Michael Seiler

Tag: Humility

  • Alignment

    Just the other day, I went shopping at IKEA, and in the self-serve area, I managed to grab a shopping cart that had one of those wheels that seemed to have a mind of its own. Every time I hit a little seam in the concrete, the cart would dramatically swerve off in the direction of the rut. It ended up being more of a workout than a shopping experience. 

    Now, I suppose that I could have kicked that wheel repeatedly until it fell off, since it was causing my cart to stumble, but in the end, I just kept pulling the cart back into alignment. It was more work, but I was able to keep the cart in one piece that way.

    In the Gospel passage today, we see that John has seen someone casting out a demon in the name of Jesus, and tried to stop him because he did not belong to their little band of disciples. But Jesus tells him that if the person is doing good in the name of Jesus, that he should not stop them, because, “If they are not against us, then they are for us.” In other words, “It doesn’t matter if they are a part of us. If they are not actively opposing us, then they are basically on our team.”

    If the four wheels on my shopping cart were all different people, then I would have said that the only one actively opposed to our mission was the one that kept flopping around, trying to get us to smash into a shelf of glass bowls. But, it’s true that any of the other four wheels could not have cared about where I was trying to go. They weren’t deliberately trying to yank us off course, and so I would never have known where their true allegiances lay, because as far as I was concerned, they were all in alignment.

    What’s interesting in this passage is that Jesus goes from talking about alignment to talking about sin. He goes from talking about the alignment of people to the greater mission of Jesus in this world, to talking about our own alignment with Jesus. If our hand, your foot, your eye, causes you to stumble – that is, to sin – then cut them off and throw them away, because it’s better for you to go about maimed in life, than to set yourself on a course of destruction. Or, to put it into my shopping cart analogy, it is better to pull off the wonky wheel of the shopping cart that is your life, and run around with three wheels than it is to smash your shopping cart into a shelf full of glass. 

    Now, in order to understand that our actions are causing us to stumble, we need a few things. Namely, we need to know what sin is. And to know what sin is, we need knowledge, which comes from reading scripture, and from spending time with others who might teach us. But more than knowledge, what we need is to acknowledge that what we are doing is causing damage to us or to others. That’s called self-awareness. And it might seem like that is an easy thing, but we only ever get self-awareness in two ways: from the Holy Spirit, or from others in community. We might know what sin is, but lack self-awareness that we are embracing it. Remember that saying about a sliver in someone else’s eye, while we ignore the log in our own eye? How are people going to know about the sliver in their eye, unless we tell them? And how are we going to know about the log that is resting in our own eye? Unless we also have the humility to allow others to tell us that, and unless we have the trust built up with others that we give them the permission to point these things out in our lives, then we are just a person with enormous knowledge of the bible, but without the ability to affect much change in our lives, or the lives of others, because we are effectively isolated from each other.

    Well, this is where Jesus’ admonition to acknowledge our sin and take action to change it comes squarely into play with the passage in James today. James was part of the early church in Jerusalem, and here we see how that early community was attempting to live with the reality that each of us can, at times, be a wonky wheel on the shopping cart of life. We cause others to veer off course, to cause themselves and the community damage, and we may not even realize what we are doing.

    “Are any among you suffering? They should pray.” 

    “Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.”

    “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.”

    “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”

    If you look at these things, you see that the consistent thread is prayer. And the second consistency is community. That is, James and his merry band of believers were attempting to break down the isolation that comes from sin and pride. You see, even when we are aware of the sins in our lives, and acknowledge that they are there, we often do not want to share that with people. And so we live in isolation, and we suffer silently and alone. We are ashamed, and we live with guilt, and yet, we still do not want to confess those things to others, out of fear of rejection.

    And it is here, in this space, this type of thinking that we can become that wonky wheel that throws the whole cart out of whack, that causes damage to ourselves and others, and causes us and the whole community to veer off course. Because we carry too much pride, and too much fear to allow others to care for our souls.

