2-22-09 sermon by Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY

     About a week and a half ago, a woman in this church by the name of Averyl Under-wood gave me a marvelous book to read.  The book is called The Shack, and it was written by a man named William Paul Young.  Actually, I think she really gave the book to me to read and then put into our church library.  But like I do to all the books I read, I kind of marked it up.  So Averyl, I owe you 14 dollars and 99 cents!

     The story of how the book came to be published is really quite fascinating.  William Paul Young initially printed just 15 copies of the book for his friends.  It was his friends who encouraged him to get the book published, but Young was unable to convince a publisher to do so.  As I understand it, he talked about God too much for the major publishing houses to be interested.  Then the so-called religious publishers weren’t interested either.  They tend to have a bit of a fundamentalist/evangelical outlook.  So when Young talks about God loving Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews as well as Christians in his book, they declined to publish as well.

     Thus, William Paul Young published the book himself in the year 2007.  Word-of-mouth referrals eventually drove the book to number one on the New York Times best-seller list.  The Shack was the top selling fiction book in America in the year 2008.  I’ll bet there are a few publishers out there today who wish they hadn’t been so quick to decide against printing Young’s book.  I’m sure it’s made a lot of money to date.

     I want to tell you a little bit about the book without giving too much away, in case you decide to read it yourself.  The principal character in the story is a man named Mackenzie – or Mack for short.  Mack did not have an easy time growing up, but eventually he landed on his feet in life.  He had a wonderful wife and he had five children, the oldest two of whom were in college.

     One weekend when his wife was out of town, he took his three younger children on a camping trip to the Oregon wilderness.  He took his teenage son, Josh, his adolescent daughter, Kate, and his six-year-old daughter, Missy.  To make a long story short, Missy was coloring at a picnic table while Josh and Kate were out canoeing.  Suddenly the canoe tipped over and Mack rushed to rescue his son and his daughter, leaving Missy behind.  After a successful but stressful rescue, Missy was nowhere to be found.

     Thankfully, the author doesn’t go into great detail about this, but six-year-old Missy got kidnapped and murdered.  She was carted off and killed in an old, abandoned shack.  It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.  This event brought into her father’s life what the author calls The Great Sadness.  You can well imagine that it did.

     A few years later, Mack – still in the throes of grief – gets a strange note he believes to have come from God.  God is asking Mack to meet him at that old, abandoned shack.  There Mack encounters God in the three persons of the Holy Trinity.  It’s an interesting concept and it’s an intriguing picture of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  This doctrine of the Trinity, of course, comes from the Nicene Creed.  Interestingly enough, when the early church bishops constructed the doctrine of the Trinity, they never explained just how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit could be three persons in one.  They just said, “Scripture indicates it and we believe it.”  John Calvin would later simply call it a mystery. 

     It’s a mystery William Paul Young tries to unravel in his book, The Shack.  The point is this.  A man encounters great tragedy in his life.  He desperately longs for answers from God.  And in the end, God comes to him and gives him what he needs.

     Now let me also say this.  William Paul Young is a Canadian by birth and was raised by missionary parents in Dutch New Guinea.  His own upbringing was far from pleasant.  He was molested at a Christian boarding school by some of the people to whom his parents used to preach.  Thus, as you might suspect, William Paul Young does not have a very positive view of the church.  He once gave an interview to a Susan Olasky of World Magazine.  In it he said:

 

The institutional church doesn’t work for those of us who are hurt and those of us who are damaged.  If God is a loving God and there’s grace in this world and it doesn’t work for those of us who didn’t get dealt a very good hand in the deck, then why are we doing this?  Legalism within Christian or religious circles does not work very well for people who are good at it.  And I wasn’t very good at it.

 

     William Paul Young presents an interesting picture of God in his book.  It came to him after a traumatic experience in his own adult life.  He had a three-month affair with one of his wife’s best friends.  As he said in Maclean’s magazine in August of 2008, “I either had to get on my knees and deal with my wife’s pain and anger, or kill myself.”

     Please don’t misunderstand.  I am not putting him down, nor am I telling you not

to read the book.  His theology is interesting and in many respects it’s a breath of fresh

air.  It’s just that perhaps he privatizes faith a bit too much.  After all, faith is not meant to be hoarded in isolation, faith is meant to be lived in community.  And perhaps it also places some unrealistic expectations on God.  A man in the midst of ungodly trials and tribulations demands an audience with God, and God acquiesces.  The Old Testament book of Job aside, I just don’t think that’s quite the way God operates…at least not any more.

