Sermon

How important is the Bible?

This week’s lectionary readings are:

Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21

The John passage has disturbed a clerical colleague because of the following portion. “18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (And the subsequent verses as well.) The concern is that taking this verse “literally” has been used to hurt and condemn people of other faiths. This led the colleague to say,

the Bible is far too important to take it literally

I am not sure I even know what that means. So I thought I would ask you, how important is the Bible? Is it “too important to take literally”?¹

Of course, we would need to define “literally.” I understand that as meaning when you are reading a parable, you understand it as a parable. This passage, however, is not a parable and is intended to be read as stated. [↩]

2nd Sunday of Advent – Expectations & Preparations

Dec 8th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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[This is sort of a "rough cut," intended as a detailed outline rather than a full narrative exposition. Still, feel free to read and comment!]

Second Sunday of Advent
Year B
RCL

Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We are just a few weeks away from Christmas Day and the children and perhaps more than a few adults are wondering what they are going to find in their stockings and under their tree when they wake up. What are you expecting? What are you waiting eagerly to unwrap and enjoy?

There is no doubt that anticipation is building. Even with our current economic struggles, people are pouring into the stores to snap up bargains. The ads on television and in the papers make even the most ascetic among us twinge with at least a bit of desire. As much as I would decry commercialism and the excessive lust that such advertisements induce, I think the anticipation and heightened state of expectation that it creates in us can and should serve as a reminder of what this season really is about, yearning for and expecting the coming of Jesus.

This is the season of expectation and preparation. As we discussed last week, advent, the Latin term means “coming,” denotes this season when we await the coming of the Messiah, God’s anointed one, who will bring us salvation from our sins, restoring our relationship with God. On the most obvious level we are, of course, remembering that Jesus the Messiah came to earth as a human baby born in a manger, but this season is also to be a time of preparation and looking forward to his coming again, as Christus victor, the conquerer of death. (more…)

First Sunday of Advent – “Creation groans as a woman in labor”

Dec 1st, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the (western) Christian year, and it was also my first opportunity to perform a baptism. It was a wonderful event made even more special because the baby is the child of some good friends of ours. Advent is a curious season in that we tend to think of it as “Christmas” when in fact Christmas and Epiphany do not begin until, well, Christmas. Advent is the time of expectation for the second coming of Jesus, not his first. I won’t go on more here, because that is the point of the sermon, but the challenge as I saw it was to do justice to our readings and the season while also celebrating the baptism of this child. I leave it up to you do decide how successful I was.

First Sunday of Advent
Year B, RCL

Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

Baptism of AEC

This morning is the first Sunday of Advent. To many of us it means we have finished off (hopefully) the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, put up our Christmas tree and decorations, and opened upon the Advent calendar, getting ready to watch Mary and Joseph make their way to Bethlehem. “Advent” means to arrive or come and we can be forgiven for believing that it refers solely to the birth of Jesus the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, this season of waiting and expectation, as our collect suggests, is not only a time when we remember Jesus’ birth on earth, but it is also a time of reflection and preparation for his coming again in the last days. This season is very much like Lent, a time when we are to be in penitential prayer, aware of our sins and Christ’s forgiveness and of God’s promise to bring his justice and judgment to this world when Christ returns again.

So we have our readings from Isaiah and Mark, readings very similar to those from Amos and Matthew when I last preached three weeks ago. Isaiah calls out to God to remember his people and bring judgment upon their enemies.

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence–

Isaiah confesses that the community of faith has sinned, but asks God to remember his people. At the time of this prophecy Israel is living in exile, a community far from their homeland with the Temple of the Lord nothing but a forgotten pile of rubble. The prophet knows that Israel has sinned and that many no longer believe in the Lord and yet he affirms the faith of his people and calls upon God to remember them.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.

We too are a people living in exile, waiting for Christ to return and fulfill his promises. Granted, this is a very comfortable exile. Even in these financially difficult times I saw a lot of wide screen LCD TVs moving out of Walmart and BestBuy this weekend. Most of us in this congregation are well-fed and have warm homes and well-paying jobs. But comfort like suffering can equally drive us away from God. Jesus has been a long time in his return and to suggest that complacency can and has set in would be an understatement. It is to this that Jesus speaks in our Gospel today. (more…)

The Day of the LORD

Nov 9th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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[As I have said in the past, the text of my sermons are not really meant to be read since they are more like a detailed outline than proper prose.]

Year A
Proper 27
RCL

Amos 5:18-24
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13

The Day of the Lord

Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:  Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD!  Why do you want the day of the LORD?  It is darkness, not light.

We are all, I am sure, far more familiar with the last portion of our Old Testament reading from this morning, those words made fresh for the last 40 years by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” But as powerful as those words are, they do not have their full meaning unless the preceding verses are read with them. And they begin with an odd even paradoxical challenge from the prophet, declaring that the day of the Lord is darkness and not light. Surely that cannot be right! That is not how we think of the “day of the Lord” is it? Actually, that is a good question, how do you think of the “day of the Lord”? (more…)

A “violent, nasty little parable”

Oct 12th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

3 comments

I don’t often post my sermons here largely because while I write my sermons out they are not really meant to be read and are more like an detailed outline. This one is a little more complete but I particularly wanted to post it because I am interested in any comments on my reading of this Gospel passage.

Proper 23, Year A, RCL

Isaiah 25:1-9
Psalm 23

Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14

This morning’s Gospel, like the parable from last Sunday’s reading, is often called a “hard saying” by many modern commentators. Jesus’ speaking of people being cast into “the outer darkness” and being excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven just seems too condemning, too exclusionary for many today. For example, I am on an email list with other clergy my age and in discussing this week’s Gospel one priest said, “What a violent, nasty little parable that is.” It is not a “violent, nasty little parable” if one takes the time to read and wrestle with it. It is, in fact, a parable of salvation and grace.

The irony is that while these sayings are a stumbling block for so many priests and scholars today because they view them as exclusionary, the parable is actually about the universal call of the Gospel to all nations, not just the Jews, and it was that universal aspect of Jesus’ message that proved to be the stumbling block to so many in his own day.

Like most of Jesus’ parables the meaning is fairly obvious to us reading it from the other side of the crucifixion and Easter.

2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.”

The king in the story is God and his son is Jesus. The wedding banquet is an image often used to describe the end of the world, when God and his people will be reunited in joyous celebration. The coming of the bridegroom is used in the Gospels to depict the coming of the Messiah and the ushering in of this final age, the necessary precursor for the wedding feast.

(more…)