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"Choose Life!"

2/19/2020

Deuteronomy 30:15-20       Matthew 5:33-37

Who here survived Valentine's day, two days ago? Over 18 billion dollars spent on greeting cards, candy and flowers, not to mention nights out on the town. All this to demonstrate love both for partners and also for family and friends. Are you among the ones that feel all loved and cared for? If you received nothing and left you blue, you must remember you are loved too. I hope you treated yourself to something special.

While some of us enjoyed the cards, chocolates, flowers and special dinners, it’s important to take in account the religious roots of the holiday. Our St. Valentine shows us different dimensions of love. A love that is our source of life and transcends ordinary giving and invites us into a love we are called to live day in and day out. An absolute love. A deep love. Yes, a hard love, While our lessons to not mention love, love is the cornerstone of what Moses speaks during his final speech to the Israelites. Love is the cornerstone of what Jesus speaks off when he speaks of a law higher than the law that we must obey to be his followers. This is what choosing life means, loving even when it is hard. Even when we don’t get back a box of chocolates or a card.

        Love is the key factor in making us feel alive and making the right choice between life and death. Few of us are called to martyrdom. But we are called to love sacrificially, and that kind of loving leads to life, life at its fullest.

Deuteronomy records some of Moses’ last words before he died. The Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and were looking forward to entering the Promised Land. Moses knew he wouldn’t be able to go with them, so he delivered these words from God, “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live…”

According to Deuteronomy, there are definite ways to choose life. We choose life by loving the Lord our God, walking in God’s ways, and observing God’s commandments (vs. 16) contained in Exodus, Leviticus Deuteronomy. Three books about loving, walking, observing, obeying.   It’s about choosing the “yes” to God. It’s about being connected to God and God’s creation, being aware and connected to our true selves, and being aware and connected to other human beings. It’s about practicing our faith, and walking mindfully through life, in harmony with God’s ways.

We heard a segment of the Sermon on the Mount from Jesus   this morning “Let your word be ‘yes,’ or ‘no:’ anything more than that comes from the evil one.” In that passage Jesus was really talking about making oaths. According to Jewish law, an oath was binding, depending on how closely it was associated with the name of God. So, for example, if you say, “I swear to God,” people should take it more seriously than if you simply said, “I swear it’s true.” But Jesus said, skip the oath-taking altogether and just tell the truth. Act truthfully. Be willing to say a simple yes or no and mean what you say.

Love is the needed foundation for the hard sayings we heard today. And if you ever need an argument against taking the Bible literally, you can use today’s scripture. Even Biblical literalists don’t take that one literally plucking out the right eye, cutting off the right hand. Imagine, the streets would be full of mangled faces and hacked off limbs. And when we went to church the congregation would look like the cast of a horror movie. Jesus did not mean for people to actually pluck out their eyes or chop off their hands. So, what did he mean?

Some people say that Jesus was taking the law to an extreme, to show us how far we are from fulfilling it, and to make us realize our need for God’s grace. Only through faith in God’s grace can we be saved. But I think Jesus said these things because he wanted us to understand and fulfill the purpose and spirit of the law. Jesus wants us to choose life. Jesus speaks in hyperbole, a common Semitic trait to get a point across. Even last week we heard Jesus say, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill… For I tell you, unless you are (more righteous) than the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (v. 17, 20). According to Jesus, God’s law goes beyond simply behaving well. It is more than a Valentine card. The purpose of the law is to guide us into the ways of God. And that involves more than behavior. It involves what’s in our hearts. At its root it’s about life that embraces the fullness of love.

So, Jesus gives some examples. The law says, “You shall not murder.” But if you are angry with someone and you insult them, aren’t you murdering them in spirit, shutting them out, and writing them off as worthless? The law teaches us not to kill. But the Kingdom of God is more than simply avoiding murder or physical harm to others. It’s about treating them with dignity and respect.

