When Saints Go Marching Forth
Sermon
Lyrics for the Centuries
Sermons For The Sundays after Pentecost (First Third)
Sometimes when reading you come across words that just leap off the page and grab you. Here is a comment by C.S. Lewis I encountered in his book, Reflections On The Psalms.
If the Divine call does not make us better, it will make us much worse. Of all bad people, religious bad people are the worst. Of all created beings the wickedest are those who originally stood in the presence of God.
Let these words hover over our thoughts this morning. They are not comfortable words, for they remind us of some dark chapters in the history of the church, like the crusades, the inquisition, and the execution of witches. They are not comforting for they make us think about the religious fanatacism abroad in our own time. They are not comfortable, for they warn us of the pitfalls in our own spiritual pilgrimage. Keep them in mind.
We are with Samuel again this morning. The child acolyte in the shrine at Shiloh has become a king maker, a shaker and mover in Israel. He has done a tremendous job in forging a nation out of a loose confederation of tribes. The child called by God is now the respected spiritual leader of an infant nation. His words are heeded as the words of God. The little acolyte has come a long way.
How carefully did you listen to the first reading today? Samuel is out looking for another king to succeed Saul. There has been a painful parting of the ways between Saul and Samuel. "Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel."
Now, what is that all about? Well, it's a sad story and it's told in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel. I can understand why the lectionary sequence for this cycle just jumps over it. It raises questions we are content to gloss over. But we really dare not, for it is an example of the extent to which religious muscle flexing can go. Here is a case where we have to place the written word under the judgment of the Living Word.
The breach between Saul and Samuel came about in this way. Samuel, speaking in the name of God, commands Saul to attack and thoroughly destroy the Amalekites, "man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." It is pay back time. The Amalekites were the people who resisted the advance of the Israelites out of Egypt.
Saul took his army and did as Samuel had ordered. But he did not destroy the healthy animals, nor the valuable property, nor the Amelekite king, Agag. Samuel was furious and went into a rage. He accused Saul of disobedience, told him he was washed up as king, and proceeded to hack Agag in pieces with a sword.
That is a bloody story. We shudder at the dimensions of the carnage Samuel insists upon in the name of God. But then the justifications for the doctrine of total war and the mass killing of civilian populations are not just some ancient aberration. Nor are we strangers to the way zeal of any sort can get mixed up with spiritual arrogance and ego to become zealotry.
Christian tradition has regarded Samuel, who acted as priest, prophet, and king, as a forerunner of Jesus. Samuel at this point in his life seems more like a forerunner of Torquemada, the grand inquisitor of the Inquisition. The writer of the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews gives us a portrait of Jesus as our High Priest. But Jesus, our High Priest, came not with a sword in his hand but a spear in his side.
But let's get out of yesterday and into today. What about the way arrogance and mean-spiritedness can get mixed up with the faith today? What about religious leaders who would be the makers and unmakers not of kings but of presidents, senators, and members of Congress? What about religious leaders in any time and place who go forth in the name of God as if to a holy war? There is a kind of religious triumphalism abroad in our land.
This is a different sort of religious activism. Advocacy on behalf of the poor and oppressed is not the agenda. Political control and power is the agenda. "The question is not who we will endorse (for president) but who will endorse our agenda."1 That is the rhetoric of the new triumphalism. The words of Saint Paul directed at the zealotry of which he at one time had been a partisan come to mind. "I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened" (Romans 10:2).
It is important that we recognize zealotry. It is also crucial that we recognize the potential for zealotry within ourselves. This is a danger for all who have strong convictions. There are times when we are not above heaping coals of fire upon the heads of those who do not share our convictions. Browse through the Psalms and note the way many of them boil over with self-righteous indignation and cries for vengeance.
Within the congregation of a pastor friend in another time and place there was a noted lay theologian. One day I commented to my friend, "What a wonderful help he must be in the ministry of your congregation." "Actually no," replied my colleague. "When he speaks up in church meetings, he says all the right things in all the wrong ways." The point here is that being in the right does not make us righteous. There are subtle ways that our egos can subvert our servanthood.
Our reading suggests that God was sorry he made Saul king and repented of the choice. That seems to suggest that God can make mistakes. The writers of 1 Samuel may have had a special interest in investing the king with Divine patronage. Saul, in all his inner torment, went on being king until the day he died. I would suggest putting it another way. God takes chances. He gambles not only on Saul and Samuel but on all of us. We live before him like these folk in biblical narratives, a mix of wings and warts. He calls all of us to be saints, to live lives rooted in God, sustained by God, and directed toward God. He gathers us together as a community of faith and sends us forth into the world. In going forth watch out for the pitfalls.
In what spirit shall we go forth? Here out of our book of worship are some beautiful words of commissioning.
Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here are guidelines for our going forth.
____________
1. A statement by the executive director of the Christian Coalition, Ralph Reed, reported by David Broder in an article, "The Christian Right Flexes Its Muscles," in the National Weekly Edition of the Washington Post, September, 18-24, 1995, p. 13.
If the Divine call does not make us better, it will make us much worse. Of all bad people, religious bad people are the worst. Of all created beings the wickedest are those who originally stood in the presence of God.
Let these words hover over our thoughts this morning. They are not comfortable words, for they remind us of some dark chapters in the history of the church, like the crusades, the inquisition, and the execution of witches. They are not comforting for they make us think about the religious fanatacism abroad in our own time. They are not comfortable, for they warn us of the pitfalls in our own spiritual pilgrimage. Keep them in mind.
We are with Samuel again this morning. The child acolyte in the shrine at Shiloh has become a king maker, a shaker and mover in Israel. He has done a tremendous job in forging a nation out of a loose confederation of tribes. The child called by God is now the respected spiritual leader of an infant nation. His words are heeded as the words of God. The little acolyte has come a long way.
How carefully did you listen to the first reading today? Samuel is out looking for another king to succeed Saul. There has been a painful parting of the ways between Saul and Samuel. "Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel."
Now, what is that all about? Well, it's a sad story and it's told in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel. I can understand why the lectionary sequence for this cycle just jumps over it. It raises questions we are content to gloss over. But we really dare not, for it is an example of the extent to which religious muscle flexing can go. Here is a case where we have to place the written word under the judgment of the Living Word.
The breach between Saul and Samuel came about in this way. Samuel, speaking in the name of God, commands Saul to attack and thoroughly destroy the Amalekites, "man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." It is pay back time. The Amalekites were the people who resisted the advance of the Israelites out of Egypt.
Saul took his army and did as Samuel had ordered. But he did not destroy the healthy animals, nor the valuable property, nor the Amelekite king, Agag. Samuel was furious and went into a rage. He accused Saul of disobedience, told him he was washed up as king, and proceeded to hack Agag in pieces with a sword.
That is a bloody story. We shudder at the dimensions of the carnage Samuel insists upon in the name of God. But then the justifications for the doctrine of total war and the mass killing of civilian populations are not just some ancient aberration. Nor are we strangers to the way zeal of any sort can get mixed up with spiritual arrogance and ego to become zealotry.
Christian tradition has regarded Samuel, who acted as priest, prophet, and king, as a forerunner of Jesus. Samuel at this point in his life seems more like a forerunner of Torquemada, the grand inquisitor of the Inquisition. The writer of the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews gives us a portrait of Jesus as our High Priest. But Jesus, our High Priest, came not with a sword in his hand but a spear in his side.
But let's get out of yesterday and into today. What about the way arrogance and mean-spiritedness can get mixed up with the faith today? What about religious leaders who would be the makers and unmakers not of kings but of presidents, senators, and members of Congress? What about religious leaders in any time and place who go forth in the name of God as if to a holy war? There is a kind of religious triumphalism abroad in our land.
This is a different sort of religious activism. Advocacy on behalf of the poor and oppressed is not the agenda. Political control and power is the agenda. "The question is not who we will endorse (for president) but who will endorse our agenda."1 That is the rhetoric of the new triumphalism. The words of Saint Paul directed at the zealotry of which he at one time had been a partisan come to mind. "I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened" (Romans 10:2).
It is important that we recognize zealotry. It is also crucial that we recognize the potential for zealotry within ourselves. This is a danger for all who have strong convictions. There are times when we are not above heaping coals of fire upon the heads of those who do not share our convictions. Browse through the Psalms and note the way many of them boil over with self-righteous indignation and cries for vengeance.
Within the congregation of a pastor friend in another time and place there was a noted lay theologian. One day I commented to my friend, "What a wonderful help he must be in the ministry of your congregation." "Actually no," replied my colleague. "When he speaks up in church meetings, he says all the right things in all the wrong ways." The point here is that being in the right does not make us righteous. There are subtle ways that our egos can subvert our servanthood.
Our reading suggests that God was sorry he made Saul king and repented of the choice. That seems to suggest that God can make mistakes. The writers of 1 Samuel may have had a special interest in investing the king with Divine patronage. Saul, in all his inner torment, went on being king until the day he died. I would suggest putting it another way. God takes chances. He gambles not only on Saul and Samuel but on all of us. We live before him like these folk in biblical narratives, a mix of wings and warts. He calls all of us to be saints, to live lives rooted in God, sustained by God, and directed toward God. He gathers us together as a community of faith and sends us forth into the world. In going forth watch out for the pitfalls.
In what spirit shall we go forth? Here out of our book of worship are some beautiful words of commissioning.
Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here are guidelines for our going forth.
____________
1. A statement by the executive director of the Christian Coalition, Ralph Reed, reported by David Broder in an article, "The Christian Right Flexes Its Muscles," in the National Weekly Edition of the Washington Post, September, 18-24, 1995, p. 13.
