Transformation through Letting Go -- A Lectionary Meditation

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

Transformation through Letting Go

To walk with God requires much more of us than we’re willing to relinquish – that may be control of our destiny or control of our possessions. We say we love God, we may even say that we love God more than anything or anyone else, but when we’re asked for proof, it’s not easy to produce it. As I contemplate the texts for this week’s lectionary texts, I can’t help but think about the Glenn Beck Rally this past Saturday. The controversial radio host wants to portray himself as a prophet calling the people back to righteousness – like Jeremiah for instance – but the message is vacuous because it doesn’t demand anything of anyone. It is simply a call to move back into the past when middle class whites (like me) were in control – as in the 1950s when segregation remained legal and whites controlled everything.

In Jeremiah’s message, God’s vision comes to him through the potter. God can take the spoiled vessel and make something new of it. Thus, if God sees that the nation is doing evil, then God can pull it down and start over. If it is doing that which is right, then God will lift it up – but if God senses a change, God might change God’s mind. The choice is ours – do we want to listen for God’s voice, and do what is right? Or do we want to control our destiny and end up doing that which is evil? God will respond accordingly. As the debate over the Beck rally reminds us – the nature of good and evil is often in the eye of the beholder. Ultimately God alone will judge.

In Paul’s brief letter to Philemon we witness a most remarkable conversation, between the great church planting apostle, now imprisoned, writing to a leader of an otherwise undisclosed church community, commending Philemon for his service and love for the saints of God, and then making a request of him. With Paul is a young man named Onesimus, who was a slave owned by Philemon. It is easy for us to glide across this reality – but from the very beginning there have been slave-owning Christians (though ancient slavery was very different from the race-based slavery of ante-bellum America). Onesimus had run off to Paul, perhaps seeking asylum, and in the course of time, Onesimus has become not only a changed person, but a person beloved by Paul – a child in the faith. Paul wants to keep Onesimus with him, but he wants Philemon to release his slave into Paul’s care – voluntarily and not by coercion.

What is interesting about the letter is that while Paul never comes out and rejects slavery he changes the dynamic. He asks Philemon to receive Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a beloved brother. The one who once was useless has now become useful – because he is a brother in Christ. Could it be that Paul is encouraging Philemon to look at the world in a different way, one where a brother can’t enslave a brother or sister in Christ? By letting go, both Onesimus and Philemon would be transformed.

We finally come to the gospel lesson – one of the lectionary texts that has long proven to be vexing to the preacher. It is an extremely counter-cultural text, in that it makes an almost impossible demand. If you want to love me, hate your parents and siblings. In Matthew’s gospel it is a more palatable – “love me more than” (Matthew 10:37-39). But here it’s hate versus love. You can’t do both. To be a disciple means letting go of everything – including one’s possessions. That’s why Jesus speaks of cost counting – if you’re not prepared to go all the way and complete the task, then don’t start the journey. Be like the builder of the tower who first checks to see if there are sufficient funds and resources to build the tower, before starting, for who wants to suffer the embarrassment of a half-finished tower (not that there haven’t been plenty of examples of such folly!). And who would go to war, knowing that the odds were so stacked against them that there was no way to win. If the odds are against you, then you had best make peace.

One of the realities that emerges from reading scripture is that one discovers that the gospel isn’t a message of cultural accommodation. The demands are difficult – like the demand to let go of all your possessions and to hate your family if you want to be a disciple. Are we ready, especially we who live in the comforts of the United States -- where even in the midst of great economic troubles, the difficulties we experience are so few in comparison to those experienced by others around the world – ready to truly few the call of God on our lives? In posing this question, I must confess my own reticence, for I love my creaturely comforts and my family life too much to really let go, and yet, I hear Jeremiah’s warning and Paul’s word of hope as I ponder the question. The promise is this – by letting go, we can experience transformation.

Meditation to be found also at [D]mergent.

Shaken and Stirred Up -- A Lectionary Meditation

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Hebrews 12:18-29

Luke 13:10-17

Shaken and Stirred Up

We don’t have much patience for people who stir the pot and shake our foundations. If you make statements that don’t sit well with the “majority” you could find yourself in a difficult situation. Such is the role of the prophet, a role that few preachers dare to take up. But in each of this week’s lectionary passages we have a word that shakes and stirs things up.

