Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 20th Sunday after Pentecost, landing on October 6, 2024!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use the bulletin to follow along with the service, as it has the order and words of the liturgy, the readings, and the full sermon. Alternatively, the words that you need to know will also appear on your screen and the sermon is included on this page below the video of the service.
If you’d like a fuller online worship experience, you are invited to have a lit candle in your space for the duration of the service and extinguished near the end when the altar candles are put out after the sending hymn. And you’re also welcome to participate in communion if you’re comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink prepared and nearby, ready for the appropriate time in the service. Further instruction will be given then.
May God’s unending grace grant you joy and peace, this day and always!
O Lord, just as you spoke to us through the voices of the prophets, may you speak to us now through the truth of your word, the wisdom of your grace, and the power of your Spirit, through Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
This… gospel text, am I right? We’ve gotten a few doozies this year, ranging from Jesus’ rebukes toward Pharisee and disciple alike to him commanding his disciples not to tell anyone about him, from Jesus’ predictions of his suffering and death to him warning his disciples of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, from Jesus telling us to submit to earthly authorities to John the Baptizer being beheaded by one of those very authorities. Don’t get me wrong, we had some nice feel-good ones in there too, but these are just some of those that we would just have a hard time responding with “glory to you, O Christ.”
And today’s is one of them. Sigh. Divorce. Awkward much?
It’s awkward because we all have someone in our family who is divorced and we see the brokenness it caused. We all know someone who is divorced and we feel the hurt and pain that came from it. We might be divorced ourselves, or maybe just came close to it, and we know the harsh feelings that it could bring.
And so when Jesus talks so bluntly about this and such uncomfortable subjects, we kind of cringe away. We might close our ears and pretend we can’t hear whatever words he says. We might even look to see what the other texts for today have to offer and talk about them instead. I’ve heard some people even go so far as to discount whole sections of the bible because it doesn’t agree with their particular worldview at the time.
As tempting as any of that may be, that’s not what we’re going to do today. No, today we’re going to drive straight into this uncomfortable and awkward text. Today, we’re going to try to ascertain just what Jesus is trying to teach us. Yeah, I better not mess this up…
The thing is, though, like we were sort of talking about the past couple weeks about how we can’t help but interpret scripture through our contemporary lenses, I think today’s and the other uncomfortable texts are no exception. Maybe that’s even a reason why we’re uncomfortable with them, not just because of how we’re interpreting that particular text, but how we see the whole bible in general.
I mean, we’re told a great many thing about what the bible is supposed to be for our lives. Things like it being a guide book, a list of dos and don’ts, and maybe even an instruction manual for life. And there are others who would call it a history book, a mystical book, or a book of formulas that help us unlock the secrets of life. Still there are others who romanticize it a bit and say that it’s a book of love stories, a collection of poems or prose describing lives full of true love, or even a love letter to us from God.
But I think most of us would consider the bible to be a book of morals. Which isn’t exactly wrong, mind you, but I wonder if it’s how we apply that to our lives that needs to be looked at. I wonder if by calling it a book of morals really means that it’s that guide book, that list of dos and don’ts, or that instruction manual for life that we mentioned a couple seconds ago. Basically, I wonder if that makes this bible a rule book, full of laws that we must follow, strict as can be.
And to be honest, it’s ok if you see it that way. It’s ok to live your life disciplined, on the straight and narrow, and to the letter. It’s ok to see God in your life and in the world through order and obedience. It’s ok if that works for you. But I wonder if the bible as a book of morals can be seen in a different way, one that is more freeing, liberating, and redeeming. A way that allows us to live our lives and still see God’s grace and mercy for our us all. A way in which these uncomfortable texts that we’re talking about aren’t made to be so awkward and oppressive and finger-pointing for us, but in a way that is enriching, encouraging, and life-giving.
So I wonder if as a book of morals, our bibles aren’t so much about laws around how we should act and treat each other, but like we sort of talked about last week, more about descriptions of who we are and how we should see each other.
I know, it’s a very subtle difference. Because how we treat each other will change how we see each other, wouldn’t it? Like today’s gospel seems to be telling men to treat women and children with respect, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Because in doing so, then maybe community could flourish, people would feel more welcome, and then life in general would be better for a greater number of people.
But it’s sometimes hard to do that, isn’t it? I mean, people can be annoying, women and men included. Treating each other with respect when they’re annoying would be difficult. People can be frustrating, kids and adults alike, and treating them with respect might feel like we’re enabling them to be frustrating. People, of all walks and backgrounds, of all genders and ages, of all political or religious opinions, can rub us the wrong way, disagree with us in the most obtuse ways, and even infuriate us. So forcing ourselves to treat them with respect can be darn near impossible. And when we see passages like today’s as a command and law to respect people, we feel like we can’t ever do it so we chalk up one more to sin. More shaming, guilt-inducing, and oppressive sin.
However.
When we see this book of morals as a description on who we are and how we can see each other, that is, as people created equally in the image of God, as fellow sinners saved by grace, as siblings in Christ, then it’s becomes more natural for us to respect each other, it’d be easier for us to empathize, we can be quicker to forgive. If we can see how similar we are in spite of difference, how we are loved in spite of how much we dislike each other, how we are given so much in spite of how little we deserve, we can better regard each other as we are regarded by God: as God’s own beloved, redeemed, and welcomed people invited to live forever in the community and kingdom of God as Christ’s own body in the world.
This isn’t to say that we’ll all get along and there will be no more anger and even hatred. This isn’t to say that people will no longer be annoying and frustrate us. This isn’t even to say that there will be no more divorce. I mean, things will happen and we just won’t always get along and agree on everything with everyone. But it does mean that perhaps the fighting will decrease. The belittling of others might be less frequent. The de-humanizing of other humans, which in our minds will justify us in treating them poorly, will be more difficult for us as we see and recognise the value of humans, the worthiness of the other citizens of this planet, the way our God, the Creator of the universe continues to love even those just as this God continues to love even us.
I think this is what Jesus means when he says we approach the kingdom as a child, in that children have a more innocent way of looking at life, not yet jaded by the hierarchies, artificial statuses, and selfish entitlements that the world teaches us. But children can easier see people as equals, can easier listen to others and their opinions, and can easier respect before demanding respect. Well, in general at least, not always true with those annoying ones. *shake fist*
But still, all this isn’t easy for us as we are more set in our ways. It isn’t easy for us as we are more exposed to the harsh realities of this broken world. It isn’t easy for us as sometimes we’d rather things be black and white and fully spelled out for us step by step. But I believe the more we realise how much we are loved and forgiven, the quicker we can learn how to love and forgive.
And believe me, we are, all of us, each and every one of us, all of us sitting in the room and those online and those who never even hear these words, are dearly loved and forgiven by God. This isn’t a hard and fast rule that we must follow, but it is a reality that informs us of who we are and how we can regard each other, see each other, and love each other.
So as we continue in this season after Pentecost, may we continually see how God’s love and grace permeates our lives, so we might be able to act as agents of this love and grace for all people, equally invited and welcomed by God to live in community and God’s kingdom forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.