10:30 am, Sun, Oct 16, 2022 - J G White / FBC Amherst
(Jer 31:27-34; 2 Tim 3:14-4:5; Lk 18:1-8)
I finally read some
of Annie Dillard this past summer, but not the book where she says this:
Why do people
in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the
Absolute? … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely
invoke? Or, as I
suspect, does no one believe a word of it? …It is madness to wear ladies’ straw
hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers
should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our
pews. [Annie Dillard, Teaching
a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (New York: Harper & Row,
1982), pp. 40-41.]
We are
here to know about God, to know God, and to be with God,
together. Let me give a 3-part talk.
PART 1. Sour
Grapes: contact with God
is personal. The fifty pages in your Bible we call “Jeremiah” has this proverb
quoted in it. ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are
set on edge.’ Must have been and old saying. Here, the prophet says it is not
to be true. Each generation of people will live and die as they choose. And he
goes on. There is coming a day when people will know Yahweh God, without being
taught, or told to ‘know.’
Here we are, a
few thousand years later. Has this come true, at least partly? Yes. Partly. The
evangelical movement of the past couple hundred years has done its part to
emphasize that Christianity is a personal relationship between people and God. The
pendulum has swung a bit too far (as pendulums usually do) to the “it’s just
Jesus and me,” side of things. We’ve all gotten very independent in our
religion & spirituality.
It is a very Baptist
idea to respect the soul freedom of every person. In fact, you are
so free to know God for yourself and respond, that we won’t baptize you into
the Church until you can decide for yourself. Right on. Of course, we also
exercise our freedom to welcome you in as a member if you did happen to be
christened as an infant, once upon a time.
We instil in the
young – and all others – that knowing God is bigger and better than just
knowing all about God. I have always been interested in how people learn
and develop, what are people actually doing when they pray, how do people change
their minds, what happens in their experience of the Divine.
I think of
Canadian author, Ralph Milton’s testimony about praying. [I] think of something
that happened in the last week or so. I tell that story to God, in words that
form in my head. I try to say what I did, what others did, and how I feel. I
express myself in the kind of language I usually use. Sometimes this includes
some old-fashioned four-letter words. I don’t think God minds. [Sermon Seasonings, 1997, p. 140-141]
After I’ve
told God everything, I try to listen. That’s called praying. One person’s experience.
PART 2. Itching
Ears: how does the Bible
work for us? People have itching ears, and seek out whatever they want to
please them: new thoughts and theories, stories and beliefs they want. This
may be what we are warned of in this old letter today, from one early minister
in the church to another. Young Timothy is reminded of how he learned the
scriptures – in his case this was the Hebrew Bible – and the Christian
teachings that were built upon this.
Baptist
Christians, among others, emphasize what we can call Bible freedom: this
belief that it is and should be available to all of us, and we can work
with it. The Bible has not always been used this way. Now, we have a lot of
freedom, and the scriptures are readily available to us, in a multitude of
forms.
But these words,
in the Bible, warn: For the time is coming when people will not put up with
sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own desires…
Isn’t curiosity
a good thing? What about questioning? In a way, I have had ‘itching ears’ all
my life, and keep looking for new answers, and new ways to figure this all out.
Yes, yes it is good. By the grace of God we seek a balance. We balance knowing
what the basics are, and where we go next to interpret life, the universe, and
everything.
We have this
great phrase here, the scriptures are inspired: they are ‘breathed’ by God. And
so they inspire us: something new is breathed into you and me. The word I like
to use is influence – I think of the Bible influencing us. More than
just ‘what it means,’ ‘life application,’ or exact ‘teaching.’ How does it
influence us?
I use the word
‘us’ there on purpose. Because I believe it is together, not alone, that we
will truly be influenced well. One wise thinker has said that the Bible is not
completely the Bible outside of the Church. It only fully makes sense
and has its power in and from ‘the People of Jesus.’ Also, as another wise guy
said, the Bible not understandable and working if it is not the whole Bible, together.
Each part, each verse, chapter, and book, can only fully live within this whole
little library called the Holy Scriptures.
This is an
antidote to scratching our itching ears and going off in all directions. We
have great freedom with the Bible, but we keep it together, and we use it
together, as Church.
