The Other Sheep – 6/29/08

$507.5 million dollars. That’s the amount that was awarded to the citizens of Alaska as compensation for an oil spill. What oil spill? Well, that little oil spill that took place about 20 years ago in Prince William Sound. This past week, the Supreme Court finally settled the case of the Exxon Valdez. Long forgotten by most people, 33,000 Alaskans were very much aware of what was going on at the various levels of the court for the past two decades. How could they forget, really? If you’ve forgotten the story, a large oil tanker made its way into Prince William Sound in Alaska. They were given permission to move outside the normal shipping lanes because of ice bergs that required navigation. The weather was nice, so the Coast Guard gave them permission.

The first problem, however, was that the captain of the ship was not the one behind the wheel. Neither was the second in command; both of whom were qualified to be steering a ship that size in through the waters. It was the third mate who was driving the ship, or at least watching it. It was on automatic pilot. Along the way, the person on lookout noticed that one of the markers was on the wrong side of the ship. That is, one of the lights that told them where the Bligh reef was located was on the right side of the ship instead of the left. They would have to turn in order to avoid running into it. But since the ship was on automatic pilot, it would not respond to the commands given by the third mate. It seems they couldn’t remember to flip the switch.

Needless to say, the ship ran into the reef slicing a big hole in the compartment that stored 1,260,000 barrels or 11 million gallons of crude oil. The awful part was that nothing seemed to happen for two days as one quarter of the oil spilled into the sound. There was a ship nearby that could have stopped the spill and helped with cleanup but it was unavailable due to inspection. By the time the bad weather came, there was an oil slick that was 12 square miles large. Everyone remembers those pictures of birds and seals and people covered with black goo and the bad weather just made things worse. Adding insult to injury, Exxon kept saying that they had everything under control and damage would be limited despite that fact that everyone could see with their own eyes it wasn’t.

Ultimately, 1,200 miles of shoreline were affected by the spill. It damaged the environment and ecosystems along the way which, in turn, destroyed the livelihood of many native Alaskans who depended on the sea life for food and for their income. Commercial fisherman, landowners, businesses, and local governments dependent on tourism were all adversely affected by the spill. Exxon Mobil seemed to do very little about it. To their credit, prior to the ruling they spent $3.4 billion dollars to cover clean-up costs and compensate those who were hurt by the spill. But that money also went to pay fines and cover other expenses. All told each of the plaintiffs received $15,000 from Exxon Mobil.

In 1994, a jury decided that Exxon should pay $5 billion dollars in punitive damages. Which would have given the plaintiffs $150,000 dollars each for their pain and loss. In 2006, an appeals court cut that number in half and said they should only get $75,000 dollars each to make up for the heartache of lost wages and lost businesses. Now, this past week, the Supreme Court said that each person should only get the amount they have already received, which was $15,000 dollars each. Hardly enough money to cover up the loss caused by the spill. What really rubs people the wrong way is that Exxon Mobil will be able to make up that cost in about 4 days. So, while mom and pop fishermen get $30,000 dollars to make up for 20 years of lost income, Exxon will bring in about $40 billion dollars in profit this year.

I can’t say what is legally proper here. I probably can’t say what is right or wrong. But I can say that when things like this happen there is a popular sentiment that floats around. It’s the idea that big companies don’t really care about little people. This sentiment says that all that big companies are after is profit. It says that they have become big, greed machines looking to cut costs, make cheaper products with cheaper labor so that they can make more money. There is no notion of serving the people who work for them or the people they come into contact with. They only think about serving themselves. They will sacrifice anyone and anything for more money, but will not sacrifice any of their own profit to help someone else. In other words, the sentiment says that big companies like Exxon Mobil have become hired hands rather than good stewards.

This kind of sentiment causes a lot of division in conversations, in communities, and now, in the courts as well. Some people get quite upset and defensive when you imply that companies are cold and heartless. Others get equally upset when companies try to defend themselves or make token gestures of virtue and compassion. Considering all of this, we get a little taste of what made Jesus’ listeners so angry when they heard him speak. We heard him this morning say that he was the good shepherd and not a hired hand. And, he made a distinction between the two figures. The good shepherd was very good and the hired hand was very bad. The good shepherd was willing to sacrifice for his sheep and the hired hand was not.

“I am the good shepherd,” Jesus said. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” In other words, if the flock were to be attacked, the good shepherd would put his own life on the line rather than lose one of the sheep to a wolf or a bear. That’s because the good sheep knows his flock. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus said. “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” The good shepherd knows when the flock needs green pastures and knows when the need quiet waters. He knows when they need a rest and when the need a poke from the rod and staff. The good shepherd takes the time to do those things. The hired hand might do the same…for a while.

“The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away – and the world snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because the hired hand does not care for the sheep.” In other words, the hired hand will care for the sheep as long as he is compensated properly. But, no amount of money is going to make his stay there to fend off a wolf. That’s because he doesn’t care about the sheep. He only cares about his own profit. Clearly, Jesus is referring to himself as the good shepherd and the current religious authorities off the day as hired hands. Jesus sees the current religious authority as one that only cares about it’s own position and prosperity. While it might be annoying and offensive, this is not what makes the religious authorities so angry at Jesus. Two other ideas in this passage take care of that.

