Greeting Distant Promises
I was gifted the trust of the pulpit at a congregation that is beginning a search for a minister. It is a common practice for a person in my position to preach for a congregation soon after a Sr. Minister (lead minister or preaching minister) departs. I chose to dig around one of the Lectionary readings for the day instead of words from Romans 12 that I’ve used in the past. I think a sermon from a Regional Minister or Associate Regional Minister, my denomination’s term for middle judicatory personnel, a sermon in these moments should contain: encouragement, an invitation to reflection as a community of faith and individually, and reassure that the skills, experience, and faithfulness needed for the search process exist within the congregation. And, it should dig in the biblical text.
The scripture text for the sermon is Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16.
Looking around the room, I opened the orientation to the Search process with these words, “Let me say it for you, ‘What’s next?’”
What’s next? It’s the backstory that determines the tone.
Excitement! Like kids at Christmas or people that love amusement parks anticipating the next ride. “What’s next?!”
Frustration. Like getting a flat tire for the second time in a month or maybe co-workers aren’t doing the job well or right and you are picking up the slack, but not being recognized. “What’s next?”
Exhaustion. You’ve heard of the rule of three? It’s late and the phone rings about another family member, friend, or co-worker. Or maybe it’s the voices of nurses or doctors during the pandemic. “What’s next?”
Apathy or ambivalence. It’s that irritating tone of a twelve year old, from a teen or someone who is actually an adult. “Whatever . . . what’s next?”
Every morning I get an email from my favorite marketing guru, Seth Godin. It is pithy thoughts of varied length that help kickstart my day. The July 30th email was called,
“Strength through resilience.” It said:
Strength through resilience
Brittle systems are weak. Short-term wins feel like a demonstration of will by those that seek to be strong.But the only run is the long run.
When we embrace flexible, renewable and diverse approaches, we create actual progress.
Seth Godin, July 30, 2022. https://seths.blog/2022/07/strength-through-resilience/
My father worked in the wholesale pharmaceutical business his entire professional life. He worked for three companies. Beginning as a warehouse worker stocking products and pulling orders. When given the opportunity he took a field sales position, and then sales manager, and then division manager with oversight for all the aspects of the business from the warehouse, sales, and accounting.
When one company was nearing its lifecycle he moved to another, then another as capitalism did what it does: bankruptcy, hostile takeovers, regional family businesses sells to a larger company, and then after some time the buyouts or “early retirements” euphemism begin for longtime essential employees that help the transition, but are too expensive to keep. In the tough moments of growing up my father would remind my sister and I, “You’ve got to have the RMA, the right mental attitude.” That came from a sales class, no doubt, but it was a good way to redirect and reframe a situation. He would add, “You’ve got to do the work to the best of your ability. Have the RMA and do the work to the best of your ability then, no matter the outcome there will be something you can be proud of, or learn, that you could apply the next situation.”
As the search for another minister begins, the power of positive thinking could be helpful. You will hear someone suggest that, “You’ve got to take it on faith.” You will need conviction or assurance. And, you will need patience with one another, with yourself, and with God. Buried in the reading from Hebrews today, we are reminded that belief and faith are about greeting distant promises. Of all the hard things in life right now, that maybe the hardest thing for a culture built on have it your way, have it all, and have it right now.
I bear the greetings, prayers, and gratitude of your siblings in faith all around the Region. Thank you for being a voice of gospel from this corner. If you are visiting today you will notice that this congregation is beginning to search for a minister:
A person who will connect this congregation to its local story;
A person who will connect this congregation to its Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) story, and the ecumenical story of Christendom locally and broadly;
A person who, though their ministerial leadership as preacher, teacher, prophet, and pastor will help this congregation greet the distant promises of its mission and witness as followers of Jesus. No pressure.
Friends, members, and visitors alike, don’t give in to consumer culture. Don’t just consume worship, bible study, mission opportunities, or congregational life. Get involved in this congregation’s witness of the good news of God and remember:
that the Lord’s mercies never cease;
that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning;
and the Lord’s faithfulness extends beyond our ability to see in a mirror dimly, or recognize the image of God in others as well as in our own face.
As you are willing and your spirit able, please join me in prayer:
Open our ears and our hearts, O God, that our meditations, words, and living are a reflection of our faith in You, who creates, who redeems, and who sustains creation and our lives. Amen.
