{"id":1556,"date":"2024-10-07T13:34:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T17:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2024-10-07T13:34:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T17:34:58","slug":"there-is-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2024\/10\/07\/there-is-love\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/There-Is-Love-10724-1.17\u202fPM.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Sermon for the Locust Grove United Church of Christ of Locust Grove, PA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">by Rev. James Eaton, Interim Pastor \u00a9 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">World Communion Sunday \u2022 20<sup>th<\/sup> Sunday After Pentecost \u2022 October 6, 2024<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=595321984\">Genesis 2:18-24<\/a> \u2022 <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=595322011\">Mark 10:2-16<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019d just moved to Boston to go to seminary, and I was excited and nervous. This was long before Starbucks and coffee house culture; we just had diners. So I went in one and asked for a coffee. The man said, \u201cYou want dat regulah?\u201d Not wanting to look like I didn\u2019t know what I was doing, I said, \u201cSure.\u201d He gave me a cup of coffee with cream in it. I always drink my coffee black; so I said, \u201cOh I didn\u2019t want cream,\u201d and asked him to replace it with a black coffee. He said, \u201cYou asked foh regulah.\u201d What I learned is that while black coffee is how it comes regularly in Michigan, in Boston, \u201cregular coffee\u201d is coffee with cream in it. Since then, I\u2019ve had to deal with lots of similar misunderstandings. In Spain once, I thought I ordered olives\u2014\u201colivdes\u201d\u2014but ended up with snails. England is especially hard because they use the same words for different things. We all know what a biscuit is, right? Except that in England it\u2019s a cookie. Never order biscuits and gravy in England. I mention these differences because this morning in our gospel reading you heard the word \u2018divorce\u2019. Some of us are divorced; others have walked with friends or family through divorces. So when you heard that word, you probably thought you knew what it meant. But just like biscuits, just like olivdes, just like regular coffee, we need to be careful and not apply our own ideas to what Jesus is saying. Instead, let\u2019s look at what this means for his time and his way so that we can hear what he\u2019s really saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s begin by remembering where we are in Mark\u2019s story of Jesus. At his baptism, he heard a voice from heaven say, \u201cYou are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.\u201d Just before this, he\u2019s taken two disciples up a mountain and again, a heavenly voice has said, \u2018This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!\u2019 Twice already he has told his disciples that he\u2019s going to be handed over to the authorities, killed, and will rise again after three days. They are now on the way to Jerusalem, where this will be fulfilled. Along the way, there are a series of confrontations where he\u2019s asked to debate tricky questions of religious law. That\u2019s what\u2019s happening here. This is a political question: the most famous divorce there was when King Herod divorced his wife to marry his sister-in-law. It was preaching against this that got John the Baptist executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we think of marriage and divorce, we think of two people dating, falling in love, having a ceremony that celebrates their unique commitment to a relationship of intimacy with each other. We know this hope doesn\u2019t always blossom. Sometimes there are choices, sometimes there is abuse, sometimes it becomes clear to one or both that this relationship cannot continue. So we provide for either person to ask for a divorce, and we have a whole legal framework that tries to equitably divide up property and responsibilities for children. But Jewish custom was different in Jesus time. Marriage was less about intimacy than about a contract, called a ketubah. The ketubah specified a bride price and provided a property settlement. After the ketubah was signed, there was often a period of being engaged, up to seven years. Then a formal marriage ceremony would be held. Women could not ask for a divorce; only a man could initiate a divorce by filing what is called a get. Women and children were often abandoned after a divorce. There was no requirement for child support or property division. This is what\u2019s being discussed here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pharisees in the passage set out the law of Moses regarding divorce; it\u2019s what I\u2019ve just described. A man files a get, the divorce is finalized. All is according to the law of Moses. Perhaps Moses realized not all marriages work and provided an out. But that bit of grace has become a law. Jesus goes to the core of the matter. He wants to go behind Moses\u2019 law and back to the original intention of God. He says that Moses wrote this law because of the hardness of hearts of people and reminds them of God\u2019s hope at creation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We miss some of the significance of the story of creation in Genesis because of translation issues. What happens there is that God takes some mud from a creek, forms a human shaped doll, just as Jewish children did. These dolls were called <em>adamanh; <\/em>we translate this as a name, Adam, and use gendered language to make Adam male. But this isn\u2019t a male, isn\u2019t Adam, it\u2019s an adamah.Then God breathes life into the adamah. In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for Spirit and breath is the same. So the adamah becomes a living being by God sharing spirit\/breath.