sermon: Son of David

2 Samuel 7:8

Matthew 12:15

“Son of David”

            Today, I want us to use our imaginations as we explore King David and his relationship to God, to the Israelite people, and to God’s covenant with him.  We are taking a huge jump from last Sunday, last Sunday, Moses was just an infant baby given the opportunity for life through the courage of two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.  We are skipping right over the forty years in the wilderness, the arrival to the Promised Land and the time of the Judges.  The people have arrived and they are well settled into their given territories. 

            Let’s image, let’s imagine the sanctuary as the Promised Land.  The front will be the north.  (describe based on Map)

            The Israelites have really never known too much peace.  There have always been neighboring tribes vying for the land and the trade routes to the sea.  And the Israelites have done their best to hold their own and keep their enemies at bay.  Until now.  Something new and significant has happened.  It is the beginning of the Iron Age and the Philistines have figured it all out.  Suddenly, there is an unfair advantage.  The Philistines have weapons that are much stronger then the Israelites and are putting a lot of pressure upon various tribes in the land of Cana. 

            With the advent of the Iron Age, the tribes of Israel understand they can no longer stand alone against the outside tribes, it is time for them to unify.  And so the shift begins to happen, a transition from being a tribal people to unifying as a nation.  Where is God in all of this?  As the people transition from a tribal state to a unified nation, God lifts of prophets to bring God’s word to the people.  Samuel is the prophet called to anoint King Saul, and then Nathaniel is the prophet called to anoint King David. 

            David does not have a one on one connection to the Divine like Abraham, Shiphrah and Puah, and Moses.  He is a young shepherd boy, the youngest of a large family, with a lot of talent and filled with possibilities, when Nathaniel comes to him and tells him that God has called him to be the next ruler of Israel.   In a sense, it is a similar story to Moses, but rather than encounter a burning bush, David is encountered by a prophet, calling him to a divine purpose. 

            As David grows, there are numerous stories about him before he officially becomes King.  There is the story of David and Goliath, as he slays the Philistine giant.  David plays the harp and soothes King Saul from his inner demons.  And then there are the relationships David builds within the royal family.   He becomes best friends with Saul’s son, Jonathan and marries Saul’s daughter.  Some say he very skillfully placed himself into the royal family so he could more easily rise to the throne.  Remember, Saul was the first king and there was no established rule that the children of the king would inherit the throne.  But that all changes with David. 

            King Saul was unable to unify the tribal states of Israel, but after Saul’s death, David quickly comes in and re-organizes the Israelite army.  He is able to thwart the Philistine threat, and creates social stability.  One resource I read describes him as an Architect of the Nation.  Whether or not David had God, he had incredible leadership skills and created a sense of power so that the people of Israel put their faith into him. 

            Again, where is God in all of this?  As David brought the tribes together and transitioned them to have a national identity, he did some significant, religious things.  He rescued the Ark of the Covenant that had been captured by the Philistines, and he moved the religious center of Israel from Shiloh to Jerusalem.  In doing this, he creates what is called a Royal Theology which brings us to today’s scripture reading of God’s covenant with David that his throne will be established forever. 

            With all of this done, David is wondering if now is the time to build a Temple for God in Jerusalem.  As David talks to the prophet Nathaniel, Nathaniel is encountered by God with the message for David that now is the time for God to establish a House for David, but it will be David’s offspring that will establish a House for God.  The following is God’s covenant:  God speaks:   I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.  Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me;^[c] your throne shall be established forever.

          And after 400 years of David’s Dynasty ruling over Israel, it truly seemed as if God’s covenant had been established forever.  But the kingdom divides and enemies once again attack and there are periods of exile and hardship and terrible loss for the Israelite people.  And they asked, where is God in all of this?  And the prophets kept speaking and bringing messages of hope and they spoke of a Messiah that would come and re-establish the throne of David and bring back the Nation of Israel. 

            And so when we enter into the stories of Jesus and hear the term:  Son of David, there is so much meaning behind those words.  The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy, and as Jesus is named, he is named as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.  For the writer of Matthew, it is essential that the reader make the connection that Jesus is a part of the Royal Theology of King David.  That Jesus is a part of God’s covenant with David, and that through Jesus, the throne of David will be re-established. 

            Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah – Here is my servant – to illustrate that Jesus is not just of the lineage of David, but is also the one that the prophets spoke of.  And as Jesus performed healings and miracles the people themselves began to ask: Is this the son of David?  But the Pharisees are not so sure, and they believe that he is Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.  Amazing how one group could see someone as a part of God’s Holy Story, and another can see him as the enemy to God’s work.  How do we discern the work of God?  And even those proclaiming Jesus as the Son of David had a very specific understanding of who they expected him to be.  They wanted a new King, they wanted the Roman rule to end.  They wanted to be re-established as a nation under the reign of the Throne of David. 

            Got God?  How do we discern the work of God?  Just as David was instrumental in transitioning the people from a tribal state to a great nation, Jesus is instrumental in transitioning the people from a political people of God to a spiritual people of God.  Israel still has a purpose, they are still God’s people, they are still called to be a light to the nations, but it is by doing the work of God instead of being a great nation.  This was a hard transition and one that did not go over too well.  But for those that believe, for those that have faith, for those that embrace God and the story of faith, there is an understanding that the royal theology of David is an eternal covenant, a covenant of faith passed from one generation to the next, a covenant of seeking God in our lives, and a covenant of participating in God’s work in this world. 

            And now, in today’s world, people rich or poor, free and oppressed, of all cultures, nationalities, educational and economic levels connect to this story of faith in one way, shape or form, and have become a part of house of David, and his eternal kingdom, as we live as a people of God, set aside for God’s work in this world.  Amen.    

Got Courage?

Exodus 1:15

“Got Courage?”

Last week, I started our summer sermon series with Abraham and Sara as they left the land in which Abraham had grown up followed God’s call to live in a new land.  As Abraham and Sara learned about who God is in their lives, they learned that being blessed by God means sharing that blessing with others.  Got God?  Means – Got Blessings.

Today, we continue forward in the lives of the Hebrew people into a day and age where they still have not arrived to that land that God promised Abraham but rather, have found themselves slaves in the land of Egypt.  Instead of focusing on the well known story of Moses, I have chosen to examine two women, midwives, that participate in God’s work through incredible courage.

I found a whole handful of sayings about courage, here are a few:

·         Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes courage is that quiet voice at the end of the day saying: “I will try again tomorrow.”

·         Courage is not the absence of fear, but the acquired ability to move beyond fear.

·         It is easy to stand with the crowd, it takes courage to stand alone.

·         Success is not final.  Failure is not fatal.  It is the courage to continue that counts.

·         And here is one from Oprah:  You’ve got to follow your passion.  You’ve got to figure out what you love – who you really are.  And have the courage to do that.  I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow their own dreams.

Got Courage?  What is it that you are facing today?  Are you living against the odds in one way, shape, or form?  And what is giving you the strength to say, perhaps today, things will get better.  Perhaps today, I will feel better, or I will eat better, or I will keep looking for a job.  Or maybe it is the courage to start something new.  Are you following your dreams, your passion, your God given calling in this life, and if not, why?  What is holding you back? 

As we face the daily stresses of life, the worries, and the concerns, we can feel we have enough to do just to change our own lives, let alone do anything significant in the greater world.  We can be so consumed in our own needs that the only bit of courage that we can muster up is just to hold on tight for our own being.  What if, together, as God’s family, we just might be able to gain something I will call – sacred courage and truly make a difference in the world around us.

In today’s story, these two midwives perhaps had no clue that their actions would have a long term impact on their people.  They were given orders that were just too horrible to follow through on.  They were trained to bring life into this world, how could they participate in killing new born babies?  In their act of defiance, of civil disobedience, perhaps they thought they were too small to be noticed.  Surely there were hundreds of other midwives out there, would a few babies be noticed?  Or maybe they made a pact, that they would rather die than participate in such a horrid action as to take a new born life. 

What must have been going through their minds?  What was their anchor?  Their strength?  The source of their courage to protect the children of their people in such a trying time?  Was it merely the hope of survival, or was it more.  Did they believe, did they believe in God and that God desired them to keep those babies alive?

Very few women are named in the scriptures, but Shiphrah and Puah  are identified as their unwillingness to follow orders of destruction contribute to the survival of baby Moses.  My guess is, Shiphrah and Puah did not live long enough to understand the outcomes of their actions.  And even if they did, they probably never would have known that one of the babies they saved was Moses.  Through faith, through commitment, through moral goodness, through courage, through whatever it was that they had within themselves to keep those babies alive, one child grew to become the liberator of the entire nation.

