i let it take me over from the toenails to the crown
on the body that i'm in when the put me in the ground
After putting it off for too long, we finally got around to moving the last remaining artifacts at old Trinity.
Although I must say, we’re still engaging in a bit of dithering. There remain artifacts that need to be claimed and relocated. We’re also probably trying to hold on to a few too many items that would be better left parted with in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.
And I know it’s hard. But if you’ve been dragging your feet, I must tell you, the time is here. Say your goodbyes. Arrange a time to drop by old Trinity. Say some prayers. Give thanks. Reminiscence. Shed a tear. Claim an artifact. Take the one you claimed home, for heaven’s sake!
Yes, this will bring up a lot of emotions—maybe some you’ve been trying to avoid. But trust me, you’ll be thankful you faced these feelings when the demolition forever turns that page in our history. What’s more, there is a peace that’s forged from the shadow of that cross on the other side of all your tears, regret, and anger.
And when we were moving those final remnants last Saturday, I experienced a little of this strange peace that passes all understanding itself.
We were a couple hours into our work. Most of the windows had been moved. And my heart rate had nearly returned to normal. All that was left was to collect what might be of interest to us in the days ahead.
There was more than enough to do. And it was varied and interesting enough to keep a mind occupied. For me, though, it just impressed, with the weight of all those crates holding the windows, that our days of worshipping in that lovely house of the Lord at S. Central were definitely over.
To keep the emotions at bay, I tried to stay busy. After the heavy lifting, I distracted myself by fiddling with the impressions that were tacked onto the railing leading up to the altar. However, as I tried to detach those little reliefs, a jangled peal INTERRUPTED the solemnity of our work!
Startled, I looked up. To my surprise, someone had found a large pole and was running it back and forth across the hanging organ chimes! For good measure, they did so a few times over, too.
Now I won’t say who it was. I’m no fink. But I’ll tell you, this individual is usually a gentle and measured soul by most accounts. Honestly, I don’t know what got into them! But suffice it to say, before the cacophony was over, a little resurrection had crept into the enterprise.
Here I thought we were just preparing a building for demolition. But like Nicodemus, we were really just wasting our time! There we were, preparing a body for burial. A body that wasn’t about to stay buried!
The church is nothing other than the very body of Christ HIMSELF. As such, its fate isn’t destruction. No, its fate is eternal life!
What’s really special about that house of the Lord, sisters and brothers, was never the house itself. It wasn’t the big fellowship hall. And it wasn’t the windows. And it wasn’t even the memories.
No, what was really special about that sanctuary was it was there that we met the Lord! It was there that we were saved! And it was there that we were saved all over again the following week! And it was there that we were saved even when we became indifferent to the salvation Christ was offering us there. And it was there that we were saved once more when we came through those doors on that Sunday when we were just hanging by a thread.
And that, that, children of God, will never be snuffed out! Will it? If the cross COULDN’T stop Christ, a boiler explosion isn’t about to stop him, either! And neither is a demolition! And neither is something as trifling as change!
Amen? (Amen.) Amen?!? (AMEN!)
It was the crashing of those chimes out of their long-imposed silence that woke me up to that fact! That racket rang out the Good News that what we were doing wasn’t preparing for destruction. No, in all truth, we were really getting ready for resurrection.
I’ve got to tell you, it’s moments like that that have kept me in the ministry. And I don’t mean those wonderfully odd moments of holiness, either. No, I mean those far more ordinary ones. I’m talking about all those times my expectations have been blessedly upended.
I hesitate to tell the likes of you all this, but it’s been those times of being wrong that have redeemed ministry for me. Because I don’t know about you, but I’ve constantly got this narrative running in the back of my head. I’m always telling myself this story about myself, and you all, too, and even the very world itself! And the truth is, that tale is pretty dismal most of the time.
Be that as it may, it takes nothing less than an unexpected commotion to break me out of that morose storytelling! And I’d be willing to wager it’s no different for you, either. After all, if King David is any indication, we all cling to those stories we’re telling with a deathly grip.
And I do mean deathly. In King David, we get a glimpse of the inevitable OUTCOME of OUR solitary storytelling. David’s world shrinks as he single-mindedly pursues his self-crafted conclusion. And others become nothing more than objects, and God himself becomes utterly absent, too, in David’s futile quest.
In the end, there’s nothing but a bunch of corpses and broken hearts trailing behind David’s preferred outcome. David’s so blinded by his objective, though, he can’t see that. Or, at least, he’s unwilling to.
The thing, though, is that God sees it. And God ISN’T absent, either! No, God’s in the details.
I love that record scratch moment when Scripture tersely notes, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord…”
In reality, it was NEVER just the story David was telling himself. There was always ANOTHER story, ANOTHER actor, ANOTHER script, God’s. And God wasn’t about to let David’s sordid tale ride roughshod over everything else.
