Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

June 10, 2007 - Proper 5

The Rev. Vicki L. Smith

"Who speaks for God?"

Lately, whenever I watch television, read a newspaper or check out the internet, I feel like people are yelling at me.  Everyone seems to want to convince me that they are right — whether it be about home appliances, politics, religion or the NBA playoffs.  I feel like I live in the midst of a cacophony of proclamation — loud, jumbled and aggressive proclamation.  Some of it is about things that don’t matter or I don’t care about, but some of it matters a great deal and I often find myself wondering — who is right?  Who is telling the truth?  Who speaks for God on this issue?

Lots of people say they are right, or that they speak for God.  Bishops Akinola, Williams and Jefferts Schori all say it.  Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn and other televangelists all say it.  James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Jim Wallis of Sojourners both say it.  Politicians of every stripe and viewpoint say it.  Sometimes, even I say it. 

So how do we know who is right?  When one side tells us that it is most important that we uphold the law and punish illegal aliens, and another says it is crucial that we react with compassion — who do we believe?  Who speaks for God?  When one side says that we are fighting terrorists in Iraq and the other declares the war itself to be terrorism, who is right?  Who speaks for God?  And the issues of human sexuality, with all the shouting and demanding — who knows on that? 

Who is right?  Who speaks for God, on these and all the other important issues in our lives?  And how will we know?

Knowing who speaks for God is the point of both our Old Testament and Gospel lessons today, though it may not appear that way.  We hear the story of Elijah and the widow, the jar of oil that never runs dry, the bag of meal that is never empty and the dying son who is brought back to life.  And then we hear a similar story of Jesus raising a woman’s son from the dead.  Both of these miracles bring the same result — Elijah and Jesus are recognized as prophets and men of God. 

These are both stories of compassion and care but their function is also, and perhaps more importantly, to identify Jesus and Elijah as people who speak for God so that when they speak again, people will listen, knowing that they are hearing the word of God.

There are few such miracles today, and quite frankly we probably wouldn’t believe them if they happened, but God still speaks through human word and action and we still need a way to know who speaks for God and who doesn’t.  If we can’t rely on affirming miracles to happen, and we probably can’t, then how do we decide among all the voices that demand our attention and our allegiance?

I think there are a series of questions that we can ask about each proclamation, each choice, and each declaration that will help us truly know who is right and who is not in this cacophony .

We begin by asking, does this accord with what I already know of God from the Bible?  The Bible is the story of God’s actions throughout history and it is our touchstone for discerning God’s actions today. Look at our psalm for the day, psalm 146: The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous, the Lord cares for the stranger, he sustains the orphan and widow but frustrates the way of the wicked. 

How does what we are asked to do or believe on any given topic or by any given person stack up against that?  Does it set prisoners free?  Does it strengthen those who are bowed down?  Does it welcome the stranger or sustain the needy?

We know, from our Scripture, how God acts in human life and what God wants of us — we need hold all the demands and proclamations coming at us up to evaluation and critique by Scripture.

The second question is, does it proclaim the good news of redemption and further the coming of Christ’s kingdom or does is sow division and dissent?  Does it uphold, strengthen and encourage God’s people or does it beat them down?  Does it respect the dignity of every human being?  Does it uphold the goodness of creation or does it foster abuse and neglect?

Then we need to ask, what do other faithful Christians that I trust believe about this?  We are among one another’s best tools of discernment.  God speaks to us through one another, and when we share our questions, our reflections, our beliefs and our concerns, we all come closer to knowing what is right and who truly speaks for God.

And finally, we need to pray, a lot.  As our collect today says, we pray that we may think those things that are right and by God’s merciful guiding may do them.  We ask God — who is right on this and then we listen to the answer. 

Ask questions, pray and listen.

There is no guarantee with this that we will always figure everything out and certainly not that we will always agree on who is right, but it does mean that amidst all the loud voices, all the passion, all the declarations, statements and proclamations, we may indeed discern what is right and who truly speaks for God in our day and age.

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