Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Third Sunday After Epiphany Year C 2010

03 Epiphany C 10
January 24, 2010

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
1 all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had given to Israel. 2 Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

8 So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

Psalm 19
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hid from its heat.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can detect their errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts.

Luke 4:14-21
14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Member, Remember

Nehemiah and Ezra preached for what appears to be about six hours. Maybe that’s why the people wept.

A pastor named David Jones, in a sermon on today’s text from Nehemiah, relates the story from Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude in which the town of Macondo was stuck by a plague of insomnia. At first no one minded very much because they found they got a lot of things done in those hours when they were usually sleeping. But gradually they discovered an unsettling side effect: loss of memory.

They noticed first that some people forgot what common household items were, so they began to label things with their names, “clock,” “cow,” “knife,” and so on. Then they noticed some people forgot what things were for, so they appended to the labels instructions, as in "This is a cow. She must be milked every morning so that she will produce milk, and the milk must be boiled in order to be mixed with coffee to make coffee and milk."

They even had to put a sign outside of town so they wouldn’t forget it was named Macondo. And right in the middle of the town square they erected an even bigger sign that simply said:
“God exists.”

The first time I went to church because I wanted to was back in the early eighties, shortly after I’d had a rather remarkable visionary experience connected with reading the bible. A friend had told me that a certain congregation, St. James Cathedral in downtown Brooklyn, was a wonderful place to worship.

The church was huge and packed with people. In the pew where I sat, I was almost literally wedged between other parishioners. There was a lot of singing, and sitting down and standing up and even kneeling going on. There were these dialogues between the priest and the congregants that everyone but me seemed to know by heart. The priest took some time to speak to us about the bible passages that had been read. And then there was the mysterious moment when everyone got up and went forward to receive little wafers and a sip of wine from a cup.

And I had the strangest feeling that I had found my home.

Nehemiah led Israel after the exile, when the people of Israel returned to their ruined homeland. After two hundred years of exile, they barely remembered who they were. Nehemiah called them all together and read the first five books of our Old Testament and preached on them. It was a sermon that started in the early morning and went on till midday. As the people realized how much they’d forgotten, how far they’d wandered from the loving embrace of their faithful God, they wept. But Nehemiah and Ezra comforted them, told them to go out and celebrate, to have a big feast. Why? Because they had been reminded through God’s word who they really were, and where their true home was.

The word “church” is translated from a Greek word ekklesia, which a New Testament dictionary will tell you means “assembly.” But this word is a grammatical variation on the basic verb kaleo, meaning “to call.” Other common Greek words based on kaleo are translated “invite,” “bring,” “summon,” “call together,” and “appeal.” The root is also used for other more troubling Greek words translated “accuse” and “provoke.” And so ekklesia might also be translated “the ones called together.”

Paul says that we are the body of Christ and each individually members of it.

The metaphor raises troubling possibilities. I would much rather be the heart than the appendix, wouldn’t you? Who gets to be the liver or the sweat glands? And I’m sure none of us would like to be one of those parts having to do with elimination. Nevertheless, whatever part we each might become, Paul assures us that no part is more important than the other. If the most disgusting parts don’t work as they should, the lovelier parts will sicken and die, and if they work as they should, they bless all the other parts with health and life.

We’ve been having some conversations about membership among the leaders of our congregation. The word “member” actually means a body part. From it, for example, we derive the word “dismember,” meaning to cut parts of the body off. But another word derived from this word member is one we use every Sunday when we gather around the table. “Remember.” Re-member. To become a member again, to become once again a part of the body.

Our wholeness as individuals, the wholeness of our congregation, and the wholeness of the church, consists in this. When we re-member, when we become again members of the one body, we remember who we really are. We are not members because we agree with one another, or because we love one another, or because we even like one another. We are members because we belong to the body of Christ. The body of Christ is our true identity, our true homeland.

We are members because we were all slaves in Egypt, but Yahweh, our God, delivered us from our slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. We are members because we all forgot to walk in the ways of the Lord and so we were cast out of the promised land into exile. We are members because we all experienced the joy of being returned to our homeland and rebuilding our holy nation. We are members because we all walked with Jesus and were taught by him. We are members because we ran away when he was arrested and tried and executed. We are members because we all saw him raised from the dead. We are all members because the Holy Spirit has called us together and made us one. We are all members because we have all been anointed to the same mission, because we are all sent into this troubled world to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

The gospel of John says that Christ is the word of God in human form. If we are the body of Christ, and individually members of it, we too are the word of God in human form. We are called together to be a message from God to his beloved world.

Amen.

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