Holy Communion with the Widow of Zarephath

Communion Liturgy  

of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath

for use in times of public distress

This communion liturgy begins with a bare table laid with a communion cloth. Behind the table out of sight is a plain chalice (empty), and an empty plate, some sticks, a jar of flour and a little bottle of olive oil. There is no procession of the elements today. A large pancake (or pancakes if the community is large) and an partial bottle of juice have previously been entrusted to two children during the children’s sermon (* see below) in which the story of Elijah and the widow has been told.

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Children's Sermon on the Widow of Zarephath

Prepare beforehand and have next to the communion table when the children come to meet you there: 

--a little bundle of small sticks, neatly tied up,

--a little jar with some cornmeal in it

--some pancakes (one or more pretty large one(s) to be used for communion, and several smaller ones to share with the children), 

--a large white linen napkin to wrap the pancakes in, 

--a small bottle of grape juice, 

--enough plastic communion cups to serve all the children, 

--a little bottle of olive oil

Invite  the children meet you at the communion table.  Ask them to look around and see what is different about our space this Sunday. (Point out that the communion table is completely bare, even though it’s communion sunday) Tell them that today’s bible story is about another bare table. Then tell the story of the Elijah and the Widow, using the props--sticks, meal jar, oil jug, pancakes etc, allowing the children to try the meal (I used rough corn meal) The props are left in the centre of the communion table. 

With a rather large pancake/s (for communion) and a couple of smaller pancakes (for the children to try) in a napkin, and a small bottle of grape juice, ask the children how many people they think it can feed.  Tell them that there is a decision to make: if you keep it to yourself, then it will feed only one person, but if you share it, there’s probably enough for everyone in the church to have some. Give one child the bread and ask him/her what she is going to do with it. If there is some hesitation, encourage him/her to break the bread and to give each child a bit, because in God’s world, there is always enough if we share. 

As  the bread is being shared among the children, (followed by a little bit of grape juice in communion cups--bread is dry!) tell them the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, and how Elijah came to this poor woman and her son about to starve and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand” (1 Kings 17:11). 

Ask the children to guess what she did. Did she keep the bread to herself or share it with Elijah? Let them know that she DID share her bread, even though she had very little for herself and her son. Then surprise them by telling what happened next: Elijah “and her household ate for many days” (v. 15). 

Invite the children to eat the bread you have given them, and point out that when we share there is nothing we can’t accomplish, and pretty soon, there will be enough for all. Then tell them that you are going to give them the rest of the bread and the juice --but to consider not eating it right now because there maybe more people to share it with later on in the service. Pray with them and dismiss them to their parents.

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Great Thanksgiving in Time of Uncertainty and Distress

One:  Let us pray together.

All:    The Lord be with you.

One:   But is God truly with us?

All:    YES, God is--now and forever. Now, lift up your heart!

One:   How can we lift them to the Lord when we are so worried?

All:    Goodness is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than fear; victory is ours through God who loves us. So give thanks to the Lord our God--always and everywhere-- and especially now and in this place.

One:   It IS right to give our thanks and praise.

All:    It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks, O God. You are the One who encircles us, with ever open arms inviting every person in.

One:   Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, You are the One who loosens within us tongues of fire and streams of living water. You are the One who gives life itself.

Invitation to the Lord’s Table 

One:  Whoever hungers and thirsts, whoever seeks hope and grace, whoever is on the Lord’s side, let them come and join with us at this table. Come, as Elijah came to Zarephath, saying...

All:   “Bring me a vessel, that I may drink. And bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

One: “As Yahweh your God lives, I have nothing to offer, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug. I am now gathering a few sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself, and for my own, that we may eat it...and die.”

All:   “Do not be afraid; go and do what as you have said...but the jar of meal and the jug of oil will not be emptied until the Lord has sent help”

The children who are holding the elements are invited to bring them forward to share them: 

One:  “N and N, we have nothing to offer; we are hungry, and our table is bare --no bread and no cup. Will you share with us?” 