Yes, David may be king, but even he’s not immune to reality. LIFE catches up with David in a hurry when Bathsheba sends word she’s pregnant. And God catches up with David even faster when the prophet Nathan is put on the job.
Now Nathan is one of the greats in the history of the church. And his skill is on full display in this potentially perilous encounter he has with King David. Because I don’t know if you know this, but those in power don’t like to be called to account.
Nathan, though, like one of those bomb defusers, wades into the fraught situation fully armored. And he disarms the king by asking him to weigh in on an incident. Then, Nathan sets a bomb of his own. And he does so with something as simple as a story.
A story! Something so straightforward. A story. And yet, something so powerful, too.
And, like a good story, it works! Before Nathan can even deliver the punchline, DAVID has rendered the judgment. Ironically, against himself.
*As an aside, I’d ask you to keep this in mind next time you’re tempted to sound off in the latest controversy. Like David, you might end up hanging yourself on your own judgment…
And wouldn’t you say that’s why we cling so desperately to our self-crafted stories? I’ll speak for myself, but the thought of finding out I’m the villain of the story is not one I cherish.
But you know what? And again, I’ll speak for myself. As much as I hate to admit it, I HAVE been the villain of the story. And I’m embarrassed to confess, some of you here have brushed up against that old cuss, too. Haven’t you?
What today’s Scripture attests, though—and what I can confess to you today is—although it may be unpleasant to see ourselves, our actions, and our motivations in the cold light of day, it’s infinitely better than the alternative.
Consider! David could have gotten away with his treachery and adultery. But, had he done so, he would have been forever DOOMED to that lonesome and destructive narrative he had been crafting.
So instead of leaving David to that tawdry tale, GOD interrupted! God sent Nathan to deliver a word from on high—an alternative tale. And in that word, King David came crashing back down to reality.
And yes, that must have been painful at the moment. But in the end, it freed David from his OWN ill-fated tale! And what’s more, it set him on the direct path to that place where God is found!
God shows up nowhere else than in reality! That’s what the incarnation is all about, beloved! Faith isn’t a theoretical ascent to God. No, faith is the fruit of GOD’S unexpected descent to us!
As we like to say around here, God is for real life! For real people living real lives! And when Nathan burst David’s bubble, Nathan brought David back to reality. Back to where God is found. Or rather, where God finds you!
And so, I suppose, all that’s left is for me to do the same for you. On behalf of the author of life, allow me to interrupt that story you’ve been telling.
And yes, the old story might have its pros. But in the end, it has no future! And anyway, it’s not real!
PLUS, God’s NO imaginary deity! No, God is the real-life Lord and Savior of the really living and the really dead! And it’s right in the middle of all that, which is to say real life, that the Lord really shows up TO you!
God comes to call your past AND your present into question today. But in so doing, God intends to open your future! Christ’s cross is not only the judgment against all our self-machinations; it’s also the hinge of history itself!
At the Cross, Christ TOOK the futility of all our stories upon himself, and he died by them. In fact, he became the villain! And then, when he was buried, he closed the book on that sad story once and for all!
And three days later, when he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, Christ wrote a new beginning out of all our tragic endings! The empty tomb is the turning of the ages! It’s the beginning of a new story!
A new story that depends not one whit on you or that story you’ve been trying to force something as unmanageable as reality to fit into! A new story that is not forged by willpower, but given in grace! A new story that does not depend upon something as fictitious as you getting the present right.
Christ comes to divide history for you TODAY! He comes to TAKE your past. But he will by no means leave you empty-handed! On the contrary, in exchange for YOUR checkered history, he hands over to you his eternal future! What’s more, by this happy exchange, your present finally becomes the gift it’s been all along!
This elysian autumn day is not just another one in the long mixed record of the earth’s great orbit. No, this is nothing less than the first day for you! Today is teeming with Eden itself!
The golden and crimson leaves on fire with the glory of God. The fresh smell of the harvest proclaiming our prodigal God. And the cricket’s chorus joining the hymn of praise to our Creator. These are no mere accidents. No, these are all given by the very hand of God! Given TO you as one more part of God’s gift of new creation! God’s new creation, Christ is even right now crafting from the demise of your OLD world.
And all this comes to you right now on account of this Word, so listen up: In the name of the + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit + YOU are dead and buried with Christ. The life you now live is lived by faith in that Son of God who loves you and gives himself, his story, and everything else that belongs to him TO you! And that, and that alone, is the truest reckoning of you and your life’s story anymore!
And so, on account of ALL that, let’s sing! Let’s sing a new song to the Lord of life!
God, When Human Bonds are Broken; ELW 603
Comments
Post a Comment