Acts of Love – Sermon Aug 8, 2010
August 8, 2010
Scripture: Isaiah 1: 1, 10-20
The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of the kings of Judah.
Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation— I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken
Sermon: Acts of Love
By Rev. Doreen Oughton
She woke with a start as the three children jumped on her bed. Oh yes, she remembered, it’s mother’s day. They were so excited to have the chance to pamper her a little. The instructed her firmly to stay in bed. They would make and bring her breakfast. One stuffed all the pillows at her back, while another ran to get her the Sunday paper. She knew there would be a big clean up job later in the day, but she didn’t mind. She knew how good it was for them to do this. She wanted them to be thoughtful and giving people, with a sense of being able to do things themselves. So she settled back with the paper. She wasn’t far into the magazine section when she could hear raised voices in the kitchen. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she was annoyed that the arguing had begun already. Should I go out and see what’s going on? No, they’ll work it out for themselves. Just follow instructions and stay in bed. What’s that, more shouting? Sounds like there might be some pushing too. Really?! They have to act like this today! Now her anger was rising and she didn’t want to go out because of what she might say to them. And then it came, the blood-curdling shreik from the youngest. As she stormed out into the kitchen she found the older two trying to stifle the little one – “you’re not hurt, be quiet you big baby, look what you did – you made mama get up.” She glared at them and they all rushed to speak – “I want to make you pancakes but they won’t help.” “But that’s stupid. I know you like bacon and eggs better, right, shouldn’t we make you bacon and eggs.” “They’re so mean. They won’t let me do anything and I want to help too,” all talking over each other, still calling each other names, their anger increasing. The woman shook her head in disgust and turned and wet back to her room, not hungry in the least for whatever breakfast they might come up with.
The new homeowner was so excited. The buds were showing at last, and he looked forward to the full bloom of the tulips. He’d grown up in an apartment, lived in them all his life, through college in the city, his years having roommates, the first years of his marriage. Now they left the city and he’d finally had a chance to put in a flower garden. It was all new to him, so he did the research. He bought the tulip bulbs way back in August, 6 weeks before planting as the guide book said. He prepared the ground, digging in a few inches of compost before planting. He dug the wholes over 6 inches deep, added rock phosphate in the bottom and mixed it into the soil, then waited out the winter. He was thrilled when the stems came up, then the unfolding leaves and buds. He was used to potted and vased flowers that wilted after a few days. He could hardly believe he’d get to enjoy these for a whole month, right outside his front door. And the guide book said they’d bloom again for another 2 years at least! Sure enough the day came. He walked out the door with the kids, ready to drop them off at school and this burst of color just confronted them. “Look at that, kids. Aren’t they beautiful.” They agreed and off they went. At the end of the day he picked up the kids and returned home. They stayed outside to play a bit while he started dinner. He heard them rush in, practically tripping over themselves with excitement – “Dad, dad, look what we have for you.” He turned to see them with their arms full of his beautiful tulips. “Noooo.” He couldn’t keep the moan from coming out, but then he bit his tongue when he saw their joy turn to confusion. He sighed as he tried to figure out how to handle this one.
What is it that happens, I wonder, to such a lovely instinct to perform an act of thanksgiving for someone we love, someone we know cares for us and looks out for us? How can it go so wrong? Sometimes our egos get in the way. We want to be the one to come up with the best idea. We want the praise and glory for doing so well. Worship becomes competitive. Perhaps we notice how some people always come late, and we are smug about always being on time. We notice that some are spotty in their attendance, where we would never miss a Sunday. I have to admit that I carried a shameful sense of competition to my preaching class. Who was I better than, who was better than me. “Well at least I can do spontaneous prayer better that that one – she was really tongue-tied.” My worship professor pointed out that the first act of worship in the bible led to the first act of violence. Genesis 4 tells the story of how Cain brought crops from his farm as an offering, and Abel brought his fattest calf. God had more regard for Abel’s gift, so Cain in his jealousy murdered his brother.
Sometimes our hearts are in the right place, but we just don’t understand what would make someone happy. We go by what would make us happy. We would like gifts of gold, the fattest calf, the biggest, juiciest piece of fruit, the freshest vegetables, so of course God would also. We would like people to get all dressed up to see us, perhaps to see people kneel before us, to have them sing our praises literally and figuratively, so we do these things for God. Maybe we’d even really like someone to do away with our enemies, punish people who say bad things about us, and so we embark on our crusades against the infidels.
