October 15, 2023: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
I don’t know if any of you have read the entire bible, but if you haven’t, you can always use this Cliff Notes version. I needed some help, so I asked our fabulous choir to play along here. I’ll play the part of God. They will be all the other characters:
GENESIS
God: All right, you two, don’t do the one thing. Other than that, have fun.
Adam & Eve: Okay.
Serpent: You should do the thing.
Adam & Eve: Okay.
God: What happened!?
Adam & Eve: We did the thing.
God: Guys
THE REST OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
God: You are my people, and you should not do the things.
People: We won’t do the things.
God: Good.
People: We did the things.
God: Guys
THE GOSPELS
Jesus: I am the Son of God, and even though you have done the things, the Father and I still love you and want you to live. Don’t do the things anymore.
Disciples: Okay! Thank you!
Some People: We’ve never seen him do the things, but he probably does the things when no one is looking.
Jesus: I have never done the things.
Some People: We’re going to put you on trial for doing the things.
Pilate: Did you do the things?
Jesus: No.
Pilate: He didn’t do the things.
Some People: Kill him anyway.
Pilate: Okay.
Jesus: Guys
PAUL’S LETTERS
People: We did the things.
Paul: Jesus still loves you, and because you love Him, you have to stop doing the things.
People: Okay.
PAUL’S LETTERS PART II
People: We did the things again.
Paul: Guys
REVELATION
John: When Jesus comes back, there will be no more people who do the things. In the meantime, stop doing the things.
And…. What do you think we have been doing all through the centuries since?
Everyone: The things!
Thank you choir!
So, maybe it shouldn’t surprise us to hear the passage we read earlier in Exodus then, right? Now, we most of us know about the golden calf story, but do we know why it happened and why it matters? The passage begins in this way “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
Why on earth would the long absence of Moses lead them to feel the need to build a God to worship? It’s fairly simple really –instead of his being a prophet of God, over time he became God in their minds – a God they could touch and see. And when he wasn’t around, they thought God wasn’t around, so they needed a substitute. They decided to create a God that they can understand, that they can put into a box, or in this case – on a pedestal. This God won’t be difficult to comprehend, or even disappear. We have them today too, even one in the shape of a calf, or really, a bronze bull, that looms large on Wall Street, a symbol of our reverence for wealth.
And yet, the thing we can fail to see in the moment, the thing that this passage is trying to tell us, is not to be fooled, not to fear or give over ourselves to earthly Gods and Kings, to rest in the knowledge and love of God, and to resist the earthly false Gods we will encounter, or build, in our long journey of life, even when we find ourselves in difficult desert times.
And Lordy, we are in a tremendously horrific time in this world of ours. This past week we have witnessed the brutal attack and kidnapping of people in Israel by the terrorist group Hamas –killing children and grandparents, sexually abusing and mutilating women and girls. It has shocked the world, broken our hearts, and thrown the region into chaos, violence, deeper poverty, and a growing health crisis.
While it is true that the long history of the Middle East is complicated and violent, and that the oppressive conditions of the Palestinian people in parts of the region have been a violation against humanity by the Israeli government, there is never, ever, any excuse for terrorism – whether it is Hamas in the Middle East, Saudis taking planes into buildings on 9/11, or White Nationalists bombing black churches, or shooting up synagogues, schools, and shopping centers nearly any day they get a chance. Senseless violence is not the answer, for it destroys not only those who are its targets, but also those who use it.
In his book, “Strength to Love,” published in 1963, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”
A descending spiral of destruction – that is what we are seeing from the Holy Land. Think about that… the Holy Land – that place sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians, is now a descending spiral of destruction.
We are still doing the things.
Over and over and over again.
Yet this narrative of Moses and the Hebrew people – a story that is part of the sacred texts of all three of the Abrahamic faiths – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – includes God’s commands that we love God and love our neighbor. Okay, God was a bit more wordy than that, but those commandments, which was the reading we had last week, and is just a few chapters before the story we heard today, are basically those two commands split into the right things and the wrong things.
And yet – we still do the things we ought not to do.
We still do not love our neighbor, and we cannot truly love God when we hate any part of God’s creation.
When we do these things – when we do not love one another, it is because we have built an image of God to worship – one who just so happens to hate the very people, faiths, races, sexualities, cultures, and other ways of being that we happen to hate. How very convenient. This doesn’t happen because we consciously wake up one day and say “I think I want to build a golden calf to worship! Now…where did I put all my gold and smelting tools?” No. This idol is molded out of the clay of our insecurity, fear, and self-loathing bit by bit over a long period of time. It is cast in the fire of bitterness, and glazed by the evil that infects our hearts. It is beautiful in our eyes, because it is everything we feel. And, this idol then directs all of that darkness outward – to the other – and we begin the descent into that spiral of destruction.
But beyond our self-made idols – this passage from Exodus is teaching us all another thing we need to hear in these troubling times in which we live – that no matter how things may seem, how alone we may feel, or how brutal the forces of evil have become, we are beloved children of God, and there is no need to give over our allegiance to some other God of our own making. Rather we are called to be the fearless people God made us to be – to stand defiantly in the face of the golden calves of greed, envy, and hate born of fear and self-loathing.
We are called to resist, not run away or ignore, the oppression and violence that is brought against our sisters and brothers, or against God’s creation, and to be found among the least, the last, the lonely, and the lost.
We are called to destroy the walls that divide, and build bridges of love.
We are called to fight injustice, not with acts of violence, but with love, compassion, and peace.
We are called to be a voice for the voiceless, and when necessary, let our silence be a resounding defiance of evil.
We are called to all of this, not as a people without hope, but as followers of Jesus, who showed us by the empty tomb that there is nothing that God’s love cannot defeat.
And when we grow weary in our resistance, and we will, when we are fearful at the foot of the proverbial mountain and feel alone, then we come here to this table, to experience the real presence of Jesus together. It is these times when we also most need to remember these words of St. Paul in his epistle to the Philippians we heard this morning. He writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Today, as part of our tradition in this season of stewardship, you will be given a gift blessed at the altar. It is a small charm with a heart on one side, and the word “Love” on the other side. Place it on your key ring, or on a piece of jewelry, or hang it somewhere else where you will encounter it every day.
Let it be a reminder to you that you are God’s beloved, called to love in a world filled with hate.
Let it remind you to be aware of the human made idols – greed, arrogance, deceit, violence, hatred, bigotry, abuse, and neglect – the many, many ways in which we violate God’s creation – and that the only way forward for any of us is love.
Let it remind you of this place, here only by the grace of God, and the generosity of those who came before us. A place in which we celebrate diversity, invite and include everyone without exception, and joyously worship the one true God.
Let it remind you that for centuries we have been doing the things – the wrong things which hurt God’s children and the Earth God gave over to our care – and that instead we should heed the words of St. Paul and, “Keep on doing the [right] things that [we] have learned and received and heard and seen in [this very place], – and the God of peace will be with [us all].”
And finally, let it remind you that even when the world around us seems most bleak, do not despair, for you are not alone. Instead, “rejoice, for the Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
October 15, 2023
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
1st Reading – Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
2nd Reading – Philippians 3:4b-14
Gospel – Matthew 21:33-46
