What Now?

What Now?

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

August 19, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Romans 5: 1-11

Nehemiah 4: 7-15

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

For your eyes show the way

Your mind knows the truth

Your being is the life.

Amen.

This morning we are going to look at Paul’s description of a life giving change of our status and place in the world, one where we have been set free and made a peace. Another time in the Biblical narrative when such a change occurs is at the end of the Babylonian exile, where the Jews are allowed to return to Jerusalem and build the temple back. The Old Testament Lesson focuses on the issues they had. Nehemiah 4: 7-15

 ⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. ⁸ They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. ⁹ But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

¹⁰ Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

¹¹ Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”

¹² Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

¹³ Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. ¹⁴ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

When you are working for God, doing something new, restoring that relationship, there are always people who stand against you. We see that often in our world as well, which brings us now. . .

to Romans. . . We have taken two weeks off from our journey through Romans, once for Bible School, and then last week too, when we tried to take a look at what is at the heart of our worship. But it should come to no surprise that truthfully those two weeks, though technically a break from Romans fit seamlessly into the pattern, not deviating at all from the themes that we had been looking at. It makes sense because Romans, whether we know it or not, stands very much at the center of what we know and believe about Jesus Christ, God, Christianity, this world, our struggles, our joys, our mission, our day to day lives, and our struggles. Romans is central, and this morning’s passage from Romans is one of the most famous, most often preached, most often quoted, for it sits at the very center of what we know about what Jesus Christ took on for us when he went to the cross, and what is resurrection means for our lives. Let’s take a look, this is Romans 5: 1-11.

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Last week, I made the claim that at the center of our worship service is Reconciliation, that we are re-enacting the great reconciling act that Jesus makes in his death and resurrection. That through our confession we are going through a reminder of the change in status that Christ makes possible. That we start with our call to worship, based in the greatness of God, and then standing in that greatness, we are forced to accept the fact that we do not live up to that standard, up to that greatness, but then we confess our frailty, our brokenness, our sin, and we are forgiven, not by our action, truthfully not even in our confession, it doesn’t happen because we do it today, it doesn’t happen in the act of worship, but our worship includes it because we need to be reminded, and not just mentally, but wholly, experientially, a full bodied reminder of what has been given to us. An act of reconciliation, we have been reconciled to God, to God’s glory, to the glory of the creation of the world, made new, whole, and complete, at peace. . . and this is what Paul describes in these famous words that open this 5^th chapter. . .  “since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Justified, faith, peace, grace, in which we stand! These are the words at the very heart of our faith! And as we discussed last week, of our worship as well. How great is God for working that “break” into our series, to connect this letter once again and bring it front and center into our minds, for bringing it home.

The title of my sermon today is, “What now?”, because I want us to really think about, as we go forward, what this means to our lives now. What it means to us in this moment, here in church, and out in the world, what do these famous words mean to us today? There are so many questions about it right?

We are reconciled, what now?

What happens now that the peace has been made?

What do we do with this peace?

What does God mean it for?

Where is our place in relation to what God is doing in this world?

What is at the heart of our New Life in the glowing light of the Resurrection?

Do you hear it? Life, our new life,

 IN our life. . . .But before we get to that oh so important question. I want to take some time to go through exactly what Paul is saying here, to dig a little deeper than what we take just at first glance, and see if there is more we can glean by scratching beyond the surface.

Look at that famous first sentence:

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. 

It combines all the important ideas,

 justified – I saw some other translations of that word, including, to be made righteous, to be cleared, to be made friends with again. . . the Greek word, at the time was one typically used in courts, and trials, to be made right with justice, the law. . .makes sense.

We get to that point through faith

And through that justification comes peace - - - all so important shalom, full bodied, peace in the strong Jewish tradition, Paul the Pharisee would use that word with its fullness in mind

God through Jesus Christ – and look then he parallels the statement

Justification through faith – peace in first phrase

Grace through faith – in which we now stand

So you can interchange all those ideas together. . . he invites us to, that we can grace is to stand in peace with God, having been justified.

But most importantly there is that word “we” rather than I, this act of reconciliation then is an act of community, we are not islands of ourselves.

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

And here goes Paul with the boasting again. . . his time boasting in hope of the glory of God, remember that boasting we had said is connected to ranking, and no exception here, God is greater than other gods, especially those in temporal power like the Romans and their gods == hope is an important word here, we’ll get to it in a minute, we need hope because look where he goes next. . .

 ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

In great Pauline fashion, he is always putting suffering right alongside, grace and peace and hope. . . He does so in the Corinthian letters, especially 2 Corinthians, where he is explaining to the Christians there in Corinth who may be questioning his status as someone in right with God because of all the suffering. . . Ancient religion would typically assume poor behavior, God anger, matched with suffering, but not here, check out what Paul’s claim is. . . suffering leads to hope

Explain the chart. Movements that lead to hope. . .

