Instead
of preaching a sermon in worship yesterday, Pastor Taylor and Pastor Susan
lifted up in prayer the 251 communities across our country that experienced
mass shootings in 2019. The was our first step in creating an action team that
will discern how we as a community of faith will respond to gun violence.
However, before the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, this sermon was
written by Pastor Taylor. “Come Home” was written to be preached at Sunnyside
Presbyterian Church on August 4, 2019. This sermon was inspired by Scripture,
commentaries, childhood, songs, and poetry.
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Hosea 11:1-11
1
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2
The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they
kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
3
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I
led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I
was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
5
They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6
The sword rages in their cities,
it consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My
people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8
How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How
can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My
heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I
will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for
I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10
They shall go after the Lord,
who roars like a lion;
when
he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the
west.
11
They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
and like doves from the land of Assyria;
and I will return them to their homes, says
the Lord.
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Colossians 3:1-11
1 So
if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are
above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you
also will be revealed with him in glory.
5
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity,
passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the
wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you
also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid
of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from
your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the
old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11
In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in
all!
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I
really love our two passages today. The reason I love them is because not only what
they say individually but together as a pair.
Now,
of course, this was intentional by the creators of the revised common
lectionary, there is usually a uniting theme for the five or so passages
assigned to each Sunday. The five or so passages include a few from the Old
Testament (a.k.a. Hosea) and a few from the New Testament (a.k.a. Colossians)
and a Gospel reading (a.k.a. some story from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John that
we did not choose to use today).
Now
a smart trick of the trade when using an Old Testament reading (a.k.a. Hosea)
and a New Testament reading (a.k.a. Colossians) but not the Gospel reading as
your passages for a sermon, look at that Gospel reading anyway and see if it’s
a parable. If it’s a parable, rewrite and retell that parable in a modern way,
using modern characters, places, images, and themes. Boom, instant story to use
as an introduction for your sermon.
So I
of course I did that; I also looked up the gospel reading for this Sunday’s
assigned lectionary and it is Luke 12:13-21: The Parable of the Rich Fool. Not
the most well-known parable, but a pretty easy parable to retell; all I would
need to do is a tell a story about a rich fool..
So
let me tell you one. This is the story of Lester.
Lester was given a
magic wish
By the goblin who
lives in the banyan tree,
And with his wish
he wished for two more wishes-
So now instead of
just one wish, he cleverly had three.
And with each one
of these
He simply wished
for three more wishes,
Which gave him
three old wishes, plus nine new.
And with each of
these twelve
He slyly wished
for three more wishes,
Which added up to
forty-six -- or is it fifty-two?
Well anyway, he
used each wish
To wish for wishes
'til he had
Five billion,
seven million, eighteen thousand thirty-four.
And then he spread
them on the ground
And clapped his
hands and danced around
And skipped and
sang, and then sat down
And wished for
more.
And more...and
more...they multiplied
While other people
smiled and cried
And loved and
reached and touched and felt.
Lester sat amid
his wealth
Stacked
mountain-high like stacks of gold,
Sat and counted --
and grew old.
And then one
Thursday night they found him
Dead -- with his
wishes piled around him.
And they counted
the lot and found that not
A single one was
missing.
All shiny and new
-- here, take a few
And think of
Lester as you do.
In a world of
apples and kisses and shoes
He wasted his
wishes on wishing.
This
poem is called “Lester,” written by Shel Silverstein. In addition to “Lester,”
this is the author who gave us such works as “The Giving Tree” or “Where the
Sidewalk Ends.” I grew up reading the poems of Shel Silverstein. I remember
that even as a child I could understand the simplicity of his words, yet the
complexity of his topics. He could speak to people of all ages, from faking sick
to skip school or describing anxieties and worries through the whatifs. Shel
Silverstein could describe the world and all its wonders and fears to any child
and to any adult.
And
here, Silverstein is describing greed. Lester was a man who wanted more wishes.
And he spent his life collecting them; cleverly and slyly wishing for more… and
more.. and more.. until all he had was his pile of wishes… and while he missed
apples and shoes and kisses. Because of his greed; because of always wanting
more of just one thing, Lester missed out on what God offers us in life through
human connection: smiling and crying and loving and reaching and touching and
feeling. Lester just had his greed.
Colossians
states that greed is an earthly trait, a part of our identity that redirects us
away from Christ. In addition to greed, there’s impurity and evil desires and
wrath and abuse and lies and malice—all of this can lead us away from Christ. And
Colossians knows this is a part of our earthly identity, which means things
such as greed and impurity and evil desires and wrath and abuse and lies and
malice all come naturally to us; that if we don’t constantly set ourselves with
a mind directed to Christ, we will naturally reveal traits of earthly sin.
I
think that’s why Lester describes greed so well. The poem itself describes
greed not as dark plague that one day suddenly choked the life out of Lester…
but rather as something that came light-hearted, playful, and whimsical…
something that was always there, from the beginning to the end, but out of
ignorant fun, grew and grew and grew. Here, greed is described almost through a
childlike lens.
Which
is why the metaphor in the book of Hosea is so important. Hosea, like the other
prophets found in the Old Testament, is filled with metaphors, but Hosea has
among the most interesting symbols he uses to describe God and the people’s
relationship with God. Our metaphor for today, a parent with a disobedient child,
is among the mildest in terms of weirdness but among the most significant in
terms of relatability.
Through
Hosea, God calls Israel her child; someone that she nursed and coddled, held
and kept close. As Israel, God’s child grew; as they were delivered from
slavery and became more independent; Israel began turning away from God. Through
worshiping idols, sacrifices, greed, and wars; Israel not only turned away from
God but soon began refusing to even returning to God.
And
God, with her anger – I’m saying her because Hosea uses a nursing feeding metaphor
which describes more of a mother than a father – God, with her anger, wants to
punish her child for their disobedience, for their rejection of her. But after
wrestling with herself, while still angry and hurt, God chooses to show
compassion rather than wrath.
And through
this act of compassion, mercy, and grace shown by God; God knows that her
children will return to her, like a lion cub or a puppy, tail between our legs,
ashamed and a little bruised, but home once again with our Parent.
When
considering this metaphor of a parent and disobedient child, it’s a pretty easy
one for us to relate to; to find ourselves as one of the characters. For those
of you who are parents, I’m sure you can easily think of example of a disobedient
child. But in this metaphor, you’re not the parent. We’re all the disobedient
child, refusing to return to the goodness of our great Parent.
I read
a few articles on this passage and several commentators wrote about children
who run away from home or get caught up in using drugs as good examples of disobedient
children. And while that’s true and horrible, most of us in this room have
never run away from home and got lost in a world of drugs. They’re disobedient
children too, but friends, so are we. I think most of us in this room are more
like Lester, which what made us disobedient didn’t come on suddenly but rather,
it came out of playful, childlike ignorance.
So
today’s your day of reset. God is calling you to come home, child. Although we
have hurt our God our Parent, she has chosen to show us compassion, she calls
for us to return to her. You’re at a crossroads; will you continue to disobey
or will you direct yourself back to God? Will you die on a pile of wishes or
will you seek God’s wish to be in love with you? Will you come home? For God
your Parent is waiting for you, open doors and open arms, with a table set,
full of nourishment and grace.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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