Jeremiah 31:31-34: "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God; and they will be my people.'
I have never been any good at things like singing or playing a musical instrument or playing a sport beyond the sort of 8th grade level. Part of it is a lack of talent. But that's just part of it.
Another part of it is an unwillingness to practice, to go over and over the basic, rudimentary motions of any particular activity enough to get good at it. There were a couple of exceptions.
I could shoot a fairly consistent jump-shot in basketball and I became a pretty good contact hitter in baseball. But I was not a good player. I wouldn't work at it.
The same thing with singing. I had no natural talent or ear, but I could have learned to be more than adequate, but I wouldn't put in the dull, repetitous time necessary. Same thing for the guitar I bought and the piano lessons I signed up for.
I have been thinking about how it is that covenants get written on people's hearts and it seems to me that developing a right relationship with God and neighbour; learning to live life by Jesus' Great Commandments (e.g. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbour as yourself.) is a lot like learning to play baseball or to sing; it's a matter of staying with the basics until they become a part of who you are.
One of the goals in sport is to make the regular activities such second nature that you quit thinking and just do it. To do that takes "practice." Which, it seems to me, might be why we talk about "practicing our religion." Could it be that covenants get written on our hearts through practicing the "unnatural acts" of unselfish and unconditional love toward others until they become second nature; i.e. are written on our hearts?
Hebrews 5:5-10 - In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him, and he was heard . . . ."What? He was heard? What do you mean "He was heard?" He was crucified wasn't he? He still got executed, didn't he? In what sense was his prayer heard?
When I was about 12, I was a Boy Scout. We met at the Community Building across the road from the Elementary School. Just down the road was the medical clinic. As often happens in a small place, one person wore many hats. Dr. Tulledge was the doctor at the Rural Clinic. He was also our Scoutmaster. And he was a lay preacher at the Presbyterian Church.
One night at Scouts we ran a race in the school parking lot. I fell, skidded on the asphalt and gravel and lodged a small pebble under the skin of my forehead. Dr. Tulledge left the troop under the care of some of the Dads and he and my Daddy took me down the road to the clinic to tend to my wound.
The Dr. was a good man and an adequate doctor, but he didn't have much of a bedside manner. He came at me with a huge needle to numb my forehead. When I squirmed, he threw one giant leg over my mid-section and held my arms down with his left arm. I looked at Daddy and started crying and yelling, DADDY, DADDY, DADDY, don't let him hurt me PLEASE Daddy.
DADY! DADDY! DADDY!
The Dr. inserted the needle while holding me down and then proceeded to grope around in my forehead with a pair of tweezers trying to get that little rock. It really, really hurt. I continued to cry and beg Daddy to make him stop. And just as I felt the rock move and then come out I saw my Daddy squeeze my jacket in his hands and let a tear slip slowly from his eye. It was the only time I remember seeing my Daddy cry.
DADDY! DADDY! DADDY! I was heard. And I was denied.
Jesus was heard. And he was denied. And "he learned obedience through what he suffered and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
GOSPEL LESSON: John 12:20-33 "Sir we wish to see Jesus."
Afew years ago, they made a movie out of John Irving's novel "The Cider House Rules". It was set in an orphanage in Maine right after WWII. When the film was nominated for an Oscar, USA Today ran a story about the Connie Maxwell Home in Greenwood SC to see how orphanages had changed in half a century.
The Connie Maxwell home is run by the Baptists of South Carolina, and like most former orphanages now, deals mostly with children who have been removed from their homes and are awaiting foster care. The Administrator says she keeps a file of cute things the kids say, as overheard and written down by the house parents. She reads in this file to lift her spirits when she's had a bad day.
My favorite goes like this. "Germs, germs germs. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. That's all I hear about in this place, and I ain't never seen either one of them"
Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Ain't it the truth.
Peace,
Delmo
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Lent 4: RCL Texts for March 26, 2006
TITLE: Lift High the Cross
TEXTS: Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
A few years ago the SE Synod of the ELCA had its annual Synod Assembly in Nashville. At the time I was pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church there and was on the “host” conference committee making arrangements for the meeting. My particular task was getting “gifts for the visiting “dignitaries”, i.e. the Bishop, The Lutheran Bishop of Singapore and Dr. Adie Butler, the head lay-person in the ELCA. At the committee meeting, I observed jokingly that this was going to be harder than it seemed, because I needed to buy gifts that were both tasteful AND reflective of Nashville culture. The chair of the committee remarked that I had, indeed been given an OXYMORONIC task.
I like that word oxymoron. It means expressing two contradictory things at the same time; like bittersweet or military intelligence or, some would say, Lutheran Humor. I have often thought that having a good grasp of the concept of an oxymoron is vital to understanding Christian Theology.
Is God oxymoronic? Does God express truths which are mutually contradictory?
As we read the Bible, we can find evidence for two quite different, even contradictory, pictures of God.
1) the first – Harsh, Judgmental, Strict, a god of law and punishment, of revenge and retribution, a god who keeps a careful tally of our sins and metes out appropriate penalties.
