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God on Film: Maleficent – Real Evil

June 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment

GodOnFilm

 

 

 

 

 

God on Film: Maleficent – Real Evil
Sycamore Creek Church
June 1 & 2, 2014
Tom Arthur

 

Peace friends!

Today we’re beginning a new series called God on Film.  During the summer we’ll be looking at some of the summer’s biggest blockbusters and exploring the themes those movies raise from a biblical perspective.  Today we’re kicking the series off with a nice light topic, evil.

There are three kinds of evil that we find in the world.  The first kind is supernatural evil.  This is the kind of evil that a movie like Maleficent brings to mind.  Supernatural evil from a biblical perspective would include demons and the chief demon, Satan.  Then there’s what is often called natural evil.  This would include things like natural disasters.  Consider Hurricane Katrina or the tornado that recently hurt nine people in North Dakota.  The third kind of evil, and perhaps most disturbing, is moral evil.  This kind of evil would include war like the Ukraine civil war going on right now or the girls kidnapped in Nigeria or the shooting by Elliot Roger at  University of California, Santa Barbara that killed six or even more close to home the shooting at Frandor a couple of weeks ago.  It’s not hard to look around the world and see all kinds of evil.

A book that has been helpful to me preparing this sermon is N.T. Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God.  If you want to explore this issue further, pick up Wright’s book and read it for yourself.

The Predictable Argument
When it comes to these three kinds of evil—supernatural, natural, and moral—there is a very predictable argument that springs up for the Christian.  It goes something like this:

If God is all powerful and all loving, why did God create a world that allowed evil?  We all have heard this argument and most of us probably know the predictable response to it.  Perhaps one of the most succient and clearly articulated responses to this argument comes from C.S. Lewis:

God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can’t. If a thing is free to be good it’s also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they’ve got to be free.

Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently, He thought it worth the risk. (…) If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will -that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings- then we may take it it is worth paying.
~C.S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity

The Unpredictable Argument
So that’s the predictable argument and while there is more to be said about it, that’s not really where I want to spend our time today.  I want to wrestle with the unpredictable argument.  The unpredictable argument goes something like this: What is God doing about evil?

The answer to this question is not so predictable, but there are two things that God is doing about evil:

  1. God judges evil;
  2. God promises to overcome evil.

Let’s go back to the very beginning of the story and see where evil enters in.  Right at the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis, which means beginning, evil enters the story.  God creates Adam and Eve and a garden with one rule to follow: don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  A snake shows up and tempts Adam and Eve to eat the fruit.  They do, and their eyes are immediately opened to what good and evil are because they have just participated with evil.  Of course we want to know the answer to all kinds of question chief of which is, why was there a snake, how did he get there, and what is he doing talking?  But the Bible doesn’t seem very interested in these questions.  The Bible assumes that evil exists and doesn’t try to explain why.  Rather the Bible tells us what God does about this evil.  He judges it.  Here’s how God judges the evil that has been done in his creation.

The Curse: Genesis 3:14-20 NLT
Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband,
but he will rule over you.”
And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”

God judges the evil that has happened.  He holds it up to the standard of good and finds it lacking.  So he pronounces a judgment, a curse, upon the evil.  This continues throughout the entire Bible all the way to the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation.  We see in Revelation the story coming full circle.  Jesus returns to judge the evil that has taken over the world.

The Second-Coming of Jesus: Revelation 19:11-16 NLT
Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

Jesus comes in a “robe dipped in blood.”  This is a reference to his death by crucifixion.

One of the key claims of the Christian story is that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the ultimate victory over evil.  I don’t want to go into this a great deal right now because in August we’re going to do a whole four weeks on the question: why did Jesus die?  Rather, what we see in this story is that Jesus is the King of all kings and Lord of all lords, and thus, he rightfully pronounces judgment on evil.  The story continues…

The Final Judgment: Revelation 20:11-15 NLT
And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Jesus sits on this throne and judges all who come before him.  “All were judged according to their deeds.”  Even death itself is judged and is thrown into the lake of fire.  No more death.  Death is dead.  So if death is dead, what’s left?  What’s left is God’s promise to overcome evil and restore and renew creation.

The New Creation: Revelation 21:1-2, 22-27
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband…I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.  Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Notice that “nothing evil will be allowed to enter.”  Evil is done.  No longer.  Kaput.  Sayonara.  Hasta la vista, baby.

