With Unveiled Faces (Manuscript)

Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Epiphany 7
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
We are being transformed

12Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

4Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Paul lived in the reality of an ongoing, vibrant, interactive, transformative relationship with the living Lord. Do we?

Paul compared his faith background; zealous, yes, dedicated, yes, given, yes, to what he had now, AFTER meeting the risen Lord, and in his mind it was like comparing apples and oranges. The two were so far apart for him experientially that he could hardly even put them in the same category.

We live in a society that among its strengths counts religious pluralism – freedom of religion – to be a cornerstone. As members of that society, or at least as a people who live surrounded by that society, that CULTURE, and particularly as Baptists who have historically defended that freedom, in order to practice and follow what we understand to be the command of Christ to persuade and convince, not force anyone to espouse a faith in order to arrive at a genuine faith, it is part and parcel of defending that freedom that leads us to respect each individual’s right to practice his or her understanding of faith – or lack of faith, in the hope that IN and FROM that freedom that person WILL be persuaded, whether by their own study or by the humble persuasion of our lives if not our words, into a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the side effects OF that understanding is that we tend to sometimes blur the distinctions between faiths. It’s an easy thing to do. After all, there are, among the three main world religions, different as they are, a few core principles that are shared.

One of those is respect for life. The ‘rule’ to not commit murder that we find in the Hebrew passage of scriptures that WE call the ten commandments is also found in the theology of both the Christian Church and the Muslim faith, terrorist attacks notwithstanding. There are others. A high view of scripture, given that for each of our faiths those scriptures differ, a belief in a sovereign God who is to one degree or another involved or interested in what is going on in the world. And the need to ‘get the word out’ as it were, about just how God is doing that, or expects that to be done, depending on who you talk to.

Obviously, that last point is where we spend a lot of time crashing into each other. So our respective societies have chosen different ways of dealing with that particular issue. While it is not illegal to BE a Christian in a particular Muslim country, or in Israel, it IS illegal to CONVERT to, or CAUSE someone to convert to, faith in Christ if you are a citizen of that country, if you belong to the majority faith. What would seem to us a strange contradiction is in fact a reflection of the view of what it means to belong to the faith community as a member of a Muslim or Jewish Society. What we take for granted, what we have no memory of being without – freedom to believe as we want, to practice our faith as we feel led, and to speak of our faith to others SEEKING faith, is a foreign concept in many many countries around the world.

Paul’s presentation of the Gospel to the people of Corinth struck a chord in their hearts that they immediately grasped – especially with regards to the freedom that we find in Christ. We are free – and through the Holy Spirit empowered – to live a life DIFFERENT from those who came before us, those who live next to us, those who are above us who may or may not attempt to impose one or another precept on us. Our freedom is a spiritual freedom that transcends the boundaries established by human minds – and cultures, and religions.

That is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of living in the glory of God in Christ with unveiled faces.

The opening words of today’s passage are the continuation of the argument he presents from the beginning of chapter 3 – he is speaking of what it means to live in the faith and sure hope that we have in Christ – not based on our own worth or merit, but based on the worth and merit of Jesus Christ, who stands in our place before God. It is THAT hope that he is talking about when he says

‘Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,’

There is no place in Paul’s understanding for the uncertainty of wondering if you are or are not ‘right with God’ at any given moment. It’s actually pretty simple. You either are or you are not, based on whether or not you show evidence of the Holy Spirit acting in your life – through the way you treat others, through the way you act, through your words, through your lifestyle. The two go hand in hand – IF the Spirit is there, it’ll be obvious. If the Spirit is NOT there, THAT will be obvious.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

I guess the question is this: HOW are our faces veiled? What veil do we choose to wear, when we don’t necessarily want anyone to know that we are Christ followers? Or do we not do that?

