Monday, October 29, 2018

The Wisdom of Solomon

Beginning the Story

Every organization has a test. If you join a ball team or go out for the school play there are tryouts.

As we grow up and get involved in more and more this never ends. If you want to drive a car, pass the test, If you want to be a doctor you take the MCAT exams, want to be a lawyer, pass the bar, want to join the Masons, well, you have to memorize stuff for that and pass a test.
         
There are job interviews and performance reviews and even blind dates that we have to contend with.

There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it is a good thing. We are a culture that values skills. And we expect the people who do certain things to bring an appropriate level of knowledge – whether it is the surgeon cutting into us or the carpenter repairing our screen door.

The thing is – there is also this concept that we call the right thing for the wrong reasons. When someone says I want to be a doctor because I want to be rich, or I want to be a minister because I want people to listen to me, or I want to be married because I don't want to be alone, or I want kids because someone has to pay for my retirement… the whole thing falls apart.

When you are doing something for the wrong reasons it is usually obvious. We know when someone does not put their heart and soul into something – you can just feel it. On the other hand, we have probably all run into someone, be it a parent, waitress, or rocket engineer who obviously so loves what they do that everything they do just seems exceptional.

It is not a job – it is a calling. It is who they were meant to be. And because they embrace that – there is this magical way in which everything comes together.

Some of us discover this right away – I know a guy who wanted to be a cop when he was eight and is now the chief of police in the Miramichi. Some of us only discover our calling after we require from the work we did to pay a lifetime of bills.

Still – doing what you believe in and are passionate about is a goal worthy of working towards. Whether you call it destiny, purpose, a calling or fate – there is a way that we are supposed to be true to ourselves.

A Reading - 1 Kings 3:4-28

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being and provided a feast for all his servants.

Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him  The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. Then this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.

Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other.” But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—“Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” Then the king responded: “Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.

The Story Unfolds

So this really might be Solomon’s interview for King. I see it as being a test – well if a test is part of a vision that you have in a dream…  And, well, if it is, Solomon passes with flying colours.
         
This is not an unfamiliar concept. Abraham is told to move across the country, Moses has to climb a mountain, and Jesus spends 40 days wrestling with his demons in the wilderness.
         
Are you prepared for what is coming? That is the root of what this is all about. It is not a bad idea, a leadership test to see if you are up to the challenge. But I think we have usually focused on what comes after rather than on how it all started.
         
So David dies and his son Solomon is going to be king anyway – but this is sort of a test to determine what kind of king he is going to be.
         
Cast your mind forward to the Jesus in the desert story I mentioned. Jesus is already baptized, he is already going to become a religious leader – but then he goes through a 40 day trial to determine what kind of leader he will be – are you going to use power, are you going to use God, are you going to use magic?
         
Well God comes to Solomon in the middle of the night and says, you are a king now, you can have whatever you want… and Solomon says, I am not sure I am going to be a good enough king, the type the people deserve, can you make me a better king?
         
It is such a good answer that he hits the jackpot and gets everything behind door number one, two and three! And he did not even know it was a test!
         
Which is often the way for us mere mortals wandering around in the dark down here on earth. Things happen every day that present us with choices – good or bad, help other people or focus on our own needs – these are choices that are often completely up to us to decide, but it is still a test, a test of character.
         
But then there is part two of this story – Solomon puts his new wisdom to the test in the famous test case for child custody. The so-called wisdom of Solomon is actually pretty harsh here and you are left wondering how far he would have gone to prove a point. But this will go down in the history of not only how to solve an argument – but the power of love.
         
He is not wrong – a mother’s love would be willing to sacrifice everything to keep their child safe. It is a wise way to solve the problem by looking deeply into who and what these women are. And luckily, it works.
         
Wisdom here is presented as knowing someone deeply – as understanding a person’s soul – and using that knowledge to solve the problem.
         
Solomon wants to do the best by his people, so he asks for wisdom, and the wisdom he receives is the wisdom of knowing people – of empathy – of understanding. A wisdom based on love. You might recall a very similar situation where Jesus is asked whether or not they should stone a woman and he says, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
         
Exact same wisdom. Compassion and Empathy are used to help understand the person and solve the problem...
         

Ideas to Take With Us

Let’s assume life really is a test. Sort of. Or maybe a better way to put it is that life is a challenge which we are asked to overcome. There is a better way to do it and a harder way to do it. There really is.

There is a way to win at life and a way to lose at life.

But it has nothing to do with what the modern world keeps saying, you do not win through riches, fame, or any of that garbage – you win by becoming human. You win through love. You win by gaining the wisdom to understand that the game does not matter – the only thing that matters is the people playing the game.

You can have anything, God tells Solomon – and Solomon already has the wisdom to, ok, help me get better at the real purpose of life. And it is a good answer.

