DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL
Daniel 3:13-18
Matthew 6:13*
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
July 9, 2023
HELP! SAVE ME!
The author Anne Lamott confesses that she does not know much about God and prayer, but she has come to believe that there’s something to be said about keeping prayer simple. So her three essential prayers are “Help, Thanks, and Wow!” 1 Today we hear Jesus’ instructions to pray, “Deliver us from evil.” Sounds like “Help!” to me.
Last week Charlie Hatch invited us to insert a comma and pray, “Lord, lead us, not into temptation.” And today we continue the sentence with, “But deliver us from evil.” How does God deliver us from evil? Well, we wish God would lift us out of these situations with some miracle. That usually doesn’t happen, however, because God respects our freedom too much. In John 17:15 Jesus prays for his disciples, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from evil.”
In the three Synoptic gospel accounts Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want but what you want” (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42). Matthew, Mark and Luke are all clear that Jesus struggles mightily with whether or not to continue on his mission to Jerusalem; for he knows all too well what happens to prophets who confront the religious and political powers of their day. These three gospels are careful to tell us Jesus does not walk blissfully and gladly to Jerusalem and his cross.
The writer of the book of Hebrews also knows that Jesus prayed to be saved from death: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Hebrews 5:7). Notice that God hears Jesus’ prayer to save him from death, but Jesus still suffers and dies.
The gospel writers and the author of Hebrews tell us that Jesus asks to be delivered from the cup of suffering, but he prays, “Yet not what I want but what you want.” Jesus prays what he asks us to pray, “Deliver us from evil,” but is willing to follow the will of God for his life even if it means suffering and death.
STANDING UP TO EVIL
We have a story in the book of Daniel about three young persons who hope to be delivered from evil as well. Over 500 years before Jesus was born, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (modern Iraq) makes a golden statue and proclaims, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, you are to fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire” (Daniel (3:4-6).
Some people of the king’s realm, however, must have been praying with their eyes open because they report to the king, “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These pay no heed to you, O King. They do not serve your gods and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up” (3:12). Daniel’s three friends will not bow down and worship the king and the nation. So the King in furious rage shoutsat Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, “But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?” (3:15b).
Next we hear one of the most astounding faith statements in the entire Bible. I can still picture Dr. Henlee Barnett, professor of Christian Ethics at our seminary, placing his finger on this verse, his eyes wild with excitement, and reading dramatically, “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up” (3:16-18).
How do you make a faith statement like that? How, in the face of an empire and nation and culture that shouts threats such as “atheist” and “traitor,” do you stand up for your faith? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego know their God will deliver them from evil. Even if the powers kill these three, even if life does not turn out like they hoped it will, they trust in their God because these three, like Jesus, know that there is an evil worse than death. And the remarkable result of this story is that even though they are willing to accept death because of their faith stance, they do not perish in the fiery furnace. Somehow the Lord rescues them.
SAVE US FROM THE EVIL
Jesus asks us to pray, “Deliver us from evil.” If you have a Bible with footnotes, you will notice the translation for Matthew 6:13 is deliver/save/rescue us from the evil. The noun “evil” has a “the” before it in the text, so we are not praying about an evil or evil in general but about “the evil,” which can also be translatedas “the Evil One.” Jesus teaches us not to pray about evil in general but about specific evil—the evil or the Evil One. Without naming Satan or evil powers and principalities, Jesus warns us that evil is more than just something we humans can manufacture on our own. Jesus asks us to take the power of evil seriously.
Today the evil and the Evil One threatens us with good things—family, nation, region, heritage, flag, economy—and Jesus calls us to pray, “Deliver us from the evil.” Daily we witness the evil of racism, discrimination against minority groups, and hatred demonstrated against those who do not think like we do.
In our baptismal vows we were asked: “Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin? Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?” And how did each of us respond? We affirmed “We do!” We pray, “Deliver us from the evil” and we have promised to take an active role to renounce and resist the evil.
How can you recognize a Christian? Is it the Bible we carry, the baptismal certificate we have on file, the propositions we affirm, the perfect attendance pin received in Sunday School class? Jesus teaches us that his followers are those who pray and in their prayer they ask to be saved. And no just saved from an eternity in hell! Disciples are persons who pray because we realize that we are part of a powerful and dangerous struggle with the evil and the Evil One. Christians pray because we know that we do not have enough power within ourselves to save ourselves.
Anne Lamott reflects that if she were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.2
We are so ruined, but we are also so loved by God, and we are in charge of so little. Perhaps you have heard the old riddle: “What’s the difference between you and God? God never thinks she’s you.” The first step toward recovery is to admit that God is God and I am not. Like those who participate in Alcoholics Anonymous and other such support groups, we begin by calling out to a power higher than ourselves. We look up for help.
And we also look out for help. Note that we don’t pray, “Save me.” It’s “Save us.” Certainly the “me” is included in the “us.” You and I know all too well that when we try to stand alone and by ourselves to the power of the evil and the Evil One, we are no match for those powers. We reach up to a higher power and we also reach out to others as we participate in a group. So we come together as a community on Sunday mornings and other times and we pray, “Deliver us from the evil.”
When we pray, “Deliver us from evil” we are not asking that we will be delivered from all the bad things which can happen to us—loss of job, financial stress, breakup of a family, cancer, illness, pain, or death of a loved one. We are praying to a higher power than ourselves. We are praying, “I can’t get through this on my own. I need the Lord and I need a community of believers.” And so we join hands and we pray to our Father in heaven, “Deliver us from the evil and the Evil One.” In other words, we pray, “Help! Thanks! Wow!” Amen!
HYMN: 526: What a Friend We Have in Jesus
1 Anne Lamott, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, 2012, page 1
2 Lamott, page 27
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
Jonesboro United Methodist Church
July 9, 2023
FORGIVEN AND FORGIVING
Romans 8:12-17
Matthew 18:21-35
Matthew 6:12, 14-15
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
June 25, 2023
JESUS’ DIFFICULT CALL
Someone has taken the call to discipleship by Jesus of Nazareth and distorted it. Some now identify someone as “Christian” by church membership, baptism, vocal affirmation to certain propositions and beliefs, certainty of our chances of going to heaven when we die, etc. Jesus of Nazareth simply said, “Follow me!” and called on us to “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” Those are the requirements for being a person on Jesus’ Way.
So I am not surprised that Jesus gives us a prayer which challenges us to act like followers of Jesus’ Way. After addressing our Abba in heaven; after affirming the three “your’s” about Abba’s holy name, kingdom and will; and after asking for our daily and common bread; Jesus asks us to show love to ourselves and to others by asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness. It is a difficult call to discipleship. To say, “I believe what the Apostles’ Creed professes!” is a lot easier.
