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Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

Title:Discussions from a Christian Perspective
Notice:Prostitutes and tax collectors welcome!
Moderator:CSC32::J_CHRISTIE
Created:Mon Sep 17 1990
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1362
Total number of notes:61362

165.0. ""Minding the Temple"" by CHOWDA::FRANCEY () Thu Feb 21 1991 22:29

    Your comments/suggestions are welcomed regarding input to a sermon to
    be delivered on the third Sunday of Lent on March 3, 1991.  The sermon
    title I have chosen is "Minding the Temple" and is based on the
    lectionary readings of Exodus 20:1-17 (the "Ten Commandments"), Psalm
    19, 1 Corinthians 1:22-25, and John 2:13-22.
    
    How often have we been in a rage and swept the table clean, overturned
    the table because we knew, we felt that things were out of hand (as we
    understood things should have been)?  
    
    We are the present day caretakers of the Temple of God.  So what IS the
    Temple of God?  
    
    Is it our bodies, our minds, the world ...?
    
    Jesus knew clearly and took action.  How are we to know clearly and
    what kind of action should we take?
    
    How does the Ten Commandments influence the Temple today?  
    
    Are we a people OF the Temple or IN the Temple?
    
    Is the Temple something concrete or is it abstract?  Is it something
    permanent or does it change in time?
    
    -------
    
    Do you have any stories which might relate to this theme?
    
    Anything else which we can develop?
    
    	Shalom!
    
    	Ron
    
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165.1LJOHUB::NSMITHPassionate committment/reasoned faithFri Feb 22 1991 20:367
    Interesting.  If I were to hear a sermon *now* based on the cleansing of
    the temple, and if that sermon did *not* attempt to deal with the
    current war situation and Christian responses to it, I would be 
    disappointed and would be trying to formulate connections in my own mind
    instead of listening....  Maybe this will all be over by March 3rd?
    
    Nancy
165.2Helpful hint of the dayDECWIN::MESSENGERBob MessengerSat Feb 23 1991 02:116
>LJOHUB::NSMITH "Passionate committment/reasoned fait" 7 lines  22-FEB-1991 17:36

Just a nit, Nancy, but if you'd spelled "commitment" properly the last word in
your personal name wouldn't have been truncated.

				-- Bob
165.3God works in mysterious waysCHOWDA::FRANCEYSat Feb 23 1991 17:2039
    Actually, Nancy's misspelling of "commitment" may just be a sign from
    God for all of us to witness.  God often, maybe almost all the time,
    presents things before us that call us, nay, demand us to interpret
    them through the grace of God.  We praise you, Loving God, that you
    have given us hints of what it is that you want - for us, of us.  
    
    It is through your love that we don't need "fait" to be presented
    before us to know that through you faith is completed, and through your
    love which corrects our misinterpretation of "committment" that we come
    to commitment in a Holy covenant with you. 
    
    It is through your love that we are able to be people who accept others
    that make mistakes, to love others for whom they are, yes as ones who
    are children of you, our true and only God.  And may our mistakes be
    forgiven by others, our friends, our neighbors, our enemies, and by
    you, Oh Holy One.
    
    We, our families, our friends, our nation are engaged in war when you
    call us to love one another, to love others as we love ourselves.  We
    are quick to study the "rules" of the "Just War Theory" and slow to
    seek the time when the lion lays down with the lamb.
    
    And yet we are visiting Holy Scripture today in which Jesus overturns
    the money changers tables.  How are we to interpret his words, his
    actions in todays crisis?  Until we turn toward you, until we have a
    vision of peace, until we truly believe that we are all one under the
    sun (and one under the rain), until then God's Temple will not be
    restored, until then God will not be in peace.
    
    Jesus is the Way, Jesus is the strength, Jesus is the courage.  Let us
    break the bread of peace and share that peace with all creation.
    
    So Nancy, thank you for the spelling - for it was correct, as correct
    as we are in this world, as correct as we need to be to be accepted.
    
    	Shalom,
    
    	Ron
    
165.4LJOHUB::NSMITHPassionate commitment/reasoned faithSat Feb 23 1991 19:575
    Thanks, Bob -- how come you never pointed this out to me before?  I
    bet I've been using that personal name for at least two years, and
    you are the first one to correct me?
    
    (And to think I was a good speller as a kid...)
165.5Amen.LJOHUB::NSMITHPassionate commitment/reasoned faithSat Feb 23 1991 19:595
    >Until we turn toward you, until we have a
    >vision of peace, until we truly believe that we are all one under the
    >sun (and one under the rain), until then God's Temple will not be
    >restored, until then God will not be in peace.
    
165.6DECWIN::MESSENGERBob MessengerMon Feb 25 1991 12:507
>    Thanks, Bob -- how come you never pointed this out to me before?  I
>    bet I've been using that personal name for at least two years, and
>    you are the first one to correct me?
    