 (Hopefully they say yes!) After they have brought the elements to they table they are invited to return to their seats (or invite them to stay if they would like to see more closely) Move the chalice and plate to the table to receive them.

One:    Let us continue to pray together. 

Always and everywhere, O God we do well to remember your care for us from of old, and to remember in this jar of meal (raise the jar) the fields of wheat, that sustained Adam our father and Eve our mother when the world was young, and we had sinned against you. But even in the midst of our sin, your first thought was the preservation of our lives, so you clothed us and provided for us. When we were unsure and frightened, you made covenants with us: a rainbow to show your love, night skies filled with stars to bear witness to your promise of fruitful lives. 

In these sticks (raise the kindling) we remember the faithfulness of Abraham and Isaac who were willing to prove their faithfulness even unto death. We remember that You provided a ram instead and saved your people Israel. This wood reminds us also of the staff of Moses and Aaron by which You led Your people through the wilderness until again your promises were fulfilled in a land flowing with milk and honey. And in the fulness of your time, you proved your love to us by allowing us to lift your only Son on the wood of the cross in heartache and misery. Yet he turned that misery into joy and that heartache into salvation out of love for us. And that joy and love will never die nor be defeated.

We give thanks that in Christ Jesus, water was turned to wine (lifting up the bottle of the fruit of the vine) and Christ’s blood that was shed for us has given us life and hope, in this cup that we share together, even in times of uncertainty and distress.

Words of Institution 

On the darkest night of the soul that Jesus had ever known, He took the last of the passover bread in His wonderful hands, and having given thanks in the face of death itself, broke it and shared it saying: “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me”. (the bread is broken)

Likewise, Jesus took the cup; the cup that was waiting for the Holy One of Israel to appear, the One who was coming in the name of the Lord. Christ took this cup and blessing it said: “This is the cup of new salvation that is poured out for you.  As often as you drink it, do so in remembrance of me.” (the cup is poured)

Even in these times, the wine of gladness and the bread of plenty  that we share reminds us that though weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning.  Remembering all these things, in confidence we raise our voices with the saints who have passed through trials and arise triumphant, and with them we join in singing their unending hymn of praise....

All: Holy, Holy Holy! Lord God Almighty

All Thy works shall praise Thy name 

                    in Earth and Sky and Sea!

Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty,

God in Three persons, blessed Trinity!

One:      You are holy, O God and your wonders did not cease with Christ’s resurrection, but You are continually healing us through the work of the Holy Spirit, poured out like oil on troubled waters, like medicine on your hurt and wounded people. In this small jar of oil (lift the oil) we remember the rich sensuous flavour that the Spirit gives to life, and the promises to the Widow of Zarapheth that You are always mindful of us and will never abandon us. Through your work we are made one with Christ’s followers here in this place and throughout the entire world. Whatever happens to us, O God, we pray that you will keep us faithful to you and to the gifts that you have given each one of us. In this we praise you Father, Son and Holy Spirit, even as we dare to pray as one church the prayer that Christ taught us saying...

the Lord’s Prayer

Communion of the People (by intinction)

Prayer after Communion

Lord God Almighty we praise you as the Parent of Jesus Christ, Your dear son through whom we have come to know You. God of the angels and the powers; God of all creation, God of those who live in your presence, I bless You. You have considered me worthy this day and hour, to be numbered with your saints, and to drink the cup of Your Anointed One, and thus to rise and live forever, body and soul, in the purity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(Final prayer of Polycarp (155 AD) 

before entering the arena

© 2010 Rev Fred J Powell, III Pastor, 

Uriel Presbyterian Church

Chester, SC, USA

Be Perfect

(Uriel Presbyterian Church)

Communion Meditation

“Be Perfect”

Sunday, 3 July, 2011

Final Sermon at Uriel Presbyterian Church

At the Lord's Supper, "Receive who you are; 

become what you've received."

--St Augustine

Text:  Deuteronomy 10.17-22 

NRSV 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18 who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19 You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. 22 Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven. 

