|
Sermon by Rev. Deborah Hannay Sunoo
Sometimes something needs to be said. Sometimes we need to put words around what is happening in our world. Now, to be fair, an awful lot of things have already been said this week about the tragic deaths of nine individuals who had lovingly welcomed a stranger to their Bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, a stranger who then turned on them and took their lives. No doubt you have both heard and read a great number of words from pundits and politicians, from respected leaders in the black community, and from our president. Unfortunately, you have probably heard and read some words around this tragedy that are trite and ridiculous. Some that are hateful and shameful. Some that made your skin crawl with discomfort. But I imagine you have also heard powerful, meaningful words that have had you saying "Amen! Yes! What he said. What she said." I hope you have heard those kinds of words. And if you have, then there is really nothing I can add today, either in terms of content or eloquence, to what has been said so well by others. But when we are facing a racial crisis of this magnitude, when men and women and children in our country are being targeted because of the color of their skin, when it feels like we have stepped into some sort of perverse time machine and travelled many decades backwards in terms of how our black neighbors are treated, then something also needs to be said today in predominately white churches like ours, gathering for our regular Sunday morning services. And when gun violence in our country has escalated to the point it has, when we have trouble even keeping track of all of the shootings that have taken place in churches and elementary schools and high schools and college campuses and movie theaters in recent years, then we who worship the Prince of Peace need to acknowledge the enormity of the mess we are in, and the role guns have played in that mess. Certainly we can acknowledge that other factors are at work too – white supremacist teachings, and family dysfunction, and untreated mental illness all seem to play a part too. But we need to hear Jesus weeping today, and weep ourselves, for so many lives lost, that could have been spared. I am going to preach most of the sermon I'd originally planned for today, because, after all, the faith we preach and teach here is something we share with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Emmanuel Church. It’s why they had gathered for their Bible study in the first place. But then during prayer time we are going to honor the nine beloved children of God who were killed in Charleston this week, by lifting each one up by name. We are going to give each one of these men and women the same respect we would give members of our own church family, playing a chime after each one’s name, for they were the teachers and school counselors and pastors of that community, they were the beloved elders – the matriarchs and patriarchs - of that church, they were the sons and daughters that congregation had no doubt celebrated upon their big occasions as we did with our own grads and confirmands last week. We will offer at least this small symbolic act of solidarity, for what affects one part of the body of Christ should affect us all. Given all of that… what else should be said today? Seems to me we can’t go too far wrong talking about Jesus, as was our original plan. A couple weeks ago we began using “A Brief Statement of Faith,” which you’ll see on your bulletin insert, as a guide for our summer sermon series. This document, published in 1991, stands in a long line of confessions or creeds of the Church. This particular confession is Presbyterian and relatively recent. At least it’s recent in comparison to the Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed, for instance, which were each composed within the first few centuries of the early church’s life, and also in comparison to the various creeds written around the time of the Protestant Reformation back in the 16th and 17th centuries. We’ll continue taking this “Brief Statement” in sections over the next several weeks. Today’s section introduces us to Jesus. Because creeds like this one are intended to be public statements of faith, spoken aloud in worship, let’s read together lines 7 to 18, from “We trust in Jesus Christ,” through “repent and believe the gospel.” We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: Preaching good news to the poor And release to the captives, Teaching by word and deed And blessing the children, Healing the sick, And binding up the brokenhearted, Eating with outcasts, Forgiving sinners, And calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Every single line in this “Brief Statement of Faith” is derived from and supported by Scripture. No fewer than 53 Biblical verses are cited as references for this particular short section, and really, since it’s summarizing much of what happens in the gospels, we could call to mind hundreds more references, too. The two I selected as our Scripture readings this morning were intended to get at something of the range of what we’re taught about Jesus here in this brief section of the “Brief Statement.” First, our text from the first chapter of John’s gospel, a text we often read on Christmas Eve, for it so beautifully evokes the eternal mystery of the Incarnation, that is, God taking human form. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14) “Fully human, fully God” is how the “Brief Statement of Faith” puts it. So concise, and yet so challenging, right? How exactly do we wrap our minds around Jesus being both a man like other men, and also fully divine? One way folks have been getting out of the bind since day one is simply not to buy it. The fancy name for these viewpoints is Christological heresies, and there were over a dozen quite famous ones in the early centuries of the Church’s history. I won’t go into all of them in detail today, though I can refer you to more reading on this if you are interested. The gist of each heresy was that it offered a way out of the paradox. Since it was as difficult in the early years of the Church as it is for us today, to understand how Jesus could simultaneously be fully human and fully God, then perhaps, for instance, he wasn’t really human, but only appeared to be. Or perhaps he was fully human, and simply adopted as the Son of God at his baptism. To be fair, heresies