    The prayer, the confession, the sharing and singing for joy that James brings up in this passage are all intended to first and foremost bring the community of believers into alignment. They are intended, not to make sure that everyone conforms to a particular set of beliefs, but that we all at least come to the realization that we are moving toward a larger goal. These calls to prayer and confession in James are intended, at the very least, to get us to quit being actively against our own good, and against the greater good of the community of believers. They are intended to at least make sure that we are not against one another – and therefore, for one another: aligned. Aligned with a common goal, which is to point ourselves, and our community toward God. Because it is in God alone that we are truly aligned, and can find our rest and comfort.

    [This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on September 29, 2024.]

  • Do Be Do

    This summer, as part of my requirements for ordination, I spent time as a chaplain in a hospital. One of the things that all of the staff, from doctors, nurses, social workers, and even our team of chaplains, hoped to determine, for all the patients, regardless of their diagnosis, was their Advanced Directives. That is, if their health took a sudden turn, we wanted the doctors and nurses to know the patient’s will regarding how much effort to put into life-saving tactics. With these documents, the hospital is able to put to rest any discussion by the family, especially those who claim to know what the patient would have wanted. With these Advanced Directives, the doctors can make decisions about patient care under the authority of the patient themselves.

    There’s a reason that the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus under whose authority he was teaching. Just like the idea of Advanced Directives, there is a certain authority that comes from knowing which voice has the last say. And so, a question about authority is really a battle of wills. Is Jesus doing what the scribes and Pharisees want? No. So under whose authority – whose will – is he doing what he does? This is the reason why Jesus responded with a question about John the Baptist’s authority, and with the story of the two sons who had different reactions to their father’s requests. The question about John the Baptist’s authority was intended to confront the scribes and Pharisees with their own motivations and claims to authority. And, the story of the two sons was intended to hit that idea home. Because it too, is intended to make all the listeners rethink their own claims to righteousness. 

    I say, “claims to righteousness,” but what I really mean is that this story, on the surface, seems to be a simple judgment about which son did the will of the father. We are able to make this judgment because Jesus gives us a glimpse into the minds of each of the sons, and explains their actions and motivations to us. By extension, this story demands that we look into our own minds and review our motivations, so that we might judge ourselves by asking the questions, “Am I doing the will of God?” “How do I know?” and “By whose authority do I do what I do?”

    When an Advanced Directive is not available, we sometimes find that families begin to argue about who knows the will of the patient best. And often, these arguments about the patient’s choices are guided less by the patient’s will, and more by the desires of the family member making the claim. It’s human nature. We all have desires that can cloud our judgments.

    We can do the same with God. We can lay claim to knowing God’s will so well, that we begin to judge others, and question them about where their authority comes from, simply because we do not like what they are doing.. Sound familiar? And from that moment of laying claim to knowing God’s will, it becomes easy to justify ourselves and our actions, whether they are truly God’s will – or not.

    Justification can only come from God, but self-justification comes from a place of pride.

    This is why Paul, in his letter to the church in Philippi, exhorted the people there to be of the same mind, to have the same love, and to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but that they should regard others as better than themselves, in all humility, and look to the interests of others.

    In humility. 

    Just like Christ humbled himself and obediently did the will of the Father who sent him. 

    Paul wants the believers in Philippi to live in that same humility, and to do the will of the Father who sent Christ Jesus as the model of our faith.

    Do the will of the Father. …  Do. 

    Recently I had an incident in which I discovered that someone had been deliberately lying to me, withholding information about what they had done and were continuing to do. And they asked me, “Who knows about this? I need to know how much damage control I need to do.” To which I responded, “No one knows, but the fact that you are more concerned about looking good than about apologizing for or changing your behavior tells me a lot about you.” 

    Paul Tillich, former professor at Union Theological Seminary, had this to say about the will of God:

    People who call themselves Christian – parents, teachers, preachers – tell us that we should be “good” and obey the will of God. For many of them the will of God is not very different from the will of those socially correct people whose conventions they ask us to accept. If we only willed such goodness, they say, we could achieve it, and would be rewarded in time and eternity – but first of all, in time.

