Reflections on "The Table" Romans 8: 8-17; I Corinthians 11: 17-34

I originally planned this sermon as part of another sermon series, or at least a sermon on communion.  the sermon series had to switch, so we chose to preach through the first part of Paul's letter to the Romans.  I tried to take my sermon ideas from the other series and mesh it with the Romans text.  Did not work very well.  In my run through on Sunday morning, I had to cut the "table" illustration I had in my original notes, which meant that the sermon title did not fit as closely to sermon title as I would have liked (the title still worked since the sermon was on the Lord's Supper).  I threw in Paul's comments about the Lord's Supper from his first letter to the Corinthians and forced a sermon, but in fairness to Paul, I don't think the Romans text really should lead to a sermon on the Lord's Supper.  But, here it is....

Romans 8: 8-17  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10 asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I want you to know, brothers and sisters,that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15 —hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

“The Table” August 6, 2017; Romans 1: 8-17; SAPC, Denton

Introduction:  We move from the rich, fun narratives of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac to the letter Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome.  Until Labor Day, Lisa and I will be preaching on the half of Paul’s letter.

The Christian community in Rome is the only church Paul writes to that he has not visited in person.

in other words, the Romans knew him by reputation only and the gospel Paul preached came to them as rumor, what they have heard from others about what Paul has said.

In his letter, he will try to share with them directly some of his thoughts about faith and the gospel.

Move 1:  Paul begins his letter, like he does most of his letters, with a welcome and some gracious words.

a.  Putting his best foot forward.

1.  Start off with the positive. 

2. Make a good connection. 

3.  He tells them that he thanks God through Jesus Christ  for all of them because their faith is proclaimed throughout the world.

4.  It’s not that the Romans were the first to be faithful; it’s not technically their faith that is being proclaimed; but Paul links their faith to the faith that he proclaims. 

b. Paul also begins by telling the Romans that he prays for them.

1. In fact, they can be assured that he always prays for them.

2. Paul often begins his letters by noting that he prays for the people, and then when he describes what he prays for about them, they discover that theme of the letter.

3.  Sort of like the young girl who wanted a bicycle, but  had been unable to successfully convince her parents to buy her one.  One night as she kneeled to pray by the side of her bed, her parents heard her pray: Dear God, thank you so much for caring about my education and wanting me to have energy for school work.  Please send me a bicycle so that I will not get too tired walking all the way to school and will be able to concentrate on my schoolwork.”

c.  When Paul reveals his prayer for the Romans, he shares his for the Christians in Rome to mutually encourage one another.

1.  This is important given the context of the Christian community in Rome at the time.

2. Years earlier, when Christianity first arrived in Rome, there were groups that met in people’s homes. the groups were both Jewish-Christians and Gentile Christians.

3. When Emperor Claudius came along, he forced Jews to leave Rome.  he did not distinguish between Jews and Jewish-Christians, so most of the Jewish-Christians had been forced to leave Rome.  

4.  Consequently, most of the Christians in Rome were Gentile-Christians.  

5. At the time of this letter, however,  Roman Jews were being allowed back into Rome, which meant that Jewish-Christians like Priscilla and Aquila are coming back to Rome.  

4.  Paul is hopeful that these two groups, Gentile-Christians and Jewish-Christians, can co-exist, or as Paul writes, they may be may be “mutually encouraged by each other’s faith,”

Move 2:  It seems appropriate that we begin Paul’s letter and its focus on mutual encouragement by coming to our Lord’s Table.

a.  Paul does not explicitly mention the Lord’s Table in this letter, but we have heard his words from his letter to the church in Corinth.

1. we have heard him point out how the Corinthians come to the Lord’s Table in ways that divide them.

2. we have heard him call the Corinthians to a new way of celebrating the Lord’s Supper.

b. Reminder who prepares the Table.

1.  Shim, our custodian may place the communion table in its proper place.

2. Catherine and Connie or other members of church may prepare the bread and wine and juice and set the trays on the Lord’s Table.