like these are only called heresies because the Church as a whole – the position of orthodoxy - has come to a different conclusion. It was a tough fight for a while in the various Councils that wrote documents like the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed. A lot was felt to be at stake precisely because they were trying to clarify important points of faith like this one. What do we believe about Jesus, anyway? Ultimately, orthodox Christianity came to the same conclusion we’ve just affirmed together this morning. Jesus was both fully human and fully God. Rather than explaining away either his divinity or his humanity, the Church has allowed the biblical mystery to stand. We don’t have to be able to explain it, or even understand it fully. We can affirm that there are truths in this universe that are beyond human understanding, and that what might be impossible for mortals is possible for God. If our reading from John’s gospel powerfully describes this eternal mystery about Jesus Christ, our text from Mark chapter 10 – another favorite for many of us – offers a beautiful example of the kind of thing Jesus did while he was here on earth, living as a human being. And I love that the “Brief Statement of Faith” includes – in its list of important things Jesus did during his lifetime – this mention of blessing the children. In fact the whole list interests me greatly. I don’t know if you noticed last week, when we all said the Apostle’s Creed together during our Confirmation service, but there really wasn’t anything there about Jesus’ life. His birth, yes, and his death and resurrection, but really nothing in between, right? We read aloud these words from the Apostle’s Creed last Sunday: [Jesus] was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. All tremendously important things to know about Jesus, and you can tell these were issues the early Church was working out at the time that creed was written – not only Jesus’ divinity, but his virgin birth, and the reality of the resurrection. Still, an awful lot is left out there, as Jesus’ story is telescoped in those few lines. “The Brief Statement of Faith” fills in more of the story, from the years of Jesus’ ministry, before his death: Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: Preaching good news to the poor And release to the captives, Teaching by word and deed And blessing the children, Healing the sick, And binding up the brokenhearted, Eating with outcasts, Forgiving sinners, And calling all to repent and believe the gospel. These lines remind me of a Palm Sunday a few years back here at MPC when I asked the congregation “Who is this Jesus? Who is this, riding into Jerusalem on the back of that donkey, to the cheers of the crowds?” We shared favorite Jesus stories with one another that day, and everyone from elementary school kids to church members in their nineties weighed in. We heard that one person’s favorite story was the feeding of 5,000 hungry people with just five loaves and two fish. Another enjoyed the fact that Jesus loved a good party (his first miracle, after all, involved turning water into wine!) We heard from one person whose favorite story involved Jesus telling a bunch of unsuccessful fishermen to cast their nets on the other side of the boat – they were stunned by how many fish they suddenly found. We learned that some of us are really drawn to Jesus as healer, comforted in the knowledge that when people we love are hurting, we can bring them to him. Others of us are drawn to Jesus as teacher, using striking metaphors and parables to convey powerful truths. And several of you mentioned as a favorite this story from the gospels where Jesus says “let the little children come to me.” I imagine the committee that authored this “Brief Statement of Faith” must have had similar conversations as they composed this section of their creed. “Let’s be sure to include the part about preaching good news to the poor,” one of them must have said. “I love the way Jesus ate with outcasts and sinners,” chimed in another. “We have to mention that he was a teacher and a healer.” “And let’s not forget the story of Jesus blessing the little children.” I confess this week the line that really stands out for me is that Jesus “binds up the brokenhearted.” But if Jesus is fully human and fully God, then in Jesus’ life and ministry – not only in his death and resurrection - we have an opportunity to see God and know God. Fred Craddock put it this way: “Do you want to know what God is like? Jesus is what God is like… You see, it is not enough to say, “I believe in God,” or “I believe there is a God.” [Sadly] people hate in the name of God. People kill in the name of God. People are prejudiced in the name of God. [So] what kind of God do I believe in? This kind: I believe in the God who is presented in Jesus Christ… “What is God like? [Craddock continues] … Do you remember the time when there was a crowd gathered to hear Jesus and they were a long way from home and hungry, and Jesus fed them? That is what God is like. Do you remember when he took those little children on his lap and blessed them and talked to them and talked to their parents? That is what God is like. Do you remember when the leper came up to Jesus and said, “Please help me,” and he was made clean and healed? That is what God is like. “Do you remember that time when Jesus was with the disciples and they were arguing about who was the chairman and who was the greatest? Jesus took a towel and a bowl of water, knelt down in front of them, and washed their feet. Do you remember that? That is what God is like… “There is a lot in the Bible I don’t understand, Craddock concludes [and I’ll add my Amen to that]. But I do believe that Jesus is God’s Messiah, the Son of God. [Jesus shows us what God is like.] And I think today is a very good time to say it.”[1] So once again let’s affirm together some of the important things we believe about Jesus, reading aloud lines 7 – 18 of “The Brief Statement of Faith:” We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: Preaching good news to the poor And release to the captives, Teaching by word and deed And blessing the children, Healing the sick, And binding up the brokenhearted, Eating with outcasts, Forgiving sinners, And calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Amen. ----------------------------- [1] Craddock, The Cherry Log Sermons, 39-41 Comments are closed.
|
|