Sermon Texts

“Goblin Mode.” Have you heard that term?

            “Goblin mode” is the Oxford English Dictionary’s 2022 “Word of the Year,” even though it is two words. Oxford Dictionary picks a new word each year. According to Oxford Dictionary, the term for 2022 – “goblin mode” - is defined as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”

            “Goblin mode” is basically refusing to be your best self, and instead, going with sloppy, indifferent, and selfish. “Goblin mode” is basically giving up on the idea that what we do, how we present ourselves, and how we treat others, even matters. What . . . is . . . . happening . . . . that this is the word for 2022?

            We all might feel like this sometimes – life can feel pretty “blah” - Goblin mode – just indifferent to anything and everything. We might encounter people in the grocery store aisles, or at the post office, who look like they just got out of bed, even if it is 3:00pm – wearing pajamas and slippers, all unkempt. Goblin mode is the opposite of trying to better yourself. We might even apply this term to what happened this week within the Republican Party and their search for a House Speaker – a small faction, refusing to govern, unapologetically self-indulgent, without regard to social norms or expectations about what leadership or government mean.

            This is an interesting term – “goblin mode” – especially as we celebrate a baptism today, and move into Epiphany, and to the banks of the Jordan River.

            Epiphany comes from the Greek word, “epiphaneia,” which means a “sudden perception of the true nature of something.” An epiphany is an “aha moment.”

There are lots of epiphanies in the gospel stories as people see Jesus, recognize something amazing and unique about him. One of those epiphanies happens along the Jordan River. Listen to this story from Matthew 3:

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Divine Disruption.

            Think about that phrase. Do you think you have ever had one – a divine disruption in your life – when the presence of God, the voice of God, the Spirit of God did something to disrupt, or re-orient, or save, or adjust your life?

            Divine Disruption. It is, according to the Bible, a very real thing.

            This week I was moving through a four-way stop intersection – where there is a stop sign for every vehicle in every direction. I had just come to a stop. I was beginning to move forward through the intersection, when a big white pick-up truck came rapidly through his stop sign and also turned right in front of me. This generated a moment of shock, with a bit of fear – I was hoping not to wreck my car. I stopped quickly again to avoid a crash. . . . . The truck just went on his way.

            Was that divine disruption? Who knows? I certainly felt relief from a very close call. I certainly felt grateful – and a bit angry at the reckless driver. Maybe God was present, disrupting an unexpected crisis on my way home.

            But, accidents happen every day. God is not present with a divine disruption on every roadway. So, who knows?

            I can think of other moments that might well be a divine disruption. I was happily teaching high school history some 40 years ago, coaching football and lacrosse, with a new baby in our house. And then events led me and Ginger to Union Seminary. Looking back on how all that transpired feels like a divine disruption – God at work, God leading us in a new way, for a full and blessed life of serving in ministry with some very wonderful congregations, especially this one for more than 14 years now. I can count a few divine disruptions along the way.

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If we play the “word association” game, and I say the word, “KING,” I wonder what comes to your mind. . . . Think about that word – “King.”

Is it King Charles, who finally has succeeded the longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth in England? What kind of king will he be? That’s a question . . . and some say it does not matter much what kind of king because the monarchy is losing its influence and importance. Does the word “king” make you think of King David? He is one of the most familiar people – a king - in the Bible. Is it King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard? I never heard of them either – but they are a very famous band about to launch a worldwide tour that has so many people super excited. You can Google it! Maybe the word “KING” indeed brings a mixed bag of responses for each of us. King Charles? Unless we are super interested in the “royals” and all their drama, mostly we may say, “. . . MEH.”

“King” as a political term? Some of you might know that the Declaration of Independence has some very famous lines, . . .but the major portion of that famous document includes long and specific gripes against a certain King – King George – greatly disdained in the colonies in 1776. So, we come from a culture – a democracy - dubious and leery, even weary of people who resemble kings.

Have any of us actually lived under a king, or had a king rule over us?

So, as we think about Christ the King – and Christ the King Sunday - we have some challenges! What kind of king? What does this mean anyway, especially when there are mixed emotions and so many negative ideas about “king.”

