The Giving Tree

Sermon as Preached at Evington UMC on 9/14/14 and at Lambs UMC on 9/28/14

Read 1 Chronicles 29:10-19

This morning we are going to talk about what is probably most people’s least favorite thing to talk about in church, giving. I don’t know how many people I’ve heard who complain about their pastor talking too much about money or giving, when the truth is that most people just don’t want to hear about it. People question, isn’t there something better to talk about than giving, but in reality a majority of Jesus’s teachings centered around not sex or war but on money. It is an important issue to talk about in the life of the church as well as in our lives in general. I think the reason that most people hate hearing about in church is because our understanding of giving is all wrong.

            So let me shape our discussion this morning around one of my favorite children’s books. “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. Many of you may know and love this book too, in fact this year it celebrates 50 years of publication.  The book is about a tree and a boy. The boy climbs the tree and swings from its branches and plays all over the tree. The tree loves the boy and the boy loves the tree. As the boy grows up however he starts to grow distant from the tree. One day he returns to the tree saying he needs money to make him happy. The tree says she cannot give money, but tells him to take her apples and sell them in the city. The boy leaves for a while again and when he comes back again he tells the tree that he wants a wife and kids and a house to make him happy. The tree tells the boy to cut off all of her limbs to go make a house for his family. The boy is gone for a while again, and when he comes back the boy is depressed and says he just wants a boat to sail away in. The tree offers her trunk, and the boy cuts her down to make a boat. In his old age the boy return to the tree which now is only a stump. The tree explains that she has nothing left to give, but the old man says all he needs is a place to rest, and tree says, “well an old stump, is good for sitting and resting.” And the boy and the tree were happy.

How many of us feel like the tree in this story?  Especially in this economic time it feels as though we are picked apart until there is nothing left to give, we have so many demands. There are grocery bills, light bills, phone bills, we have to put gas in our cars and we all know how expensive that it. Those with children have clothes and school supplies and everything else under the sun to provide. Many of us have doctor’s bills, hospital bills, and medication to buy. And then there is the surprise we didn’t expect; the flat tire, the sick dog, the wisdom teeth that need to be taken out. On top of all of this good ole’ Uncle Sam takes his fair share of our money as well. So when we come to church and we are expected to give to the church it almost like
“you too? I have nothing left to give.”

            The problem is that we are not the giving tree, we are the boy in the story and the tree is God.  We like the boy love God, most of us remember the very moment in which we first experienced God.  We can reminisce about the experience and how it made us feel, the time we spent with the Lord. And we still love the Lord, but life got in the way. The pursuit of our own happiness, our own pleasure got in the way. We started to crave money and lo and behold god has given us the gifts in order to obtain it. As time goes on we form a family whether biological or a family of friends, and God helped us in our needs. As we got older we just wanted rest and in different ways God has provided. While we have gone through life seeking our own needs and satisfactions, we have lost sight of the fact that all we have is indeed because of the Lord. We forget that God is the own very existence, is from God. And yet knowing this we often take the mindset of the boy and only return to God when there is something that we need.  We begin to view money as ours, as something that we worked to earn, and forget that it all comes from God. Because it’s not like the boy didn’t have to work. He had to pick the apples to sell them in the city. He had to cut the branches and build a house. He had to cut down the tree and make a boat out of it, and yet he never stopped to give thanks. How often do we cut down the tree that God offers us and never stop to even give God thanks?

            The key to understand Church giving is to understand that we are not giving from what we have, but from what God has given us. King David certainly understood this in our passage for today. He says, “Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might; and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. ¹³ And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name.” David understood that all we have comes from God and that all we give is giving back to God. 

            He also understood another crucial element about giving, that it is done out of the goodness of our hearts, not because we are forced to do it. David cries out to God, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. ¹⁵ For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶ O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. ¹⁷ I know, my God, that you search the heart, and take pleasure in uprightness; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.”  Why is David giving so much of what he has to the Lord? Is it because he is forced to? Is it because the Lord demands it from him? Is it because if he doesn’t he will go to hell? No, David gives to the Lord because he recognizes that all that he has is from the Lord. He gives to the Lord as a way of praise and thanksgiving.  David is not coerced into giving, he gives joyfully, and the people of Israel follow his example and give joyfully as well. We as Christians are called to offer our gifts not out of force or habit, but we are called to give with joyful hearts. Many of you may have heard the term collection or collection plate used before when discussing giving, but this is not a term we should use. Our gifts are not membership dues, our gifts don’t buy us salvation, our gifts should be given with joyful hearts. That is why we use the term offering, because we or offering back to God what God has given. At the same time we are offering them not as a way to try and control what happens, but rather trusting our gifts in the hands of the Lord.

            One may ask then, what is the purpose of our gifts if they are not a requirement or if they don’t help us get saved?  Our gifts help us to serve the Lord.  In our chapter for today from 1 Chronicles David is trying to raise money in order to build the Temple for God.  We should not confuse this Temple for just some shrine or homage to God, but this Temple is to be a place in which God resided. Throughout the Torah, God had given instructions for how to set up a tabernacle in the wilderness, a place in which prayers and offerings would be given. It may sound strange to us now, but in simplest terms it was a tent for God, where God dwelt among them. Now under David, the Kingdom of Israel was at its height. No more wandering around in the wilderness, the nation was now established, and the land was theirs.  Still, David recognized the importance of keeping the tabernacle, a place for God to dwell, but now that they were no longer nomadic, the Israelites could build a permanent tabernacle; the Temple. The Temple was going to be the focal point of the city. Trade and commerce would happen just outside; people from all around would come to deliver their offerings up to God and to seek atonement for their sins. In others words the Temple would become the most important building in the city.

            But there was one problem, the people have never had a Temple before. God had always been with them in the tabernacle as they traveled from one place to another. They had no idea what a Temple would even be like or what it could do, and then of course there is the little issue of raising money for this massive project. Building the Temple for God was not a cheap endeavor, and David was in charge of the fund raising efforts.  David’s success in fund raising the necessary funds was because of two actions: He gave a vision for what the Temple would be, and he led by example.

            As I said earlier, the Israelites had no idea what the Temple would be, so David starts his fundraising actually in the chapter before ours this morning by laying out blueprints for the Temple. He first starts with the fact that the Temple will be holy, and since David had shed so much blood in battle, it would not be he, but his son Solomon who actually builds the Temple. He then gives a vision for the Temple. It would be a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant, it would be a place for God to dwell in the city; it will be a fulfilling of the promise that as long as the people of Israel honor the Lord, the Lord will establish the kingdom forever. And then after this David laid out step by step blueprints for how this would be accomplished. He listed the different rooms in the Temple and how they would be used, so that after the people heard what David had to say, they knew the purpose of the Temple and how it would be accomplished.

            I think that sometimes giving in churches across the country is low, is because we forget exactly why we are giving and what we are giving to. We lose a vision of what the church is and what it can do. Like the giving tree sometimes we need to be reminded that the apples can be sold, the limbs can be used for lumber, and the trunk can make a boat. So often we forget the ways the church is already being used. Your gifts allow us to reach out to members of our community when they are struggling with food or keeping their lights on. Your gifts allowed us to help in the relief efforts of hurricanes, fires, mudslides and tornados all around our country and around the world. Your gifts have helped to give scholarships to students with financial struggles so that they may be able to go to college. Your gifts have helped to establish a college in Africa where students from all different countries have come to study. Yes your gifts do also pay for church maintenance and for my salary, but think of how that has been used for worship, for Bible studies, for baptizing new members and powerful times of comfort and healing such as funerals. Your gifts already do such much, and yet think of what else we could do. We could provide hearing assistance devices during worship, we could renovate the church creating a kitchenette upstairs to make a kitchen more accessible, we could help make sure that the shelves of DAWN are always stocked, and we can save the lives of countless children dying of malaria overseas. Through your gifts we could do so much.

