Leaders of Morality – 3/29/09

Sex, Lies, & Video Tape. That’s the name of a movie that came out in the late ‘80’s. It’s definitely not one for the family-friendly, Movie Club we have here at Hope. Too often those words seem to be more than just a movie title. You don’t have to look very far in the newspaper or on line to find a whole series of scandals involving sex and lies and, sometimes, video tape. In fact, look no further than our elected officials today and throughout the years. Time Magazine had a whole online article about the Top 10 Political Sex Scandals. It all started with Eliot Spitzer.

One of the things that drives us crazy about these stories is the hypocrisy. Eliot Spitzer was a very aggressive attorney general in the state of New York. He worked tirelessly to protect consumers and shareholders from corporate fraud and financial scandals in New York. He even pursued the break up of several prostitution rings. But when he transferred $10,000 from his bank account, people started getting suspicious. They were right and they were angry. David Vitter was another hypocrite. He was an aggressive supporter of Conservative positions on abstinence-only education and same-sex marriage. At the same time, his phone number was found on a client list for the “D.C. Madam.” The hypocrisy is really disappointing. The lying is really frustrating.

This was the case with John Edwards as he ran for President. He vehemently denied any wrong doing for days, if not weeks. He offered to take a paternity test to prove that he wasn’t the child’s father and that he hadn’t had an affair. When it didn’t work, he admitted the truth on TV. Of course, no one lied better (or worse) than Bill Clinton. Bill’s denials are the most famous and outrageous and they never convinced anyone. These sex scandals are unfortunate where you find them and they are found everywhere. You have Republicans like Larry Craig and Mark Foley and Democrats like Gary Hart.

I know that it feels strange to be talking about sex scandals in church. It sounds like something that belongs on the pages of the National Enquirer. It feels like gossip. It feels like you’re invading someone’s private life and nosing in on their business. Often, the argument goes, people’s personal decisions and private life have no bearing on the way they can govern. Very few of these scandals resulted in public outrage. Most people don’t really care whether or not their politician is promiscuous or faithful in their marriage. The two Biblical passages I share with you this morning are for the purpose of wondering whether we should. We heard this morning how sex and politics have been tied together for quite some time.

Some of Wil’s favorite stories in his little children’s Bible are about David; especially David and Goliath. David is a hero in many a Sunday School class because of his defeat of the great giant and the great power he has in battle. No doubt modern-day Christians are the first to admire David and look to him as an example. I’m sure the people of his own kingdom looked up to him and that little boys wanted to be like him. It’s possible to see how all of that praise and admiration could go to someone’s head. As he looked out over his kingdom it’s possible to imagine how David could see it all as belonging to him; even that beautiful young woman named Bathsheba.

The scandal comes and goes pretty quickly, but the cover up goes on for quite some time. At least, David tries to cover it up. If you remember, when David can’t get Uriah to sleep with his wife, he has him killed on the field of battle. Imagine if this were more than a story in the Bible. What if this was the story on the front page of the Grand Rapids Press and it was about the President of the United States. These would be serious allegations. The media would be all over it. In David’s case there was no media, but there was a prophet. His name was Nathan.

The fascinating thing about this story is that Nathan would often serve as David’s trusted advisor, the President’s Chief of Staff. He would advise him on the upcoming battle’s and tell David whether or not the Lord was with him. This thing that David had done with Bathsheba and Uriah had displeased the Lord and Nathan was coming to tell him about it. But he couldn’t just come out and accuse him. Nathan had to draw him in with a story. It’s about a rich man and a poor man who live in the same city. In fact, they live right next to each other. The rich man has a large flock and the poor man has just one ewe. This little lamb would eat food from the dinner table and crawl into the poor man’s lap. It was like a daughter to him.

When a dinner guest came to the house of the rich man, he really didn’t want to take one of his own flock to feed the guest. So he took the poor man’s lamb and fed it to his guest. It’s an unnerving story and David is rightly agitated by it. The arrogance of that man! The heartlessness of that man! The cruelty of that man! He says to Nathan, “That man deserves to die! Whoever that man is is going to restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and had no pity.” Nathan says to David, “You are that man.” You can almost see the blank stare on David’s face. You can watch his mind work through his eyes as he searches his experience. Perhaps he wonders if Nathan really knows about what he had done.

