The Bible & Homosexuality – 8/24/08

I didn’t sleep much last night so I took some time to read a few old sermons that touched on today’s topic. In one I wrote that I was not yet foolish enough to preach about homosexuality. In another I suggested our church could be a model of dialogue in a land of divisive debate. So, my prayer at 2:30am was that this was not foolish and that I was right about the church. Regardless, I’ve been hearing a lot about homosexuality this summer albeit in a rather strange and indirect way. I’ve been hanging out with inner city, black teenage boys at church and middle-aged, suburban white men at the golf course. Despite what seem to be two very different groups of people, they share something in common. “You’re gay,” is the insult most often lofted at other people. Whether it’s a bad rhyme or a short putt, I lost count of the number of times I heard one of them say, “You’re gay.”

I finally had to start asking why people said it so often. Why do those words seem to form the insult of choice these days? Most often the response will be something like, “Pastor Pete, you’re a pastor. You know it’s a sin. The Bible says so.” That answer still doesn’t clear up for me why it’s become a standard insult these days, but the conversation usually goes on to say that being gay is gross or wrong or some other kind of answer that betrays a distaste or discomfort with the homosexuality. They certainly don’t want to be mistaken for someone that is gay. In many places, it’s still a topic often on people’s minds in one way or another. That’s probably why I received a question for the Stump the Pastor box asking, “What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?”

So, this morning we’ll talk about the Bible and homosexuality. Let me begin by saying that I have an opinion here, but my goal this morning is to inform you or remind you of what the Bible says and how people interpret it so that you can make an informed decision rather than an ignorant one. Let’s start with the Bible. Our Reformed theology says that there is enough evidence in the natural, created world for us to know God and leave us without excuse. But because of sin, our ability to read the book of creation has become fuzzy. Since we do not see as clearly as we should, God has accommodated us by communicating through his Word and had it witnessed to in the Bible. That’s why John Calvin compares the Bible to a pair of glasses. Were we to look around ourselves and see the stars, the animals and our fellow humans we would see them improperly. We need the Bible to see that the stars, while great, point beyond themselves to one who is greater; to tell us that animals, while beneath us, are still objects of God’s salvation; to tell us that everyone we meet cannot be judged by appearance but shares with us the image of God, broken as it might be.

So, as we consider the Bible and homosexuality, there are certain lenses that Christians have looked through to see the issue clearly. In fact, there are usually 6 passages that people hold up in reference to homosexuality. One lens that is often used is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s a story that some people see as a clear condemnation of homosexual behavior. That’s not the case for others and I’ll show you why. Starting in Genesis 18, we find that there has been a great outcry against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. So, in Genesis 19, God sends to angels to the cities to see if they are as depraved as the cries are suggesting. What, exactly, the outcry is related to is never mentioned, but many of the Biblical prophets agree as to what those cries were about.

The prophet Ezekiel 16:49-50, is clearest when he says, “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride; excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.” While the abominable things mentioned by Ezekiel could refer to sexual acts, but it could also mean eating certain foods or wearing certain clothing. What’s clear is that the focus is on pride and excess. This makes sense when you consider these commands from Exodus 22:21-24, “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry.” It’s because of verses like these that some say the sin of Sodom was oppression or violence rather than homosexuality.

One other note on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is to highlight something that seems very strange to us. In the book of Jude 6-7, we find these words, “And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment on the great Day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” Some have suggested these words as evidence that the unnatural desires referred to are homosexual behaviors. But it’s important to remember that those “men” in Genesis 19 were angels and Jude began by talking about angels too. Sexual relationships between human and divine were not taken lightly by God. In fact, we find at Genesis 6 that these relationships were one of the reasons that God decided to flood the earth. As daughters were born to the inhabitants of the earth, the sons of God saw that they were fair and bore children with them.

So, when Genesis 6 and Genesis 19 are considered with Jude some think that the unnatural desires referred to by Jude were those desires for angels; something that is not part of our world today. Because of their abusiveness and some strange fascination with angels, the men of Sodom sought to “know” the visitors to their town. God’s messengers were threatened with the same oppression and violence that many of the residents had experienced. In the end, Sodom and Gomorrah were punished for their wickedness, part of which was clearly some kind of sexual immorality. There are those who read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and understand that sexual immorality to be homosexuality. There are others who, because of the Scripture I’ve pointed to, have a different view.

They see surrounding cultures and religions that sought communion with the gods and with angels through sex. Many ancients thought that if they had sex with a temple prostitute, male or female, they would receive power from that god. God made clear that no son or daughter of Israel would ever be made to share in those acts, nor would God’s people commune with him that way. Deuteronomy 23:17, “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute.” Ritual sex was a perversion of religion in God’s eyes, unholy in God’s eyes, and not to be a part of his people’s religion.

This is the basic division in how people interpret the few verses that are usually pointed to when homosexuality is the issue, including Leviticus 20:13 and I Corinthians 6:9-10 which we heard read this morning. The first verse is Leviticus 20:13. It reads simply, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.” The passage from I Corinthians 6 is closely tied to that verse from Leviticus. At the opening of that chapter Paul writes, “Do you not know that wrong doers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolators, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers – none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.” It’s a pretty clear indictment of many of the actions which are opposed to God’s kingdom. In the middle there is mention of male prostitutes and sodomites.

The difficulty with these verses is how, exactly, to translate those words. More conservative translations will try to make them mean homosexuality in all its forms. The difficulty with that is that the word “homosexual” wasn’t recorded in any language until the mid-1800’s. Biblical writers would have only observed behaviors. They wouldn’t have known about sexual orientation, so it’s probably not a good translation. More liberal translations will try to make the words refer only to cult prostitution or some kind of pedophilia. The problem with that is that Paul had a number of other words at his disposal that he could have used, like fornication or pederasty, but instead created a new one. Whatever is being referred to in Corinthians, we know that it is the same thing being referred to in Leviticus. But here we find the same disagreement that we had with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. To some, these two verses form a clear prohibition of homosexuality in all its forms because they appear so straightforward. To others, the verses are not so clear because of context. To them, these words refer to some kind of prostitution and not a consensual, monogamous couple.

