Sermon –
The Rev. Allen
Breckenridge
“Whip It Good!”
Ex. 20:1-17 (Giving of Law); Ps. 19;
Rms. 7:13-15(War within/without-Jesus rescues us); John
2:13-22(
Opening Prayer: “Let
the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your
sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.” (Ps. 19:14)
Quote: Ps. 69:9 – “For the zeal for thy house has consumed me
and the insults of those who insult thee have fall en on me; At an acceptable
time, O God, with thy faithful help, rescue me from sinking in the mire.”
(Greetings: Words about the diversity of gatherings today at
St. Philips - musician, teens and parents off of retreat, members and visitors:
Also, a bit of warning – please note that the scriptures are very
“iconoclastic” in nature today – especially with Jesus casting out the money
changers in the temple.)
As the Psalm says, we all need rescuing at times – Myself-
having to preach on these propers today with so much going on in the church; or
perhaps our coming out of a long period of hibernation and seclusion in the
mire of sickness, or oppressing rapid change; at times being absorbed and
consumed by the day-to-day survival and struggles of the world; at the HEIGHT of an economic DOWNTURN; at the struggle to
redeem and recover a lost genius of music and lover of God in the church like
J.S. Bach; at the need to walk with and nurture our youth and their families.
Our prayer- not unlike that scribbled repeatedly in the margins of Herr Bach’s
manuscripts becomes – the Jesus Prayer – “Jesus, Help Me! Jesus, Help Us!”
Q – What are you doing for Lent to shake things up a bit? In
your life, in others, in the world? What are we doing as a faith community, as
artists and musicians, as care givers, as children and families, as leaders in
the community and society for Lent to shake things up?
And Is it really
consuming us, like Jesus? It’s time for examination, it seems.
(An aside – I stood in front of my garage this weekend, opened
the door, and saw that it was a mess! Like Jesus observing the temple - I then
went away and thought about it for a day or two!)
Yes - It’s time for “Spring Cleaning” – time to get our things
in order – Jesus says!
1. Our homes
2. Churches/Synagogues/Mosques
3. Ourselves, our souls, our bodies
4. Our society
Jesus confronts us today – in the temple of our lives – with a
reality we’re usually not ready for – The “Spring Cleaning of God” is upon us!
It time to clean house!
1st – To paraphrase United Methodist pastor Will
Willimon in one of his sermons on today’s Gospel, “This is not your typical
image of Jesus – the passive, meek, mild Jesus of “now I lay me down to sleep
time! Jesus” Here – Jesus is angry, hostile, fed-up, fired up, acting up,
violent even! And these are not the “petty
issues” he or we are often absorbed in, the day-to-day small stuff we often
sweat: more wine for the wedding, your mom’s incessant prodding, and someone
asking the best place to fish or one ups-man-ship of your fellow workers in the
field. NO – this is “hot button”
stuff we all to often try to avoid – the stuff of risk-taking, a call to
passion or angry zeal, whip-cracking mad, “I can’t take this anymore” stuff! But
Jesus, unlike us, doesn’t shy away from it. Still, Lord knows how his disciples
reacted the next day!”, says Willimon.
Today we are doing much in our churches – in this church:
1. Study and worship; prayer and
devotion; service and outreach, planning and organizing
2. A Bach Marathon this weekend with
glorious music and talent amid worship and reflection
3. Ending a youth and parents weekend
retreat on “Sex is a Gift of God”
That’s a lot going on in the temple and market place, for
sure! Whew!
Now, one of the styles or genres of musical composition,
which Bach refined, perfected, and championed is called “Counterpoint.” This style of musical composition and theory
intrigues me and, I think, exemplifies the busi-ness of our lives and the
spiritual marketplace of today.
My novice’s definition of Counterpoint might be:
“ Multiple melodic lines running separately and concurrently,
with clear definition of each line , yet complimentary to the whole and to each
other.”
(OK - Several songs,
running together, each important, yet supporting a whole bigger song!)
Today in the temple we observe for good or not, for
consonance or dissonance, such concurrently running melodies:
1. Worship and prayer;
2. Music of Bach, his story telling of the Gospel
3. Youth’s retreat And
4. Society’s intermingling and needs all around us.
Into our daily market place bursts a whip-cracking Jesus and
the “Fifth Evangelist - Bach” (not to be confused with the 5th
Beatle) who’s musicianship was always in service of Glorifying God and for the re-creation
of humanity in Christ’s image; and also in bursts a new generation of young men
and women who wrestle well with being sexually mature and faithful Christians
made in the image of God. IT’S TABLE TURNING STUFF!
And all of them present a counterpoint of melodies that demand
we pay attention to our own melodic contribution and mix, and clean our
houses accordingly:
our worship places, our homes and
families, our temple bodies, our souls, our society.
So, what do they all have in common – you might ask? As far
as I can see, it’s the sum of the Commandments that Jesus and the rabbi’s
called people back to – Love of God and love of Neighbor and yourself – but
with Zeal and passion- risk
taking, life giving and liberating passion.
Zeal for such counter-punctual, interwoven melodies consumed and
drove Jesus to take the risks he did; it consumed Bach to pray and write so
many songs ( and to be a parent to 20 teenagers and a family of musicians); and
it healthily and faithfully consumed our young adults this weekend, along with
the energies and zeal of their parents and youth workers, no doubt!
It is a right and good and joyful ( or troubling thing) to be confronted by a whip-cracking Jesus from
time to time, by a competent theologian and passionate genius of a faith person
and artist like Bach, and by zealous youth and those who nurture and care for
them as well.
They are here today, no less scandalously turning over the
tables of our lives where we are so often consumed with buying and selling
daily, with survival, with 401K’s and retirement, with comfortable worship and
prayer, with sacrificing the have-nots to maintain our system of societal
balance and privatized religion.
The song they weave together may at times lift our spirits
heavenward, or dash us upon the rocks of our true poverty of self-sufficiency. But God knows our need for spring cleaning
--- Jesus the beloved, just can’t let it go - for our sake; Bach won’t settle
for anything less; our youth hunger for the honesty and sheer necessity of it;
and our souls and spiritual garages cry out for such a spring cleaning.
I will close with a meditation/mantra, which could perhaps be
sung in the round of a 4 part canon, this by composers themselves much
unappreciated and misunderstood in their own day (Devo!)
I’d love to see what Meister Bach could
do with this little street “hymn!”
“When trouble comes along - you must
whip it!
When something’s going wrong – you
must whip it!
Now whip it,
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
It’s not too late
To whip it
Whip it good. “
All this as we are confronted by and loved into risk-taking action
today by the call of those faithful who’ve shaped the melodies of faith, by the
passion and zealous Spirit of Jesus, and always to the Glory of God!
Amen.