 8 They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded. They have made a metal bull calf for themselves. They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I’ve been watching these people, and I’ve seen how stubborn they are. 10 Now leave me alone! Let my fury burn and devour them. Then I’ll make a great nation out of you.” 11 But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, “Lord, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’? Calm down your fierce anger. Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’” 14 Then the Lord changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people. A couple of days ago. That’s all it was. A couple of days ago, the mountain they were camped below was pounded over and over by lightning so hard that it was covered in smoke. And in that haze of smoke, loud horns blaring and getting louder. Pounding and blaring and pounding and blaring. And then it all stopped. Just the sound of sheer silence. The people looked around nervously. What would happen next, like maybe an earthquake or violent windstorm. After witnessing 10 plagues involving frogs and bugs as well as blood and death, literally anything could happen. But what happened had never happened before and, they hoped, would never happen again. The smoke cleared and behind it was a dark cloud and from the cloud they heard a voice. Not a voice in their heads, but they collectively stood there and heard, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must have no other gods before me. Do not make an idol for yourself.” Yes, the ten commandments. But commandment number two isn’t just “Do not make an idol for yourself.” It goes on and explains in greater detail: That’s the second commandment, not to be confused with the second amendment, which, come to think of it, needs to be amended with the second commandment since it appears the problem we have with guns is the problem of idolatry. Anyway, the voice of God continues and finally #10: “Don’t desire what isn’t yours – your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, animals and anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” But they didn’t know that commandment number 10 was the end. After about a minute, someone asked, is he done yet? The people stood around and marveled at what had just happened. Someone spoke up, “well, I don’t know what the big deal is. That’s just common sense. Why all the pounding and blaring and drama?” Someone else chirped in, “yeah, and did they all have to be so negative?” There was a chorus of yeah, yeah… “And how about what we should do instead of what thou shalt not?” “Let’s make our own list.” Someone found some newsprint and markers that smelled like their color – you know, purple smells like grapes, red like strawberries. One by one, people called out what they thought were more hopeful and positive suggestions, like:
While Moses appreciated their enthusiasm, he shook his head and started climbing back up the mountain. He had a lot of details to work out with God and it would take a while. The group discussion, however, kept going, one suggestion shouted out after another, but unfortunately this didn’t make it into scripture because the scribe in charge of the newsprint lost it and no one could remember what they had said and so the whole thing is gone from the historical record. Well, not really, but why not. It’s a story and the Bible is not historical fact. As I’ve said before, these are stories that search for meaning. Who are we? Why do humans do what we do? How should we treat one another? Like the mystic’s suggestion written on newsprint with the grape-smelling purple marker, tragically forever lost: Beware of thinking that you understand or that you can control God. But then. Moses wasn’t gone for more than a couple of days, if that, when the people began to panic, fear took over, and they started pressuring Aaron to do something, anything. Well, actually, they weren’t just asking for anything. They were quite specific. “Come on, man. Make us some gods who can lead us.” They said, who knows what happened to that Moses fellow? So, Aaron gathered together all the gold from the people, the gold the Egyptians had handed over when the people were rushing out of town. He melted it down and formed it into a bull calf and the people were ecstatic and declared this to be their gods “who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” What a sad, sad betrayal. Just a couple of days more than three months after their miraculous escape through the sea. Aaron saw what was happening and set up an altar in front of the golden calf. Now, was it an altar to the calf or by putting the altar in front of the calf, was he trying in any way he could think of to put the Lord first? It’s bad either way. And God wasn’t happy. I wouldn’t be either! Hurt and angry, God told Moses to do something about “your” people, like you and I might say to our spouse. Look what your child has done. And then God offered to start all over and make a great nation out of Moses instead of all the generations that had come before – abandoning Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah and Rachel and Joseph and his 11 brothers and on down the line for hundreds of years. But Moses didn’t fall for the flattery and turned it around and reminded God, wait a minute, these are your people. And you don’t want to get a bad reputation with the Egyptians, do you? You don’t want them saying bad things about your intentions, do you? And then Moses actually dared to tell God, “Calm down!” He worked every angle until he finally changed God’s mind. Having relented and, exhausted from all the emotion, God fell on the couch and curled up in a ball and asked Moses for a cup of tea to calm the nerves. Moses replied, “personally, I need something a little stronger than tea after all of that.” Again, we’re not talking about historical fact but trying to relate to the emotional impact. And