Message July 11, 2021

 Message given at Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal in Covington, GA

https://www.youtube.com/live/v0eMniYgoPQ?feature=share&t=1838

Good Morning.

I love this book. We do not see it as often in the Episcopal Church as we do the Book of Common Prayer, but it is the foundation of our Faith and one leg in our stool.

We have quite the lineup of scripture this morning.

We have good news in Ephesians about our relationship with God, redemption by the blood of Christ, adoption into the kingdom as joint heirs, and forgiveness for our trespasses – all given to us from BEFORE the foundation of the world. We read that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit – destined for this promise. Some might say we are “chosen.

In contrast we are reading about “real-life” relationships in both the Old Testament and the Gospel. But isn’t it that way with us? We know we are baptized. We know we have a relationship with God, we come to church, we take communion, but sometimes real life happens, and it does not feel good.

I learned a new word in Seminary. /theodicy. Theodicy is the explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil.

Surely, the beheading of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus are at the top of our list of questions to God – Why? Why this evil?

In our modern times we have evil: sex-trafficking, genocide, wars, famines, plagues, locusts in Africa and the Western US devouring crops, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, and a devastating drought also in the Western US and Canada, and climate change.

We have personal tragedies, illnesses, broken family relationships, job losses, economic challenges ... we do suffer through these things. I acknowledge the suffering, your suffering, your real-life challenges, and the questions you might have for God.

What is our theodicy? How can we believe in a good God in the midst of all this devastation? Yet we read we are sealed with a promise to inherit with Christ, a promise of redemption and forgiveness.

In Seminary they tell us theodicy was created or used to explain the unexplainable. It was used to create reasons why God’s people were devasted or destroyed even though they were God’s chosen. Usually, the explanation surrounded some broken law or commandment, a disobedience to the Word of God.

This belief system created an atmosphere of exclusion from others and lack of tolerance within the community, on the one hand. It led to wars with non-Israelites, as well as infighting between Judah and Israel or different tribes against each other.

In the wider church it has led to pointing fingers, judgment and blaming, looking down on others in their distress, or mistrust of those who are “different”. And in our suffering, it has inspired the question “what did you do to deserve this?’ or “what did I do to deserve this?”

The answer is complicated. Our relationship with God and scripture is complicated. This morning I want to focus on relationships and how they affect our choices and our consequences.

The relationships we see this morning tell us a little about the relationship our characters had with God and the people in their immediate sphere of influence. Let us look at Herod’s relationship with John the Baptist.

Our scripture tells us that Herod was curious about John. He liked to listen to him. He knew he was righteous and holy, and he protected him. Herod. Herod knew John was righteous and holy, and he protected him. It sounds like Herod knew what John was saying to him and about him was true. He was convicted in his heart – but he never did anything to change his circumstances or his relationships. He listened with fear, but he never acted on those words from the prophet. He fell short in correcting his own life’s choices, even though he knew John was a holy man, righteous, and even though he protected John, he did not change his own personal actions. He maintained relationships with people that did not share his values. He was King. He was a leader. He was a politician. He was a husband and father. He had a wife who was prominent having been married to two different kings. He was surrounded by people in his court and on his birthday that he wanted to impress.

His inability to take action on his own life after hearing the words of the prophet had devastating consequences. He appeased his daughter, his wife, and his friends, and he killed a man all to save face.

This could be today’s headlines in our current political climate. Hopefully, these will never be your headlines, but it is worth looking at whether or not you are hearing that still small voice convict you of some change you need to make in your own life.

That still small voice like Amos – the nobody, the nothing prophet, the tender of sycamore trees that the arrogant priest told to go prophesy some where else.

Yes, even members of the priesthood struggle to hear and listen, but those of us called to the priesthood also have every obligation to listen.

Who is that nothing person, with a nothing life – a friend, a relative, a work colleague that has been trying to tell you that you have a mess? What mess in your life needs your attention? What fence are you sitting on knowing full well God is trying to get your attention?

Or do you have your own theodicy that says the Bible is just a book of stories and myths lacking historical facts, full of fiction, and irrelevant information? Are you on the fence because your philosophy is stronger than your faith? Or your theology stronger than your prayer life? We come face to face with those questions in seminary just like everyone here must answer these questions for themselves.

Be sure, my friends, God will give you every opportunity to decide. John preached to Herod for several years. He imprisoned John in his own palace. Herod would go and listen to him regularly, but he never acted on his convictions. He never took that next step. The consequences were devastating. To be sure, Herod still feared John after he killed him. We read in Luke 23 that Herod believed Jesus was John resurrected. And though he mocked Jesus and had him flogged, he did not accuse him. He found him innocent, like John, and sent him back to Pilate. He had the appearance of one who was righteous. But was he?

To be sure, I do not know Herod’s ultimate eternal fate for the choices he made. And certainly, anyone of you making difficult spirt or soul choices, I am not your judge – none of us here are each other’s judge.

But we read in our gospel, Herod was deeply grieved. His decision caused a soul trauma. Deep grief over poor decisions is hard to fix. Deep soul grief can cause illness, sleeplessness, anxiety, hopelessness, depression, loss of appetite, and a host of other issues. It causes relationship problems within ourselves, with God and with others.

The good news is that God will send us a message, repeatedly, over long periods of time. The Holy Spirt will convict our hearts towards change. We are ultimately given the choice to act on the message and make the change. If we do not, our scriptures are clear. There will be consequences to ourselves, there will be consequences to others, and there will be consequences to our community.

This is not just Herod’s story. It is the Old Testament story of Amos, and Amaziah the priest, and Jeroboam, the king. It is a repeated story in both the Old and New Testaments. It is our story in the headlines of heroes that choose to do the right thing, saving boaters from chilly waters, wives becoming organ donors, and a teenager who boldly records a video that results in a conviction. Or the headlines of villains who ignore the warning signs or run from problems, act out of greed, or seek personal gain over integrity. These actions result in catastrophes like oil spills, untested O-rings, price gouging, economic despair and hunger, and our most recent catastrophe, the fall of a condo killing so many innocent people, children, and pets.

If we do not learn anything else from this scripture today, or the Bible on any other day, learn this. This Word is given to us to help us. To help us understand the laws of God imbedded into the Universe. The laws that we are subject to just like gravity. Gravity pulls us down and anchors us, or if we jump off a cliff or a bridge it will kill us. We know what gravity does, and we are expected to use this knowledge to our benefit.

The laws of God are spelled out, and just like gravity, we are expected to use this knowledge like wisdom to our benefit. If your teacher tells you about gravity but you choose to ignore it and jump out of a window, you will have consequences. It is not the teacher’s fault. The teacher did not create “evil.” The teacher with compassion gave you information that was intended to help you in life. That is what this Bible is, and who God is. The giver of life, and wisdom, and who has generously spelled out the laws of the Universe, how the consequences of our actions will affect us, each other, and our communities.

The Good news is that we have the promise of being sealed by the Holy Spirit. We have the promise of forgiveness and redemption, and we have a book that gives us direction about life. It is not a book in which we mimic every character’s actions. It is a book where we learn about God, and the relationship people have to God as they learn about the laws built into our world and our beings.

Ultimately, we have the responsibility to read, to listen, and to respond to the God who has given us so much mercy and so much grace.