September 27, 2009 Message

September 27, 2009

Esther 7:1-10; Mark 9:38-50

…And the Life of My People”

Today’s lesson comes from a book of the Bible bearing the name of a woman, Esther. It is unique, not because it has a women’s name, but because its text never mentions the name of God or says anything at all about religion. It is a fascinating book with a rich and complex story, telling of the Jewish people’s deliverance a long time ago from death at the hands of Haman, the wicked assistant to the Persian king, Ahasuerus. Each year this story is remembered when the Jewish people celebrate Purim, a holiday of feasting, sharing gifts, and time for remembering the poor (February/March).

The book of Esther has everything good movies are made of: irony and intrigue, an ever-thickening plot, clever wits and evil villains, royal splendor and a weak ruler, and, of course, a heroine who rises to the challenge and saves the day. It is a story of survival in the face of overwhelming power and circumstances not of her making.

In chapter one, the king divorces his first wife Vashti for standing up to him. He has a beauty contest to replace her, and Esther wins. Esther is timid and submissive at first, but as the story progresses she becomes a subtle manipulator of the king and in the end, with prodding from her uncle Mordecai, she uses her favor with him as queen to save her people, who are about to be sent away to their death. Because of her courage, she saves Mordecai from the gallows and her people from annihilation.

Esther did something she didn’t have to do. It would have been easier for her not to say anything at all, to go on living the life of a queen – which had to be pretty good – but she didn’t. Esther put everything on the line when she included herself as part of her community and asked “for the life of her people.” So, 1) What did Esther mean when she said, "If I perish, I perish?" 2) How can we live in this world and at the same time “be of the Kingdom” Jesus talks about? and 3) What courage does ‘our’ community – the people of which we are a part – require of us?

Remember earlier when it was noted that the book of Esther, in the original Hebrew text, does not mention God or prayer, or anything at all about what religious people do, or don’t do for that matter. And yet, because it is a book of the Bible, we know God has to be there somewhere, even when it may not be obvious at first glance, but where? After all, throughout the stories of the Bible (which are the stories of Israel, the people of God) God provides and protects? With that in mind, UCC Pastor Kate Huey suggests “Providence runs through this story as a thread of evidence pointing to God's presence with God's people. Esther is a religious work, even though no reference to God is ever made. “It is like.” she says, “God is there standing in the wings, following the drama and arranging the props for a successful resolution of the play… provided its players do their part by acting wisely and courageously."

In other words, God works through human beings. And as the book of Esther points out, those human beings can just as well be flawed and “living in the world” of which they are a part. You see, God’s work is accomplished more often than not through the actions of imperfect but courageous human beings who were probably never sure they were doing the right thing. Ted Kennedy, in the eulogy for his brother Robert, said "he saw wrong and tried to right it." What better testimony to a person’s life, regardless of political party, than that? But it isn't always easy to know how to go about righting wrongs, and we're not always confident that we're the ones called to do so in a particular situation, or we're unsure about how to do it. Uncle Mordecai’s urging of Esther to step out of her comfort zone and to consider that she was made queen specifically for this moment when she could save her people rings true for all of us.

"It is possible," Sidnie White Crawford writes, "that Esther became queen just to fulfill God's purpose, but humans cannot know that. They must act, with profound hope that they are thereby participating in the divine scheme and all they can do is act, in the hope that their action corresponds to the plan and purpose of God." Esther listened to her uncle. She turned herself over to Providence saying, "If I perish, I perish." Her hope is for her community – her people – and in what God will do.

How can we live in this world and at the same time “be of the Kingdom” Jesus talks about?  In Esther, there is no mention of religious practices or the institution of Judaism. Perhaps it was omitted so we might understand how much the Jewish community had been assimilated into the Persian empire around them. If it happened then, wouldn't it be just as easy today, for the same thing to happen? Living under the pressures and conditions of “this world,” where so many people are completely wrapped up in today’s culture and its values, might it be just as easy for God’s people today to not realize who they are and the life they are in danger of losing? Sure it would.

