August 30, 2015 What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?

August 30, 2015

Romans 12:17-21

John 13:34

Matthew 7:12

I have mentioned at time or two in the past that my mom has for years played the organ and piano in my home church.  When I was in high school, a friend of mine kept asking her to play some rock and roll some Sunday morning.  One Sunday, as my friends and I sat in the back pew, my friend began to elbow my in the side and said excitedly, Charlton!  Listen to what your mom is playing!  It took me a few moments to realize the song – as it was normally played on guitar – but sure enough, my mom was playing some rock and roll for the prelude – Stairway To Heaven, by Led Zeppelin.  Suddenly, I had the coolest mom in the world.  When my friends went to congratulate her, after the service had concluded, they first had to wait on one of the church ladies to ask her about the song.  JoAnne, she asked, what is the name of that beautiful song you played for the prelude?  Stairway to Heaven, my mother replied.  The ladies response was great – what number is that in they hymnal?  That would be quite a rocking hymnal, wouldn’t it?

Music is such a powerful presence in our lives.  Every morning when I walk I pick up my iPod and turn on music.  I was thinking recently of how we not only use music to alter our moods, but how our choices also reflect our moods, so I scanned through my recently played songs and found I could track my mood on any given day by my song choices.  Some were very uptempo, when I felt really good and was full of energy, while others were very mellow, on days when I felt stressed and needed something calm or because I was in a much more reflective mood.  Although I have to confess that I don’t know what I was feeling the morning I listened to Saturday Night Fever.

When I was on sabbatical I recorded the organ at Notre Dame cathedral and the bells at Westminster Abby, and I love listening to them.  It’s not quite the same as being there, but it takes me back to those places in my mind and to how moved I was by the music.

Music can bore deep into our hearts, minds, and souls, and it is an incredible tool for shaping our lives and our thinking.  For a long time, I’ve thought about preaching a sermon based on the title to one of my favorite songs.  I want you to hear a piece of it – What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding? by Elvis Costello (https://youtu.be/KCGlwx3L-Xk)

Maybe there’s a naïveté in that song.  Perhaps it’s reflective of the idealism of an earlier generation that too quickly faded into the cynicism of our own day, but it’s a very legitimate question – what’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?  Why can’t such ideals be part of not only our individual lives but also be reflective of the larger world?

Faith, hope, and love are the guiding principles Paul writes of so powerfully in I Corinthians 13, and here is another trio – also including love – that should guide our lives.

1.  Peace – where do you need to make peace?

Romans 12:17-21 says –

17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.  Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Why is it so hard for humanity to live in peace?  Why is it that we cannot turn on the news each day without hearing of violence that takes life and creates heartache and heartbreak for so many?  Why is it so difficult?  Why does so much of our entertainment have to trade in the culture of violence?  Don’t we get enough of the real thing?  Why do we need to view artificial violence?

Scripture speaks of peace on both a macro and a micro level.  On a micro level, Scripture speaks of peace between nations (Isaiah 2:4 – He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore), between kingdoms, and between people groups and cultures.  But Scripture also speaks to the deeper, more personal way in which peace is accomplished – the micro level.  Jesus spoke often about peace between individuals – that we should love our enemies, that we should pray for those who persecute us, that we should go the extra mile (Matthew 5:43-48 – 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect) – because peace is accomplished first of all on personal level.

The Romans never learned this lesson.  The famous Pax Romana – the Roman Peace – was, ironically, based on violence.  The Romans believed peace came by the brutal subjugation of people, instilling in them such fear that they would not dare to challenge their rule.  But it didn’t work.  Violence is never the true answer – never.  Unfortunately, it’s a lesson humanity never seems to learn.

At the center of our faith is the symbol of the cross.  In the miraculous work of God, he took what was a symbol of violence, fear, and torture, and made it into a symbol of peace.

Make peace in your life.  Perhaps you need to make peace with another person.  Perhaps you need to make peace with an event that took place in your life, or maybe you need to make peace with your past.

Paul wrote If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.  We cannot control the actions of others, but we can control our own.  We can pledge upon the love, grace, and peace of God that we will not  

2.  Love – who needs your love?

John 13:34 says – 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

What is there to say about love that hasn’t already been said?  But we must keep talking about it, because we are pulled by so many other forces in life, many of which are the antithesis of love.

We can certainly say that love is difficult.  It’s tough to love people.  It’s tough for people to love us.

After Mother Teresa died her diaries were published, and in those diaries she wrote of how difficult faith could be.  Christopher Hitches, author of God Is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything, jumped on her words, criticizing Mother Teresa as a fraud because of her struggles and her doubts.  Hitches, who could be a brilliant writers, but was not when it came to faith and religion, totally missed what Mother Teresa was saying.  There is nothing wrong with doubt.  Nothing!  Who wouldn’t have some measure of doubt about whether or not we can live up to what Jesus asks of us?

I must also speak a word to the danger of toxic relationships.  A strong commitment to love is of absolute importance, but we must make a distinction between a relationship that is founded upon and nourished by love and one that is filled with toxicity.  Toxic relationships are those where any type of abuse is present, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual.  No one should suffer from abuse, and there are, unfortunately, those who will use the guise of love to inflict their abuse upon another person.  If you are in an abusive relationship, please find help.

3.  Understanding – how do we put ourselves into the lives of others to understand what they are experiencing?

Matthew 7:12 contains what we refer to as the Golden Rule – 12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Until we can see life through the eyes of another, until we can stand in their shoes and experience their pain and struggle, until we can get deep into their heart and know their hopes and dreams, we cannot know what drives them, what motivates them, and what they are facing.  And it’s impossible to really get into those places in the life of another, but we must learn to look at life from the perspective of others.

But understanding is difficult, because there are many wedges that are driven between people these days.  I’m going to make a comment about politics, but don’t take it as a partisan comment; it’s simply an observation.  We live in a time when, in our national politics, candidates on both side of the aisle have come to believe they can do better in the voting booth by demonizing people on the other side and by sowing seeds of fear. We don’t need demonization and fear; we need understanding, which Jesus offered, modeled, and commanded.

Early in our marriage, Tanya and I lived in a little duplex apartment in Lawrenceburg.  It has a short driveway barely long enough to park out cars.  It was a blacktop driveway and at the edge of the pavement it was obvious it was very thick blacktop.  I’ll never forget the day when I came out of the house and noticed an amazing sight – in the middle of the driveway, poking up through all those inches of pavement, was a sprig of grass.  I had, on many occasions, made the joke that I would one day blacktop the yard so I would no longer have to mow, so I realized at that moment the futility of that plan!  But I also learned a lesson about strength and determination. Imagine the strength and determination of that small piece of grass to push its way through those inches of pavement.

There are many who have sought to hold down peace, love, and understanding over the centuries, but it can’t be done, and it won’t be done.  These three qualities – very important spiritual qualities – are inextricably bound together.  Each one depends upon the other, and each one is sorely needed today.  

May God bring them to pass.

August 23, 2015 The Church Has Left the Building

August 23, 2015

Luke 5:27-39

When Tanya and I were traveling through parts of Europe during my sabbatical we visited a lot of churches, and I was very curious about the churches in Europe.  Would we find church attendance to be as poor as is often claimed?

This is the first church we visited, St. Pancras Church in London, where we worshipped the morning we arrived.  I think I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago but I don’t think I showed a picture.  It’s a beautiful church, but was not very well attended the day we were there.  The attendance was fairly sparse, but there was a variety of ages there, and more young people than I would have anticipated.

 

It’s often overlooked that cities such as London, which is often viewed as not being very church-going, does have megachurches, and there are churches that have very good attendance, although in Europe, church attendance is not what is was just a generation or two ago, and there are people who would ask if that is the direction our society is headed.  One encouragement to me, while on sabbatical, was to find so many churches doing very well, in attendance, ministry, and outreach.

This morning’s message is The Church Has Left the Building, and our Scripture text is Luke 5:27-39.

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

There is a dual meaning to the title of this message –

1.  People have left churches.

While many churches are doing well, it is obvious there are many people who are no longer active participants in the life of a local church.

