Isaiah
58:1-9a; Matthew 5:13-20
“Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a
trumpet!”
With
a voice like a trumpet, “Shout out; do not hold back!” Be brave and be blessed,
my friends: ask the hard questions, not the whiny ones: What bushels are
covering my life keeping me from shining God’s light before others? We can
explore the same question regarding our life together as the body of Christ.
There’s an old, old story of a small
country church that was given a big gift of money. They had a board meeting to
decide how to spend this money. One little lady stood up and said, “I’d love to
see us put a new chandelier in our sanctuary.”
One older brother got up and protested.
“We don’t need any new chan-dee-leer in this sanctuary!” He said, “In the first
place, I doubt that there’s anybody in this church who can even spell
chan-dee-leer. In the second place, even if we had one, I doubt there’s anybody
here who could play it. And in the third place, what we really need is more
light in this room!”[1]
On an early Wednesday morning in November of 2004, the back chan-dee-leer, there, fell out of the ceiling and crashed onto the pews. [It was the night after the presidential election.] Larry, our sexton, found it that morning when he came into the sanctuary on his usual rounds. Those of you who know Larry know that he is easily and dramatically startled. I can only imagine the look on his face and his hand grabbing his chest when he saw the bent brass frame on the pews, broken glass everywhere, some shards embedded into the wood. If you look around back there, you can still see the scars left behind. As a cautionary measure, we shut down the electricity up there, so it was a few weeks while everything was being repaired that we literally worshiped in a lightless sanctuary. And on one of those Sundays, I believe the furnace had broken down during the night so we not only sat in the dark, but we also sat here in the cold!
That morning, as we worshiped in this sanctuary together, we were the light in here. So we have some practice at being the light. Rural communities like those addressed in Matthew 5 knew very well how blinding darkness could be. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus told them; yet, they had no idea what it meant to be light. “You are the salt of the earth.” Neither had they a clue about what it meant to be salt.
“If salt loses its taste, how can it become salty again?” (MT 5:13b); “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (MT5:15-16).
What was Jesus talking about? Jesus was teaching his followers about the ethics of the kingdom; in other words, how to be a disciple. The bottom line of salt and light is this: “a professed disciple who does not live this lifestyle of the kingdom is worth about as much as tasteless salt or invisible light.[2]
Christians have a great ethic to live by, yet how easy it is to substitute religion for faith. We like the purposeful predictability and comforting traditionalism—you know, that concept of an ol’ time religion: “It was good for the Hebrew children… and it’s good enough for me.” The problem with that ol’ time religion is that “good enough for me” is not good enough for God. That’s the message God is trying to get through the Hebrew children in our passage from Isaiah this morning. Hear the frustration in these instructions to Isaiah:
“Shout out; do not hold back! LIFT UP YOUR VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET!” (ISA 58:1). Now, just as salt and light were staples in everyday life in Jesus’ day, trumpets are also very important to their lives. Trumpets (shofars) were essential instruments in life and religion of the Hebrews. There are 55 references to trumpets in the Bible. Trumpets call the people to temple, announce wars and victories, feasts and celebrations, disasters and doom and ultimately in the end times, the coming of the Kingdom of God. The sound of the shofars carried great distances; it was the original instant messaging of the ancient world, the call all to immediate attention—something big, big, BIG was about to happen. Remember when Joshua fit the battle of Jericho? What happened?
The trumpet still carries that mega message in modern times. In The Sound of Music, do you remember this exchange between Herr Zeller and Captain von Trapp?
Herr Zeller: Perhaps those who would warn you that the Anschluss is coming -
and it is coming, Captain - perhaps they would get further with you by setting
their words to music.
Captain von Trapp: If the Nazis take over Austria, I have no doubt, Herr Zeller,
that you will be the entire trumpet section.
Herr Zeller: You flatter me, Captain.
Captain von Trapp: Oh, how clumsy of me - I meant to accuse you.[3]
The Israelites did not get it that
their religious rituals were not pleasing to God because their rituals merely meant
they were going-through-the motions, which means they were worth about as much
as tasteless salt and invisible light. Fasting and bowing like the bulrushes,
they thought God was getting what he asked for, but they were only flattering
themselves. It’s Isaiah’s job to convey the sad news, accusing the Hebrews of
completely missing the meaning of their relationship with God. “Look, you serve
your own interest on your fast day…” (ISA 58:3b). “Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.” (ISA 58:4b).
The people were fasting, but it was
God who was starving…starving for the fast that God chooses: to loose the bonds
of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke; to let the oppressed go free, and
to break every yoke; to share bread with the hungry; to bring the homeless poor
into one’s house; to cover the naked; and not to hide” (ISA 58:6-8). This is
the fast that God chooses. God promises those who choose his fast that “your
light shall break through the dawn and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be our
rear guard. “Then you shall call and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for
help, and God will say,[ with a voice like a trumpet I am sure], “Here I am.”
That is the good news, today; that
God is here in Jesus Christ, equipping us to Be the attitude of God’s light in
the world: so, let’s SHINE! We can also be the salt of the earth and teach
others to savor the flavor of God’s love. So let’s shake it up, Baby! We can be
the entire trumpet section for the blessings of God’s kingdom. As you can see,
our sanctuary’s chandelier’s long been fixed. No matter how we spell
chan-dee-leer, though, what we really
need is more of Christ’s light in here [heart]—and out THERE! Let this be our
new beginning! Amen.
February 9, 2014
First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
