Year A
Isaiah 45:1-7
Psalm 96:1-9\u00a0
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These days\u2026 if you search Google for the word idol\u2026 you find people or things that are greatly admired\u2026 loved\u2026 or revered\u2026 things like the American Idol TV show\u2026 or movie idols\u2026 or pop idols\u2026 but generally speaking\u2026 an idol is an image or representation of a god\u2026 used as an object of worship\u2026 though Exodus 20:3-4 says\u2026 you shall not make for yourself an idol\u2026 whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above\u2026 or that is on the earth beneath\u2026 or that is in the water under the earth\u2026 you shall not bow down to them or worship them<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And when we think about idols\u2026 we think about primitive or superstitious religions\u2026 and 1Corinthians 8 for example\u2026 warns against believing that eating food offered to idols accomplishes anything\u2026 since we know that\u2026 no idol in the world really exists\u2026 and that there is no God but One<\/em>\u2026 idols are human-made gods\u2026 which have no awareness\u2026 no consciousness\u2026 and the humans that make them\u2026 forget that the One True God made humans\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But an idol can be other than something like eyes painted on a rock that\u2019s been carved into human form\u2026 an idol can be an idea or a concept\u2026 an idol can be an organization or a company or a nation\u2026 an idol can be an elected leader or a king\u2026 in other words\u2026 an idol can be anything which we see\u2026 but which we cannot see beyond\u2026 something on which our vision lands\u2026 but then gets stuck\u2026 and mistakes the thing\u2026 for what it represents\u2026 perhaps even mistakes it\u2026 for everything\u2026 and there are many false gods in this world today fighting for our adoration or worship\u2026 we have the false gods of entertainment\u2026 pleasure\u2026 fame\u2026 money\u2026 power\u2026 authority\u2026 selfishness\u2026 and instant gratification\u2026 to name a few\u2026 and the myopic vision which worships idols\u2026 keep us from experiencing the boundlessness for which we were created\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n An icon\u2026 is an image too\u2026 and you may have heard that icons are not painted\u2026 but are written\u2026 and that may seem odd\u2026 because as any sensible person can see\u2026 icons use special egg tempera paints\u2026 applied with brushes\u2026 onto specially prepared wooden boards\u2026 so how can this be writing\u2026 and much of the answer lies in the differences between English and Russian\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask a Russian how one says\u2026 write\u2026 and they will answer bisat<\/em>\u2026 then ask them how one says\u2026 paint\u2026 and they will answer bisat<\/em>\u2026 that\u2019s because Russian has one word with two meanings\u2026 and you have to know the context to know whether someone is writing a letter\u2026 or painting a picture\u2026 but if you tell your Russian Orthodox friend that writing an icon is inaccurate English\u2026 he or she may say\u2026 but an icon is the Gospel in paint\u2026 and the Gospel is written\u2026 so we Orthodox say we write<\/em> an icon\u2026 ] of course\u2026 there are some who view this usage as old-fashioned\u2026 and think that iconographers ought to say that they paint icons\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But unlike an idol\u2026 an icon helps us see beyond the image which is written on it\u2026 it\u2019s like a window to the divine\u2026 something which helps us see past the specific and embrace universal Mystery\u2026 and even more so\u2026 in Genesis 1:26-27\u2026 God said\u2026 let us make humankind in our image\u2026 according to our likeness\u2026 so God created humankind in God\u2019s image\u2026 in the image of God\u2026 God created them\u2026 <\/em>idolatry absorbs our gaze the way a black hole absorbs light\u2026 while an icon draws our gaze through and towards God\u2026 and if we choose to\u2026 we can also see the divine in the eyes of others as well\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus said\u2026 show me the coin used for the tax\u2026 and they brought him a denarius\u2026 <\/em>which by the way\u2026 had the likeness of a man who was considered to be divine\u2026 then Jesus said to them\u2026 whose head is this\u2026 and whose title<\/em>\u2026 they answered\u2026 the Emperor\u2019s<\/em>\u2026 then he said to them\u2026 give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor\u2019s\u2026 and to God\u2026 the things that are God\u2019s<\/em>\u2026 in the RSV translation of this passage\u2026 the text says\u2026 whose likeness<\/em>\u2026 and in the King James\u2019 translation\u2026 the text says\u2026 whose is this image<\/em>\u2026 so while the Emperor\u2019s image may be on a coin\u2026 it remains an idol\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of you know that there\u2019s been a call\u2026 to put former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20.00 bill\u2026 but of those men currently on the $1.00\u2026 $2.00\u2026 $5.00\u2026 $10.00\u2026 $20.00\u2026 $50.00\u2026 and $100.00 bills\u2026 five out of the seven owned slaves\u2026 