Mark 4:35 – 5:1
On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took Jesus with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
Philippians 4:2 – 7
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche (Sin’-ta-key) to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Today is the second Sunday of Advent – Peace Sunday. Out of all the Sundays of Advent I think this is the most challenging to wrap my mind around. Peace. What does peace mean? And what does it mean for us to have peace in Christ.
In the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” But in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Jesus did not come to be the King who conquers enemies and to take over a region of land. Jesus does claim that his presence will divide households. There will be those who believe in him and those who don’t in one household. There will be some in one household who believe in Jesus one way and some who believe in Jesus in another. The incarnation of our Christ did not settle these kinds of disputes. We still have wars, fighting, factions, and oppression. Jesus did not rally an army. He rallied a band of healers and insisted that his followers need to lay down their lives for the oppressed.
This is a radical notion of love. It is a radical notion of peace. The way of Jesus is to create peace by not fighting. It is to love when you are hated. Being committed to this way of life ruffles feathers and can actually make people become violent against you. It is also a difficult life to sustain. We can get weary of well doing. Galatians 6 says, “8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.” Paul writes this to the Galatians probably because they are growing weary and they need to be reminded to not grow weary. It is so much easier to go along with the greed and violence of the world. Paul tells his people … and us … to continue sowing in the Spirit. Do not give up.
Sometimes we need to see something with our eyes to encourage us. In our reading in Mark we see the disciples with Jesus in a boat during a bad storm. Apparently Jesus is a sound sleeper but the disciples are preparing for their death. They wake Jesus and he calms the storm with his words, but before going back to sleep he chastises them. "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" This is one of the few times that Jesus makes circumstances more convenient. Usually he is willing to let the chips fall where they may. Maybe he is taking pity on his friends because he loves them. Or maybe he is just too tired to use this as an elaborate teaching moment. Either way, we see the power of Jesus, the kinds of miracles that he can perform, and the choice of miracle that he makes. He calls for peace. He commands stillness.
This voice of Jesus is one that I think we would do well to heed for our own internal storms. As we work for external peace in the radical way of Jesus, we also need to work on our internal peace. In fact, I think that the reason we often cannot sustain the work of being Jesus’ hands and feet and eyes and life here on this earth is because we have not taken the time and effort to let Jesus be our peace within.
Our reading from the letter to the Philippians could have been easily used next week when we celebrate Joy in Christ, but what caught my eye for this week was Paul’s instruction to not worry. Paul tells us that after we make supplication to God with thanksgiving we can find peace, a peace that passes our understanding – what I call a peace that doesn’t make sense.
Paul doesn’t say that we will have peace once God answers our prayers. It is in the turning over of our concerns to God that will result in peace. Not a peace of situation, but a peace that “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Rejoice in God. Celebrate God. Don’t give yourself to worry but instead pray. Do these things and you will experience a peace that your mind won’t understand. Don’t analyze this peace. Don’t deny yourself this peace because it is beyond your understanding … because it doesn’t make sense. Give yourself to it.
This is what Jesus was talking about in the Gospel of John when he said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
When we look for peace that our minds can understand then we might miss the peace that Jesus has to offer us. It is a hard-fought peace. We have to recognize our fears, not pretend that we don’t have any. Once we recognize those fears we have to give ourselves to God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and then we have to look steely-eyed into our own internal storm and say with Jesus, “Peace. Be still.” I have found no other way to experience this “peace that doesn’t make sense.” It is part faith, part act-of-will and part surrender. It doesn’t happen all at once. This is a process that goes deeper and deeper all our lives.
The best metaphor that I have for this peace is in a story that my dad told me. I hope you aren’t getting tired of hearing my dad stories. My father was in the navy in WWII. He was an underwater bomb demolition expert; a strong fearless man who could hold his breath up to 3 minutes. The oxygen tanks that they had back then were clumsy so they routinely went down in relays. They were on a small ship. He says it was the kind that knocks your kidneys loose. Well, one day they got into a bad storm. Jesus was not laying on a cushion in the back of the ship. One after another the men on the ship were getting sick. My dad was one of the few left able to do anything so he took the helm. The wind was whipping them around something fierce. He had to head straight into the storm as it overtook them. He told me that he thought for sure they were all headed to Davy Jones's Locker. After a day and a half they got through the storm and he tells me the sea was as smooth as glass and that the wind was still. It was like a perfect day. And then they realized that what they were in was the eye of a hurricane. He knew that the other side of the hurricane was going to overtake them in a matter of time. He was at the helm for three days total not knowing if they were going to make it alive. But in the middle of it all there was a calm and a peace that he hadn’t know before and hasn’t known since. All around him a storm was raging, but in the eye of the hurricane you wouldn’t know it.
