Monday, August 27, 2012

Pentecost 13


Equipped

Introduction

What is the biggest problem you face in life? I would wager that no matter what is coming up on your horizon the biggest problem is you. That is right. My biggest problem is me, and your biggest problem is you.

I have at times felt too clumsy, too dumb, too ugly, too overweight, too lonely, too shy, too evil, too good, too loving, too cold, and the list goes on and on… you may also recognize that the list already has contradictions.

That is right… I can one day feel I am too smart for something and the next day feel too dumb.

Which should be a hint that most of these feelings are made up, they are the things that get in the way of me being authentic and proud and hopeful and creative and, well, what God intended me to be?

… Ever say anything like this when it comes to religion? I am not faithful enough, I don’t know the Bible enough, and I don’t go to church enough…. When it comes to following Jesus we sometimes get in the way of the simple and true fact that we all have what it takes.

Solomon

Do any of you remember King Solomon? In Bible lore he is sometimes credited with being the wisest person ever to live…. You may have heard it before but here is the most famous story of that wisdom:

One day two women came before the King. They carried with them a little baby, which was set down on the floor, at the foot of Solomon’s throne

“O my lord,” said one of the women, “five days ago I gave birth to a child. This woman and I live in the same house, and three days later she also gave birth, but that same night her child died, and at midnight she arose and, while I was sleeping, took my son away from me, and laid her dead child in its place. When I awoke in the morning I thought at first that my son was dead, until I realised that it was not my child.”

“No,” interrupted the second woman, “she lies, my lord, she lies! The living child is mine and the dead is hers!”

“No,” cried the first woman, wildly. “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.”

King Solomon raised his hand for silence.

“One of you says ‘my child lives and yours is dead ’, and the other says ‘your child is dead and my child lives’: there is a simple way to resolve the matter. Bring me a sword.”

A sword was brought, and the assembly waited to see how the King would proceed.

“Very well,” he said, “cut the child in two, and give half to one mother, and half to the other.”

The first woman turned pale.

“O my lord,” she said in a faltering voice. “Pray, give her the child. I beg you, do not kill it.”

But the other woman’s face remained hard.

“Let it be neither mine nor yours,” she said, “divide it as the King has ordained.”

Then Solomon arose, and pointed to the first woman.

“The child belongs to her,” he said. “Give her the child, and do not kill it. She is its mother.”

King Solomon was also the person who built the temple. David tried to start it, but he could not, Solomon built this majestic, huge, architecturally interesting Temple of the Ancient world in Jerusalem which people came from all over the world to see… the house of God.

So, wisest, richest, most powerful, internationally known….

Yet even he is not sure he has done the right thing – he does not know if God has noticed the Temple, or heard the prayers… and once more he stands before the alter and prays, basically saying that he is no one without God…. Even Solomon struggled with this stuff…

The Whole Armour

What are the slings and arrows of the evil one?

Do you know there are only a couple of places in the whole Bible where Satan is mentioned? Did you know that it is not what you think? 

God and his angels are having a discussion about whether or not human beings are good and loving and deserve what God has given them; Satan who is the chief opposition in the court of angels says, “I bet I can get a human to turn away from you…” and God says, go ahead, test it on my most faithful servant, Job….

That story is the only place where we get any mention, aside from warnings by later writers like Paul, of the so called ‘evil one and his slings and arrows’ - and you know what those slings and arrows turn out to be? Self-doubt.

In Matthew it tells us that the “tempter” came and talked to Jesus after the fasted for 40 days in the desert… Probably the same guy… and what does he do? He tries to convince Jesus that if he was strong enough he would use his superpowers… if he was wise enough he would get more followers and be rich and famous… if he was good enough nothing could hurt him….

In other words, he tries to whittle away the self confidence that Jesus had… a self confidence that Jesus tried to share with us, teach us, which tells us that God loves us and equips us with everything we need:

We have truth, righteousness, faith, the spirit…. All of these things which Paul called different parts of our armour when he wrote to the church in Ephesus… These are the things that God has already gifted us with and the things that can help us overcome our own fears and doubts.

Jesus

This teaching is difficult – who can accept it?

This is what some of Jesus followers asked when they heard his words. To be honest, I bet at different times a lot of different people said that when they heard it.

“Turn the other cheek” – hmmm… I have tried but I will never be able to do that.

“Love your neighbour” – well, it seems pretty impossible to love everyone.


Nelson Mandela in his inauguration speech quoted the writer Marianne Williamson when he said:

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Commissioning

A week ago, the United Church elected a new Moderator, our spiritual leader for the next three years. As he finished his sermon during the final worship service he said this:

“In a couple of hours, a thousand of us will be scattered from this place to the corners of this continent, this country, and then around the world. We will go filled with the power beyond our understanding, with the God who can do so much more than you can ever imagine and ask, and you are equipped to love the world!”

It is true, we all are, so let’s get started. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...


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Mr. King Solomon Sword

Brett Anningson said...

Thanks a lot!