Christ the King Sunday was established by Pope Pius XI in the early part of the 20th century – in response to significant and growing threats from secularism and fascism. The pope said this: When (people) recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony." (from J. Duffield, Presbyterian Outlook)

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The Heidelberg Catechism – written in 1562 - is one of the 12 Confessions in our PCUSA Constitution and Book of Confessions. Our various confessions have been written across the centuries to help us understand and articulate the faith that is ours. This catechism has 129 Questions and Answers – and they are grouped for devotional study across the 52 Sundays of the year. One question asks this: “What is meant by the 4th petition of the Lord’s Prayer – ‘give us this day our daily bread’?”

The answer in this Catechism offers the following: When we say - ‘give us this day our daily bread’- we are affirming that “God alone provides for our bodily and basic needs,” AND we are acknowledging that God is “the only source of all that is good,” AND without God’s “blessings neither our care and labor,” nor God’s gifts “can do us any good.” Therefore, we are to “withdraw our trust from all creatures and place it in God alone.” (4.125)

That is a powerful and faithful thought – all emerging from that simple and often-repeated phrase – “give us this day our daily bread.” All good things come from God – therefore we place our trust in God alone.

We have another story today – from the gospel of Luke - that wants to help us with trusting God and serving God. But first, a little background.

This story includes a Samaritan. Samaritans were the descendants of generations of intermarriage between (a) Jews left behind during the Babylonian exile – when many of God’s people were carried away from the land around 600BC - and (b) Gentiles who settled in Israel by the conquering Assyrians. So, Samaritans have a history and connections with Jews but it was often awkward and antagonistic. Imagine Roman Catholics and Protestants in early modern Europe, with their mutual bigotries, suspicions, and tendencies toward violence against one another. (See Saltproject.org – Commentary on Luke 17)

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The words we write or speak to others can leave a huge impact and create a lasting memory - either good or bad. So, it's super important what words we choose. Words can make or break a relationship. Words can accelerate or kill your career. As we have seen across the nation - words can create peace or chaos. Words can heal . . . or harm.

Here are a few helpful quotes - about the power of words:

o "Be mindful when it comes to your words. A string of some that don't mean much to you, may stick with someone else for a lifetime." (Rachel Wolchin)

o "Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can be only forgiven, not forgotten." (Unknown)

o "Words are free. It's how you use them that may cost you."

o "Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." (Rumi)

o "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." (Mother Teresa)

o "Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed." (Abraham Joshua Herschel)

Throughout the Bible, we are reminded about the power and influence of words. One of those places is the letter of James.

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If I invited you to name some books of the New Testament, many of you would be quick to answer. “Matthew, . . .Mark, . . . Luke, . . . John.” There is also “Acts,” . . . . and then lots of letters: to the Romans, . . . to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, . . . and others. At some point, with some patience and prodding, we might also come up with . . . “The Letter of James.” The Letter to James, a very short letter, comes right after Hebrews and right before First and Second Peter, almost at the end of the New Testament.

About 500 years ago, the great reformer, Martin Luther, had issues with the Letter of James. Luther raised the question of whether James should even be in the Bible. Luther had objections to James because it never mentions, as he put it, “the nature of Christ.” The letter only mentions Christ two times - once at the very beginning, and then another almost in passing. And the message of James is really less about the grace of God, or justification by faith (things very important to Martin Luther) and more about, you know, the messy stuff of life. James is about how to be the church in the world. James is more about how to live in light of our salvation in Jesus Christ, how to get along as Christians, and how to love and serve. So, James fell short with the great reformer, Martin Luther.

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We have a long history of alienating people. When I say “we,” I am talking about human beings. We seem to have an inclination toward social differentiation: we love to feel better than others. Our human history is so filled with certain people dominating and ruling over other people.

In the recent year, many of us have re-visited this subject as we have confronted so many layers of racial injustice in our nation. We know we - as Americans - are part of 400 years of oppression and injustice toward African Americans. Though our nation was founded on the principles of liberty and justice for all, 400 years of injustice against Black people is a lot to overcome when those centuries are full of systemic racism, alienation, and oppression.

When I say “we,” I have to include my own struggles in this, and recognize my own blindness, and how my life has been so totally shaped by white privilege.

