We Are the Light of the World: Truth and Fullness By the Rev. Dr. Eric O. Ledermann RCL Year B Deuteronomy 18.15-20 (NRSV) 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. 16 This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die. Mark 1.21-28 (NRSV) 21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, What 17 Then the LORD replied to me: They are right in what they have said. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19 Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come out of him! 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. myself will hold accountable. 20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak that prophet shall die. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Our siblings in the United Church of Page 1 of 30
Christ have a curious symbol they ve adopted. Have you seen it? It s a single apostrophe. Attached to it is a motto that, I believe, speaks to some of the desperation and despair that so many have experienced in modern times. All over their websites, across their literature, and even in their day-to-day Page 2 of 30
speech, I hear the words, God is still speaking. In other words, God did not stop speaking to or being present with people sometime in the first or second century when the last texts that are a part of our holy scriptures were penned. In fact, in the Page 3 of 30
intervening years between texts, God continued to be present in creation guiding, loving, and even prodding at times. There is no time in creation when God could possibly have not been present or speaking in powerful, profound, and prolific ways. Page 4 of 30
God is still speaking in places of We Are the Light of the World: Truth and Fullness" devastation from human acts of violence, in places of despair from natural disasters, as well as in places of desolation despite an increasingly connected global community. God s voice can still be heard in the joys of human achievement, as well as in the challenges Page 5 of 30
of human frailty. In the texts of Deuteronomy we have what one author called a preached law that is, a contextually applied collection of teachings, or torah for road-weary Hebrews on the edge of the land that they believed God had Page 6 of 30
promised Abraham and Sarah so long ago. 1 In today s lectionary text, Moses has led the people to the edge of this promised land. He is giving his final instructions, and suggesting to the people that God will continue to speak to them through another prophet who will follow. And throughout the ages, God has 1 Patrick D. Miller, Deuteronomy, Interpretation Series (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), 12, quoted in Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Preaching God s Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 82. Page 7 of 30
remained faithful, speaking through prophets truth-tellers who remind us again and again of who we are and whose we are; of what we are called to do and be. The message has not really changed since the time of Moses, though the means and language has changed with our everincreasing understanding of the world Page 8 of 30
and universe around us. I have often wondered what a modern-day teaching text might read like. Well, actually we have lots of them, though we have not yet been able to discern what is and what is not holy or sacred. But we have prophets even today. We ve heard people like Phyllis Tickle, who has helped us open Page 9 of 30
our eyes to the human tendency to put layers upon layers of what we like to call refinements on God s eternal word, until the pile gets so high it is no longer bearable. She has suggested that about every 500 years or so the weight of tradition-for-tradition s-sake gives way to a theological rummage sale of sorts. We Page 10 of 30
finally discard so much of the dead weight that is holding us back from truly entering into the ongoing creative work of God. In our Adult Sunday School class we have been reading from the prophet the truth-teller Brian McLaren, from his newest book, The Great Spiritual Page 11 of 30
Migration. Some have suggested this book is truly a culmination of all his life s work, and a truly prophetic message with the subtitle of: How the World s Largest Religion is Seek a Better way to be Christian. You see? God is still speaking. The question is: are we listening? Page 12 of 30
We in the Presbyterian Church are trying to listen. But we seem to be living in an increasingly noisy world. It s easy for us to lose our way, to lose our bearings and miss the subtle callings of God. In Mark s gospel we read about Jesus exorcising a demon early in his ministry. Page 13 of 30
Mark wastes no time in declaring Jesus God-given power over all creation, including demonic forces. As children of the modern and now postmodern era understand demonic possession a little differently than our gospel writers may have. We understand Page 14 of 30