Once I asked him why they didn’t just stay there, in the eye, until the storm calmed and they could safely move on. He laughed and said that the storm was moving way to fast. They didn’t go through the storm. The storm went through them. He had no choice but to try to steer the ship as strategically as possible and then hang on.
People of God, I think the peace of Christ is like a hurricane. In the center of the raging storm you can find peace. It is hard-fought and you sometimes have to steer strategically to get there. But in the center of it all there is a peace that is beyond anything else you have experienced. Some people will think you are crazy because it doesn’t make sense. They are looking from the outside in and they see the raging wind and water. You will have been through all that storm and know the truth of it, but if you can find the center, unlike the hurricane my dad was in, I believe you can ride out the storm in Christ’s peace.
This is the second Sunday of Advent. Jesus is our Immanuel … God-With-Us … Our Prince of Peace.
Friday, December 09, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Hope In Christ
Texts: Psalm 33:13-22 and Matthew 12:9 - 21
Happy Advent! Today we are celebrating HOPE. The One who fashions our hearts and observes all our deeds is our Hope. Psalm 33 cautions us that our own strength and our own wiles are not enough. Our hope is to be in the steadfast love of God.
What we are talking about today is big hope. Not little hopes that are more like wishes, but big hopes. Life hopes. Hopes that are born out of the gnawing concerns in our souls. Hopes that are created by amazing promises of things like Eternal Life. Hopes for a future in this world. This is what we are talking about today. These hopes are not mere wishes attached to a fantasy, but foundations of our existence … of our lives.
Our hopes … the foundation of our future … is found in the steadfast love of God. We may be strong. We may be smart. We may be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But our hope, what we count on, must be in the steadfast love of God.
The story in Matthew that we read takes it a step further. Jesus is healing people and getting into trouble with the authorities. He’s trying to keep a low profile, healing as many people as he can. His calling is to bring wholeness to those that he encounters. Jesus is the beloved of God, whose Spirit rests upon him. This story ends with, “in his name the Gentiles will hope." Even though he is performing miraculous healings, we are told that it is in the name of Jesus that hope will be found. The name alone evokes a hope in us that is beyond all the miracles he performed. Jesus the healer; Jesus, the one who brings wholeness; Jesus, the one who offers a future; Jesus, the one who reaches outside of his own circle and offers hope to the Gentiles.
The season of Advent is a time of active waiting and reflecting. This week as we wait, let us reflect on hope. What does it mean to us that our hope is in Christ? How does that come to bear on our lives? Is it an ethereal wispy hope or is it a concrete hope that shapes the decisions that we make? Is it both? Can our hope in Christ be active in the realms of the mysterious and mystical as well as in our flesh and bone existence? Is mystery just as concrete as the stuff we can touch? I believe it is.
Our hope in Christ lives in our spirits and becomes manifested in the way we live our lives. It can move us forward and reveal to us from one day to the next how the Holy Spirit is abiding within us. Whether we are sick or healthy, poor or rich, weak or powerful, we move forward from one day to the next until the day we die. How we move forward and what propels us is something we can control. If our hope is in our own strength or wisdom, if it lives in our accomplishments, then it is fragile and can be crushed. If our hope is in our strength and we become weak or ill, then our hope becomes weak and ill. If hope lives in power and we are beaten or oppressed, then our hope is beaten and overcome. If our hope lives in our power and we maintain our power, then it feels like our hope is strong but the truth is that our power is only as powerful as our next conquest. Relying on some manifestation of our strength or health is not living in true hope – it is living in conquest and control. Our hope is to be in the steadfast love of the Lord.
The Big Hope – the foundation of our future, what we count on – is more than circumstantial. It is more than Jesus’ healings and miracles, it is in the essence of who Jesus is. It is Jesus as Christ. That might seem esoteric or flimsy, but because of who Jesus is, this gives our hope more substance than we can even imagine. Jesus is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. Jesus was in the beginning and nothing was created without him. This is the one we call the Christ.