In his daily reflection Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Roman Catholic priest, writes, “We must move from a belief-based spirituality to a practice-based spirituality, or little will change in religion, politics, and the world. We will merely continue to argue about what we are supposed to believe and who the unbelievers are.”1
Who is a Christian, a follower of Jesus’ Way? A disciple of Jesus prays as Jesus taught us. And right in the middle of this prayer is the most difficult call to discipleship: And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us (Matthew 6:12).
As we have noticed in this prayer that Jesus gives us, we have no pronouns “I, me, or mine,” although that was the title of one of the last songs of the Beatles. We do not pray, “Forgive me of my trespasses ” but Forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive . . . .”
The plural is significant. We are conditioned to think of sin as a personal problem, a private slip up. Yet most sins we commit are corporate and communal. The most damaging sins are systemic and long-term—sexism, racism, classism, ageism, etc. Forgiveness may be the best way for a church—a faithful community of Jesus’ disciples—to witness to the world about the power of God’s love.
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR US TO FORGIVE OTHERS?
Why is it so difficult for us to forgive other persons? I believe that the common interpretation of verses 12, 14-15 has made it more difficult for us to forgive others. You will notice that the only commentary to the Lord’s Prayer is in Matthew 6:14-15. I think that in all seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, none concerned Jesus and Matthew’s community as much as forgiveness.
In regard to forgiveness, these words in verses 14-15 could be taken in the sense of a condition for forgiveness which we gain by the forgiveness which we ourselves first grant to others. After all, the commentary clearly states that we will receive the forgiveness of God only if we are willing to forgive other persons. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (6:14-15).
How tragic this interpretation has been for us! It’s tragic because we are then asking for exactly what we don’t need: to be in control and to feel righteous. In this prayer Jesus is teaching us that we are not in control and that we are not righteous enough or good enough or gracious enough to be generous with our own store of forgiveness. We would love to see ourselves first as forgivers who spread forgiveness around to others. In this prayer Jesus is teaching us that we are not first forgivers but are first forgiven.
We think that God will not forgive us as long as we do not forgive others first. When I come to a difficult passage of scripture, I try to interpret it in light of the broad truths of the whole Bible. When I think of the strong message throughout our Bible—the story of the Lord’s relationship to the people of Israel, the life and ministry of Jesus, and the life and words of Paul to the churches, I hear that forgiveness begins with the acts of Divine Graciousness. In light of this broad truth, I cannot agree with the statement, “Well, if I don’t forgive you, God will not forgive me.”
OUR DEBT
So what do we do with this statement in Matthew? I propose that we see our ability to forgive not so much as a decision to forgive as much as an effect of forgiveness we have received. Jesus is teaching us that if we do not allow the forgiveness of God to have an effect in our lives, then we will not live in forgiveness toward others. Rather than a statement about the conditions for God to forgive us, Jesus gives us the reality of what happens when we do not allow God’s forgiveness to work in us.
Earlier this morning we heard and saw acted out Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18. One servant is forgiven a very large debt of let’s say one hundred thousand dollars but is unwilling to forgive another person’s debt for ten dollars. The king, other servants, and we, too, are enraged that someone who has been forgiven so much is not willing to forgive someone else who owes so little. The first servant does not allow forgiveness to affect the way he relates to someone who owes him a small debt. The first servant owes a debt he cannot pay, but refuses to forgive a debt easily paid. That shocks us!
Look closely in your Bible to Matthew 6:12 and you will notice that the word “trespass” is not in verse 12 in the actual prayer. We find the word “trespass” only in the commentary in verses 14-15. Praying about our trespasses rather than debts goes back before the King James Version of 1611 andto the earlier prayer books in England.
In verse 12, the word in the text is best translated “debts.” In the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the noun “debt” was a common term for “sin.” As a matter of fact, in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer in 11:4, he uses the word “sins”: And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. These are the only two versions of the Lord’s Prayer in our Bible, and the two words are “debts” and “sins.”
Being a faithful Jew, Jesus speaks of a person as a debtor to God. The word “forgive” here in verse 12 really means “cancel, remit, or pardon a loan; forgive a debt.” So the parable of Matthew 18 is a good example of Jesus’ call for us to forgive small debts/sins against us because we have been forgiven a large debt we cannot repay.
In today’s reading from Romans Paul also calls us debtors: So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Romans 8:12-14).
This is not just good advice from Paul and Jesus and Matthew’s church. It is a matter of life and death. Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison expecting the other person to die.” Not being willing to forgive is a poison that is killing the spirit and life within us as individuals and as a community. Forgiveness is a matter of life and death.
Here is my point: I believe you and I have a difficult time forgiving others because we cannot honestly believe that we have been forgiven by God. We know that a price must be paid for forgiveness—that the debt must be paid. As long as we think that we have to do something or be something before God will forgive us, then we will think that others must do something or be something before we can forgive them as well. How tragic! I believe our forgiveness toward others begins as a response to our being forgiven. Forgiving is not so much an act of generosity toward others as an act of thanks and gratitude toward our forgiving God. We are first forgiven and then become forgiving.
LETTING DIVINE FORGIVENESS BE OUR RESOURCE
Here is a question for you and for me: When are you going to start letting divine forgiveness be your resource for coping with all imperfection—your own and everybody else’s? John Claypool, one of my mentors, says this was one of the first questions his therapist asked him after his divorce. When are you going to start letting divine forgiveness be your resource for coping with all imperfection—your own and everybody else’s? I believe it is a central question for each of us to answer every day.
In other words, when will we finally admit that the debt is too great for us to pay and that we do not have adequate resources to pay the debt to God and to others? When will we finally admit that we are guilty before God and before persons? When will we admit that the ways we have dealt with debt, guilt, sin, and unforgiveness are destroying us, destroying our relationships with those closest to us, and destroying our relationship with God? When will we name the poison we are drinking?
I believe God’s goodness is greater than our badness and that God’s power to forgive is greater than our ability to sin. I believe there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more than God already loves you; and nothing you can do to make God love you less than God already loves you. God is very fond of you and forgives you. Period!
We don’t forgive others because we are good people, kind people, or naturally forgiving people. We forgive for one reason and only for one reason—we have already been forgiven. Our forgiveness toward others is a response to our being forgiven. Forgiveness is not so much an act of generosity toward our fellow offending human beings as an act of gratitude toward our forgiving God. If we have difficulty forgiving others, Jesus tells us that we have not named and accepted our own forgiveness. Well?
1Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations, July 21, 2017
Hymn: God, How Can We Forgive? by Ruth Duck; (The Faith We Sing, 2169; Tune LEONI)
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
Jonesboro United Methodist Church
June 25, 2023
(Ruth Duck) The Faith We Sing 2169 (Tune LEONI)
Bread in All Forms
Exodus 16:1-8
Intern Charlie Hatch
Jonesboro United Methodist Church
June 18th, 2023
We continue our sermon series on the Lord’s prayer. Last week, Pastor Becky talked about when she learned the Lord’s Prayer with her friend to get a book. I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure when I learned this prayer. But I did know that being a pastor’s child, I learned it before many of the children in our congregations because you hear it in every church space you are in, and there are many. Especially when your dad was serving four churches at once. Only God knows how many times pastor’s children have said the Lord’s Prayer in our lifetimes. For a while, I just thought it was something that the church recited that brought us together for a time of worship which it does, but I never paid attention to the importance of each verse. I was on autopilot, just saying it so we could get on to the next portion of service because once we got to the end of service, it was lunchtime. Like a preacher’s kid who is eager for lunch, sometimes we’re on autopilot when we say this prayer. Other times, we rush through it to get to the part where we ask for the things we want God to provide us. How quick we are to say “give me.” But it’s not just “give me the things that I actually need to do your work.” It’s “give me those things AND MORE for myself.” We become the Israelites who complained they weren’t getting enough. We ignore and dismiss the daily bread God is already providing in various forms throughout our life. Whether that be through friends and family, or through actual breaking of bread together at a dinner table God is already providing us with the bread we pray for.
I am a huge believer in noticing and appreciating the small things. I met my friend Albaro through a political organization for college students when he asked me to be on the executive board for the state of North Carolina. We immediately got along, and he eventually became one of my closest friends. We started having those silly sibling fights over things like him needing a haircut or how short I am. Our friendship started the Fall 2022 semester when I had three jobs and two leadership positions, one on campus and one state-wide. I had all of these positions while I was also a full-time student, writing and gathering data for my senior thesis. While I loved aspects of each of those jobs and they were great opportunities, it was a really hard semester which turned into a really hard year. I thanked God my professors and bosses were so understanding. But if I am anything I am the person who carries their emotions on their sleeve. I felt nothing but guilt whenever I was frustrated over one job at the next. Even though we hadn’t talked a lot, from time to time, Albaro would randomly text me asking if I was ok and made it clear that if I needed anything then he was only a call away. Those reminders resulted in us talking on the phone after every late-night shift he had. The calls ranged from how our day was to deep theological and moral discussions. I never asked Albaro to do those things, he just does them because that’s who he is. God saw that I needed laughter in my life during a time when I was the most serious and the most angry I had ever been. I needed joy, and God gave me Albaro. I realize now, those silly little sibling fights and those quick mental health checks were and still are my daily bread and I cherish them every day. We tend to overlook these pieces of bread, searching for loaves or at the very least the specific pieces we asked for from our list. When we do this, greed defeats the purpose.
You see, greed is the unchallenged sin in the American church and American life. Our society measures success in “blessings” and money. I became a sociology minor because I wanted to better understand not only why we had so much inequality, but why we as a society were ok with that. Every single class and every single book pointed to the sin of greed. The scary thing is greed and religion can go together very easily. One of the ways this sin is normalized in Christian circles and beyond is through the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel teaches that the more capital someone has (social, political, economic) the more “blessed” or “favored by God” they are. Does anyone listen to National Public Radio? Me too. They did a series that analyzed the prosperity gospel called God Wants You to be Rich. The episode covered a pastor who was telling his congregants all you have to do to be successful in America is to put your hands on your hips like a superhero, look in the mirror and say things like, “you can achieve if you,” “you can dream of,” and about eight other mantras to tell yourself. None of the other eight even mentioned God, let alone other people. In a society of individualism and overconsumption, it is no wonder why the prosperity gospel has had so much success.
One of the things Bishop Shelton reminded us at Annual Conference was that it is so important to read the Bible in context. I deeply appreciated this because when you’re majoring in Religion at Meredith, they will drill that into your head, for good reason. Context is so important. Reading in context means asking ourselves, what are the circumstances, historical setting, or social norms that we need to understand to fully understand the scripture’s vantage point. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray “give us this day our daily bread” it was hard finding enough to eat for one person, let alone 13 at LEAST. Let us not forget that women were faithful disciples as well. Jesus was making it clear that in order to establish the Kingdom of God, basic needs of all God’s children must be met.
A couple days ago, my friends were talking about how fun post-grad life was, until you had to pay for things. My friend Aminah said, “I don’t know how people aren’t radicalized from having to pay for basic necessities.” It reminded me of when Jesus was describing the acts of those who would receive the kingdom of God in Matthew 25:35-36. He said “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Friends, this scripture calls us to provide these basic necessities for FREE out of our own desire to help others. The scripture doesn’t say “I was hungry and you gave me food AFTER I paid you for it.”
The scripture also doesn’t say “I was thirsty and you gave me water AFTER you asked your friends if my identity was compatible with your Christian teachings.” The prosperity gospel and this “all about me” mindset makes it easy to cast out anyone who we don’t think is worthy of God’s daily bread. What’s worse, we try to speak on behalf of God to do that. Some of us, don’t want to share.
One of the concepts I learned this past week while Bob and I were talking about the goals for this summer was cultural humility. Cultural humility, as defined by its researchers, is “a lifelong process of self-reflection and self-critique whereby the individual not only learns about another’s culture, but one starts with an examination of [their] own beliefs and cultural identities,” (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). This is more than just being more self-aware, it is fully examining our own biases, assumptions, and values. I mention this concept because these biases and assumptions that we have of one another can sometimes keep the bread from being communal. This bread is a communal product. We cannot use scripture to keep people from it. We pray “give us this day our daily bread” because it is not my bread or your bread alone. It is everyone’s bread that was provided on this day.
Cultural humility also reminds us that we are not in a superior position of power when distributing our abundant loaves of bread. We are not praying for the poor and the outsiders, we are to pray with the poor and the outsiders. Being a Christian and saying the Lord’s prayer is a deep commitment to the responsibility of making sure that all of God’s children are fed, hydrated, welcomed, and loved regardless of their identity. Because The Kingdom will not only provide these needs, but it will never look down on or sneer at people the Church deemed less than.
So may we pray this prayer making a commitment to being the communal bread. Not taking for granted the pieces of bread we weren’t expecting like silly sibling fights. Call your friends. Ask about their day. God made us social for a reason, to be in community together. May we also pray this prayer recognizing the gravity of the commitment and responsibility to share our daily bread with others now, and forever. Amen.
Resources:
Mulholland, James. Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity. HaperSanFrancisco, 2001.
Stanley, Hauerwas, and Willimon H. William. Lord, Teach Us. The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life. Abingdon Press, 1995.