Buckle up church. Here we go.
There are several ideas in the text today that are worthy sermon material or further study in Sunday school or a small group setting.
We could explore conviction or assurance as individual ideas or as an equation that, when worked well, leads to faith.
We could explore how Hebrews, and the Gospels, specifically Matthew, have been used as a crutch for Christian supersessionism. In its simplest form, this is the idea that Christians have become the chosen people of God succeeding the Jewish community because of Jesus. This kind of theology is subtly laid in the foundations of Christendom. Its tamest form shows up in pity, prayers, covert discrimination, and evangelizing Jews and non-Christians with the treats of hell. Its loudest form produces overt antisemitism, Christian dominionism, Christian nationalism, violence, and death. It can be argued that slavery is the original sin of these United States and at its core is a doctrine of discovery(1) fueled by Christian supersessionism. It’s thinking that the world is your oyster even if you have to steal it in the name of God.
We could ponder the significance of the other way to translate verse 11. We heard, “By faith he (Abraham) received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because Abraham considered the Lord faithful who had promised.” That verse can also be translated:
“By faith Abraham received power of procreation, even though he was too old. By faith, Sarah herself though barren, received power to conceive, even when she was too old, because she considered the Lord faithful who had promised.” That changes the object of verse 12.
“Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, ‘as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.’”
Hebrews 11:12 (NRSV)
Is the choice to remember Abraham over Sarah the author being consistent with the other males named in the text or is it something else, an authoritarian patriarchy that remains embedded in our culture even today?
Indeed, in good faith we could ponder what the rhythmic creedal cadence of “by faith” meant in ancient times, in the history of Christianity, and today in our lives.
Any of those ideas are worthy of our attention. To approach the text today, it is important to remember that the writer of Hebrews is using metaphorical language to describe the life of Jesus and his passion for God. The biblical scholar Marcus Borg and a small majority of New Testament scholars place the writing of Hebrews about the same time as the Gospel of Matthew, somewhere between 80 and 90 CE. These are second generation communities of Jews, Gentiles, and what Borg calls, “God-lovers,” people who knew the Jewish bible well, but were not necessarily Jewish. He goes on to urge modern readers not to “literalize the metaphorical language.”(2) So, when we read the texts, we need to remember there were power struggles, theological, economic, and political struggles, when these texts were written, just as there are today.
A thousand years after Jesus, St. Anselm transformed Jesus’ passion for God and the way he lived that passion into what became known as substitutionary atonement. A theological passion of Christ. A doctrinal formula for faith. But, Dr. David Lose reminds, “Faith, invites us to embrace mystery rather than merely solve a puzzle.”(3)
Rather than seeking to have faith and trust in God, as Jesus did, much of Christianity has placed its faith in Jesus and stopped following him most of the time.
Where does Jesus lead? Probably, more ministry like the Welcome Table. (feeding people)
Probably, more ministry providing shoes, clothing, and housing to neighbors needing a hand up.
Probably, church that looks more like intergenerational VBS rather than a social club.
Probably, places that require risk.
The Most Reverend Michael Curry is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. You probably know the name because he officiated the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan. In a sermon back in 2013 he said:
In one sense it’s pretty easy to worship Jesus on Sunday, but it is something else to follow Jesus out there in that world on Monday. It’s easy to be a member of a church in America. All you basically have to do is show up. Woodie Allen said, “Half of life is just showing up.” In America you can be a member of a church by just showing up, filling out the membership card, answering an altar call, visiting the pastor, new member committee. It’s not complicated. But discipleship in community is a much more difficult and demanding proposition. Discipleship is about following Jesus, by living his teachings, what he actually taught, and by living in the Spirit of his very life. And that’s not easy.
The Most Rev. Michael Curry, “Keep the Faith.” August 18, 2013, Day1.org
To parse out good news of God in the text today we need to do a bit of work with it, but mostly we need to work on ourselves. What are we bringing to the text from our life experience that hinders or enlightens our discipleship following Jesus? That is the hard part for each one of us, for our social systems, and our congregational system. To work on ourselves first and have faith that others are doing the same with integrity.
This is particularly significant during the interim time when a congregation is seeking another minister. It doesn’t matter why a minister leaves. It creates anxiety, grief, and questions. If you’ve been around this congregation a while you know the last decade has had its share of grief, some conflict, and important ministry serving the community and the congregation’s members. You’ve had to work on yourself as a community of faith. There is some basic maintenance to intentional Christian community that can make the hard times more tolerable, but it can’t keep hard times from coming. That kind of maintenance is always happening, but we are only aware of it in the hard times.