Moving through life day by day with Christ as our hope means digging deep to build a solid foundation. Philippians 4:12 and 13 says, “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” In other words, the essence of my strength is not derived from my health or fitness, from my status or influence. It is the strength that comes through my relationship with Jesus that gives me my solid foundation.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. No merit of my own I claim but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”
It is important for us to remember from whence our hope comes. When we are well fed and have power, do we remember that our true foundation is in the steadfast love of God and in the hope of Christ? If we do, then we will be more apt to not abuse what power we have and not take for granted our needs and wants being met. When we are powerless, hungry, or sick do we remember that our true foundation is in the steadfast love of God and in the hope of Christ? If we do, then our Big Hope will not be crushed by our circumstances even if our smaller hopes are.
Finally, as we reflect on hope this week I want to ask you to consider the children in our lives. Where do they see your hope coming from? Do they see you relying on the love of God and Christ? Do they see you relying on your circumstances and your strength? Do they know there is a difference between big hopes and smaller hopes and wishes?
Kids are not fooled easily. Even if they can’t articulate the incongruity that they see in our lives they will see it and it will teach them their core values.
Big Hopes have to do with our future. We want to build our future and this church on a solid foundation – on the love of God and on Jesus our Christ. If this is what we want, then we have to make sure that we are living out this truth and teaching it to the kids. To quote some lyrics from the Dixie Chicks, “Our children are watching us. They put their trust in us. They're gonna be like us.”
Like Paul said, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. If we live relying on the strength of Christ rather than our own strength, the kids will see it and learn it. They will learn humility, confidence, gentleness, faith, and most importantly love. We need to live our faith openly and continue to learn how to hope in God’s love and in Jesus’ name if we want our children to live faithful lives with a solid foundation.
This week reflect on from whence your hope comes. Think about the steadfast love of God. And ponder the hope that is in the name of Jesus, who we are waiting on to celebrate the glorious mystery of the incarnation of God in Christ.
Happy Advent! Today we are celebrating HOPE. The One who fashions our hearts and observes all our deeds is our Hope. Psalm 33 cautions us that our own strength and our own wiles are not enough. Our hope is to be in the steadfast love of God.
What we are talking about today is big hope. Not little hopes that are more like wishes, but big hopes. Life hopes. Hopes that are born out of the gnawing concerns in our souls. Hopes that are created by amazing promises of things like Eternal Life. Hopes for a future in this world. This is what we are talking about today. These hopes are not mere wishes attached to a fantasy, but foundations of our existence … of our lives.
Our hopes … the foundation of our future … is found in the steadfast love of God. We may be strong. We may be smart. We may be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But our hope, what we count on, must be in the steadfast love of God.
The story in Matthew that we read takes it a step further. Jesus is healing people and getting into trouble with the authorities. He’s trying to keep a low profile, healing as many people as he can. His calling is to bring wholeness to those that he encounters. Jesus is the beloved of God, whose Spirit rests upon him. This story ends with, “in his name the Gentiles will hope." Even though he is performing miraculous healings, we are told that it is in the name of Jesus that hope will be found. The name alone evokes a hope in us that is beyond all the miracles he performed. Jesus the healer; Jesus, the one who brings wholeness; Jesus, the one who offers a future; Jesus, the one who reaches outside of his own circle and offers hope to the Gentiles.
The season of Advent is a time of active waiting and reflecting. This week as we wait, let us reflect on hope. What does it mean to us that our hope is in Christ? How does that come to bear on our lives? Is it an ethereal wispy hope or is it a concrete hope that shapes the decisions that we make? Is it both? Can our hope in Christ be active in the realms of the mysterious and mystical as well as in our flesh and bone existence? Is mystery just as concrete as the stuff we can touch? I believe it is.
Our hope in Christ lives in our spirits and becomes manifested in the way we live our lives. It can move us forward and reveal to us from one day to the next how the Holy Spirit is abiding within us. Whether we are sick or healthy, poor or rich, weak or powerful, we move forward from one day to the next until the day we die. How we move forward and what propels us is something we can control. If our hope is in our own strength or wisdom, if it lives in our accomplishments, then it is fragile and can be crushed. If our hope is in our strength and we become weak or ill, then our hope becomes weak and ill. If hope lives in power and we are beaten or oppressed, then our hope is beaten and overcome. If our hope lives in our power and we maintain our power, then it feels like our hope is strong but the truth is that our power is only as powerful as our next conquest. Relying on some manifestation of our strength or health is not living in true hope – it is living in conquest and control. Our hope is to be in the steadfast love of the Lord.
The Big Hope – the foundation of our future, what we count on – is more than circumstantial. It is more than Jesus’ healings and miracles, it is in the essence of who Jesus is. It is Jesus as Christ. That might seem esoteric or flimsy, but because of who Jesus is, this gives our hope more substance than we can even imagine. Jesus is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. Jesus was in the beginning and nothing was created without him. This is the one we call the Christ.
