thesoulpurposedotorg

“God’s Spell” Luke 4:14-21; I Cor.12:12—31
January 21, 2007 UCC Greene
Rev. Peg French

I Cor.12:12—31 is the prelude to “Love Chapter” read at most weddings.:

One Body with Many Parts
“12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit (literally God’s Breath from the greek pnuema) , and we have all received the same Spirit. (i.e. Breath of God)*
14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 Suppose the whole body were an eye-then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything?
18 But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it. 19 What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
22 In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen, 24 while other parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other equally. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
27 Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. 28 Here is a list of some of the members that God has placed in the body of Christ:

first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who can get others to work together,
those who speak in unknown languages.

29 Is everyone an apostle? Of course not. Is everyone a prophet? No. Are all teachers? Does everyone have the power to do miracles? 30 Does everyone have the gift of healing? Of course not. Does God give all of us the ability to speak in unknown languages? Can everyone interpret unknown languages? No! 31 And in any event, you should desire the most helpful gifts.

Love Is the Greatest
First, however, let me tell you about something else that is better than any of them!”

We do not exist for our own sake but to be “God-breathed.” It has been said that “Spirituality is about the experience of God while religion, unfortunately ends up being about the organization of the experience” (Matthew Fox) I would say that spirituality is about living a God-breathed life. This is the original meaning of the word “Gospel.” I have long had this annoying question in the back of my mind: “what exactly is the good news?” The standard answer has been : that God came in the form of human flesh as Jesus Christ and lived and died and rose again. Therefore our sins have been paid for and we can go to heaven.
That has never quite satisfied me. If the be the good news in total, what did the good news mean to the prophets of old and to Jesus himself as he lived on this earth? I discovered that the term Gospel is literally to be under the spell of God – God’s spell. That is the Old English version of the word. That is very different that merely being saved like a bank deposit that pays interest with a future life in heaven. There is a gnawing hunger for that gospel, that “god-spell” in this world – just look at the offerings taught at Broome Community College or any community college in adult education: varieties of yoga, course on Christian mysticism, Sufism, Buddhism, Miracles, Aura reading, past lives, spirit guides and angels….. People with that sort of hunger don’t come to churches much because they expect churches to be about the organization of someone else’s experience rather than the experience of being God-breathed.

Hear the words of Jesus as he announced the coming of God’s spell into our lives:

“14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: (Luke 4:4-17)

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,*
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, (Isaiah 61:1-2)

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

(Note: The Gospel of Luke records only part of the Isaiah passage leaving off the fourth line, perhaps as a result of transcribing error.)

Here is the Gospel truth: This is how you know you are under God’s spell: your broken heart is bound; that which once oppressed you now has no power over you; and when you weep with grief, you are embraced. Are you under God’s spell?

