Sermon: Linked in Truth
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…
God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light. And God saw that it was good.
Then God separated the water from the sky and from the dry land; and God caused plants to grow upon the land. All sorts of plants! And God saw that it was good.
Then God created the sun, the moon, the stars and planets, and caused their light to shine upon the earth. And God saw that it was good.
Then God created all sorts of animals: animals that swim, animals that fly, and animals that roam upon the land. And God saw that it was good.
Then God created humanity in God’s own image: beautiful and holy. And God gave humanity good work to do: ruling and caring for creation. And God saw that it was all so very good.
And then, God rested. And that day of rest was holy and blessed; it was good as well.
The creation account is so rich with meaning. Today, I want you to notice two things:
One, that God decided that humanity would help care for creation. God wasn’t going to do all the caring for creation by himself.
And two, that God himself took a day to rest, and that that day of rest was holy and blessed. It was good.
Moses, on the other hand, was trying too hard to do everything by himself; and he wasn’t resting.
Jethro, his father-in-law, spoke some truth to Moses; Jethro said to Moses: “What you are doing is not good.”
In addition to being Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro was also a Midianite priest. Midianite religion involved the worship of a number of gods; the God of Israel may have been one of them.
So Jethro may have been familiar with the creation story in Genesis.
And maybe, just maybe, there is an intentional echo of the creation story when Jethro uses that word, “good.”
Creation is good. Humanity is good. Enlisting help to care for creation is good.
And, rest is good. God rested, and the day of rest was declared holy and blessed.
But Moses was not resting. And Moses was not getting help for all the tasks he had to do. And so Jethro told Moses that what Moses was doing was not good.
This is the truth that Moses needed to hear. Jethro was able to speak this truth to Moses, because of the good relationship they had. Jethro was not only a father-in-law to Moses, but also a friend and mentor. Moses knew that Jethro cared about him. Moses respected Jethro and valued their relationship, and Moses valued the trust he had in Jethro and the trust Jethro had in him.
What a blessing it is, to have trusted relationships like that.
That love, that trust, that respect, enables one to speak truth or to hear truth, even when that truth is hard to hear.
Without that love, that trust, that respect, Moses might have resisted the advice Jethro gave to him.
If someone comes to me and tells me I’m doing something wrong, but they don’t love, trust, or respect me, I’m probably not going to listen to them.
Probably, if they don’t love, trust, or respect me, they’ll be rude in how they talk to me. “You’re doing what?!? You’re such an idiot!”
Now, maybe they’re right; but, I’m not going to listen to them, because of their attitude and their lack of love, trust, and respect.
Unfortunately, a lot of public discourse plays out just like this.
People see someone saying or doing something wrong, and the way they try to speak the truth to them is belittling, insulting, rude, and divisive. It’s all about putting someone in their place, pushing them down while lifting yourself up, to make you look good.
But usually, it doesn’t work. If you’re always insulting other people, you’re not going to change their mind. They’re not going to listen. Few will be convinced that what you are saying is truth.
Jethro provides a much better example. He and Moses had built a foundation of love, respect, and trust in their relationship, so that when it came time for Jethro to speak a hard truth to Moses, Moses was willing to listen. In this case, Moses was able to see the wisdom in Jethro’s words, and Moses was able to implement the advice Jethro gave.
Now, because this is one of the scriptures we’ll be reading at camp, my thoughts naturally turn to camp…
At Disciples church camp, we have a lot of fun. At times, things get downright zany. That’s how it is back in southern California, and from what I know of the counselors I’ll be working with this summer, I suspect the level of zaniness will be just as high or higher at Camp Walter Scott.
But the zaniness isn’t without purpose. By having fun with the campers, we build relationship. In games, we affirm every effort. Even the challenges we face, of living together for one week, builds community.
And as that happens, love, respect, and trust develop.
Then, as we read together stories (like this one about Jethro and Moses), we are able to see the sometimes difficult truth that scripture presents to us, how God calls us to live differently in the world, to live by a different set of priorities.
To live by love.
And love, we know, isn’t always easy.
The world doesn’t always live by love. Love isn’t what guides us. In the world, we’re guided by our net worth, by the car we drive, by how many likes we get on social media.
But we Christians are called to live by something else.
As Christians, we live by love, and love is sometimes hard to live by, and sometimes, we need someone like Jethro to call us out when we’re being less than loving toward our neighbors.