I think that is why we are here – at church – each week. Some part of us realizes that the meaning of life is deeper than we expect than we were taught at school and in our jobs – and we want to ask for that same wisdom – we are here to find it together.

Monday, October 22, 2018

The Power of Bathsheba

Introduction

You may remember a time when the mayor of Toronto was famous - his fifteen minutes mostly spent smoking crack. It is weird, is it not, the way our world is devolving. The wider the gap between rich and poor the more the rich can get away with.

A marijuana story puts this in perspective from the non powerful side, and may be relevant in our newly legalized society... why legalize pot? Some cynics see it as a way for the government to make money - and it is.

But consider this. 99% of all people arrested and imprisoned for marijuana use in Canada and the United States are first and foremost poor - and at least in the states, black.

Smoking marijuana is something you arrest people for when they are undesirable and you have no other reason to arrest them. Thus legalizing it is actually a social justice issue. Poor people are getting in trouble constantly for something the middle class and rich people are not worrying about.

Donald Trump proves my point from the other side. Be rich and put in a position of power and .... well... is there anything Trump cannot do? It seems every day there is some moral or criminal line crossed.

The Ford brothers are even doing well for themselves...

Not only does power corrupt - but it creates impunity...

It is only when the outrage over the impunity begins to grow that anything actually happens. Look at the Catholic Church right now ... so many priests are in trouble for assaulting so many victims - but what really makes people angry is that they got away with it... that is was covered up... that the church believed they were above the moral and actual laws that protect the victims.

So let’s talk about God’s preferential option for the poor. This is what we too often forget, or pave over, in church. God stands on the side of the victim, of the little person, of the slaves, of the outcast, of the widow and orphan.

The heroes of God’s stories are not the rich and powerful but the carpenters and shepherds.

So which side are we on?

Going Deeper


Why did you do that?

That is a pretty innocent way of saying what I first thought this passage was about when I read it. Why did you do that? What the...

Let’s talk about David for a minute. Small town boy made good – defeated the champion of the enemy army, a giant no less when he was young – goes on to be king... and a really good one, way better than Samuel.

So David the king is hanging out at the palace one day while his army is off fighting a war. See, the opening sentence of this story should already make us say, what? Kings go and fight wars – they do not hide back in the castle. What is going on...

Then there is this woman who is doing absolutely the right thing – taking a bath in her own house – washing after her “time of the month” as her religion says she must – with every confidence that she is alone and innocent. When who should decide to spy on her but the King, who should be off at war anyway... and what does he do then – sends armed guards to get her, bring her to the palace, and rapes her...

What in the name of God was he thinking would be the end of all of this?

You know the other thing I cannot help but think of... Donald Trump. I do not want to, I know I should not care, but really... does this story not sound just a little bit like it is about him?

Then David conspires to have Bathsheba's husband killed and eventually makes her his concubine, she then presumably gives birth to David’s child. This is not the way things are supposed to go.

Bathsheba is a victim. She is innocent. There is no good, no reason, no blame for what happens to her that goes on her shoulders. Right then and there David has lost everything. In that moment he loses his credibility, his reliability, and his morals.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely...

So why is this story here? What about this tale makes it worthy of remembering thousands of years late, much less being part of something that we think of as a holy and sacred guidebook for our faith?

I think the answer to that is simple – and it is the prophet Nathan.

Nathan and David grew up together in the palace after David killed Goliath. They were best friends. One became the king and one became the prophet.

Despite friendship, despite being part of the royal court  - Nathan goes to David and says, you screwed up. This is not right. God is angry...

If you keep reading chapter 12 you will see that Nathan tells David God is so angry that something horrible is going to happen – and even after David please, repents, prays, fasts, says he will never do it again – Bathsheba's child dies seven days later.

You cannot do the wrong thing without repercussions. That is a very real moral of this story. Of course, it is awful all the way around – everything about this story is the subject matter we try to hide from our kids – rape, unwanted pregnancy, murder, violence, revenge and miscarriage... It is a horrible story from start to finish.

But remember the two things it says in no uncertain way – Bathsheba was blameless – David was wrong.

Faith speaks truth to power. Faith sides with the innocent. Faith stands up to the abuser. Faith is willing to call out sin  - no matter where, or when, or why it happens.

Conclusion 


In most Bible stories you can imagine yourself being one or another of the characters – sometimes we are like the poor man and sometimes the rich, sometimes like the vineyard worker and sometimes like the vineyard owner...
                                     
Not this one.

In this story there is only one person we are meant to be. Only one position we can take. We are Nathan. We are the ones who stand up and say – this is wrong! That is the only faithful response.

It is hard, this standing with the victim, this preferential option for the poor... When the church does it we do not make any friends. It was the Methodist church in the 1800’s that started the whole anti-slavery movement. It was the United Church in Canada that started advocating for equality of LGBTQ peoples. It was the United Church who first said we were sorry for the way we treated the aboriginal people of Canada...

