Scripture, worship and the happy dance...

NOTE: Here are this week's sermon notes - my on-going reflections on some of the ways worship shapes and informs our discipleship - a series that will continue throughout February. Join us at 10:30 am if you happen to be in town. We would be blessed by being together.

Words are important – very important – in our political life they can inspire us, bore us or drive us to distraction. In our love lives they can draw us closer to those who share our hearts or make us crazy and afraid. And in a sermon they can help us, confuse us, anger us or just put us to sleep. You see, we may tell our children that sticks and stones may break our bones but names can never hurt us… but that simply isn’t true because names, language and words matter.

I think of the two ministers who died at the same time and found themselves before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. Peter says, “I would like to get you guys in right away but our computers are down so you’ll have to go back to earth for about a week. But you can’t return as a human beings so… what would be fun for you?”

The Methodist minister says, "I've always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above the Rocky Mountains, it reminds me of the words of the poet Isaiah.” To which Peter says, “So be it” and off he flies. “Hmmm,” the Congregational minister says mulling all of this over for a minute. “Tell me, Peter, will you be keeping track of what we do when we go back?” to which St. Peter replied, “No, I told you our computer is down and there is just no way of keeping track of anything. This week is a freebie.” So the minister says, “Ok, then, in that case, I’ve always wanted to be a stud.” Looking at him with a little shock, St. Peter replies, “Ok… so be it” and the Congregational minister disappears.

Now a week goes by, the computers of heaven are all repaired and the Lord tells Peter to bring the ministers home. “Will you have any trouble locating them,” God asks? “Well, the first one should be easy,” St. Peter says. “He is somewhere over the Rocky Mountains flying with the eagles but that second guys is going to me more of a problem.” “And why is that,” asked the Lord. “Because right now he’s on a snow tire somewhere in Alaska.”

I’m telling you, words are important. And as we consider the way we use words in worship as part of our on-going reflection on the essentials of worship in our tradition, let’s be clear: our words must bring us into a deep and lively engagement with Scripture. We take the Bible seriously – we treasure the insights of tradition – and we are committed to wrestling new insights out of the scripture all at the same time.

In other words, we are neither fundamentalists – nor Biblicists – who take each and every word of the scripture as a literal truth; nor are we New Age spiritualists who pick and choose the words of God that please us like we’re at a sacred salad bar. Rather, we continue to engage the Bible like our first Puritan preacher and teacher, John Robinson, did more than 400 years ago: “We know,” he wrote, “that there is still more truth and light to break forth from God’s holy word.”

+ Did you get that? There is still more truth and light to break forth from God’s holy word!”

+ No one has a monopoly when it comes to God’s truth and even the Bible requires interpretation because… God is continually revealing new truth and light to us.

+ No wonder we talk about serving a still speaking God: there is still more truth and light to be revealed. Are you with me on this? Does that make sense?

Now let me push this a little deeper because our commitment to discerning God’s truth and light in scripture takes some work. One of my favorite Biblical scholars, Walter Wink, has suggested that in addition to searching for God’s still speaking voice in discrete passages of scripture, our tradition also recognizes that not all of the proclamations of the Bible are equally important. In fact, like Douglas John Hall, Marcus Borg, Rosemary Reuther and Phyllis Tribble, Wink goes on to say that contemporary people of faith have a choice to make when it comes to listening and trusting the Bible:

+ What perspective or broad tradition in the scriptures ring true for this moment in time? How do you hear the voice of our still speaking God within the competing theological perspectives?

+ James Russell Lowell of West Congregational Church in Boston put it like this in a hymn from 1845: Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide; in the strife of truth with falsehood for the good or evil side. New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth; they must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.

So let’s consider the three most significant clusters or categories of insight and wisdom that exist in the Bible as one of the ways we can have a deep and lively engagement with Scripture during worship. First there is the most complicated tradition in the Bible – the poetic and mystical words of Scripture – that give us a taste of God’s vast and mysterious nature. Sometimes people call this the wisdom tradition of the Bible or even the mystical poetry of Scripture which would include the Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs and the book of Job.

+ Some of these poems are practical – a way of passing daily insights from one generation to the next – like the opening words of Proverbs: Learn about wisdom and instruction, pay attention to the words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, compassion, right relations and equity comes from teaching shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young… and discernment to all. Remember: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge for fools despise wisdom and solid teaching.

+ Other poems are comforting – like Psalm 23 – the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside still waters; he restores my soul… Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

+ And still other wisdom poems underscore that God’s ways are not our ways. Think of today’s text from the prophet tells us that God never tires out – we may grow weary and faint – but the Lord never quits: Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.

What does this tell you about God? One way of organizing scripture – and one very clear overview – is that God is mysterious and beyond all knowing. Like the end of Job, this tradition tells us that we can only experience God – we cannot know or understand the Lord – because God’s ways are not our ways. Are you still with me?

A second perspective in the Bible is called the Deuteronomic tradition – it is grounded in the holiness codes of Israel’s religion after the destruction of the Temple by Babylon in 586 BCE – and often seems to be about karma and rule keeping. You see, after Israel was destroyed and brought to weep by the waters of Babylon, the spiritual leaders sought to understand why God had allowed life to become so broken. “How can we sing the Lord’s song,” they wailed, “in a foreign land?”

+ The mystics and poets among them concluded that there is just a harsh rhythm to God’s creation – to everything there is a season including a time to be born and a time to die… a time to kill and a time to heal – and the key is learning how to let go and let God: go with the flow said this minority report and leave it to the Lord to sort out.