As much as we can get caught into our own world of stress and concern and worry, we are all connected to each other in a much larger way.  Shiphrah and Puah contributed to the future of God’s people with courage to stand up against the demands of the ruler.  Their courage became the catalyst for the people of the future.  Their courage may not have had any impact on their own life or their own well being, but it meant all the difference to a people so hurt by the oppression of slavery that they felt they could not take another day of Pharaoh’s dreadful actions against them.

Shiphrah and Puah did not have scriptures to live by, they did not have an understanding of a God that liberates people from oppression and sin.  The people of their day and age had a knowledge of God, they had an understanding of being created and worshipping their creator.  They understood the divine and that their lives had meaning and purpose even if the Egyptians claimed they did not.  And in their faith, they had courage.  Two women, two women that were just a blip on the screen of billions of people that have come and gone.  Two, women engaged their faith in God and through their actions a multitude of other lives were impacted and changed and enriched.

I stop and think about all the people in the world that have acted with such courage just in our recent history.  Those that stood up tall during the Civil Rights movement.  Those that stood up tall for the women’s rights movement.  Those that are standing up tall for marriage equality.  Those that are standing up tall for just immigration reform.

As a people of faith, here in this place, do Shiphrah and Puah have a story to share with us?  A few of you have shared your concerns and passions with me.  A handful of people here in this congregation and in the Rockaway congregation feel we need to do something sooner rather than later for creating a shelter for the homeless population.  It takes courage to be a voice for the voiceless because not everyone is going to agree.  Some are going to give a list of reasons why this is not a good idea.  Some feel called to being more involved with the immigration issues that so many people right here in Dover are facing.  It takes courage to be a voice for the voiceless because not everyone is going to agree.  Some feel we should do nothing at all to help people that are here without documents.  I have heard both sides to many heartfelt issues.  Some feel we should do more to be good stewards of our environment, not just to help reduce costs to maintain our building, but to use less environmentally damaging resources that are impacting our world

A colleague of mine, David Lose, writes this:  The things we do this week -- our actions, decision, choices -- will, in fact, ripple out with consequences foreseen and unforeseen, for good or for ill, for the health or damage of the world. That question isn't whether, but what...what will we do this week to make a difference in the world. Some of these actions may be big, bold, and courageous. Others may be small, hardly noticeable. And yet they all have the potential to ripple out, affecting countless lives.

Got Courage?  Got courage to have a meeting with the Rockaway Presbyterian Church for creating a shelter in our area?  Got courage to meet with Wind of the Spirit and learn more about immigration reform and what it would mean for our neighbors here in Dover?  Got courage to take simple steps to use less resources, recycle more, and reduce our carbon footprint both at the church and at home?  Small steps, small actions just might make an impact and bring God’s love into the world.  

Children of Abraham

Genesis 12:1-4                                                           

Galatians 3:23-29                                       

“Children of Abraham”

            For the next six weeks, we are going to journey through the Bible, reflecting on a handful of people that have experienced God in a way that has moved them into a new way of living.  As I considered various themes that would be fun for the summer, water being one of them, I thought about during these hot days we are often thirsty.   So, instead of Got Milk?  We are going to look at Got God? 

            Remember the children’s song?  Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham.  I am one of them and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord – right hand…Well, long before father Abraham had many sons, there was just Abraham and his wife Sara.  But before we get to Abraham, we have a genealogy of his ancestors naming at least eight generations of his relatives.  As this genealogy comes to end it lists Abraham and his wife Sara who is barren and they have no children.  Will eight generations of people come to an end with Abraham and Sara? 

            We know the ending to this story, father Abraham had many sons.  Well, not many, he has Isaac, but what appears to be a dead end, what is listed at the end of a long line of ancestors, that Abraham and Sara have no child, is not really the end of the story.  This genealogy is not coming to an end but will continue on, but the only way for it to continue is through the work of God. 

            Apparently, Abraham’s father, Terah, was taking his family from the land of Ur to Canaan but only made it as far as Haran where they chose to settle.  So, as Abraham hears the call of God to leave his father’s house to a new land, he is not leaving the land of his ancestors but the place where his family has recently dwelled.  It makes me wonder, did Abraham’s father share stories about the land of Canaan to his family as they sat around a fire late at night?  Did Abraham have an adventurous streak like his father that pulled him towards traveling to new lands?  Or was it just out of necessity that the family needed to move due to lack of resources? 