As many of you know, some Mexican friends of ours were involved in a car accident on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, nobody was killed, but to look at the car is to look at twisted metal and shattered glass and see what a miracle looks like. Wednesday evening as one of the women was being tended to by her nurse, the television was on in the room, so I decided to check and see if there was a Spanish language station included in the selection available. I came across the travel channel. The program was of somebody who was touring around what appeared to be a medieval city somewhere in southern Europe, it seemed to be Italy. The scenery was nice, the buildings were old and obviously historic, so I left it there (there wasn’t a Spanish language option available). Just a few minutes after I left the television tuned to that station, that program ended, and the next one to come on was the World Poker Tour. Apparently this contest travels around the country and hosts playoffs, with several dozen tables playing at the same time, and as the winners of each table get sorted out, the remaining winners eventually get to play at the championship table, and that is the one that makes the program. You’ve heard the term ‘poker face, or game face?’ These people have it down to a science. They divulge NOTHING. The table is set up with cameras that allow us to see what each player has in their hand, but you couldn’t tell it from looking at their faces.

There have been a few occasions when Leslie or I have been asked to speak at different places, and it turns out to be a ‘dead room’ it can sometimes feel like a poker game is going on standing in front of a crowd like that. It is immeasurably encouraging to be able to look out at your faces and see responses – smiles, nods, frowns sometimes, cocked heads, or to hear your responses – sometimes a quiet or not-so-quiet ‘amen’, or a vigorous nod of the head, or a big smile, a laugh, listening is an active thing – yes, it can be a passive thing as well, we all know that, but to engage in active listening is to be communicating back and forth – acknowledging what is being said, or responding in such a way as to communicate your own perception of something – it is in a sense an unveiling of our faces to be engaged in this dialogue, because the ministry of proclamation really IS an ongoing dialogue. Sometimes the other side of the conversation is verbalized after the service, in a phone call, in a conversation that picks up later in the week or on a Wednesday night, but most consistently it is a dialogue that takes place even now, as we are here together in this room.

That boldness that we find through Christ allows us to take those veils that can so easily go up between us, keep us apart, keep us separate, keep us at a distance from each other, not allowing us to really be able to look into each other’s eyes and see what is in our lives – the hurt, the struggle, the pain, yes, but also the joys and laughter, the humor and gentleness that reminds us how alike we really are, and even when we find we ARE different, we are still sons and daughters of God, beloved of the begotten.

Let’s pray.

With Unveiled Faces (Actual)

Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Epiphany 7
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

12Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
4Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Paul lived in the reality of an ongoing, vibrant, interactive, transformative relationship with the living Lord. Do we?

Paul compared his faith background; zealous, yes, dedicated, yes, given, yes, to what he had now, AFTER meeting the risen Lord, and in his mind it was like comparing apples and oranges. The two were so far apart for him experientially that he could hardly even put them in the same category.

We live in a society that among its strengths counts religious pluralism – freedom of religion – to be a cornerstone. As members of that society, or at least as a people who live surrounded by that society, that CULTURE, and particularly as Baptists who have historically defended that freedom, in order to practice and follow what we understand to be the command of Christ to persuade and convince, not force anyone to espouse a faith in order to arrive at a genuine faith, it is part and parcel of defending that freedom that leads us to respect each individual’s right to practice his or her understanding of faith – or lack of faith, in the hope that IN and FROM that freedom that person WILL be persuaded, whether by their own study or by the humble persuasion of our lives if not our words, into a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the side effects OF that understanding is that we tend to sometimes blur the distinctions between faiths. It’s an easy thing to do. After all, there are, among the three main world religions, different as they are, a few core principles that are shared.

One of those is respect for life. The ‘rule’ to not commit murder that we find in the Hebrew passage of scriptures that WE call the ten commandments is also found in the theology of both the Christian Church and the Muslim faith, terrorist attacks notwithstanding. There are others. A high view of scripture, given that for each of our faiths those scriptures differ, a belief in a sovereign God who is to one degree or another involved or interested in what is going on in the world. And the need to ‘get the word out’ as it were, about just how God is doing that, or expects that to be done, depending on who you talk to.

