Sermon Notes Sept. 25 Phil. 2, Ex. 17:1-7

We are at places of testing and contention.they have been freed, given gifts of food and water, but now the water is not apparent again. These places stayed in the memory banks of Israel, where the community was in crisis, at a place of testing and a place of contention. All of this has occurred with miracle after miracle, on the way to Sinai, the mountain of revelation. The water seems to flow from Sinai. In part they complain like children, as it is going to take a while to move a people from the dependent status and mindset of slaves into becoming adults and a functioning community.Here they test God, to place a demand before God. Perhaps when we pray lead us not into temptation, we could also be praying, for it is the same word, lead us not to the testing, ours or testing God.Notice no thanks is mentioned for the water along the way, what drives them is its lack at this stage. In other words, no credits are added up, only debits.

Jesus Christ, in this world of contention and testing. this remarkable look at the Incarnation of sharing, self-giving, humility, not power, not control.Paul, or the hymn he may be quiting here, does not see Jesus as god playacting as a human being. A real change has taken place where of God does not claim power or control but for all purposes took on the role and reality of one the the wretched of the earth. Picking up on the Greek word for emptying, this is called a kenotic view of the work of Jesus Christ. It sees love as willing to sacrifice for the other, to set aside personal preference if it seems to help the needs of the other, even if it means setting aside prerogative. In the end, can love be about power over another; can it be about control over another? (Paul will say that water from the rock was Christ, a life-giver I Cor 10)

Just as we recently looked at an attitude of scarcity and abundance as poles of points of view, so too we are led to a notion of fullness, of overflowing and emptiness as a way of approaching spiritual life. In both cases god does not exercise power over people but provides them what they require. In the case of Jesus, this explicitly means setting aside any claims or pretension to power as control and instead, he lives as a slave, Paul says. the very human Jesus was a vessel for “the fullness of God dwelt in him.”In other words Jesus was a living tabernacle.the presence of god is demonstrated by the resurrection of course, but the utter emptying of control is a sign of the fullness of divine love, the fundamental attribute of god is seen so clearly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.Even the terrible cross is a sign that God will permit no obstacle to debar us from that love, not even living with a human being, a created one, to bridge the gulf of divinity and humanity.

The church as an extension of this kenotic, self-emptying of pretension to power and control is an interesting concept to consider. we regret having a spectacular construction as this sanctuary not being packed to the rafters. We may well regret that its pews are not as filled with movers and shakers of an economically depressed community. Emptied of presumptions to influence and power, maybe mainline churches just like this one all over the map can rediscovera faith not lording it over others but being with each other when troubles seem as if they lord it over us.