So what is God doing about evil?  God judges evil and God promises to overcome evil.  But that’s not the end of the story.  Because it’s not enough for God to overcome evil at some future point.  God is in the business of overcoming evil right now.  That’s where you and I come in.  We participate in God’s judgment of evil and restoration of creation.  So now the answer to the question about what God is doing about evil becomes another question: what are you doing about evil?  God has given us three things that each one of us and we as a community are to do about evil.  We are to pray, seek holiness, and establish justice.  Let’s look at each one.

What Are You Doing About Evil?  Praying.
Prayer is fundamentally about aligning our will with God’s will for creation. The other day I was in Noodles and Co in East Lansing, and I thought prayer was making a comeback.  There were lots of young college students in the restaurant.  I was one of the older people there. I looked over at a table and saw a young woman sitting with her head bowed and I thought, “That’s cool.  She’s praying.”  Then I noticed her fingers twitch under the table and I realized, “She’s not praying. She’s texting with her phone under the table!”

One of Jesus’ disciples named John wrote about prayer.  He said:

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 John 5:14 NRSV

Did you catch that?  This is an “if…then” statement.  If we ask how?  According to his will.  Then we know that God hears us.  Prayer is a process of aligning what we’re
asking for with what God wants for us.  Søren Kierkegaard, a 19th Century Christian Philosopher, said, “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”

So how do you do this?  I think you do it by listening in prayer.  Prayer is essentially communication.  And most of our prayer, I think, is us talking expecting God to listen.  While this isn’t bad, don’t forget that communication goes both ways.  You ask and you listen.  Or maybe you listen first then you ask.  Prayer can be understood as an acronym, P.R.A.Y.  Praise, repent, ask, and yield.  The key word for our conversation today is “yield.”  You ask and listen and then you yield to God’s will.

What Are You Doing About Evil?  Seeking Holiness.
The second thing each of us can do about evil is to seek holiness.  Holiness is another word for righteousness or right relationships.  Holiness is having a right relationship with God, others, ourselves, and all of creation.  When we seek holiness we seek to align our actions with God’s love for creation.

Holiness is kind of like growing up.  Holiness is a kind of maturing.  It’s like moving from being a grown up toddler to be a grown up adult.  What if we adults all still acted like toddlers?  It might look like this:

 

There would be no peace anywhere!  The ultimate effect of a holy alignment between our will and God’s will is peace.  The prophet Isaiah said:

The effect of righteousness will be peace.
~Isaiah 32:17 NRSV

Perhaps the most important way you can align your will with God’s will is to read scripture daily, or at least as often as you can.  A couple of months ago we did a series called Committed to Christ.  One of the sermons in that series was making a commitment to read your Bible.  Many of you made commitments to read your Bible daily.  How are you doing?  Read your Bible to learn what holiness is all about, to align your will with God’s love for all of creation.

What Are You Doing About Evil?  Establishing Justice.
Let’s review where we’re at so far.  We’ve been exploring what God is doing about evil.  God judges evil and God promises to overcome evil.  One of the ways God is overcoming evil right now is through each one of us and what we’re doing about evil.  We judge evil and overcome evil through prayer and holiness.  We also judge and overcome evil by establishing justice.  Justice is aligning our systems with God’s image in all of creation.

Sometimes justice happens on an individual level.  I recently read about some eBay justice.  A guy posted and sold two sports tickets for $600 to a woman.  He kept waiting for the payment but it never came.  The night before the game he got this email from the woman who won the bid: “I overbid and my husband won’t let me buy these. Sorry and enjoy the game! :)… It’s eBay, not a car dealership. I can back out if I want.”  With time running out he tried to sell to the other lower bidders but had no luck.  He decided to take justice into his own hands.  He set up another eBay account and a Google voice phone number.  He emailed the original winner with a fake name telling her that he saw she won the tickets and offered her $1000 for the tickets.  After some assurances were made, she emailed the guy back and offered to buy them for her original bid of $600.  The met at  midnight to exchange the tickets.  Then he emailed her back under his pseudonym saying, “It’s eBay, not a car dealership. I can back out if I want.”  LOL!

