ABBA, FATHER
Sermontelling Acts 2:1-4; Galatians 4:1-7 [5:16-26] (NL 347)
BIBLETELLING
Below is the Narrative Lectionary passage for the coming week. It is followed by Bruce’s notes on the text which aim at a general understanding of the text and some notes on the structures and techniques used by the Biblical storytellers.
When the day of Pentecost1 came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.2 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.3
Acts 2:1-4
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.56
Galatians 4:1-7
[So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.7 I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.8 Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.]9
[Galatians 5:16-26]
THREE STORIES
The following three stories pair well with the Narrative Lectionary passage for the coming week. They are followed by Danny’s sermontelling footnotes which explore the stories’ theological connection to the passage as well as insights into craft and performance. Our advice is to read the story first before digging into the footnotes.
The Magic Ring
Once upon a time there was a man who had inherited a magic ring from his father. It was silver and had nine different colored stones which each gave its wearer a different virtue. There was a stone for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control.10 The man wore this ring the rest of his life and was known for his piety and generosity. The man was well loved in the community and everyone aspired to be like him in some way. This was especially true of the man’s three sons. Each longed to wear the ring one day and live as his father had lived.
When the father was advanced in age, he was torn about which of his sons he would leave the ring with upon his death. They were each deserving of it in different ways. Finally, he took the ring to a jeweler and asked that he craft two identical rings.11
Before his death, the father called his sons to his bedside and gave each of them a ring. He said to them, “I am now giving you the ring my father gave me. If you wear this ring, you will live lives of piety and generosity. Its magic will produce in you the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.”
After the father passed, the sons began to wonder who actually had the father’s magic ring and which had only been given copies. The brothers began to resent each other and quarrel. The rings were threatening to destroy the bond between them which had been so deep. Finally, the older brother said to the others, “We can’t keep going like this. Our father would be ashamed to see us squabbling over these rings. Why don’t we go to the jeweler and ask him which is the real ring. Then we will know once and for all and we can be at peace.”
So they agreed and took their rings to the jeweler. They asked him to reveal which was the true ring. The jeweler pulled out his loupe12 and examined each ring carefully. Then he laughed.
“I’m sorry, boys. I really outdid myself on these rings. I cannot tell by sight which of these rings is the original and which are the copies. We will have to test them another way.”
“How?” the sons asked.
“Well, we’ll have to see which of these rings is the most effective. Each of you will have to live as if you are the one who possesses the true ring. In time it should be obvious whose life exhibits the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.”
The sons agreed to this plan. Each did his best to emulate his father in generosity and piety. Each tried to live as if they possessed the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. And each did so well that they never were really sure who had the magic ring.13
~ My retelling of a Jewish parable
It’s Very Simple
He looked so holy that I simply asked him, "Tell me what God is like."14
With feather gentleness he replied, "It is Lent now. I'm accustomed to refrain from talking during Lent. But take this book." (It was the book he had been writing in.) "If you read this at the right hour, it will tell you what God is like."15
I couldn't wait to bring it back and share it with my wife.
Back home, she was a little less excited than I about the book, because her mind was on our first child that she was carrying. "What did he mean by 'at the right hour?"" she asked.
I didn't know. We began to speculate. Maybe at noon on Good Friday. Maybe after the Easter Vigil. Maybe at the moment when we are in deep distress. Perhaps we should wait for God to reveal to us the right hour. It might even be years from now. We decided we'd better wait for a sign.
Two weeks later my first son was born. How can I tell you what it was like? First the worry, then-that child. I was a father. You grow up when you become a father. When I looked at that child I was so proud. I knew I was somebody. And yet humbled. I scarcely knew how to hold him, much less to bring him up. I used to think I had it all figured out, but that kid was bigger than I. That night the child appeared to me in a dream. "What is God like?" he asked.
That did it. I got up and reached for the book. I brought it to my wife and told her, "This is the right hour. We'll open it now."16
I opened it at random. I read, "It's very simple. God is a father."
My wife opened it again. She read, "It's very simple. God became a little child."
"Let's open it again." I cried, "together." I took her hand. She opened it, and we read, "It's very simple. Each breath you breathe is the breath of God."17
~ From TALES OF A MAGIC MONASTERY, by Theophane the Monk
Iudex & Pater
There was once a disciple who was struggling with her prayer life. She would spend time in deep prayer trying to hear the voice of God but would leave those times feeling like a miserable failure.18
“What should I do?” she asked her teacher, “It seems the harder and longer I pray, the worse I feel. I fear I am not cut out for the life of prayer. Perhaps I should return to the world.”