Sufferings -- Perseverance à Character à Hope  --  NIV

Suffering – Endurance à Character à Hope – NRSV

Tribulation – Patience à Experience à Hope – KJV

Troubles – Endurance à Approval à Hope – GNT

Problems – Endurance à Strength of Character à Hope – Living Bible

Troubles – Passionate Patience à tempered steel of virtues à alert 4 God will do – Message

Suffering – Endurance à Character à Confidence – God’s Word

Affliction – Endurance à proven Character à hope – Christian Standard

                                          

⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

This hope is in our hearts, and is real, its connected in the Holy Spirit

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here Paul brings out how amazing the love is, and that we do not deserve it, but that it is truly amazing and beyond the normal way this world works, God shows his love for us as his enemies, as those who have turned away. So if we were to react to this by trying to earn it, to live up to it, it would never be enough. . . never never never, so there must be some other reaction we should have. . .

But now look at verse 10

¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Look at what he puts at odds here, saved as enemies through the death of his son, but how much more can we be saved through his life. How much more with life. . . Look at how life and death are brought out here. . . why does he do that? Why does Paul say that we are saved that much more through his life. . . what is the difference between the life of Christ and the death of Christ? Why such emphasis on both Life and Death? And why divide them?

Brian Blount’s book

The future resurrection of the dead now becomes transposed into a doctrine of post-mortem afterlife for the individual believer.

But is that not exactly where our centruries of teaching and preaching have brought our mainstream churches? To a docrine of postmortem afterlife for the individual believer? Where everything is about us? What of our funeral sermons with their preoccupations with a life well lived on earth and now well situated, in many ways because of that earthly good living, in heaven? Death is made palatable in the Christian framework because we believe and we preach that we can individually rise beyond it, and we can take comfort that those we have lost individually have indeed risen beyond it, and further that we may one day, in our own individual resurrection, get to be with them again. The best collective image we can muster. . . it is this individualized disfiguring of the resurrection that, at least in Christian circles makes death livable. . .

The counter to such a myopic proclamation of the faith is Paul’s presentation of the crucified Christ’s resurrection as the invasion of an occupied world, an invasion that is not all about me and my individual future faith relationship or secular standing in the world, but rather the breaking free of this entire world and cosmos from the grip of powers hostile to us and to God.  Yes that means something to me individually, but it means something first and foremost for our world. . .  Our goal, we should preach, is not to die and get to heaven, with our loved ones hopefully trailing in our wake. Our goal, we must preach is to live into the war raging all about us, siding with God’s forceful engagement against the powers that overwhelm this world and its desperate age, even if, and perhaps especially when, the casualty count for believers rises high.  This is what it means, it seems to me, to live out resurrection in a world and church preoccupied with crucifixion. . .Thus it is the resurrection of Christ, I am arguing, that is the turning point in the cosmological war.  It is the resurrection that reveals God’s intent for humankind and the cosmos. It is the resurrection that is God’s act.  The cross,. . . well that’s on us.

What he goes on to push is what he calls vulnerability to God, that God has broken down our walls, our shells, our facades, our protective barriers, our second faces, and through the holy spirit has made us what he calls, “vulnerable”

What does this mean? It means being open to the relationship that God has made possible.

Open to the war that God is raging against death

But always as one who is following God, waiting for God’s leadership, open to what God is doing

Vulnerable. . . it is the “Here I am” phrase so often repeated in the Old Testament, and sung by the choir this morning. . . . Here, now, in this spot, at this moment, right now, right here, I am Listening, vulnerable, ready for what may come next.

I, is important too, me, as you made me, open ready, willing, full wholly, unafraid, hopeful, come what may

The two things that Jesus most often criticizes in the Gospel are what? They may surprise us. . .

Hypocrisy and Fear

Look at how those are the antithesis of being vulnerable to God. . .

Hypocrisy is putting up a mask, an outer shell different from your true inner one

Fear causes you to build walls, grasp tightly. . .

Vunerability releases control, and stands front and center, un masked as purely, lumps and all self.

Here I am, what a statement of vulnerability. . .

This is life. . .

The Rampage

The Rampage

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

August 5, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Psalm 19

Revelation 22: 1-5

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

For your eyes show the way

Your mind knows the truth

Your being is the life.

Amen.

Rolling Rolling, Rolling, Rolling River Ramage, the song. . . let’s go down

I was asked at the beginning of the week, Pete, why do you think they called this thing, Rolling River Rampage. . . . I said I think they were just going for the alliteration thing. . .

And rampage sounds like an adventure kind of thing. . . or a Monster trucks kind of thing, Rampage, Mayhem, Grave digger.. . . Sunday Sunday Sunday. . . it has that kind of feel

But what does rampage actually mean?

I had to look it up, I mean I kinda know what it means or at least what it feels like it means. . .

I remember my buddy Peel had an intellivision. . . (old gaming system) and he had this game called Rampage, where you were like a gorilla and you ran around breaking buildings. .. and I think Player 2 was a Rhino or something.

            Definition – To rush around violently or out of control

                        To go through and areal making a lot of noise, possibly causing damage

                        Violent and usually wild behavior

So you can see where the video game was coming from?

But VBS? Wild River Rampage. . . noise, wild, damage?

I think the curriculum writers must have done VBS themselves before. . .

It was a wild River Rampage, but the verse, theme of the week

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. . .

Presence, the presence of God in all things, even during a wild river rampage. . .

