Reflections on "Who Are You?" Esther 2: 5-11; 15-20

this was the first of three sermons on Esther, and then the fourth sermon is a conversation between Joseph and Esther.  Esther is a terrific book.  I am grateful to my daughter, who is taking a class at Union Seminary on Women in the Bible, for sharing a handout on Esther her professor Dr. Frances Gench gave her class.  The handout pointed out, in particular, the correlation between Esther's world and our current world today.

When I directed presbytery camps years ago, Esther was one of the dialogue presentations I had as part of a series on heroes in the Bible, so I have enjoyed Esther for many years.  i encouraged the congregation to go read the whole book of Esther to get the full story, and some might do that.   

“Who Are You?” Esther 2: 5-11; 15-20; SAPC; Denton; October 30, 2022;  Richard B. Culp 

Esther 2: 15-20: ¹⁵When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was admired by all who saw her. ¹⁶When Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, ¹⁷the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers—“Esther’s banquet.” He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality. ¹⁹When the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. ²⁰Now Esther had not revealed her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.

Introduction:  We move to three weeks in the book of Esther, 

including November 13th when our visiting artist for Fall Festival of Faith will join us in worship and share how her gift of visual arts helps her engage God’s Word and invites us to engage in visual art and discover new insights as well; 

we finish the fall preaching series with a conversation between Joseph and Esther.  

then, Advent will be upon us! 

Move 1:  Esther may have been written in 4th century BCE, but the context in which Esther lives, in which her story plays out, seems similar to our world today.

a. We notice the multicultural context in which Esther lives.  

1.  The book opens with the vision of a vast Persian kingdom of 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia (1:1). 

2.  Lots of people from all sorts of backgrounds were thrown together under the authority of the Persian king.

2. the picture painted is one in which everyone seemingly gets along.

3. Go back and read about the party the king throws -  An ideal of non-coercive unity emerges (e.g., every man drinks freely at the king’s party, speaks his own language, procurement of young women from all the

provinces of the empire). 

4.  But, as biblical scholar Esther Menn notes, “This seeming tolerance and multicultural inclusion collides with subsequent themes of ethnic identity, difference, scapegoating, and genocide.”   (Esther Menn, The Ralph W. and Marilyn R. Klein Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago; found in handout from Dr. Gench, Union Seminary class on Women in the Bible)

5.  the world in which we live is becoming more diverse and multicultural every day.

6.  We often lift that up as a positive - how varied people and backgrounds can work together.

7.  But, we also know the underlying tensions between cultures and the struggles that come with those differences.

b.  Esther’s context also reveals a world that revolves around who has the power.

1. a patriarchal world where the men in power can command whatever they want.

2. For example, the king is frustrated with his wife so he can hold a beauty pageant to find his next wife.

3.  We have our own structures that put some in power and others, not in power.

4. Some might argue we see less patriarchy that in generations past, but we still see the power differential between those with lots of resources and those with limited resources; or those with connections and those without connections.

5.  The disparity of power and abuse of power seen in Esther’s world is also found in our world today. 

c.  Battle of values 

1.  Beauty pageant to choose the next wife?

2. We cringe at the idea that looks and beauty is the primary factor in making a choice.

3.  as we look at our world, we see an ongoing struggle to decide what values we should lift up as meaningful and helpful.

d.  Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Esther’s story plays out in a time when people are struggling to figure out to see the divine in their midst.

1.  Or, as some commentators describe,  Esther reveals a divine absence. (Esther Menn, The Ralph W. and Marilyn R. Klein Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago; found in handout from Dr. Gench, Union Seminary class on Women in the Bible)

2. part of Esther’s story is about how God was at work in their time.

3.   A time when there were no strangers appearing like they did to Abraham and Sarah.

No angels wrestling with Esther or Mordecai like the angel wrestled with Jacob.

No burning bush with the voice of God speaking like God did with Moses

no lifting of the staff to part the Red Sea like Moses did.

4.  Esther’s story is about how God is found in the world through the actions of ordinary people, who sense their need to act on God’s behalf and do so.

5. If you have ever thought, “I wish God would just send an angel or a burning bush,” then you are in Esther’s shoes - a person who discovers that for God to work in her world makes a demand on her, perhaps a demand on you!

Move 2:  Esther has to know who she is.

a. She is Jewish 

1.  One of God’s people in a world where God’s people are a distinct minority.

2.  In fact, she is instructed by her cousin Mordecai, her cousin who advises her,  to hide who she is.

3.  Esther may hide her identity from others, but she still has to know who she is.

4. I suspect as Mordecai converses passes by every day and sees her, he whispers to her, “Remember who you are!”

5. In the multi-cultural world in which she lives; in the power plays that take place in the royal palace;  Esther has to be grounded in her identity as one of God’s people who has been given gifts by God to be used for God’s purposes.

b.   I am reminded of King David before he became King David, when he was a shepherd who offered to do battle with Goliath. 