The first is simply the idea that Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd. He is treading on thin ice here. That’s because, as you know, “The Lord is my shepherd.” It’s probably true that Jesus’ contemporaries would agree with his description of the good shepherd. However, they would want to attribute those things to the Lord and the Lord alone. It was the Lord alone who would lead them to green pastures and quiet waters. It was the Lord alone who could lead them in paths of righteousness. It was the Lord alone who would comfort, the Lord alone who would prepare a table and the Lord alone who would anoint their head with oil. It was the Lord alone who would be their good shepherd. Some carpenter from Nazareth should be very careful about making that claim. “The Father and I are one,” Jesus would go on to say and that’s about as blasphemous as one could get. Except that Jesus adds insult to injury when he starts talking about other sheep; which brings us to our question for the morning.

One of the Stump the Pastor questions was, “Who are those other sheep that Jesus is talking about?” Jesus said, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” Who are those other sheep? Surprisingly, that verse has been used and interpreted in many different ways. Some have read it and see it as referring to emerging religious groups. For example, some people think it refers to the Muslims as God reached out to them through Muhammed instead of Jesus. Other people think that this passage could be referring to the Mormons as Jesus came and offered them a new revelation to draw them into the fold. Strangely enough, some people even find a way to see this passage as referring to aliens from outer space. Well, they have the first part right. The passage does refer to aliens; just not the kind from outer space.

From much of Israel’s history there were strangers and aliens among them. They were people from other lands. People with different customs. People with different ideas about God and worship and the world. They were people from the nations; often referred to as Gentiles. Over time, those people had come to be looked at with disdain by God’s people. As God’s chosen ones, they were set apart and special in God’s eyes. These Gentiles were not only strange and alien to them, but they became unclean, dirty, and corrupted. Their gods, as well, were weak and foolish. As God’s people saw it, it was best to keep apart and keep to themselves. They could use the Gentiles for their own profit, but no sacrifice should be made on their behalf. So, when God’s people said, “The Lord is my shepherd.” They could have easily meant, “The Lord is MY shepherd.”

No doubt Psalm 23 was just as meaningful and comforting in Jesus’ day as it is in ours. A great deal of that comfort comes from the first line. The Lord is MY shepherd. Yes, we belong to the Lord, but it’s almost as if he belongs to us. It’s easy to see how the emphasis can change. The Psalm can be read as a confession about God. The Lord is my shepherd, HE makes me lie down, HE leads me, HE restores my soul. Read this way, the Lord does it and no one else. But when we start to say that the Lord is MY shepherd, things start to change. He makes ME lie down, he leads ME, he restores MY soul. The Psalm can quite quickly become about me and what I want rather than about God and what God gives.

It seems that that’s what the Psalm had become for some of Jesus’ contemporaries. They were not willing to share their god with people from other nations. “The Lord is MY shepherd,” they would say, “and you can’t have him.” Enter Jesus who says that those same strangers and aliens, those same unclean and corruptible figures will be brought into the fold. God’s people will no longer be just one race or one tribe, but people from every nation under heaven will be brought into one flock. People from every language and color will be brought under the care of one shepherd. Not only was Jesus claiming to be the good shepherd in place of the Lord, he was also claiming that he would bring in other sheep to the fold. It was almost too much for the religious authorities to take. Even though their prophets had been telling them this for quite some times.

Last week we heard Amos say, “On that day I will raise up the booth of David, in order that they may possess all the nations who are called by my name.” Amos is only echoing Isaiah who speaks of a servant to which the Lord says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” To this the prophet Micah adds concerning a ruler from Bethlehem, “He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.” When Jesus begins talking about other sheep, he claims for himself the role of the God’s servant and God’s ruler and he claims that he is the one who will gather the nations in from the ends of the earth into God’s kingdom. It’s seems to have worked.

After all, here we sit as people from the ends of the earth. Each of us has been gathered into the fold by Jesus and now we, too, can say that the Lord is my shepherd. It was Jesus’ intention to restore Israel so that all the other nations of the world would put down their idols and worship the Lord. It was God’s intention that every knee that bows and every knee that confesses Jesus as Lord would experience the salvation that he has planned from the foundation of the earth. These ideas that mean so much to us are the very ideas that got Jesus in trouble and put him on the cross. In this way, Jesus was the good shepherd. He has known us from the beginning and made a great sacrifice so that we could find our way into God’s presence. When he was threatened with death, when we was spit upon, flogged and beaten he could have run like a hired hand. But Jesus was and is the good shepherd. He laid down his life for us so that the Lord would lead us to green pastures and still waters. So that we could be comforted in dark valleys. So that we would dwell in the house of the Lord our whole life long.

There is a danger that lurks for those of us who have been brought into the fold. The danger is that we follow the hired hand rather than walk in the steps of the good shepherd. That is, there are still other sheep out there. They are people from other lands. People with different customs. People with different ideas about God and worship and the world. They could be people from the nations. The danger for the church is that we become like one of those big, greedy companies that people complain about. The danger for the church is that we become willing to sacrifice other people for the sake of our own bottom line; that we worry more about or own profit than the well-being of the people that God has put under our care. There will always be other sheep.

