"The Delight of Sabbath" August 26, 2007 Proper 16, Pentecost 13

(First read the passage for this sermon: Luke 13:10-17)

Day-to-day life once had a rhythm – and that was healthier for human beings!

In the 18th and 19th centuries, when we were an agricultural society and before electricity, the rhythm was imposed by nature. Farmers could only work during daylight. They had to quit when it got dark. And there was the rhythm of the seasons. There were seasons of activity – planting, growing, harvest – and then came winter, when there was no choice but to rest!

Beginning in the late 1800s, our economy became more and more manufacturing-based, and people began moving off the farms and into the cities. But even in that economy there was a rhythm of work and rest. To do his work, a worker had to be at the plant, where the machines were! And even before labor unions, when the work week was six days and the work days were 12-hours long, the plant was closed on Sundays. There was rest on the sabbath day.

In the 20th century, more and more folks came to work in offices. For most people, there was the 40 hour work week. And a person had to be at the office for the most part, with his co-workers, to do his work! And most offices were closed on Saturdays and Sundays! (Remember weekends for play and rest?)

Now, there is no longer an imposed rhythm of work and rest. Much of that is because of technology that has vastly improved productivity, but with tremendous human cost. With widespread use of the Internet and remote e-mail access, pagers and then cell phones and lap tops, and now Blackberries and iPhones, now there is arrhythmia during the week. Now, a person can work from any location, any waking moment. Since that’s possible, more and more bosses expect their employees to be available 24/7. And even when that’s not true, then these technological tools enabling 24/7 productivity feed our own guilt, because of the pressure we place on ourselves, if there are any waking moments during which we are not “doing something constructive!”

In the midst of this arrhythmia, an ancient and fundamental teaching of the faith carries exciting possibility. Indeed, it is nothing less than counter-cultural resistance! I’m talking about receiving the gift from God of a day of sabbath each week. Sabbath time is a delight!

Many think of “sabbath” in negative terms. That’s because it was culturally enforced for so many years, and people lost sight of why. People had lost their Biblical literacy, and were no longer formed to receive the Sabbath with joy and delight. If you are older than 50, “sabbath” means blue laws, and restrictions, and not being allowed to do what you want to do!

In fact, Jesus encounters such a restrictive, legalistic view of sabbath, in this morning’s passage from Luke. You remember that he was teaching in a local synagogue during a sabbath service, and just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

How the other worshipers rejoiced at this healing! But the leader of the synagogue, angry because Jesus had broken the rules, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." Isn’t that asinine? How legalistic, how restrictive, how counter to God’s desires to consider healing to be work – work that is prohibited on the sabbath. Jesus points that out, in his response to the synagogue leader! The sabbath is a gift, for the health and freedom of human beings!

There are two reasons given in the Bible for receiving the delight of sabbath time. One reason is to receive the gift of rest! That is because, in the first creation story in Genesis, God rested on the seventh, perfect day. (See Genesis 2:2; and Exodus 20:8-11) So, think about this: a hammock on a screened porch; a cold glass of lemonade; a gentle breeze; a nap! Isn’t the opportunity to rest delightful? Receive that gift! Observe a day of sabbath once a week!

The other reason in the Hebrew Scriptures for observing sabbath is to have a day to remember that you are free from whatever might enslave you! This is the presentation of the sabbath in Deuteronomy (5:12-15). You were once slaves in Egypt, and you had to work every waking moment. But you are slaves no more! Take a day a week to celebrate the freedom God has given you! You who check your office e-mail and voice mail seven days a week: wouldn’t one day a week of freedom from that slavery be delightful?

During the sabbath, you do not need to be producing anything. You do not need to be accomplishing anything. You do not need to be doing anything “constructive.” Sabbath is a different quality of time. It is time to receive from the Holy Spirit. It is time for immersion in worship and the study of God’s word. Sabbath is time of openness, to listen for what God is speaking to you and to us as a congregation. (That is why there must be no committee meetings in-between the services on Sunday mornings. When we do that, we treat this sabbath time as nothing special. It becomes the same kind of time that produces such anxiety during the rest of the week: time during which we need to worry about what we’re accomplishing.) In terms of our accomplishment-driven culture, as Marva Dawn describes it, what we do here on Sunday mornings is a waste of time! We practice counter-cultural resistance!

And for the rest of this day? There is so much you can do to receive the delight of sabbath time! Rest in the hammock, if you wish. That’s enough for this day! If you want to be active, do only those things that you love to do! Do nothing that depletes your energy! Instead, spend sabbath time doing that which re-charges your batteries!

How can you remind yourself that this is holy time? There are many practices that can be adapted from the tradition. What about lighting sabbath candles on Saturday night, as the sun goes down, to celebrate that the sabbath is beginning? How about buying flowers for your house or apartment or dorm room to welcome Queen Sabbath? On the morning of the sabbath, what about using special, flavored coffee, better than the coffee you usually drink? What about using the good china and crystal for your sabbath meals? What about drinking the best wine, better than you usually drink, to celebrate the sabbath day?