     Case in point, let’s take a look at the passage we read from the gospel according to Mark.  Jesus has been preaching and teaching.  He’s been healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and mending the lame.  The crowds are crying out for more.  The disciples are thinking they’ve got the world by the tail.  After all, they’re the closest allies of the very Son of God.

     Then Jesus begins to tell them of how he must suffer and die at the hands of those who do not understand.  Peter – bold, impetuous Peter – cries out, “No, Lord!  We will never let that happen to you!”  And what does Jesus say to Peter at his undying pronouncement of loyalty?  He says, “Get behind me, Satan!  For you are not on the side of God, but of men!”  How devastating Jesus’ announcement must have been for his disciples, particularly for Peter.

     Shortly thereafter, Jesus took Peter and James and John up a high mountain by them-selves.  There Jesus was transfigured before their very eyes.  What does it mean to be transfigured?  No one knows for sure, but the insinuation is this.  Jesus was transfigured – he was transformed – from an earthy body and appearance to a heavenly body and appearance.  Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, he took on all the glory and radiance of a heavenly being.  Then Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking       with Jesus.

     The disciples were dumbfounded.  It was a high moment of vision for them, yet they were uncertain as to what they should do.  Peter offered to make three booths – one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  In other words, he wanted to make little huts for them so they could relax and stick around for a while.  Peter wanted to preserve his high moment of vision, but that was not in the cards.  Instead, God spoke to them from a cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!”  Then everyone was gone, save for Jesus and Peter and James and John.

     God gave them a high moment of vision atop that mountain.  It was a clear confirmation to the disciples that Jesus was the Son of God – the Messiah the world had long awaited.  It was a moment to which the disciples could return in their minds after Jesus was put to death.  In the days that lay ahead, the disciples’ worlds were about to come crashing down around them.  The disciples could then remember the transfiguration and rest assured that it was all a part of God’s divine plan.  Why, it was almost as if God was giving them bread for the journey.  Their journey would be long and arduous.  They would find themselves in dire need of spiritual sustenance.

     God gives all of us bread for the journey.  God gives all of us high moments of vision to carry us through the trials that lie ahead.  Take parenthood, for example.  You know, I’ve often joked, “The teenage years are God’s gift to parents.  If it weren’t for the teenage years, we’d never want to see our children grow up and leave home.”  Perhaps there’s some truth in that.

     I have a 20-year-old son in college who seems to be in constant need of financial assistance.  I have a 16-year-old daughter who once was “Daddy’s little girl,” but who now finds her father to be a bit of an embarrassment.  Can you imagine that?  I have a 15-year-old son who has a bit of an explosive temper.  He gets it from his mother, of course. 

     I remember when those kids were little.  I remember holding them in my arms and beginning to comprehend what love was all about.  I would have given my life for theirs. I like to call that spiritual memory.  God gives us those high moments of vision to carry us through the trials that lie ahead.  Spiritual memory truly is bread for the journey.

     Speaking of high moments of vision that serve as bread for the journey, I stumbled upon an old church newsletter from my church in Salem, Ohio.  My successor there was a man named John Besore.  He wrote a beautiful story in the church newsletter that I think depicts a high moment of vision very well.  Listen to this.

 

I enjoy flying, and some things are humorous in the airport, but some things just annoy me (but then again, I am an old geezer).  When I flew to Kansas City for my (continuing education) weekend, I was sitting in the airport waiting for the P.A. announcement that it was time to board.  Before that announcement came, some people rose up and stood near the ramp door.  I can only guess that they looked at their watches and it was getting close to the supposed time of boarding.  Of course, when the announcement came, their seating assignments were such that they were not the first group to board.  But they had to stand near the door for some unknown reason, blocking others from getting to the door.  Did they think the plane was going to leave without them?

 

Then when on the plane, getting to the seat is an experience because everyone in creation brings those luggage bag things on wheels which they stuff, beat, and/or shove into the overhead bins, which takes more time.  By the time you get into your seat and buckle the belt you are ready for a “come to Jesus” moment, for you are just thankful you got into your seat.  Then when the plane lands and stops at the gate, everyone on the plane immediately stands up in the aisle, waiting to be the first off the plane.  As if the flight attendants are going to stop some people and say, “Sorry, you have to stay on the plane forever.”

