11/02/2025 ~ Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 26 ~ Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ (If All Saints not observed on this day) ~ Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 119:137-144; Isaiah 1:10-18; Psalm 32:1-7; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10~ 11/01/2025 ~ All Saints Day ~ (Sometimes observed on first Sunday in November) ~ Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xWAydQ_pYs
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N67oPtdjic0&t=67s

Solemn Festivals Filled with Injustice

“Do not bring your useless offerings. / It is futile; / their incense is an abomination to me / and fills me with loathing. / New moon and Sabbath / and convocations, assemblies— / I cannot endure another solemn festival / filled with iniquity, injustice.” — Isaiah 1:13.

You’ve probably heard me say I’m a baseball fan. The season is now over. Thank you Dodgers and Blue Jays— great series. No— I did not stay up for the 18 inning game. Yes— I stayed up for last night’s game— 11 innings. I think the game has fascinated me because I’ve always been intrigued by the question, “How does this work, the nuts and bolts which makes things happen?”

In fact, I also think that’s one reason I became a theater professional. A basic question in theater is “How do I make what I am trying to communicate work, the nuts and bolts?”

I think Baseball is fairly easy to follow, once you know how it works— the nuts and bolts. I hope this story illustrates that.

Bonnie and I were watching a Series game. Early in the game, the count on a batter from the away team went to no balls and two strikes. As one, the hometown crowd leaped to their feet and started to cheer in expectation of a third strike.

Bonnie realized nothing particularly special had happened and asked, “Why are they cheering?” I said, “They’re cheering because they want the next pitch to be the third strike. But it’s possible many of these people may not be knowledgeable baseball fans.” World Series crowds are often not that knowledgeable.

“Real fans know with two strikes and no balls the next pitch may be a strike but Nine times out of ten it will be a ball. It’s what’s called a waste pitch.”

That happened and the next pitch was a ball, high, above the strike zone. I continued my commentary. I’m not sure Bonnie was pleased by my pontificating. “The waste pitch is not a wasted pitch,” said I. It’s purpose is to try to change where the batter is looking.”

I then said, “The first two pitches were strikes but low in the strike zone. The ‘waste pitch,’ too high to be a strike. The next one will be too low to be a strike.”

“By changing where the batter is looking, the pitcher is trying to get the batter to misjudge how low that next pitch will be. If the change in level is just enough to fool the batter, the batter will swing and miss— strike three, your out.”

The next pitch was low just out of the strike zone, swing and miss— strike three. (Slight pause.) Like I said, what interests me is “How does this work?” (Slight pause.)

This is what we hear in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “Do not bring your useless offerings. / It is futile; / their incense is an abomination to me / and fills me with loathing. / New moon and Sabbath / and convocations, assemblies— / I cannot endure another solemn festival / filled with iniquity, injustice.” (Slight pause.)

These two words are in this passage: burnt offerings. In modern vernacular a burnt offering is a meaningless gift. In this passage a burnt offering is called useless.

That ‘useless’ label applies unless the one worshiping lives a life of goodness and justice. Hence, worship is an idle exercise unless it brings about a change in the heart of the one offering worship.

What is less than clear is the exact attitude of the prophet toward worship. It’s one thing to say worship finds its ultimate meaning in the changed lives of those who worship. It’s another to say worship, instead of offering a life-changing experience, is an impediment.

And one can read this text to mean worship, itself, is an impediment. But the prophet says the people of God are called to worship in ways which brings about reoriented hearts, lives committed to justice, compassion. So if this can be read both ways, is this a denial of worship or an affirmation of worship?

The short answer: because worship can lead people to live lives of faith inspired action these words are an affirmation of worship. But to be clear, I think these words are an affirmation of worship only if people know what they are doing in worship, know the nuts and bolts of worship, know what worship is about. (Slight pause.)

As strange as it may sound, that brings us back to baseball. On a two strike count sometimes a crowd might leap to their feet and cheer in expectation of that third strike.

But that’s not how baseball works most of the time since on a two strike count a ‘waste pitch’ is usually delivered by the pitcher. It’s simply how the game works, the nuts and bolts.

So here’s my take on why a crowd cheers for a third strike at that point. The crowd cheers for a third strike because it’s culturally normal.

Cheering at that point is what the culture wants, expects and demands. Any deviation from what the culture wants, expects and demands might bring scorn, ridicule, so everybody joins in.

The prophet’s position is burnt offerings— meaningless gifts— are culturally normal, what’s expected by the culture. Hence, the passage does not ask ‘what does the culture, want?’ The passage asks ‘What does God want?’ And what does God want? The answer is in this passage.

God wants us to remove our evil doings, banish injustice, learn to do good, search for and seek justice. God wants us to rescue and help the oppressed, defend and protect the orphaned, the widowed. (Slight pause.)

How does this God centered cultural norm work? What are the nuts and bolts which makes a God centered worship happen? (Slight pause.)

At the risk of repeating myself from last week, God centered worship invites us and empowers us to action— positive action. So God expects us to work toward freedom, toward peace. God expects us to be filled with joy in that work.

God expects us to work toward equity, to embrace, embody love. God expects us to be examples of hope in this world which is so often broken. God expects us to understand hope is real, tangible and present. (Slight pause.)

What makes up the nuts and bolts of living within the grace of God and walking in ways of God? The nuts and bolts of life with God are the actions known as freedom, peace, joy, equity, love and hope.

Freedom, peace, joy, equity, love and hope are not burnt offerings, meaningless gifts. These are actions which take us on a path filled with justice, communal justice.

And the justice God would have is not our cultural norm nor does it represent any cultural norm in the modern world. Indeed, the justice of God is described with these words that you just heard: freedom, peace, joy, equity, love and hope. These are not common cultural norms. But these are normal in a God centered culture. And God centered worship helps us understand that. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
11/02/2025

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: “I said baseball is fairly easy to follow once you know the nuts and bolts of the game. I also said the justice of God is described by freedom, peace, joy, equity, love and hope. Freedom, peace, joy, equity, love and hope (and I know I’m sounding like I’m repeating myself)— these are the nuts and bolts of how the game the game known as our lives is supposed to be played. When we are empowered to take those actions, especially through God centered worship, our lives become centered on God and are centered on God.”

BENEDICTION: O God, You have bound us together in a common life, in community. Help us, in the midst of our striving for justice and truth, to confront one another in love, and to work together with mutual patience, acceptance and respect. Send us out, sure in Your grace and Your peace which surpasses understanding, to live faithfully. 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.