Regardless of where people stand on the issue, many people conclude their argument by turning to Paul’s letter to the Romans 1:24-32. It’s here that we again find references to natural and unnatural behavior as mentioned in Jude. And, it’s here that we find an outline for how the Gentiles sunk into a pit of sinful despair and fell far from God. Right in the middle of that sinful descent Paul mentions degrading passions and refers to homosexual behavior as shameless acts as men and women were consumed with passion for one another. Again, there are some who see in these words a straightforward condemnation of homosexuality in all its forms. There are, of course, others who see in these words a vivid description of idol worship. Their interpretation goes like this: instead of worshipping God, people worshipped idols in temples. God gave them up to worship that consisted of joining with a prostitute of the same sex. So, God gave them up to those degrading passions which led them to enjoy all other kinds of sin.

Now, I’ve just thrown a lot of information at you, so here’s a brief review of what we’ve covered so far. The Bible is like a pair of glasses that help us view the natural created world with God’s eyes. It provides lenses through which we can view everything and everyone faithfully; including homosexuality. However, each of the lenses mentioned so far have been fogged by the same questions of context. The basic divide is this. There are some people who see in these passages a clear condemnation of homosexuality in all its forms. And, there are other people who see in these passages a prohibition of pagan, ritual sex with temple prostitutes; of people who trade their natural orientation for unnatural in order to fulfill a lustful desire for pleasure or power. A behavior for which there are plenty of modern descendents.

They might point out, for example, how our culture idolizes alcohol or drugs or sex as kind of savior from our worries and burdens. People gather around these idols in a kind of frenzied activity, called parties, and devote their bodies to their worship. This is happening at younger and younger ages. Go to any modern temple, called a bar or club, on the weekend and you’ll see what they mean. To continue in the same heightened experience, they have to devote more and more of themselves and may have to lie, cheat, or steal in order to be satisfied. What’s worse the worship of these idols often results in death by drunk driving or overdose or STD’s. This kind of abusive, destructive behavior follows the same pattern laid out by Paul in Romans. First, they worship an idol. Then, God gives them up to degrading passions. And, finally, God lets them slide into all kinds of other sinful acts. This is what the Bible is worried about, they say, not two people of the same gender who profess to love one another.

There are others, however, who say that the condemnation in these passages refers to the sexual acts themselves no matter where they take place; whether in the context of frenzied worship or a home. Because, they say, no matter where homosexual acts take place they go against God’s created, natural world. From the beginning, God created them male and female. Only their natural union can produce offspring and carry on life. It shouldn’t be more complicated than that, they say. What it comes down to for everyone, in one way or another, is what’s natural. The underlying question is, how did God create us? Of course, not everyone agrees and the divide is very predictable.

Those who believe that people are born with a natural disposition to one sexual orientation or another tend to have a more nuanced interpretation of the Bible. Those who believe people choose or are conditioned into their orientation tend to have a more straightforward interpretation. The problem with the questions of interpretation, the problem with the nature/nurture variable is that we can never really know for sure. Study, science and experience can offer their best guess, but in the end it is just that; which is another reason the divide cannot be bridged. In a sense, we have stared so long at homosexuality through the same Scriptural lenses that we can no longer see clearly through them, no matter how hard we squint two people can see very different visions. As long as we continue debating the same science and the same passages we’ll never get anywhere because some of it we can never know with any certainty. We’re left to wonder if there is a lens that will help us see again. I’ll suggest that I Corinthians 6 gets us started.

We find at I Cor. 6:12 a phrase that gets repeated, “all things are lawful for me.” It is thought that this phrase formed a kind of mantra that led some people to do things that others felt were outside the will of God; like eating meat sacrificed to idols and not honoring the Sabbath. Basically, some people in the church were disregarding the Old Testament law. They took “freedom in Christ” to mean that they could do whatever they wanted to do. The church was beginning to divide over these differences. In response, Paul neither agrees nor disagrees with the statement that, in Christ, all things have become lawful for Christians.

Paul could have written in reply, “Indeed! All things are lawful for you, proceed as you wish. Eat, drink, be merry. Nothing matters.” But Paul was definitely not a liberal. On the other hand, Paul could have written, “All things are not lawful for you, stop everything that you are doing. There is a strict code of conduct by which we must continue to live.” But Paul was not a conservative. Instead, Paul wrote, “All things are lawful for you, but…” In other words, they were right that, in Christ, all things are now lawful, but there was a “but” with three qualifications: 1) not all things are beneficial, 2) not all things build up, and 3) I will not be dominated by anything. Paul seems to be advising the Corinthians that all things are lawful as long as they are beneficial to their faith, they build up the body of Christ, and they are not leading the people to be dominated by anything except to love one another.

Alcoholism is an example I’ve used before. More and more, it’s linked with homosexuality as a genetic predisposition. Liberals point to it to say, “See we don’t always have a choice in these matters.” Conservatives point to it and say, “That may be, but just because we are predisposed doesn’t make it right.” So, consider these questions: Is the over-consumption of alcohol beneficial to my relationship with God? Considering the cost to the body and mind, clearly, it is not. Does alcoholism build up the church into the body of Christ? No. Rather, it leads to abuse and destroys all kinds of relationships. Have I become a slave to something other than love? Yes. Quite clearly I become a slave to alcohol. In each of his letters, Paul is concerned with the unity of the body. Drunkenness threatens to destroy that unity; as do other sins.