The good news, God’s spell, is preached to the poor. We almost hear that phrase as if it were a political category. “The poor” are often blamed for all sorts of social and economic ills. Just who are “the poor” and just what is the good news for them?
Many years ago I was a part of a long range planning group in a church. This team was given the task of keeping the churches goals and purposes always before them. One evening we were spinning our wheels together trying to put into words the unique calling that particular church had in its community. We thought about things like brokenhearted people finding solace, healing and a home in that church. We thought about it being a place where people who weren’t very sophisticated could find purpose. And then we thought, we can’t really say that! No one wants to think of themselves as “the poor” or as “the hurting” or “the wounded”. We don’t want to label ourselves as blind or oppressed! Lord, no!
I’m okay, you’re okay. I’m cool. I’m strong. I’m together. Alright, maybe I’m down once in a while but don’t lump me in with “the poor.” “The poor” do not have homes and they sleep and live in abandoned buildings. They have mental illnesses that make in impossible for them to be with large groups of people and some are deeply addicted Now those are “the poor”. That’s clear.
But when the spirit of the Lord is upon you, the poor are not a category. The poor are one of us. We may have a home, a warm bed in which to sleep, we may have our bank accounts and retirement plans but the poor have something we can only get when we are one of them: They get the “Good News of Jesus Christ” The poor don’t just read about it they GET IT. God’s spell…..God breathed.
Is the Spirit of the Lord upon us? One Lenten season, I was working with a banner artist in my church to create banners of angels for each side of the cross. The banner on the left had the words “He is not here” and the banner on the right said “He is risen” Our idea was to have one banner on the left side up during Lent and then put up a complimentary banner on the right at Easter. Until we realized that would mean that every Sunday in lent people would be greeted with this beautiful banner saying “He is not here!” It was during that same Lenten season that I asked the rhetorical questions in the middle of the sermon “Is Jesus here?” and a loud three year old voice shouted from the back “No he’s not!” But that is the question, is it not?
Let me tell you a true story about living under God’s spell In a place far, far from here but not so long ago, there lived an old man that we’ll call Alfred. Alfred was married to the same woman for nearly 60 years and their life together was full of all sorts of mixtures of experiences and emotions. They’d married young right after the war and built a little Cape Cod house in the same neighborhood as their family. Their first born son was a bright and joyful child who didn’t live to see his fifth birthday. Three more children eased some of the pain of that loss but in those days one didn’t talk much about their broken hearts. Life went on with the usual bumps and grinds.
Al was a hard worker and a good provider. Grace was a good mother and homemaker. After 40 years of construction work, Al retired. But he was still happiest when he was fixing something. Happiest of all when he figured out how to fix something that no one else could fix.
For most of his life, he thought he pretty much knew what was right and what was wrong and if he could just do what was right, life would pretty much take care of itself. That philosophy worked most of the time. But sometimes it didn’t.
A few years ago, his best friend’s son was dying. Al went over to spend some time with his friend. The family had converted the dining room into a hospital room complete with a hospital bed and commode. There was another man there who was caring for the son, David, with great tenderness and kind words. Al had a hard time controlling his tears as he sat with his best friend and listened to his pain. He remembered his own son’s death so many years before and held his friends hand in his, unable to speak but able to share in the weeping.
It was hard. Very hard but Al kept coming back and helping when he could. One day, Al’s friend told him what was killing David – it wasn’t cancer. It was AIDS. And the man who so tenderly cared for him was David’s partner of 20 years. Al was shocked. He thought he knew what was right and what was wrong. But he had watched with amazement the love and tender care in this broken family. He had even sung this man’s praises to other people, absolutely amazed at the love he had witnessed. He didn’t really understand anything at all but somehow the broken places in his own heart had felt healed as he was a part of these last days of David’s life.
And so he kept his mouth shut and kept on being there for his friend. Watching his heart break, and offering what comfort he could. And he watched David and his partner. The words of the great love chapter came to his mind: “If I have not love, I am nothing…. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
He thought of his own life: he had a terrible temper not to mention being an old grouch much of the time. The love he showed his wife was paltry compared to the love he saw before him. Did he have patience? Not a bit. He thought of his many years of marriage and found them filled with jealousy and irritability…and that was on the good days! Whenever he came home from visiting David’s family, he found that he treated his wife Grace just a little better. He began to complement her and look for ways to be helpful. When he brought home flowers, she wondered if he was in some sort of mid-life crises.
When David died, Al started volunteering with the local AIDS ministry through his church. He bought groceries and flowers and delivered them to a victim of AIDS once a month. He began to read the Living Bible his granddaughter had given him as a Christmas gift and he meditated on the meaning of that love chapter. And he loved his wife remembering the example of love he saw in David’s family. Week in, week out, he practiced this love. Not just at home, but wherever he met someone who just didn’t quite fit. He was evidence of God’s spell.
This is how you know you are under God’s spell: your broken heart is bound; that which once oppressed you, those things which trigger your temper or frighten you for no reason, now have no power over you; and when you weep with grief, you are embraced.