The Backside of God, the Emperor's Head and the Human Person as Icon

Lectionary Link

Click for audio>  Sermon 10.16.2011

23 Pentecost, Cycle A, Proper 24, October 16, 2011

Exodus 33:12-23  Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10  Matthew 22:15-22

  I am a person who probably lives in more constant personal irony than is good for anyone, but things just occur to me, as in our two lessons for today.  We have some rather strange anatomical juxtaposition:   The backside of God and the head of the Emperor.  How’s that for a sermon title:  The backside of God and the head of the Emperor?  And now you do wonder about my inclination to irony.

  The biblical representation of God is that God is a holy God.  God is such an entire other order of Being; how could we even know the existence of this other order of Being without some translation of this Holy Being into the categories of human experience?  No one has seen God at anytime; his Son has declared him.  No one can see God and live and so humanity is the proverbial moth headed towards the flame since we do not have the capacity for either the Heat or the Light of God.  Our God is an all-consuming Fire, Scriptures records.

  So how do we deal with such a holy and great God who is another order of Being incomprehensible to those who do not have the divine capacity?  How do we know that such a Being exists since if we declared God’s existence, why would anyone trust our limited knowledge of such a Being?  We are rescued from the problem of an unknowable God by the concession that there are energies and emanations from God that are perceptible to human experience and they are such enhanced perceptions that they are able to be for us an adequate proof of God’s existence.

  Moses was a great man because of his encounters with God.  He had several theophanies or encounters with God; God in the burning bush, God in the inscription of the laws on the stone tablets, and yet when it came for Moses to see God, he could not.  He was allowed to see only the energies of God; he was allowed to see the backside of God as he passed by.  Moses was like a moth that did not fly into the flame and get consumed.

  Certainly this theophany or encounter with the divine, bespeaks of what is called God’s glory.  And how is it that we human beings can be aware of God’s glory or the sublime evidence of the Divine?  We confess that there is enough of a likeness with divinity in human capacities to be able to know God who is way beyond human capacity.  If the heavens can bear or carry the glory of God, so too it is the belief in the biblical tradition that men and women can bear the glory of God.  Why do men and women bear the glory of God?  What is one of the most often used words since we have been using computers?  Icon.  In the book of Genesis, it is written that Adam or the first human being was made in the “image” of God.  The Greek word for “image” in the famous Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures is the Greek word from which we get the word “icon.”  Humanity was made to be like the “icon” of God.

  If human beings were coins, then God’s icon or image would be stamp upon us, because we belong to the one whose likeness we bear.  When a child looks like a parent, we can say that “child” belongs to the one whose image is seen in the child’s face.

   Now let us fast forward to the time of the Gospel of Matthew.  What did the writer or editors of the Gospel know?  They knew the Caesar during the ministry of Jesus?  Caesar Tiberius.  And he was the step-son of Caesar Augustus who had been elevated to the position of a god by the Roman senate.  And so what was one of the titles of Caesar Tiberius?  Tiberius was a divi filius, a son of a god.  What was the right of every Roman Emperor?  An Emperor would stamp his image or icon on the coinage as a sign of his economic power in his realm.  His image or icon on the coins was also his right to collect taxes in his empire.  What did the Gospel writers believe about Jesus Christ?  They believed that he was more than divi filius  or son of a god; they believe he was Son of God, Dei filius,  Son of the Lord God, the God of Moses. And being the Son of the God of Hebrew monotheism, he was special indeed.

  I am trying to coax you into the irony of the numismatic encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees and Herodians who were trying to stir up trouble about paying taxes to the Emperor.

  Jesus who is the exact image or icon of God as God’s Son makes a comment about the image or the icon of the Emperor Tiberius on the Roman coinage in Palestine.  And this same Caesar is one who was call divi filius or son of a god.

  Jesus said that Caesar could have all of those coins on which his image was stamped.  But let God have everyone  on whom the image of God is stamped.  And who is that?   That is all men and women, including the emperor.

  Let the emperor keep his coins but let him honor the profound image of God that is stamped upon even the emperor by virtue of his being made in the image of God.