Interestingly, in this same Corinthian passage, Paul will go on to talk about fornication, prostitution, and a temple. It’s quite possible that he is alluding here to some of the pagan practices many of the Corinthians would have shared in their pre-Christian lives. In effect, Paul is saying this: You don’t need to enter into those old temples anymore to have communion with God. Don’t be fooled! All that’s happening there is that you are becoming one with the temple prostitute. That is not beneficial, nor will it build you up. You are only being dominated by your lustful passions. So flee fornication! Flee drunkenness, flee drugs, flee adultery. You have become a member of the body of Christ. If you want to become one with the Lord, do not look to idols and their temples. Only look within you. Or do you not know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit within you which you have from God and that you are not your own? All the pleasure and power you could want, God has provided through his Spirit. Clearly, Paul thought that fornicating with a temple prostitute would do harm to the Christian and to the body of Christ. We are left to wonder if homosexuality would do the same.

These verses from Corinthians offered me a new lens through which I view homosexuality, gay marriage, and the ordination of men and women who are gay. They put aside the nature vs. nurture question and difficulties with interpretation and teach us to ask the right questions. They open up a new pathway for conversation, for dialogue. I offer them to you for your consideration. Whether or not you find them helpful, regardless of what view you take, these questions are helpful in one regard. As Christians we cannot tolerate discriminatory remarks or behaviors directed at men or women who are gay; not even those kinds of insults or slurs I mentioned at the opening of this sermon. They are not beneficial. They do not build up. And, they betray a distaste and discomfort dominated more by fear and judgment than by love. It’s not enough to simply ignore those remarks. As Christians we must speak against them or they will only serve to further ostracize men and women who are gay; not only from society, but from the body of Christ. Regardless of our sexual orientation, the Bible is clear on these things: that each of us has been fearfully and wonderfully made; that we have been made in the image of God, that we were redeemed with a great price; and that God longs to adopt us as his children, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Would God Do That? – 8/17/08

The happiest place on earth was not so happy this past week. As you may know, the happiest place on earth is Disney World; a land where nothing goes wrong and flowers always bloom and happiness never ends. Unless, of course, you work in one of the hotels on the property. Apparently, the employees who cook and clean and serve many of Disney World’s guests are not very happy with their compensation so about 600 of them decided to put on a protest. They began a march from their hotels to the gates through which all of the visitors will funnel on their way to the happiest place on earth. Their intention was to block the gate and prevent people from getting in and draw some attention to their struggle. In order to add a little spice, many of them decided to dress up as popular Disney characters.

Imagine the scene. Moms and dads and kids arrive at the happiest place on earth, Johnny and Susie are expecting to be greeted by Mickey and Minnie, but rather than run up to embrace them their path is blocked by angry mice. Little girls hearts pound as they sprint to the big castle they’ve read about and seen on TV to find Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell. Instead of finding them there they see them sitting on the curb in plastic handcuffs. Little boys, who are so looking forward to playing with Pluto or roughhousing with Goofy, show up only to see their favorite pups hauled off in a police van. It would not be the first impression parents and kids were hoping for, but it made the news headlines which is what the employees were hoping for from their actions.

Protests like this aren’t new and they aren’t reserved only for Disneyworld. The first march on Washington, for example, was in 1894 when 500 jobless men walked to town demanding jobs from the government. 20 years later 8000 women, all dressed in white, would march on the same city demanding the right to vote. And then, on one day in 1963, 250,000 people showed up with Martin Luther King Jr. to secure voting rights and civil rights for all people regardless of skin color. From that day people have participated in marches, sit-ins, and protests to draw attention to themselves and injustices that they perceive in the world. Protests like this can be quite creative and awfully disruptive.

Some people in Florida who were trying to draw attention to global warming borrowed a big yacht and rented a huge crane. They went to a popular football field and used the crane to lift the boat 20 feet in the air. The point was to say that if the ice continues to melt this is where your boat will be. People in Manhattan dressed in blue and formed a line across the southern part of the island. Their purpose was to show how much of the island would be lost to rising water levels. Whether you agree with them or not, you have to admit it’s kind of creative. Just recently some truckers decided to get in their big rigs and head to Washington D.C. They were upset by the price of gas and the lack of action in congress so they all drove to the capital together. And, together, they drove around the nation’s capital building; all 200 of them. Like the employees at Disneyworld, their aim was to be disruptive, slow things down, and be annoying until someone would listen to them. Unfortunately, that last part is harder and harder to come by.

Most observers will note that significant action rarely follows people’s attempts at protest. Where the marches on Washington in 1914 and 1963 resulted in monumental legislation, protests in Washington seem more like circuses or side shows and don’t accomplish much. Some of them don’t even intend to. Some commentators now say that people protest just to protest. They want to be a part of something significant, but the results aren’t really that important. As long as they get to participate and can feel good about themselves, their mission was accomplished. Add to this that your average citizen won’t pay them much mind. I have to admit when I see coverage of a protest on TV I quickly turn the channel. There is usually one person shouting into a microphone and a bunch of other people standing around not really listening, but holding up signs to show their agreement. Along the way their will be chants to attempt to show some kind of solidarity. Most people think of the whole protest thing as disruptive, subversive, radical, misguided, prideful, or disrespectful.

I don’t doubt for a second that that’s how people thought about Jesus as he entered the holiest place on earth at the time. Like Disneyworld, it was a place full of characters; pilgrims, farmers, shepherds, salesmen, and religious authorities. Unlike Disneyworld, the objective was not family fun, but worship. Like Washington D.C., the Temple was for Jesus contemporaries the place where religious, political, and social lives intertwined and significant decisions were made. Unlike Washington D.C., God was there. Just kidding. But the Temple was the place for Jesus and his people where God was meant to dwell. It would be the place that God had promised to be and to communicate with this people. It was not just some church on a corner, but the holy house in which God dwelt. It was sacred.

In walks Jesus as Passover drew near; one of the most sacred days on the calendar. People would be in an especially pious mood. It doesn’t take long to figure out what was going on. There are people on one side selling sheep, cattle, and doves to the pilgrims. There are moneychangers on the other side providing currency to purchase the animals for sacrifice. They’ve probably made some agreement behind closed doors to bring in a little extra on the side. So, before God’s people can even think about worshipping and communing with the Lord in his house, they have some business to take care of first. Jesus would have none of it.

