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Pastor Eric Fjeldal's October 2011 Sunday Sermons
Pastor Eric's sermons are presented here in reverse chronological order...in other words, the most recent sermons are at the top of the list, working backwards through time.
October 30, 2011. "They Are Watching."
Matthew 23: 1-12
“Do as they teach, not as they do.” This is Jesus’ advice to those who hear his voice; and it reinforces the wisdom found in that old cliché, “Worry less about whether or not they are listening to you and more that they are watching you.” Good advice for all of us to remember.
We hear passages like today’s and are tempted to focus on what those hypocrites, then and today are doing wrong. This is especially true when it comes to the issue of misusing one’s authority. It is easy to point out the ways the Scribes and Pharisees
behave in ways that are counter to the truth they know and teach. They speak of
glorifying God, but they seem most interested in self-aggrandizement. They speak
of orienting their entire lives toward God, but they draw everyone’s eyes toward
themselves. They speak of their responsibility for the people of God, yet ‘are
unwilling to lift a finger’ to lighten the people’s burdens. (v.4)
(Tim Beach-Verhey, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg.262)
The reality is we could be talking about our actions, our behaviors which provoke and perpetuate our alienation from God. We all have our own struggles with pride and ego, the need to promote and make ourselves look important and valuable. This need is seductive and it can distort our good intentions. Commenting on this Tim Beach-Verhey writes:
It is so easy to confuse our interests with God’s purposes, our power with God’s
sovereignty, our standing with God’s glory. Whether we are referring to our individual
or collective lives, human beings have a strong tendency to create false and sinful
hierarchies that displace God’s authority; we have a proclivity to ignore or rebel
against God’s kingdom in order to protect our minor fiefdoms. This is a particularly
distasteful, yet common inclination among religious people and their leaders.
Constant reference to God and God’s purposes can easily lend our own aims, desires,
and identities a semblance of holiness that is sanctimonious and hypocritical.
Pious words and orthodox convictions alone do not make a faithful person.
(Feasting, pg. 262)
While this description may sound harsh or extreme, if we look around and really think about it, we will discover it is more prevalent than we want to admit. Indeed, it is the most prevailing criticism non-church goers have of church and church people. We have all been guilty of: saying one thing and doing another, being driven by what we like or want to believe is true; wanting things done our way and being unwilling to change; passing judgment on who is and is not acceptable, who is invited, included, welcomed. The United Methodist Church along with other denominations continues, in my opinion, an unnecessary and embarrassing debate over the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, transsexual and transgender people and in our zealousness and fear we have used religion to rationalize the debate.
It is important to note that Jesus is not critical of Jewish teachings and traditions. He tells the people to take seriously and follow the teachings. His criticism is of the way these teachings are used by the Scribes and Pharisees; the holier than thou approach taken by those in authority, as they distort the intent and meaning to serve their needs. Jesus is very clear, (T)he true measure of faithfulness is found not in the words one speaks or the doctrines one accepts but in the orientation of one’s heart. (Beach-Verhey, Feasting, pg. 262) This is so because the right orientation of one’s heart leads to serving and not being served. The Scribes and Pharisees lost sight of the truth that
Though people are unequal by many measures, from intelligence to physical strength,
from social standing to material wealth, they are all equal before God. All social
distinctions and special offices, therefore, must be understood as functional rather
than essential. (Beach-Verney, pg. 262-64)
Instead they used their authority for their own benefit and gain; for they believed that by clinging to the social distinctions they could make others beholden and indebted to them. In those moments those entrusted to proclaim God’s message
can’t see the connection between their behavior and other’s poverty and despair.
Their inability to empathize displays their apathy, their inability to experience and
share God’s revealing word. They go through the motions of pronouncing spiritual
wisdom, but their words are hollow and irrelevant.
(Bruce Epperly, Christian Century, 10/18/11, pg. 21)
Our task is to see beyond the indictment associated with these words. Seeing beyond the indictment moves us beyond our defensiveness. It allows us to hear the message and concern God has for us as we strive to be more faithful to God’s will for our lives and life together. It allows us to embrace the truth that we all do need to be careful.