    It is entirely possible to do the will of the Father without being moved by what we are doing. We can follow all the requirements of a good and just society, without caring about the interests of others. We can do all of these things, but care only about looking good, which is precisely the opposite of what Paul was asking of the believers in Philippi.

    If we merely do the things that we have been told is God’s will, but do it only so that we might look good in a society that values looking good, then what we have done is bent God, and God’s will, to serve our own needs.

    This is not at all a new phenomenon in human history. The French writer Voltaire made the statement: “If God has made man in his own image, we have returned him the favor.”

    It is this tendency in ourselves to use God as a means to an end, to use God as a tool for our own purposes, or at its worst, to weaponize the name of God, that Paul is confronting in his letter to the people at Philippi. 

    Do nothing out of selfish ambition, but in humility, look to the interests of others.

    It is humility that changed the heart of the first son, who at first told his father that he would not do what he was asked, but then looked to his father’s interests. And it is humility that will change our own hearts, and look to the interests of God and God’s kingdom, rather than our own. 

    Any of us who have been in a relationship know that the only way to truly know the heart and mind of another is to spend time with them, and to be vulnerable, honest, and humble. 

    And so it is with God.

    The more time we spend with God in humility, in vulnerability, and in honesty, the more the image of God that we have created in our minds begins to fade away and disintegrate. And the more that our image of God disintegrates, the more it is replaced by who God is. 

    That is, the more time we spend with God, the more God becomes less and less of what we say God is, and we come face to face with the reality of a boundless, infinite presence, unfathomable in its greatness and depth.

    And when we do, we are overcome with awe and wonder – fear and trembling – and we wish to do the will of God, not because we are afraid, but because we see the majesty and might of an endless being who, in great mercy and love, has chosen to spend time… with us.

    Humility allows God to shape us, to move in us, and mold us, to make changes in our hearts and minds. Humility brings us to the point of awe and wonder in the presence of the boundless love that is our God.

    And it is in this space of fear and trembling, this space of awe and wonder, this space of humility, that God is able to transform us, enabling us to will and to work for God’s own pleasure, so that just like the first son, we may find that what we formerly ignored, or thought of as unimportant suddenly takes on new meaning.It is less about doing the will of God, and more about drawing so close to God that God’s will becomes our will, and that God’s work becomes our work. And we do this by spending our time in this space of humility, in this space of awe and wonder, resting in the presence of the unfathomable beauty and love that has chosen to spend time with us.

    1.  Paul Tillich, The Good That I Will, I Do Not, in The Eternal Now, 1963, Scribner, New York. pp 49
    2. Voltaire, “Si Dieu nous a faits à son image, nous le lui avons bien rendu.” Notebooks, c.1735-1750

    Note: Normally there would be a video of today’s service right here. Unfortunately, the internet was not working today, so we were unable to upload the service to YouTube and I am not able to offer a video of the sermon.

    [This sermon was delivered at The Episcopal Church of St. Matthew in Tucson, AZ on October 1, 2023.]

  • Who Says You’re Important?

    Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us — we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) — those leaders contributed nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.

    Galatians 2:1-10

    Unity

    When Paul went down to Jerusalem, he met with the acknowledged leaders of the faith, which included James, John, and Peter (v. 9), and shared with them the Gospel that he had been preaching to the Gentiles – the facts of his Gospel, if you will. But Paul wasn’t doing this to check and make sure that his Gospel was correct, as the phrase, “in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain” might suggest. He went to Jerusalem because God told him to in a revelation (v. 2). And when he got there, he met with the leaders in private, not to make sure that they might correct him, but that any disagreement between leaders in the church might be kept out of the eyes of those most likely to be swayed by these disagreements. They did this in order to maintain unity.