In a scene that still surprises us, Jesus fashions a whip of cords and drives out all the animals, the sheep and the cattle. He told the people with the doves to get out. He took all of the change of the moneychangers and poured it on the floor. He took their tables and turned them over. In Jesus’ eyes the temple, the sacred place of God, had been profaned by the system of sacrifice and greed. It was no longer the house of prayer God had intended it to be. In the eyes of many others, however, the temple had just been profaned by Jesus and his protest. The system was set up to make it easier for people to worship. The scene surprises us because we generally think of holy has quiet and calm and clean, as Bible reading and prayer. Throwing tables around doesn’t generally fit in our definition. Many would say that Jesus was just being disruptive, subversive, radical, misguided, prideful, and disrespectful.

When I asked you earlier to create a list of words to describe God, I doubt any of those words made the list. Most likely you heard loving, kind, just, wise, powerful, patient, humble, and other words make God a generally nice person to be around. We all have a vision of God, a picture of God that suits us best. The problem is that the Bible is full of stories that conflict with that vision of God. For some people it’s this story of Jesus in the temple. For someone else, it’s the story of Elisha and the she-bears. You heard it this morning and it’s one of those Old Testament stories that leaves us all stumped. In fact, one of the Stump the Pastor questions I got was in reference to this passage. Basically, it asked, “Would God really do that?”

Just to refresh your memories, the short story goes like this. Elisha had just been passed the mantle from Elijah. It meant that Elisha was now God’s representative in the land and charged with the duty of making sure that God’s Word was properly heard. As he walked along the road leading to Bethel, a group of small boys came out of the city and began yelling at him, “Go, away bald head! Go away bald head!” When Elisha heard them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Just then, two bears came out of the woods and attacked 42 of the boys. Elisha simply continued on his way. First to Mount Carmel and then to Samaria. The whole story seems very random and unnecessary. Why did the boys come out? Why was Elisha so offended? Why bears? Why 42 of the boys? What happened afterward?

Many people have offered other ideas to help make the story more palatable. Some will say that the boys were not really so little; probably more like 20-30. Others will say that this was a dangerous pack of kids and Elisha’s life was in danger so that he had to protect himself. Still others have said that the attack by the bears was not anything that would have really hurt them in the end, just scare them a little. At the same time, some people are happy to point out that these boys were confronting a man of God and, therefore, God himself. Anyone who would dare do that deserves such punishment. The bears were God’s way of vindicating Elisha as his new prophet. All of these attempts consider the story to be an historical event and so feel the need to defend God in one way or another.

That’s really what it comes down to for most people. This story and God don’t mix. Or, more accurately, this story and their view of God don’t mix. Again, each of us has an idea of God’s character and characteristics; a vision of God that we admire and adore and long to worship. What ends up happening is that we read the portions of the Bible that fit with our vision and we read them over and over again to prove that our vision is the right one. So, rather than worshipping the true and living God we actually worship an idol. Even saying something as simple as God is good can become idolatrous when the focus of that statement is on the “good” rather than on God. God ends up defined by our notion of good rather than having our notion of good informed by God.

The same is true if we were to say God is love or God is vengeful or God is just or God is merciful. When we define the terms, we’ve defined God and that is idolatry. So, when we come across stories like the one about the boys and bears, we are tempted to dismiss it because it doesn’t fit with our notion of God. The only solution is to let God’s Word define God for us. The problem is that there is a whole other idolatry lurking around that corner. Some have called it Bibliolatry or idolatry of the Bible. It’s lifting the Bible to a place reserved only for God. While we believe that all Scripture is inspired by God, we do not believe that it is God. In other words, we do not believe in the Bible, we believe in the God that the Bible speaks of in its pages. When the Bible becomes an idol, we feel the need to prove every detail in its pages true or as fact. Stories like this one make that very difficult.

The Reformed Church has come up with a nice middle ground between dismissing stories like these and turning them into false Gods. We say about the Bible, that it is true in all that it intends to teach. So, we’re not saying that the Bible has every factual detail correct. Nor are we saying that it’s just a bunch of nice stories to read if you like. The Bible is true in all that it intends to teach. It turns out to be a very nice Bible study question to ask any time you are reading the Bible. What does this passage intend to teach me? I think that’s as far as we need to go with this story about insults and injuries. I also think that Jesus’ protest in the temple helps us draw out some of what the story of Elisha intends to teach us.

Three things come to mind when we consider the two stories together: God is not opposed to anger, God gets angry when we profane what he has made sacred, and God will vindicate his prophets. First, God is not opposed to anger. There is that age old split between the Old Testament and New Testament. God is just in the first and merciful in the second. God is mean in the first and nice in the second. God is angry in the first and joyful in the second. Either God has learned something along the way and decides to try something new or Jesus and God really are different personalities. But the story of Jesus in the temple takes that split and sews it back together. There are plenty of words of mercy and joy in the Old Testament, just as there is this story of justice and anger in the new. Jesus captures in his person the Old Testament confession that God is slow to anger. But while God is slow to anger, God is not opposed to anger. What angers God most is when we profane what God has made to be holy.

In this world, God has set apart certain people and certain places that deserve a special respect and care. Ultimately, they are the people and the places where God becomes most visible and most clearly heard. In the Old Testament, God sent prophet after prophet so that his word would be spoken and heard. Elisha was one of the people that God set apart; that God made to be holy. The Temple was one of the places that God set apart; that God made to be holy. When the boys chastised Elisha they were profaning someone that God had made sacred. When the sellers and moneychangers set up shop in the temple, they were profaning what God had made sacred. When we misuse our bodies with sex or drugs or alcohol, we are profaning what God has made sacred. When we spoil our relationships with spouses or children or fellow Christians by cheating or abusing or denying, we are profaning what God has made sacred. God does not let it go.

