Matthew 4:17-23 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Crowds of People

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Philippians 2:9-11 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

So read the words that the apostle Paul quotes In Philippians chapter 2 as he writes about the incarnation of the Christ.

Soren Kierkegaard, the 19th century danish philosopher and theologian, is, among so much more, well known for his insightful parables.

One such parable is titled, the parable of a king and the maiden and it goes like this:

‘Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden.

The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden.

How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his very kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist—no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind. Would she be happy at his side? How could he know?

If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross over the gulf between them.

“For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal,”

The king, convinced that he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom resolved to descend. He clothed himself as a common man, and approached her cottage with a worn coat fluttering loosely about him. It was not just a disguise, the king took on a whole new identity. He renounced the throne to declare his love, and win hers.”

It is the story of the incarnation.

God emptying Godself to become like humanity to experience humanity and to draw us into God’s love and grace.

In the emptying, he was born the way every human being has ever been. I know we focus on the miraculous story telling about angels and stars and strangers from afar, but the point of the story is that Jesus is born in basically the same way all of us are born~ through grit and grime, struggle and pain.

In the emptying, he was brought up in a small, rural community far away from the major religious or cultural centers. Raised in poverty, like the rest of his community, the child of peasants. There was not a grand palace or the trappings of grandeur.

A Teacher, A preacher, A story teller, A prophet.

A friend. A role model.

A healer. A miracle worker. A sage.

An inviter. An accepter. An includer.

A protector. A Comforter.

A voice of calm. A voice of advocacy. A voice of truth.

A justice proclaimer. A community organizer.

Arrested. Tortured. Shamed. Killed.

It is the story of the King who loved so much that to give up what he was was ok, because it just might bring others to see the truth.

The truth is that love wins.

And there is a next chapter to the story of the incarnation.

Back to Paul in Philippians,

“Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Now exalted, lifted up.

But in the exaltation of Christ there is a asterisk.

Christ is exalted not because of divinity.

Christ is exalted not because of power.

Christ is exalted not because of authority.

Christ is exalted not because of sovereignty.

Christ is exalted not because he won.

Christ is exalted precisely because Christ emptied himself. And in the emptying, he invited us to embrace his way and participate in the new thing he is creating.

The great line that we like to quote, almost in a boast, almost to say, our religion is the best, that it wins, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” is not about victory, or about power, or about sovereignty. Rather, every knee shall bow is in humble response to the humble emptying of the Christ, the coming of Christ.

We believe that the kingdom of God, inaugurated by and ushered in by Jesus Christ is growing around us and as we embrace love over hate, kindness over power, mercy over judgement, inclusion over exclusion that kingdom grows and grows as humanity recognizes the love and grace that surrounds us. In response to that love and grace, our natural response is to acknowledge the One who displayed it in our midst- the exalted One, the one who had emptied himself of divinity’s privilege to embrace us in our humanness is now Lord of life.

Amen.

Galatians 4:4-7 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba![b] Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Exodus 3:2-5 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Philippians 2:5-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

It seems that the early church was a singing church. Caring, loving, giving,striving

Paul admonishes his readers in Ephesus, “as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, sing and make melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 5:19-20

I sure wish we had a hymnal from the first century, or a songbook that had all the new songs that were being written by inspired folks in the early church, But alas, we don’t. We don’t even have a book of Psalms in the New Testament.

You might think that we have no examples of the hymns and spiritual songs that were used by these early congregations as they met to worship.

But we do.

There are lyrics and portions of songs that have been incorporated in the New Testament writings. While we don’t have a hymn book, we get a glimpse of the songs that early believers of Jesus would use in their worship.

Scholars identify at least 11 places in the New Testament where songs and hymns are quoted. Apart from that, the book of Revelation contains a plethora of song sheets. The 11 places in the New Testament that are likely to be from the first century version of CCLI include Mary’s song of Adoration in Luke, the prologue in John, the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, the Christological masterpiece of Colossians 1 and the powerful passage we read today from Philippians 2.

“Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings. When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him a name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:6-11

That is some impressive songwriting. The lyrics tell the story of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. The story begins in the way-out-there where God is God and God makes the decision to allow God’s unity to be somehow be disrupted so that God could show up as a human being. And as a human, experiencing life as a person, Christ, God in the flesh, lived in such a way that brought glory to the idea of a loving God and resulted in the sacrificial death of God in the flesh as an act of loving obedience to all God is. As a result of Christ’s action, the unity of God, and the unity of God and humanity cemented as Jesus Christ is understood and worshiped as Lord of all.