Moving through life day by day with Christ as our hope means digging deep to build a solid foundation. Philippians 4:12 and 13 says, “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” In other words, the essence of my strength is not derived from my health or fitness, from my status or influence. It is the strength that comes through my relationship with Jesus that gives me my solid foundation.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. No merit of my own I claim but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”
It is important for us to remember from whence our hope comes. When we are well fed and have power, do we remember that our true foundation is in the steadfast love of God and in the hope of Christ? If we do, then we will be more apt to not abuse what power we have and not take for granted our needs and wants being met. When we are powerless, hungry, or sick do we remember that our true foundation is in the steadfast love of God and in the hope of Christ? If we do, then our Big Hope will not be crushed by our circumstances even if our smaller hopes are.
Finally, as we reflect on hope this week I want to ask you to consider the children in our lives. Where do they see your hope coming from? Do they see you relying on the love of God and Christ? Do they see you relying on your circumstances and your strength? Do they know there is a difference between big hopes and smaller hopes and wishes?
Kids are not fooled easily. Even if they can’t articulate the incongruity that they see in our lives they will see it and it will teach them their core values.
Big Hopes have to do with our future. We want to build our future and this church on a solid foundation – on the love of God and on Jesus our Christ. If this is what we want, then we have to make sure that we are living out this truth and teaching it to the kids. To quote some lyrics from the Dixie Chicks, “Our children are watching us. They put their trust in us. They're gonna be like us.”
Like Paul said, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. If we live relying on the strength of Christ rather than our own strength, the kids will see it and learn it. They will learn humility, confidence, gentleness, faith, and most importantly love. We need to live our faith openly and continue to learn how to hope in God’s love and in Jesus’ name if we want our children to live faithful lives with a solid foundation.
This week reflect on from whence your hope comes. Think about the steadfast love of God. And ponder the hope that is in the name of Jesus, who we are waiting on to celebrate the glorious mystery of the incarnation of God in Christ.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Texts: Deuteronomy 8:7 – 18 and 2 Timothy 1:1 – 18
Timothy came from a family of faith-filled women. Paul draws on that to inspire him to continue in the faith and to rekindle the gift of God that is within him. He wants Timothy to lean on his ancestors and move toward his future.
The writer of Deuteronomy is saying something similar to the people of God. “Remember the Lord your God, for it is God who gives you power to get wealth, so that God may confirm the covenant that was sworn to your ancestors, as God is doing today.”
We are here, in this building, because many years ago a group of people decided they wanted to worship God together. They put together their resources and started a community of faith. The building they built has gone through changes. The founders of this church have long gone to be in the Roll Call of the Saints. And the world is a very different place from the world that they knew.
Farther back than the founders of the church that worshiped in this building are the ancestors of faith to whom God has sworn the covenant. We are here today because of God’s covenant to us from long ago. In the Old Testament we are told over and over “I will be your God and you will be my people.” It is God’s faithfulness to us that keeps us in this covenant. In the books of the Old Testament we read things like,
Deuteronomy 5:29 “If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!”
Nehemiah 1:9 “If you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.”
In the New Testament we read, in the Gospel of John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments
From the Old Testament, Jeremiah 31:31 – 33 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Then in the New Testament, Hebrews 10:15 – 17 from which we read last week, “And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," he also adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
What we learn about our future from looking at our past is that God wants to be in relationship with us. God keeps trying, at every turn, to find a way to bring us back or keep us close. The Old Testament speaks of a new covenant where the laws of God will be written on our hearts. The New Testament declares this covenant to be in effect. God’s desire is our heart-led relationship, not our deed-based relationship. Last week we talked about our hearts being supple so that we would not be broken-hearted but rather our hearts could be broken open. Our hearts are to be supple not only to the harassed and the helpless, but also to the very spirit of God. Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit which softens our hearts, helping us to receive the laws that God would write there. And it must be the Holy Spirit, lest we take credit for the relationship that we have with God through Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:1 – 11 “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses' face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!”
