Genesis 22.1-14, Matthew 5.1-12
Remembrance Sunday, 13 November 2016, Queen Camel
'All-age' talk given to a congregation with a high proportion of young people from Scouting organisations.
This week I came across a sermon which was given by a nine-year-old girl called Lucy. It was a short sermon but it asked a very good question which I wanted to share with you today.
Lucy had obviously been reading her bible, and one story which she noticed was the one about God being very angry with the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, so angry that he sent the angel of death to fly over all the houses in Egypt and kill every firstborn son - the eldest boy in each Egyptian family. [1]
It’s a terrible picture, all those young men in house after house lying, sacrificed, to satisfy an angry God. I don’t know about you but that picture reminded me of other pictures we’ve been seeing this week - pictures of rows and rows of young men in the trenches at the Somme, lines and lines of people’s eldest sons, brothers, fathers, lovers; and seeing them there and knowing what happened to so many when they went ‘over the top’, I imagined in the dark clouds above them the angel of death waiting to claim them - as sacrifices to satisfy the angry God of war. Many soldiers in the trenches wrote poems describing the same sort of vision and the effect it had on them.
But that’s just my thoughts. You’ll be more interested to know what Lucy’s question was. So this is what Lucy said:
When I think about God I think of a person who would never murder or kill anyone. But when you think about it you wonder, because wasn't it God who swept the angel of death over Egypt? It makes you think doesn't it? Is God against it or is he not? I mean what had the boys done to die? It was the Pharaoh wasn't it? Now do you realise how little we know about God? [2]
Now it’s a hundred years since the Battle of the Somme where over a million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. [3] But people are still killing or being killed in wars and terrorist actions throughout our world. Thinking about Lucy’s question, does this mean that a wrathful God is still out there looking for boys - and girls, men and women, to sacrifice to satisfy his anger? There are many who will answer this question, ‘yes’, who will go to war or kill innocent civilians or even go so far as to kill themselves in the name of this God.
But remember what Lucy said at the start of her talk. ‘When I think about God I think of a person who would never murder or kill anyone’. I think that Lucy has found another God in her bible reading. As well as reading about the vengeful God of Israel, sacrificing Egypt’s sons, I think that she must have come across that other old story, of God leading Abraham up the mountain and Abraham bringing with him his firstborn son Isaac, thinking that God would want him to sacrifice Isaac to him - because that’s what people thought God wanted them to do in those days. But when they got up there, God told Abraham, ‘Hold on, don’t kill your son. Sacrifice this wild goat instead.’
Maybe Lucy found this story, and that helped her realise that, way, way back in ancient times, God told Abraham, the father of Israel, that he does not want anyone murdered or killed in his name or for his sake.
Now, you might be thinking, if I were Lucy I’d probably want to know why God thought it was ok to say ‘no’ to sacrificing humans but that it was still ok for the goat to get it. Well, maybe Lucy read on in her bible to the prophets who told the people how God really hoped they would behave. Like Micah, who quotes God as looking at all those poor goats and sheep and cattle being sacrificed in the Temple and telling the people, ‘I want mercy from you, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.’ [4]
Or old Amos, through whom God tells the people, in the language of his day, ’I hate your glitzy telethons and fancy church services. Offer me your animals or grain for sacrifice, if you like, but I won’t accept them. I’m not listening to your noisy songs - or your lovely choirs. What I do want is to see justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.’ [5]
Maybe Lucy read the words of the great prophet Isaiah, who had a vision of a God who devoted himself to ‘settling disputes’ for the peoples of the earth. In this vision he saw them ‘beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks’. Their weapons of war into implements for farming and tending the land. As Isaiah saw it, in the future which God was planning, ‘Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.’ [6]
So, here’s some insight into the God who Lucy noticed, ‘a person who would never murder or kill anyone.’ A God whose mission is to help people learn the ways of peace, not war. And if Lucy got as far as the gospels and read about the life of Jesus she would have seen on every page Jesus giving examples of how this peaceful world might look. We heard a quote of his just now, where he says that those who are suffering in life will be blessed, where people who show mercy will receive mercy, and the peacemakers will be called children of God. This Jesus turned over the tables of the money-changers selling birds for sacrifice in the temple, and this was God again saying, ‘no more sacrificing to me, let the doves and pigeons and all my creatures fly away, free.’ [7]
Nine-year-old Lucy has given us something to think about today. Is it really God who is angry and vengeful and bloodthirsty - or is it us? Are we happy following a fiery old God who demands human sacrifices to cool his anger and satisfy his vengeful spirit? Or are we prepared to look deeper, like Lucy did, for a merciful God whose deepest desire is for us to learn how to live in peace with each other?
You see, I suspect that, though some people will keep wanting the fiery old God of human sacrifice to keep on ruining lives, it’s the gentle God of human well-being whose power is growing, through people like Lucy, through people like you and me, in this world.
So for instance here in the UK next week is National Anti-Bullying Week, and the theme for the week is: 'Power For Good’. They’re persuading children and young people to understand the ways in which you are powerful and to encourage you to work together - with the help of supportive adults at home and school and in youth organisations - to act to prevent bullying, to create safe environments where all children can thrive. [8]
Anti-Bullying Week: maybe that’s one sign, a small but powerful sign, that there’s that gentle God of human well-being at work in the world. The God who Lucy spotted when she looked closely at her bible stories. The God who maybe you and I will spend more of our time discovering, and celebrating, from now on.
Notes
I preached a fuller version of this sermon at West Camel Methodist Church on the same evening, with the title Lucy finds another God - who doesn’t need our sacrifices.
[1] Exodus 12.12.
[2] Brian D. McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian, p.120-121.
[3] Wikipedia: Battle of the Somme.
[4] Hosea 6.6.
[5] Amos 5.21-24.
[6] Isaiah 2.4.
[7] Matthew 21.12-13.
[8] See the Anti-Bullying Alliance Anti-Bullying Week web pages.
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