Living in the Promise, Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 3/11/2012 by Rev Steven R Mitchell

Living in the Promise
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 3/11/2012
Based on Exodus 20:1-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
This past Wednesday, the Rocky Mountain United Church of Christ conference, lost one of their brightest Theological minds in the death of The Reverend Dr. Curtis Tutterrow. Most of you probably have not ever heard of Dr. Tutterrow, but he was a dear friend and colleague of mine for the twenty-nine months that I was serving First Congregational UCC in Rock Springs, WY. Curtis would meet with a group of us ministers to discuss the lectionary readings for that particular week. Upon Curtis’ return from leading a tour in the Holy Lands last June, he discovered he was stage 4 in the development of cancer. Curtis was sixty-two.
In discussing with Curtis what his options might be, it became very apparent of how much a realist Curtis truly was. He understood that by entering into treatment, he was only buying time. The real question he had was what would the quality of his life be during these treatments? He was resigned to the knowledge that he might very well not be alive for the Holidays, whether he entered into treatment or not. Weighing his options, Curtis entered treatment and left open the option of discontinuing them should the cure be worse than the illness.
With in a couple of months, Curtis had responded well enough to go back to work fulltime. Again, there was a discussion as to taking retirement early to enjoy what might be one to two more years of life or stay working. His Doctor shared that in many cases, those who stayed working, seemed to respond more positively to treatment verses those how did not work. Curtis decided that he wanted to work as long as possible, if only to keep his mind occupied with life beyond his own. The last time that I spoke with Curtis was in mid-January. Curtis had just gone through having a new cancer on his liver micro waved as it wasn’t responding to the chemo therapy. Although Curtis was always very open to discussing his health, more importantly he continued to want to focus on life outside of his world, such as “how was I feeling about my upcoming transition to Mountain View”.
Richard Niebuhr, a twentieth-century theologian once stated, “The cross does not deny the reality of death. It reinforces it. It denies its finality.” Curtis, very much understood this, which I believe is what gave him the strength to face the fact that time was nearing its end for him. The older I grow, the more I think I am beginning to understand how Jesus was able to continue to do His work of challenging the systems of oppression and social injustices of his time, particularly as they had developed within the Hebrew religious structure, knowing full well that he, like every prophet before him would end up dying for speaking the truth. Jesus understood that death is not finality.
In this week’s Epistle reading, Paul talks about the foolishness of those who do not know the wisdom that comes through God’s guidance. We are living in an age where there seems to be a “willful pride” when declaring a disbelieve in God, or in faith it’s self, while those who profess a belief in God, shriek away from publicly declaring their truth! Paul says in verse 22, “Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…”
Paul is in the city of Corinth, a cross-roads for world commerce. There is a great many parallels between Corinth and the United States. We live in a country of excessive wealth, we have a large portion of our society educated, and we live in a secular culture. We are an Imperial power, imposing our interests at the cost of others. As much as I disapprove of a great deal of what the Apostle Paul has to say, there is much that we can also learn from his writings.
Adam Eckhart, Associate pastor of First United Church of Christ, Milford, Connecticut, writes: The old hypothesis is the world’s false wisdom that death is the end of the story. When we mourn the death of a loved one, realize first hand that our life is fleeting, or witness tragedies like September 11th or natural disasters, worldly experience pushes innocence aside, and this worldly wisdom can take deep root in our souls. It foretells the day when we shall be no more and sets in motion a series of defense mechanisms – walls of avoidance, humor to distract us from our fears, and vigilance to oppose death’s power.
The false wisdom of perishing cleverly disguises itself in human hearts. We often start with the saying that self-preservation is the first law of life. Self-preservation manifests itself in competitive childhood sports and academics, in climbing the corporate ladder. It can appear in facelifts and efforts to prolong life beyond its natural quality, or in preemptive strikes, homeland security, and attempts to eradicate evil before it eradicates us.
This false wisdom seeks to protect us from the inevitability of death, and in the meantime, from the threat of outsiders and even our apparent friends. The world’s suspicion of all people and motives therefore constantly undermines reconciliation and community. The church has not been immune to the world’s wisdom and its perishing thoughts. When Paul left Corinth, his message of salvation seemed to have left with him. The church began dividing… They became obsessed with their own preservation and cared less about church unity or faith in their Savior, Jesus Christ. Rev Adam Eckhart, Feasting on the Word, Yr B, Vol 2, pg 90.
Yet God gave us the assurance of a constant love and a way of living life that would not bring suspicion or division but rather a path that would lead to reconciliation and to community. We have grown to call this declaration by God, the Ten Commandments. The word commandment is an abrasive word to modern society, and I wonder if we would not do better by looking at these words from God as “guides to living in the promise”.
We need to understand that when Moses came off the mountain of Sinai with these two tablets, or if you are a Mel Brooks fan, you know from the movie, “History of the World: Part One”, that when Moses came off the mountain with three tablets, five commandments on each tablet, accidently dropping one of the tablets, thus giving the Hebrew people and the world only ten commandments. What we need to realize is that these guidelines to living, came to a people who had just escaped from a life of slavery, and were developing their own society.
The whole concept of slavery means, “You have no life, you are dead to yourself, your life is that of your masters desire.” Now they found themselves as free people, meaning they came out of death and into life. The message of the exodus is the same message to the Hebrew people as the cross, the crucifixion is to Christianity. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;” “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The first was spoken by God, the second was spoken by Jesus, and both speak about the truth of life!
God uses the paradox to present truth. God used a people who were in slavery to begin the work of reconciliation! God, chose Moses born a slave, raised in the house of Pharaoh, became a fugitive for murder, to become the spokes person of God’s redemptive message. God chose a single woman, to present the continued message of redemption through her son; we call Jesus of Nazareth, and using a most hideous form of death, the cross, the symbol of ultimate shame and cruelty to present the message of resurrection of life.
How is God using Mountain View? We are a small band of faith-filled people. The Spirit of God is upon us, calling us to new ministries for the larger community. During this season of Lent, I invite you to continue to pray for the wisdom of God. I believe that we are standing at cross-roads that if we are open to the leading of God, God will provide for us experiences that will far exceed our own dreams of life! For God so loved the world, that God shares his love continually with all of us, in many differing ways, our job if you will, is to just “Live in the Promise.” Amen