Tag Archives: G*d

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on September 19, 2015
Tags: G*d,   

Make Them Known to Your Children — Rev. David J. Schreffler

image  September 19, 2015

“But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—” Deuteronomy 4:9

“In crafting a sermon on this or another passage, we have occasion to reflect on preaching as necessary repetition of the story and of the commandments that strengthen faith and lead to life. It is not necessary to find or invent new stories each week. Moses cautions the people against adding on to the word God has given. He also cautions against holding back, or subtracting, whether by conscious effort to trim off the parts we do not like or by quiet omission and neglect of the parts we do not understand.

We share Moses’ hope that our children will have the blessing of life. We want them to cross into a place where we will no longer carry them, where they will enter and claim the inheritance God has prepared for them. Our children stand at a threshold. We — preachers, parents, catechists, neighbors, priests, deacons, elders — are their teachers. We are entrusted with our people’s memory and testimony. May our preaching and our life together show to our children the wisdom and justice of God’s teaching, so they may trust in God’s promise and receive abundant life.” Dear Working Preacher, Commentary on Deuteronomy 4, Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC

Moses says “…take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

How are we doing? With the mass migration of young people away from the Protestant Church, I am not so sure we have done such a good job. It is hard to answer the question “why?” The major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. And yet many of the Millennials will report themselves as being “spiritual” and report praying with the frequency of their grandparents.

I guess it is possible that the “old ways” just do not resonate with those between the ages of 18 years and 25 years of age. That means that our churches need to find some alternatives — so we can meet the needs of the aging Baby Boomers and the millennials. That will be a challenge, but most likely the beginning of any change will happen on the local level. As pastors and congregations assess their individual context including the makeup and needs of their community, it may be possible for people of all ages to find meaningful worship and ministry opportunities — that is if the congregations will trust G*d to lead them to new landscapes and new opportunities — just as the Israelites trusted Moses.

The question is: Will we be able to make those changes in time, or will the church lose another generation of people?

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on August 26, 2015
Tags: G*d, Sacred   

The Sacred is Meant For Life — Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

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August 26, 2015

“When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God.” 2 Samuel 6:6-7

“In the worldview of that time a sacred object could bring good and harm. It was not meant to be touched by a common person and when this occurred as with Uzziah, he died because of God’s anger and the punishment of death was for his breach of etiquette. It reminds me a little of the incredible outburst by the British papers when Paul Keating (then Prime Minister of Australia) touched the Queen on the back. The outburst was as though God had struck him dead.

We have to remember this was the understanding of the time. Now we eat what is sacred (the body and blood of Christ) and it is meant to be life-giving not a means of death. Since the advent of Christ we see a compassionate God who would not act in this way towards people. We still treat certain objects with due reverence, but it is not a matter of death if by accident it gets dropped or used for another purpose.” Anna Grant-Henderson “Old Testament Lectionary” (Uniting church website)

There are the stories that we hear as Seminarians about dropping chalices of wine during communion, or dropping bread on the floor while distributing the “body of Christ”. It is one of the biggest fears I have in handling the elements during Holy Communion, but it is going to happen once in a while. Thank goodness G*d will not strike me dead if in fact this kind of accident takes place. We read the story of poor Uzzah who simply tried to keep the ark of the covenant from toppling over, and we are shocked by the reaction from G*d. But G*d made a distinct separation between the Holy and the Profane — the sacred and the secular — and poor Uzzah crossed the line. So what is the purpose of the story?

Today, the sacred is meant for life — not for death. We need to remember that there are things that are sacred to G*d and therefore need to be treated with utmost respect. The sacred leads to eternal life — things like G*d’s Word, the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism, and sacred space like where-ever two or three gather in the name of Jesus. No longer does G*d smite those who mistreat the sacred, but we still need to teach that the sacred is devoted to G*d, and therefore needs to be treated with reverence.

Pastor Dave