Why have people left the building?  If so many people continue to believe in God – and the overwhelming majority of people do continue to believe in God – why do so many people not connect that belief in God to participation in a church?

Well, there are probably as many answers as there are people, but I believe we can trace it to a couple of primary reasons.

One, unfortunately, is that people sometimes get hurt or are disappointed by the church.  The church alumni society has quite a few members, and almost all of the members of the church alumni society retain their faith and their belief in God.  But our communities and neighborhoods have a lot of people who had a hurtful experience in a church and they gave up.  A few people abandon or lose their faith, but that’s a very small number.

But perhaps the larger reason is in what I would call the delivery system of faith, or of God.  Just as you no longer have to go to a physical store to purchase products, you also no longer have to go to a church building to receive a connection or maintain a connection with God.  For much of history, people depended upon churches and members of the clergy as the dispensers of God.  People don’t believe that way any longer, as evidenced by the large numbers of the spiritual but not religious.

In our society, where people overwhelmingly believe in God people are, generally speaking, very spiritual and interested in spiritual matters, but they think differently about the delivery system of spirituality.  Think about what is happening in our society and all around the world, in terms of how things are changing.  There is not one area of life that is not experiencing profound change.  This little device (hold up cell phone) has revolutionized life – or cursed it, depending upon your perspective. 

What is also changing is the sense of obligation and social expectations that used to bring people to church.  This often puzzles ministers, unfortunately.  Ministers will often say, people put too many other things ahead of the church these days.  They don’t treat Sunday with the respect that it used to receive.  People used to come out of obligation or expectation, or a combination of both, but now people feel much freer to choose what they will do and what they won’t do.

How many of you still have a landline telephone?  Have you cut the cable or satellite cord?  All the traditional structures are changing.  It’s not just the church that faces the struggle of change; change is affecting everything, and those who fail to adapt will not survive.  I don’t believe the church is going anywhere, but it must recognize that the world has changed tremendously.  For many people, the church is no longer seen as the default place to connect to God.  But faith remains with us.  How many of you traveled to church today by horse and buggy?  No one.  We no longer travel by horse and buggy, but transportation is always with us; it’s just that the mode changes, and the same is true of faith.

Even if they don’t attend, people support belief, they support faith, and they support the idea of the church, and that is no small matter.  This is what we could call vicarious faith, and it is a very important and powerful dynamic.  Vicarious faith is when those who are involved in church provide a vicarious experience for those who aren’t connected to a church, and it shows how much people outside of the church depend upon what those of us in the church do.

For example, I was not a faithful attender of class when I was in college.  What would be the educational equivalent of spiritual but not religious?  I believed in education, but I didn’t think it necessary to go to class to be educated.  Because I didn’t go to class, I depended, vicariously, upon my friends who did.  I needed their notes and other information when it was time to show up for a test or exam.

We see the need for vicarious faith when it comes to those who set a public example of faith, and we need those examples.  This past week former President Jimmy Carter held a very powerful press conference, talking about his cancer, sharing that it had spread to four spots in his brain.  He went from the press conference to his first radiation treatment, and he was expecting to be at his church this morning to teach Sunday School.  Jimmy Carter is undoubtedly a much more popular public figure post-presidency, and it is because of the way in which his faith moves him out into the world to work for Habitat for Humanity, to advocate for peace, and other areas.  Pope Francis is another very popular religious figure, even among the non-religious.  People love that he is not an ivory tower leader, that he is accessible, and obviously very concerned about people who are poor and suffering.  Jimmy Carter, the pope, and others appeal to the better angels of ourselves.  They serve as examples of how we might live, how we should live, and conversely, what happens when we do not serve as a good example.  This is demonstrated in the sad story of Josh Duggar, if you have followed the news about his latest revelation of misbehavior.

We don’t just expect our leaders to be examples, we need them to be examples.  People do expect a difference, don’t they?  That’s why the general public can be so quick to criticize religious figures who experience public failings – because they expect to see, and need to see, a difference.  They know that following Jesus means we are held to – and that we must hold ourselves to – a higher standard.

