August 22, 2004
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Thomas Long, who likes to refer to the unknown author of
Hebrews as “The Preacher”, recalls the poet Robert Frost’s poem, “The
Road Not Taken” which begins ‘two roads diverged in a yellow wood’, to
tell us something of the Hebrew Christians. Likening the letter to a sermon,
Long says, “the preacher’s congregation is not in a yellow wood – they are
in a heat-baked and exhausting spiritual desert – but they have come to a
place where two roads diverge, and like the traveler in Frost’s poem, the one
they choose to take will make ‘all the difference’” (Interpretation
series. Hebrews. Thomas Long. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1997, p. 136).
For the Hebrews one road leads to Mount Sinai, the place of
the Old Covenant. It is a place
filled with smoke and fire and a fear of God that runs so deep that the people
can not bear to hear the words of dire prediction that came from there. Mount
Sinai was thought to be so fearsome that no one, not even an animal could
approach the mountain and live. Moses did go up to Mount Sinai and he did come
down alive, but only at the invitation of God and only after covering his face
so that he would not have to look at God eye to eye. Mount Sinai presents a scary and unappealing image of God.
This is the God of fire and brimstone, and unrelenting judgment and little
grace. It is a place of fear. It is the place from which the Law was given to
people who had thanked God for their deliverance from Egyptian slavery with
their whining in the wilderness and the making of a golden idolatrous calf. These Hebrews not only knew the fear of Mount Sinai, they
knew their own fear. Their spiritual desert was a time of persecution for
Christians. As often happens in tough times, persecution has sent them spiraling
into a time of self-doubt and questioning of their beliefs. And the primary
question they are asking is, what does it mean to be a Christian in these days?
Is our faith really worth it? This letter to the Hebrew Christians is meant to encourage
them, not to let their faith fail. So they are reminded and we are reminded that
in Christ Jesus the source of their salvation is near.
He is near in prayer: “Since then we have a high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our concern. For
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who in every respect has been tested, as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
(Hebrews
4. 14-16). Jesus is the chief example after Hebrews 11 lists the heroes and heroines
of the faith, those who endured suffering and sometimes death for their enduring
assurance that the risen Christ would be with them in life and into eternity. It
is the faith we are asked to receive as well. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings
so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector [author and finisher] of our faith
who for the sake of the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
disregarding its shame and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of
God” (12.1-2). I think we can relate a bit to the early Hebrew Christians. It is true
that we are not a church under persecution – no one is trying to prevent us
from gathering to worship. No one will forbid us to worship in whatever ways we
chose. We are even free to worship out in the open in a public park. We are not a church under persecution, but we do know what it
is to be a church under stress. I want to wear the T-shirt I’ve seen around
that says, “Too Blessed To Be Stressed”, that is the church version of the
Bobby McFerrin song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.
Indeed we are blessed. We are alive, someone loves us, and there are
people we love. We are here because we have a faith community; we can invite
people to join us because the community welcomes new people. At the same time, we know stress. We worry that we will not
have enough money to match our dreams for ministry. We worry because we
haven’t seen the kind of numerical growth we hope and pray for, and we are not
alone, congregations throughout the church are facing the same kinds of stress,
and a few are embroiled in other deep, serious conflict. We worry because the
Christian Church in Ohio is in the midst of a huge transition – it is a good
one. Still there is stress as the first new Regional Pastor and President in
more than 20 years begins his ministry and as the Regional office begins to move
from Elyria to Columbus. There is stress among the General Ministries of the church.
One of our General units has been in bankruptcy court. Eleven of us have
been charged with searching for and nominating the next General Ministry and
President for our church. The questions we are asking as a congregation and as a
region, are being asked by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the
United States and Canada. Will we have the resources in people and in dollars to
be the church God is calling to practice deep Christian spirituality, true
community, and a passion for justice? And we each have to deal without personal
stuff. No wonder Mount Sinai, the fearful mountain we know can seem
attractive to us. It is a little scary, but we know the mountains. We know how
far we can go. It is comfortable for us. But there is another path. Our faith
points us to Mount Zion. It is not as well known, it is not as comfortable, it
is new, it is something to get used to, and it is where God leads us.