            And yet the second aspect of David success is that he led by example. Before asking anything of anyone else David brought his own gold and silver and gave it to the Lord. Seeing this action, the other members of the community brought whatever surplus it was that they had to give as well.  I bring this up because I want you to know that I do not ask of you anything that I do not first ask of myself. I do tithe, and I don’t say this to brag or as a form of judgment, because there were times in my life were in fact I gave very little. But I tithe because I believe in this church, I believe in what Holy Spirit can do with the gifts that we offer. I believe that through God all of those dreams and aspirations that we have for this place are possible. I give because the Lord has already given me everything. No I am not rich, yes I still struggle paycheck to paycheck to pay my bills, but yet still everything I have is because of God. In fact the very breath that we all take is from the God. I no longer want to be like the boy in the giving tree who keeps taking and taking without any real gratitude, no I want to be the tree. I want to be the tree that gives and gives, serves and serves and yet is happy in all that she gives. Don’t you want to be a giving tree? Don’t you want to freely give with a joyful heart. Don’t you want to see the beautiful visions God has for this church come to fruition? I want to give with a joyful heart because I have already received from the greatest giving tree the world has ever know, the tree on which Jesus gave us all.  

The Privilege of Discipleship

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 9/21/14

Read Philippians 1:21-30

In 1878 Wallace Hartley was born in the town of Colne, England.  His father was the Sunday superintendent as well as the choir master of a Methodist church in town. There Wallace learned a love for God and a love for music. Wallace became a wonderful musician himself and even made his living playing violin. He himself became began leader of a band in Liverpool and where they played around the area as well as provided entertainment aboard many ships. In 1912 Hartley was engaged to be married.  He had become a quite successful violinist and planned to settle down in a career of concert performances at home. Hartley however by contract had one last gig to perform, aboard a new and spectacular cruise liner like no one else had ever seen before, the RMS Titanic. As we all know, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank, and Hartley never made it back home. Band members were considered second class citizens aboard the prestigious ship, and there were no life boats left for them. We hear however from survivors tales that that as the ship was going down, as people were fleeing for their lives in lifeboats and while others were falling to their deaths, the band played to ease the nerves of those around. That band playing as the ship sank is something that has been depicted in stories and movies for years ever since, including the 90’s blockbuster Titanic in which there is a scene in which the band plays and the character of Wallace Hartley himself says to his bandmates, “Gentlemen it has been a privilege playing with you this evening.”

            What about this was a privilege? Hartley was about to die. He was considered a second class citizen and left behind while hundreds who were deemed better than him fled for safety. He was only on this boat because he was contractually required to, he had a concert performance waiting at home for him when he returned, and worst of all he had a fiancée at home that he would never get the chance to marry. What about this was a privilege?  We expect a privilege to be an honor which many others do not get the chance to have. We view privilege as something that makes us better, more comfortable, healthier and wealthier than others. We view privilege as something that is supposed to make things easy. And yet Wallace Hartley can teach us a little about privilege, through the way he lived in his last moments.

            This morning we begin a sermon series called “Being Like Christ.”  Throughout the next few weeks we will be looking through Paul’s letter to the Philippians to see what we can learn about discipleship, about being like Christ. Before we look at Paul’s advice for how to be like Christ, how to be a better disciple, we first need to answer why do we want to be a disciple in the first place? Paul addresses this question in the first chapter of his letter; which is our lesson for this morning.

            Paul like most Christians understood what his faith in Christ meant for him personally. He understood the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He understood that through his resurrection, Christ conquered sin and death and offers to us the hope of eternal life. Finally Paul understood that through faith this hope of eternal life could become a reality. He knew that in death,  he would actually a greater life; a life nearer to Christ. A life in heaven. As Christians this is a hope that we all hold on to. That no matter what troubles or turmoil we face in this life here on Earth, that through  Christ we have the hope of eternal life. This is a truth that gives us great hope in times of trouble, it often can help the healing process when we lose a loved one. This hope is central to our faith as Christians….but as Christians do we focus too much on this hope. Do we miss the wider scope of Jesus teaching and only focus on what it means for us. Do we become too self-centered even in our faith, that what truly matters to us is not what is the Lord’s will, but rather what is in it for us.

            This is a problem that we find Paul wrestling with this morning. He says, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.”  In other words, Paul’s greatest desire is to be with Christ and he knows that in death, he will be with Christ.  At this time Paul is writing to the Philippians from prison, still awaiting trial and not no knowing whether or not he will be killed. In the midst of all of this turmoil, Paul recognizes that death would in fact be joy, for he would be with the Lord. The way he talks it almost sounds like Paul hopes for death. But Paul also recognizes a conundrum, a catch-22.  Dying and eternal life is a personal gain, but living for Christ serves the Lord.  Paul could wish for death  and the personal good news that goes along with eternal life, or Paul could wish for life, knowing that through the gifts given to him by the Holy Spirit, there will be fruitful work of service to the Lord. Paul has to ask himself, am I in it for myself or am I in it for Christ?

