{"id":1284,"date":"2015-12-27T11:00:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-27T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2019-10-08T11:36:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T15:36:35","slug":"a-new-year-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2015\/12\/27\/a-new-year-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Year Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke 2:41-52<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to listen to the sermon only<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span>About ten years ago, a friend of mine and I spent Saturday afternoons, winter and spring 2006, visiting members of our church. \u00a0He drove, I navigated, we sipped Diet Dr. Pepper. \u00a0We used a map. \u00a0We went to call on church members who had not yet had the opportunity to make a pledge to our capital campaign. \u00a0The building it supported was mostly up, the pledges were mostly in, but we lacked a certain percentage. \u00a0The trustees, being trustees, along with the rest of us, rightly wanted to see 100% completion and participation. \u00a0All manner of mailings, some e-mailings, pulpit appeals, and phone calling were to no avail. So, we went out in the eastern suburbs of Monroe County NY, to make some doorstep, unannounced, cold call home visits. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember beautiful homes, and young families, and happy greetings, and a real willingness to listen, and a desire to give. After all, these young families would most benefit from the investment other generations were making in their future. \u00a0I also remember asking my friend and driver Bob why some of these homes, large and lovely, apparently had little or no furniture. \u00a0He could give the price of the homes, close to market, about 1\/3 the cost of similar property in eastern New England. \u00a0This impressed me. \u00a0But, I asked, where is the furniture? \u00a0Well, he tried to explain, some of these families have taken out as much mortgage as they could, knowing (he raised an eye brow), knowing that the value would continue to go up, and up. It was generally understood to be the wise, prudent thing to do, though, of course, it was a matter of interpretation. They would get the furniture next year. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The memories flooded in while we watched recently the film THE BIG SHORT. \u00a0Now I see. \u00a0Now I see what I saw but I had no full way to see what I saw or fully to interpret what I saw, almost 10 years ago. How you see depends on how you interpret what you see. \u00a0Just over the horizon from winter 2006 there was about to be a great collapse, as we all now know and ruefully remember. We are still finding our interpretative way into understanding all that happened. \u00a0I can see now, pretty clearly, what Bob I think suspected, but did not say. \u00a0Our friends were truly very ready to give, but they at that point had no means to do so. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Interpretation matters. \u00a0Two days after Christmas, and the feast of our Lord\u2019s birth, and one day after the feast of Stephen, and remembrance of his death as the first Christian martyr, perhaps we could pause, step back, and look, as he have now and then before, at our mode of interpretation. \u00a0Not of markets and economics today, but of truth, of faith, of Gospel, of life. We take a New Year outlook. \u00a0As we pray together in the New Year, what will be our outlook? \u00a0As Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, at least as Luke reports, what shall our own outlook toward wisdom be, not 2006, but 2016?<\/span><\/p>\n