 

I tell you those parts to share with you something very cool which happened on the K.C. flight.  There were three service individuals going home on leave from serving in Iraq on the plane.  When we got close to landing, one flight attendant got on the P.A. and asked if everyone would stay seated so they could disembark first as families were waiting for them. 

 

When the plane got to the gate, everyone was quiet and remained seated.  When

the three service people began going down the aisle, everyone began clapping and continued until they left the plane.  Then, strangely, people got up in the aisle – not in a hurry – but with a different attitude.

 

     God may not come to us to answer all our questions, but God does give us signs that he is in our world.  When we see God in the little things in life we can lock them away in our spiritual memories and bring them to mind when we need them.  That, my friends, is how God operates.  That, my friends, is how God gives us bread for the journey.  Amen.   

 

      

 

2-15-09 sermon by Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

IT’S OKAY TO SIT ON THE FENCE

     I generally like to preach from what we call the Revised Common Lectionary.  The Revised Common Lectionary is a set of prescribed Scripture passages for every Sunday of the calendar year.  There’s an Old Testament passage, a psalm, a gospel lesson and an epistle lesson.

     I was taught to preach from the Revised Common Lectionary for a number of important reasons.  First of all, it keeps us in tune with the Christian year.  For example, we journey to Bethlehem during Advent and we journey to Jerusalem during Lent.  Second, it gets us as preachers to cover the bulk of the Bible over the course of three years.  The lectionary runs in three-year cycles.  Third, it prevents us as preachers from falling into what I like to call a thematic rut.  Preachers all have their favorite themes and the lectionary keeps us from preaching them week after week after week.  And finally, preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary forces us as preachers to preach on passages we would not otherwise choose.  Some passages are difficult to understand    and they do not lend to easily or hastily constructed sermons.

     Case in point, the passage I read from the gospel according to Mark.  This is not a passage I would have chosen on my own.  It is a difficult passage to understand and I assure you, this sermon was not constructed hastily or easily.

     Jesus and his disciples have begun wandering throughout the region of Galilee.  Some commentators call it Jesus’ preaching tour through Galilee.  Then, out of nowhere, a leper approaches Jesus and begs him for healing.  Matthew says it happened after Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount.  Luke says it happened in one of the cities of Galilee.  In any case, a leper approaches Jesus and begs him for healing.

     Jesus took pity on the leper and healed him.  He then told the leper to show himself   to the priest and to offer for his cleansing what Moses commanded.  What did Moses command?  It’s recorded in the 14^th chapter of the book of Leviticus.  It included a number of sacrifices, and it also included shaving one’s entire body.  It was a fairly elaborate process that would take far too long for me to describe here.

     Yet he said something else to this leper that is worthy of note.  After cleansing the leper, Jesus said, “See that you say nothing to anyone.”  In other words, “Go to the priest and do what Moses commanded, but don’t tell anyone what I have done for you.”  This marks the beginning of what we call the messianic secret.  We find it sprinkled through-out the pages of Mark’s gospel.  Jesus does something fabulous for someone, then he tells them, “See that you say nothing to anyone.”  What is the point of this messianic secret?

     After all, if people were to talk about the wonder-working Jesus and what he had done for them, his fame would surely spread.  He would be welcomed in every town.  He would be lauded as the Son of God.  The people would rally behind him and he could easily become their supreme ruler.  And after all, isn’t that what a messiah is supposed to be?

     That is exactly what the Jewish people of 2000 years ago thought the messiah was supposed to be.  They saw him as a military leader akin to what King David had been.

They envisioned the nation of Israel becoming a world power once again.  Under the leadership of this messiah, they would cast off the yoke of Roman oppression and the world would look up to them as it had done when David and Solomon were kings.

     But that’s not quite what Jesus had in mind.  That’s why, according to Mark, Jesus instituted the messianic secret.  Now let me state first of all that no one knows for sure why Jesus started this messianic secret.  We can only speculate.  But I think Richard B. Hays puts it very well in his book, The Moral Vision of the New Testament.  He writes, “Those who know Jesus only as a worker of wonders do not understand him at all, for the secret of the kingdom of God is that Jesus must die as the crucified Messiah.”  Let me repeat that.  “Those who know Jesus only as a worker of wonders do not understand him at all, for the secret of the kingdom of God is that Jesus must die as the crucified Messiah.” 