Our being of the kingdom Jesus talks about doesn’t require our living apart, in isolation, from “this world.” It does, however, require our taking a stand - our sticking our necks out - and owning the community of which we are a part, even to the point of putting the community, which may have lost its identity, first. It is “in this world” we best remember who we are.

And yet who we are is not revealed in the things that shape the rhythms of our life - our sporting events, our music, our politics or our patriotism, but in those places we feel most at home. Kenneth Carter, Jr. asks an unsettling question when he says, “Is it possible that our reaction to his words, our discomfort, reflects our own degree of assimilation and how much we have forgotten that we follow a Teacher who taught us to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, and lay down our lives? A Teacher who observed how difficult it is for a rich person to enter heaven, and encouraged the earnestly religious to "sell everything and give it to the poor"? He concluded, “We've somehow managed to make ourselves feel quite at home with very different values, even as we claim to follow Jesus.” Jesus said, “The kingdom is near.” God is close, even in “this world.”

While we may seem very far away in place and time and, to an extent, in circumstance, we share the ancient Jewish need to be a faithful people in the midst of all the values and pressures unrelated to who we are. How then can we, like those ancient Jews, live where we live, not withdrawing into a separate culture, and yet remain distinctly true to who we are and what we say we believe, true to the One to whom we belong?

An unnamed God can still be known

H. James Hopkins, observes that "we are drawn to Esther's story and to the hope that though God is not named, God can still be known." In the stories and places and experiences that are not explicitly religious, the Still-speaking God finds ways to reach us, and to show us that God can be known, and heard, and trusted with our lives and the lives of those we love. Like Esther, we are called to step out in faith, courageously, on behalf of our community, and to say with her, in those supplementary verses, where she does indeed pray: "Save me from my fear"

Living in a more or less secular culture, where questions of faith are often seen as marginal or irrelevant, we might learn from the story of Esther that a person’s tangible faith does matter. It does have consequence. And it does say something about our ‘saltiness’ within the community we live. (Mark 9:50) It has a profound effect on my life and “the life of my people.”

September 13, 2009 Message

Proverbs 1:20-23

“Simpletons, Scoffers, Fools”

As parents, grandparents, teachers, and members of this congregation, we are reminded today on Back To School Sunday that our task is to “train up young people in the way they should go.” (22:6) It is the wise thing to do. Psalm 111 ended with “… it is a wise thing to praise God whole-heartedly, to love God completely, and to fear God totally - when fear means being overwhelmed by God’s gracious love. When we give thanks with our whole heart, when we "study" the works of God through worship, when we cultivate an "irresistible attraction to the grace of God," we truly become wise. That is what we should want for all people, our children and ourselves – to be wise. And so, we teach them - or try to.

To be wise would be a good thing – an excellent thing, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately we know people are not always wise, nor do we always do wise things, as our reading from Proverbs today points out. Listen once again to the first four verses of our reading from Proverbs 1:20-23.

20Wisdom cries out in the street;

in the squares she raises her voice.

21At the busiest corner she cries out;

at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

22“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

and fools hate knowledge?

23Give heed to my reproof;

I will pour out my thoughts to you;

I will make my words known to you.

“Wisdom cries out…” She doesn’t quietly or calmly tell us. She doesn’t raise her voice a little. She shouts for all hear! It is important that everybody hears what Wisdom has to say. So Wisdom goes out into the streets, to all the places in town where people gather, especially to the busiest corner. There is no way a person can come or go without hearing – no chance a person won’t hear what she has to say.

And what does she say? She says, “How long, you simpletons, you scoffers, you fools? How long before you listen? How long before you learn? How long before you get it right? How long?”

How long, you simpletons…? If you lack common sense, you might be a simpleton. If you find yourself constantly saying, “I’m only human” you might be a simpleton. If others think of you as an airhead or scatterbrained, you might be a simpleton. If you lack good judgment or seldom know what is going on, you might be a simpleton. If you resemble a “shnook” or a space cadet you might be a simpleton.

