|
Pentecost 11, Proper 15 Lesson: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
August 16, 2009 Psalm 111
The Rev. Karen Evans Epistle: Ephesians 5:15-20
St. James’ Church, Marietta Holy Gospel: John 6:51-58
I speak to you in the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The man I worked for when I was first ordained was a wonderful educator. He had great ideas of ways to make the Bible come alive and be interesting to adults and children alike. I thought a couple of his more creative classes might help us to understand our lessons for today. They also remind us that as we start out the Church School year, that the adventure of learning about our faith is for everyone.
One year while I was working with him, Bob, my boss, decided to do a series of classes on the stories about King David, that you find in 1st & 2nd Samuel. Bob got a hold of a script from the television show “Dynasty.” Do any of you remember the TV program “Dynasty?” If you do not, the easiest way to describe it is as a nighttime soap opera. So he got the script of “Dynasty,” and he would read a little bit of the script and then a little bit of the Scripture, and then a little bit of the script and a little bit of Scripture. It was absolutely amazing how similar they were.
Case in point, today’s Old Testament lesson ends the story of David. It really does help to put it in context, so I thought I would give you a quick synopsis of the story up to this point. Saul was the king, but he was crazy, so God, through the prophet Samuel, chose and anointed David, who was still a young man, to rule in Saul’s place. After innumerable battles, David defeated Saul and became king. Now, even though David was married to Saul’s daughter, he liked the looks of Bathsheba, who was his neighbor’s wife, and committed adultery with her. He arranged for her husband, Uriah the Hittite, to be sent into battle and put on the front line, where, of course, he was killed. Then David took Bathsheba to be his wife and, after losing their first child, they had a son, Solomon. David had sons by his various wives, but for the most part, they either killed each other off or tried to overthrow David and get the throne for themselves and they were killed in battle.
By the end of the Books of Samuel, there were really only two of David’s living sons who mattered. There was Adonijah, the oldest, who normally would have inherited the kingdom. And, there was Bathsheba’s son, Solomon. The prophet Nathan, who succeeded to prophet Samuel, went to Bathsheba as David was dying, and told her if she wanted her son to be king she should go to David immediately and tell him to make Solomon king. So the two of them went to see David, and Bathsheba told David that he had previously promised to make Solomon the king, although he had never said anything of the kind. David believed her and made Solomon the king. As soon as David died, Solomon set about consolidating his power, which included killing his brother Adonijah and Joab, the commander of the army. Whoever said the Old Testament was boring!
The amazing thing is that after all of that, we get today’s passage about Solomon. It seems that after Solomon became king and discovered what that was going to be like, he figured out that in part, the problem that his father had was David’s sins against God. Solomon began to act in a very different way. He became known for his faithfulness. He particularly made sacrifices to the Lord in the major holy places, in cities, and especially in Gideon.
After the first 1,000 sacrifices there, he made his 1001st sacrifice and then he lay down to sleep. God came to him in a dream and asked Solomon what he could do for him. Remember David and the mess he made of his life and that of his family? Solomon was still a young man, and new at being king. He could have followed his father’s example. He could have asked for power, or that his enemies might be destroyed, or for the wealth for him to do what he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it. If you think back to “Dynasty,” that is probably what the patriarchs and matriarchs in that clan would have done.
Instead, Solomon asked for an understanding mind and the wisdom to tell good from evil, so that he could rule Israel well. God gave Solomon his request. But God is a generous God, a God of abundance, and since God was pleased by Solomon’s answer, by his desire to be a good king above everything else, God also gave him power, and wealth, and the promise that he would be remembered as the greatest king Israel ever had.
Bob’s class clearly pointed out the difference between the biblical standard of what is important and the standard of our culture. It also helped people see that being in right relationship with God brings us what we need, and more, because God gives to us abundantly.
Another learning opportunity we had at that church was when a friend of Bob’s came and did a clown Eucharist. Have any of you been to a clown Eucharist? The premise of a clown Eucharist is that clowns, once they put on white face, are not allowed to speak. So the entire Eucharist had to be celebrated with the clown priest silent. There are several things that I remember as though it was yesterday, although it was 25 years ago. One of the fun parts was the confession. The clown would hold up a big sign that said “greed,” or “murder,” or “gluttony,” or “stealing.” At first we all quietly just looked at the signs; finally somebody got the idea that we were supposed to respond to those things. The response was to hiss at them. So he would hold up the sign “murder,” and we would all hiss at him. I cannot tell you how freeing that is. I want you to know that it mixes confession, absolution and forgiveness all in one, and gets rid of it. It is great! In fact, I have used it many times with people who are in the hospital, who have miserable things they have to put up with. I suggest that they imagine that sign and hiss at it until it goes away.
The most impressive part of the clown Eucharist was the Prayer of Consecration. The clown took a loaf of French bread, he wrapped it in a napkin, then he put it in his arms and he rocked it as though it was a baby. Then he took the loaf of bread and took the napkin off, and he put on it a crown of thorns – a circled vine with lots of thorns in it. Then he took that off, took the loaf of bread and he broke it in half and offered it to us. Each of us had a little piece of that loaf as we shared the Body of Christ.
It was extremely moving. It still gives me goose bumps. It also brought home what today’s Gospel lesson is trying to tell us. The Jews were horrified by what Jesus said because he was literally talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. They thought cannibalism – he talked about Eucharist.
As Episcopalians, we believe in the real presence of Christ, that Christ is really present in the bread and in the wine of the Eucharist, although how that happens remains a mystery. What is important, though, is Jesus’ statement, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.” Being in him brings life, here and now, and in the last day when he will raise us up again. Again, we have the experience of the abundance of God’s gifts to us in Jesus’ life, his death, and his resurrection, and in the Eucharist. Bob’s friend’s clown Eucharist was a way of showing that gift and that abundance that spoke louder than any words.
Today we start our Church School year. I hope you will take advantage of the abundance of ways that we offer for learning about God and for growing in faith, both for children and for adults. I hope that you will take a class and, perhaps, find it entertaining or enlightening or moving. Knowing the way God uses those who willingly serve God, the way God gives to us abundantly, you may find a class that is all three. Amen.
|
Sermons and Lectionary