     Perhaps that’s why Jesus started this messianic secret.  He did not want people drawing conclusions about the book of his life until the final chapter had been read.  Write that down.  He did not want people drawing conclusions about the book of his life until the final chapter had been read.  The purpose of Jesus’ life, according to Mark, was not to work wonders and become a great military or national leader.  Jesus would not become the messiah people expected.  Jesus came, rather, to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to suffer and to die as a crucified messiah.

     Of course, that’s not the end of the story.  Christ died that our sin might be put to death once and for all.  Then he was raised from the dead that we might have the hope

 of a resurrection as well.  Yet none of that is obvious until the final chapter is read.

     Ladies and gentlemen, the messianic secret makes it very clear that the people of Jesus’ day did not have all the answers.  They needed to wait.  They needed to let God’s plan unfold, rather than jump to quick conclusions.  Ah, perhaps sometimes it’s okay to sit on the fence.  As a wise, old spiritual director once said to me, when the way is not clear, God is telling us to wait.

     Waiting or sitting on the fence are not appealing notions to us though, are they?       We want the world to be colored in black and white.  We want decisions and we want them right now.  To wait, or to sit on the fence, is seen as a sign of indecisiveness.  To wait, or to sit on the fence, is seen as a sign of weakness.

     I was intrigued by an article I recently read that came out of the Alban Institute.  The Alban Institute is a sort-of “think tank” for church leadership and theology.  The article was written by Wesley J. Wildman and Stephen Chapin Garner and is entitled, “Meet Me in the Middle.”  They write:

 

There are plenty of Christians who feel theologically and spiritually displaced.  They feel lost in the middle between noisy extremes of religion and politics and long to feel at home right where they are.  They sense that it is possible to ignore the oversimplifications of left and right and, instead, move deeper into their faith.  But they are not quite sure how to do that.  They know the path they seek has something to do with love because they understand the power of love to unite people of different kinds, to overcome alienation, and to bring about transforming forgiveness.  If only they could understand their situation clearly, perhaps they could plot the path ahead.

 

     Society has tried to polarize us, politically and theologically.  Are you left or right?  Are you liberal or conservative?  Are you for us or against us?  There doesn’t seem to be room to be moderate any more.  Moderates are seen as fence-sitters.  And sitting on a fence is seen as a sign of weakness, or indecision.

     Some people get frustrated with religious and political polarization.  Perhaps they would not be frustrated if they could identify wholeheartedly with one of the opposing agendas, but they simply cannot.  Some people know both sides well enough to feel a little drawn to both.  Some people know both sides well enough to feel a little repelled by both.  Either way, discerning moderate Christians experience the frustration of not fitting in.  They sometimes feel overwhelmed by certain situations and don’t know how to change them.

     Moderates can become downright disgusted by famous televangelists making judgmental pronouncements about how others should live.  Then they watch those same televangelists fall from grace when they betray their own marriage vows in covert – even bizarre – fashion.  Moderates can become disgusted by so-called left-wing attacks on conservative moral critiques of American society.  They react to public caricatures of conservatives as embarrassing anti-intellectual reactionaries, as if the moral tone of society did not need transformation.

     Somewhere inside the moderate Christian is a notion that the love of God is more important than doctrinal or political unanimity.  Moderate Christians feel intuitively certain that it might be possible to find a home worshipping and serving alongside good-hearted political and theological opponents.  It’s like I always say, why can’t liberal Christians and conservative Christians sit in the same pew and worship the same God?

     Jesus united many different people in his ministry, driven by the belief that all human distinctions fall away before God.  How nice it would be if Jesus would come and unite us all in one common belief right now.  Yet I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.

     I happen to believe that the world needs a diversity of faith perspectives.  We need the conservatives to keep our time-honored traditions alive.  We need the liberals to challenge those time-honored traditions when they become oppressive.  Yet we also need moderates to sit on the fence and to wait for God’s plan to unfold.  It’s okay to sit on the fence.  Because the fact of the matter is, ultimately, the fence-sitters are the ones who will cast the deciding ballots.  Amen.     

 

     

 

2-8-09 Sermon by Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

ON EAGLE’S WINGS

 

     I was talking with my mother on the phone the other day.  She lives in Sun City, Arizona, of course.  She said, “It’s been a little cool around here.  I think the temperature is only going to get up to 71 today.”  I was talking with Ginny Chandley on the phone the other day.  Ginny, of course, is a member of this church who is spending the winter in Florida.  She said, “It’s been a little cool around here.  I think the temperature got all the way down into the 40s the other night.”  I was talking with Gary and Chris Lafferty the other day.  The Laffertys of course, are members of this church who recently returned from a vacation in Florida.  When they started to talk about the weather, I put my hands over my ears!