We - as Christians - have a long history of alienating people. We have to confess how the Church has long promoted exclusion and inequality. It was only 50 years ago that women were allowed to be ordained as officers in the Presbyterian Church. It was only in the last 20 years, and even the last decade, that we have seen the light and worked for equality for gay and lesbian people in the life of the Church.

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We find ourselves today a week beyond the glorious celebration of Easter. But Easter, you recall, is not just a day; it is a season. Actually, as Brian Blount reminded us last week, Easter is a way of living - a certain perspective and a life toward God’s grand plans of justice and joy.

In the garden on that first Easter morning, Jesus, not recognized and perceived as the gardener, called Mary . . . by name. And Jesus calls all of us by name - to know the promises and power of Easter - for our lives and for our world. Our whole lives are intended to be lived in response to the Easter victory.

What does it look like to live all of our lives in response to Easter? What if we really lived with a sense of confidence that “nothing . . . not heights or depths, not principalities or powers, . . . nothing can separate us from God’s love?”

We get a glimpse of what that might look like - live our whole lives in the power and promises of Easter - in the wonderful stories from the Book of Acts. Acts gives us a picture of Easter people - Easter living - with boldness and extravagance and grace. Listen to this story from Acts 4:

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Several months ago, the Christian Century published a cartoon depicting a man and a woman talking about faith. The man says, “I believe but sometimes I don’t.” The woman responds, “That weird because I don’t believe but sometimes I do.” (see CC, March 10, 2021, p. 42)

We can probably all relate to that cartoon. Most of us - I am guessing - find ourselves wavering between faith and doubt, between what we feel sure about . . . . and what we struggle with.

This week, as we launch into Palm Sunday and to the events of Holy Week, that wavering between faith and doubt may get even more pronounced. We rejoice in the Palm parade, . . . and then we confront the horrors of the cross. We love to celebrate Jesus, . . . and then we come face to face with the brutality of the people and Jesus’ suffering and death.

What does it all mean? What do we believe . . . and not believe?

Some of us have been reading a fine book by Crossan and Borg entitled, The Last Week - about Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem. Borg and Crossan remind us that two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30 AD. One was a peasant procession. One was an imperial procession.

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Many of you may be familiar with the Revised Common Lectionary. The lectionary is used by Catholic and Protestant communities around the world and suggests four different readings from the Bible for each Sunday: from the Old Testament, the Psalms, a Gospel reading, and one from the letters of the New Testament. These readings relate to the church calendar, the unfolding of the Christian story through each year; and these readings follow a three-year cycle. In our tradition, both as Presbyterians and here at Second, we follow this lectionary for much of the year - but not always. Sometimes we feel led to other Scripture texts or themes that might be more appropriate for the day, or for a series, or for a season.

Today’s lectionary offering feels like an absolute gift from God to me, especially one text, the Psalm for today - the third Sunday of January, 2021, and the second Sunday of Epiphany in this year.

Listen now to sacred words. In what might feel like scary days, we invite the words of this psalm to be a gracious word from God. Psalm 139:1-18:

1O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

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Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. We have all heard of Nazareth.

In Jesus’ day, Nazareth was a very small backwater town – mostly subsistence farmers, small shops, and working people. If it wasn’t for Jesus, it would have remained an insignificant hamlet. This is why the disciple Nathanael’s question is so memorable: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Today, in modern Israel, Nazareth is a bustling city in hilly western Galilee. Homes and shops and churches and mosques are squeezed in together amidst the hills. The narrow streets of Nazareth are crowded with scooters, cars, buses, and people. It is a city populated today by Muslims and Christians. And the town is dominated by the gray dome of a particular church – the Basilica of the Annunciation – which stands at the crest of a major hill.

Some of us from this church family visited this Basilica of the Annunciation about 20 months ago on the interfaith trip to Israel. This Basilica, completed in 1969, is built on the ruins of several older churches that date back to the 3rd and 4th century. The Basilica of the Annunciation is a massive and impressive structure. But what makes it most unique – the walls all around and through the church offer colorful depictions of Mary – numerous portraits donated from countries all around the world. This sacred place is a reminder of the widespread, worldwide appeal of Jesus’ mother. And then deep in the grotto of this huge and modern Basilica is a unique inscription – in Latin – which says, “the Word was made flesh HERE.” (see J. Martin, Jesus – a pilgrimage, p 32)

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You heard the words from the lighting of the Advent Wreath today. We find joy in many places! Small things we do on our own. Big things we might do together. As people of faith, we seek to be shaped by JOY. Today we light the third candle in Advent – the candle of Joy.

