Ramblings

Oil of Preparation - 11/12/2017

   Sermon based on Matthew 25: 1-13.  I have been working on a book. The book is not a novel that will grab the reader from the opening line. The book is not one on theology, so profound that it would become an instant classic.
    No, I am working on something perhaps far more important; the book I am working on is a book of passwords. It all started, this past Christmas when I gave my wife a small diary that she uses to store her user names and passwords for all the important internet sites she uses. I bought it for her because she was using her daily calendar for that purpose and would carry it around in her purse. Furthermore, every year she would have to re-write all her passwords and usernames into a new calendar. Now, she has one book that she keeps in a safe place at home but can turn to it, when she forgets or must make a change.
    After giving her the book, I realized that as the old saying goes, what is good for the goose is good for the gander; what is good for a woman is equally good for a man. Not only have I been known to forget my username and password on occasion, but more importantly working on the book is an acknowledgement that if absent, Beth may need access to some of the important websites that we use. Since so much of our banking and bill paying is done online, unless we prepare, we would needlessly face some major challenges accessing the information if one of us was suddenly absent.
    I share that with you because the Gospel of Matthew has been discussing the challenges of absence --- in this case the absence of Jesus. In the parable of the King's Son's wedding found in chapter 22, the King doesn't show up until the wedding hall was already filled with guests. In the parable which directly precedes our lesson this week --- the faithful servant and the unfaithful servant found in chapter 24 --- the problem of absence revolves around the “delay” of the master. With today’s parable it is obvious Jesus was preparing the disciples for his absence, something to which the author of Matthew and we need to consider as well in our day and age.
To help us let us turn to today’s lesson: the parable of the ten bridesmaids. First some context. In a typical wedding of that time, the bridesmaids would     accompany the groom to the home of the bride, then the bridesmaids would accompany the couple to the site of the wedding and banquet. Just imagine a small rural community that --- unless the bride was from a community far away --- was a joyous journey from home to home to banquet all within a block or two.
    With that in mind, we read that Jesus told a parable and said the “…the kingdom of heaven will be like ….” ten bridesmaids who go out to meet the bridegroom. This bridegroom however we are told “was delayed.” The word we translate into delay in English is chronizontos which not only means “delay,” but it also has the sense of lingering. It indicates that the bridegroom was not being forcibly prevented from coming, but rather is overdue of his own choice. The groom is in no big rush. In the meantime, Jesus tells us that the bridesmaids get bored as they wait that no amount of snicker’s bars could help. It gets so long that Jesus tells us that they all fall asleep.
    “But at midnight there was a cry!” Our translation does not convey it exactly because it is bit awkward in English. Roughly the Bible suggests that in the middle of the night there was an inbreaking --- “a behold!” a “TaDa --- the bridegroom!”
    We can just imagine the impact on the household waking up with start, with the scurrying and sudden need to get ready for the trip to the bride’s home. But it is now that we find out what we readers were told earlier, five of the bridesmaids, had brought extra olive oil for their lamps, but five did not --- there are five who are called “wise” and five who are called “foolish.”
    The five without enough oil try to borrow from those who have extra but the ones with extra do not have enough to share because that would leave everyone short. Rather, the five without rush out to find some to buy. How they were going to find a 24-hr. convenience store at this late hour we are not told.
    In the meantime, the five with extra have enough not only to accompany the groom to the bride’s home --- the part of the journey we are never told about --- as well as enough to reach the location of the banquet. The five who by now had either picked up some olive oil or gave up entirely arrive at the banquet, but find wedding party is in full swing, with the doors locked. What we read is reminiscent of another parable where people then call out, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” What is the response from inside? We are told that the bridegroom, now the husband says, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Then, we have an addition whether it is from the bridegroom in the parable or Jesus as a commentary it is not clear: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day not the hour.”
    How does this parable help us as we live in the absence of the Kingdom? Well we could just go to sleep, because in this parable it doesn’t matter if you are awake or asleep. This parable however challenges us all around the theme of “being prepared.”
    I don’t know about you but if all faith meant was to make sure I had enough oil in a lamp not only is that odd for faith is not so simple is it? Because, faith is not about believing correct thoughts with the right amount of certainty. Rather, faith is about trusting in Jesus, which, in turn, means living in the new reality Jesus teaches --- not status quo, business-as-usual living, but rather living in “the way” of Jesus, in anticipation of God's kingdom.
