Sermon for November 26th, 2017 - Revision history

Iraneal at 01:47, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T01:47:22Z

Iraneal at 01:37, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T01:37:51Z

Iraneal at 01:30, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T01:30:57Z

Iraneal at 01:22, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T01:22:31Z

Iraneal at 00:56, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T00:56:34Z

Iraneal at 00:38, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T00:38:41Z

Iraneal at 00:37, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T00:37:42Z

Iraneal at 00:21, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T00:21:29Z

Iraneal at 00:11, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T00:11:21Z

Iraneal at 00:09, 25 November 2017

2017-11-25T00:09:30Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:47, 25 November 2017
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	The Lord smiled, "Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they use their spoons to feed each other."		The Lord smiled, "Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they use their spoons to feed each other."

−	People of First Presbyterian Church: May God bless you this holiday season; may you always have enough stew to keep you full, and may you always have enough generosity to share it.	+	People of First Presbyterian Church: May God bless you this holiday season with a sense of his divine presence; may you always have enough stew to keep you full, and may you always have enough generosity (and spoons) to share it.

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	The Lord smiled, "Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they use their spoons to feed each other."		The Lord smiled, "Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they use their spoons to feed each other."
		+
		+	People of First Presbyterian Church: May God bless you this holiday season; may you always have enough stew to keep you full, and may you always have enough generosity to share it.

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:30, 25 November 2017
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	In this passage, Haggai paints a picture of two attitudes, two ways of being. One IS transactional, and material, but those transactions fail to produce the desired results, and end up spreading the wrong thing. The other way of being is relational--we give to God because of our relationship with God and God's people. The blessing comes as a result of and through those relationships, not in exchange for anything we have given.		In this passage, Haggai paints a picture of two attitudes, two ways of being. One IS transactional, and material, but those transactions fail to produce the desired results, and end up spreading the wrong thing. The other way of being is relational--we give to God because of our relationship with God and God's people. The blessing comes as a result of and through those relationships, not in exchange for anything we have given.

−	~~To illustrate that~~ point, I ~~want~~ to ~~end~~ with one ~~of my favorite stories~~, ~~one that just so~~ happens to feature a good pot of stew!	+	That's a pretty nuanced point, and the best way I can think of to illustrate it is with a story. It's one you've probably heard before, but I can't resist concluding with this story, since it happens to feature a good pot of stew!
		+
		+	A man was praying one day, and asked the Lord to explain to him the difference between heaven and hell. The Lord said to the man, "Come, and I will show you hell." Together, they entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge, mouth-watering pot of stew. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but all of the spoons had handles so much longer than their arms that none of the spoons could be used to get the stew into their mouths. The suffering was terrible.
		+
		+	After awhile, the Lord said to the man, "Come, now I will show you heaven." Together, they entered another room. It was very similar to the first - the same pot of stew, a different group of people, but the same long-handled spoons. Here, everyone was happy and well-nourished.
		+
		+	"I don't understand," said the man. "Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything is pretty much the same?"
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		+	The Lord smiled, "Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they use their spoons to feed each other."

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 ==Haggai 2:10-19==
-On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 11 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling: 12 If one carries consecrated meat in the fold of one’s garment, and with the fold touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered, “Yes, it becomes unclean.” 14 Haggai then said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the Lord; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. 15 But now, consider what will come to pass from this day on. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the Lord’s temple, 16 how did you fare?[a] When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 18 Consider from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is there any seed left in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you.
+On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 11 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling: 12 If one carries consecrated meat in the fold of one’s garment, and with the fold touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered, “Yes, it becomes unclean.” 14 Haggai then said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the Lord; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. 15 But now, consider what will come to pass from this day on. Before a stone was placed upon a stone in the Lord’s temple, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 18 Consider from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is there any seed left in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you.
 ==Stew(ardship) - Haggai's Stew==
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 When all you do is look out for yourself, building up your own possessions and your own house, while neglecting God's house and God's people, you're like that person who touched a dead body.  Everything that you touch, all that you build and acquire becomes devoid of life. Spiritually dead. Empty. Meaningless.  And that sort of mentality spreads like a disease.
-On the other hand, everything you give to God, every offering, every sacrifice you make for God's work here on earth--those are the things that God blesses, consecrates, and makes holy.  And that kind of blessedness also spreads and permeates every part of your life as well--not through things coming into contact with each other, but through your life coming into contact with the Divine life of God, who alone has the power to bless and extend blessing.
+On the other hand, everything you give to God, every offering, every sacrifice you make for God's work here on earth--those are the things that God blesses, consecrates, and makes holy.  And that kind of blessedness also spreads and permeates every part of your life--not through things coming into contact with each other, but when your life comes into contact with the Divine life of God, who alone has the power to bless and extend blessing.
-Story of the spoons in heaven/hell
+To illustrate that point, I want to end with one of my favorite stories, one that just so happens to feature a good pot of stew!