Wright, N.H. The Lord & His Prayer. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995.
Yeager, Katherine A, and Susan Bauer-Wu. “Cultural humility: essential foundation for clinical researchers.” Applied nursing research : ANR vol. 26,4 (2013): 251-6. doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2013.06.008
THE GOD NAMED HALLOWED
Leviticus 19:1-4
Matthew 6: 9b,10
Rev. Becky Albritton
Jonesboro United Methodist Church
June 11, 2023
This morning we continue our focus on the Lord’s Prayer. Last Sunday, Pastor Bob preached on the One to whom we pray – Our Abba, Our Daddy in heaven who wants a relationship with us. Today we look at the first three of seven petitions that are included in the prayer. We will see that each of these three petitions is focused on the holiness of God. We seek first to follow in God’s ways; to want what God wants for us and from us.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus offers the Lord’s Prayer as a model prayer in response to a request from one of the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11: 1-2b) Many of us may begin our prayers with “Lord!” I know I have heard and said prayers that begin with this name for God. My dad’s name was Lloyd. Growing up I had cousins and friends ask their parents why we prayed to, “Uncle Lloyd.” I wish I knew how they responded to this question! What I do know from these stories is that young ears were paying attention!
Another young child was paying attention too. The story is told of the six-year-old boy who was eating Sunday dinner with his parents. Seemingly out of nowhere he asked, “Why don’t we call God by his name?” His parents were puzzled. “What do you mean, dear?” his mother responded. “I mean, why don’t we call God by his name” he said once more. Shaking her head, his mother said, “I don’t understand what you are asking.” The young boy replied, “Well, in church we always say, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ and then we never call him that.”
Maybe you are like the boy’s mother and me! We never thought about the word “hallowed” as a name for God. Most of us know this prayer by heart; few of us may really pause and reflect on what these words mean. We pray, “hallowed be thy name,” while paying little attention to the hallowedness of God, the holiness or sanctity of God’s name. If we really thought about what we were saying, we might become silent, filled with wonder and awe, rather than keeping on praying by memory.
I learned this prayer when I was six years old. An older cousin encouraged me to learn it along with her. If I memorized the prayer, like her, I would receive a book! I was all in. I memorized the prayer, I recited the prayer to the teacher, I got my book. I still have it! Did you count all the I’s in what I just said? I said “I”, nine times. My focus was on what I did; not so much on what I was saying as I prayed to the God named Hallowed.
The Lord’s Prayer is not an “I, me, mine” prayer! While most of us may have memorized it individually, we also most likely have prayed it in the context of worship with others. We pray together to Our Hallowed God. One of the benefits of learning this prayer as a young child was being able to say it with others. As I reflect on my long journey with this prayer, I realize that I have rarely prayed it on my own, alone. Saying the Lord’s prayer together is often part of weekly worship; it is part of the Great Thanksgiving of the Communion liturgy.
It is no accident that “Hallowed be your name,” is the first petition of the prayer. These words remind us that God first comes to us, descends to us because God wants a relationship with us. Our orientation is to be towards God and not ourselves. As we acknowledge God’s hallowedness, holiness, our attitude is to be one of humility for what God has done for us. In the Great Thanksgiving we confess our sins and receive forgiveness before we say the Lord’s Prayer. As Christians we are first not forgivers but forgiven! And because we are forgiven, we can in turn forgive others and become a reflection of what God first does – forgives us. As we pray to the God named Hallowed we discover not just who God is but who we are – we belong to God! We are God’s beloved children. A bit of God’s holiness sparkles on you and me!
“Your kingdom come,” is the second petition. To pray these words is to ask God to change our mindset. We often think in terms of what seems best for my nation, my people, my family. God knows no such boundary lines! The kingdoms, nations of earth, are not equal to the Kingdom of God. Nations may be within the Kingdom of God, but God’s kingdom is not bound by our boundary lines. God’s Kingdom is upside down from the way the kingdoms / nations of the world operate. God’s Kingdom is not about any nation’s national interest. It is about God’s interest in the wellbeing of all of humanity.
Jesus came to show the face of God who is inclusive and welcoming of all. Jesus came inviting us to join in God’s kingdom. We live between the already of Jesus’ earthly life, death and resurrection and the fulfillment in the future of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Between the bookends of the already and the not yet, what does it mean to pray, “your kingdom come?” It is a call for action – on our part! We are to live in ways that are opposite of the way the world defines “kingdom.” In God’s kingdom there is less emphasis on my / our rights than on how we work for the rights and dignity of all. It is a kingdom based on grace, love, and forgiveness. It is a kingdom that cannot be contained in a ledger of our works and merits. To pray, “your kingdom come,” is to pray in hope of what God is doing now and will do in the days ahead.
Remember the parables of Jesus? The Kingdom of God is like the smallest of seeds that grows into a large bush that shelters the birds. The Kingdom of God is like yeast in a loaf of bread. The Kingdom of God is like hidden treasure and a pearl of great price. Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom is already among us if we have eyes to see! Does this mean we live on Easy Street? No! It does mean that God is always working in and through creation and in each of our lives to bring in the Kingdom.
On the screen is a picture from one portion of our backyard. You can see that tiny violas have somehow grown through very hard dirt that is covered by mesh netting and topped with gravel! These little flowers flourish even though the environment appears harsh. They remind me that the Kingdom of God is already among us; always breaking through into our known world. This is very good news! When I hear the news it is easy for me to be filled with despair and a sense of hopelessness at the state of our world. Violas swaying in the wind remind me that in the midst of all the chaos and discord, God is at work!
“Your will be done,” is the third petition. This may be the hardest one to pray! Why? Because it means putting our agendas, our wills aside for the sake of God’s will. It means asking God to change our minds and hearts so that our goals more closely align with what God wants for us. Said another way, it is asking God to help us want what God wants! The good news is that God is patient with us as we seek to make this shift. This is not easy!
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed fervently, “if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” (Matthew 26: 39) As Jesus prayed these words, he knew that he would be betrayed, he knew the religious folks had already conspired against him and would not be satisfied until he died. These realities were not God’s will for the Son of God! God’s will was for Jesus be seen for who he was, a sign of God’s kingdom. God’s will ultimately prevailed in the resurrection of Jesus! God always finds a way, even when it seems that there is no way.
To pray for God’s will to be done is to pray for our will to be one with God’s will. It is asking God to help align our will with God’s will. As we pray this petition, we come to realize that we can know greater joy as we seek to live within the will of God. This has always been God’s desire for us! In Leviticus we hear words God wanted Moses to tell the children of Israel: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy . . I am the Lord your God. (19: 2, 4b) What a mandate; what a calling!