The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible and Psalm 94 says:

Judgment will again be founded on justice, and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.
~Psalm 94:15 NLT

Justice isn’t just about individuals.  It’s also about entire systems.  This past year I was given season passes to Peppermint Creek Theater Company (PCTC) right next door to North Elementary.  Sarah and I were thrilled to have a theater so close to our house in South Lansing.  The passion statement of PCTC is: to produce contemporary theatre that addresses vital issues in our society, raises awareness, and encourages dialogue while entertaining. In other words, they want to engage issues of justice in our culture in a way that is engaging and entertaining.

The last play of the season was called Clybourne Park and was about racism and white-flight in Chicago.  The first act was set in the 1940s in a white neighborhood.  The family is moving out to the suburbs and has sold their house to a black family.  The local neighborhood association sends a representative over to try to stop the sale.  The sale goes through.  The second act is in the same house, but this time the neighborhood is a black neighborhood.  The family that wants to buy the house is a rich white family.  The neighborhood has created guidelines for remodeling these homes so that the current residents are pushed out by rising housing prices and rising taxes.  This phenomenon is called gentrification.  The issues are complex and there are no easy answers, but I was grateful for PCTC putting on the play and creating the opportunity for reflection and dialogue around this issue of racism and justice.  I was reminded of a distinction that I learned in college between prejudice and racism.  Prejudice is an attitude of superiority or bias.  Prejudice is individual.  Racism, on the other hand, has to do with systems that unjustly privilege one group over another.  You can be unwittingly and without prejudice participating in racist structures in society.  This distinction helped me humbly examine my own actions and how they play into privilege without getting defensive about whether I was prejudiced or not.  Clybourne Park brought up all these questions in my mind again.  It was an opportunity to ask: am I living justly or am I buying into unjust systems that perpetuate racism?  So if you want to live justly, one step you could take is to go see some plays at Peppermint Creek Theater next season and allow the play to challenge and examine you.  I don’t always agree with everything the theater does, but I do appreciate the opportunity for self reflection.

So what is God doing about evil?  God is judging evil and overcoming it.  How is God judging and overcoming evil?  God will have an ultimate day of judgment and renewal of creation but in the mean time, God is working through you and me.  So what are you, what are we doing about evil?

 

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Ancient Hippies – Micah

November 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Ancient Hippies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancient Hippies – Micah
Sycamore Creek Church
November 4 & 5, 2012
Tom Arthur
Micah 6:8

Peace Friends!

Today we begin a new series called Ancient Hippies.  We’re getting our hippie on!  I hope you wore your favorite hippie accessory.  Now hippies are a little weird and crazy.  They are somewhat offensive at times.  They speak truth to power.  That’s the 1970s variety.  The ancient variety is called a prophet.  Today we begin with the prophet Micah.

Micah is a good place to begin because Micah is a book about the politics of the day.  And what are we right smack dab in the middle of today?  Politics.  On Tuesday, we elect a president.  So today I’d like to get a little, or maybe a lot, political.  I know.  I know.  Politics and religion don’t mix.  Well, hang with me for a second.  Don’t blow me off.  I think Micah has something to say to us no matter what side of the aisle we’re sitting on.

So just to keep you from squirming the whole time, let me tell you where I’m personally at when it comes to politics.  I don’t feel completely comfortable in any one party.  I like bits and pieces of all the parties out there.  To illustrate that, let me tell you a story about my involvement with politics.

Several years ago I set a goal for myself one year to meet with every person who was holding an office that I had to vote for.  So I met with my local ward representative in Petoskey.  I met with the mayor of Petoskey.  And so on.  Well, my local house of representatives congressman, Bart Stupak, was holding a town hall meeting one night.  I figured that would be my best chance to meet with him.  During the town hall meeting Q&A, I raised my hand and asked, “I don’t feel comfortable in any party.  What would you say to someone like me to woo me into your party?”  Bart Stupak gave a basic answer that I don’t really remember.  But what I do remember was that when it was all done, he made a bee-line right for me and started talking to me.  I told him that I’d like to talk politics with him some day, and he suggested that the next time he was in town I could spend the day with him.  Score! 

So I wrote his office a letter and told them about his offer.  A year later when he was coming to town for another town hall meeting, I got a call from his office, and they arranged for me to spend the day with him.  Do you know what a representative does all day long?  He meets with people who ask for money.  Money to complete this project.  Money to start this project.  Money to assure that this project will continue.  And on and on and on. 