Errancy<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

To begin. Your love for Christ shapes your love of Scripture. \u00a0You love the Bible. \u00a0You love its psalmic depths. \u00a0#130 comes to mind. You love its stories and their strange turns. \u00a0Samuel comes to mind. \u00a0You love proverbial wisdom. \u00a0\u2018One person sharpens another like iron sharpens iron\u2019 comes to mind. You love its freedom, its account of the career of freedom. \u00a0The exodus comes to mind. You love its memory of Jesus. \u00a0His growing in stature today comes to mind. You love its honesty about religious life. \u00a0Galatians comes to mind. \u00a0You love its strangeness. \u00a0John comes to mind. \u00a0You love the Bible, enough to know it through and through.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>You rely on the Holy Scripture to learn to speak of faith, and as a medium of truth for the practice of faith. \u00a0Around our common table today in worship, we share this reliance and this love. \u00a0The fascinating multiplicity of hearings, here, and the interplay of congregations present, absent, near, far, known, unknown, religious and unreligious, have a common ground in regard for the Scripture. A preacher descending into her automobile in Boston, after an earlier service, listens to this service to hear the interpretation of the gospel. \u00a0A homebound woman in Newton listens for the musical offerings, as in today\u2019s duets, and for the reading of scripture. \u00a0On the other side of the globe, a student listens in, come Sunday, out of a love of Christ that embraces a love of Scripture. \u00a0Here in the Chapel nave, on the Lord\u2019s Day, scholars and teachers and students have in common, by your love for Christ, a love for the Scripture, too. \u00a0The B I B L E, yes that,s the book for me. \u00a0In this way, we may all affirm Mr. Wesley\u2019s motto: \u00a0<\/span>homo unius libri<\/span><\/i>, to be a person of one book.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Bible has a story, too, as James Sanders used to say. \u00a0And at points, it is errant. \u00a0Not inerrant, but errant. \u00a0It is theologically tempting for us to go on preaching as if the last 250 years of study just did not happen. \u00a0They did. \u00a0That does not mean that we should deconstruct the Bible to avoid allowing the Bible to deconstruct us, or that we should study the Bible in order to avoid allowing the Bible to study us. \u00a0In fact, after demythologizing the Bible we may need to re-mythologize the Bible too. \u00a0It is the confidence born of obedience, not some certainty born of fear that will open the Bible to us. \u00a0We need not fear truth, however it may be known. \u00a0So Luke may not have had all his geographical details straight. \u00a0John includes the woman caught in adultery, but not in its earliest manuscripts. \u00a0Actually she, poor woman, is found at the end of Luke in some texts. \u00a0Paul did not write the document from the earlier third century, 3 Corinthians. The references to slavery in the New Testament are as errant and time bound as are the references to women not speaking in church. \u00a0The references to women not speaking in church are as errant and time bound as are the references to homosexuality. \u00a0The references to homosexuality are as errant and time bound as are the multiple lists of the twelve disciples. \u00a0The various twelve listings are as errant and time bound as the variations between John and the other Gospels. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Marsh pulpit, and others like it, are not within traditions which affirm the Scripture as the sole source of religious authority. \u00a0We do not live within a Sola Scriptura tradition. \u00a0The Bible is primary, foundational, fundamental, basic, prototypical\u2014but not exclusively authoritative. \u00a0Today\u2019s passage from Luke 2 is an idealized memory. of something that may or may not have happened in the way accounted. \u00a0It looks back sixty years. It is formed in the faith of the church to form the faith of the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>If I were teaching a Sunday School class this winter I might buy the class copies of Throckmorton\u2019s Gospel parallels and read it with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Equality<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/span>You love the tradition of the church as well. \u00a0<\/span>Though with a scornful wonder we see her sore oppressed<\/span><\/i>\u2026John Wesley loved the church\u2019s tradition too, enough to study it and to know it, and to seek its truth. \u00a0The central ecclesiastical tradition of his time, the tradition of apostolic succession, he termed a \u2018fable\u2019. \u00a0Likewise, we lovers of the church tradition will not be able to grasp for certainty in it, if that grasping dehumanizes others. \u00a0The Sabbath was made for the human being, not the other way around, in our tradition. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, the linkage of the gifts of heterosexuality and ministry, however traditional, falls below and falls before the Gospel of grace and freedom. \u00a0In Methodism, 2016, the church\u2019s own tradition, the very preaching of the gospel itself, and the rendering of theological truth–well before any moral, or ethical, or societal debate\u2014includes the full affirmation of the full humanity of gay people. \u00a0Tradition expands to make way for the gospel. \u00a0So, over time, equality triumphs over exclusion. \u00a0It is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

If I were convening a spring study I would have the group re-read Walter Wink\u2019s old little pamphlet<\/span> The Bible and Homosexuality <\/span><\/i>for some perspective on tradition and scripture and \u00a0change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evolution<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

You love the mind, the reason. \u00a0You love the prospect of learning. \u00a0You love the life of the mind. \u00a0You love the Lord with heart and soul and mind. \u00a0A mind is a terrible thing to waste. You love the reason in the same that Charles Darwin, a good Anglican, loved the reason. \u00a0You love its capacity to see things, and to grow in wisdom and stature, as Jesus did, according to our gospel today..<\/span><\/p>\n

A word of caution is in order. \u00a0Reason unfettered can produce hatred and holocaust. \u00a0Learning <\/span>for its own sake<\/span><\/i> needs virtue and piety (repeat). \u00a0More than anything else, learning, to last, must finally be rooted in loving. \u00a0\u00a0Jesus grew, in Luke 2. \u00a0The more he learned, the more he taught. \u00a0He embodies inquiry for us today. \u00a0Inquiry!<\/span><\/p>\n

