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Green Blades Preaching Roundtable

18th Sunday after Pentecost

Year B
September 22, 2024
Rev. Gary Hedding

Mark 9:30-37
Jeremiah 11:18-20
Psalm 54
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8

Grace and peace to all who seek to expand that grace and peace to God’s holy creation through the texts we will read this Sunday, that we may be vehicles of that grace and peace.

 

I almost never start with the psalm for the day in sermon preparation, but I am going to do that today. Never, have I ever focused for even a moment on what our Bibles present as introductions to a psalm, but I am going to do that today. The NRSV, and most other English versions of the Bible, have an introduction to Psalm 54 which reads, “To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, ‘David is in hiding among us.’” I doubt that any congregation will have that “intro” read with the text of the psalm, which the NRSV lays out in seven verses. The Hebrew text, however, has nine verses, the first two of which are the “intro”.

 

1 Samuel 23 tells the story of David rescuing the city of Keilah from the Philistines, after which the people of Keilah tried to surrender David to Saul. This is a frustrating betrayal for their rescuers. David and Jonathan escape to Ziph. Then the Ziphites go to Saul to rat out David, presumably for a great reward. Saul comes and chases David and Jonathan all over Judea and the only thing that saves them is a raid by the Philistines on Saul’s kingdom which pulls him off from the hunt.

 

The occasion of Psalm 54 is the persistent hounding of Saul, who refuses to recognize that God has chosen David to be king. This dogged pursuit has exhausted David and he cries for God to vindicate him from the ruthless ones who seek his life. He is wondering how long this will go on before he collapses in defeat.

 

The psalms are not just diary entries from people who are hurting or rejoicing. They are not just interesting historical records of David and others. They are meant to be songs and poems that capture the heartfelt moments of God’s whole creation as it experiences moments where an appeal to the Creator is the only hope it has and where it is thankful for that. We get to sing this song as if we are David. Creation gets to sing this song as if it is David.

 

The abundance of the earth has saved humankind from disease and famine. The topography of earth’s mountains, oceans, and canyons has rescued tribes with distance from the ruthlessness of other tribes. Still, we knowingly and unknowingly, with insolence and ruthlessness, pursue our own comfort and egos at the expense of the planet and its inhabitants. The planet is forced out of balance by human works. More species are brought to extinction. Creation sings this psalm to plead for God’s salvation and vindication - its right to exist. The hope of the psalm is the confidence and faith that God is creation’s helper and the upholder of its life. This confidence is rooted in the experience of five previous extinction events that looked like any one of them would finish life on this planet. God upheld life. As humans indulge in what some scientists deem the Anthropocene epoch - the next big extinction event - creation looks to the One who has saved it in the past. This time the cause of extinctions is not mindless. This time humankind can be moved by God to repent, to change our hearts and minds, so that life will be upheld and creation will give thanks to God again.

 

The text from James chapter 3 is an instruction for human reorientation so that we may be part of God’s work to save the planet. True wisdom gives birth to gentleness, which we show by our good works (vs13). “Bitter envy” and “selfish ambition” are the evil twin of true wisdom from above. These bring “disorder and wickedness of every kind”, “but wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” Impartiality is a theme in the letter of James. The writer blasts those who make distinctions among people, being partial to some over others. James, living in an era in which humans are not technologically able to negatively impact the planet, does not apply impartiality to creation, but that does not prevent us from applying the concept beyond people. God does not want us to make distinctions on what we value and for which we show compassion and respect on the sole basis of what pleases humans. We think bigger today because our actions have larger impact on a creation that God loves. In James 1:27 the writer states “Religion that is pure and undefined before God the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Today, the earth has become the widow and creation the orphan who has lost their protector. In Genesis 1 God gives humans “dominion” over what is created, not an autocratic, self-serving dictatorship, but what can better be described as a regal stewardship. In Genesis 2 God gives humans a purpose to “tend the garden” of creation. Have we widowed and orphaned creation while we swoon over what is rich and famous and shiny?

 

The Gospel text from Mark 9 is the second Passion Prediction in Mark. Jesus lays out in a sentence his mission and his character - betrayal, death, and resurrection. The disciples don’t understand at all, and they were afraid to ask him to explain. They did not want to be convinced to follow that kind of mission and they did not want the character of someone who dies for another. It terrified them. Maybe it does us as well. So, they start their own conversation that is more to their liking. Who among us is the greatest disciple? Jesus, of course, gives them a course in greatness. It is defined by the mission and character of a person which coincides with his Passion Prediction. “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” The mission of great ones is to serve all. The character of one who wants to be great is to consider themselves last. Jesus takes a child into his arms, puts it into the midst of them and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Human denial of Christlike greatness and the fear to even explore it a bit, only brings earthly wisdom (James text) and ruthless insolence (Psalm 54); arguing, disorder and ultimately death. Jesus loved us so much that he served us into death, hopeful and confident that he would be raised. The Holy Spirit fills us with that same love so that we embrace Jesus’ mission and live out Jesus’ own character. When the Holy Spirt fills us with Jesus’ own character through the good news of Jesus, creation will be filled with hope and will give thanks to God again, for it will be rescued as it has selflessly rescued us in past and present.

Rev. Gary Hedding
Rev. Gary Hedding
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Gary Hedding is a retired pastor who graduated from Luther Seminary in 1978. He served his internship in Brooklyn, NY. His first call was Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Coloma, WI; then as associate pastor and later lead pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Marshfield, WI; followed by serving six years as assistant to the bishop in the Northwest Synod of WI; then as pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, IA. Gary has been retired since 2018.
Gary is married to Linda and they live in Chippewa Falls, WI with their dog, Strider
Their daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons live in the Fort Worth, TX and their son and daughter-in-law and one granddaughter live in Eau Claire, WI. Gary enjoys wilderness canoe tripping, sprint triathlons, fishing and hunting, reading science fiction and urban fantasy, and vegetable gardening.

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