            This is a question that we must also ask ourselves this morning. Are we in it for ourselves or are we in it for Christ. Now this can present a false dichotomy, that if we are in it for Christ then there is no personal benefit, which we know is not true. However we must ask ourselves what is our reason for following Christ? What is our motivation for being a Christian? Do we follow Christ so that we may be saved, or do we follow Christ because he saves us. I know this sounds knit-picky but there is a difference. If we are following Christ so that we may be saved, then our motivation for all that we do is ourselves. We become self-centered, we love others, we love God in hopes of a future benefit for ourselves. But if we follow God because Christ saves us, our motivation is then not our own future preservation, but our motivation becomes gratitude, praise, and true love of God and true love of others. It is this question that Paul wrestles with, and it is why he says he wishes to stay, so that he may continue to minister with joy to the people of Philippi and to all he can.

             Paul gets it, and he tries to explain it to the Philippians saying, “For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.” Paul tells the people that as Christians we are privileged to believe in Jesus Christ, we are privileged to experience eternal life, but then Paul adds that we are also privileged to suffer for Christ as well. Now we get back to that question again, how is that a privilege? This is like Wallace Hartley who was about to lose all of his hopes and dreams, who was going to lose his life calling it a privilege to play with the band onboard the Titanic.  How is that a privilege? How is it a privilege for Paul to give his high esteemed job as a Pharisee and become a lowly servant of Christ? How was it a privilege for him to be stricken blind on the road to Damascas? How was it a privilege for him to be writing to these people in Philippi while locked away in jail potentially facing the end of his life? Sure believing in Christ is a privilege, sure eternal life is a privilege, but how is suffering for Christ, how is this call to discipleship a privilege?

            Paul teaches us that discipleship is a privilege because for whereas in death we gain Christ, but in living we get to be with Christ. More than that however, through discipleship, we in a small way get to be Christ for the world. Not that we ourselves are Christ, I don’t think anyone of us are as bold or careless to say something like that, and even with how brash Paul was, he would never claim to be either. I think this understanding of discipleship as being Christ in the world is best summed up in the words of one of the top theologians in the world today, Stanley Hauerwas. When asked in a video documentary what it means to be Christian, Hauerwas responded, “We are God’s witness in the world to be a sign that God has not abandoned the world to sin, that is what I take being Christian to entail.”[1] When asked where he saw signs of God not abandoning the world Hauerwas replied God shows he is not abandoning the world through the Lárche movement, an international organization that builds community around adults with intellectual disabilities. God shows he is not abandoning the world through the Catholic Worker, a movement to help the poor and needy but also address the injustices in the system that continue to oppress the poor. God shows that the world is not abandoned through people like Martin Luther King who fought for civil rights through non-violent means. God’s act of not abandoning the world is seen in those who take time to teach children who have had difficulties learning to read. According to Hauerwas, God not abandoning the world is seen through many Christians who through small acts, neighborly acts that help us discover what Gods’ peace looks like.

This is the privilege of discipleship; that we are in a small way able to be to the world what Christ has been to us. That through our actions, the world may recognize that God has not abandoned us to a world of sin.  Jesus came to Earth and fed the hungry, through organizations like DAWN, Parkview as well as our own outreach we too can feed the hungry. Jesus healed the sick, and through efforts like Imagine No Malaria we too can help heal the sick. Jesus ate and associated with sinners, and we too can show those who have been rejected those who feel lost that God has not abandoned them. Christ, the one who gave us all, even suffered for us, and as Paul reminds us we too are privileged to suffer for Christ. That God so loves us that not only through believing in him that we may be saved, but that we have been trusted, we have been giving to carry on the ministry that Christ began in the world. That we have been given the privilege of taking up our cross and following Christ.

When we truly think about it, through discipleship are we not nearer to Christ than we could ever imagine. Sure in death we may rest in Christ in paradise and that will be greater than anything we ever knew, but we do not need to sit back and wait to be close to Christ. When we serve the Lord, when we truly take on a life of discipleship, when we become for the world a sign that God has not abandoned us, are our crosses not lifted up so that we may dwell in presence of the one crowned in glory, yet crowned in thorns?