We also have those familiar words from Philippians – our first lesson today - “Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again, I say rejoice!”

But, . . . I must confess, . . . it can be difficult in these days to find joy – real joy. While we do have much to celebrate, life has been too different, and too difficult to feel surrounded by joy. Life has been so full of discouraging news and limitations to feel like great rejoicing. What about you?

We are made for Christian worship – the coming together for fellowship, for genuine community connections, for singing and sharing faith – and we continue to be separated and apart from one another.

We are encouraged and strengthened by personal interactions, by sharing love and care with one another, genuine hugs and support – and we can have none of that in these days of a worsening pandemic and social distancing.

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There is a certain exercise – a test – that challenges your ability to concentrate. It is quite interesting. This comes in a video. In the video, there are people with white shirts and people with dark shirts. The white-shirt people throw a ball to other white- shirt people and the dark-shirt people throw a ball to other dark-shirt people. To test your ability to concentrate, your job is to pick one of the shirts – white or dark - and count the number of times that that team throws to a member of their team.

The instructions in this test say “Ignore everything else. Just focus on that.” So, the concentration test unfolds. You watch people run around and throw a ball. You count. “Seven, eight, nine, twelve, fourteen, seventeen, twenty-one. Twenty- one!”

At the end of the video, you answer the questions – if you followed the white shirts, how many times did they pass the ball? And if you followed the dark shirts, same question - “sixteen, seventeen, nineteen,” and there is a right answer – but it moves along fast.

And then – after you guess the number of throws to test your concentration – there is this question: “Did you see the gorilla?”

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Ginger and I used to have a dog – a beautiful golden retriever – who was such a part of our family when our kids were growing up. His name was “Shadow” – because he followed around one of our daughters so closely – like a shadow.

Here is the thing about Shadow, our dog. If you ever spoke the word “Walk,” his ears perked up, he got up and went and waited by the front door. This one, simple word, motivated him. He loved going on walks. Saying “walk,” brought him to life, to attention, to the door, ready to go.

What is it that motivates us, . . . . gets our attention, gets us focused on responsible faithfulness, on the tasks at hand? We are all ministers!

Before I went to seminary, some of you know that I was a teacher and a lacrosse coach. Our team had some good players, but we were mostly average compared to the other teams. So, as a coach I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to motivate – to get the best out of the players. Sometimes it led to yelling and screaming. Sometimes it meant devising new schemes. Sometimes it meant praising, pampering, and rewarding them. Various approaches worked.

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What do you say to people who need encouragement in the midst of life’s trials and tribulations? What would be a helpful word to a community that feels burdened, stressed out, lost, bewildered?

Those are pressing questions right now, right?

We continue in this long and unsettling season of a global pandemic. We keep hoping we have “turned the corner,” but COVID 19 seems stronger and more persistent that our best hopes.

We are also on pins and needles with a presidential election this week. There is good reason to wonder if the very fabric of our society may be in peril. Election worries, foreign interference, uncertainty about when we might know the results, concerns about violence and unrest – all cause anxiety and stress.

And we all have other circumstances and issues that burden us – racial and economic challenges, more protests in the streets because of killings by police, personal crises, and more.

Most scholars agree that the letters of Peter, near the back of the New Testament, were written near the end of the first century as Christian communities were emerging in various parts of the Mediterranean region. Peter, a prominent disciple of Jesus, writes these letters to encourage the early church, especially as they faced trials and tribulations, persecutions and peril.

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The Old Testament has lots of stories about brothers. Today, I want to talk about two brothers from the book of Exodus: Aaron and Moses.

“Moses was three years younger than his brother, Aaron, but starting with the day Pharaoh's daughter fished Moses out of the bulrushes and adopted him, Moses was the one who always got the headlines.”

Moses really got famous when he was around 80 years old. As Frederick Buechner puts it: “Out of a burning bush God himself voted Moses ‘Man of the Year.’” God called Moses to confront Pharaoh and tell him, “let God’s people go.”

