God's Way of Leading: A (Sort of) Godly Leader

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

When my son was in Afghanistan, one of the most important aspects of what his infantry battalion did was to meet and build relationships with the local tribal leaders. Afghanistan, like many other nations in the Middle East and Asia, is still organized along tribal, ethnic, and religious lines. We hear about these groups all the time on the news: the Kurds and the Turks are one very recent example.

It was important for the U.S. military to have these relationships. Because, through them, they could learn what the Afghan people were thinking, they could build alliances, and they could work together to root out the Taliban or Isis or other similar groups. 

If you were here last Sunday and you listened carefully as we read from the opening verses of Ruth, you might have heard these words: “During the day when the judges ruled…” You see, as the descendants of each of Jacob’s 12 sons had grown, each of these families became tribes. The 12 tribes of Israel.

So, by the time of the book of Ruth, these tribes had grown to the point where God had appointed leaders for each of them. Judges is the term used in Scripture. And yet, these judges, were really no different than the local tribal leaders that my son’s battalion dealt with in Afghanistan.

Today, though, we move into a new way of being for Israel. The book of Ruth acts as a kind of hinge in the Old Testament, moving us out of the early developmental years of the nation of Israel, into the years of the monarchy. The book of Samuel, broken into two separate books, begins to trace the kings who ruled over Israel. In Samuel we follow three main characters. Anyone want to take a shot at naming them? Samuel, the prophet. Saul, the first king anointed by God through Samuel. David, Saul’s successor.

First Samuel covers the reign of King Saul. A reign that begins magnificently, but eventually fails. It seems that Saul experiences what leaders often do - that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Saul has turned away from God, failing to follow what God has asked him to do. By the end of this first book, Saul has been killed, along with his successor - his son, Jonathan.

As our reading opens, Israel has just been through a civil war - a battle to determine who will be the next king. We read in 2 Samuel 5:1-5. 

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.  --2 Sam. 5:1-5 (NRSV)

How many of you have ever herded sheep? It is not easy. And I speak from experience. They often run in circles, are easily spooked, and regularly led astray by sheep within the herd who lead them in the exact opposite direction where you want them to go. It is a frustrating and crazy-making thing - this being a shepherd. To be a shepherd takes great patience. Great calm. And an ability to gently nudge the sheep forward. In the direction you want them to go. 

This is exactly what David - the shepherd of sheep - has been called to do by God with the 12 tribes of Israel. With God’s own people. To show great patience and calmness. And to gently nudge them in the way God wants them to go. This is what, in God’s eyes, a leader looks like. How God desires David to lead. How God desires us to lead.

Do you think of yourself as a leader? I would venture that you are. Perhaps you hold or held a leadership position in your workplace. At school. In your community. In an organization. Or among your friends. Certainly, if you are or have ever been a parent, you are a leader. What is your model of leadership? From what source do you understand what leadership looks like? 

We are living in fraught times at the moment. When this question of leadership looms very large, especially as we move into a season of elections. When we look in the public sphere, what kind of leadership do we see? Is it the leadership of empire? Of power and dominion? The kind of leadership the world seeks, where power is the goal. Power and wealth. And control. Leadership that seeks to keep people apart. That seeks to keep people fighting against themselves. To preserve its power and wealth and control.

Or do we see leadership that is shepherd-like? Like David. As complex and human, as much a saint and sinner as all of us, yet humble. Patient. Caring for his people as a shepherd preserves his sheep. 

Our reading continues in 2 Samuel 6:1-5. 

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.  --2 Sam. 6:1-5 (NRSV)

As they moved the Ark to Jerusalem, David and all Israel celebrated. Notice that this was their greatest celebration. Not the battle victories or even the unification of Israel. Instead it was this Ark. This place where God resided. Where God’s Word resided. David knew that Jerusalem was already the cultural, economic, and political center of Israel. But, he also knew that Jerusalem would not, could not, be complete, could not become the people God desired them to be, without the Ark of the Covenant. Without the presence of God. As the Ark was moved to Jerusalem, it was this that led David and all Israel to their greatest celebration. To dance with abandon, with all their strength. To sing and to dance in complete and utter passion and joy in the knowledge that God was present with them. 

I pray that as we act in ways of leadership in our homes and communities and workplaces. As we elect new leaders in our congregation next Sunday. And as we elect leaders in our state next month and in our country next year, I pray that we will keep in mind these images of God’s desired leadership. Leadership that is shepherd-like. Humble. Patient. Leadership that is like that of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Leadership that seeks to bring people together. 