1. Remember what happens as they try and prepare him for battle?

2. They put him in armor and give him the usual weapons.

3. He is so weighed down, he can barely move.

4.  He tells them - I am not a solider, I mama a shepherd, and I’m really good with my slingshot.  

5.  Let me be who I am, and I can take down Goliath.

6.  So, with no armor and just his skill with a slingshot and God’s presence, David takes on Goliath. just before he goes into battle with Goliath?

c.  Know who you are.

1.  You are a child of God.

1.  at Baptism, we gather around the baptismal font;

then at our death, we gather again around the baptismal font.

Recognizing that our identity in life and death is found in the God who claims us as children of the covenant.

2. part of our responsibility in this community of faith is to help Rhett and each other know that we are each a child of God and to help us claim the gifts God has given to us.

d.  The question Esther has to answer.  The question we have to answer.

1.  Which of our identities ultimately shapes our lives? 

2.  Are you first and foremost a parent? 

3.  Or a Texan?

4.  Or An American?

5. Or a Republican?

6. Or a Democrat? 

4.  Or a child of God?

As we gather around the waters of baptism we proclaim that the identity which matters most for each of us is that one - a child of God.

Move 3: Finally, Esther has to connect who she is with whose she is.

a.  don’t want to spoil next week’s sermon, but as Esther’s story unfolds, she will have to see the connection between who she is and what God is doing in the world.

b.  Esther was probably written in the 4th century BCE among Jews who had been displaced from Israel. 

1.   the story gives hope to Jews who had no power in the Persian-Hellenistic structure and struggled in their identity.

1.  The hope they discover is their hope in God. 

2.  As we see Esther link herself with that hope, we look at our own lives to discover how we, as children of God, can connect ourselves with what God is doing in the world?

conclusion: Read Esther;   laugh a little;  perhaps shake your head, but notice how who she is preparing her for what she is going to be asked to do.

And imagine how who you are is preparing you for what God might be asking you to do.

And come back next week to see how Esther “steps up!”

Reflections on "Get Set" 2 Chronicles 31: 2-10

 “Get Set” 2 Chronicles 31: 2-10; SAPC; Denton; October 16, 2022; Richard B. Culp 

This was the second of three stewardship sermons.  I had someone ask me if there is a liturgical season called stewardship!.  there is not, of course, but we generally spend some time each fall on stewardship topics, I would like to think that we have stewardship themes running through sermons, worship, and the life of the church all year long, but we may not be as good at that as I would like to think we are.

I do no think I have preached the 2 Chronicles passage previously.  I really enjoyed working through it a bit.  It had lots of stewardship themes for us.

2 Chronicles 31: 2-10 ²Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, everyone according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise. ³The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord. ⁴He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord. ⁵As soon as the word spread, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. ⁶The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been consecrated to the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps. ⁷In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. ⁹Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰The chief priest Azariah, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty to spare; for the Lord has blessed his people, so that we have this great supply left over.”

Introduction: Second week of stewardship reflections.

Last week, we were in “On Your Mark” mode, that assessment of our financial situation and thinking in terms of God’s abundance instead of scarcity as we began the stewardship season.

This week, we “Get Set” for making our commitment.

Imagine, if you will, the starter’s gun or loud beep these days is about to go off and there you are, In the blocks, sights set on the end line - the race is about to go from that which you have imagined you would run to the actual race you will run.

A moment when you commit to being in the race. 

As we move through our stewardship season, this is the week we “Get Set” intentionally reflect on our commitment.  

We have assessed our financial situation, seen God’s abundance, and now we think about how we want to make a commitment in return.

A few thoughts on making a commitment.

Move 1: Shared commitment

a.  Both Scripture passages we read this morning point to everyone being involved in making a commitment.

1. Paul notes that “Each of you must give…”  

not a few of you, 

or only the ones who are the leaders, 

but each of you.

Everyone in the community makes a commitment.

2.  When King Hezekiah decides there needs to be an offering to support the ministries of the Temple and work of the priests, he sees is as a shared commitment.

3. He leads the commitment by giving of his own resources, but he extends the expectation that everyone should give.  

4.  The work of the community needs everyone to be committed to giving for the work.

b.  WE could probably come up with good reasons why everyone should participate in giving.