What an opportunity God our creator gives us on this day. It is a day of delight and pleasure, for us to receive! It is a day to enjoy the present moment – free, for one day a week from regrets about the past and anxiety about the future. It is a day a week of holy time. Sabbath is a foretaste of the feast to come, an experience of paradise!

Thanks be to God, who gives us all good things! Amen.


Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

"Like Fire, Like a Hammer" August 19, 2007 Proper 15, Pentecost 12

(First read the passages for this sermon: Jeremiah 23:23-29; Luke 12:49-56)

When you think of the church, do you think of comfort – or uncomfortable challenge? My guess is that images of comfort prevail.

For instance, what do we often call this room in which we are meeting? Many call this the “sanctuary” – and what is a sanctuary? Isn’t it a place of safety and retreat, solace and comfort?

Many of you have suffered injury or illness or grief, and you have been comforted by the support and consolation of the church. I often hear someone say, “I don’t know how people get through something like this who aren’t part of a church.”

Comfort is certainly what we emphasize in the ministries of the church. That certainly makes us all feel good! Pastors enjoy the warm reception by folks of their pastoral care: the calming presence, the soothing words of prayer. But what about the other edge of the two-edged sword that is the word of God? (Hebrews 4:12) Pastors also know that when they speak the challenging words of gospel imperative too openly and honestly, well, people don’t like to hear such unvarnished judgment on the way we Americans live!

Reinhold Niebuhr once said that the purpose of preaching is to comfort the afflicted – and to afflict the comfortable! You and I have no problem with the first part of that equation, do we? It feels good to be comforted!

But how long would you hang around if I judged you were too comfortable, and quoted too many Biblical teachings which challenge and criticize the way you live as followers of the Christ? Some would become zealous followers of such a demanding gospel, trying their best to live according to its radical imperative. But others would be shocked, because the church would no longer be a comforting place. There would be division. It could be that even members within a family would be divided against each other. It could be that the effect of the gospel would be described in these words: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
You remember those words, don’t you? I just read them from the gospel reading, from Luke.

This morning’s readings from Jeremiah and Luke are not easy for you and me to hear! In our culture of permissiveness it has come to be that nearly everyone thinks of Jesus exclusively as a person of comfort – that Jesus is our gentle friend, no matter what we do or how we live. But there’s the other edge to the sword. Here are words as from Jesus that we read this morning: "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”

Jesus the Christ is the Word of God, the Word made flesh. And in this morning’s Old Testament passage paired with the gospel text for this day, we read what God declares through Jeremiah: Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Like fire! Like a hammer!

This comes from a section in Jeremiah in which the prophet is opposing false prophets. Why? It is because these prophets were telling God’s people that things were fine – when the people were acting in ways that were not according to the words of justice and mercy they spoke and sang in worship. Jeremiah counters by saying that human beings anger God when they act unfaithfully, and that there are consequences.

Is that Biblical view not true for you and me as well?

It is certainly true that there is an imperative to the gospel. The gospel is all grace – but it is not all comfort. Jesus’ life of voluntary poverty and self-giving love is the model. It is the Word made flesh! So then – compared to that model, am I pleasing God by my actions? It matters how I live! Am I pleasing God by the way I treat my spouse and my family members? By the miles-per-gallon of the car I drive? By the size of the house I live in and the amount of energy it consumes? By the amount of money I give away, as compared with the amount of money I spend on my physical comfort? By the political candidates I support – according to where they stand on issues of war and peace, and care for the poor and the weak? (In the Bible, care for the poor is the most important criterion by which God judges national leaders. Check out this morning’s Psalm, for example: Psalm 82.)

The word of God is a two-edged sword. The word of God is like fire that burns away our arrogant self-righteousness. The word of God is like a hammer that shatters our smug self-justification. We are judged. We are judged to be not ok!

And so, coming to know our desperate need for the grace of God, we are driven to our knees. We pray: “Gracious God, have mercy on us. We confess that we have turned from you and given ourselves into the power of sin. We are truly sorry and humbly repent. In your compassion forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do. Turn us again to you, and uphold us by your Spirit, so that we may live and serve you in newness of life through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”

You may recognize those words because you prayed them a few minutes ago, during the order for Confession and Forgiveness. The Word of God is like fire! It is like a hammer! The Word of God condemns us because we turn from God and give ourselves into the power of sin. The burning, hammering Word of God drives us to our knees, desperate for grace.

Only then we are open to receiving that same Word of God as grace-filled comfort, soothing ointment applied to the wound of our sin.

God suffers when we turn away in selfishness and self-centeredness! When we turn back to God, every time we turn back, we find that God’s arms are wide open in merciful welcome. Here are words you also heard spoken during the Confession and Forgiveness: “God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.”

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

"No Fear" August 12, 2007 Pentecost 11, Proper 14

(First read the text for this sermon: Luke 12:32-40)

Recently, on a bicycle ride, I met up with three other riders. One of them I knew, and we hadn’t seen each other since before I was sick last fall and early winter. As we pedaled along, out near the Little Creek Reservoir, she introduced me to the others, and said how happy she was to see me because I had been so sick and, in fact, one thing that had saved me was my cardio-pulmonary fitness from bicycling.

