Spokane Friends Meeting

Early, in Meeting for Worship, the full script of the classic Abbott and Costello’s  “Who’s On First” was read.  The focus of worship, noted especially in the music used, was love.  The Story from Mark, while sharing that focus called us to acknowledging what is most important.  As the political contests come down to the wire and civility is at its lowest, this story, set amid contentious debates of Jesus’ time, is a breath of fresh air.  It is possible for opponents to respect each other and on things most important find agreement.   So — “Who’s On First…”

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What would you do if you couldn’t fail? What would you try? What mission would you attempt? What venture would you risk?  What great deed would you undertake?  As stimulating as that question may be David Lose said that it’s the wrong question to ask.  It’s the wrong question because there will be failure.  If we only dream of doing things we can accomplish without the risk of failure we will be either disappointed or realize our naiveté.  Maybe we simply would never try.

So here is the better question – it’s more realistic and more faithful: What would you try if you knew you might fail and it just didn’t matter? I don’t mean “didn’t matter” in the sense that there would be no cost, or that it would be difficult or disappointing. No, what I mean is, what would you try if the attempt itself was worth it whether it succeeded or not?

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Koinonia Community in Georgia is a Christian farm community founded seventy years ago by Clarence & Florence Jordan. It is the home of the Cotton Patch Gospel, birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Partners, Prison Jail Project, Fuller Center for Housing and other ministries. There is nothing like their chocolate pecan bark. As they say, they are “Still growing pecans and peanuts, welcoming visitors, and living the ‘demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God’.”  They could be simply an east coast version of Harry and David’s, making and selling peanut brittle, but their vision is to bring the life of God to others through ministry and service.

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They tell me that the vast majority of Americans believe that the Bible is the word of God.  That seems particularly relevant given that the vast majority of Americans, and a growing number it is, neither darken the door of a church nor consider themselves a part of any organized Judeo-Christian faith community.  You’ve got to wonder how that notion has become so common.

If you came to  colonial America fleeing religious persecution, you overthrew authority.  That meant that you needed a new authority right away, and a durable one at that. Enter the Bible–and the understanding of the Bible that your particular sect happened to hold.  I also read that in the United States, the “Word of God” became popular in the 18th and 19th centuries to preserve certain accepted ways of living.  If you are going to exploit child labor,  mandate death penalties, deny  women’s rights,  own slaves, and so forth, is easier to support such abuse of others when you can believe that God said that it is O.K.

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I’m indebted to a post on the web site of the Archdiocese of Washington that spoke to what it means to ‘fear’ God.  The post pointed out that our word ‘fear’ carries so much negative baggage we really need a better word.  The writer goes back to Thomas Aquinas to find where he makes a distinction between the fear of punishment and a ‘fear’  that is a gift of the Holy Spirit. …And he went on say:  The Fear of the Lord is rooted in our relationship to God as adopted children. The Fear of the Lord is rooted in our love for God. The Fear of the Lord is rooted in our admiration for God. The Fear of God is rooted in our desire for unity with God. The Fear of God is rooted in our appreciation for God’s Holiness.

That helps me understand Job’s theology.

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In the 11^th chapter of Numbers I learned something that came as a surprise to me.  I had just assumed that everyone on the trip from bondage in Egypt to prosperity in the promised land were the children of Israel, the Hebrew children, Jews—a monoculture. But in the fourth verse of this chapter a different reality is revealed.  Modern translations like The New Revised Standard Version for instance speaks of the rabble among them who lusted for the culinary delicacies they had known in Egypt. But a clearer translation of the Hebrew says ‘and the mixt multitude that was among them fell alusting’.  A mixed multitude! Well that changes our whole perception.  That helps us wrap our minds around the fact that the Exodus was an enormous migration numbering six hundred thousand persons.  It struck me that probably the most important lesson in this passage of scripture is that even when you are wandering in the wilderness of your pilgrimage you can’t avoid having to deal with the influence of the world.

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In the context of this story the question isn’t so much who is great and who is not, but who is welcome. Put another way, Jesus doesn’t care who we say is the greatest or even in who acts like the greatest or looks like the most likely to be great.  Jesus is interested in who acts with the greatest grace, compassion and love. For Jesus to place a child in the middle of his class on humility forces the twelve and us to consider our welcome to others, to the outcasts, to the unproductive and especially to the most vulnerable.

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Eight weeks from election day and having survived two National Conventions I’m already sick of the squabbling.  Out of a sense of obligation I regretfully look at my facebook page and struggle with the desire to ‘unfriend’ a few folks. I feel as I am asked to trust “mortals in whom there is no help.” I need to hear these words from the Psalmist: “Put not your trust in rulers, … when they breathe their last … their thoughts perish.” 

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There is no third option between worshipping and trusting God and idolatry.  We will either worship the uncreated God or we will worship some created thing be it something we’ve produced from our own imaginings, our own effort or the stars in the night sky – something of creation. There is no possibility of our worshipping nothing. The Apostle Paul says we turn to idols because we want to control our lives.  Our control strategy is to set our hearts on created things and build our lives around them.  What ever we worship, we serve. Worship and service are always inextricably bound together. Either we will look to God or to something else to make us feel significant and secure.  It may be success, romance, popularity, status or beauty.  We will either look to God or we will look to some substitute like the state, a free market economy, the elites, science and technology, military might, racial pride, reason or even religion.

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John Sheldon in 1994 wrote for Britain Yearly Meeting:

“The acceptance of the practice of music as a legitimate activity for Friends has been difficult because of the clear view expressed by early Friends.  …our founder, George Fox, says in his Journal that he was ‘moved to cry also against all sorts of music…[for it] burdened the pure life, and stirred people’s minds to vanity.’ With such a strong lead it took Friends until 1978 before Ormerod Greenwood could name this attitude an apostasy. Now we can say that Friends do not merely accept music, but that composing, performing and listening to music, are, for many, essential parts of their spiritual lives.”

Elizabeth Fry in 1833 wrote:

“My observation of human nature and the different things that affect it frequently leads me to regret that we as a Society so wholly give up delighting the ear by sound.  Surely He who formed the ear and the heart would not have given these tastes and powers without some purpose for them.”

Thanks to our musicians, our worship today includes twelve pieces of music. This is highly unusual for us, especially on a ‘third’ Sunday that is more typically of the silent variety.  When we attended the funeral service for of son-in-law’s mother, held in the sanctuary at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, the music was astounding.  When I’ve visited worship in a Roman Catholic church the music was wonderful. The Methodists, Church of the Brethren, Catholics, Lutherans, Church of Christ, Assemblies of God and other pentecostals have their own hymnody.  Friends find ourselves singing other people’s music. But, sing we must and should.

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