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 So to sum up (for you biologists out there), dirtiness is a communicable condition.  Blessedness is not.  Or to put it theologically:  Dirtiness is conferred by dirty things.  But blessedness is conferred by God.
-Having established this ruling from the Jewish law, Haggai now makes his point (to the people of Jerusalem...and to us):
+Having established this ruling from the Jewish law, Haggai now makes his main point (to the people of Jerusalem...and to us):
-−

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	So to sum up (for you biologists out there), dirtiness is a communicable condition. Blessedness is not. Or to put it theologically: Dirtiness is conferred by dirty things. But blessedness is conferred by God.		So to sum up (for you biologists out there), dirtiness is a communicable condition. Blessedness is not. Or to put it theologically: Dirtiness is conferred by dirty things. But blessedness is conferred by God.
		+
		+	Having established this ruling from the Jewish law, Haggai now makes his point (to the people of Jerusalem...and to us):

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	Three months later, God speaks through Haggai once again (chapter 2, verse 10--today's scripture passage) , this time with an odd request: Consult the temple priests, and ask them for a ruling from Jewish law. If a person takes some consecrated meat (meat that has been given to the temple as an offering, and blessed) and puts it in their pocket, and later it touches some bread, some wine, some oil, or...wait for it...some STEW! Does that make the stew (or the wine, or the bread, or the oil) blessed as well?		Three months later, God speaks through Haggai once again (chapter 2, verse 10--today's scripture passage) , this time with an odd request: Consult the temple priests, and ask them for a ruling from Jewish law. If a person takes some consecrated meat (meat that has been given to the temple as an offering, and blessed) and puts it in their pocket, and later it touches some bread, some wine, some oil, or...wait for it...some STEW! Does that make the stew (or the wine, or the bread, or the oil) blessed as well?
		+
		+	I imagine the priests are scratching their heads here at the absurdity of the question--the answer is obvious. There's no such thing as "stealth blessing" or "accidental blessing" in Jewish law. The only way something can become blessed is if it's offered to God as a sacrifice. So the priests answer, "no."
		+
		+	But Haggai (speaking for God) asks a second, follow-up question. What if, this time, that same person touches a dead body (a different kind of meat!) and THEN touches some stew, wine, bread, oil, etc.? Does the same logic apply?
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		+	In Jewish law, contact with a dead body made a person unclean, and they had to go through a process of ritual purification. Anything they might touch before that purification would also be considered unclean. This is not so strange of an idea, if you think about it. My five-year-old son comes inside from playing in the dirt, and asks his mother if he can help make the stew. Yes, but first you have to wash your hands. Dirty hands make dirty stew.
		+
		+	This time, the priests answer in the affirmative. If a person touches a dead body, then touches stew...yes. The stew becomes unclean.
		+
		+	So to sum up (for you biologists out there), dirtiness is a communicable condition. Blessedness is not. Or to put it theologically: Dirtiness is conferred by dirty things. But blessedness is conferred by God.
		+
		+

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 "Take a good, hard look at your life.  Think it over.  You have spent plenty of money, but you don't have much to show for it.  You keep filling your plates, but you never get filled up.  You keep drinking and drinking, but you're always thirsty.  You keep putting on clothes, but you can't stay warm.  And those of you who earn wages, you're just putting your wages into a bag full of holes."
-Essentially, the people of Jerusalem are spinning their wheels in pursuit of things that have no power to fulfill them, while the one thing that can is the one thing they have neglected for so long.  Again...sound familiar?
+Essentially, the people of Jerusalem are spinning their wheels in pursuit of things that have no power to fulfill them, while the one thing that can offer true fulfilment...is the one thing they have neglected for so long.
 Story of the spoons in heaven/hell

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	"Take a good, hard look at your life. Think it over. You have spent plenty of money, but you don't have much to show for it. You keep filling your plates, but you never get filled up. You keep drinking and drinking, but you're always thirsty. You keep putting on clothes, but you can't stay warm. And those of you who earn wages, you're just putting your wages into a bag full of holes."		"Take a good, hard look at your life. Think it over. You have spent plenty of money, but you don't have much to show for it. You keep filling your plates, but you never get filled up. You keep drinking and drinking, but you're always thirsty. You keep putting on clothes, but you can't stay warm. And those of you who earn wages, you're just putting your wages into a bag full of holes."

−	Again...sound familiar?	+	Essentially, the people of Jerusalem are spinning their wheels in pursuit of things that have no power to fulfill them, while the one thing that can is the one thing they have neglected for so long. Again...sound familiar?

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 As we talk about stewardship this year, we're also talking about stew (the kind you eat) and using this as a metaphor for our giving.  The words stew appears two-and-a-half places in the entire Bible.  We talked about those first two places the past two weeks, and so today we come to the "half."  I say half, because the words stew *barely* appears in today's passage, among a list of other things in an obscure legal question raised by the equally obscure Old Testament prophet, Haggai.
 Growing up in my six-person family, there was never any question if, whether, or which of the evening leftovers would go into the giant stew-pot that lived in the freezer. Each night, everything that wasn't eaten for dinner got added to that stew pot and frozen, waiting to be thawed, reheated, and reclaimed at the end of the week. The only real question was how this particular leftover ingredient or that would affect the taste and character of the stew when the pot was full. And despite some highly questionable additions (like pancakes, or spaghetti, or applesauce) somehow the stew always ended up being surprisingly good--and completely different every week!
 Story of the spoons in heaven/hell