Psalm 16
Rev. Bryan Jackson
While a hospital chaplain, I visited a man who was a retired minister. I asked him what advice, if any, he had for someone new to the ministry. He thought about it for awhile. Finally, he looked up at me from his bed and said, “They have a pastor; you don’t.” His wife just sat there, not saying a word.
I remember thinking, “And? Come on … don’t let me down, and?” That was about 16 years ago. In retrospect, what he said was sufficient: “They have a pastor; you don’t.”
Psalm 16:1, “Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge,” (NRSV), is not just for the ordained. But it does beg the question: Who protects the clergy? Of whose flock do you belong? Be careful where you take refuge. The number of reports of clergy misbehavior makes one wonder about the legitimacy of those reports. If they are all true, they might reveal an underlying problem: The pastor has no pastor.
I knew someone who was on the prowl for a pastor. She chaired the search committee. She handed me one of these pieces of paper and I smiled. She wanted to know what I was smiling about. “Well,” I said, trying to be sincere but failing, “You could summarize this in one sentence: ‘Must be able to part the Atlantic Ocean without using hands.’” She’s still mad at me.
Do you have a pastor? A refuge? How is God your refuge?
Where you decide to take refuge should be sacred.
May God protect you as you seek refuge from the storms. As you think about your storms and your refuge, you will be able to preach a sermon to those you serve as pastor. Listen to your heart and your experience.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Rev. Dr. Chris Ayers
Jews Are Not Stupid
The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton will be a well-scripted pageantry, full of tradition. For the mos part, what will happen will be what is expected to happen.
Queen Victoria had a sprig of the herb myrtle in her bridal bouquet when she got married in 1840. So did Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana, and so will Kate.
The royal wedding band will contain gold from a mine in Wales, a tradition that began relatively recently with the Queen Mother's wedding in 1923. The wedding rings of the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, the Princess Royal, and Diana, Princess of Wales, were all made with a piece of gold from the same nugget. Only a tiny piece of that nugget remains, but the Queen was presented with another large nugget years ago to use in future royal wedding rings. Part of it has already been used in the ring for Sarah, Duchess of York.
Before proposing to Kate, William had to ask Queen Elizabeth for her permission, according to a British law that has been on the books since the 18th century. Known as the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, it requires all descendants of George II to receive the sovereign ruler’s consent for the marriage to be considered valid. Fortunately, the Queen blessed the marriage. If the queen hadn’t agreed to the marriage, there was recourse – if the royal is older than 25, he can marry if both houses of Parliament do not disapprove within 12 months of the decision to get married.
One change from tradition will be the material for Kate's wedding dress. The silk supplier that had been used since the 1930s went out of business 20 years ago. So that’s something that couldn’t be helped.
In another category, though, is the lovely couple’s residence, which can be helped. William and Kate will not immediately move into an apartment in the royal residence, as is the norm after a royal wedding. Instead, they will return to their home in Wales near William's Royal Air Force base. Also unusual is the fact that William and Kate lived together long before their marriage, something that wouldn't have happened until recently.
Well, so much for going exactly by the script.
Which leads me to the second chapter of Acts. The author of Luke/Acts reports the death and resurrection of Jesus as if it was a script ready to be followed.
2:14a But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.
2:22 "You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know-
2:23 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.
The definite plan of God? Are Jews stupid? Do they just not get the easily recognized plan of God?
Perhaps this is a good time to educate people in your congregation that what happened at before, at Easter, and after Easter was anything but expected. Acts 2:31 simply is not true. Jews are not stupid. Easter was not scripted.
2:31 Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.'
N.T. Wright, a conservative scholar, in The Resurrection of the Son of God informs us just how much the life, death and resurrection of Jesus was not expected.
“Anybody who knew anything about messiahs knew that a messiah who had been crucified by the pagains was a failed messiah, a sham.” (p. 244)
“Thus neither Jesus’ life, deeds and teachings on the one hand, nor his resurrection on the other, could by themselves have had the effect of making people say at once, ‘He really was and is the Messiah.’ (p. 244)
" There is no suggestion . . . that there was an instant deduction that ran ‘risen from the dead, therefore in some sense ‘divine’. Hardly surprisingly, there is no sign in second-Temple Judaism of any such link; since no second-Temple Jews known to us were expecting the one god to appear in human form, let alone to suffer physical death; nobody would have thought of resurrection as demonstrating someone’s divinity. Equally, such second-Temple Jews as were expecting resurrection were expecting it to happen to everyone – certainly to all the righteous among God’s people, and perhaps to all the wicked as well." (Ayers: See the general resurrection in Matthew’s gospel that stalled.) (p. 573)
"The early church ransacked texts about God’s presence and activity in the world in order to find appropriate categories to speak of Jesus (and of the Spirit. . .)." (p. 577)
"We can see at several points in the New Testament, not least in Paul and Acts, the way in which the church scrambled to pull together biblical text to make the connection between Messiah and resurrection, a connection which nobody had thought necessary before. . .” (p. 576)
“at no stage do [the resurrection narratives] mention the future hope of the Christian.” (p. 602)
“neither ‘going to heaven when you die’, ‘life after death’, ‘eternal life’, nor even the resurrection of all Christ’s people’, is so much as mentioned in the four canonical resurrection stories. If Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wanted to tell stories show import was ‘Jesus is risen, therefore you will be too’, they have done a remarkably bad job of it.” (p. 603)
“Instead, we find a sense of open-ended commission within the present world ‘Jesus is risen, therefore you have work ahead of you.’ The is very clear in Matthew, Luke, and John; even in Mark the women have an immediate task. . . and the angel’s message to the disciples, especially Peter, implies that they are going to be given things to do as well.” (p. 603)
Maybe it is time to look at “the script” again. Maybe it is time to get to work. And maybe it’s time to realize Jews are not stupid. What we believe was not obvious then, or even now.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Bible Miner
“By his great mercy he has given us a new birth in a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead” (1 Peter 1:3)
Many of us to experience a new birth, a living hope, have to learn to believe in ourselves. Believing in ourselves may be much more difficult than believing in Jesus.
Complicating belief in ourselves may be the various trials we are experiencing.
“In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials,” (1 Peter 1:3-9)
Self doubt can be a person’s greatest enemy, making it impossible to give glory to God much less to get along with other people.
“So that the Geniuses of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory…” (1 Peter 1:3-9)
Who are the people in your congregation who are unable to give praise and glory to God?