“That is exactly what they want you to do,” the teacher said, “You mustn’t give in to them.”
“Give in to who?” the disciple asked.
The Teacher smiled. “Iudex and Pater.19 Iudex and Pater are the two demons who are sent up to prevent men and women from hearing the voice of God and becoming saints.
They stand at your right and your left, just out of sight.
The one on your right is Iudex. Iudex is a tall slender demon who wears a black robe and a powdered wig. He carries a gavel and a long scroll. On the scroll is written a list of all your past sins and mistakes. Whenever you seek God’s voice in slience, Iudex bangs his gavel and breaks the silence by hissing the charges written on the scroll one at a time.
Pater is worse. He stands at your left. Pater is a big fat demon. He wears a cardigan and horn rimmed glasses. He carries a rolled up newspaper and a cup of coffee. Whenever God begins to speak, Pater drowns out his voice by shouting in left ear, ‘You are worthless! You are vile! You are dirty! You are disgusting! You are unlovable!’20
Iudex and Pater have pulled even the holiest off the path of light and dragged them into darkness!”
As the teacher spoke, the disciple knew in her heart his words were true.
“What can I do?” the disciple asked.
“All is not lost,” said the teacher, “But you must act quickly. These demons are tied together at the tail so you will not be able to dispose of one without disposing of the other. Next time you begin to pray, set in front of you a bowl of water. When Iudex and Pater begin to interfere, sprinkle water on your head to remember your baptism! Then you must address these demons by their true names. Say to the one on your right: ‘Be gone, Guilt! My true Judge has forgiven me!’ Then say to the one on your left, ‘Be gone, Shame, my true Father loves me!’”21
~ My own parable
SERMONTELLING NOTES:
Most of us are accustomed to celebrating Pentecost as a Christian holiday. However, it’s roots are in the Jewish calendar, where it is also called the “Feast of Weeks” because it falls on the seventh day of the seventh week after the Passover Sabbath. The feast commemorated the presentation of the Torah to Moses on Sinai.
The sound of the mighty wind and the appearance of fire echo the awesome appearance of God atop Sinai, which instilled fear in the Israelites. The mention of a “house” here could refer to somebody’s home, as we often assume. “House” however, was also a common way among Jews of referring to the Temple. Traditionally, the sermon delivered by Peter in the ensuing verses (2:17-36).
These few verses from Acts serve as a prelude to a long, rich narrative describing the events of the first Christian Pentecost. The “tongues” spoken by the disciples enable them to proclaim God’s glory to a huge, multi-ethnic crowd gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival. Many who witnessed the disciple’s behavior apparently assumed the disciples had been drinking. Pater corrects this misunderstanding with a bit of humor and preaches a sermon about Jesus’ resurrection, claiming that it signaled the long awaited return of God to Jerusalem and His people. The verse which follow in the lectionary text are taken from two different sections of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
These verses from Galatians follow on those we read in last week’s lectionary passage. The metaphor of an underage heir is used to communicate that God’s promises to Abraham stood unfulfilled until Christ’s arrival
Here, the Holy Spirit comes to assure believer in Jesus that they are heirs of the promises God made to Abraham. Through Christ, the promises become fully accessible. What God had intended to accomplish through Abraham (to create a holy people who would become a blessing to all nations) is now accomplished through the Spirit’s work in believers.
Again, the lectionary text skips a large section of the letter, creating a gap in Paul’s reasoning. In this section, Paul argues that through the Holy Spirit, believers are already participating in the Age to come. He develops the term “in the flesh” to refer to those who still reside in the “evil present age” while those “in the spirit” are beginning to live out the coming Kingdom of God.
These “deeds of the flesh” are organized in a sort of sandwich structure. Items at both the beginning and end of the list (sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, drunkenness, orgies…) might be characterized as “pagan” behaviors. In the center of the sandwich are more subtle attitudes that create difficulties in community life (hatred, discord… fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions , envy…) At the very center of this list we find the word “jealousy.” The Greek word behind this term is zealotos, which is elsewhere in the letter translated as “zeal.” Paul uses this word to refer to his own attitude when he was pursuing and persecuting the church in his former life.
As a whole, this list seems to be aimed especially at those who are creating disunity in the early church through their won self-righteous need to be seen as right.
