I know, I know, you are looking at the heading of this essay and thinking, “how long are we going to have to hear about the 30th anniversary of his marriage to his lovely wife?” And my answer would be, as long as it takes to make up for years of neglect!
Sorry, no. That isn’t really my answer. Because I’m not talking about that Anniversary. As significant as that is. I’m talking about a different anniversary. This past week I had another significant milestone. On June 1, 1985 I was ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church. Twenty-five years, just a few years short of half my life. If you add in the years since I was ordained a deacon (we used to do things differently in the UMC), or the years since I started seminary you end up with more than half my life I have been pursuing this call.
Or being pursued. If you sit down and count it up, on good days it seems like six of one and half dozen of the other, when it comes to pursuing or being pursued. On not as good days it seems like half of one and six dozen of the other! It’s a question we clergy frequently ask ourselves and anyone around us who will sit still long enough to listen (sorry, you’re elected this time!), whose idea was this anyway? How did I get myself here? We are always teaching our kids about making good choices, but maybe we are just messing with them. Maybe the choices aren’t really ours to make after all. At least after that first one. The one that knocks us off our horse on the way to Damascus.
Oh, wait. Now I’m getting me mixed up with Paul. Maybe I should return to the purpose of this essay and do a bible study. I told the group that gathers on Wednesdays to look at the text that I wasn’t really sure why I chose Galatians 1:11-24 for this week’s text. I’m still not sure how it is going to turn into a sermon in time. But now I’m wondering if maybe it wasn’t my choice after all!
Galatians 1:11-24 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. 20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22 and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.
“Not of human origin,” Paul writes. On the one hand you could read this as saying, “hey, it’s not my fault! Don’t blame me, blame God, why don’t you?” Paul says he was doing pretty well on his own, until God got hold of him. “I advanced in Judaism beyond many among people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.”
I was, says Paul, one of those who didn’t like change. One of those who thought everything was fine the way it was. Better than fine, it was the way it was supposed to be. And when someone came up with a new way of doing things, I was one of the first to shout them down. We’ve never done it that way before!
But then God got hold of me, Paul points out, and now everything is different. So radical was the change that I had to go away for three years to sort it all out. You don’t like what I’m saying, take it up with God!
Before I get even more carried away imagining Paul’s state of mind, let’s jump back into the historical context a little bit and see if we can figure out why Paul is taking the approach that he takes. The problem we often have in reading the Epistles is that we are never quite sure why they are written. In almost every case the letter is in response to something else, and it is a something else we don’t have. We can make some guesses based on the content of the letters. Sometimes, the writers refer to a letter that they received, or a conversation that they had. Sometimes it simply says “I have heard about you” or something to that effect. But we rarely have concrete evidence of what it was that caused the letter to be written.
In the case of Galatians, Paul is boiling hot. He skips over the usual pleasantries in the opening of his letter to get right to the problem. Verse 6, instead of giving thanks for the community of faith that they were, as was usual, he says “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ ...” Apparently there is a group of folks following Paul, going to the new churches and telling them that Paul has it all wrong. That Paul got a crash course in Christianity from the Apostles in Jerusalem, but didn’t hang around long enough to really learn it. And now he is running around in the Gentile world lopping off important bits and giving you a defective gospel. So, don’t listen to him and his emphasis on grace.
Paul’s defense is that he didn’t choose the Word he shares, the Word chose him. He didn’t invent the gospel he proclaims, it was given to him. And it didn’t come from any human agency. How does he know this? Because they, the other humans, didn’t like it either! When Paul went to the Apostles with the commission to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the Gentiles, the Apostles resisted him. It took a long drawn out argument that might still be going on (in fact it is still going on, but that’s the subject for another time) if it weren’t for some divine intervention involving a bed sheet and some pigs and lobsters (read Acts 10).
It is obvious from the biblical record that God wants this message out. And sometimes it goes out because of the work of the church, of the faithful people of God. But sometimes it goes out in spite of the church and the people of God who firmly believe they are being faithful. We must always remember that though we are a part of the story, it is not our story alone. We don’t own the copywrite, we don’t control the distribution. Our job has never been the hearing of the Word, that is up to the Spirit. Our job has simply been the telling of it, which is sometimes done with words and sometimes done with our lives. We are casters of the seed of faith, we don’t control how and where it takes root and begins to grow. And sometimes God surprises us in which seeds begin to bear fruit.
After twenty-five years of casting that seed and watching what God has done with it, I continue to be surprised. I continue to be involved in ministries I had no intention of doing, but because that is where the need is, because that is where the fruit is, because that is where God is, then I will go too. Paul ends this first chapter in Galatians with a word of hope for me, and I hope for you. The result of all of our efforts is that they might have “glorified God because of me.” Amen.
