Sermon: A Promise For A New Reality

A sermon on Deuteronomy 31: 1-8. 

Preached September 30, 2018 at Cane Bay Presbyterian Church

We all love the story of Exodus, don’t we? It’s got everything that a great novel or a great movie needs. 

There’s a situation of great injustice: The Israelites have been suffering in slavery for many generations. 

There’s a ruthless villain: Pharaoh is paranoid and two-faced, willing to do anything to protect his power. He even seems to enjoy the suffering he casts upon God’s people.

There’s a flawed hero: Moses is called to free the people, and he tries to get out of it, saying he’s not up for the task.

And finally: There’s a story line so full of unexpected twists and turns that if this were not a Bible story and were just a movie, we would have trouble believing it. I mean, all the waters in Egypt turn to blood? Moses raises his staff, and the Red Sea just splits in two? Several hundred thousand people wandering through the desert for 40 years? Who’s writing this stuff?

But despite all that, and despite all the other aspects of the Exodus story that make it so compelling, none of that is what the story is really about. It is not ultimately about how great and faithful Moses was. It is not ultimately about the amazing power of God to do miracles. And it is not even ultimately about how God takes sides with the oppressed and the weak against the the powerful and the abusive. 

All those things are true, but what we as people of faith today most need to take from this story is what is talked about in today’s passage from Deuteronomy 31. And that is the concept of God’s promises.

This passage is part of a speech that Moses gives to all of Israel near the end of his life, just as they are ready to complete their journey and enter the Promised Land. It’s a momentous occasion, the culmination of generations worth of struggle and pain and hope.

The people are expecting Moses to lead them across the Jordan River and into their new home - but God has other plans. Now we aren’t told how the people react to this news, but we have to think they were quite disappointed. After all, they have depended on Moses for 40 years. 

It would be like a college basketball coach taking a team all the way to the Final Four, and then telling them that he was quitting, and they’d be getting a new coach for the championship game. We wouldn’t think that would be the best way to win the national title.

But that’s what happens here. Moses tells the people that God has appointed Joshua to take over the helm at this most critical of moments. It could have been a moment that really deflated the people, and possibly even turned them against God - which is something they had happened before.

But this potential for despair is eliminated when Moses gives them the one thing he still has to offer - his wisdom. He tells the people just what they need to hear as they enter this time of transition. He says this:

“The Lord has told me that I shall not cross over the Jordan. But the Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised.”

And that last phrase is the key: “As the Lord promised.” It’s a theme that is found throughout the Scriptures, and it ties together what can seem like a bunch of random stories. The theme is not just that the Lord makes promises and keeps them. Even more than that, what we learn throughout the Bible, and especially in the Exodus story, is that through it all, God is really staying faithful to one promise. From Genesis to Revelation, everything that happens relates to God making a promise and then keeping it.

But before we talk about what that promise is, I’d like to go back and address an issue with this particular passage that has always troubled me. It’s the fact that God, in leading the nation of Israel to the Promised Land, promises to destroy the nations that are already there. It’s just one verse, but Moses clearly said it. “The Lord you God will cross over before you and will destroy these nation before you, and you shall dispossess them.”

It’s a difficult verse for those of us who like to think of God as loving and forgiving and inclusive of all people. Because this promise seems like none of those things. This promise makes God look like a bully, who is just using his size and strength to push people around and do what he wants.

What happens when nations behave like this today? What happens when a leader says something like, “God told me this is our land, so we’re gonna take it and take everything you own, by force of necessary?” Well, we went to war back in 1991 in Iraq and Kuwait for that exact reason. And Israel and Palestine have been fighting over a situation like this since 1948.

And who do we sympathize with whenever something like this happens in the world? With the nation that is being attacked and forced off of its own land. Take this story of Moses and Joshua, and take away the religious aspect of it, and there’s no way we say that what Israel does is a good thing. No way.