Then we find out that Nathan isn’t the one who was paying attention. Nathan isn’t the one who has an issue with David. It’s someone up the chain of command who has been watching. “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul, and I gave you everything that a king needs and desires, and I gave you Israel and Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added that much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?” David had brought trouble on his house by sneaking around in secret, but it would become public as his own family struggles for the throne. Thankfully, there are no lies in this story. David says to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

It wouldn’t be long after this episode that David would write the words we heard this morning from Psalm 51: have mercy on my, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. There is a humility in these words, a brokenness in this Psalm that turns God’s face back to David to restore him. This is why David was considered a man after God’s own heart. Not so much because of the power and the might, but because of his faith and his humility before God. If only we could say the same thing about Herod.

Herod is the one who brings scandal to the gospel of Mark. Herod wanted to be like David. At least, he wanted the power and the might. He wanted the prestige that came with being the one who would rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. He would do whatever it took; including marrying his brother’s wife. I’m not sure what political purpose this served but John, playing the role of Nathan, was not going to let him get away with it. He had been telling Herod that it was against God’s law to take his brother’s wife in such a way. Herodias had some aspirations of her own, it seems, so she developed quite a grudge against John who was ruining her plans. She wanted to have John killed. Instead, Herod arrested John the Baptist and bound him and threw him prison. Of course, the story doesn’t end there.

Herod did protect John while he was in prison. He had this strange fascination with John. Herod knew that John was a righteous and holy man. He liked to listen to him. It’s as if Herod knew what John said was true but, at the same time, was too afraid to admit it. Herod was bound by his desires for fame and fortune and saving face. So, all of Herod’s feelings would be sorted out when he threw a banquet for all of the important Galilee. All of his officers and courtiers and the leaders of Galilee came out to help Herod celebrate his birthday. Herodias’ daughter would help as well.

She came in to dance for all of the men in the party. She dances well. Herod is pleased and makes a rash pledge to the girl: Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it. He solemnly swears to the girl and, more importantly, before all of his guests: Whatever you ask me, I will give you even half of my kingdom. Rather than reply, the girl runs out to find her mother. It’s almost as if they had set it up ahead of time. Herodias tells her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Adding her own twist on the request, she rushes back to Herod and says, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” Nice girl.

The king was deeply grieved. He liked to listen to John. He feared John. Deep down he knew John was right. But he also knew that if he didn’t keep his oath before all of his guests his control would be undermined. He would be seen as weak by the very people over whom he had power. Without a moment’s delay, the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head and shortly thereafter John’s head was brought on a platter and given to the girl who, in turn, gave it to her mother who put it on the mantle over the fire place. Not really, but this story is gross and disturbing. Imagine seeing this one on the front page.

These stories have a lot in common. They are both in the Bible. They are about politics as they both involve a king. In each story the king feels that his power affords him certain privileges that others might not have. Each king feels he is above the law and takes a woman for his wife that is married to someone else. But what I really want us to notice is that in each story there is a prophet who confronts the king about his sin. There is a representative from God who feels he has the authority to question the king’s motives and actions. These representatives use their voices to advocate for a more upstanding leader.

This season of Lent we have been talking about various practices that we can do to achieve a more just world. We can live more simply. We can care for the creation. We can offer charity to those in need. We can enter into a ministry of reconciliation that restores relationships across gender, race, and class. Today and next week we’re taking a look at advocacy. Christians don’t always feel like they have a place in advocacy. Church and state are separate, we say. But this morning’s passages offer us a look at how God’s representatives, God’s prophets, address those who are in power. This morning’s passages seem to say that, as God’s people, as ambassadors for Christ, we should care about who is holding positions of power and how they are using that power; for service rather than scandal.

It’s not just about the sexual scandal. Even the modern-day stories we began with this morning aren’t just about the sexual scandal. The stories reveal the side of people that says we can have what doesn’t belong to us, that we don’t have to admit mistakes, that our private actions don’t affect other people. You don’t have to be a politician to fall into that trap. This morning’s passages suggest that if what our leaders are doing is against God’s word or God’s law that we should say something about it. We should say that those who are serving the country are ultimately serving God. We should care about the morality of our leaders and be leaders of that morality. I realize that that’s a scary thing to say because that’s what the Taliban believe and what other radical groups have believed. That’s why our focus is always on Jesus who came to serve.

When James and John asked for the seats of power and Jesus’ right a left hand, Jesus told them that they had missed the boat. They had it all wrong. They, too, were focused on the power and might of David’s kingdom and they wanted Jesus’ kingdom to be the same. Jesus told his followers, “You know that among the nations those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you.” Jesus would go on to tell them that whoever wishes to become great among you must be a servant and whoever wishes to be first must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not be served but to serve. So, then as we look for those who will lead us, we should stand in the tradition of Nathan and John and advocate for leaders who will not serve their own desires. We should use our voices to call for leaders who won’t serve their own power, nor their own institutions or ideologies, but serve the Lord who gave his life as a ransom for many.

