Tag: Proverbs

The “Now-Then” Problem

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Sermon for Sunday, September 23, 2018 || Proper 20B || Proverbs 31:10-31

Today’s reading from the Old Testament highlights an important issue of biblical interpretation. We might call it the “Now-Then” problem. The Now-Then problem crops up any time we read a passage of the Bible that sounds antiquated to modern ears. While many parts of Bible hold a timeless quality, there are passages that modern readers easily dismiss because those passages seem stuck in their historical context. Take today’s first reading for instance:

A capable wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain. Continue reading “The “Now-Then” Problem” →

“D” is for Destiny (Feb. 18, 2013)

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…Opening To…

We come this morning –
Like empty pitchers to a full fountain,
With no merits of our own.
O Lord – open up a window of heaven,
And lean out far over the battlements of glory,
And listen this morning. (James Weldon Johnson)

…Listening In…

The human mind plans the way, but the LORD directs the steps. (Proverbs 16:9; context)

…Filling Up…

This Lent, we are exploring our faith by running through the alphabet. Today, “D” is for Destiny. Destiny is an oft-misunderstood concept. Many would say that “destiny” is the final and ultimate way that your life will transpire no matter what you do to it: you can’t escape destiny, they say. This is the “Darth Vader” understanding of the concept. He tells Luke Skywalker several times that it is Luke’s destiny to switch over to the Dark Side of the Force; seemingly, there’s nothing Luke can do about it.

The other side of the coin says that there’s no such thing as destiny. Instead, we all make our own way; we all have self-determination, which trumps destiny every time. This is the “Han Solo” understanding of the concept. He tells Luke that hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at Luke’s side. His intent is clear: I make my own rules, and I’m not beholden to any particular path.

A proper understanding of destiny falls somewhere between these two extremes. It is true that we cannot escape our destinies. However, this inescapable nature does not mean that we haven’t a chance of influencing that destiny. God’s directing creativity stands as the framework in which all our destinies exist. And this directing creativity includes our self-determination. Therefore, we cannot escape destiny because we are always choosing it. So ask God in your prayers to help you make your choices, for each one will impact the person you are becoming.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are foundation for all life and your boundless creativity has given me this unique life. Help me to use this life in the ways in which you would desire for me to live. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, taking hope in the overarching reality that you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Another Coke (October 23, 2012)

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…Opening To…

Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free. (Paul Tillich, Theologian)

…Listening In…

Better to be patient than a warrior, and better to have self-control than to capture a city. The dice are cast into the lap; all decisions are from the LORD. (Proverbs 16:32-33; context)

…Filling Up…

I’d hazard to guess that most people give quite a bit of thought to the “big” decisions: where to go to college, whom to marry, how much debt you think you can handle when you’re thinking about buying that first car, who gets your vote for president. You get the idea. A “big” decision doesn’t crop up every day, though we may spend many days wrestling with such a decision.

We notice these big decisions. They keep us up at night. They send us to friends and family for input. But the small decisions – the hundreds we make every day like the ones I listed yesterday – tend to slip under the radar. And these decisions can have just as big an impact on your life as one big decision. Here’s an example.

Every day, you walk by the soda machine at school or work. You’ve got correct change jangling in your pocket, so you slot the necessary coins into the machine and, deciding on a beverage, press the button. The 20-ounce Coca-Cola clatters to the base of the machine; you stoop down, pick it up, unscrew the top, and enjoy. You do this every day. A couple times a week, you also decide to stop by McDonald’s on the way home for an afternoon snack: a large fry and another Coke. This becomes a routine, and pretty soon you don’t realize that the aggregated small decisions to put stuff into your body will, over the long term, damage it. When you’re diagnosed with Diabetes, you are faced with another set of decisions. They are the same ones you were making before – the soda machine, the drive-thru, among others – but they are no longer small decisions. Every one of them is big.

This is a negative example, but it works positively, too. You’re stuck in the checkout line behind a person taking an impossibly long time. You can decide to be angry or to be gracious. You choose grace. Now, multiply that decision a thousand times – every time you get annoyed – and see how much better your life is when you choose to be gracious.

These little decisions flit through our lives so quickly that we rarely register as having made them at all. So what are we followers of Jesus to do? Pray every time we make a decision? YES. Doesn’t that seem extraneous, exhausting, and, quite possibly overkill? NO. But more on that tomorrow.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are with me in all the decisions I make. Help me to have the foresight to see down the path that my decisions are taking me. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, rejoicing that you are with me in all the decisions I make.

Parent and Child (October 16, 2012)

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…Opening To…

You know what the first rule of flyin’ is? …Love. You can learn all the math in the ‘Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don’t love, she’ll shake you off just as sure as a turn in the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she’s hurtin’ ‘fore she keens. Makes her a home. (Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity)

…Listening In…

The LORD created me at the beginning of his way, before his deeds long in the past. I was formed in ancient times, at the beginning, before the earth was. (Proverbs 8:22-23; context)

…Filling Up…

We’ll start our discussion of the Holy Trinity before the beginning. You see, if we start at the beginning, we’ve already arrived on the scene too late, as our verse in the “Listening In” section reminds us. Proverbs’ personification of Wisdom says, “The LORD created me at the beginning of his way, before his deeds long in the past. I was formed in ancient times, at the beginning, before the earth was.” Wisdom may have been created before the earth, but Wisdom tells us that the Lord still created her. This is far too late to begin our discussion of the Trinity. Too even grasp the edge of the expanse of the majesty of the Trinity, we must cast our imaginations back to before there was even a concept known as “before.” You with me so far? Good.