     We’re northerners.  We’ve grown accustomed to suffering through brutal winters.     In fact, I recently came across an essay of sorts entitled, “You know you’re a northerner when….”  Listen to this.

 

• You know you’re a northerner when you know the four seasons as winter, still winter, not winter and almost winter.

 

• You know you’re a northerner when you design you children’s Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.

 

• You know you’re a northerner when driving in winter is actually better because all the potholes get filled with snow and ice.

 

• You know you’re a northerner when 33 degrees feels like a heat wave.

 

• You know you’re a northerner when, if you don’t go out for lunch, you miss the sunrise and the sunset.

 

• You know you’re a northerner when, if the school district had snow days, the kids would never go to school.

 

• And last but not least, you know you’re a northerner when…you think the start of deer hunting season is a national holiday.

 

     We’re northerners.  We’ve grown accustomed to suffering through brutal winters.  Yet we also know that our suffering is merely temporary.  In spite of what Punxsutawney Phil might say, we know that spring is on its way.  We know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

     Such was NOT the case for the Hebrew people in the passage I read from the book of Isaiah.  They were suffering, and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel for them.  Let me explain.

     Isaiah was a prophet to Jerusalem from 742 until 701 B.C.  Scholars tell us that chapters 1 through 39 were written at about that time.  Scholars also tell us that there was a second Isaiah and a third Isaiah.  Second Isaiah – recorded in chapters 40 through 55 of the book of Isaiah – were written around 540 B.C.  And Third Isaiah – recorded in chapters 56 through 66 of the book of Isaiah – were written around 537 B.C.

     Are scholars being a bit ridiculous here?  I mean, after all, what difference does it make?  The fact of the matter is, it does make a difference.  For one thing, the historical situations were vastly different.  For example, the passage I read from chapter 40 was written about 45 years after the city of Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians.  After Jerusalem’s conquest, the Babylonians deported a large number of the Hebrew people to foreign lands.  Families were separated.  People lost their homes and their businesses.  For 45 years many people were living in seclusion.  And they cried out to God for deliverance.

     Chapter 40 of the book of Isaiah is God’s answer to their cries.  A distinctive theo-logical conviction implicit in Second Isaiah is that the God of Israel is responsible for both the creation of the world and the course of history.  In other words, because God had the power to create the world, he also has the power to impact history.  And at that time, King Cyrus of Persia was on the rise.  He would ultimately conquer the Babylonians and allow the Hebrew people to return to Jerusalem.

     The people were in need of what we call an oracle of salvation.  Patrick Miller, in his book They Cried to the Lord, describes the oracle of salvation this way.  He writes:

Prayers for help, as we have seen them in the Scriptures, often arise out of the most desperate of human situations – terror, pain, fear, despair, the threat of death.  What is it they seek and how does God respond in those situations of varying degrees of human need?

The oracle of salvation is our best indication.  There where the human condition is at its worst and no mortal can sufficiently help, where people are terribly frightened, God speaks the only word that matters: you don’t have to be afraid.  That is not a word that can ever be given with any finality by human beings except as mediators of the divine assurance.  For it is not simply a word of consolation.  It is rooted in the reality of God’s presence and God’s power: I am with you; I will help you.

     The oracle of salvation is God saying to us, “I am with you; I will help you.”  That’s exactly what the Hebrew people received in the waning verses of Isaiah 40.  God said to them, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  God was true to his word.  For soon, Cyrus of Persia conquered the Babylonians and the Hebrew people returned to Jerusalem.  And it wasn’t long before they began rebuilding their temple.

     We all need an oracle of salvation now and then.  We all need to be lifted up on eagle’s wings on occasion.  My own family was in dire need of that a number of years ago.  And by the grace of God, our prayers were answered.

     In the spring of 1997, my wife was diagnosed with Sartoli-Leydig cell cancer, a rare form of ovarian cancer.  Our own research indicated that no woman over the age of 40 had survived it.  At the time, she was 35 and I was 37.  Our son, Rob, was 8, our daughter, Mariah was 5, and our “baby” Travis was but 3.  I was faced with the prospect of raising three kids on my own.  She was faced with the prospect of not seeing them grow up at all.  When something like that happens, you feel like you’ve walked off the edge of a cliff.  You’re simply hanging there, waiting to fall or to be lifted up.  Your fate and your future are out of your hands.

     My wife spent much of the summer of 1997 in the hospital.  One week in the hospital with 7 to 8 hours of chemotherapy a day, then two weeks out, then one week in, and so forth.  My mother-in-law came to live with us.  Now I know a lot of you are mothers-in-law and you don’t appreciate mother-in-law jokes.  Let’s just say it was good for my wife but it was hard on me.  Still, we couldn’t have done it without her and I told her that at the end of the summer.

     I remember when we told the kids about the illness.  Rob was lying on the back of the couch and used the remote to turn the T.V. volume up.  He understood, and he didn’t want to hear.  Mariah and Travis sat wide-eyed on the couch.  They didn’t understand, but they knew enough to ask, “Are you going to die, Mommy?”  How hard it was to tell them that we just didn’t know!

    Now at that time I was just getting involved with contemplative prayer.  Contemplative prayer is listening prayer.  I mean, if prayer is defined as conversation with God, then what kind of a conversation can you have if you do all the talking?  We need to listen for God as well, and that’s what contemplative prayer is all about.

     So I’m in my office and I’m deep in prayer.  I’m listening for God, but my thoughts are about my wife.  Suddenly, I sensed four words.  I did not hear voices – I’m not crazy.  I sensed four words.  They were, “She will be fine.”  The question that immediately popped into my mind was this: Does that mean she’s going to live?  Then I sensed those same four words again: “She will be fine.”  Then suddenly I knew – whether she lived or whether she died – she would be fine.  And if she would be fine, then the kids and I would be fine too.

     We received our oracle of salvation.  We were truly placed on eagle’s wings.  It was far and away the most significant spiritual experience of my life.  You never get over the fear that a cancer might come back.  But we’ve been on eagle’s wings for nearly 12 years now.

     We receive our oracle of salvation – we receive our eagle’s wings – when we are fully reliant upon God.  Unfortunately, we do not tend to become fully reliant upon God until we are at the brink of catastrophe.  How different our lives might be if we turned to God before disaster struck.  But it’s human nature, I guess, to not turn to God until it’s almost too late.    

     Yet there’s one more thing that needs to be said.  I described how the oracle of salvation came on an individual basis – on a personal level.  I suspect many of us can relate to that.  Yet the oracle of salvation in the book of Isaiah came on a national level.  It came not to one individual, it came to a people.  What does that say to us today?

     I think it says this.  Our nation is mired in a pair of wars.  Our nation is suffering from economic unrest and unemployment is on the rise.  Everyone seems to want some sort of bailout with little regard for long-term consequences.  And now there’s the Freedom of Choice Act making the rounds in Congress. The Freedom of Choice Act could potentially allow minors to have abortions without parental knowledge, and require even religious-based hospitals to conduct abortions on demand.  You can about imagine how the Cath-olics feel about that.  It’s legislation that our President has promised to sign into law.

     Do we want God to help us, or do we believe that this is merely a trend and that our elected officials will be able to lead us to the promised land?  In that regard, I think of a quote attributed to Will Rogers.  He once said, “I’m not a member of any organized political party.  I’m a Democrat.”  Of course, we could probably just as easily insert the word “Republican” here as well.  I am not disparaging the political process.  I am simply saying that some things are just beyond human wisdom.

     When our nation is ready to give up on human solutions and turn to God for help, Isaiah indicates what we need to do.  We need to turn to God in faith, in hope, in trust, and in love.  Then God will deliver an oracle of salvation.  Then God will place our nation back on eagle’s wings.  After all, as Isaiah clearly indicates, the God who had the power to create the world has the power to impact history as well.  The question is, have we reached the point of desperation yet…such that we’re willing to release the reigns?  Amen.   

 

2-1-09 Sermon by Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!

