Surprise: God's love is bigger than yours...

NOTE:  Here are my worship notes for Sunday, February 3, 2013.  This will be a worship time when the congregation's children remain in the celebration.  So my reflections are informed by the scriptures for the day, the wonderful wisdom found on "Worshipping with Children" blog and this quote from Parker Palmer.  "At the heart of any authentic religious experience is recognition that God's nature is too huge, God's movement too deep, ever to be comprehended by a single conception or point of view….God's truth is singular and eternal, but the forms in which we give it expression are as finite and fragile as clay pots, and we must always be ready to break them open on behalf of a larger vision of truth."

Introduction

Today God’s spirit of holiness invites us to think about surprises:  good surprises and bad ones, happy surprises and sad ones, those we hope for and look forward to as well as those we hate and everything in-between.  Because, have you noticed, that life is full of surprises?

·       Almost every week I am surprised at how big our new puppy has become – Lucie is huge – she’s just six months old but she hasn’t stopped growing yet.  She’s going to be a… dinosaur! 

·       Every week I am also surprised by who shows up for Sunday worship:  some days there are lots of people, some days not so many; sometimes – like right now – a lot of people are sick and can’t come to church – but at other times when everything is working just right there’s a real crowd in here, right?

·      There are times when I am surprised at how mean people can be, but other times when human kindness is overflowing and goodness overcomes evil.  I am surprised by how beautiful the snow is most days, how many interruptions can happen when I’m working on a project and how often I forget important things unless I write them down.

Do you know what I mean?  Life is FULL of surprises:  so maybe you could share some of the surprises that you’ve experienced?  (Invite the congregation to say aloud some of their experiences…)

 

·       Like I said at the start:  there are happy surprises and sad ones, good surprises and bad ones, there are surprises that help us and hurt us, guide us and goad us, encourage and inspire us and everything in-between.

 

·       Earlier this week, Carlton told me about a musical surprise that was designed to get people’s attention during a symphony.  The great classical composer, Joseph Haydn, wrote something in 1791 that has become known as “The Surprise Symphony” – especially in the second movement.

·      It seems that some concert goers in London would get up in-between the movements and move around – or talk to their neighbors when they should have been quiet (like people using their cell phones during our movies) – so Papa Haydn designed something to take everybody by surprise.  See if you can hear it as I play this clip for you…  Did it surprise you, too?  What did that feel like…?

So we’re agreed that life is full of surprises.  In each of the Bible readings assigned for today there is a surprise that I want to consider with you:  Each tells us something about God’s love and grace and each tells us something about how often regular people like me and you miss the point – and actually NEED God’s surprises to help us get back to loving.  One wise woman who is a preacher spoke about our readings for today like this:
 

There are three surprises (here for those who are paying attention.) Jeremiah is surprised that God knows him and has chosen him to do important work. (Surprise! God chooses YOU!) The people of Nazareth are surprised to learn that God loves people they don’t. (Surprise! God’s love is bigger than yours!) Paul surprises the Christians in Corinth by telling them that love is more important than anything else. (On Super-Bowl Sunday loving is even more important than winning – that IS a surprise!)

So let’s talk about them all for a little while and then see what they might mean for us, ok?

Insights

The first surprise we are asked to consider involves Jeremiah the prophet who was only about 14 years old when he sensed that God wanted and needed him to do something special.  Now think about that for just a moment:

·       Who here today is younger than 14:  would you stand up?  In fact, maybe you should come up here where we all can see you.  Everybody younger than 14 years old, come on up here… 

·       Now how many here are OLDER than 14:  maybe you could put up your hands? Hmmm… we’ve got a LOT of people older than 14, don’t we?

Ok, head back to your seats now while I ask those who put up their hands a question:  did you know what God wanted you to do with your life when you were 14?  I’m serious – at 14 – did you know what God wanted you to do with your life?  Surprising, yes?  I was 16 when I sensed a call to ministry, but at 14 all I noticed were girls and the Beatles.  Well, and maybe the Rolling Stones, but that IS all.  So let me ask you another question:

·      What does this surprising truth about young Jeremiah say to us about how we listen or neglect the voice of wisdom in our own children and youth?   

·       Do we encourage their wisdom – or mostly believe that children should be seen and not heard?

One of the reasons I have wanted everyone to be in worship more often – children, babies, youth and adults – has something to do with experiencing the wisdom of God shared through young and innocent hearts and minds.  When there are babies cooing or crying, I think:  Thank you, Lord there is new life and they are welcome here.  When I listen to our youngest children praying the Lord’s Prayer aloud – mixed with more mature voices – my heart is full to over flowing with joy and gratitude.  Have you heard that sacred song? 

