PRACTICING GRATITUDE: “Welcome to the Fourth Church Rummage Sale!” Matthew 22:34-46 Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Howard W. Boswell, Jr. Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, October 26, 2014 Kenmore Presbyterian Church Kenmore, New York Last weekend, Rodger Nishioka led a two day workshop, “Faithful Leadership: Emerging Guidance for Changing Times.” Rodger teaches Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. He is in great demand as a speaker and preacher throughout the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Discipleship and Nurture Ministry Team of the Presbytery of Western New York, which I moderate, invited him to discuss our cultural context and its impact on the Church and new tools for leadership. The two days were a great success and Rodger was remarkable. I cannot get his opening image out of my mind. He pointed to Episcopal author and speaker, Phyllis Tickle. In her book, The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, Tickle suggests, “Every five hundred year, the church cleans out its attics and has a giant rummage sale.” The first of these great changes in the church occurred as the Roman Empire declined and the Dark Ages dawned. In 590 CE, which means Common Era, St. Gregory the Great led reforms, which stabilized the Church, so that it preserved the culture. The second giant rummage sale happened in 1054 CE when the Western Church led by the Pope, the bishop of Rome, split from the Eastern Church, led by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The next to the last of these upheavals centered around October 31, 1517 CE, when Martin Luther, a young Augustinian monk and scholar nailed Ninety-Five Theses, points for debate, on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. We celebrate that last rummage sale on Reformation Sunday. Rodger went on to suggest what happens during these rummage sales. The old loses its power and place to the new and not yet form that is rising. Another Episcopal author and speaker, Diana Butler Bass suggests it is a time of “re- traditioning,” as the church discerns what is essential to maintain and what can be discarded, like cleaning out a closet or an attic. These times leads to a broader and deeper way of being the church. Finally, they do not signal the end of the church as we know it, but they strengthen the church. Now, if you think about it, it’s been almost five hundred years since the last great church rummage sale, so yes, welcome to the fourth great church rummage sale. Whether we know it or not, it’s been going on for a while now, perhaps for fifty, a hundred, even two hundred years or more. I became aware of it when I graduated from Princeton thirty years ago in the year of which George Orwell warned, 1984. Over the last thirty years, the church has tried in different ways to adapt to the tremendous changes in the culture. Sometimes, we succeed; other times, we fail. For me, when I think about these changes, I follow the lead of those who went before us, the Reformers. When they looked at the church, they saw many things that needed to be sold off. Yet, they went about it in a careful way. You see, Luther, Calvin, Knox, and others learned to use the best tools of their time. Influenced by the Renaissance, they went back to the source, or ad fontes, to where the river of life began. They started by studying Scripture and the Early Church Fathers in the original languages. They tried to read what Jesus said, what Paul taught, what the prophets proclaimed, and the Law commanded with fresh eyes, not blinded by centuries of church doctrine. When I think of what’s happening within the church today, many leaders, mostly younger, are beginning again from the same source. They don’t want to dismantle the church, instead they want to sell off what’s no longer needed, so that what’s essential may be maintained. Like Luther, they don’t believe God calls them to create something completely new. Did you know that Luther died, still believing he was a Roman Catholic? In some ways, this approach to change may be in our DNA, because it’s how Jesus sought to change Judaism. Even in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus’ mission wasn’t to bring down the law and the prophets, but to bring them to fullness, so that people might know life in all its abundance. He only wanted to sell off those things whose time had passed and whose usefulness was gone. I think that’s what’s going in today’s reading from Matthew. Jesus comes to the conclusion of a series of questions from his adversaries. Last week, the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians ask whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Then, another group, the Sadducees ask him about the resurrection of the body. You see, this group was even stricter than the Pharisees. Since they could not see Scripture affirm resurrection, they believed it wasn’t real. Yet, Jesus turns their question on its head by saying it doesn’t matter, since God is the Lord of the living and the dead, which means this matter lies in hands larger than yours or mine. Now, the Pharisees return to Jesus and one of them, a religious scholar asks him, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? We need to grasp how hot this question was, at the time. Nearly every rabbi had an opinion on which of the 613 commandments, 248 Thou Shalts and 365 Thou Shalt Nots mattered most. The religious scholar asks Jesus to test him, not because he values Jesus’ opinion. Now, we need to understand how innovative Jesus’ answer was. Every Jew grew up, praying the Shema. That word means, “Hear.” It is the first word of Deuteronomy 6:15, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” While Matthew may change “might” to “mind,” the meaning remains the same. Moses commanded the people to love God with their whole being, holding nothing back. When we give it some thought, this command sums up the first four commandments into two words, “Love God.” In The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight helped me to get what makes what Jesus says next so shocking. Imagine it’s next Sunday. Before we stand up to say the Nicene Creed, the liturgist stops and says, “I’d like to add a word or two…” or “I’d like to cut this word or phrase…” Jesus adds seven words to the most ancient statement of faith in Israel, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” They come from the last half of Leviticus 19:18. When Jesus finishes, he says these two commandments, together and equally, hold up everything Moses and the prophets taught. So, what do Jesus’ words mean for you and me today? As we face a once every five hundred year rummage sale, what difference do they make? As we confront the challenge of our culture, where more and more people consider themselves, “spiritual, but not religious,” what help do they offer? On this Reformation Sunday, Jesus’ words recall us to the essentials of what it means to be a Christian. When all is said and done, they represent the heart of his teaching, “Love God and love others.” At this historic moment, as we consider what to save and what to sell, Jesus’ words make clear what our true tradition is, what our forebears gave to us, what we have to offer to the next generation, what we have to give to the world. They remind us that we exist to glorify God and to enjoy God forever; to give others respect, dignity, grace, justice, as we hope to receive it ourselves. In our culture, people may turn away from organized religion, but it doesn’t mean they turn away from God or their neighbors. No, they hunger to find meaning and purpose in their lives; they want to fill what Pascal called, “the God-shaped vacuum.” They yearn to be connected with others in community, in service to their neighbors. They aren’t seeking religion, but they want relationship and relationship is what Jesus offers them and us. ©2014 Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:54:15 +0000
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