Deuteronomy 30, Psalm 1, and Luke 12 - Cosmos Sunday
Who are you?
It’s
Labor Day weekend, so we might answer the way so many North Americans answer…
with our jobs. I’m a pastor. I’m a lawyer. I’m retired. I’m an artist, a
musician, a writer. I clean houses. I work in a hospital. I work for 3M or
Boston Scientific. Or maybe since it’s back-to-school time, we might answer,
I’m a teacher. I’m a student. I’m a weary parent…
Who are you?
Last
Sunday, I was in Decorah, Iowa because a college friend had died and in trying
to understand what had happened to her, I realized that other close friends
were going through major life changes in that same congregation… the whole
Decorah community reeling from horrible flooding, our friends packing up boxes
after 15 fruitful years there, their pastor grieving the loss of her best
friend. It was a kairos moment—the
opportune time to be a friend, to be present, to share a meal, to pack some
boxes… to reflect on who we have been over the years, crossing paths with them.
And then at Monday’s funeral, I kept looking at the family of my friend who had
died suddenly—her husband, her kids—and I kept thinking, “Who will they become
in view of this deep loss?” True… people are often so much more resilient than
we can imagine, life goes on, but I cried a lot looking over at Sarah’s
16-year-old daughter, Anna, and younger Maren and little Stefan… and I’ve been
carrying her little leaflet around in my purse. She selflessly ministered to
others… and now she’s dead.
Who are you?
It’s
Cosmos Sunday, so maybe our imaginations get a little bigger, imagining who we
are on this tiny but (as far as we know) uniquely life-giving planet. Who are
we in view of the whole cosmos, all God’s handiwork? In one way, we could see
ourselves as no more important than a speck of dust, but then… I think of
Madeleine L’Engle, an American writer of young adult fiction who won a Newberry
Medal for A Wrinkle in Time, whose
writings reflected both her Christian faith and her strong interest in modern
science. In some of her novels, the characters travel in time and space. In
others, they travel to the most microscopic places of the human body. These
books captured my imagination, noticing our God who is not only present in the
widest parts of the cosmos but in the tiniest mitochondria.
It
is with all this in mind, that I hear in these Bible readings for today
questions about our identity, “Who are we?”
Who
are we in view of the words from the prophet in Deuteronomy—
“I
call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you
life and death, blessings and curses. Choose
life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your
God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and
length of days…” and what would that mean to choose life? Well, to this prophet
it meant to follow the Torah, the instructive law, the way of God.
Who
are we in view of Psalm 1, which is the Psalm for this Sunday and goes like
this:
Psalm 1
Happy
[“enviable”[1]] are
those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners
tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; 2 but their delight is in the law of the
Lord, and on God’s law they meditate day and night. 3 They are like trees
planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their
leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. 4 The wicked are not
so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will
not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, 6
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked
will perish.
What
does wicked mean here? Judging life according to their own standards.
What
does it mean to be in the company of the righteous? Being with those who rely
on God…. until we get there, too.
And
right in the middle of that 1st Psalm—there is an image again (this
image that we’ve been focusing on all year, this image that is repeated over
and over again throughout the Bible) of the tree, a tree planted by water,
roots drinking it in & being nourished, lush leaves, bearing fruit in
season…
Who
are we? Do we delight in God’s ways? Do we meditate on God’s word day and
night?
A
Danish Lutheran said, “To meditate on the psalms is … to be ourselves before
God, to sing full-throated songs of praise when that is appropriate and to give
honest articulation to our despair when we are sad. To present our very
ordinary selves, our daily selves, to God, that is the advice of the Psalm.”[2]
Who
are we in view of this challenge from Jesus in the words from Luke—
“Whoever
does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus
invites followers to form their identity in full view of death and loss, the
loss of everything… but this is not just counting the cost…
Caroline
Lewis says this:
“When
it’s all about cost, it’s all about what you give up. What you sacrifice. What
you deny. When faith is cast as cost, we become rather ignorant of the fact
that life itself is costly, not just faith. Life is full of choices, of
counting the costs, weighing the costs. The cross is not unique but
representative of what life is. To carry your cross is to carry the choices and
burdens and realities of a life that has made a certain commitment -- a
commitment to a way of life that is committed to bringing about the Kingdom of
God here and now. That’s certainly what it meant for Jesus.”[3]
“So,
carrying your cross is a choice and ironically, it is a choice for life and not
death.”
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