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Sunday, January 04, 2009
Questions, questions
1st in a series on Questions from the Bible
By Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-2 - Good News Translation
1 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, some men who studied the stars came from the East to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the baby born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.”
We say to each other at St. Andrew Church; it is a good and normal thing to have doubts and questions about our faith. Everyone has some doubts and questions, if we are honest, and the best thing to do with those is to bring them to church so we can explore them together:
Why is there pain and suffering in the world? Where is God when we suffer? What does it mean to say that Jesus is both human and divine, that in Christ we see both God and the best of ourselves? How can we believe in the Genesis stories of creation and also believe that God took a long time - billions of years - to bring the universe into being?
These are natural and typical questions that people have as they progress in their spiritual journey, and we welcome a chance to be in conversation together, here, with each other and with the mentors and teachers of faith over the centuries who have worked on those same questions. It is a different approach from the woman I talked with awhile back who said that as a youth she was kicked out of her confirmation class because she asked too many questions!
Beginning today we are taking a different look at some questions of faith. We are starting to look at some of the questions that show up in the Bible, questions that our Bible asks of us. You may have seen the post card depicting God saying to the man and woman he has created and placed in the Garden of Eden after they have overstepped the boundaries: Where are you? What have you done? It is a profound spiritual question for each of us on the first Sunday of this new year.
Later on in Genesis after Cain murdered his own brother, Abel, out of jealousy and envy, God said, where is your brother? We know well how Cain responds: Am I my brother’s keeper? That question will be considered on Martin Luther King weekend.
In the next book of the Bible, the book of Exodus, God sees that the Israelites have become enslaved in Egypt and that they need to be set free. God goes to another murderer named Moses and asks Moses to go to the pharaoh and be God’s messenger. Moses thinks of all kinds of reasons why that is a bad idea and why he is the wrong choice. When God finally persuades Moses, Moses asks God, When I go to the pharaoh, whom shall I say sent me? Who are you, what kind of God are you? God’s answer is very curious and profound and we will explore that answer at the end of January.
We will look next at the question in Psalm 22 that Jesus quotes from the cross, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? We will look at other laments from the Psalms in the Bible that speak for us when we feel alone. We will hear the question from the prophet Micah that is on our building’s cornerstone: What does the Lord require of me, ask of me, and we will bring to that discussion the question from Jesus himself when someone tells him his mother and his brothers are outside and wanting to see him. He says, rhetorically, who is my mother, who are my brothers and sisters?
And, we will consider another question that is asked of Jesus that is still a problem for many of us - How many times must I forgive?
You get the idea. The list is on the post card in your friendship pads this morning. I hope you will read ahead in the list and read the accompanying Bible passage and pray about these questions each week with me as we grow into the likeness of the Christ whose birth we celebrate this season. I hope you will pray and think about the question that seems most important to you and let me know of some other questions from our book that we have not included because the list would have been too long!
You may have already noticed that in the story from Matthew about Jesus birth, there was a question that is not on the list but is still an important question: it is asked by the Magi who come to Jerusalem to inquire about the messiah. We said on Christmas Eve that the message from the angels to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem is really important. Do you remember what their message was? We have good news of great joy for all the people
It is GOOD news. It is joyful news. And it is not just for people like us, it is for all the people. We see how inclusive the Christmas message, the story of a messiah and savior, is when we looked at the people who are in the Christmas story:
Mary and Joseph, a working class couple who become homeless refugees and aliens in Egypt when they flee there to avoid the wrath of Herod Shepherds who were the lowest status of all people in antiquity, unclean persons, fringe people, who nonetheless were the first to hear about the birth of a messiah.
Look at the third group who came to witness the story. They were not three “kings.” The King translation is a bad translation. They were Magi. The word magician comes from this root word. They were “pagan” priests in the Zoroastrian religion. They were from Iran, from Persia, to the east of Bethlehem. They knew something big was happening by the alignment of the stars and they came to learn.
Did you hear the question that caused King Herod, murderous King Herod, and others to be so frightened? Where is the messiah, the king who has just been born? We saw the star that announced him, and we have come to honor him.
Where is the one born to be messiah and savior? It is a question for us on January 4, ten days after Christmas. Now that Christmas is over, where is the Christ? Have we put him away with the rest of our creche sets and manger scenes only to come out next December while we go back to the problems and pain of life in a recession? Have we relegated him to the corners of life while we deal with the real world?
I read in the past few days another article about Wall Street scandals last year. The journalist was quoting one executive who said that his father taught him the practice of putting his life in compartments: keeping spiritual teachings separate from business and separate from family. That is the root of a problem, isn’t it? If we try to keep the ethical teachings of the Bible separate from our business life, then we get tragedies like Enron a few years ago or the allegations against Bernie Madoff last month. If we put Jesus and his teachings back in the box and keep them separate and hidden, we make trouble for ourselves and we fail to be his followers and disciples.
In the stores and malls, the Christmas music has quickly stopped and retailers are trying to salvage a difficult season with drastic markdowns. Christmas is over for them, but that is where we have an advantage as people of faith, because we are still in the season of Christmastide. Until January 6, we are still celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas when the spiritual season of Epiphany begins. Epiphany comes from the Greek word for showing forth or revealing. God is being revealed or shown anew in the person and event of Jesus.
And so we began our worship with singing another song about Christmas and epiphany - the song of the Magi or the wise men. We will end with another song about the light of the world that is given to us in Christmas; O Morning Star How Fair and Bright.
Where is this one who is born to be the messiah and savior and liberator for all people? Is he put away yet at your house? Is he about to be put away and practically forgotten for a while? Or is he newly born in your life and in your heart and providing that badly needed spiritual and moral compass for your life? Is he newly alive in your life and in your world offering tidings of comfort and joy as well as pin pricks of conscience and the spiritual direction we need?
That can be one question from the Christmas story for today. Where is this savior now?
I also ask you to think and pray with me this week about the next question in our series from the third chapter of Genesis. God has created human beings and put them in a garden of paradise and told them what is good for them and set some boundaries and limits for them. They test the limits, they believe they know more than their creator, and they are now trying to hide because they are ashamed. God is looking for them, and God asks them, Where are you? What have you done?
These are important questions for us on the first Sunday of a new year. Where am I in my life journey? What do I look back on and feel good about, or look back on and feel unfinished about? Where is God calling me next? Where am I, what do I feel about that, what do I need to do yet? These are questions from our book and they are deeply spiritual questions! Please think and pray about them with me this week.
Robert Fulghum is a retired Unitarian minister who says in his latest book that the question for all of us no matter the stage we are in, is the question of the title of his book: What on Earth Have I Done?
One final word as we prepare for the sacrament of communion today. It was in mid December that I discovered Mary Chapin Carpenter’s new album of Christmas music of mostly her own compositions. We have included in our words for meditation and our call to worship some of her attitude and the attitude of our Methodist faith about this welcoming table:
Come broken, come whole, come wounded in your soul. Come any way that you know. Alleluia.
The Greek word in the Bible for thanksgiving is eucharisto from which we get our word Eucharist. Mary Chapin Carpenter, in her song for thanksgiving gatherings, says this in a reminder of what being thankful means in this new year and of what it means to celebrate the Lord’s Supper:
Grateful for each hand we hold gathered round this table From far and near we travel home blessed that we are able.
Grateful for this sheltered place with light in every window Saying welcome, welcome, share this feast, come in away from sorrow.