UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST in SIMI VALLEY
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost - October 19, 2003
Anne G. Cohen
Mark 10:35-45
For Our Reflection:
The essence of religious liberty is that [humans] should feel that there
is nothing whatever that stands between themselves and God.
- Arthur Christopher Benson, From a College Window (1906)
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love
of ourselves.
- William Hazlitt, English
essayist, critic (1778-1830)
Taking Liberties
(This sermon best read aloud with beret
and conga drums.)
Often,
in an atmosphere of fear,
those who feel vulnerable - or venerable -
snuggle up to power.
Teachers' pet, mama's boys and daddy's girls,
dominant party plays for privilege,
offensive warfare with a tax cut for flavor,
these are ways to name responses to perceived threat
in an atmosphere of fear.
Give me proximity to the leader
and I will sidle up to the podium, give you a show of bravado.
Sure, I'll bleed for you, die for the cause, suffer with you -
if you will protect me from all harm,
favor me in the doling out of authorizations,
tax me less, profit me more,
allow me to take liberties and stand next to you
when the flashbulbs go off.
Often,
in an atmosphere of fear,
people take liberties -
and they take liberties away
from those who are actually vulnerable
widows and children, lepers and epileptics,
checkers and baggers, aliens and the alienated,
unwed mothers like Mary, working class stiffs like Joseph,
sinners and saints and haulers and healers -
the liberties are taken - away from those who are so far away from the
top
that a snuggle with power - in the end -
looks like a courageous, futile gesture
in a boxcar headed for Dachau.
Often,
in an atmosphere of fear,
we volunteer our children's lives
we sacrifice our hard won freedoms
we commit ourselves to demand less -
supposedly, for the common good -
bargaining for safety,
trading the future for some imaginary present
that slides further into the shadows
cast by fear and profiteers and war lords.
James and
except a head start on misunderstanding the call
and the gall to bid for proximity to the Lord of All
when all hell breaks loose
and the persecutions and the crucifixions
start to roll in like well aimed tsunamis
and their pitiful selves are lost in the thunder
of inevitability and natural law
also known as - Divine Retribution.
James and
when they sidled up to the Servant of All
and ignorantly asked for service
instead of asking how best to serve
in the image of the One in whose Image they were made.
The other ten were merely late - to the table -
upstaged by the J brothers -
almost persuaded to hate instead of pity
the anticipatory dread - the anxiety - that drove them all
to follow and to hope and to find a power
worthy of being snuggled up to,
a power less dangerous to sleep with
and yet a power guaranteed to level the playing field,
let loose the rivers of justice,
heave the cosmic lightning bolts
with an accuracy that rivals the death penalty -
a power guaranteed to bring the persecutionary powers
to their knees -
and leave the Righteous standing knee deep in the wreckage
unscathed -
arm in arm with Messiah -
Leader of the New Free World.
Often,
in an atmosphere of fear,
we judge those who would take liberties for themselves -
those who would take the liberties of others
to compensate and placate the gods -
as we do our best to take what's left
and wish we'd been there first
to trade a few liberties for protection
and a closer walk with management.
In an atmosphere of fear,
it is a good idea
to identify who is managing our fear -
who's in charge of regulating our responses to
what is real -
and who is creating our realities for us -
timing the red yellow orange alerts
to coincide with pseudo-democratic coup d'etat -
filtering the news through reenactments
keeping our attention on the birdie
while the flash bulbs go off
and deals are made
and freedoms lost
in the flashing fleeting shadows
behind the blinding lights of power.
In an atmosphere of fear,
there is nothing to lose - but fear itself -
and everything to gain - by not taking liberties
lightly -
linking arms with other losers
and setting the boundaries of decency and human dignity
at the edge of our own courage,
at the heart of the matter,
out in the light where everyone and God
can see them
inhale them
impale themselves upon them, if they must
but only with full knowledge of their proximity to mortality
and their own free will
and their personal participation in taking liberties
with the Lord of All
who only seeks to serve
in the end.
In an atmosphere of fear,
how much safety will we trade - to be free - at liberty -
when unfiltered reality makes it painfully clear that
serious living requires a free fall
into the Arms of God
not knowing, not caring if it is the right or left - hand -
that bears us up -
trusting that the arms are there -
at the edge of our courage,
preserving the liberties that we thought were taken,
offering them again and again
with hope that we'll understand -
someday -
that there are enough liberties to go around -
enough to last a lifetime -
enough to preclude taking liberties from others
or trading them for the illusion of protection
from the elements
of nature and of evil.