In the first century culture where the phrase, “Caesar is Lord” is the oft repeated mantra of the masses, the assertion that Jesus is Lord is a statement that reminds its hearers that Jesus is the ultimate King in a Kingdom where love, grace, kindness and inclusion are the law of the land.

Great stuff. And in the parsing of the creative words used to create this lyrical masterpiece is one particular verb that grabs our attention and forces us to understand the incarnation as the ultimate act of love and grace.

“He emptied himself.” Empty, what a strange verb. A perfectly fine noun but an odd verb. The greek word κενοω, means to empty, to negate, to lose power.

The verb isn’t used very often, in Greek or in English.

We say, its my turn to empty the trash,

Or we say, did you empty the dish washer

Or, I emptied my bank account,

When the bases are full and a batter hits a home run, we say he emptied the bases.

Can you think of other ways we use the verb empty?

It is not a oft used verb.

Another way we use the word empty is in meditation. We use the phrase “empty your mind,” as an encouragement to let go of thoughts and concerns that limit you in your desire for inner peace. It is said that as when we empty our minds, we allow ourselves to truly be present.

What is it that God is emptying and why?

The scripture just says “self.” Christ, the word, who was with God and who was God, emptied himself. Of what?

Of Divinity?

Of Divine privilege?

Of Divine Status?

Of power and authority?

The Message Bible tries to help as the passage is translated thusly,

“Christ Jesus had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human.”

Whatever the phrase, “emptied self,” means, the end result is that God was enfleshed and lived with us.

Perhaps the emptying was necessary so that God could be present, truly present, in our lives and in the messed up world into which God came.

If you remember from last weeks sermon, in John 1:14, “the Word became flesh,” the phrase literally means, “The Word pitched his tent among us.” In other words, the Word, who was with God and who was God, took up temporary residence on our block, to experience the life we live and to model a better way, a way of unconditional love and radical grace, to usher in a new Kingdom not based in political or financial power, but based in the empowering movement of God’s spirit in our midst.

The end result of the emptying, and the life lived and the death inflicted, is that that kingdom is a growing reality. As we treat others kindly, as we forgive, as we are merciful, as we partner with the dispossessed, as we do unto the least of these, as we practice generosity, as we care, as we include, as we go and do likewise, the kingdom grows.

And in the kingdom, the act of emptying seems to the beginning of a new and better understanding of God and a deeper connection to our neighbor.

Amen.

John 1: 1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

----

Any campers in the room?

I’ve been a tent camper since I was a teenager when I started going to music festivals. Sleeping in tents near the stage was part of the experience.

Tents were a given as I discovered the joy of backpacking in college.

Judi and I and our kids have traveled across the country camping along the way. Tents have served as our hotel rooms from Erie, Pennsylvania to Mount Airy, North Carolina to Kissimmee, Florida to The edge of the Grand Canyon to the Black Hills of South Dakota, to the shores of Lake Michigan, to Hamilton, Canada and lots of places in between.

Never have I slept in a camper or an RV. It is always been a tent.

Pitching a tent is simple.

First, you find the flattest area you can. Second, you lay down that large brown tarp that stays in the back of your car (unless you’re backpacking, then you go tarpless.)

Next you lay out your tent, positioning the opening in the direction you desire. Then you stretch the corners of the tent and drive in the pegs. Now it is time to erect your temporary home. We have had several multi-room tents which are sometimes complicated to set up. For backpacking, I used a single person tent which was ready to use in seconds. Right now at home, in our tent box, we have two or three dome tents which set up nicely, without too much hassle. When your tent is standing, you can unzip the zipper, throw in your sleeping bag and your backpack. Ta-dah, an instantly temporary home.

One very cool thing about tent camping is that it provides different and unique stimuli for all your senses.

You experience smell in new ways when you hang out in tents.

The smell of skunks scampering around your tent in the middle of the night is a smell that is impossible to ignore. After all, it is simply a piece of cloth between you and that odious spray.

Waking up to the smell of bacon as it is being fried over an open fire is truly magnificent.

It seems as if you can smell the rain from inside a tent before it actually begins to fall.

When you camp on what used to be a hog farm, especially if the sun is hot and the breeze is blowing, you smell that from which you wish to escape but cannot.

You hear things that you don’t always hear when you are hanging out in tents.

Camping in a Safari campground in Canada allowed us to hear, throughout the night, and at what seemed to be mere feet from our tent, the roars of lions and the trumpeting of elephants.

When you camp at music festivals, you fall asleep to music wafting from a stage nearby and wake up to your next door tent neighbor strumming her guitar.

After smelling the rain before it falls, you hear it as it pings against the sides of your tent. On one level, it is soothing and peaceful, but if the intensity increases, the sound becomes louder and more ominous.

In the stillness of the woods, as you lie in your sleeping bag, you can hear the swooshing of a nearby creek, the sound of tree frogs and cicadas, the curious sound of something rummaging around your tent in the middle of the night. Is that a bear? Or is it just a cow because you have pitched your tent in a pasture.

The sights you see from the tent can be amazing.

From the dancing of the fire to the deer standing in the clearing, from the rainbow to the sunset, it is glorious.

The Grand Canyon, always phenomenal. looks grander from the tent flap. The view from the mountain top is framed beautifully through the tent door.

If the rain falls just so, you can begin to see water bead up on the inside of your tent. This is not a sign of good things to come.

Your sense of touch is heightened in the tent.

In the middle of the night, when a strange sound stirs you, your hand stretches toward that space by you sleeping bag where the flash light is alway present. You wrap you hand around the cylinder and turn on the light hoping to shoo away whatever is in the darkness.

When the rain is overwhelming, you can actually feel the dampness on the floor of the tent, and occasionally touch a puddle that is forming from the pounding rain. We once discovered three inches of dampness in our tent after a massive storm.

There is one sense left. Your taste is heightened when you camp.

There are hikers who can make incredible meals on a butane stove. I am not one of them. My usual supper while backpacking was Mac and cheese. And honestly, sometimes I was just too tired to stir in the powdered cheese.

The taste of peanuts and m&ms and raisins is transformative when you sit in a tent reading by flashlight.

Truth is. . .Tent camping is a great way to encounter creation, to witness life at work to see things differently.

Tent camping allows you to experience life differently, to stimulate the senses in new ways.

Tent camping allows you to see with a altered perspective.

Tent camping allows you to understand things from a different point of view.

Just a few minutes ago, Brooke and Carey read John 1:1-4. And as cool as those verses are, the real zinger comes in verse 14. As it is translated in the New Revised Standard Version, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”

What is interesting to me is the meaning of the Greek verb that is translated “lived among us.” The literal meaning of the word σκηνοω, used only here in the New Testament, is “pitch a tent,” or “encamp.”

Now, why does one go tent camping? To experience life differently.

And Jesus pitched his tent among us.

Usually, when we speak of the incarnation of Jesus we speak in terms of what Jesus came to do for us. Which is all well and good.

But could it be that at least part of the reason for the incarnation is so that God, through entering humanity, might experience what it is to be human, with all its pitfalls and struggles. Could it be, that, in order to truly walk alongside us, to comfort us and guide us, that God chose to be like us, at least for a bit. Might it be possible, that for God, through Jesus, in order to show us how to live and love, chooses to join with us in overcoming the obstacles that separate us from love, from each other, from God.

Might the incarnation actually be kind of like camping out for the divine, discovering what it is like out there, in a world that is pretty messy.

Eugene Peterson once wrote about followers of Jesus, “Getting to know the neighborhood, the narture and conditions of the neighborhood, is fundamental to living to the glory of God.”

Is it possible that the incarnation is God’s way of getting to know our neighborhood?

Perhaps the incarnation is God getting up close and personal with God’s creation. To smell it. To hear it. To see it. To touch it. To taste it. All so that you and I might find hope and comfort and direction through Jesus, who has experienced life as we have.

For the word became flesh and lived among us.

Amen.

Isaiah 9:6-7 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

For a child has been born for us,

a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually,

and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time onward and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

The prophet Isaiah describes a day when all is right with the world-

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

and a child shall lead them.

Greta Thunberg, a young woman from Sweden, was overwhelmed as she learned about Climate Change and committed to do something about it.

In August, 2018, Greta began missing some school days, usually Fridays, as she would stand in front of the Swedish Parliament building holding a sign which read in Swedish- “School Strike for the climate.”