2) The second – Gentle, loving, forgiving, indulgent. A god who loves us with a prodigal, spendthrift love.
Each and every one of us has a mental picture of God, a picture shaped in part by the Biblical stories we have heard.
As we grow older, we begin to realize the contradictory, the oxymoronic nature of these stories and pictures.
And we begin to wonder, which is it? What is God really like?
Is God like the strait-lazed, self-righteous Commandant of a Military Academy, all rules and regulations and carefully calculated systems of demerits?
Or is God like your favorite Grandmother, all warm hugs and twinkly eyes, fresh-baked sugar cookies and a sympathetic ear?
Our lesson from Ephesians begins But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us . . . .reflecting the sweet, loving God.
But, just before that, in verse 3, Paul says we were by nature, children of wrath. Wrath as in the wrath of God, Wrath which would condemn us all to Hell.
Our Gospel lesson contains everybody’s favorite memory verse, For God so loved the world that he gave his only beloved Son . . . . a message of love and forgiveness.
But it also contains these words, words of judgment and wrath: Those who do not believe are condemned and . .
And this is the judgment, . . .people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
The puzzle, the contradiction, the oxymoron, remains, weaving in and out of every story, sometimes every sentence of the Bible.
Take our Old Testament Reading. Let’s look at this strange story of Moses and the Bronze Serpent verse by verse. Notice how the “pictures”, the “images” of God alternate throughout:
1 – the People are in the Wilderness, having been liberated from slavery in Egypt:
PICTURE: God the Loving
2 – the Children of Israel complain and get impatient and start whining. (vs.4-5) God gets mad and sends fiery serpents that bite and kill (vs. 6).
PICTURE: God the Vengeful
3 – the people repent and ask for forgiveness (vs. 7) and God shows them mercy, provides a way of salvation, The bronze serpent of a pole:
PICTURE: God the Loving
In our Gospel lesson, this strange story of Moses and the Bronze Serpent is lifted up as a picture, an image of what Jesus the Christ is for us, Jesus the Fiery Serpent of God !
Jesus comes, first of all, as the judgment and wrath of God, pointing out and condemning the world’s sinfulness.
Jesus, far from being meek and mild, was often quite angry about sin, was often judgmental and harsh towards people he met. Just remember last week’s Gospel lesson about driving the money-changers out of the temple. Jesus was many things, but meek and mild were not two of them.
BUT, Christ is not only our judgment, but also our salvation:
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved. . .”
The Son of man must be LIFTED UP!
The Son of Man must be CRUCIFIED!
The Son of man must DIE,
so that we may LIVE!
What a puzzle, what a contradiction, what an oxymoron,
what a mystery!
The Cross of Christ contains both God’s judgment on our sin, and God’s salvation from our sin.
Yet, God is not an oxymoron, God is amazingly consistent.
For God’s anger at our sin is the direct result of the love God has for us, his children, caught in the web of the world’s sin.
Sin pulls us down, Sin cuts us off from God and from each other, and worst of all, cuts us off from our true selves.
God’s hatred for is so great that God was willing to do anything to save us from it.
The greatest paradoxical, oxymoronic image of our faith is Christ upon the Cross. There, on the Cross, the Judgment of God AND the Love of God are revealed.
Sin is such an insidious and dangerous cancer on the soul of humanity that it must be dug out and destroyed. The Cross is radical surgery on the world’s cancer of Sin.
The mystery, the oxymoron, is that God is not only the surgeon, but in the form of Jesus the Christ, God becomes the patient for us all.
As the Scripture says, “He who knew no sin, became sin for us all . . .” going under the knife, in our place and on our behalf.
Several years ago, a young woman went into a jewelry store in a mall in Colorado Springs and asked to look at a cross. The clerk said,
Do you want a plain one, or one with a little man on it?
We cannot have the Cross without the Christ, nor can we have Christ without a Cross; it is the mysterious, oxymoronic truth which holds the story of God’s judgment and love together.
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
So must the Son of man be lifted up!
That whoever believes in him, May have eternal life. Amen.
TEXTS: Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
A few years ago the SE Synod of the ELCA had its annual Synod Assembly in Nashville. At the time I was pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church there and was on the “host” conference committee making arrangements for the meeting. My particular task was getting “gifts for the visiting “dignitaries”, i.e. the Bishop, The Lutheran Bishop of Singapore and Dr. Adie Butler, the head lay-person in the ELCA. At the committee meeting, I observed jokingly that this was going to be harder than it seemed, because I needed to buy gifts that were both tasteful AND reflective of Nashville culture. The chair of the committee remarked that I had, indeed been given an OXYMORONIC task.
I like that word oxymoron. It means expressing two contradictory things at the same time; like bittersweet or military intelligence or, some would say, Lutheran Humor. I have often thought that having a good grasp of the concept of an oxymoron is vital to understanding Christian Theology.
Is God oxymoronic? Does God express truths which are mutually contradictory?
As we read the Bible, we can find evidence for two quite different, even contradictory, pictures of God.
