Rev. George
Miller
June 27, 2021
Jude 1:5-7
We know what you are
thinking- here we are, acknowledging Stonewall, celebrating LGBTQA Pride, and
lifting up the 64th Anniversary of the UCC…
…and this is the
scripture we’re using?
This rather obscure, confrontational
letter written by a pastor to his congregation regarding a God who destroys,
angels that supposedly had sex with humans, and the immorality of Sodom and
Gomorrah.
Excuse me- where is the Good
News?
What happened to grace?
How did we go from Jesus
Christ and the forgiveness of sins to a letter full of fire and brimstone?
How is it that something so
shiny, so beautiful thanks to the Resurrection, becomes something so dark so judgmental
just a few decades later?
The answer can be simple-
as our faith moved out of
the living rooms of people’s homes and into the structure of churches that functioned
as an organization, rules, hierarchy, and the Old Boy Club-ism crept in.
Issues emerged over who is
in, who is out, what does it mean to be a member, what does it mean to be
exclusive?
Jude is an interesting letter. It’s not one usually preached upon or often
discussed. Yet there it is, in the pages
of our Bible.
It is a letter from a pastor
who is either very protective of his flock, or very territorial.
He is a pastor who literally
believes they are living in the last days and that Christ will come back before
he dies.
He wants people to stay on track,
keep their faith, to pray and love the Lord.
For the author of Jude, his
feelings are that the race is almost over so steer clear of anything that may
trip you up.
He’s worried about false
teachers leading people astray.
He’s worried about people acting
greedy and abusing the goodness of others.
He’s obsessed with sin. Sin weighs so heavy on his mind.
Now the concept of sin is
nothing new.
Paul obsessed over his own sense
of sin, but from that worry came Paul’s understanding of grace.
Paul believes that in Christ
we have already won the race, so we welcome grace, and in doing so we can
become better Citizens of Heaven.
Whereas the author of Jude…he
thinks that grace can be taken away. He thinks
that God’s favor is conditional, that if you slip up, poof!, away grace goes.
Jude sees God as an entity who
will revoke your heavenly citizenship with a single act of anger.
Which begs the question-
what good is grace if it can be taken away?
How amazing is grace if you
constantly have to maneuver as if at any moment God is going to cast you out?
This leads to another question-
why would such a letter exist in our Bible?
Why do we go through all 4
Gospels, study the travels of Paul and Barnabas, spend time in Galatians, and
hang out with John and his love letters,
if at the end of the New
Testament we have a pastor basically damn everyone to hell who he deems immoral,
unfaithful, or unangelic?
Maybe it is because the only
way we can really learn, discern, and come to an understanding of who God is,
is to hear from all sides, and all viewpoints.
Or maybe when the New Testament
was officially compiled in the 3rd Century it was done by church
leaders who only knew how to rule by creating exclusion or fear.
Or….is it possible this
letter was included as a cautionary tale?
A look at to what can happen if we fail to remember the teachings of
Christ and the message of the Gospel-
To Love the Lord your God
and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Maybe there’s a multitude of
reasons why it was felt that of all the letters written during the formation of
the church, this one was important.
We will never truly know.
But today, as we continue the
season of PRIDE, celebrate the anniversary of the UCC, remember the events of
Stonewall, and enter into the 4th of July,
we have a chance to hear
about and think about a scripture that has shaped the church.
In doing so, we ask
ourselves-
-Do we believe in a God who
gets so angry that whole groups of people are punished?
Do we believe that this sin
of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality?
Or was their sin the
violation of hospitality in which a group of folk thought that an act of
dominance and humiliation was the best response to strangers coming to town?
Do we believe that grace is
something that can be taken away anytime we do a tragic mistake?
Do we believe that one
person has the right to say who is in and who is out,
when we know that Christ ate
with tax collectors and sex workers, healed foreigners and gentiles, cared
about both our daughters and sons?
Today’s sermon is not one
that gives an easy answer or says that I and I alone defiantly know the answer.
Today’s reading challenges
us.
It unsettles us.
It nudges us.
It asks us-
Who is the God we believe
in?
What is the Holy Spirit
calling us to be?
What does it mean to walk
with Christ?
What does a Christian look
like?
Thank be to God that we have
all our life to ask these questions and to wrestle with their meaning.
In peace and grace,
Amen.
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