But, mostly, I pray that we will seek leadership that has, at its very core, the joy and passion for the presence of God. So that we, too, like David, may sing and dance with all abandon.

Amen.

Preached October 20, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY

Pentecost 19

Readings: Mark 11:8-10, Psalm 150, 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6:1-5

God's Plan for Peace: Practicing Peace

Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today, with our reading from the prophet Micah, we make a shift. It’s actually our third shift this fall. We began in September in the Torah - those first five books of the Hebrew scripture that are the instruction manual for Israel - instructions that teach them about who God is and who they are to be in relationship with God. 

In October, we shifted into the historical books of the Old Testament. The books that tell us about the history of God’s chosen people, Israel. About their nation and their leadership. And, especially about Kings David and Solomon. Then, last week, in our story of the Prophet Elisha and Naaman, we began to make a shift - a transition that becomes complete today - from the historical books of the Hebrew scriptures to the prophets. Books like Isaiah. And Jeremiah. And Habakkuk (that’s one we don’t read often!). And, today, from the Prophet Micah.

So, what do we know about Micah? Anyone? He is in the list of those we call the “minor prophets.” Now that’s not intended to be a derogatory term. It just refers to the length of the prophets’ writing. The smaller books are called the minor prophets. Books like Hosea, and Joel, and Amos, and, of course, Micah. These are in contrast to the larger books, what we call the “major prophets” - like Isaiah and Jeremiah and a few others.

Micah is what we call a pre-exilic prophet. This means that he lived and wrote in the times before the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jewish people. 

Last week, we talked about how, after Solomon’s reign, the conflict between the northern and southern tribes of Israel had grown to the point that the kingdom split in two. Permanently. In the north was the kingdom of Israel. The capital of the northern nation of Israel was Samaria. 

The southern kingdom was known as Judah, named after one of the twelve tribes. Its capital was Jerusalem. Elisha, whom we learned about last week, was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. He had been sent to the northern tribes to warn them about the coming threat at their northern border by the Assyrians.  

By the time we get to Micah, about 100 years has passed. Israel and its capital city, Samaria, have fallen to the Assyrians in the north. In a series of power-building moves, Assyria had proceeded to move south and annex more territory. This included lands near Jerusalem - tribes who had refused to pay tribute to Assyria. The Assyrians are edging closer and closer to Jerusalem. The only thing, so far, that has helped Jerusalem avoid the fate of its neighbors to the north is that its king - Hezekiah - has agreed to pay tribute to Assyria, so that Jerusalem can remain independent.

But, there is a another threat, a growing threat, to Jerusalem coming from the south. The Babylonians are approaching. It is at this point in time where we first hear from Micah. He was a contemporary of Isaiah. The difference between the two of them was that Isaiah was a city boy - born in Jerusalem. And Micah, well, we might call him that “country bumpkin.” He was from a small, rural village in the south, called Moresheth. So, you can imagine the response to him by those in the city - in sophisticated Jerusalem - as he warned them of impending doom. A warning in the opening verses of Micah. 

Look! The Lord is coming out from his place;
        he will go down and tread on the shrines of the earth.
Then the mountains will melt under him;
        the valleys will split apart,
            like wax yielding to the fire,
            like waters poured down a slope.
All this is for the crime of Jacob
        and the sins of the house of Israel.
        Who is responsible for the crime of Jacob?
                Isn’t it Samaria?
            Who is responsible for the shrines of Judah?
                Isn’t it Jerusalem? Micah 1:3-5 (CEB)

Micah was trying to warn Jerusalem that it would soon suffer the same fate as Samaria in the north. That it would fall, like the north, because of its sin - because of its idolatry and, particularly, of its injustice. This was the primary focus of Micah’s challenge to them. The injustice that its leaders engaged in. Political. And religious leaders. Micah claims its rulers abhor justice. And pervert equity. They are susceptible to bribes. Its priests, he says, teach for a price. They offer visions for a price. They prophesy “peace” to those who pay them well. But declare war against those who do not pay. 

Both the political and the religious leaders have an inherent desire for power. They can all be bought for a price. Their priorities are to gain power and wealth for themselves and not to practice justice for the community they serve. They destroy the people who depend upon them. They devour them. They use them. They abuse them.

Power can be a very seductive thing. Abusing it even more so. When, I worked in the courts in the 1990’s, we saw it. Frequently. We jokingly called it “black robe disease.” When a judge became seduced by his or her own power and began to abuse and misuse it.  Often completely unaware that they had caught the disease. Because power is not only seductive, it is deceptive.