the men on these bills were honored for contributions they made\u2026 but how do we avoid honoring them as slave owners\u2026 how do we avoid associating the bank roll in our pocket\u2026 perhaps like the one on our bulletin cover\u2026 with that aspect of who they were\u2026 and who they owned\u2026 and is minimizing this fact one of the symptoms of the institutional racism that we\u2019re being forced to face\u2026 how do we continue to better express the baptismal values we lift up\u2026 and so I wonder if America\u2019s original sin\u2026 was forgetting that all people are created in God\u2019s image\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. Frank Logue writes\u2026 the Pharisees did not want to give money to their pagan oppressors\u2026 and so were opposed to paying taxes to Rome\u2026 ] on the other hand\u2026 King Herod\u2019s position of power came courtesy of the Romans\u2026 ] so even though the taxes were considered to be oppressive\u2026 the Herodians had a vested interest in keeping the Roman taxes paid\u2026 ] so they set a political trap for Jesus\u2026 if he said it\u2019s lawful to pay the tax\u2026 Jesus is between a rock and a hard place\u2026 because he\u2019s saying it\u2019s OK to support Israel\u2019s oppressors\u2026 and if he said it\u2019s unlawful to pay the tax\u2026 he\u2019s between a different rock and hard place\u2026 because he\u2019s speaking treason\u2026 and his answer vexes them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Leviticus\u2026 God says\u2026 the land is mine\u2026 with me\u2026 you are but aliens and tenants<\/em>\u2026 this passage echoes what’s written in Genesis about God wanting us to be stewards of the Garden\u2026 and not those who exert dominion over the earth\u2026 in other words\u2026 as we’ve heard over the last few weeks\u2026 the vineyard belongs to God\u2026 not to the local collaborators\u2026 not to Rome\u2026 not even to anyone today\u2026 and Psalm 24:1 affirms that… the earth is the Lord’s\u2026 and the fullness thereof<\/em>\u2026 so for Jesus and many of his contemporaries\u2026 the whole earth\u2026 and everything in and on it\u2026 belongs to God\u2026 so the answer to his question\u2026 is that nothing belongs to Caesar\u2026 everything belongs to God\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Richard Rohr writes that Jesus is always forgiving individual sinners\u2026 which was a problem for the righteous from the beginning\u2026 in contrast\u2026 Rohr said\u2026 I do not once see him “forgiving” the sins of systems and empires\u2026 instead\u2026 he just makes them show themselves\u2026 as he did in Mark 5:8-9 with the man possessed by Legion\u2026 as Desmond Tutu did in South Africa\u2026 and as Martin Luther King, Jr. did in America\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n While many today do wear masks to protect themselves and others\u2026 there has also been a great unmasking of the social ills which beset us\u2026 and we must remember that partisan neutrality\u2026 does not equal moral neutrality\u2026 we must not be silent about the social injustices against which we are called to name and to heal\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bp. Satterlee reminds us\u2026 that speaking through the prophet Jeremiah\u2026 God declared\u2026 but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile\u2026 and pray to the Lord on its behalf\u2026 for in its welfare you will find your welfare<\/em>\u2026 so if God would have Israel pray for Babylon\u2026 where they were exiled\u2026 how much more would God have us pray for the United States\u2026 where we are privileged to live\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are all God\u2019s children\u2026 and God\u2019s image is on us\u2026 God is within us\u2026 gently pushing us forward\u2026 and God is ahead of us\u2026 drawing us along\u2026 and our image of ourselves shapes and informs how we engage government and vote\u2026 which as good citizens we must do\u2026 to help it embody God\u2019s values\u2026 so that we can\u2026 as the Thessalonians did\u2026 turn from idols\u2026 to serve a true and living God\u2026 who makes all things new\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Isaiah 45:1-7 Psalm 96:1-9\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 These days\u2026 if you search Google for the word idol\u2026 you find people or things that are greatly admired\u2026 loved\u2026 or revered\u2026 things like the American Idol TV show\u2026 or movie idols\u2026 or pop idols\u2026 but generally speaking\u2026 an idol is an image or representation of a god\u2026 used as an object of worship\u2026 though Exodus 20:3-4 says\u2026 you shall not make for yourself an idol\u2026 whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above\u2026 or that is on the earth beneath\u2026 or that is in the water under the earth\u2026 you shall not bow down to them or worship them\u2026 And when we think about idols\u2026 we think about primitive or superstitious religions\u2026 and 1Corinthians 8 for example\u2026 warns against believing that eating food offered to idols accomplishes anything\u2026 since we know that\u2026 no idol in the world really exists\u2026 and that there is no God but One\u2026 idols are human-made gods\u2026 which have no awareness\u2026 no consciousness\u2026 