God will vindicate his prophets. God will raise up those who he has set apart and the world tries to bring down. The bears coming out of the woods are a symbol of that vindication. It doesn’t have to have actually happened to make the point. The story tells us that God is not going to just sit back and let profanity ruin what is meant to be sacred. In the end, God will make very clear who was right. When the religious authorities took the disruptive, subversive, radical, misguided, prideful, disrespectful Jesus and hung him on the cross, God raised him up from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heaven. Yes, that did actually happen. God vindicated the one who was the truest representative of his word; who was his word made flesh. Despite what others may have thought of him, God showed through the resurrection that Jesus’ protest in the temple was right and good.

So, would God send a bunch of bears on some little boys? I don’t know. You’ve stumped me. Does it matter whether or not God would do that? No. What matters is that we’ve heard how seriously God takes holiness; how precious those things are that God sets apart for his purposes. You are some of those things, by the way. In a world like this, riding your bike across the country to raise money for poverty is a protest. Going to a minor league baseball stadium to celebrate what the riders have accomplished is a kind of protest. In a world like this, just showing up to church on Sunday is a kind of protest. It is one of the few remaining actions that says we were not created to produce and consume, but to worship and love. Sunday morning is one of the few times when we take a break from working and buying stuff and acknowledge God. It is one of the few times that we acknowledge that it is not the economy that makes the world go ‘round, but the hand of God. Sunday morning at least, we rest in those hands. So, do not let yourself be profaned by the things of this world.

Instead, be holy. As Jesus shows us, that might mean getting a little angry at the injustices of the world. It might mean being a little disruptive, subversive, and radical. It could mean being considered misguided, prideful or disrespectful. It might mean a little protest now and then; not protest just for the sake of protest, but protest for the sake of holiness. Results should matter. Therefore, in the words of the apostle Peter, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “ You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Amen.

Finding Forgiveness – 8/10/08

I saw The Dark Night. No, I’m not referring to some metaphysical experience. Nor am I talking about some spiritual vision of sin or death. I’m talking about the movie. The Dark Night is the new Batman movie that is breaking all of the box office records. That’s for good reason if you ask me. It is a display of the battle between good and evil. Of course, it’s personified in the characters of Batman and the Joker, but throughout the movie you see the battle between good and evil take place within people as well as around them. I want to relate one scene to you and I promise not to spoil the end of the scene or the end of the movie.

But toward the end of the movie, as chaos is erupting in Gotham City, the city leaders decide that all of the prisoners on the island prison must be removed. The only way to do that is by ferry. While civilians wait on the dock, two ferries leave. One is filled with women and children and some men. The other is filled with guards and prisoners. As the two move through the dark waters the creepy voice of the joker comes out over the loudspeaker. He tells them that they are sitting on top of a bomb. They are in control of their own fate because they hold the detonator. To spice things up, however, he has given each boat the detonator for the bomb on the other. In other words, the prisoners control the fate of the women and children and some men, while the civilians control the fate of the guards and prisoners.

The Joker wants to see who will push the button first. Again, I won’t tell you what happened, but I do want to share with you part of the conversation. The first rationalization of the civilians was that the prisoners had already had a shot at life. They said of the prisoners, “They have already made their choices.” What the civilians were implying was that the prisoners were given their chance at life and screwed it up while they, on the other hand, were still innocent and, therefore, deserved to live. Never mind that some of the “they” on the prison boat were guards. The conversation goes round and round, but always comes back to that single point. The point that says prisoners have committed crimes and done harm and are less worthy of life.

As I watched the scene I thought to myself that I would be noble enough, perhaps faithful enough, to not push the button. However, as I drove home the scene changed in my mind. I imagined myself there with Julie and Wil and Josh. Then, I wasn’t so sure what I would do in that situation. When its your own flesh and blood, the decision becomes much more cloudy. Let me plug another media to illustrate the point. This last week I finished reading The Shack. It’s our Book Group book and well worth the read. It begins with the kidnapping and murder of a little girl while the rest of its pages follow the father as he wrestles with God over the subject. I found the whole thing very gripping.

Even though I knew what was going to happen to the little girl I found myself rooting for her safe return. I was hoping that they could find her and save her from harm. I related to every emotion and response of the father as they searched for the little girl. I think that’s because I’m a father now too. I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like if someone took Wil or Josh. I know I would be enormously sad, but I was surprised at my own anger as I read the book. Not only did I hope that the girl could be saved, but I wanted to get my hands on the kidnapper. I wanted to get my hands around his throat and squeeze all of the perversion, all of the evil out of him until he felt the fear that little girl felt. Basically, I wanted to torture him. It almost seemed more satisfying to want that.

But both of the Scripture passages we read this morning, tells us that that is not what God wants from us or for others. Both of the passages also address a Stump the Pastor question that I received. The question revolved around forgiveness. It was not questioning the rightness of forgiveness. It was not wondering about whether or not God is forgiving. The question pointed out that the Bible seems to say that God will forgive us based on how we forgive others. So, the question goes something like this: Will God not forgive us if we refuse to forgive others? It’s an interesting question because we’re always taught that God’s grace is free and forgiving; that there is nothing we have to do to receive it. But there are enough verses in the Bible that seem to say something different to make it worth considering the question. Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant is a great place to start.

To those within earshot, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. As this king began to call his slaves before him, one was brought who owed him 10,000 talents. The small print in your Bible probably says that one talent is worth 15 years wages. In other words, that slave owed the king a lot of money. In today’s world we might be talking about as much as $6,000,000,000. Clearly, Jesus is being a little outrageous to prove a point. We’re not surprised to hear that the slave could not pay the king when the debt came due. Like any smart business man, the king ordered that the slave be sold along with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made.

Upon hearing the bad news, the slave fell on his knees before the king and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me and I will pay you everything.” You can just see the king’s advisors standing around with cynical frowns. They may have heard these words before; each time the man returned to ask for more money. They have yet to see one penny of it return. They are fed up with this beggar. They were probably shocked when they witnessed the king’s response. Out of pity, the king released the slave from his prison. What’s more, he decided to forgive the man his debt; 150,000 years worth of work walking out the door. One would think that a slave who has received such a gift would be elated; filled with generosity and joy. Not this slave.