Two writers offered this insight: “In praying the Lord’s Prayer, in naming the holiness of God, we discover not just who God is but also who we are. We are not our own. We belong, not to ourselves and our desires, but to God.” (Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life, page 49)
Our calling is to be part of God’s Kingdom as we live in this world. In Psalm 33 we hear, “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” Because of this truth we rejoice in the Lord, praise the Lord, and sing a new song!
Holy God! Holy Will! Holy Kingdom! It is a lifelong prayer! We say it in worship; we live it out as we hear Jesus say, “You are my body. You are my hands and my feet and my mouth. The kingdom of God is within you. Let it out!” (Praying Like Jesus, page 59)
Resources: William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us, The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life, 1996, pages 42–69; John Killinger, The God Named Hallowed, The Lord’s Prayer for Today, 1988, pages 25–42; James Mulholland, Praying Like Jesus, The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity, 2001, pages 29-68
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 6:9
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
June 4, 2023: Trinity Sunday
DADDY IN HEAVEN
Jesus tells us to begin our prayer this way: “Our Father in heaven.” Some are offended by the command that we are to call God “Father.” As we prepare in a couple of weeks for the Hallmark holiday called “Father’s Day,” we reflect on our father on earth. Some of us here did not have and still do not have a good relationship with our earthly father. Perhaps your father was cool and distant, or nonsupportive and judgmental. Perhaps you had a father who abused you emotionally, physically or sexually; therefore, it’s hard for you to say, “Father in heaven.” I understand that and try to be sensitive to your feelings.
Some have good relations with their earthly father, however, and still don’t like to say “Father” for God. We have come to realize that language shapes how we see the world, and to see God only as a male (such as an old man with a beard and a long robe) limits our view of who God is. The Bible has a wealth of metaphors for God: rock, ruler, light, wind, mountain, hen, and many others, and I don’t want to limit our image of our God to only one. Especially on this Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the various personalities of God as Father/Son/Spirit and Creator/Redeemer/Sustainer, we need to expand rather than limit our metaphors for God.
Images are important. We hear in Genesis 1 that we are created in the image of God. How we visualize God will shape how we visualize ourselves. In other words, our images of God are very important; therefore, language we use to describe God is extremely important. When Jesus says, “Pray like this,” however, he begins with “Our Father in heaven.” Why?
To address the Lord God Almighty as “Father” was very unusual in Jesus’ day. In the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36), Jesus prays, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible.” In Israel at that time the people read their Bible in Hebrew but spoke in a form of Hebrew called Aramaic. Here Jesus addresses God with a word from his native Aramaic language—Abba.
Paul uses this Aramaic word in Romans 8:15 (When we cry “Abba! Father!”)and again in Galatians 4:6 (And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son in our hearts, crying “Abba! Father!”). I think the early church must have passed on from Jesus himself this way to address God. The Greek ho pater (“O father”) is a translation of the Aramaic Abba. Our “Dadda” and “Mama” are close equivalents and correspond closely to the first sounds of children in Jesus’ native language—Abba and Imma.
I remember working with our firstborn on his first word. I would spend my time with him with the instruction, “Say “Daddy!” “Daa-dee!” I wondered if Becky worked with him on “Mommy.” We were both wrong. His first words came as he pointed at the VCR under the TV and said, “Noooooooo!” Since I have asked our grandson to call me “Baba,” which is an African word for “Daddy,” perhaps Ryan’s first word will be “Baba.”
In Jesus’ day Abba and Imma were not restricted to children’s talk, however. Grown-up sons and daughters used Abba and Imma to address their parents. Some adults here today still use “Mommy” and “Daddy” for their parents. In Tim Tyson’s book, Blood Done Sign My Name (2004) (which describes Jonesboro UMC in chapter 4 by the way) he dedicates it “to my Mama and Daddy” and refers to his preacher Father, Vernon Tyson, throughout as “Daddy.” Abba and Imma (like Mommy and Daddy) were everyday words and family words in Jesus’ day.
Here, I think, is the key to Jesus’ command to pray to the Father in Heaven. We are not praying to the Heavenly Parent who is just a projection of our earthly parent. We are praying to the Divine Parent who is the model for our earthly parents and the standard by which all parents are judged. The importance is not the word used—Father, Mother, Daddy, Mommy—but the relationship between the parent and child. Jesus’ emphasis is not on the maleness or femaleness of God but on the image of a loving parent who is very dear to us.
Jesus is teaching us to climb up in the lap of the Divine Parent and begin, “Daddy, I want to spend some time with you. Mommy, let’s talk.” And here is the first teaching Jesus gives us about prayer. We are called to pray to our Daddy in heaven.
Do you see what this does to prayer? Since the beginning of time, prayer has been a long list of what I need and what I don’t want to happen to me—give me bountiful crops and herds, help me have children, make my business prosperous, send that hurricane away from here and toward those pagans somewhere else, help me save par on this hole.” We tend to think of prayer as making a careful list of our needs and being sure to give the Lord God Almighty persuasive arguments why we need them now—especially when we pray for patience!
When Jesus tells us to begin our prayer, “Daddy in heaven,” he is teaching us that prayer is not about listing our needs. Prayer is investing in a relationship. Prayer is not talking about God as some abstract Creator/Redeemer/Sustainer, but is talking with our Daddy. Just before Jesus gives us this prayer, he reminds us, “For your Daddy knows what you need before you ask him” (6:8). Jesus teaches us that prayer is not informational but relational. In other words, we pray not so much to tell God something as to relate to our God. We begin, “Daddy in heaven.”
PRAYING WITH JESUS
I propose to you today that the word “Daddy” is not the most difficult word in the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer. I think the word “our” is the hardest for us to say. When Jesus calls on us to say, “Our Daddy,” Jesus is asking us to pray with him to our heavenly Daddy. We know the relationship Jesus on earth had with his heavenly Father. We know the closeness, the connection, and the relationship he had with God.
So we cringe when we are asked to say “Our Daddy” with Jesus because we are not like Jesus. We do not have the closeness, the connection or the relationship with God which Jesus had. “I can’t pray with Jesus on this!” we declare. We pull back from saying “Our Daddy” with Jesus.
And Jesus says, “I TOLD you to say ‘Our Daddy’ with me!” Jesus knows that a relationship with God is not a goal and not a destination. Our status as children of God is the journey we are already on. As Paul writes in Romans 8:15b-17a: But you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Jesus invites us to walk with him and with his Daddy, who, because of Jesus, is now also our Daddy, too.
Even if we do not feel good enough or religious enough or spiritual enough to be children of God, because of Jesus we can say with him, “Our Daddy.”
Even if we don’t feel like God is our Father, because of Jesus we can say “Our Daddy.”
