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First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, MI
Rev. Lou Nyiri February 4, 2024 Psalm 121 / Ephesians 1:15-22 Click here for the sermon. First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, MI
Rev. Lou Nyiri Psalm 111 and Mark 1: 29-39, Click here for the sermon. First Presbyterian Church
Rev. Lou Nyiri January 14, 2024 Print Version of the Sermon Micah 6:6-8 / Acts 5:27-32 What were you doing in April 1963? Depending on your age: You might have watched the debut of the long-running soap opera General Hospital. You might have purchased the first album put out by the Beatles. You might not have been born. If you were a leader of the clergy in Birmingham, Alabama, you would have received a strongly worded letter from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Good Friday, April 12, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. and 50 others were charged with violating a court order against mass demonstrations. He had been part of a nonviolent protest conducted by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. King was invited by the Alabama Christian Movement to take part as president of the Southern Christan Leadership Conference. He was arrested and taken to the city jail where he was placed in solitary confinement. On the same day, eight prominent clergymen published a letter in the Birmingham News characterizing King’s movement as “unwise and untimely.” The writers of the letter – four bishops, three pastors, and one rabbi – agreed that racial segregation was a problem, though they felt it should be handled in the courts instead of the streets. These clergy leaders characterized the movement’s leaders as “outsiders” and rebuked King for causing trouble in Birmingham. King scribbled his response in the margins of the newspaper and sheets of stationery smuggled in by a sympathetic jailer. King’s reply – now published over 60 years ago – is known as “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The letter first appeared in a Quaker publication and then gained national circulation through The Christian Century, where King was a contributing editor in June 1963. It has since entered the mainstream of the nation’s self-awareness:
King responded to the clergy leaders by saying that he was not an outsider because he had ties to the Alabama Christian Movement. He consistently drew his arguments from biblical or theological sources familiar to the recipients of his letter – connecting (or convicting) them out of a shared fund of knowledge. The underlying presumption being that God operates without boundaries. Doesn’t truth come from out of town? Towns like Tarsus and Nazareth? More importantly, King stated, “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” All communities and states are interrelated, he asserted, and “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. – Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Therefore, “anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.” King acknowledged that the demonstrations – which upset the Alabama clergy leaders – were unfortunate. “It is even more unfortunate,” King added, “that the city’s power structure left the community with no alternative.” Church leaders also questioned the timing of the protests. They wanted King to wait and see if the new city administration would improve conditions for blacks. King responded that for blacks in the United States, the word wait had almost always meant never. They had already been waiting 340 years for their “constitutional and God-given rights.” Three hundred and forty years is a long time to wait – too long – the time for waiting had reached an end – at least waiting for human authorities to act – it was time to act. Not that King was the first to practice civil disobedience. King spoke of the First Testament’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to obey Nebuchadnezzar’s laws. He reminded of Socrates practicing civil disobedience in Greece. American patriots participating in the Boston Tea Party. Of course, King leaned heavily into the early Christians who faced persecution for their faith. They, like Martin Luther King, Jr., knew they must obey God – especially as they bore witness to injustice. In our First Testament reading from Acts 5, the story of Peter and the apostles had been arrested for performing numerous healings and for telling Jesus’ story. On the day of the apostles’ trial, the temple police arrested them again, and they were brought to stand before the Jewish council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach [in Jesus’ name], yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us” (27-28). One might say the apostles’ efforts were untimely and unwise. Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him” (29-32). Peter and the apostles – the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail – are the church’s call to be a leavening agent in the world. It is a call to be the very thing that causes us to work toward God’s vision of God’s kingdom here on earth. We pray it weekly in our communal prayer, “[God’s] will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The church is called to become what King or St. Columba[1] (another “outsider” who brought good news to a foreign land) would call a “colony of heaven.” This is no where more poignantly stated than in the Letter of Diognetus written by an unnamed Christian to a Roman Official in the 2nd or 3rd century. The letter asserts, “What the soul is to the body, that Christians are in the world.” King’s letter – Peter and the apostles’ words – point us to our moral responsibility to openly and lovingly act and advocate in ways which promote joy and justice. Leaning into the words of theologians and saints, like Augustine, we are called to see that “[injustice anywhere] is no [justice] at all.” In theological terms, it is our call to work for a world which seeks to find ways to replace:
Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman calls this The Work of Christmas. Born in 1899, grandson of a former slave, Dr. Thurman was a Baptist pastor, theologian and civil rights activist. In 1953 LIFE Magazine voted him one of the 12 greatest preachers in the country. Thurman mentored a young Martin Luther King, Jr. where he received his Ph.D. in 1955 at Boston University – the institution where Thurman was serving as the first Black Dean of Marsh Chapel. Thurman’s theology expounds on Jesus’ example of unconditional love and illustrates how this agape love not only helps the disinherited endure oppression, it also holds the power to change the heart of the oppressor. Thurman’s belief in such a redemptive, transformative love can be seen in his writings like I Will Light Candles at Christmas – which you may recall we used as our call-to-worship throughout Advent and Christmas. Dr. Thurman’s post-Christmas writing The Work of Christmas is a theological statement to which I return annually about this time: When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among others, To make music in the heart. Thurman’s words – King’s Letter – Peter and the apostles’ interaction offer the church a chance to remind themselves who they are called to become: not monolithic steeples atop stone edifices rather a movement of hope, understanding, reconciliation, joy, and justice what Diognetus’ letter called “the soul” in a battered and bruised world. On this day before MLK Day when we will commemorate Dr. King’s life and work, may we, who make up the church – remain committed to – do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God – not just one day but every day. For it is through the church’s repetitive practice of just actions, merciful love, and humble walk with God that we more fully become an illuminating life-giving version of: the church Christ died, rose from the dead, and reigns in power for; the church the Holy Spirit empowers, sustains and breathes life into; the church God knows, loves and believes she can be. While the church may find herself at times walking on the outskirts of King or Columba’s “Colony of Heaven” – it is in following the prophet Micah’s disarmingly simple yet profound command, “to act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God” – that we will find ourselves nearer to becoming the church and people God knows we can be. To God be the glory – this day and every day. / Amen and Amen. [1] Columba was an Irish Abbott and missionary who is credited with converting Scotland to Christianity. First Presbyterian Church
Rev. Lou Nyiri January 7, 2024 Print Version of the Sermon Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12 2024 – A Year that never was…and never will be again. The reality of that statement is that it can be said of any point in our lives. This hour of worship – An hour that never was…and never will be again. This day – A day that never was…and never will be again. This week – A week that never was…and never will be again. The interactions we have with people – they are encounters that never were…and never will be again. I first learned to think this way when I attended a summer camp and the director for the week posed that phrase to us in his opening remarks. He said, “This week is a week that never was and never will be again.” He quickly followed, “How will you choose to make the most of this week?” Each hour – Each day – Each week – Each month – Each interaction in our lives are moments in which we can answer this question…“How will we choose to make the most of the moments we’re given?” So, today – on this 1st Sunday in the New Year 2024 – it seems only fitting that we’re here and that we make a concerted effort to create space in our lives in which we can be still and listen for God’s still small voice. This is important since we in the church are entering a liturgical season that far too often feels like “down time” in the church year. This time from Christmas to Lent can feel as if we’re simply marking time off the calendar as we wait for another grand celebration. Whether it’s because we suffer from holiday fatigue or influenced by winter’s gloomy weather – the season of Epiphany can go by unnoticed and unheralded. The name itself “Epiphany” means “Manifestation.” It is a reminder for us that light manifests itself in the seeming darkness of despairing times. It is a time for us to be reminded that God reveals God’s self in Jesus the Christ and that God’s glory is seen in Jesus. Even the parament colors of Epiphany are important for a church. (Paraments are those table coverings you see adorning church chancels & Communion tables.) Epiphany is denoted by the color white – which designates it as one of our days of celebration, reminding us that Christ’s light has come into the world; and that it is a time of glory, victory and celebration. The Sundays after Epiphany until Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday are denoted by the color Green – which symbolizes growth. Throughout Epiphany (and really the whole of our Christian faith) we are given the chance to grow into a fuller realization of Christ’s nature as God’s Son. Epiphany is all about light – God’s light – entering our darkness in Jesus the Christ. Epiphany is about our darkness being shattered as we allow God’s revelation into our lives. One definition I’ve heard of Epiphany – “[it is] a shining forth of light into our lives which helps us gain clearer direction.” Maybe that’s why Epiphanies are often depicted as a light bulb going off over one’s head. The Magi teach us about Epiphany. They followed a star and when they arrived their darkness was shattered by so much more than merely the light of a star. When they saw the star had stopped they were overwhelmed with joy (Matthew 1:10). After sharing their gifts, we are told, they were, “warned in a dream not to return to Herod, [so they] left for their own country by another road” (Matthew 1:12). As they encountered God’s light of life, their lives were changed… they became overwhelmed with joy – couldn’t we stand to have more joy in our lives? they realized their current life’s journey was not on a path they needed to be on…they encountered the light and made mid-course corrections. I like how W.H. Auden puts it in his “Christmas Oratorio.” Auden portrays the plight of three modern wise men drawn by that star…to a place where “knowledge but increases vertigo.” Auden has the three (the scientist, the historian and the social scientist) exclaim respectively of their encounter with this star, “to discover how to be truthful now…,” “to discover how to be living now,” and “to discover how to be loving now…,” then finally all together, “to discover how to be human now is the reason we follow this star.” Why do we follow this same star some 2000 years later? What do we need to learn this year about our life and our faith? What do we need to learn about our humanity as we follow the divine? What do we need to receive from God so that we might grow? How do we learn what God is trying to teach us? I believe something as simple as fireworks can help us answer these questions. If you’ve ever watched fireworks at an amusement park, sporting event, Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve celebration, then you know that fireworks have a special and beautiful magic all their own. We’ve all experienced the “oohing” and “aahing” over the color bursts across a clear night sky. A good show is simply amazing. I love watching as children try to reach out and touch or better yet catch the falling colors. Now, I’m not scientist, though a Google search of fireworks has taught me the basics of fireworks 101 – enough to be knowledgeable yet not enough to be an expert. Your basic aerial firework is comprised of a shell that consists of four parts:
All these things work together in just the right way to cause the beautiful array of colors which cascade through the sky. And this is how it works: The shell is launched from a mortar, (a short steel pipe) by the lifting charge of black powder that explodes in the pipe to launch the shell. When the lifting charge fires to launch the shell, it lights the shell's fuse. The shell's fuse burns while the shell rises to its correct altitude, and then ignites the bursting charge inside the firework so it explodes. All this works together so that we get the chance to see what we love – those colors that fall through the sky. Those colors we love to “ooh” and “aah” over are called “Stars.” Stars come in all shapes and sizes, though most are about the size of a pea or a dime. The stars are poured into the tube and then surrounded by black powder. When the firework explodes it ignites the outside of the stars, which begin to burn with bright showers of sparks. The explosion throws the stars in all directions, thereby giving us a sphere of sparkling light. In just a few moments, all of us will have the chance to receive a word from God. In the spirit of today’s celebration, it comes to us in the form of a star. We will pass baskets of these stars down the rows and you will reach in and help yourself to a star gift – (no peeking…just reach in and grab) – in a sense you will be a star catcher today. Today it’s about stopping long enough to receive. This is also very theological – for the natural order of things in God’s realm is that God always gives first, and then we are invited to respond with our gifts and ourselves. The wise men who traveled to offer their gifts were responding to the gift first given to them. They received God’s gift then offered their gifts to God. You could think of today as a tangible sign of God’s presence in your life. You could think of today as a chance to stop being busy – long enough to be still in God’s presence to receive God’s gifts. Once you’ve received your gift, reflect on it. What is the word? What does it mean? What might it be saying to you? Why might this be the word you picked out of this basket from all the other words? And don’t just do it for the remainders of today’s worship…keep reflecting throughout the year. Take this star home and hang it up somewhere it can be seen every day. By the door you use every day…Above your dining room table…On the dresser in your room… Allow this word to speak to you throughout this year. We could think of this as a serendipitous encounter with the Divine as we wonder what God might be trying to say to us in this simple word. As the ushers come down front to pass out the star gifts, I ask that you remain open to this moment. It could be poignant – as when a first year college student home on break chose the word responsibility. It could seem a bit comical like when a choir director chooses the word harmony. Or a pastor picks the word faith – which actually happened – to a pastor who is not me. Keep in mind though that sometimes comedy can turn poignant as when that pastor who chose the word faith lived into a year with their congregation which was a roller-coaster year filled with heartbreaking crises and challenges that prompted parishioners to come to their office asking, “why does God allow such tragedies to occur?” I invite our ushers to come forward – remember – no peeking! [Distribute stars] Consider what you hold in your hand a gift from God. And like any gift it can be received with joy or discarded and forgotten. Will this paper star be lost in a coat pocket or purse bottom? Will this word be considered an opportunity – a chance to reflect on how God speaks to God’s people? Epiphany is celebrating God’s presence which breaks through to shine as light in darkness. Epiphany is about being star catchers who allow “a shining forth of light into our lives which helps us gain clearer direction.” Amen & Amen! |
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