3. All necessary and helpful.  could not do it without someone in the background preparing the elements each month.

4. But the Table is prepared first and foremost by our Lord and Savior.

5.   Without Christ’s death on the cross, the bread and juice have little meaning.

6.  Without Christ’s resurrection, the table has little power.  

7. The power of the table comes from the Risen Christ who invites us into a new covenant:  a covenant marked by forgiveness and grace; a covenant that has if foundation in the woe of God to resurrect.

8. This is our Lord’s Table prepared by him in his life and death and now hosted by him as the Resurrected Christ.

c. We are also reminded that this Table is about our community, our fellowship with one another.

1.  Karl Barth in his classic study of Paul’s letter to the Romans, comments that Paul reminds us in this opening section of his letter that fellowship by itself is an “empty and trivial thing.”  But, we cry out for fellowship with it joins us by the power of Holy Spirit to the risen Christ.

2.  the fellowship we discover at our Lord’s Table is not just the good feelings of doing something together with someone else; it is community that allows us to live into the power of God to resurrect.

3.   Robert McAfee Brown in his book Spirituality and Liberation  (p. 142):  “It is my[Brown] first communion service after ordination.  It is taking place on the after gun  turret of the U.S. Navy destroyer during WW II, and I am there because I am a navy chaplain. there is only room for three communicants at a time to come forward and receive the elements.  The first three to respond to the invitation are a Lt. commander, captain of the vessel; a fireman’s apprentice, about as low as one can be in the ordinary naval hierarchy; and steward’s mate, who, because he is black, is not even included in the ordinary naval hierarchy.  all blacks can do then in the the Jim Crow  navy is wait table where the white officers eat.  An officer, a white enlisted man, a black enlisted man. day by day they eat in separate mess halls. There are no circumstances in which they could eat together at a navy table. But at the Lord’s Table, not even Navy  regulations can dictate who eats with whom.”

1.   As you pass the tray of bread or the tray of wine and juice, look at the person to whom you hand the tray.

1. the person to whom you turn may be a loved one to whom you are delighted to hand the tray.

2.  the person to whom you turn may be a loved one with whom you are displeased this morning and your’e not sure you really want to give him or her anything this morning.

3. the person to whom you turn may be a stranger who is hesitant and tentative about participating.

4. the person to whom you turn may confidently receive the trays, sure of what is happening in a a way that you are not.

5. and in all instances, you will pass the tray to the person.

6. Look them in the eye and see someone whom you encourage in their faith, even and they encourage you.  Someone to whom you are tied because both of you are invited to the Lord’s Table to meet the resurrected Christ.

d.  A final thought:  Karl Barth, in his comments on this opening chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans notes that “The Gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question-mark against all truth.”

1.  The Lord’s Table becomes the question mark against all our relationships.

2.  Are we in welcoming relationships?

3.  Are we in relationships where our mutual faith helps each of us grow?

4.  Do our relationships reveal the risen Christ and the power of God to resurrect and bring us into new life?

Conclusion:  Come to our Lord’s Table to meet the Risen Christ.  Amen.

Reflections on "the End?" Genesis 25: 1-7; Genesis 23: 1-20

this sermon ended the sermon series on the Abraham/Sarah/Isaac stories.  I have never preached these texts before, so it was fun to dig into them.

I could have made more of the Ishmael/Isaac point by drawing a specific parallel to our world today and the Christian/Muslim tensions, but thought I would let that point be made in a more subtle way.  I had a couple of people comment that if Isaac and Ishmael could be there together at the funeral that might be a good model for Muslim/Christian relations today, which suggests that some people got the implicit message of the text.

At one point, the sermon had a point connecting Abraham's purchase of the burial land with Jeremiah's purchase of land when the enemy was threatening Jerusalem.  I did not use it because I decided that Jeremiah's purchase was not common knowledge among the listeners, and to tell the background to that story would complicate the sermon more than it needed to be.

Genesis 25: 1-7 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country. 7 This is the length of Abraham’s life, one hundred seventy-five years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, 10 the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with his wife Sarah. 11 After the death of Abraham God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

“The End?” July 30, 2017; Genesis 25: 1-7; SAPC, Denton

Introduction:  We reach the end of the preaching series on the Abraham/Sarah stories, noted, of course, by the reading of the funeral stories for Abraham and Sarah.

As I worked on the sermon, I kept remembering stores about funerals I have done.

