Making Music - Christ The King

Brad Sullivan
Proper 29, Year B
Sunday, November 25, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132:1-13 [14-19]
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37

I used to hate playing guitar.  I liked the idea of it, and I wanted to be a great guitar player.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good and so I didn’t like playing.  My desire was simply to be great, and since I wasn’t great, I was a constant failure.  I couldn’t mess up or make mistakes if I was going to be great, and I couldn’t enjoy playing because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do…didn’t even have a clue how to get there.  So, I stopped playing.  Finally, after years of hardly playing, I realized what I truly wanted was to make music.  I didn’t have to be great to make music. 

I could mess up a lot and still make music.  No one else might have wanted to hear it, but I enjoyed it.  Mediocre and halting as it may have been, I began playing almost every day simply out of a desire to play and make music.  I loved it.  I wasn’t great.  I’m still not great, and it doesn’t matter.  Playing and practice isn’t drudgery.  It’s joyous because whenever I play, I get to make music.  When I mess up or get to something I don’t know how to do, I can take a lesson or ask someone for some help and try again.  Perfection is not important.  The beauty of making music is.

The perfection of Jesus’ kingdom is rather unattainable.  Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world.  In Jesus’ kingdom, there is no unrighteousness, no evil, bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, or malice. (Ephesians 4:31)  Considering that there is a lot of those things in this world, the thought of Jesus’ kingdom can be somewhat threatening. 

Even during Jesus’ days on earth, people were threatened by him.  Feeling that Jesus was trying to be king of Israel, the religious and governing rulers of Israel were threatened by him.  Rome was threatened by him.  To be fair, they didn’t much care if he was king or not, but he did mean insecurity and unrest in Israel and therefore he was a threat to the Pax Romana.  Rulers of this world thought Jesus was a threat to them and so they crucified him.  They just couldn’t handle him being around.

Of course, Jesus is also a threat to us in as much as we want to rule our own lives.  Jesus can be a threat to us when we want to rule our own lives in our own way, so much so even that at times, we might want to crucify him too…or at least get him to stop bothering us with his truth to which he wants us to listen.  Jesus’ way is hard, and he can be such a killjoy at times with all his, live righteously talk.  Jesus’ and his kingdom can feel threatening, but only when we see living in his kingdom as some call to perfection to which we cannot measure up.

In Jesus’ kingdom, there is no unrighteousness, no sin, no evil, no malice, or bitterness, etc, but Jesus’ kingdom isn’t fully here yet. 

Jesus’ kingdom coming – “…the heart of the earth’s inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit.  For evil shall be blotted out, and deceit shall be quenched; faithfulness shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and the truth, which has been so long without fruit, shall be revealed.” (Esdras 6:26-28)  Esdras speaks of God making two worlds, the world that is and the world that is to come.  Jesus is king of the world to come.  In the mean time, Jesus is still king for us, and we’re asked to be his followers…more than that, his stewards.

We’re stewards of Jesus’ kingdom until it arrives.  As such, we needn’t wait for him to arrive to live righteously.  We know we’re not going to be perfectly righteous, but we’re not going it alone.  We act with God’s help, and God gives us the ability to live righteously and to seek forgiveness and amendment of life when we don’t.  As it is written in Ecclesiasticus, “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.  [God] has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.” (Sirach 15:15-16)  With God’s help, we can choose life.  We can follow the commandments of God, living God’s life of love.

As stewards of Jesus’ kingdom until he comes again, we are called to live God’s life of love.  Imagine life without hatred, without fear, without anger, jealousy, malice, bitterness, etc.  Imagine such a life, and then live as though it were true.  I don’t think any of us, in our heart of hearts wants to hold on to bitterness, anger, fear, unrighteousness, etc.  It’s just hard to believe we can live without those things.

Yet Jesus tells us that to live in his kingdom, we should cut of our hands and pluck out our eyes if they cause us to sin.  Once again, I’m going with metaphor and hyperbole on that teaching and would say, “If you want to be who you want to be, you have to give up who you are.” 

There is no unrighteousness, in Jesus’ kingdom, so to live in Jesus’ kingdom, we would need to rid ourselves of those things.  Remove the anger, slander, envy, fear, bitterness, malice, etc, from you, Jesus is saying, and live as though my kingdom were already here, with my help. 

We’re not going to be perfect in this endeavor, but so what.  We don’t have to be perfect.  Perfection is not our goal.  Life in God’s kingdom is our goal.  I hated practicing guitar so long as my goal was to be great.  I wasn’t great, therefore I hated playing.  Finally my goal became making music.  Now I love playing guitar. 

If goal is to be sinless, to be perfect, then living as stewards of God’s kingdom is burdensome, because we will never be good enough and will always berate ourselves.  If, on the other hand, our goal is to live beautifully, live well a life as a steward of God’s kingdom, then we can find beauty in such a life, because we do have the ability to do so.  We can choose life.  We can follow God’s way.  We can live with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22)  We won’t be perfect, we’ll play some wrong notes along the way, but then we’ll seek God’s help, we’ll take some more lessons, and we’ll seek to play better next time.

  Even though Jesus kingdom is not of this world but of the world to come, we can still live into his kingdom if we want to.  Jesus’ kingdom is the kingdom of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, forgiveness and self-control.  We belong to his kingdom anytime we listen to his truth and live according to the way of his kingdom.  Jesus’ kingdom is not from this world but of the world to come, and yet but Jesus came to this world to testify to the truth, and everyone who belongs to the truth listens to [his] voice. (John 18)  We don’t listen to his voice in order to be great or perfect, but in order to enjoy making music, to live beautifully with peace and love.  Amen.