Because this is the first time I've noticed it!  Better late than never, right?

				-- Bob
165.7CSC32::J_CHRISTIEMasterpeaceTue Feb 26 1991 22:4111
    I have a sermon based on John 2:13-22.  It starts off speculatively
    with the stunned reaction of the merchants and moneychangers, who
    believed that they had a right to be doing what they were doing.
    
    The sermon ultimately deals with both the desecration of human life
    and being called to the cross.
    
    I'd be willing to send it to you offline, if you'd like, Ron.
    
    Peace,
    Richard
165.8yes, on the offerCHOWDA::FRANCEYWed Feb 27 1991 17:187
    Thanks!  That would be appreciated!  By off-line do you mean email?
    if so, send it away.  Or, I can give you my home modem line.
    
    	Shalom!
    
    	Ron
    
165.9sent via e-mailCSC32::J_CHRISTIESurgical Strike PacifistWed Feb 27 1991 19:361
    
165.10the sermonCHOWDA::FRANCEYMon Mar 04 1991 01:58462


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                                "Minding the Temple"
                             Ron Francey - March 3, 1991
                      Exodus:20:1-17;Psalm 19:7-14;John 2:13-22
                                          

          When I was a child, I used to love to go into the woods behind my

          house and roam around for hours and hours.  There were several

          hundred acres back there in those woods; it was a protected

          sanctuary - that is, protected for the next hundred years.  I

          would go off always trying to find at least a little different

          way, a little different destination.  I remember times when I

          would go out and gather some princess pine, gather it up in my

          arms and bring it home for use in Christmas decorations.

          

          I also remember one of the earliest times I had gone into that

          forest during a fresh heavy snow feeling quite protected in

          knowing I could always get back, simply by following my old

          footsteps.  So I went deep into the woods that day and explored

          to my hearts content the trees, the birds, the rabbits and

          squirrels.

          

          I hadn't noticed that I had actually gone in some circles and had

          crossed my path a few times.  When I decided to make the venture

          home, to turn in my tracks and follow my footsteps, things were

          ok for awhile - until I came to what appeared to be an infinite

          number of crossings which I couldn't figure out.  I was lost!

          

          I remember how my pace quickened, along with my heart.  I began

          running slowly at first and then flat out on maximum throttle.

          It was no use - I was lost.  I don't remember whether I cried or









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          not but I still do remember that fear.  After awhile I came to a

          stop and kind of huddled up to a big old pine tree.  Suddenly the

          voices of a few people were heard in the distance.  Was I ever so

          glad.  I went off to them as fast as I could probably startling

          them as I approached.  They led me out of the woods.

          

          This story is similar to the linkage between our Old Testament

          reading and the Gospel of John.  The Old Testament reading,

          commonly known as the Ten Commandments or the Decalogue is a

          suggested path that we travel.  There are good and meaningful

          things on that path, things that deal with our right relationship

          with God and our right relationship with family, friends and the

          greater society.

          

          We enter that woods of the Ten Commandments with certain pre-

          understood notions of what it means to be a Christian, of what it

          simply means to be.  We go into that woods with certain beliefs,

          certain standards and often, as in my case into the woods, get

          lost.  What we thought was the way became - well, kind of

          twisted, not as sure or straight as we thought it to be.

          

          For many of us, we knew what is was to have close knit families.

          We knew about the one thing we would always have regardless of

          everything else we might lose.  We knew that we could always come

          home, no matter what we had done, no matter what the conditions.

          That is a path that many of us have been on - and then somehow,

          something changed.  There suddenly was disruption in our lives,










                                                                        3


          in our families - our value system had been shattered.  No longer

          did brother love brother, no longer did a child look up to the

          parent or no longer did the parent welcome its own flesh, welcome

          home its own child.  For many people, perhaps even some that are

          here today, the path has led us to a maze out of which there

          seems to be no escape, no exit.

          

          Many of us who have lived through the stock market crash of the

          1930's have learned prudence, learned to live frugally, learned

          the importance of preparing for the future, learned to save that

          important nest egg for the future so that we could be self

          sustaining, so we would not become dependent on others, on our

          children, so that we would not feel humiliated at the need to

          accept handouts.  Many of us for years have put away money into

          the RI Credit Unions.   For many people, perhaps even some that

          are here today, the path has led us to a maze out of which there

          seems to be no escape, no exit.

          

          Many of us have known and valued and loved the church for many

          years.  We, perhaps, can remember sitting through Sunday School -

          being what seemed to be many things all at the same time - being

          kind of amazed at just how smart our teacher was, being a little

          afraid that we would get called on and that we wouldn't have the

          right answer, being with a new friend whom we kind of took a

          shine to.  As we were growing up, some of us might remember going

          to the pastor whom we knew and trusted and whom would try to help

          us with our periodic difficulties.  Maybe in time we pulled away










                                                                        4


          from that church and maybe even church in general - but we always

          felt a church or our church was a safe place to be - a place

          where we could always come.