Moses, you recall, led the people out of slavery, out of Egypt. His leadership, faith, and fortitude continue to teach and inspire all of us.

But Aaron - “Aaron appears in the story along the way, but always playing second fiddle, which he did well enough until he got the break he'd been waiting for at last, . . . . and then he blew it.

With Moses lingering so long on Mt. Sinai that some thought he'd settled down and gone into real estate, the people turned to Aaron for leadership, and in no time flat, . . Aaron had them dancing (crazy) around the Golden Calf.”

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Whose AUTHORITY do your respect the most? Maybe someone who has been influential in your life. A mentor or teacher? A close colleague or friend?

AUTHORITY has to do with influence on your heart and life. AUTHORITY has to do with credibility and persuasiveness, someone shaping and forming us, guiding us and encouraging us in a certain way.

Who do you listen to? Who do you follow?

AUTHORITY has also become a troubling subject in recent months. The world continues to face a nasty pandemic and we keep getting confusing messages, even as we count 200,000 deaths in our nation. Who do we listen to with confidence and commitment? Is the virus going away . . . or will it get worse? Is it more important to wear a mask, . . . or more important to maintain your right not to wear one? Should we listen to the politicians, . . . or the scientists?

We have seen wildfires ravaging the west coast, and hurricanes battering the south and east. Is this caused by devastating effects from climate change, . . . or is this just nature doing what nature does.

If we could trust some AUTHORITY on these matters, our responses might be different.

AUTHORITY is a subject that confronted and confounded Jesus on a number of occasions. Listen to this story from Matthew 21 (F. Dale Bruner’s translation):

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The adversaries of Jesus – the Pharisees – thought they had gotten control of their daily schedule. If they knew what day it was, they also knew what they could and could not do.

Getting control of your schedule is no small matter, especially for us – modern people who live in a demanding rat-race economy. We have learned along the way that we are supposed to make the most of the time – we are supposed to achieve, accomplish, succeed, get things done. And we have all kinds of devices and activities and ways to work that keep us engaged 24/7.

One of the biggest challenges in these days – about returning to normal – opening the economy – getting back to in-person school and life – is really all about returning to the rat-race – accomplishing, achieving, producing, succeeding. The insatiable demands of the economy and life dictate so much about us.

Yet, as faithful people, we are instructed to resist life’s insatiable pressures. We are called to live balanced lives, anchored in God and focused on serving God.

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So many questions keep percolating around us.

First, there are so many questions about the pandemic. There are questions about the virus itself – how it spreads, its varying effects on people, how it can be managed and mitigated. Our nation is not doing too well with. And the questions multiply. When will we ever get beyond this virus? How and when will we ever get back to church and what will that be like? Will schools and colleges ever adjust? What will be the lasting effects on the economy, on our way of life? And those are just a few of the endless questions.

So many questions linger about our society in these days. We continue with widespread uprisings and demonstrations across the nation that provide a clarion call to change our culture. Can we finally, truly dismantle racism in this land? Can we find new ways to function that move us away from segregation, injustice, brutality, socio-economic-racial disparities? Can we finally navigate our way to the beloved community where we are judged by “the content of our character?” Can we become “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?”

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On the night of February 11, 1944, white and black Christians gathered in this very sanctuary for a significant event. The speaker was Dr. Howard Thurman, Professor at Howard University in Washington, DC, a very distinguished African- American educator, writer, poet, and theologian. About this momentous event in the life of the church – a mixed congregation of blacks and whites with such a renowned guest speaker – the Blanton book, which records the first 100 years of this church’s history, says this: “to those who know the history of Second Church, it must seem that this meeting of inspiration was the culmination of a hundred years of kindly feeling.” (Blanton, p. 324)

Why was this visit to this pulpit by Dr. Howard Thurman so significant?

It was 1944 - 99 years since the founding of Second Church – and a large inter-racial gathering was happening in this sanctuary – which we would consider commonplace today; but that was 1944, in still segregated Richmond.

There are parts of our congregation’s history of which we can be proud, . . . and not so proud. Certainly, that evening in February 1944 with Howard Thurman in this pulpit, remains one of the very proud moments in the life of this church.

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