This is the privilege of discipleship, that through service we may be a beacon to the world, through service we are able to be nearer to Christ. Maybe this is the privilege that Wallace Hartley spoke about that fateful night as the Titanic began to sink. Through his music he was able to bring some level of peace or calm in the midst of the chaos. It is said that those on the lifeboats could hear the music playing as the floated away. And to those destined to die with the ship his music may have brought comfort and hope in their last moments on Earth.  Inspired by his faith, Hartley once told a friend that if he were ever on a ship that sank that the last song he would play would be the hymn “Nearer, my God to Thee”  Now there is wide speculation of what was played on that fateful night, most historians agree that the band probably played the popular French song “Song of Autumn.”  However Titanic historian Philip Gowan recounts one sailor’s account of that evening that at the end it could be heard a lone violin playing “Nearer, my God to Thee” most certainly Hartley fulfilling his promise. And how fitting a hymn indeed because in that moment as Hartley would soon claim the victory eternal life and enter into the company of heaven with God, and yet in his final moments still serving the Lord was not Hartley in that moment truly nearer to God. That is a privilege.

           

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[1] “What is a Christian” http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/what-is-a-christian

Where Two or Three Are Gathered

Sermon as Preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 9/7/14




Read Matthew 18:15-20

Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them[i].”  This verse has become sort of a rallying for many Christians today. On a day in which attendance is low, it is a way of reminding us that the worship still mattered. Sometimes it is used to justify vaguely Christian activities like potlucks to say that since we are gathering it is a time where God is present. The phrase has also been used in some more unorthodox ways as well. I have heard it used to almost scare teens away from doing some sinful act by telling by  telling them that God is watching them when two are three are gathered.  Sadly it has also been used as an excuse not to be a part of any church at all, saying that “I don’t need the Church, I gather with two or three people and so God is with us.” When we treat this verse as if it stands alone in scripture, we lose sight of the fact that this verse is really talking about conflict in the church.

            Here in our passage from Matthew, Jesus is teaching us how to react as both an individual and as a community when a member of the church sins against us. But if we read this text from our common Western understanding of Church, then we will fall into the trap of reading this scripture legalistically; as a set of rules to follow to rule and govern the church. The problem is that in today’s culture, Church has become something that we attend, something that we consume. You become a member of a church like you would become a member of the Ruritan or Lion’s club. Our typical approach to conflict is then to either simply leave the church or create a schism within it.  This is not the model of Church that Jesus is addressing in our passage. While we are talking about members in a church, the more literal reading of brother or sister might be more helpful, because what we are really talking about is a family.[ii] It is a family that through baptism we are made part of. It is not a business model of Church but a family model. It is a model like Paul describes of one unified body in which all of the parts have an important role[iii]. When Jesus addresses conflict then in the church it is not as easy as simply leaving or removing a member, because that is like severing a part of the body, like removing an arm or a leg.

            When we begin to see the nature of the church in this way, we realize that our scripture for today is not a bureaucratic method for handling conflict, but is really an intimate, spirit filled hope for reconciliation and healing. Jesus therefore starts the dialogue at the most intimate level, between the individuals involved. “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.[iv]”  Here we see value placed upon both members of the Church. The offender is not to be shamed publicly, but the differences should tried to be worked out first in private. At the same time the issue is not swept under the rug. There is a response here required of both members. The member who is offended must enter with an attitude of forgiveness, yet at the same time the one who has sinned against the other needs to also repent; for its not actually healing if the abusive action still continues. Now anyone who has ever faced any conflict know that this is much easier said than done. If we have wronged someone it is a lot easier to point the finger back at the other instead of addressing the sin within. At the same time when we have been wronged it is hard to not harbor heated feeling towards the other and to truly forgive. This work of reconciliation is not supposed to be easy, and yet Christ reminds us that in such difficult moments, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.