    This idea of unity is important here, because the disagreement touched upon the idea of inclusion. If the people who Paul converted to the freedom in Christ were then required to follow the Mosaic Law, then they would be “enslaved” to the requirement to follow the entire law, and not just the requirement to get circumcised. It would force them to lose their freedom in Christ, which, according to Paul, comes merely through belief in the death and resurrection of Christ (see Galatians 3:1-14, and Ephesians 2:8-9). The reason that this is important, is that Christ is the lord of the whole world, and no longer the salvation of Israel alone. If the Gentiles were required to come to faith in the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then the “family of God” would be dependent upon more than faith – it would divide people based on nationality and race1.

    It seems that the people who were demanding that all Christians become circumcised like the Jewish believers, were the ones who had cast doubts about Paul’s authority to preach the Gospel in Galatia. And, it appears, that people of the same mindset (“false believers”) were present at this meeting of the Jerusalem leadership and Paul. And so, basically, Paul is continuing the defense of his credentials, stating again that his credentials are valid, and that he would not even “submit to them even for a moment.” As proof that he did not yield, he tells us that not even Titus was compelled to get circumcised by these acknowledged leaders of the faith. Paul is, in a certain way, saying, “You want proof of the result of this discussion? Talk to Titus. He can prove what I say is true,” since there really is no way to fake being circumcised.

    As more proof, Paul lets us know that these people “added nothing to me.” Or, stated differently, they found no fault with his Gospel, and therefore did not need to correct him. Moreover, they saw, they recognized, that Paul had “been entrusted with the Gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.” And so they all agreed that Paul and Barnabas would go to the Gentiles, and Peter and the others would work on sharing the Gospel with the Jews.

    The final verse, v. 10, seems almost out of place, which give it a bit of added emphasis. “They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.” They agreed on this fact that the church should remember the poor. It seems that no matter what church we go to, no matter where they place their theological emphasis, the church still has an outreach program to those less fortunate. Given the vast number of denominations not just in the world, but in the United States alone, it seems that this desire to help those in need might be the one thing that we can all agree on, whether we disagree on everything else or not.

    The Only Opinion that Matters

    Several years ago, I remember reading a news article about a well-known Hollywood actor who had been pulled over for driving while under the influence. Apparently, in trying to get out of the ticket, he got angry with the police officer, and questioned him, asking, “Don’t you know who I am?” It was a question based entirely on the perceived self-importance of the one asking. Naturally, the police officers did not care who the driver was. The important fact in the situation was that the driver had been driving impaired, and, of course, a ticket was written.

    Trying to take advantage of our position, or our perceived importance is nothing new. But in Paul’s case, those that had come through the churches in Galatia had tried to tarnish his reputation and question his authority as an apostle. But Paul won’t have any of it. He tells a story of how the acknowledged leaders in Jerusalem not only agreed that the Gospel he preached was correct, but that they agreed that he was a fellow apostle, and sent him off with their blessings. He finishes off this story with stating that “those who appeared to be something – whatever they were doesn’t matter to me – because God doesn’t play favorites.”

    Paul didn’t care whether they were the Emperor of Rome, the leaders of the local gathering, or those who were perceived to lead the entire faith. The only opinion that mattered to Paul was what God thought of him, and whether he was doing what God had commanded him to do. Our own concern should be to follow the idea stated in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” If we are doing what God has asked of us, it should not matter what others say about us. It shouldn’t, though in practice it is not always so easy. But we must continue in our path, seeking to do what we believe to be God’s will in our lives, despite whatever others might say.

    Important Words and Phrases

    ψευδάδελφος, ου, ὁ – pseudodelphos – literally, fake brothers; from ψευδής, ές and ἀδελφός, οῦ, ὁ; Paul primarily uses “adelphos” to refer to spiritual brothers, roughly 130 times, so the false brothers are false spiritual brothers, those who do not believe according to what was agreed upon by Paul and the others. 2

    ὑποταγή, ῆς, ἡ – hypotage – This word means “submission” or “subordination,” as well as “slavery.” Occurs only in Paul in the New Testament, and in 2:5 refers to submission. 3 The thing is.