Even if we don’t feel like we are very good followers of Jesus, because of Jesus we can say “Our Daddy.”
Even if we don’t feel like praying, because of Jesus we can pray “Our Daddy.”
It’s not about how we feel. It’s about a relationship Jesus establishes with the Father and with us and invites us to join him on the journey where we are already children of God. Because of Jesus, we can say “Our Daddy.”
PRAYING WITH ONE ANOTHER
Saying “Our Daddy” is difficult for us not only because we don’t think we deserve to pray with Jesus, but saying “Our Daddy” is difficult for us also because we realize we are saying it with one another. Yes, I know what Jesus says in 6:6: But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Even though Jesus tells us to go to a closet to pray, he then proceeds to give us a public, not a private, model prayer. When we say “Our Daddy” we are praying not only with Jesus but also with one another.
We assume that our faith is individual and private, and we are offended when Jesus calls us to pray together and in public worship. Here in Matthew Jesus does not command us to address “The Father in heaven,” or “My Father in heaven,” or even, as Luke tells us, “Father in heaven” (Luke 11:2). The word “our” is a gift which automatically connects us with Jesus and connects us with one another. Because of this God who is a Trinity in relationship within the Divine, and because we are connected to God the Father through Jesus the Son, we are connected to one another, even if we don’t want to be connected to one another. Jesus calls us to pray together, “Our Daddy in Heaven.”
If someone asks us, “How can I tell if someone is a Christian?” we usually enumerate a list of religious actions such as prayer, Bible study, attending worship, and being nice to your pastors. Or we list some basic doctrines and beliefs which most Christians hold.
If someone asks you, “How can I tell if someone is a Christian?” why don’t you say, “Christians are persons who gather together to pray the words Jesus gave us. I will not tell you what a Christian is or believes. I want to show you how a Christian prays. Will you pray with me the prayer Jesus taught us that begins, ‘Our Daddy in heaven’?”
HYMN UMH 404: Every Time I Feel the Spirit
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
Jonesboro United Methodist Church
June 4, 2023: Trinity Sunday
UP AND OUT
Luke 24:44-53
Rev. Becky Albritton
May 21, 2023
On this Seventh Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the ascension of Jesus. Our Gospel reading is from Luke 24, the final chapter of the book. In Luke’s telling, Resurrection Day is also Ascension Day! This makes the first Easter Sunday a very busy day!
The day begins with an empty tomb followed by the risen Jesus joining two companions heading back to Emmaus and then staying with them for a meal. They recognize him in the breaking of bread and as he vanishes from their sight, they head back to Jerusalem to share the good news. As the followers of Jesus are discussing this news, Jesus comes into their midst. “Peace be with you,” he says. They are terrified! Jesus shows them his scarred hands and feet and asks for something to eat. He talks about how the holy scriptures have been fulfilled in his resurrection three days after his death. He then gives them a new mandate, “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here until you have been clothed with power from on high.” In this moment the disciples begin the shift from being followers of Jesus, to becoming proclaimers of the new life available to all people offered by Jesus.
As the day draws to a close, they follow him to Bethany, the town just outside of Jerusalem where they often stayed. “Bethany” means house or home. It is a familiar place, and it is fitting that Jesus chooses this “home” as the location for both his final leave-taking from the disciples and his own very particular homecoming. An ordinary journey on an extraordinary day! As they arrive, Jesus pauses and raises his wounded hands and blesses them. His last act is to bless! As he blesses, he is taken up into heaven.
They are stunned! Jesus is there and then suddenly he is not. I imagine that none of them ever forgot that moment. In the ways of God, the moment of ascension propelled them forward boldly as they return to Jerusalem, full of joy! Not only that, they also follow Jesus’ instructions! The last words in the gospel of Luke tell us they were continually in the temple blessing God! Even in the grief of no longer seeing Jesus, they are empowered and speak boldly. Somehow in his absence, Jesus is still present with them as they bless others!
The ascension, like Jesus’ resurrection, is one of those events that we cannot explain. We may want to ask “how” questions! Did Jesus levitate off the ground? Did he just disappear? How far and how fast did he go? Luke does not answer, “How did this happen?” His focus is on answering “why and what”. Why did Jesus ascend and what difference does it make that Jesus ascended from us?
Why? Jesus ascended to show us that a lifetime of teaching and being together is not enough to help us understand the ways of God. We often base our agendas on what we know and what we long for. God acts in the ways of the spirit that blows where it will, not bound by our assumptions and our wish lists. In our own lives we know times of departure and change: child from parent, student from teacher, disciple from guide. It is often in these shifts, changes, that we find our wings and learn to fly! We also may discover that these transitions lead to a deepening of the relationships we have with key people in our lives. Luke tells us that this is what happens to the disciples. They move from followers to leaders as they return to Jerusalem. They take what they have learned from Jesus and apply it in new ways. They proclaim the Good News boldly!
Truth is, as long as God was in the world in the human person of Jesus, all eyes and hearts were fixed on him. If Jesus had not ascended, we might primarily know of him as a great rabbi whose life made a difference in his home country. And indeed, Jesus’ earthly life did make a difference! Yet, you and I know that God did not send Jesus into the world just to be a local hero, a person of interest.
What difference does ascension make? The Ascension is a bridge moment between the time of Jesus on earth and the time of the church on earth. It is the beginning of the church’s witness about him. This is the ongoing time in which you and I live. Jesus ascended so that God’s spirit could descend, empowering us to go out into the world as we share the Good News! We as the church become the body of Christ in the world when the resurrected body ascends.
God sent Jesus into the world to save the world through him! Let us say together John 3: 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Ascension matters in our lives of faith and in the mission and ministry of the church.
Today a hospital sits on the highest point of the Mount of Olives. This hospital is located near much of the fighting and destruction that continues to occur between the Israelis and Palestinians. The turmoil and fighting make it difficult to serve patients in need of healing through the hospital’s specialties of radiation and dialysis. Within the hospital complex is the Church of the Ascension. On one of the walls of the church there is a large mosaic that depicts the ascending Jesus on a cloud, flanked by two angels. (A picture of this mosaic was included in the Midweek email you received on Wednesday). In the mosaic the angels are not gazing up as Jesus ascends! They are gazing out at those who enter to worship. They are asking the disciples and each of us to turn our gaze out into the world.
And what happens as we turn our gaze out?! In Acts we hear how these disciples now turned apostles, bless the blind and those who cannot not walk; bless the hungry and the poor; bless the Jews and the Gentiles. Because of the blessing of Jesus as he ascends, the disciples look out and find ways to be “channels of blessing, to someone today.” They begin to pay it forward! Is it an easy, pain free existence for them? No! Acts also tells of hardships and struggles and persecution. They and we can endure because we do not go out in our own strength. We go out in the name of Jesus. Our orientation changes!