This is what Micah was confronting the leaders about. Because he knew that corrupt leaders are sometimes responsible for the fall of nations. And churches. And so Micah speaks the prophetic word. Word that is intended to enrich the life of the whole community. Word that is, particularly, about justice and equity for those who are powerless.

But, Micah’s word is not only gloom and doom. It is also one of hope. Micah goes to Jerusalem, not to destroy their hope, but to re-center it. To give the people a vision of the future, a vision of hope. We read in chapter 5.

As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
    though you are the least significant of Judah’s forces,
        one who is to be a ruler in Israel on my behalf will come out from you.
    His origin is from remote times, from ancient days.
Therefore, he will give them up
        until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.
        The rest of his kin will return to the people of Israel.
He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
        in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
        They will dwell secure,
        because he will surely become great throughout the earth;
        he will become one of peace.  Micah 5:2-5a (CEB)

We hear these words - these words often from Advent - we hear them with 20/20 hindsight. Yet, for Israel, they were a reminder of God’s faithfulness. Of how God had previously kept God’s promises to them, delivering them out of slavery, and raising up a lowly shepherd from Bethlehem, Jesse’s son. King David. Micah’s words were a reminder for them of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. And, yet, they were also a new promise - a promise of a new king, one who would rule the earth. And One who would bring peace.  

It is to these words of hope, then, that the people respond. From Micah, chapter 6. 

With what should I approach the Lord
        and bow down before God on high?
Should I come before him with entirely burned offerings,
        with year-old calves?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
        with many torrents of oil?
Should I give my oldest child for my crime;
        the fruit of my body for the sin of my spirit?
He has told you, human one, what is good and
        what the Lord requires from you:
            to do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:6-8 (CEB)


“What do you want from us?” This is really the question they are asking. Perhaps they are bargaining, sensing that they are in the midst of a massive national upheaval. They feel the threat and understand the need to be saved. “What do you want from us?" they ask. And then they begin their offers. Offers that begin with a year-old calf, which would be a normal offering, like a tithe. But, then, offers that become extraordinary. From thousands of rams and many streams of oil - massive offerings - to the very personal. Pieces of themselves. Their first-born children. 

“What do you want from us?” the leaders ask. 

It’s simple, Micah tells them. What the Lord requires is very simple. Three things. To do justice. To love kindness. And to walk humbly with God. Three things that are so simple. But, three things that are not easy.

You and I - we have that gift of hindsight. We know that God’s plan for peace would not rely on Judah’s leaders, or on us, to do these three things. We know that God’s plan for peace would be a one-sided plan. One in which God would come down to us, as God always does, in the most humble way - as a child. A child who would grow up to bear our sin and the sins of the whole world. Who would die on the cross for us. And, through whom, we would understand the true nature of God. Grace. Forgiveness. Love. And peace.

Because that is God’s dream. A dream of peace. It is also our best response in a world that for us, too, seems to be in great upheaval. But, how do we do these three simple things, especially when we know they are not easy. Sometimes, we find deep truth in places other than scripture. In simple places. In children’s books, such as in one written by Desmond Tutu, entitled, “God’s Dream.” 

May we, who have been freed through God’s grace, continue to do God’s work. Of justice. Of kindness. Of walking humbly with our God. So that God might smile and we might see more rainbows. Amen.

Preached November 11, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Pentecost 25
Readings: Micah 1:3-5, 5:2-5a, 6:6-8; Matt. 9:13

Living in Hope: Living Like Jesus

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Philippians 2:1-13 (NRSV)

Grace to you and peace from God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s good to be back. Although it’s nice to be away, it’s always good to be back and get back into a regular routine, isn’t it? 

I heard that I kind of messed up last week. That I gave Pastor Funk the wrong scripture lesson to preach on. So, my apologies for that. But, in a way, it may be a positive thing. You heard the story of Peter’s vision and of his experience with Cornelius, the first Gentile converted into the early church. It was Peter’s vision and this incident that was the beginning of the sharing of the Good News of Jesus Christ outside the Jewish community. This incident led to Paul’s commissioning to go into the broader world--the broader Gentile world. 

The lesson you should have heard last week was from the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Now, if you recall, we heard about the church at Philippi a few weeks ago. It’s first convert was Lydia, a wealthy woman who sold purple cloth and who also opened up her home to Paul and Silas. We know, from this letter, that Paul had very warm feelings toward this congregation. This wasn’t always so with Paul and his churches. When he wrote the letter to the Galatian church, for example, he was very angry.

