Sabbath Sermon, Sabbath School, and a Song

Pastor Fredrick Russell, captured from this Sabbath’s  video, a rare moment when his hands were in repose.

The sermon this Sabbath at Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, Atlanta, was delivered by lead Pastor Fredrick Russell. It represents the second installment in a series of talks based on the Book of Nehemiah, “Rebuilding the Ruins.” The title of today’s installment is “What God Thinks / What God Does.” As usual, here is a link to the ENTIRE SEVICE. Pastor Russell’s sermon begins at time marker 1:17:45. Two pre-sermon songs by the choir commence at time marker1:02:30. Luther Washington II relinquished his spot at the organ in order to direct the choir today. He is kind of a perfectionist. His classical predilection is evident in the first number. The second number is like a “torch song” interpretation of Psalm 23, and not nearly as “Washingtonian.”

A brief summary of the sermon may be found below some relatively lengthy marginalia concerning the Sabbath School lesson. The sermon served a threefold purpose:

1. Lessons in the importance and efficacy of prayer, using Nehemiah’s (and Daniel’s) prayer life as an example for us to emulate. As stated last week, this relates it to the church’s current emphasis on prayer.
2. General educational material about the rarely highlighted Book of Nehemiah. A parallel between the restoration of Jerusalem’s defenses, and our own defense against the snares of Satan was mentioned last week, and, tangentially, this week as well.
3. The lamentable state of Berean’s physical plant. If this is not applicable to your life, you may mentally substitute “state of my soul” for church repair references, a dual-purpose message akin to the “dual prophecy” discussed in the December 27 Sabbath School lesson, “The Fall in Heaven.”

SOME COGENT REMARKS BY A YOUNG SCHOLAR

As I was walking into the main sanctuary, a sincere young Adventist (name not known to me, and not on the video) was making a brief, but very topical speech to the early arrivals. He expressed his support for the “Spirit of Prophecy,” and then told us that his remarks were not intended to advocate any particular political position.

The speaker mentioned some recent, and controversial remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Justice spoke a day or two ago at a Catholic High School, a speech that may be fully scrutinized at this LINK. It emphasizes the relationship between church and state in this country, a relationship that Ellen White expressed concern about. But the main Antonin Scalia reference the speaker brought to our attention were some insensitive, and inaccurate, opinions the Justice uttered early in December regarding the capabilities of minorities to function, scholastically, on a level playing field. This New York Times LINK should refresh your memory. I am not virulently anti-Catholic, but the remarks reminded me of dozens of similar displays of ignorant prejudice by the British author G.K. Chesterton, a convert to Catholicism, like Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene (who were not, however, idiots like Chesterton).

The mother church of the Society of Jesuits, “Il Gesu” in Rome. The “consoles” at either side of the nave made their first appearance anywhere on this façade.

The Society of Jesus could be considered the elite of the Catholic hierarchy, and the current pope has a Jesuit background. The young speaker at Berean this morning alluded to Antonin Scalia’s Jesuit training. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was a good Jesuit. I consider John McLaughlin a bad Jesuit. There is such a thing as being too conservative (in the current, politically compromised meaning of the term), and social justice (and subsequently, African-American interest) is better served by the Democrats. But, alas, the Democrat tent is too big for comfort. In Europe one of the major parties is named the Christian Democrats, inaugurated as a Catholic endeavor, but grown up into something more ecumenical. They are “moderate conservatives” like myself, and not “rabid conservatives” like yet another Catholic I will link, Patrick Buchanan. The Wikipedia article calls him a “paleoconservative,” not a very objective sounding name, and akin to my rabies analogy.

This morning’s speaker referred to Scalia as America’s foremost “conservative intellectual.” I am just perverse enough to call this usage an “oxymoron.” Most progress in this country has been made by “limousine liberals.” The speaker noted that there were currently no Protestants on the Supreme Court. This statement would seem to contradict the speaker’s inferred preference for a Jeffersonian separation of church and state. Justice, like vengeance, is best served cold, without denominational taint, and the dispassionate execution of it is a worthy ideal. I am sure that the reality is quite the opposite of “ideal,” however.

