[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage 512, Pentecost 6, July 16, 2006

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

(Note I am sending this ahead of time because I'll be traveling.) 


PENTECOST  6  (July 16, 2006)

2 Samuel 6:1-19   (Excising the midportion of this text shows a lack of 
reverence for the Scripture and a lack of confidence in the
exegetical ability of the preacher.  Karl Barth would not approve,
and neither do I.)
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

To The Praise of His Glory

What do John the Baptist and Uzzah have in common?  They both fell to a 
flash of power that transcended them.  This happens.  Sometimes those 
who tell the story see the hand of God as primary in the person's 
demise.  Other times the agent is more apparent.  Another way to 
interpret the event is to assign it to fate, "He was in the wrong place 
at the wrong time."  I find it inconsistent to give God the credit for 
our being "in the right place at the right time" and consign the other 
to bad luck.  No, I'd rather wrestle with the problem of God's hand 
being in the evil that befalls us as well as the good.  Otherwise, our 
suffering becomes meaningless.  I would rather suffer at God's hand 
then at the hand of a stranger -- or worse, a mindless universe.  Satan 
can be offered as another agent, though not in these Scriptures.  If I 
die because of Satan, I die related to Satan, not to God.  I die 
because Satan has the greater claim on my life.  I believe that 
regardless of how we die, the children of God die in relation to God.


Would you rather make a pastoral call on Uzzah's wife and children to 
say that his death was just one of those things that happens 
occasionally when a person tries to steady the arc, a million to one 
chance -- or come to say that the anger of the Lord "was kindled 
against him?" --  a tough choice.  It is tough because we always want 
to represent God in a winsome way.  More important, is that we 
represent God truthfully.  Was God angry?  Or, was God off duty when it 
happened?  Or, is there a dispassionate side to God's power, God's 
provision for the consequences of our actions apart from our 
intentions?  I wouldn't presume to tell his wife more than I know, but 
I wouldn't withhold the truth I do know.  She is going to blame God 
anyway.  Better she should remember that God's anger does not endure 
like God's faithfulness.  There are people in our audience who are 
wrestling with the memory of dreadful loss, not limited to death.  If 
we forbid them from wrestling with God, how will they ever find 
blessing?

Is God powerful only to save, not to destroy?  Psalm 24 and our 
Ephesians passage celebrate God's power to save.  The story from Samuel 
and Mark invite us to ponder God's power to destroy.  Oh, yes, it was 
Herod's order, but that order would never have come had it not been for 
God's calling John to preach.  Can the one who knows all things not 
bear some responsibility for all things?  The way John died fits his 
calling and his obedience to that call.  Is it bad that he died that 
way rather than some other way?

The one who has all the power to save or destroy us has chosen to save 
us -- not, the one who only has the power to save us has managed to 
snatch us from the one who does have the power to destroy us.  It is 
the mystery of God's choosing grace over judgment... It is the mystery 
of God choosing us...  It is the mystery of God's choosing us for grace 
over judgment in Christ Jesus that is the Gospel. “He destined us for 
adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good 
pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he 
freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Eph. 1:5-6)

May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
 (an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at
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      --Copyright 2006, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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