Fortunately, Moses was living by love. That wasn’t the issue. In fact, Moses loved his people so much that he wanted to do everything he could for them.
But Jethro knew that that wasn’t the way to show love. Moses was wearing himself out, he wasn’t allowing anyone to help him, and he wasn’t getting the rest he needed.
I don’t know about you, but when I’m worn out, lacking rest, doing everything by myself, I appear less loving to others. People see my exhaustion, they see my resentment, they see my frustration… but they don’t see love.
God is love. Perhaps that’s why God rested; and perhaps that’s why God shared the task of caring for creation with humanity.
I know that for me as a pastor, both rest and sharing the burden are essential.
Too many pastors think that the work of ministry is all theirs. And they try to do everything.
And too many pastors rest far too little.
I once attended a retreat for Disciples clergy, where Dick Hamm was our guest speaker. This was not long after Dick Hamm served as our denomination’s General Minister and President.
And I remember that the theme of Dick Hamm’s conversations with us was: “Why Superman Killed Himself.”
Dick Hamm told us about George Reeves, who played Superman on TV in the 1950s. This made Reeves a star, and Reeves lived into that identity. He loved meeting young fans, and would try really hard to present an image they could look up to. He even avoiding smoking cigarettes when children could see him. He eventually gave up that habit.
Unfortunately, Reeves couldn’t ever get a good movie or TV role after Superman. He had become Superman for so many… and Superman, as we know, gave of himself selflessly, and did it all by himself. Superman didn’t need anyone to help him, and Superman didn’t need to rest.
And it was all too much for George Reeves. Not long after the TV show ended, when he realized that he would never be anything but Superman, George Reeves died by suicide.
Moses was trying to be Superman, and Jethro saw that it was not good. Fortunately, Jethro and Moses had a relationship of love, respect, and trust, and Jethro could tell Moses this, and Moses was able to make the changes necessary for his own sake, and for the sake of his people.
Some years later, I was on the regional board for the Pacific Southwest Region, and we were meeting with a candidate to become our next regional minister.
Anyone who had a question was free to ask this candidate, so I asked: What are your hobbies? What do you like to do on your day off, your day of rest?
The candidate couldn’t answer my question.
This person went on to become our regional minister, and I was grateful for that. I thought this person was an excellent choice. But in the months that followed, at regional board meetings, I kept asking that same question: what are you doing on your days off? What are you doing for rest, for fun?
Because I know that if we try to do too much, and if we try to do it all by ourselves, it will make it that much harder to show love to the people we love.
Friends, we in the church have a big task set before us. God has called us to care for creation and all that is in it… God has called us to bring healing and wholeness to a world that is fragmented and torn apart... God has called us to work for justice, to work for what is right, for all people, and especially for those who are most vulnerable.
This is a challenge, because we live in an economy that favors billionaires and corporations but which denies needed resources and services to the poor. We live in a world where the climate is in the process of collapsing, threatening civilization, the result of a society that cares more for short-term economic gain than long-term sustainability.
These two issues alone are enough to overwhelm us. We cannot ignore them; not if we claim to love our neighbor; not if we declare our mission is to serve our community.
This is a big task. If we tried to do it on our own, it would be too overwhelming. And a lot of people who do devote themselves to working for justice, working for peace, working to protect the rights of the vulnerable,... they get worn down, frustrated, and restful.
But we don’t have to do it on our own. We have each other. We have other congregations in our region and our denomination. We have people in other denominations with whom we already collaborate and are learning to collaborate on issues of pride and sustainable living. We have people from other religions and people of no religion, who all believe in the importance of loving one another, and working to heal the earth.
We can’t do everything by ourselves, but we can all do something. And when we work together, it will be enough. When we all share the burden, we can do all that we are called to do.
One more thing: I try to keep my sermons focused on one main point. My preaching professor said: “You should be able to summarize your sermon in a single sentence.” Well, I failed today. Because this sermon is about building relationships of love and respect in which truth can be heard; and this sermon is also about resting and sharing the burden.
I’ll try to do better next time.
Until then, just know that if you’re trying to do it all alone, hear this truth, spoken in love and respect: allow others to help you carry the burden.
And in your relationships, whether it’s with the people closest to you, or people you only know because you see them on social media: remember to speak with love and respect. Build those relationships of love and respect. Only then will your truth be heard.
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