Change is God’s way.: a sermon (Psalm 50)

Sometimes, we hear complaints from people that the churches’ beliefs and practices are changing.

• Sometimes the complaints are from people inside the churches;
• sometimes the complaints are from those outside.

Here, by the way, I’m not particularly interested in changes to the churches in terms of music, or the use of buildings, or similar things. 

• Of course, there always will be changes in the styles of music that different congregations use as we worship God, as there always have been.  Of course, there will be occasional disagreements over music in worship.
• Of course, there always will be changes in the way we use some church buildings, as there always have been.  Of course, there will be occasional disagreements over the way church buildings are used.

I’m not really talking about these sorts of changes.  (And I guess I need to say that I'm a person who like church music to be reasonably traditional and "classical", and who likes to attend worship in a church that looks like a church.)

I’m really more interested in substantial changes in beliefs, practices, and attitudes.  I want to talk today about changes in the big things, rather than changes in the little things.

Sometimes the complaints are about the churches changing in the way we express our beliefs.  There are times when the media gives great attention to conflicts within churches, such as when some clergy seek to express Christian beliefs in a way that tries to communicate more effectively in the contemporary world.  But, complaints or no complaints, the churches are changing in the way we express our beliefs.

At other times, the complaints have been about churches changing long-standing church practices.  For example, even though the issue was sorted out decades ago in the Uniting Church, there are still major arguments in some denominations on the issue of ordaining women.  But, complaints or no complaints, the churches are changing in many long-standing church practices.

At other times, the complaints have been over issues of personal lifestyle.  For example, in a previous parish, almost thirty years ago, I caught a great of flak when I baptised a child whose parents were not married.  Thankfully, that’s not an issue anymore.  There are other life-style related issues that churches have been arguing about in recent years.  But, complaints or no complaints, the churches are changing in many of our attitudes toward issues of personal lifestyle. 

Some people complain about these changes.  Sometimes those who complain loudest are people outside the churches.  You see, there are some people outside the churches who want the churches to remain as conservative and as out-of-touch as possible.  When the church changes, and becomes less conservative, it is inconvenient for some because it removes many of their excuses for remaining outside the church. 

In response to many of these changes, some would ask:  “Why does the church need to change?”

And the answer, quite simply, is “Change is God’s way.”

God has this annoying habit of never being content with things as they are.  God always has a new and better idea.  God always calls humanity to share in the new and better idea.  God is a change agent who never lets us alone. 

Sometimes, God  challenges - and even actively confronts - our preconceived ideas.  We see this in our Psalm.  The writer of the Psalm imagines the way God would challenge the religious practices that were current in the time the Psalm was written:

 I will not accept a bull from your house,

or goats from your folds.

For every wild animal of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the air,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and all that is in it is mine.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and pay your vows to the Most High.

The writer is parodying the practice of animal sacrifice, and telling his listeners that God does not want people to make these sacrifices:

Do I eat the flesh of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

Instead, the worship that God calls people to make is one of gratitude and one that results in lives of integrity:

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and pay your vows to the Most High.

Some would have criticised such an idea.  The Jews had a tradition of animal sacrifices, as did every other nation in the region.  But eventually, the practice began to meet with resistance. 

• By the time of Jesus, there were still some people, members of the group called Sadducees, who thought the sacrifices were important. 
• However, the often-maligned Pharisees gave much less emphasis to these sacrifices.  Instead, the Pharisees emphasised a religion based on study, prayer, lifestyle, and personal ethics. 

Within a little more than a generation after the time of Jesus, the practice of animal sacrifice had completely disappeared among the Jews. 

This is just one example among many of religious beliefs and practices that have changed over the years: 

• not only among Jews,
• but also among Christians,
• and, indeed, among people of all faiths. 

Throughout history, religious practices that once were sacrosanct later seem a bit silly.   And, through it all, God has been a part of the process of change.  I’ll give a few examples.

I’ll start with a fairly trivial example.  There was a time when women used to be expected to wear a hat to go to church, and when it was considered quite daring for women to attend church bare-headed.  Thankfully, that has changed.  And I believe God was part of that change, for change is God’s way. 

To give a few more substantial examples, there was a time, even here in Australia, when the particular branch of the Christian faith you were part of determined such unrelated things as the political party for whom you voted, the jobs for which you applied, the football club for whom you barracked, and even the families with which your family socialised.  Thankfully, that has changed.  And I believe God was part of that change, for change is God’s way. 

There was a time - and, for some, there still is - when people thought the only role Christians had in relation to other faiths was for us to try to convert the “heathen”.  Thankfully, that is changing.  Today, a growing number of Christians see members of other faiths – Jews, Muslims, and others – not as “heathen” to convert but as partners in serving the one Living God.  And I believe God is part of that change, for change is God’s way. 

There were those who criticised such changes, people who were very comfortable with a time when life was much more restricted for many people, and when God was to blame for the restrictions.  But that isn’t God’s way.  God was in on these changes, and many others, just as God was inspiring the change away from sacrificing animals many centuries ago.

God’s will for humanity is wholeness of life, not a life characterised by artificial restrictions.  God challenges anything that would seek to restrict this wholeness of life, just as God challenged the old practice of sacrificing animals.  God inspires us to be agents of change in our world as well, for change is God’s way.