It was an eye opening day.  During that day Bart Stupak offered for me to spend a day with him inWashingtonDC.  Score!  So a couple of months later I went and spent a day with him in DC.  He gave Sarah and me a personal tour of the White House, and I had the chance to go to several committee meetings with him.  I know that most of you would rather have your toe nails plucked out than spend a day in DC going to committee meetings, but I loved every second of it.  What other nation opens so wide their doors of power for the average person to see what goes on?  So do you know what our congressmen and women do when they go to committee meetings in DC?  They ask for money.  Money to finish this project.  Money to start this project.  Money to make sure that this project continues.  Do you sense a theme?  (Now this isn’t all bad because it takes money to keep our roads open and safe, to pay for our police and firemen, and to educate our children.  Don’t take me the wrong way here.) 

These two days are two days I will never forget.  I got some pretty intense time with Bart Stupak.  But after those two days, word got back to me from a friend of mine who knew Stupak better than I did, that Stupak was still confused about my political persuasions: He said he still didn’t know if I was a Republican or Democrat! 

OK, that was a long story just to tell you that when it comes to politics, I’m not particularly comfortable in any one party.  So when I say I want to get political today, rest assured that I’m not talking about trying to convince you who to vote for on Tuesday.  But what I want to do is bring up some things that Micah might say if he were alive today speaking truth to power.

The Problem
Here’s the problem in Micah’s day, and I think it is a problem that many of us feel still exists today: the corrupt rule.  Going back to the theme of money, it often seems like money buys the winners.  According to the New York Times, in the current presidential election, Obama and the Democratic National Convention and Obama’s Super Pac have raised a total of $934 million.  That’s almost one billion dollars!  Mitt Romney is not far behind.  Romney + RNC + Super Pac = $881.8 million.  Wow!  According to CNN, “Historically, the candidate who raises the most money is likely to win…In 2004, Senate candidates who raised the most money won 88% of the time and House candidates who raised the most money won an astonishing 97.8% of the time.”  Yikes!  It has been said that theUS has the best congress money can buy.

When it comes to who gives money to who, it often seems like both parties are in the pockets of big corporations.  According to the Center for Responsive Politics several big corporations give to both Democrats & Republicans.  Here’s a list with the percentage given to Democrats and Republicans in parentheses:

  • Comcast – $3.6 million (63/37)
  • Honeywell – $2.9 million (39/61)
  • Lockheed – $2.5 million (39/61)
  • Boeing – $2.4 million (42/58)
  • Citigroup – $1.9 million (43/57)
  • Bain Capital – $505,605 (37/63)

Micah
Stepping into this situation is the ancient hippie, Micah.  Micah is a prophet.  A prophet speaks for God.  One writer has said that prophets are “men [and women] of God going around saying things people did not want to hear but remarkably could not forget” (Ellen Davis).  Micah speaks judgment on the kingdom for breaking covenant with the LORD and speaks new vision for the future.  There are three famous passages in Micah that speak truth to power in his day and can still speak truth to power today.  From them we can learn the main point of this message: God desires justice, kindness, and humility.

Justice
Perhaps the most famous verse from Micah is Micah 6:8:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (NRSV)

Here is the situation that Micah found himself in.  To pay the tribute to the Assyria Empire, the rich were taking advantage of the poor.  They were taking their homes and land (2:1-2).  Sounds like all the repossession going on today.  Micah tells the rich and powerful that they may take the land today, but they will eventually lose it.

The rich were also using false weights (6:9-16) to make as much profit as possible.  Sound familiar?  How ‘bout predatory lending today?  Micah tells them that while they may make money today, they will not enjoy their profit and it will be taken away.

Likewise, money ruled the rulers.  The rulers were taking bribes and gifts and ruling in favor of the powerful (7:3-4).  Sound familiar?  Perhaps they needed some campaign finance reform?  Micah warns them that while they have power now, they will lose their power.

Micah makes his point really sharp when he sums up the situation of the rich and the powerful saying, “The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge” (Micah 7:4 NRSV)!  Micah is serious about justice.

Kindness
In Micah 6:8 we read that God desires kindness.  The Hebrew word there for kindness is hesed.  That’s the same word that is used to describe God’s loving merciful kindness toward us.  God expects of us the same thing that God shows us. 

In a wonderfully imaginative verse Micah gives us a vision of what this kindness looks like in the future on the ground:

They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
(Micah 4:3 NRSV)

Peace is the final vision for God’s Kingdom.  Peace.  Shalom.  Well being for every person.