            Our scriptures do not share these other possibilities, what has been important to people over the generations is this:  The Lord spoke to Abraham and Abraham listened.  What has been important to the greater family of faith for thousands of years is this:  God made a covenant with Abraham, God shared this Good News:  I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  What is meaningful through this story is that God works through impossibilities to bring about people called and created to be a part of God’s plan of love and compassion for this world.  Abraham is not to be great, just to be great.  He is blessed to be a blessing to others.  Got God?  Get blessedness.  Do you feel blessed?  Abraham did not understand what this meant, but he still listened, he still trusted, he still believed.  He did not feel blessed, he knew Sara could not have children but they still journeyed. 

            During your week, do you stop and think about blessings?  Do you stop and think about who is a blessing to you?  There is so much stress in this world, financial, emotional, physical, and sociological.  There is also spiritual stress.  When life feels unbalanced, when one area of our being is overwhelmed the other parts of our wholeness can also be set off balance.  Reflecting on blessedness, blessings, positive things in our life can be a starting point for re-centering ourselves.  We are children of Abraham, and his story is our story.  We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others even when we see our future as a dead end.  Even when we don’t know how God is going to work through the impossible.  We are still blessed to be a blessing. 

            Abraham could have responded, sorry God, this plan is not for me.  But he didn’t.  Got God?  Abraham took the chance, something within him called him forward.  Was it a feeling in his gut, or something within his heart?  Something strong tugged at him and together with his family, he followed God.  When God is at work in the world, there is change, there is movement, something new and different happens in peoples’ lives.  Is there something tugging at your heart?  Is there something deep within you that is calling you do respond to God in one way or another? 

            Blessed to be a blessing.  Paul is taking this one step further in his letter to the Galatians.  As he unpacks the difference between being a person of faith that lives by the law or a person of faith that lives by belief in God made known in Christ, he goes all the way back to Abraham.  He proclaims that Abraham was blessed by God to be a blessing and the fullness of that Blessing is Jesus Christ.  Abraham lived before the law, there were no rules telling him what it means to be a person of God.  His relationship with God was based on listening, trusting, believing, and living as a blessing.  Paul is encouraging the church in Galatia to examine the rules and laws that seem to be binding them and to live into the promise of faith that is in Christ and also in Abraham.  It is one and the same story, they are children of Abraham, living into the fullness of God.  Got God?  Paul is teaching that the law is not God, the rules or not a life of faith.  Got God?  Then live into faith, live into blessedness, live into love. 

             In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷ As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,^[k] heirs according to the promise.

VBS sermon

Luke 17:11

“Out Castes”

            Starting tomorrow, we are embarking on four days of VBS.  This year’s theme is Weird Animals and each day the children will learn about a unique or weird animal.  They will then watch a video about a child that is struggling with issues:  such as autism, leukemia, bullying, and extreme anxiety.  Through the story telling time, the children will then hear a story from the Bible about people that also did not fit into society for one reason or another and then they will hear the good news that God reaches out to them to create a community where they are welcomed. 

            So tomorrow we start with the story of the ten lepers.  This scripture passage usually focuses on gratitude and stewardship, the one leper that comes back and says thank you is the tithe that we are Biblically encouraged to return to God. 

            But before the healing occurs, and before the gratitude of the one takes place, there is the life of the ten lepers.  What must it have been like for them?  If someone came down with this disease, they were considered religiously unclean.  Having leprosy separated you from God’s love, at least in the eyes of the religious leaders.  So, first, you discover you have the disease, then you have to deal with the spiritual impact that you are told you are unclean, then you have to deal with the separation that occurs from your community, your family, and your friends, and your work, your livelihood. 

            By the time Jesus encounters these ten lepers, they have been through physical, spiritual, and emotional distress.  Everything they have known about life, about family, about community has been taken away from them.  They are shunned, shut out, and are feeling extremely lost, lonely, and broken. 

            How does this relate to our lives today?  I remember years ago, I was working as a substitute teacher and the children were at recess.  The kids were playing basketball and two boys were not being allowed to play.  The only reason I could see, for them to be left out, was that they were Indian.  They looked different and the others pushed them away.  I was only a sub, but I stepped in and told the children that either everyone played or the game was over.  But even when the children allow others to play, they can pick and choose who is on which team and who they pass the ball to.  There are so many ways to leave others out.  Most of our schools are working hard to help the children be inclusive of everyone.  We hear so much these days about bullying and how we need to help our children understand what it means to be a bully and how to respond if they are being bullied. 