She stood alone most days protesting.

Social Media posts on Instagram and twitter and YouTube soon went viral and before long large numbers of young people around the world were joining in the protest to save the planet.

In September of this year, one year after Greta began protesting by herself, somewhere around 7 million people (many of them students) held climate strikes in 4500 locations (including St. Louis) in 150 countries.

It all started with a young woman, all of 15 years old, who stood tall, and alone, to let her voice be heard.

And a child shall lead them.

In many places around the world, the male patriarchy is afraid of letting girls and young women attend school.

And yet, in many of these places, even as they face reprisals, young women courageously break tradition (and sometimes law) to seek an education.

One such girl, a 14 year old name Malala attended school and spoke out for the rights of women to get an education.

As the oppressors continued to rant and rave and threaten violence against female students, Malala and her friends continued to go to school.

Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman taking an exam at her school.

The vicious event garnered world wide attention and focused a spotlight on the struggle women experience in all parts of our world. Malala became an international hero and the cowardly actions of her would be assassin were condemned.

Miraculously, Malala survived. She has become a ongoing force in the struggle for women’s education rights. She became the youngest recipient ever of the Nobel Peace Prize.

While inequality in education still persists, more and more opportunities are possible because a 14 year old girl refused to step back.

And a child shall lead them.

Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, was 22 years old when he was savagely beaten, tortured and left to die because he was gay.

The unspeakable tragedy of his death in 1998 lead many to reassess their own notions about gay people, and for many, Matthew’s death became a transformative event as irrational fear became tolerance and tolerance became acceptance. People were forced to examine their own irrational prejudices, and attitudes changed.

The overwhelming outpouring caused by this senseless brutality, paved the way for the passing of federal hate crime legislation several years later.

Personally, Matthew Shepard’s death was an eye opener for me as the father of a gay son and the pastor a mid-western church. As I listened to evangelical leaders respond to Matthew’s death, I was stunned by how hollow their sorrow sounded as they mixed in lots of homophobic rhetoric with their statements of concern.

It was a real ah-ha, oh my moment for me as I realized that these church leaders with their veiled hate speech did not represent me and my personal understanding of grace and love and acceptance.

The death of Matthew Shepard opened a lot of eyes,

And a child shall lead them.

Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13 after contracting the disease through a blood transfusion. Under pressure from parents, who bought into the misconceptions and myths of the day, and who ignored the doctors assurance that he posed no risk to other students, Ryan was expelled from his middle school in Kokomo, Indiana.

His parents sued the school and the resulting legal battle propelled Ryan’s case onto the front pages and he became a national celebrity and spokesperson for AIDS research and his right to attend school.

Ryan White became a voice to and for so many young people with the then fatal disease. His story helped change the national conversation about AIDs.

And a child shall lead them.

Anne Frank was a 12 year old Jewish girl who, along with her family, went into hiding as Nazis invaded the Netherlands.

Anne and her family hid in the attic of a small business for 2 years.

Anne kept a personal diary. The diary gives an incredible first hand account of life for this Jewish family during Nazi occupation.

The family was eventually arrested and Anne died in a concentration camp in Germany. Her story, the published diary, has been read by millions of school children as it has been published in 70 different languages. The Diary has helped

teach generations about the atrocity of hate.

Because a 12 year old child wrote it down.

And a child shall lead them.

The Hebrew Prophet Isaiah wrote of a child who would lead.

“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.”

From its earliest days, the Jesus movement Jesus looked back to this scripture as foundational in understanding the mission and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

Wonderful

Counselor,

Everlasting,

Loving parent,

Prince of peace.

The Ruler of a Kingdom.

Where justice

And goodness reign.

While Christians have long seen these verses in Isaiah referring to Jesus, it is

Intriguing to me, that the gospels and the New Testament actually focus little on the childhood of Jesus. There are the two birth stories in Matthew and Luke and one episode in Luke about Jesus as a 12 year old. There are No other references to Jesus the child.

Now, Some of the extra-biblical stories tell some fascinating tales about the child Jesus - about the idols in Egypt falling before him as he passed by, or the live birds he made out of clay that flew away, of the dead fish he breathed life into, or the man who fell off the roof who he resurrected, or the kid who dies after Jesus curses him, and then comes back to life at the command of Jesus.

