Against the Stream

Against the Stream

Lk. 10:1-11[1]

  Most of you know that I try to exercise as much as possible. Besides maintaining my physical health, it helps me keep my head on straight—or at least as straight as possible! I’ve recently added a new activity to my “repertoire”: swimming. I’ve spent a lot of my life in the water, so you’d think that would be a natural choice. But increased age and weight have made it more difficult for me to swim laps in recent years. The problem is that in order to keep afloat, I have to swim at a pace that I can’t sustain for long. What’s made the difference for me is that I’ve finally decided to try out some of the training gear that helps with that. Without it, just swimming in a pool feels to me like swimming against the stream.

  I realize that water sports may not be as common here as they are on the Gulf Coast, where I spent much of my life. If you’ve ever spent any time in the water, you know that with most kinds of water sports, going against the current, or into the wind, or against the tide, or into the waves, can be challenging, to say the least. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you very likely won’t make much headway. And in some situations, you can get yourself into trouble quickly. The currents in the ocean can drag an adult far from shore and send even the safest water craft out to sea. As with many endeavors like this, just getting into the water can carry with it certain dangers.

  In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus warns those who would stand for the Kingdom of God of the dangers it can involve. In this context, he is sending 70 of his followers “on ahead of him” to prepare the way for him. But there is something different about this journey: he has “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Lk. 9:51). And as he’s already warned the twelve, the end of that journey will be his death. That impinges on the mission of the 70 as well. The situation has changed. Instead of being welcomed with joy and amazement, now Jesus is beginning to face opposition and even danger. And he sends out “laborers into [the] harvest” (Lk. 10:2) with the warning that they will also face opposition.

  The instructions Jesus gives them may seem strange at first. They’re not to take a purse, a bag, or even sandals (Lk. 10:4)! It would seem that the situation was urgent, and Jesus wanted them to go about the work of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and doing its work without any distractions. On the other hand, some of his instructions reflect the practices of wandering teachers in that day. Jesus clearly wanted his messengers to be different from those who were viewed with suspicion because they took advantage of the situation by taking support from as many “houses” as possible. He wanted their mission of peace to be consistent with the Kingdom of God.

  At the same time, however, Jesus warns them that not everyone will welcome them. Not everyone will accept the “peace” of God’s Kingdom that they have come to offer. Throughout the Gospels, it is clear that some welcome the good news Jesus brings, while others adamantly reject it. When that happens, the message of salvation offered freely to all becomes a warning of judgment to those who refuse God’s Kingdom. And so Jesus instructs his messengers to enact a ceremony that might seem strange to us: wiping even the dust of a place off their feet as a warning to them. Doubtless, this warning would not have made them any more welcome to people who had already rejected their offer of peace!

  In light of the cross, those who align themselves with Jesus and with his message and mission of promoting the Kingdom of God will face danger, just as he did. Jesus himself warned, “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves” (Lk. 10:3). And even though they apparently did not risk their lives on this occasion, the call to follow Jesus and to carry out the mission of the Kingdom of God would lead many of them into danger. And some of them would lose their lives for the sake of the Gospel. They were “swimming upstream” in a time and a place where that put them in great danger.

  A lot of this may sound strange to those of us who still hold the belief that our country is a “Christian nation.” Or at least that we have a constitutional right to practice our faith according to the dictates of our conscience. I think many of us just expect others to be courteous at the very least. As a result, we may be surprised when we follow Jesus and we find ourselves faced with opposition and even hostility from the culture in which we live. The sad truth is that many people in our culture have given themselves to kingdoms other than the kingdom of God: Wall Street, or Hollywood, or Washington, or Madison Avenue. These other kingdoms have convinced people to find their worth as human beings through wealth, beauty, power, or possessions. The Kingdom of God contradicts those claims, and if we live by the values of the Kingdom, we are always going to be swimming against the stream!

  Perhaps, like Jesus’ original disciples, we should not be surprised when some respond to the message of the Kingdom of God with hostility. After all, we are contradicting the principles that they believe define their worth as human beings. While those other “kingdoms” may promise happiness, only following Jesus in living out the Kingdom of God can bring true fulfillment. Despite all opposition, we who have embraced the call to follow Jesus and have made the commitment to practice the values and to proclaim the message of the Kingdom may find ourselves feeling discouraged. When it feels like our efforts to be faithful to God’s Kingdom have us swimming against the stream, we can take heart that God will continue to bring his Kingdom among us, and through us to those we encounter.