            We may not have leprosy in our modern society, but we sure do have ways in which people are disconnected from community, family, and God.  I could give you a grocery list – such as mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, homosexuality, immigration issues such as being undocumented, language barriers, and so on.  We are making great strides towards greater inclusivity in many ways as well, in the last thirty years, we are more educated and understanding of people with Aids.  I still remember when this disease first starting making the news and how horribly people were being treated because there was this incredible fear that came along with it. 

            And so, as we guide the children through ways in which they may feel left out in school or help them talk about other children that they can see being left out, we will encourage them to remember:

That even when they are left out – Jesus loves them. 

            Lepers were sent out of the community, depending on how sick the person was, they could have also been rather disfigured from the disease.  Perhaps it was out of pure desperation that they came to Jesus, but somehow, even on the fringes of society, word of Jesus and his healing powers had been shared.  They had nothing to lose and everything to gain by coming to Jesus and asking to be cleansed.  The passage does share that they did not come close, they kept their distance, they knew their station in life and reached out from afar.  And Jesus does not ignore them.  He does not say – you are not worthy, you don’t belong, you are not like the rest of us.  He sends them to the priest to be cleansed. 

            One of the commentaries I looked at discussed the difference between being healed and being cleansed.  Leprosy was considered more than just a disease, you were spiritually unclean.  So part of the healing process involved being made spiritually clean.  In some scripture stories, Jesus heals people.  In this story, he sends them off to be made clean.  Even before they arrive to the priest, they are healed.  This challenges the whole religious structure of how one is able to come before God. 

            Who is allowed to approach God?  And in what state of spiritual cleanliness do we need to be in to worship?  Last week I attended Mass and was not allowed to take communion.  I had not gone through the right steps to be spiritually prepared and clean to embrace God through this specific sacrament.  I was allowed to worship, to be present, but I was not a complete part of this community.  The Presbyterian church has been wrestling with the question of who is and is not allowed to be part of our full community of faith.  And we are seeking to be a place of full inclusion, that all are to be welcomed to worship and to full leadership of the church.  We are seeking to break down the walls that have been telling people you are only clean to this degree but not to full inclusion. 

            Jesus engages people to full inclusion.  The lepers never made it to the priest, they were healed along the way.  They did not need the rituals of cleanliness to be re-engaged in God’s sacred presence.  A lot of people did not appreciate this form of grace and so they did not participate in the new community of God’s love.  They stayed set and firm in their religious practices.  But the hunger for a spiritual connection to God grew by leaps and bounds and more and more people were drawn to this man Jesus as he met people were they were in life and showed them the sacred outside of the Temple and outside of the rites and rituals of what it has meant to be religious.  Jesus begins the redefinition of what it means to be a person of God.  As the early church formed and grew, they questioned over and over again about what it meant to be included and what kept people out.  Paul wrote letter after letter scolding, nurturing, guiding these early churches to not reinstate the way religion had been done but rather to be a community of faith that embraced grace, community, and God’s love at the very core of its being. 

            The Presbyterian church is trying to get back to the core basics of what it means to be a faith community, not a church, but a faith community.  Our denomination has created a movement called 1001 worshipping communities and is encouraging us to look out into our communities to see who has been disenfranchised from the community of faith and to find a creative way to engage people in the life of faith.  My prayer is, that VBS this week is one way in which we bring the love of God to the children of our community in a way that is welcoming, nurturing, and filled with God’s love.  Amen.  

1001 Worshipping Communities

Recipe Card for Systematic Community Care:

Romans 12:10  "Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other."

This Scripture can guide us as we seek to create values, opportunities, thoughts and behaviors that help a congregation to establish an interrelated and interconnected faith community.  The scripture suggests that persons in the community of faith need to understand what love is, know how to express it, and find joy in loving each other.

Romans 12 helps us to see how we can respond to God's grace and mercy by making a necessary sacrifice to meet each other's needs.  When everyone is concerned for the needs of others, all needs are met.  All are loved and fell affirmed and supported, which results in a loving community where care is experienced and expressed.

Think about the groups and experiences in which you felt a caring and loving spirit.
In what ways were these groups and experiences formal or informal?
How can the values, beliefs, and behavior of a mutually loving community become a part fo the fabric of our church.

Identify one person to whom you will demonstrate genuine love this week.  What needs do they have that you can meet?  Meet them.