All the personal
bits here in the letter speak to this. Timothy is told to remember how he
learned, from whom he learned the word, and what it meant, in Christ. He had is
mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, to thank for this, among others in his
life.
Perhaps you
remember some of your teacher from your past… and some of the exact lessons you
learned. I heard on the morning radio yesterday a fellow calling in, an almost
90-year-old man, wishing his school-teacher a happy birthday. So, he’s congratulating
one of his old teachers? How old was she? 107!
I look back to
the people who taught me at a Baptist Church, and surely influenced me, when I
was 10, 14, 18 years old. Mr. Fancy, Mr. Tufts, Mr. Reese, Mrs. Diggins, Pastor
Blaikie, Rev. Robertson.
As I thank God
for them in my life, I urge us all – who are adults now – be excellent
influencers today, for the people around us. We have a living faith to pass on
to them. Not to mention some faith to receive.
PART 3. Faith
on Earth: Who prays?
That’s the question Jesus ends with, after telling a parable about a cruel
judge and a determined, poor, widow. ‘Won’t God do right by those who pray?’ He
asks. ‘Yet will He find faith on earth?’
To be persistent
about praying for good things is a simple lesson… until things don’t seem to
work out. Perhaps all your prayers have always been answered; I have not
observed that.
We have our ways
of coming to understand this, and sometimes we still wonder about things. About
the disasters in our lives and our world that don’t get stopped – by God or by
anyone else. I’m going to leave that sermon for another day.
Let me say now: I
think our practice of prayer is persistent: I believe in that. ‘Pray
without ceasing’ we hear in one New Testament verse. All the activities we call
‘prayer’ are good for us and good for the world. Like eating, breathing,
moving, socializing – quality time with God is an important piece of life.
I think prayer
is a bit like eating. For almost everyone, eating food comes quite naturally.
Doing it well – having a good diet and all – this can be a challenge. So
too with this stuff we call praying. Many of us don’t have a well-balanced diet
of prayer. Maybe our praying is fatty, or salty, or sugary, or it is all pizza
and fast food, or we are just plain malnourished – not getting enough.
There are many ways
of praying, as you know. Sometimes I like trying other things, such as walking
prayer, silence, pondering nature and scripture, keeping a prayer journal,
reading prayers written by other people, and so on.
You could come walk
with me this coming Saturday, on a little nature trial near here, out on the
marsh. It will be a social event, yes; it will be a nature walk, yes. It will
also be a ‘spiritual stroll,’ with a few moments for quiet reflection and
observation. Seeking the Creator in creation… together.
‘Spiritual
practices,’ or, ‘spiritual disciplines’ have fascinated me for years, now. I
have read about Christian meditation, lectio divina, spiritual
direction, solitude and silence, fasting and prayer, and a dozen other
practices. Have I put them into practice? Not much! Ah, there’s the trouble.
Sometimes I am a
cynic. I have this theory that a lot of those people out there who say ‘you’re
in my thoughts,’ or ‘I’m sending prayers,’ don’t do much more praying than just
saying that. I guess I know how not-so-persistent my own prayer habits are!
So it’s very personal.
I am interested in working with lots of you on prayer and spiritual practices…
for I need plenty of work myself.
We are in this
together. This knowing God thing. Sharing our spiritual practices,
practice makes perfect. Sharing our scriptures, we are inspired and influenced.
Sharing our personal spirituality, we belong, together, in the family of God.
Let us share
What we know.
Let us share Who
we know.
SILENCE
PRAYER With words and silence, let us pray:
Giver of the perfect
Gift, we give thanks to You – Father, Spirit, Son – for every blessing, for all
our lessons and challenges, and for the promises given. Now, in silence, we praise
You for these things…
Personal God, as the
Trinity You are already a Relationship, a Community, a Belonging. We pray now,
asking for help in the lives of many people. Silently, we pray for people we
know, and those we’ve been asked to pray for today…
Holy Friend, You show
Yourself in many ways. Be our Teacher, Guide and Master, we pray. Now, we pray
quietly for those who could use guidance and bravery right now…
Living Word of God,
in Your name, O Christ, we intercede for the world now, where terrible violence
flares up in every quarter. Our prayers range from Canada to Turkey, from
Thailand to Afghanistan…
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