It is the Holy Spirit that wrote on the hearts of those who came before us and it is the Holy Spirit who writes on our hearts today. But let’s take it a step farther. It is the Holy Spirit who will be writing on the hearts of our children and grandchildren. We look at our past and honor those who have gone before us, those who laid the firm foundation of this church. We know that we are standing on the shoulders of these people of God and are building on their firm foundation. But we must also look at the future and realize that someday we will be the ancestors that this church looks back on. How we live today, how we are ministers to this community today, and how we love God today will impact the future of this church. Someday in the future this community of faith may read the same scriptures that we are reading. They may be looking back as we are today. And they will be in part looking back at us. We are building the future for that community. Just like we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before they will stand on our shoulders.
When Paul wrote to Timothy encouraging him to “rekindle the gift of God that” was in him, he did so only after reminding him of the faith of his “grandmother Lois and (his) mother Eunice.” The scripture in Deuteronomy says that the people are being brought into an amazing land. Their future is one of lavish resources. This promised land that they are being brought into will confirm the covenant that God made with their ancestors. They are the bridge between the ancestors and their future. We are the bridge between our ancestors and our grandchildren.
For those of you who have no children and think you might be off the hook, let me remind you that I have no biological children either. Even so, the future is very precious to me. The generations that follow us in this place will be our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of faith. They are counting on us to consider how we live and how we glorify God as a church.
This church has a future. I believe it is one of lavish resources. When we gather together, let us remember those who gathered before us, those who put their heart and spirit into making this community a reality. And let us give thanks to God for writing not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God on the tablets of their human hearts. And then let us look to the future and thank God for the promise that the ministry of justification abounds in permanent glory for those who come after us.
Finally, let us look at who we are today. We are the bridge between the past and the future. We are those whose hearts are written on by the Spirit of God. We are ministers of grace and glory to each other and to our community. We are the fulfillment of the promise to our ancestors and the building blocks on which our children and grandchildren will build.
Because of the faith of those who came before us I remind you as Paul did to Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you.” We can lean on the foundation of our ancestors while moving toward our future. What we share with them is the law that is written on our hearts. Regardless of the shape of our ministry, how it changes or unfolds, the promise of the Spirit of God remains the same. God will be our God and we will be God’s people.
Timothy came from a family of faith-filled women. Paul draws on that to inspire him to continue in the faith and to rekindle the gift of God that is within him. He wants Timothy to lean on his ancestors and move toward his future.
The writer of Deuteronomy is saying something similar to the people of God. “Remember the Lord your God, for it is God who gives you power to get wealth, so that God may confirm the covenant that was sworn to your ancestors, as God is doing today.”
We are here, in this building, because many years ago a group of people decided they wanted to worship God together. They put together their resources and started a community of faith. The building they built has gone through changes. The founders of this church have long gone to be in the Roll Call of the Saints. And the world is a very different place from the world that they knew.
Farther back than the founders of the church that worshiped in this building are the ancestors of faith to whom God has sworn the covenant. We are here today because of God’s covenant to us from long ago. In the Old Testament we are told over and over “I will be your God and you will be my people.” It is God’s faithfulness to us that keeps us in this covenant. In the books of the Old Testament we read things like,
Deuteronomy 5:29 “If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!”
Nehemiah 1:9 “If you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.”
In the New Testament we read, in the Gospel of John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments
From the Old Testament, Jeremiah 31:31 – 33 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Then in the New Testament, Hebrews 10:15 – 17 from which we read last week, “And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," he also adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
What we learn about our future from looking at our past is that God wants to be in relationship with us. God keeps trying, at every turn, to find a way to bring us back or keep us close. The Old Testament speaks of a new covenant where the laws of God will be written on our hearts. The New Testament declares this covenant to be in effect. God’s desire is our heart-led relationship, not our deed-based relationship. Last week we talked about our hearts being supple so that we would not be broken-hearted but rather our hearts could be broken open. Our hearts are to be supple not only to the harassed and the helpless, but also to the very spirit of God. Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit which softens our hearts, helping us to receive the laws that God would write there. And it must be the Holy Spirit, lest we take credit for the relationship that we have with God through Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:1 – 11 “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses' face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!”
It is the Holy Spirit that wrote on the hearts of those who came before us and it is the Holy Spirit who writes on our hearts today. But let’s take it a step farther. It is the Holy Spirit who will be writing on the hearts of our children and grandchildren. We look at our past and honor those who have gone before us, those who laid the firm foundation of this church. We know that we are standing on the shoulders of these people of God and are building on their firm foundation. But we must also look at the future and realize that someday we will be the ancestors that this church looks back on. How we live today, how we are ministers to this community today, and how we love God today will impact the future of this church. Someday in the future this community of faith may read the same scriptures that we are reading. They may be looking back as we are today. And they will be in part looking back at us. We are building the future for that community. Just like we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before they will stand on our shoulders.
