Words 8.19

 Words Twice a Week        8.19

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday, Proper 16

1 Kings 8:(1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43

+ So Solomon brings the Ark, the representation of God’s Presence on Earth, which has been down in the Lower Harbor Park, and sets it up in the inner room of this impressive building.  Is this a positive development?  If we have an elegant, dramatic, impressive, historic building, what are the good things about that?  What are the difficult things?

+ What issues arise when the interface with God is in some sense “hidden away” in the inner chamber with only the priests, maybe only the High Priest, having access to it?  Do we have direct access to God?  “A Royal Telephone? A Hot Line to God?  Call Him Up and Tell Him What You Want.”  What is the appropriate role of the priest?

+ the “epiphany” – the cloud, the glory.  Have you ever experienced anything like that?   Where?  When?

+ so the priests cannot handle being in the room, but Solomon can?  Hmmm.

+ Solomon lifts up God’s faithfulness (covenant) and steadfast love and claims the Ark in the Temple is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with David.  Think so?  Or is Solomon putting the stamp of “God’s action” on his own effort?  Are we ever tempted to do that?

+ “Will God dwell on Earth?” - Solomon kind of dances around here.  Just what is in that inner room – “God’s Name”?  The Interface with God?  The place where God check’s God’s messages each morning?  Where does God dwell in your understanding?

+ “Hear the plea of the Israelites; also, when foreigners come to hear about God’s wonderful power and come with their pleas, hear them as well, that that all will know….”  So – would this include the Palestinians?  Does it include you and me?   If “foreigners” (people of other faith traditions) come to pray in our church, what would happen?  I did a baptism once where one of the sponsors was Jewish – which raised one or two eyebrows.  I said, well, yeah, that sponsor is not going to teach the child about the Christian faith, or provide a Christian community for the child to be part of, but if it came down to it, that sponsor would transport the child to someone who would.

Psalm 84

+ could have been a psalm to sing on your pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem?  Or could have been a song for those who stayed home?

+ the joy of pilgrimage – churches in England (at least small country Methodist ones) often had a “Homecoming Sunday” when people who had moved away would come back for special service, meals, etc.  The United Methodist Church in Centennial (Keweenaw) used to hold a “Homecoming Service” each summer, even though the church was no longer operating!

+ the sparrows and the swallows find a home.  Pigeons?  Bats (in the belfry?)  Are we down with little creatures finding a home in the church?  Mice?  

+ a couple of our favorite lines to enjoy – “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere”, and “I would rather be the doorkeeper/usher/custodian in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness”.  (What goes on in the tents of wickedness?)

+ and then this comment “This psalm is a celebration of Zion.  It was no doubt sung by the choirs of the Jerusalem Temple in celebration of the Temple.  Thus it lives at the edge of self-congratulation.  Every such exaltation of the church as building or institution runs the risk of falling in love with an idol.”

+ and this – “In an inordinately utilitarian climate like ours, it is crucial to see that God is end and not means.  Communion is the thing, the fulfillment of human life.  This poem does not seek communion with God as a means toward anything else.”   How, when, do you experience communion with God?  

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

+ Again, one of our favorite lines - “Choose this day whom you will serve.  As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”  Did you grow up singing “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back…”?  And did you sing along with Bob Dylan “You know you gotta serve somebody…”?

+ Joshua is getting ready to die and turn the leadership of the people to the succession of judges whom God will raise up to address specific situations.

+ in vs 2-13 he recites all the ways God has acted to save them.

+ and I love it – he says “Who are you gonna serve?”, and they say “We will serve the Lord”, and he says “No way you are going to be able to do that.”  (Ok, the passage ends before we get there, but that’s how it continues.  And when they say “No, we will serve the Lord” Joshua says “Then get rid of the gods you brought out of Egypt or happened to pick up along the way.” (Joshua as one of The Minimalists!  There is still just time to get into the book discussion!)

+ and one final note – this story was put in it’s final form during the Babylonian Exile, when in fact the people had not been able to serve the Lord and were suffering the consequences.  At least that’s the traditional way of understanding what happened.

+ we come back to the question of whether we can adequately serve the Lord in the reading from Ephesians and the Gospel.

Ephesians 6.10-20

+ the conflict of good and evil surpasses our own human understanding and limitations.  Evil is not just the sum of human misdeeds, though that is no small sum.  How do you think about evil in the world?

+ so “put on the armor of God”.  How comfortable are we with these images?  To have kids in Sunday School picking up swords and shields and helmets?  Note that the pieces of armor represent qualities of God, not humans.  Does the reality of the struggle justify strong images?

+ one writer notes that Charles Wesley wrote 16 or 17 verses of the hymn “Soldiers of Christ, Arise” which has shrunk down to 2 or 3 verses in most of our hymnals, if it didn’t get tossed out with “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and also notes that it was retained the hymnal of the “peace-oriented” Mennonites!

John 6:56-69

+ still more about the bread.

+ and some accept and some wander off.  God has a hand in it, and it is mystery.  Have there been times when you wandered off?  Why did you come back?  (Ok, confession, at one time I came back because I thought the church would be a good place to meet girls!)

+ “The fundamental offense in the words and work of Jesus is the offense of grace.  It is sometimes stated gently: we have life from the bread that God gives.  It is sometimes stated bluntly, so as to offend all our claims of free will and self-determination: no one can come to me unless that person has been drawn of God.  This is truly the hard saying, but the issue is clear.  Do we preside over life, demanding that Jesus do as Moses did, calling for signs as proof so we can decide whether of not to believe, electing Jesus king by our acclamation?  Or do we accept the gift from heaven?  The bread in the wilderness was a gift; the bread as the word from heaven was and is a gift; the bread of the Eucharist is a gift.  Take, eat, and live.”  (that’s Fred Craddock)

And a prayer -

Loving God,

we are intensely aware of the evil and suffering in the world, 

from the conflict in Afghanistan to the earthquake in Haiti.

Some of it is a result of human misdeeds, some of it just is.

How grateful we are that you also “just are”,

and “just are” steadfast love and faithfulness.

Show us how we can resist evil and share love

in all your Creation.

Just as Jesus did.

That’s what I got for now…..

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