06/18/2023 ~ Proper 6 (11) ~ Third Sunday after Pentecost ~ Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7); Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; Exodus 19:2-8a; Psalm 100; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23) ~ Father’s Day ~ Juneteenth Weekend ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/838347447

The Journey Called Salvation

“Then Moses went up to God; and Yahweh— God— called out from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob, what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You saw for yourselves that which I did to Egypt, and how I bore you, carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.’” — Exodus 19:3-4.

My experience of late Twentieth and early Twenty-first Century Americans is that there are only two kinds of people. There are Star Trek people or there are Star Wars people. Rarely does the twain meet.

I know those listening on the will not be able to see what I am about to do, but given what I just said I need to do this. (The pastor gives the Star Trek hand symbol and says:) May the force be with you!

For those listening on the radio I said the Star Wars tag line while I used the Star Trek hand symbol made famous by Leonard Nimoy. For some of you that probably made your skin crawl.

Having touched base on that bit of populism, let’s do something different. Let’s talk about the business of these movies, these franchises.

In 1977 Star Wars earned more money than any other movie that year. Over the years the Star Wars movies have earned over $10 billion— and you heard about billion earlier, didn’t you? [1]

Now, movie studios are corporations and seek a profit. Because of the earnings potential in the Star Wars model of movie making— the so called blockbuster model— studios recognized a very lucrative cash stream was available.

Star Trek started on television but corporation executives saw what happened with Star Wars. So just two years later, in 1979, those executives jumped on the cash cow band wagon and we get Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The estimated income of the Star Trek franchise is— guess what?— over $10 billion.

Now, many, many, many years hence, or perhaps even “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…,” historians are not likely to look at how much money these endeavors earned or how they changed the movie industry. I think the more likely topic will be “how did these films enter into, feed into, even meld with— to use the Star Trek term— with the psyche of America.”

Here’s an obvious question on that count. ‘What is it about the psyche of this nation which enabled, empowered these films to enthrall us?’ (Slight pause.)

Perhaps we need to ask what is Star Wars about… really? Is the film simply about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, the Wookiee Chewbacca and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or is it about something else, something more engaging, more central?

Is Star Trek about Captains James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard or Benjamin Sisko or Kathryn Janeway or Jonathan Archer?” Or is it about something else, something more engaging, more central? (Slight pause.)

To be clear about one more thing, Star Wars and Star Trek don’t just tap into the American psyche. They tap into the human psyche. These films tap into our psyche because they are about a very basic human experience.

What’s that experience? These stories are about a journey— a journey called life. Additionally, in the stories there is a sense of some kind of spirit reality, a reality beyond human understanding, which seems to be a constant presence. (Pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Exodus: “Then Moses went up to God; and Yahweh— God— called out from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob, what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You saw for yourselves that which I did to Egypt, and how I bore you, carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.’” (Slight pause.)

We Christians— especially Western Christians— often seem to be comfortable with what the early church would label as a heresy. That heresy says the salvation offered by God started with Jesus. The idea that salvation started with Jesus is a misunderstanding or at least an inaccurate reading of Scripture.

Even a cursory reading of the Exodus story should clearly tell anyone God offers salvation. (Quote:) “You saw for yourselves that which I did to Egypt, and how I bore you, carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” These words describe the action of God and action— especially that action by God— constitutes salvation.

Now my guess is especially Western Christians don’t count actions of God in our lives now as having anything to do with salvation now. Why? Besides the idea that salvation started with Jesus, Western Christians seemed to have grasped onto the notion that salvation is somehow postponed to an afterlife.

And that, indeed, points out a second way we misunderstand, don’t understand, fail to understand the message of Scripture. We equate only an afterlife with salvation.

Given that, I find it interesting that often oppressed communities clearly and obviously understand the salvation God offers can be seen as the present action of God. Oppressed communities understand salvation as something tangible, real, something which can happen and is happening now.

One proof I can offer about how oppressed communities see salvation as a possibility are hymns based in the experience of the African-American community. We used one of them today— In Egypt Under Pharaoh. This hymn references the experience, the salvation of God as something which happened in Biblical times and can happen now.

So, why do oppressed communities equate the experience of God right now, in our time, in our midst, with salvation? (Slight pause.) Let’s, for a moment, go back to Star Wars and Star Trek and explore how these films tap into the human psyche.

As I said, Star Wars is not simply about Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Obi-Wan. Star Trek is not simply about Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway and Archer. These are merely characters in the stories. The stories are about journeys. It is the journeys, themselves, which get at a deeper, psyche probing, a sense of meaning.

So too it is with the Exodus story. Indeed, when this passage was introduced it was said the Sinai episode is at the center of Exodus, central to Exodus. And what should draw our attention about the entirety of that story?

The Exodus story taken as a whole has some basic ideas which tap into the human psyche. The story— 40 years in the wilderness— tells us life is a journey. The story tells us the journey moves us, moves humanity, towards freedom. The story tells us there is a spirit, a presence beyond human understanding.

I would suggest Star Trek people see boldly going forth as a spiritual journey, a spiritual reality. Star Wars people actually name the spiritual reality as the force. The Hebrew Scriptures call that spiritual reality God. (Slight pause.)

This should lead us to ask yet another obvious question. If that is a valid reading of the Hebrew Scriptures and accurately assesses how the Hebrew Scriptures address salvation, how should we be reading New Testament on the topic of salvation? (Slight pause.)

Street corner evangelists sometimes ask: “Are you saved?” The implication is somewhere, somehow there is a goal to be achieved. But what is the message Jesus has which can help us discern what salvation is about? (Slight pause.)

Jesus, the reality of the living Christ, affirms the presence of God in our midst. The presence of the living Christ affirms God walks with us now and forever on the life journey called salvation. Amen.

06/18/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “A friend of mine one said there is no such thing as coincidence. There is such a thing as God-incidence. So those of you who were here last week know I strung a series of stories together about my beard in my sermon and that produced some significant laughter. If you were not here you can see it online at Harpswell TV. That very afternoon, I was crawling around the web and came across a video clip of theologian who said if there is no laughter in a church, Jesus is not there. Coincidence? I think not. Please note: we are serious but do have some laughs here. I suspect Jesus is among us.”

BENEDICTION: Let God’s love be our first awareness each day. Let God’s love flow through our every activity. Let us rejoice that God frees us to be witnesses for God. Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith, a new journey, because the Creator draws us into community. And may we love God so much that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

[1] Earlier in the service the pastor explained that 1 million seconds is about 11 days but 1 billion seconds is about 31 years.