The universe is 15 billion years old. \u00a0The earth is 4.5 billion years old. 500 million years ago multi-celled organisms appeared in the Cambrian explosion. \u00a0400 million years ago plants sprouted. \u00a0370 million years ago land animals emerged. \u00a0230 million years ago dinosaurs appeared (and disappeared 65 million years ago). \u00a0200,000 years ago hominids arose. \u00a0Every human being carries 60 new mutations out of 6 billion cells. \u00a0Yes, evolution through natural selection by random mutation is a reasonable hypothesis, says F Collins, father of the human genome project, and, strikingly, a person of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

I might have my fellowship group re-read this New Year Francis Collins, <\/span>the Language of God.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0He can teach us to reason together. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is tempting to disjoin learning and vital piety, but it is not loving to disjoin learning and vital piety. \u00a0They go together. \u00a0The God of Creation is the very God of Redemption. \u00a0Their disjunction may help us cling for a while to a kind of faux certainty. \u00a0But their conjunction is the confidence born of obedience. \u00a0In the end, falsehood has no defense and truth needs none. \u00a0Nothing human is foreign to us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Existence<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

You love experience. \u00a0The gift of experience in faith is the heart of your love of Christ. \u00a0You love Christ. Like Howard Thurman loved the mystical ranges of experience, you do too. \u00a0Samuel, in looking forward, expects to learn from experience, and joyful experience at that. We know joy. \u00a0Joy seizes us. \u00a0Joy grasps us when we are busy grasping at other things. \u00a0You love what we are given morning and evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

You love experience more than enough to examine your experience, to think about and think through what you have seen and done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, after a decade, looking into and upon experience, we can see things better. \u00a0Our failures teach us, both as individuals, and in community. \u00a0We learn in our experience the happiness and centrality of giving (yes, there is a year end stewardship nudge here (\u263a)). \u00a0We learn also that, you know, you can do too much for people sometimes. \u00a0That is part of the limit purpose of the tithe (yes, again, there is a year end notion at play here (\u263a)). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can trust your experience. \u00a0That is part of the meaning of Incarnation. \u00a0From a friend, this week, came a gift that sings love of Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience, <\/span>rightly interpreted, <\/span><\/i>in the voice of one Cardinal John Francis Dearden of Detroit, and quoted in Pope Francis\u2019 very recent Christmas message. \u00a0Dearden\u2019s prayer sings out the song of incarnate love. \u00a0His is our last word today, as we take a New Year outlook, and remember that interpretation matters:<\/span><\/p>\n

Every now and then it helps us to take a step back<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

and to see things from a distance.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is also beyond our visions.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In our lives, we manage to achieve only a small part<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

of the marvellous plan that is God\u2019s work.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Nothing that we do is complete,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

which is to say that the Kingdom is greater than ourselves.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No statement says everything that can be said.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No prayer completely expresses the faith.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No Creed brings perfection.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No pastoral visit solves every problem.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No programme fully accomplishes the mission of the Church.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

No goal or purpose ever reaches completion.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This is what it is about:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We plant seeds that one day will grow.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We water seeds already planted,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

knowing that others will watch over them.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We lay the foundations of something that will develop.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We add the yeast which will multiply our possibilities.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We cannot do everything,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

yet it is liberating to begin.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This gives us the strength to do something and to do it well.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It may remain incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is an opportunity for the grace of God to enter<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

and to do the rest.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It may be that we will never see its completion,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

but that is the difference between the master and the labourer.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We are labourers, not master builders,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

servants, not the Messiah.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We are prophets of a future that does not belong to us.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Hear the gospel, you prophets of a future that does not belong to you! And, Happy New Year<\/span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

-The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information about Marsh Chapel at Boston University,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For information about donating to the Chapel,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service Luke 2:41-52 Click here to listen to the sermon only About ten years ago, a friend of mine and I spent Saturday afternoons, winter and spring 2006, visiting members of our church. \u00a0He drove, I navigated, we sipped Diet Dr. Pepper. \u00a0We used a map. \u00a0We went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1284"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2349,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions\/2349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}