Shalom,
Derek
Sorry, no. That isn’t really my answer. Because I’m not talking about that Anniversary. As significant as that is. I’m talking about a different anniversary. This past week I had another significant milestone. On June 1, 1985 I was ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church. Twenty-five years, just a few years short of half my life. If you add in the years since I was ordained a deacon (we used to do things differently in the UMC), or the years since I started seminary you end up with more than half my life I have been pursuing this call.
Or being pursued. If you sit down and count it up, on good days it seems like six of one and half dozen of the other, when it comes to pursuing or being pursued. On not as good days it seems like half of one and six dozen of the other! It’s a question we clergy frequently ask ourselves and anyone around us who will sit still long enough to listen (sorry, you’re elected this time!), whose idea was this anyway? How did I get myself here? We are always teaching our kids about making good choices, but maybe we are just messing with them. Maybe the choices aren’t really ours to make after all. At least after that first one. The one that knocks us off our horse on the way to Damascus.
Oh, wait. Now I’m getting me mixed up with Paul. Maybe I should return to the purpose of this essay and do a bible study. I told the group that gathers on Wednesdays to look at the text that I wasn’t really sure why I chose Galatians 1:11-24 for this week’s text. I’m still not sure how it is going to turn into a sermon in time. But now I’m wondering if maybe it wasn’t my choice after all!
Galatians 1:11-24 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. 20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22 and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God because of me.
“Not of human origin,” Paul writes. On the one hand you could read this as saying, “hey, it’s not my fault! Don’t blame me, blame God, why don’t you?” Paul says he was doing pretty well on his own, until God got hold of him. “I advanced in Judaism beyond many among people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.”
I was, says Paul, one of those who didn’t like change. One of those who thought everything was fine the way it was. Better than fine, it was the way it was supposed to be. And when someone came up with a new way of doing things, I was one of the first to shout them down. We’ve never done it that way before!
But then God got hold of me, Paul points out, and now everything is different. So radical was the change that I had to go away for three years to sort it all out. You don’t like what I’m saying, take it up with God!
Before I get even more carried away imagining Paul’s state of mind, let’s jump back into the historical context a little bit and see if we can figure out why Paul is taking the approach that he takes. The problem we often have in reading the Epistles is that we are never quite sure why they are written. In almost every case the letter is in response to something else, and it is a something else we don’t have. We can make some guesses based on the content of the letters. Sometimes, the writers refer to a letter that they received, or a conversation that they had. Sometimes it simply says “I have heard about you” or something to that effect. But we rarely have concrete evidence of what it was that caused the letter to be written.
In the case of Galatians, Paul is boiling hot. He skips over the usual pleasantries in the opening of his letter to get right to the problem. Verse 6, instead of giving thanks for the community of faith that they were, as was usual, he says “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ ...” Apparently there is a group of folks following Paul, going to the new churches and telling them that Paul has it all wrong. That Paul got a crash course in Christianity from the Apostles in Jerusalem, but didn’t hang around long enough to really learn it. And now he is running around in the Gentile world lopping off important bits and giving you a defective gospel. So, don’t listen to him and his emphasis on grace.
Paul’s defense is that he didn’t choose the Word he shares, the Word chose him. He didn’t invent the gospel he proclaims, it was given to him. And it didn’t come from any human agency. How does he know this? Because they, the other humans, didn’t like it either! When Paul went to the Apostles with the commission to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the Gentiles, the Apostles resisted him. It took a long drawn out argument that might still be going on (in fact it is still going on, but that’s the subject for another time) if it weren’t for some divine intervention involving a bed sheet and some pigs and lobsters (read Acts 10).
It is obvious from the biblical record that God wants this message out. And sometimes it goes out because of the work of the church, of the faithful people of God. But sometimes it goes out in spite of the church and the people of God who firmly believe they are being faithful. We must always remember that though we are a part of the story, it is not our story alone. We don’t own the copywrite, we don’t control the distribution. Our job has never been the hearing of the Word, that is up to the Spirit. Our job has simply been the telling of it, which is sometimes done with words and sometimes done with our lives. We are casters of the seed of faith, we don’t control how and where it takes root and begins to grow. And sometimes God surprises us in which seeds begin to bear fruit.
After twenty-five years of casting that seed and watching what God has done with it, I continue to be surprised. I continue to be involved in ministries I had no intention of doing, but because that is where the need is, because that is where the fruit is, because that is where God is, then I will go too. Paul ends this first chapter in Galatians with a word of hope for me, and I hope for you. The result of all of our efforts is that they might have “glorified God because of me.” Amen.
Shalom,
Derek
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