The Adventist agenda regarding these matters is partially displayed in Chapter 21 of “The Great Controversy,” entitled A Warning Rejected (on the deterioration of denominations, not just Catholicism), and in Chapter 35, Liberty of Conscience Threatened (touching on the dangers of church-state fusion). I am getting on in years. Every time I hear of some new calamity, I find myself in reluctant agreement with Ecclesiastes 1:9″ “…there is no new thing under the sun.” What will be new is “a new heaven and a new earth.”

Here is one last Jesuit reference, one that is probably already known to everyone. It is a famous quote from Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus: “We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the hierarchic Church defines it thus” (from Spiritual Exercises, 1548). This is the quintessential example of “blind loyalty.”

Adam and Eve by Albrecht Durer, a draftsman without peer. From 1507. More labor intensive than the following version by Rembrandt.

SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON ON THE FALL OF ADAM

This week’s Sabbath School lesson, “Crises in Eden,” is introduced by some observations about the lamentable conditions of our present world. Author Dr. David Tasker, a New Zealander, mentions a period of optimism at the beginning of the twentieth century which is not matched by attitudes now, here at the commencement of the twenty-first century. I imagine early twentieth century optimism evaporated when the world went to war in 1914.

I just acquired a biography of H.L. Mencken, one I don’t really intend to read, as the influential Mr. Mencken does not care for Christians very much. He does not really care for anyone at all, for that matter, but he was an early champion of the realism that novelist and fellow-journalist Theodore Dreiser pioneered. Menken praised Dreiser as being “unafraid of facing the ugliness of modern life,” and approvingly spoke of his book “Sister Carrie” as a “harsh portrayal of lost souls caught in the web of life.” Times were pretty bad at the start of the twentieth century, but few were keeping a record of it. The Author of this quarter’s lesson plan, Dr. Tasker, is from a  universe that is far removed from the teeming slums of turn-of-the-last-century America. My sister spent some time in New Zealand, and described it as a kind of paradise, insulated from rest of the world. Note: they are not interested in you immigrating to their island nation! You are a serpent! Stay away from Eden!
Speaking of Eden. events that transpired there shortly after the creation form the substance of this week’s lessons. I had hoped that “The Great Controversy” would prove to be a perfect compliment to this quarter’s theme of “Rebellion and Redemption,” but the current lessons are best illuminated by reading chapter 3 of “Patriarchs and Prophets,” titled “The Temptation and Fall.” It would not be a digression to stop and scrutinize the chapter.

Another version of “Adam and Eve,” an etching by Rembrandt. He worked more than a century after Albrecht Durer did.

Ellen G. White says that Satan’s primary motive for wrecking the happiness of the “holy pair,” Adam and Eve, was envy. He had lost his bliss (subject of last week’s lessons), and now needed company in his misery. As an example of prophecy, we can look to Ellen White’s statement on page 53 to the effect that angelic associates of Adam and Eve had warned them to be wary of Satan’s devices. This scenario would infer that Eve sinned not through ignorance (entrapped by the Creator), but willfully, and heedlessly. This is a theologically gratifying insight. I believe it. Ellen White states that Satan’s field of operation was confined to the vicinity of the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Eve, in this dangerous locale without Adam, was seduced by Satan’s provoking in her a “spirit of irreverent curiosity, a restless, inquisitive desire to penetrate the secrets of divine wisdom and power.” Here is a LINK that kills two birds with one stone. It addresses both the folly of Eve’s solo expedition to the tree, and the “desire to penetrate the secrets of divine wisdom and power.” It is an article on Christopher Marlowe’s “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.”

The linked article above explains the “magic circle” Doctor Faustus is standing in as isolating him from rest of humanity as he summons Mephistopheles.