Let me give you a little historical context for this message.  Micah is living in a time where a civil war has splitIsraelbetween a northern kingdom, calledIsrael, and a southern kingdom calledJudah. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, has attacked the southern kingdom,Judah’s capital,Jerusalem.  In order to fend off Samaria, Judah allies itself with the bigger empire, Assyria but must pay huge tributes for this protection.  Kinda like a mafia protection plan.  This alliance led toJudahworshiping other Assyrian gods.  Assyria comes down and takes on a three-year siege of Samaria that ends with its sack in 722 BC.  But then Assyria turns against the southern kingdom too and siegesJerusalem.  In the midst of this siege, something miraculous happens andAssyriais put in disarray and backs out of the siege. Jerusalemis safe for the time being.  But Micah lives 25 miles southwest ofJerusalemand has something to say about all this war: one day God will take all these weapons of war and turn them into instruments of peace.  God’s final vision for humanity is peace.

Over the years, faithful Christians have disagreed on whether war is ever acceptable.  I don’t take a black and white stance on this issue, but I tend toward the hippie side of things: make love not war.  There are moments of seemingly God-ordained war in the OT but none of them is a vision for the future, like Micah’s vision.  I lean toward active non-violent resistance as a way of responding to evil in the world.  Whatever the case may be, Micah’s truth to power is a vision of peace.  That’s the ultimate goal of kindness.    

While we’re at it, let’s talk a little bit about kindness in politics.  Things in politics get pretty nasty pretty quick, don’t they?  Here’s some counsel on voting from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.  On October 6, 1774 he gave this counsel to his fellow Methodists:

“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them, 1. to vote without fee or reward for the person they judged most worthy, 2. to speak no evil of the person they voted against: and, 3. to take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that had voted on the other side.”  This is something we could all learn about showing kindness to those around us in the midst of this election season.

Humility
Micah is a book of contrasts.  He speaks judgment but ultimately looks for hope.  He speaks hard words to hear but ends with hope and a different kind of politics wins.  Here’s a third famous passage from Micah:

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
(Micah 5:2 NRSV)

Have you heard that one before?  When do we usually read it?  Around Christmas time when we read this New Testament passage: 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise menfrom the East came to Jerusalem…
(Matthew 2:1 NRSV)

It’s a prophesy about the messiah and the New Testament writers take it to be a prophesy about Jesus.  Immediately you see a different kind of politics beginning.  Bethlehem is a “little clan.”  Not the big powerful clan, but the little clan will produce a savior.  And of course we know the story of Christmas that Jesus is God come in the form a helpless little baby who is dependent upon those around him just like any baby is. 

Jesus ultimately sets up a different kind of politics, a different kind of kingdom: A kingdom not built by war, not built upon money, and not built upon worldly power and authority.  It is a voluntary kingdom of the heart.  That’s the kingdom we’re praying for when we pray the Lord’s Prayer: Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Join the New Politics
If you’re new here atSycamoreCreekChurch, I want to invite you to join the story of SCC, a story about a different kind of politics, a different kind of kingdom.  One that the ancient hippie, Micah, pointed to.

Today is our twelve year anniversary or birthday as a church.  This church was founded by pastor Barb Flory, who while not an “ancient hippie” was what I like to call a “Rebel” Grandma.  She had a vision for this church being a different kind of church.  You see, Barb was first in life an atheist.  Eventually when she became a Christian, she wanted to start a church where everyone could come and have a place to share their questions about God and about faith and about Jesus.  She wanted a community, a politics, where that kind of thing was possible, where you didn’t have to leave your true self, your true questions at the door.  She didn’t find that kind of politics at many churches, so she set about to create with God’s help that kind of a church.

Today we talk about being a countercultural community that is curious, creative, and compassionate.  We’re curious about God.  Your questions are welcome.  You don’t have to leave them at the door.  We try to approach God with a curious humility.  We might wrong so we like to listen to you no matter where you’ve come from because we think God will say something to us when we listen to you. 

We’re creative in all that we do.  We’re creative because we’re always concerned about who is being missed.  Who is being missed by the way church is usually done?  Who gets left out because they don’t like the music or the style?  Being creative is actually an expression of justice because justice is all about paying attention to who is getting left out of the community.