1) the first – Harsh, Judgmental, Strict, a god of law and punishment, of revenge and retribution, a god who keeps a careful tally of our sins and metes out appropriate penalties.
2) The second – Gentle, loving, forgiving, indulgent. A god who loves us with a prodigal, spendthrift love.
Each and every one of us has a mental picture of God, a picture shaped in part by the Biblical stories we have heard.
As we grow older, we begin to realize the contradictory, the oxymoronic nature of these stories and pictures.
And we begin to wonder, which is it? What is God really like?
Is God like the strait-lazed, self-righteous Commandant of a Military Academy, all rules and regulations and carefully calculated systems of demerits?
Or is God like your favorite Grandmother, all warm hugs and twinkly eyes, fresh-baked sugar cookies and a sympathetic ear?
Our lesson from Ephesians begins But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us . . . .reflecting the sweet, loving God.
But, just before that, in verse 3, Paul says we were by nature, children of wrath. Wrath as in the wrath of God, Wrath which would condemn us all to Hell.
Our Gospel lesson contains everybody’s favorite memory verse, For God so loved the world that he gave his only beloved Son . . . . a message of love and forgiveness.
But it also contains these words, words of judgment and wrath: Those who do not believe are condemned and . .
And this is the judgment, . . .people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
The puzzle, the contradiction, the oxymoron, remains, weaving in and out of every story, sometimes every sentence of the Bible.
Take our Old Testament Reading. Let’s look at this strange story of Moses and the Bronze Serpent verse by verse. Notice how the “pictures”, the “images” of God alternate throughout:
1 – the People are in the Wilderness, having been liberated from slavery in Egypt:
PICTURE: God the Loving
2 – the Children of Israel complain and get impatient and start whining. (vs.4-5) God gets mad and sends fiery serpents that bite and kill (vs. 6).
PICTURE: God the Vengeful
3 – the people repent and ask for forgiveness (vs. 7) and God shows them mercy, provides a way of salvation, The bronze serpent of a pole:
PICTURE: God the Loving
In our Gospel lesson, this strange story of Moses and the Bronze Serpent is lifted up as a picture, an image of what Jesus the Christ is for us, Jesus the Fiery Serpent of God !
Jesus comes, first of all, as the judgment and wrath of God, pointing out and condemning the world’s sinfulness.
Jesus, far from being meek and mild, was often quite angry about sin, was often judgmental and harsh towards people he met. Just remember last week’s Gospel lesson about driving the money-changers out of the temple. Jesus was many things, but meek and mild were not two of them.
BUT, Christ is not only our judgment, but also our salvation:
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved. . .”
The Son of man must be LIFTED UP!
The Son of Man must be CRUCIFIED!
The Son of man must DIE,
so that we may LIVE!
What a puzzle, what a contradiction, what an oxymoron,
what a mystery!
The Cross of Christ contains both God’s judgment on our sin, and God’s salvation from our sin.
Yet, God is not an oxymoron, God is amazingly consistent.
For God’s anger at our sin is the direct result of the love God has for us, his children, caught in the web of the world’s sin.
Sin pulls us down, Sin cuts us off from God and from each other, and worst of all, cuts us off from our true selves.
God’s hatred for is so great that God was willing to do anything to save us from it.
The greatest paradoxical, oxymoronic image of our faith is Christ upon the Cross. There, on the Cross, the Judgment of God AND the Love of God are revealed.
Sin is such an insidious and dangerous cancer on the soul of humanity that it must be dug out and destroyed. The Cross is radical surgery on the world’s cancer of Sin.
The mystery, the oxymoron, is that God is not only the surgeon, but in the form of Jesus the Christ, God becomes the patient for us all.
As the Scripture says, “He who knew no sin, became sin for us all . . .” going under the knife, in our place and on our behalf.
Several years ago, a young woman went into a jewelry store in a mall in Colorado Springs and asked to look at a cross. The clerk said,
Do you want a plain one, or one with a little man on it?
We cannot have the Cross without the Christ, nor can we have Christ without a Cross; it is the mysterious, oxymoronic truth which holds the story of God’s judgment and love together.
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
So must the Son of man be lifted up!
That whoever believes in him, May have eternal life. Amen.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
LENT 3: RCL texts for March 19, 2006
FIRST READING: Exodus 20:1-17: The Ten Commandments. Or is it Eleven. Or Nine. Depends on whose counting, doesn't it. Well, I was looking them over and trying to figure out which ones I hadn't broken; at least not in the STRICTEST, most LITERAL sense.
No other Gods - Nope. No Baal or Fertility Cult worship going on in the Chilton household.
No graven image - Nope. No bowing down to a man-made object that's not a God.
Not taking the Lord's Name in Vain - Nope. Well, I do have a barn-yard vocabulary but I draw the line at G-- D---.
Remember Sabbath Day - Nope. Always go to church on Sunday, seldom work.
Honor parents - Nope. Birthday cards, weekly phone calls, Christmas gifts. Done.
You shall not kill - Nope. Never even been in a fight since 7th grade.
You shall not steal - Nope. Unless you count sneaking fries off Deborah's plate when she's not looking.