Shortly after I was ordained my mother came up to me, hugged me and whispered in my ear, “Don’t let your collar get too tight.” Over the years she would from time to time come up to me and stick her fingers in my collar separating it from my throat. Her message was clear; in her eyes I was getting a little too full of myself. I was thinking I was more important than I was and I need an attitude adjustment.
We have all been guilty of letting our collar get too tight; of wearing our faithfulness as a well earned prize or reward instead of as a call to humble service to the glory of God. When we find ourselves doing this we need to heed Jesus’ call and warning; the call to spiritual integrity which emerges when we pause long enough to see ourselves and others more clearly. (Epperly, Christian Century, pg. 21) The warning is that when we are looking out for our own best interest it is then that our words become meaningless.
When this happens not only is our reputation damaged; but for the moment, God’s reputation is damaged as well, at least for the people who are impacted by our behavior.
The good news is that nothing we do can really damage God’s reputation. Despite the damage caused when well intended folks distort God’s message, God’s will does prevail. God has and will always see to that. The issue for us is deciding where we want to be found. Do we want to be found most times among those who strive to proclaim God’s healing, redeeming, transforming love; or do we want to be found among those of whom it is said, do as they teach, not as they do?
In the end it really is our call. God is watching us and like it or not so are the lives of those we touch; so worry less about whether or not folks are listening to you and more that they are watching you because trust me, they are. Amen.
October 23, 2011. "The Daily Call to Love."
Matthew 22:34-40
Jesus leaves no doubt as to what we are called to do. Taking our faith seriously means:
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
We have all heard sermons reminding us that this is what we are called to do. We have all heard sermons that have caused us to struggle with the truth that
one cannot love God without loving what God loves! One cannot love God
and oppress or exclude any of God’s creatures – even one’s enemies.
(Tim Beach-Verhey, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg. 214)
We have also heard sermons about the need to share God’s love with the world. Sermons that encourage us to seek to level the playing field when it comes to sharing God’s resources with the world, because like it or not this too is a part of loving God. We also struggle with this kind of loving but in a different way than loving our enemies.
Then there are the sermons that tell us what it means to love; what loving one another looks like. These sermons remind us that
In the Christian sense, love is not primarily an emotion but an act of the will. When
Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, he is not telling us to love them in the sense of
responding to them with a cozy emotional feeling. On the contrary, he is telling us
to love our neighbors in the sense of being willing to work for their well-being even
if it means sacrificing our own well being to that end, even if it just means leaving
them alone. (Fredrick Buechner, Listening to Your Life, pg. 242)
We are not very good at sacrificing; nor are we very good at staying out of other people’s business, so again we struggle with loving our neighbor.
I point these things out, not because I don’t think we want to do the right thing. I believe for the most part we do want to do the right thing. We want to help. We want to show that we care. In our own way we want to love and give back; so we struggle and try to make our peace with how well we do or don’t love, especially when we are confronted with our by situations and events.
In reading this week’s passage, I struggled with a different thought, one with which I believe we all struggle; trying to love amid the rude and obnoxious behavior we all experience. The lack of civility we encounter more and more every day because of those who don’t believe the rules apply to them. Here are just a few examples.
· What Renee calls the bully drivers; those who ride your bumper even though you are already doing 75mph on the Merritt.
· People who double park or park in handicap spaces even though they don’t belong there.
· People unwilling to wait their turn in line.
· Those who don’t say “thank you” when you hold the door open for them.
· People who talk loudly on their cell phone in public places.
· People who talk in the movie theatre.
These are just some examples. We all know countless others which remind us of the increased disregard for others.
None of these things by themselves is that horrible, but the daily bombardment of them can beat down our spirits. If we are not careful we can find ourselves giving in, behaving in much the same way thinking “Why not? Compared to what others are doing it is no big deal.”
While this may not be the most egregious behavior when it comes to not loving God or neighbor I think in their own way they are very damaging because rudeness is often the way we experience and express apathy and indifference. I believe apathy and indifference are in many ways the opposite of love because to be apathetic and indifferent toward someone is to say that they don’t matter. You can’t love that which does not matter to you.
As Tim Beach-Verhey reminds us:
To love God is to love in the way that God loves – indiscriminately.