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[1] ©2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 7/7/2019 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

God's Delight

God’s Delight

Prov. 8:22-31[1]

I’ve spoken before about the problems of our “virtual” culture. Most of us are constantly staring at some kind of screen or other. On the one hand, I’d have to admit, that I really appreciate the access to information, photos, and videos from around the world. Having spent a fair amount of my life hunting down a book in a library somewhere, it’s really nice to be able to look up the information I need on the web. Having instant access to pictures and images from around the world makes the news seem somehow more real. And, of course, I myself am a connoisseur of internet music, movies, and TV.

I think, however, that the problem with our “virtual” culture, is that we may be in danger of losing our ability to just enjoy the beauty of life. We get conditioned to having a certain level of stimulation from the screens we watch, and that makes it harder for us to just “be still” and watch a sunset, or children playing, or simply to cherish the company of another person. Although it has been disproven that we humans now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish, there is an abundance of information available that makes it clear that the way we pay attention is changing. Primarily, it shows that, with so much more information available, we are more likely to lose interest in some activities more quickly.

Our lesson from Proverbs presents us with a beautiful image of a very different approach to life.  It depicts God creating all things like a master craftsman or a skilled artist. If you’ve ever tried to create something in that way, you know that it takes sustained and careful attention. That’s the way God relates to his creation. After all, Creation comes from God’s desire to have a relationship with those who can choose to return God’s love and share God’s love with one another. And like a skilled artist takes delight in a sculpture or a painting, God takes great delight in all creation. That means that all creation, including the human family, continues to be the object of God’s sustained and careful attention.

Though the book of Proverbs pre-dates Jesus by several centuries, there is already hint here of God being more than a single solitary being far removed from anyone or anything. In Proverbs God has a counterpart and God is actively involved in our lives. In our lesson “Wisdom” is God’s counterpart, not only applauding with joy at every aspect of creation but also working with God to make sure everything fits—as a master craftsman. I like the way Gene Peterson translates it in The Message: “I was right there with him, making sure everything fit. Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause, always enjoying his company, delighted with the world of things and creatures, happily celebrating the human family” (Prov. 8:30-31).

The interesting thing about “Wisdom” as God’s counterpart in Proverbs is that Wisdom is personified as a woman! “Lady Wisdom” gets involved: she cries out in the streets, seeking those who are simple-minded and going astray from the truth and calling them to return and live the life God intended for them. In the New Testament, Jesus pretty much assumes this role. He is the one who calls all people to God’s love and God’s life. And as we are reminded on Pentecost, God has another counterpart that gets overlooked at times—the Spirit. In the Bible, it takes all three, God the Creator, Jesus the Redeemer, and the Spirit who sustains us, to fully understand who God is.

This is the image of God in the Bible: God in relationship, God in community, God involved in our lives.[2] If it’s true that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), it should come as no surprise that God has counterparts in the Bible, since love requires a counterpart, an “other” to love. This one God who is three—Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer—exists in a relationship of love and community within Godself. This is central to our faith, because the love represented by the relationships in the Trinity is the basis for our community and for everything God does in our lives.

In our day, not many people have much use for the idea of God as Trinity. It seems an abstract and far-fetched concept for theologians to debate. To those of us in the church, it may seem like just words we recite in the Apostles’ Creed that don’t really affect us in real life. But the point of the Trinity is that God is a God of love—not just love that observes from afar, but love that reaches out to us and seek a relationship with us. The God who creates and redeems and sustains us is a God who shows us a love that is constantly present among us, that gets involved in our lives, and that takes action to fill our lives with love. [3] The ultimate goal is that our lives might reflect that same love in our relationships with one another.

As our affirmation of faith for today puts it, our God is the “One God who is the Creator and Sustainer, the Savior and Lord, the Giver of life within, among, and beyond us.”[4] If we understand this image of God through the lens of our Scripture lesson, we see God as one who takes great delight in the beauty of the natural world, and takes great delight in the human family. That’s right—all this talk about Trinity means that each one of us benefits from God’s unfailing love and care, God’s constant presence and support, and even more than that, we are all people in whom God takes keen interest and great delight.

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[1] © Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 6/16/2019 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. Based in part on a sermon by the same title from 5/26/2013.

[2] Jürgen Moltmann, God for a Secular Society: The Public Relevance of Theology, 101: The biblical image of God is “God in community, rich in relationships. ‘God is love.’”