But as Christians, we look at this story as foundational to our faith, and we use it as an analogy for our own faith community, and how God guides us to our Promised Land. 

So what’s the difference? How do we resolve this contradiction? How do we justify the fact that at God’s leading, the people of Israel are called to violently force people out of their homes and their homeland and kill them?

Unfortunately, there’s not an easy answer to that question. That is the way God chose to do things in that case - but it does not give us license to do the same in God’s name. And that’s a topic for a future sermon. 

But what is important for us today is to know what we are supposed to take from this story - which is the fact that God made a promise; and that even thought the journey was to get there was long and difficult, God kept that promise; and that God stays with them and clears the way for them as they take possession of that promise.

It really would make a great movie. I’ve always thought that Hollywood should take up the story of Moses and Joshua and the entrance into the Promised Land. Because it has volumes of wisdom to share for us today as we seek to do the same thing - as we seek to move through all sorts of transitions in life and in the church.

Lately, I’ve been talking a lot about how our culture is changing and how the church is called to change - so I’ll give that a rest for today, and talk instead about transitions and God’s promises in a more personal way. 

I’d like us to close by doing a little bit of a visualization exercise. This will all be done silently to yourself. You can close your eyes or you can keep them open, whichever you’re more comfortable with.

Let’s start by thinking about a transition in your life that you are currently going through, or that you’ve been through recently. Something that might be difficult, and is causing you anxiety and uncertainty.

Think about how your transition, whatever it is, is like what the people of Israel were going through as they were about to cross the Jordan River. What kind of journey have you already been through? Have you been in the wilderness for a long time? Are you tired? Are you frustrated? Are you skeptical of how this is going to turn out? Are you skeptical if God is really with you through all this?

Now, imagine that someone tells you something that upends your expectations of how this transition is going to go. Something foundational. Something like Moses no longer being the leader of the Israelites. What might such a surprise be? How does that make you feel as you think about things not turning out as you had expected?

Now, take these feelings, and this real life situation you are visualizing, and listen again to the promise that God has given us. This time, I am going to take the concepts from Moses’ speech and put them in the context of the changes that we face in life.

“A new reality is coming. And the Lord has told us that things in the new reality are not going to be as you expected them. But God will go with you into this new reality. God will clear away all the obstacles that are in your path. And God will give you whatever it is you will need to live and thrive in your Promised Land.”

As we think about our personal situations of transition. And as we think about the transition our church is about to make. Let us remember these words from Moses. For in all that we do, the ultimate promise we rely on is that God goes with us, and God shows us the way. Amen.

The End of the Protestant Work Ethic

How many days a week do you wake up and think to yourself, “I don’t want to go to work today.” If this happens occasionally, it’s not a problem. We all get tired and need some extra rest from time to time.

But if this happens frequently, or even every day, then there is a big problem. God does not intend for us to spend the majority of our hours laboring in unhappiness. God intends for us to find a calling that, to paraphrase Frederic Beuchner, brings together something we love to do and something the world needs.

One of the biggest issues I struggle with is my ingrained sense of the Protestant Work Ethic. Like many in our society, I feel lazy and irresponsible if I don’t put in at least an 8-hour work day and a 5-day work week. In fact, if I take more than one day off a week, I have trouble enjoying myself because I feel like I should be working.

The frustrating part is that this compulsion to work hard is not related to productivity or fulfilling a sense of purpose. I feel more accomplished if I spend five hours in an afternoon doing random “busy work” around the office than if I spend three hours in a coffee shop writing a complete sermon. 

The Protestant Work Ethic has conditioned us to believe that virtue consists of showing up at a designated work place and punching a clock for at least 40 hours a week (and significantly more in some occupations). What is actually accomplished with those hours is almost irrelevant for many workers, who do their work only because they need the paycheck.

It is a plantation mentality, and it means that the majority of “bread winners” in our culture are failing to make a connection between the work that occupies their time and their discipleship in Jesus Christ. Even for pastors, whose job is considered their calling, logging hours can become more important than actually fulfilling the purpose of the ministry.