How long, you scoffers…? If you taunt and heckle others, you might be a scoffer. If you make fun of or laugh at others, you might be a scoffer. If you ridicule others, you might be a scoffer. If you treat others with contempt or put them down, you might be a scoffer. If you are not pleasant to be around or always seem to be disagreeable, you might be a scoffer.

How long, you fools…? If sometimes your make poor decisions, you might be a fool. If you are easily tricked or made to appear ridiculous, you might be a fool. If you are gullible you might be a fool. If you are a soft touch or easily taken advantage of, you might be a fool. If you are always acting unwisely, you might be a fool. If you lack good judgment, you might be a fool. If you are a goofball or a bozo, you might be a fool.

Really, when it comes down to it, there is not a whole lot a difference between the three: simpleton, scoffer, or fool. And if one or all of them might be us, Wisdom is saying, “Listen! This time, listen and learn.

With a wise person’s teaching and instruction, the gullible person can become wise. The young are gullible – they need direction, they need challenges, they need instruction and discipline – as do all of us. The process of becoming wise never ends. We can always use more guidance, always learn more, and always become more like Christ. We all need instruction so we might know God better.

Our classes on Sunday morning (and study groups throughout the week) are opportunities for such instruction. At the beginning of Proverbs, Solomon says, “Study hard, because what you receive is worth the effort! These are words to live by!

Earlier, we recognized the children who were in Sunday School this morning, and their teachers as well. We prayed for them. We asked for wisdom for teachers and students alike. We asked God to bless their efforts this year and to multiply their number. We asked that this church be about learning, to be about teaching, and to be about making disciples for Jesus the Christ. We asked that people’s lives be transformed by what we do here this year.

A fool is a person who needs to learn, but hasn’t listened. In fact, the foolish has rejected wisdom, has rejected instruction, and has rejected the idea of needing to know more about God. The foolish person might say, “I know all there is to know about God, I don’t need to know any more.” And yet we believe there is more, for all of us to learn when it comes to God.

This is a new year. It is a fresh start for all of us. It is an exciting time, full of promise. There is so much to learn!

Wisdom cries out for all to hear. Become wise in the Lord and live. Live! It is the wise thing to do. Let us pray.

September 6, 2009 Message

Proverbs 22:1

Our lesson today is from Proverbs, considered to be the primary book of "Wisdom" in the Old Testament. Its poetry, credited to be the work of King Solomon, seeks to teach its readers the "wisdom" of how to live life well. It is the kind of wisdom handed down from parents to children (1:8) – a wisdom based on experience and observation rather than revelation. And yet this wisdom literature is grounded in a right relationship with God: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (1:7; 9:10; 15:33).

The task of Wisdom literature is character formation. It seeks to “train up young people in the way they should go” (22:6) – in other words, making right choices. It advocates the virtues of honesty, hard work, self-control, and respect for those in authority. And it addresses issues of every part of everyday life. Religion scholar Ellen Davis says, "The proverbs are spiritual guides for ordinary people, on an ordinary day, when water does not pour forth from rocks and angels do not come to lunch."

Proverbs is a collection of short poems, little bits of wisdom from everyday experience like today’s verse, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." Generally speaking, these tidbits are to be understood individually, although sometimes they can be grouped according to common words or common themes. William Willimon has said Proverbs are, “moralistic, often trite, and sometimes true.” And yet, Proverbs provides words to live by – wisdom preparing us for life – far beyond our youthful years, or as the Beatles sing, “When I'm sixty-four.”

Old people like me love to hand out proverbial wisdom to young people. It makes us feel needed. It gives the impression that the accumulation of years actually teaches us something. Proverbs is that kind of advice. When you read Proverbs, it’s pretty obvious that it’s an older person trying to give advice to a young person.”

Historically speaking, such advice comes out of chaotic times, when things come unglued and old truths are questioned, when people begin to wander off course and don't know which way to turn. Proverbs are the product of a society that loves its young enough to show them the way, to point to the path, to tell them what others have learned. They are an affirmation that life has answers, and that each generation doesn’t have to learn for itself by trial and error. It is someone saying “Sit down kid, listen carefully, and I'll tell you what works in life.” That's Proverbs.