The trick is to remember that when we say “The Lord is my shepherd” that we remember where the emphasis belongs. It is the Lord who is our shepherd and the Lord alone. We are to follow no one else or pursue any other path. As soon as we say “The Lord is MY shepherd” we come very close to crossing the line. “The LORD is my shepherd.” The LORD will quench my thirst and restore my soul, but the LORD wants to do the same for others as well. There are other sheep who have a place in this fold. As we walk in paths of righteousness there is plenty of room for everyone. If we can open the gates to the other sheep, surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

The End is Here – 6/15/08

The Rapture. Left Behind. Tribulation Force. Anti-Christ. Soul Harvest. Apollyon. Assassins. The Indwelling. The Mark. Desecration. The Remnant. Armageddon. Glorious Appearing. These are words that have become closely tied to the Christian faith in the last 15 years or so. Driverless cars careen out of control. Terrified people watch their loved ones vanish. Some say it’s an alien invasion. Others think it’s a high-tech military attack. And that’s only the first book. Left Behind is the best-selling series of books written by Terry LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Those books have become, for many people, second only to the Bible as they look forward to the return of Jesus Christ and the end times.

Each of the books lays out in fictional detail what Christians should expect for the world after Christ returns. Shortly after millions of Christians vanish, the world faces wars, famines, plagues, and natural disasters; the likes of which have never been seen before. The world is in the throes of the great tribulation of which the Bible speaks. It’s up to a small band of new converts to save the day. Unfortunately, they are up against the anti-Christ, a genetically engineered, darkness-inspired ruler of the new global community. To make matters worse they have suffered through the wrath of the Lamb, a great, global earth quake. And, we’re only in book 4.

Not only are the witnesses left behind to face the anti-Christ, but they have to match up with the chief demon of the abyss, Apollyon, who brings with him a plague of scorpion-like locusts. Apparently, he’s so horrible that people try to kill themselves before he arrives, but they are not allowed to die. On the heals of Apollyon are 200 million demonic horsmen who slay 1/3 of the remaining population on earth. 7 books down, 5 to go. With the beast ruling the world, everyone must receive the mark or die. The remaining witnesses for Christ decide strategy on how they will win souls on the earth. Speaking of the earth, there isn’t much left of it at this point as God has been pouring out judgment after judgment. There is unbearable heat, bloody water, darkness and pain for everyone.

There is, of course, one final battle: the Armageddon has come. Just when it looks like all will be lost, there is a glorious appearing. It is Christ and he has come to set up his perfect kingdom on earth for at least 1000 years at which time there will be one more bloody, violent battle and then an eternal peace. These 15 books make up a very detailed, very complicated interpretation of the book of Revelation. They represent one view of the end times. Considering the popularity of the books, they represent a very prevalent view of the end times. Every church agrees that Jesus Christ will one day return to the earth. What all churches disagree on is how and when Jesus Christ will return to the earth. The question I received in the stump the pastor box is, how do we approach the topic of the end times with the younger generation?

It’s a very important question, captured as they are by the outrageous and the sensational. It would be easy for young minds to become focused on the Hollywood-type action and violence that these books portray as they consider the return of Jesus Christ. But, while the books are exciting, they might also be misleading. This morning I want to offer you another way to think about the end times that we hear so much about and read about in the Bible. There will be one big difference between what I’m about to say and what the books draw our attention to. While the books will say that the end is something we are waiting for, I think that the end is something that has already begun.

When we’re talking about the end times, one word that comes up over and over again is: millennium. The millennium is a thousand year period where Christ rules over a peaceful world. There are people who believe that Christ will return after a 7 year tribulation and rule for a thousand years. They would be called Pre-millenialists. There are others who believe that Christ will return after a thousand year period of peace. They would be called Post-Millenialists. Then there are those who think that the 1000 years mentioned in the Bible is just a way to say a really long time and that Christ’s return is not dependent on it. They would be called Amillenialists or no millennium. Most mainline Christians, like us, are Amillenialists. Most evangelical Christians are Pre-millenialists. However, evangelicalism is becoming so popular these days that even mainline churches have the Left Behind series on their library book shelves.

Quite frankly, the Bible doesn’t care when Jesus will return. Jesus was very clear that only God knows. While the Bible says that Jesus will one day return to reclaim the world, it is clearly not the focus of most of its pages. And, while the Bible says that there will be signs of the end, the signs the Bible mentions, earthquakes, wars, and rumors of wars, have been going on since the world began. The Bible does not create a specific timeline. What the Bible does do and what the Bible most cares about is that Jesus has already come, lived, died, and rose again and that Jesus is the Messiah. I think we would all agree on that, but the question is, how do we relate that to the next generation who is bombarded with sensational books and literature and media that draws their attention in a completely different direction? What should we point them to in the Bible to help them understand that the Left Behind series should be left behind? I’ll share with you two passages that will get you started.