  Do you now see all of the symbolic irony of this Gospel text?

  But there is a further faith assumption in this text?  If the Emperor really is made in God’s image and belongs to God, then the coins and all of the Emperor’s possessions also belong to God.

  There is a message of faith and stewardship for each of us in this Gospel.  We can live our lives as strutting Caesars on the stages of our little empires.  We mark the image or icons of our lives on things in our lives with possessive words like my and mine.  These clothes are mine.  This talent is mine.  This house is mine.  This church is mine.  This money is mine.  This fame and notoriety is mine.  This car is mine.  This is my time. This is my right.  This is my privacy.  This is mine…mine…mine…mine.

    We stamp our image on what we think that we possess and we create the “mine field” of our lives.  Mine…mine…mine…mine….don’t step on my mine. 

  And Jesus reminds us about our image and about derivative iconography.  “Okay, render unto you the things that are yours….but render unto God the things that are God's.”

  And there’s the catch.  Whose icon do you and I carry in our lives?  If you and I bear God’s image, we belong to God and so in a derivative sense, we are fooling ourselves every time we say “mine.” 

  Faith in Christ who is the Divine Image of God for humanity means that we learn to transform the attitude of “mine” into the attitude of “yours.”  It’s all yours, God.  And when we transform the attitude of it’s all mine, into it’s all yours, God; we will hear God say to us, “My children, it all belongs to us, because I have shared it all with you and with everyone.  Now go forth and enjoy and share what belongs to us."  

  The Gospel today invites us to get our derivative “iconography” in order so that we can be converted to know that all things belong to God and then we can know God’s conversion to us to hear God say, “It all belongs to us, now go enjoy and share.”  Amen.

Participatory Stations of the Cross for Children

This is a Stations of the Cross for Children that I wrote many years ago and have used it to involve children in this Lenten and Holy Week Devotion.  It incorporates the stewardship of environment theme as well themes of dignity of all human beings (click on the images to zoom)

Settings for the Sanctus and Our Father

Here are settings of the Sanctus and the Our Father that I wrote with Virginia R. Scott.  (click to zoom)

Prayer Beads for Children and Adults

Prayer Beads

For a Vacation Bible School Project, we developed prayer beads for children to make and some prayers for children and adults to use with the beads.  The Anglican Rosary seemed to be too many beads and so we simplified by using the week as a the basic "time" unit with days of the week and three prayer times of the day.   (click on the graphic to zoom)

A Palm Sunday Story Sermon for Children

Palm Sunday      

Story for Family Service

  Once upon a time in a village near the city of Jerusalem, the village of Bethphage; a little donkey was born in the pasture.  And that donkey was called by his owner, Shorty, because he was so tiny when he was born.

  But the donkey’s mom, called him Christopher.  When Christopher became old enough to talk to his mom, he asked her, "Why does my owner call me Shorty, even now when I've grown to be a tall and strong donkey?"  Christopher's mom said, "Well once you get a name, it sometimes just sticks and people won't let you be anything else."

  Christopher asked his mom, "Then why do you call me Christopher?"  His mom said, "Well, I'm not sure but I just had this feeling that it was the right name for you."

  Christopher looked in the other pasture and he saw a beautiful big stallion prancing around.  He saw important Roman Generals ride this beautiful horse.  And Christopher thought, "I wish that someone important would ride on my back some day.  And Christopher was a little jealous of the stallion.

  But one day something exciting happened to Christopher.  Two visitors came to the farm where Christopher was kept.  They called themselves  disciples of Jesus, and they said there was going to be a parade into the great city of Jerusalem.  They also said that they needed a donkey to carry their king.  Christopher's owner Farmer Jacob, said, "I've got two donkeys, that jennet over there and her colt that I call "Shorty."  If Jesus needs the donkeys, take them.  Jesus is my friend, he healed my son, and I owe him everything I have."