One of the others – a fellow named Ron – was especially interested, and he started asking me questions about my illness. “What was the diagnosis?” he asked. I told him, “Histoplasmosis. But it took them a while to figure that out.” He said, “Hmm. Did they think it might be tuberculosis?” “Yes,” I said. “Sarcoidosis,” he asked? “Yes!” I said. “How do you know to ask about this?” Ron said he was a doctor, recently retired and moved here from New Jersey! (All this time, we’re pedaling along!) I said, “Yes, my pulmonologist treated me for sarcoidosis by giving me steroids.” Ron said, “Oh no! With a fungal infection, that’s like putting fertilizer on weeds!” I said, “Yup. Within two weeks I was on a ventilator.” “Bleep!” Ron said. (Of course, “bleep” is not what he actually said. I’ve bleeped out the word he used, which many of you would not be pleased to hear from a pastor in the pulpit!)

I tell you this story not only because it’s a good story, but because it brings to mind, once again, how quickly you and I can be brought to the edge of death. With illness it can happen within days or even hours, or even less, as in the case of a sudden heart attack. An accident happens in seconds. The bridge collapses. You step off a curb into the path of a car.

For any of us: when will the end come? Will it come “at an unexpected hour,” to use a phrase from this morning’s gospel text?

That urgency about the end of life is a theme in these verses from Luke. Did you pick up on that? In point of fact, each one of us is at the edge of life and death, each day! Who knows if and when calamity will strike? I worry about those who feel no urgency. We don’t see them in our worship assembly. I worry about the state of their salvation!

Often, when you hear this kind of talk from a preacher, he or she is trying to increase listeners’ fear and anxiety. Fear is a great motivational tool! “Prepare to meet thy God!” the stereotypical preacher thunders, quoting the prophet Amos (who is in our stained glass up there). Amos was awfully angry, and his words, along with other passages from the Bible, can be easily used to provoke fear.

But in this morning’s passage from Luke, there is no fear. Did you notice that? We’re reading in a section in Luke in which the gospel writer has clustered together several of Jesus’ teachings on living simply, and focusing on God rather than material possessions, because life is uncertain, and ultimately, what good is all your stuff? For instance, [Jesus] said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. … Instead, strive for God’s kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

Then comes the first verse we read this morning: "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It is because God has gathered us into the kingdom that there is no reason for fear. That happened when you and I were baptized! Eternal life has begun – and we are included in it, now! No fear. Our call is a joyous one! It is to live according to the values of God’s in-breaking kingdom.

Here, in this congregation, we can practice that! For instance, as a congregation, living by kingdom values would mean rejecting our culture’s idolatry of privacy – so we can be servants to each other, asking for help when we need it and helping as there is need. So, if a mother, say, is overwhelmed with the care demands of a new baby, then she would ask for help, and we would respond, as servants of each other, to serve her needs! If a parent is struggling with a young child in worship, then another servant in the congregation would respond, by moving next to the parent and helping to keep the child involved in the worship. The possibilities are endless, of how we can care for each other. And what joy there is in such kingdom servanthood! We open ourselves to each other! There’s no fear! Instead, there is radical generosity!

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When these words were spoken and heard, there was no rational reason for hope and confidence! Luke’s entire community was smaller than this gathering!

But – no fear in the kingdom! Instead, freedom! Joy! There is freedom for generosity! We can give ourselves away, our time and our money! (The pledge card is a necessary tool for spiritual practice, the spiritual practice of generosity, which is a kingdom virtue.) When you and I are fearful, we horde our stuff. When we are afraid we think there is scarcity! But what good is our stuff? It wears out and thieves want to steal it and moths eat holes in it. Our stuff doesn’t last! And here’s why that matters: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” we read in the passage. The text asks us, “Where is ‘your heart?’” In other words, What is your desire? Is your desire for stuff – a desire which is rooted in fear and anxiety? Or is your desire for God – which leads to openness to the movement of the Spirit? According to the gospel writer of Luke, it is either our stuff – or the kingdom! It is either fear and anxiety over trying to control the future (as if we could do that!) – or it is the freedom of life in God’s kingdom.

That is how this passage guides us in understanding the two “mini-parables” that come next. They’re both about vigilance, watchfulness, faithfulness.

"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.” What an image of the master coming suddenly, and finding his slaves alert – and then the master becoming their servant – inviting them to sit down to eat, so he can serve them! In fact, it is what happens each Sunday morning in our worship meal – Jesus coming to us, physically present with us, inviting us to the table.

And then, another mini-parable: "But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." “The Son of Man” is the figure in the Bible expected to come from God to end history. And so: who knows when history will end? For each one of us: who knows when the end will come?

The truth is that each one of us is at the edge of life and death, each day – and so, there is urgency. But there is no fear – because God has gathered us into the kingdom!

There is need for vigilance, because the end is always at hand. But there is no fear – because God has baptized us into the kingdom!

There is need to be alert for God’s movement and presence, and there are many spiritual practices that open us to alertness. But there is no fear! "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

In the name of God who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia