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Posted Monday,
August 30, 2010:
We turn a calendar page this week and
look to the lessons for Sunday, September 5. For many congregations
this will be the last Sunday of the summer schedule as Labor Day
marks the traditional end of summer. Particularly, the OT and Gospel
strike very basic chords, about choices before us. Addressing them
may be a good way to begin a new season.
Deuteronomy 30: 15 -20
The book of Deuteronomy is presented as a long sermon or series of
sermons given by Moses to the Hebrew people just before they cross
the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Throughout these
exhortations Moses has stressed the importance of keeping God's ways
and commandments once the people have come into the new land with
all its possibilities and temptations. Here the choices are clearly,
perhaps starkly, presented. One way is life, the other death. How
the wrong way is presented and described is interesting. Verse 17:
"But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray
to bow down to other gods . . . " There is a progression. First, the
heart turns away. Then a failure to listen. Third, being led astray,
then fourth and last, bowing down to other gods. Sin and death, as
powers, seem to work in this way, gradually, step by step, deeper
and deeper. Tolkein portrays it that way in Lord of the Rings. Sin
as both chosen and as bondage. The other side of the coin is also
interesting. Verses 19 - 20: "Choose life so that you and your
descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, and obeying him and
holding fast to him . . ." The impulse is not fear, as in "Do these
things or God will get you." It is love. In love, turn your heart,
listen, obey, hold fast to the one who loves you.
Philemon 1 - 21
This is really quite a beautiful letter. Almost the entire thing is
the text for today. Content wise, Paul asks Philemon to set free his
slave, Onesimus. Whether Onesimus is a runaway or escaped slave--it
would appear so--is not completely clear. But what makes the letter
arresting, and instructive, is the development and care of Paul's
argument. Paul begins, as he often does, with words of thanksgiving
for the one to whom he writes, speaking of their great faith and
love, how important it is to him and others. He starts, that is, on
a positive and relational note before turning to the matter at hand,
Onesimus's freedom. Paul says that he could command Philemon to set
Onesimus free, but he prefers to "appeal to you on the basis of
love." He doesn't want to simply tell Philemon to do the right
thing, he wants Philemon to choose it and want to do it. He wants,
to reference, the text above Philemon to "choose life." Then in the
third movement Paul returns again to his own relationship with
Philemon, essentially saying this is less about benefiting Onesimus
than benefiting Paul, and "refreshing his heart in Christ." So this
is interesting. Paul actually makes it about himself and his
relationship with both men, brothers in Christ, and not so much
about the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. This appeal
might be taken as a kind of midrash on Galatians 3: 28, "In Christ
there is neither slave nor free," or on II Corinthians 5: 21 and
following, "Whoever is in Christ is a new creation."
Luke 14: 25 - 33
One cannot accuse Jesus of trying to make Christianity, or following
him, easy. Note the opening, "large crowds were traveling with him .
. ." So he's attractive, popular and has a big following. But he
doesn't want admirers, he wants disciples, those who follow his way
and make it their own. Over at What's Tony Thinking? I commented
recently on a new book by Jeff MacDonald, "Thieves in the Temple:
The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul."
MacDonald argues that faith has become a commodity and that
Americans shop for churches that will give them comfort but not a
challenge. He may overstate the case, but if so, not by much. So
preachers may be instructed by Jesus to set before people, openly
and honestly, what's involved in being a Christian. Other loyalties
(even family) become secondary. Everyone has a cross to shoulder and
carry, which doesn't mean only ordinary difficulties of life, but
the weight of being his disciple when it isn't easy to do so.
Somewhere Auden defines faith as "choosing what is difficult all our
days." Then Jesus moves to a couple of illustrations, one from
construction, a second from war, apparently to say, "Before you
undertake this, carefully consider what it will require of you.
Don't get into it if you aren't prepared to pay the price. Count the
cost." This isn't like a sub-prime mortgage (yes, one could talk
about "sub-prime Christianity). Granting MacDonald's point, that
Christian faith is often turned into a cheap commodity, I suspect
that many of our best parishioners would welcome a sermon or sermons
that acknowledge that following Christ is demanding and indicating
what that looks like for us in this time and place. I recall one of
my own favorite movie scenes from "A League of Their Own." The star
pitcher, Gina Davis, tells her coach that she's packing it in. "It's
just got too hard," she says. He answers, "It's the hard that makes
it good." Something similar is true of many things from learning a
musical instrument to studying the Scriptures to following Christ.
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