The law also says, “You shall not commit adultery.” That was based on the idea that you shouldn’t steal something that belonged to another man. But Jesus asks more of us. When you lust after someone, you are looking at them as an object to be taken and used for your own pleasure or desire. Jesus asks us to honor people as real human beings with their own feelings and needs and honor their commitments as well as our own.

Divorce is another example. Writing a certificate was legal, but it still allowed men to divorce their wives for frivolous reasons. Back in Jesus’ day a divorce could ruin a woman’s life because women had no way to support themselves. Women were the property of men, dependent on them, and it was hard for a divorced woman to re-marry. So, Jesus says, consider the needs of women, and honor your commitments to care for them.

Again, according to the law, a person’s oath or vow was binding depending on how closely it was associated with the name of God. Jesus said, skip the oath-taking and just tell the truth. If you say “yes,” mean yes. If you say “no,” mean no. It’s about whether or not people can trust you. Be trustworthy.

Jesus took the law to a new level, beyond mere rules and rituals, to relationships, our relationship with ourselves, with each other, and with God. Jesus is also talking about choosing life as the fullest expression of love. Even a tough love. Absolute love. If you have integrity in yourself, honor and respect God and your neighbor, then you will naturally fulfill the law of Christ. It means we shall choose life and love to the fullest. Let us choose love, and fully live. Amen

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"Salt and Light"

2/13/2020

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Matthew 5:13-20; Isaiah 58:1-9a,

To enter the world of Jesus’ words, it would be helpful to suspend our awareness of our modern life -- with its comforts -- and take ourselves back in time. back to the time of Jesus and first century Palestine. Back in time before the light bulb – before electricity -- and central heating. Back in time before mass-produced candles -- and lanterns. Back in time when sunlight was supreme and set the boundaries of the day. Back to the time when people used oil made from animal fat or olives for their lamps. Back when the main household tasks was keeping the fire going in the hearth and -- keeping the oil lamps lit and -- gathering the needed firewood. Back to a time when having a fire -- having light -- brought about the ability to eat better, to stay warm, to stay up later at night, to see. Back to a time when light made the difference between that thin line of survival and really beginning to live. Back to a time when light made life possible. Light is after all, the first act of God’s act of creation.
Before there were humans there was light. Hebrew scholars who study Hebrew words note that the Hebrew word for light, with the addition of one more letter, makes the word man. Add another letter and you get the word woman. And together these letters -- if reorganized -- form the Hebrew word for God. To our mind such trivia might not mean very much. To the Hebrew mind however, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are the building blocks of mystery. And such mysteries point to the fact that the very being of God, human life, and light are all connected.
To enter the world of Jesus’ words we need to step back. To first century Palestine, no one heard of high blood pressure, much less connecting salt with illness. Step back into a time when salt wasn’t a public health enemy. When salt wasn’t widely available in all processed foods; when salt wasn’t so commonplace.
        There was once a time when salt was not so easy to come by. When it was extremely valuable. There was a time when salt was a form of currency. Roman soldiers were at one point paid in salt. That’s where the phrase “worth his/her salt” comes from. Our word, salary, comes from the Latin word, salarium, which means “of salt.”   In a time before antibiotics, salt was used for cleansing and healing.   In a time without refrigeration salt was a powerful preservative. In a time of limited food offerings and seasonings, salt added flavor and needed trace minerals.
Salt was thrown in corners and carried in pockets to ward off evil and danger. In Jewish religious life salt easily became a symbol of the covenant and a pure offering. Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers all contain passages about the use of salt to purify the offerings and symbolize the enduring quality of God’s covenant with the people
        We need to step back in order to see this, because nowadays light and salt are cheap and commonplace. And perhaps in some ways we take our lives and faith for granted too. It is easy to forget our value and purpose.   Do we treasure human life and seek the glory of the Spirit God has created within us? Perhaps…. we forget our preciousness because of the abundance of cheap light, cheap salt, cheap faith.
Salt and light are metaphors for how God would choose to see us and use us. So, when we can see ourselves as salt and as light our understanding of our passage and all the sacrifices of our Christian life get seen in a new way. The disciplines of Christian life – fasting, as Isaiah describes to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?   Acts of prayer, charity, acts of service – are acts of light and salt for our world. Jesus reminds us: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. These acts of Christian love are there to help us see the value of our lives and the power of our contributions to the world.    Jesus calls us to not take our life for granted or use it for wrong purposes, because we are meant for so much more. You and I and that neighbor to whom we gave a good example; we are meant for Godly purposes. We are meant to be salt to the earth. We are meant to be a light to the world.
Robert Fulghum, a minister and author, was attending a seminar one day in Greece. On the last day of the conference, Fulghum lasked him what was the meaning of life. Everyone in attendance laughed and stirred to leave. However, the leader held up his hand to ask for silence and then responded "I will answer your question."
He took his wallet out of his pocket and removed a small round mirror about the size of a quarter. Then he shared: "When I was a small child during World War II, we were very poor.   we lived in a remote village. One day on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place. I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible. So, I kept the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy. I was fascinated by the fact that with this mirror, I could reflect light into dark places where the sun could never shine. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places that I could find.
I kept the little mirror. As I grew up, I would take it out at idle moments and continue the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game. It was a metaphor of what I could do with my life. Light - be it truth or understanding or knowledge - is there. And it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless -- with what I have -- I can reflect light into the dark places of this world - into the dark places of human hearts - and change some things in some people. Perhaps others seeing it happen will do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."
That is the meaning of our lives. We are that mirror. We are that light. You can reflect light into the dark places of the world. Christ’s light.
Don’t hide your light, don’t dilute your salt. Remember you are encoded like those Hebrew letters with the very light and life of God. Remember: you are salt.You are light.
So shine, shine, for the world to see. Amen.
www.headenover.org/sermons/behallotecha_5760.htmwww.plts.edu/articles/various/jungling100103.htm
aibi.gospelcom.net/aibi/thesalt1.