understood this way, I love how human God is in this story. Relatable in so many ways. Not a supreme being, cold and hard, without emotion. We can imagine the pain God felt at being betrayed. God responded to their cries to escape the cruelty of Egypt, did everything possible to get Pharaoh to free them, provided everything they needed on the journey through the wilderness, and just a couple of days before provided instructions to set them on a path toward their freedom… I feel like I understand this God. But that’s also dangerous. To make God so small as to think we can possibly understand and then assign to God such human qualities as pettiness and rage and vengeance. Is God really that human? And with that comes the danger, for example, that we think surely God hates the same people we hate. And God holds a grudge so I can hold a grudge too, etc. and on. Eventually we stop having a god and rather we have a mascot. God domesticated into a form we can control. And what’s that called? An idol. If I dare say it, God doesn’t want idols nor does God want to be an idol either. A thing to admire and put on a shelf and pull out when we want something. I think the biblical record consistently shows that God has always just wanted a relationship of mutual love. All God wants is love. Instead, over and over, we betray that love by following after anything shiny and new, leaving the God of great love heartbroken. Why do we do that when all God wants is love? First, let’s talk about Aaron. We might think of Aaron as weak-willed. He immediately caved in to their demands. Why didn’t he stand up and remind the people what they just heard from God’s own mouth? And yes, I have just assigned to God the human attribute of having a mouth and speaking. That’s how challenging it is to think of and speak about a mystery as grand as God! But as weak-willed as Aaron might have been, the poor guy was being confronted by people acting out of fear. On the other hand, he might also have been quite clever. You know how they kept saying they missed being in the land of free cucumbers and leeks and onions and watermelons, where they could die in comfort. And, oh yeah, back where they were enslaved. Well, what did Aaron make out of their gold jewelry? Aaron fashioned out of gold a bull calf, an Egyptian fertility god named Apis. They would have seen it in Egypt many times before. Was Aaron trying to shock them into this realization? Those would have been familiar times, but violent. Toxic memories, but familiar. In their ecstasy, however, they worshiped the past, which wasn’t even their past, and yearned for a time when they weren’t free. And therefore, it was necessary to spend the next 40 years in the wilderness. It wasn’t a punishment, though it would seem there was plenty of justification for that. But those 40 years were a time to free themselves of the desire to go back. And it wasn’t until the last of the generation of those enslaved had died that they finally crossed over into the Promised Land. That seems sad to me. And it feels real. Worshiping the past instead of trusting and following God into the future. Worshiping memories, distorted memories, frightened of the future. How do we appreciate the past without making it into an idol? I want to commend you and this church. Last week you gave unanimous consent to a major rewrite of our bylaws. New bylaws may not seem like that much of a great accomplishment, but good bylaws give space for doing great things. We went from having everything specified in great detail – great detail – to a structure characterized by lots of flexibility. You voted for a model that embraces “we’ll figure it out” and approached the process with curiosity, not fear. Well done. And going forward we’ll have a lot more questions about how we get things done, but we can do so without fear. I’m not sure you can appreciate how extraordinary that is during a time in which churches are being shaken to their core – when, for many, their best days are clearly behind. So why not worship the past? This church respects our history, loves this beautiful sanctuary, treasures the organ that will turn 100 years old next year while at the same time enthusiastically singing music written in this century – of many more styles than ever before. The expanded selection of music has been an adjustment for some as much as it has been welcomed by some, but the consistent response has been to learn to sing new music because it’s for the sake of our future. And that future, our future, is hopeful. We have to keep trusting God with our future. The Christian church in general is in serious decline, but last week we received our 17th new member this year. Our church is full of kids running around and actually excited to be in church. In a nod to our history, next weekend 75 people will be at the Pilgrim Pines camp, including nearly every family with children in the church – deepening our faith and our relationships as we seek to have an even greater impact as a church. Our pledge drive for 2024 starts in two weeks. I know churches that are cutting their budgets before they even ask, fearful of diminishing contributions, fearful of even asking for increased generosity. I’m not afraid. We have something astonishing going on here, God is doing astonishing things here, to which I know you can’t help but say, I want to be a part of that future. And thankfully the people in our past provided for us when the need is greater than our resources. And you’re not afraid to use them. Not touching money in some churches is the biggest idol of them all. Throughout history, all God has ever wanted from people is love. Mutual love. And for God’s people to love each other. That’s what makes this church special. It’s all you want too and you show it in so many ways every day. It’s not flattery if all I’m doing is telling the truth. |
AuthorI love being a Archives
March 2024
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