When Paul wrote to Timothy encouraging him to “rekindle the gift of God that” was in him, he did so only after reminding him of the faith of his “grandmother Lois and (his) mother Eunice.” The scripture in Deuteronomy says that the people are being brought into an amazing land. Their future is one of lavish resources. This promised land that they are being brought into will confirm the covenant that God made with their ancestors. They are the bridge between the ancestors and their future. We are the bridge between our ancestors and our grandchildren.
For those of you who have no children and think you might be off the hook, let me remind you that I have no biological children either. Even so, the future is very precious to me. The generations that follow us in this place will be our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of faith. They are counting on us to consider how we live and how we glorify God as a church.
This church has a future. I believe it is one of lavish resources. When we gather together, let us remember those who gathered before us, those who put their heart and spirit into making this community a reality. And let us give thanks to God for writing not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God on the tablets of their human hearts. And then let us look to the future and thank God for the promise that the ministry of justification abounds in permanent glory for those who come after us.
Finally, let us look at who we are today. We are the bridge between the past and the future. We are those whose hearts are written on by the Spirit of God. We are ministers of grace and glory to each other and to our community. We are the fulfillment of the promise to our ancestors and the building blocks on which our children and grandchildren will build.
Because of the faith of those who came before us I remind you as Paul did to Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you.” We can lean on the foundation of our ancestors while moving toward our future. What we share with them is the law that is written on our hearts. Regardless of the shape of our ministry, how it changes or unfolds, the promise of the Spirit of God remains the same. God will be our God and we will be God’s people.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
A Broken Heart Or A Heart Broken Open?
Texts: Hebrews 10:10 – 23 and Matthew 9:27 - 10:1
This week I read an article that a friend of mine wrote. She says that “(we) need the courage to allow (our) hearts to break open, not apart.” She believes the skill of compassion helps us exercise our hearts so that they are supple rather than rigid. A supple heart can break open while a rigid heart will break apart.
This is important because we are called to a profound ministry. All of us. According to 2nd Corinthians, “we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making God’s appeal through us; we entreat (others) on behalf of Christ, (to) be reconciled to God.”
We are the bearers of the good news on behalf of Jesus. Being reconciled to God through Jesus means that we are in a good relationship with God. It doesn’t mean that we never lose our footing. It does mean that we stay in communication with God. We don’t give up, walk out in a huff, or give our past any power to break us apart from the God that loves our souls.
Being reconciled to God also means that God is in good relationship with us. God sticks by us; won’t leave in a huff when we make a misstep; and does not bring the past up to us. This is the good news of which we are ambassadors. There are many people that we encounter every day who wonder if God loves them or if they have what it takes to be in relationship with God. Our answer is a resounding yes to both of these questions. Yes! God loves you, whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey. Yes! You have what it takes to be in relationship with God because what it takes is accepting the grace of reconciliation. This is a profound and powerful ministry. It isn’t coercive. It isn’t needy or fearful. It is simply sharing the yes that you have been given with others who are looking for a yes. It is also reminding yourself of the yes that you have been given.
In Hebrews, the tenth chapter, we are told that God’s laws are in our hearts, and that we can approach God “with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” We are exhorted to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for God who has promised is faithful.” Our “true hearts” are crucial because God’s law is written there. Holding fast to our confession of hope is also crucial. These things are important if we are to have supple hearts … hearts that are broken open to receive the calling of God to love people and share the hope of the good news with them.
It is so easy for our hearts to become broken by the need we see and the sadness we hear. Our hearts can also become broken by the discouragement we feel, both from within and from without. In our story in Matthew we hear the Pharisees saying, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons." I can see how hearing that might be very discouraging. But the story continues, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. It’s almost as if he is saying, “Casts out demons by demons? Really? Well watch this.”
It’s clear, however, from the next sentence that his true motivation wasn’t in reaction to the Pharisees. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Harassed and helpless. These were the people Jesus was drawn to. These were the crowds to whom Jesus ministered. In Jesus’ stead, we are to be ambassadors to these same crowds of people – the harassed and the helpless. Sometimes that means reminding the person sitting next to you of the hope they have in Christ. Sometimes it means talking to someone you have never met before. How can we be these ambassadors and not end up with broken hearts over the pain and suffering of others?
The writer of the letter of Hebrews tells us, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” In the Gospel of Matthew we read Jesus’ words, “’The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” This takes a lot of commitment by us. And it takes having a steady foundation. Jesus is called the cornerstone for a good reason.