As he left the king’s presence, probably humming a joyful tune and skipping to the beat with a big smile on his face, he comes across a fellow slave who owes him some money. It turns out to be about one hundred days wages. In our day, we might be talking about $11,000. It’s still a lot of money, but compared to the debt that was just forgiven we’re talking pennies and nickels. The slaves smile turns to a frown and, violently, he seizes his fellow slave around the throat and threatens him, “Pay what you owe.” In a familiar scene, the fellow slave falls on his knees before him and pleads, “Have patience with me and I will pay you everything.” Well, the slave was not feeling very patient so he threw the other slave in jail until the debt was paid.

Word quickly got back to the king and the first slave quickly found himself back where he started. This time the king would not show any pity. “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you? And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. Jesus leaves nothing to the imagination here and nothing up for interpretation in this parable. He concludes that whole thing in very stark fashion. “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from you heart.” Jesus parable is not alone in sending this message.

Jesus’ prayer says the same thing. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Those two letters a and s, might form the biggest word in the prayer. Every Sunday and more, we pray for God’s forgiveness. It’s not just forgive us, but forgive us as; forgive us as we have forgiven others. Forgive us in the same way we have forgiven our brothers and sisters. We heard something similar last week from James: for judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. It’s as if God is willing and ready to forgive almost anything, but draws the line at the one who will not offer the same grace to others. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive, Jesus said seventy-times seven. We can take Jesus’ answer to mean, “If you’re still counting, you haven’t gotten there yet.”

Jesus says that in God’s kingdom there will be forgiveness of sins. But there will also be judgment and the judgment will be on those who do not share God’s forgiveness. Clearly, God despises hard hearts. But that means that the opposite is also true. God delights in hearts that are open to mercy and grace. The prophet Ezekiel says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live.” The first time these words sank in, I was watching news coverage on the state of Illinois. The governor of that state had just called a moratorium on the death penalty so that an investigation could take place to discover why more people have been found innocent on appeal than have been put to death. It made sense to me at the time. If there are innocent people on death row, we better find them before they get something they don’t deserve. That’s when I read the words from Ezekiel.

Ezekiel showed that God’s concern was much wider than those who were innocent. Obviously, the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of innocent people, but Ezekiel goes further and says that the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God would have them turn from their ways and live. Now, I don’t know anyone who takes pleasure in the death penalty, though they seem to be out there. At the same time, I don’t know many people who would have criminals turn from their ways and live. Most of us would have to admit, like the people on the ferry in the Batman movie, that we’d just as soon not have to worry about them. We’re happy to have them locked away in prison where we don’t have to worry about them or interact with them. But the Bible would have us admit that we’re not so different from them.

Someone has written that, from God’s point of view being ordinarily sinful (which we all are) and extremely sinful (what the people we don’t like seem to be) is like the distance between New York and Washington D.C. from the point of view of the sun. In other words, it’s not that there is no difference between stealing a candy bar and stealing a child, it’s just that they are not so far apart as we claim them to be. God sees them both as flowing from the same broken and stubborn heart. God as poured a bucket’s worth of forgiveness into our lives through Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit so that we owe him a great debt. All that God asks in return is that we share a bit of what’s in our bucket with those who harm us and do us wrong which, in the end, isn’t very much.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. I know you’re thinking it because it’s what I was thinking this past week. Forgiveness has just become another item on the checklist of things that I have to do to get God to like me. It’s easy to go there considering the verses we’ve heard this morning. But there is another way to approach this topic. That is simply to say that God is love. God is love and God’s love is gracious and merciful. It is free and forgiving. God wants each of us to enter into and live in that love. It’s a better place to be. The author of The Shack writes that forgiveness is like letting go of someone’s throat. That means two things. Not only does forgiveness allow the offender to breathe and live, but forgiveness releases all of the tension and relieves us of all the effort it takes to hold a grudge.

As with any physical activity, too much effort causes strain and too much strain causes the body to wear out and break down. As you squeezed the pew in front of you, your blood pressure went up, your temperature increased, your joints began to hurt and your muscles fatigued. It probably felt good to let go. In the same way, withholding forgiveness for too long causes strain in our hearts and minds that we may not even know exists but eventually they will wear out and break down. There is great relief in letting go and sharing some of the forgiveness that God has poured into our lives. I know, however, that all of this is easier said than done. So, a few thoughts on forgiveness.

First, it seems that one of the things that prevents us from forgiving others is a fear of sadness or, at least, an inability to handle it. As I thought more about the little girl and her kidnapper, I realized that, more than anything, I was sad about the pain the little girl would have to suffer. However, it was much easier to be angry at the kidnapper. It seems that we often choose to let anger cover up our hurt and sadness because those are difficult emotions to deal with. Being hurt or sad is considered weak and vulnerable. Anger puts us back in a position of power. Judgment and vengeance give us the control again. As soon as we forgive, we release that power. But then we have to deal with being hurt and sad. Not many of us want to face that so we withhold forgiveness and stay angry.

That’s why it’s helpful to know that in our times of weakness God is a refuge and a strength. When we can’t find a safe place to let our guard down, we rest in the Lord. When we feel like all power is gone from within us, we turn to the Lord. We trust that it is in our times of greatest weakness that God is our greatest provider. We also trust that God is a just judge; that one day the scales will balance again. But God is the judge and we are told to withhold judgment. We, men and women alike, are just too emotional. It’s not that God is a stoic. God has plenty of emotion, but God’s emotions do not cloud his judgment so that he can handle the wrongs of this world in ways that are truly just.

Two other things about forgiveness before I end: forgiveness is not forgetting and forgiveness is not necessarily reestablishing a relationship. You can forgive a criminal for his crime, but that doesn’t mean you’ll let him roam the streets to do it again. You can forgive a spouse for cheating in a relationship, but that doesn’t mean they get to come and go as they please. You can forgive a friend for sharing a secret, but that doesn’t mean they get the same access to your heart. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is letting go of our anger so that there is room for the offender to move and live without fear of punishment.