Just because people do not attend church doesn’t mean they don’t need it and don’t benefit from it.  Our church provides ministry to large numbers of people in our community, even though they might never attend a worship service or join our congregation.  They receive counseling, they receive food, they receive educational help, they received spiritual encouragement, they receive medical help, and many, many other important types of ministry.

What was one of the things people did after 9/11?  They went to church?  Why?  Because it’s what they knew they should do.  We opened our church that evening and had a gathering and the sanctuary was packed.  Did you have a service here, or somewhere in Shelbyville?  We saw an uptick in attendance for a while, and then as it dissipated over time, what did some people do?  They were judgmental about those who did not continue to attend.  What they didn’t do was appreciate the fact that people knew that in times of great difficulty there was a place to go and be together as a community and that place is the church!  In times of such difficulty, where else is there for people to go, but the church?

When Tanya and I attended a service at Westminster Abby in London we sat just feet away from where Princess Diana’s casket was placed at her funeral.  And I thought about how interesting that was, in a country that – on the surface at least – seems so much less religious than just a generation ago, they knew that’s where the funeral needed to be, in a church.  And the Abby knew not to say something such as, well, she’s divorced, she’s been living with someone and that person is of another religion, and there are all these other issues.  No!  They did no such thing, because the hearts of the people were turning to God and to the church.

There are empty churches all over Europe, but does that mean people are not connected to God?  In Europe, if you ask people whether or not they believe in God, about 70% would answer yes, which is much higher than the way in which Europe is generally characterized.  But worship attendance in much different.  The average, across Western Europe, would be about 10%; higher in some countries and lower in others.

In Switzerland, people pay a tax to support the church, and it is a couple of percent, so it’s not a small amount.  People can opt out of the tax if they choose, but they do not do so.  Isn’t that interesting?  So many people don’t attend church regularly but they continue to pay a tax to support the churches, even when they could opt out.  Obviously, people are supportive in some way of the church.  In the Scandinavian countries, where church attendance is on the average very low, almost every child is baptized.

If the church doesn’t have some kind of institutional structure much of that can and will disappear.  But if the institutional structure doesn’t get outside of its walls and provide those ministries it will cease to become relevant to its community and enter into a death spiral.  Which leads us to my next point.

2.  The church is called to go from the building to minister in the name of Christ.

I want to borrow an analogy from something I read.  The church is like the tip of an iceberg, but the whole of belief is like the entire iceberg, and we don’t think enough about the entire iceberg; mostly we think about the part that sticks out of the water.

One of the most obvious lessons in this passage is the absolute insistence on the part of Jesus to be loving and accepting of people regardless of who they are or their station in life.

There is a lot of sociology driving churches, and some of it is the simple fact that we are uncomfortable with people not like us.  A great sign of life and health in a church is the presence of many different types of people.  When the uniformity of a congregation rises, it’s time to ask some questions about why that is.  We are a very diverse country, and if we only accept and embrace people who look like us, dress like us, talk like us, and think like us, we’ll soon be in trouble.

When my family and I visited in Washington, DC, some years back, we were standing in line outside one of the buildings, and there was a church group from Mississippi who were in the city on a mission trip.  They were in line in front of us and I liked their shirts, because on the back was printed the phrase the church has left the building.

I like that phrase, the church has left the building, and that is the title of my message this morning.  I like that phrase because it reminds us that so much of the work and the ministry of a church takes place not within the walls of a building, but rather outside of the walls.  And when we read through the stories of Jesus in the gospels, we find that the context of the far majority of those stories is outside the walls of a religious institution, such as the Temple and the synagogue.

Where was Jesus generally found?  He was found wherever you would find people – in the marketplace, in the bustle of the crowds that traveled, along the shores of lakes and seas, and, of course, in the Temple or synagogues.

We are out there in many ways.  Can we get out there in more ways?  Can we leave the building?

August 16, 2015 One of These Is Not the Same

August 16, 2015

Matthew 22:15-22

How many of you remember the children’s game one of these is not the same?  A picture is shown and the object of the game is to spot which one of the items is different.

In the picture above, we can certainly say that these are very different; one is certainly not the same as the other.