    All the bridesmaids knew the wedding banquet had not been canceled. All the bridesmaids knew the groom was coming and the bride was waiting. Likewise, living in faith, is trusting and anticipating God’s full restoration affirming for example, the absolute equality and dignity of all people. But this “way of Jesus” means hanging in there being prepared even when it appears that the bridegroom has chosen to delay.
    What does this mean for us? How do we live in the “way of Jesus,” faithfully prepared? I think it is important to return to the ten bridesmaids and who they represent. As you may have noticed, there was no noticeable difference between the wise five and the foolish five. Moreover, they all became weary and took a nap while waiting for the party to begin. The only difference between the women is that some carried a spare vial of olive oil.
    The five without represent the “wisdom of this world--the live-by-what-you-see wisdom.” The five bridesmaids with extra on the other hand, represent the “wisdom of faith,” the wisdom of trusting in God's redemption of the world. The five wise bridesmaids lived in anticipation by taking “vessels of oil” in addition to the oil in their lamps. Interestingly, in some places in the Hebrew scriptures, oil is often a metaphor for good deeds. In other words, since we can’t take an extra vessel of faith around because faith does not come in measurable vials, we live out our faith in the way of Jesus, doing as Jesus would have us do as disciples during the absence. Living out our faith is that same as being equipped during the absence.
    The five foolish bridesmaids on the other hand preferred participating in the established market system --- the status quo of the world --- so when the bridegroom interrupted this business-as-usual by breaking in and making a dramatic arrival, they wind up going to the marketplace to try to buy “faith” when they need it. And when they finally manage to make it back to the wedding celebration? They find the door to the wedding feast closed, to which they holler, “Lord, Lord.” This is reminiscent of another place when Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
    What about the advice to “watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour?” Again, in chronological time, what we measure either by the moon, atomic clock or our number of birthdays it seems that the Lord is delayed. But for God ANY time is God’s time, even and especially the present moment. That said what else can this parable mean for us, who struggle against our marketplace scarcity mentality --- that everything has a price to be purchased when needed; either one has it or not?
    Timothy Merrill, a Christian author, tells the story of running out of light while visiting Israel with his family. One day, they -- two adults and two little kids -- went out to hike through Hezekiah's Tunnel. Hezekiah’s Tunnel or the Siloam tunnel is a water tunnel that was carved underneath Jerusalem in ancient times. Its name is due to the most common hypothesis of its origin, namely that it dates from the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah in the late 8th and early 7th century BCE and corresponds to the water works mentioned in 2 Kings 20: 20.
    It was rediscovered in the mid 1660’s and has become like many things in Israel an option for tourists. The portion of the tunnel that can be walked is not more than 30 inches wide with a varied height from 10 feet to 5 feet in some places with water came up to your knees unless a spring is flowing at which time the tunnel is closed. Well, Merrill and his family decided to walk through it.
    “Is it safe?” his wife asked the man sitting at a little wood table at the entrance. “Yes, yes, safe,” he said. “Very safe. No problem.” Merrill asked him how long it would take to walk through it. “You walk twenty minutes. No problem,” he said. Merrill gave him some money and received in return four candles, one for each person, not more than a third-inch thick and about five inches long. These candles were to provide light for the 20 minutes it would take to slosh through Hezekiah's Tunnel.
    Merrill retells the tale sharing that the candles illuminated the tunnel for only a few feet ahead and behind. As they felt their way through the tunnel, they sometimes had to stoop slightly as the tunnel shaft was not high enough to accommodate their height. After 10 minutes of wading occasionally hunchbacked through the water, Merrill began to think this trip might take longer than 20 minutes. He decided to blow out his candle, since he was the last one. The youngest child, 7, went first, then his mother, followed by the older child, 10, so he had no trouble following his wife and the boys without his candle lit. Now into 15 minutes of sloshing through the tunnel, following its curves and bouncing against its cold sides, and ducking to avoid bumping their heads, he noticed that Jeanie, his wife, was getting a little edgy. “Are we there yet?”
    After twenty minutes had elapsed, they were still in the tunnel, with no indication that they were close to the end. Twenty-five minutes passed, 30 minutes, and now the candles were just about out. First one candle burnt out, then another. Thirty-five minutes and still walking, Merrill says, “Jeanie's candle was just about gone, and I was about to produce my candle when, at 40 minutes, we felt a rush of cool air and heard the sound of water flowing. This development energized our flagging spirits and we pressed on with fresh zeal. Soon we were at the other side, the end of Hezekiah's Tunnel!”
What interests us however is that Merrill goes on to relate that while he didn't carry an extra candle, as a group they had extra light --- his unlit candle --- in reserve should it be needed. Merrill added that for him the church, a diverse body of people of different sizes, backgrounds, needs and perspectives is the one God has given that has “candlepower” and “candle people” who can help to refuel, rekindle and recharge the soul-lamps of those people whose flame is flickering. The man at the marketplace said 20 minutes. It took at least 40. The man at the marketplace said the candles were sufficient for the journey. They weren't.
    Jesus offers no specific condemnation of the women who fell asleep. They all did. But when the “Tada” moment appeared, when the bells rung, five of the women were candle people and had candle power; the others were not.
    As people of faith, a faith that is not purchased but gifted, do we show and glow? Do we value being the oil of preparation not depending on the marketplace but living the way of Jesus faithfully equipped? Or when our faith is flagging, do we look to each other in the church? Or do we prefer to turn to the marketplace of scarcity to relight our faith we have received as gift? What do we do in the absence? Beth and I are trying to prepare for when one us is not there to keep the candle of our family lit. Let us live in faith in the way of Jesus and let us be the light for others faithfully prepared for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Amen. 

"If Only" - 10/29/2017

Reformation Sunday (October 29, 25017) sermon.

    In English, we use the expression “if only” as a way to express a strong wish that things could be different. We use that expression with past verb forms to talk about a wish for the present. For example, “If only she or he hadn’t died.”
We also use “if only” to talk about a wish for the future or to show a contrast between how things are and how we would like them to be. For example,      “If only someone in our congregation would win the Powerball…”
But English is one of the most difficult languages to learn. One reason is for the following. We use “if only,” with the past perfect to talk about a wish to change something that has already happened. For example, “If only Pope Leo X had not granted indulgences to build St. Peter’s Basilica, we may not be here today.” Of course, Pope Leo X did.
    Today is Reformation Sunday, a day we remember annually, but this time it is more than just a mention in worship once a year or a date one needs to remember for a study of European history. Rather this year we remember the 500th anniversary of an event that ignited a movement.
It wasn't a civil rights movement, although perhaps you could make that argument as it was more of a reform than a movement. Yet, what an Augustinian monk Martin Luther did on October 31, 1517, 500 years ago Tuesday, sparked a protest and reform that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. So, what did Luther do? Well, the event is quite simple; Martin Luther only posted a sign on a church door. Luther had written a little tract which had 95 debating points, or “talking points,” which he hoped would only be the basis of a discussion regarding a practice in the Roman church during his period.
    The tract was called Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. It was written in Latin and printed by a local printer. The printing press was a relatively new media invention at the time, and some argue that without the invention of the printing press, neither the Protestant Reformation nor the American Revolution could have happened.
    The famous scene I mentioned earlier of Luther's 95 propositions printed on a folio sheet and tacked to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany seems not a big deal. And you are correct. Church doors were often used as a place to post announcements and advertisements, much like the placards and “For Sale” signs you might see nailed to a telephone pole, or tacked to a community board on a college campus.
However, Luther’s propositions caused a stir. The stir did not occur months later rather it was as immediate as a 140-character twit. This action – only posting 95 Theses on a door --- quickly became recognized as the beginning of a religious, theological and cultural change of tsunamic proportions as early as 1527. On the 10th anniversary of this posting, Luther himself and a few of his buddies had a pint in a local pub to celebrate the “trampling out of indulgences.” Philip Melanchthon, another Reformation figure, regards this date as the beginning of the Reformation in his 1548 Historia de vita et actis Lutheri (A History of the Life and Acts of Luther).
