Year C Proper 18 2019 9/11 and the Nature of God

Year C Proper 18 WEDNESDAY, 11 September 2019
 St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“9/11 and the Nature of God”

Collect: Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
    he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
    and gave him the name
    that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
    every knee should bend,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
    that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Matthew 2: 1-12 (Read but not used)

Please forgive the adult language and please read to the very end. This was some of the best theology that I saw right after the attacks of that day...
[Read an edited version of The Onion from 9/26/200]
https://www.theonion.com/god-angrily-clarifies-dont-kill-rule-1819566178

That was satire, and like good satire it hits really close to home. I think it was one of the best commentaries on those horrific events. In the hymn we read from Philippians we have an early example of how Jesus was seen by the early church, his humanity, his humility, his divinity. We see an example of what loving God is all about.

It is such a stark contrast to the picture that is painted by the anniversary we remember today. That day 18 years ago when people decided to praise God by taking lives. That day when innocents were slaughtered in the name of God. For 2,000 years we have had an alternative set out there for us to imagine, enabling us to picture what God looks like, what the nature of God is like through Jesus. This is not hyperbole. This is not metaphor. This is not analogy. This is the very nature of God, and that sets out for us the underlying nature of the Universe.

When I see fellow Christians, or people who say they are Christians, arguing and fighting and seeking power and being afraid, I look to this hymn of praise to juxtapose Not The Way Things Ought To Be, but rather, THE WAY THINGS ARE. We just have not woken up to that yet.

This week Donald Trump tweeted the name of a pastor instead of a journalist he had decided to belittle. The pastor responded in sympathy and love, extending grace despite the threats and nasty messages he had inadvertently received through the error. That is what I am talking about.

When I hear take Jesus name and tie it to all kinds of things, I have to remember that  that is not what Jesus is about. In fact he warned us that all kinds of things would be done in his name, and that we were not to worry. We just need to take on the idea, the image portrayed here. Even on this day when we remember the almost 3,000 killed on 9/11, when we take on the form of the one whose name we cherish, what the world sees as weakness is our strength. Please stand:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
    he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
    and gave him the name
    that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
    every knee should bend,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
    that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen