Many preachers around our nation, as they dispense with their already prepared
Sunday sermons, are asking questions. Perhaps the most often asked question
is: "What do we preach on this Sunday?" Of course, there is a sense
that the Word of God carries its own authority in every human circumstance.
For this theological and biblical reason, some preachers will continue to use
the lectionary, as is their custom. In fact, I remember a heated discussion
a several years ago. Someone raised a discriminating question about the lectionary.
Should preachers use the lectionary or not in the midst of a national tragedy?
During the discussion, someone referred to what Helmut Thielicke, the distinguished
German preacher-theologian, once said. While on a United States' tour in 1963,
a student asked Thielicke what he was going to preach on the Sunday following
the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Thielicke told them, "Our world has
many tragedies and these occur regularly. In fact they happen frequently, and
this is part of human life. However, the Word of God is eternal. Therefore,
I will use the appointed passage(s) for the day (read: lectionary texts).
However true Thielicke's statement was, and regardless about how much I agree
with it, I also recognize that my congregation is hurting. I also know that
my congregation has little appreciation for either the lectionary or the set
liturgy of the historic church. My membership wants something "contemporary"
and uncompromisingly "relevant." Theologically, although we might
want to make the Bible relevant to us, perhaps we need to make ourselves relevant
to the Bible. How we think and feel today is generally a lesser concern of God's
bigger picture.
This being said, however, the larger issue is that on this Sunday, people need
a word that will comfort, challenge, and remind them about who they are as God's
people. On this occasion, for the sake of pastoral care, we need to overlook
the theological fact that the Bible is at all times relevant, even and most
especially as it comes to us via the lectionary. Therefore, I want to suggest
some ways to approach a most difficult Sunday for anyone who is called upon
to speak publicly on this horrific tragedy in our nation.
First for those who use the lectionary, I want to in a few brief words gesture
toward possible themes. These suggestions merely reflect the most cursory reading
of the texts and are for the benefit of those who will stand by the lectionary
for the reasons of theological conscience as perhaps Thielicke might suggest.
09/16/01 Sunday between September 11 and 17 inclusive
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28-I do not see how virtually any text in the Bible
could speak more directly to the human condition more frankly than when Jeremiah
writes:
[22] "For my people are foolish, they do not know me;
they are stupid children, they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good" (Jeremiah
4:22).
Indeed this entire Jeremiah text looks as if it speaks straight to this week's
events in NYC and Washington.
Psalm 14-This Psalm too speaks directly to the events of this week, especially vss. 1-3.
1 Timothy 1:12-17-This text might be used to remind us that we have a limited human view, whereas God's perspective is divine, which is, of course, what makes God God.
Luke 15:1-10-If there were ever a time in which most Americans feel so lost,
then I cannot remember that time. As with OKC bombing, the question of "WHY?"
crops up in nearly every conversation. We are indeed lost. Perhaps these parables
can remind all of us that being lost is the plight of sheep, coins, and people.
However, with God we are never REALLY lost, we just feel that way.
_______
On the other hand, for preachers not employing the lectionary, there are
issues and hopes that we might want to communicate to our people. First, we
need to remind believers that we are a people of love. In almost all the teachings
of Jesus, love is at the forefront of what the Kingdom is all about. Even when
Jesus himself faced the most shameful and undeserved death, he was able to ask
God: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing"(Luke
23:34). As Thomas Lane Butts poignantly reminds us about the terrorists: "People
who are willing to die for a cause are usually equally willing to kill for that
cause." We are Christians and therefore do not seek revenge-we seek to
redeem the evil in this world. We love people into redemption. That is the way
of Jesus Christ.
Second, our human questions at times have a way of keeping us from doing God's
will. If we can ask enough questions, then we can create an endless delay in
to coming to terms with life. In this sense we can talk and question ourselves
to death. In the book of Job, the innocent sufferer Job asks questions of God
chapter after chapter. Yet, in the end, God does not give him an answer so much
as God gives Job a divine relationship. God also gives Job a task. That task
is to be the person of faith and trust that God created Job to be. In this way,
perhaps knowledge becomes secondary to the life of faith. Being able to live
life as a person of faith in the shadow of divine mystery may be a hallmark
of truest and deepest faith.
Between the occasion-appropriate lectionary texts and our own sense of living
within God's mystery presence, preachers may assuage people feelings of helplessness.
In addition we can with confidence lift up the name above every name.
Rev. David Mosser, Ph. D.
First United Methodist Church
Graham, Texas 76450