Scripture and Discipleship The Rev. Jim Trimble; St. James Episcopal Church, Pewee Valley KY Proper 28, Year C: November 17, 2013

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1 Scripture and Discipleship The Rev. Jim Trimble; St. James Episcopal Church, Pewee Valley KY Proper 28, Year C: November 17, 2013 Let me begin again with the Collect of the Day, which happens to be my favorite out of the 52 Sunday Collects in the church year: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. For me, for us, this tells us of the authority of scripture in how we live our lives as Christians. Holy Scripture, as it has come to us, is foundational to our faith in that it tells stories of our ancestors relationship with God and with each other. These Holy Scriptures have been used for centuries to inspire faithful living, promote dreams of life after death, and spread ideas of how to live in communities of faith among other things. They have also been used to ostracize people who are different, separate family from family, harm others who think different from us, and dictate ways of living with that might have nothing to do with our current time. New Testament professor Christopher Bryan says that a single story runs throughout scripture the story of creation and fall, the call of Abraham, the Exodus, Sinai, the settlement, exile, and return; it is the subsequent story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us and for our salvation, of the giving of the Spirit and the foundation of the church, and the future, final presence of Christ as savior and judge. But, while there might be one thread of story running through these 66 books of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, there are thousands of illustrations of people interacting with God and with each other in an attempt to live a life devoted to loving and serving God. And here s what s important..there is never just ONE way to do it. Our Prayer Book s collect tells us that these stories were written for us to learn: Learn how the people of Israel told stories of how the world came to be and the love that God has for all creation. Learn how the people of God, in their journey with God, sometimes fell and failed, were punished, yet lifted back up and continued to be held in love by God.

2 Learn how God so loved this world that he would truly live as one of us here on earth and spend time in community with others spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Learn how to point our lives in the way of good, even though it will be difficult and painful and unpopular. Learn how good life will be after our death and resurrection to spend the rest of time with God. The prophet Malachi tells some of this story today some 450 years before the birth of Christ. The people of Israel have been rescued from exile and have settled back in Jerusalem to live once more in their land as God s people. But they became too comfortable again and their faithfulness was starting to wane. Malachi was called to bring the people back to their duty as God s people, especially the priests and the Temple hierarchy. In the passage today, he is describing what s called The Day of the Lord, and that when it comes these folks had better be ready. So, to make it clear, this was a book written down in 450 BC directed to a certain group of Jewish people whose idea of community and faithfulness to God was starting to be misdirected. This was a prophet of God sent to turn them back to their faithful ways. We can find messages in this Book today 25 centuries later in how we live our lives as people of God, too. Now, this message cannot be perfectly laid on top of our 21 st century American culture and we expect it to make perfect sense and to follow it literally. This was in a community on the other side of the world 2500 years ago to families of Jewish people. Who had no indoor plumbing, electric stoves, corporate boardrooms, or shopping malls. They didn t even have printed copies of their Bible. What we do is take in and study the context of these passages, learn about the people of that time, why these stories were written down never expecting them to survive all these centuries later, and study the message of what was going on. From there, we can interpret this story from an ancient language and people and see what it means for us today. Keep the faith is one important message we can take away from this ancestral story!

3 In Luke s Gospel, Jesus is trying to shake a little reality into his apostles and followers. The Temple in Jerusalem has been standing for about 550 years and has become the most glorious symbol of their faith that anyone has ever seen. It has evolved, in not being just a place of worship, but the seat of power for the Jewish government and Temple hierarchy, a marketplace, a treasury, and a place where only certain people are accepted. People have become way too comfortable in this life and their faith in God is waning, similar to the situation with Malachi. They have started to worship the worship of God, rather than worshiping God. They have started to worship the laws of God, rather than God. They have been complacent with the separation of people rather than remembering that all of Israel has been called as children of God. Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple, as well as the whole of Jerusalem, by the Roman Empire, only 40 years away. That whole way of life will abruptly come to an end and they ll find new ways of being Jewish and following God. They will have a new way of living with each other in community once the Temple is gone, once the power structure is gone, once their homeland is gone, once their comfort is gone. Their love for God, though, and God s love for them will not be gone. Their lifestyle will have to change, and along with that, the way they live a godly life. That message is for the Jews who will scatter to the winds after this destruction. For those who follow Jesus, though, and live into this new way of living together in community and living with God, it will be hard. They will be persecuted by family and by enemy. They will be spit upon, beaten, betrayed, and killed. The life of a Jesus-follower will not be the easy life they re used to in Jerusalem under the protection and safety of the Temple. Life as they know it will drastically change, and their love for each other and God, as they live together in community will sustain them and bring them through these times. They now have an everlasting life with God to look forward to. As 21 st century Americans it might be hard for us to relate to this passage. There is not a Temple in Jerusalem and has not been in almost 2000 years, and there s certainly not one in the United States. For our faith in the living God through our Saviour Jesus Christ, we can t imagine being physically persecuted, or harassed, or betrayed. Even if that was a reality

