Seaside United Church of Christ March 4, 2018 SERMON 3 rd Sunday of Lent, Year B Ten Commandments & Millennium Development Goals by Rev. Dr. Joseph Francis Cistone LECTIONARY TEXTS: (call to Worship adapted from Psalm 19) Our first reading this morning is from the Hebrew Book Exodus, Chapter 20: verses 1-17: Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Our Gospel Reading today is from John, Chapter 2, verses 13-22: The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. The Word of the Lord, AMEN! 2
DRAFT SERMON NOTES 3 rd Sunday of Lent, Year B Ten Commandments & Millennium Development Goals Please join me for a moment in silent prayer... May the words of our mouths and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you oh Lord, our rock & our redeemer. Welcome back everyone! It s hard to believe it s been three weeks since we gathered here and I shared my love of the Olympics and the Transfiguration among other things during our Sermon time. The past two Sundays, Snow and Sonogee have kept us from gathering here. It s good to be back reflecting with you on Scripture, Worship, and our life together in this faith community. Today is the Third Sunday in Lent. We have been sharing this Lenten Season with our MDI UCC Partners. Our Ash Wednesday Service went well thank you again to those of you who joined our sisters and brothers from across this Island in Bar Harbor and this past week we hosted our Lenten Lecture Series with our former Designated Pastor, Bruce Burnham. Those of you who were there know Bruce spoke engagingly about his love of Harry Potter and the parallels in Harry s and Jesus s life. Harry was a magician as most of you know and he wore robes at school, much like this black doctoral robe I have on this morning. But his scarf, like my stole, was colorful. And his colors, like mine, had deep significance. In the case of Harry s House, Gryffindor, red and gold. The other houses Hufflepuf, yellow & black; Ravenclaw, blue & bronze; Slytherin (the rival house of Gryffindor but also a house that could quite clearly use Harry s talents), green & silver. And Harry, like Moses and Jesus, is tempted by the 3
possibilities an alternative ambitious and self-centered use of his talents could provide. Temptation just part of the reason Ten Commandments are important and Millennial Goals are relevant! 1 But first a little more about color in Lent. I won t get into the significance of all the colors just now that s for another sermon! but I do want to point our that my purple stole holds significance in Lent. Does anyone know what that is? Purple? Why significant? On my stole and also here on our Eucharistic table?... Purple historically for the Christian Churches is more than a royal color we might think of from Rome, my favorite color, or a symbol for women s liberation (as in the extraordinary book by Alice Walker so named, The Color Purple). Purple symbolized penitence, or more clearly, a time of penance. 2 That s what Lent is about, right, a time of penitential preparation for Holy Week and Easter. And so I wear and our liturgical colors during this Season is purple. So today s Exodus reading is hugely relevant for us. Perhaps no other text in our shared scripture with our Jewish brothers and sisters has been used more as the basis for instilling in us and guiding us with a sense of what is sin as these Ten Commandments. When we re-read Exodus we are reminded that they are far from as crisply written as the plaques on which we see them, but they are ten: 1 http://www.mugglenet.com/2004/07/the-significance-of-house-colors/ 2 Notes on the Lectionary and Liturgical Colors by the Rev. Susan Blain, Curator for Worship and Liturgical Arts Faith Formation Ministry, Local Church Ministries, United Church of Christ, (Essay based on an article by Laurence Hull Stookey: "Putting Liturgical Colors in their Place" in Calendar: Christ's Time for the Church 1996 Abingdon Press.), ucc.org 4
Anyone want to tell me what they are? Tag a stab at the simple version : 1) I am the Lord thy God, thou shall not have any gods before me. 2) You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything. 3) You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. 4) Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 5) Honor your father and your mother. 6) You shall not murder. 7) You shall not commit adultery. 8) You shall not steal. 9) You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 10) You shall not covet your neighbor's house, wife, or property. It is largely for the violation of these Ten Commandments that most of us see as what we need to seek penance, forgiveness for. Isn t it? I know they were for me: an easy cheat sheet for me when I went to the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation as a child. I d rack my brain to think of when I had not honored my father or mother? When had I coveted my neighbors goods. What about that piece of candy I stole from one of my sisters. These were my guide for Confession, for Penance as the Priest dictated usually something like say a few Hail Mary s and don t ever do that again! but they really aren t what Penitence is about. Penance AND the Ten Commandments are really about RELATIONSHIPS! 3 How we relate to those we love for sure parents, children, spouses, partners but also, perhaps especially, for all those we may barely know the students slaughtered at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Refugees from Syria, DACA kids from Boston to LA! Even as we are learning more and more each day how we relate to the Earth, water, flora & fauna around us! 3 Reflection on Exodus 20:1-17, by Kate Huey, UCC Sermon Seeds for March 4, 2018. 5