The first is from the prophet Amos. Until God got ahold of him, Amos was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees. He spent his life out in the fields. But then God grabbed him and sent him throughout Israel. At the time, things were very good for God’s people. The kingdom was more prosperous and the territory wider than it had ever been before. The wealthy lined their houses with ivory and enjoyed wine and rested in luxury. But the poor were bought and sold. The needy were trampled on like dirt. There is a sharp contrast between the classes here. No doubt Amos saw all of this, but it is certain that God saw what was going on. God saw that there were people eager for the Sabbath to end so that they could get back to the marketplace. They were corrupt too.

They would fix their weights and skew their measures so that they could get more money. Those in their debt would be sold for silver or for as little as a pair of sandals. They would take the scraps of their wheat and sell it as prime crop. God would not have anymore of it. God grabbed hold of Amos and spoke to him and shouted through him. God said to Amos, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day.” So, Amos walked the countryside and entered the cities and said, “Listen up! The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it.” We should not miss the fact that God is angry here. God is fiercely angry with his people and is ready to pour out judgment upon them.

“On that day,” says the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.” Needless to say, the people would not be happy when God was through with them. They would no longer rest in luxury. They would no longer cover themselves in fine linens. They would no longer worship in joy. God would turn all of their joy into mourning and all of their light into darkness. It is prophecies like those of Amos that point us forward to a great time of judgment; to a judgment day even. It is a day that will end life as we know it. But, according to Luke, it is a day that has already come and gone.

We should take note of how Luke tells the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. Beginning with the first sentence we hear echoes of Amos’ prophecy. It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. “On that day,” says the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight.” And while the light had failed, the curtain of the temple was torn in two; the place of God’s presence had been corrupted. God would no longer reside there because God was with his only son and his son was on the cross. Jesus, crying out with a loud voice said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this he breathed his last. Standing by him was a man of another faith, but when he saw Jesus and considered how he had lived and saw how he had died, he praised God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.” He wasn’t the only one to be moved by the sight.

When all of the crowds who had gathered there for the spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. “On that day,” says the Lord God, “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head.” The people had gathered for the feast of the Passover. They were supposed to be celebrating the mighty hand of God that led them out of Egypt. But their joy had been turned into mourning on that day. You can almost hear them say, “God, be merciful to us, for we are sinners. For we have seen your Messiah, your only Son, and we have allowed him to be killed. We have seen the one who would save us and have watched him die a horrible death. God, be merciful to us, for we are sinners.” Remember what Amos said, “On that day,” says the Lord God, “I will make it like mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.”

Placing these two passages along side each other it becomes quite clear what Luke is saying. Luke is telling the story in such a way that his readers will see in it the fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy. Inspired by Jesus’ life and death, Luke leaves all kinds of clues that point us back to God’s plan and God’s ways. “That day” that Amos spoke of, that day of judgment, that day that would end life as we know it had come for Luke when the skies darkened over Jesus as he hung on the cross. Of course, the only one who died that day was Jesus. But life would not be the same for anyone else either. As the curtain was torn, it was clear that God’s house would no longer be a den of robbers. That time had ended. It would now be a house of prayer for all nations. The poor would no longer be bought and sold. That time had ended. Now there would no longer be any needy among them. The Sabbath would no longer be profaned. That time had ended. Now all the world would worship God in Spirit and in truth.

Amos’ prophecy would go on to talk about the restoration of God’s people after the day of judgment. “On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name.” No doubt Luke would hear in these words, whispers of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his call to make disciples of all nations. The good news is that we live in a world where sin has been overcome and death has been defeated. If we will walk in that new world, it will be as if we are walking in heaven even though we’re still on earth. This is what it means to live in the end times. Not that the world is about to be destroyed by war and famine and super-natural creatures, but that God has begun to renew the world and make it whole and hospitable for everyone; overcoming injustice and raising up a people of peace. That’s an important point, so let me repeat it. Those people, we, are a sign to the corrupt rulers of the world that with Jesus’ death and resurrection, their time has come to an end and God is the one who rules the world. That is much more exciting and sensational than any anti-Christ or chief demon of the abyss.

So, if you want to talk to the next generation about the end times, you could buy them the Left Behind series for their birthday. But I wouldn’t recommend it. It will give them the wrong impression of what the “end times” mean. More than anything else, teenagers need faithful adults in their lives who will walk with them and not abandon them to popular culture, Christian or otherwise. Instead, I would take them to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter that this poverty must be ended because it has no place in our new world. Go with them on mission trips to learn and tell them that these other cultures are part of God’s kingdom too. Take them on retreats to experience the wonders of God’s creation without iPods or cell phones. Take them out for coffee and share with them the good news of the Bible that the world has been made new so that we will never be without faith, hope, or love. Do not let them see a half-hearted faith, but live such a committed Christian life in the midst of this holy people that they wonder at your conviction. Help them experience a life that is deep and humble, kind and joyful and let them know it’s because of what Jesus Christ has done. And, be sure to tell them that one day that same Christ will return so that these same end times in which we live today will never end, but continue for an eternity of life and peace. Amen.