You shall not bear false witness - Nope. Like Daddy said, always tell the truth. That way you don't have to remember what you said.
You shall not covet,neighbor's house, wife, slaves of his ox or his ass - Nope. Good on all of them.
Looks like I'm in the clear. Based on this record, I didn't need Jesus to die for me. I've got the being good thing covered.
On the other hand, if Other Gods means things which get more of my attention and loyalty than THE GOD, then I'm probably guilty.
And if Graven Images implies earthly things to which I have devoted a great deal of time and energy and which are the most important things in my home, well . . .
Suppose taking the Lord's name in vain means using religion for less than holy reasons, oops!
And the Sabbath could be about creating enough silence and space in my life to allow God to seep in and nurture and lead and refresh me. Oh my!
Honoring father and mother may have something to say about how I deal with those who have taken on the responsibility for leadership; have I been responsive and cooperative? Dang!
Well, I really haven't killed anyone; but I haven't prevented or protested a lot of the violence which goes on in my name, funded by my dollars.
Adultery? Well there is that Lust in the Heart thing.
You shall not steal? What was it Augustine said, anything you have more than you need is stolen from the poor. Ouch!
False Witness? I do not lie, but I can "spin" like a whirling dervish.
Okay, I still haven't coveted anybody's ass and nobody can say I did!
SECOND LESSON: I Corinthians 1:18-25 : verse 25 "For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."
The paradoxical nature of the Gospel is still very hard for most of us to grasp. Just like last week's Gospel lesson with the lose life/save life vice-versa pairings; this wisdom/foolishness thing goes against the grain of "real" life.
We think that "winning", "succeeding", is important; and the way to win, to succeed, is to be smart and strong and force one's will and to come out on top.
But we are confronted with the cross, which shows God losing, failing, looking "foolish" and weak and coming out on the bottom. And it makes no sense.
Which is why, I suppose, we so often dart immediately from the cross to the empty tomb, turning tragedy into triumph as quickly as possible. We do not wish to linger near the death of God too long; it is a frightening and lonely place which causes us great anxiety.
A couple of years ago I did a Lenten Lecture series in a moderate Baptist Church in a University town in the South. I spoke each day on different aspects of Luther's Theology of the Cross. On Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday, I preached about the Theology of the Cross and encouraged the congregation to hold on to the sadness and dismay of the cross for a few days, to linger in the mystery of the death of God for us.
A local Baptist Association official was in attendance that day, and in good Baptist tradition, the pastor asked him to give the benediction. The good reverend proceeded correct my sermon in his prayer, reminding God (and the people) that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead and we can be assured of that.
We have indeed, turned the Weakness of God into the Power of the Cross. We have to be careful here. God's weakness is strong, but it is still weakness and we must resist the temptation to turn it into another avenue or technique for success.
In a classic scene from Huck Finn, Huck embraces damnation rather than rejecting his friend Jim. If Huck had thought of it in terms of a wise way of earning salvation, it would not have been a salvific silliness. It was only because he embraced damnation as the cost of doing the right thing, accepted suffering as the cost of righteousness; that we can then say he was saved.
Peace,
Delmo
No other Gods - Nope. No Baal or Fertility Cult worship going on in the Chilton household.
No graven image - Nope. No bowing down to a man-made object that's not a God.
Not taking the Lord's Name in Vain - Nope. Well, I do have a barn-yard vocabulary but I draw the line at G-- D---.
Remember Sabbath Day - Nope. Always go to church on Sunday, seldom work.
Honor parents - Nope. Birthday cards, weekly phone calls, Christmas gifts. Done.
You shall not kill - Nope. Never even been in a fight since 7th grade.
You shall not steal - Nope. Unless you count sneaking fries off Deborah's plate when she's not looking.
You shall not bear false witness - Nope. Like Daddy said, always tell the truth. That way you don't have to remember what you said.
You shall not covet,neighbor's house, wife, slaves of his ox or his ass - Nope. Good on all of them.
Looks like I'm in the clear. Based on this record, I didn't need Jesus to die for me. I've got the being good thing covered.
On the other hand, if Other Gods means things which get more of my attention and loyalty than THE GOD, then I'm probably guilty.
And if Graven Images implies earthly things to which I have devoted a great deal of time and energy and which are the most important things in my home, well . . .
Suppose taking the Lord's name in vain means using religion for less than holy reasons, oops!
And the Sabbath could be about creating enough silence and space in my life to allow God to seep in and nurture and lead and refresh me. Oh my!
Honoring father and mother may have something to say about how I deal with those who have taken on the responsibility for leadership; have I been responsive and cooperative? Dang!
Well, I really haven't killed anyone; but I haven't prevented or protested a lot of the violence which goes on in my name, funded by my dollars.
Adultery? Well there is that Lust in the Heart thing.
You shall not steal? What was it Augustine said, anything you have more than you need is stolen from the poor. Ouch!
False Witness? I do not lie, but I can "spin" like a whirling dervish.
Okay, I still haven't coveted anybody's ass and nobody can say I did!