    Well, what did that sheet say? What Luther posted was not an essay or a sermon, but a series of propositions or statements about which he hoped there'd be some debate. The major issue, as the title of the document indicates, was only on the topic of indulgences. The first proposition gets right to the point: “1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite [repent, do penance], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” The rest of the theses argue similar points.
    This rather arcane point of 500 years ago that concerned Luther deeply, was about selling “get-out-of-jail-FREE” cards. These papers or indulgences released people from needing to repent of the bad things they did. The more serious the crime, the higher the cost of the indulgence.
An indulgence could also be purchased to shorten the time a loved one needed to spend in Purgatory. Purgatory is a Roman Catholic teaching developed to describe the intermediate state after one’s physical death. Purgatory was a period of purification and cleansing one had to endure before entering heaven itself. The development behind purgatory it twofold. First it answers a theological challenge found in the words of Jesus; what happens during “this time” between Jesus death and resurrection and God’s full restoration as the center of all creation. What happens to all those that died since “heaven” does not begin until when heaven and all creation are joined. Purgatory was developed to describe this waiting time for the dead. The second reason for the development for the doctrine of Purgatory was the it enabled a person to experience final refinement by the Holy Spirit enabling a person to enter heaven, when it came, joyfully.
    Indulgences, were only printed papers therefore that commended forgiveness on a person in purgatory shortening one’s purification. And where did the church have the right to do this? The theological granting of forgiveness by the church is found in penance based on the theological understanding of the “power of the keys” given to the apostles according to Matthew 16:18, used to discipline sinners.
    Although perhaps well intentioned, indulgences had become by the time of Luther understood as a way literally for people to buy their way into the kingdom of God or favor.
    Luther came to be repulsed by this understanding. Luther argued that instead sins could not be forgiven nor, could salvation be gained by making forgiveness and salvation a commercial transaction. We cannot buy forgiveness, nor can we buy our way into heaven. And vice versa, the more we give or how wonderfully one lives does not mean more forgiveness or more blessings.
This point on indulgences ultimately became just the tip of the iceberg for reform of other Roman church practices of that time. “If only” the church at that period had done or taught or practiced Christian faith differently, the Reformation perhaps would have been quite different. But, the key word is not “if” because the Reformation did happen. Rather the key word for us is “only.” Because from that door event, three major ideas continue to radiate. Yes, we are “protestants,” like Martin Luther of 500 years ago, but we have a strong affinity to our Roman Catholic roots and our common forebears in the Western church going back to those first disciples.
    Consequently, we must wonder, “if only” indulgences had not become a dollar and cents issue why are we here today? The indulgence issue was simply the tip of an iceberg to a deeper issue to which Martin Luther rediscovered and reclaimed as central to our lives as Christians. Roughly speaking it is because of three “only’s” (or “by’s”) that permeates our DNA --- retaining the Latin they are: sola Scriptura, sola gratia and sola fidei. Only or By Scripture, only or by grace, only or by faith. A rediscovery by Martin Luther to answer the “If only’s…” in his life and ours. “If only I had more faith,” Luther wondered. “If only I had more faith…” we wonder. Luther rediscovered what is central to Christian faith.
    First, what is Sola Scriptura? While Romans 1:19-20 says that people can know that there's a God from their experience of the created world, that knowledge however does not lead to know God fully. St. Paul's indictment of unbelievers in the verses that followed in Romans was because they took that knowledge seen in creation and become idolaters. Likewise, Luther said that a person who tries to understand God from what can be observed about the world “does not deserve to be called a theologian.” In other words, just going to the mountains or ocean beach was not enough to come to understand God.
    Instead, Luther argued Christian faith is distinguished by someone who “comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.” The one in whom we are to trust is the one who hung on the cross --- and who was raised on the third day. As Luther says in support of that claim, “True theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ.” Without Christ, we have a less than full vision of God. For Luther, knowledge of this comes to us through Scripture and Scripture alone. We may gain a sense of God in what we see around us, but we don’t find information about God through Jesus Christ anywhere else. That way of viewing scripture continues to this day in that the “literal” is less important than how scripture interweaves God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the primary lens by which the whole scripture is understood.
The second “only” is Sola gratia. The snapshot of this point is: Only or by God's grace are we reconciled to God. Nothing we do or forget or neglect to do can earn God's favor.