and the humans that make them\u2026 forget that the One True God made humans\u2026 But an idol can be other than something like eyes painted on a rock that\u2019s been carved into human form\u2026 an idol can be an idea or a concept\u2026 an idol can be an organization or a company or a nation\u2026 an idol can be an elected leader or a king\u2026 in other words\u2026 an idol can be anything which we see\u2026 but which we cannot see beyond\u2026 something on which our vision lands\u2026 but then gets stuck\u2026 and mistakes the thing\u2026 for what it represents\u2026 perhaps even mistakes it\u2026 for everything\u2026 and there are many false gods in this world today fighting for our adoration or worship\u2026 we have the false gods of entertainment\u2026 pleasure\u2026 fame\u2026 money\u2026 power\u2026 authority\u2026 selfishness\u2026 and instant gratification\u2026 to name a few\u2026 and the myopic vision which worships idols\u2026 keep us from experiencing the boundlessness for which we were created\u2026 An icon\u2026 is an image too\u2026 and you may have heard that icons are not painted\u2026 but are written\u2026 and that may seem odd\u2026 because as any sensible person can see\u2026 icons use special egg tempera paints\u2026 applied with brushes\u2026 onto specially prepared wooden boards\u2026 so how can this be writing\u2026 and much of the answer lies in the differences between English and Russian\u2026 Ask a Russian how one says\u2026 write\u2026 and they will answer bisat\u2026 then ask them how one says\u2026 paint\u2026 and they will answer bisat\u2026 that\u2019s because Russian has one word with two meanings\u2026 and you have to know the context to know whether someone is writing a letter\u2026 or painting a picture\u2026 but if you tell your Russian Orthodox friend that writing an icon is inaccurate English\u2026 he or she may say\u2026 but an icon is the Gospel in paint\u2026 and the Gospel is written\u2026 so we Orthodox say we write an icon\u2026 ] of course\u2026 there are some who view this usage as old-fashioned\u2026 and think that iconographers ought to say that they paint icons\u2026 But unlike an idol\u2026 an icon helps us see beyond the image which is written on it\u2026 it\u2019s like a window to the divine\u2026 something which helps us see past the specific and embrace universal Mystery\u2026 and even more so\u2026 in Genesis 1:26-27\u2026 God said\u2026 let us make humankind in our image\u2026 according to our likeness\u2026 so God created humankind in God\u2019s image\u2026 in the image of God\u2026 God created them\u2026 idolatry absorbs our gaze the way a black hole absorbs light\u2026 while an icon draws our gaze through and towards God\u2026 and if we choose to\u2026 we can also see the divine in the eyes of others as well\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 show me the coin used for the tax\u2026 and they brought him a denarius\u2026 which by the way\u2026 had the likeness of a man who was considered to be divine\u2026 then Jesus said to them\u2026 whose head is this\u2026 and whose title\u2026 they answered\u2026 the Emperor\u2019s\u2026 then he said to them\u2026 give therefore to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor\u2019s\u2026 and to God\u2026 the things that are God\u2019s\u2026 in the RSV translation of this passage\u2026 the text says\u2026 whose likeness\u2026 and in the King James\u2019 translation\u2026 the text says\u2026 whose is this image\u2026 so while the Emperor\u2019s image may be on a coin\u2026 it remains an idol\u2026 Many of you know that there\u2019s been a call\u2026 to put former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20.00 bill\u2026 but of those men currently on the $1.00\u2026 $2.00\u2026 $5.00\u2026 $10.00\u2026 $20.00\u2026 $50.00\u2026 and $100.00 bills\u2026 five out of the seven owned slaves\u2026 the men on these bills were honored for contributions they made\u2026 but how do we avoid honoring them as slave owners\u2026 how do we avoid associating the bank roll in our pocket\u2026 perhaps like the one on our bulletin cover\u2026 with that aspect of who they were\u2026 and who they owned\u2026 and is minimizing this fact one of the symptoms of the institutional racism that we\u2019re being forced to face\u2026 how do we continue to better express the baptismal values we lift up\u2026 and so I wonder if America\u2019s original sin\u2026 was forgetting that all people are created in God\u2019s image\u2026 The Rev. Frank Logue writes\u2026 the Pharisees did not want to give money to their pagan oppressors\u2026 and so were opposed to paying taxes to Rome\u2026 ] on the other hand\u2026 King Herod\u2019s position of power came courtesy of the Romans\u2026 ] so even though the taxes were considered to be oppressive\u2026 the Herodians had a vested interest in keeping the Roman taxes paid\u2026 ] so they set a political trap for Jesus\u2026 if he said it\u2019s lawful to pay the tax\u2026 Jesus is between a rock and a hard place\u2026 because he\u2019s saying it\u2019s OK to support Israel\u2019s oppressors\u2026 and if he said it\u2019s unlawful to pay the tax\u2026 he\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":997,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions\/997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}