First Presbyterian Church
Milk-made priorities
Sermon for April 24, 2005
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time: Square corners

I have some squares to give you. I'd like you to try to lay them right next to each other on the flannel board. Be as careful as you can. Line up the sides carefully. We need a straight line.

This row of squares is pretty straight. Now we're going to start with this square. I'm cutting it with these scissors to change the angle. Now, line up these next squares with it as straight as you can.

Why isn't that line straight? What's wrong with the first square?

Yes, that angle right here isn't square is it? That line isn't straight. Because it was crooked, we couldn't make a straight line. When people built buildings in Jesus' day, the first block had to be absolutely square. The higher you go, the more important it is to put the blocks on straight, or the whole building falls down and it isn't any good to anybody.

We'll be reading from my translation from Acts, so it will be slightly different from the NRSV on page 126. Steven was one of the seven people full of the spirit who were ordained to care for the Christian community in Jerusalem, organizing the food and supervising the finances. Many women and men were becoming disciples. The temple administrators were feeling threatened. Steven was accused before the council of elders of saying things against the law. He defends himself, recounting the history of the Hebrew people, mentioning how prophets were always persecuted, and quoting from Isaiah 66, “Our God does not live in houses made by human hands.” That enraged the crowd of temple leaders who followed the tradition about killing a blasphemer outside the city. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Acts 7:55-70.

But being full of the Holy Spirit, gazing into the heavens, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God's right hand, and he said

"Look I see the heavens opened and the Son of Humanity standing at God's right hand!”

But they were yelling with a loud roar, holding their ears closed, and with one mind, mobbed him. Then, bringing him outside of the city, they began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a youth named Saul.

And while he was being stoned, Stephen prayed,

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and yelled in a loud voice,

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.

This ends our reading from the book of Acts. The response to this reading is from Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16, on page 505. Our bulletin lists the page for Psalm 3, but we'll be reading from psalm 31 on page 505. Verses 1-5 are on the bottom of the page, and we'll turn to page 506 to read verses 15-16. Listen for the word of God as we read it together.

1 To the leader. A Psalm of David.

In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.

2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.

3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake lead me and guide me,

4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

15 My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

16 Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.

The psalm reading was chosen for the lectionary to respond to Steven's stoning. We might wonder, where was God when Steven was stoned? Where was his rescue, his refuge, his deliverance, his salvation? He died a terrible, shameful death. But he was part of God's people, precious to God. He died knowing he was in God's care.

Our epistle reading is found on page 239. It is from Peter's first letter. He wrote it to encourage new Christians in rural Asia Minor. Peter tells them they are born anew in Christ, and they need to recognize their utter dependence on God.

We'll be reading from my translation. It's a little different from the NRSV in your pew Bibles. They have “rid yourselves” but the verb means “take off your clothes and lay them down,” much like we heard the crowd doing with their cloaks at Saul's feet in our reading from Acts. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Peter 2:1-10.

So removing and laying down all wickedness, and all deceit, and insincerity, and envy and all bad-mouthing from yourselves, like newborn infants, desire the unadulterated milk of God's word (1) so that by it you may grow into salvation-- if you have tasted that the Lord is good (2).

Having become a living stone, though discarded (3) by human beings yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, you yourselves are being built into a spiritual house, into a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone select and valuable; and the ones who believe in it will not be dishonored.”

Then to you who believe, he is valuable; to the ones who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head cornerstone, “a stone for tripping over, and rock for stumbling on.” They trip on the word, disobeying as they were destined.

But you are a select race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people in God's possession so that you might proclaim the praises of the one who is calling you out of darkness into the marvelous light of God.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you were not shown mercy, but now you have mercy.

This ends our reading from God's word. Let us listen to the choir interpret it.

Anthem: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

One of the lines in our assurance of pardon that caught my imagination is the reassurance that “If you truly believe, you will show care for others.” Showing care for others is a sign that we believe in God's promises in Jesus Christ.

I know some of us are anxious about whether or not we have done the right thing. Sometimes, our intentions are good, but we come across as patronizing or interfering. So we learn to second-guess ourselves and be cautious. But if we have love for Christ, that will carry us thought difficult situations. Steven's way was clear: he witnessed for God's salvation. He did not let any fear of death prevent him from doing what he needed to do. He did not let fear of his attackers make him vengeful. His last words, spoken in a voice loud enough for the crowd to hear him were “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” He let them know they had sinned, but he did not curse them. He held on to his spiritual power in the face of their rock-throwing power.

What gave him that strength? Peter says, “like newborn infants, desire the unadulterated milk of God's word (4) so that by it you may grow into salvation.” Those of you who have ever nursed an infant, or given a newborn a bottle, know the way babies cry when they are hungry. The child's priorities are clear – feed me NOW! They are focused on rooting around until they find the source of the milk. If you have to find a chair, move a pillow, get a glass of water, take off your coat, babies are NOT patient. They desire milk and expect it. I think Peter is talking about that sort of single-minded hunger. He wants us to have that kind of eagerness when it comes to God's word.

When we drink in God's word, we can do Godly acts.

When we ingest other messages, we may not.