But in the Scripture, not much about the childhood Jesus. It is as if what matters to the gospel writers is not Jesus’ childhood, but the fact that Jesus was born- in the natural, mom gets pregnant, carries a baby for nine months and goes into labor kind of way,

And that makes sense because it is Jesus’ birth that signals something profound.

His childhood is his childhood and I would love to know more about it., but it is in the birth itself that divine profoundness is on display.

God has taken human form.

God has somehow expelled divinity and embraced humanity.

God now has a human face.

God is en-fleshed.

And it is the en-fleshed God, the one we call Jesus who teaches us how to live, and how to love, and how to care, and how to commune with God.

While the gospel writer John doesn’t give us a birth narrative per se, he does give us a theological encapsulation of what this child’s birth means.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word, when birth happened, became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen the glory, the glory as of a father’s only uios, full of grace and truth.”

And that child still leads us.

Amen.

Romans 12:1-2 (New Revised Standard Version)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (NRSV)

Warning against Idleness

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Sitting on the beach sounds like a good idea. As long as the sun is shining and the air is warm. After the temperatures this past week, some beach time sounds like a really cool plan.

It is the second half of the first century. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection happened years ago-maybe 35 or 40 years.

One common belief among most followers of Jesus in the second half of the first century is that Jesus would soon be returning- a second coming, the παρουσία. As you read the letters in the New Testament, as you read the interpretive narratives of the Gospels, you become acutely aware that these early followers believed, with all their hearts, that Jesus will return soon and very soon.

The members of the church in Thessalonica fit very much into the thinking of the second half of the first century. They are convinced that Jesus is returning soon.

And one of the results of that understanding is that a segment of the church has become obsessed with the idea of the eminent return of Christ.

And this obsession is a problem. And has been since these folks first believed.

If you think that Jesus is returning any minute, you don’t need a job or steady income, you just need to be ready.

Unfortunately, this segment of the church obsessed with Jesus’ return, left their jobs and their responsibilities and headed to the beach. Thessalonica sits on the water’s edge so the beach is close by.

This actually has been going on awhile, and was addressed by the writer when he was with them earlier.

At the beach, they wait.

At the beach, they pool their resources.

At the they have campfires and sing-alongs.

At the beach, They worship and pray and stare at beautiful sunsets each evening hoping that the evening sky will, at any minute, split apart as Jesus in his glory, will break through the clouds, and set up the Kingdom.

This group of people live on the beach,

they share each other’s food, and when the food runs out they buy more.

Until one day, another day on which Jesus doesn’t return, they run out of both food and the resources to acquire more food.

They soon get hungry but are still believing that Jesus will be returning at any moment and they don’t want to absent from the beach when he comes back.

So, Other members of the Thessalonican church, folks who didn’t go to the beach to wait for Jesus, out of compassion, give the beach waiters money and food to get by.

And the beach waiters continue to wait, and Jesus doesn’t come, and they get hungrier and hungrier and take more and more from the church folks. Money and resources the church would be using to help the poor and dispossessed of their community is instead going to the beach waiters.

But the beach waiters didn’t feel particularly bad about the assistance they were getting, after all, they are being faithful in waiting for Jesus to return. They feel as if they are the wise bridesmaids in Jesus’ parable from Matthew 25. Faithful and wise- that’s how they see themselves.

Folks from the church grow a weary of giving them their hard earned money and food so that the beach waiters they can sit in the sand, sing their worship songs, and gaze at the waves, while others in the community are dealing with dire issues of poverty and hunger.

The leaders of the church ask Paul, or whoever the writer of Second Thessalonians is, what they are supposed to do about this ongoing problem, these brothers and sisters, the beach waiters, who are full of faith and hungry for Jesus’ return. But... are clearly a burden and a nuisance.

And so, the the writer of this letter addresses this particular problem in the section read by Jay and Carey this morning.

His advice sounds a tad harsh, and one of the most misused, out of context lines of the entire scripture is in this section.

The hard reality is that the beach waiters are costing everybody in the church as church members sacrificially give to support these faithful, but foolish folks, who sit on the beach and wait. And while they are being supported, the truly needy are being left behind.

The letter writer’s advice is “don’t let them take advantage of you.” The writer looks back at the time when the church was founded. The founders refused help as they worked and supported themselves while they were with establishing a beautiful congregation in Thessalonica.