Ultimately, that is what the author of Hebrews is encouraging the readers of their time and ours to do. Work on yourself as a follower of Jesus. Realize that you are seeing in a mirror dimly. The opening words in chapter 12, will crescendo with the great cloud of witnesses that set the example. And chapter 13, is a melody of what life in Christian community looks like day to day. That life extends beyond Christian community, but it doesn’t impose it on the culture. It models life in the already, but not yet, kindom of God, but it does’t build an empire.
The 20th century preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, “The world has two ways of getting rid of Jesus. The first is by crucifying him; the second is by worshiping him without following him.”(4)
In ancient times is was a common practice to deify political and religious leaders. That was true of ancient Roman culture, and even today in the 21st century we humans still have a tendency of hero worship and history worship. Nostalgia can be an addictive drug. The rock-n-roll legend, Billy Joel, says it like this:
You can get just so much from a good thing
Billy Joel, “Keeping the Faith” An Innocent Man 1983.
You can linger too long in your dreams
Say goodbye to the oldies but goodies
‘Cause the good ole days weren’t always good
And tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems
I’m keeping the faith.
There is a film about three neighborhood kids, two boys and a girl, spend their time growing up until the girl moves away. Now in adulthood, the two boys, one a priest and the other a rabbi, have stayed connected and meet up with their long lost friend who is moving back to New York. She is some kind of corporate executive. Their friendship rekindles, but there are professional and personal struggles along the way. It is a story about relationships and the trust, honesty, and effort it takes to hold them together personally, professionally, and in congregational life. In the end they are “Keeping the Faith” in one another.(5)
Had we read the portion of Hebrews that was left out today, vv 4-7, we would have heard a kind of “hall of fame” of faithful stories of men, and following today’s reading beginning at v 23, the author offers their understanding of the faith of Moses. The chapter closes with a list of characters who have been remembered, some better than others, for their faith in God. It is important to note that a close reading of their stories are not always an example of what to do. Rather, the stories of Abraham and Issac, and Jephthah and his daughter, are cautionary tales about the extent to which people will go to put their ideas, or their communities’ ideas, of righteousness or faithfulness or salvation on God. We can hear the Holy One ask, “What kind of god do you think I am?” For more on this, invite my companion, the Hebrew bible scholar, to teach Sunday school for a few weeks.
Outside the fellowship hall there are images of ministers that have led this congregation. Their stories and leadership, like those whose images are not there, were not perfect. Few among us this morning remember all the stories, but we are recipients of their faithfulness. They are a reminder of what is possible. They are a reminder that a community of faith is more than one person, Sunday school class, or board vote. Like the faithful hall of fame in Hebrews this morning, we can imagine those persons had a trust in God that guided their journey in faith. They nurtured this congregation and served by greeting distant promises that they would not witness nor share in. Are we capable of doing the same?
And it wasn’t just them. Since the founding of this congregation in 1893, there have been laity, deacons, and elders that have given of themselves so that the next generation who gather for worship and witness of the good news of God would have a foundation upon which they could remodel, when necessary, what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a disciple of Christ. Are we capable of doing the same?
In his book, The Magnificent Defeat, Frederick Buechner wrote:
Faith is the word that describes the direction our feet start moving when we find that we are loved. Faith is stepping out into the unknown with nothing to guide us but a hand just beyond our grasp.
Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat, “Follow Me.” Seabury Press (New York) 1966.
Look around you this morning. There are hands to grasp. There are hands and spirits and lives ready to greet distant promises. You’ve heard me say this before. There is ministry to do and gospel to be in Enid that only you can do and only you can be. May God continue to bless your journey keeping the faith.
Notes
- For a simple explanation and links to further reading:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_doctrine
- Marcus Borg, Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written. Harper Collins (New York) 2012 p. 277-282.
- Dr. David Lose: Adam, Eve & the Bible. day1.org, August 18, 2011 https://day1.org/articles/5d9b820ef71918cdf2002ee1/dr_david_lose_adam_eve__the_bible
- The Most Rev. Michael Curry, “Keep the Faith.” August 18, 2013, Day1.org