·       Well, you get my point:  just as the call of the Lord came to Jeremiah when he was very young, so too does God speak to us through our children and youth – and the more we listen and add our love – the stronger the whole community becomes.

·      That means we realize and celebrate the fact that the spiritual, emotional and practical well-being of this faith community involves a Christian formation that is integrated and blended:  youth and adults, children and seniors, innovation and tradition are all in this together.  Surprise number one might be summarized like this:  Surprise God calls YOU!

Surprise number two comes in the story of Jesus preaching in his home town:  here the people Jesus grew up with – the adults and friends of his family – are surprised to find out that God loves people that they don’t.  Did you get that from the reading?  Last week we read about Jesus using the poetry of the prophet Isaiah as informed by his momma’s love to help his community know more about God’s grace in action.  Today we hear that two things happened because of that sermon:

·      First, the crowd in the synagogue was pleased – this is our boy – we know and love him.  But then Jesus starts to talk about the scripture and emphasizes that too often we put limits on God’s love.  And when this happens, the crowd gets uncomfortable.  In fact, they start to criticize Jesus telling one another, “Look, this kid can’t really be all that special, he’s just the son of the carpenter Joseph.  I mean, who does he think he is?!” 

·       Second, when Jesus doesn’t let their complaints slow him down but keeps on teaching using examples of God healing outsiders and pagan Gentiles when many Israelites were suffering, then the crowd gets angry.  So angry, in fact, that they try to throw him over a cliff which was a form of execution by stoning.

So let’s talk about what’s going on here:  why were the people of Christ’s hometown so angry with his sermon?  What did he show them that they truly hated to discover?  It isn’t clear unless you know the background to his two examples of Elijah and Elisha. 

·      These were both ancient prophets called by the Lord to show the world what God’s love looked like in action.  And as I understand it Jesus told his homies that once when Israel was starving in famine, God brought food to a pagan widow but not to God’s so-called chosen.  And once God brought cleansing and hope to the lepers of Syria but not to Israel.

 

·      So why was this so upsetting – besides the fact that Jesus was quoting the Bible back to those who were arguing with him – why did these two examples make the crowd want to kill Jesus?

Some have said that it was because Jesus was judging his hometown – he wasn’t sharing his messianic blessing with them - and this enraged them.  I think that’s part of the truth.  Other scholars suggest that Jesus used one of suffering Israel’s favorite texts – the coming of God’s year of vengeance against all of Israel’s enemies – to say that not only had the Jews of his generation forgotten how to share love and resources in a compassionate and consistent way, but that God’s love was much bigger than all of our fears and all of our hatreds combined.

So much bigger, in fact, that the Lord’s prophets brought healing and blessings – even bread during a famine – to some of the traditional enemies of the land.  And that is what God was going to do in a radical way through Jesus:  share holy love in ALL the unexpected, neglected, hated and fearful places and people of the world.  What Luke is trying to do, you see, is make the link between the manger, the shepherds, the pagan widows, the foreign astronomers and the lepers, prostitutes and Gentiles.  In the tradition, a prophet of the Lord speaks God’s word to the reality of the age – and that’s why Jesus enrages his friends – he is pointing out the places where our neglect is wounding God’s beloved.

·      He points to the homeless woman sleeping in box under the bridge, he calls attention to the fact that while our African American population is 12% they make up over 72% of the prison population, he notices our culture of violence and weeps over the massacre of innocent children in our cities, schools and cinemas.

·       People get angry – even violent – when surprised by the radical nature of God’s love and prophetic challenge.  And that’s the second surprise for today:  Surprise!  God’s love is bigger than yours!

Conclusion

And the third is found is the word’s of St. Paul who tells us:  Surprise!  Sharing God’s surprising love with the world is more important than anything else.  More important than winning – more important than watching the Super Bowl – more important than looking cute or getting your own way.

·       Who here has ever been really, really sick – and had someone (maybe your mom or dad) sit up with you all night long?  That’s the kind of love we’re talking about…

 

·       Or do you know a soldier – or a doctor or nurse – or someone in the police – who take care of people everyday even when it is dangerous?  That’s the love we’re talking about, too.

You can get prizes for anything – running fast, singing well, perfect attendance, straight A’s on your report card, playing the guitar or trumpet, making the best power point possible, making more money than anybody else – and all of these things have value. But if you don’t have love – deep, life-changing and surprising love – you will be empty and sad and broken forever.  God’s love is for everybody – in any situation – in any country and any religion:  God loves us all.

So here’s one last surprise:  no matter how hard we try, it takes us all – every one of us both young and old – all of our lives to figure out the best way to share God’s love with others.  That’s why we’re all here – young and old and in-between – we need one another’s examples and mistakes to help us get it right.  Take a moment to think about that now as we get ready to come to the Lord’s Table for communion…