 

     James Mehring wrote an interesting article in the July 10^th edition of Business Week magazine.  He wrote, “My daughter turned 19 months old this week.  I have learned a lot over that time, but I still often feel like a deer caught in the headlights.  Many times I don’t see what’s coming, and I am often not sure how to handle certain situations.”  To that we say, “Welcome to parenthood!” right?  “If you think you’re confused right now, wait until that girl becomes a teenager!”  Mehring continues:

This past week I had another new experience that left me dumbfounded and dis-concerted.  At a party, I was alone with four kids.  While watching them color and play, one little girl decided to take a toy and shake it in my face.  I asked her to stop a couple of times, but she refused.  When I told her to stop (in a more assertive manner), the girl pulled out the classic line, “You’re not the boss of me!”  (Then she) stomped away.  Shortly after, the same (girl) decided to start pulling her friend’s leg, literally.  After telling her to stop a couple of times, the girl again blurted out, “You’re not the boss of me!”  Then she gave me an icy stare that bored a hole right through me.

     “You’re not the boss of me!”  Have you ever had that line used on you?  I’ve heard my own kids use that line on each other.  And, truth be told, sometimes when my wife tells me to do something, I’ll use that line on her!  “You’re not the boss of me!” I say.  She just says, “Yes I am,” and I end up having to do what she wanted me to do anyway.

     Now believe it or not, if you get online, you can actually find that phrase defined.  An outfit called “QUIZRO” defines it this way: “You’re not the boss of me” is a childish rebuttal to an order or a suggestion one does not wish to follow.  It’s hard to argue with, unless, the person IS, in fact, your boss.

     “You’re not the boss of me” is a phrase we hear from kids more and more all the time.  But kids aren’t the only ones who have issues with authority.  Erika Schickel is a Los Angeles, California writer and a mother of two.  She wrote a book entitled, You’re Not the Boss of Me: Adventures of a Modern Mom. 

     Erika Schickel, it would seem, aims at becoming a somewhat irreverent version of Erma Bombeck.  The book is intended to be humorous, I guess.  For example, during the months of her pregnancy, she recorded the size of her baby.  “Week 20 – Your baby is now the size of a small, clutch purse.  Week 25 – Your baby is now the size of a crock pot.  Week 36 – Your baby is now the size of a Barcalounger.” 

     The point of the book, however, is to justify the phrase, “You’re not the boss of me.”  She breaks every cultural norm that society wants to impose upon a new mother.  She writes about going out to strip clubs with her friends, while her husband stays home to baby-sit.  She writes about slipping out to the back yard to smoke marijuana, while the kids are napping upstairs.  No one’s going to tell Erika Schickel how to live her life!  Like I said, kids aren’t the only ones who have issues with authority.

     Respect for authority seems to be a casualty of postmodernism.  Perhaps most of us understand authority as the right or power to command, enforce laws, or exact obedience. 

Since the 1960s, however, this sort of authority has been under fire.  I’m sure the Viet Nam War and Watergate had a lot to do with that.  Society as a whole lost a lot of respect for its political leaders.  Physicians lost authority when insurance companies started demanding second opinions.  Now who can we trust to tell us how to get better when we’re sick?  Clergy lost a lot of authority thanks to the likes of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart.  Now who can we trust to tell us right from wrong?

     Gerald F. Kreyche wrote an article addressing this issue in U.S.A. Today magazine, published by the Society for the Advancement of Education.  The article was entitled, “The Demise of Moral Authority.”  Listen to what he had to say:

There is also the authority that is the power to influence or persuade resulting from knowledge.  For instance, we have scholars, physicians, and accountants who – as authorities – can serve as expert witnesses in their respective fields.    We used to regard such people as worthy of belief and trust.  However, this type of authority also has been challenged as – in an increasingly egalitarian society – more and more people falsely hold the ideology that one person’s opinion is as good as another’s.  The protests against the above are rooted in the charge that all authority is oppressive and conflicts with the rights of the individual to do and believe whatever each desires.  At rock bottom, individuals want to dispense with all authority and set up only themselves as judge and jury.  People mistakenly have confused authority with authoritarianism.

     Perhaps we could say that authority is no longer bestowed automatically.  Perhaps now authority must be earned.  It’s based on one’s conduct.  It’s based on the depth of one’s personal character.  It’s based on the level of one’s commitment.  Authority may  be difficult to define, but it does exist.  And the fact of the matter is, we know it when   we see it.

     Such was the case in the passage we read from the gospel according to Mark.  Jesus had recently called a few disciples.  They went into Capernaum and on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  As it says in verse 22, “And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”

     What does that mean?  The scribes always taught by quoting other scholars or other writings.  We could say that Jesus taught without quotation marks.  Jesus taught as one who knew God personally.  His authority was not bestowed automatically.  After all, he was merely a carpenter’s son.  Jesus earned his position of authority.  Perhaps it was also based upon his conduct, his character and his commitment.  In any case, those who were gathered in the synagogue that day knew it when they saw it.

