A Weekly Devotion for Clergy and Lay Leaders by Bishop Kevin S. Kanouse

+ + + Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. + + +

Playing By the Rules

        Rules...rules...rules, my goodness the world is full of rules.  On the highways, in our schools, in my marriage, with my parents and my children.  Laws abound and more are written every day.  Sometimes I just want to flee from the rules, the laws, move to Montana or someplace even more remote.  Some days, don't you want to do just about anything you want without rules, laws, and people harping at you?  If only there were a place we could flee where we could be free from rules, laws, and obedience to someone else's whims, needs, or directions.  Since most of the livable land on this globe is taken with people living under rules, perhaps there's a shuttle to some distant planet where we can start a new society where there will be no rules, no laws.  But then, that's what folks hoped for 250 or so years ago when they fled to the New World seeking freedom.  Alas, there will always be rules.  They drive us crazy, perhaps, but we can't escape them. 

         The scriptures are full of them, especially this Sunday.  The Psalms open with a celebration of God's Law (see the text for this devotion in the right hand column).  Happy are those who do not follow the wicked or the path of sinners; they take delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on the Lord's law day and night. Yikes, too much law!

        In Deuteronomy, Moses stands on the edge of the Promised Land, unable to cross the river because he broke faith in God years before (those darn expectations by God!); he broke God's law.  Now he sets some rules for the people who will enter the land of promise:  If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  Lots of "if...thens...", lots of laws for the people of the Promised Land!

        Then, in Luke's text, Jesus invokes difficult rules for his followers, for those who would be his disciples, who want to live DiscipleLife:  Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ...So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. 

LOVE, There's a Law for That Too?

        And as if that's not enough, we hear the advice from St. Paul to Philemon, his friend.  Paul, in prison, has befriended another prisoner, Onesimus who used to be a servant, slave to Philemon.  Now Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon; but Onesimus is a different person.  He is a believer in Jesus, a faithful servant of the Master.  Paul wants Philemon to receive Onesimus NOT as a slave, but as a fellow Christian.  This will present a tough choice for Philemon and Paul reminds him that he could command Philemon to take Onesimus back:  For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty..., You can almost hear Philemon:  "Darn Paul, darn rules...I guess I don't have a choice, now do I?" 

        Yet, that's not the appeal that Paul makes to Philemon.  He appeals not to the law of the faith community by commanding Philemon to receive Onesimus, rather, he appeals to a different law and here comes the Gospel even in the midst of an overwhelming litany of laws, commands, and constraints:   I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love..., we might even say "the law of love."  Yes, even love is a law in Christ's world of DiscipleLife!  It seems odd that something as genuine as love; as open, accepting, and gracious as love, must be commanded.  But it is...love is commanded both in Deuteronomy and in Luke this Sunday.

"Flee the Social Gospel!"  Yikes!

        Gee, haven't the lessons for the last few weeks, the lessons on humility, on gratitude, and now on love and discipleship all dealt with the same thing?  Care for our neighbor, even love for our neighbor...to the point that we are willing to give all for the lost, the oppressed, the immigrant, the homeless, the imprisoned...is at the heart of all of scripture!  I find it alarming that a very popular, acclaimed, media icon had the audacity to tell his listeners:  "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! ...Leave your church. Social justice and economic justice. They are code words. If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish."

        Perhaps he needs to go back and read the bible again...to meet the Jesus of the Book again...for, perhaps, the first time.  Our God is one of the law...the law of love.  That's pretty much what social justice is...it is not about loving ourselves, or feeling good, or just loving Jesus as he loves (it's just you and me, Lord!); but loving the Lord God first (you know, with all our heart, soul, mind, and spirit), and then loving our neighbors as ourselves.  That law of love demands that we live the law of serving, like it or not. 

        Rules, dang rules!  Laws, dang laws!  Laws to love, laws to serve...if only we could flee those laws!   They so get in my way, that law of love. Dang, it even forces me to love some popular, unnamed, acclaimed media icon who fails to know the Jesus of love!                                                                                                             ------------------------------------------------------------- We pray:  Direct us, O Lord God, in all our doings with your continual help, that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy name; and finally, by your mercy, bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

                     

Texts for the Week
of Preparation for
September 5, 2010

Season of Pentecost 

•  Deuteronomy 30:15-      20
•  Psalm 1
•  Philemon 1-21
•  Luke 14:25-33

Text for This Devotion

Psalm 1:1-2

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.

 

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