@EUCC Sermons

The late, great Maria Harris, Professor of Religious Education, at one of my alma maters typically began each lecture by walking into the classroom, setting down her shoulder bag, and stating her thesis for the day. She never had to ask the class to quiet down. The second we students saw her walk in the door, we shut our mouths and pulled out our pens and pencils. No one wanted to miss a word that she said. For example, one day she walked into class, set down her belongings, and said; “Those who own the words own the world.” Then she went on to provide numerous examples, of the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

Living as we do in a multicultural community, it does not take much imagination to appreciate the truth of Maria’s thesis. Those who “own English” in the U.S. own the world. Every street sign, public service announcement, job application, medical form, and travel advisory in the U.S. is written in English.

The gospel lesson today is a familiar one to those of us who have been “frequent fliers” at Bible study, women’s fellowship, and Sunday worship. For others--not so much. So I will begin with a little “Who’s Who” and some context to explain how this story is situated in the life of Jesus.

The main characters are Mary, Martha, and Jesus. Martha, the hostess, and her siblings, Mary and Lazarus, were members of a prominent family who resided in Bethany, a city located two miles east of Jerusalem, and they were part of Jesus’ inner circle, particularly during the most active period of ministry.

We know this because all three of them are mentioned in the New Testament gospels, and because Martha is depicted as a homeowner and hostess, who is prosperous enough to accommodate Jesus and his entourage.

Tomorrow our nation will celebrate its 246th Independence Day. Most of us probably take this fact for granted unless we are devoted students of American history, current or former members of the US armed services or members of a military family, or we are chaplains or pastors who have ministered with active duty service members, veterans, or their families.

I’ve studied American history, including the history of our wars. One of my uncles and several cousins have served in the military, but it wasn’t until I had served as a pastor for five or six years that I really began to understand the sacrifices that military personnel (and their loved ones) make in order to preserve the rights and privileges that we civilians enjoy, and what is extracted of military personnel to protect the interests of the US government.

Eden Church will hold its 157th Annual Meeting less than an hour from now. This year, as in every previous year, our members will elect the laity who will make decisions on our behalf for the coming year.

In anticipation of this vote, and in recognition that we all play a role in choosing leaders in our representative democracies--here at Eden and in our larger society--I will describe the leadership change that took place between two famous prophets. Today’s Hebrew Bible lesson describes the passing of Elijah’s mantle to Elisha.

I will also propose a few lessons that we might take to heart as individuals and as a congregation as we contemplate succession planning in our families, church, and public life.

One hundred fifty-seven years ago today, June 19, 1865 enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally got the news that they were free. Though their freedom had been granted by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation made on January 1, 1863, folks in Galveston didn’t get this liberating news until 2.5 years later, due to the significant geographic distances between Washington, D.C. and Galveston, Texas, limited communication channels, and most slaveholders’ refusal to accept the news.

African Americans created the slang term “Juneteenth” for this day by combining the month with the date of the occasion.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, one of the great festivals of the Christian year. This occasion builds on the ancient Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot, which is also known as the Feast of Weeks.

Shavuot has a double significance in that it marks the completion of the wheat harvest in Israel (Ex. 34:22) and it commemorates the day when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Hebrew people on Mount Sinai.

In addition to the Jewish link with the gift of Law, the Christian Day of Pentecost is also linked with the story of Babel found in Genesis 11.

The story of Babel explains why there are so many languages, so much confusion, and so many conflicts in the world. It also warns believers about the deleterious effects that self-importance and self-interest can have on individuals and groups.

Nearly 30 years ago, when I was a freshly-minted pastor, the congregation I served in Boston asked me to lead our college group on a month-long mission education trip to the Philippines. The assignment came as a bit of surprise to me, as I had only been on the staff about four months when I was asked to lead the trip, and I was not the pastor who was assigned to this group. Never mind the fact that I was only 25 and barely old enough to get myself to obscure islands in the Philippines safely, let alone taking 12 college students with me and keeping them in line.

The other day a friend and I were reflecting on the coping strategies that we have used to survive the pandemic. We pondered whether these strategies would be sufficient for the duration, or whether we might need to acquire more — since only God knows when this nightmare will truly end.

My friend and I each rattled off a half-dozen coping strategies that we were relying on. Most were tried and true. In the course of our reflection, I realized that one of my reliable strategies has taken a new twist — I started listening to country music again.

The way that John tells the Easter story, after much sturm und drang, Mary Magdalene saw the risen Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and went and told the disciples all about it.

If you are like a lot of Mainline Protestants, you may not be entirely sure what happened on that first Easter Sunday, but you are confident that you have met the living God in a garden.

I know this sentiment to be true for many of my Iowa relatives who are card carrying Christians and farmers, and who trace our lineage as farms back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

I remember, in particular, how my erstwhile father and my mother’s parents (who rarely discussed their faith) would tell me quietly as we hoed the garden, or rode through the fields on a tractor, that they could feel the presence of God while they were working in their vegetable gardens and flower beds, and driving through the pastures checking livestock and working crops on our family farms.

The downward trend in church membership and worship attendance in the U.S. have been popular topics of sociologists of religion, evangelism workshop, and clergy coffee klatches since I began my vocational discernment process 45 years ago.

Every once in a blue moon, these topics gain interest in the popular press--most notably around Christmas time and Easter, which are still included on many secular calendars. This year was no exception. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center reported that worship attendance is down by 50% across the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, though others report that participation via the Internet combined with in-person statistics indicate that overall attendance is higher.

Interest in these trends is understandable because, with rare exceptions, these statistics have been trending downward, in dramatic ways, across all Christian denominations for my entire life. Sociologists, historians, and theologians have all shared their data and analysis as to why this phenomenon is occurring.

Make no mistake about it. The gospel is scandalous. Anyone who doubts this assertion wasn’t paying attention when Pastor Nadia read today’s scripture lesson or they weren’t paying attention to any of the other iterations of the story found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:1-10, and Luke 7:36-50.)

The gospel in general, and this story about Jesus’ anointing, in particular, reads like the Victorian equivalent of “scandal sheets,” for many reasons.

For starters, Luke’s version depicts the woman with the alabaster flask as a sex worker, and this depiction has wafted into two, some say all four of the gospel renderings of Jesus’ anointing and that scent has wafted into popular understandings of Mary’s identity to this day.