Text: Matthew 5.43-48 ( NRSV) 

NRSV 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

    

There are a lot of texts in the bible that seem too difficult to preach. Sometimes they’re difficult to interpret, but sometimes the difficulty comes not in trying to understand the context of the passage, but that it’s just too difficult for people to hear and to bear. This is one definitely of those texts.

I mean, here we are, at the high point of the Sermon on the Mount, so to speak, listening as Jesus tell his disciples what real love is: turning the other cheek, not retaliating, loving your enemies, praying for those who attack you. I know this is what we're supposed to do. I also know that it's really, really hard for most of us to imagine, let alone carry out in any kind of consistent way.

 And then there's that last verse, the kicker: "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." 

As if it weren’t hard enough to do the other things that Jesus is talking about, now we have this. “Be perfect”. As hard as some of the other teachings in the sermon on the Mount are, this is perhaps the one that hits right between the eyes: "Be perfect." No where else in the gospel accounts of the Sermon on the Mount does this commandment appear. The closest thing to it is found  in Luke where Jesus says for us to be merciful. But no, Matthew heard Jesus saying to him “Be perfect”. 

There is perhaps nothing more heart sinking that hearing the one single flawless human who ever lived, command us that we must be perfect.  To hear this is to be set up to fail and fail constantly, in other words to be a absolute failure. 

 I know some people whose  high standards of perfection is soul-breaking, and even life threatening because anything less than achieving their goal means that they are utterly useless. I’m not talking about high achievers, I’m talking about perfectionists. The difference is that high achievers understand that the journey to excellence is littered with failed attempts whereas perfectionists see each setback as a failure and proof that they are irreparably flawed. 

You can find these people in all walks of life, but especially in the church. We vie with each other to be better and purer and higher, and end up judging and feeling judged according to impossible standards. Somehow we think that if Jesus can walk on water--and briefly, Peter, at least the most spiritually advanced among us should be able to too. The problem is that the quest to be perfect breeds anxiety. And deep down, pastors, and session clerks and officers are really stressed about this ‘be  perfect” injunction. Over and over congregations are scandalized because an elder or a deacon or a pastor isn’t living up to their idea of perfection. Over and over again at ordinations and installations, the  church is admonished, “Remember that you are NOT getting the perfect pastor or elder... and elders, remember that you are NOT getting the perfect church...because if you think you are, there is going to be trouble very soon”. It’s very useful advice, but unfortunately not very well heeded.

But what are we all to do? It’s there in black and white on page 5 in  our pew bibles. Jesus doesn’t say “TRY to be perfect” or “Getting as close as you can is ok”. There seems to be no mediating circumstance there. How does this square with our understanding of mercy, forgiveness and love? Thankfully, this is one place where the English language turns out to be very rigid, while the original language, Greek is more flexible. When we hear that command in English, we hear it as a clarion call to moral perfectionism. But that's not actually what the original language implies. "Be Perfect"--“ ;Esesqe te,lio,j” in this case, stems from telos, which is the Greek word for "goal," "end," or "purpose." The sense of the word “perfect” in Greek is more about becoming what was intended, reaching your end, accomplishing your God-given purpose in the same way that God constantly reflects God's own nature and purpose. It’s not the same thing at all. God intends for us to be the best we can be. It is God’s nature and purpose to be absolute perfection, ours is to be what we can be--good humans made of clay and quickened by the breath of God.  Eugene Peterson's recent translation of the bible called “The Message” gets closest to the mark, I think, in this passage of Matthew when he translates that last verse: "You are citizens of the kingdom of Heaven. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity."

 As I leave you today this is the kind of perfection that I hope for both you and myself. The work of becoming what God has intended; the living out of our God-given identity that is born in our baptism, finds roots in the gospel stories and in our personal mission. The best of who we are is fed at the table of the Lord’s Supper and is inspired by the Holy Spirit to be constantly renewed. These things give us a distinctively Christian understanding of perfection. Christian perfection is about maturity, wholeness and obedience in a life consecrated to the law of love revealed by Christ.

