Sermon
“I speak as to children” says Paul. Well, here's how children are learning to speak in the 21st century. Call it out if you know these words or phrases:
LMK Let me know
TIA Thanks in advance
TLDR Too long didn't read
OMG Oh my gosh
LOL Laugh out loud – my mom likes this as Little Old Lady
JK Just kidding
NBD No big deal
BTW By the way
TTYL Talk to you later
ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing
BRB Be right back
FWIW For what it's worth
tmrw Tomorrow
and for extra credit, HMU (I don't know this one; saw it used)
If we thought reading the apostle Paul's writings in ancient Greek was difficult, could you imagine reading it in textspeak? NIAT – now is the acceptable time; NDS – now is the day of salvation; TBG – Thanks be to God.
As weird as I might think it is, to speak using acronyms and other shortcuts like textspeak, in a way Paul was doing the same thing. When Paul said, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” he was reciting a section of a familiar Hebrew scripture passage. By reciting just a part, the hearers would know the whole. The listeners would know the context and the rest of the passage that comes from Isaiah 49:8-13.1 In the Isaiah passage in full Isaiah was describing the help that the Lord brought in a time of favor, and the injustices that would be reversed at that time. So without saying the entire Hebrew scripture, Paul could make his point with one line, and then claim that NIAT! NDS! Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. In this passage Paul says that this life of following the teachings of Jesus is going to cause you distress and real daily sufferings of one kind or another. But now is appropriate time, now is the day of salvation – now is the time when the reversals of Isaiah 49 and other Hebrew scriptures will be visible. One commentator writes, “Paul's account of extraordinary courage and willingness to suffer points to the reality that living the gospel is not solitary work; it takes solidarity to stand up against a culture that does not respect the values of God's justice, and to endure its punishment.”2
The punishment is not a punishment from God, it is a punishment from life for those who try to push the oppressors away; change the power structures; those who come to a new understanding of the purpose of life that puts us in disagreement with those closest to us; when we find ourselves called to step into a community crisis to get through it, not around it.
The people of Corinth were struggling to live their lives according to this new understanding of their relationship with God, as they heard about the life and message of Jesus. In the first letter to the Corinthians Paul did a lot of admonishing. In this second letter however, Paul is much more emotional. He shares much of his personal suffering as a way to describe what it is like to put oneself into the places where God's work is needed. The kind of solidarity we need to show when we want to stand up to places of injustice in our own world. The kind of solidarity the Black Lives Movement is asking for in order to complete the unfinished work of Reconstruction in our own history. The kind of solidarity we experience when we show up to join our voices with others who share our values.
Rather than tell those in Corinth that they have to invent solutions through their own efforts, or look hard for those places that need God, “…Paul draws them to attend to where the power of God is already on the move in precisely in the places they perceive as shameful or threatening.”
Today African Americans celebrate Juneteenth. It is a day that commemorates the day when General Gordon Granger led Union troops into the city of Galveston, Texas in 1865 to assume control of the state and free enslaved people nearly two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
It's not just a day to celebrate. It's a day to tell the whole story. What happened on June 19th 1865 may have been the unofficial end of slavery, but the work of reconstruction has not been completed. Recent national conversations about reparations, racism that is built into the systems that came about during reconstruction and after. And of course you can't put rules in place and expect them to change minds and hearts all by themselves. There are black scholars who tell us that Jim Crow still exists in the south.
When we find ourselves uncomfortable having certain conversations, that's a clue that God is at work in us and in that subject. Uncomfortable talking about the January 6th hearings, political disarray, moral failings of elected officials? Hmm. Let's look at that. Uncomfortable having a long conversation about gun rights, the 2nd amendment, the intersection of the NRA and politics? Let's talk about that too. Uncomfortable talking about women's rights to their own family planning decision and health care? Why is that? Solutions will not come by just stating opinions louder than the next person, or by avoiding conflict. That applies to big conflicts and small conflicts. Personally, I don't enter any big conflict zones, but I probably should. I'm getting better at getting involved in small conflicts that concern me. I don't know how to solve things or make things better, but I do know that doing nothing doesn't bring about comfort or repair. The goal with these interactions isn't to be right – the goal is to be part of connection. Almost every day I run across someone or a situation where it turns out that discomfort is softened when connection happens. As a pastor, as a friend, as a witness to a stranger's world, and in myself. The sorrow over the sudden death of a leader in this art community I have recently become a part of, has become lessened by engaging in the discomfort instead of burying my head in another passion. I didn't want to go to my studio, I had all kinds of insecurities about being around “real” artists who knew her better and longer than I did. It sounds insane to feel that way but we all have our black holes of insecurity! Ironically, it is the woman who passed away that would say to me in that specific situation, “We're just not going to hear any more of that are we?” The truth is, I was working hard to make up reasons not to go near anything that would make me feel! We all do this. We don't want to be around loud arguments (who does?); we don't want to be around a fight; we don't want to be too close to someone struggling in case we might then have to help. It's not that we don't want the opposite of the discomfort – the argument to end peacefully, the fight to be resolved, that other person to not have to struggle – but putting ourselves emotionally or physically near the source is risky. God knows that. God understands our personal needs and worries and knows just how we will be used. Some things are far beyond some of us, and that is as it should be. Without the variety of gifts, we would all be trying only one way to be. Thank goodness that those with loud voices use them. Thank goodness that powerful writers write. Thank goodness that those who can organize, organize. Thank goodness that those who can listen, do.
Whether it's gun control, women's health rights, justice for black and brown folks, inclusion everywhere for people with sexual and gender differences than ourselves, our country's political and social crisis, dismay at our climate disaster, the discomfort we feel is an indication that we are called to go a little closer. Take a peek, see where God is and join God. According to one commentator, there can be joy and richness along with the discomfort when we engage because we are a part of God's great uprooting. She writes, “Within a wider culture whose values are upside-down, Paul is trying to help this community of Christ-believers to see how rejoicing might be hidden within the sorrow that comes from truly engaging injustice; to see the riches hidden in intentional poverty; to have the confidence to see how fullness of life may be hidden within the willingness to risk one's life for the gospel.”2
The more we engage, the more we will find joy. Maybe not at first, but we will find joy. With joy comes gratitude, thanks, praise, worship, and an opportunity for rest and play. The cycle of joy leads to the resilience we need to go out and engage some more. Paul reminds us that the grace of God, that which we cannot understand on a cognitive level, comes to us. It's not something we understand – it's something we just receive.2
Given that the grace of God is at work in us, I invite us to ask ourselves this week, what then is the spirit of God inviting us to today?
Let's pray…
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1 Isaiah 49:8-13 Zion's Children to Be Brought Home
Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, 'Come out', to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.
2 Commentary: Working Preacher, June 21, 2021, Jane Lancaster Patterson, Associate Professor of New Testament and Director of Community Care, Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas