A Sermon for Proper 24 year B

 

Let us pray.

 

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy,   that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [1]

 

When I was in seminary more years ago than I care to admit, one of my professors taught us to pay attention to the questions that arise when reading a text.  Barbara said that when we pay attention to those questions, we usually learn something interesting about the text, about ourselves and about God.  So when I read over today’s Collect earlier this week, I paid attention to the questions that came to my mind.

 

The first was this: How has God’s glory been revealed among the nations? 

 

The answer wasn’t immediately obvious to me.  In a world where the nations seem so often intent on acting in ways God does not desire, can we say that God’s glory has indeed been revealed among them?  If God’s glory has been revealed among the nations, how has that happened?  It is only when we have some answer to that question, that we might have a chance to answer the other two questions that the Collect raised for me:  

 

What are the works of God’s mercy that need to be preserved? and What is the role of the Church – our role – in doing so as we persevere in steadfast faith?

 

Fortunately, this morning’s Scripture lessons helped me at least begin to answer these questions.  The Hebrew Scripture readings from the Book of Job and Psalm 104 speak of the power and beauty of God’s Creation –certainly one way God’s glory has been revealed in the world.  Speaking to Job, the Creator asks this argumentative man just what he knows about the origins of the Universe:

 

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements-- surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? 

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,

or given understanding to the mind?

Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?

Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together?

Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?

Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food? [2]

The Psalmist speaks in similar terms, now addressing God in words of praise:

 

O LORD my God, how excellent is your greatness!
You are clothed with majesty and splendor.

You have set the earth upon its foundations,
so that it never shall move at any time.

You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle;
the waters stood higher than the mountains.

At your rebuke they fled;
at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.

They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath,
to the places you had appointed for them.

You set the limits that they should not pass;
they shall not again cover the earth.

O LORD, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures. [3]

 

Surely, God’s glory is revealed among the nations, revealed to the world, in the glories of creation. I don’t know why I didn’t see this at first, but I am glad that Job and the Psalm were there to help me.   

 

The more I thought about this, the more I realized that not only is God’s glory in Creation, but to get to my second question, God’s works of mercy are also in Creation.  Creation is what makes life possible, and that is the ultimate act of mercy on God’s part.  The Creation encompasses all of the work’s of God’s mercy;  the mercy that makes life for all possible.  God speaks of this to Job when pointing out that it is God, not Job, who provides food for the lions and the ravens.  What is true of the lions and the ravens is true for us all --  our lives and all that makes them possible come from the works of God’s mercy in Creation.  We live only because God, in mercy, has chosen to give us what we need for life.

 

But how often we forget that!  How often we forget that life itself  – and all that we need to live -- are the result of God’s creative mercy;  that nothing of what we claim to own, including "our" lives, is, in fact, ours. Rather it is rather given to us, moment by moment by God;  even the energy, talents and effort that enable us to create, to make a livelihood, to earn the money that provides for our necessities –all of these themselves are gifts from God.  We own nothing.  All is a gift of God’s mercy. 

 

If that is so, what might it mean for the Church, for us, to persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of God’s Name?  It might just mean acting as if we actually believed that the Creation and all in it is of God’s making; that it all, in the end, belongs to the God who created it all, and that we have been given the use of it to sustain our lives purely as an act of God’s mercy.

 

If we began to think and act this way, we might start to see the absurdity of thinking that anything in this world actually belongs to us.  We might become people who ask not, “what do I want to do with this thing that is I think is “mine?”  but rather people who ask instead,   “How does God, the real owner of this piece of creation that mercifully has been entrusted to my care want me to use it for God’s purposes?”  

 

This, in case, you didn’t know it, is the central question that Christians are called to ask ourselves constantly as stewards of God’s creation.  A steward takes care of stuff that belongs to someone else according to the owner’s wishes.  Doing that with every aspect of the lives is what Christian stewardship is about:  “all we have, all of the time,” as someone has put it.  Stewardship isn’t just about giving money to the Church, though that is an important part of it.  Stewardship is persevering in steadfast, faithful living to preserve the works of God’s mercy in creation in the whole of our lives.
 

Stewardship includes preserving creation by being careful in our use of energy; in the amount of garbage we create and the pollution our vehicles and homes emit.  It includes our work, and how we do it;  it includes generosity to those who do not have the good things of life that most of us take for granted;  it includes how we engage in the political process that shapes how so much of the glories of God’s creation are used – and abused --and so much more.

 

God’s glory has been revealed in creation.  We are called to preserve the works of God’s mercy by persevering in faithful stewardship of that which has been given into our care.  This is not an easy task, especially as we live in a world which constantly brainwashes us to believe that all of this stuff that actual belongs to God belongs to us.  So if we are going to live the truth of what we are about to say in the Creed – I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen – then we are going to need help, God’s help.  So, my friends, let us pray.

 

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy,   that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  

 

 

The Rev. Jack Zamboni,

October 18^th, 2009