SECOND LESSON: I Corinthians 1:18-25 : verse 25 "For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."
The paradoxical nature of the Gospel is still very hard for most of us to grasp. Just like last week's Gospel lesson with the lose life/save life vice-versa pairings; this wisdom/foolishness thing goes against the grain of "real" life.
We think that "winning", "succeeding", is important; and the way to win, to succeed, is to be smart and strong and force one's will and to come out on top.
But we are confronted with the cross, which shows God losing, failing, looking "foolish" and weak and coming out on the bottom. And it makes no sense.
Which is why, I suppose, we so often dart immediately from the cross to the empty tomb, turning tragedy into triumph as quickly as possible. We do not wish to linger near the death of God too long; it is a frightening and lonely place which causes us great anxiety.
A couple of years ago I did a Lenten Lecture series in a moderate Baptist Church in a University town in the South. I spoke each day on different aspects of Luther's Theology of the Cross. On Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday, I preached about the Theology of the Cross and encouraged the congregation to hold on to the sadness and dismay of the cross for a few days, to linger in the mystery of the death of God for us.
A local Baptist Association official was in attendance that day, and in good Baptist tradition, the pastor asked him to give the benediction. The good reverend proceeded correct my sermon in his prayer, reminding God (and the people) that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead and we can be assured of that.
We have indeed, turned the Weakness of God into the Power of the Cross. We have to be careful here. God's weakness is strong, but it is still weakness and we must resist the temptation to turn it into another avenue or technique for success.
In a classic scene from Huck Finn, Huck embraces damnation rather than rejecting his friend Jim. If Huck had thought of it in terms of a wise way of earning salvation, it would not have been a salvific silliness. It was only because he embraced damnation as the cost of doing the right thing, accepted suffering as the cost of righteousness; that we can then say he was saved.
Peace,
Delmo
Thursday, March 09, 2006
THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT: RCL texts for March 12, 2006
FIRST READING: GENESIS 17:1-7, 15-16: verse 5 "No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have mad eyou the father of a multitude of nations." and verse 15: "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name..."
Names are funny things. Some people fit their names, others don't. Some years ago I did what used to be called a "shotgun wedding", the young woman was about 17, the groom was 19. The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon at the church, with the full membership and both families. There was no real animosity from anyone. Getting pregnant and then "doing the right thing" was an accepted idea in that rural community. About 5 months after the wedding, the baby was born. The parents named it Chastity, after Sonny and Cher's baby. They obviously didn't have a clue what the word meant. Which raises the question: if Sonny and Cher named their baby Chastity as an ironic comment, then did this young couple inadvertently follow suit, or did they just not know? I know the couple and I'm voting for option #2.
I'm not sure if parents are aware of the power that giving a name can bestow. I remember the Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue", believe you me, even in the South a name like Delmer is tough, especially during the Junior High years. I tried to go by D.L. in High School, but my older brother put a stop to that by shouting DELMER everytime he saw me, much to the amusement of his friends. So, Delmer I was.
It's also a tough name for non-Southereners to respect. One of my parishioners in Highlands emailed a medical school friend in Boston that she had a new pastor and gave my name. The person wrote back, "Oh my God, it's worse than I thought, you're in the NC mountains and you have a pastor named DELMER."
Names have power. And what we call each other and what we call God and what God calls us are powerful things. We have a tendency in the post-modern world to think that things like names and labels are mostly matters of indifference, of perspective. We live in a world of shifting meanings, a world of "thinking by public opinion poll", "what's hot and what's not" is more important to many folks than "what's true and what's not".
In such a world, it is important to inject some timeless reality. Abram and Sarai's name changes were part of a one time shift in their relationship to God and God's relationship with them, and Israel and ultimately with all the peoples of the world. This was not a thing done lightly, done for more popularity or propriety or coolness or hotness or whateverness. This name change signalled a different covenant, a defferent relationship, a personal, first-name basis relationship with God.
This is why naming cermonies are so important in all religions, especially the Judeo-Christian Tradition. It is a time of Covenant, a time to seal the relationship between the named parties:
"Delmer Lowell Chilton I baptize you in the NAME of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
It's not the name I would have chosen for myself, and I have dickered with it over the years, but ultimately, I have grown into it, and it suits me: both the Delmer Lowell Chilton part and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit part.
SECOND READING: ROMANS 4:13-25: "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."
Two old preacher stories, one true, one an old chestnut.
TRUE ONE: Back in the thirities or forties there was a major drought in the Rowan County NC area. The area Lutherans, of whom there were many, decided to have a prayer meeting to pray for rain. It was held in Concordia Lutheran Church, out between China Grove and Mooresville. My memory is fuzzy here, I can't remember which stern old Lutheran "Herr Pastor" it was who got up and asked everyone to show their umbrellas. Nobody did. "What!?" he exclaimed, "No umbrellas! Then you have no faith. Go home and come back tomoorow and bring your umbrellas; then we will pray for rain."
OLD ONE: There was a drought in South Georgia. The members of a time church gathered for a prayer meeting. The next day a Hurricane hit. There was massive flooding. The little church was seen floating on the river. The pastor was holding to the steeple shouting: Not bad for a little church!"