Does that let you and me off the hook with all the other things that Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount? Certainly not. But it does help us get to the root of the issue. We can only fulfill the other commandments of Jesus – to the degree that we can live into our identity as blessed and beloved children of God. You can't give what you don't have, and so only those who have experienced love can in turn share it with others.

 What kind of perfection is Jesus calling for? A perfect kind of love - a love that isn't stingy, but IS indiscriminate - a love that loves enemies as well as friends.  Just so we get what Jesus means, he piles on example after example:

First, if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also (v.39) - for a poke in the eye, turn the other cheek. That applies to us here at Uriel. Second, if someone wants to sue you for the shirt off your back , give your coat as well (v.40). Third, if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile (v.41)..AND with a smile!  Fourth, give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you (v.42).

In other words, Christians are to be people who overcome evil with good; who retaliate injury with healing; or who, “foil their foes with joy” 1.

 Archbishop Oscar  Romero of El Salvador who struggled mightily with evil and corruption in Central America, and who was shot to death by assassins while celebrating communion in 1980 had this to say about perfection. 

He said:

“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about....

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.”

Alleluia, Amen.

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1 Benjamin Britton in his "Ceremony of Carols"

Left Behind

(Uriel Presbyterian Church )

Sermon

“Left Behind” 

22 April, 2011

Fifth Sunday in Easter A

The stars may fall; the Messiah may die,

but no matter what happens, you will always have a home

Text: Acts 6.1-11, 7.51-8.1

NRSV 1Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.  2  And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.  3  Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,  4  while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”  5  What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.  6  They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 

7   The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. 

8   Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.  9  Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen.  10  But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.  11  Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

Then  beginning in verse 12 Stephen begins to tell the whole history of Israel and how it foretold Jesus as Messiah. When he had finished, he said to his accusers in verse 51:

51“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.  52  Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.  53  You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.” 

54   When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.  55  But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  56  “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”  57  But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.  58  Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.  59  While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  60  Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.  1  And Saul approved of their killing him.

Text: John 14.1-14

Jesus is sitting with his disciples at the Last Supper and talks to them for the last time before he is crucified.

  NRSV  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.  2  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  4  And you know the way to the place where I am going.”  5  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  7  If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 

8   Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  9  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  11  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.  12  Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  13  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. 

I  frankly don’t know what to feel about the end of the world hullabaloo this past week. It was certainly a nonevent, but on some level it had a great many people worked up about it. The television news  mentioned it at some point in every show for the past few days and the prediction went absolutely viral on the internet. 

I fielded at least half a dozen calls and e-mails from friends all over the world asking what I thought; what was this end of the world stuff about, and was I scared? It was a hard question to navigate, because I have no idea what God’s plans are, I respect and worship the creator, redeemer and sustainer of the universe and place myself entirely in God’s hands, but am I scared if the end of the world happens? Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have faith or trust in God.

I think what disturbed me more than anything else though, were the looting sites where people  were planning what they would scavenge from all the rich celebrities’ homes and businesses.  First of all, if what I know about the Kingdom of God is true in the least, those rich celebrities and empty socialites would float into the skies about as high as a bunch of lead balloons. I imagine instead that they would looting on a more massive scale themselves. But what made me saddest were the thousands and thousands of these facebook bloggers who never even questioned for a moment that if God were to select those that God loved most, they all had zero confidence that they would ever be chosen to go. In their own minds already, they were sure they were going to be left behind.  LEFT BEHIND. Even the words are mournful and hopeless feeling, a replay of the times all children experience when our parents went out for the evening or for the weekend and we were left starring at the car disappearing down the street without us . 

Which brings us perfectly to our post Easter gospel reading today.  Today’s reading is a little out of order, because it takes place before Jesus’ passion and death, but it’s all about the anxiety of being left behind. 

Perhaps this  one of the reasons that this scripture is so often used at funerals--both because it opens a fresh box of hope just with the phrase: ‘in my father’s house are many mansions’ but also because there is straight talking Thomas who pipes up and honestly admits: “No, Lord, we DON’T know where you are going, so how the heck could we possibly know the way?” (the expletive is mine)

When someone dies, or is otherwise gone, we suddenly feel like we have lost our way. We may be entirely certain as to that person’s character and faith, but WE feel lost....and left behind. So Thomas’s words are our words too: “I don’t know the answers, TELL me; remind me again.” 

And the disciples, even though they don’t yet know exactly what Jesus is talking about, have felt the dread and apprehension the whole time that they were on the journey to Jerusalem. Thomas, always  the plain spoken one, even says “Might as well go to Jerusalem and die with you, Jesus”. And at this passover meal,  Jesus was frankly scaring them.

But here at the penultimate moment of their time together, Jesus  speaks these words of comfort.  He gives us assurances that none who want to be with him will be left behind. “In my father’s house are many dwelling places”. This has always been a puzzle to listeners. What does that actually mean? The word that Jesus uses for dwelling places literally means something like a staging post, or a rest-stop on long journey. The dwelling of God is a place so large and so roomy that there are  rest-areas  from one part to the next. 

All these people this past week who, even though they made jokes about not being part of the elect, none the less judging by their comments they felt acutely left out. All of these people seem to be saying “Obviously, I’m not worth much to God; I’m too poor and too ignorant of who God is, I’m not hip or chic enough to be favoured by God. I’m not like those rich, well educated churchgoers. They’re the ones who will disappear into the air, I’m just the mess that is left behind.  Jesus wouldn’t take ME.” That breaks my heart, and it should break yours too.

  These are  people we see every day in the grocery store, at work, in elementary, high school and college, they’re the people  who’ve never heard the beatitudes; yet in their self-effacing humour they are the poor in spirit. These are the people who haven’t yet felt the joy of understanding this passage of scripture before us today.

 Because the joy of John 14 is that there is something unbelievably calming about knowing that no matter what happens, you who believe in Jesus  DO have a home to run to and arms that will embrace you.  You have a room; a shelter; an abiding-place somewhere that is waiting for you; a place that is yours that no one can take away, prepared with Jesus own hands. The stars may fall; the Messiah may die,  but no matter what happens, you will always have a home.

But Jesus conversation doesn’t stop there. After the comfort comes the direction to trust and to believe. Jesus urges the disciples to “trust in God, trust also in me.” 

Suddenly “Do not let your hearts be troubled” is not just a comforting statement. It is a challenging statement as well. A command not to be sucked under into a tide of fear and panic. And if you are able to trust in God and Christ, then with that faith we will continue find things to do for God, not because it’s going to get us a bigger house in heaven, but because we have that open handed relationship with Christ. 

We started this morning reflecting on those concerned about being left behind when Christ comes again, and let us end with those same people. To borrow the rhetoric of the airline industry: In case of emergency, put on your life support, found in the Good News within you, pulling it tight around you and breathe deeply and normally. Then turn and make sure that your neighbor is taken care of too, never abandoning them until they are safe. The breathing mask of holiness may not inflate, but inhale deeply and rest assured that life is flowing the way it should.

 Being anxious about death or the end of the world or both is entirely normal. Both will happen sooner or later, but Jesus promises us that none who want to be with him will ever be left behind. That is a promise you can stake your life on.

Amen

Holy Bonds

(Uriel Presbyterian Church )

Communion Meditation

“Holy Bonds”

May 1, 2011

Second Sunday of Easter  A

Blest be the ties that bind?

Text: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 

14a But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 

22 "You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know- 23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24 But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25 For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' 29 "Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.' 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

John 20:19-31 

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I’d like to begin this sermon with a little quiz.  Who remembers the show ‘Name that Tune’? Well, here’s the tune I’d like you to name...a little prize for the person who can give me the title first. (The musician plays a few notes from the interior of “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”...the first person who get’s right gets an easter egg) 

Now, who can complete the rest of the line “Blest be the tie that binds....(our hearts in Christian love ...the first person who gets  that bit right also gets a tootsie roll.) 

