Just a Bunch of Rocks

(Parkway Presbyterian Church)

Preached for the Pastor Nominating Committee of 

***** Presbyterian Church, *** *******, **

Communion Meditation

"Just a Bunch of Rocks"

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

World Communion Sunday

Compare apples to apples and stones to stones.

Text: Matthew 21.33-46

NRSV  33"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 

34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 

40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time." 

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?  43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls." 

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Confession time: one of our favourite temptations as preachers  is neither the seventh or the ninth commandment. It is to extract what we like from a passage of scripture and drop the rest like an old orange peel. Take for example  “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” It makes a great proverb to carve on a church building, or we can turn that idea into a glorious hymn: “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation” or we can even insert it into a mysterious Masonic ritual that has more to do with patriotism and civic duty than Christ. 

But we’re still left with the orange peel: “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls." That’s pretty harsh, yet that’s just the the beginning of the difficulties with this passage of scripture, in which a number of people are being beaten up, assaulted and finally murdered, while still later in the passage, others are even tortured and lynched.

On this Peacemaking Sunday we have a text that is not peaceful; on this World Communion Sunday we have a text which does not bring us together as one world family. So to explain this hard scripture to you, I’m going to use a technique I learned from my boss. I’m going to tell you another parable.

On this World Communion Sunday consider this: The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is like an orchard of windfall apples. Now Windfall apple trees in the green slopes of Vermont are famous for planting themselves in very nicely spaced natural orchards. Unlike other trees, apple seeds won't grow if they fall right beneath the tree. Windfall apples only begin to seed when the tree is very, very old and brittle and dying. In the late fall, when the winds buffet the hills and mountains of Vermont, the storms often break off branches which tumble to the ground just beyond the farthest reach of the tree. It is only then when they are far away from the mother tree that the apple seeds take root and begin to grow.

This is exactly like Christianity in our world today. Like a windfall apple tree, the civilizations of Western Europe and North America have spread a canopy of protection over the gospel for more than a thousand years in all directions to bring the Word of God to the furthest distances men and women could reach. This golden circle has existed since the time of  the Emperor Constantine who championed this upstart religion called Christianity and even outlawed all other religions in known world. And in this rich soil, nurtured by martyrs, seeded by saints, versions of Christianity grew and thrived.

 Until we arrive in our century when all this is now 1500 years old, and where this elderly system of arcane rules and power structures is beginning to no longer make sense. I’m not talking about the gospel or Jesus, I’m talking about the web of culture we’ve woven around our penniless Jewish saviour named Jesus. 

 We are discovering while traditional Christianity in Europe and North America is stately and refined and elaborate, it is more often than not gathering dust in echoing emptiness, But, like the windfall apples, at the very edges of western influence are places of wild growth and enormous faith and excitement. Christianity is incredibly strong in the most unlikely places.

Take for example the Presbyterian church in Korea. In Seoul there are so many people wanting to come to church that some churches have to have 15 church services each weekend so that everyone gets a chance to worship at some point. Several Presbyterian churches in Korea have memberships of 15,000 people. But they are doing things in a Korean way, and doing it really well. What could we learn from them? In China, house churches are so strong that the Communist government can’t control them, and it’s growing so quickly both in cities and rural areas that it is speculated that Christians now outnumber official communist party members.

Or think of the church in Africa where the new growth is not due any longer to white missionizing, but to the strong Christians that developed after Westerners finally got out of the way in the 1970s . These are churches whose Christianity is bound up in the African experience of life and grace and spiritual strength, with the result that it proclaims the gospel in powerful new ways in missions to people living with AIDS, in setting up businesses where incidentally, folks can come to hear the gospel while their clothes are sewn up or their cars are repaired, as well as in established village churches that look and feel a whole lot more like the native medicine hut next door.

In Chicago presbytery, I know a pastor from Pakistan who grew up as a Muslim, converted to Christianity and was such a strong evangelizer that he was beaten nearly to death and after years of struggle finally had to leave or simply lay down his life. Now, here in the US, he is overwhelmed by the number of Pakistanis immigrants who want to learn about Christ now that they are free to do so--but they hear it cross-legged and shoeless in a room that looks more a mosque than a church.

Churches arranged like mosques and Christians who dance around a drumming circle before communion; Chinese preachers who chant the gospel like a daoist monk---  all this scares the heck out of us in the US, because just like Jesus’ parable of the tenants, Western christianity has been a little apprehensive about giving up control of "our" Christianity. Make that a lot apprehensive. Because if you look carefully at the scripture for today, it’s about control.  The tenants want to be in charge, and when we’re not in charge, we tend to get anxious, don’t we?

 In Jesus story, the tenant farmers have things just where they want them. If the owner isn’t around, it's easy for them to imagine themselves important and capable. For many centuries the West has used Christianity as a way to order the world and make handsome profits. Think conquistators in Mexico and Presbyterians in New England. In colonies in India and Africa and South America the bible has been used as a weapon to keep colonies submissive. “Just as the church is subject to Christ, so slaves should be subject to their masters that God has given to rule over them”. Makes sinister sense doesn't it? 