One time we had to take the body to a cemetery about 45 minutes away. the funeral home director had been assured that we could see the cemetery from the highway.  Not really.  We found ourselves wandering country roads - the hearse in the lead and the van with the family and the minister following.  I later learned that we kept driving while the funeral home director was waiting for a phone call back from his partner who was hurriedly calling the cemetery to get better directions.  I always wondered if anyone was looking out the window of that farmhouse where the hearse pulled in and turned away and the drove away!what the person thought about the hearse that pulled in

two funerals with Confederate flags; 

showed up at the wrong cemetery one time - I was wondering where everyone was.  Until the day I left OH, the family member would remind me about the day i showed up at the wrong cemetery; 

thing holding the casket slipped in the mud and I had to jump in with the funeral home director and grab the casket - had to send my suit to the cleaners to get the mud cleaned off

I received a call one afternoon. Seems a pet hamster had died and the kids wanted a burial.  Their father wanted to know if I could come do a graveside.  I did.  the dad dug the hole; I said a few words; and then the funeral was over.

I often learn a lot about the person who died or the persons’s family, or their relationships as I work through the funeral process with the family.

What can we learn from the funerals for Sarah and Abraham?

Move 1: Notice the place of burial.

a. When Sarah dies they have no place to bury her.

1. they do not own a plot.

2. they do not have any place to stake out as their own to bury her.

3. they do not have a columbarium sitting right outside the sanctuary like we do.

b.  The lack of a place to bury Sarah provides as stark reminder that they are a wandering people.  

1. they have left their homeland on a promise from God.

2.  As Abraham self-describes himself: “I am a stranger and an alien residing among you.”

3. In a world where power is often defined by the land you own and control, Abraham and Sarah have nothing to show for themselves.

c. nothing to show for themselves except their faith in God.

1.  That does not go without notice.

2.  When Abraham asks for a plot of land to bury his wife, the Hittites note that he is a “mighty prince,” which in the Hebrew actually reads as a “prince of God.”

3. The follows a funny little exchange.

4. the hittites will sell Abraham a plot of land.  After all, what’s 400 shekels between friends.

5. actually, it’s a lot.

6. But Abraham pays it and now he has a piece where he can bury his wife.

c.  The story begins with Abraham, a stranger in foreign land with no place to claim as his own, and it ends with Abraham owning a piece of land as a burial place.

1.  A piece of land that will become a symbol to nomadic people that they have a place.

2.  Why is this important?

3. Biblical scholars tell us that this story often was told during the time of exile.

4. Generations after Abraham had died; after God’s people had claimed the Promised Land; after they had been defeated and sent into exile.

5. Exile was a time when God’s people wondered if they had a future.

6.  If had any reason to hope in God.

7.  In that time, they would tell this story.

8. about strangers in a foreign land who laid claim to property.

9. it became a story of their hope in the God who would not forsake them when they found themselves as exiles, stranger in a foreign land.

10. a story of the burial ground connects them back to their homeland and reminds them they are not defined by land in which they live or the property they own.

11.  They are defined by the God with whom they are in covenant and the God in whom they hope.

e.  We live in a different time, but that truth speaks to us as well.

1.  We are not fully defined by the job we have, or the neighborhood we live in, or our ethnicity, or whatever categories our world uses to define people.

2.  We are defined by whose we are.

3. We are people of the covenant who hope in the God of who has chosen to be in relationship with us and to save us.

Move 2:  Ishmael and Isaac are both there dealing with the funeral details for their father Abraham.

a.  They are not the only kids present.

1. You did notice that Abraham married again after his wife Sarah died.

2. Had lots of kids with his new wife Keturah and has quite a few kids.  

3. after so much time of the Abraham story being spent on providing descendants, the birth of Isaac, and the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael, the tellers of the story sort of slip this on by with no comment.

4. John Calvin, one of the great Reformers, did not let it go unnoticed. He criticized Abraham in this regard; Martin Luther, another great Reformer also notices, but he suggests this reflects Abraham’s pious desire to provide many descendants (Brueggemann, Genesis, 202)

5.  Sort of helps out the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars.  

6. We also notice that Isaac still has special status and gets treated differently.

b. With all that being said, here are Ishmael and Isaac, both attending to their father’s funeral.