+ But the spiritual majority couldn’t tolerate such ambiguity and paradox – they needed to believe that there was order and clarity to the will of God – they ached for a rational and linear way to discern God’s divine rulebook.

+ And so, as you might imagine, they began to create a spirituality of explicit instructions for holiness that clearly documented who was in and who was out – what was good and what was bad – how to know both the blessings and the curses of the Lord our God. This was their way of trying to make all of life an act of prayer - it is a beautiful but demanding spirituality - and it brings comfort to many.

Think of the opening of the Bible – the first creation story – that tells us how God brought order out of chaos, light into the darkness and set up a time for work and a time for Sabbath. This came after the waters of Babylon – it became the dominate way of thinking after the destruction of Israel’s old way of life – it developed as a way of finding security and hope amidst the chaos all around them. Perhaps the finest example of this spirituality is found in Deuteronomy 28:

If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God: God's blessing inside the city, God's blessing in the country; God's blessing on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. God's blessing on your basket and bread bowl; God's blessing in your coming in, God's blessing in your going out.

Are you with me here? Do you see the clear guidance of this spirituality and the promise that if you follow the rules then blessings will be yours? It is the Hebrew way of karma – what goes around, comes around – and it promises security and clarity and blessing. But let me ask you: do you know any good people – those who love their children and serve their country – who have had a tough life? Who have been treated unfairly or had bad things happen to them? Are they unfaithful? Are they cursed? Are they sinners? Do you see the limits and even cruelty to such a theology?

Bad things DO happen to good people – loving and gentle souls are often crushed by events greater than themselves – and it has NOTHING to do with the will of God. Babies die. Loved ones get cancer. Hurricanes destroy cities. Wars and famine are eternal.

(NOTE: a friend and well respected rabbi has called me on my over simplification here - and she is right. The Jewish way of wrestling with suffering did not end with Deuteronomy; there is the on-going dialogue with God and tradition in the Mishna. Moreover, the tradition believes that the dialogue continues - and so it does. I guess what I am particularly concerned about here is how Christian fundamentalists have limited our understanding of God's presence within/among human suffering by celebrating only a very narrow reading of Deuteronomy. And I also guess there is much more work for me to do in this area!)

And this brings me to the third way of organizing the words of scripture: the love ethic of Jesus. Dare I overstate the case by saying that Jesus is more interested in discerning God’s grace than judgment? That his heart is grounded in compassion not keeping score? And that those who follow him are invited to do likewise by bringing hope and healing into the world. Consider the details of our gospel text:

+ Jesus enters the house of a sick person – a sick woman to be precise – and not only brings her healing but touches her unclean hands all on the Sabbath! He’s breaking down barriers right and left because this spiritual path is not interested in holiness codes – only compassion.

+ What’s more, once Peter’s mother-in-law is healed and restored to wholeness, she can help out with other acts of hospitality – which may not seem all that important to us but which was huge to the first century Mediterranean world of Christ – Jesus isn’t paying any attention to insiders or outsiders, sinners or saints.

+ And the story goes on with more acts of healing on the Sabbath: the whole city gathered around his door and he cured many who were sick of various diseases. You see, the love ethic is about restoration not punishment, grace not judgment and hope within the mystery of real life.

Curiously this story of healing and hope ends with Jesus taking a little down time for himself – quiet time for prayer and scripture reading – and as one wise old salt put it to me: “If Jesus needed to get away for some quiet time of prayer and study, what about you and me?” We don’t need to always be worrying about healing and saving the world, right? That’s God’s work – and we can let God be God.

What we are called upon to do is choose to make the love ethic of Jesus clear and visible and a part of the heart of our existence. And you are going to think I’m crazy – or maybe just crazier – when I say this but I have come to believe that one of the best ways for us to put this love ethic of Jesus into our worship is to make sure we do the happy dance at least once every day. It is a body prayer - a silly little act of trust - that is all about joy and humility that I think can help us give expression to our words.

+ Do you know the happy dance? Have you seen it on You Tube? My friend and colleague, Vicki Forfa, turned me on to it a few months before she died – and it is a totally beautiful, simple and funny way of saying, “I give thanks to God that God is God – and I am not!” In fact, it is a mini-sabbatical.

+ A slacker from Seattle by the name of Matt came up with the happy dance idea and he has travelled all over the world THREE TIMES recording what it looks like when people meet one another with grace rather than judgment. It is a beautiful and healing thing.

Next week we’re going to introduce our Sunday School children to the happy dance – some of us have pooled our mission money to buy our children some cameras and film - and we’re going to ask them to go around the church and take pictures of us DOING the happy dance. Some other photographers will take pictures of our children taking pictures of you and so that we can document some of the blessings that are taking place all around us if we but had eyes to see.

So that means you have to know how to DO the happy dance - it goes like this:

But you don’t have to do it like me: you can do it however you can do it. The key is to let your body show something of the words of Christ’s love ethic – something of God’s grace rather than judgment – a spiritual truth that is simultaneously joyful and humble.

Don't get me wrong: in the midst of all the anguish and confusion in our world I am not saying that a "happy dance" will solve our woes. Rather, I am saying that when you let your body give expression to the joy of Christ's love, you are on the road towards making the words of our faith flesh. Let the love shine, beloved, let is shine - and dance - and bring people together because we are all in need of more grace than judgment. Such are the upside down words of good news for today; let those who have ears to hear, hear...and maybe even dance.