Until you come to this parable. Here Jesus is exposing the corruption plainly. To paraphrase CS Lewis “Our God is not a tame God.”

 The whole point of this appalling story in today's gospel is about ruthless workers in the vineyard who wanted to keep the status quo, and who were willing to employ any means necessary to keep things the way they are, even killing the very thing that would insure their continued life together. Should'nt we prick up our ears? This World Communion Sunday, should'nt we examine the vineyard we're working in to see who’s really in charge?

Then Jesus begins to talk plainly about stones that the builders rejected. Just a bunch of rocks lying around, but they can be used for stoning others as well as for building. Now, 1st century builders would often scavenge older stone buildings for materials, and build new buildings from old ones, just turning the used bits to the inside. But these builders would only consider stones that were a certain size colour and shape that fit their ideas. In the same way, missionaries and churches in past years tended to think that the living stone with which they were building the church of Christ in distant places had to look like Scotland or France or Spain . Anything that looked African or Asian or Latin American wouldn't really work for them. Anything that came from popular culture had to be inferior. But here we are in 2011 looking and learning in amazement at the things that can strengthen and enrich our faith from Christianity in the world, yet the only reason that these voices are heard is because these rejected stones cry out their passion for the good news of Christ in voices that are too strong to ignore any longer.

Jesus words about the rejected stones should be profoundly comforting to us in our daily lives as well. There are times in our lives when rejection and despair seem to leave us sprawled like a heap of stones, dusty and forlorn at the end of a long road, but this scripture is telling us that what looks like just a bunch of rocks can truly be something marvelous and amazing, the keystone not only to our own success and fulfillment, but to a whole new life as a community of gathered stones living in Christ Jesus. Like the windfall apples we began with, here we are sitting in the branches of the old tree of faith worrying about whether we will make it through the storms of another winter without crashing to the ground. Yet God has placed help just at the edges of our reach. Just beyond us are firm strong Christian boughs bearing good fruit from trees grown in other cultures that can teach us things like "peer-evangelization", "young adult ministry", "urban empowerment", "mission focused living". Like Jesus' parable of the tenant farmers, the owner of the vineyard's messengers are coming to us from Kenya and Pakistan; from the dirt-poor Cherokee reservation, and inner city Atlanta. We have just a bunch of rocks--you, and you, and me. What should we do with them?

Amen

Yes, Sir

(First Presbyterian, Union, SC)

Sermon

Evangelism Sunday

“Yes, Sir”

Sunday, 25 September, 2011

Jesus is telling is we have to keep it

R...E...A...L

Text:  Matthew 21.23-33

NRSV Matthew 21:23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" 24 Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?" And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 26 But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet." 27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 

28 "What do you think? A man had two children; he went to the first and said, 'Child, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29 He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. 

31 Which of the two did the will of the father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

There is a lot going on in the passage of scripture, and we will deal with it in a minute, but for me the part I always hear loudest is the story of the two kids in the vineyard. The first refuses to do what he is asked to do, yet later on goes and does it; and the second child who says he will, but never shows up. 

I feel like I have to deal with this part in the interest of full and honest disclosure, because it’s about me. This parable carries me back across time and space to stand in a big field of corn, okra, tomatoes and cantaloupe under the blazing South Carolina sun. To this day I remember that morning. I was 19, just home from my first year at Winthrop college and had been ordered out of bed 45 minutes earlier to weed and hoe and rake in the hot June sun. As the sweat tricked down my back and my eyes squeezed into tiny slits, I just snapped. Out of no where I heard my own voice snarl “I am NOT going to do it. and lo and behold, the hoe flew smack into a row of corn all by itself and my feet stomped all by themselves through the dust and grass back into the house. What followed was an argument of monumental proportions. Even today, if I could freeze that moment in time and walk around inside it; prod my emotions , open up my soul and ticker with what was there, I still don’t think I could fully understand why I behaved the way I did.  I could easily be a bulletin illustration for this bible story. All I know is that it was just too much. It was the ultimate unbearable thing and I just couldn’t deal with doing the task.

What a strange story for Jesus to insert in this passage! It’s pretty easy  hear this parable and to say, “Oh that’s just kids for you--they change their minds like remote controls change TV channels”. It’s easy to hear this parable and miss what else is going on. But, in the end, we know that Jesus  wasn’t really talking about kids and chores...He was talking about US and the complicated sets of actions and reactions that adults deal with every day. He was answering the real question of the scribes and chief priests: ““Why are the people listening to you and to John and not us? WHY? TELL US!!”

The leaders were asking questions about authority, but that was really a fancy way of asking what have  you got that we don’t?” 

And you know, those are really good questions for Evangelism sunday. Why is it that people aren’t listening to what we as a church are saying? What would possess a hardened prostitute to give up a lucrative job and throw herself headlong into a new one? Or a tax collector to promise to repay 10 fold what he had stolen? What would lead an out of work mother to quit dealing drugs and start a rehab center? Why would lead a lesbian christian to open her life to serve a church that is hostile and vicious to GLBT people? Why would a muslim bomb maker lay down her tools and work in a refugee hospital?