But, this wasn’t the case with the Philippians. We know that Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison. In the ancient world, prison wasn’t like it is in our world. If you were imprisoned, you had no food or rations unless people from the outside brought them to you. We know that the church in Philippians sent him food and other gifts in prison. They also sent a member to minister to Paul’s needs and to act as a messenger. A man named Epaphroditus, who we read about in the second half of chapter 2.

So Paul deeply loved this congregation. And part of his reason for writing to them was to express his gratitude, plus to give an update on what was happening to him. But, there was another reason that Paul was writing to them. There was conflict happening in the young church, growing divisions. The fellowship of the Philippi church was becoming fractured, not by doctrinal factors, but by personal differences. Differences that arose out of rivalries, out of selfishness, out of vanity, out of animosity. 

This is the primary reason that Paul is writing them--to help them find the way to overcome their divisions. How does he do it? He points them back to Jesus. To the divine becoming human. To a God who is downwardly mobile. To a God who empties Godself by taking on the form of a slave.

In our 21st century sensibilities, we don’t fully understand the counter-cultural aspect of what this meant to the ancient world. In that culture, a God who was a “self-demoting” God was not a God who was useful for human life. It was one thing for Zeus to become human for a day to play tricks on people, but it was a whole other thing for the God of the universe to come down and take on the form of a slave.

Who needs a God like that? This doesn’t sound like a God who is winner. Like a mighty deity who comes to the aid of powerless humans. Like the “kick-butt-and-take-names” kind of God that we would want on our side. Not some “loser God.” Because in the Roman Empire, dominance and victory and upward mobility were a sign of power and authority. Funny, how that hasn’t changed much, has it?

Yet, Jesus empties himself. Becomes a servant. Fully inhabits humanity. Fully incorporates human life into divine life. Not just for a day, but for a lifetime, during which he submits to all of the indignities and joys of human life, including death. Death on the cross. 

It is in Jesus that we witness the full revealing of who God is. A God who doesn’t withhold love until we come up to God’s level, but a God who stoops to our level. And who scoops us up in all our messiness and who makes us part of God’s life, of the Triune life. A life where we are healed and saved.

This is the God Paul is writing about to the church in conflict in Philippians. It’s the God Paul is writing to us about, too.

We live in a divided world. We have begun to sort ourselves into our own little, like-minded groups. Where the news we listen to or the conversation we engage in reinforces our divisions. Conservative versus liberal. Rich versus poor. Gay versus straight. Male versus female. Black versus white. 

It has worked its way into the church, too. Where things that are said become politicized. Where differences become sources of division. Where we forget who we are as people of God. People of a downwardly-mobile God.

Paul reminds the Philippians and us of his vision for a counter-cultural church. An odd assortment of people. A people who can love each other even though we might not agree. Where we are unified even though we aren’t uniform. Where we agree upon the goal even though we might not always agree on how to best achieve those goals. Because we understand that our unity is in Christ. That even though God has created each one of us to be unique and distinct individuals, we are unified in Christ.

This is the most profound and counter-cultural message for us to proclaim to the world. It is the most profound and counter-cultural way for us to live.  With the “same mind that was in Christ Jesus.” Humble. Servant-like.

This past week, the church council approved an updated statement on behalf of our congregation--a statement that more fully explains what it means to be a “Reconciling in Christ” congregation, something this congregation has been from its very beginning 20 years ago. Something that, in that time, was very counter-cultural. Something that continues to be counter-cultural.

You have a copy of it in your worship folder today. I’d invite you to locate it. And, then, let’s read it together:

As a community of the people of God, 

we are called to minister to all people of our world, 

knowing that the world is often an unloving place 

and can be a place of alienation and brokenness. 

Christ calls us to reconciliation and wholeness 

and challenges us through the Gospel 

to be agents of healing.

We, at Grace & Glory, are a 

Reconciling in Christ congregation. 

This means that we welcome all 

who are seeking God’s love and grace. 

Therefore, we affirm and welcome all, 

regardless of age, race or culture, 

sexual orientation, gender identity, 

gender expression or relationship status. 

We also affirm and welcome all 

without regard to addictions, 

physical or mental health issues, 

imprisonment, socio-economic circumstances, 

or anything else that may divide us. 

Our unity is in Christ.

 Amen.

Preached May 13, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.

Easter 7

Readings: Luke 6:43-45, Philippians 2:1-13