Forgiveness is not necessarily reestablishing a relationship. In fact, it might be ending a relationship for a time to get some perspective. After all, having your hands around someone’s throat, holding a grudge, is a relationship, just not a very good one. Forgiveness is letting go so that we can soften and open to the possibility of reconciliation and restoration. Forgiveness paves the way for a new life that is more fruitful and more whole. Forgiveness leads us to a new creation. The apostle Paul wrote, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” That is the good news we know and believe. And, that is why God will not tolerate it when his people withhold forgiveness. We are to be messengers of this good news in word and deed. When we fail to forgive, we fail to represent the good news to those who need it. When we hold trespasses against others, we hold onto something that God wants to release.

Having watched The Dark Night and read The Shack; having wrestled with my own quickness to anger; having considered the death penalty and broken relationships of every kind, I know that forgiveness isn’t easy. But if a good God demands it, it must be good. Forgiveness must be worth every effort. God sent his only son to see it spread on the earth. So, if you do not forgive others, your heavenly Father will not forgive you, but if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will certainly forgive all of yours. Amen.

The Richness of Poverty – 8/03/08

38 children. I read about a woman in who had 38 kids. That’s a lot of kids. I can hardly handle two. I can’t imagine all the diapers, all the food, all the clothes, that it takes to raise 38 kids. Unless you had a couple of high incomes, it would be difficult to make ends meet. Thankfully, there is government assistance to help out a family like that. The problem, in this case, was that there weren’t any kids. The woman came up with a pretty crafty way to manipulate the system and receive about $300,000 in medical coverage, cash assistance, and food stamps. Perhaps, worst of all, it was said that the woman was not poor in the first place.

Another woman in Illinois used 14 different names to receive assistance. She would go from district to district and use different names in each one to obtain different benefits. All told she came away with $150,000 before she was caught. Illinois must not be very good at keeping track of their resources because someone else was charged with 613 counts of fraud through the government assistance programs. Over the course of 6 years the state lost another $150,000 to someone who didn’t deserve them and may not have needed them. And, then, there’s the woman in LA who received $239,000 in benefits that she wasn’t supposed to receive.

Welfare fraud makes people very upset and rightfully so. The first reason is because, “that’s our money.” Funds for assistance come out of our taxes. But the second reason is that people are stealing even though their getting something for nothing. Each year a certain amount of money goes to assistance for needy families and individuals. When someone steals from that pot of money it could mean that not all of the obligations can be met. So, then the state has to borrow money, which contributes to debt, which leads to higher taxes or a cut in services. So when people commit welfare fraud they are stealing from us and from other people in need. The stories are I mentioned were out of the ordinary. Most welfare fraud is far less than that, most around $1000 per year and often times it’s the result of the failure to report a change in household status.

Still, these thousands of dollars start to add up. Housing assistance fraud alone costs the US government $2 billion per year. Rising costs along with a general frustration with assistance and the objection to this government program led to the welfare to work program. It was one of the rare bi-partisan efforts this country has seen over the last 20 years. The point was to put a limit on the assistance people can receive. The goal was to move people off of welfare and into the workforce in 5 years. Rather than create dependency on a government program the idea was to make people self-sufficient and equip them to earn their own money. With more people in the workforce, hopefully their will be less reason to steal. However, it seems that work does little to curb that urge.

At the beginning of this month an investigation began into the clients of a Swiss bank. Authorities are putting pressure on the bank to hand over a list of 20,000 wealthy US clients who might be hiding money there. It’s imagined that they might be hiding over $20 billion in the bank and have avoided over $300 million dollars in taxes. According to some estimates, the US government loses around $150 billion dollars per year because wealthy people hide their income in off shore bank accounts. Imagine how many teachers could be hired, how many roads could be paved, how many homes could be built, or how many programs could be funded with $150 billion every year. That’s not the only way the rich can hurt the rest of us.

In the United States, people at the top of a company are now making about 400 times more than the people at the bottom of the company. Much of their salary is guaranteed. These days an executives salary and bonuses can take up as much as 10% of companies profits. During this whole mortgage crisis, while people are losing their homes and companies are going out of business and people are losing their jobs and watching their investments tank, 3 corporate executives retired and walked away with $300 million dollars. So, if your retirement has investments in Countrywide you watched those stocks fall 80% in 10 months and then watched to companies top guy walk away with a retirement package greater than all of ours might add up to.

Now, for some of you, I may have crossed the line here. This is class warfare, right? All this talk about how the rich are lining their pockets while the rest of us struggle does us no good. Well, you’ll have to take that up with James, the guy who wrote one of the books of the Bible. The same guy who wrote, “Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not the rich who drag you into court? Is it not the rich who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?” Ouch. The poor, though, are a different story for James. “Has not God chosen the poor to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?” Why should that be? Why should God give something to someone just because they are poor? That doesn’t sound right.

That’s one of the questions I got in the Stump the Pastor box. “What’s so special about poor people?” was the question that I received. I imagine the question is the result of my final benediction. I close every service with these words, “Go in peace and remember the poor.” At both churches I’ve had the same exchange more than once. First, I get the question, “Are you saying remember the force?” I reply, “No, I’m saying remember the poor.” There’s a pause. And then this question, “Why shouldn’t we remember the rich? Don’t they need to be saved too?” First, let me say that the closing benediction comes from the letter to the Galatians 2:10: They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor.

Now, to the question at hand. What’s so special about the poor? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when it comes to the poor God is like a firefighter. If you were to ask a firefighter which house he cared for the most, the firefighter should probably answer: the one that’s on fire. It’s not that the firefighter care more for one house to the exclusion of all the others. It’s that the fire fighter cares first for the house that has the greatest need. The same is true with God and the poor we could say. It’s not that God cares more for people who are poor. It’s that God looks out for them first because they are in the greatest need. While keeping watch over all people, God will swoop in to save those who are in crisis. So, God has chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him.