The Pride of Prejudice – 6/8/08

Do you know about the Coke side of life? That’s been the tagline for Coca-cola since this last Christmas. The first commercial out was a spoof on a game called Grand Theft Auto. It’s a disgusting game of violence and abuse that Coke took and turned on its head. The same character, instead of stealing, stops a thief; instead of violence he passes out Cokes and shares his coat. The song underneath reminds us about love we get depends on the love we give and that we’ll be remembered by what we say and do. It’s actually a nice commercial and I think we can all find the message to be a positive.

The same would be true of the commercial called “Around the Table.” It begins with a black family gathering around a table preparing to eat. The camera pans to the left and takes us into the home of an Asian family and then to an Hispanic family, on to a white family and, finally, back to the black family. All of them are doing the same thing: preparing for a family meal. The voice over says, “We pile papers on it. We put our computer on it. We let dust gather on it. We throw a blanket over it and pretend it’s a fort. No wonder it feels right when we actually dine together on the dining room table.” As the commercial fades, a Coke bottle goes to the center of the table to make the picture complete. Again, it’s a nice commercial and I’m sure we all value the importance of the shared family meal; rare as they are.

Just this last week I saw another one for the first time. The camera follows a family setting up a meal in the street of a charming town that could be in the south of France or San Francisco. A woman brings food, and others bring chairs and tables. Then others join from other families, and soon the table extends down the street and into the business district, where people bring out office tables and chairs, and the meal itself changes. Then, the table extends into the countryside, with people from other towns joining in. As mixed races, ethnic groups and cultures sit together, it’s clear the table extends around the world. The one beverage they share is … Coca-Cola. At the end, the screen reads: “Every family is a world; and the world is a family.” Once again, it’s a nice commercial and it would seem that we could all agree that the coming together of races and cultures is a good thing. However, the Bible might not seem to agree.

The question in the stump the pastor box for this week dealt with race and racism. The questions were these: is racism a sin? Doesn’t the Bible promote the separation of the races? And, if racism is a sin, what should the church be doing about it? Before we answer those questions, there are a couple of definitions that we should begin with: sin and racism. Let’s start with sin. There are a couple of broad ideas that help us understand sin as a concept. The first one is “missing the mark.” You can think of any number of athletic activities: kicking the football through the uprights, throwing a dart at the bullseye, or landing your spot for the high jump. If you miss the mark, you’re likely to miss your goal. If you’re way off, it becomes more difficult to get back to where you want to be. Sin is missing the goal that God has set for us.

Sin is also like “stepping over” or “crossing the line.” Sticking with the sports analogy, think of football or hockey or soccer. Each of those sports have an imaginary line that is not to be crossed. If the line is crossed at the inappropriate time, then a penalty is called. The player is offsides and the team is penalized. Generally, the offsides penalty is the result of someone trying to get an unfair advantage over the other team. They are trying to push the boundaries of what’s within the rules for the sake of victory. Sin is like an offsides penalty. Sin is crossing the boundaries that God has set. It’s like trying to get an unfair advantage over someone else and, like in sports, sin can do just the opposite. Instead of having an advantage, you may have a disadvantage. So, sin is “missing the mark” or “crossing the line.” The other word we want to tackle this morning is racism.

Obviously, racism has to do with race: Caucasian, asian, Hispanic, African, to name a few. Racism has a negative connotation. We usually associate it with the views that people have of other people who don’t look like them. Racism can be negative. As in, Hispanic people are lazy. Racism can also be positive. As in, all Asian students are good at math or all black people can dance. What these views are, however, is not racism. They’re prejudices. Most often, when you use the word racism, we should be using prejudice. Prejudice means that we’ve judged someone ahead of time (their intelligence or rhythm) based on the way they look. Racism is different than prejudice.

Racism could be thought of as prejudice plus power. Historically, it was thought that African slaves were inferior with regard to intelligence and morality. Those were prejudices made by the white people who brought them here. Since those same people had the power to make laws and systems, they designed them in a way that reflected those prejudices. Hence, slaves did not have the rights of freedom or to vote or to buy property. Basically, they were property. Now, those slaves may have had prejudices about all the white people they encountered. We would be right to call them prejudiced, but they were not racist. That’s because they did not have any power to do anything about their prejudices. The same is true today. It’s fair to say that people of every race are prejudiced, but not all people are racist. Racism is prejudice plus power. So, let’s reword the question.

Are we “missing the mark” or “crossing the line” that God has set when we create laws and systems that reflect our prejudices? (repeat). When you consider the first passage we heard, the answer might be no. Chapter 11 in Genesis takes us to a plain in the land of Shinar. Following the flood, Noah’s sons had children and grand-children and great grandchildren and all of these children became the nations of the world. The unique aspect of these early nations was that they all spoke in the same language and used the same words. They also were moving in the same direction. All of them were migrating to the east and, together, they found themselves standing on that great plain. Together, they came up with a great idea.

“Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” So, they took bricks and mortar and started working. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” So, they did. They must have been making a lot of noise or something because the Lord came to see the city and the tower which the nations were building. It’s almost as if the Lord was surprised by what he saw. “Lord, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” At this point, the Lord sounds like a proud father admiring the work of his children. But the Lord continues.

