Transforming Voices (Go Shiphrah and Puah)
Pentecost 11a, August 24, 2014-08-22 (Romans 12:1-8 with Exodus 1:8-2:10 and Matthew 16:13-20)
Text: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
I love this world!
There is incredible beauty. From the desert sagebrush of Kamloops, to the expansive waters of the Pacific. From the nearness of the Gulf Islands, to the expansive sands of Tofino. From the realities of an eagle, bear cub or dolphin being rescued and restored to soar, to roar, to cut through the water. There is so much that is amazing in this world.
Some of you know or are beginning to experience the wonder of having a child head off to university, to adventure in their own way, hopefully to soar. Others of you watch and experience as others' love unfolds, matures and develops beyond anything we could have imagined. I love the exuberance of a pup as well as the patience and intimate knowledge of an older dog walking or limping with its master – two hearts as one. Yes, I love this world.
And our Scriptures tell us that God loves this world too.
Yet there is also more to the world than its incredible beauty, creativity, mystery, love and wonder. . .
Sometimes the motivation and actions of people are anything but loving or beautiful. This is true when horrendous things are done and then "put out there" for all to see. James Foley is executed because his nationality is American. His executioners rigidly hate all Americans. So, James Foley's life is considered expendable.. Such thinking and action is awful. Such thinking and action is far too frequent.
There are also natural disasters. To some extent we knowingly or unknowingly contribute to them. The many fires, mudslides, and storms .
At times, the imbalance, the brokenness of our world comes to light even when we try to do that which is beneficial in developing natural resources. At the same time too often we damage ourselves and our environment.
The "lostness" of our world is also apparent closer to home. Sometimes we do what we want. Never mind the consequences. We will think as we want, buy what we want, go where we want – with little if any consideration for those around us, for those who should come after us. This is not God's way.
To be sure, there is, there can forgiveness – as God chooses to to let go of our sins. Miraculously, others too may forgive us granting us new life with them. But the consequences of our self-centered actions or inaction stand. In all of that there is a lostness in our world.
Nor is this new. We have been brutalizing and terrorizing ourselves and others from the time of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel - too often even in the name of God!
What shall we do, what are we doing in this colossal struggle between the beauty, the wonder of the world and our own "lostness"? Can we – can "our" world be rescued, delivered, re-directed? ...
Our stories, the stories God gives us are so powerful!
A Pharaoh comes to power who does not know Joseph. Like so many people with "power", Pharaoh worries about a lot of things. Mostly he worries about how he is going to keep power. He is convinced that he will be "nobody" if he isn't Pharaoh. The more he thinks about this, the deeper his paranoia becomes. Then – from his own fear, he concocts a horrific plan as to how he might keep his "power". He oppress those Israelites, the people descended from and through Joseph. " Kill all their male babies, and Pharaoh thinks that he will be fully in control". So Pharaoh commands the midwives to become agents of death instead of agents of life.
But thanks be to God, the midwives refuse. Puah and Shiphrah disobey Pharaoh employing both verve and cunning. When Pharaoh calls them on the carpet because the male Israelite babies continue both to be born and to thrive, the women are appealing to his prejudice. They imply that the Hebrew women are just like animals. They are so fast in delivering their babies that we midwives can't get there in time. Once the baby is nuzzling at the mother's breast, well then we can't kill them.
It is these women, women whom Pharaoh and others discount as weak and unimportant who refuse to be dictated to by his fear and hatred. They are God's agents of life.
This is so important for us! Behold the incredible beauty and wonder of the world. God makes and shapes the world. Appreciate it, live with it, celebrate and uphold it! Whether we are interacting with the "richest" person or the "poorest" person, it does not matter. All are important to God. Who is to say what is "rich" or "poor" to God? Whether it is a small piece of land or a large tract, a small body of water or a large body of water, a tiny animal or a large animal - all are vital and important to God.
You see, whom we say Jesus is doesn't have as much to do with the words on our lips, as it does with how we live our lives with other people, with the rest of creation and things.
As people are losing their homes or are hungry, whom do we say Jesus is? Is He the One who loves the poor and oppressed and calls others to hear them, see them, help them – including us?
Or do we somehow separate God and Jesus from all such economic and political reality and do nothing? Then aren't we saying that Jesus is irrelevant, at least to us?
When the forces around us and sometimes within us seek to tell us repeatedly that we are only worthwhile if we make a lot of money, spend a lot of money, have lots of people who like us on facebook or in other ways, do we accept, do we believe that? God help us!
The risen Jesus repeatedly tells us as we enter this place, every time we hear Scripture, that by God's grace we are known and loved by God unconditionally. Intellect, accomplishment and income are non factors in God's love for us!
When there is need and a plea from our communities for donations of time and money – whom do we say Jesus is? Is He the One who gets the left-overs after we have spent most of what we have on our selves and others who already have so much? Or is he the One, the Lord of the living and the dead who calls us to be agents of life not death, contemporary Shiphrahs and Puahs?
Ask yourself: Whom and what do you love? Whom and what do we bet and base our lives upon?
Following and obeying the triune God is demanding.
But dear people, don't we see, that we are being given everything that really matters by this amazing God? Our friends, our families, education, opportunities, love, forgiveness - all are gifts from God. God's washing us in the waters of a new creation is all Grace! All of this is beyond anything we could ever deserve or earn, or fully comprehend. What could we possibly do to earn the love of God, where God gives up everything as God takes on our human flesh and is executed so that we can live anew each day – so that each person and all creation can know and experience that they are of infinite value to God.
Do we actually know this? Do we live trusting God?
So much in our world works to convince us otherwise. These are the same "voices" that spoke to Pharaoh. "Be afraid! Protect what you have – there's not enough for everyone! Be on guard against all others. Build walls. Take care of yourself alone!" Such forces come at us from many different directions, in the different times of our lives.
So Paul says," Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Oh people – the very Word of God, Jesus, lifted up again and again in the cradle of Christ, the Bible, keeps showing us this NEW WAY. We can hear Him. We can rest in Him. We can be shaped by Him. Oh people, the Sacraments of God – the bread and wine through which the very body of Christ is given to us so that we can be nurtured, strengthened and empowered comes again and again to us as a free gift. Eat and drink, celebrate and live from the beauty, the awe of this God who is continues to create ourselves and the entire universe.
Oh people, by God's grace, with hearts and minds being daily transformed, let's both discern and live out the good and gracious will of God. How wonderful that is and can be! Amen.