10 Pentecost,
A p 14, August 13, 2017
1 Kings 19:9-18 Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15, Matthew 14:22-33
What does theology have to do with actuarial science in the insurance industry? The insurance industry relies upon an official definition which encroaches upon theology. Insurance companies use the phrase "Act of God" to define or classify events in nature when damage is caused because of the uncontrollable forces of nature.
Is it fair to "blame" God for all of the uncontrollable events that occur in nature, especially the ones which cause harm to people and their possessions?
One of the consequences of being called the Creator of the universe means that eventually the "buck stops" at the Creator's door.
How does the buck stop at the door of the Creator? I would say that Creating is the power of freedom. Creation as we know it, is the entire possible range of free events that can occur. The human task is to learn how to live in the very best possible way within the range of free events that can happen to us. This is both glorious and daunting. It is glorious to sail in a boat on a lake on a breezy day. What is more glorious than that? It is daunting to be caught in a boat on a lake in the midst of a horrifying storm. How can you and I live effectively with the glorious and the daunting experiences of life and everything in between?
The Gospel appointed for today, gives us in story form insights about the church's teaching on baptism.
What can we learn about the baptismal teaching of the church from this Gospel story?
Christian baptism is a faith lifestyle to live with the free conditions that we must face in life. Based upon our experience everything in life can be understood as a metaphor of blessing or a metaphor of woe.
Water is a universal substance of life. Wind and breath are universal signs of outer climate and inner human life.
Water and Wind, known in the conditions of a storm, can be metaphors for uncontrollable events when people are threatened by these forces of nature.
Water as a cleanser and thirst quencher can be the living metaphor of the positive value of water to life itself. Wind and breath can be the positive metaphor for the very evidence of a person being alive.
Being a baptized person, does not mean that we are exempt from any of the possible things that can happen in the free condition of life.
Christian baptism teaches us to be honest to the free condition in life, including the conditions of loss and death.
In this Gospel story, we are invited to be identified with the disciples of Jesus and we follow Jesus into the true free conditions of life. The free conditions of life can be a breezy sail on the lake or being caught in sudden threatening storm.
What is common to all of the free conditions of our lives?
The presence of Christ is common to all conditions of life. Christ is Emmanuel or God with us, always.
The goal of our lives is to seek the presence of Christ in all of the events of our lives. And yet we know that we can often be "foxhole" Christians. When life is a breezy sail on the lake, we can in our comfort see no need to find Christ because Christ seems to be "apparent" in our success and blessing. One of the collateral benefits of being caught in a storm in life, is the sudden intensity of our prayer to find Christ as one who can rescue us.
In the conditions of ease, faith may seem to easy; when we are caught in the storm of life our faith attains a different kind of authentic value.
Peter in the storm of life had an inadvertent baptism. He journeyed in excited faith towards Christ, but the threat of the storm took away his focus and then he got "baptized." He got immersed into the lake. The end of such an immersion would be a drowning death, but Jesus took his hand and lifted him out of the water.
The early Christians practiced baptism as an immersion in the waters of Jordan. The immersion aspect of baptism is an identity with the death of Jesus experiencing the power to die to our sins. Coming up from the waters of baptism is being identified with resurrection of Christ. It is experience of knowing the hand of Christ lifting us up in the midst of the stormy events of our lives, and especially the final event of our lives, our deaths.
I think that we need to correct the terrible theology of the insurance industry. In the insurance definitions, "acts of God" are only events of harm and damage which happen because of uncontrollable events in natures. Are not all of the glorious events that happen in nature also "acts of God?" Wouldn't it be better to simply call events of harm and danger, "random and accidental" events of freedom in Nature?
This Gospel lesson today teaches us about our baptismal theology.
First, it is honest to the actual conditions of freedom of what might happen in life.
Second, when we find ourselves in harm's way, we are invited to call out for Christ and find his presence.
Third, we need to keep our focus upon Christ even as the tumults of life tempt us to be overwhelmed by the negative of what can go wrong in life. We need to be delivered from letting sin, harm and loss define our lives.
And let us quit defining the events of harm in life as acts of God; rather let our lives become testimonies for the acts of Christ who is always offering us salvation and rescue. Amen.
