Sermons at St. John’s Presbyterian Church

Life’s Tough Questions: Are there Basic Values to Live By?

Transcribed from the sermon preached May 9, 2010

The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 22: 1-3, 11-16, Romans 12:1-2, 9-21

“We send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears…after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, o loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! We began this Mother’s Day worship by borrowing liturgy from the Catholic Church. For those of us steeped in Protestantism, we may have a nervous reaction or two. Protestants emphasized the centrality of Christ. By the grace of Christ, we have direct access to God, and therefore are no longer in exile, no longer in need of an intermediary, a priest, a saint or Mother Mary. But we hear in this call to Mary, one who knows the sufferings of a mother’s love, a cry which must be the prayer of mothers the world over, from Nashville to Haiti, from the Congo to Palestine and Israel, from Guatemala to Arizona.

Julia Ward Howe wrote her Mother’s Day Proclamation in reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The proclamation was tied to Howe’s feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.

Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience…

Postmodern culture tells us that values are relative, that each person or culture has their own values and truth shaped by their context and story. Claims to truth and values tend to exclude, therefore it is better to hold no value tightly except this: that we should have no ultimate principles or values.

Now even as we acknowledge that most of us understand the reasoning behind postmodern principle, and we would by most outside observers be considered promoters of this movement from one overarching notion of “Progress” or “Truth” toward listening for the truth of the other, there is a danger to having no identity, no truth of our own, no home, as wandering in exile forever. So the tough question for the day is, are there principals and values to live by?

One of the principles my mother tried to teach was the power of knowing who and whose you are. It enables one to withstand the wind and tide of popularity, fad, and whim. It also enables us to avoid the more sinister forms of the flesh, mob fear, scapegoating, hate, fighting and clamoring for the latest so-called “valuable” thing. With no values of our own, the market will determine what is best, what we should put our money into, what we should fight for. It will tell us we are kings because we compete in cedar. Capitalism will always seek the divisible, so that it may commoditize and then sell more and more. So the market loves post modernity. Now we appreciate the freedom in capitalism to employ our gifts to make a living, but besides the value of what is profitable, it will not help us determine how we should use our gifts, or help us determine what we are living for.

I said two weeks ago that many situations present us with a choice that pits one scriptural rule against another, or where either choice presents a mixture of both good and bad consequences. Paper or plastic? Give money to a beggar or give the money to a program that helps people get off the street? Do we allow too much freedom to our children, or not enough? Rent the building to right wing fundamentalists or left wing secularists or not at all. We are left to choose and we are not so great that we will choose the best thing all the time. So, it is finally, by the grace of God that we move forward. By the grace of God, Paul presents us with some general principals to carry with us through the complexities of life and relationship.

Paul is speaking of the church, but his principles work just as well for living as Christians in any community. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” Now Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome who have found themselves in a cross-cultural dilemma. Various groups have been touched by the grace of God through the person of Jesus. There are Jews and Gentiles, but Gentile just means not Jewish, thus it is a word that may encompass people from many different cultures. There are different groups, which value different gifts over others. There are those who think education and teaching is most important, others prophesy or the pronouncement of the signs of the times; social, political, economic and religious forecasters we might say. Others value the speaker, the zealous and charismatic personality who can get people whipped up and ready to go. Still others place a high value on the businesspersons with money and think they should have a high place.

So Paul lays out these principles for living together. First off, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice- we are to give ourselves wholeheartedly to God. Our whole life, Paul says, is spiritual worship. Whatever we do, whether we are an organist or a real estate agent, a gardener or an engineer, a doctor or a parent, our work, our life, twenty-four seven is an act of dedication and worship. We are not to be dragged around by the whims of the world, following whatever is popular and rejecting whatever is unpopular: “be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect…Because we are justified by Christ’s love, grace and forgiveness, this order is not a debt due; the due date is today, but it is not a bill, something we pay with reluctance. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

I love this; Paul sets up a contest; the one who loves and honors the other the most wins. This is good advice as we face our brothers and sisters on the other side of the aisle on the issue of homosexuality for instance; recently, we have had two women, Lisa Larges and Abbey Kaiser, come before presbytery, our regional governing body, and declare a departure from the churches current position opposing ordination or marriage for gays. Both women were attacked with vitriolic questions and pronouncements; and yet both responded with patience, love and respect. As we see in Jeremiah, there is a time for prophetic anger, but we are beginning to win this battle because we are outdoing them with love. We are beginning to win not because we are beating the other side up, but because we, gay, lesbian and transgendered people, and those who love with them, are doing the ministry of Jesus Christ.

“Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the Saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. “

“Rejoice with those who rejoice”: we are to celebrate when someone else is successful. In contrast, Proverbs 17:5 notes that the “ungodly are glad at the calamity of others”. So we celebrate Mother’s day with joy, giving thanks for the blessing of mothers and motherhood, even though not all of us can be mothers, and even though not all mothers are joyous or have brought us joy always. “Weep with those who weep.” It is one of the great strengths of the church that we can stand in solidarity with each other when our zeal flags and we are not aglow with the Spirit. Our hope knows there is a joy stronger than our trials, even as our trials cause us to weep. And so in this one service we cry with and for lost mothers and the mothers of the lost, and we celebrate the joy and blessing mothers.

“Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.” Isn’t it nice when someone gifted, famous, rich or beautiful is kind and normal with the rest of us? The funny thing is that it seems to make them all the more attractive. But Paul is not asking us to play the politician who looks for the snap shot as the sympathetic, down home guy so that we can be more popular. From the Christian perspective, it is not about being liked the most, but about loving the most possible. But it is not a competition between people but each of us stepping up with joy, with our own unique gifts to share God’s love with others. If we don’t know who and whose we are, then at the party we are worried about fitting in, about being seen with the right people, about saying and doing the right things. Jeremiah asks, “Do you think you are King because you compete in Cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? But if we do know who and whose we are, if we know we are justified by the grace of Christ, then we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are sanctified to live love, to widen the circle at the party, to see and listen and enjoy and celebrate with all.

Now it is interesting that here in this passage Paul addresses his audience, all of them, as if they are the strong ones. Now this is interesting. What if we came in this morning feeling like the weak one, the outsider, the one in exile, the one who needs someone else to include them, the weak, the weeping, the lowly? Take all the time you need to feel that way, but maybe God is calling you out today. Sometimes we do that, whether visitor or ruling elder, young or old; I’m too new! I am not a member, I am too old, I am not popular, nobody fits my profile, I am not one of the smart ones, I’m too smart, I’m too much of a practical business person, I’m too poor, I am an immigrant, I’m too busy, I’m lethargic, I’m too skeptical, I’m an employee, I am not an employee, all this making people feel welcomed and loved is their job not mine. But the way Paul puts it he addresses us all. By God’s grace through Christ, we are it, right now as we are; we have got what it takes to reach out and include the people around us with love. It is our party and we are the host, whoever we are. Maybe you just walked in this morning for the first time; it doesn’t matter, Paul is addressing you as if it is you who are the church. It is not about knowledge or doctrine or position or age, but about simple brotherly or motherly love, Christ like love, strong love, confident love, love that comes from someone who knows who and whose they are. Now I know I run the risk of freaking you out; no worries, but at least go home and think about it. That today, God is speaking to you, not just the person next to you. And you are being called, not just by me or Paul, but from the inside, from the power welling up within you. And it is not a scary calling, not an Oh my God what would I get myself into calling, but a joyous calling, a calling you receive with a smile and a chuckle but you still know it is true. And it is actually pretty darned easy blessing people with the privilege of your humble presence. God doesn’t care what brought you in, you are pregnant with God’s love, and the due date is today.