     Yet Jesus is not likely to stride into the pulpit of any church today.  So how do we recapture his authority?  Where are we to find the answers to what Jesus wants from us today?  We find Christ revealed to us in the pages of Scripture, do we not?  We find Jesus revealed to us in the words of the Bible.

     Theologians distinguish between general revelation and special revelation.  General revelation we might find in nature.  How can you look at the intricacy of a human being, for example, and not see God?  Special revelation is found in Jesus Christ.  And we find Jesus Christ revealed to us nowhere but in the pages of Scripture, the preached word of the pulpit, and the gestures of hospitality and love portrayed by those who follow him.

     The three go together.  Jesus Christ is revealed in Scripture, so we would be wise to know what Scripture says.  Jesus Christ is revealed to us in the preached word, so we would be wise to show up in church on a regular basis.  But Jesus Christ is also revealed in the gestures of hospitality and love portrayed by those who follow him.  So we would be wise to let the Holy Spirit give us some guidance as well.

     The problem is, we forget that all three are important.  Some want to thump their Bibles and claim ultimate authority.  For example, Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show.  Several years ago she said that – as an observant Orthodox Jew – homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.  The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura that was penned by an east coast resident and was posted on the Internet.  It says:

 

            Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s law.  I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can.  When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination.  End of debate.  I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.

 

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord, as it says in Leviticus 1:9.  The problem is my neighbors.  They claim the odor is not pleasing to them.  Should I smite them?

 

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7.         In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? 

 

Leviticus 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations.  A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not to Canadians.  Can you clarify?  Why can’t I own Canadians?  (Sorry, Kevin, but I’m on a roll!)

 

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath.  Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death.  Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

 

Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight.  I have to admit that I wear glasses.  Does my vision have to be 20/20 or is there some wiggle room here?

 

I know from Leviticus 11: 6 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but can I still play football if I wear gloves?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27.  How should they die?

 

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help.  Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.  Your devoted fan, Jim.

 

     That’s what happens when we thump our Bibles and claim ultimate authority.  But like I said, authority comes from Scripture, the preached word, and the gestures of love and hospitality portrayed by those who follow him.  Yet on the other hand, there are those who focus exclusively on the gestures of love and hospitality portrayed by those who follow him.  In the process they leave out the authority of Scripture.  They want to ignore the Levitical Code.  Included in the Levitical Code are banishments against adultery, incest, bestiality and child sacrifice.  WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE?

     As you know, the Presbyterian Church is doing battle with that issue right now.  There is a constitutional amendment that would change our standards for ordination.  We had a meeting about it last Wednesday night, yet because of the weather, not many were able to make it.  We’re going to be doing it again on Wednesday, the 11^th of February. 

     It wasn’t a pleasant meeting.  This issue is going to divide the church.  And that’s what’s killing me.  People are going to leave the church, regardless of how this issue is decided.  The body of Christ is being torn asunder because people can’t see eye to eye.  Where does the final authority rest?  Which way are we to turn from here?  What does Jesus want us to do?

     We talked earlier about the authority of Jesus Christ.  It is revealed in Scripture, it is revealed in the preached word, and it is revealed in the gestures of love and hospitality portrayed by those who follow him.  We’ve seen what sole emphasis on Scripture can do.  We’ve seen what sole emphasis on love and hospitality can do.  I guess that leaves us the pulpit.  The authority of Jesus Christ is revealed in all three, but let me take a stab at this from the pulpit.

     We need to realize that this issue is beyond us.  We need to realize that the center of all creation is not us.  The center of all creation is God.  And when we come to realize that, we will begin to be transformed.  We will begin to see things more clearly.  It’s a transformation analogous to that which takes place in the dusk of evening on a road.  Suddenly we discern as a tree what we thought was a person, or we suddenly recognize as a rustling of leaves what we thought at first was whispering.  We see the same colors – we hear the same sounds – but not in quite the same way. 

     To empty ourselves of false divinity; to deny ourselves as Jesus taught; to give up being the center of the world…that is to be transformed.  And that is to begin to see things as God sees them.  No, I’m not the boss of you.  And you are not the boss of you.  God is.  And God wants us to get though this together.  Amen.