Paragraphs from SSCSJ
Two paragraphs from Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal this week. One from the First Testament and one from the New Testament. These are part of the Lectionary readings for June 17.
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
The story of how David was selected from among Jesse’s sons reminds us of many of the stories in Genesis. While a patrilineal society, like Israel, gave preference to the eldest son, time after time, God chooses the younger child to carry forward God’s covenant (e.g., Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, etc.). This is just one example of how God’s ways are not those of the dominant group. God chooses an elderly, barren couple to be the parents of a nation. God makes a covenant with an Egyptian slave woman that her offspring will be a great nation. The list could go on. Here, in I Sam 16, we see, once again, this Divine characteristic. While the human tendency would be for Samuel to choose the strongest and oldest son as the next king, God’s choice is the exact opposite. In fact, in this text, God explicitly states what we’ve seen in the preceding stories: “for the LORD does not see as mortals see” (v 7b). What can we learn from this example, along with the many others, of how God “looks on the heart” of people, while we put too much stake in outward appearances? What role does character really play in how we identify and choose leaders in all arenas of life? How can we develop the ability to see people as God sees them? Is that how you look upon the children on the sacred steps?
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17
“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
This is one of those “stumbling” block phrases for much of Christendom, because our categories, walls, boundaries, borders, justice systems and economic systems are all based on a human point of view. For me, humanity is not necessarily, or even by nature, bad, evil, or dirty. I am an “original blessing” person rather than an “original sin” believer. I’m content with my personal humanity and my breathing existence in a world of beauty and of a community that is weighed down with injustice, hunger, greed and death.7 When compared to the life of an undocumented immigrant, a person nearing the end of unemployment benefits, someone caught in human trafficking, a person battling chronic disease, an abandoned child, and many others, my worst days are paradise. But, I, and you, participate in systems, secular and religious, that perpetuate a human point of view that divides, degrades, and discriminates against the children of God, often “in the name of God”.8 Is that not a “human point of view?” What, then, does it mean to say that, if one is in Christ, then that one (read “you”) is a new creation, no longer seeing others from a human point of view? This is a great struggle of being called to a ministry of reconciliation.