22nd Sunday After
Pentecost Proper 25
October 24,2010
the Rev. Ken Kroohs
(Sirah
35:12-17; Ps. 84:1-6; II Timothy 4:6-8 & 16-18; Luke 18:9-14)
St. Christopher’s Episcopal
Church, High Point, NC
MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF
ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR
REDEEMER AMEN
A parable by definition has one and only one
teaching. If we get too deep into a
parable, try to pull teachings or messages from it
that were not intended we almost certainly get off track.
In today’s gospel Jesus makes finding the
teaching easy because He explains it! All
who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be
exalted. Easy
enough and similar enough to several other teachings that we don’t question it.
So let’s look at the two men used by Jesus
to illustrate exalting yourself verses humbling
yourself.
The tax collector apparently came to confess
that he is a sinner. Little background –
most likely he was one of those chosen to collect the Roman taxes - obviously
unpopular. But it gets worse since
usually the man bought the position and could charge pretty much what he
wanted. So not only was he collecting
for the occupying army, he was overcharging the residents! No wonder he called himself a sinner.
Jesus’ point is not that he had somehow
cleansed himself. In this parable the
sinner does not even promise to change.
Jesus’ point is about his attitude toward himself and toward God. He stood far off – not crowding himself into
God’s presence. He would not look at –
toward God but cast his eyes down in shame for his wrongdoings.
The Pharisee has a very different
attitude. The Pharisee is bragging, not
confessing. He tells God all the good
things he has done, never suggesting he failed in anything. He tithed, gave 10% of his income. He fasted
twice a week. He did the activities he
thought would gain him credibility with God.
In fact, that’s the center of his problem.
He thinks he can earn God’s appreciation by his works – the things he does.
Look at what Jesus says about the two
men. Jesus says the sinner went home ‘justified’
- I will be a bit simplistic but essentially what this means is that his
relationship with God was deepened whereas the Pharisee did not deepen his
relationship with God.
Which makes me wonder – why did the Pharisee
go to the temple? It says he went to
pray, and possibly he consider this boasting session a prayer ... but it still
makes me wonder
I suggest people go into a worshiping
community – could be called a church or temple or mosque for three
reasons. The three are probably mixed up
in each of us. There is the desire for
fellowship, the desire to do good works, and the desire to worship God.
None of those are bad - unless they block
the others. Just like the Pharisee who tithed and fasted those are good
activities BUT when they are considered adequate by themselves there is a
problem.
Fellowship is important. I will define that as activities designed
primarily to build up the sense of community.
The ice cream social before school started for example. There really was no other ‘community’ reason
than to have fun, get to know each other, and build communal memories. Good stuff.
Community is important. I frequently hear people lament that St.
Christopher’s has grown beyond the size where everyone could know
everyone. Or as I put it, a time when
the annual church meeting was held around the coffee pot every Sunday
morning! A sense of community is
important but when it becomes more important that serving God – we have a
problem.
We need to have that sense of community
because out of grows the ability to share with each other our
walk with God. We need each other to
hold each other up and to lead each other.
Large churches do that through small groups.
Despite all the arguments
that “I can find God just fine at the beach.” an ongoing
relationship with God requires other people to help us. And us to help them. A community.
That is one reason I generally have our
elected board, the Vestry spend a few minutes sharing what is happening in
their lives, and then doing Bible study.
Those discussions help us know each other better and therefore we can
walk together much easier.
The second reason to attend a worshiping
community is to do good works – to help make this a better world, to help build
the kingdom of God. Also
important. The Pharisee again
illustrates the problem: He thought good works were enough. I have often said an atheist can provide food
for Open Door. If we have only the same
reasons as the atheist we are clearly missing something. We should be doing it for God. Not to earn anything from God but in response
to the good things God has already done.
Have you ever looked back and seen the good
things your parents or others did for you?
Has that made you feel as if you want to re-pay them by living up to
their hopes for you?
We do good works because God asks us to do
them and we respond to God’s gifts by doing as asked.
Ironic thing — when we do respond to God by
doing what God asks, we find those actions give us more than we
give. So we end up needing to respond
even more. If you are not very careful
you could end up believing God has a plan!
The third reason, and the one most people
would list first is to worship God. What’s
fascinating about that is if we each wrote down a description of what it means
to worship God, each one would be different.
For today’s purposes I am going to take a
portion of most responses and say that worshiping God is recognizing and
acknowledging our awe of God.
Recognizing and acknowledging how much greater God is than we are.
Possibly the most ‘worshipful’ part of our
service is at the beginning when we say: “Glory to God in the highest” — to
worship God is to glorify God.
What can be the ‘downside’ of worship? Again, I believe it is when the action is
taken too far. A person who comes to
church anxious for the last hymn so they can chat with friends
takes fellowship too far. A person who
comes only to the Open Door meals is avoiding the rest of what it means to be
religious.
And a person who would stay in church 24/7
chanting “Glory to God in the highest” misses entirely what God intended. However, it does not take chanting 24/7 to
miss the boat. We probably all know
someone who prays very piously every Sunday and when they leave the church they
cut someone off in traffic, cursing loudly the whole time! Or prays very piously every Sunday but does
not tithe and does not provide a casserole for the Open Door!
Such a person misses God’s intention. We glorify God to help us understand the
being we are associating with. When we
glorify God we begin to get in touch with the majesty we are a tiny part of. And when we glorify God we should understand
the importance of acting out God’s glory, in the community of other Christians.
The time we call our worship service
attempts to touch on each of those major components. The “Glory to God” and other places help us
see God’s wonder.
The communal hymns and recitations, such as
the Nicene Creed and Lord’s Prayer are intended to help us appreciate the
community around us. Obviously we can
say any of those by ourselves but then we miss the community.
And the offering is our chance to give in
service to God.
During each step we need to be careful to
proceed humbly and not lead with our ego.
If we sing better than others or can give more money we should be
appreciative that God gave us that gift and not be judgmental of others.
It all boils down to understanding that what
God tells us to do, including our attitudes, is exactly what will make us
happiest.
Our opening collect, or prayer, is one of my
favorites: increase in us the gifts and
faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain what you promise, make us love
what you command, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
AMEN
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CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)