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">God says it isn\u2019t good for the adamah to be alone and tries out all kinds of creatures as partners, but it\u2019s only when God takes some of the substance of the adamah and makes another being that the adamah recognizes a true partner. The word is \u2018aged\u2019, which means helper but has the sense of equal. Sometimes God is described as our aged, our helper. It\u2019s only when the two are together that they are described as man and woman, actually as husband and wife. The story concludes, \u201cAnd the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.\u201d This part always make middle school confirmation classes giggle, but it\u2019s really a sign of intimacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes this happens and it\u2019s amazing and wonderful. We also know sometimes it doesn\u2019t. This is true of much of life. God hopes we will live in covenants that express justice and loving kindness, that we will provide for everyone to live out the fulfillment of their gifts as children of God. We know that doesn\u2019t happen as well. When we think of marriages breaking down, we often think of adultery, but it\u2019s just as common for marriages to break down because the couple are not helpers to each other, not partners. So we provide in our common life, legal ways to say, \u201cLook, I need out of this marriage. I need a divorce.\u201d We provide a legal process for this. But what about the spiritual process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus has an answer for that as well. First, he refuses to endorse the abandonment of the vulnerable, of wives and children. Second, he picks up a child. We\u2019ve seen him lift a child before; here he touches them, often a sign of healing. He says, \u201cTruly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.\u201d What he seems to be signaling is that when adults have wandered off God\u2019s path, the solution is to go back to being a child. He speaks in other places about being born from above; he invites us to become a new person. This is the key to moving beyond divorce: to reflect and repent, to see that if you have not lived up to God\u2019s intention, you need to change and start again, like a child. The solution isn\u2019t law: the solution is grace..&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This text has been turned into law in a way that often hurts people. Jesus heals; Jesus hopes. He lifts up God\u2019s hope that we will live in equal, intimate partnerships, in just covenants, and when we don\u2019t, he summons us to repent and become like children. This is a hope meant for all people. Today is the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that finally recognized the right of LBGTQ people to publicly celebrate marriages partnerships. We should be proud the United Church of Christ has been and continues to be a leader in accepting and affirming this hope for all people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I come to this text as a person who has been divorced and remarried. I know what it means to take a hard look at yourself, to realize you need to change. There is a song that says, \u201cIt\u2019s me, it\u2019s me, it\u2019s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.\u201d Sometimes what we should sing is, \u201cIt\u2019s me, it\u2019s me, it\u2019s me O Lord, standing in the need of change, standing in the need of forgiveness, standing in the need of grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus preaches this; Jesus is the embodiment of God\u2019s love among us. And God\u2019s hope is that just as we received the spirit at our creation, we will share it. We will heal and hope and in those partnerships, in our communities, there will be love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a few moments, we\u2019re going to share together communion, the great memorial of grace. When we say, \u201cThis is his body, broken for you,\u201d it reminds us that we are also broken. When we say, \u201cThis cup is the new covenant in his blood,\u201d it reminds us that Jesus offers not law, but love. Peter, Paul and Mary sing a song about marriage and love. One of the verses says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oh the marriage of you here has caused him to remain<br \/>For whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name<br \/>There is love. there is love.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This sermon addresses Jesus&#8217; words about divorce in a way that gives hope to the divorced and sees the gospel as an inclusive, loving word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[39,161,146,3,2,130],"tags":[364,24,237,98,67,172,5],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exegesis","category-genesis","category-mark","category-sermon","category-worship","category-year-b","tag-divorce","tag-forgiveness","tag-grace","tag-hope","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-sermon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1556"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1561,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions\/1561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}