We’re compassionate to everyone.  Compassion literally means co-suffering.  We can’t promise that you won’t suffer any more when you begin to follow Jesus, but we can promise that you won’t suffer alone.  We’ll show you kindness.  We’ll walk alongside you.  We’ll be loving, merciful, and kind because God has been all those things first with each one of us.

As we come to this week of electing our leaders for the future, may this ancient hippie speak some truth to the powers of our day and help us live a different kind of politics here at SCC:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice [be creative in reaching out to people so that no one is left out], and to love kindness [we’re compassionate to everyone], and to walk humbly with your God [we’re curious about God and your questions are welcome right alongside ours]?
(Micah 6:8 NRSV)

Prayer
God, help us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you.  Help us to do that in the politics of our country, but even more so in the culture of our church.  May this be true of us in the name of your son Jesus Christ and in the power of your Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Mixin It Up – Mixin in Justice

February 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Mixin It Up

Mixin It Up – Mixin in Justice
Sycamore Creek Church
February 6, 2011
Tom Arthur
Amos 8:1-7

Peace, Friends!

Today we wrap up a four part sermon series called Mixin It Up. What are we mixin up?  We’re mixin up missions and small groups.  These are two things that sometimes we don’t think to put together.  Kind of like apples and cheese.  When I first saw someone put apples and cheese together to eat, I thought, “That’s disgusting.”  But then I gave it a try and was surprised at how good it tasted.  The same is often true of missions and small groups.  We keep them separate, but throughout the next two months, each small group will be meeting and doing some kind of mission project in the community.  The emphasis here is not so much on serving but on building friendships with the poor and poor in spirit.  Friendship is a give and take kind of thing.  We receive as much if not more than what we give.  And I’m not talking about just receiving the good feeling of serving.  I’m talking about the kinds of things you receive from friends.  Companionship.  Laughter.  Forgiveness.  Grace.  Salvation.

The first week we looked at a basic blueprint for how this was all going to work.  Then we looked at Jesus’ incarnation, coming in the flesh, as a model for what that friendship looks like.  Last week we looked at mission with vs. mission to.  Today we’re mixin in justice.  Missions as friendship with the poor and the poor in spirit is also about justice.  Let’s look to the book of Amos to understand how missions is an act of justice.

Amos 8:1-7 (NLT)

1 Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit. 2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.

I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.”

Then the LORD said, “This fruit represents my people of Israel — ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again. 3 In that day the riotous sounds of singing in the Temple will turn to wailing. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”

4 Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample the needy! 5 You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out your grain in false measures and weigh it out on dishonest scales. 6 And you mix the wheat you sell with chaff swept from the floor! Then you enslave poor people for a debt of one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.

7 Now the LORD has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel : “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!

 

This is God’s story for us today.  Thank you, God!

 

I love puns.  I hear the groans already.  Have you ever heard of the O. Henry Pun-Off?  It’s a contest between two people to see who can come up with the most puns about a topic.  Each person has three seconds to come up with a pun.  They go back and forth and back and forth until one can’t come up with a pun.  The winning round a few years ago was on the theme of dance and the winners came up with over 30 puns on dancing.  Here are my top ten (feel free to groan):

1.      You’re bouncing of the waltz on that.

2.      Do cows that are sick have moo-sick?

3.      If I was Canadian I’d be doing ball-eh?

4.      I’m a-ball-ed at that one.

5.      I don’t know if I con-go on.

6.      At the senior dance you need the right beverage.  It’s called a prom-enade.

7.      I’ve been working so hard I’d better put my ho-down.

8.      I’ve got to hip-hop off the stage.

9.      Dan’ce my best friend.

10.  All this talk about dancing makes me think, “I-rish dancing was part of this competition.”

Just in case that wasn’t enough, here’s one of my own:

These punsters gave us ten puns, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make us laugh. No pun in ten did.

Ughhhh….

Why all this talk about puns?  Because Amos tells a pun to get across his point about justice.  Did you catch it when we read Amos?  If not, here it is:

 

Amos 8:2 (NLT)

“What do you see, Amos?” [the LORD] asked.
I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.”
Then the LORD said, “This fruit represents my people of Israel — ripe for punishment!”

Ughhh….

It’s a little hard to translate this pun, so here’s how another translation does it:

Amos 8:2 (NIV)

“What do you see, Amos?” [the LORD] asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.”