And then the writer writes the famous (or infamous) line, “anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” Unfortunately this line has been used by many over the years to deny the idea of assisting the down and out. It has been part of the argument against societal safety nets intended to protect those who find themselves under resourced or in a jam. These words have been used to deny the benevolent reality that is so significant to Jesus’ teachings. These words have been used to distinguish them from us as we diminish them for their laziness and slothfulness.

And these words are often used completely out of context.

The Bible is actually very clear that we have responsibility to the poor, to the hurting, to the stranger, to the outcast.

The Bible calls us, commands us, demands us to care for other.

The Torah is specific about how society should care for the downtrodden and the stranger. The prophets reserve some of their harshest judgments for those who ignore the plight of the poor. Jesus tells us that when we ignore the least of these, we are ignoring him. James will say true religion is caring for the widows and the orphans. Jesus will say, on more than one occasion to more than one person, “go, sell your stuff and give to the poor.

The Thessalonian author writes this line, “those who don’t work, don’t eat,” addressing a particular situation in a particular place. Those who had decided to allow their obsession with Jesus’ return to affect everything else in their lives needed a shock back to reality, supporting them did not help them.

The writer is not telling the Thessalonians to stop caring for the poor, nor is the writer telling The beach waiters to stop believing that Jesus might return any moment, but what the writer is saying is that, up until its over, there is work to do. And there is no time for idleness.

You see, the biblical understanding of waiting is that waiting is an active process. And so waiting on Jesus is not the problem, the problem is forgetting to continue to live out the life of faith while waiting.

And so the writer writes “Brothers and sisters, do not weary in doing what is right.” You don’t just wait, you do. And you do what is right.

And what is right?

Loving one another is right.

Caring for the down and out.

Taking care of your family, your responsibilities, your neighbor.

Serving the Lord in every moment, in every situation.

An interesting fact about the Christian life, as it is described throughout the New Testament, is that there is not a time when it is time to stop, to quit, to let someone else. We are always in the process of growing and serving and doing. In different junctures in our lives, obviously, how we serve may look differently than at other times, but we still are on the clock, serving and caring.

It is said that one day St. Francis was hoeing his garden when a neighbor walked by. The neighbor asked Francis a question.

Francis looked up from his weeding as the neighbor talked. “Francis,” the neighbor asked, “What if you learned that today is the day you die, the last day of your life, what would you do?”

Francis thought about the question for a moment, and said, “I would finish hoeing my garden,” and he went back to work.

It is one of the very simple secrets of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We are always active, always serving, always making a difference, wherever and whenever we can. We keep hoeing the garden, even if we are convinced that Jesus is coming back this evening.

Amen.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits[b] for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

The author of the Thessalonican letter encourages the faithful, “brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us.”

Traditions.

We are entering the season of traditions-Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, Hanukkah, Bodhi Day, Kwanza, Watch Night and many others. Most of us, depending on our families, have various traditions we observe over the holidays.

Specifically, many families have unique Thanksgiving traditions that they strive to adhere to year after year. I’m kind of curious, does your family have any particular traditions that are unique to your family?

In my family, one of the traditions at Thanksgiving is noodles. Over the years we have had turkey, tofurkey, vegan. regardless, we have always had noodles. I didn’t realize that not everybody has noodles at Thanksgiving until I was an adult.

But on our thanksgiving table, there will always be a big bowl of noodles. A glob of mashed potatoes in the middle of the plate smothered with noodles makes a sweet center piece of the Thanksgiving plate.

What about you- any unique traditions?

In church life, traditions are really important. They help keep us grounded. They help us remember. They help us practice who we are.

Of course, traditions can also be silly and out of touch. It is important not to do something just because we always do it that way. There must be value and meaning for a tradition to be helpful.

At Second Baptist Church, we have a handful of traditions which are important to us. Ideals and practices that have been around a long time, some since the beginning, that help define who we are.

We have long had the tradition of freedom and openness.

Embracing the historic Baptist doctrines of soul liberty and priesthood of the believer, we have always encouraged folks to think for themselves, to ask hard questions, to challenge pastors’ and teachers’ points of view, to strive to understand.

We have a tradition of being a diverse and multicultural church. Though we trace our beginnings back to 1833, we were actually a part of the very first Baptist congregation in St. Louis in 1818. The congregation was made up of white folks of European dissent, free Africans and slaves. Diversity was imperative to the original vision of John Mason Peck.

