Week ending Sunday, October 27, 2013 (full size gallery)
This was a busy week with the Thirteen Concert on Oct 22 and then Charter day Oct. 26.
Fall is coming in slowly this year compared to last year. We are at least a week behind. This week was the first "fall weather"week that caused us to put on sweaters and coats and scrape our windshields.
Today Catherine was on vacation and we had Rev. Amy Turner at 9am and a special guest. We had smaller number at 9am – only 5 but larger at 11am, 37.
Amy preached on the Gospel – a parable of the Pharisee and Tax collector . The two men are in a temple. The parable is directed at those like the Pharisee who exhibit excessive pride and contempt towards others. "God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector"
Jesus basic message is support the tax collector seeking mercy since he humbeled himself.
Amy went deeper and divided her talk to describe two people:
1. Those seeing others less whole and worthless. She brought up the recent bulling attacks. Children had committed suicide over them. She related to holocost and Germans seeing Jewish blood as a contaminate
2. Those who trust in their own rightoutness and competency. You extend faith to yourself and not to God. They were not open to the fullness of God and Grace.
Jesus saw people as they were. Key is in the 10 Commandments to love your neighbor as yourself. No one is worthless since we were created in God’s images. We must strive to follow, emulate and be like Jesus who saw as children of God. We should inspire others to do the same. We should be alert to our sins, ask for repenetence and repent .
Rev. Charles Mumbo preached at Morning Prayer at 11am. He has been the pastor of Ruaraka Baptist Church in Nairobi, Kenya for the past seven years. Over 700 people attend the three services that the church holds each Sunday. Two are in English and the later one in the native language of Swahili. (The only other clergy is a youth minister). Whoa! He is with ten pastors visting a Baptist association in Caroline for 3 weeks. After the service Charles presented St. Peter’s with a inscribed NIV Bible in celebration of the 50years of Kenyan independence in December and a key chain.
Charles preached on Psalm 3 written by David at old age describing times he was conspired by enemies included some very close to him. The passage related to 2nd Solomon, Chapter 15. The larger question is how do we find peach and rest in time of troubles ? We all face them. V1 emphasizes David complaining but by V3 he is not giving up, not throwing in the towel. God provides protection and shield and will lift you up. God gives up comfort so we can sleep in the midst of trouble. Charles related a time before age 20 when he had sickle cell anemia. He was expected to only live to age 20 but he is 47 now. V6 emphasizes not being afraid and being dominated by fear. God is able to expose his enemies in public. We have to be assured that God is on our side. Our response in V4 is to praise the Lord.for the Lord’s merciful action.
Both New Testament readings are related to the present and future and what can be done now. The readings are here.
The more we stretch ourselves, the more we realize the kingdom in our midst, the more we are prepared for eternity, the more we can be trusted with even greater resources here and in eternity.
So, the message is, do what you can. See how Paul puts it in verse 7:
[i] Fight the good fight. Wrestle daily against the powers of darkness, against evil influence without and temptation within. [ii] Run the race. The Christian life, discipleship, is a pathway to follow, a race to be run. We run the race as best we can, and in running we receive the crown. [iii] Keep the faith. Know the truth, preserve the truth and see that the truth gets passed on.The Gospel is a parable between the Pharisee and Tax Collector. The parable begins with two men praying in the temple.
Our information about the Pharisees is limited. They arose about 150BC reacting at the increasing Greek influence on Jewish life. Based on author John P. Meier’s work, the Pharisees’ response to this crisis was centered around a renewed commitment to the study of the Torah and the careful observance of customary requirements in certain areas of life, such as tithing, purity laws, the sabbath, marriage and divorce, and temple ritual. Underlying this passion for faithful living was the vision of Israel as a covenant community whose future blessing/punishment was contingent on observance of the Torah. Unlike other Jewish sects, the Pharisees had a missionary zeal and actively sought to spread their interpretation of Judaism among the people at large
Biblical scholars have had difficulty separating the struggles with the Pharisees after 70AD (when the Gospels were written) and in Jesus time. Typically this is wrapped up in the way that Jewish faith has been represented in Christian writings as legalistic and hypocritical, in contrast to the heartfelt and authentic faith of Christians. Jesus would have shared point with them – Both Jesus and the Pharisees shared a consuming desire to bring all Israel to the complete doing of God’s will as laid out in the Law and the prophets.
So what about the tax collector. Tax collectors were despised for collaborating with the Roman occupiers. One author writes " tax collectors are connected in Greco-Roman literature with those who trafficked in prostitution and slavery" (Kathleen Corley, Women and the Historical Jesus)
In this passage the Pharisee is not embittered about the lost tax collector, but thankful not to be him. The tax collector knows that he possesses no means by which to claim righteousness. He has done nothing of merit; indeed, he has done much to offend the law of Israel. For this reason he stands back, hardly daring to approach the Temple, and throws himself on the mercy of the Lord. He goes home justified, Jesus tells us. The person who is justified is proclaimed righteous
So what message is there for us ? David Lose writes about the phrarisee "Truth be told, he only speaks the truth: he is righteous. He leads a life blameless according to the law. He fasts and gives alms and indeed bears no resemblance to the unsavory characters with which he compares himself. What, then, is his problem? It narrows down to one thing: while he is right about the kind of life he should live, he is confused about the source of that life. For while he prays to God, his prayer finally is about himself, and because he misses the source of his blessing, he despises those people God loves."
We have a certain affinity for the tax collector. From an article in Meda Stamper " The parable invites us to experience the freedom that comes with casting away our flimsy armor and throwing ourselves into the arms of God, who is already there, who has already found us, who wants more than anything to lift us up and lead us home.
Lose even turns the tables on that. The tax collector may not be a model either "For there is no note of repentance in the tax collector’s speech, no pledge to leave his employment or render restitution to those he has cheated, no promises of a new and better life. Nothing, except the simple acknowledgment that he is utterly and entirely dependent on God’s mercy. The tax collector knows the one thing the Pharisee does not: his life is God’s — his past, present, and future entirely dependent on God’s grace and mercy."
Both characters are absorbed in their own lives – the pharisee separated from the world and the tax collector too much involved in it. As he concludes – "It’s not about you ; it’s about God."
As Lose emphasizes "Anytime you draw a line between who’s "in" and who’s "out," this parable asserts, you will find God on the other side. Read this way, the parable ultimately escapes even its narrative setting and reveals that it is not about self-righteousness and humility any more than it is about a pious Pharisee and desperate tax collector. Rather, this parable is about God: God who alone can judge the human heart; God who determines to justify the ungodly."