While we may use these Ten Commandments from Exodus to guide our relationships, for me it is Matthew 25 that shows us the way to RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER in a more positive, pro-active sense: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. 4 And when we find even those more succinct guidelines too complicated, perhaps too much to ask, then perhaps the simplicity of the so-called Golden Rule is enough: do onto others as you would have them do onto you. But unfortunately, life, my friends, is complicated and while the Golden Rule common in all the world s Great Religions is a nice simply guide: we live in times (as all times really have been) where more, infinitely more is required of us as the annual UCC One Great Hour of Sharing Appeal this month, and especially next week, reminds us! And that is why as a Just Peace and Open & Affirming Congregation we might want to look more directly at the United Nation s Millennium Development Goals (not millennial goals like spending less time on social media), especially as we consider the UCC s annual call for our participation in the One Great Hour of Sharing appeal. Who of you have heard of them? Can you tell us some?..there s eight, not 10! Let me repeat them for you now: 1) to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; 2) to achieve universal primary education; 3) to promote gender equality and empower women; 4) to reduce child mortality; 5) to improve maternal health; 6) to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; 7) to ensure environmental sustainability; and 4 Matthew 25:31-46 6
8) to develop a global partnership for development. 5 According to the UN, these were supposed to be achieved by 2015 as a sign of our commitment to one another in this new millennium. Clearly they have not been achieved but they are a guidepost for what being a Just Peace Congregation is largely about, aren t they? As we continues to pray about what it means to be a Just Peace Congregation how we live out our faith life in ways that are Open and Affirming, these global goals should be just as important as those Ten Commandments because they reflect how we live out what Jesus asks of us in Matthew 25 in an increasingly inter-dependent world. The Global Village if you will. And since not all of these were achieved by 2015 no surprise really and while not good, that s OK for they gave AND give us goals to aim for as a human community the UN and the Multi-Faith Community, including the UCC, that consults at the UN has refined them for us. I won t ask you to name these new Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals that emerged are a very comprehensive, perhaps daunting, list. 6 5 http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/about/en/ 6 Reflection on John 2:1-13 for One Great Hour of Sharing, "Women's Empowerment and Persistent Action" by Mary Schaller Blaufuss, ucc.org as included in Sermon Seeds, March 4, 2018. 7
The Rev. Mary Schaller Blaufuss, Ph.D., serves as Team Leader for Humanitarian and Development Ministries at the national offices of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio. According to Mary: The United Church of Christ has been one of the voices in the shaping of these goals and now acts with others in their implementation. The UCC emphasizes community health, sustainable food and water, grassroots education, equitable economic access, and justice, peace and human rights. Throughout all of these goals, women's empowerment and acknowledgement of women's persistent action are central. They are important faith resources that the Christian faith brings to the implementation and shape of these Sustainable Development Goals. These are goals of God's abundance and fullness of life for all. Christian faith brings a qualitative content of love, justice, equity and wholeness to these areas of life. 7 7 Ibid 8
So, as you consider how you might respond to the One Great Hour of Sharing Appeal this year As we consider how Seaside UCC will continue to live into our Just Peace Status As we prepare as an MDI UCC Faith Community for the coming of Holy Week and Easter Perhaps these goals can be our guide. They state clearly for us, what is needed by our brothers and sisters at home and around the world. They define for us, aggressive goals that could bring justice, equity, and wholeness to all areas of life. And, like Moses and the Psalmist this morning, they remind us not only what Jesus sought to embody in his own life, but where the Christian communities that claim his name, are still called to lead and to live. Amen! 9