Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi*

November 10, 2019

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Proper 22

22nd Pentecost

Luke 20: 27-38 

                                 

1. I find this a most strange and off-putting Gospel

There is so much trouble here!

To begin with
the lectionary has skipped a bunch of the story
     not really skipped but saved for Holy Week

the last few times I have preached 

we have been moving toward Jerusalem
and the tension has been mounting 

And now…we are there

We are in Jerusalem

But what we haven’t heard is

Jesus making his triumphant entry

With all the crowds shouting
“Blessed is the King who comes…Hosanna Hosanna…Palm Sunday 

And Luke’s Gospel says that there are
Multitudes of disciples around him

Then he goes to the Temple
…not to worship but to drive out those merchants…
     turning over the tables…making a BIG ruckus
That will get people’s attention

And then Jesus takes up residence there---teaching in the temple

“every day” that’s what Luke says
“He’s teaching in the Temple EVERY DAY” 

The tension is reaching a crescendo
New opponents each day 

Seeking the opportunity 

     not just to trip him up but to kill him

That’s where we are today.

Today it is the Sadducees' turn.

This is the one and only time the Sadducees show up in Luke’s Gospel

So…Who are they? And why haven’t we met them yet?
They are the Jerusalem elite
They are attached to the Temple
     .....the Temple authorities

The business of the Temple can’t run without them

And nobody else is allowed to do it!

So that’s why we haven’t met yet
The Sadducees stay in Jerusalem…they don’t venture into the boondocks!

Now when Luke is writing

There are no more Sadducees 
they disappeared when the Temple was destroyed in 70AD
in the great Jewish Revolt.
No Temple - no Sadducees

They were a sect that recognized only the first 5 books of Moses

…the Pentateuch

So…we might say---super-biblically-conservative

And because they found no evidence of the resurrection in the first 5 books
it was not a part of their beliefs

In today’s episode

It is the Sadducees 

…who after the whole Temple-Table-Turning business are like: 

Look, buddy, how 'bout you go back to your Galilean backwater 

They come having practiced their tricky little plan

And they pose their crazy scenario
Even in the 21^st century, we can tell they are playing a game

So it has to do with the Levirate Marriage
…the Levirate marriage law in Deut 25
It sounds so strange and uncomfortable---plain weird
And the woman! Really! The woman is passed down like a used car!

I can't let myself get stuck here...
Because…the intent of the Levirate marriage law
was to ensure the preservation of the family name.
Why is that so important?
Well. In a world view without resurrection
the only way to quell your anxiety over death is to have children
     ...your offspring allow you to live on through your name

So it’s very important

The plan…The scenario takes the law to the extreme 

     in order to show that the whole idea of resurrection is downright foolish.

But Jesus responds by playing their game 

He stays in the first 5 books and he counters their argument
Using one of their most beloved texts
taken from the burning bush scene

And surprise! He wins the day because of 
verb tense

I AM...the God of  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Not...I WAS

The bottom line 

The really important bottom line seems to reside in the last line:

“He is God, not of the dead, 

but of the living; 

for to him, all are alive.”

SO…This isn’t about marriage
Or the patriarchal system once again making women into property

Jesus is getting closer and closer to the cross.

So this is a text about RESURRECTION.
What does RESURRECTION even mean?

And what difference does it make?

The Sadducees speak as if resurrected life is just…more of the same
…the same old rules apply
They simply. don’t. have. the imagination for it!

But the scriptures…especially Paul…remind us 

that while we are certainly gazing into a mystery

the one thing we CAN say 

is that it is both 
qualitatively DIFFERENT
AND 
somehow continuous.

Different but continuous.

2. There is a maxim…a rule in theology that says

Lex Orandi…Lex Credendi
it means that how we pray witnesses to how we believe
…we pray AND SO we believe

The tradition of prayer…Our tradition of prayer 

In the first instance
arose naturally…organically
…nobody sat down at a writing desk and composed our liturgies
or our prayers and then decided what they meant

The tradition of prayer grew as an expression of belief

When we proclaim after hearing the Gospel on Eucharist Sundays

(And these are ancient prayers and proclamations found in the Didache
a text from the 1^st Century)

After hearing the Gospel read we proclaim:

“Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ” 
we are confessing our belief in God’s presence
in the reading of the scriptures…in our shared story

And in Holy Communion

Our holy communing…
we hear and respond
“The Body of Christ! Amen!”
We confess our belief in the Living God present and active in our midst
and indeed in our very bodies.

And in the funeral liturgy 

We hear these words…spoken by the Presider in the name of all gathered: 
“For your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended”

And here is where we confess our conviction...
Our faith...in the deep deep mystery of the resurrection. 

