conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

sermon: vibrate

This is the sermon. Thanks to Trevor Lettman for letting me use his tune, Vibrate, as an illustration. Whether he meant for it to be, I cannot say, but it is awesome theology.

Thanks, Trev!

The Feast of All Saints, Year C
November 4, 2007
The Community Church of Wilmette

Vibrate

Trevor's story-

• Lakewood Cemetery
• The fence is in D
• Fences are built to keep things out, to protect what is inside.
• They are also built to keep things from getting out.

• Prisoners
• cattle
• horses
• High School students

Trevor and I had a conversation about what may be a truism about the prevailing American attitudes about death. We keep it at arms length. We fence it in. We fence ourselves out. We keep death and the dead behind metal gates.

Trevor was pondering the noise he created as he dragged that stick across the fence. He thought about his mother, and how she said that he could make enough noise to wake the dead. And he wondered if that might not be a bad thing.

So, here is his song... (Yes, I am going to play and sing...again...)

Vibrate

All you souls, sing while you can
I release you today.
Underground, sing while you can
I release you today.

Though I know the day will come
When I'll be laying by your side
Well I know this might sound grim
But I'm prepared to take that ride with you.

So boys and girls, sing while you can.
Life is much shorter than you know.
So, use your voice to vibrate the wind
So they might hear you down below.

Beat your sticks on metal gates
Climb the headstones if you dare.
Well, to spite what you've been told
There's no reason to be scared today.
Today...

Can you hear our footsteps through the dirt
or are you on the air that carries sound,
the leaves on trees that fall each year
and make love to the ground?
So tell me can you hear?
So, tell me can you hear?

All you souls, sing while you can
I release you, today.
With bars bent out facing the street
It's time to make your getaway.

Well mama said that I was born to wake the dead.
Today I thank the Lord she's right.
I'll roll you over in your graves
And sing you fast asleep tonight.
...tonight

Trevor's song speaks of liberating the dead. He suggests that we have fenced them in somehow. His language is wonderful.

With bars bent out facing the street It's time to make your getaway.

Is it possible that our relationship with death has come to this? Have we fenced it in? Do we need to do something to liberate the dead? Perhaps we do. Trevor understands that liberation is more than political.

Our scripture passages this morning are about this kind of liberation.

We get a taste of Daniel's famous vision. Daniel is in Exile and he's looking for liberation from the oppressor, the Babylonians. So often this dream is interpreted to be about the end times, as an apocalyptic vision of an avenging deity bringing everything to a halt. And, in a sense, it is. It is about God's judgment. That much is clear. But it is not about God's judgment in some far off future. It is about God's ongoing and present judgment. And for Daniel, that judgment is always about the liberation of God's people.

Daniel remembers that the God who brought the people out of Egypt is with him in Babylon. And God will set the people free. It is a dream about liberation.

God's judgment brings liberation.
Paul and Luke understand this truth about God as well. Paul is praising the Ephesians for living a shared life that witnesses the promise of liberation. Liberation has come in Christ...through Christ's resurrection and through the faithful lives of the saints in Ephesus.

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

1:22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Paul praises the people for their ability and willingness to live lives proclaiming such liberation. No power stands over Christ. There is no power greater than Christ's liberating mercy. Living into the promise of such liberation is to be a saint.

And the language here is fantastic. It is like a dream that Daniel would have shared. It is like a song. It is a prayer. Scholars even suggest that this passage from Ephesians has been used as a communion prayer.

Luke, through the Beatitudes, gives us a description of saintly lives. These “blessed” are the liberated. They embody freedom. Christ, in Luke's recollection of the sermon, delineates between liberated behavior and other behavior, between differing virtues. It's incredibly challenging. Luke's gospel is the only one which includes the “woes.” Luke is pushing us around, trying to get us to see where true liberation lies. Liberation lies in the blessings of a life lived for Christ, bringing mercy and liberation to the world. Liberation brings liberation.

Life brings life.

The fullness of Christ's vision does not end with death. Trevor understands this. He sees the dead everywhere. Underground, in the air, in the leaves...And he sees us trying to imprison them somehow , keeping them at arms length, when all along the promise of God is liberation...even for the dead. Trevor wants to sing them free. So do I.

Today is the bittersweet Feast of All Saints. Today is when we take the time to ponder life and death. All Saints is a Feast to celebrate the promises that are made to us...and revealed in the lives of those dear to us. Daniel tells us of that promise. Paul tells us. Jesus in Luke's gospel tells us. As we remember our loved ones, we are called to celebrate.

But this is a bittersweet feast. We are like Daniel who stands in exile relying on visions and dreams. We are the Ephesians relying upon our own hope in an imagined future painted beautifully by Paul's words. And we are the meek, the persecuted, the frustrated recipients of Christ's own blessing.

We are the liberated.

Are you ready to sing?

Posted by tripp at November 3, 2007 08:44 PM