A Sermon by Sydney V. (Skip) Jackson — October 23, 2011
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio
Texts:  Genesis 1:26-31;  Matthew 14:13-21

Then God said. “I’ve given you every kind of seed-bearing plant on Earth and every kind of fruit-bearing tree… for food.” — Genesis 1:29 [The Message]

And all ate and were filled… — Matthew 14:20a [NRSV]

I’ve made the point in many sermons that creation stories are not about how or when the world came into being; they’re about the meaning of the world.  The text we heard from Genesis 1 doesn’t claim to tell us how human beings were made, but rather who we are and what we’re here for.  Put directly, it says we are made in God’s image, that we reflect God’s very nature, and that we’ve been given responsibility to care for the earth.  To support us in this, God has given food in abundance—“I've given you—that is, all of humanity—every sort of seed-bearing plant…and every kind of fruit-bearing tree…whatever grows out of the ground for food.”  That’s the first lesson in Stewardship 101, that we are stewards of the earth, and meant to reflect God’s loving and care for it and everything in it.  And it’s all “so good, so very good!”

There are a couple of things to note here.  First of all, this is a serene, all-is-peaceful vision of creation.  Not only is there food enough for all, but living creatures do not eat each other.  This is not Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Nature, red in tooth and claw,” for plants are the sole food.  This image recurs in scriptures like Isaiah’s vision of God’s peaceable kingdom where “the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid… the cow and the bear shall graze… and the lion shall eat straw like the ox” [Is. 11:6-7].  The second thing to note is that the bounty of “whatever grows out of the ground for food” is given for all human beings. But they are not given the ground itself.  So later on, Leviticus 25:23 states, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is [the Lord’s].”  And Psalm 24 reminds us, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.”

 

A Sermon by Sydney V. (Skip) Jackson — October 16, 2011
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio
Texts:  Exodus 32:1-14;  33:1-3, 7-23

“While my glory passes by I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by.  Then I’ll take my hand away and you’ll see my back.  But you won’t see my face.” — Ex. 33:22-23 [The Message]

There’s an old story about a Master who is at prayer when his disciples come and ask, “Sir, teach us how to pray.”  So the Master tells them a story about two men who are crossing a field when they see an angry bull charging them.  They turn and start running for the nearest fence as fast as they can with the bull in hot pursuit.  It becomes apparent, however, that they aren’t going to make it. 

One man cries out, “We’ve had it; nothing can save us!  Say a prayer.  Now!”

The other calls back, “I can’t think of one for this occasion.”

“Never mind,” says the first, “the bull is upon us now.  Any prayer will do.”

“OK,” says the second, “Here’s the one my father always says before meals:  For what we are about to receive, Lord, make us truly grateful.”

We may laugh at the accidental irony here, yet prayers of acceptance—and that’s what this prayer is—are generally deemed to be especially holy.  Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane is perhaps the supreme example of such a prayer.  In Luke 22:42 he prays:  “Father…not my will, but thine, be done.”

 

A Sermon by Sydney V. (Skip) Jackson — October 2, 2011
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio
Texts:  Micah 6:1-8 & 6:9-16  —  Peacemaking Sunday

Micah 6:1-8 (The Message)

^1-2 Listen now, listen to God:
"Take your stand in court.
   If you have a complaint, tell the mountains;
   make your case to the hills.
And now, Mountains, hear God's case;
   listen, Jury Earth—
For I am bringing charges against my people.
   I am building a case against Israel.

 ^3-5 "Dear people, how have I done you wrong?
   Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer!
I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;
   I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you—
   and Aaron and Miriam to boot!
Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull,
   and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.
Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal.
   Keep all God's salvation stories fresh and present."

 ^6-7 How can I stand up before God
   and show proper respect to the high God?
Should I bring an armload of offerings
   topped off with yearling calves?
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,
   with buckets and barrels of olive oil?
Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,
   my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

 ⁸ But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
   what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
   be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously—
   take God seriously.

The prophet Micah lived in a harsh and violent world.  War was a constant factor in life, and in the two nations of Judah and Samaria it was “every man for himself.”  The official state prophets—the mouthpieces of power—kept saying all was well.  But Micah cries out in chapters 2 & 3 against the ways the wealthy were using their money and influence to get whatever they wanted—cheating in the marketplace, loan-sharking, seizing land from poor families and driving them from their homes.  All the while the rulers looked the other way because the poor had nothing with which to bribe them.  Judges, priests, and prophets are all for sale to the highest bidder.  (Raw capitalism at work.)

 

A Sermon by Sydney V. (Skip) Jackson — September 25, 2011
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio
Texts:  Isaiah 58:1-12;  Philippians 2:1-13

This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts… [Then] you’ll …make the community livable again. — Isaiah 58:6, 12 [The Message]

…it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure. — Philippians 2:13

How would you react if I announced that Jesus Christ himself would be here in church next Sunday?  What would you think?  Would it be good news or bad?  I suspect attendance might go up, provided you believed me… but maybe not.

In one of my favorite stories by Anthony de Mello,¹ a pastor announced Jesus would be in church the next Sunday, and people flocked to see him.  He didn’t preach or lead worship.  He simply sat in a pew, and each time someone approached he’d smile and say, “Hello.”  After worship, many people invited him home, but he graciously refused, saying he’d like to spend the night there in their church sanctuary.  How fitting, they all thought.  When they showed up the next morning, Jesus had slipped away.  But to their shock and horror, the people found their church had been vandalized.  Scribbled everywhere—on the walls, the pulpit, the organ; on the windows, the Table, and the Baptismal Font—was the single word, “Beware.”  Nothing was spared, not even the Bible.  Everywhere, “Beware, beware, beware…” in pencil and marker and crayons of all colors.  Everywhere!

How shocking!  Irritating!  Confusing!  Fascinating!  Terrifying!  Beware?  Of what?  What did it mean?  The people’s first impulse was to wipe out every trace of this defiling graffiti.  But the story says they held back.  After all, Jesus himself had written the words.  So they left them.  And slowly over time that word, “Beware,” began to sink into people’s minds and hearts each time they came to church.  “Beware.”  And they began to beware of…