To love God is to love what God loves – everything.
Because God is the source of all being, and God loves all God’s creatures…
(Feasting, pg. 214)
This means we need to love ourselves and a part of loving ourselves is to own up to our insecurities so that we may allow God’s grace to heal them. William Sloane Coffin says it this way:
What a wonderful thing it would be if once and for all we could lay to rest the notion
that it is a virtue to love others, and a vice to love oneself. For what is vicious is not
self-love, but selfishness; and selfishness is more a product of self-hate than self-love.
All forms of selfishness are finally forms of insecurity, compensations for lack of self-love.
(Credo, pg. 21)
While loving God and loving neighbor are closely related, loving God must come first because without loving God it is impossible to love our neighbor. Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind grounds us and helps change the way we see those we encounter. It changes our expectations which then changes our response as we come to realize and understand (i)t would be a mistake to view Jesus as reducing love of God to (an) ethical regard for one’s neighbor (Patrick Gray, Feasting, pg. 25) because loving God is really about a way of seeing the world.
Most times the love we offer and receive comes with strings attached. We are looking for and expecting something in return, affirmation, pay back, being appreciated, all as a way of seeking to fill a void within us. When this void is not filled we are hurt. If we are hurt often enough, we build up a wall, apathy creeps in; apathy leads to indifference, which leads to rudeness.
This is why it all needs to begin with our seeking to love God because our loving God makes it possible for God to heal us. As we begin to experience God’s healing presence, we change, we grow, we are transformed and begin to see things differently. We begin to see our rude neighbor as we see ourselves, a person who is in need of healing. We begin to see their lack of civility as a symptom of their brokenness.
Healed by God’s grace we can see beyond someone’s behavior and hopefully, possibly begin to see what God sees; not because we are better people, but because we are better connected to God. This connection frees us to rise above apathy to compassion.
Loving God is not a call to accept rudeness and incivility; rather it is a call to rise above it, as we understand that responding in like manner is not the answer. It does not bring healing to our broken world. As a people of faith we are called to bring healing to this broken world which means finding ways to love the rude, obnoxious neighbor.
The good news is God does not expect us to do this alone, or on our own. God empowers us through the love and grace that only God can offer. As we are touched by this grace we see there is only one response. That response is to love because loving God and neighbor is not an intellectual exercise. It is a daily call, one that has nothing to do with how our neighbor behaves.
October 16, 2011. "Dual Citizenship."
Matthew 22: 15-22
On the surface it appears that Jesus is trapped. Those trying to trap him are forming an unlikely alliance between two very different groups who in their mind share a common opponent, Jesus.
As their name suggests, the Herodians were allied with Herod Antipas, who had been
named king of the Jews by Rome. Not surprisingly, they supported paying the tax to
Caesar. The Pharisees, who were committed to every detail of Jewish law, opposed
paying the tax to Caesar for religious reasons. Their opposition was based less on
the fact of occupation and more on the special coin that had been used to pay this
particular tax. Jews were required to use a special coin that carried the image of
‘the divine Caesar.’ The Pharisees saw the use of this coin as a violation of the first
and second commandments.
(Marvin A. McMickle, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg. 189-91)
What unites them is their mutual desire to discredit Jesus, to put him in a no-win situation by asking, Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not.
Jesus sees what is happening and responds, “Why do you put me to the test, you hypocrites?” He knows:
The Pharisees hoped that Jesus would support paying taxes to Caesar so the Jewish
people would view him as a Roman sympathizer. The Herodians hoped Jesus would
oppose paying the tax to Caesar so they could accuse him of treason or sedition
against Rome. No matter which way Jesus answered their question, it seemed to them
they had Jesus trapped.
The answer Jesus gave them was as confounding and compelling today as it was in
the first century: ‘Render…to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things
that are God’s. (McMickle, pg. 191)
Jesus says this because he knows that in the end, it is all God’s. He also says it knowing that the people have a dual allegiance, to the teaching and commands of God and to the laws of the land in which they live.
