| Luke 1:67-80 "Reclaiming Our Sacred Identity II" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Tuesday, 13 November 2007 | |
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“Holy Covenant.” Only three places in the entire Bible put those two words together. Today’s Lukean narrative is one of them. It’s a familiar scenario in the Biblical genre; an angelic messenger promises a couple,” Zechariah and Elizabeth, a child in their “golden years!” Go back in your mind to a family gathering and imagine grandma and grandpa excitedly announcing, “We’re pregnant!” Family’s going to talk about that for a while, huh! Despite being something the couple has longed for, Zechariah can’t bring himself to believe it. According to the narrative, he is struck speechless and only regains his voice when he can acknowledge the child as proof of God’s “Holy Covenant” and he breaks forth into a song of praise! Our reading comes from the 1st chapter of Luke, verses 67-80: As you are able, please stand for the reading of the Gospel. 67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: 68‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. 69He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, 70as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. 72Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, 73the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us 74that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. 78By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, 79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ 80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel. Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. Have you heard about the Holmes Comet? Typically invisible to the naked eye, on October 23rd the comet experienced an explosive outburst. Within a 24 hour period its brightness increased a million-fold, caused possibly by a partial implosion of comet’s honeycomb-like inner structure, spewing out large amounts of cosmic dust. Holmes is so bright you can see it with the naked eye or even better with a good set of these (hold up binoculars). But you’ll need some reference points to find it. Before you go to bed, look high in the NE sky for five stars in a conspicuous zigzag pattern high; a “W” turned on its side. Scan down from the bottom of the “W” and Holmes will appear as a round, yellowish fuzz ball. Just as Zechariah needed help finding his voice, so the HC Affirmation provides us some “points of reference” to help us find our prophetic voice. Look at the second sentence of the Affirmation. It reads: Because we are a Holy Covenant, we are receptive to all persons, advocates of those in need and committed to serving through action and acceptance as Christ served and accepted all people. So what is a Holy Covenant? Holy means ‘sacred,” something set apart for God’s purpose. A covenant in biblical times was a “promise.” This kind of promise places demands on both the promise maker and the promise receiver. Thus both are covenant makers! Marriage vows are modern day covenant making. Those of you who are married, how would it have gone down when if when it came your turn to make your vow, you replied, “Oh, I’m just along for the ride?” Oh, yeah!” That’s not how it’s supposed to work, is it? That people have experienced God as a “promise maker” is evidenced not only in scripture but in the shared experience of the church. Last Sunday, as we lit candles on the altar for the saints of our lives; we were honoring God as promise maker. God’s covenantal promises are carried out through the faithfulness of God’s people. We are God’s Holy Covenant, a people set a part for God’s Holy purpose. So what are these “points of reference” that help us find our prophetic voice? • Advocacy • Receptivity • Service 1st, Advocacy for those in need. An advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another. Dr. John Holbert, professor of homiletics at Perkins School of Theology and author of the book, “Preaching Job,” states that in the language of the OT the word “redeemer” means literally “advocate.” Thus when the “afflicted” Job proclaims, “I know that my redeemer lives…” Job is saying, “There must be someone who can take up my cause; an advocate who will defend me against my accuser.” And who does Job believes his accuser is? In Job’s day people believed that the righteous were blessed and the evil punished by God. Thus when Job’s life comes crumbling down around him, despite his right living, Job concludes God’s is punishing him unfairly. “It doesn’t dawn on Job,” says Holbert, “to question his beliefs, instead of questioning God’s integrity.” A theology that claims bad things happen to bad people suggests that poverty, suffering, and grief are merely the downstream effect of our unholy living. But that’s contrary to the biblical witness that claims God moves in human history, not to do harm, but to do us good. Verse 68: 68‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. And how does God advocate for humanity? Through onboard navigation! Scripture refers to it as the “still, small voice of God.” When we see someone in need, God stirs within us. It is this voice that says, “This isn’t right and you know it. Do something about it.” Many of you know the story of Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador. Romero spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture taking place in his country, often with the blessing of the government. In his sermon the morning he was assassinated, Romero called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop carrying out the government's repression and violations of basic human rights. What you might not know, is that Romero was appointed Archbishop because of his reputation as a conservative, status quo, non-political clergyman. His persona radically changed when a personal friend, the Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande, was assassinated. Grande had been creating self-reliance groups among poor farm workers in El Salvador. The violent death of his friend flipped a switch inside Romero. He could no longer reconcile his silence. • How can we in good conscience stay speechless when children are dying from treatable diseases? • When people starve and there is more then enough resources to go around? • When TV preachers tells AIDS victims their disease is divine punishment? Are we going to sit here at say, “I’m just along for the ride, oh yeah!” Or are you we going to find our prophetic voice individually and as a church? The Christ in us calls us out. We are to be advocates of those in need. 2) A 2nd reference point is our receptivity to all persons. In his blessing his own child, Zechariah claims a prophetic identity for the infant. He will grow up and someday fulfill a God given destiny