Ellen White tells us that Eve believed the lies that Satan told her, but this did not save her from the penalty of sin. By believing Satan, Eve disbelieved God. The subsequent sentences on page 55 make a highly “Adventist” point that is applicable to all times, and not just to the times the author wrote in. “In the judgement men will not be condemned because they conscientiously believed a lie, but because they did not believe the truth, because they neglected the opportunity to learn what is truth.” My book of the week is I John. It says at least a dozen times that we are to “keep the commandments.” Many have neglected to read it. Many who have choose to not believe it. Ellen White writes, “Whatever contradicts God’s Word, we may be sure proceeds from Satan.”

Ellen G. White writes that Adam was crestfallen when he found out what Eve had done, partaking of forbidden fruit. In a description reminiscent of the tragic end of “Romeo and Juliet,” Adam mistakenly felt that it would be better to join his mate in her fallen state than to go on living without her. His bite of fruit initially elated him, but quickly degenerated into a “state of terror.” The pair scrambled to cover their shame, provoking God’s memorable inquiry, “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” This LINK describes a giant flap that transpired here in Atlanta when the former Fire Chief, Kelvin Cohran, published a book by this title. He paid a hefty price for stating his heartfelt views. The linked LA Times article describes Atlanta as the “modern capital of the Bible Belt.” As a resident, I can only say that I wish this were the case.

Be careful where you point that thing!

Who was at fault for the big transgression? The parties involved got busy pointing the finger at others. Adam blamed “the woman,” and made this statement infinitely worse by adding : “…whom thou gavest to be with me,” in effect passing the buck to God Himself. Eve blamed “the serpent.” Ellen G. White remarks that “the spirit of self-justification originated in the father of lies.” This trait is manifested in all the sons and daughters of Adam, ultimately devolving upon God, making even “His blessings an occasion of murmuring against Him.”

God meted out some justice. The serpent would go from being the most beautiful and admired of creatures to being “the most groveling and detested of them all, feared and hated by both man and beast.” Three possible exceptions might be hogs, mongooses, and secretary-birds, which consider serpent flesh a delicacy. Ellen White makes an observation about Eve’s mandated future subservience to Adam that was ahead of it’s time: “In the creation God made her the equal of Adam.” Subservience may have been a consequence of the primacy of her sin. Still looking out for the fairer sex, Ellen White writes that, though growing out of the result of sin, the woman’s subjection would have proved a blessing to them, but man’s “abuse of the supremacy thus given him has too often rendered the lot of woman very bitter and left her life a burden.” In what may have been meant as a criticism of suffragettes, Ellen White laments women who, “In their desire for a higher sphere, may have sacrificed true womanly dignity and nobility of character. and have left undone the very work that Heaven appointed them” (page 59).

Consummate suffragette, but It may not be a Pankhurst ( Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia ), English pioneers. A suffragette was so committed she threw herself under the King’s horse at Epsom Derby!

More consequences: “in the sweat of thy face shalt thy eat bread.” Nature was in subjection to Adam so long as he was in the will of God, but Ellen White notes (and I have read this elsewhere) that “when he rebelled against the divine law, the inferior creatures were in rebellion against his rule.” This rigorous new regimen of toil and care would be part of “God’s great plan for man’s recovery from the ruin and degradation of sin” (page 60). Ellen G. White counters critics who declare that God’s punishment of “original sin” went overboard. She, like Paul, deems it a light affliction. II Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Ellen White states that the “fall” even caused the weather to change, requiring the provision, by God, of coats of skin. The author does not mention it, but I have heard several preachers refer to these “coats of skin” as being a result of the first cases of “killing” in history. Trees lost their leaves for the first time, presenting an image redolent of death, says Ellen White. She concludes her chapter on a bright note, citing the soon descent of a “new heaven and a new earth,” promised in Revelation 21:1.

Fifteen minutes invested in reading chapter 3 of “Patriarchs and Prophets” managed to cover 95% of the ground that the weekly lesson covers.

This image says “death” to Ellen G. White. To me it says “yardwork.”

Sunday’s lesson, “Three Blessings,” cites God’s blessing of “sea creatures and birds,” “Adam and Eve,” and the provision of a blessing known as the “Sabbath.” Augustine’s “City of God, Book XI, Chapter 31: Of the Seventh Day, in Which Completeness and Repose are Celebrated,”  has this comment on the number seven: “that three is the first whole number that is odd, four the first that is even, and of these two, seven is composed.” This chapter, along with chapter 8 of the same book (also on the Sabbath), is not very focused. I had expected greater things.