As this season of Lent draws to a close we begin turning our eyes to Jesus’ throne, to the place where Jesus was crowned as Lord of all. It is because of the cross that we don’t have to grab things for ourselves, but can humbly serve one another. It was in Jesus on the cross that we see what it means to be king, to be a faithful ruler. We see in him God’s mercy and God’s steadfast love and all the things that David wrote about in his humble and contrite Psalm. On the cross, our transgressions were blotted out. On the cross we were washed thoroughly from our iniquity. On the cross we were cleansed from our sin. On the cross, Jesus paid the price that would set us free from our bondage to fame and fortune, to power and prestige. So, it is through the cross that we return to God and by taking up our cross that we praise the Lord knowing that it is God who will lift us up and raise us to new life. Amen.

It’s In Our Genes – 3/22/09

Are you smarter than a ninth grader? We’ll start with science. What does DNA stand for? It’s Deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is that tiny, spiral-shaped thing that makes up the basic building blocks of life. It contains all of our genetic instructions and stores all kinds of information. People compare it to a blueprint like those in architecture or to code like in computer programming or to a recipe like in cooking. Our DNA contains all of these instructions and information that produce all kinds of proteins that our bodies need to function so that we can go about our business throughout the day. In the last decade or so people have mapped DNA and DNA is becoming a more and more popular identification tool.

For example, I can look at my DNA and find out who my ancestors are. If you were to take some hair or saliva from my mom and dad and take some of mine you would find a certain level of matching. You could find out that we belong together. I’m not sure how many generations back that works, but it works. You can also confirm who I am. There are genes for eye color and height and skin color and blood type. No one else has my genetic make-up. I am who I am because of the information stored there. I will be who I will be because of the information stored there as well. So, DNA offers us a lot of answers to our questions. Where did we come from? Who are we? And, where are we headed? Those are all questions that might be found in our DNA.

These days, church leaders are saying that churches have DNA as well. In other words, they say that there are basic building blocks that tell us who we are and what we might become. What makes up a church’s DNA? Well, those same leaders will point to location and type of building and congregation size and denomination and theological perspectives, to name a few. But they will also point to stories. They will look back over the history of a church and pull out certain moments and say that these are part of the church’s DNA. They are stories that people might remember fondly or not, but either way those stories have played a meaningful role in the member’s lives. I’ve heard some of those stories in the two years that I’ve been hear.

It was a striking experience to read about the beginnings of the church. It is inspiring to go over the articles that cover the founding of the church and its building. You see men and women embarking on a new adventure, but filled with faith as they leave one church to start another. That’s part of Hope’s DNA. You read in the articles how, after just a few months, 100 kids from the neighborhood were filling the church’s Sunday School. It seems that there were more kids in the Sunday School program than there were among the church membership. Clearly, Hope was filling a hole in the life of families around the church. That too is part of the church’s DNA.

It wasn’t long into the ministry of the church that people who needed to find their way to God were welcomed by Hope. I’ve heard often from people, divorced or otherwise, that Hope was the place that people could come for a refuge, for a support when their marriage proved to be otherwise. I didn’t get the sense that the church approved of divorce, but that the pastor and congregation recognized the pain and the need for healing that these people carried with them. That’s part of this church’s DNA. Closely associated with that, is the role that women were allowed to play here Before many others, this church recognized that call that God had given to male and female alike; how both of them were made in the image of God and called to be disciples. Whether it was through the church softball league or ordination, this church stood up for the rights of women. That’s part of the church’s DNA. In both of those cases Hope was a kind of leader.

Hope was also a place for refugees. Whether they were from Vietnam or Bosnia or Rwanda, Hope has always seemed to find a way to make room for people from other countries. Not only did they welcome them here, but provided shelter for them and developed relationships with them. This is also part of the church’s DNA. Most recently, there was the decision to stay here in this building. When it might have been easier to move on to another place, Hope decided to make use of this place. When other congregations packed up and moved to another corner, this congregation decided to stay here; to worship and serve on the corner of Burton and Kalamazoo. That decision to stay this corner is part of the church’s DNA as well. Now, no doubt there are other stories that could be told; some of them good and some of them bad. So, it’s natural to wonder, “Why do you pick those stories to tell?” There are two reasons for that.

First, they are your stories. I didn’t make them up and read about them in a newspaper. You told them to me. From the Congregational Listening exercise that you did just before I came to the Consistory retreat we just recently had. When you all are asked when you have most felt like a disciple of Jesus Christ, you don’t talk about consistory meetings or committee meetings or Sunday school, you tell these stories. I’m simply telling them back to you. In a sense, these stories have become part of your spiritual DNA; some of the building blocks that make up your life of faith. I’m sure that all of you don’t connect with all of these stories, but I get the sense that just about all of you connect with at least one of them.

