Sacred Play

Deuteronomy 5: 12-15

Roger Lynn

October 20, 2019
(click here to listen to the audio of this sermon on YouTube)

Later this week I will be engaging in a significant spiritual practice with a long, rich history – I will be going on vacation for a week. I tell you this not because I think I need to somehow justify it to you. This congregation has always been very supportive and generous about such things. I simply want to  remind you that play can, indeed, be a spiritual practice.

Deeply embedded within both the Old and New Testament scriptures is the understanding that rest is a sacred activity – one which has the potential to put us in touch with God’s presence in our world and in our lives. It is so important, in fact, that it is built into the very core of the Ten Commandments – Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy! The Sabbath was understood as a day of rest. Now to be sure, over the years some very unhelpful ideas have come to be associated with what it means to “keep the sabbath.” It became a “law” to be enforced, rather than a benefit to be enjoyed. But trying to define and restrict an idea with narrow, legalistic attitudes does not negate the fundamentally positive nature of the concept. We need rest. Our bodies need it. Our spirits need it. Our relationship with God needs it. Our relationships with each other need it. You wouldn’t think that such an idea would need to be part of the Ten Commandments. You wouldn’t think we would need to be convinced with arguments like, “Even God took a break after six days.” It seems like such a “no brainer.” But somehow we keep forgetting. There is always one more thing that “needs” to be done. There is always something so important that it can’t wait another five minutes, or five days. Why is it that a phrase like, “Stop and smell the roses” is included in our collective cultural wisdom? Because we know that it is true, and we also know that we continually need to be reminded.

Participating in God’s Radical Justice

Isaiah 1: 10-20 & Luke 19: 1-10

Roger Lynn

October 13, 2019

(click here to listen to this sermon on YouTube)

Isaiah is pretty clear. There isn’t really much room to wonder what he is saying. With the confident audacity of a prophet, he dares to speak on behalf of God and declare that something has to change. It doesn’t matter if you go to church. It doesn’t matter if you say the right words. It doesn’t even matter if you fill the offering plate. Being in right relationship with God means aligning your life with God’s intentions for the world. Don’t come to me with your hands covered in blood, God says, and think that everything is just fine. Everything is not fine. The world is broken and people are being hurt. Until you start doing something about it we really don’t have anything to talk about. You want to call yourself a person of faith. You want to be in right relationship with me. Here’s where to start – cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. I desire justice for the whole world and being in relationship with me means participating in my radical vision for justice – where everyone, everywhere, all the time gets a fair shake. They will have enough to eat. They will be safe. They will have access to all of society’s benefits. They will be cared for and valued and honored. If you want to be in relationship with me, then working for that kind of a world will become your passion. And without that kind of justice-seeking passion your attempts at worship are really pretty hollow. If you are not a part of the solution then you are a part of the problem. Seek justice!

The people who first heard Isaiah preach were squirming in their seats. He was hitting way to close to home. And if we are paying attention at all, then we, too, will be squirming in our seats, because things haven’t changed very much in all those hundreds and thousands of years since then. The world is still broken, people are still being oppressed and abused and ignored, justice is still more dream than reality, and we still need to decide whether we are going to be a part of the problem or the solution. It is still about more than saying the right words when we come to church. Being people of faith still requires that we get out and do something to make a difference. The good news is that change is possible. Healing can take place. Re-alignment with God and God’s intentions for the world is within our grasp. Right after Isaiah cuts loose with his no-holds-barred diatribe against the evil ways of the people, he says on behalf of God, “Come now, let us argue it out. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18) No matter how long or how far we wander off in the wrong direction, God still desires to embrace us and lead us back to more life-filled paths. We do not have to do it on our own, but we do have to be willing to participate in the process.

Discerning The Body Of Christ (World Communion Sunday)

1 Corinthians 11: 17-28

Roger Lynn

October 6, 2019

World Communion Sunday

(click here for the audio of this sermon on YouTube)

The church at Corinth was a difficult group of people to deal with. We have two books in the New Testament to prove it. Over and over again the apostle Paul found himself struggling to help them understand what it meant to be followers of Jesus. And over and over again they found new ways to misunderstand. Not unlike the Church today, I suppose. Faithful living is an ongoing process of growing and learning and changing. 

For the Corinthian church, the business of the Lord’s Supper is a prime example. When Paul writes to them about what is going on it is clear that he is not pleased with what he has been hearing. They had taken the very heart of Christian worship and mutilated it almost beyond recognition. They had lost sight of what they were doing and why. 

In those early days of the Church, worship centered around the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. They sang some songs, read some scripture, prayed with each other, but mostly they ate together. The roots of the church potluck can be traced all the way back to the first century. Communion was a holy feast – sometimes even called a Love Feast. It was the gathering of the community of faith around a common table to break bread, share wine, and feed both body and soul together. They took very seriously Christ’s words, “As often as you do this, remember me.” This was a holy meal.