1. Shared responsibility.

2. If they all benefit, they should all give.

3. It’s good for the community to share in this task together.

4.  But the primary reason is because all have been blessed by God so all should return back to God from their blessings.

c. Likewise, when we think about stewardship here at St. Andrew, it is a shared commitment.

1.  We are in this together.

2. All of us have received gifts from God.

3. We all give back to God.

A shared commitment.

Move 2:  We also see in these stories a concrete commitment

a.  King Hezekiah has a plan for giving.

1.  Everyone will give their first fruits.

Very concrete language.

We can envision a pile of corn or wheat or grapes and imagine taking a portion of the stalks or grapes to return back to God in thanksgiving for the harvest.

2. Hezekiah also uses the language fo tithe.

again, concrete language.

tithe is first 10%

Now, our image of corn and wheat or grapes becomes clearer as we imagine taking one out of ten of every stalk or grape and giving it back to God.

3. Making the expectation concrete allows people to see the commitment.

b.  No one is going to command what your commitment will be here at St. Andrew

1.  But, I do encourage you to be concrete as you imagine what your commitment might be.

2.  Making a concrete commitment gives us a goal and helps us measure how we are doing.

3.  “Some years ago the biographer Philip Guedella wrote of the definitive biographies of the great military and political leaders, the Duke of Wellington.  When asked about the task of writing a biography, Guedella explained that the hardest part is to get behind the public persona of the person to the real person.  He said he found a gold mine when he found Wellington’s checkbook – the check stubs provided the real priorities and loyalties in Wellington’s life.”  (Read in a W. Frank Harrington sermon, Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta)

c.  A concrete commitment can be part of our intentional discipleship.

1.  Discipleship is not always easy.  I do not think Jesus ever tells his disciples, “follow me, it will be easy.”

2. Being a disciple demands intentionality.  

3.  Making our stewardship commitment concrete, creating that goal for our giving, helps us bring our call to discipleship to the financial part of our lives.

move 3:  Finally,  we see how commitment leads to abundance

a.  Paul lifts up the image of sowing abundantly and reaping abundantly.

1. he does not talk in scarcity terms, but about abundance.

2. He understands God to give abundantly, so we respond abundantly.

b.  The story from 2 Chronicles reveals the same discovery.

1. When the people give their first fruits, they discover there is an abundance of gifts.

2. Why?  Because God has given to them abundantly, so tithe is also an abundant amount.

3. But, the abundance grows.

4. After several months, they look around and there are heaps of firstfruits.

5.  It is almost comical - imagine, standing there, looking around and the gifts the people have given back to God, and seeing heap after heap.

6. I can hear the leadership looking around and seeing such plenty.

6.  it’s almost comical - The story finishes with abundance.

7. when people make their commitment and live out their commitment, they end up with heaps and heaps of gifts.

8.  I can hear the leaders gazing in amazement at the heaps, the abundance before them and asking:  “What are we going to do with all this?”

Conclusion:  Paul writes:  ⁷Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, 

“Get Set”

make up your mind.

make a concrete commitment to give abundantly out of the abundance God has given you.

“On Your Mark” Luke 12: 13-23

We had a baptism and a nice Moment for Misson about stewardship as part of our worship, so the sermon had those elements of worship supporting it.  The sermon seemed to work ok.  

 

“On Your Mark” Luke 12: 13-23; SAPC; Denton; October 9, 2022; Richard B. Culp 

Luke 12:  Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ ¹⁴But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ ¹⁵And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ ¹⁶Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” ¹⁸Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ²⁰But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Introduction: After three weeks in the Joseph story and before we move on to the Esther story, we spend a few weeks reflecting on stewardship, which will culminate with commitment Sunday at the end of the month.

whether you are a member or regular attendee at St. Andrew and participate in making a pledge each year or not, we are all invited to spend these next few weeks reflecting on how we make our spending choices and how they reflect our discipleship.

We begin this week in preparation - “on your mark” as we examine our resources and prepare to take off in how we use them.  

Move 1:  We assess our financial situations.

a.  That’s what the rich man Jesus talks about is doing.

1. Looking at all he has, assessing his resources.

2.  he is rightly pleased with himself. He has an abundance of possessions and is apparently very good at producing crops.

3. So much so that he has to consider building barns to store all his excess.

4.  Many of us know what it is like to assess our resources.  Or some days, m obsess over our resources.

5.  We look at what we have, consider the future, and look at other factors like job security, or how long we plan on working, or how inflation is impacting the economy, or what interest rates are doing.

6.  LIke the rich man, we assess our financial situation in life.

b.  But notice that the rich man’s assessment only includes himself.  

1. He has no sense of how others have helped him produce in abundance.

2. he has no sense of how his resources could be shared with others or used for mutual benefit.