It is little bits of wisdom like, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise?" – although those are Ben Franklin’s words and not Solomon’s. Something like that may be good advice, but as some of us may know, it may not always be true. Those rising early each day and putting in long hours of work don’t always get ahead, let alone wealthy, or necessarily healthier. In the real world, health, wealth, and wisdom require more than getting up or going to bed early. Yet, that is the sort of world reality Proverbs offers - a predictable, dependable, if-you-do-this-you-always-get-that kind of world. But is that actually the world we live in?

You've seen the way the world works. Maybe you’ve even noticed a difference between the way we (in the church) say the world ought to work and the way it really works. They seem to be two completely different worlds. So it’s easy to become skeptical and cynical about the value of any proverbial advice – whatever its source. Take today's proverb as an example: "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, favor (to be held in high esteem) better than silver or gold." (22:1).

Is that really true? A good name is more important than money in the bank? It sounds like something you might hear in church, from a preacher or a Sunday school teacher, right? And hopefully it sounds like good advice when you are young and starting out your life, making your own choices for the first time, trying to decide which path to take and which to avoid. A good reputation is better than having a lot of money, check. But is that the wisdom of this world? Is that a wise thing if you want to be successful in life?

In Hebrew culture, a person's reputation was the most important thing in a person’s life. Ecclesiastes 7:1 says, “A good name is better than precious ointment…” and 1 Kings 1:47 when the servants came to a dying King David and said, “May God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours…” Your name or what people thought of you was very important. And a good name wasn’t confused with celebrity or fame, or based on appearance or special talents as it may be today. It wasn’t given to us. A good name, a good reputation, was something earned over many years. It implied integrity, honesty, and responsibility. A good name, a good reputation, could not be bought. Indeed, it was worth more than all the riches in the world.

I recently read of someone who, upon graduation from college, decided to teach in an inner-city school. He was an excellent teacher. His students enjoyed learning and thought the world of him, his fellow teachers admired his enthusiasm and effort, his principle held him up as a model teacher. But after a couple years, he turned in his resignation and told everyone he was leaving. When asked by his friends why he would no longer be teaching, he said, "I've wasted two years in that school. Now, I've got to face facts, get real, and move on. I'm going to apply to law school."

The reality of the world in which we live – the way it works – is if you’re going to be successful and make money (and that is how most people define success, isn’t it) you choose, as William Willimon points out, “power, riches, things, and if there is any free time left over at the end of the day, you work on your reputation."

When a list of the most successful people in America is mentioned, who comes to mind? What names would we expect to see on that list? When articles are written about successful people, who is it we read about? Is it someone who has spent their entire life teaching high school chemistry or getting up early every day to do the morning chores before going off to work… or is it someone rich and famous? And these names that are on the list – what do we know about those people – is it their good name or is it their wealth?

So when we hear today's proverb: "Choose a good name rather than great riches," what do we think? Is it a wise thing to do, or not? In the world we live in, which is more valued? Does it say what everyone around us believes, or does it run counter to our beliefs and make us rethink our priorities in life.

Wisdom that says “a good name is better than all that (other stuff)” is more than good advice – it can change lives. As William Willimon has said such, “…proverbial wisdom (can) don combat fatigues, with a grenade in her hand… (ready to) pull the pin." It can be subversive – a wisdom that dislodges and invites rebellion. Such wisdom might actually give us a whole new outlook on life – and maybe life itself!

Come to think of it, Jesus shared a related an equally subversive proverb with his followers, when he said “it is possible for someone to gain the whole world and still lose his/her life.” Sound familiar? “A good name is better…”

Proverbs frame life as a choice. We are always making choices, aren’t we? Proverbs says not all paths taken in life are equal. Choose wisely. Choose the right path. A good name is better than riches, power, and all the world has to offer.

When people say about us, regardless of our years, things like - "She can be counted on, through thick and thin," or "He is a kind and generous person," or "She does a lot of good for others without telling anyone about it." - we will have lived well and done a wise thing indeed.