Monday’s lesson, “The Test at the Tree,” is a set of variations on the theme of “separation.” Dr. Tasker is speaking conceptually, but the question at the foot of the page invokes a more literal usage of the word “separation,” as used in the books of the law: “What are some things in your life that you definitely need to separate yourself from?” The answer, from Leviticus and Numbers, is “uncleanness.”

Tuesday and Wednesday lessons focus on “The Fall.” I have already cited Ellen G, White on this occurrence. Dr. Tasker refers to Genesis 3:7, where Adam and Eve’s “eyes of them were both opened.” Ellen White describes this as a kind of elevated, but transient, state of consciousness. I was reminded of Jonathan, enjoying a “taste of honey,” and being enlightened. I bought a book of Medieval Miracle Plays this morning. One produced by the York, England guild of Coopers in 1415, entitled “The Fall of Man.” refers to the serpent as “The Worm.” God curses “The Worm” in the play as follows:

Ah, wicked worm, woe worth thee ay! For thou on this manner Hast made them such affray, My malison have thou here With all the might I may. And on thy womb then shalt thy glide, and be ay full of enmity To all mankind on ilka side; And earth it shall thy sustenance be To eat and drink.

The week’s lessons conclude with “The Consequence.” For this lesson no booklet is required. We need simply look around us if we wish to know of “The Consequences.” Dr. Tasker mentions Genesis 3:15 as a reference to a solution to “The Fall,” a seed of the woman who shall bruise the head of the serpent. Dr. Tasker cites 3:21 as indicative of an animal sacrifice, foreshadowing the Cross. As I noted, Ellen White did not refer to this foreshadowing in “Patriarchs and Prophets,” but did say that a degenerate climate necessitated protection from the elements. She does tie this wardrobe to Christ, however, in this White Estate LINK.

“Nehemiah Visits the Ruins of Jerusalem’s Walls” by Gustave Dore, a very Romantic scene.

A LUDICROUSLY SHORT SUMMARY OF TODAY”S SERMON

Pastor Fredrick Russell prefaced today’s sermon, “What God Thinks / What God Does” with some personal reflections on prayer technique. He said that while out west recently, up in the skies, over the mountains, he thought of the prayer life of Daniel. It was so disciplined, God Himself would drop by. He said that a lot of us are so self-centered these days, that God gets excluded from our affairs. God finally gets consulted when it is usually late in the game, sometimes too late. The pastor told of recent difficulties with a slow leak at his house. The wooden basement floor buckled severely due to the moisture. He got in a tizzy about the situation, seeking advice and estimates, but then eventually got God involved in the crises. The pastor reflected that, in retrospect, it would have been a good idea to get God in on the ground floor of the dilemma.

The text for the sermon, from Nehemiah, is from Chapter 2, verses 17,18, & 19. After his secret, moonlight reconnaissance of the broken walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah informs his hitherto rather complacent fellow Jerusalemites of his intention to rebuild. This is what the King of Babylon, current master of the Hebrews, had authorized Nehemiah to do. The locals agree that it would be a good idea. My soon-to-vanish song “Go To the Ant” has a line from Nehemiah 4:6: “…the people had a mind to work.” But opposition existed in the form of three powerful local adversaries. I understood the identity of “Geshem the Arab,” but was educated when Pastor Russell told us that the other two (Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite) were Jewish. My view is that the arrival of Nehemiah in their midst, out of the blue, and bearing authority delegated to him by Babylon, represented a threat to their cushy status quo.

Last week’s sermon highlighted the “travailing prayer” of Nehemiah when first informed of Jerusalem’s sorry plight. This week, the fact that the balance of the Book of Nehemiah documents a continuous prayerful connection of the author with God was noted. Nehemiah’s prayers were, according to the sermon and the handy notes provided us:

• Daring (I was reminded of three times at the end of the book, where Nehemiah cites his virtuous activity to God, asking that the Lord “remember it,” but this kind of presumption is not at all what Pastor Russell was referring to).
• Defiant (against enemies, spiritual and physical; the later would soon come in for scrutiny).
• Disciplined (in the manner of Daniel).