When we take our faith seriously we have the same dual allegiance, dual citizenship if you will. This means we have the same struggle of conscience that comes with having to balance our responsibilities as citizens of both an earthly realm and a spiritual realm. (McMickle, pg. 193)
I say this because if we are honest we know the two can be and many times are in conflict. We don’t like this reality. We may even try to dance around it, but we cannot deny that
(T)he issue for most people in the twenty-first century is not really about paying taxes as
much as it is about paying attention to what their government is doing, and whether or
not they can in good conscience support its actions. (McMickle, pg. 193)
Usually we address this issue along political lines, dividing ourselves into one camp or another and then start to debate or argue. When we do this our faith, our relationship with God in Christ, seems to disappear from the discussion. We replace it with agendas, liberal, conservative and everything in between; all used to reinforce our beliefs, values, wants and needs.
In many ways this is an easy and fairly common occurrence. It is easy to just see things from an economic or political perspective. The problem is in doing so we lose sight of the call to render unto God. Doing this leads to our forgetting that the law of which Jesus speaks is about relationships. Focusing on relationships reminds us that
(T)he question of what is truly ‘lawful’ can be answered only by looking forward to
Jesus’ teaching on the greatest commandments, which grounds his debate with
religious leaders (Matt. 22:34-40): ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,’ and ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
(Susan Grove Eastman, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4, pg.193)
Striving to remain faithful to God’s call to love challenges us to move beyond charity to justice; there is a difference. Charity says “it’s mine, if I want to share it, I will; if I don’t, I won’t.” Justice is about remembering that in the end it is all God’s, which means understanding that loving involves rendering unto God.
Rendering unto God is not about taking the easy way out. It is about asking the deeper, more difficult questions. It is about sifting through the rhetoric of self-interest and discovering or rediscovering the cost of discipleship. It is about finding a way of staying faithful to God as we love in this world. As Marvin McMickle writes:
The question for the church is not whether we should or should not pay taxes. The
greater question is, what do we expect from and demand from the government that is
supported by our tax dollars? Not only that, but what does conscience demand of
Christians when the actions of their government and the teachings of their faith appear
to be in conflict? This has never been an easy issue, but Christians have never been
excused from engaging it. ( Feasting, pg.193)
Bread for the World is a way of doing just that. Bread for the World is a Christian based lobbying organization made up of a diverse group of people who come together around a common goal; to address the issue of hunger around the world. Bread for the World creates some unique alliances some would say alliances as unique as Herodians and Pharisees. The difference is in this case they come together not to entrap Jesus but to proclaim that hope is found when we try to live Jesus’ mandate to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Bread for the World’s mission is simple and can be summarized in the following story.
There is a river where the fish flow abundantly and freely. A rich man lives at the top
of the river and decides that in order to make life easier for him, his family and the
people who live in his kingdom will put a net across the river and capture the fish.
These people have plenty to eat and never know hunger. Those living downstream
are not as fortunate. They are hungry and those who have plenty decide that they
should take some fish to those who are hungry and feed them for a day. They think,
“this is a nice thing for us to do and we can be proud of ourselves.”
Others say, “some of the fish do pass through the net, so if we give them fishing poles
and teach them to fish they can learn to eke out a meager existence.
A third group decides that the best thing to do is to go up to the rich man and convince
him to take down the net and let the fish flow freely.
Bread for the World seeks to remove the net.
Politics aside, I think this is what God calls us to do; to do the work that is necessary to remove the nets. Doing so means addressing the difficult issues that inevitably emerge when we acknowledge our dual citizenship; that is living in our culture without necessarily embracing all our culture proclaims. In order to do this we need to seek to understand more fully what it means to render unto God the things that are God’s because in the end, it is not mine or yours or even Caesar’s. It is simply a “trust, O Lord from thee.” Amen.
October 2, 2011. "Press On."
Philippians 3: 4b-13
Much has been written about the ego of the apostle Paul. Indeed the opening of today’s scripture sounds very egotistical; for in these words Paul is describing his religious pedigree. A very fine pedigree it is; worthy of a page in “Who’s Who.” Paul follows this up by saying, “none of that matters.” It is all unimportant, for the only thing that matters is “knowing God in Christ.”