[3] Jürgen Moltmann, Science and Wisdom, 185: “According to Wisdom literature (Ecclesiasticus, for example), this creative Wisdom can also be called God’s Word or God’s Spirit. But what is meant is always the presence of God immanent in the world and present in all things.” Cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, 46.

[4] Presbyterian Church in the United States. A Declaration of Faith. 117th General Assembly (1977), reissued by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1991.

The Spirit of Truth

The Spirit of Truth

John 14:8-17; Acts 2:16-21[1]

Given our sometimes maddeningly diverse world, I’m afraid people tend to fall into two camps when it comes to “Truth.” Some, like Pontius Pilate long ago, sagely ask, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Others cling ever more tightly to that version of “Truth” they have embraced, insisting as the Roman Catholic Church did in the Middle Ages that it is “what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.”^[2] I’m afraid this kind of “all-or-nothing” thinking has plagued the church for centuries. Indeed, all organized religions are characterized by their ability to define and maintain their identity, even when the means they use to do so may seem to contradict the faith they profess.^[3]

Unfortunately, that tension in the church originates in Scripture. It is a tension between what we might call “exclusion” and “embrace.”[4] There are many passages of scripture that emphasize “God’s people” as unique, distinct, set apart from other peoples. And, as we discussed not long ago, along with that goes “boundary markers” that are absolute in order to reinforce that identity. It is the language of “exclusion.” It says to those who are different, “You don’t belong.”

But then there are also many passages in Scripture that emphasize that God’s ultimate purpose in choosing a people for himself is to bring all peoples into the embrace of God’s love and God’s life.  Along with that point of view go visions of a far-reaching and all-inclusive mission to carry the good news of God’s love to all nations. It is the language of “embrace.” It says, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”

Our Scripture lessons for today highlight this problem. In our lesson from Acts, Peter uses verses from the book of the prophet Joel to explain what was happening on the Day of Pentecost. He boldly proclaims, “this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh’” (Acts 2:16-17). Peter was quoting from Joel 2:28, which in its context was a part of God’s promise to restore his people and restore his life-giving presence among them. That might seem to limit the promise of the Spirit to Jewish people, but in Acts, the idea of the Spirit poured out on “all flesh,” as well as the promise that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21), clearly implies that the promise is opened to all people.

On the other hand, in our lesson from John’s Gospel, Jesus seems to speak about the gift of the Spirit in a very different way. The setting is that Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. But they are confused. They cannot fathom the idea that the Messiah would abandon them. In response, Jesus promises to send them “another Advocate” (John 14:16). The word “Advocate” here could also be translated “Comforter,” “Counselor,” “Helper,” or “Friend.” I think the main point is that the one Jesus was sending to them would be with them in the same way that he had been with them.

Jesus calls this helper, “the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17), because he’s talking about the Spirit of God, the one who makes God’s presence real in our lives, and the one who would continue to make Jesus’ presence real in their lives and ours. But the strange thing Jesus says about the “Spirit of Truth” is that while “he abides with you, and he will be in you,” “the world cannot receive [him]” (John 14:17). This seems to be a very different take on the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. It seems to say that the Spirit is reserved only for a limited group, not poured out on “all flesh.”

What are we to make of this? Is the Spirit of God poured out on everyone, or just a particular group? Even within the Gospel of John, which affirms that “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (John 3:16), the language of our Gospel reading seems strange. Part of the answer can be found in the fact that the community of believers John was addressing faced severe threats, like the loss of livelihood, or family and social ties, or possibly even loss of their lives. In the face of these kinds of threats our natural fears harden into isolation. Instead of embracing others, we see them as a threat from which we must protect ourselves. And we tend to restrict those who belong to our “group,” and limit the gifts that go with our faith, like the gift of the Spirit.

Beyond the context of our reading from John’s Gospel, I believe we have to think more clearly about what the gift of the Spirit represents. It represents God’s presence in this world, and I don’t see a whole lot of justification in Scripture for placing any limitations on that. The Spirit represents Jesus’ continuing presence in this world, and it doesn’t make sense to restrict the presence of the one who identifies with the poor and marginalized people in our world. If we see ourselves as those who are called by the “Spirit of Truth” to be the people of the God who embraces all people in his love, then we cannot isolate ourselves from “outsiders” whom we judge “different.”[5] If we are going to follow the “Spirit of Truth,” we will not only love God but also love our neighbors, all our neighbors. ^[6] And that means recognizing every human being as a beloved child of God. As Ray Stevens sang it, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” If they are precious in God’s sight, they must be precious in ours as well.