As we pray this way we are professing: 

God has nothing to do with death 

There is no death in God

3. Well…Easy for God to say!
For us…it seems rather obvious
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…they died

They are very long dead
My Mom is dead
All the people on our ALL SAINTS list are dead
Because for us…most of the time…

we can only define being alive as being “NOT DEAD”

Not so for God!

For God, being alive is just being alive
it has nothing to do with death!!!

What if WE lived all of life
       believing that being alive has nothing to do with death?

How would it be different?

Would we be free from fear?
Would we be free from living ‘scared to death’?
Would we be free from choosing to spend 

     so. much. time. money. energy. avoiding or postponing death 

Rather than LIVING?

We are a Pilgrim People
that means we are always…at least somewhat UNFINISHED

that means we don’t always remember what we say we believe

About death…or about God

But sometimes…we do!

Don’t we live ‘resurrected life’ whenever we experience ‘new life’

Literal new life---like in the joy of a child’s birth?
or those first crocuses peeking out as winter fades?
And don’t we taste ‘new life’
When…through the tough work of contrition and repentance

our own un-forgiven-ness------bursts into NEW LIFE as we reconcile and reunite?
Isn’t that experience of being forgiven by others and by God
a very real taste of living resurrected life?

I believe so.

4. Today’s Gospel tells us how JESUS thought about God

The law about levirate marriage

Was for people who didn’t believe in an afterlife

It was a way of overcoming death

The way to overcome death was to have children to keep the name going

A world without resurrection is a world full of anxiety about overcoming death!
And it seems to me that we…pretty much…live in the midst of such a world 

If only we really believed ONLY in life

And not life as just… “not dead”

Jesus came to bring Good News

And that good News is that God is in a category of one

Entirely different from anything we can imagine

Death, for God

Just…ISN’T

“To God all are alive”

The real toughness of this text 

is that Jesus wants us to turn away from anxiety over death 

and turn away from the poor decisions and sufferings 

     that always. follow. such a fascination (we could talk about what those are for hours!)

Instead Jesus wants us to meet the God of the Living
Jesus wants us to share this Good News about God's ALIVENESS…

     today and every day and forever

It is a mystery…a deep deep mystery…
but WE, my friends, we have the imagination for it!

5.

My very first thought when I read today’s Gospel was for my Dad.

How will my newly widowed 87-year old Dad hear this?
Will he hear that he WON’T be re-united with Mom on the other side of the grass (as he likes to say)?

But then I thought --- NO
He’s had 87 years of faithful practice choosing to live in God’s ALIVENESS.
When he talks about Mom…which is darn-near always…

He talks about how she’s probably bossing everyone around up there

Reorganizing for maximum efficiency

Getting all in ship-shape---making it ready for him

Because that is what she did
she always thought about him

And then…he will SIGH and say

“I don’t know why I’m here…I just want to be with her”

…then there will be another pause.
And another deep sigh.
“I know…we can’t even begin to understand! 

I mean there is NO TIME in God…How does that compute…Beyond TIME…

how in heaven’s name are we supposed to even begin to grasp that!”
And with that, he rests…he rests in comfortable faith and easier trust.

“I AM THE GOD OF THE LIVING

TO ME ALL ARE ALIVE”

Lex Orandi

Lex Credendi

SO WE PRAY

SO WE BELIEVE

It Is Sufficient*

October 5, 2019
17^th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 22

Luke 17:5-10, Habakkuk 1:1-4. 2:1-4
2 Timothy 1:1-14

The last part of the gospel reading –

The parable about the slaves

Is difficult to hear in our 21^st century context

It makes my skin prickle a bit

Clearly Jesus’ crowd of poor fisherman---and the like

were not slaveholders

But in the Lukan community
there were those who held slaves

This week I learned that in 1^st Century Rome

Up to 40% of the population was made up of slaves

And the majority of those slaves were from the consequence of war

But the point of the parable seems to be 

that WE are the slaves…or servants…of Christ

The parable seems to warn us against trying to ‘just get by’

With the least amount of effort

No…let’s give it our all

Do more than what the master expects

Christianity is no place for minimalists

It’s the first line of the reading that really grabbed my attention.

We hear from Jesus’ closest friends

They are begging and pleading

INCREASE OUR FAITH!

Jesus has just finished giving them further instructions on the life of discipleship:

1.   Make sure no one stumbles

2.   Offer correction to those who are offensive

3.   Forgive those who repent---not just once but over and over again -infinity times!

No wonder

No wonder they ask for more faithfulness

My guess is that all of us have had that plea on our lips a time or two

I have certainly wished for more or deeper…more steadfast faith

And then…Jesus’ reply

What does he mean?

I don’t think it is a scolding

BUT it is an ABSURD reply 

…a bush can’t be planted in a sea!

He’s messing with them…he must be

Because Jesus criticizes magical thinking 

and the need for signs...throughout the gospels

…this is not what he would want his followers to be about!

To me…it sounds more like he’s telling them 

that they are asking the WRONG QUESTION

IF FAITH…or faithfulness…

If it WAS a commodity

If you could measure 

And quantify it

And so INCREASE it

IF THAT IS WHAT FAITH IS (but of course it isn’t!)

Then all you would need is a mustard seed

This made me think of the story of the rich young man in Luke 18

He asked Jesus “What must I do to POSSESS or to GAIN eternal life?

And Jesus answers by subtly switching the verbs:

“If you wish to RECEIVE eternal life…”

Eternal Life/Faith

He switches the verb in order to teach about the nature of faith

It isn’t possessable

It can’t be stored in bigger barns

Or behind a locked gate

It’s not like money in a bank

One of my favorite spiritual writers,

Ron Rohlheiser likened faith to the air we breathe

it is free…it is everywhere

So when we are confronted with that sense of not having enough

It isn’t because of a lack of faith…or air

But rather…it’s the health of our lungs!
…or our soul

I believe Jesus is answering the disciples' plea- sympathetically

I think it’s a vote of confidence

“LOOK...You already have all the faith you need

Don’t worry about what you think you don’t have

Just keep spending what you do have

You’ll see

It’s amazing…it will be like when we had five loaves and two fish 

And, remember???
…there were leftovers!” 

Rather than focusing on quantity

Jesus holds out sufficiency

This short reading from Luke’s Gospel poses the mystery 
of faith and faithfulness

Our reading from Habakkuk and Paul’s 2^nd Letter to Timothy

also have something to add to this pondering about faith and faithfulness

The first 4 lines of the Habakkuk reading

Are in the form of a prayer

A prayer raised in desperation and grief:

O Lord---How long?

Why do you make me suffer so???
Why so much evil all around???

In a way it is also a plea for help

And God answers:

Wait. Trust. There is a vision.  It WILL come to be.

This reading from 2 timothy has always been one of my favorite passages

I used to use it when I did preparation with young couples who were bringing their children to baptism

I love it because it is so concrete

It testifies to a 

relational faith

In a relational God

In a very real sense

Any ability I have to recognize the love of God

Is made richer by my experience 

of loving and of being loved

These experiences are founded in trust

If I was unwilling to trust

If what I expected from relationships 
was betrayal and deception and being used

I would negate the very possibility of friendship or love or trust

Without trust...I could not possibly have faith in a loving God who I cannot see.

Paul longs to see Timothy

He longs to see the concrete faith made visible in him

It fills him with joy

But what Paul sees is more than Timothy
He sees deeply…he sees behind 

He sees Lois and Eunice

He sees the gift and transmission of faith

I love-love-love that Lois and Eunice are named…specifically

This is faith that is alive in people…real people

People with names

It is like a virus

It is caught

And it infects…and it spreads

It stays alive…maybe even it gets more alive
in the transmission

Which seems to take us back to the Gospel.

We have all we need.

We share it and pass it on.

And in the passing 

We experience the miraculous sufficiency of 5 loaves and 2 fish

Over and over again

It’s not a math problem

It’s a mystery…

But, it is a mystery that we experience concretely

We do…don’t we

Right here

whenever we gather 

to share whatever faithfulness…deep or wavering

whatever is within reach on any given day

And...All of us leave blessed and strengthened

I’m hoping that some of you are familiar with the hymn

It is Well with My Soul…because WE are going to sing;) 

It was written by Horatio Spafford in 1860-something
He was a prominent lawyer in Chicago

And was active in the abolitionist movement
He and his wife Anna lost a toddler son to scarlet fever
then in the great Chicago fire he lost his business and property
His wife and four daughters sailed to France for a needed fresh start

He was to catch up with them after he settled his business

On the crossing, their ship collided with a steamer and 290 of the 307 passengers were drowned.  All four girls. Anna Survived.

ON his journey to join his wife,
as the ship passed the place of the collision

Horatio Spafford wrote this hymn.

To me it sounds like someone trying to pray himself back into belief

The last time I sang this in church 

I noticed that I was standing next to a woman…I didn't know her name. 

But I did know that she had recently lost her husband to cancer.
I thought…How can she sing this song? 
How does she even get the words out?

Perhaps that’s when

We just do it

we just sing the words

Even with no strength to believe

Perhaps then it is the one nearby

The one who has the strength 

Who picks up the slack

In the community singing

We all rest a bit closer to the faithfulness that is sufficient

That is always present

That is the air we breathe

C’mon down make-shift mini choir…let us sing.