God’s power: my temple and my tower
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 12, 2021
Isaiah 50:4-9a • James 3:1-12 • Mark 8:27-38
We have all been caught up these last few weeks in an increasing flood of articles, radio segments, interviews, and remembrances of 9/11 twenty years ago. A day that changed the lives of all Americans, whether directly involved in the tragedy or not. A day when everything that seemed so powerful and invulnerable fell to the ground with a devastating crash.
Robert Fitzpatrick, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii, begins his reflection on this year’s 9/11 remembrance with the words of the second verse of our hymn, ‘All our hope on God is founded’:
“Mortal pride and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray our trust;
though with care and toil we build them,
tower and temple fall to dust.
But God’s power, hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.”
-- Second verse of Hymn 665, The Hymnal 1982 (Words by Joachim Neander and translated by Robert S. Bridges)
I was glad that a number of us were able to gather last Wednesday evening to share memories and thoughts. At least three of our congregation were in New York that dreadful day, and we were all moved by their sharing of their experiences, and were glad we could hold each other in love and prayer.
In writing a sermon, I am always aware not only of the scriptural texts themselves and their historical context, but also of how they speak to us through the lens of our lives today. I have never found today’s Gospel text an easy one to preach on, and yet, this year, with the memories and the continuing reverberations of 9/11, things seemed clearer.
One concept seemed to tower above all the others: power. Our Steven Shakespeare collect for today names it for us, opening with: ‘Scandalous God, you suffer our will to power.’
Power, such a big word. Each one of us has a choice to use or abuse our power in every moment of our lives. It’s certainly an issue on the minds of those of us who are doing the preparatory reading for the Sacred Grounds curriculum that we will be beginning next week. Each of us who enjoys an easy, advantaged position in our world, needs to consider how we are unconsciously benefiting from our position of power, and whether we might make different choices for the good of the whole.
The more I think about human behavior, the clearer it becomes that all human sin, human error, is a result of a willful misuse of power to get what we want, what we think we’re entitled to. Sometimes what we want is indeed ours, sometimes we share something desirable together. However history is filled with heinous examples of humans taking and doing what they want by force, just because they can and they have the power advantage.
And there is always cost, not only to those who lose in the moment, but in the days that follow. There is always pain, grief, resentment, simmering anger, and perhaps a will for retribution. But there is also a twisting of the souls of those who stole, who abused their power that they may or may not be aware of.
We will never know completely what led to the tragedy of 9/11, but we can be certain that it had its roots in the power abuses of the West, and in particular the U.S. in previous years. Evil begets evil. And ‘Tower and temples’ will indeed ‘fall to dust’ to go back to that hymn.
Do you remember when Jesus himself was tempted to abuse his power? After his baptism with the dove and the voice from heaven naming him as God’s Son, Jesus goes out into the wilderness for forty days. At the end of which, he is tempted to misuse the power that he suddenly has access to: to turn the stones into bread; to leap from the top of the temple, trusting the angels will catch him; and the last, to kneel before Satan and become ruler of all the kingdoms of the world.
He doesn’t succumb to temptation. He instead returns to begin his ministry of teaching and healing in the name of the God of love. A path that will lead to Golgotha.
In our Gospel passage for today, Jesus says to the crowd: ‘If any wants to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it.’
I don’t know about you, but I have struggled with this passage, in particular what it is we must deny, and what is this cross that we are to take up. As I focus on the issue of humanity’s willful abuse of power throughout all of our existence at the expense of other humans, all creatures, and the earth itself, it seems crystal clear that we would be able to love God, our neighbors and ourselves so much more completely if we would only lay down any idea of using our power inappropriately over any group, or the earth itself.
If we recognize our capacity to willfully abuse our power, might we not consider that what is being asked of us is that we let go of any sense of self-entitlement. What good might we be able to accomplish together if we use our power willingly not only for ourselves, but for the good of all creation?
God’s power, not our power, to be used for the good of all in the name of love.
No winners. No losers. No have-s and have-nots. But all of creation working together for the good of all. Does it sound hard? Absolutely. Does it sound impossible? Well, very unlikely, at the least... It does sound very like the Beloved Community of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr, our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, our own bishop, Marc Andrus. We also know it as the Kingdom, or Kin-dom of God.
And what of the cross? Perhaps the cross is our recognition, our awareness of how very hard it is for us humans to rise above the claims of self-interest and to really see the cost of our privilege for the rest of the world. This is always going to be temptation for us. And yet, it will only weigh us down if we let it. In the inimitable genius of God, the teachings and example of Jesus raises up the concept of the cross as an image of unimaginable strength leading us to ‘abundant life’ as the words of the hymn ‘Take up your cross’ that we sang around the gospel, tells us.
Life is not easy. We deceive ourselves if we think it should be. Rising above our natural inclinations to better ourselves, our loved ones, and our tribe at cost to any others is what Jesus asks of us – and that is not at all easy. Jesus asks us to reach beyond, imagine a better world where the bottom line is not money, land, possessions or privilege but love itself. A love that has no respect for economic variations or social status, knows no borders, ethnicities, religions, genders, or ages. A love that is for the whole of creation.
“Mortal pride and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray our trust;
though with care and toil we build them,
tower and temple fall to dust.
But God’s power, hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.”
The Hymnbook 1982, #655, vs.2