1. Were they feuding?

2. who knows. 

3.  I had a funeral once where two brothers were feuding over the will their mother had left.  Both of the brothers routinely carried guns and had tempers.  I was a bit worried about how things might go at the church and then graveside.  No violence erupted, but it added some excitement to the funeral.

4.  We do not know how they were getting along, but we know that Isaac and Ishmael, who had been at odds literally since birth were at this moment standing side by side at their father’s burial spot.

c.  A vision of the hope and promise we have in God who calls us to reconciliation and new life.

1. We see Ishmael and Isaac there together at their father’s grave, and we believe that their differences can be overcome.

2.  their past history, the injustices that one or both had suffered, the anger toward each other and fear of each other had been overwhelmed by God’s desire for reconciliation.  

3.  In that moment we get a glimpse of the God of new life and new opportunities, the God we know as a God of resurrection.

Move 3:  From Abraham’s funeral, the story will continue with Isaac and his wife Rebekah.

a. If you read further in Genesis, you will discover:

1. Isaac and Rebekah being sent to a foreign land.

2. Isaac and Rebekah find themselves living among strangers who are asking Isaac about Rebekah, and he tells them she is his sister.

3. Isaac and Rebekah with two sons and a struggle to see which one is the one through whom the covenant will travel.

4.  Isaac and Rebekah making choices as parents that make us wonder about their parenting skills.

5. It is Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac all over again.

6.  It is you and I all over again.

b.  And yet, and yet there is God at work.

1. In the midst of God’s people.

2. Despite God’s people.

3.  Giving hope to God’s people.

4. Saving God’s people.

Conclusion:  We in the Presbyterian Church call a funeral “a celebration of life” and a “witness to the resurrection.”

A celebration of Abraham and Sarah’s lives.

A witness to the God of resurrection.

Amen.

Reflections on "Standing By" Genesis 24: 10-17

As i began to work on Sunday's sermon in earnest, I realized I had not post last week's sermon.

I do not believe I have ever preached this text, so it was fun to dig at it for the first time.  one thought that never made the sermon (I ran across it too late to include) was Rebekah as the next generation's Abraham because she gave up her homeland and left to follow God's call.  or maybe Rebekah is the precursor to Ruth.  A whole sermon could have been on Rebekah's decision to go.  her act of faithfulness could also have been played off against her brother's negotiating.  Sort of he goes for money, she follows God!  That sermon will have to wait to be preached.

I had decided I needed a little humor in this sermon since I felt like I'd not had much humor in recent sermons, which sometimes means I am taking myself a bit too seriously.  Thus, the story near the end.  i don't think I forced it into the flow. After the service, someone noted that my example of the watering hole being a good place to find a woman sounds like why guys still go to watering holes today.  If I had thought of that, it would have been a humorous comment I could have added to the sermon as well.

The conclusion in this sermon as written below is not the conclusion I used, but I can't remember what I did do.  I was in the flow of conversation and when it felt like ending, I did.

The sermon worked for me, but sometimes that's not a good sign!

Genesis 24:  10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master; and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. 11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was toward evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

15 Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. 16 The girl was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.” 18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. 19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, 23 and said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” 24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 She added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night.” 26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord 27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin.”

“Standing By” July 23, 2017; Genesis 24: 1-19; SAPC, Denton

Move 1:  Abraham entrusts his servant with an important task.

a.  Handshake/swearing scene - hand underneath thing; some kind of Three Stooges scene

1. Kind of silly, but it reflects the importance of what is about to take place — finding a spouse for Isaac.

2.  In part, it reflects Abraham’s trust in God to continue to act to fulfill the promise God made to Abraham — “you go to this new land; I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars.

3.  needless to say, if Isaac never marries and has children, the promise goes unfulfilled.

3. We might also note that Abraham still feels the need to help God along in keeping the promise.

b.  as the father of three daughters, part of me likes the idea of sending someone to find the spouse for each of them.

1.  I could come up with some pretty good criteria criteria:  Good job; treat my daughters well. respect their father; be a  Presbyterian.