4 for us today, would we have the strength of faith to withstand it if we were given the opportunity to deny it, or would we stand strong in our Christian convictions? This passage, for instance, if you study its context and its interpretation for, say, a community of Jesus-followers over in Egypt right now, the Coptic Christians, will have immense power and relevance. These people are truly being persecuted and killed because of their beliefs, worship and faith in Christ. For us here at St. James, though, we might see the importance of not becoming so comfortable in our lives that we forget the importance of our faith in God, forget the strength of living our faith in community, or start worshiping the things in our culture that distract us from the true love of God and neighbor. Paul, the apostle and missionary for the early church, writes today s letter to the new community of faith in Thessalonica, today being the second largest city on Greece, but around the year 50 AD, an important town in Europe to where Paul established a new Christian body. He s inspiring them to remain in community, that it takes everyone working for the Kingdom of God to make all this happen.the spread of way of following Jesus in the face of people worshiping idols and the mighty Roman Empire. These newly-formed communities of faith not only worshiped together, but lived together, took care of each other, and looked after everyone in need. Paul writes that Jesus gave us all a model of how to live our lives in relationship with each other and with God, and that we all needed to be involved in the life of the community! Like I ve said many times, without context and interpretation, passages and verses from our Holy Scripture can be very dangerous and can be used for wrong purposes. Our Bible Study group on Tuesdays is exploring the Marcus Borg book, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. Its subtitle is Taking the Bible Seriously, but Not Literally. This is very important. If we try to take everything in the Bible at face-value and try to lay all that neatly on top of our culture today and expect it to be 100% true and factual for our life today, I think we ll be disappointed when it doesn t work. For instance, from today s passage in the Epistle, Anyone unwilling to work should not eat, has been used many times by people decrying the idea that we

5 should assist anyone who is not able or unwilling to work. Period. The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it. This is a lazy, unproductive, and dangerous way of living out these Holy Scriptures. It absolves anyone of personally and communally studying these sacred stories that have been passed down to us. It ends up being what s called cheap grace in not fully exploring what God is telling us through these experiences. The same can be said on the other end of the spectrum if you acknowledge that these stories are just written for people hundreds of years ago and have no relevance to us today, and has no message for how we are to live our lives. Our call as Christians is to live in this middle ground of biblical study, interpretation, and application. For instance, in Paul s letter to the Thessalonians, he s talking about how people are to live together in a community of faith. Everyone needs to come together and do the work of following Jesus. Everyone. He s saying that being a member of the Church is not just something you do, but it s a new way of living. And we re all in different points along that journey, but we should all be in it together. At St. James, as I preached last week, we are not a social club, or civic organization, or charitable non-profit. We are the Body of Christ. That involves commitment to living as a Jesus-follower. When Jesus calls us, Follow me, and we say yes, we don t clarify that by putting conditions around our yes. I can only come to church a few times a year. I ll live as Christ lives starting next week, or maybe the week after. I m really busy and can t make it. I m fine with just coming on some Sundays and getting my church on. I don t think I m ready to make such a commitment. I want to make a commitment, but don t know how. I m going through a real hard time and can t let anyone see my pain. I only have a few dollars to spare to give to my parish.

6 Why can t those poor folks pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make it work. I did, why can t they. n We hired a priest to do all the Christian stuff for us, so we don t have to (an actual response by a congregation in Louisville to living a Christian life as a parish). Yes, we re human. Yes, we have busy lives. Yes, there are distractions that take us away from the worship and praise of God through Jesus Christ. Yes, they schedule soccer games on Sunday mornings. Yes, our budgets take hits all the time through circumstances beyond our control. Yes, you might not always agree with how I interpret Holy Scripture. Yes, you might not know everyone s name in the pews. Yes, we might have different models of leadership and do things a little differently in bringing together a people of faith. Yes, you might be high or low person on the totem pole in your jobs and careers. Yes, you ve been in church leadership for years and years and want to give other people a chance. Yes, you ve never been in church leadership before and are scared to make that first step. Yes, you might feel uncomfortable with meeting new people, especially your neighbors. Yes, you are human. Yes, life happens. All these reasons and excuses and conditions on the Yes to following Jesus.they re all in the Bible. We re not alone in that. We ve been saying Yes, but for centuries. But that changes today. And it changes tomorrow. And it changes every day you wake up. We cannot say, Yes, I m Christian and here s the baptismal records to prove it, and then not live that out in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We have to wake up each and every morning, re-declare our Yes to following Christ, make a commitment to a church community, the Body of Christ, and give ourselves over to the Holy Spirit to guide us in how we live. At St. James, we elect a body of nine of our own folks to lead us, along with the ordained clergy, in collaborative ministry here within our church community and then out in the world beyond these walls.

7 These nine folks and the ordained clergy, for instance are not the only ones called to do the actual work of the Body of Christ. That call of Jesus, Follow me, has been given to each and every one of us, the priesthood of ALL believers, and we have all said Yes. And all God s people said AMEN!