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"What Does God Require?"

2/4/2020

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Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12

Christian author Os Guinness tells this story about a furniture factory in communist Russia. It seemed that the stealing was so bad that guards were posted at every exit. One day a worker exited the factory with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust and shavings. The guard stopped him and said, "What do you have in that wheelbarrow, comrade?" to which the worker replied, "There's nothing in here but sawdust and shavings."

"OK," he said, "dump it out." Sure enough, there was nothing in there but sawdust and shavings. Well, this went on day after day with the same routine, the same questions and answers, the same dumping out of sawdust on the floor. Finally, the guard became frustrated and could stand it no more. He said to the worker, "Look, I know you're stealing. And you know you're stealing. If you tell me what you're stealing, I promise I won't arrest you." The worker smiled and said, "Wheelbarrows, comrade. Wheelbarrows." He was stealing right before his eyes.

There is a great concern across our land about the problems of our society and our nation, and our churches. Right before our eyes, a kind of deceptive shift has taken place. Right before our eyes, the church has lost its influence on a greedy, materialistic, self-centered culture because we have become so much like that culture. We have forgotten what God has required of us.

Today our texts call us to rediscover what is expected from us. Our text from Micah and the beatitudes form the foundation of biblical faith: The prophet Micah asked the question, "With what shall I come before the Lord?" What is it God really wants of us? The answer is that God requires of us is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. Following these guidelines then brings us a blessed life.

Let’s break this down. To do justice. It means embracing God’s wisdom, God’s law, God’s judgment in such a way that in our living there is fairness and equity within the human family. There are nine words that are frequently associated with the word, “justice,” in the Bible. Widow, fatherless, orphans, poor, hungry, stranger, needy, weak and oppressed. Justice applies God’s biblical laws of sharing and caring to those in need, so the resources of the world and of our actions do not live anyone out. God’s justice is the expression of God’s love throughout society, it is following God’s commandments to build a fair world.