1 Kings 19:9-18 Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15, Matthew 14:22-33
What does theology have to do with actuarial science in the insurance industry? The insurance industry relies upon an official definition which encroaches upon theology. Insurance companies use the phrase "Act of God" to define or classify events in nature when damage is caused because of the uncontrollable forces of nature.
Is it fair to "blame" God for all of the uncontrollable events that occur in nature, especially the ones which cause harm to people and their possessions?
One of the consequences of being called the Creator of the universe means that eventually the "buck stops" at the Creator's door.
How does the buck stop at the door of the Creator? I would say that Creating is the power of freedom. Creation as we know it, is the entire possible range of free events that can occur. The human task is to learn how to live in the very best possible way within the range of free events that can happen to us. This is both glorious and daunting. It is glorious to sail in a boat on a lake on a breezy day. What is more glorious than that? It is daunting to be caught in a boat on a lake in the midst of a horrifying storm. How can you and I live effectively with the glorious and the daunting experiences of life and everything in between?
The Gospel appointed for today, gives us in story form insights about the church's teaching on baptism.
What can we learn about the baptismal teaching of the church from this Gospel story?
Christian baptism is a faith lifestyle to live with the free conditions that we must face in life. Based upon our experience everything in life can be understood as a metaphor of blessing or a metaphor of woe.
Water is a universal substance of life. Wind and breath are universal signs of outer climate and inner human life.
Water and Wind, known in the conditions of a storm, can be metaphors for uncontrollable events when people are threatened by these forces of nature.
Water as a cleanser and thirst quencher can be the living metaphor of the positive value of water to life itself. Wind and breath can be the positive metaphor for the very evidence of a person being alive.
Being a baptized person, does not mean that we are exempt from any of the possible things that can happen in the free condition of life.
Christian baptism teaches us to be honest to the free condition in life, including the conditions of loss and death.
In this Gospel story, we are invited to be identified with the disciples of Jesus and we follow Jesus into the true free conditions of life. The free conditions of life can be a breezy sail on the lake or being caught in sudden threatening storm.
What is common to all of the free conditions of our lives?
The presence of Christ is common to all conditions of life. Christ is Emmanuel or God with us, always.
The goal of our lives is to seek the presence of Christ in all of the events of our lives. And yet we know that we can often be "foxhole" Christians. When life is a breezy sail on the lake, we can in our comfort see no need to find Christ because Christ seems to be "apparent" in our success and blessing. One of the collateral benefits of being caught in a storm in life, is the sudden intensity of our prayer to find Christ as one who can rescue us.
In the conditions of ease, faith may seem to easy; when we are caught in the storm of life our faith attains a different kind of authentic value.
Peter in the storm of life had an inadvertent baptism. He journeyed in excited faith towards Christ, but the threat of the storm took away his focus and then he got "baptized." He got immersed into the lake. The end of such an immersion would be a drowning death, but Jesus took his hand and lifted him out of the water.
The early Christians practiced baptism as an immersion in the waters of Jordan. The immersion aspect of baptism is an identity with the death of Jesus experiencing the power to die to our sins. Coming up from the waters of baptism is being identified with resurrection of Christ. It is experience of knowing the hand of Christ lifting us up in the midst of the stormy events of our lives, and especially the final event of our lives, our deaths.
I think that we need to correct the terrible theology of the insurance industry. In the insurance definitions, "acts of God" are only events of harm and damage which happen because of uncontrollable events in natures. Are not all of the glorious events that happen in nature also "acts of God?" Wouldn't it be better to simply call events of harm and danger, "random and accidental" events of freedom in Nature?
This Gospel lesson today teaches us about our baptismal theology.
First, it is honest to the actual conditions of freedom of what might happen in life.
Second, when we find ourselves in harm's way, we are invited to call out for Christ and find his presence.
Third, we need to keep our focus upon Christ even as the tumults of life tempt us to be overwhelmed by the negative of what can go wrong in life. We need to be delivered from letting sin, harm and loss define our lives.
And let us quit defining the events of harm in life as acts of God; rather let our lives become testimonies for the acts of Christ who is always offering us salvation and rescue. Amen.
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