2. Really, would three arranged marriages be that bad?

3.  OK, not really.  and don’t mention it to my daughters.

4. Abraham’s criteria is a little different.

5. Wants his daughter-in-law to be one of his tribe, not one of those different people that he now lives among.

c. servant recognizes the importance of this task and the challenge of it.

1.  He asks for clarification.

2. what if the woman does not want to come back.

3. at some point, do I take Isaac back, or do I keep Isaac here in the new land?

4.  the servant recognizes that Abraham has entrusted him in an important task.

d. God entrusts us with important tasks.

1.  We have seen this with Abraham - God calls him into relationship and then God has things for him to do.

2.  The servant swears himself to Abraham’s service, and then Abraham sends him off with an important job.

3.  when you said, “i believe,” and committed yourself to being a follower of Christ, those were not the final two words of your faith journey.

4. they were the beginning of your following the one who entrusts you with important tasks.

 

Move 2:  Servant tests the process to see what God might be doing and then acts.

a.  Watering hole is like a truck stop.

1.  Everyone traveling through that area stops with their camels for waters; everyone who lives in the area and needs water for the household sends a woman to get the water; lots of comings and goings.

2.  Lots of options.

2.  If you were looking for a woman, this is the right place.

b.  Servant is taking it in, watching the women come and go.

1. But how is he going to find the woman who is to be Isaac’s wife?

2.  He comes up with a plan:  “I’m standing here God. So how about this.  I ask women for water.  the one who gives me water and offers to get water for the camels as well is the one?”

2.  The servant being proactive about communicating with God to try and figure out what God has planned.

3. Sure enough, here comes Rebekah.  she gives him water and then offers to water the camels.

c. What does the servant do then?  He gazes at her.

1.  Even after Rebekah does what she is supposed to do as a sign, the servant gazes at here.

2. is she really the one?

3. Maybe she is just a nice woman who is extending hospitality?

4. God has done what the servant has asked, but Is the servant willing to bank on it?

3.  he steps forward to act on what he believes to be true to what God is doing in the moment.

d.  What does it take for you to act.

1.  The servant did more than just plan.

2. the servant did more than just test God to make sure of the validity of the plan.

3. the servant stepped forward and acted in faith.

4.  Challenge of being  a disciple - you can plan, you can ask God for clarification, you can even believe God has provided sufficient guidance — but none of that matters, unless you step forward.

Move 3:  Maturing faith that sees God at work.

a. God does not explicitly act in this story.

1. Abraham assumes God will act — in fact, he tells is servant that God will show him who will be Isaac’s wife.

2.  But, we never hear the voice of God confirming Abraham’s belief.

3.  This Abraham is far different than the Abraham who doubted God would protect him so he lied and had his wife lie. 

4.  Abraham has grown and matured in his faith.

b.  In the servant we see someone who has the faith to trust that God is at work.

1.  when the servant gives thanks to God in vs. 26, he notes that he has been “led” by God to find Rebekah.  eh repeats that phrase in vs. 48 when he tells Rebekah’s family his story.

1.  Nowhere else in Genesis is this word “led” used. 

2.  the Hebrew word has a rich history, of course, in being associated with the description provided in Psalm 23 of our Lord who as our shepherd, “leads” (same root word) -  “us beside still waters.”

3.  Abraham and the servant believe God is in their midst revealing Rebekah to them, and God is true to their faithfulness.

4.  Again and again, God has been faithful to Abraham.

6.  Now Abraham expects God to be faithful to him in the present moment.

7. a maturing of his faith.

8. an example for all of us.

Perhaps you have heard the story of the elderly lady who was well-known for her faith and for her boldness  n talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout PRAISE THE LORD!

Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, "There ain't no Lord!!"
Hard times set in on the elderly lady and she prayed for GOD to send her some assistance.. She stood on her porch and shouted
 

"PRAISE THE LORD....GOD I NEED FOOD!! I
 AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!"

 The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, "Praise the Lord."
 The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Ha..Ha. I told you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries. God didn't."

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and saying, "Praise the Lord, The Lord not only sent me groceries but made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!" 

conclusion:  Abraham entrusts his servant with an important task.  Are you ready for the important tasks God entrust with you?

The servant steps forward in faith.  Will you?

Abraham and the servant expect God to be present and at work in their midst.  Do you?