The Common Language of Love
For audio, click here: https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/october-5-2014-11-17-36-am/s-QZkaq
For the You Tube video played before the Lord's Supper, click here: http://youtu.be/0KekKTvAVD0
For the You Tube video played before the Lord's Supper, click here: http://youtu.be/0KekKTvAVD0
Exodus 19:3-7,
20:1-17
Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the
mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
Israelites: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on
eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice
and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the
peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly
kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the
Israelites." 7 So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set
before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.
20:1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3
you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an
idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth
generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the
thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You
shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will
not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it
holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day
is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or
your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident
in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the
sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that
your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You
shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet
your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or
female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
When we arrive at this part of the Exodus story, it has been
three months since the Israelites left Egypt, walked through the Red Sea, and
headed south into the vast Sinai Desert.
Along the way, the Israelites have learned a lot about God’s provision for
them. God’s protection has kept
them safe, God’s improvisation with a rock has given them water, and God’s
manna has kept them from starving.
And no doubt, Moses’ persuasive and persistent prodding has kept them
moving forward. Now, the ragtag
band of former slaves has finally reached Mt. Sinai.
Before we get much further, I must admit that I’m not much
of a rules and regulations kind of Christian. You’ve probably figured that out about me by now. I love our Presbyterian way of doing
things decently and in order, and I’m not a radical by any stretch of the
imagination. I am, however, apt to
become furiously impatient when rules and regulations seem to get in the way of
people experiencing the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the friendship of
the Holy Spirit. We do that
when we get hung up on hanging up the Ten Commandments as a moral checklist. In
other words, we use the law to communicate all the ways in which we are
horrible people who disappoint God, rather than all the ways in which God is
crazy in love with us and gave us the law not as a way to feel guilty, but to
experience that love up close and personal.
Imagine our dollar bills carrying this phrase: “In love we trust.” Imagine posting “10 Rules for Loving
Your Neighbor” instead of “The Ten Commandments.” Too wussy?
Guilty as charged.
Yet, I wonder how we might be transformed as people if we
listened for the love of God in the Ten Commandments, rather than hear judgment
and shame?
You may not agree with me on changing the tag line on your
dollar bill, but one thing for is for certain – God’s love is the spirit behind
the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
God loves the people of Israel, despite their many flaws, foibles and
endless murmurings. As we enter
into the text today, we hear that love expressed so beautifully from the very
beginning. God lifted the people up on the wings of an eagle and opened up
God’s self to draw them in, close and safe. The people of Israel are treasures, a holy nation, wholly
loved by God. And out of God’s
passionate devotion, the law is given to Moses and to the people.
God is also entirely realistic about people. How hard it is
for us to get along with one another and how easily we become distracted. God knows the odds are excellent that
the murmuring of the Israelites will continue, even when they reach the
promised land. So God lays out a
pattern of living that will increase the odds that this small nation of newly
freed people might be able to make it in the rough and tumble ancient world.
But the law is about much more than survival, success or
about righteousness. It is about
God’s high expectation that God’s people may actually be a blessing to the
world, by living a life rooted in care for their neighbors. Which is a completely crazy idea in the
ancient world of warring kingdoms and disputed territories. Caring for
neighbors isn’t exactly how the world works. Yet God is undeterred in sketching out a better idea for the
Israelites. God intends for these
people to be a new kind of kingdom in the world – a priestly kingdom, a just
kingdom, a kingdom rooted in holiness.
Karl Barth says it really well: “God made us for
freedom. God made us for life. God made us for himself. But we have chosen the
prison of sin, of death, to be our own and no one else's…By the power of his
resurrection, Jesus Christ has broken our prison bars. He stands outside and he
calls us, he summons us to come out and follow him. To abandon our prison cell
of hate and self and death, and to walk his way of love and fellowship and
life.
And so we must make the
only possible choice. To live as we were made to live. To know God as ours and
to know ourselves as his. To forsake our misery and to experience his life or
joy in the way of Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit. Or to make the impossible choice: to stay
as we are.”
What if we thought about the law as a blueprint for loving
our neighbor in a way that reflects God’s love for us? What if we thought about the law not as
a list of do’s and don’ts, but a way to experience life in the fullness that
God intended for us? What if we
decided to not stay as we are, but instead experience a joyful life in
the way of Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit? How might we hear these commandments in a different way if
we read them through the lens of God’s love, not judgment?
I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an
idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Putting the love of God first means we have to sort out what
is life-giving and what is not.
Don’t we all have idols that just suck the life out of us? A job or a new car or, of course,
everybody’s favorite golden idol – money. Maybe your idol is a political point of view or a
long-held grudge or even a desire to be someone other than who God intends you
to be. I realized on my birthday
this week that I idolize my formerly wrinkle-free face, and have forgotten to
be grateful for the 53 interesting years of life those wrinkles represent.
Implicit in this first commandment is God’s worry, I think, that we are only
too willing to allow ourselves to become Pharaoh’s slaves again, when God’s
love offers us freedom.
You shall not make
wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit
anyone who misuses his name.
