Sermon March 11, 2012

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22

“Cosmic Law”

There is rarely one clear reason for the choices we make, the actions we take, the movement of our society and culture and the decisions of leaders in homes, churches, small and large governments and in the universe at large. Some say that what happens happens for a reason . . . I would agree and add that what happens, happens for a multitude of reasons—reasons beyond our ability and even beyond our desire to understand. I would even venture to say that even God's reasons for taking action are complex and manifold . . . and that God's ways of taking action are numerous and utterly beyond our ability to understand or explain. And while I think it's natural to wonder, I also understand that I'll never understand.

The bible often presents situations and gives reasons for the outcome of the story or event—tragic or otherwise. When wonderful things happen, they are presented as cause for thanksgiving and rejoicing. When awful things happen, they are often seen as punishment or just consequences for someone's action. The bible presents a God-centered and often Christ-centered story—in other words, we are often given a why to a story, even if it is the simplest why available. And sometimes we are told several reasons why.

The text from Exodus we read this morning is when Moses received and transmitted the basic law, the Ten Commandments to the Hebrew people. And the basic reason for their transmission is that Yahweh or the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) brought them out of Egypt and they are God's people. And yet within the law, we also see woven reasons to keep each one or set of commands. For example, they are to worship Yahweh as the one true God because they are to be grateful, because God created all the other stuff that might be chosen to be worshiped and because God's love never ends. And, in this writing of the commandments, they are to keep the Sabbath holy because God made such an abundant creation that every single living thing can afford to take a day off in seven out of joy and gratitude. Though there aren't reasons given for the rest—they come out of the truth that the people of Israel are God's people and have the responsibility for acting accordingly. That's one of the reasons we, too, cling to these laws. They show us how grateful, God-centered people are to relate to one another.

This is the basis of the actual law, the rules and statutes for living that are given in the bible—if you continue to read through Leviticus (whose name means a kind of rule book) and Deuteronomy (which means the second giving of the law), lots and lots of laws are given to clarify how exactly these basic ten are be kept in particular situations and how a society is to enforce the law when it is broken. But the law itself, known also as Torah that is referred to in this morning's psalm, Psalm 19, at the very least encompasses all five books of the First Testament of the bible and in truth encompasses the whole of natural law, the whole of how it is that the universe itself is forming and is functioning—from its beginnings throughout its very existence.

This awareness that the law or Torah is more than written law comes from the bible itself, in part from this psalm. Biblically, poetry often expresses the most complex of God's actions—because poetry isn't just telling a story. Poetry creates pictures out of words, and translates huge events, like creation, into a few verses.

When I read and prepare scripture for the sermon on Sunday mornings, I usually create a paraphrase to help me remember over the week, what I've read. The first few verses of my paraphrase of Psalm 19:

The entire universe echoes

with the power and greatness of God;

matter and dark matter demonstrate

the mystery and wonder of God's genius at work.

God's genius bounces through the universe

from solar system to solar system;

without time, throughout space, between worlds

in places and times where nothing exists

except the power and glory of God.

And the voice of wonder echoes in our ears,

bouncing and energizing,

calming and stilling

in intimate and wondrous earthly song and word.

The psalmist poet expressed a universal witness of God's law in the natural world—in that time, from the heavens to the earth, seen in the Sun's orbit of the earth—as it was seen then and the turning of the night into day into night of time as established in Genesis. And the law of God—God's handiwork, artisanship, wisdom and truth—were evident in the innermost workings of how all living and nonliving created things work in unison as God intended.

So their can be observed a reason within the laws of the universe, as we understand them and as they are continually being discovered and as they are voracious explored by scientists in the fields from astrophysics to theoretical mathematics to organic chemistry to xenobiology. The reason or rationale, the internal purpose and mission, cannot be known with exact certainty, but biblically the reason, the why of creation is for the revelations of abundant life—and the joy and love that God has for how all of that life reflects God's being within it. From God's desire for gratitude and for the joyful existence of life, we can anticipate some of God's intention for this grand and wondrous universe. Even without the knowledge of God's hand in the existence of all things, the universe is a glorious place—a wonder at which people marvel. With the faith and vision of God's being, we can experience even more wonder at all that is and all that will be.

The law, the Torah, of which the Ten Commandments are just a small part, are one of those places in which we can see a glimpse of life beyond what could be observed, beyond the hand to mouth existence of life in the ancient middle east. Life and the abundance of creation certainly were there, as much as anywhere, but for a group of people like the Hebrews, life had become very difficult and full of fear. Slavery of an entire group of people by another is an institution that I think we have a hard time wrapping our minds around.

The Hebrew people had been utterly dependent upon and utterly in fear of the Egyptian rulers for forty to sixty years. All of them had lived in this situation their whole lives. They were a nation of slaves who had to learn how to be a nation of self-respecting people once again. And they knew very little about life outside of slavery. God wasn't just giving them a few rules to live by because they needed help with their daily morals and ethical decisions.

The covenant that God creates in these commandments goes beyond simple law. In these ways of living, they were to live according to God's limitations and within the great love that God also wanted them to know. They would know that Yahweh, the Lord, was their God. And they would live knowing that Yahweh, the Lord, would love them. And they would know that they should treat neighbor, friend, stranger and family with love according to these basic rules. You don't disrespect the parents you love; you don't kill the people you love; you don't betray covenants with people you love. You do not steal from those you love. You do not testify falsely about those you love. You don't envy the wealth, house or spouse of those that you love. You rejoice in the situations that bring them joy and you mourn with them in the events that bring them sorrow.

These ten commandments themselves are more than just moral code; they are more than symbols to hang up on walls—more even than the words that were engraved dramatically in the stone of Mt. Sinai. The Law, the Commandments, the Decrees, the Statutes and Precepts and Ordinances are echoes of God's very presence in our lives—pointing us to the life that God gives us to live and the gratitude and joy with which we are called to live it.

As science teaches us more and more about how the universe works—the rules and equations that reveal the past, present and even the future of things—we can see it through an eye that seek the why, wondering not if they are right or wrong, but wondering what of God is revealed anew in the details are found on a regular basis. We don't have to be frightened by the changes in reality that seem to crop up almost daily, but we can know that everything learn, everything we know, everything that will ever be known is a part of God's work of genius. We can celebrate law, knowing that law means promise, hope and God's purpose for all things—whether or not we know the reasons.

To the glory of God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.