What does the Lord require of you? Of us?

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I can’t start without remembering Mary Tyler Moore. I was a young chaplain at a University and the young women professors i hung out with always took time out from there fork to watch her show. Every week. So I did too. I actually preferred Rhoda, but it was clear that Mary Tyler Moore played  a character who they identified with….

What a week it’s been. (Again).. A wall. An immigration ban. It’s Muslims no, “religious minorities,” that is Christians, yes…

It is shameful, it is wrong…

So the question of the day comes to us from Micah…

what does the LORD require of you 

     but to do justice, and to love kindness, 

          and to walk humbly with your God?

We have two prophets,Micah vs. Isaiah, working in the same era. 737-696 BCE. He was one of the minor prophets, with Amos and Hosea. Isaiah was the inside man, working the court. They both had the “swords into plowshares” line, but I’m going with Micah in that one. He came from the country side, prophesied against city. He  experienced the  effects of an invasion, he had seen it coming…not as punishment, but as the natural consequences of a society that lost the bonds that between people that make a society by failing to do justice. 

The Beatitudes answers the question by  spelling it out…in our Bible study, we learned that at the center of the book of Leviticus, there is the ..”neighbor passage”, followed two verses later by “Treat the alien as your neighbor”….this was for Jesus the most important commandment, made real by the Jubilee, the “reset”, the sabbath of Sabbaths that was to occur every 50 years…all debts forgiven, all property back to original owners…perhaps what the Beatitudes are all about is Jesus saying it’s time to make the jubilee real…was it on the Mount? or the plain? Just depends where he was standing…in Luke, he’s preaching to the crowd, but in Matthew, he’s speaking to his disciples, away from the crowd..all the blessings are third person until he gets to what happens when you follow…and then the turn to you…and what will happen..

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Last night, I saw ”Hell or High Water.”  For someone who lived in the west for 10 years, the West Texas setting is familiar territory. Two brothers are robbing banks to redeem their mother’s ranch. The people are sympathetic, refuse to cooperate with the police. The dying towns, the victims of predatory  capitalism…those who have been forgotten by the rest of us..and probably Trump supporters. 

Our epistle takes it further…it’s about us….

26Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

So what does the Lord require of you? Of us? 

Simon and Garfunkel once rewrote  the Beatitudes like this…

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit.

Blessed is the lamb whose blood flows.

Blessed are the sat upon, Spat upon, Ratted on,

O Lord, Why have you forsaken me?

I got no place to go,

I've walked around Soho for the last night or so.

Ah, but it doesn't matter, no.

Blessed is the land and the kingdom.

Blessed is the man whose soul belongs to.

Blessed are the meth drinkers, Pot sellers, Illusion dwellers.

O Lord, Why have you forsaken me?

My words trickle down, like a wound

That I have no intention to heal.

Blessed are the stained glass, window pane glass.

Blessed is the church service makes me nervous

Blessed are the penny rookers, Cheap hookers, Groovy lookers.

O Lord, Why have you forsaken me?

I have tended my own garden

Much too long.

Perhaps we have tended our own gardens too long…what does the Lord require of you? Of us? 

It’s Jeremy’s last Sunday before returning to Switzerland. He leads us in a song:

Courage, Muslim brothers, you do not walk alone

We will walk with you, and song your spirit home. 

Based on a song from the South African struggle. And to honor the promise of new life and hope, he sings a song for his son, Elio. and as a grandfather, I understand. I understand. 

Thank you Leila....note kaffiyeh and stole from Palestine

Pastor Brashear and Jeremy

First Reading Micah 6:1-8

1   Hear what the LORD says: 

          Rise, plead your case before the mountains, 

          and let the hills hear your voice. 

2   Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, 

          and you enduring foundations of the earth; 

     for the LORD has a controversy with his people, 

          and he will contend with Israel.

3   “O my people, what have I done to you? 

          In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 

4   For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, 

          and redeemed you from the house of slavery; 

     and I sent before you Moses, 

          Aaron, and Miriam. 

5   O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, 

          what Balaam son of Beor answered him, 

     and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, 

          that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.”

6  “With what shall I come before the LORD, 

          and bow myself before God on high? 

     Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, 

          with calves a year old? 

7   Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, 

          with ten thousands of rivers of oil? 

     Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, 

          the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 

8   He has told you, O mortal, what is good; 

          and what does the LORD require of you 

     but to do justice, and to love kindness, 

          and to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 15

1   O LORD, who may abide in your tent? 

          Who may dwell on your holy hill?

2   Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, 

          and speak the truth from their heart; 

3   who do not slander with their tongue, 

          and do no evil to their friends, 

          nor take up a reproach against their neighbors; 

4   in whose eyes the wicked are despised, 

          but who honor those who fear the LORD; 

     who stand by their oath even to their hurt; 

5   who do not lend money at interest, 

          and do not take a bribe against the innocent. 

     Those who do these things shall never be moved.

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

18For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, 

     “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, 

          and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 

20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

26Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Gospel Matthew 5:1-12

1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”