After traveling, people often ask your favorite place to visit, but rarely ask about your least favorite place.  This morning, I want to tell you about my least favorite place to visit while I was on sabbatical – the Pantheon in Paris.  Actually, I had forgotten there was a Pantheon in Paris.  I remembered there was one in Rome, but the one in Paris had slipped from my memory.

The history of the Pantheon is one that is very interesting.  King Louis the XV, in 1744, promised to rebuild what was a church in ruins if he recovered from a serious illness.  He did, and work began on the church in 1758 and finished in 1790.  In 1791, in the French Revolution, the church was turned into a mausoleum for French heroes, and people such as Voltaire, Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie are buried there.

Two times it was converted back to a church and then back to a secular building.  It’s a beautiful building, and really is an amazing example of great architecture.  But the French government transformed the Pantheon into a monument to man rather than God.  Every country has plenty of buildings dedicated to secular and governmental purposes, which is fine, but it’s the taking of a religious building and changing its purpose that I find very troublesome.  And even though many of the religious paintings on the walls of the Pantheon remain, the following picture especially represents why I didn’t like it.

La Convention Nationale is the name of that sculpture.  It is a monument to man, and glorifies man to the exclusion of God.  It also sits where the altar originally sat when the Pantheon was a church.  The altar – a testament to the glory of God – was removed, and this statue was put in its place.  Besides being a rather poor piece of art, what it represents is troublesome to me, because it reminds us that what Caesar wants, Caesar gets. 

Our Scripture text this morning contains one of the most famous stories about Jesus, and one of his most famous lines, and it is also one that is almost universally misunderstood and misrepresented, which makes it a text to return to on a regular basis, as it reminds us who is truly in control of our destiny.

Here’s a hint – it’s not Caesar.

Our Scripture text for this morning is one very familiar to us all, and contains one of the most famous – an misunderstood – sayings of Jesus.  Matthew 22:15-22 –

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.

17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius,

 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

I am grateful for the country in which we live.  I am grateful for our freedom.  Governments, as much as we are sometimes frustrated by them, are a necessity in this violent and dangerous world, and the Scriptures remind us that governments are one of the ways in which God establishes order in our world.

But let us also remember that there are many ways in which the kingdom of God is very different from the kingdoms of this world, and that we are not to make an idol of or worship our country or government.

When Jesus said to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s, he wasn’t telling us there is a neat and easy division between the two.  Caesar claimed to be God.  Caesar demanded your heart, soul, mind, and life.  It was a capital offense for anyone other than Caesar to use titles such as Lord or Son of Man, which Jesus used for himself.  Caesar and Jesus were in direct competition with one another.  While Caesar said that he was Lord, so did Jesus.  While Caesar claimed that he was God, so did Jesus.  Both Jesus and Caesar made the same claim for themselves and the same claims upon people, but one was most definitely not the same.  The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar (as representative of all earthly kingdoms) are vastly different, so let’s look at the ways in which we are called to acknowledge the kingdom of God as having true sovereignty over our lives.

Recognize who is the ultimate authority in life.

On December 2, 1804, Napoleon was crowned as emperor.  Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Napoleon crowned himself as emperor.  For many years prior to Napoleon, the emperor was crowned by the pope, a tradition that Napoleon absolutely rejected.  When it came time for the crown to be placed upon his head, Napoleon seized the crown, placing it on his own head, and declared that his power was not inherited from anyone, but derived from himself and from his accomplishments.

Setting aside the question of whether or not the church should have been involved in the crowing of emperors (they should not have been, in my opinion), the actions of Napoleon reflected his rejection of the true authority in life and in this world, which is God.

I am not an anti-government crusader, and I am not against government.  We are all, at times, frustrated by the actions and policies of our government, but government remains a needed institution for humanity.  Scripture acknowledges, in fact, the need for government and its role in God’s design for humanity.  Government provides us with security and a combination of services for which I am very grateful.  But I do not worship government; I worship God, and I recognize him as the ultimate authority for my life.

Recognize true power.