John was an authentic witness to who God is. That’ s why the tax collectors and prostitutes listened to him. Jesus is an authentic image of who God is. That’s why the drug addicts and terrorists listen to him. The answer is that John and Jesus are REAL.  In the study of evangelism the acronym R. E. A. L.  stands for four things that that all effective christians are. 

First of all “R” reminds us to relate to people. Not from up here in a pulpit, but being where others are. At work, at MacDonalds, at our child’s swimming lesson. Jesus was completely like that. He was where the action was, he was with people who were often fun, but sometimes sad and sometimes hurting, but he was right there with them. And it is entirely true that the most effective way to share our faith is through our relationships. 80 percent of new followers of Jesus said that their decision was because of a friend, family member, or acquaintance. That makes sense because God has created us to be relational; it’s wired into our genes to be social.

the “E” in REAL is that quality of Jesus, and John for that matter, that EMBODIES their faith. Jesus didn’t only talk, his every action was a sonnet on the love of God and truth of the Kingdom of Heaven. John talked a bit more and a bit louder than Jesus, but his unique gift of prophecy embodied his words and made his witness authentic.

Then there’s the “A” which stands for authenticity. John the Baptist wore weird shirts woven out of smelly camel felt and ate desert bugs dipped in honey. He didn’t conform--he rebelled! he said “NO, I’m not going to waste God’s time worrying about  how many fringes are on my coat or whether I’ve walked one mile or two miles on the sabbath. Let’s talk about what obedience to God really means; doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God.”

So often we think that Christians have to be cookie cutter conformists. We have to dress "right" on Sunday, we have to know certain passages of the bible, we have to espouse certain doctrines and beliefs. But that’s not being authentic. Being authentic is being who God has made you and speaking the words that God has put in your mouth and heart to share. So what if you have doubts about the Virgin Birth or only feel truly yourself in blue jeans? Faith sharing must come from the joy and transformation that we continually receive from a vibrant idiosyncratic relationship with God. No one else has the same perspective as you, and the wonderful thing about the church is that there is room for all of us, and we learn joy in the gifts of those who are different from us.

Finally we get to the “L” word. What made Jesus different was that he was LED his whole life through by the Holy Spirit, and so must we be.  Being a faithful authoritative evangelist does not mean we force things to happen; we cannot change hearts, God does. Allowing ourselves to be lead by the Spirit simply means we make ourselves constantly available to try and figure out what God is already up to in in our life and ask God to lead us in how best to be a witness of the gospel.

So there in a nutshell is what made Jesus and John different, and what perplexed the leaders and pharisees. Jesus and John were relational; they met people where they were in their lives, and accepted people for who they were.  They embodied and represented with DEEDS the truth they told.  They were AUTHENTICALLY themselves, camel hair, bugs and all. And lastly, they accepted the Leadership of the Holy Spirit. 

Why didn’t the scribes, pharisees and elders see what was right before their eyes? They were the ones standing in God’s vineyard  saying: “We will do what you say”--but then not doing it. 

The answer is that  at the very bottom of it all, they were afraid of humans and afraid of God and didn’t really understand the things they were playing with. They were afraid to be authentically themselves. They were afraid to give up control to God. They were afraid to do anything for fear they might make a mistake. They looked at the misery of the people around them and were afraid that they would catch it by association, but poor little rich folks, they never realized that they were miserable as well... but the people knew. Their lives were stripped so bare that they didn’t have the luxury of playing with words and concepts. they needed a change and answers and help--and John and Jesus provided that.  

But what about us? On this evangelism Sunday can’t we be honest and say that we too  are just as afraid as the leaders of Israel. A deep part of us is afraid of that label “Christian” and wear it like ill fitting suit, or worse yet,  a halloween costume. But the truth is that your life can’t help but be a witness to something. Maybe it’s the power of Nascar, or the effects of a really good weight loss plan, or maybe the wisdom crooned by Kenny Chesney, or the power of the US army, but God would prefer for all those things to be vehicles for a wider witness to the love and reality of Christ Jesus.

In the beginning of this sermon I said that this story is about me. And it really and truly is, but it’s about you too. For most of my life I thought about myself:  “No one is going to listen to a short bald guy with a squeaky voice talk about Jesus.” You need to be this tall to ride this ride, not to mention handsome,  conservative and an encyclopedia of biblical knowledge. But when God gave me my witness it wasn’t like anyone else's. It was a passion for hospitality and an interest in foreign cultures, a too lively imagination and even something as simple as baking bread. And through these strange things God has woven a path between me and others. God is not done with me yet, so I don’t know how effective my evangelism is, but if I follow Christ’s pattern I will end up where I’m supposed to be. 

And your witness won’t be like any one else's. Soon all of you together will be beginning the work of revitalizing this congregation and refreshing the fabric of this church into something new and beautiful for a whole new generation of believers. There will be things for everyone to do, young and old, rich and poor, ordained and non-ordained. We can see it as tedious hurdle or an exciting adventure. God is giving each of us a choice. To each of us the voice of our parent in heaven comes to us in every morning: “Child, go and work in the vineyard today.” And you will answer......?

Amen.