These are some of the things that God was protesting through the prophet Isaiah back some 2800 years ago, and are still issues for churches today. And there is another nuance that is even harder for us to understand today, but that I believe is an important part of God’s message. We live in such an individualistic society. We look at someone who is doing well and say he or she has been blessed, or assume they are being rewarded for their effort, their goodness, their virtue. We see someone suffering and wonder if there is a curse, a divine judgment, if the tragedies are somehow deserved. Just how did that rape victim dress? I’ll bet those children who drowned in the pool were neglected, maybe even abused. But back in the days of the prophet, God’s blessings were understood as communal, not individual. Likewise the punishment. All the Israelites were conquered and exiled because so many of them worshiped false gods. All of the Israelites were saved and brought home because so many of them repented and prayed for mercy. If God blessed a particular individual it was understood that those blessings were to be shared, not used to contrast one’s own goodness and blessedness with another’s hardship. Isaiah is letting the people have it because they forgot this. They started competing, throwing each other under the bus.
They were also using their religiosity to manipulate and hurt others – like the clergy who use religious intimidation and a focus on submission to take advantage of people financially or sexually. Then it wasn’t just people who loved God and wanted to show that love but made a mistake or got side-tracked by their human frailties, but it was people doing evil without qualm, seeing no contradiction between their religious life and secular life. I’m reminded of the scene in the movie the Godfather that cut back and forth between a baptism and a bloodbath of murder. The one bringing a child to ask for God’s blessing, to dedicate the child in the name of God, had ordered that several of God’s children be murdered at that very time. Now that’s an extreme example, but milder examples of religious hypocrisy abound.
As limited and fallible human beings, we all have our prejudices, but some people cling to them, even glorify them, finding words in scripture taken out of context to support their perspective. It happened when people wanted to keep their slaves, and it happens when people want to discriminate against women or homosexuals. God, through Isaiah, says “enough.” Hear this reading from The Message, a contemporary translation: “Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.”
In the classic translation, Isaiah talks about “the oppressed, the orphan and the widow,” the most vulnerable people in that world. That is how a righteous society measures the existence of justice – seeing that the most vulnerable, the least of these, are being provided for and tended to. Who are the most vulnerable in our society? Who are “the least of these?” Are we looking out for them? Are we advocating for them? I would really like you to think about this question, and I would be thrilled beyond measure if you shared your thoughts with me. And I would suggest that you may want to give a second thought if your first thought of the most vulnerable people includes you. It may be the case, but it may also be your fears speaking, or even your prejudices. And when I ask, “Are we looking out for them?” I do mean WE, not you personally. It might be we, FCC, or we the UCC, or we the Christian church, or we the government of, by, and for the people.
Isaiah has a strong message, a scary one about God’s anger, even disgust at the things people are doing in her name, or aren’t doing in her name. But Isaiah also has a strong message of hope, of God’s grace, of God’s eternally outstretched hand, an open invitation to sit and talk things out, even argue things out. There is judgment, yes, but there is hope also. In fact, the hope only comes because of the judgment. We can’t change what we don’t know is wrong. Dad has to teach the kids to leave the flowers unpicked so that more people can enjoy them. Mom has to tell the kids how much more important it is that they cooperate than that she get a perfect breakfast. And those who are doing violence while hiding behind religion, well they need to know that God sees the blood on their hands. They need to know that God is not being fooled, and that there are consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences are not only individual, but can lead to a societal downward spiral. Not because of a punishment inflicted by God, but because of the way we are all tied together, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., in a single garment of destiny.
Now I don’t think God was against the idea of people gathering together to give praise and thanksgiving. The bible says that God had instructed the Israelites through Moses about all kinds of worship details. Why would he do that if the incense was an inherent abomination, if the food offerings turned his stomach? It’s just that things got out of hand. The contemporary writer and theologian Frederick Buechner says that there are basically two ways to worship God. One is to do things for God that God needs done. It is being God’s eyes and hands and heart in the world. It is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, freeing the captive. That is worship. The other way is to do the things for God that we need to do. Like the children need to help us more than we need their help. We need to sing, we need to pray, we need to make a space beautiful and call it holy. Like a good parent, God knows that these things help us become our whole and true selves. They allow us to express our creativity, they allow us to transcend momentary concerns and problems. They shape us and prepare us for doing the other type of worship.
God is not an either/or type of being. So let’s go for the both / and. Let’s get a new organ and sing beautiful songs, and let’s speak up for people who can’t afford health care. Let’s keep our church clean and in good repair, and let’s work to clean up the air and water and preserve the environment. Let’s have plenty of good fellowship – pot lucks and parties – and let’s keep feeding others through our WF and food pantry ministries. Let’s keep praying for God to be at our side, to bring comfort and well-being to our loved ones, and let’s pray for those we mistrust and dislike and are afraid of, for their comfort and well-being also. Let’s do what we can to grow our church, but let’s also do what we can to bring God’s kindom to all. May it be so.
