Priestly and Holy

Here is a group of refugees, lately escaped from Egypt. They have made it through some difficult days, but they only did so by grudgingly acknowledging that it was the Lord's doing and not their own cleverness that go them to this point.

--They are backed up against the sea with no way to escape when it is the Lord and no other power that makes it possible for them to cross.

--They have been starving in the wilderness, complaining bitterly, and God provides manna and quail for them to eat.

--They have been parched with thirst, complaining bitterly, and God has provided water from beneath the rocks for them to drink.

--They have no idea where they are to be going, and God provides a cloud by day and a fire by night to point out the way they should be going.

If we were God, we would be angry and disappointed that the Hebrews are not grateful and compliant.

If we were God, we would most likely have given up on them completely and let them all die in the wilderness.

But God has made a choice, these are the people he has chosen.

These are the ones with whom he is going to work.

These are the ones who will carry forward the blessings that he has promised a\gain and again through the fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph;

--to have descendants as numerous as the sands of the seashore,

--to live in the land of promise, and

--to be a blessing to all the nations of the world.

Even when they are complaining, turning another way, not following the command of the Lord,

still the Lord God is a God of mercy (as we described last Sunday.)

Still, he intends to make something of the people hemmed in by their own stubbornness.

You know where this is leading: we are not just talking about the Hebrews of 3,300 years ago; we are describing our own situation as well.

Change a few details, and it is our story too!

What does it mean for those contrary folks of 3 millennia ago to be priestly and holy?

How do those adjectives apply to us as well?

A priest is one who intercedes for another, who speaks on behalf of someone else.

Moses demonstrates a priestly sort of role when he goes up the mountain to speak with God and then comes down the mountain to relay that news to the people.

Time and again, Moses makes this trek in order to faithfully get the messages back and forth as the people are brought into a new covenant with the Lord God Almighty.

But it does not stop there.

Each of the senior listeners is to take one that same role within their family or other grouping.

Faithfully, each is to lift holy hands in prayer to carry the joys and sorrows of his family to God and to in turn hear and pass on the good word of promise from the Lord God entrusted to him through Moses.

In other places we hear how this is to be extended to include the sojourners in the land, that is, those who are not of the tribes of Israel, but who are living in or passing through the land.

The Hebrews can pray on their behalf as well, and pass the word of God to any who will listen.

This same pattern fits our experience also.

At various times, someone will approach me and ask for prayers on behalf of someone else, and I'm glad to remember those persons and causes in our daily Morning Prayer at 9:00 A.M., and also in the Prayer of the Church here on Sundays.

One of my main tasks is to express our common thanks to God each Sunday in the Great Thanksgiving at the head of the Communion Meal.

There have been tremendous arguments over the years as to whether this prayer is proclamation to us or prayer to the Father.

The simplest and most helpful thing to say is that it is both at the same time:

I am giving voice to our thanks and also proclaiming God's Good News to us.

It is very much a priestly role, and for me an awesome responsibility.

I need to get it right, and clear, going both directions!

But it does not stop there, does it?

Luther and others wanted us to recognize that there is a priestly role for each of us: the priesthood of all believers.

One's responsibility does not end with just gathering in the goodies that God entrusts to our care!

Each of us are to be listeners and speakers;

--listening for the hurts and needs of the company of the faithful and also of those outside the church,

--raising them to God in our individual and corporate prayers,

--listening for God's responses in the many ways that they come to us, in the direct words of scripture, in the words and actions of the other members of the household of faith, and in our own quiet listening and giving space and time in all of those ways for the Spirit to get through to us.

--and then sharing those insights, words, and gifts with those with whom we have contact from day to day.

--the priesthood of all believers is not just a theological concept...it is the way of life for us all in the church.

I ask for your prayers and your thoughts and observations, and in turn I pray for you and speak with you about many things, listening carefully.

How is it that we dare to take on a priestly role for each other and the world?

Because of that other word that is mentioned in the Exodus passage:

we are to be holy.

The catechetical class definition of holy that we use is: set apart for God's special purposes.

God could have chosen anyone; he picked Abraham to get things started.

God could have given up on any of the people of the promise along the way:

Isaac nearly killed, Jacob could have been murdered by his brother,

Joseph could have been done in by his brothers

Moses faltered at various points; God might have been annoyed and discarded him.

But each of them were set apart to be holy, to be carrying forward God's special purposes in spite of their frailties and failings;

and God sustained them in perilous times.

And God continues to do that with us.

The setting apart for special use begins in the process of Holy Baptism,

and we are reminded of it again and again.

Parents may tell us as children that we don't do this or that, and instead act in a different way.

“I don't care what other kids say they can do, this is what we think and the way in which we act,” they say.

The setting-apart process continues through life.

In choosing a career, the largest salary is not always the best selection.

One needs to ask how the job that I am doing honors God the giver of every good gift, is congruent with the life that follows Jesus, and is benefiting other people in addition to myself.

The setting-apart process continues all the way to the end of life, when one is making decisions about the use of one's estate.

How can I be useful yet one more time by the way I would like my money or possessions to be used when I am through with them.

Set apart for holy use, a priestly people; that is our call.

Even though we heard it first in Exodus today, it is echoed in the NT book of 1 Peter.[2:9]: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, he says, and for the very best of reasons.

Not for personal pride, but

in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So that you and I can speak in a way that opens a new and powerfully transformed future for all those who hear us.

Messages are conveyed by clothing and color.

Why do we clothe someone in white at baptism?

As a sign that the person has been set apart by God for special use...holiness.

Why does the pastor wear a white vestment?

As a sign that he is filling a particular kind of priestly role.

Why do the hosts of saints around the throne of God wear white, according to the book of Revelation?

These who can get no more out of life now have everything to give; we can imagine them being priests for us without reservation, reiterating our prayers even as they praise God, and bringing both joy and admonition to us from the throne of Grace.

To be holy for the sake of one another, to be priests for the sake of one another. That is more than enough to keep us all busy!

A new bishop had a terrible day, with so many difficult problems to handle.

Late in the afternoon, two women came to see him.

“Now what?” he thought.

They told him that a grandson was in prison camp, and when they visited, discovered appalling conditions there.

They started reading classes and Bible-study groups with help from their little country church, they took cookies from other folks who couldn't visit.

“Now comes the pitch,” thought the bishop.

“Do you want the synod to take over the ministry?” he asked them.

“No, we don't want to mess it up,” they responded.

“Do you need some money?” he queried.

“No, our little congregation can handle it.”

“Then why did you come to tell me about this?”

“Well, we know that being a bishop must be one of the most depressing jobs in the world – too many things that we are doing are not what Jesus would want us to be doing, being holy and priestly and all. So we thought it would be nice if we came down here to tell you to take heart. Something is going right up there in our little town.”

Something is going right, indeed, when the people are learning to be priestly and holy.

May it be our learning and our joy as well.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.