    To understand Luther’s rediscovery, we need to review the prevailing view in that time. The prevailing view then was heaven had a gate and you had to work to get in. Well, how do we encourage people to work to get in to heaven since we don’t get paid to work hard? Not only do we have a job description, but we need a bad hell to scare people into working.
    As I said that was the prevailing view then. But as you probably may have wondered, isn’t there a subtle sense in which that is believed today? Sola gratia continues to be a challenge because we have such a strong sense of the virtue of fairness. We tend to believe that God is fair by our standards. And, since God is fair by our standards, God must work by our system and give people who try hard, or give it their best effort and live a good, relatively clean life a ticket to the heavenly light show.
    Luther more vehemently perhaps than the other reformers and Roman church of that time however said that is not how God works. No one is embraced by God because of being or doing good. God's world is not and never a meritocracy. Just the opposite, it is by God's grace and unmerited favor that comes as a gift are we a member of the family of God.
    If this still sounds strange it is because we are still struggling against our own way of thinking about fairness, and the constant barrage of information that would seem to suggest that is not how God is. God must be like our way of thinking. You mean Hurricane Harvey happened because of weather and climate patterns and not because Houston is any worse or any better than anywhere else --- that’s right. God is there among the thousands who lost home and property. God did not send a hurricane because they are any worse or better than anywhere else. No God has brought us into God’s family by grace to help us when things don’t go our way.
    The third “only” or “by” is one that we may hear more often “trusting in Jesus puts us right with God” because it sounds so “baptistity.” This is “fide” faith. It is also known as “justification by faith alone.” This is based on a view of the world and human nature. Roughly speaking sola fide suggests that there was once a great divide between humanity and God. We need reconciliation. This reconciliation occurred on the cross. We cannot do anything to achieve reconciliation on our own. We can only receive this by faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then, and only then, are we reconciled with God. In other words, because of our universal human rebellious nature, God kept trying to find ways to reach across that divide to God’s creation. God tried a covenant, a promise, across the divide. This promise is roughly summed up in the Ten Commandments. I am your God, and isn’t that great! It is so great that in response we love our neighbor, rather than killing, or stealing. Well, that didn’t work.
    Instead, thanks to what Martin Luther called an iustia alienum or “alien righteousness,” we are ourselves considered righteous that comes to us as a gift. Here are Luther's own words: “Through faith in Christ, therefore, Christ's righteousness becomes our righteousness and all that he has becomes ours; rather, he himself becomes ours. Therefore, the Apostle calls it 'the righteousness of God' in Romans 1:17; For in the gospel 'the righteousness of God is revealed ...; as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by his faith.’” …. On the contrary, he who trusts in Christ exists in Christ; he is one with Christ, having the same righteousness as he. It is therefore impossible that sin should remain in him. This righteousness is primary; it is the basis, the cause, the source of all our own actual righteousness. For this is the righteousness given in place of the original righteousness lost in Adam. It accomplishes the same as that original righteousness would have accomplished; rather, it accomplishes more.”
    Roughly it means that going back to that image of a chasm between God and us, God sent God’s self in the form of Jesus across that chasm. Then through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection a bridge was built to God from this side of the chasm. And that bridge is there and belongs to you and me and there is absolutely nothing we need to do except celebrate that it is there and will carry us over and God to us. It is so joyous that we love our neighbor, rather than kill or steal. Sure, there are days when our minds and hearts may be darkened by fog and we can’t see the bridge, but the wind of the Holy Spirit is constantly blowing that fog clear. And not only can’t it be fogged in, we can’t choose to see it or even destroy it.
    On this day, 500 years later after a posting on a door we find ourselves here all because the answer to “If only I had more faith…” question from Martin Luther came to him by striking the word “IF” leaving the “only.” Only scripture, only grace, only faith.
    Martin Luther rediscovery of God’s answer to “If only, my child hadn’t died, in only the world would be nicer, if only…” was with grace and faith in such a way that compelled Luther to put something on a door.
The only word that really mattered for Luther came by living “by” God. By God and Jesus. By Scripture, grace and faith. So, what do you think? Is “only” something to be wrestled with or would we rather dwell on “only if.” “If only … Martin Luther had not posted something on a door.” Amen.