Stones of Brioche

February 21, 2010

Luke 4:1-13

If I had not eaten in a day, let alone 40, I would have a hard time not turning the stones into bread, and if I did I would make it Brioche. See Brioche is wonderful yeast bread that has almost as much eggs and butter as it does flour. If I was famished as the scripture states that Jesus was after his time in the wilderness, I would be dreaming of Brioche long before the devil arrived to suggest turning stones into bread. Of course, I am not the Messiah, so my attempt to make brioche out of stones would be pointless, I need the eggs, flour, butter, and yeast, but Jesus would not. Just as his Father made Manna in the wilderness for the Hebrews fleeing Egypt, he could make bread for his nourishment. It wouldn’t have even been a sign as only the devil and he would have known. The devil must have been thrown off by his refusal take care of his very human body. This wilderness temptation is one of our “proofs” that Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine since temptation is a universal human experience. I believe the devil absolutely assumed he would have feed himself something being aware he was there to tempt him. Honestly, it was quite reasonable to eat if you are hungry and even more so when you are famished. So the devil knew that Jesus was onto him, as he understand his civility, as the temptation it was, took him to see all the kingdoms of the world and offered it to him if he worshiped him, and Jesus went to the scriptures again and said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Well the devil thought, I will also quote scripture and he uses Psalm 91, to say Jesus would not be harmed since he is God’s Son.

The second temptation the Devil offered all his authority over the world if Jesus would simply worship him. Jesus responds with scripture saying, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” The Devil then thinks, I will get him by also quoting scripture, which he quotes Psalm 91. He says you can jump off the temple to prove your identity to everyone, because it is written in scripture that the angels will protect him. Well Jesus essentially says, it is also written; do not put your Lord God to the test.

It seems obvious to us that Jesus had to pass these temptations to prove he was the Son of God and that these temptations were clearly for him. We would not be asked to make stones into bread, nor will the devil ask us to bow down for his authority, nor will we be asked to jump off a tall building to prove our identity.

Well when you look closely at these temptations I believe they are part of the universal temptations we all face. The first is the clearest, as it is simply the temptation of pleasing our earthly selves over our spiritual. It is the temptation we often mean when we use the word, as we refer to food, drugs, and/or other vices. It is about the choice and being aware of what is the temptation.

The second, happens to us often, yet we are not always aware. It is when the secular world does not match God’s desire and will, yet we go with the secular. We bow down to the forces that are not working for good, for God.

The third, I believe happens the most. We may not be the one on the temple, but we ask Jesus to get back up there to show us a sign. We even use small pieces of scripture like the devil looking for God’s words to match our will. We scream out for a sign, and miss the small quiet voice of the Holy Spirit which is actually directing us through this mind field of temptations.

It makes me think of the most famous Brioche quote, and I know you know it in English. “Let them eat cake.” A French princess unaware that the starving peasants have never even known Brioche responds to their lack of bread with the famous statement “Let them eat brioche.” She was simply not aware, and if we are not careful we will miss what is tempting us. We may slip (what am I saying we will) but we will be much more effective in our walk with Jesus if we are aware of these temptations. What do we do just for us, just for our earthly selves? What do we do for the authority of the secular world? When do we ask God for signs instead of listening more carefully? When do we say, “Qu'ils mangent de la brioche?”

Mountain Top View of the Journey

Luke 9:28-36

Transfiguration is a hard piece of scripture to understand. There is a lot going on and much of it seems super natural. Jesus is divine and performed many miracles, but he would defer the power to healed person’s faith. The miracles were quite physical and practical, healings, feedings, exorcisms, calming storms, and walking on water, this miracle was beyond these. Also, Jesus was the subject of this miracle which is very obvious when God says, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” In some ways this does seem straight forward in that it reflects Jesus’ baptism and the Creator God’s claim as the anointed one, his son. Read like this it seems like a great mountain top experience, but why would they keep silent about such an experience?

