In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today we’re treated to one of the most appalling stories in the Old Testament. Abraham, having received the promise of many heirs who will become a great nation, God’s chosen people, is then told to go and sacrifice his son, Isaac, the one who it seemed would carry the promise forward through time.
And not only is the command appalling but his response is appalling, too. We hear nothing of any kind of questioning of God. NO protest. No inner turmoil. We hear nothing of these things. We just see Abraham’s unwavering obedience to God’s command.
Interpreters of this passage generally have seen the story is an iconic example of the obedience and trust of Abraham. We see hints of his trust in God come through in the conversation that he has with his son. Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham replies, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Furthermore, when they climb the mountain to the place of offering, Abraham gives Isaac the wood to carry. But he himself carries the fire and the knife, so that his precious son will not be harmed by them as they hike upward.
Abraham proceeds with the binding and almost gets to the slaughter when he’s stopped by an angel, and a substitute offering is provided by God. Hmm, God provides a substitute offering . . . what does that sound like? Well let’s save that sermon for Good Friday.
Does this verse ring a bell with anyone in the congregation?
Matthew 10:28
Why?
Tell the story of John Beach, loyal priest of the Church of England, standing his ground against the bullies: Sons of Liberty, hired by for the price of a keg of brandy. Made his case that he wouldn’t back down for any reason: and he was a martyr—a witness. Witnessed to the ordination vows he made, to uphold the worship of the Church.
So when John Beach made his witness and quoted that sentence of scripture, it was in this sense: you guys are bullies and you’re not going to push me around; I answer to the Highest Power, not to you.
Read the Peterson paraphrase: “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.” And yes, as the NRSV translation has it, God does have the power to destroy the soul—to cast it into hell—forever. That is the fate of those who utterly reject God in their lives, according to Holy Scripture. We won’t be entirely sure that Hell has any occupants, tho, given that God is the God of love and kindness. However he is also the God of justice.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s readings are all about not seeing things that are right in front of our eyes. Did you know that this really happens all the time? Let me illustrate with an example from this last week when I was participating in the Clergy Leadership Project in West Cornwall.
We were told to watch a short video. Men were told to count how many times a basketball was passed between the members of the white team. Women were told to count how many times a different basketball was passed between members of the black team.
It was confusing and you had to concentrate hard because the action moved so fast. So I’m watching and counting, and I got up to 15 times when I had to stop because—wait a minute—that was a gorilla moving across the screen into the center of the action, stopping and beating on his chest then moving back across the screen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
First thought upon reading this gospel: what a full day for Jesus! Of course not clear if this all happened in one day, but it reads as if it does. There are 7 different stories in this one day—this one gospel.
I was struck by how similar Jesus’ day was to some of our own days. The challenges he was hit with; the interruptions he had to deal with; the patience he had to have; the gifts and talents he used. It reminded me of days in the office here; but even more it reminded me of the days when I had little kids at home and all the interruptions and demands.
I think a look at Jesus’ experiences might inform our own lives. Let’s follow him through a day’s worth of experience and see what we can learn.
In the summer months our choir takes a well deserved break. At that time we also feature surprise guest musicians at our Sunday celebrations of the Holy Eucharist at 9 am.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let’s take a poll—how many people remember their dreams now and then? Let’s talk about a very common dream symbol = house. Carl Jung, pioneering Swiss psychologist, suggested house = self—the house of the ‘soul’. Rooms in house = facets of personality. Found this website online that talks about symbolism of the various rooms in a house.
Seems instinctual to use house this way as a metaphor for the self. Nursery stories are full of symbols. From when we were little: Three Little Pigs, by Joseph Jacobs
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Love the image of stilling one’s soul and making it like a child upon its mother’s breast. Made me think of last Sunday: Chiarra singing herself to sleep while Paul read the 1st Creation story in Genesis. Wonderful, rocking cadences of that passage. The trust, the security, of a child able to tune out and just sleep. The best of both worlds.
Contrast that to my latest fit when I pulled into the gas station yesterday and saw the price at the pump. And I drive a hybrid.
How hard it is to trust that God will provide us what we need, especially when we’re really struggling with what we have.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”
Did you know that the Trinity is in these very first verses of the Bible?
God the Creator
The Spirit (wind) sweeping over the face of the waters
The Word (Son) spoken by the Father
It isn’t a creation from nothing, because there is already the earth, darkness, and the deep. The ocean. The method of creation that God used, according to this account in Genesis, is bringing order to things that were chaotic. The darkness and the deep—great symbols of disorder, of chaos. They were there before the creation—can see this when we read carefully. And the Spirit moved over them and God brought order. Order from disorder. Creation from chaos.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I just love those ads on TV now with the polar opposites: Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich; Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson. We Campaign for Climate Change—spearheaded by Al Gore.
But I think that even better than the ads is the logo for this We campaign—have you seen it? The “we” with the upside down “m” for the “w.” Cleverly makes you think of the responsibility of the individual—the “me”—as well as the responsibility of the community—the “we.”
I couldn’t help but think about the me/we dichotomy this week as I considered the effect of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
First we extinguish the Christ Candle, and we watch the smoke go up.
Jesus went up as well to his Father. This past Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus.
We’ll leave it out for the remainder of the service, to remind us that he has gone. But it will be re-lit at 10, for the baptism then. We do it because it’s a symbol that he never really does leave us, that by our baptisms we are given the Spirit, who makes all things infused with God.
And like the disciples in today’s story from Acts, we wait. We wait for the Spirit once again to come to us, to energize us and make Jesus real for us, to comfort us and to be our guide.
We have an advantage over those first disciples. They didn’t know Jesus as Lord and God right at first. We do, and we have. The Spirit has been at work in us for a long time.
