10:30 am, Sun, July 28, 2024 - J G White / FBC Amherst

(2 Sam 11:1-15; Ps 14; Eph 3:14-21)

The whole story of our scripture begins, famously, with creation, and the two people, Adam and Eve. By page three of the Bible, they get in trouble. As my Old Testament professor used to say, ‘the blaming begins.’ (Timm Ashley)

Adam: the woman made me eat it.

Eve: the serpent tricked me into eating it.

The blaming begins. This is another story that repeats itself in human life, through all of our history. Which is, in part, why we have the story of Genesis 3. That chapter is a story about all of us, through all of time.

‘Whose fault is it anyway?’ we ask, over and over. Often, we find people in our midst to blame. Sometimes, we make scapegoats of someone, and put all the blame and punishment and bad feelings upon them. Sometimes, we try to purify ourselves by banishing or destroying those we blame. Gareth Higgins and Brian McLaren say that “The purification story names, blames, shames, excludes, and sometimes eradicates minorities.” (Gareth Higgins & Brian McLaren, The Seventh Story: Us, Them, & the End of Violence, 2019, p. 123)

Many of us might claim we are not so barbaric and prejudiced as others in history. But, as Higgins and McLaren suggest, we have our own rituals that express blaming and scapegoating. Then there are the dramas we read, and the movies we watch: as viewers, we are bystanders and witnesses to violence that is often nothing short of horrific, and we leave feeling purged… The same could be said of an election cycle… And so on.

Today’s Hebrew scripture text is the infamous story of king David and his neighbour, Bathsheba. Looking back, we have our own thoughts about the blame upon those involved - mainly David - and what that blame means. He certainly abused his power, and the powerful usually do not take blame. Some disasters do befall him (and others) but David remained at the top, special, privileged, powerful.

Looking for where to put the blame is but one small bit of the big picture of problems here, in the David story.

This is my sixth and final week on the stories, the themes, of our lives. The seventh story is the story of Love, the story of reconciliation. In the Seventh Story, humans are participants in something far bigger than being reduced to dominating others for one group’s gain, or the pursuit of happiness through revolutions that replace one dominance with another, or isolation, or purity, or being a victim, or gaining possessions.

Instead, Love: Some of Us For All of Us.

Today we read a prayer in Ephesians 3. We see three main requests or statements in this prayer, offered to the recipients, the Jesus believers in the ancient town of Ephesus. First, that they be strengthened, on the inside. This is about people of God being ‘rooted and grounded in love.’ To quit playing the ‘blame game’ we must be deeply connected in God’s love. This is something worth praying for! Something that God is involved in, for us.

This month we have been singing Carolyn McDade’s words, Roots hold me close; wings set me free;

Spirit of life, come to me, come to me.

This is part of the Ephesians 3 prayer.

Second, that they be given the power to love. It takes energy to do the work of loving enemies, of not laying blame, of choosing not to purify your world by kicking someone out. There is power available to understand this, in our bones, and be filled with God. Then, then we love. Instead of blame, or compete, or run away, or attack.

It is when we are most hurt by someone that it is hardest to keep them in our lives and not blame them and shame them and keep them out. I know a man who was quite harsh in raising his three children, and they suffered various abuses by him. He is my father-in-law. Sharon fled home as a teenager to get away. Years later, she struggled through an amazing healing journey for herself, and could finally relate, in a limited and safe way, to her father. The other two children seem to have made no such journey and will have almost nothing to do with their father.

The prayer needs to be answered, so we can see how Christ, how God, still loves and cares for and includes the ‘problem person.’

Third, God is able to do more than imaginable! This little phrase gets quoted by Christians regularly, for good reason. But as you can see, it is not about hoping for any and everything from God that you want. It is here, in the midst of learning to be loving. Being blessed to be a lover of all others in this world. More good kindness is possible - even among us violent humans! - that we realize. Seems to me that’s what this prays asks, and tells us. The Master’s glory will be shown in the lives and work of the people, the gathered ones, what we call ‘the Church.’

Perhaps we could take our next steps in doing as Higgins and McLaren have suggested, in their Seventh Story Manifesto. Five things:

Humans initially desire things not because we actually want them, but because our rivals want them. Notice your desires, and when possible, name them, and remember your power to say “yes,” “no,” or “not right now” to the demands they make of you.
Jesus’ life and death were not an invitation to more scapegoating, but the end of it. Devote yourself to the example and teachings of our greatest moral leaders and visionaries who summon us to a way of life that promotes the good of people and the earth. [Start with those of your own culture or religion, but don’t stop there. Pay special attention to the wisdom of indigenous traditions.]
Becoming fully human involves defecting from rivalry [wanting what others want], and from the notion that anyone else should ever be my scapegoat. Avoid blaming, scapegoating, insulting, or shaming anyone, remembering that even the people who bother you most are your neighbours.
One way to prevent war is to give preemptive gifts to our enemies. Show kindness rather than vengeance and generosity rather than judgement to your enemies or opponents.
These can be profoundly difficult and complex ideas, but there is simplicity on the other side of complexity, summed up in universal wisdom:

Devote yourself to Love.

Love your neighbour.

Love yourself.

Love the earth.

Love the Spirit of Love that fills the universe.

The first and last step: do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and don’t do unto others what you would not want done to you. (pp. 177-179)