          

          For others of us, perhaps we have witnessed other things inside

          the church - seemingly repetitive crashes among different groups,

          each with apparently its own agenda, each with its own knowledge

          of what God wants and intends for us, for the church.  For some

          of us there seems to be growing rivalry, growing hostility - and

          suddenly we find we are in the maze of church politics.  We have

          come down a path and have lost our way.  For many people, perhaps

          even some that are here today, the path has led us to a maze out

          of which there seems to be no escape, no exit.

          

          For many of us, we have sought to walk the path of peace, peace

          for all people, peace for people everywhere.  Where we have seen

          injustice, we have worked to establish justice.  Where we have

          seen merciless acts of aggression, we have sought the

          establishment of mercy.  Where we have seen despotic rulers, we

          have fought for the right of freedom.  When we have not seen

          sufficient strength within the masses to accomplish their own

          peaceful regime, we have provided the means to accomplish that

          end.  When the people have not asked for support, we have

          provided it.  When the people don't want support - yes, even then

          we have provided it - suddenly we find ourselves lost deep in the

          trenches - somewhere - God only knows where that somewhere is.

          










                                                                        5


          In the search for peace, some of us shriek out that we should

          kill Saddam Hussein - that that is the only solution that would

          work.  How far it is that we have strayed from that earlier path

          of peace.  And now, for many people, perhaps even some that are

          here today, the path has led us to a maze out of which there

          seems to be no escape, no exit.

          

          So we kind of fumble along in this path of life, crossing over

          our tracks, getting lost beyond belief.  How could this happen,

          we ask ourselves?  What are we to do?  Which way should we turn?

          

          Jesus knows about paths through the woods; he knows about the

          twists and turns through the wilderness of life that corrupts our

          minds and bodies; yes, those that corrupt our very souls.  He

          knows about plans made and not kept.  He knows about temptations

          that present themselves before us with all their apparent

          radiance and glory.  Today we are in the midst of the Lenten

          Season, a period of forty days that for many stands symbolically

          for Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, for that period in

          which, yes, even Jesus the Christ faced temptation.

          

          And later, when Jesus was in the Temple that day, Jesus knew of

          the frailty of humankind.  On that day in the Temple, Jesus swept

          away before us the errancy of our ways.  How surprised those

          moneychangers must have been the day those tables were

          overturned!  After all, what were they doing that was so bad?

          Weren't they simply providing a service for the people, so they










                                                                        6


          could pay their taxes?  Weren't they preparing offerings to be

          made to God?

          

          And although we may see more clearly, the reasons for Jesus to

          act in such a way before the people in the Temple, why is it that

          we are less able to see and understand how Jesus would act before

          us today?  So often we have come to feel led into this maze of

          life.  We often fail to assume responsibility for our actions,

          for our situations.  As the Temple had become a community place,

          a gathering in the courtyard, an object, a noun - so too has our

          Faith become a noun.  Jesus calls our Faith to transition from a

          noun to a verb, from an object to action.

          

          The good news is that Jesus has cleared the table, has cleared

          the table for us, forever!  He has given us new commandments - to

          love God as the one true God; to love one another as we would

          love ourselves.  Today, we have come to celebrate, and what

          better way is there to celebrate, than to share in a new table

          presented before us, a common table, a table of life - a table

          that knows no distinctions between people of different color, of

          different ages, of different sexes, of different nations, of

          different sexual orientations.  We are called to celebrate our

          diversity as one people of God.

          

          And as I heard voices slightly off in the distance who were to

          become my instant friends, when I was unable to find my way out

          of the woods and came to rely on someone other than myself - so










                                                                        7


          too are we to receive new directions and help from a new friend -

          yes, even from Jesus the Christ.

          

          And today as church bells ring all over the world, let us pray

          for them to usher in a new era of peace, a peace undaunted by

          peoples' and nations' individual needs and wants, a peace when we

          can all say "brother" or "sister", a peace that celebrates

          creation, a peace that makes straight the crooked paths we have

          been on.

          

          When Jesus so dramatically cleared the Temple, he dramatically

          demonstrated against the way things were, against the use and

          abuse within the Temple, against our lost vision of God.  Jesus

          is that friend who can lead us out of the maze in which we find

          ourselves.  Jesus has given us the new code to break the maze of

          life in which we find ourselves.  For it is through our knowing

          of God's infinite love and mercy for us that we can confidently

          say: "with the help of God we can."

          

                  Amen





















165.11re: -.1LJOHUB::NSMITHPassionate commitment/reasoned faithMon Mar 04 1991 17:391
    Thank you!
165.12CSC32::J_CHRISTIESurgical Strike PacifistMon Mar 04 1991 19:413
    I thank you, also.
    
    Richard