“Come, let us god down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” Now the Lord sounds like the annoying older sibling who wants to ruin all the fun. The Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and hey left off building the city. There for it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. Their worst fear had come true. The people who had been building a tall tower to make a name for themselves were scattered about by the one whose name they should have been making known. That’s the general moral of the story. The Lord saw that the people would use their unity for their own purposes and for their own glory. What’s worse, they took matters into their own hands. They did not trust in the Lord or lean on their own understanding.

It might also be said at this point that God wants the world this way. It might be that God doesn’t want us to have one language and cooperate on things. Perhaps God does want us to stay separate and instead of having one set of words we should have many. After all, the Old Testament has a lot to say about Israel remaining separate for all the other nations. God wanted Israel to be holy. That meant no mixing with the Caananites, Jebusites, Hittites, Amalekites or any of the other peoples they would encounter along the way. Israel could not intermarry with those other nations. They could not take on any of their customs. They had to eat differently. They would have different laws for foreigners than they would for Israelites. It does seem that there is good evidence that God would have the world stay confused and separate from one another. However, we should be clear on God’s intentions.

Just after Genesis chapter 11 comes Genesis chapter 12. At the beginning of chapter 12 is God’s call to Abram. You heard it a few weeks ago, but here’s how it sounds, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Everything that the people in Shinar wanted, God was giving to Abram. He would be a great nation. He would be blessed. His name would be great. The difference between Abram and the united nation is that God would do it. Abram would walk in faith and God would keep his promises. The other thing to note about Abram’s call is that God had all the other nations in mind when he spoke. All the families of the earth would be blessed when God blessed Abram.

Of course, this takes a long time to happen. For a great portion of the Bible God’s people are still separate. They are still called to be holy. However, it’s not because God doesn’t like races to mix. It’s because he needed one people to be holy as a sign to all the other peoples. It wasn’t about skin color, it was about the God that would be worshipped and the life that would result from that worship. God knew that the only way the world would be restored was if there was a group of people who would remain faithful to his covenant of faith and love. That’s what Israel was for; they were to be a light to the nations and show them the faithfulness and love of God by being faithful and loving to one another. God knew that they would not stay holy long if they joined with other nations. Their hearts and minds were to weak. It would be better to keep them separate until the time was right. Again, it was not because of race they Israel was kept apart, but for the sake of faith and love.

Over time, the prophets begin to talk about a change in God’s people. The most familiar prophet is Isaiah and we hear his words every Christmas. “See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.” They are words that sound similar to those spoken to Abraham. They are words that point forward to Jesus and his coming and the fruit of his Spirit. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, says that God’s work through Jesus and by the Holy Spirit were for the very purpose of fulfilling Isaiah’s vision. “So then,” he writes, “remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth – remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Paul wanted the Gentiles he was writing to to know that the picture was quite dark for them. Their future was bleak because they were far from God and doing things that God despised. In fact, they had fallen so far away from what God intended that there was no hope for them in the world. But Paul also wanted them to know that that day is gone. A light has come into the world and his name is Jesus Christ. In him those same Gentiles have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ reversed the trend of the nations of the world. That trend was to move away from God and move away from one another. You see after the people were scattered and they became many nations, they stopped building the tower, but that doesn’t mean they stopped building.

All the nations of the world started building a wall. It went along with all the walls of bricks and mortar, but this wall was different. It was an invisible wall, but a wall that was very real. It was built with the pride that our way is better than your way. It was built with the pride that, not only are our ways better, but your ways are wrong. It was built with the pride that, since your ways are wrong, something must be wrong with you. It was built with the pride that, I sure don’t want you rubbing off on me and ruining what I’ve got so I’ll make sure you don’t get it. This wall is the pride of prejudice and it has created a great hostility between the nations and all their peoples and between the races. Paul writes that in the flesh of Jesus Christ, God has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us. He has created one new humanity. So, there are no long strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

So, we’re back where we started. However, instead of all the people building a tower, God would work by his Spirit to build a temple. Instead of using bricks and mortar, God would use hearts and minds. God would show no partiality, but anyone from any nation who called on the name of the Lord would be gathered in so that there was no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, but all would be one in Christ Jesus. Racism is a sin because it’s God’s desire to have one new humanity in which he can dwell. Racism is a sin because it misses the goal; it keeps separate what God intends to bring together. Racism is a sin because it puts us offsides; it entails one race trying to make a name for themselves over and against other races. Racism is a sin because it ignores the blood that was shed on the cross; the blood that was shed for peace and to put hostility to death. Yes, racism is a sin.

I think Coke has the right idea with its commercials. God’s intention is to bring everyone together. Somehow, I don’t think Coke is going to be that thing around which people gather. It’s not Coke that will bring people together, it’s Christ. That means it’s the church’s job. The role of the church in a world of racism is to let God take down the dividing wall between us. The role of the church is to show the nations that hostility has been put to death. The role of the church is to show the many races that there is one new humanity that doesn’t require a certain skin color, social class, or gender. The role of the church is to be what God wants the whole world to be: one people united in faith and love. The role of the church is to continue building on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone, and allow God to join us together into one, holy temple for the Lord. Amen.