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[1] © 2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 6/9/2019 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] This was Vincent of Lerin’s view of the faith that guided the Roman Catholic Church in the medieval ages. See The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1700, s. v. “Vincentian Canon.”

[3] John D. Caputo, On Religion, 32-33: “Institutionalized communities are defined by their identity and the power to maintain their identity, which includes the power to excommunicate the different.”

[4] See Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, 22-31.

[5] Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, 69-79.

[6] Caputo, On Religion, 111: “Religious truth is tied up with being truly religious, truly loving God, loving God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and there are more ways to do that than are dreamt of by the faithful in the traditional confessions.”

That They May Be One

That They May Be One

John 17:20-26[1]

A few weeks ago I mentioned some of the ways in which the church is perceived by our culture—not necessarily positively. I think another problem with the perception of the church at large in our society is the idea that there’s supposed to be “one, holy, catholic, apostolic” church. Of course, we could spend a sermon on each one of those marks of the church, but I’m thinking about the first: we say we believe that the church is “one.” But the reality is that, despite our best efforts, if you look at the church today as a whole, you would be hard-pressed to say that we are “one.”^[2]  Even when it comes to individual congregations, it’s hard to find a church where everyone is on the same page. 

There are so many different approaches to living out the Christian faith. Some are traditional, some are not. Some are conservative, some are middle of the road, and some are very liberal. There is so much “difference” out there, it can leave us wondering whether there is anything that unites the church in any meaningful way. Of course, some churches don’t want to be united with those who do things differently. And while most of us may not agree that “difference” means “heresy,” practically speaking we tend to divide ourselves into groups based on our cultural, political, and social views.

This situation is not for lack of efforts at promoting (or enforcing) unity. Many churches use agreement regarding what they believe to achieve unity. Other churches seek unity through organizational uniformity, through a ladder of authority that works from the top down. In our context, we seek unity through what is essentially a policy manual, the Book of Order. I would have to say that these well-intentioned but misguided efforts at promoting (or enforcing) unity have in reality been ventures in missing the point. They really haven’t succeeded at producing the intended result—a church that is one.

I think part of the problem is that we’re looking in the wrong direction for unity. We think somehow that we can find unity through our own efforts. But in our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus pointed us toward a very different source for unity. Jesus called his disciples to a unity that is grounded in the unity of love between the Father and the Son. Jesus prays, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (Jn. 17:21). He says it in several different ways, but essentially Jesus prayed for the disciples “that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me” (Jn. 17:22-23). Clearly, what creates a real and lasting unity in the church is the love that unites Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I guess the real question, though, is how we promote the love of God among people like us, who hold very different opinions about what we deem important in life. How do we promote the love that unites Father, Son, and Holy Spirit among people like us who get very attached to our opinions, and who can be stubborn at times about holding onto differing viewpoints? I think what it takes is a unity that is deeper and stronger than anything we can create ourselves. What really makes the church one is the unity that God creates—the church is the one people of the one God. It is the unity that Jesus Christ creates—the church is the one people of the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the unity that the Spirit of God creates—the church is the one people of the one Holy Spirit. This is the unity that makes the church live.

I don’t believe this kind of unity is about the absence of difference. As I’ve said before, I believe that one of the signs of the health of any human community is that it has the ability to disagree. The bond created among us by the presence of the love of God in Christ through the Spirit doesn’t eliminate the differences among us. It means that the differences don’t divide us, they make us stronger. And I think that the way that happens is when we respond to our differences by practicing acceptance, gentleness, humility, and patience. These are ties that bind us together and help us to thrive in the love we share with one another, a love that originates in God’s love for us.

I believe that living out the unity we share in God’s love is one of the most important ways that we can bear witness to our new life in Jesus Christ.^[3] In our day and time, the church is divided by race, divided by class, divided by politics, divided by dogma. All of these divisions contradict what Jesus said should be our defining trait: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). Because we come from different perspectives and backgrounds, the kind of love Jesus commanded us to show one another is difficult. It takes all that we have to give. But in a world that seems increasingly lacking in love, I would suggest that demonstrating the love that makes us one may be the most important way that we can show the world that the church is a place to find new life.

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[1] © 2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 6/2/2019 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.1:677: “The disunity of the Church is a scandal.”

[3] cf. Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.3:235-36, where he argues that the essential revelation in the Gospel of John is the mutual love between the Father and the Son which Jesus demonstrates as a love that draws the world into this fellowship.