If ever there was a rabble-rouser, that person was Jeremiah. He rarely offered a politically expedient word. It’s no wonder his opponents stuffed him in a jar and sent him packing to Egypt. But this was what he was born to do – it was his destiny. The text from Jeremiah gives an account of Jeremiah’s calling. Only a boy, God called him to deliver a message of judgment. God told him that this calling had been placed upon him before he had been conceived in the womb. Indeed, God had commissioned him prior to his birth. Jeremiah’s protests about his youth and the fact that no one would pay attention didn’t deter God, who told him not to fear and then touched his mouth and put in his moth the words of God. Not only would he bear the words of God to the world, but God also appointed him to rule over the nations, to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, and then to build and to plant. All of this was in his calling. Here he stood, for he could do no other. Are we ready to hear his word?

As we consider whether we’re ready to hear the word of Jeremiah, a word that has the power to pluck up and pull down nations, to destroy or overthrow the powers that be, and then in the aftermath engage in a bit of nation building, we can attend to the word given in Hebrews. Hebrews is a rather enigmatic document. It is at heart a combination of Midrash and allegory, pulling from and adapting not only the Jewish scriptures and stories, but also taking from Jewish liturgical practice, and redefining it all for the author’s own purposes. This particular text is not easily traversed. We begin with a conversation about whether or not the holy mountain can be touched, lest human or animal die. Yes, when it comes to the mountain of God, even Moses trembles with fear. If we can wade through all of this we come to this part of the passage that seems to fit perfectly in our conversation this week. After being told not to refuse to hear the one speaking, we’re treated to a voice that shakes not merely the earth, but the heavens as well. And, what is shaken is removed – sort of as if speaking of sifting things. In the end, after everything is shaken and sifted, what remains is the realm of God. This we are called upon to take hold of, for it alone remains after the shaking and the sifting ends. And after we take hold of this gift, then we are invited to give thanks and offer to God worship that is reverent and acceptable. What is the picture here? Is it little more than the visit to the Wizard of Oz? There was shaking in the boots then too, but of course, the “wizard” was a mere front. Surely the one we’ve been to worship is more than a projection thrown up on a screen by one who is clever.

Keeping to this train of thought, about shaking and stirring things up, we must deal with Jesus and his tendency to stir up trouble. When we think about pastoral calls, it’s clear that Jesus, like Jeremiah, would never fit in. He had a tendency to upturn traditions and practices that got in the way of what God is up to in the world. In this case it’s a matter of healing a woman who has been bent over in pain for nearly two decades. Jesus sees her, invites her over, and sets her free. The leader of the synagogue complains that he has done work on the Sabbath. Now, surely Jesus could have waited another day. After all it had been eighteen years, what did a few more hours mean to the woman? Jesus’ response was to point out that his critics would untie their oxen and their donkeys and take them to water. Surely, this woman was of more value to God than oxen and donkeys (not to say that these animals don’t have value). The point being – don’t let your traditions, even if they were meant for a good purpose, get in the way of a greater good.

Yes, the message that we find in the biblical story often is a challenging one. It’s not always politically expedient or popular. Yes, even we who consider ourselves to be open minded can find that the message is unsettling to us. As we prepare for the weekend, whether we’re preaching, or teaching, or simply meditating on the things of God, let us prepare ourselves to be shaken and stirred up!

Reposted from [D]mergent, a Disciples of Christ oriented blog

Is Neil Young a Prophet?

I love Neil Young.  Great music, great insight.  Always challenging.  But is he a prophet in the biblical sense?  That is a good question?

I had sent to me a video of a sermon by a pastor from Calgary, Canada named John Van Sloten.  I don't know anything about him or the church he pastors, but I find it interesting that he sees in Neil Young a person of integrity and insight that speaks to the spiritual needs of the hour.    Here is a clip of the sermon, which includes quotations and reflections on Walter Brueggemann.   Unfortunately Neil doesn't make an appearance, but still, watch and respond.