Obviously, that last point is where we spend a lot of time crashing into each other. So our respective societies have chosen different ways of dealing with that particular issue. While it is not illegal to BE a Christian in a particular Muslim country, or in Israel, it IS illegal to CONVERT to, or CAUSE someone to convert to, faith in Christ if you are a citizen of that country, if you belong to the majority faith. What would seem to us a strange contradiction is in fact a reflection of the view of what it means to belong to the faith community as a member of a Muslim or Jewish Society. What we take for granted, what we have no memory of being without – freedom to believe as we want, to practice our faith as we feel led, and to speak of our faith to others SEEKING faith, is a foreign concept in many many countries around the world.

Paul’s presentation of the Gospel to the people of Corinth struck a chord in their hearts that they immediately grasped – especially with regards to the freedom that we find in Christ. We are free – and through the Holy Spirit empowered – to live a life DIFFERENT from those who came before us, those who live next to us, those who are above us who may or may not attempt to impose one or another precept on us. Our freedom is a spiritual freedom that transcends the boundaries established by human minds – and cultures, and religions.

That is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of living in the glory of God in Christ with unveiled faces.

The opening words of today’s passage are the continuation of the argument he presents from the beginning of chapter 3 – he is speaking of what it means to live in the faith and sure hope that we have in Christ – not based on our own worth or merit, but based on the worth and merit of Jesus Christ, who stands in our place before God. It is THAT hope that he is talking about when he says,

‘Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,’

There is no place in Paul’s understanding for the uncertainty of wondering if you are or are not ‘right with God’ at any given moment. It’s actually pretty simple. You either are or you are not, based on whether or not you show evidence of the Holy Spirit acting in your life – through the way you treat others, through the way you act, through your words, through your lifestyle. The two go hand in hand – IF the Spirit is there, it’ll be obvious. If the Spirit is NOT there, THAT will be obvious.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

I guess the question is this: HOW do WE veil our faces? What veil do we choose to wear, when we don’t necessarily want anyone to know that we are Christ followers? Or do we not do that?

When we are asked, “How are you doing?” do we answer “Fine, fine!” when inside we are crumbling? One of the most significant events in my spiritual journey was walking into a sanctuary where, when people asked how I was feeling, I could tell them honestly and it would engage in conversation. They would respond, they would actually expect me to tell them how I really WAS feeling, whether I was happy or sad, whether I was despondent or angry. The place of honesty is critical within the freedom that we have in Christ.

As many of you know, some Mexican friends of ours were involved in a car accident on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, nobody was killed, but to look at the car is to look at twisted metal and shattered glass and see what a miracle looks like. Wednesday evening as one of the women was being tended to by her nurse, the television was on in the room, so I decided to check and see if there was a Spanish language station included in the selection available. I came across the travel channel. The program was of somebody who was touring around what appeared to be a medieval city somewhere in southern Europe, it seemed to be Italy. The scenery was nice, the buildings were old and obviously historic, so I left it there (there wasn’t a Spanish language option available). Just a few minutes after I left the television tuned to that station, that program ended, and the next one to come on was the World Poker Tour. Apparently this contest travels around the country and hosts playoffs, with several dozen tables playing at the same time, and as the winners of each table get sorted out, the remaining winners eventually get to play at the championship table, and that is the one that makes the program. You’ve heard the term ‘poker face, or game face?’ The table is set up with cameras that allow us to see what each player has in their hand, and if you were looking at their face, with somebody who has a pair of fours … not that I know that much about poker … I don’t know if a pair of fours are any better than a pair of eights, except that the number is higher or lower, whatever, you wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at their faces what is going on … of course, that’s part of the game – you bluff – but it reminded me of how we can do that so easily. In some ways we’re encouraged by our society to hide our true feelings, to distance ourselves. Those veils we put up, cheerful, everything’s fine, people don’t want to necessarily – at least we’re given the impression – people don’t necessarily want to know how you are doing.

