(Preached on July 18 at the Wednesday Morning Service at FUMC Birmingham)

1 Samuel 24.1-7

When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to look for David and his men in the direction of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. The men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.” Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. Afterward David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way.

The cave was cold and dark. His fingers tapped lightly on the pommel of his sword in rhythm with his beating heart. The man who had threatened his life sat frighteningly vulnerable before him in the shadows. It would take only the simplest move, the slightest flick of the wrist and everything would change. As he unsheathed his sword his eyes fell upon the thinning hair of the man; he was close enough to sense the shaking anxiety within him and he brought his sword above his head to strike him down.

Just minutes before, he was sitting patiently with his cohort of loyal men surrounding him, yet the sight of a frail man’s body at the lightened end of the tunnel was enough to make the sweat begin to bead on his forehead. “Is that really him?” he thought to himself. His men crept closer and whispered to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said that he would give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good.” When the king finally sat down to relieve himself, near the entrance of the cave, David tightly gripped his weapon in one hand and began the quiet crawl towards his enemy. While he deliberately dragged himself across the cold damp floor, the memories of the past materialized in his mind.

He remembered the day so long ago that the prophet Samuel came to Bethlehem and poured the oil over his head and he felt the spirit of the Lord come upon him; that particular moment where his life took on a new path leading him eventually to the cave. He pondered about the first time he met the king who was now silently waiting in front of him- Saul was tormented beyond comprehension until the call went out for someone to come and play the lyre to sooth him. “I was the one,” he thought to himself, “I was the one called to help Saul and now look at what he has done to me! – Or the day of the great battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, I was the one who went forward to fight the mighty Goliath, I was the one who saved Saul and the kingdom from destruction!”

David’s pace continued slowly until the figure of Saul sat sharply before him. The days of flight had taken their toll on David. He had done so much for Saul and the kingdom, yet nothing could quench the wrath of Saul and David was forced to live as a fugitive. With his hand gripped tightly around Saul’s certain doom, David took his last step toward inevitability. Yet, in that moment, looking down upon Saul’s thinning hair, David was unable to do it. He crouched slowly down, and instead of taking Saul’s life; he took the corner off of his cloak with his sword and returned to his comrades.

After Saul finally left the cave, David made his way out into the brilliantly blazing sunlight. “My lord the king!” David cried out while prostrating himself on the ground. “Why do you listen to the words of those who say, “David seeks to do you harm? This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not raise my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, see the corner of your cloak in my hand; see this and know for certain that I have not sinned against you, though you are hunting me to take my life. May the Lord judge between me and you!”

“David?” Saul questioned. “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. Now I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.”

Although I doubt that many of us will have our enemies delivered before us in a damp dark cave, I think this morning’s passage from 1 Samuel truly resonates within us. How many times in our lives, perhaps in our careers or within our families, have we felt like David? I think it is so easy to commiserate with him in this story because we have all had moments where it seems like there is nothing we can do to fix the past.

If you will permit me to tell another story… When I was a sophomore in undergrad, my maternal grandfather came to visit me at school. While growing up he had always lived far away and we rarely spent time together, so knowing that he was coming to see me at school was a real treat. Upon his arrival we went out to a nice restaurant in Harrisonburg, Virginia in order to catch up and enjoy one another’s company. I was anxious in excited anticipation, but it became apparent that my grandfather had a specific purpose for our reunion. After we ordered our food, my grandfather made it very clear to me that he was disappointed in my desire to pursue a vocation in ministry. He claimed that Christianity had done more evil for the world than good, and that if I followed through with my education I would be wasting my life.

Ever since that night I shamefully admit that I have avoided my grandfather. Our little communication dropped to basically nothing. And we are at the point now where I think we are both too proud to admit that we have handled the situation terribly.

Just as with the relationship between David and Saul, my grandfather and I are in a difficult place. As I read the scripture over the last few days all I could think about was calling my grandfather and apologizing, apologizing for not loving him even though he doesn’t love what I do. So a few days ago I reached out, I made contact, and I apologized. I confronted my Saul in the sunlight beyond the entrance to the cave.

In giving his Son up to the cross, God reconciled humanity unto himself. God reached out to us, and beckoned us back within his saving embrace. Through the death and resurrection of his Son, God also reconciled each one of us to each other. For through one man, all will be saved; if Jesus forgave those who betrayed him, if David could forgive Saul, think about what we can be capable of. As you leave this morning I want you to think about the Sauls in your life. What would it take for you to reach out to that person? What would it take to confront that thing in your life that you cannot get past? As with Saul and David, and my Grandfather and I, it’s up to us to take the first step out of the dark cave and into the brilliant sun.