In the 21st century, one of the “new wineskins” we are called to develop is a more robust sense of Christian vocation that encompasses all of life, and does not measure faithfulness simply by how many hours we work. Currently, many people compartmentalize faith and work, largely because we have come to believe that work for the sake of work is virtuous. In addition, we are fooled into believing that such idolatry is the only way to support ourselves and our families.

The Protestant Work Ethic made sense during the early part of our nation’s history, when everyone had to work that hard for a community to survive. But in the 21st century, with amazing new technologies developing, our challenge is no longer providing the basic necessities of life for everyone. The same work ethic that at one time kept us alive has now become a means of enslavement.

What will bring us freedom?

The End of the Offering Plate

One Sunday morning, while leading worship, I accidentally skipped over the offering in the order of service. As we were singing the final hymn, a deacon ran up to me and said, “Before you say the benediction, don’t you think we should pass the plates? You, of all people, should have an interest in not forgetting that.”

We both had a good laugh about it, but the incident reveals how strongly we have tied the financial well-being of the church to the vitality of the weekly worship service. Granted, there are sound theological reasons for this, but there might be even better reasons for us to decouple the two. Consider the new church development where I currently serve:

For our first five years, we are being funded by our regional governing body. Those funds progressively decrease each year, which means that our contributions from new members must continuously increase. 

In the past, this system worked well for new churches. In a Christendom culture, it was assumed that Sunday morning worship would be the primary vehicle through which new members and financial giving would be generated. 

That has all changed in the post-Christian reality of the 21st century. New faith communities emerge more slowly, through a “try and fail and learn” type of approach. 

In our first two years, with most of our funding not dependent on worship offerings, we have felt free to experiment with new and creative ways of being church - and we have learned that expecting folks under the age of 50 to come to a “sit and pay” worship service is unrealistic. But there are other ways to reach them if we have the freedom to innovate.

As we enter our third year, however, we can feel that freedom evaporating. Our decisions are increasingly based on how to preserve and increase our Sunday morning offerings - which means we are focusing more on building up our “sit and pay” service as our central and defining practice.

More established churches who also wish to innovate face a similar dilemma, as primary givers are most often those who value traditional worship forms. What is really needed to evolve beyond the notion of “sit and pay” worship has no chance of happening as long as our financial health is tied to this practice.

In future posts, I will explore some ways churches are beginning to decouple giving and worship, and how it is giving them more freedom to find new pathways for the church of the 21st century.

Worship Should No Longer Be The Central And Defining Practice Of The Church

Worship is not a Biblical concept. At least not worship as most North American Christians know it. Nowhere in the Old or New Testaments is found a faith community that worships in ways most Christians today would consider the norm:

- Gathering once a week at a regular time and location (typically on Sunday morning), in a sanctuary designed and built primarily for that purpose.

 - Sitting in an arrangement of pews or chairs, with a handful of designated speakers and a choir up front.

- Having worship leaders wear ceremonial garb such as robes, and having all attendees dress to a certain level of formality above everyday dress.

- Centering the gathering around a sermon written and delivered by a well-trained professional.

- Congregational singing led by a well-trained professional.

- The collection of monetary donations.

In recent years, a few of these norms - such as formal dress and worship times - have been relaxed and altered in many churches. But the basic idea of gathering each week, sitting for an hour or so, and leaving a donation remains. In fact, this kind of service is considered by most to be the central and defining act of a congregation - despite the distinct lack of Biblical precedent.

In my calling as a new church development pastor, I have found this weekly “sit and pay” expectation to be very limiting as I meet people and seek to bring together a faith community. The appeal and the sense of obligation to “go to church” once a week are rapidly fading. People are still interested in faith and in following Jesus, but more in the form of service and mission in the world. 