What an opportunity to be different, HERE, isn’t it? That when we approach each other and greet each other during the Jerusalem Hand of Welcome – although that’s a good starting place, because the service progresses, wouldn’t that be wonderful if that lead to a conversation after the service, where you can share together and pray together, cry if need be, lean on each other. It is an opportunity to strengthen and form the bond that Christ charged us with: to BE the body of Christ, to be there with and for each other, to share in the joys, to share in the sorrows and the pain, to share in the laughter. When we respond in the freedom that we understand Christ gives us, then we become … frankly, we become vulnerable. A lot of us are uncomfortable with that concept, no matter who we are talking to.

But in becoming vulnerable, you share your frailties; you share, perhaps with someone who has the same need of being encouraged, of being built up, to be strengthened. There is a small miracle that happens when hearts and minds are joined, whether in prayer or in laughter, where both were separately weak, they are together strengthened, and that is a sure reflection of the Kingdom breaking into the world.

Let’s pray.

Credo

Sunday, February 4th, 2007
Epiphany 5
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Why are we here?

I don’t mean that in the rhetorical, theoretical sense, I mean literally here, today, sitting and standing in this sanctuary? What compels us, if anything, to come together on Sunday mornings and sing and pray and give and read and listen, and then come back week after week?

Is there something in our genetic makeup as humans that calls us out in search of something greater than ourselves, some greater consciousness that we can call ‘God’ and feel safer for being in his good graces? Is that the thing that Saint Augustine called the ‘God Shaped hole’ in us?

I remember watching documentaries about Stone Age tribes on islands in the south pacific, or in the interior of the Amazon jungle, and almost invariably at some point in the commentary, the religious practices are explained. There’s usually a priest or a shaman or some designated person who serves as an intermediary between the tribe and their respective god or gods … this person tells people what they are to do or not do, and how they are to please that god.

I ask myself are we that different? Is our version of god and our intermediary just a little more cleaned up and less inclined to expect a ring through our noses in order to be happy with us?

What is still an oral tradition for those tribes – not yet having their language in writing – is what we have had for almost two thousand years – Holy Scriptures. And there is a finality to seeing something in writing that somehow seems to lend it more weight than simply the spoken word.

I wonder if there are members of those tribes who are just going along because that is WHERE THEY LIVE, because it’s their family, because if they didn’t go along it would be noticed and frowned on. Is it our ability to disassociate our minds and hearts from what is coming out of our mouths that makes us … better than them? More advanced? Other words come to mind, and they are not necessarily expressions of admiration.

If their expressions of religiosity are on some level parallel to our own, then we are not that far apart in terms of a sense of need, of longing, of reconnection (re-ligion – re-tieing) to our creator. The difference is, of course, notable in the direction of our efforts. It was this difference in direction that Paul was addressing with the Church in Corinth as well. There is human endeavor and there is divine intervention.

In today’s passage, we find Paul beginning to deal with what is at the heart of his letter to the church in Corinth, that is, the fact of the resurrection of Christ and it’s implications for their lives – and ours as well – he was going to the heart of the Gospel. What the Gospel actually turns on. Another way of putting it: this event, this resurrection that we will begin to move towards in a specific, intentional way as we approach and move through the season of Lent, leading up to the celebration of Easter, this event is what turns the story of Jesus from an insignificant historical footnote to a cosmically transformative cataclysm.

Paul is dealing with the specifics of the situation in Corinth, but it is difficult to tell from the way he writes to whom he is directing his arguments. The words, and the way he uses the words, are rare in the rest of Paul’s writings, so there is no solid point of reference in terms of comparing it to what he says in other letters to get an understanding of what he means with them here.