Amen.

1 Kings 6:1-13

“In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits wide, across the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits in front of the house. For the house he made windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary; and he made side chambers all around. The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. The house was built with stone furnished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax now any tool of iron was heard in the Temple while it was being built. The entrance for the middle story was on the south side of the house: one went up by the winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. So he built the house and finished it; he roofed the house with beams and planks of cedar. He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar. Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”

Our scripture lesson this morning from the 6^th chapter of the 1^st Book of Kings appears nowhere in our lectionary. The lectionary, as many of you know, is a three-year cycle of scriptural readings used throughout numerous denominations. It is a wonderful tool that allows the church to examine much of the bible over three years, but it does not contain or examine the totality of the Biblical corpus. One of the passages missing from the lectionary is the entirety of 1 Kings 6 that details the construction of the Temple around the 10^th century BC. When Jason contacted me at the beginning of the summer, asking me to preach this Labor day weekend, I was thrilled knowing that I would have the opportunity to share God’s word with my home church. But with his invitation came a caveat: you must pick a random, little known story from the Old Testament. So I figured that not only would I pick a random little known passage about the construction of the Temple, but also I would find one that is never read in churches according to the Lectionary. This is God’s Word for us. It contains the brilliance of creation, the formation of life, the grief of loss, and the necessity of love. Even in the mundane, God acts abundantly in our lives.

The Lord be with you.

Gracious God, may word the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites had made their way out of Egypt, in the second year of Solomon’s Kingdom, the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem began. According to 1 Kings the Temple was to be built with cedar and cypress timber, great stones were to be quarried to lay the foundation, the inner altar was to be overlaid with gold, the inner sanctuary contained two cherubim of olivewood, each ten CUBITS high, etc. All in all, it took 7 years to complete the construction of the place that was to play an incredibly pivotal role in Israel’s future. When reading through this passage in 1^st Kings it is as if the construction of the Temple marks the fulfillment of the Exodus story. The grandeur and level of detail in the biblical record is amazingly precise. This was not just an altar built in the wilderness to consecrate and celebrate a moment in the history of Israel, this was a Temple worthy of the Lord who had delivered His people from Egypt and established them in the Promised Land. In fact Solomon declares in the previous chapter that his father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with his enemies that surrounded him. Solomon began construction because God had given him rest on every side; there were neither adversaries nor misfortune. Finally Israel had ascended to the level God had ordained for them.

This past year, my first of three working towards my Masters at Duke Divinity School was amazing. I took classes in Koine Greek, Church History [from Pentecost to the present day], the Old and New Testaments, and Forming Disciples in the Wesleyan Tradition. One of the primary emphases of Duke Divinity School is to fully immerse one’s self in the biblical, social, and theological works of which we are learning. In conjunction with our course load we are also required to meet regularly with spiritual formation groups. To balance our academic work we are required to work at a field-placements during the summers to give us the best education we can receive. One of the things that Duke offered me this past year, which has a direct connection with today’s scripture, was the DiVE tank. DiVE stands for Duke immersive Virtual Environment, a 6 sided virtual reality theater. All six surfaces, the four walls, ceiling and floor, are used as screens onto which computer graphics are displayed. For virtual worlds designed for this system, it is a fully immersive room in which the individual walks into the world, is surrounded by the display and is capable of interacting with virtual objects in the world. While studying the Old Testament, each student in my year was invited to an hour-long session in the DiVE tank where we would virtually explore the Temple from the time of Solomon. Thanks to the incredible detail provided by the writer of 1 Kings, researchers and computer programmers were able to reconstruct the biblical temple in a virtual medium whereby we, 3,000 year later, could travel through the Temple and see what it would have looked like. Upon entering the DiVE tank with some of my peers, my first impression was of the majesty of the Temple, especially in light of its surroundings. The Temple stood erect in a large open place, being built of massive stones, all lending to the perception that God was to dwell in this place indefinitely. We traveled through the outer perimeter examining the details within each room until we made our way to the holy of holies. There sat the Arc of the Covenant, surrounded by two cherubim each 15 feet tall by 10 feet wide. Even in a virtually projected reality, the experience of the Temple left me with Goosebumps. The Temple was a dark and mysterious structure, conductive to a sense of awe. It stood in a large open place, signifying its unique reflection of God. After being in the DiVE tank I began to understand how those walls seemed to guarantee that God would never wish to depart from Jerusalem.