 

That’s right.  “Ughhh” because of the pun.  But even more, “Ughhh” because of the injustice.  What’s up with this?  Isn’t God slow to anger and abounding in love?  Apparently God’s patience also runs out.

If you read Amos over the next week, which I recommend (it’s only nine chapters long), you’ll come across four visions in chapters seven and eight.  The first two show God’s patience.  God shows Amos a vision of locusts that destroy the land and crops.  Then we read, “Then I said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, please forgive your people! Unless you relent, Israel will not survive, for we are only a small nation.’ So the LORD relented and did not fulfill the vision. ‘I won’t do it,’ he said” (Amos 7:2-3, NLT).  After this vision God shows Amos a vision of fire but relents on this one two.  Then we get past God’s patience.  God shows Amos a vision of a plumb line, a line that tells you whether something is straight.  It is a line of judgment.  God then says, “I will no longer ignore all their sins.”  And lastly Amos gets this vision of ripe fruit and God says, “I will not delay their punishment again.”  If the LORD is slow to anger, it does suggest that at some point God’s patience runs out.  What is it that could possibly cause God’s patience to run out?

The answer to this question is that Israel has oppressed the poor.

God says, “Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample the needy!…Then you enslave poor people for a debt of one piece of silver or a pair of sandals. Now the LORD has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel : “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!” (Amos 8:4-7, NLT).  In other words, they have “nickel and dimed” the poor.  This theme shows up over and over again in Amos.  God says, “They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way…” (Amos 2:6-8, NRSV).  And then again, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy…” (Amos 4:1-2, NRSV).  And again, “You trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain…and push aside the needy in the gate” (Amos 5:10-12, NRSV).  Israel has neglected and even actively oppressed the poor among them.

But the wrong goes even deeper.  For it is the church people who do this!  This past week I did probably one of the most unchristian things I have done in a long time.  I went to the vigil on Monday night for the young people who died in a car accident this past Sunday.  It was a very very cold night.  I was bundled up as warmly as I could be.  It was a very moving vigil.  Somewhere over 200 youth were there to mourn and remember and pray for their fellow students.  Many of them were woefully underdressed.

After the vigil was over, I saw one of our church members, Erin Umpstead, who is a teacher at Holt High School.  As we were talking one of her students came up to her and showed her the frost bite on her hands.  She wasn’t wearing any gloves.  No hat.  She had flats on with no socks.  I was moved by Erin’s compassion for this young woman.  Erin offered her student her own coat, gloves, and hat.  She didn’t accept but she did say that she needed a ride home.  Erin had a couple of things she was still wanting to do, but she offered to give her a ride home after she had met some other teachers who were there.

The thought quickly went through my head, “I’m leaving right now.  I could give this young woman a ride home.”  The next thought that went through my head was, “Remember your training.  It’s not appropriate for a pastor to give a young woman a ride alone.  It might not look good.  It could ruin your vocation.”  You know what I did?  I didn’t even offer her a ride home.  I chose the safety of “appropriate boundaries for clergy” over the real immediate need that was there present before me, and I walked by myself to my car.  I chose purity of religious perception over love.  I kicked myself all the way home, and then I asked God to forgive me.  If I knew who the girl was, I would ask for her forgiveness too.  This is the kind of thing going on that Amos points out.  The church people, the ones who are supposed to know about God’s love, are ignoring the poor.

God says through Amos, “You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless” (Amos 8:5, NLT).  They go to “church” but then they can’t wait for it to be over so they can get back to making a buck off the poor.  God adds, “Come to Bethel — and transgress; to Gilgal — and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; bring a thank offering of leavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel! says the Lord GOD” (Amos 4:4-5, NRSV).  And again, “Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.  Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:22-24, NRSV).

This last one might sound familiar.  Martin Luther King, Jr. used that last line in his “I Have a Dream” speech.  MLK is perhaps one of the greatest examples in modern times of a Christian who stood up to injustice in a uniquely Christian manner – non-violently with the aim of retaining the possibility for friendship between blacks and whites and people of all colors.  As we watch the mostly peaceful demonstrators in Egypt, we are seeing the same call for justice played out even today.