3. His assessment only includes himself.

4.  most importantly.  he forgets that all that he has comes from God.

b.   there was a ruling elder in the church I served in Troy.  Terrific guy and leader.  ran the quickest meetings I’ve ever been in - have you ever been to a committee meeting that latest 15 minutes.

he was pretty conservative in his outlook on finances and life and also had a heart for helping those in need.  

I think he saw part of his duty was to teach me some of his conservative ways.

We worked on a lot of projects together - capital campaigns; stewardship drives; on a housing ministry that worked with families to help them buy their first homes.

One time when we were talking about the inequity in the world in who had money and who did not have money, he told, “Richard, I think if we took everyone’s money in the world, divided it evenly, and gave it back out, within a few years, we’d have the same inequities.  some people just make better use of their money.”

Thus began a long conversation with no resolution, except he agreed that he was not ready to give all his money away to test his theory.

We did have common agreement on one important point - it did not matter if a person had a lot of money or not much, it all should be understood as a gift from God. 

c.  as we move into our stewardship season, we invite you to assess your own situation.

1.  as you reflect on your resources and how you are managing them, do not forget we are just stewards of the resources we have.

1.  Some of us might be better at it - apparently, the rich man was good at producing crops and making money.

2. The question is not how we spend or invest or manage or mismanage, but how we use this gift from God.

At the beginning of the day, all we have God has given to us.  

At the end of the day, all we have comes from God.

d. True on a corporate level as well

1. As a congregation, we are blessed with many resources.

2. How do we utilize them in ways that acknowledge our understanding that all our gifts come from God?

Move 2:  the rich man is unable to move from scarcity thinking to abundance thinking.

a.  Rich man sees his abundance, but what drives him is his fear of scarcity.

1.  He does not trust God to provide for him in the future, so he builds barns more barns to store his abundance so he can use them for his own future.

2.  He cannot share his abundance or put it to work in ways to benefit others because he is worried that he will not have enough for himself.

b.  God calls us to see the abundance God has given us so we do not act out of fear of scarcity.

1.  If we do not trust God to provide for us in the future, then we have to make decisions about using our resources that grow out of the belief that we need to hoard and keep everything for ourselves.

2.  If we see the abundance of God’s gifts and trust in God’s abundance to continue, then we can share our resources in ways that benefit others and connect us with what God is doing beyond ourselves.

c.  this is true for the church as well.

1. How we utilize our resources as a congregation and invest in ministries speaks to how we trust God to provide for us in the future.

2. If all we see is scarcity, we become imprisoned by our lack of vision and miss out on how we can use our resources to engage in ministry.

Move 3:  So we are called to imagine the possibilities

a. the rich man has no need to imagine the possibilities for what he can do with his resources because he sees no connection between what he has and anything else or anyone else in the world.

1.  No wonder his conversation is with himself.

2.  he can see no one beyond himself.

b.  We are invited to consider the possibilities for how we use our resources that call us to look beyond ourselves. 

1.  A conversation in which we imagine possibilities.

2. A conversation in which we see the needs of others.

3. A conversation in which we listen for God’s guidance. 

4.  John Calvin, the great Reformer, wrote: “Let this, therefore, be our rule for generosity and beneficence: We are the stewards of everything God has conferred on us by which we are able to help our neighbor and are required to render an account of our stewardship. Moreover, the only right stewardship is that which is tested by the rule of love.”

c. Again, that is not just an individual task, but our calling as the church.

1. We too are called to imagine possibilities for how God will use our resources to connect with others and minister to them.

2.  Every time we baptize, particularly an infant, we imagine the possibilities for how God is going to shape that child’s life.  

3.  if we think about the exciting plans parents, grandparents, friends, and relatives have for Bo this morning, we can see the excitement of possibilities.

4.  We are called to imagine the possibilities we have as a church to use our resources.

2. I am reminded of the story told about the minister preaching to the congregation about the possibilities and potential of the congregation. He told them, “With God’s help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking.” 

now This was a church in which people spoke out in church, “Amens” and such, and several responded, “Let the church walk, Pastor, let the church walk.” 

He continued, with more enthusiasm, “And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run!” And the people caught the enthusiasm and shouted, “Let the church run, Pastor, let the church run!” 

The pastor really had a head of steam up now, and said, “And finally this church can move from running to flying! Oh, yes, this church can fly! But of course, that’s going to take lots of money for that to happen!”

All someone in the back shouted out: “Let the church crawl, Pastor, let the church crawl.”

Conclusion:  it can be scary and demanding to imagine the possibilities and work toward them, but that is our calling.

So “on your mark!”  - assess your situations, claim the abundance of God’s gifts, imagine the possibilities, and prepare to take off!