According to James, the reason God gives special attention to the poor is because other people do not. Apparently, the people James is writing to have set up a little class system of their own. James actually calls their faith into question because of it. “My brothers and sisters, do you, with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” With these words James is echoing John who says that you can’t say you love God and hate your brother and sister. Or, what Jesus said that you can’t say you hear the word is you’re not going to do the word. James is saying that you can’t show favoritism to one class of people and say you believe in Jesus.

In this passage, James is probably referring to early Christian worship and communion. Wealthy Christians would host the communion meal at their homes and Christians from the area would go and celebrate around the host’s table. James had observed that those with fine cloths and gold jewelry would get the good seats at the table but those who are poor would have to stand or sit on the floor. James is trying to remind those who hold communion in their homes that Jesus came to do away with that kind of favoritism. Besides, he writes, God has given to the poor the gift of faith. In other words, the poor might not be able to bring food to the table or wine for your cup. They might not look like you do or wear your fancy clothes, but they do have something to offer you. They are able to show you what faith looks like. You might choose to look past the poor and prefer the rich, but God has not. Because they bring that gift to the table, they are just as worthy as anyone else to have a seat at Jesus’ table.

It’s not just around the communion table that God has made special provisions for the poor of the land. We heard from Deuteronomy about how God’s people were supposed to handle debts after they had arrived in the promised land. It worked like this. Every seven years debts were to be forgiven. No matter who it was or how big the debt was, it was to be forgiven in the seventh year. You can imagine how that could be a resented process. Imagine that someone comes to you on the last day of the seventh year and asks for $100. You might think twice because tomorrow that debt would have to be forgiven. Likewise if someone had been borrowing money for sometime all the debt would be forgiven in the seventh year.

“If there is among you anyone in need, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lend enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought…Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” God has put this system in place to care for those in need and to make sure that life was not too burdensome for anyone. No doubt, it would be the wealthy who would be lending out the money. It would be the poor who suffered from bad choices or bad luck that were always asking for the money. But the reason this system was supposed to work was that none of it belonged to any of them.

The homes they lived in, the land they cultivated, the money that they earned was not their own, but was given to them on loan from the Lord. It was entrusted to them by God and they were meant to be good stewards of it. The wealthy would show their faith in God by being generous lenders and forgiving debts every seven years. The poor would show their faith in God by being content with what they had and not stealing from others. The Bible knows how difficult it can be to maintain that balance. The prophets stepped in anytime the system broke down and most often it was at the hands of the wealthy and powerful. The stories I opened with showed us that money is no easier to handle today than it was back then. When you consider welfare fraud and tax fraud, the words found in Proverbs ring true, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full and deny you, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I shall be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” The love of money is the root of all evil, the Bible says, and it’s true for rich and poor alike.

Welfare fraud and tax fraud are concrete examples of the desire to have more and of the temptations that people succumb to when they desire to have more. Of course, we don’t have to commit a crime to succumb to that desire. “Give us this day our daily bread,” we pray. “Feed me with the food that I need,” the Proverbs say. “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these,” Paul wrote. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” All of these words point us to basic necessities of life and it’s true source. Paul pointed to food and clothing, not food, clothing and a new $300 golf club; not food, clothing and a new flat screen TV; not food, clothing, and a cottage in the woods; not food, clothing and anything else. Paul knew that in this material world we all need a certain level of material goods. The Bible seems to say that before we move onto luxuries we should make sure that everyone has the necessities. Those who have been given much have the most responsibility and the most to give.

Yet, God makes the poor to be rich in faith because the world is still a place where preference is given to the rich and the powerful and the poor are oppressed. We see it in stark ways in developing countries where dictators rule and powerful tribes kill the weaker ones. We see it in subtle ways here as medical expenses and college tuition climb at rates much faster than income; as food and energy prices place a heavier burden on those who were barely making ends meet to begin with. When the wealthy shelter the money that is supposed to go to programs that help meet those needs, we can imagine that God is angry. The poor are left to sit and watch lavish spending while their children try to cover up grumbling stomachs. It takes a certain amount of faith to put up with that and so God has stepped in. He sent Jesus to preach good news to the poor and bless them with a richness of faith that struggling in poverty requires.

And, God has sent us. Jesus’ good news was that he was the first of a new creation that would not prefer the rich, but would have a special concern for the poor. At Hope Reformed, a large portion of our budget goes to mission around the country and around the world; everything from windmills to medical help. Every year a good sum of money is raised at Thanksgiving and donated to those who help the poor and needy around the country. We support Degage, ACCESS, SECOM, participate in the hunger walk and the Vision to End Homelessness. Each of these is a sign of the good stewardship we have here at the church. We should feel o.k. about patting ourselves on the back. But we must be careful not to entertain any mean thoughts about this generosity. It’s easy to look at the poor and point out all of their problems and judge them, but when you look at the numbers it’s the rich who create a society that makes it difficult to overcome these problems. Most often they do it so that they can hold on to more of their own money. Our life, including our money, is not ours, however, it belongs to the Lord.

There will always be poor and needy people in this land, the Lord’s call is to maintain a soft heart and an open hand. And, we are called to remember that as we gather around this table, we are not to have a preference about who gathers with us; not the rich to the poor, not the white to the black, not the young to the old, not the family with kids to the parentless children, not the married to the single, not those who will increase our reserves to those who will deplete our resources. So, when I say at the end of a service to remember the poor, it’s for two reasons. God has given us to the poor so that they can have some of our wealth. But God would have us receive the poor in the same way so that we can have some of their wealth; not the riches of their wallet, but the riches of their faith; a faith that says we don’t need more material things to have an abundant life. It is a faith that says what we need is God and the family that God surrounds us with as we walk through this life. It is a family that is soft-hearted and open-handed when it comes to the sharing of resources. It is a family that does not show preference to people because they have certain clothes on their back, or gold around their neck, or skin color that matches your own, or letters after their name, but one who welcomes all who seek God. With the apostle Peter, we understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone, whether rich or poor, who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to the Lord. Amen.