In an atmosphere of fear,
there is nothing to lose - but fear itself -
and everything to gain - by not taking liberties
lightly -
by taking time to hand out hope
and shovel out the debris of terror -
by participating in the distribution
of unrationed compassion -
by emptying out the reserves of love
so that they might be filled with fresh supplies
clearing out the lies of scarcity
dismantling the arms of armies
making way for the rivers of justice
and the restoration of liberty
and the flow of free love -
which has always been at liberty
to liberate the minds and hearts of nations
nations of minds and hearts - vulnerable and venerable -
aching for peace
for their children's lives
for the lifting of the red orange yellow alert
for level playing fields
for the end of the death penalty
and the lifting of the right hand of the war lords
and the free fall into the cosmic hands of Reality
also known as - Divine Restitution
the Sacred Heart of the Universe
the Love that Passes Understanding
with Liberty and Justice for All.
Often,
in an atmosphere of fear,
those who feel vulnerable - or venerable -
snuggle up to power -
running from the anxiety of separation -
object constancy unlearned in an uncertain world
of shadows and bright lights.
In an atmosphere of fear,
there is nothing to lose - but fear itself -
and everything to gain - by not taking liberties
lightly -
having the courage to love
in the face of All of the above -
and serving the Servant of All
whose right and left hands are not to be bought
and are there for the taking
in the Real world
unseen
unquestionably manifest
at the edge of our courage
at the heart of the matter
in the midst of our struggle
to live at liberty in the Image of the One in Whose Image we are made
to love the world and each other
in an atmosphere of fear
knee deep in a river - of Justice.
BULLETIN
WE GATHER FOR PRAYER AND CELEBRATION
Music for Gathering
Welcome and Perspective on the Day
Musical Preparation for Worship - A Time for Centering
Call to Worship
God's Questions of
Job Job's Response
Job
38:1-3
Psalm 104:1-2a
Job
38:4-7
Psalm 104:2b-6
Job
38:34-35
Psalm 104:7-9
Job 38:36-41
Psalm 104:24,27,28,35c
+ Hymn of Demarcation God Marked a
Line Hymnal # 568
+ Opening Prayer (unison)
Holy God, by whose authority is judged all human exercise of power,
give us grace to obey where we are called to solidarity
and courage to resist when your justice is at stake. Amen
+ Our Common Prayer (unison)
Creator God who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
And the glory forever. Amen.
Time for Silent Reflection
One: My soul waits in silence.
All: God is my rock and my
fortress. I will be at peace.
Silent
Reflection
The
Assurance of Good News (unison)
As we are in God, let God be in us. There
is no separation!
Sung Response "Hallelujah. God be
praised!" (CSB #5 Refrain)
WE TEACH, REFLECT AND PROCLAIM
Conversation with Our Children
Reading from the Christian Gospels Mark 10:35-45
Sermon Taking
Liberties
WE RESPOND TO GOD'S INVITATION
Intercessions, Celebrations and Encouragements
Call to
Prayer Be still and know that I am God
Hymnal # 743
Time for
Silence
Our Joys and
Concerns and an Offering of Prayer
Sung
Response In Solitude Hymnal
#521 vv. 1 & 2
We Offer Our Gifts So That Our Lives May Be Our Prayer
Offertory
Prayer of
Dedication (unison)
All gifts have their origin in You, O God, the source of all creative
and healing energy. We rejoice when your love finds a faint echo in our
lives. We sense our destiny when your grace moves through us to touch
another. Help us to learn to be open and vulnerable to the needs of
your
world and to respond with the generous spirit of Christ. Amen.
+ Hymn of Life I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry Hymnal # 351
+ Commissioning (unison)
God we do not need to sit at your right and left hands - for
we seek to be your right and left hands - serving one another
within the infinite circle of your love.
+ Sung Response (we gather in some semblance of a
circle)
CSB #42 Refrain
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side.
Draw the circle wide.
+ Postlude
WORSHIP NOTES
Call to Worship is from Seasons of the Spirit curriculum
for
Opening Prayer is by Janet Morley, All Desires Known p.22