PENTECOST 26 (33) 18 November Connection

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1 PENTECOST 26 (33) 18 November 2018 Connection Introduction Disconnection (Hebrews ) Grant Bullen When a relationship breaks down (marriage is the obvious example, but it also applies to a family or a close friendship) the parties generally describe the problem by listing the behaviours and failures of the other party. But that s not actually the cause Rather it s that the two people have become disconnected from each other. And disconnection doesn t come from the failings of the other but from the sense of unworthiness/inadequacy that lives within all of us. 1 Personal shame learned as a child and then reinforced by life experience held unconsciously leading to withdrawal (disconnection) which is then projected out onto the partner. If a therapist can encourage the couple to practise simple patterns/behaviours of connection then they will re-connect and the perceived problems can be resolved indeed, many vanish into thin air because they weren t ever the issue in the first place. But, that s never going to happen without the partners dealing with their own stuff that is, each person putting-down their internalised shame and accepting that they are worthy of love. The Letter to the Hebrews We ve had portions from the Letter to the Hebrews as our Second Reading for the last weeks 6 weeks and I don t know about you, but I find them heavy going quite impenetrable. That s because the letter was written for a totally different audience to us using metaphors and discussing ideas that have no immediate connection with our lives. There is an application but we have to work for it. 1 Perhaps some rare individuals escape this, but I don t think I ve ever met one of them. 1

2 The Letter to the Hebrews is written 2 for a Jewish-Christian church, talking to them via their experience of temple sacrifice. Sacrifice is not part of our faith experience (I assume none of you can recall a goat being slaughtered at St Theodore s). And because it s so foreign to us, we often mistakenly assume that sacrifice is about punishment killing something or someone because the gods enjoy seeing us suffer and feel better about us as a consequence. But it s not like that at all The Jews, like all 3 ancient people, felt a powerful and painful sense of disconnection from God there was separation between them. As they told the story of our human beginnings 4, life began with a perfect connection in the Garden but then through our human failing it was broken. We were dispatched from God s presence in shame our sin meant we were no longer worthy God couldn t relate intimately with us any longer. And they read their national history through a series of reconnections and disconnections from God because they were sinful people. Sacrifice was the ancient way of re-connecting people with their god. In Jewish religion there were two types of sacrifice: offering God a gift of something precious like a valuable animal or crop; and/or sharing a meal with God. This shouldn t be hard for us to understand present-giving and having-a-meal are common ways we build connection with friends to this day. Ancient people assumed the same behaviour would work with the gods. In Israel, sacrifice was offered by individuals to deal with their own personal unworthiness and by the temple priests on behalf of the whole nation, to deal with the peoples corporate sinfulness. By the time of Jesus, Jewish sacrifice was restricted to the temple in Jerusalem seen as the centre of God s presence on earth. The Jewish sense of disconnection was built into the physical space as well as the ritual. Ordinary people could only enter the external perimeter the courtyards they couldn t enter the temple proper because they were not worthy of God s presence. Only the priests could enter and only after they had ritually cleansed themselves. Only the high priest could enter the holy of holies that part of the temple that was the heart of God s presence and even he could only enter one day a year 5 and then only after he had offered appropriate sacrifice to deal with his own personal unworthiness. 2 We don t know the author but it wasn t Paul. 3 It seems quite universal but then I m not an expert on this. 4 Genesis 5 The Day of Atonement. 2

3 The temple priests offered daily sacrifice on behalf of the people and it worked but only for so long. Because of their continuing sinfulness, it had to be offered over and over again. This is where the Letter to the Hebrews comes in The good news (Hebrews proclaims) is that all of this changes with the self-sacrifice of Christ. What was once disconnected is now re-connected for all time. We read this morning (Eugene Peterson s translation) Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it!... It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone. (11-12) So, now we can all enter the presence of God. Do you remember in Mark s gospel, how the veil of the temple is torn in two at the crucifixion? That s referring to the curtain the blocked the way into the Holy of Holies. In Christ s self-offering, nothing blocks the way anymore! So, friends, we can now without hesitation walk right up to God, into the Holy Place. (19) The old separation is gone dealt with and we can return to the intimacy of connection once known in the Garden. How is the separation caused by sin dealt with? In Christ, God offers himself as the gift that bridges the disconnection. God s love is the gift and nothing more is needed but for us to say thank you. Good News It s easy to see why it s good news for the letter s target audience But what about for us? We ve never felt the need or obligation to sacrifice have we??? Experience tells me we feel the exact same divide between us and God as our forebears. We think there is always a gap, a distance, a separation because we are inadequate and unworthy of the 3

4 divine love. In our sort of church, we don t talk about it, and many of us aren t even conscious of it but nonetheless it shows in our behaviour and our non-intimate way of relating to God. 6 We don t offer goats on the altar anymore, but remember how we were taught You have to be good you have to be obedient you have to believe you have to go to church you have to do something with your life if you want to be acceptable to God. We were taught, that in our selves, just as we are, we re unacceptable unworthy unless we can offer something to change God s mind. There is always that perception of distance between us and God and deep inside we feel it s our fault. So, this news from the Letter to the Hebrews is good news for us too. Any perception of distance between us and God is illusory not true because all of that has been dealt with in the selfoffering of Christ Jesus for everyone and for all time. It s done! The ultimate gift is offered by God and the gift is love and we just need to wake up and realise we are entirely lovable. Connection between us and God is not only possible it s easy and it s available all the time. Conclusion Waking Up I m not at all sure what Jesus himself would think of all our theologising. all our convoluted words, doctrines, arguments I suspect he d find the Letter to the Hebrews somewhat impenetrable too! The more I listen to his voice speaking through the Gospels, the more I hear him simply saying, Look, this love affair, this deep connection between God and us just is. It s just the way it is. It s reality. He didn t resort to theology much he thought the truth was more likely to break-through if he told stories Like the Parable of the Prodigal Son about a young man who makes a mess of things, and finds himself totally isolated a long long way from home And who decides his only hope is to try to reconnect somehow but who feels so ashamed and bad about himself, that he doesn t know how to even begin to bridge that gap. And so, he rehearses a long speech about how unworthy he is and how he doesn t deserve anything, but could there perhaps be a crumb thrown in his direction Whereas in reality, all that time, his Dad s just waiting for him with a heart breaking from 6 Even if we won t own up to it, society knows the truth that we know little or nothing of the encounter with God. We are a church that talks about God. 4

5 overflowing love. All the boy needs do is open his eyes and see and say thank you yes, I d love to join the party. All of us make such heavy weather of this faith business but one day we ll wake up and see. As far as God s concerned, we re entirely lovable. Disconnection? What disconnection? 5