In March of 2021 my orientation began to change as Bob, and I made our first trip to Sanford to meet the SPRC of Jonesboro UMC! When we had previously lived in Raleigh for twelve years, my orientation was grounded in living in North Raleigh. I never oriented myself to areas south of Raleigh. In my orientation, I could never understand how Cary was south of Raleigh. Yes, I looked at maps, but it still made no sense to me! It did not fit with my orientation! And I never paid attention to signs that said, “Sanford,” because that was not my known world! I stuck with what I knew, what was familiar. I am so grateful that my orientation changed! Today I take great delight in seeing signs that say “US 1, South,” and “Sanford.”
During our visit in 2021, Sandy Perry helped us look for housing. She also took us to Yarboroughs for ice cream! While we were placing our orders, a man she did not know stepped forward and said he was paying for our ice cream. We said he did not need to do so. In return he said, “I have been blessed; I want to do this!” We thanked him. As we got our ice cream, he said, “God bless you!” The man offered us an act of kindness that went beyond paying for ice cream. The ice cream was good but the lingering sweetness was the kindness of this man. He was blessed to bless and so is each of us! That encounter was a good sign of what we have experienced in Sanford and more specifically in JUMC! You are a good people who look out and as you do, you bless others in Jesus’ name. I am glad my orientation changed!
The Ascension was not the conclusion of the redemptive work of Jesus. It marked the handing over of his mission and ministry to his disciples and in turn to their disciples and on down the line to include each of us gathered here. It is an opportunity for all of us, generation to generation, to share the love of Jesus with someone else.
In the weeks ahead we have new opportunities to share the Good News and bless others. On June 4, our summer intern, Charlie Hatch, joins us and in early July, our new Associate Pastor Saul Gastelum, begins his ministry with us. Each will offer their unique gifts and graces with us and the wider community. Working together we will see new opportunities to bless!
Luke’s Gospel ends with the reminder that God is the one who saves us, sends us, and blesses us. You and I are saved by the grace of God and sent out to share this Good News as we bless others in the name of Jesus Christ. On Ascension Day the eleven received Jesus’ blessing with great joy, they worshipped him, and they praised God. Through their lives and ours Jesus’ presence continues to be known on earth.
The Ascension is a time of transition between the Resurrection and Pentecost. A new era begins because Jesus is no longer physically dwelling on the earth; no longer bound by time and space. The spirit of Jesus will be available throughout the world to followers in all times and places as Emmanuel, God with us. The ascending Jesus makes it possible for the descending Holy Spirit to come upon us! By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is present to all people through the witness of you and me as his followers!
Celebrating Ascension today is an opportunity for us to renew our participation in the mission of the church. Like the eleven disciples, we begin where we are, right here, right now in Sanford! As we bless we extend the love of Jesus into all the world. Today we focus not on Jesus’ departure from us but on his continued presence among us. That is the paradox – in his ascending we know the presence of Jesus Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit that descends on us and blesses our lives.
On the first Easter Sunday, Jesus gave his followers a new mandate to look out and go out into the world. If we listen carefully, we may hear him say or sing, Go ye, go ye, into the world and make disciples of all the nations; go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there!
What a calling – go! What an assurance – I will be with you!
Resources: Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 2, 2008, pages 520-525; Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 2, 2010; Synthesis, Ascension Day, Year B, May 10, 2018; The Christian Century, May 1, 2013, page 20; The Christian Century, May 5, 2021, page 18; The Christian Century, May, 2023, page 26
OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS
(SOCRATES AND PAUL WALK INTO STARBUCKS)
Acts 17:22-34
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
May 14, 2023
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Paul and Socrates walk into Starbucks. That reminds me of the time the United Methodist pastor, Roman Catholic Priest, and rabbi walk into a bar and the bartender asks, “Is this some sort of joke?”
Paul and Socrates walk into Starbucks. It’s where people come to drink coffee, meet someone and talk about what interests them. Paul walks in and says, “I’ve been visiting your city and have found that you are very religious.”
Paul tells the sippers and thinkers, “I have heard your poets: ‘You can’t always get what you want; when the going gets tough, keep on going; stuff happens; whatever floats your boat; you’ve earned it and you deserve it.’ I have attended your meetings and heard your Business Buzzword Bingo: ‘In short, we are 100% committed to shifting the paradigm by facilitating a culture of out-of-the-box, goal-oriented, value-added, disruptive, outsourced, web-based business innovations.’”
Paul knows the language of those outside the religious buildings. He not only teaches in the synagogue in Athens but also goes to the city square (the Greek word in the text is agora, which means “marketplace”) to discuss his views about the meaning of life. After being run out of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea, Paul journeys to Athens and engages other intellectuals as did Socrates (469-399 BCE) over four hundred years earlier. I think Paul would sit in some coffee shop today and talk about life.
“Seedpicker!” That’s what the philosophical intellectuals call Paul that day in Athens. Right here in Acts 17:18 we read that some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debate with Paul and ask, “What does this seedpicker (babbler) want to say?” The word spermologos refers to someone who picks up scraps there in the marketplace where they were debating. Perhaps they are calling Paul an intellectual sparrow who picks up various ideas (seeds) wherever he can find them. Perhaps they are calling him a “hayseed” from out in the country.
So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” (17:19-20). Now we have often assumed that the Areopagus was a place. As a matter of fact, the King James Version gives the translation “Mars’ Hill,” using the Latin equivalent Mars for the god Ares. We have here in North Carolina a university named “Mars Hill.”
The Areopagus was not so much a place as a council that made decisions about local government there in Athens. Paul was not on trial, for those on the Areopagus were deciding whether Paul should be granted a license to teach there in the marketplace in Athens. So Paul explains this “new teaching” because intellectuals are always interested in what is “new.”
Paul shows his learning and offers a classic speech in the form that Aristotle prescribed. He first offers some kind words to his audience and finds ways to connect with them: “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.” (17:22)Paul also quotes, not Hebrew scripture, but their own Stoic philosophers: Epimenides—“In him we live and move and have our being”—and Aratus, a poet from Paul’s hometown of Tarsus—“For we are indeed his offspring” (17:28).
Paul points to the idols in the area and says, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you (17:22-23).
Pastor Becky tells me that when she visited Athens she stood by that monument to an unknown God. The inscription is still there: agnosto theo.
Paul knew it. The philosophers knew it. No one believed that the actual monument or stick held any power on its own. They knew, however, and we know, that behind the gods and goddesses of their day and our day—beer and parties, luck and sex, industry and military, education and science—is a power that we need—a power for living.