Heaven is Here – 6/1/08

Let’s start with a song:

Save me from this prison
Lord help me get away
Cause only you can save me now
From this misery
Cause I’ve been lost in my own place
And I’m getting’ weary
How far is heaven
And I know I need to change
My ways of livin’
How far is heaven, Lord can you tell me

Cause I’ve been locked up way too long
In this crazy world, how far is heaven
I just keep on prayin’ Lord
Just keep on livin’, how far is heaven
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven
I just got to know how far, how far is heaven
Lord can you tell me

Tu que estas en alto cielo,
Echame tu bendiciòn
[translated from Spanish]
[You that's in a higher place
Send me down a blessing]

Cause I know there’s a better place
Than this place I’m livin’, how far is heaven
So I just got to show some faith
And just keep on giving, how far is heaven
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven
I just wanna know how far, how far is heaven,
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven,
’cause I just gotta know how far,
I just wanna know far.

This was a very popular song some months ago. While is sounds Christians, you should have caught some bad theology along the way. We’ll get to that, but I shared it with you because is asks a question that I was asked, “How far is heaven?” Really, the question I got was, “Where is heaven?” Is it a place that we can go to? Or, is it just a metaphor for all things good and godly?

Heaven as a place has taken many different forms over time. In Jesus’ day, as for much of history, the world was thought of as flat and housed under a large dome. This is the picture painted in the first chapter of Genesis. That large dome is the sky and on the other side of it is heaven. Heaven, then, is the place above the sky where God and God’s court resides. For some, the stars and the sun were heavenly bodies that reflected God’s glory through the dome bringing heavenly light to the earth. Of course, the view of heaven came under scrutiny when the earth started to take a different shape.

When the earth becomes round, it’s difficult to say what direction is up. You have to start thinking in terms of out. Still, it was thought that hell was under the earth somehow and that heaven was a place out there beyond our reach. Eventually, science began to describe the universe as something that expands. It became more and more difficult to say that heaven was out there somewhere because it would have to keep getting further and further away to make room for the universe. Some science fiction movies would wonder about black holes and other dimensions as an avenue to heaven, but they were far fetched. It’s at this point that some people started abandoning the idea that heaven was a place and started to think of it as a state of being.

Even prior to science fiction, other religions have thought of heaven as a state of eternal happiness. Others would describe it as a state of full aliveness or being completely whole. It is the state of being fully united with God. If the far right is set on describing heaven as a literal place, then the far left is convinced that heaven is only a metaphor for a more fulfilling life. It’s right to say that neither of these views is properly Christian. More recent, Biblical scholarship is borrowing from science to interpret some of the texts in new ways. One of those texts is the 2 Kings passage we heard this morning.

The back drop of this passage is a war between Israel and Aram. The King of the Arameans was attacking the Israelites. Or, at least trying to. It seems that he would select a town to attack or to enter, but every time he did the people there were already aware of his coming so that his attacks were thwarted. The king came to an obvious conclusion: there must be a mole. But the soldiers were certain that it was not one of them who was tipping off the king of Israel. Rather, it was one of Israel’s prophets who knew everything that the king has said. His name was Elisha and he was staying in a town called Dothan. So the King of Aram sent horses and chariots and a great army to seize this one man of God.

Early in the morning, one of Elisha’s attendants wakes up and is struck by the sight outside the city. It is entirely surrounded by the Aramean army. The dutiful servant quickly notifies his master and asks, “What shall we do?” Cool, calm and collected, Elisha responds, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.” You can be sure that the servant hears those words as neither cool nor calm nor collected. More like crazy. There was no army of Israel to be found in the house, in the city or in the nearby countryside. As far as the servant could see, it was Elisha and himself who would face this great army. Elisha, however, had a different vision.

He prayed a simple prayer that the servant could see with his eyes, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” With those words, the Lord opened the eyes of the servant and he saw. The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Those horses and chariots would be the means by which the Aramean army was struck blind and Elisha and his servant were spared. Elisha was confident of this when his servant was not because he saw with different eyes. As Elisha saw the horses and chariots of heaven face to face, the servant was blinded to their presence. The servant’s vision is reminiscent of Paul’s words to the Corinthians: for now we see in a mirror dimly. But Elisha’s prayer changed all that. It was as if a veil was lifted from his eyes.

It’s that unveiling, of course, that the last book of the Bible is focused on. The last book of the Bible is about a revelation or unveiling. In other words, something in the last book that wasn’t seen before is uncovered for everyone to see. It’s not that something new has come into existence, it’s that something that has always been present has finally become visible. Science and Biblical scholarship has converged on this idea of dimensions. As you sit in the pew you are aware of three dimensions. You know about height, you know about depth, and you know about width. You can move up and down, forward and back, left and right or any combination of those directions. You also know about time which is often called the fourth dimension. As this sermon carries on and on, you know that time is passing…slowly.