The second, and more important, reason these stories get told is because they fit within a larger story. These stories seem to have a significant connection with the greater story we tell as Christians. Where did Jesus come from? Who is Jesus? Where is Jesus headed? Those are the questions of our faith and they are answered in the stories of the Bible. When our stories line up with Jesus’ stories, we should take notice. So, when hundreds of neighborhood kids flock here to hear about Jesus, we remember how Jesus welcomed little children to his lap. When men and women find acceptance and meaning here, we remember all those stories about Jesus where outcasts were welcomed in and how Jesus often called unusual followers.

In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. In Christ, God was paving the way for everyone: male and female, Jew and Gentile, slave and free to have a right relationship with God, to be one with God. Therefore, anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Everything old, all the sins, all the shame, all the stories we would rather not tell about ourselves, pass away. Everything is new! There is a new beginning, a new direction, and a new way to walk. It’s a fresh start. That means that no one is to be regarded from a human point of view, based on how smart they are or the mistakes they’ve made or how much money they bring to the table, none of those things that the world values. Everyone who walks through the door is to be seen as someone who God might reconcile to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.

We, the church, Hope Church has been given the ministry of reconciliation; the task of helping people find their way into a right relationship with God and experience the amazing grace of walking in God’s kingdom. That’s the story of the Bible. As Hope has been a place of reconciliation for a neighborhood, for children and women, for divorcees and refugees, it has been faithful to that story on the corner of Burton and Kalamazoo. That corner has changed quite significantly over the past 20 years. In fact, Hope Reformed Church has changed quite significantly over the last 20 years. All that means is that there are opportunities to create new stories that people will tell, new building blocks that will form new people in their faith as they are reconciled to God. This church has touched so many people for many years, God has reconciled to himself many people. As a consistory, we have been talking about how Hope will be a place of reconciliation and welcome for the next 20 years. That conversation starts today.

In all of your pews are pink slips of paper that will begin to help us answer the question, “Where are we headed?” At the moment, I just want you to look at it. Write your name on it. Begin to think about how much time you can devote to the ministry of this church and when. Also, begin to think about where your deepest concerns and the world’s greatest needs come together. In a very real sense, this is where God is calling you to be a disciple. At the offering, you can fill it out. We’ll get more specific over the next few months as we meet together, but it’s always good to start with the heart. After the sermon, I’ll ask you to carry these forward and place them before God as a way to commit to those concerns again. It should be said, however, that this isn’t just about getting you to work harder. It’s much deeper than that.

As the apostle Paul wrote, “the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all.” That one is Jesus. Shortly before Jesus died he prayed a prayer and he prayed for us as we sit here today. “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word.” Jesus thought about us as he spoke to God and he prayed that we would be one. He meant that we would work with him, but he meant more than that. He meant that we would have all things in common with one another and with him, but he meant more than that too. He meant that we would be in him, that we would have communion with him, just as he is in the Father in and the Father in is in him. Jesus prayed that we would be so surrounded by God’s glory that we would be transformed. Jesus prayed that we would be so drenched in God’s presence that all of the old would pass away and a new creation be born. This is why Jesus prayed and why he died.

Jesus died for all, Paul writes, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. Jesus prayed for all, “I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” God is making his appeal through us, Paul writes, giving us the ministry of reconciliation and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation. So, we are ambassadors for Christ; ambassadors who have been filled with God’s glory, ambassadors who God trusts enough to represent and who God loves in enough to send his son. This is what we acknowledge and stand in awe of every season of Lent: for our sake God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.

So, it turns out that it’s not only DNA that determines who we are and we are headed. In Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit, God has entered into our lives so that we might enter into his life. It seems that the reasons we tell the stories we tell is because they remind us of those moments, not when we were smart, but when we were faithful, when we were disciples. The reason those moments are so meaningful is not because we like to congratulate ourselves, but because we had found ourselves to be in God. Even if we couldn’t name it as such, even if they’re only fond memories or good feelings, those moments we remember most fondly are those in which we are in God as God was in Jesus and he in God. It’s those moments that we were completely one with God that stick out in our history; those moments when God is in us and we are enveloped in God’s loving presence. It’s this mystical communion that makes those stories most meaningful to us. And, it’s that same communion that we seek as we look for ways to create new stories for new generations so that there might be new creations in Christ. So, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I say to you: On behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Amen.