A Portal for God's Peace We warmly welcome single persons, people of all races and families of every kind.   Sunday Service: Holy Eucharist at 9:30 am Child care is available   Church of Our Saviour 191 Flanagan Way (Rt 153) Secaucus, NJ 07094 Map and Directions   Tel: 201-863-1449 Fax: 201-863-1474 Mark A. Lewis, Vicar MLewis@secaucus.org Dorothy Fowlkes Pastoral Associate   This page revised 26 Aug 01 http://www.secaucus.org/ oursaviour		The Church of Our Saviour in the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey Home | Welcome | News | Sunday | Bulletin | Sermons Bookshop | Stewardship | Justice | Community | Links ----------------Leave frames---------------------   Your destination makes the journey meaningful Reflections on the lessons for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, 12 August 2001 By The Rev. Mark A. Lewis, Vicar Genesis 15:1-6 / Psalm 33:12-15, 18-22 Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 / Luke 12:32-40   All the talk about faith in today's readings made me think about a corny old joke. There was this atheist who was on vacation in Scotland. And -- out fishing in a little boat on Loch Ness -- he suddenly shot up in the air and the boat went flying one way and he went the other. And there was the Loch Ness monster! Just as it opened its mouth to swallow him. The atheist cries out, "God help me!" At once everything froze in place, with the man suspended in midair, held by some mysterious force above the slobbery jaws of the monster. And this voice booms out of the clouds, "I thought you didn't believe in me!" The man pleaded, "Oh, come on, give me a break! I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster either!" The point is that crisis often brings people from denial to faith -- and in faith we find that, mysterious though life always is, somehow life makes sense. That makes a pretty good definition of faith, for me; Faith is what makes the mysterious make some kind of crazy sense. The biblical readings that we hear every Sunday spin out stories -- over and over and in way after way -- of faith in God. And the church's goal is that over a period of time they'll change the way we think and see and react until we ourselves find that we have become people of faith. People who -- through God's grace and the good news of Jesus -- find meaning and good sense in our lives. Well, here's the section of the sermon -- some of you may be noticing these cropping up pretty regularly, when I throw in something that sounds like I read more than I do. The section where I get cracked off on something I rooted up from the internet yesterday. This time, it's a great idea from Marcus Borg, a contemporary Jesus scholar writing in Oregon now. Borg's newest book is Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. It aims to re-center Christian theology in the dominant themes of liberation and deliverance rather than sin, guilt, shame, and forgiveness. And if that doesn't sound like a good idea, then I don't know what does. Although there are many different themes in New Testament stories -- blindness and seeing, sickness and health, doubt and faith -- Borg claims that there are three "macro-stories" at the heart of the Old Testament. Each one, he says, portrays the religious life of individuals and communities in a distinctive way. Borg calls these "macro-stories" the exodus story, the story of exile and return, and the priestly story. The first two are rooted in the actual experience of ancient Israel. The account of the exodus from Egypt gave rise to the formation of the first five books of the Bible. And the account of the Babylonian exile and return makes the foundation of much of the prophets. In contrast, the priestly story is not grounded primarily in the history of ancient Israel but rather in institutions such as the temple, priesthood, and sacrifice. These central stories shaped both the understanding and imagination of the ancient Israelites and also the religious life of the early Christians. Their presence or absence in the development of Christian theology and practice over the ages has determined the way whole eras have seen Jesus, and also the widely varying roles that has played in people's lives. Borg says that each of the macro-stories depicts the human condition and also proposes a solution to a human predicament. Unfortunately, it is often the priestly story with its emphasis on sin, guilt, shame, and forgiveness that is deeply ingrained in our memories, while the stories of exodus and liberation, exile and return are often forgotten. The priestly story has certainly dominated artistic, literary, and scholarly interpretations of the suffering and death of Jesus. It has also dominated much Christian spirituality and many Christian liturgical texts. This is reflected in the prominence that the confession of sin has played in Christian worship. The priestly story of sin, guilt, shame, and forgiveness has undoubtedly played a dominant role in shaping the identity of many people, shaping also their understanding of Jesus Christ, and above all shaping their image of God and what God requires of them. There is no doubt that properly understood the priestly story can convey much truth and positive power to many people today. In our better moments we all know that we are capable of perpetrating evil deeds, capable of infidelity to covenants made, capable of injustice, racism and sexism. The priestly story reminds us that our own sense of sin need not obstruct our relationship with God. We do not need to be slaves to our past or present evil ways because we are forgiven. But if the priestly story becomes the only story or the dominant story about Jesus and the Christian life, it can deform us and block a positive relationship with God, as it has done in our own time for many sorts and conditions of folks. But, there's a downside. The priestly myth can lead to a cyclic understanding of Christian life. We sin, admit our guilt and are forgiven, only to repeat the same process of sin, guilt, and forgiveness all over again. It neglects the basic Christian fact that we are loved and accepted and must embrace that gift of God's love so as to get on with life. Likewise, the priestly story in isolation can blind us to the fact that our Christian life is a process leading to gradual transformation. The priestly story can be a politically and culturally domesticating story. It can tell people to get satisfied with a kind of static sinfulness and passive gratitude for being let off some hook. The stories of slavery in Egypt leading to freedom and exile in Babylon leading to return, though, are politically and culturally subversive narratives. Both the exodus story with its outcome of liberation and freedom, and the exile story with its outcome of a return home are myths that invite us to make a journey inward in search of Christian freedom and to find a home in which we are at peace with ourselves, with God, and with the world. In today's three readings it is faith in the promises that God has made to us that is especially emphasized. The selection from the Letter to the Hebrews holds all the lessons together, shedding light on both the first reading and the gospel. Through our own faith it invites us to contemplate the strong faith of Abraham and Sarah, try some of it on for size, and then sit down with at the table with God. That's what faith is, a way of seeing things differently and seeing how that new vision connects with your own real life. Faith is getting out of one macro-story and into another when that's called for. The author of Hebrews writes, "Faith is confidence concerning what we hope for and conviction about things we do not see." Jesus reminds us, "Don't wallow in fear. Keep your belt buckled on and your lamps ready and burning. There's life and work for you to do out there." We are certainly not simply misbehaving children of a well-meaning God. In fact, I agree with Borg that we've probably gone way too far down that path. Two out of three of the Bible's great themes tell us we are pilgrims on our way through a valley of darkness. But the message of faith is that a final destination makes the journey meaningful. -- Mark Lewis   Your comments or questions are welcome MLewis@secaucus.org. Links to additional "Reflections on Lessons" may be found at the bottom of the Sunday web page. © 2001 -Church of Our Saviour Home | Welcome | News | Sunday | Bulletin | Sermons Bookshop | Stewardship | Justice | Community | Links http://www.secaucus.org/oursaviour Webmaster - DRoberts@Secaucus.org