    διαφέρει – “made no difference,” from διαφέρω diaphero – I surpass, excel – In the phrase in Gal. 2:6, it means “to be of no account,” or “makes no difference.” 4

    1. N. T. Wright, “Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians,” pp. 16-17
    2. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume; pp. 22
    3. TDNT, I Vol., pp. 1160
    4. TDNT, 1 Vol., pp 1254

  • Cancel Culture Jesus?

    Daily Office Readings – ( John 2:13-22 )

    The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

    John 2:13-22

    The words “Cancel Culture” are often thrown around by journalists and by those in social media in recent years. Usually, you hear the words from those who have said something outrageous – or outrageously inappropriate, hateful, misogynistic, racist – and are dealing with the public shaming by calling those coming after them as evil and seeking their “cancelation.”

    Cancellation, by definition, is having one’s career ended for inappropriate behavior or comments. And while it occasionally happens (e.g. Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby), more often than not, people deal with a firestorm of public outrage for a while, and then return to work, with their livelihood intact. Just recently, one actress was complaining about “cancel culture” in an interview for getting fired from a show, even while having just signed on to the lead role in another film. She’s hardly canceled, but merely dealing with the public outrage for her public insensitivity.

    The issue is that what some had considered appropriate behavior in years past is becoming more and more scrutinized for its oppressive rhetoric, insensitive behavior, and hurtful language. 

    If we look at today’s Gospel through that lens, we see that the behavior of the money changers and the salespeople within the temple had become commonplace, and therefore accepted behavior. This was a normal occurrence: selling livestock in the temple, a temple dedicated to the God of Israel.

    And Jesus is outraged by this behavior. He attempts to call out those who are destroying his Father’s house. He turns over tables, he forms a whip from cords and chases them out of the temple. 

    Jesus is outraged. Because that which was offensive to God had become commonplace, and deemed appropriate. And Jesus wanted to “cancel” that behavior.

    And these people, driven from the temple, then ask, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Which is basically asking, “Who gives you the authority to question what we are doing?”

    This question by these money changers and livestock peddlers is essentially the same as those who complain about Cancel Culture. Rather than take the public outrage as a correction, and a chance to learn, they push back, attempting to prove their innocence. It’s not my fault; I did nothing wrong; why would someone do this to me; don’t they recognize that they are infringing on my right to live and make money?; I’m the victim here.

    And, just like those who deal with the outrage at their actions today, these people from the temple probably returned to their work in the temple the moment the threat of Jesus’ outrage had disappeared. 

    The bible doesn’t tell us that Jesus shut them down for good, just that he was outraged, and drove them from the temple. And human nature is such that we do not take correction easily, especially when money or our livelihood are on the line. And once Jesus, the one opposed to their work, had left them, they probably returned to their same practices and behaviors, selling livestock in the temple. They had weathered the public outrage, after all, and confronted Jesus with an accusation that he didn’t have the authority to do what he did, which is to say, they were claiming to be the victims in this scenario.

    And, we know, this outrage over Jesus’ outrageous behaviors, actions and words continued, progressing to the point of Jesus’ public humiliation, until the only person in the story that faced any real “cancelation” was Jesus himself, through his death on the cross.

    So what is our takeaway from all of this? No matter how good we think we are being, and no matter how well we manage to behave and interact with others on good terms, eventually someone will be outraged by what we say or do. 

    And, we can react like the money changers in the temple; we can go on the defensive; we can make the claim that we are the victims. This serves nothing but to escalate the situation. Or, we can learn from the interaction. It is very true that some people will take offense where none was intended. We may feel like we are being unjustly attacked, but a simple, “I’m sorry. I did not intend to offend. Please explain,” will go a long way to restoring peace.

    We know that Jesus’ death was not the end. Despite the actions of those seeking to kill Jesus, his death on the cross proved to be the moment at which reconciliation and peace were provided to all. If Jesus could humble himself “to become obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:1-18) to reconcile the enemies of God, then I’m sure that we can humble ourselves just long enough to seek understanding, before jumping into defensiveness and claiming we are being “canceled.”

    If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you — and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

    Philippians 2:1-18