Babies of drug-using mothers don't have a choice about what to ingest. But we aren't helpless infants sucking up whatever's presented. We do get to choose where we get our messages from.

One of the messages we get from people is don't rock the boat; don't cause trouble.

Recently I attended a conference for clergywomen. One evening, members of the planning team brought small groups of 8-10 to dinner at local restaurants. I was in a group with my friend Connie, a black clergywoman from Georgia. We had been talking about racism and the ministry. She works half-time at a small black church just outside of Atlanta, and half-time at a big white church in Atlanta. The two churches have a partnership. June and her best friend Sheila were our leaders. Sheila had recently become disabled, and uses a wheelchair. Many of the businesses in Princeton were historic and so didn't have ramps. We drove to the restaurant in Sheila's van, and pulled into the parking place in the back. June told me she knew there was a ramp. She urged us to go in, get a table and order while she waited for her good friend Sheila to unload her wheelchair. As we walked up the steps, we told the hostess the rest of our party was coming up the ramp. She said, “There isn't a ramp.” So one of our group went back to tell June and Sheila there was no ramp.

June felt the burden of hospitality, and told us to go inside anyway. She'd take Sheila to another group in another restaurant, and we should just order. We did as we were told, and ordered, which took a while as we all discussed the pros and cons of each menu item, whether we were ordering family style or individual plates. June returned fifteen minutes later, sat down, and said that Sheila elected not to go with another group; she wasn't happy about the whole situation, and went back to the dorm to bed.

I knew June was in charge of our group, and I was just a member, one of 8. I had no authority. June had worked hard on the conference all day, and I could see she was exhausted. So there were a lot of mitigating circumstances.

But one thing I knew, I couldn't eat, knowing that Sheila was skipping dinner because she couldn't get into the restaurant. Prejudice was on my mind because of our racism discussions. I didn't care if I was over-reacting or not.

I said, “They probably have takeout here. Let's get our food to go, and take it back to the dorm.” Connie, next to me, said, “Yes, let's do that” and stood up. The others agreed and followed suit. Connie, June and I stayed behind to pay and wait for the food to be packaged up. The others went back immed iately to find a room with a table and chairs and invite Sheila again to dinner.

On the way back, June thanked me for making the suggestion. She said, “It couldn't come from me. It had to come from one of you. She's my best friend.” I had thought I shouldn't say anything because I wasn't in charge. I realized that when we are afraid to make waves, any excuse seems reasonable.

We had three bags of delicious-smelling Chinese food. I knew we would have a lot of smelly leftovers and no one would empty the trash in our meeting room before the morning. So I asked the person working at the dorm desk where the dumpster was, so after dinner I could discard the leftovers. I started explaining the circumstances to her. Once I got to the part about the wheelchair, no ramp, and us leaving, she said instantly “Good! I'll dump the trash.” Her quick response surprised me. Perhaps because she was a student, accustomed to taking moral stands, or maybe because she was black, and had experienced prejudice in her life, or maybe because she had a lot of work to do and she wanted me to stop talking, or maybe because it was easier to take our trash herself than to explain where the dumpsters are in that confusing building.

Sheila came to dinner gratefully, and we all had a good time. I had felt presumptuous and guilty about my suggestion to leave the restaurant. I was very grateful the others agreed.

When we are with a community of like-minded people, it becomes easier to do the right thing. But even then, it can be hard.

And so Peter encourages the church to drink up God's word, to rid themselves of meanness that messes with the spirit working in their community. He lists wickedness, and deceit, insincerity, envy and bad-mouthing. I chose to use ‘bad-mouthing' in my translation because ‘slander' in American English has a legal definition; here it means speaking ill of another person, whether or not it can be proven true legally.

Peter wants the community to build one another up, not tear another down. And so he speaks of what God is dong for the community. They had a house of God, the temple, where they once worshiped and sacrificed; but the temple is gone and now God is making them into a spiritual house.

These mean ways, lies and hypocrisy, envy, complaints and rudeness come out when we are afraid and feel powerless; we don't value ourselves, and doubt there's enough good to go around. The early church was discarded by the local society; they were persecuted some of the time, and suspect most of the time.

And so Peter tells them that God values them. God selects them, whom their society has discarded. They are God's people, and they have God's mercy. So their actions can be generous and merciful. For Peter, this is urgent. If they are going to thrive, they must stop treating each other as the world treats them, but treat each other as Christ treated the world. Christ is the foundation for their behavior. Today we read the story from Acts, about Steven's death. He was able to rely on God even in that terrible situation. He saw Christ, his cornerstone.

We need to be reminded that the way we care for one another is a priority, given to us by God. It's confusing sometimes, knowing what is the best thing to do. We have to know our limits so when we are depleted, we recognize what we are hungry for. And so we drink up this spiritual milk Peter speaks of. God values us. God selects us. We are God's people, we have God's mercy.

(1) It's logikon in Greek; related to logos, word, rather than pneuma, spirit

(2) Palatable, comfortable, easy-to digest, savory, scrumptious, nourishing, meets high standards, kind, also used to describe wine

(3) rejected after testing; regarded as unworthy

(4) It's logikon in Greek; related to logos, word, rather than pneuma, spirit