What
If We Were Angels?
Transcribed
from the sermon preached October 30, 2011
The
Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor
Scripture
Readings: Revelation 7:9-17, Matthew 5:1-12
So
we are
getting ready to
make a right at a light and a couple of tough, cool looking young men
come
strutting across the cross walk. We crunch down on another hot cheeto
and
think, “that guy is looking at me strange.” We find ourselves feeling
out of
place and exposed. He must be challenging me, thinks he is better than
me,
stronger, cooler, younger. How do we answer this perceived challenge?
Do we
jump into comparison mode? But wait, we already have; do we fall
further down
the dark hole of comparison, judgment or competition? “Oh yeh, well I
am
driving the car and my clothes cost more than yours, and I am cleaner
than you,
and in my circles you would feel out of place and exposed. Maybe I
should yell
something out the window. But I will just fiddle with my cell phone and
pretend
I am so important that everyone wants to contact me. Darn it! I got red
cheeto
powder on my phone.
What
if God had
assigned you
to be an angel? What if God has assigned us to be an angel and we spend
our
time licking Hot Cheetos powder off our fingers and cussing out the
dude in the
crosswalk? What if God has assigned us to be angels, but we spend our
time
sulking over the fact that Lisa and Debbie have assigned us to be the
one they
gossip about? What if God has assigned us to be angels, but our work
has
assigned us to be downsized and the bank has assigned us to be
foreclosed upon?
What if God has assigned us to be an angel, but we are so focused on
our own
weaknesses that we convince ourselves angels are just make believe, and
only
our depression is real? What if God has assigned us to be angles, but
the world
has assigned us to the untouchables, the unclean, the soiled, the other
class,
the other race, the other other? What if God has assigned you to be an
angel?
One
of my
favorite church
moments was a piece of the children’s Christmas pageant five years ago.
Madi
had walked in the Chinese New Year parade on stilts, so the kids
thought it
would be a good idea if she played a really tall angel on stilts while
the
other little angels danced really tight circle around her. They were
all
extremely cute and beautiful, full of innocence and hope, and we were
all
terrified that Madi would step on one of the others girls long white
dress and
tumble over the girls and the manger scene. You might say we were
afraid of the
fallen angel.
Walter
Breugaman
said of the
psalms that they are not descriptive but evocative. I think this is
true of
John’s Revelation too. These images are not intended to be descriptions
of
reality, even the reality of heaven, like some documentary of the
future, but
instead give narrative to feeling and describe the spiritual struggle
within
our soul and History. Revelation is an expression of the hope that no
matter
what comes our way, no matter how difficult life gets, no matter how
much it
looks like the mean and evil people win in this world, no matter how
dark and
threatening death appears as we draw ever closer to it, the life and
resurrection of Christ Jesus is testimony that the ultimate power in
the
universe is on the side of love and justice.
John’s
audience
is going
through an apocalyptic time, a time when one world ends and another
begins, but
the outcome looks far from decided. Any hope that Israel would rise up
and
throw off the Roman oppressor was sacked with the Temple in 70 AD. But
a
volcanic eruption, which destroyed Pompeii, and a fire in Rome suggest
all is not
said and done. And a new narcissistic dictator in a long line of
despotic
emperors has decided Christians are heretics and should be tortured
until they
worship him. Groupthink and fear turn people to look for scapegoats,
and the
thought police find Christians an easy target.
Christians
suffer from
discrimination; not only are most of them poor and oppressed already,
but as
Christians they are no longer welcome as Jews and yet, like Jews, they
refuse
to worship the emperor and Roman gods, so they are accused of not being
patriotic and even seditious rebels.
But
mostly
Christians have
just discovered that the love and grace of God through Christ cleanses
them
from sin and uncleanness, and empowers them to live righteous and
powerful
lives, to live as if they we angels, as if they had a cosmic
perspective that
enabled them to rise above petty concerns of everyday life and the
violence and
oppression so prevalent in their world, and act as if goodness and
righteousness will prevail.
Now
just because
Revelation
is more evocative than descriptive doesn’t mean there is no eternal
life. But
the eternal life described in Revelation is at least as descriptive of
life
today as of the life to come, and John’s view of heaven is likely to be
most
accurate in the feelings evoked, in the love and joy and peace we
experience
when we find ourselves before the God of the universe, the Spirit of
all life.
Now
it is
interesting that
those in white robes before the throne are from all over the world,
from all
different cultures. The dividing walls of hostility have broken down;
the issue
of clean and unclean has been washed away by the unconditional love and
forgiveness of Christ Jesus who shed his blood rather than compromise
love.
So
no matter
what our sense
of inadequacy, whether we are poor in spirit, in mourning, or meek or
hungry,
or thirsty or under the siege of war, or reviled or persecuted, God is
calling
for you to stand with the angels, to act as if the outcome of the
universe
depends on your faith, on even your little actions right know today.
Task
number 1 is to know we are loved eternally. Two, act as if God has
given you
the job of informing others that they too are loved eternally. We are
to bless
those guys in the cross walk, and the gossiping girls. What if being
kind to
the outcast at work, the one who no one invites out after work…what if
saying
hello and asking about their week is to strike a blow at the devil?
Stepping up
to train unskilled laborers in a trade, helping to mentor a teenager
when mom
and dad are so perplexed they can’t tell which way is up. Helping to
provide a
nurse for the sick, advocating justice, the end of war. What if God has
assigned you to be an angel? How wonderful and joyous, how empowering.
And when
I look at you, and watch you acting like angels, I start to have faith
and
hope.
3“Blessed
are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed
are
those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed
are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are
those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed
are the
merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed
are the pure in
heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the
peacemakers, for
they will be called children of God. 10
“Amen!
Blessing
and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God
forever
and ever! Amen.”