There is obviously a need for order in a society.  People can’t drive however they might wish to drive (although some certainly seem to do so).  We can’t take what doesn’t belong to us.  We can’t mistreat people.

It can be difficult to know where the line of compulsive power must end, but I do know this, when the church seeks to use coercive power upon people it is an admission of defeat.  Jesus never coerced anyone.  Listen to the manner in which Paul speaks of Jesus in the second chapter of Philippians, verses one through eleven, paying particular attention to the highlighted verses, in which Paul beautifully describes the manner of Jesus –

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,

2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing  by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That’s not how Caesar operates, but it is the way in which Jesus operated.  Jesus demonstrated a power far different and far greater than that of Caesar.  It would certainly not be said of Caesar that he did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing  by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Caesar believed he was God, and he was anything but humble.  And he certainly would never be found upon a cross, as he inflicted that terrible end on scores of people, including Jesus.  Try withholding taxes from Caesar, and his actions were anything but gentle.  Try opposing the rule and authority of Caesar, and find yourself wanted and hunted to the ends of the earth.

As I told you my least favorite place to visit, I should tell you my favorite.  My favorite place that we visited on my sabbatical was the catacombs.  Tanya and I traveled just outside of the city of Rome to a beautiful, park-like area. 

After dealing with the crowds and chaos of the city, it was a beautiful, quiet place to visit.  We walked around the grounds, admiring their beauty, and soaked up the peace and quiet.  But the beauty of the grounds mask the reason why people visit there.  The catacombs were a burial place, and also the place where many of the early Christians went to worship.  The worshipped in such a place because the Roman soldiers would not venture into those tunnels.  The tunnels that form the catacombs were carved out of the volcanic rock and were filled with shelves where the bodies were place after death.  Imagine being under such intense persecution that it was necessary to climb underground, among dead bodies, to be able to worship.  Could we do such a thing, if it became necessary? 

Of the many fascinating elements of the catacombs was the fact that there were no symbols of death there, although a few bodies still remain.  There were, however, many symbols of life.  The worship of the early Christians transformed the catacombs from a place of death to a place of life!

We visited the catcombs the day after visiting the Vatican.  I wondered, with all the power represented in the Vatican, which church was more powerful – the church that grew to such power that it placed the crown on the head of the emperor, or the church of the catacombs?  I am not being critical of the Vatican, or the Catholic Church, but I would say that the church of the catacombs possessed a power that was far superior to the grand, imperial church.  It was a power that did not depend upon wielding the sword of the empire through the emperor or through vast wealth.

It was a power born in the catacombs, under intense persecution.  There are millions of our brothers and sisters in faith who live even today under terrible persecution.  If I claim to be persecuted, in my comfortable chair in my comfortable home in my comfortable life, God forgive me.  God forgive me for confusing persecution with disagreement.  God forgive me if I can’t stand a bit of ridicule and respond in grace and love.  Some say there is religious persecution in our country.  There is no persecution of Christianity in our country, of that I am convinced.  There may be many who disagree with us, but disagreement is not persecution.  Do not confuse those two things.  Neither is ridicule persecution, and if we are ridiculed we should rejoice, as commanded by Jesus (Matthew 5:11-12 – Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.)

As we processed through the tour of the catacombs, I noticed there was a group of Asian pilgrims just behind us.  As I was in the back of our group I could hear them as they traveled down the narrow passageways and into each room.  Near the end of the tour, they were in a room where there was a centuries-old altar, which marked the location of worship services conducted many centuries ago.  The group gathered in a circle and began to pray.  They prayed in their native language but when they were finished they began to sing in English.  They sang Alleluia, which echoed beautifully down through the stone corridors.  It was very moving, to think that this was what it must have been like all those centuries ago, Christian worshippers praying and singing deep in the bowels of the catacombs.  Caesar sought to put an end to the new faith of Christianity, but it is still with us, circling the globe and attracting billions of followers.  And where is Caesar?  His kingdom, once thought to be invincible and immortal, faded long ago.

One of these is not the same – both Caesar and Jesus make a claim upon us, and neither will accept the presence of a rival.  May we choose this day – and all days – that Jesus, and not Caesar, will be our Lord.