GOSPEL READING: Mark 8:31-38 ""For what does it gain a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?' (RSV)
In a recent edition of LEADERSHIP magazine, a story was told about Ray Romano, the star of the hit comedy, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. When the opportunity came to do the show, he was making a decent living as a stand-up comedian in NY, but he was neither rich nor famous. On the day he packed to move to Hollywood to do the show, his brother pinned a note to some clothes in his suitcase.
After the taping of the last show of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND's long succesful run,
Ray Romano came out and talked to the studio audience. He told them about his brother's note and read it to them. It said, "WHAT DOES IT PROFIT A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS SOUL?"
A tearful Ray Romano looked out at the audience, "I'm going now, to work on my soul."
Lent is a time for soul work. I wish Mr. Romano well. Soul work is hard work, for all of us. May we all be about the business of working on our souls.
Peace,
Delmo
Names are funny things. Some people fit their names, others don't. Some years ago I did what used to be called a "shotgun wedding", the young woman was about 17, the groom was 19. The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon at the church, with the full membership and both families. There was no real animosity from anyone. Getting pregnant and then "doing the right thing" was an accepted idea in that rural community. About 5 months after the wedding, the baby was born. The parents named it Chastity, after Sonny and Cher's baby. They obviously didn't have a clue what the word meant. Which raises the question: if Sonny and Cher named their baby Chastity as an ironic comment, then did this young couple inadvertently follow suit, or did they just not know? I know the couple and I'm voting for option #2.
I'm not sure if parents are aware of the power that giving a name can bestow. I remember the Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue", believe you me, even in the South a name like Delmer is tough, especially during the Junior High years. I tried to go by D.L. in High School, but my older brother put a stop to that by shouting DELMER everytime he saw me, much to the amusement of his friends. So, Delmer I was.
It's also a tough name for non-Southereners to respect. One of my parishioners in Highlands emailed a medical school friend in Boston that she had a new pastor and gave my name. The person wrote back, "Oh my God, it's worse than I thought, you're in the NC mountains and you have a pastor named DELMER."
Names have power. And what we call each other and what we call God and what God calls us are powerful things. We have a tendency in the post-modern world to think that things like names and labels are mostly matters of indifference, of perspective. We live in a world of shifting meanings, a world of "thinking by public opinion poll", "what's hot and what's not" is more important to many folks than "what's true and what's not".
In such a world, it is important to inject some timeless reality. Abram and Sarai's name changes were part of a one time shift in their relationship to God and God's relationship with them, and Israel and ultimately with all the peoples of the world. This was not a thing done lightly, done for more popularity or propriety or coolness or hotness or whateverness. This name change signalled a different covenant, a defferent relationship, a personal, first-name basis relationship with God.
This is why naming cermonies are so important in all religions, especially the Judeo-Christian Tradition. It is a time of Covenant, a time to seal the relationship between the named parties:
"Delmer Lowell Chilton I baptize you in the NAME of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
It's not the name I would have chosen for myself, and I have dickered with it over the years, but ultimately, I have grown into it, and it suits me: both the Delmer Lowell Chilton part and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit part.
SECOND READING: ROMANS 4:13-25: "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."
Two old preacher stories, one true, one an old chestnut.
TRUE ONE: Back in the thirities or forties there was a major drought in the Rowan County NC area. The area Lutherans, of whom there were many, decided to have a prayer meeting to pray for rain. It was held in Concordia Lutheran Church, out between China Grove and Mooresville. My memory is fuzzy here, I can't remember which stern old Lutheran "Herr Pastor" it was who got up and asked everyone to show their umbrellas. Nobody did. "What!?" he exclaimed, "No umbrellas! Then you have no faith. Go home and come back tomoorow and bring your umbrellas; then we will pray for rain."
OLD ONE: There was a drought in South Georgia. The members of a time church gathered for a prayer meeting. The next day a Hurricane hit. There was massive flooding. The little church was seen floating on the river. The pastor was holding to the steeple shouting: Not bad for a little church!"
GOSPEL READING: Mark 8:31-38 ""For what does it gain a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?' (RSV)
In a recent edition of LEADERSHIP magazine, a story was told about Ray Romano, the star of the hit comedy, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. When the opportunity came to do the show, he was making a decent living as a stand-up comedian in NY, but he was neither rich nor famous. On the day he packed to move to Hollywood to do the show, his brother pinned a note to some clothes in his suitcase.
After the taping of the last show of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND's long succesful run,
Ray Romano came out and talked to the studio audience. He told them about his brother's note and read it to them. It said, "WHAT DOES IT PROFIT A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS SOUL?"
A tearful Ray Romano looked out at the audience, "I'm going now, to work on my soul."
Lent is a time for soul work. I wish Mr. Romano well. Soul work is hard work, for all of us. May we all be about the business of working on our souls.
Peace,
Delmo
THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT: RCL texts for March 12, 2006
FIRST READING: GENESIS 17:1-7, 15-16: verse 5 "No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have mad eyou the father of a multitude of nations." and verse 15: "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name..."