The pastor said that Nehemiah did not make a move without consulting God. In bold type the printed notes to the sermon stated: “What God Thinks and What God Does Matters More Than What Anyone Else In the World Thinks Or Does.” If this is true (and none disputed this), then God should be consulted at the beginning of any activity. You need to ask him to be the one to inaugurate an action. The whole church had, in connection with a fitness campaign, earlier sung the juvenile song that starts with “I May Never March In the Infantry.” Pastor Russell was, in effect, advocating that we let God lay down an “artillery” barrage, before we, ourselves get embroiled in a skirmish (my weak metaphor).

…Artillery hard at work. My favorite character in “War and Peace” was the affable and self-effacing artillery officer who lost an arm by the end of the book.

The pastor provided four points in the sermon outline which encapsulated the situation of the Jerusalemites. The keywords are (1) Trouble! (2) Ruins! (3) Burned! (4) Rebuild! A quote from the relevant verses of Nehemiah, spoken by the people: “let us start building” (NIV), or in superior King James parlance: “Let us rise up and build.” At this stage, the “Triple Trouble,” as the notes designate it, tried to block progress. The pastor was subtly introducing the secondary theme of the sermon at this time, the urgent need for some major repair on the church building. He quickly cited:

• Bad downstairs bathroom conditions.
• Pews coming apart at the seams.
• A kitchen that is “dark, gritty, and grimy.”
• Cracked asphalt in the parking lot.
• Puddles on the walk in front of the church (more precisely, one mega-puddle)

A figure of 1.5 million came and went so fast I barely had time to catch it. I stared at it there. sitting in my hand, and remarked to myself what a reasonable little figure it was. If there really are 4000 Bereans, that requires just $375 from each one of them to do the job. But the pastor warned against the inevitable “naysayers,” likening them to Nehemiah’s adversaries in Jerusalem.

An image that can be appropriately inserted just about anywhere. It represents “truth in advertising,” for the church in fact “Welcomes You.”

This painless digression into the temporal realm yielded, at the conclusion of the sermon, to a restatement of it’s primary emphasis on prayer. The pastor encouraged the congregation to make a commitment to pray “three times a day,” the frequency that Daniel employed for his prayers. Daniel also prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, but the pastor omitted this refinement. My unfinished song “What Prayer Can Do” mentions this direction, but it is most confusing if you are not familiar with the Book of Daniel. Muslims face Mecca, and offer “Salah” five times a day. Muslim “Zakat,” their version of tithing, is just 2.5%.

Prayer concluded the sermon. Pastor Russell spoke a collective desire to commit to praying “morning, noon, and night.” He enjoined us not only to learn how to pray to God, but how to “listen to God” as well.

LAST, AND DEFINATELY LEAST, THE NEW SONG “FIRST JOHN”

This “Christian Rock” song is really just fast “Gospel” with a standard Boogie-Woogie foundation. This description applies to a lot of primitive rock-n-roll. The important admonitions to us found in the First Epistle of John are distilled into two principle categories: Neighborly Love, and Obedience to God’s Commandments. These two points deserve a better presentation that I can provide. As I state elsewhere, neighborly love is a universal theme for Christian denominations. All may profess obedience to God’s commandments, but not that many follow through.

I am currently researching the beliefs of the Church of Christ, a committed group of believers if ever there was one, and who would consider it an insult if you called their confederacy a denomination. If it is not in the New Testament. they don’t want a thing to do with it. This turns out to be the reason they don’t approve of musical instruments in their worship services. A weak post on the topic is forthcoming. They are convinced that they are the true “church.” But they seem to be ignoring an awful lot of the Good Book.

Cat has been known to show up at the end of these posts in order to make some kind of inappropriate comment, but today she is too complacent to pass judgement on anything