When I was living in Durham, North Carolina, I would often stop and have lunch with Allen, a guy who “panhandled” at the highway exit to my street.  One day as we were sitting there eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and talking, a police car pulled up to us.  The policeman asked us if we had a panhandler license.  Yes you heard me right.  A panhandler license.  In Durham, you have to have a license to beg!  To get this license you must have a picture ID and pay a fee.  Then you have to wear this license around your neck along with a florescent vest.

Laws like this have been overturned as unconstitutional in many cities that have them, but in order for them to be overturned, someone with the resources and will to challenge the law must first be arrested.  The policeman told us that we would have to move along or we would be arrested.  (The issue here is not with the policeman.  He is merely doing his job of enforcing the law.)  Now I have tended to be one who steers clear of acts of civil disobedience like this, but for some reason, maybe it was because Allen had become my friend, a kind of righteous anger boiled in my veins.  I was very heavily leaning toward being arrested, if Allen wanted to, but he was not, and so we moved on, and an unjust law that criminalizes the poor continues in Durham.

On Facebook this past week, I asked about times that people have stood up for injustice.  Emily Vliek, a hospice social worker, wrote me this, and I think it is spot on:

Hey Tom-
I’ve been thinking about your post the other day asking if we have ever stood up against an injustice. I think I’ve learned a lot about this topic in my first years as a social worker, and I am by no means perfect or some ideal of standing up against injustice. I learn EVERYDAY! But I think that often “standing up against injustice” can sound like some grand gesture that only really strong or outspoken people can do. I automatically think of protests and sit-ins and MLK. While this is what he did, I think it can also be done on a daily basis in much smaller ways. Anybody can take a part in stopping injustice. I see this more as being an advocate role for others. Whether they are, “poor or poor in spirit” we can give a voice to people who have no voice or those who can’t seem to find their voice. Helping share another’s story can be a powerful way to stop injustice. In my work I try to make each of my patient’s and family’s struggles relatable so that we treat each patient as we would want to be treated. It struck me the other day that this is stopping injustice. Whether we are poor or poor in spirit we each have common experiences in our living, our dying, our parenting, etc. I feel that finding these commonalities and finding our common humanity is fighting injustice. When others don’t seem as drastically different from “us”…that can be a powerful change.

God might say to us through Amos, “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12, NRSV).

 

You might be thinking right now, “But aren’t we saved by grace through faith?” (Ephesians 2:8).  By all means, but faith does not exclude doing good.  In fact, ripe faith produces good fruit.  Consider these three ideas:

Faith without works is dead (James 2:26).

Our deeds must be consistent with repentance (Acts 26:20).

Christians bear fruit worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8).

Israel in Amos’ time has become fruitless, and God will not forgive them forever.  My own translation of the pun in Amos chapter eight goes like this:

Thus the Lord God showed me a cage of fruit,
He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I said, “A cage of fruit.”
The Lord God said to me, “My people, Israel, have become fruitless;
I will not forgive them forever.”

God has not called us to cage up our fruit.  Salvation includes bearing fruit in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.  Salvation is not just about friendship with God (justification) but also friendship with others (sanctification).  Remember Jesus’ summary of all the commandments: Love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40).  Being saved, being a Christian means changing things here and now.  We are not just souls waiting for salvation in eternity.  We are whole people with bodies and real needs that need saving right now.

What does this kind fruit of justice look like when it is ripe?  Consider these three examples: First, in the third century plague, Christians risked their lives by ministering to those sick and dying.  If they could not cure them, they would make sure that none of them died alone.  Second, I recently read about the story of Louis Zamporini, a U.S. POW in a Japanese POW camp.  The guards in his camp treated him horrifically except one.  Kawamura, one of Louis’ Japanese guards, was also a Christian.  Kawamura gave Louis extra rations, didn’t beat him, and even protected him from the violence of other guards.  Third, Archbishop Elias Chacour, an Arab Christian, runs a school in Israel for children of any religion: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism.  In this way he helps build friendships that one day may bring peace in such a conflict ridden region.

What people with what needs need to be saved here in Lansing?  That’s what Mixin It Up is all about.  Through our small groups we’ll be forming friendships with the poor and poor in spirit.  Sometimes all that we’ll be able to give is our friendship.  That in itself is an act of justice.  Sometimes we’ll be able to do more.

Thus the Lord God showed me a cage of fruit,
He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I said, “A cage of fruit.”
The Lord God said to me, “My people, Israel, have become fruitless;
I will not forgive them forever.”

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