to prepare people to receive God’s gift of salvation. Verses 76-79: 76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, Of course this is exactly what John the Baptist will do. John is the prototype of the church. Preaching, baptizing, calling people to a closer walk with God. That’s our job. We are to be a light to those living in darkness and guide people into ways of peace (vs. 79). Yesterday our men’s group, the Spiritual Journeymen met to discuss how they were going to use the remainder of funds they have raised over this year. After all is said and done, they will have paid out over $20,000 to charitable causes both within and beyond the local church! They have funded care for autistic children, the terminally ill, the homeless, the abandoned, children of the incarcerated and of illegal immigrants, AIDS orphans, and the poor. The Spiritual Journeymen have a shared vision for embracing people regardless of their situation or back ground. All they know is that they children and their families have genuine needs: They come from diverse backgrounds, faiths, and ideologies but all are human beings and thus of sacred worth to God. We are Receptive to all persons. That’s a step beyond tolerance. Its compassion, warmth, and inclusion. The 3rd reference point is Service, in the model of Christ. 74that we…might serve God without fear.” In Robert Wick’s book, “Crossing the Desert,” a professional counselor writes about her battle to correct a facial birth defect: Through the years many companions have blessed me on my journey by imparting wisdom and lightening my load. My two-year old niece was one of these surprising companions. I had just graduated from high school and was preparing to spend most o f the next month in or near the hospital. I would be undergoing corrective facial surgery that was considered quite dangerous so naturally I was quite anxious about it. My niece, Shelly, had crawled into my suitcase because she wanted to go with me. She looked up and saw me crying as I was packing because I did not want to face what was ahead of me. When she saw this she looked straight into my eyes and said, “Don’t cry. Jesus make it all better.” I was so caught up in my own preoccupations that I didn’t pay much attention to this angel’s kind words. In a few hours, I left for the airport. Little did I realize that in a few short days, both of our lives would hang in the balance and be changed forever. After the surgery, I experienced several serious complications. It was so bad that the staff prepared my family for the possibility that I might ot make it through the night. While my sisters were on the phone together speaking and worrying about me, my niece Shelly unlatched the back door, went into the backyard, and fell into the swimming pool. Although she was gone but for a short while before her mother realized the silence in the house and her absence, it was long enough for her to have her little lungs fill with water and drown. Shelly died that night and I lived. I struggled with this for the longest time. I blamed myself and wallowed in self pity. As Pema Chodron says in her book When Things Fall Apart, we usually don’t see pain as a source of potential wisdom. When something is painful we want to rid ourselves of the feeling as soon as possible and we even “cultivate a subtle aggression against ourselves.” That description fit me exactly. I wanted to rid myself of these feelings as soon as possible. I spent considerable time in prayer and meditation as well as in counseling, searching for a way to reconcile why I was here and she was gone. The person I least expected to die, died. The person I anticipated to die, me-survived. It was inconceivable to me. All my assumptions were challenged. However, the experience eventually did give me a new perspective. As in the case of all people who are eventually able to surface from trauma, I let go of why it had to happen. Instead, the search for an answer eventually led me to a different place: the valuing of being in the present moment. There may not be a tomorrow. Those moments with Shelly were our last together on this earth. I realized I could take nothing for granted. It’s strange how we learn as children to believe life is fair We make sure everyone has the same number of cookies. Everyone gets a ride on the pony. Then we grow up and discover, life is many things- but fair is not one of them. I clung to Shelly’s last words to me, “Jesus make it all better.” I realized I had to trust God in this. If I did, I knew I could then choose to move out of the darkness and continue living my life-but in a different, more enlightened way. I would take the lesson Shelly had taught me, and move ahead as best as I could. I would also remember and take deeply to heart what one of my professors had taught me, “If we remain sensitive to the presence of God in faith and in prayer, and in the darkness of confusion and suffering, the darkness will teach us, it will become [new] light.” (p.61-63) Tragedy happens. We know that. And having faith doesn’t insulate us from it. Rather our belief in God’s love for us and others is a lens through which we make meaning out of life, even out of tragedy. It is out of the belief that we are loved and loved well by God that we offer ourselves in service to others. The witness of the saints continues to be, “Jesus makes it better!” This is the message we bring to life! And by the way, everything you need to grow spiritually has been handed to you. You know how to read your bibles, how to pray, worship, give and serve. But we all need to take responsibility for our own spiritual growth and not expect it to be spoon fed to us. If we’ve learned anything from our saints, it should be that! “The Holy spirit will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13 God has planted a passion deep within your heart. Trip that switch and your brightness will increase a million-fold, and people will come from miles around to watch you burn! Vs. 78, “The dawn from on high will break upon you.” Service, in the model of Christ. • Advocacy • Receptivity • Service “Points of reference” for finding our prophetic voice. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself on each one? As an advocate? As a receptionist? As a Servant? Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, we are pregnant with possibility! You want to get the neighbors talking? Claim your identity as God’s “Holy Covenant.” Quit holding back! Face your fears! Stand up for those in need. Treat people better then they deserve. Quit saying “I’m just along for the ride,” and instead say “yes!” to God. God has been there for you. The church has been there for you. Isn’t it time you were there for God and God’s church? |
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