And finally, who can give me the entire second line? (“The Fellowship of kindred hearts is like to that above”.)

Excellent! Now what does it all mean? (Allowing folks to answer) 

So really, this hymn is all about the bond of love and friendship that binds christians together right? 

Golden cords, silken ties, bonds, duct tape, piano wire...basically they are things that hold other things together.  And there are other less tangible bonds like the holy bonds of marriage--we saw that this week in spades in London with the wedding of William and Kate Windsor.  2 billion people across the entire planet tuned in to witness the binding together of these two people in the bonds of holy matrimony.

We also hear Jesus talk about bonds in this passage this morning. In fact, while we hear each year about Doubting Thomas, we almost never pay attention to the very first words that the resurrected Jesus says to those gathered that first week.

Those words always  seem to get lost in the dramatic story of Thomas fishing around with his finger in Jesus side.  But it seems to me that what Jesus said should be every bit as important as “One step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. After all, he is come back from the dead, covered in the glory of the eternal God, ready to give them the secrets that they have slaved their whole careers as disciples for.  So what is it that he is bursting and overflowing with life to tell them?

It’s Easter evening still and 12 hours have passed since Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and spoke with him. Jesus appears in their midst and does only three things that are recorded.  The first he says twice: Peace be with you, though the words he says --“eirhnh umin” could...and maybe did... really mean  “Peace is Yours”, the emphasis being “peace is yours NOW”. 

Then he does something very curious. He BREATHES on them. It’s the only place in the whole New Testament where the word “emfusao (emphsao )” is used. Its the same word that we get “emphesema” from (that being a problem with the breath, in that case) Indeed, it is used only two places in the Old Testament even, in Genesis 2 where God breathes the breath of life into the lungs of Adam and he becomes a living being. It is used in Ezechiel 37 where the breath lays flesh on the dead dry bones and they come to life. 

First he gives them peace, then he gives them life, then what comes next? If this were a fairy tale with three wishes, what you wish for? You’ve been given peace, followed by life...what could possibly the next, last and terribly important wish you might hope for?

I’m not sure what I would choose, but it sounds like Jesus chose the exercise of power as the third thing. When you stop to think of it, it’s a really unlikely choice. He doesn’t tell them what his experience of death was like, where he’s been or what the game plan is now. His whole life has been poured out and spent, he is ascending very shortly to heaven, with only a limited amount of time to tell them all that they need to know, and the dynamics of power is third on his list of priorities. Or is it?

The exact way that Jesus puts it is: “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Ok, so far, so good. Then the next thing from his lips is “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” In other words,  you can either loosen the bonds of sin, or you can tighten them up so that no one escapes. First of all, it seems incredible that with no preface, no preamble Jesus just launches into this subject and just as suddenly, the scene ends and moves on another full week. But I’m thinking: “Wait! Don’t stop, don’t go; explain what you just said!”

It’s a variation on something that we’ve heard before in a different context, not in the gospel of John, but in the gospel of Matthew. First in , chapter 16, verse 19, where he’s talking to Peter and giving  him the keys to the kingdom and talking about what he binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and then a little later on in chapter 18 he’s talking to all the disciples about how to confront someone who has sinned, and Jesus concludes by saying WHATEVER you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and WHATEVER you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Now John reports that Jesus said something very like this with one of his first breaths as a resurrected Messiah. For the past 500 years this passage has interested people mostly in the tug of war between protestants and catholics , where the catholic church said “See! here is proof that only ordained people can forgive sins” and the Protestants shout back “It isn’t proof!”. But all that hot air has nothing to do with what John hears Jesus  saying. 

Firstly, this isn’t addressed to just the disciples. It is addressed to the whole community of faith that was assembled in that room. All of them received the peace that Jesus gave and the breath of Jesus’ spirit, they all heard the words that followed.  But it’s impossible not also understand that binding and loosening is involved here, every bit as much as the binding and loosening of the grave clothes that had so recently wound their way around Jesus body. 