Names are funny things. Some people fit their names, others don't. Some years ago I did what used to be called a "shotgun wedding", the young woman was about 17, the groom was 19. The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon at the church, with the full membership and both families. There was no real animosity from anyone. Getting pregnant and then "doing the right thing" was an accepted idea in that rural community. About 5 months after the wedding, the baby was born. The parents named it Chastity, after Sonny and Cher's baby. They obviously didn't have a clue what the word meant. Which raises the question: if Sonny and Cher named their baby Chastity as an ironic comment, then did this young couple inadvertently follow suit, or did they just not know? I know the couple and I'm voting for option #2.
I'm not sure if parents are aware of the power that giving a name can bestow. I remember the Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue", believe you me, even in the South a name like Delmer is tough, especially during the Junior High years. I tried to go by D.L. in High School, but my older brother put a stop to that by shouting DELMER everytime he saw me, much to the amusement of his friends. So, Delmer I was.
It's also a tough name for non-Southereners to respect. One of my parishioners in Highlands emailed a medical school friend in Boston that she had a new pastor and gave my name. The person wrote back, "Oh my God, it's worse than I thought, you're in the NC mountains and you have a pastor named DELMER."
Names have power. And what we call each other and what we call God and what God calls us are powerful things. We have a tendency in the post-modern world to think that things like names and labels are mostly matters of indifference, of perspective. We live in a world of shifting meanings, a world of "thinking by public opinion poll", "what's hot and what's not" is more important to many folks than "what's true and what's not".
In such a world, it is important to inject some timeless reality. Abram and Sarai's name changes were part of a one time shift in their relationship to God and God's relationship with them, and Israel and ultimately with all the peoples of the world. This was not a thing done lightly, done for more popularity or propriety or coolness or hotness or whateverness. This name change signalled a different covenant, a defferent relationship, a personal, first-name basis relationship with God.
This is why naming cermonies are so important in all religions, especially the Judeo-Christian Tradition. It is a time of Covenant, a time to seal the relationship between the named parties:
"Delmer Lowell Chilton I baptize you in the NAME of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
It's not the name I would have chosen for myself, and I have dickered with it over the years, but ultimately, I have grown into it, and it suits me: both the Delmer Lowell Chilton part and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit part.
SECOND READING: ROMANS 4:13-25: "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."
Two old preacher stories, one true, one an old chestnut.
TRUE ONE: Back in the thirities or forties there was a major drought in the Rowan County NC area. The area Lutherans, of whom there were many, decided to have a prayer meeting to pray for rain. It was held in Concordia Lutheran Church, out between China Grove and Mooresville. My memory is fuzzy here, I can't remember which stern old Lutheran "Herr Pastor" it was who got up and asked everyone to show their umbrellas. Nobody did. "What!?" he exclaimed, "No umbrellas! Then you have no faith. Go home and come back tomoorow and bring your umbrellas; then we will pray for rain."
OLD ONE: There was a drought in South Georgia. The members of a time church gathered for a prayer meeting. The next day a Hurricane hit. There was massive flooding. The little church was seen floating on the river. The pastor was holding to the steeple shouting: Not bad for a little church!"
GOSPEL READING: Mark 8:31-38 ""For what does it gain a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?' (RSV)
In a recent edition of LEADERSHIP magazine, a story was told about Ray Romano, the star of the hit comedy, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. When the opportunity came to do the show, he was making a decent living as a stand-up comedian in NY, but he was neither rich nor famous. On the day he packed to move to Hollywood to do the show, his brother pinned a note to some clothes in his suitcase.
After the taping of the last show of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND's long succesful run,
Ray Romano came out and talked to the studio audience. He told them about his brother's note and read it to them. It said, "WHAT DOES IT PROFIT A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS SOUL?"
A tearful Ray Romano looked out at the audience, "I'm going now, to work on my soul."
Lent is a time for soul work. I wish Mr. Romano well. Soul work is hard work, for all of us. May we all be about the business of working on our souls.
Peace,
Delmo
Names are funny things. Some people fit their names, others don't. Some years ago I did what used to be called a "shotgun wedding", the young woman was about 17, the groom was 19. The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon at the church, with the full membership and both families. There was no real animosity from anyone. Getting pregnant and then "doing the right thing" was an accepted idea in that rural community. About 5 months after the wedding, the baby was born. The parents named it Chastity, after Sonny and Cher's baby. They obviously didn't have a clue what the word meant. Which raises the question: if Sonny and Cher named their baby Chastity as an ironic comment, then did this young couple inadvertently follow suit, or did they just not know? I know the couple and I'm voting for option #2.
I'm not sure if parents are aware of the power that giving a name can bestow. I remember the Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue", believe you me, even in the South a name like Delmer is tough, especially during the Junior High years. I tried to go by D.L. in High School, but my older brother put a stop to that by shouting DELMER everytime he saw me, much to the amusement of his friends. So, Delmer I was.