And having made it safely through the rampage part, I want to get into the river

But let’s start with the old Testament Lesson. . .

Psalm 19^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.
¹¹ By them your servant is warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Look at what the Psalmist connects here. . the great creation of the world, the sun in its orbit, the stars, the very natural order of the universe  he created. . . he connects all this, with what he calls the Law of the Lord, but he doesn’t stop there he calls them statutes, precepts, demands, decrees, and connects it with fear of the Lord, as well. It is as if all this is the natural order, and us a part of that, that the Law of the Lord is directives to us to live, just like the sun is directed in its orbit, and this law and loving care of the creator God is on going, it happens on the daily, it happens every hour, it is happening every moment. . .

That the Lord who creates all of the world, and everything in it, thinks enough to include us each in that creation, with the same care, and detail, inside and out, ongoing, both in substance, our skin, our organs, our flesh and blood, in spirit, too, but also our lives, the events, the people he gives us, and prescribes how it is we live in that world. If God brings all of these together, quoting from a typical marriage, let no one tear asunder.

We live in a connected world, with one active present creator making it.

So it would make perfect sense, what the prophet Isaiah tells us that God has promised, that when we go through the waters, God will be with us.

And there is great comfort we can take from that, that he is with us, but there is more we can glean for not only is he with us but he made the river, too, himself.

Rivers are important in the Bible. We find them created in Genesis 1, we see them marked and described in Genesis 2, how the Garden of Eden finds its place in connection with four great rivers. We hear of Abraham leaving his home in Ur, which is situated on the Euphrates. . . we learn through out the story of the Nile, the great center of civilization in Egypt, how its flood waters brought great riches, where Joseph saved his family from starvation and famine, to where, having been forgotten his people were enslaved on the banks of that same Nile. Only to find themselves wandering in the desert, until being called to cross over Jordan, and into the promised land. Until it was many years later, that it was on the banks of the Rivers of Babylon, that they sat and wept as Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were exiled. And Jesus is baptized into the Jordan, God baptized into that human history, into that story, that he himself is writing.

And we know God is writing it because there is a river to come. . . for John exiled on the island of Patmos, receives a vision that he shares in order to strengthen and call Christians to be witnesses to Christ, even though it might cost them dearly. . . they can do so because God is in control, and Jesus is Lord. This is towards the end of that writing, what we call Revelation chapter 22: 1-5

 22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Rivers everywhere.  . . and of course that makes sense historically, humans needed rivers, to transport grain, the floodwaters would replenish the soil making it fertile, irrigation was much more possible near great bodies of water, so naturally we see people needing rivers, and making their homes on the banks of great rivers.

Langston Hughes, in his poem Negro Speaks of Rivers writes

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

     flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Souls that grow deep, like the rivers, and he even marks the fact that each of us is kept alive by countless rivers within us, our very life blood, and the flow of it all.

I know something about rivers too.

I grew up just north of the Potomac, where I found a taste for Blue Crabs, and made fast friends with those who, caught them.

Then moved to Christchurch, on the Rappahannock, whose campus rises above those waters, I sailed, I fished, I swam, I taught, I wrote, I crossed it, sometimes on Sunday mornings to attend church on the other side of the river. I played music on its shores for alumni fundraisers and a few weddings.

To Hampton, across the York, and was married just a short bagpipe led walk from the church to that next river in Hampton.

Then for the last 8 years I was away from rivers, and perhaps that is why something always felt a little off.

And now I’ve come back the James, the Black water. . .

But the river that taught me the most, I guess is technically the James, for this river joins with the Jackson to form the James, the Cowpasture river. . . Bath and Allegheny County.

I can see it all. Each bend. Each memory.

Floating. From the bridge. .

Carp hole, deep slow water

Around the curve to the Camp

Straight to the swinging bridge and beyond. . .

A bridge stands at the river’s rightward bend.

Technically it forks there, but straight and left

The stagnant water stands still to end in mud

Still in view, unless that is, the water’s high,

While the river just falls and pours to the right,

Shallow and fast, it is low enough to ford, but

High enough to send you around that bend

Into unknown darker shadowed waters,

If you don’t paddle quick enough to shore.

Rivers work like that, and single life flows as such,

Choices  you make, dead-ends, and mysteries,

Where one’s life races seemingly out of control

Around a new bend, or slows into a muddy slough.

Seemingly out of control. . .

Fear of what led around that curve

Flood waters and holding on. . .

But then we went

Water falls, sharp rocks, long bend, took much more time. . .

God was there through it all, or he made that river and he made us

My soul has grown deep in that water. . .

But life is much like that river. . .

It bends and speeds up, there are jagged edges, there are slow places, deep dark places where shadowy fish swim below, it twists and turns, the flood waters rise, but there is one constant, it flows, the waters change,

Heraclitus, you can’t step in the same river twice

God is making all things new

IN our lives, like rivers,

But at the same time, God is with us through it all.

I can’t think of any better lesson to teach our kids,

I love that this curriculum didn’t try to teach them how to behave,

But instead sought to teach them simply that they are loved. . . by us. . . and by the God who will always be with them no matter what. . .