Prominent in that congregation were Mary and John Berry Meachum. John was a Pastor. Mary was an essential part of the St. Louis underground railroad helping slaves cross from Missouri to Illinois via the Mississippi River. Mary is memorialized by the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing down at the river. Who has been there? It is very cool.

The original congregation, with its multi-ethnic membership has set a pattern for this church throughout its history.

Another of our traditions is a profound respect and love for the Scripture.

Perhaps you have heard the old saying,

“The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” I think I had a button with that saying printed on it pinned to my backpack when I was a Junior in High School.

While this saying may be popular among many church folks, it does not reflect what we mean when we say we have a profound respect for Scripture.

We respect the Scripture enough to refuse to turn it into a simple answer book that supplies benign answers to the big questions.

At Second Baptist Church, we might say the bible says this or that, and We have interpreted it thusly. And perhaps we have interpreted correctly and perhaps incorrectly and so the best thing We can do is listen and learn as We interact with others as they share what they believe about this or that.

Or we might say that the Bible says this thing, but it is impossible for us to understand it fully without understanding its context, history and linguistic elements. Therefore to be a good student of scripture means that we are always learning and striving, never settling. And as we learn, some of our interpretations of scripture just might change, and we consider that to be spiritual growth.

Or we might say that the Bible says this or that, but we understand the Scripture from a Christ-centric point of view and therefore we interpret the scripture based on who Jesus is and what Jesus said. Therefore, to understand the scripture is to understand it in the context of Jesus’ love and grace.

Still another of our great traditions is that we have always cared about our community. From the very beginning, Second Baptist Church has been a leader in community ministry from establishing orphanages, working for Justice for the under resourced, and establishing churches in our expanding community. Out in the Narthex is a framed document listing 19 churches founded by Second Baptist Church.

Yet another of our great traditions is our desire to cooperate with other churches and to work with other religious groups and community organizations.

Our close and unique relationship with a Jewish synagogue led to our being kicked out of the state denominational organization at one point.

We choose to believe that we should celebrate truth and beauty wherever they are found. And so we stand with all those seek truth, justice and mercy through the practice of kindness and grace.

And we realize we have much to learn from others who have traveled a different path than us.

And all these traditions settle under the umbrella of the greatest tradition of Second Baptist Church and that is the tradition of love. We say it all the time, One of this church’s greatest assets is its heart.

Love for God

Love for each other

Love for our creation

Love for our neighbor

Love for the stranger

Love for the hurting and left behind.

60 years ago, Pastor Leon Robinson, wrote a piece intended to give voice to the traditions that define our church.

‘The Second Baptist Church stands for freedom of the individual in all matters of faith and practice of religion. Such a belief and such a spirit is a challenge to live with all one's powers and creativeness in fulfilling God's purpose.

Tradition is worthless if it does not give strength and vision for the present and hope for the future. The tradition of freedom in this Church is truly a spirit which has been passed on to our generation. It is the very atmosphere of our Church, the refreshing air we breathe.

Belief in freedom means that we believe in one another; it means we place the highest value in people, and the individuality of people; it means that we believe that life's highest experience is the experience of a person with God through Jesus Christ, and that no person shall be limited or thwarted in this experience but encouraged and strengthened.

In this Church, therefore, it is not agreement that we seek, but truth, vision and friendship in order to build the bonds of unity for service to God. Freedom to believe does not mean that we are without belief or believe in less, but rather it is a challenge to believe more; and with fervor to search out the infinite possibilities for the enrichment of our faith.

With our heritage which has given us beautiful buildings and fine facilities, there has been the constant temptation to place our hope in things and numbers. We are too often dependent on attendance records and financial reports. But basically our hope is not in numbers or in things, but rather in a quality of life expressed through individuals and groups working with thoroughness in the achievement of the purposes of Christ.

The pioneering spirit has led us to reach out continually into new areas to anticipate and meet the needs of people. But variety and novelty are never our aim, and our goals must never be dimmed with a multitude of activities. Our goals are

A deepening of our individual devotion to God;

the development of a closer friendship between all our members;

the extension of the ways of cooperation with other religious groups;

and the building of a greater awareness of human need at home and throughout the world.

All this with the fervent hope that God will use us for God’s purposes through Second Baptist Church.”

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught.”

Amen.