            What if that doesn’t work though? What are we to do? Don’t give up, because you matter, they matter, and the health of the body of Christ matters. In the early 1900s tensions were high between Greece and Bulgaria. They had just fought in the second Balkan War and now strong divisions were made between the two. One day a Greek soldier was chasing his runaway dog, accidentally crossed into Bulgaria, and was shot. This started another battle between the two countries resulting in the deaths of 50 people before other countries helped to negotiate a ceasefire[v]. Think of the lives that could have been saved if the two countries had help talking about their differences earlier, but instead lives were lost over a runaway dog.   How many times have we had a disagreement with someone and it just turned into a he said she said battle. Or have ever been in a disagreement where you and the other person were just talking past each other and not really to each other. How helpful can it be simply to have others with you to help you and the other person hear and see things that both of you were blind to before things escalate over something like a runaway dog? This is why Christ tells us if the person still persists in their abusive ways, us to take one or two others with us and go try again.  Once again we see value being put on both the person offended and the one offending.  We have to recognize that bringing others with us is not to gang up on the other person but to truly seek help. It is to recognize that the conflict is not something you can work out alone. It brings in new eyes and ears to the situation and it avoids the he said she said battle. We bring in others with the hope that other members of the body of Christ may help heal part that is wounded. When this encounter is done in the spirit of prayer and love then our hope for healing is not misguided, for where two or three are gathered, I am among you.

            Just as clot in the leg affects not only the leg but the whole body, so too conflict between members of the body of Christ affects the whole body. While the health of the members is important, the health of the body is also important, and for that reason there comes a time where a conflict needs to be addressed by the whole church.  Attempts have been made in private for forgiveness and repentance, others have been brought into the discussions and yet still them member continues sinning against the other. Here there church as a whole enters again into attempts of reconciliation and healing. Again it is important that we don’t view this as a tribunal where the fate of the member is decided, but rather the church as a whole’s attempt at healing. That being said, the health and welfare of the Church is important. Jesus says, “and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector[vi]. Many people read Gentile and tax collector and think that means disassociating with the person.  That it means getting rid of the member and washing their hands clean of them, and yet it is more complicated than that.  If we know the story of Jesus, especially here in Matthew, we know that Gentiles and tax collectors were not people that Jesus disassociated with, but in fact were the very people he was evangelizing to[vii].  Therefore sure, we are to remove the person from a position in which they are able to continue damaging the Body, but we never give up. We continue to love them, we continue to reach out to them as though they are people who once again need to hear the good news of Christ. This is a difficult thing to ask a church to do, it calls the Church to truly show the love and grace of God in the midst of its own pain, but where two three of gathered in my name, I am among.

             Our scripture for this morning calls us in the midst of conflict to protect the offended, the offender, and the Body of Christ all at the same time. This is not an easy task, it is much easier to simply divide or leave, but we do it because each and every member of the body matters, as does the overall health of the body.  It is a delicate balance that we are called hold. The fact that Christ calls us to care for the well-being of this sacred family as well as each member of it is a daunting task. . It is hard to offer love and forgiveness when we have been wronged. It is hard to acknowledge our sin and to repent of our ways. Conflict can be overwhelming, I know it, you know, as a church we know it all too well; but Christ reminds us that there is true hope, for where two or three or gathered in my name, I am there among you.

           

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[i] NRSV. Matthew 18:20

[ii] M. Eugene Boring, Matthew, in The New Interpreters Bible, Vol. 8, ed. Leander. E Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN; Abingdon Press, 1994), 378,

[iii] NRSV. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

[iv] NRSV. Matthew 18:15

[v] www.history.com/news/history-lists/6-wars-fought-for-ridiculous-reasons

[vi] NRSV. Matthew 18:17

[vii] Mitchell G.Reddish, “Matthew 18:15-20” in Feasting on the Word, Year A Vol.4, ed. David. L Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 47-48.

Heaping Burning Coals

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 8/31/14



Read Romans 12:9-21

 (Image Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Have you ever stopped and actually thought about how amazing something like coal really is? I mean we use or consume different forms of coal quite frequently in our day to day lives, and yet when we stop and to think about this strange ashy fossilized mineral it is spectacular the way in which it has shaped our lives; how it has shaped our communities. Much of our economy here in Virginia and in our neighboring states like West Virginia and Kentucky was driven by coal. Where I grew up in the suburbs of Richmond tobacco was king, industries like Phillip Morris provide jobs to so many around the city, but even still coal had a rich heritage in the area. I remember roads like Coalfield Road and Miners Trail that paid homage to our rich tradition. I remember finding old abandoned mine shafts  sometimes in the strangest places such as next to the library; and I even remember stories of children who would occasionally fall into them. Coal left a huge legacy on Chesterfield County, in fact the official seal of Chesterfield County was not a farmer, but was a coal miner. 

