Father Steve Rice

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Sacrifice

From our church newsletter:

There is an oft-used phrase, “use it or lose it.” I certainly think this truism applies to reading the Bible. We need to constantly read and study the Bible, all parts, to continue to grow and understand our faith (theology = faith seeking understanding). Even if we’ve read the Bible a while ago, there are points and stories that we have forgotten and there are points and stories that mean more today than they did yesterday. For instance, I have made it my recent mission to re-discover the Book of Leviticus, perhaps one of the most dry books in the Bible due to all of its sacrificial rules and purity requirements and so on. I purchased a book Essential Torah wanting to know more about the types of sacrifices mandated in Leviticus. There are five: burnt offering (voluntary sacrifice – standard offering), meal offering (partly given for the priests to eat), well-being/peace (voluntary sacrifice – to fulfill a vow), sin offering (obligatory-unintentional sin), and guilt offering (obligatory-misappropriated property). Why all these sacrifices? Why all the rules concerning the way the sacrifice is made? Reading the Jewish perspective, it makes sense; the Jews offered sacrifices in order to remain in right relationship with God. Does God need burnt animals or flour? Of course, not, but God does delight in a person’s heart that is seeks to be in relationship with him – at all times and in all places. When things are going normally – a burnt offering; thankfulness for first fruits – meal offering; for fellowship and for an unexpected blessing, to fulfill a vow and general thankfulness – peace offering; and when we sin – sin and guilt offerings. What is left? Nothing! Everything is covered. At every time, good, bad, and ugly, the people offered sacrifices. The fires on the altars were always burning because the people were compelled to remember God and engage God always. You may have noticed this year we have not made a big deal of stewardship. We held cottage meetings to talk about our church and what we’d like to do and recently a letter was sent out concerning stewardship and November 18 when we will present our sacrifices to God. We don’t want stewardship to be a ‘campaign,’ rather we want it to be a desire to seek a right relationship with God. Read the book of Leviticus. See how the people worshipped. How is your day going? Normal? Very well? Not so great? Horrible? Offer a sacrifice. What kind? John 10:27.

photo above from Brand X Pictures

Monday, November 5, 2007

God does choose!

Sunday, the adult Sunday School class began the month of November with the book of Ephesians, one of St Paul’s letters (some question Paul’s authorship, but for the sake of this post, let’s just say Paul wrote it). Ephesians begins with a doxology, or words of praise for God. Eugene Peterson’s Message (which I must say, I’m really warming up to) has St Paul saying “How blessed is God!” – words of praise. Doxology. Words of praise concerning God are all well and good. The issue quickly arose, however, when we came to verse 4:

“…just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.”

The word that really bothered a segment of our class population was the word “chose.” I can understand the shifting the seat with this word. God chose. God chose before the creation of the universe. On one hand it seems to brush up with fatalism; if God chose and I really have no say so in the matter, then I am a mindless robot with no will or decision-making power on my own. On the other hand it seems to suggest an exclusivity that makes many uncomfortable. “If God chose me, does that mean he did not choose others?” The question was: what does it mean that God chose?

My first flippant comment is, this is why we have Presbyterians and Episcopalians. That is not a fair statement, but the point is – this has been and continues to be a divisive issue. Google “Calvin tulip” and read the 5 points of Calvinism and you’ll find the U.L. and I. are ‘unconditional election,’ ‘limited atonement,’ and ‘irresistible grace,’ all of which speak to God choosing certain people (and on the flip side, not choosing others). But what about John 3:16, with God so loving the world that everyone who believes will enjoy the eternal presence of God?

There is a wonderful parable in Matthew’s gospel (chapter 22) of a great wedding banquet that a king prepared for his son. Invitations were sent out to everyone. But lo and behold nobody decided to come. The feast was ready, the table was set, but there were no guests to enjoy the feast. So the king told his servants to go out and find anybody and everybody they could to fill the banquet hall. The servants went high and low and looked behind the trashcans and under rocks and brought everyone they could to the feast. When the place was filled, the king walked around and viewed his guests. There was a man in attendance that was not wearing the proper wedding attire. The king was outraged and had the man thrown out to where weeping and gnashing of teeth were found in the darkness.

Why would the king throw the man out just because he was wearing the wrong outfit? One would think that if he were so hard up for guests, he would take them in no matter what they were wearing. John Wesley had an interesting thought on this. The wedding garment was a sign of righteousness. It’s not just that person believes there is a God, but lives as if there is a God. At the end of the day, God invites everyone, but not everyone accepts the invitation. I would imagine that when the king looked out over the wedding banquet, he could rightly and properly say, “These are my chosen guests.” Those that arrived were chosen by virtue of their invitation and their acceptance of that invitation. Everyone was chosen because everyone was invited. But not everyone accepted the invitation. And not everyone lived in light of the invitation (the wedding garment). As the parable ends, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The fact that God chooses is not saying that God is saying “you’re in and you’re out.” If anything, the fact that God has chosen us, (me…even me!) is cause for doxology. God chose the people Israel to be a vehicle for his grace and revelation. That vehicle prepared the world for the greatest revelation of his love and grace – Christ. God has chosen Jew and Gentile, sinner and wretch to be his children. He has chosen us! He doesn’t have to take us, he doesn’t have to love us – but he chooses to!

Will we accept? Will we say 'yes!'? Will we live as if God has elected to save us? With his help, let us say, Amen.