Walking through Fire - Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series on Daniel

Walking through Fire

Pentecost 12 – Summer Series on Daniel

August 11, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Daniel 3.1-30

During my final year of seminary, it became clear that one of my classmates had been unfairly targeted by one of the professors.  Cindy and I had grown close to Matt and his wife, who we had invited to share Thanksgiving with us. So this felt personal. The administration held a meeting that I attended where we aired our concerns, but it was clear nothing would change. My angst at the situation was compounded by Matt’s leaving the seminary and finishing elsewhere. He became a pastor in another denomination and the ELCA lost a fine candidate, not to mention the respect that suffered because of this. Even more so, I came away feeling like I didn’t stand up against the injustice enough because I was afraid. Afraid of suffering the same fate after already giving up so much to go to seminary in the first place.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced a difficult decision in today’s reading. This is the second in our five-week sermon series on Daniel. As we mentioned last week, the central question in Daniel is, “Where is God?” Perhaps an ancillary question is also, “Who is God?” Daniel was written to encourage a Jewish people who were going through a difficult time of oppression. The Assyrian king Antioches IV Epiphane was desecrating the temple and making life a living hell for them Though Daniel was set about 400 years earlier during a similar situation, this time the Babylonian exile, it was a story for the ages. Daniel and his friends, who had been princes in Jerusalem, now serve in the court of the Babylonian king. Nebuchadnezzar as we discovered last week was an unreasonable, insecure, and fickle tyrant. Nothing’s changed.

This week Daniel is put on the back burner, so to speak, as his compatriots, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego are literally on the hot seat. They are faced with an impossible choice: apostasy or death. Worship another set of gods or be thrown into the fiery furnace. The long list of officials and instruments highlights the absurdity of the king’s reign and his temper. As we know, it is the weird, crazy, and out of touch tyrants who are the most dangerous. But it’s important to know that this is the last in many ways their existence has been threatened. It began not only with their deportation from Jerusalem into Babylon, but then being stripped of their identities. Their name changes say it all, Daniel, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah, names that describe their worship of and connection to YHWH now become Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, name that connote worship of the Babylonian gods, Bel, Marduk, and Nabu. They have a new religion imposed upon them

As I watch the political scene these days, I’m concerned about candidates and elected leaders who demand absolute loyalty from their followers and practice retribution against those who question them. (An aside: I am neither a Democrat nor Republican.) (Another aside: if you are mad at me for what I’ve said, you are angry at the wrong person.) I also wonder about the ways we pressure immigrants to deny their heritage and cultural identity. How much do we try to strip people of their culture and force them into our conception of what it means to be an American? As the grandson and great-grandson of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, I'm grateful for my cultural heritage that’s been preserved. (All seriousness aside, my forbearers could have left behind lutefisk.) The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego give those of us who find ourselves in difficult situations the courage to trust in God but not to presume upon God. And it reminds those of us in places of privilege to not abuse our position either.

Fast forward a few years past seminary and well into my first call. I’m at a pastor’s theological retreat and the bishop launches into a rant about something. This just didn’t feel right to me. At the end, this tirade roused the pastors to stand and applaud the bishop. That is, everybody but me. I stayed seated and didn’t cheer; somehow I knew I was being manipulated. Later, a few pastors said they wished they’d had my courage, realizing they’d been manipulated. (One more aside: not this synod or bishop.) But I’m not the hero, for I thank God for the ability to see what was happening and to act on my convictions, though it cost me professionally. When it came time to seek another call, the bishop agreed to send letters to other synods but did not try to convince me to stay in the synod. I think it worked out okay. I believe that God was with me.

I think this is what it means to take up the cross and follow Jesus, trusting in his presence. We don’t know who the fourth man was in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego. Nebuccadnezzar believed it to be an angel. Some say it was Jesus himself. We don’t know, but we do know that God is with us through times of trial. May you know God’s presence and be strengthened by it. Amen

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

The Long View - Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series on Daniel

The Long View

Pentecost 11 Summer Series on Daniel

August 4, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Daniel 2.24-49

Today we begin our final sermon series of the summer, five weeks on the book of Daniel. This might also be considered an extension of our last sermon series, “The Good Book: Meeting our Ancestors in Faith One Story at a Time.” Daniel could certainly be considered an ancestor of the faith. But before we get into the text, I think that it’s helpful to get an overview of the book. If I had to summarize the book, I think it would be to answer the question, “Where is God?” or “Who is God?” I’m guessing that all of us at one time or another have asked that question, perhaps even now we might be wondering if God is present in our lives. 

The story of Daniel takes place in the early 6th century BCE, around 590 BCE, in Babylon. (A reminder that Babylon was what is now modern-day Iraq.) The Babylonians had just defeated the southern Jewis kingdom of Juday, overrun Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple. Perhaps worse, they brought the Judeans into Babylon where they stripped them of their identity and forced them to worship other Gods, principally the Babylonian god Marduk.

However, most scholars believe that the book of Daniel was written much later and back in Judah during another difficult time in their history. It was during the reign of terror imposed upon the Israelites by Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, beginning with temple desecration 167 BCE. It’s as if someone wrote a story about a modern issue but set during the Revolutionary War or perhaps more the point, like “Star Wars,” “... a long time ago, far, far away.” The Israelites’ captivity in Babylon was a real event that helped Jews 400 years later deal with a very difficult situation. Finally, the backstory to our text today is that Daniel and his three friends were “princes” in Judah who because of their learned background are made to serve in the king's court where they received further education in the arts.

So they would be counted among the “wise guys” that King Nebuchadnezzar took to task because they could not only explain the dream but also relate the dream with being told

To be charitable, perhaps the king forgot the dream, but he still comes off as unreasonable

Before the king can kill everyone, Daniel asks to see the king, tells the king what the dream was, and tells him what it means, prompting the king to worship Daniel

The king lavishes gifts and a lofty position upon Daniel, who promotes his buddies as well

As you can imagine, the Jews exiled in Babylon wondered where God was and even questioned if God existed. It’s helpful to know that in that world, when one country beat up another country, it meant their God was bigger than the other god. So their defeat and captivity really called into question the Jews’ belief their God was not only the biggest God but also the only God.  Thus Nebuchadnezzar stuns court by claiming that YHWH, the God of the Jews, is God of gods, and revealer of mysteries. In other words, God has been proclaimed not only better than Marduk by the king but even present in, with, and through the lives of the exiled Judeans. 

Yet, almost lost amid the miraculous nature of Daniel’s performance and the king’s reaction is the interpretation of the dream itself, which Nebuchadnezzar conveniently ignores. The dream signifies that no matter how impressive his accomplishments and his kingdom, there will be four successive, lesser kingdoms that will be ultimately replaced by the forever kingdom of God. For the Israelites, it meant that God was not only in charge, but that their present circumstances, no matter how difficult, were a small part of a much larger story. For us as Christians, we believe that kingdom was inaugurated with the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Last Sunday about 60 of us gathered to “Look Back” at the history of OSLC and in some sense “kingdoms” have come and gone. Some pastorates were “golden,” some less so, and a few “clay mixed with iron.” We acknowledged programs were begun, prospered for a time, and then ended. In it all we strove to take the long view of God’s presence in, with, and through Our Savior’s. In essence, we asked “Where is God?” in the last 55 years. Then we will gather next Sunday to describe Our Savior’s and what kind of lead pastor it will need during the next “kingdom.” So, Where is God? Working in, with, and through history to bring about God’s kingdom in, with, and through Our Savior’s. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.