Unfortunately they also encouraged those who saw them a few millennia ago to rely more on the outward symbols of God’s presence than on the pious performance of his commandments and the heartfelt loyalty to his covenant that his prophets continually demanded.

Solomon was able to create a situation, through the construction of the Temple, in which everything was already given, in which no more futures could be envisioned. He established a controlled, static religion through which God and the Temple became part of the royal landscape. The sovereignty of God was fully subordinated to the purposes of the king who compartmentalized the Lord into a building. This was the greatest sin committed by Solomon, he attempted to take the God of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience and limit him to a building on top of a hill. There was no longer a notion of God’s freedom to act out against the status quo. God had been affectively placed “on call” where access to him was controlled by the royal court. Passion had been removed from its connection to God.

It became obvious, therefore why the prophet Jeremiah would one day lash out against the Israelites screaming: “Do not trust in these deceptive words: This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh!” The Israelites had been so duped by the monarchy to believe that the temple contained more power than God himself! The prophet Jeremiah was given the unenviable task of reforming a nation who had placed all hope in a building rather than the mercies, love, depth, and brilliance of a living and magnificent God.

In Walter Brueggemann’s book Prophetic Imagination he draws connections between the reign of Solomon and our current Post-modern culture. Just as with the time of Solomon we live in an economic situation of affluence in which we are so well off that pain is not noticed and we can eat our way around it. Just as with the time of Solomon we see politics of oppression in which the cries of the marginal are not heard or are dismissed.

Brueggemann leaves it there, but I would go so far as to say that just as with the time of Solomon, WE find ourselves with a religion where God has been compartmentalized into our churches.

Let me explain. I love the church. I love this church. But I’m afraid of us believing that we can only find God in this building. Or maybe even worse, I’m afraid that we might only live out our faith when we are in this building. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it is not enough for US to just show up to church every week. I say US because this most assuredly applies to me as well. It is very easy being a Christian while at Divinity School. I am constantly surrounded by majestic buildings, scripture quoted above archways, like minded peers whose lives are oriented around the Gospel, learned professors who are known throughout the world, and a collective identity fixed towards the fulfillment of the Christian message. It truly is a wonderful atmosphere through which to learn about the Lord, the Word, and the World. The problem is, as soon as you get off campus, it’s so easy to forget your Christian identity.

Just this past Friday, I called Jason to complain about one of my classes this fall. Greek Exegesis of the Gospel according to Mark, where this week I have to translate the first 15 verses of Mark 1, read my professors introduction to the Anchor Bible Commentary to Mark [~100 pages] and read William Wrede’s The Messianic Secret to then write a 2,000 word review of the book. All of which are due by Thursday. When in actuality I have the greatest job in the world. I get to spend hours everyday learning and reflecting on the glory of God. This is not something to complain about, it is something to celebrate.

We are called to live out our faith in the world. Whether that means living out the Gospel outside the walls of Duke Divinity School, or simply loving our neighbors as ourselves. The role of the church is to reveal the Word of God so that we might know God. We then, in church, respond to God through worship. Finally we must take what we learn about God and proclaim it through our living! We come to know God through our lived experiences within the walls and especially outside of the walls of the church. Being a Christian is not a one-hour a week endeavor; it is about dying to the old self and being clothed in the new self where Christ is all and in all! [Col. 3] It’s about presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It’s about not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds [Romans 12]

God is not hidden in this building. Yes, God is reflected and resonated through aspects of our church. But we do not come here to find God alone, but to experience God and live out our lives through God as soon as we leave.

“Enter to worship; leave to serve.” This is a common phrase found on signs posted in and around churches. Doing the first part “enter to worship,” that parts easy. It’s leaving the church to serve the word of God, that’s the hard part.

In a few moments all of you will be invited to partake in the Eucharist. This practice of participation in the Lord’s Table is one that has been taking place for centuries. When we come to the altar to receive the bread and juice, we are not coming to simply be forgiven or joined together with other Christians. We are receiving the grace of God through the Holy Spirit so that we might leave this place being filled with that same grace.

We have the responsibility to proclaim and live out the Word of God in our lives.