We talk about the bonds of matrimony, and the bonds of friendship, but Jesus was not talking about the bonds of power over other people, but the bonds in which these first believers were wrapped so tightly in.  Jesus is talking about the bonds of forgiveness and unforgiveness. First he gave them the gift of peace, then the gift of life, and finally, the gift of forgiveness. 

I might not have made this connexion had it not been for my own Easter evening last week. It was the evening after the busy and tumultuous events of Easter Sunday and I was sitting in my upper room at home flipping through TV channels and flipped to PBS. And there, on the screen was the modern equivalent to what Jesus said to the disciples. It was a the first half of a two part programme called “Forgiveness: a Time to Love and a Time to Hate”.  I sat there and watched and heard the stories of people who had been brutalized and people who committed brutal acts, people who hated and people who forgave, but also the stories of people who couldn’t and wouldn’t forgive, who argued persuasively against cheap grace and easy forgiveness.  It was one of the most profound experiences I have had with this concept. It was an incredible gift to someone who has never seriously been crushed or wounded to see through other eyes and to hear their wisdom and their advice. 

The second part of this series is being broadcast tonight at 9  pm on South Carolina Educational TV channel 30. I recommend you watch it, even though it is not easy to watch, but in it, I felt that I was touching something sacred. I especially feel that as I worked with this passage of scripture today. Because in thinking about this passage, I came to a realization about why Jesus chose the power of forgiveness as his third gift to us. 

It is not about the power; it is about the bonds themselves. The small community of Christ was gathered in that room that stank with three days of fear, and tears and anger and loathing both of  Jerusalem and of themselves for having failed Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t only giving them power to bind or loosen others, he was giving them power to bind or loosen themselves. You see, there are positive bonds, like marriage and the  bond say, between mother and child, but bonds can definitely be constricting and repressive as manacles, shackles and winding cloths. 

In two short phrases he says to these people who are tied up in knots;” come forth, be ye loosened from your guilt”. “If you loosen others from their guilt, you will be loosened, but if you fail to do so, you will be bound as tightly as they are.” “If you forgive other’s sins, they will be forgiven and you will be free. But if you refuse to forgive them, those sins are retained, and you are  stuck.”  As Christ’s followers and resurrection people we must allow the bonds that we sang about at the beginning of the sermon, those bonds that bind us need to be expansive with forgiveness, and not strangling with withheld emotions and hate. 

In just about a month this presbytery will be voting on Amendment A. The entirety of the amendment says this: 

“Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G-14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003).

Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.”

It sounds pretty innocuous...and it is; it even sounds theologically sound...and it is. But to some churches and individuals that are holed up  in their upper rooms with the doors barred against this amendment, it sounds like a death knell. There is the stink fear, and tears and anger and loathing both of  the church and of themselves for having failed Jesus. This amendment to the book of church order are exactly the sort of thing that Jesus is teaching us about. There are some churches and some pastors and some sessions that are ready to snap; to walk out of the Presbyterian community simply because they can’t endure a bond that would allow gay and lesbians to consider Christ’s call of service.  They have allowed the bonds of percieved-sin-withheld to strangle them instead of forgiving and finding peace and life. 

It looks now that it may pass, since 84 presbyteries have already passed it. With 29 presbyteries still to cast votes, only three more yes votes are needed for it to  change our book of order.*  

But now here comes the challenge to us at Uriel and in Providence Presbytery. Will we forgive those who storm and rage and rail, or will we withhold forgiveness and compassion for those who would be our enemies? God forbid that we should withhold what Christ has given to us freely! Plus if we retain those sins, they bind us in the end. If we can find it in ourselves to display compassion and true “fellowship of kindred hearts” we will have gained what Christ gave himself up for...peace and life and the forgiveness that passeth all understanding...even our own. 

Amen

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* UPDATE: As of the July 10th deadline,  Amendment A has passed the presbyteries (it passed in Providence Presbytery on Pentecost Sunday), as has the New Form of Government. The other major amendment, to add the Belhar Confession to the book of Confessions received a simple majority, but failed to gain the 2/3 majority it required to add it to the 'Confessions"