Reading this commandment through the lens of God’s love
first means carefully handling how we use God’s name -- quite a different
exercise that just avoiding R-rated language. We are often quite guilty of dragging God’s name into
arguments over things that have less to do with God and more to do with our
need to appear righteous. We
probably should try not to say things like “God has put this on my heart,”
because what we are usually saying is,
“This is what I want.” God
speaks in God’s own way, in God’s own time. But if we absolutely must call on God’s name, we should
speak with respect and gentleness, and most of all humility. The ancient Israelites understood the
power of God’s name far more deeply than we do. When it comes to the Creator of the Universe, for them and
for us, we hardly ever really know what we’re talking about. We should use God’s name with great
fear and trembling.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
God loves God’s people so much that God has made what looks
like wasting time a holy and necessary activity. Whether we do it on a Sunday or a Saturday, or any other day
of the week, God knows we need at least one day out of seven to remember who we
really are. Not a worker bee, not
a consumer, not a productive member of society, but a beloved child of
God. We need one day every week to
make space for art and music and books and bubble baths and long walks and
conversations with our family and friends. We need one day a week to make praise and worship of God a
priority -- worship being the most divine waste of time there is. We need a day to completely ignore the
voices that tell us that our worth is only measured by what we produce or
accomplish. Our worth is measured
only by God’s love and that is beyond measurement.
Honor your father and
your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God
is giving you.
We learn about the love of God first through the love of our
family – the people we do not choose, but whom God has chosen for us. So it’s important to honor our family,
their quirks and their charms.
Even care for them in their old age as tenderly as we are able, because the
people who will someday care for us are probably watching. But also remember, honoring your
parents or your family may also mean walking away if they are unable to honor
you. God does not condone
emotional or physical abuse or neglect.
You shall not murder.
If we truly know God’s love, it shouldn’t be as difficult as
it seems to be to resist the need for violence. If we believe we are loved, why is it so difficult to find
ways to reconcile that do not involve hurt and pain? Every life is precious to God, even the lives of our
enemies. Although the Old
Testament is filled with war and violence, God’s intention for creation has
always been abundant life. This is
a hard one for us in an age of terrorism.
But I will leave you with these words from Paul, “Do not repay anyone
evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it possible, so far as it depends on
you, live peaceably with all…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.” (Romans 12:17-18, 21)
You shall not commit
adultery.
Honor the promises we’ve made to people who love us. If we can’t honor our promises, we
should not make them.
You shall not steal.
It’s been a very long time since I swiped a Charms pop at
the neighborhood candy store, but that doesn’t make me any less of a
thief. I am always acutely aware
that lower prices at the store almost inevitably mean that someone, somewhere,
probably in a very distant third world country didn’t receive a fair wage to
produce the widget I am about to buy.
Which means for me that loving my neighbor as God loves my neighbor
might mean I should take the time to spend my money thoughtfully and maybe do
without the low priced widget.
You shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor
Loving my neighbor means I should assume the best about my
neighbor, and try to understand what’s beneath the surface of someone acting
hurtfully.
You shall not covet
your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or
female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Love what God has given to you, and don’t waste time being
jealous of what someone else has.
Odds are, your neighbor is as miserable as you are, even if he or she
has a nicer house, a better looking spouse or an expensive car. Do not be fooled by appearances of
material well-being as a mark of blessedness. In fact, we should celebrate everything good that happens
for our neighbors if we love them as God loves them.
When viewed through the lens of God’s love for us, it
becomes clear that the law isn’t about us. God does not give you and me the law in order to perfect us
or even to make us a better “you” or a better “me.” The law is not about us — it is about our neighbors. God
gives us the law, not so that we can get more spiritual or have our best life
now, but so that our neighbors can their best life now. We are connected by the law through our
common language of love, which knows no boundaries.
On this World Communion Sunday, we are reminded to think of
our neighbors as the many we do not see and do not know, but are connected to
us by the power of Holy Spirit. We
share one planet. We breathe the
same air and walk on the same holy ground that has been blessed by God for our
mutual well-being. Although it’s
been a dreadful and horrifying lesson for us to learn, the news this week about
the Ebola patient winding up in a Dallas hospital reminds us that there is no
longer such a thing as “far away.”
The world is becoming smaller by the moment and we are irrevocably
connected to one another. We
share a common language that is the love of God and God’s vision of our life in
community where we can uplift and embrace one another.
As we learn what it is to walk in the freedom that God gives to each
one of us,
I’m reminded of the words of 5th century theologian, Augustine, who famously said:
"Love God, and do what you like" -- meaning that if we deeply love God
and believe that God loves us, then what we like will tend to be that
which pleases God. For we are God’s, and God is ours, and we live within the immense bounds
of God’s love.
Thanks be to God.
Trip The Light
If all the days that come to pass are behind these walls
I’ll be left at the end of things in a world kept small
Travel far from what i know, I’ll be swept away
I need to know I can be lost and not afraid
We’re gonna trip the light ,we’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes, when we trip the light
Remember we’re lost together, remember we’re the same
We hold the burning rhythm in our hearts, we hold the flame
I’ll find my way home on the Western wind
to a place that was once my world, back from where I’ve been
We’re gonna trip the light ,we’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes, when we trip the light
And in the morning light I’ll remember as the sun will rise
We are all the glowing embers of a distant fire
We’re gonna trip the light ,we’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes, when we trip the light