In the adapted words of Cleophas LaRue, a homiletics professor at Princeton Theological Seminary:

Live out the Gospel when you are up and when you are down, when all is well and when all is hell, live out the Gospel when you are received and when you are nowhere believed, Live out the Gospel until sinners are justified, until the devil is terrified, until Jesus is magnified, and until God is satisfied!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jeremiah 29:1-9

“These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^a for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.” [ESV]

Let us pray: Gracious God, through the story of your prophet Jeremiah, teach us patience, grant us the courage to accept your will, and enlighten our lives to the community of your holy son Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak! Why would you pick me?”

“Jeremiah, I have put my words into your mouth. See today, I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”[1]

Thus began the paradoxical prophetic career of Jeremiah; Destruction and new life, submission and growth, despair and hope. He had to tell the people, exactly what they DID NOT want to hear.

For 23 years, and 28 chapters, Jeremiah took heed of his commission and prophesied the imminent destruction and overthrowing of his native Jerusalem. For 23 years and 28 chapters Jeremiah prophesied oracles of judgment against Israel for its arrogance. Jeremiah preached about the sinfulness of God’s people, he spoke out against the false emphasis on temple worship, he even wore a wooden yoke around his neck as a symbol of Israel’s inevitable servitude.[2] Indeed, Israel fell under the yoke of Babylon; it was pulled down and placed into submission and Jerusalem was eventually destroyed.

Like a true prophet, Jeremiah had to spread a message that no one wanted to hear.

Our scripture reading today is the first part of a letter written by Jeremiah to the exiles in 594 BC. Interestingly, this message lies in stark contrast to the previous 28 chapters. Jeremiah commands the exiles to “build houses, plant gardens, multiply there and do not decrease […] if you pray for the welfare of Babylon, you too will find your welfare.”[3] Where is the gloom and doom in this message?

Jeremiah’s emphasis to the exiles is simple: Accept your fate and make the best of it. Do not resist God’s will for you.

During this time, many false prophets in Babylon created a sense of false hope and told the Israelites that there time in exile would be short, that they would soon return home. Jeremiah quickly responds with a stern dismissal: “Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream.”

These false prophets were telling the exiled Israelites exactly what they wanted to hear.

False prophets often tell US exactly what WE want to hear…

If you take this weight loss pill, you can have the body of your dreams

If you buy this car, you neighbors will respect and admire you

If you come to church and pray, God will give you everything you need

Just because it might be what we WANT to hear, doesn’t mean that its what we NEED to hear.

Our culture has adopted an unhealthy appetite for instant gratification. We desire the products that will provide the quickest result in the most efficient way. Emails have replaced letters, phone calls have replaced visits, and Facebook has replaced real relationships. We have become so obsessed with this idea of efficiency that we have even brought it into our churches:

“I come to church for an hour every Sunday, I don’t have time to read the bible, or pray during the week.”

Before the exile, Israel believed that the Temple in Jerusalem held special power; they WANTED to believe that by making pilgrimages to the temple, they could procure the security they needed. The temple itself was no guaranteed security at all. Jeremiah called the people away from this false belief and advocated for the people to practice justice, and to care for one another.

Truly I tell you, we have reinstituted this false temple worship from the time of Jeremiah with our own modern understanding of church.  We believe that by attending church on Sundays we deserve to be called Christians, and that God should reward us for our “pious” behavior.

I am now going to tell you what you do not want to hear:

God does not work that way.

In today’s world the church has become an exiled community within our own Babylon. We exist as a separate entity within the larger dynamic of Western Culture. We have become a pleasant place to bring your family on Sunday mornings, with little expectation once you leave the building.

I believe that this letter from Jeremiah to the exiles has much to say to us:

“Do not listen to the dreams they dream” Church and Christian livelihood is not easy! Being called to live as a Christian is a radical change in one’s lifestyle where you live for your brother and your sister instead of yourself. Being a Christian isn’t about taking the easy road to receive God’s mercy. It’s about reflecting God’s love on those around you. By practicing justice, and living for your neighbors!

“Build houses, plant gardens, multiply there and do not decrease.” Being a Christian is about fostering and promoting community! The only way that we can continue to exist within our exile is to believe in living with a vital collective identity. We need to practice our faith as a community.[4] We need to move beyond the walls of our church and live into a new understanding of the body of Christ. We need to break bread together and praise God for the goodness of our lives.[5] And we need to admit that we cannot do this alone.