It’s no longer about checking the “worship box” each week and leaving a check in the offering plate. Engagement and action for justice, peace, and a better world are what will energize the people who aren’t coming to church anymore, or who never did. Making attendance at a weekly worship service the one thing they have to do to be considered part of the church is a sure-fire way to guarantee they will never be part of the church.

Which means that it’s absurd that most churches continue to consider weekly worship attendance the central and defining act for their members. Perhaps its time we made developing a vocational identity beyond the church the one thing that all church members are expected to do.

I suspect that the reason we are slow to make this shift is because of finances. Passing the plate during the weekly worship service is our tried and true method of fundraising. As we struggle with diminishing overall numbers, we are hesitant to do anything that might diminish giving any further - a survival mentality which we need to resist. 

In future posts, I’ll look at Biblical models of membership and financing, and how we might begin to think about a sustainable future for churches where vocation in the community is the central and defining focus.

7 Ways To Make Church About Joy And Not Obligation

With Labor Day behind us, churches are now diving into their busy fall schedules. Mine is no different, as evidenced by the lengthy to-do list I have in front of me this morning. It makes me miss the easiness of church life in the summer. 

Summer in most churches just feels different, doesn't it? Sunday school classes, youth groups, and committees might take a break from their regular meetings. Worship continues, but it tends to be less formal, less stressed, and less performance-oriented. When the people do gather, it is often in creative or alternative ways that are more about fellowship, community, and mission.  

Most of all, though, what is different about summertime church is the lessened sense of obligation. When the weather is warm, we relax that feeling that we are supposed to be there. Perhaps it has to do with school being out, or people traveling, or a general feeling that summer is a time to let go of the busyness of life and all its obligation.

Whatever the reasons, when we gather as God's people in the summer, it is because we want to and because we find joy in being together, not because we feel we should. It might seem counter-intuitive, but perhaps it's time we cultivate this feeling of year round. Here are several ways we can begin this shift:

1) Multiple Worship Offerings. Instead of offering one or two services on Sunday that people feel obligated to attend, offer several smaller services at various times and locations throughout the week. Encourage people to find the service that brings them joy and makes them want to attend. 

2) Festival Worship -  Instead of expecting all of your folks to make it to a single weekly service (which isn't going to happen in this era), have a big worship event once a month or once a quarter where Sacraments can be served and the whole congregation can worship as one. Develop them around special themes of the liturgical calendar, or big community events. Its kind of like extending the idea of big Christmas and Easter services to 5 or 6 times a year.

3) "Get Out Of Worship Free Cards." Give people permission not to attend worship at all, but to become involved in other activities inside or outside the church that connect them to God. Encourage them to attend worship if and when they want to be there.

4) Connect Worship Directly To Acts of Service or Recreation. Have worship only after engaging in the hands-on mission of the church - whether it's serving at a soup kitchen, visiting a nursing home, attending a political rally, or hosting a community soccer game. In other words, take seriously the words of Amos 5 about not holding "solemn assemblies" without practicing the faith in the world.

5) Join Other Congregations for Worship - Especially ones of different racial, theological, or economic status. Use worship as a time to build bridges, not isolate.

6) Change Your Metrics - Even as we admit that weekly worship attendance is not a reality for many church members, we continue to use weekly worship attendance as our number one measure of success. Perhaps it is more accurate of a church's vitality to measure how many folks attend worship in a month, or who participate in any way in the church. Or perhaps the new age means we don't measure success with numbers at all.

7) Practice Joy and Sabbath - Perhaps this is the most important practice for church leaders who want to deemphasize the sense of obligation and reemphasize participation based on joy. Model it in it in your own life. If it seems like the leader is operating from duty or obligation with little joy, or if they are burned out from lack of rest, this attitude rubs off on how the whole church operates.

Which of these options for shifting from obligation to joy appeals to you? Which has the most practical possibility in your church? What other alternatives to obligation-driven worship might you suggest?