The Protestant reformer John Calvin once said that the human mind is a perpetual factory for idols.1 Idols do not have to be statues or images. Idols can be bank accounts, jobs, houses, cars, children, or military strength—anything that we think will boost our self-esteem. For a church, idols can be a savings account, a nice worship building, or even the Bible itself. Calvin is right: the human mind is a perpetual factory for idols. Five hundred years from now, when our cities are excavated and archaeologists discover our huge sports arenas and stadiums, they will ask, “What gods were worshipped here?”
Do you remember when, after the tragedy of 9/11, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill required the next year’s entering freshman class to read a book about understanding the Qur’an? In light of the recent catastrophe, the school wanted to promote a conversation about the Muslim faith. Some Christians in the Bible Belt, however, worried that the academic community was trying to convert their freshmen to Islam. So then UNC chancellor James Moeller reported that fall, “After we all read this book, there were no known conversions; Carolina’s religion remains basketball.” 2
We don’t worship our degrees or our jobs or our addictive substances or the Marines, but we do worship the power that we think they can give us. We hunger for something, and we believe that our car or our portfolio or our house or our child will give it to us. Like the Athenians of Socrates’ day, the Athenians in Paul’s day and the coffee sippers in Starbucks this morning, we are all religious. In today’s terms, we are spiritual but not necessarily tied to organized religion. Paul walks into a Starbucks and says, “North Carolinians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.”
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe . . . that we are above-average drivers. No, that’s not the main thing that unites all of us (even if we do believe we are above-average drivers!). The main thing that unites all human beings is that we are hungry for some power larger than we are. Have you ever stood in front of the open door of the refrigerator and said, “I’m hungry but I don’t know what I want!”? Jonesboro United Methodist Church exists to feed the heart hungers of persons.
We hunger for a spirituality which unites our heart with our head. Like the apostle Paul and John Wesley, I want my heart hungers to connect the distance of eighteen inches between my heart and my head. I want to feel God and also use the best of my mental abilities to have some reasonable understanding of my faith journey.
During my high school years I began to read the gospels because I was hungry to know more about Jesus. I noticed how similar the stories were in the different gospel accounts and wondered if some writers already had another gospel account as their source. I didn’t ask this question at my home church, however, because I didn’t want to be labeled as one who does not believe in the inspiration of the Bible as they understood “inspiration”!
In my first semester at college, I participated in an honors course which combined philosophy and the Bible. We began with Socrates and the book of Genesis. I have been studying the Bible and philosophy ever since. There the professors told us the common view that Matthew and Luke used a copy of Mark to write their own gospel accounts. I almost cried because in high school I had been reading the Bible and found the similarities among the gospel accounts but did not know why. The professors encouraged us to use the best literary tools we had to study our Bible—to use the best of our hearts and our heads for our faith journey. And now I have learned the four basic components Methodists apply to serious Bible study: scripture, reason, tradition, and the experience of the Holy Spirit.
I have been reading philosophy books for 54 years. Philosophy is the search for truth. I love this intellectual journey. It has enhanced my faith journey. And I agree with Paul: we will never “find” truth; for truth has found us. In the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth God has come to us when we did not even know what we needed.
Paul quotes their own philosophers: “In this God we live and move and have our being” (17:28). In other words, with heart and mind we do not find a new theory or view or idea. With Jesus we learn that God comes to us and finds us not so we can think about God but so we can have a life-changing experience with the ground of being.
Our searching for God can end at this communion table, where we dine together as a family, where God is placed into our hands, and where we are reminded that God has come to us in Jesus the Christ. Here at this table Divine Grace has found us. We realize that all the time we have been searching for God, God has been searching for us.
Whether you are a Stoic philosopher in Athens, a North Carolinian who is “spiritual but not religious,” or a church-going United Methodist here this morning, my guess is that you have heart hungers of a deep spiritual longing. We worship today in a building with doorways high enough for you to bring your head as well as your heart. Open hearts, open minds, open doors! That is who we are.
HYMNS: Let Us Break Bread Together; If We are the Body
1 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1 chapters X-XI
2 Boston Globe, August 31, 2002
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Acts 2:41-47
Rev. Robert E. Albritton, Ph.D.
April 30, 2023
Fourth Sunday of Eastertide
Worship and Witness Sunday
Four Practices for Hungry People
Who here wants to see Jonesboro United Methodist Church grow? Let’s see the hands. In every church I have heard, “We want our church to grow numerically.” We read Acts 2:41, So those who welcomed Peter’s message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. Three thousand! Now that’s real church growth! Can you imagine how long it would take us to baptize 3,000 this morning? I bet they weren’t out by noon that Sunday! The Baptists would beat us to lunch.
And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved (2:47b). How do we do that? How did they do that? According to Luke, the first church there in Jerusalem did not devote themselves to church growth. They did not devote themselves to evangelism. They did not ask, “How can we attract new members so we can pay our bills?”
We hear in verse 42, The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers (Acts 2:42, CEB). Please say this verse with me. The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.
Luke is telling us that the amazing growth of the young church is not an end in itself but is a result of the combined energies of God’s Spirit and the faithful practices of the members of the young church. Church growth was not a goal but a by-product of acting like followers of Jesus. Please say v. 42 with me: The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.
These four spiritual practices were the early church’s witness to their community and can be our witness to Sanford and Lee County. When we focus on these four essential practices, we are offering our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.
The message is very clear. 3,000 did not join the first day because the church primarily wanted to grow. They devoted themselves to the basic practices of the life in Christ, and the Holy Spirit generated growth. The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.
Jonesboro United Methodist Church exists today, as did the first church in Jerusalem, to feed those hungry for teaching; hungry for deep, personal relationships in community; hungry for physical and spiritual bread; and hungry for prayer and worship, Feeding heart hungers was the first church’s main priority and they did not let other stuff fill up their time.
BIG ROCKS (Jar)
Perhaps you may have heard the story of the philosophy professor who stands before her class and picks up a large jar (like this one) and proceeds to fill it with rocks. She then asks the students, “Is this jar full?” They agree that it is.
So the professor then pours pebbles into the jar. She shakes the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, roll into the open areas between the rocks. She then asks the students again, “Is this jar full?” They agree it is.
Then the professor pours sand into the jar. Of course, the sand settles around everything else. “Is the jar full now?” “Yes?” they seem to ask rather than declare.
The professor pours a can of beer into the jar until liquid comes to the brim. “Now,” she says, “the jar is full. What did you learn in this exercise?”
A male student in the back shouts, “There’s always room for beer!”
Another student raises her hand and says (Say it if you know the insight!): “Make sure you put in the big rocks first.”
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. These basic practices are the big rocks for every disciple of Jesus and for our church. Let’s make sure Jonesboro United Methodist Church puts the big rocks in first.
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