Paul lists the “fruit of the Spirit” not as a list of nice things we should be working towards, but as the evidence that the Holy Spirit is truly alive and at work in us. As a list, the fruit are the sort of behaviors that lead to unified community
Paul drives his point home by teaching that those who partake in Christ’s death should be done the self-serving behaviors of the present Age, such as being “conceited,” and “provoking and envying each other.” Sandwiched between two statements of this sort is an entreaty to “keep in step with the Spirit.”
The Magic Ring
The original parable doesn’t contain the fruits of the spirit. The ring is usually described simply as allowing its wearer to live an exceptionally virtuous life. I’m probably building the lily a bit here. What I love about this story though is that it ties our passages together. The ring, like the Spirit at Pentecost, is a gift that allows the receiver to carry on in the absence of the giver. It also produces in the receiver many good gifts that are exhibited in the way they live their lives. I offer this story for those who may be leaning into the optional fruits of the spirit passage. The other two stories will lean into the teaching that through the Spirit we call “Abba, Father.”
I like that it is somewhat ambiguous what it means that these rings are copies. Do they too have magic powers. The story seems to imply that they don’t or at least that the brothers believe that they don’t. It could also be that none of the rings are truly magical. The ending doesn’t offer much clarity.
A loupe is the tiny magnifying glass a jeweler uses to examine diamonds.
The other thing I like about this story is how it gets at the chicken-or-eggness of spiritual fruit. On the one hand, it is something the Spirit produces in us apart from our worthiness or ability. On the other hand, it is something that we are called nurture and grow. It reminds me of the parable of the growing seed in Mark 4. There is something mysterious at work in the hiddenness of the human heart which is the result of a symbiotic relationship between the creator and cultivator.
It’s Very Simple
This story comes from TALES OF A MAGIC MONASTERY by Theophane the Monk. It’s a collection of parables that center around the titular magic monastery. The parables have a zen-like quality to them that reward several readings. This one is about the nature of God revealed in the trinity. The title, It's Very Simple is ironic in that most consider trinitarian theology far from simple.
I have kept the original wording of this parable but if I were telling it in a sermon context, I probably would not be telling it in the first person. I would begin something like:
Once there was a man who was a young man who was puzzling over the nature of God. The question burned in him: “What is God like?” He just had to know. So he went to a monastery on the edge of town.
When he entered, he saw a wise old monk sitting at a table and writing in a book. The man asked the monk, “What is God like?”
The old monk looked up from his book and replied with feather gentleness, "It is Lent now. I'm accustomed to refrain from talking during Lent. But take this book. If you read this at the right hour, it will tell you what God is like."
And so forth…
This is a deceptively simple story. But it has been crafted with great care. notice how the next three lines unfold. The man having just been transformed by the experience of becoming a father is ready to understand God’s nature as father. The woman, having just been transformed by the experience of giving birth is ready to understand God as the incarnated son. Together, having just become a family, they are able to understand God as spirit/breath.
Paul says that it is the Spirit within us that calls out to God as ‘Father.’ To relate to the transcendent mystery as loving parent is itself a gift of grace. In my own Wesleyan heritage we refer to this as ‘prevenient grace.’ God makes himself knowable to us in the experience of life.
Iudex & Pater
I have framed my illustration of Iudex and Pater within a larger story about someone seeking advice on prayer. This framing story can be eliminated or changed to suit preaching needs.
Iudex (you-dex) and Pater (potter) are latin for judge and father. These demons represent the false conceptions of God that we carry around with us.
This can be an effective moment if this line is delivered with contempt and a snarl. If you do not consider yourself naturally theatrical, picture the demon’s angry face as you speak. Your face will naturally mirror the one you are picturing. You may even find that the tone of voice comes along with it as well.
Some of my best parables have come from reading something complex and thought provoking and wondering how I might express the idea in a story. The genesis of this parable was a book I read for a pastoral counseling training called MOVING FROM SHAME TO SELF-WORTH. There was a chapter that talked about the difference between guilt and shame. According to the book, guilt is local while shame is universal. In other words, guilt is found and attached to certain actions or behaviors whereas shame is felt in the whole being as a general sense that the person is worthless and unlovable. This is much deeper and more complicated than I can go into here. The point is, I wanted to illustrate this concept by portraying guilt and shame as two interrelated but distinct demons (joined at the tail) which speak for God in a way that God would never truly speak. Like Iudex and Pater, guilt and shame, get in the way of our ability to experience our true judge and father who forgives us and calls us beloved.