Do not be mistaken; we are not called to do this because we are waiting for God. God is ACTIVELY in control. “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”[6] Even in the midst of the Babylonian exile God was in control; in fact it was God who sent them into Israel, yet God was also the source of their hope. The most famous lines from the book of Jeremiah comes in the next few verses of this letter specifically addressing God’s sovereignty: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”[7]

Just as God had plans for the exiles, God has plans for us.

“When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me.”[8]

What are we afraid of? Why have we become so complacent with limiting our experience of God’s reality to one hour on a Sunday morning? Why are we so willing and eager to hear the false messages from false prophets?

God is ready for us to call on God. By living into God’s reality, by seeking God with our whole hearts, by practicing justice and loving kindness, we will find God. We are called to live into a community where the well being of those around us becomes more important to us than ourselves. We are called to put on the new self in Jesus Christ.[9] We are called to have hope in the future that God has for us.

God has not abandoned us and we must NOT abandon God.

Amen

Amos 7: 7-17

“This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from this land.” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am [was] no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am [was] a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following my flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

“Now therefore hear the Word of the Lord. You say, “Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.” Therefore thus says the Lord: “Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.””

I have been invited to preach about a dozen and half times and I try to make each sermon end with a nice happy warm feeling. Given the scripture today that usual comfort becomes nearly impossible

“I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a shepherd, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following my flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

The Prophet Amos presents us with a distinct call and description of his role in communicating the Word of the Lord. He was no prophet, nor did he come from a family of prophets. He was a simple shepherd, a man plucked from his profession and way of life, to proclaim the judgment of God. I read chapter seven and I am left feeling uncomfortable and uncertain. Amos first presents us with an image of a plumb line, to my knowledge this is the only reference to a plumb line in the entirety of the bible, this plumb line is a device used to determine straight and even lines in a field. Think of it as a proverbial level used in construction. Now see, God sets a plumb line against Israel, using a divine standard to measure the fidelity of God’s people.

To fully appreciate Amos’ vision we need to understand Israel during this time…

Amos was called during the reigns of two kings: King Uzziah of Judah [south], and King Jeroboam II of Israel [north]. Amos was from Judah and was called to the northern kingdom to proclaim the Word of God. The reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam were relatively peaceful. There were no major military conflicts and according to Amos it was a time of prosperity, at least for a few at the expense of the many. There seems to have been a breakdown in the old tribal and family systems of land ownership and the emergence of a wealthy class at the top of society. A generation  after Amos’ proclamation, the Assyrian empire invaded the Northern Kingdom and carried the people into exile. Amos repeatedly announces that because of Israel’s social injustice and religious arrogance, the Lord will punish them by means of a total military disaster. Amos was not introducing new moral laws, but rather holding people accountable for their transgressions.

The people of Israel during Amos’ time had forgotten what the Lord had done for them. They ignored the Mosaic exodus and turned away from their own deliverance, only to begin subjugating people repeating the events of bondage in Egypt. The elite increased their wealth and became stratified from all others in society. According to Amos, the elite along with the rest of society had rejected the laws of the lord, forgotten their past and ignored God’s greatest commandments. You shall love the lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all you mind and all your strength, AND you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

God sets a plumb line against Israel, judging people by His standards.

Can you imagine what Amos was called to do? Leave his home and way of life, to go into a different kingdom to announce that they will be destroyed because of their actions? I am not surprised to find that Amaziah, priest of Bethel, responds to Amos’ words by telling King Jeroboam “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel.”

God’s judgment is not limited to the King; this is a judgment against all of God’s people.

GUATEMALA

Next Saturday I will be traveling with other college age students to Guatemala for our annual international mission trip. When I first read the scripture for this Sunday I realized how well it matched with the Guatemalan Missional experience… The social injustices of Amos’ time are eerily similar to the injustices still seen in Guatemala today.

Just a little history to establish context:

The Spanish invaded Guatemala in 1519, bringing with them disease and dominion. An epidemic swept across the land; many lost their lives and Guatemala was eventually colonized for its jade, lumber and dye. Many of the indigenous Mayans were pacified and removed from their land. The Spanish also brought the Guatemalans their own religion: Christianity. The Church in Guatemala officially labeled the Mayans as “Naturales” which literally meant that they were primitive. They were considered a lower species, somewhere above animals but below Adam and Eve. This prejudice continued through the 19^th century when non-Spanish corporations moved into the country to exploit its fertile lands for fruit and coffee. Again Mayans were displaced and the distinction of “naturales” continued to be used. Imagine being told for over 500 years that you were a lesser creature created by God.