So how do we keep our hearts from breaking and yet keep our hearts broken open? Anne Howard, the author of the article I read, quoted Parker Palmer from his new book. Healing the Heart of Democracy.” In it he says, “a heart that has been consistently exercised through conscious engagement with suffering is more likely to break open instead of apart. Such a heart has learned how to flex to hold tension in a way that expands its capacity for both suffering and joy.” (p. 60)
This might seem counter-intuitive. How can conscious engagement with suffering keep a heart from breaking? I think the answer lies in the word “conscious.” We can’t expect to fix all the suffering. That just results in constant failure which is heartbreaking. We can attend to the suffering, and pray and work for greater love, mercy, and justice, but we can’t expect our efforts to fix everything. As Christians we can engage suffering while standing on our cornerstone, from a place of hope and unwavering faith.
Recognizing our own suffering – being conscious of our own condition and how Jesus, in his suffering, has opened up the way for us to be reconciled to God, gives us the capacity to engage the suffering of others with a heart broken open by compassion. Conscious engagement of our own suffering and redemption can fill our hearts with gratitude and hope. From this sure foundation we can reach out to others in a different way. Compassion can flow from our hearts that are broken open rather than the guilt of not being able to do enough or the judgment that we or those we see suffering are not good enough.
We can sit with suffering – our own and that of others – and have supple hearts when we see suffering for what it is, a condition of life that is difficult, painful, and in need of mercy and grace as well as loving action. Judging suffering does not break open our hearts. Being afraid of suffering does not break open our hearts. Sitting in compassion with suffering will break open our hearts.
It’s not as hard as it sounds. It does take a certain amount of patience, an assurance of faith, a firm foundation, and the boldness to feel in a conscious way. It also helps to remember that we have a Messiah who knows our suffering first hand. Jesus, our cornerstone, took on the struggle of being human. We do not have to bear suffering alone. We can let compassion well up within us knowing that we are supported by the love of Christ and the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Let your roots of faith sink deep down into the redeeming love of God in Christ. Because you have received compassion, you can share compassion. If your life is in tumult, set your focus on the compassion that Jesus has for you and those like you. Compassion flows from him to the harassed and the helpless. And as many laborers as he can find, he sends.
From a place of full assurance of faith it is easier to gently open your heart. I think it is much more difficult for a heart to break apart when it is already open. You will feel the pain of those suffering, but it will be a pain that rests on the faith of hope.
When Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few it was immediately after compassion filled his heart for a crowd that was harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The disciples he summoned were to be likewise filled with compassion. They were given the authority and the charge to heal and help. If we are laborers, then I believe it is to labor with compassion for the sake of healing. It is from the foundation of our own reconciliation with God that we can best open our hearts and be the laborers that we are called to be.
There is so much suffering … the harvest is plentiful.
As we are called, let us reach out and sit with those who are suffering. In full assurance of faith, because of the immense love that Jesus has shown to us let us gently break open our hearts.
This week I read an article that a friend of mine wrote. She says that “(we) need the courage to allow (our) hearts to break open, not apart.” She believes the skill of compassion helps us exercise our hearts so that they are supple rather than rigid. A supple heart can break open while a rigid heart will break apart.
This is important because we are called to a profound ministry. All of us. According to 2nd Corinthians, “we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making God’s appeal through us; we entreat (others) on behalf of Christ, (to) be reconciled to God.”
We are the bearers of the good news on behalf of Jesus. Being reconciled to God through Jesus means that we are in a good relationship with God. It doesn’t mean that we never lose our footing. It does mean that we stay in communication with God. We don’t give up, walk out in a huff, or give our past any power to break us apart from the God that loves our souls.
Being reconciled to God also means that God is in good relationship with us. God sticks by us; won’t leave in a huff when we make a misstep; and does not bring the past up to us. This is the good news of which we are ambassadors. There are many people that we encounter every day who wonder if God loves them or if they have what it takes to be in relationship with God. Our answer is a resounding yes to both of these questions. Yes! God loves you, whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey. Yes! You have what it takes to be in relationship with God because what it takes is accepting the grace of reconciliation. This is a profound and powerful ministry. It isn’t coercive. It isn’t needy or fearful. It is simply sharing the yes that you have been given with others who are looking for a yes. It is also reminding yourself of the yes that you have been given.
