FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY – 29 January 2006

St. Paul Lutheran Church, ABQ NM – The Rev. P. L. Holman

Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

“What is this?!” 

“What is this?”  The people in the synagogue had a problem with the voice of authority.  My own problem with authority began over five decades ago.  Both parents were strong power figures for my siblings and me, but Mom always deferred to Dad (if he was around) when it came to discipline.  And if Dad was in one of his moods, well, it was better for us to make ourselves scarce.  Of course, I knew I’d never be like that with my own children.  I’d always be patient and understanding, calm and reasonable…  That lasted about two days.  While we didn’t follow the rule of corporal punishment my parents did, I know there were times the words my husband and I used to correct behavior we didn’t like seemed overly harsh to our children, especially when we used “because we’re the parents and we said so.”

Deuteronomy tells us that the people were afraid of the voice of God: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God anymore…I will die.”  Of course, God’s voice was one powerful voice.  From the beginning of the Hebrew Scriptures we hear it: God speaks with authority, and light is separated from darkness, the firmament from the waters, the waters from the land, day from night each with their own light; the land is graced with vegetation and living creatures, the seas with their creatures.  God speaks and humanity is created in the image of God, male and female created in the image of God to have dominion over all that God had made.  That’s one powerful voice!

It is this same creative, life-giving voice that according to the scriptures echoes judgment and destruction on those who turn away from God – recall Noah and the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Tower of Babel and the scattering of the people.  It is this same life-giving voice that gave the law extensively interpreted and recorded in the book of Leviticus (too extensively according to one Bible class student who tried to read the entire book).  God’s authority to tear down was as mighty as God’s power to build up.  It was a power to be feared, and that fear kept the people from hearing God’s compassion.  So God spoke through the likes of Moses, clothing the direct power of Divine authority in the human form of a prophet, one who was not perfect – Moses the murderer, a man “slow of speech and of tongue” – but one who listened to God.  God could work with that, and did.

It is this tradition of great respect for Divine authority that informed the ears of those who observed Jesus in the synagogue centuries later.   They knew the stories of God’s relationship with the people – the oral tradition handed down from generation to generation.  So when Jesus of Nazareth began to teach, they recognized the power in his voice.  Authority, as if from God’s very self.  What was Jesus teaching them?  We heard the heart of Jesus’ message in the reading last Sunday, from chapter 1 verse 15 of Mark’s gospel: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” [Mark 1:15].  The waiting is over.  No more speaking indirectly through prophets.  God is HERE, declared God-in-flesh Jesus.  Turn, and live.  When the demonized man enters the synagogue and turns to Jesus, what happens seems to add an exclamation point to the power of Jesus’ teaching: with one command Jesus sets the man free.

At the Middle School Youth Gathering in Colorado Springs last weekend there were many “authorities” around to guide us into a life-giving relationship for the weekend.  The “Guardian angels” – college aged and other adults in orange shirts -- shepherded the group of 1000-plus while in the hotel.  They made sure folks were not where they didn’t belong and helped those of us who were lost find where we did belong.  The event organizers wore blue long sleeved shirts.  These folks held the answers to most of life’s pressing questions like, “How do we find our bus?” and “When is the party?”  

A key “authority” was actually on paper -- the covenant we signed which spelled out what we could expect of one another during our time together.  If you’ve ever sponsored a group trip you know how important an agreement can be for holding one another accountable and providing a framework for resolving problems.  Clear expectations help make the shared time a better experience for everyone.  Our covenant included such guidelines as…

  Respect the guidelines and the adults who sponsor this event. 

  Respect my body as God’s temple…

  Keep my displays of affection within appropriate limits. (NO PURPLING)

  Participate with the group and stay with the group.

  Show respect for other people, their thoughts, their ideas, and their stuff.

  Use appropriate language…(NO SWEARING OR PUT-DOWNS)

  Remember that I am human and not perfect.  I will take time to recover     myself when I run out of patience…

This, too, was a “voice” to which we all “listened.”  It shaped our life together for the weekend.  Rather than a “thou shalt not” judging authority it was a “we will” welcoming authority that helped us have a good time together, a good time even in the challenging moments when our bodies were cold and drenched in sawdust, or bored by metal bleachers and a long-winded speaker, or being pelted with the “love offering” of socks and gloves…

In the midst of this “Lighten Up” gathering we even learned something about repentance.  Our keynote speaker, Dick Hardell, is a master clown.  Due to health problems he wasn’t physically able to clown for us, but he did engage us in some creative activities.  One session he led an interactive version of Psalm 51, you know the one that includes “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and restore a right spirit within me.”  Pastor Hardell separated the huge crowd into four sections, each with a specific role.  He paraphrased the opening verses of Psalm 51 and used that as a refrain.  Then he read the Psalm and every time he said, “Wash me thoroughly from my brokenness, O God, and cleanse me from my sin,” we did the following:

Group 1: Turn their backs to everyone else and say, “Sin, sin. Bad, bad!”

Group 2: Shake like a washing machine agitator: “Oosh Oosh Oosh Oosh.”

Group 3: Wave hands like laundry drying in the wind: “Mm, mm, mighty fine.”

Group 4: Throw hands up in praise: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

It was fun to watch the crowd “get it” but afterward one of those in Group 1 said, “I didn’t like our part.  When we turned our backs we couldn’t see everyone else.”  Exactly!  The repentance Jesus calls us to, the metanoiete is not simply a matter of blind obedience.  It’s the call to restore relationship, to return to being together the way God intended.  It’s not a one-time thing – it’s a whole new way of living.  Things don’t have to stay the way they are --  not poverty or war, not anger or hate, nothing has to stay as is.  They can’t – they must change, says Jesus.  God is here.  Things are changing – turn around, return to God’s forgiveness again and again, and hang on for dear Life!

Christ teaches us today with great power and authority through the Word we hear and study and follow.  In this Word is life-giving authority that stands against what the world expects because it is authority rooted not in control but in love, authority rooted not in the “power over” of violence and domination but in the “power with” that travels in circles of care and compassion. 

It is this life-giving power that leads Emma Louise Erickson-Kery to the font today.  Emma will be washed in the Triune name of God and welcomed by the grace of God into this community of faith.  Wait, you say, what is this?  Emma has been a part of this community for several years already.  She sings in the Children’s Choir, she participates in Sunday School, she even had a speaking part in the Christmas Eve service.  What do you mean “welcomed?”  Simply this: washed and sealed with the cross of Christ today we publicly welcome and commit ourselves to Emma as partners on this journey of faith.  In her Baptism God marks Emma with the authority of one who is called to follow Christ.  This is world-changing authority to build up rather than beat down, relationship-changing power to forgive and receive forgiveness, and life-changing freedom to fail knowing God will never fail her.