We have always been the ones who are supposed to take the hard road of saying, that is not right, and doing something about it. I think the story of Bathsheba is a cautionary tale – that even the chosen of God can become someone who needs stopping. We just need to find our voice.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Salvation Through Work

Beginning the Story

 The long walk to freedom, to paraphrase Nelson Mandela, is frequently difficult and almost always confusing.

I don't know about the rest of you – but my life journey sure has had a few twists and turns. If you listen to the experts who talk about life stories – they all do. We find ourselves facing challenges, changing directions, starting over, choosing friends for the journey, killing them, hiding the bodies and choosing new friends…. There is, to say it a different way, nothing more constant than change.

So here we are, trekking through life, and the thing is – sometimes we get stuck. Who knows, we find ourselves stuck in a job, our house burns down, a bad relationship, we goi bankrupt – somehow we find ourselves not knowing which way to go – not capable of finding a way forward.

What then?

Sometimes we are lucky enough that the answer comes to us and we just set out in a new direction..

But that is certainly not usually the case. Most of the time we need something to happen, someone to come along, or some sort of kick in the proverbial can to push us out of the rut.

When I was in school this was often a daily occurrence. A teacher would have to tell me to stop daydreaming and do my work – or I would be stuck on a math problem and they would have to show me a different way to think about it. That is basically a teacher’s job – to show people a different way to move forward, a new way to think about things, and create a path forward

I have been lucky enough to have friends, teachers, colleagues, even enemies that have pushed me forward all the time. And in doing that I have always had those “aha”moments when I could say – oh… I see…. This is what I need to do!

I think that might be the easy part. I think most of us have someone or something show up when we stop dead. Life just has a way of moving around us and carrying forward.

Another bit of wisdom I heard once is that you can never put your foot into the same stream twice. So we may get stuck – but when we look up, the change we need will be there for us….
But there are always complications – right? That is life.

A Reading: Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29


Then the Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, “They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.” I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.  And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lordwill fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Seeing it Through Story

Mazes

The Story Unfolds

The psychologist Jung had a term for the ideas that matter most to us. He called them archetypes. Good and Evil, for example, are archetypes... we all understand what they mean instinctually. And they show up in every story from All in the Family to Little Red Riding Hood...

The way we understand the world is through story - and the way we understand story is by repetition of things we already know.

There is always a hero - there is always a villain - someone always has to go on a quest and someone usually falls in love. There are more - but I am hoping you see what I am saying... there are patterns and there are archetypes...

And the Bible is no different. It is a story that is told in the same way over and over so that the moral sinks in.

Well - not quite. The heroes and events have different names, they take place in different locals and involved different villains. But the idea is that we will get it one of these times...

This is the reason I chose to do the Narrative Lectionary this year - I want us to get a picture of the Bible as a whole - and see why it is what it is.

And September was Prehistory. The beginning. And the archetypes.

You might remember we have talked about Noah Jacob, and Abraham, and now we are on to Moses.

Anyone know what all of these characters have in common? No seriously, tell me some ideas of the point that Genesis makes over and over...

How about this... God gives us something, we do not entirely trust God, we are given a quest to test our faith, we do the right thing, life gets better.

That is the story of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses.

Each of them faces a different challenge, rebels in their own way, and accomplishes their quest in their own way.... but it really is the same story again and again and again.

You realize what that means right? It means it is a pretty darn important story!

So why is this the story that needs to be told in so many different words? The answer comes in today’s passage when we finally get to see how it works out in a crowd. In case you did not see yourself in ANY of the characters so far - YOU are the Israelites...

God says, follow this guy I sent to help you and I will lead you out of captivity to freedom and new life. The going gets rough and we realize that the journey is gonna be long and hard and we decide not to trust God. We were better off back there, weren’t we? What was so bad about Egypt that we need to spend our whole lives wandering around in a desert? Is God really involved in any of this?

That is right. The people of Israel, in the middle of being saved, stop dead and complain that they would rather go back.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Well - it should. It is the human condition. But these stories are also very clear about what happens if we have a little faith and keep going.

Ideas to Take With Us

I want you to see that these stories are all making the same point because it is an archetypal point, it is a foundational point, it is the point that underlies every other point and has to come first.

We need to follow where God is leading to get to a better place and we are not going to like the journey.

Translate that in any way you want - we need to love our neighbour in order to find out what true love is, but it is not going to be easy.

We need to open our hearts if we expect to have someone love us but it is going to hurt a lot.

We need to leave the past behind to find out who we truly are but the journey is going to be difficult.

To untangle what this whole faith thing is all about - we really need to start here.... none of us want to leave our comfortable nest. All of us have to. We will find something better.

Of course, I do not envy Moses. At least there was some food in Egypt. Water. Sure, there was the whole slavery thing, but you try and convince a hundred people that it is for their own good to leave home with nothing but the shirt on their back.

You would really have to have faith to do that....