things like mental illness, or social marginalization and isolation, that can often result in what may be perceived as mental illness, but really us just the human cry for connection. A few years ago, we welcomed a United Methodist minister whose charge from her bishop was simply: to do nothing... BUT... Page 15 of 30
communicate the love of God. For three years that became five, the Rev. Lorenza Andrade-Smith committed herself to a life in solidarity with the poor and homeless. She became homeless herself, sleeping on the streets, depending on the kindness and generosity of others, giving her pastoral pay, her medical and pension Page 16 of 30
benefits, and all the privileges of her position. She journeyed with a bag and a chalice tied to her waist. She came to us a few years into her appointment. She shared how her hair had turned gray in those few years. She shared how the stressors of homelessness, malnutrition, and fear can actually cause mental illness Page 17 of 30
in a person who was previously mentally healthy. The demons we recognize in these days are a different from the demons of the first century. Instead of legions, we are facing the demons of indifference to those who are suffering. Instead of possession, we are facing the demons of fear in the face of diversity, in Page 18 of 30
the face of depression, in the face of bipolar or schizophrenia, in the face of our lack of understanding. Be silent! Jesus powerfully commands the demons that so often bind us and keep us from hearing our God who keeps on speaking, keeps on loving, keeps on calling, keeps on caring, keeps on keeping on. Be silent, and come Page 19 of 30
out of him, Jesus says to the demons that cause our blindness to the poor, that cause our willful carelessness of this fragile earth, that cause our hatred of the other who is, in all honestly, a lot more like us than not. A new teaching, the crowd says to one Page 20 of 30
another. No, not really. Actually, an ancient teaching that dates before Moses, before Abraham, before creation itself. It is an ancient teaching that gives witness to our inter-connectedness with God, one another, and even the universe itself. A new teaching that has been handed down, generation to generation, in the forms of Page 21 of 30
laws, insights, encouragements, and even understandings. It s a teaching that reminds us that God is, indeed, still speaking. God has not left us. God has not fallen silent. It is a teaching that reminds us of the truth of God s everlasting love and presence in each one of us, in each person we see, in each plant or animal, in Page 22 of 30
the very essence of the universe of which we are a part. It is at truth and a fullness that is often overwhelming, so overwhelming our minds snap back like a stretched rubber band to the little worlds we ve carved out of the chaos of noise that too often surrounds us. And then, God calls out again...beyond ourselves, Page 23 of 30
beyond our comfort zones, out into the world and to the places we might, without God, otherwise anxiously avoid going. Which prophets are you listening to? Do they preach a gospel of self-interest, or do they share a gospel of interconnectedness? Do they preach a Page 24 of 30
gospel that makes feel good about all the privilege we hold dear, or do they challenge us to use our privilege to shed God s light of love on those living in the shadows, whose voices are being silenced or, like the Rev. Andrade- Smith, like Muhandis Ghandi who left the world of Oxford law in order to be with Page 25 of 30
his people who were suffering, to shed our privilege and choose to be in solidarity with God s most precious children? Do your prophets feed your ego, or challenge your compassion? Do they feed your fear, or call you to do justice, embrace kindness, and walk humbly with your God? Page 26 of 30
God is still speaking. Can you hear the ancient voice of the One calling you out in the wilderness of need, the jungle of forgottenness, the forest of exclusion? God is still speaking through the aches and pains of a creation under stress. Can you hear the cries for help from the Page 27 of 30
shrinking glaciers, the flooding wetlands, the torrential downpours, the desolate wastelands? God is, indeed, still speaking through communities such as ours every time we reach out in love to the ones whom others say aren t good enough, right enough, or Page 28 of 30
sinless enough; with every manna bag we hand out to someone in need, every spoonful of good food we offer someone who is hungry, with every smile we give freely and lovingly to a stranger, with every march at the capitol, with every risk we take for the sake of the vulnerable. As we look back at last year and reflect on Page 29 of 30
God s constant presence in our lives, may we move into this coming year and seek to listen ever more intently to what it is God is calling us to as a community of faith. God is still speaking, my friends. Our creator, redeemer, and sustainer is still speaking. Amen. Page 30 of 30