Believing is Seeing - All Saints' Sunday

Brad Sullivan
All Saints’ Sunday, Year B
Thursday, November 4, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

“It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.  This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)  Isaiah gives us beautiful images of God’s victory over death, when God will swallow up death for ever and wipe away every tear.  On All Saints’ Day and All Saints’ Sunday, we’re celebrating God’s victory over death, celebrating the promises that God has given us. 

We’re celebrating the lives of the saints, both those who are models for the church and those who are models only for us, our loved ones who have died and yet are alive in the Lord.  We’re celebrating God’s victory over death in them…and we’re waiting.

On Thursday, All Saints’ Day, I addressed these same readings with this idea of waiting for God.  We’re waiting for God’s ultimate victory over death.  God’s already won that victory in Jesus’ resurrection, but we’re still waiting for its final inauguration.  We’re still waiting for the day of joy and gladness which Isaiah describes. 

Martha and Mary were waiting for Jesus to come heal their brother Lazarus, and Jesus, it turns out, was waiting for Lazarus to die in order not to heal him, but to raise him from the dead, to show us that God really is more powerful than death.  It seems that Jesus was also often waiting for Mary and Martha to trust in him. 

When Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days,” Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  Trust in me, Jesus was saying.  Trust in me, Jesus is still saying.  Trust in me, and if you can’t, I’ll wait for you until you can.  Much of scripture refers to us waiting on God, but there is also much that speaks of God’s patience, God waiting on us, God’s patience and steadfast love for us.

Then we also have the idea of us waiting to see our loved ones again.  When our loved ones die, we believe they are alive with God in Christ, and we believe we will be reunited with them as we are fully united with God.  Might, then, they also be waiting for us.  Might the saints of our lives be waiting for us with as much anticipation and excitement as we are waiting for them?  Might they, with us and God together all be waiting for God’s final victory over death? 

I love that thought, that we’re all together, bound with God in Christ.  Our loved ones are alive with God in Christ, and we are made one with God in Christ.  While we’re waiting for the day which Isaiah describes, we’re also already one with our loved ones, one with the saints because we are one with Jesus.  That was his prayer to his disciples, that they would be one, just as the Father and he are one. 

We have these wonderful promises from Jesus, and yet, how do we know these promises are true?  Doubt is something with which many of us wrestle. Like Martha and Mary, we find disappointment in our lives and sometimes we may wonder if God’s final victory over death really is true.  How do we know?  Well, in any scientifically provable way, we don’t know.  We don’t.  We believe, and we let that belief to be real enough to change our lives. 

Our belief colors the world in which we live.  In one world, there is no resurrection, no life after death, no ultimate victory of God.  In another world, there is resurrection, there is life after death, and there is God’s ultimate victory.  I don’t know in a scientifically provable way which world is true, but I do know in which world I’d rather live.  I know the hope, and peace, and courage which believing gives me.  I don’t know, but I believe.  Some of us have family and friends who no longer believe.  Perhaps the death of a loved one is what led that person not to believe.  Maybe talking about our belief not as knowledge but as belief which gives hope, peace, and courage is a way we can explain our faith to those who don’t share it.

Believing that we truly are one with the saints and one with God can be difficult, at times, because we generally cannot feel or hear or see the saints or God, but what did Jesus tell Martha?  “See the glory of God that you may believe?”  No.  Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  Believing is seeing. 

Believing in the resurrection of Jesus, believing in the raising of Lazarus, believing in God’s victory over death gives us hope and joy, peace and courage even as we wait.  As Paul writes in Romans 5:

…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

We’ve been given a beautiful promise of a glorious future in which death is no more, in which God will destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples, and he will swallow up death forever and wipe away the tears from all faces.  Then it will be said, this is our God for whom we have waited, let us rejoice.  In the mean time, we all wait together.  The communion of saints wait together with us, united together with God in Christ as God waits for us and we for God. 

So, with this idea of all of us waiting together, I’m going to end with the words of a song called, “I Will Wait by a band called Mumford and Sons, off their new album, “Babel”. 

And I came home

Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of darkness
Which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

And I'll kneel down

Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you

And I will wait, I will wait for you
Amen.

Two Wolves - All Saints' Day

Brad Sullivan
All Saints’ Day, Year B
Thursday, November 1, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

God will wipe away every tear.  God will destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples…he will swallow up death forever.

We’re still waiting.  We will wait.  We’re with Mary and Martha…Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Raising Lazarus, Jesus’ resurrection.  Shows us that our waiting will not be in vain.  The one who had power over death, Jesus, is the same one who was raised from the dead.  “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)

How do we know?  We don’t.  We believe, and we allow that belief to be real enough to change our lives. 

One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside of people.  He said, “The battle is between two wolves inside us all.  One is evil.  It is anger, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, self-pity, guilt, inferiority, lies, superiority, and ego.  The other is good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, truth, compassion, and faith.”  The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”  The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

“The Two Wolves,” (based on an old Cherokee folktale)

Sometimes we may feel crazy for believing in the resurrection, for believing in Jesus, for believing that one day God will wipe away every tear.  Look at the death and destruction all around us.  Look at hurricane Sandy.  How can we believe that God will destroy the shroud that is cast over all of us, that God will swallow up death for ever?  Sometimes I wonder, how can we believe this.  How can I believe this?  Doesn’t it make more sense not to? 

We could believe in waiting on God.  Doing so gives us hope.  We could, stop believing.  We could believe that waiting on God is simply waiting on a train which doesn’t come.  We could find such belief to be ridiculous. 

Two beliefs.  Two worlds.  One in which death has the ultimate victory over life, one in which life has the ultimate victory over death.  Which world becomes alive in us and changes our life?  The one in which we choose to believe.  Amen.