  So the two disciples took Christopher and his mom with them and they went to a place just in front of the sheep gate in Jerusalem.  There was a large crowd gathered who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Holiday.  After waiting for about an hour, the crowd soon got excited.  Jesus arrived and it was time for the parade to start.  The people put some robes on Christopher to make a saddle for Jesus.  Christopher had never been ridden before, and he was nervous.  But Christopher's mom said, "Calm down, Jesus is the nicest man in the world.  You don't need to buck him off."

  Jesus climbed up on the back of Christopher and the parade started.  The people took some branches from some palm trees and they began to wave and shout and scream, because their superstar was there.  They followed Jesus as he was riding Christopher into the city of Jerusalem and Christopher trotted proudly through the streets.  This was the happiest day of his life.  At night, he and his mom were tied up at the house of one of the disciples in Jerusalem.  Christopher's mom was proud of him and she said, "Well now I know why I named you Christopher.  "Christopher" means, "the one who carries Christ."  And today you have carried Christ on your back, so today you have lived up to your name."  Christopher was so happy he wanted hee haw with joy.  But his happiness didn't last too long.

  He looked out on the street and he saw another parade.  In the darkness he saw a tired and naked Jesus walking with soldiers.  And the soldiers were forcing him to carry this large wooden cross on his back.  He was bleeding and he was too weak to carry the cross, so at one place they forced a man named Simon to carry the cross for Jesus.  The people who were following the soldiers were laughing and making fun of Jesus.  They were saying, "you're going to die Jesus.  You were just pretending to be a king, but you don't have any power, you're going to die Jesus."

  Christopher ran to his mom and said, "If I had known that this would happen to Jesus, I would not have brought him to Jerusalem."

  Christopher's mom said, "It is a terrible, terrible thing, but we must trust God.  Jesus is the best and nicest person who ever lived and God will take care of him."

  Well, Jesus went on to die on the cross.  And he was buried in a grave.  But the story does not end here.  Come back next week and we will tell you the end of the story.  What happened to Jesus after he died and was put in the grave?

  What was the donkey's name?  Christopher.  What does Christopher mean?  It means "The one who carries Christ."  In a way, every Christian could be called Christopher.  Because you and I are asked to carry the presence of Christ into this world by being loving and kind.  Amen.

God, an Unrequited Party Giver and Generous Haberdasher

Lectionary Link

17 Pentecost, Cycle A  Proper 23, October 9, 2011

Exodus 32:1-14  Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 22:1-14

  

  Today’s installment of the parables of Jesus provides us with some very interesting images.  What if God threw a party and nobody came?  What would that tell you about God and what would that tell you about those who were invited?

  The other part of a tag on to the parable is an image of a “wedding crasher” of sorts.  And the issue of the wedding crasher seems to be a trivial matter of clothing, so we need more cultural information regarding wedding customs of the time to truly understand the significance of the “wedding crasher with the wrong attire.”

  What is you favorite image of the end of everything?  Some people look to apocalyptic images of a battle of Armageddon where there is a fierce war and the bad guys are defeated.

  I much prefer the image of a party, a great marriage feast as the image of what the end of life is all about.  The end of life is a big party hosted by God and all are invited, unless they by their own choice excommunicate themselves from the party.

  In the first parable, Jesus tells about a king who is having a wedding banquet for his child and he invites the A-list, and they don’t show up.  How rude it is for them to treat the king in such a way.   And this is an ironic tale because in a kingdom, this would not happen.  You could not say no to the king without consequences.   What does the king do?  He tells his servants to go and invite others, those who were not on the A-list and compel them to come.

  What insights are evoked for us by this parable?  This parable speaks to me that the heart of God is all about a hospitable God who wants to bring heaven and earth together and who also wants to bring the people of this earth together in this great feast of hospitality.  So God is the great Host of our world, a host who wants us to celebrate our relationships with God and with the people of the world.

  But God has big problem; it is the same problem that parents have.  God is not like an earthly king who could force people to do what he wanted.   God is a hospitable God who has the profound experience of being unrequited.  A parent often has the experience of being unrequited.  Parents desire the very best for their children, but sometimes children do not know how to appreciate or even perceive what is best for them.  And it really hurts when things are given and offered with good intention, but rejected because of ignorance or willfulness.  So parents are often cast in the role of being people who are enforcers or persuaders of their children, in the hopes that they can get their children to choose good things for their lives. 