            What makes coal so precious? Why did so many where I grew up and all around our region risk their lives in order to mine this ashy and frankly ugly mineral? Coal is not important for its looks, but is of course important for what it can do.  Coal produces energy. Many of our power plants around the country are still powered by this amazing fossil fuel. You only have to stand by the tracks in Altavista and watch as load after load of coal is carried from one destination to the next to understand the importance that it still plays in our society today. The use of coal however is nothing new but it has in fact been used for centuries. Long before coal was used to make electricity, coal was used to make fire, to make heat.  If we imagine our grills for a moment, then when may be able to understand why coal was so valuable. For those who use a gas grill, get a new grill, and then imagine it. Whereas wood could be used as a source of heat, coal has some qualities to it that makes it preferably. First it is smaller and easier to transport. Secondly what makes coal so great for grilling is that the flame can be controlled better than with wood; the flame doesn’t get quite as wild. Finally and maybe most importantly, coal carries heat for a long time. If the heat starts to run out and you are starting to be left with smoldering ashes, simply adding new coals to the existing ones transfers heat and can keep a fire going.  For all that coal can do, maybe one thing we didn’t expect from it was that it can be used to instruct our lives and how we treat the world around us.

            But in our scripture for today, that’s exactly what we find. Paul tells us that helping our enemies heaps burning coals upon their heads. Before we dive into what this means, when need to first back up and figure out what it is that Paul is writing about here in our chapter. Paul’s letter to the Romans is the largest and probably most complicated letter that he wrote. Unlike his other letters where he is addressing issues that arise at churches he has helped to establish, the letter to the Romans is not believed to be to any established church, at least not one that he himself had established.  For this reason Romans tends to be less problem solving and more of a systematic approach to Christian Theology. While much of the book can be overwhelming, here in chapter 12 Paul seems to switch from a more dense theological approach to the practical approach that we are accustomed to reading in other letters.

            In this chapter Paul is addressing how a Christian community should act. We have seen this before, especially in his first letter to the Corinthians, but here Paul isn’t just talking about how a community should act towards one another, but how Christians should interact with the Non-Christian world around them. It is interesting that Paul has laid out this approach for us almost 2000 years ago, and many Christians fail to observe it.  Far too often as Christians we view outsiders as dangerous. We view people who act differently, think differently, and believe differently as a direct threat to our own way of lives. We tend to approach the way we treat the world from a vantage point of fear; fear that things will change, fear that our faith will be challenged, fear that others will believe something different than us. Because of this fear, we tend to go on the offensive.  We rail against practices that are against our beliefs and attack those who support them.  This is seen with Christians who picket outside of abortion clinics or the likes of Westboro Baptist church who pickets the funeral of soldiers, victims of suicide, homosexuals and many more. Most of us may not be as intense as these groups, and yet this hostile mindset is still one that many Christians have. Even if we aren’t actively hostile, we often view the non-Christian world as something to be avoided.

            With this attitude, when we read Paul say, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads” it seems to make sense to us. Coals are hot and  so heaping burning coals on someone’s head will burn and hurt them.  When we are nice to our enemies then it is almost like Karma and our kindness defeats our enemies. Or if our actions themselves don’t make them suffer, then at least we can take comfort that like the coals burning on their heads they too will burn for their evil ways. Sadly this is how this verse is interpreted in many Christians circles. That when we do good and serve the Lord that we are able to defeat our enemies; that all of the wrongdoing done to us will be repaid upon them in the end as long as we take the high road.

We certainly could interpret this verse this way, except for this  interpretation makes no sense in the context of the rest of the chapter.  This hostile, fear based approach to the world is not what we find from Paul here in Romans. Paul starts our discourse for this morning not talking about fear or hostility or vengeance, but he starts with love. “Love must be genuine” The whole rest of our passage centers around this idea, that love must be genuine.  It’s amazing how love can transform the way we address the world.  When we approach the world from the standpoint of love and not fear, our focus shifts away from how do we protect ourselves and our views, and moves towards how can we help others. Paul shows us the many ways we can truly show our love for others. Rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. This sounds easy until we realize Paul is telling us to do this not just with our friends but with those with whom we don’t see eye to eye. That’s a lot harder to do.  It means that though we may not understand all that is going on in Ferguson, Missouri, we should weep with the community who has lost a young one, a community afraid that their voice is not being heard. It means that even if some of us do not condone homosexuality, we celebrate when a young teen puts down the gun and finds a community where for the first time in their lives they feel accepted; for sadly there is a rise in suicides by gay youth.  Loving the enemy means not seeking vengeance when we have been wronged, but offering forgiveness, offering food and water, for by doing this you heap burning coals upon their heads.