Well, newer theories in Physics have started to assert that there are as many as 10 dimensions as String Theory says or 11 dimensions as M-Theory assumes. It’s really not important to go into the theory, but Biblical scholars have used them to describe the relationship of heaven and earth. They say that heaven and earth are not separated by any number of miles. There is no direction we can point someone in to get them to heaven if the could travel far enough. Rather, heaven is all around us all of the time, we just can’t see it. There is something over our eyes that prevents us from peering in to get a view. However, there are the occasional glimpses that certain people get. Elisha is one example. Stephen, as he was being stoned, is another. Paul, when he writes about being caught up into the third heaven, is another. Of course, John, the author of the Revelation is another.

Modern physics and Biblical scholarship both allow for the idea that heaven is a place, but it’s not one governed by our usual dimensions. So, they have at once brought heaven closer to us, but also moved it further away. Heaven is closer in this view because it’s right in front of us, so to speak. If we could see it, we could reach out and touch it. But this view also moves heaven further away. Even if we had a rocket ship that could take us to the ends of the universe, we wouldn’t find heaven there. There is a veil that covers our eyes and prevents us from peering in. And, only a select few, those like Elisha’s servant, have been blessed to have that veil lifted for a moment. No matter what we do or what technology we develop, no effort of ours is going to get us there because we can’t comprehend its existence. What we can comprehend, however, is its goodness.

Wherever heaven is, we have this great sense that it’s a better place than the one we’ve got. That’s why the song wants to know how far heaven is. The song describes this life as one that’s weary. It describes this world as crazy. In fact, the song sees this world as a miserable prison from which we all must be set free. We’ll keep the faith. We’ll keep on giving. We’ll keep praying. We’ll keep changing. We’ll keep doing the things necessary to get us out of here, but it would be much better if we could just get out of here and get to heaven. The thought is that when we finally get to heaven, we’ll be happy. When we finally get to heaven, we’ll overcome what keeps us down. When we finally get to heaven, every need will be met and everything we long for will be ours.

Christians have been criticized for this point of view, especially by environmentalists lately. Others who have a special concern for the poor. Or, those who have a special concern for animals. Anyone who has a special concern for some material part of this world has found reason to be critical of Christians and their heaven. This view of heaven as the ideal has resulted in the cliché that Christians are so heavenly-minded that they’re no earthly good. It might be that their correct. Because while the Bible has a lot to say about heaven, it seems that the greater joy of Scripture is the earth. The more celebrated event is not that we go up to heaven, but that heaven comes down to us.

Remember when God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. Remember that great pillar of smoke and fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness. Remember that tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant that kept God’s people safe in the Promised Land. Remember that Temple in which God’s glory resided. Of course, remember Jesus of Nazareth who is God-with-us. And, remember what you heard this morning. The great conclusion to the Bible is this: I saw a new heaven and anew earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.”

There will be no more temple because God will just be there. There will be no more sun because God’s glory will give us light. There will be no more death or disease because God will be there. There will be no more crying or pain because God will be there. All the nations of the world will be healed because God will be there. It turns out that the great revelation, what was hidden and becomes seen, what was covered and becomes unveiled is God himself. Throughout Scripture God made attempts to enjoy this very good place with us. At the end of the last book of the Bible, John seems to say that God finally gets his wish; not because we all join him in heaven, but because the earth is finally the kind of place where God can join us.

This is what makes Jesus different from the Socrates and other philosophers. This is what makes Christianity different from many other world religions. The goal of our faith is not to escape this place, but to enjoy it. The world and our flesh are not prisons from which we must be unchained. Sin is the prison. The world and everything in it have experienced the consequences of sin and realized how miserable the fruit of sin can be. It’s the good news of Christians to say that this world doesn’t have to be this way. There is a way out of the prison of sin that will allow us to enjoy this world for all that God has made it to be and it is following after Jesus Christ.

Now I know that many of us are looking forward to heaven. I don’t blame and I don’t think you should stop looking forward to heaven. But I think what the Bible says is even better news than what many of us have heard. Because if we have to wait for heaven, we have to wait. We have to continue to put up with hate and prejudice and lust and temptation. If the goal of our faith is heaven than we have a long way to go. However, if the goal of our faith is living rightly on this earth, then what we long for is available today. It’s right in front of us, we only have to reach out and grab it. In other words, we’ve got to show some faith, we’ve got to keep giving, we’ve got to keep praying and changing, not so that we can get to heaven one day, but so that God’s will can be done on earth as it is in heaven today. Faith, giving, praying, changing, that is heaven.

After the great army of Elisha was blinded and taken to the King of Israel, the King wanted to kill them. It’s a natural response to kill an enemy. Elisha objected. Elisha had the King prepare a table before him in the midst of his enemies. Elisha had the king love his enemies as Jesus called us to do. Elisha had the king feed his enemies and give them something to drink as Paul wrote us to do. S, the king prepared a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And, the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel. In that act of faith and giving there was healing between the nations. For a moment what Isaiah predicted came true, “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Now that’s heaven.

I share that with you especially this morning because we are about to enter into heaven in a special way. As with Elisha’s feast, we gather around this table to continue in our reconciliation with God and our reconciliation with one another. We continue to pray, we continue to change, we continue to open ourselves to God’s Holy Spirit within us, so that heaven continues to come down in the midst of us. “See I am making all thing new,” says the one who is seated on the throne, “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” How far is heaven? It’s closer than you think. Amen.