  The parable presents God in the role of an unrequited king giving a party, and the people whom he invites do not come.  The king of the parable is more like a parent who wants the freedom of one’s children.   Why won’t they come?  What have I done to them to make them ignore such an invitation?  Do they not know how important this invitation is in that it is the wedding of my son who will be their next king?  But in his unrequited feelings, the king honors the right of those invited, not to attend.  What does he do?  He simply invites the “B” list, and the “C” list until his party is full.  The “A” list and the “B” list and the “C” list are only human bias regarding who we often think is or should be favored guests of God.  If you are Jewish, then you think it is the Jews, and Baptists think they are favored guests, or Muslims, just as Roman Catholics and Lutherans do, but we Episcopalians, think that we are natural guests because we know how to party so well.

  The parable of Jesus tells us about God.  God is a hospitable God who invites all to communion.  Invites, not forces.  And yet God experiences rejection because people are ignorant of the importance of this feast of feasts, this communion of communions that God desires with everyone.  Even though God must face rejection and be an unrequited party giver, God does not stop inviting.  God cannot but be hospitable.  That is God’s nature.  So the invitation to the feast is always open.  This invitation to communion with God and each other is always open.

  Now what about the tagged on parable of the party crasher?  In the second parable a guest gets unceremoniously bounced from the wedding for not having the right wedding attire.  From our perspective this seems rather unfair.  But what is the issue here?

  In the time of Jesus, a king who gave a wedding party would also be one who provided the wedding attire for each of his guests.  This was the custom for a king or someone of means.  Obviously the guests did not have the means to dress lavishly for such an important event and so the wealthy host would provide the wedding garments as a sort of social leveler.  It would give the appearance that everyone was equal at the feast since they were all dressed because of the largesse of the host who was pleased that they had come to share in the joy of honoring the bride and the groom.

  So when one of the wedding guests decides to do his own thing, retains his own clothes and rejects the wedding garment of the host, it is a matter of offense to the host.  It is motivated by wanting to stand out from the crowd based upon the pride of one’s own appearance.

   In this is an important understanding about God’s grace.  Because of the redemptive grace of God in Christ, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and that is the great equalizer amongst us all.  No matter what we have done in our lives, at anytime in our lives, we still need God’s grace to make it appear as though we are presentable to God.  And that is how God grace works; we are not invited to communion of God because we are better than anyone else.  We are invited to communion with God, because God dresses us with a grace that has been provided by God and not because of something of our own doing or worth or even brilliance or heroism.

  If we want to do our own thing, and think that God should be more impressed with us because we’re doing our own thing, then we have fallen into pride in thinking that we attain the pleasure of God’s hospitality because of our own doing.

  So what can we learn in these parables?  First God is a hospitable God who has offered us the invitation to communion with God and with each other.  And we do well and are wise to accept this marvelous invitation.  Secondly, in accepting the invitation, it does not mean we are on the “A” list and others are not.  It means that with everyone else who is invited we allow ourselves to be attired with God’s grace and not of our own accomplishments. The party is a celebration of  the largesse of the generosity of God’s loving heart.

  Today, let us accept the invitation to communion with God.  That communion involves receiving God’s grace which cleans us up and makes us acceptable in a way not of our own doing.  This Holy Communion today is but an advance party to the big One.  And so God says to us now, “Y’all come to the party and get used to my abundant hospitality!” Amen.

Labyrinth Prayer Beads

When we developed a Labyrinth at St. John the Divine, Morgan Hill, I wanted to add to meditative walking prayer beads designed to correspond with the turns in the Labyrinth.  The Labyrinth Prayer Beads and the accompanying prayers provide a way to turn pacing and fidgeting into a holy pacing and fidgeting by a fuller kinesiology.  Prayerful mind directing prayerful hands and feet.  Karen, my wife, completed the task by constructing the beads to fit our particular labyrinth.  (click on the graphics to zoom)