In Paul’s day, just as today this is quite a shocking statement. It rocked the faith community, for it is being proclaimed to a people trying to earn their salvation. A people who were concerned with status markers based on among other things who was clean or unclean; who was worth or unworthy based on who did and didn’t follow the law.
We too have our own status markers, our own way of separating the sheep from the goats, both inside and outside of the church. Sadly, as in Paul’s day they have nothing to do with serving God and everything to do with the appearance of serving God.
Paul then takes it one step further. He talks about the need for people to “press on”, to do more in serving God. In effect, he is telling the people you can never do enough. There is a part of me and I suspect a part of you who hears this and thinks:
Wait a minute. Hold on, I am already doing more than most.
Not only that, I am tired, weary and a little resentful.
I am trying to do the loving thing, the caring, healing thing.
I am trying to make a difference; to make the world I touch a better place.
The thanks I get, the recognition I receive is “press on…”
I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I want to.
There is some comfort in knowing Paul struggled with the same reaction. He also struggled with his own strong ego and zeal as he strove to live out the message he proclaimed. Reading through Paul’s letters to the early church we discover this. We also discover how he dealt with his ego and misguided zeal by reminding himself and others that it is not about us. It is about serving God and believing that God’s grace is sufficient for and in every situation.
Such belief is crucial for faithful living. As Bishop Kenneth Carter writes:
Obedience does not earn us forgiveness and reconciliation with God; but obedience
is necessary to maintain the relationship with God.
(Kenneth Carder, Living our Beliefs, Discipleship Resources, pg. 92)
Obedience is in response to sharing in God’s life and mission in Jesus Christ,
not the precondition for salvation. (pg. 105)
Obedience is not popular in a society which worships independence. But if we can hear obedience as a call to faithfulness, as recognizing that God is the source of our strength and knowledge, then perhaps we can see the value. Perhaps then we can come to see the importance of remaining faithful and staying connected to the source of our hope, love, grace and wisdom. I believe we need to if we have any hope of reaching our goal to embody and re-present Christ’s presence in the world. (Clay Oglesbee, the Christian Century, September 26, 2011, pg. 22)
What Paul is reminding the Philippians and us is the importance of humility. The importance of our not falling prey to the temptation of allowing the status markers that our culture proclaims as defining one’s value and worth. As experience and history have taught us the fallout from clinging too tightly and defending too vehemently such status symbols can lead to destruction and despair as people become zealots for a cause that does not need zealots.
Paul’s message is clear.
It is not just his former religious life but ‘everything’, ‘all things’ (v.8) that are loss
to Paul because of Christ. Paul has given up all status markers outside Christ, and
he may even be subtly suggesting that the Philippians, citizens of a Roman colony,
not exploit their privileges of Roman citizenship but also find true status in Christ.
Paul does not renounce his past and does not ask the Philippians to renounce theirs.
Paul, however, renounces the past as the defining marker of who he is. The living,
invading presence of the risen Christ has turned the tables on static, death-dealing
markers of status. The Christ who would not exploit his status is the true ruler and
true status symbol.
(Nathan Eddy, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 pg. 137-39)
In effect Paul is challenging us to define ourselves first and foremost by our relationship with God in Christ; our knowledge of God’s love and redeeming grace. This is the same grace that we join with Christians around the world in celebrating this day as we “take and eat”; “take and drink” and remember whose we are.
Paul does this not in flame zealousness, but to temper it; as we remember:
Zeal without knowledge is always less effective, less useful. Often it is found to be
very harmful. Wherever zeal is most fervent and the spirit most vehement, there
the need for knowledge’s oversight is all greater. Knowledge restrains zeal,
tempers the spirit, orders charity.
(Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs)
Knowledge allows us to become pro-active instead of reactive. It helps us as we seek to live a balanced life remembering how the disciplines of faith ground and sustain us. By grounding and sustaining us the disciplines of faith free us from the trappings of appearance, achievement and affluence. Such grounding allows us to come to see those we meet as fellow sojourners in the faith who struggle, question and wonder, as we strive “to forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead.” (v.13)
In so doing, “pressing on toward the goal” (v.14) is not seen as a burden but rather as an opportunity; an opportunity to know God, our neighbor and ourselves more fully and completely.
So press on, my friends, press on. Amen.