Do you remember that story from Charles Dicken’s England? At that time, many twelve-year-old boys were working below in the coal mines. Their life was miserable. The church would offer presents at Christmas time to the little boys working away in the coal mines. The church would offer charity and tom turkeys for the poor families at holiday time. The church would offer prayers for the little boys working away in the coal mines. One day, the law was changed so that little boys could no longer work in the coal mines and the law insisted that they go to school instead of go to the coal mines to work. Charity is giving Christmas presents at Christmas for the disadvantaged boys in the coal mines. Justice is working to change the laws so that it was illegal for little boys to work in the coal mines. So, it is the same for us –justice is working to change the laws and social circumstances that make the world a fair place to live for everyone. That creates a blessed world.

Now Micah tells us to love kindness or often translated mercy. It’s another cornerstone of biblical religion, kindness, which means being big-hearted, tenderhearted, generous, giving, and forgiving. You've may have heard the story of the woman who went to a photographer, and after her pictures, she said to the photographer, "These pictures don't do me justice." "Madam," the photographer said, "you don't need justice; you need mercy." (or kindness).

Well, we all need mercy, or kindness. Kindness, mercy, means getting and giving not what we deserve but what we need. Kindness is probably best illustrated in that parable of Jesus where the Good Samaritan stopped on the side of the road to Jericho to help a man who had fallen among thieves. Jesus said of him, "He showed mercy." The beatitudes are all examples of acts of kindness: blessing for those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted – when we care for others based on what they need, not on how we want to judge them, we display kindness, mercy. We all make mistakes. So God demonstrates kindness and mercy to us so we can stand up again, and love kindness as we show it to each other and we learn to forgive, extend mercy and forbearance. We all need this and need to do this.

Biblical religion is doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. To walk humbly with God is to step out of our busy and self-centered self and focus on someone other than ourselves and to focus on God. We learn not to think of ourselves as greater than another. Humility opens us up to other points of view, and new perspectives. Humility calls us to walk, not run or strut. Walk implies slowing down. Walking implies measured steps. Walking is a slow deliberate pace that helps us stay in communion, side by side, with God.

So humbly means we are not full of or preoccupied with ourselves. Instead humility is to put the needs of others and the desires of God first. Humility opens the space where we actually listen to what God is saying. This following prayer leads us to a life of humility

The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service.
The fruit of service is peace.

This sums up the state of being Blessed. It states in other terms what God requires of us, justice, kindness, and humility. If justice, kindness, and humility are to become the fruit of our lives, our minds must be changed.

In the fourth and fifth centuries, Christians fled to the Syrian and Egyptian deserts to learn and practice what God requires. They're often called the desert fathers and mothers. They talk to us a lot about those patterns of behavior that keep us from loving God and loving neighbor. They describe them as the passions. For them, the passions are those actions and attitudes that are the result of choices and demonic influences that take hold of our lives and control our lives. What the desert fathers and mothers teach us even today it's going to take more than our own will or the power of positive thinking to change them our behavior. It's going to take the grace of Jesus Christ.
If justice and kindness and walking humbly with God are to become a way of life, our hearts must change. Our minds must change. Our behavior must change. Only Jesus can do that for us.

I began this message with a story by Os Guinness. I want to close it with another one.
It seems that the queen of the Belgians was visiting Poland while Poland was still under communist rule. Everywhere she went she was accompanied by a guard of the secret police. Since she was a Catholic, she often attended mass. On one occasion while she was kneeling in prayer, she noticed that the guard standing beside her was moving his lips and saying the prayers. She was surprised and asked him, "Oh, are you a Catholic?" to which he responded, "I believe but I don't practice." She asked, "Then are you a Communist?" to which he answered, "I practice, but I don't believe."
God's desire for each one of us is to be so changed that we become blessings of justice and mercy out of which life and joy floods to others. God's desire for the church and for us individually is to be so changed that we become a people who discover how to walk humbly with God. That is biblical faith. That is faithful living. If we do so then we will become truly blessed. Amen

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"Choose Life!"

"Salt and Light"

"What Does God Require?"

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