And there are many other questions and I am fine with accepting the mystery of God, but there must be more to this mountain top experience. The first place to look for more answers is when this occurred, which is highlighted in the beginning of the scripture with the statement “Now about eight days after these sayings,…” well what sayings were they? This must be a clue. Well in the three synoptic Gospels the scene prior is when Jesus asks the important question “Who do you say I am” and Peter answers the Messiah of God. Thus this mountain top experience was not about proclaiming Jesus’ divinity, that was already known to Peter and the Disciples.

This time God is telling Jesus about the journey ahead which Jesus suspected, since the first announcements were part of the sayings prior to this Mountain Experience. So this mountain top experience was not about the beautiful view, but the view of the work to come. I was reminded of a great backpacking trip with my wife in which we climbed four 4,000 foot mountains in three days. There was one mountain that we got to the summit and we enjoyed the view, on our second day, then I noticed the next peek. We were not going to go down completely but I could see all the rocks we would need to pass, and I also knew the way back was not an option. The view was magnificent but I knew there was still a lot to cover for our journey.

This also reminds us of Moses, who knew too well about long journeys. However, Moses was not going to make it to the Promised Land, and Jesus was to open the Promised Land to us all. Moses face shown because he talked with God when he was bringing the laws down to the people, and Jesus shown as he was the “law” with the people (Exodus 34). Yet it was not this mountain top experience we must witness but the cross and resurrection that he was journeying toward.

So when we have a Mountain Top experience of being close to God we must also look forward for to what our journey may include and while it is not a crucifixion we do need to carry our own crosses.

Feb. 7 2010

No Creed But Christ

1 Cor. 15:1-11

I began by emphasizing Paul’s reminder that he proclaimed and they received that in which he handed on to them. “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared….” This was a creed, yet we so often say "No Creed but Christ" as Disciples of Christ.

I reminded us that the Communion Table and/or membership in a congregation depended on saying the correct creed in the denominations that the founders came from. And no matter how well worded a creed might be or how simple, it was still a human restriction on Jesus’ table. That is why we do not require a specific creed for membership or the table.

However, Paul makes a point to write how important it is that the believers in Corinth received the basic creed for their belief. How does it apply to our non-creedal stance? Well I am reminded of another 19^th century slogan from the Stone-Campbell movement, “In essentials, Unity; In non-essentials, Liberty; and in all things, Charity.” Thus we must admit there are some essentials, but we may not agree what they are (with Charity I pray), and we all need to use our liberty to develop our own stance on the non-essentials. Therefore, I encourage all of us to know the creeds and our history (the denomination and Christianity's) so we are able to answer simple questions such as: Why are you a Christian? Why FCC? And those answers depend on each person’s interpretation of the history that is handed down to them in creeds, traditions, people, etc…

I then read the preamble of our Design which is the closest thing to a Creed we have for the denomination but it is not used to determine membership or to limit the table. It is:

As members of the Christian Church,

We confess that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God,
and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world.
In Christ's name and by his grace
we accept our mission of witness
and service to all people.
We rejoice in God,
maker of heaven and earth,
and in God’s covenant of love
which binds us to God and to one another.
Through baptism into Christ
we enter into newness of life
and are made one with the whole people of God.
In the communion of the Holy Spirit
we are joined together in discipleship
and in obedience to Christ.
At the Table of the Lord
we celebrate with thanksgiving
the saving acts and presence of Christ.
Within the universal church
we receive the gift of ministry
and the light of scripture.
In the bonds of Christian faith
we yield ourselves to God
that we may serve the One
whose kingdom has no end.
Blessing, glory, and honor
be to God forever. Amen.

And each person will read these same words and there is unity in essentials if they understand that there must be liberty in the non-essentials, and above all charity. For each person it is a personal relationship with Jesus and therefore their creed will be personal. So for someone to go to the Lord’s Table there are many creeds but only one Christ.