He is, in a sense, putting his faith on the line – he is saying ‘this is what I received, this is what I believe, and this is what I taught – delivered is the word actually used – to you when I was with you.’ All in the face of reports that what he had taught – that core of the Gospel – had been cast aside for ideas that fell more in line with what the citizens of Corinth were used to hearing and believing all their lives. For example, that there was no resurrection of the body, that it was only the soul that was immortal, that Christ had risen in spirit only, and that we should not expect anything different. That our resurrection in some sense had already occurred when we became a follower of Christ. It disassociated the belief from the living, and the result was that it gave them permission to do just about anything they wanted.

These contradicted what were central beliefs to the early church – those that were most clearly and most quickly identified as fundamental to the faith. Scholars believe that the latter portion of verse three through the end of verse five actually are a quote of those beliefs:

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas …

The Latin word ‘Credo’ means ‘I Believe.’ It is, you may have guessed, the same word from which we get the word ‘Creed’ – usually used to refer to one’s belief system or worldview. Most of us have heard of the Apostle’s Creed, or the Nicene Creed, but as good Baptists, we have not committed them to memory, since we, historically have stood on the principle of ‘no creed but the Bible’ when it comes to such things. And yet, it is important to periodically, if not continually, delve into what it is that makes us DO what we DO, especially on Sunday mornings, if for no other reason than to make sure that we are still engaged in exercising our faith through exercising our minds and hearts, not simply going through repetitive motions each week.

So what do we believe as individuals, as members of this family of faith, as members of the universal church, as followers of Christ? Do we really, truly believe that Jesus was beaten, crucified, died, and buried? Do we truly believe that God raised him from the dead on the third day?

If we do believe those things, what implications does that have for our lives? How is that going to play out in how we carry on, on a daily basis?

What does saying that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Let’s look at just those two things – that Jesus died, and that Jesus arose from the dead.

The first is a statement that is more related to life as we know it from an earthly standpoint. We have, almost to a person, been faced with the death of someone we know or love, we know what it is like for someone to be there, talking, laughing, and singing alongside, hugging, whatever … and a short while later to NOT be there, seemingly irretrievably gone.

There is nothing we can do or say that will bring them back to us. As time passes, we move on as best we can, sometimes with a gaping wound in our lives, and sometimes with a not quite so painful … space … where before we shared a meal on a certain night of the week, or a phone call at a particular time of day, now there is silence. That is what the first statement resonates with inside of us when we hear it.

The second statement is different. “Jesus arose from the dead.” How crazy is that? How contrary can you get? There is nothing we know that is as final as death. And yet, here, at the core of the Gospel is this statement that is basically saying that it ain’t necessarily so. That death is not the end, but in a proportional way, it is more of a beginning. To say that Jesus arose from the dead is to turn OUR reality, OUR limited, fragile, shortsighted, self-absorbed, provincial, anthropocentric world view on its ear and say “maybe there really IS more to life than I’ve assumed there was ‘til now.”

Saying and believing it means opening ourselves up to possibilities that we can’t even imagine, which could end up putting us in places we’d never expect to be – whether that be HERE, standing in this pulpit on Sunday mornings, or talking to a stranger at the post office, or in the hardware store, striking up a conversation for no good reason other than because you just felt like you HAD TO speak to them in a friendly, compassionate way. And in the course of the conversation to make a connection, to make a difference in the way that person’s day was going, and give them a sense that they truly are not alone, just as we realize we are not alone by coming and being a part of this community.

The audacity of the Gospel is to proclaim a reality that we can only see dimly, if at all. To proclaim in faith that this is not the final reality, where we are right now, but that it is a temporary one, a passing moment – the writer of James calls this life ‘a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes’.

To believe the Gospel is to believe that what we do here matters, yes, but that what is to be is the truth of our existence. That the Kingdom of God is higher and deeper and broader and stronger and MORE than we can even imagine, but that it IS THERE.

The invitation today is to live in THAT reality, and in THAT living, bring IT into THIS fragile one.

Let’s pray.