After World War II through 1996 Guatemala was consistently in a state of civil war. Throughout the 1980’s the Military dictator commissioned death squads to seek out indigenous Mayans for their unwillingness to takes sides in the conflict.

So, the people that we are going to serve have experienced 5 centuries of persecution and oppression, they do not have the education or resources to thrive today.

The very few elite in Guatemala have thrived off of the suppression of the Mayan culture. To me this sounds a lot like Amos’ Israel.

The Mission organization that we will be partnering with is called HSP for Highland Support Project; established by Ben and Lupe Blevins. After graduating from the University of Richmond in the 80’s Ben traveled to Guatemala to participate in community organizing and acted as a human shield during the Civil War. It was during this time that me met his wife Lupe and they have been organizing this effort ever since.

The first summer I went to Guatemala, Lupe offered me a story of two villages to explain why HSP does what they do:

Lupe’s village saw the arrival of missionaries when she was a child and they refused to give handouts to the people. Instead of establishing a health clinic they taught the people how to heal one another. Instead of handing out boxes of food they taught the people how to be more efficient with their cooking to sustain their existence. This relationship eventually allowed the missionaries to leave the village because it had become empowered and was able to truly thrive on its own.

The next village over also saw the arrival of missionaries at about the same time. Yet these missionaries brought handouts, brought boxes of food, brought medicine, and then left. Although initially endowed, the materials did not last and the village was unable to sustain itself.

Ben and Lupe believe in attacking injustice by teaching and allowing the indigenous Mayans to thrive on their own, offering empowerment instead of charity.

So what do we do when we go to Guatemala?

We spend the majority of the week building stoves for local Mayan families and finish by helping plant new trees in an attempt at reforestation.  The stoves are necessary because most families cook over an open fire within their home, and this creates massive respiratory problems for the children. The stove is incredibly efficient and uses a chimney to draw the smoke outside. The families now use less wood, and have more time to spend with their families. It also helps to empower the local women by giving them more time to work things such as weavings, which they later sell in the market.

But more important than the stoves are the relationships that we are creating with the families we serve. Through our relationships we hope to show these people that we are all equal, that they deserve to be treated fairly, that they are loved. This will mean more than any stove ever could.

Now I did not come all the way to Harmony UMC this morning to tell you that you need to go to Guatemala or any mission trip for that matter. What I offer to you is a new way to live your life. A way handed to us through the bible over the last 2000 years, one where we live for others rather than for ourselves. Knowing that even the Son of God came not to be served but to serve. You do not need to go to a foreign country to do this. Look at your neighbors, look at your community, and look at your church.

When Amos preached his message to the people of Israel it was already too late. They had all settled for the status quo and accepted an unrighteous life. Amos never even calls the people to change their actions; God’s judgment had already been decided.

We still have hope. For us it is not too late. We know from the gift of Jesus Christ what it is that God is calling us to do. So are you willing to settle for mediocrity? Are you content to live an unrighteous life? Truly I tell you we are Israel. Where do you measure up on God’s plumb line?

Amen

This is a sermon that I gave at Aldersgate UMC on 6/28/2009:

2 Samuel 1: 17-27

17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):

19 “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights.

How the mighty have fallen!

20 “Tell it not in Gath,

proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,

lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,

lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.

21 “O mountains of Gilboa,

may you have neither dew nor rain,

nor fields that yield offerings of grain .

For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,

the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.

22 From the blood of the slain,

from the flesh of the mighty,

the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,

the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied.

23 “Saul and Jonathan—

in life they were loved and gracious,

and in death they were not parted.

They were swifter than eagles,

they were stronger than lions.

24 “O daughters of Israel,

weep for Saul,

who clothed you in scarlet and finery,

who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.

25 “How the mighty have fallen in battle!

Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

26 I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;

you were very dear to me.

Your love for me was wonderful,

more wonderful than that of women.

27 “How the mighty have fallen!

The weapons of war have perished!”

This poem, written by David, does not sit well with me.

I read that David asks the daughters of Israel to weep for Saul and it makes no sense. Saul was David’s enemy. What concerns me even more is that David attributes the same wonderful qualities to his best friend Jonathan, the son of Saul, and to his nemesis. “They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”

Throughout the Old Testament, God often speaks through his prophets. The prophet Samuel had anointed Saul ruler over Israel and often told him the commands of the Lord. Samuel told Saul to attack the Amalekites but to take no spoils from the battle. When Saul disobeyed this command they Spirit of the Lord left him.

It was at this time when the Lord commanded Samuel to anoint David. David famously kills Goliath, the champion of the Philistines

1 Samuel 18: 6-9 “As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sand to one another as they made merry, Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have as scribed thousands; what more can he have but the Kingdom? So Saul eyed David from that day on”

This is where Saul’s hatred and torment began. He grew jealous of David, often sending him into battles where he would surely die. Yet, the Spirit of the Lord was with David, leaving him triumphant. Saul on multiple occasions attempted to personally kill David by pinning him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him.

After David was triumphant over Goliath, 1 Samuel 18:1 tells us “the soul of Jonathan was bound to the Soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own Soul.” They were from that point on best friends. Jonathan often interceded on behalf of David, and saved David’s life more than once from his father Saul. Saul responded by telling Jonathan “For as long as the son of Jesse (David) lives upon the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”

So why does David honor Saul throughout all of Israel?

Why does he even attempt to compare the insidious Saul to Jonathan, his beloved best friend?

When I was a senior in high school I wanted nothing more than to attend James Madison University after I graduated. I had spent my summers at JMU participating in Band programs, I had toured the campus, and I knew they had a strong religion program. Well one December afternoon my friend Matt called me to share the news of his acceptance to JMU. The next day I received my denial in the mail. My frustration was enormous, I was mad at God, I was mad at Matt, and I began to bottle it all up.

After David was forced to flee the kingdom of Israel, for fear of being killed by Saul, he found himself in the wilderness of En-Gedi. Saul had chosen 3,000 Israelite and were pursuing David. In God’s uncanny way of setting up events, He delivers the tired Saul to rest in the cave where David is hiding.

David’s companions said, “Here is the day which the Lord has given your enemy into your hand!” David went out to strike Saul down but he immediately felt a pain in his heart. Instead of killing Saul, David cuts off a corner of his cloak. David knew he could not kill Saul because the Lord had forbidden that he should do such a thing to his lord, the Lord’s anointed. The Lord’s Annointed.

After Saul left the cave, David followed to yell, “This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not raise my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord’s anointed.’”

Saul replies with a change of heart by telling David “You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil {…} Now I know that you shall surely be King and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.”

After I received my denial letter, I internalized all of my frustration. I felt this anger all the way through my senior year, through the summer leading up to attending a different university. During my first week I fell apart. I could not believe that God had done this to me. So I threw myself down before the Lord, and I prayed and prayed asking Him what to do. And he answered, “work, study, transfer.” So I did, and now I am at James Madison University, and it is glorious.

I know that Scot McKnight told us last week that the only time “love your neighbor as yourself” is mentioned is in Leviticus before Jesus ushers it back. Dr. McKnight is absolutely right, but, though David never says it, it is what he is doing with his poem. David is exhibiting Christ’s decree of the greatest commandment generations before Jesus said it: “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself.” To love the Lord your God – Saul tried to end David’s life yet David’s love for the Lord’s anointed is held fast. Love your neighbor as yourself – David’s love for Saul is equal to that of Jonathan.

David wept upon hearing the news of Saul and Jonathan’s death. “HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!” is the refrain from the poem. This poem shows David being human, lamenting the lives lost.

Every one of us has lost someone. I have seen my fair share of funerals here at the church through being the sound operator, many for people I didn’t know, some for dear friends. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that we cannot heal unless our wounds are exposed.

The church should be the place where death can be faced, where our grief and loss can be voiced. It is only after an encounter with the cross and the death of Jesus Christ, that resurrection can speak a meaningful word of life.

I am proud to be a member of this church. A church where people are hurt, yet they know that this body of Christ will help them. As Scot McKnight said last week we are all broken, through Christ we are fixed. Christ instituted this community, and with it we can be made whole again.

David’s love of Saul and Jonathan is directly reflected in how God loves us.

At JMU the leader of the Wesley foundation loves to quote a passage from Romans with her own translation: “No matter what you do, God will never love you any more, and no matter what you do God will never love you any less.”

This is true, but I prefer the literal scripture:

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”