It's also a tough name for non-Southereners to respect. One of my parishioners in Highlands emailed a medical school friend in Boston that she had a new pastor and gave my name. The person wrote back, "Oh my God, it's worse than I thought, you're in the NC mountains and you have a pastor named DELMER."
Names have power. And what we call each other and what we call God and what God calls us are powerful things. We have a tendency in the post-modern world to think that things like names and labels are mostly matters of indifference, of perspective. We live in a world of shifting meanings, a world of "thinking by public opinion poll", "what's hot and what's not" is more important to many folks than "what's true and what's not".
In such a world, it is important to inject some timeless reality. Abram and Sarai's name changes were part of a one time shift in their relationship to God and God's relationship with them, and Israel and ultimately with all the peoples of the world. This was not a thing done lightly, done for more popularity or propriety or coolness or hotness or whateverness. This name change signalled a different covenant, a defferent relationship, a personal, first-name basis relationship with God.
This is why naming cermonies are so important in all religions, especially the Judeo-Christian Tradition. It is a time of Covenant, a time to seal the relationship between the named parties:
"Delmer Lowell Chilton I baptize you in the NAME of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
It's not the name I would have chosen for myself, and I have dickered with it over the years, but ultimately, I have grown into it, and it suits me: both the Delmer Lowell Chilton part and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit part.
SECOND READING: ROMANS 4:13-25: "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."
Two old preacher stories, one true, one an old chestnut.
TRUE ONE: Back in the thirities or forties there was a major drought in the Rowan County NC area. The area Lutherans, of whom there were many, decided to have a prayer meeting to pray for rain. It was held in Concordia Lutheran Church, out between China Grove and Mooresville. My memory is fuzzy here, I can't remember which stern old Lutheran "Herr Pastor" it was who got up and asked everyone to show their umbrellas. Nobody did. "What!?" he exclaimed, "No umbrellas! Then you have no faith. Go home and come back tomoorow and bring your umbrellas; then we will pray for rain."
OLD ONE: There was a drought in South Georgia. The members of a time church gathered for a prayer meeting. The next day a Hurricane hit. There was massive flooding. The little church was seen floating on the river. The pastor was holding to the steeple shouting: Not bad for a little church!"
GOSPEL READING: Mark 8:31-38 ""For what does it gain a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?' (RSV)
In a recent edition of LEADERSHIP magazine, a story was told about Ray Romano, the star of the hit comedy, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. When the opportunity came to do the show, he was making a decent living as a stand-up comedian in NY, but he was neither rich nor famous. On the day he packed to move to Hollywood to do the show, his brother pinned a note to some clothes in his suitcase.
After the taping of the last show of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND's long succesful run,
Ray Romano came out and talked to the studio audience. He told them about his brother's note and read it to them. It said, "WHAT DOES IT PROFIT A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS SOUL?"
A tearful Ray Romano looked out at the audience, "I'm going now, to work on my soul."
Lent is a time for soul work. I wish Mr. Romano well. Soul work is hard work, for all of us. May we all be about the business of working on our souls.
Peace,
Delmo
Friday, March 03, 2006
FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT: Gospel lesson for March 5
GOSPEL: Mark 1:9-15 : Eugene Peterson, in the Message, translates the last line as : "Time's up! God's Kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the message!"
It the "time's up" that got me. I am an inveterate procrastinator. I wait until the last minute on almost everything. In college, I pulled all-nighters to write term papers. When I became a pastor, I wrote sermons on Saturday night, (and on Sunday morning!) For years, I have done my taxes on April 15, driving around late at night, looking for an open Post Office.
So the words, "Time's UP!" send a chill down my spine. And I think that one of the things that ails me and us in the life of the church is that we have very little sense of urgency about the gospel or the church. After all, its been 2000 years and Jesus hasn't come back yet, so why worry?
But really, a better question is what are we waiting for? A sign from heaven? Already had one, his name is Jesus. What are we waiting for? Clear instructions on what to do? Already got those. Love God with heart, mind and soul and the second is just like it, love your neighbor as yourself? What are we waiting for? Don't have enough time? We've got all the time we need; from this moment until the day we die, and then really and for sure, it will be Time's Up!
Peace,
delmo
It the "time's up" that got me. I am an inveterate procrastinator. I wait until the last minute on almost everything. In college, I pulled all-nighters to write term papers. When I became a pastor, I wrote sermons on Saturday night, (and on Sunday morning!) For years, I have done my taxes on April 15, driving around late at night, looking for an open Post Office.
So the words, "Time's UP!" send a chill down my spine. And I think that one of the things that ails me and us in the life of the church is that we have very little sense of urgency about the gospel or the church. After all, its been 2000 years and Jesus hasn't come back yet, so why worry?
But really, a better question is what are we waiting for? A sign from heaven? Already had one, his name is Jesus. What are we waiting for? Clear instructions on what to do? Already got those. Love God with heart, mind and soul and the second is just like it, love your neighbor as yourself? What are we waiting for? Don't have enough time? We've got all the time we need; from this moment until the day we die, and then really and for sure, it will be Time's Up!
Peace,
delmo
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