At the opening session of the National Convocation, William
Chris Hobgood, our current General Minister and President reminded us that these
days call for endurance and great faithfulness because they are filled with what
the Chinese call a dangerous opportunity. It is dangerous because the times are
uncertain, it is an opportunity because it is a time for people of faith for
Christians to live with the faith that tells us that now is the moment for us to
be at our best, and the best waits for us at Mount Zion. Now is not the time to
give up. Have you been watching the Olympics? Did you see Paul Hamm,
the controversy over his medal notwithstanding, and Carly Patterson faced danger
and disappointment? Did you see them give up or did you see them and others face
danger and take the opportunity to seize the moment presented to them to come
back from what looked like certain disaster to incredible triumph? I believe this is a moment for us to take the opportunity in
a culture that too often believes any kind of faith is naďve at its best, and
oppressive at its worst, and say in the name of Jesus Christ, we are neither. In
these days, at this moment, we will dare to say that we will look at the danger
and declare that with Jesus Christ as the source of our courage, “we
are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have
faith and so are saved” (Hebrews
10.39). We are bold to declare that our purpose as followers of his
is to be a welcoming, safe, healing, nurturing community for anybody who wants
to be in relationship with Jesus Christ. How can we say such a thing, given the realities of our
church and sometimes of our lives? We can say such a thing because someplace the
church was that place for us. There is a church, Broad Street for some of us,
other congregations for the rest of us where we first grabbed hold to something
unshakable. It could not cause us to doubt the presence of God, the redemption
of Christ, or the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit. It did not scare us; it
soothed us. It was not a fearsome; it helped us grow in faith, and it wasn’t
unstable, it was an unshakable confidence that helped us become secure followers
of Jesus Christ. A QUESTION FOR YOU: WHAT DOES IS MEAN TO HAVE AN UNSHAKABLE FAITH for the church? For you? Our unshakable faith leads us to honor God. The 28th
verse of this lesson says: “Therefore since we are
receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer
to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a
consuming fire”. THE
QUESTION FOR US IS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WORSHIP GOD WITH REVERENCE AND AWE?
For some, it means bowing before an altar and kneeling to
receive communion. For others it means letting the spirit move as it will, if it
adds time to the worship service, that is OK. I worshiped last Sunday at a
service that began promptly at 10 am and ended at 12.50 pm, with music before
and after, and a woman sharing what felt like an unscheduled word of revelation
for the pastor and his family. No one worried about the time, because for them,
God is worthy of the awe that was present in the service. Here we are among the human made beauty of Jeffrey Mansion
and the paths and equipment and the natural beauty of the trees and grass around
us. We will reverence God by cleaning up after ourselves, and by appreciating
the wonders of nature that surround us, and God will be praised. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, in a spiritual
journey, in a life story and a faith story – one led to Mount Sinai, a place
filled with smoke and fire and is untouchable and the other to Mount Zion where
peace and the New Covenant, and accessibility are present. We are called to
approach these mountains with an unshakable faith and we can because the good
news is that “Sinai and Zion are the same place; the dwelling of the holy God.
They are two paths, two ways to travel, but they meet at the same mountain. “What makes the difference is not the destination, but the
path; Mount Sinai is transformed into Mount Zion – if we go there with Jesus.
Jesus lives on Mount Zion, and he is the royal Son. He spent ‘a little
while’ in the valley, ‘a little while…lower than the angels,’ and he
suffered in every way as we. When his time had come, he cut a new path back up
the hill, and he took us with him. He
walked into the old sanctuary, now called ‘Zion’, pulled back the curtain so
all of us can come confidently in, and said to the God of the Ages, ‘I’m
home, and I have brought the children with me’ (2.10)” (Long,
p. 140). The promise, and it is one that we can trust, is that our unshakable faith will get us home. Thanks be to God, and may Jesus Christ be praised. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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