[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #539, Epiphany 3, 1-21-07

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Epiphany 3, January 21, 2007

Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10
Psalm 19
I Corinthians 12:12 31a
Luke 4:14 21

Our Perception of God’s Word

The Word of God will create something.  When Ezra read it to those who 
had returned from Babylon, it reconstituted Jerusalem.  The Psalmist 
reminds us that the sun rises at the Word of God, and that that same 
Word satisfies our hearts.  Paul perceives a body created by that Word, 
not a collection of people, a living body with a name -- Christ.  
Jesus, unlike Ezra, read from the Prophets, not the Law, but 
nonetheless something happened, something that threatened Jerusalem.  
Have we come full circle?

The Word of God is both speech and action.  So, there is the Word of 
God that we perceive as speech and the Word we perceive as action.  The 
Bible student studies the Word of God as speech.  The scientist studies 
the Word of God as action.  "The heavens are telling the glory of God; 
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth 
speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor 
are there words; their voice is not heard..."  (Psalm 19:1-3)   Just as 
Paul declares that there is but one body, the Psalmist declares that 
there is but one Word of God whether perceived as speech or as action.  
Therefore, the one who studies the Bible and the one who studies the 
nucleus of the atom study the one Word of God.  The fact that they come 
to incoherent conclusions, even conflicting conclusions is due to human 
weakness.  The reason they fight about the conflicting conclusions is 
due to human sin -- pride, for the most part. The study of the Word of 
God as speech creates the religious community, and the study of the 
Word of God as action creates the scientific community, but the Spirit 
can constitute them as a single community, the Body of Christ.  "The 
eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head 
to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'  (1 Corinthians 12:19)  That is 
arrogance.  Oh, yes, the Body of Christ is much larger than what we 
know as the church just as God is much larger than the universe. Paul 
had no idea of the scope of this body.  That is why he planned to 
travel to the ends of the earth to announce its imminence.

With our penchant for individualism, we vex at the idea of being a part 
of a larger whole.  The atheist wants to be the lone definer of the 
universe.  The fundamentalist religionist wants to be the lone definer 
of ultimate reality.  The power hungry want to be the lone definers of 
the course of action.  We want to rejoice in our own lonely freedom.  
We shrink with horror at the prospect of giving up our isolated 
mountains of insight and power.  We would hate to see the day in which 
we would have to repent our freedom, our individualism.  We would hate 
to see the day when we would be gathered around Ezra (and Einstein) to 
hear the Law and know it was greater than we, and our only hope for the 
future.  We would weep.  We would curse.  We would vow to oppose it to 
our death.

But, "Then he said to them, 'Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet 
wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, 
for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of 
the LORD is your strength.'" (Nehemiah 8:10)
The Law of the Lord is not a threat to our enjoyment of life.  It is 
the opposite.  Our problem is not that this planet will not support 
human life.  It is that irreverent human life will not support human 
life.  We gather reverently around the linear accelerator on the 
Berkeley Campus, twenty-four hours a day, standing by to receive a 
revelation.  What would it take for us to stand from early morning 
until the seventh hour listening to the Word of God being read?  Where 
would we get the reverence of the scientist to stand and raise our 
hands and say "Amen, Amen"?

When the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, because he has anointed us to 
bring good news to the poor... When he has sent us to proclaim release 
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind... When he has sent 
us to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's 
favor.

" And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat 
down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  Then he 
began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your 
hearing.'"  (Luke 4:20-21)


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/

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