In the First Letter of John, the writer makes the sweeping statement: “God is love.” If nothing besides God existed before the beginning, how did this love manifest? If there was no Creation to fill the role of the Beloved – the object of love – then how could God be “love?” At first the answer seems rather narcissistic: if there was nothing else to love, then God loved God. But we can’t stop there because true love always manifests as a relationship. In our futile attempt to find the right word to name God, we latch on to relational language and call God “Father.” This sets up one side of a loving relationship, that of parent to child.

But the relationship is incomplete without that second person. And so we also call God “Son” to acknowledge the complete relationship between loving parent and beloved child. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus says that God “loved me before the foundation of the world.” This love between parent and child is so palpable that the love itself is the third member of the Trinity, which we experience as the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Paul tells the church in Rome that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are love and you exist as a perfect loving relationships. Thank you for loving me with the same love that existed before time began. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, thankful that in you I find perfect love and a perfect home.

“P” is for Pride (March 14, 2012)

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…Opening To…

Therefore, we pray you, Lord, forgive; so when our wanderings here shall cease, we may with you for ever live, in love and unity and peace. (Gregory the Great, from The Hymnal 1982)

…Listening In…

When pride comes, so does shame, but wisdom brings humility. (Proverbs 11:2; context)

…Filling Up…

This Lent, we are exploring our faith by running through the alphabet. Today, “P” is for pride. There are two kinds of pride, the good kind and the bad. Let me get the good kind out of the way with an illustration.

Just now, I watch a mother jogging backwards in the street outside my office. It’s an unexpectedly beautiful day here for the first half of March, and this mother is out taking advantage of it with her small son. The boy is perhaps four or five. He is wearing a helmet and riding a shiny blue bicycle with training wheels. She jogs backwards, keeping her son in front of her, as he pedals to keep up with her. He’s riding a bicycle! Perhaps he got it for his birthday or Christmas and this is the first day that’s warm enough for riding. Don’t tell me she’s not taking pride in the amazing things her son can do. This is the good kind of pride. When people use the word in this context, they are talking about the joy and contentment they feel because of the actions of another.

The bad kind of pride is wholly different and one I, personally, am quite prone to. The bad kind of pride happens when we mistakenly think that we are solely responsible for our own success. This is the pride that makes the quarterback take all the credit for the win or the kind of pride that leads to multi-million dollar bonuses for corporate executives. Or the kind that keeps us from being thankful – to God and to others.

To put it more clinically, the bad kind of pride is the spiritual disease that results in the improper attribution of giftedness. The cure is humility, which is not thinking you’re not good at things, but rather is the proper attribution of your giftedness to God’s grace and generosity.

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, the mountain of Purgatory, which ascends through the seven deadly sins, begins with pride at its base. Pride is the first and great sin, in which we separate the giver from the gift.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the giver of all good gifts. Help me to remember that you are the source of my giftedness so that I can remain in relationship with you while I use my gifts to serve you. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, counting myself blessed that you would choose to make me the person I am and love me into the person I am becoming.

A Different Order (February 1, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. (William P. White)

…Listening In…

The proverbs of Solomon, King David’s son, from Israel: Their purpose is to teach wisdom and discipline, to help one understand wise sayings. They provide insightful instruction, which is righteous, just, and full of integrity. (Proverbs 1:1-3; context)

…Filling Up…

Jews and Christians share the texts found in the Hebrew Scriptures. For the Jewish faith, these texts are the Bible, and for Christians, they are most of the Bible. (Ever notice just how short the New Testament is compared to the Hebrew Scriptures?) While some early Christians ignored the Hebrew Scriptures completely, the vast majority recognized that they were the Bible for the people who wrote the New Testament and therefore they were the Bible for them, as well. (Next week we’ll talk about the fact that the writers of the New Testament didn’t know they were writing the Bible when they did it.)

So we share these texts with our Jewish brothers and sisters. But, you know what’s a bit strange? We changed to the order. The Jewish Bible, on the one hand, puts the books in a categorical order, with each book fitting into one of three broad categories. The Christian Bible, on the other hand, attempts a rough chronological order. (The broad reason for this was that the Christian Bible drew on a Greek source called the Septuagint, which was ordered differently from the Hebrew texts.)

The Jewish Bible is known as the “Tanakh,” which isn’t really a word at all, but a Hebrew acronym. The acronym stands for the three categories that make up the order of the Bible. First, there’s the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy); oftentimes, Torah is rendered as “law,” but “teaching” is a better translation. Second, there are the books of the prophets (“Nevi’im” in Hebrew). Third, there are the books of writings (“Ketuvim” in Hebrew).

By organizing the Hebrew Scriptures into these broad categories, the Jewish order makes a point to show the varied ways that our common ancestors in the faith experienced the movement of God. This movement didn’t just happen in a linear, chronological progression: rather, it happened in poetry and prophecy, in tales of slaves and kings, in advice and song. Is this not how we understand God’s movement in our lives, too?

…Praying For…

Dear God, you revealed yourself to your people Israel in many and varied ways. Help me to participate as they did in your movement in my life, that I may have stories to tell generations yet unborn. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, grateful for your presence throughout time and space, as recorded in the Bible and lived in my life.