            And there’s that phrase again, but now it means something completely new in the context of love. Because in our chapter not only does Paul tell us to love our enemy, he also tells us the love must be genuine. Genuine love is not a love for one’s own sake. Loving others because it helps us to be good is not genuine love, genuine love is truly loving the enemy. And so when we read heaping burning coals upon their heads it we are not talking about a punishment, but rather another act of love.

            What heaping coals upon one’s forehead literally means is up for debate. The phrase originally comes from the 25^th Proverb which Paul quotes word for word. One theory of its meaning is derived from the common use of coals in day to day life. As I  said at the beginning, coals have been used for centuries as a source of heat and energy and of course as a means of cooking. Some scholars believe that at the time the acquisition of  coal could be sometimes difficult. Therefore if a family ran out of coals or if there coals went out and they were unable to go the merchants and get more, then they would go and borrow some from their neighbors. It was believed then that these coals would be carried back on their heads, much like we are used to seeing water being carried in other cultures. Therefore heaping burning coals upon someone’s head would not be a form of pain, but a kind act of helping a neighbor provide for their house.  Paul would then be telling the Romans that giving our enemies food and water to drink is like helping them keep their houses running.

            There is another theory however about this peculiar phrase.  This theory does not take the phrase so literally, but views it from a figurative standpoint.  This theory likens the burning coals to the refining of silver. Just a few weeks ago we looked at Malachai and how he described faith like a metal being refined, and here Romans may be using the same idea. This is certainly what our founder John Wesley believed. In his notes on the New Testament he quotes his father on this verse saying, “So artists melt the sullen ore of lead, By heaping coals of fire upon its head: In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow, And pure from dross the silver runs below."  You see silver was commonly found combined together in rocks of lead.  By itself, this rock of lead would be quite useless, but when you put burning coals upon it, and it begins to heat up to a point of melting, the silver which melts first will separate from the rock and could be collected below. Wesley believes that this is what Paul means when he talks  about heaping burning coals upon your enemies head. It is not a form of punishment, but rather a form of refinement. That when  your enemy has given you every right to retaliate and yet you give them water to  drink and food to eat, you are heaping coals upon their head. Coals that like Wesley describes that in the warmth a person begins to glow. Coals that separate the rough, useless rock, from the beautiful and precious mineral inside. When we as Christians show love to not only our neighbors but to our enemies as well, we are giving room for the Holy Spirit to transform the hearts and souls of others through our actions.

            We may not be able to know for sure exactly what is meant by heaping burning coals upon our enemies heads, but one thing is known, it is not a form of retaliation, it is not a form of aggression. Our approach to the world around us is not based upon fear but is rooted in faith, hope, and love. That is why Paul concludes this section of Romans by saying, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

            This is a beautiful phrase but it means nothing until it is put into action. If we continue to act as if we are under attack, if we continue to hunker down as Christians and put up walls to protect ourselves from the world around us, then we are without knowing it being overcome by evil., When we give into our fears, we are abandoning our faith. When we  begin to think that the world around us is something to be fought against rather than embraced for its beauty, the we have already lost the hope that Jesus brings for this Kingdom of God.  When we fail to love our enemies or view ourselves as better than others, we have not shown genuine love.  But the good news of Christ is that we do have faith, a trust nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. We do have  hope in the Kingdom come which has already been established hear on earth. We do have love, the same love that Christ showed us by willingly dying on the cross for our sins.  The truth of the matter is that we need not be afraid, for we know the outcome, we know as Rob Bell puts that “Love Wins.”  And that the key, love wins, not our style of worship, not our political endorsements, not our belligerent evangelism, but Love wins. So let you love be genuine, hate what is evil, cling to what is good,  If your enemy is hungry feed them, if they are thirsty give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals upon  their heads.