In Hebrews, the tenth chapter, we are told that God’s laws are in our hearts, and that we can approach God “with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” We are exhorted to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for God who has promised is faithful.” Our “true hearts” are crucial because God’s law is written there. Holding fast to our confession of hope is also crucial. These things are important if we are to have supple hearts … hearts that are broken open to receive the calling of God to love people and share the hope of the good news with them.
It is so easy for our hearts to become broken by the need we see and the sadness we hear. Our hearts can also become broken by the discouragement we feel, both from within and from without. In our story in Matthew we hear the Pharisees saying, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons." I can see how hearing that might be very discouraging. But the story continues, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. It’s almost as if he is saying, “Casts out demons by demons? Really? Well watch this.”
It’s clear, however, from the next sentence that his true motivation wasn’t in reaction to the Pharisees. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Harassed and helpless. These were the people Jesus was drawn to. These were the crowds to whom Jesus ministered. In Jesus’ stead, we are to be ambassadors to these same crowds of people – the harassed and the helpless. Sometimes that means reminding the person sitting next to you of the hope they have in Christ. Sometimes it means talking to someone you have never met before. How can we be these ambassadors and not end up with broken hearts over the pain and suffering of others?
The writer of the letter of Hebrews tells us, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” In the Gospel of Matthew we read Jesus’ words, “’The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” This takes a lot of commitment by us. And it takes having a steady foundation. Jesus is called the cornerstone for a good reason.
So how do we keep our hearts from breaking and yet keep our hearts broken open? Anne Howard, the author of the article I read, quoted Parker Palmer from his new book. Healing the Heart of Democracy.” In it he says, “a heart that has been consistently exercised through conscious engagement with suffering is more likely to break open instead of apart. Such a heart has learned how to flex to hold tension in a way that expands its capacity for both suffering and joy.” (p. 60)
This might seem counter-intuitive. How can conscious engagement with suffering keep a heart from breaking? I think the answer lies in the word “conscious.” We can’t expect to fix all the suffering. That just results in constant failure which is heartbreaking. We can attend to the suffering, and pray and work for greater love, mercy, and justice, but we can’t expect our efforts to fix everything. As Christians we can engage suffering while standing on our cornerstone, from a place of hope and unwavering faith.
Recognizing our own suffering – being conscious of our own condition and how Jesus, in his suffering, has opened up the way for us to be reconciled to God, gives us the capacity to engage the suffering of others with a heart broken open by compassion. Conscious engagement of our own suffering and redemption can fill our hearts with gratitude and hope. From this sure foundation we can reach out to others in a different way. Compassion can flow from our hearts that are broken open rather than the guilt of not being able to do enough or the judgment that we or those we see suffering are not good enough.
We can sit with suffering – our own and that of others – and have supple hearts when we see suffering for what it is, a condition of life that is difficult, painful, and in need of mercy and grace as well as loving action. Judging suffering does not break open our hearts. Being afraid of suffering does not break open our hearts. Sitting in compassion with suffering will break open our hearts.
It’s not as hard as it sounds. It does take a certain amount of patience, an assurance of faith, a firm foundation, and the boldness to feel in a conscious way. It also helps to remember that we have a Messiah who knows our suffering first hand. Jesus, our cornerstone, took on the struggle of being human. We do not have to bear suffering alone. We can let compassion well up within us knowing that we are supported by the love of Christ and the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Let your roots of faith sink deep down into the redeeming love of God in Christ. Because you have received compassion, you can share compassion. If your life is in tumult, set your focus on the compassion that Jesus has for you and those like you. Compassion flows from him to the harassed and the helpless. And as many laborers as he can find, he sends.
From a place of full assurance of faith it is easier to gently open your heart. I think it is much more difficult for a heart to break apart when it is already open. You will feel the pain of those suffering, but it will be a pain that rests on the faith of hope.
When Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few it was immediately after compassion filled his heart for a crowd that was harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The disciples he summoned were to be likewise filled with compassion. They were given the authority and the charge to heal and help. If we are laborers, then I believe it is to labor with compassion for the sake of healing. It is from the foundation of our own reconciliation with God that we can best open our hearts and be the laborers that we are called to be.
There is so much suffering … the harvest is plentiful.
As we are called, let us reach out and sit with those who are suffering. In full assurance of faith, because of the immense love that Jesus has shown to us let us gently break open our hearts.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Why Come To Church (part 4) - Worship
2 Kings 5:1 – 19a
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, "Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!" He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, "If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. 18 But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count." 19 He said to him, "Go in peace."
Naaman was a successful man. He had the respect of those in positions above him as well as those in his household. I imagine he must have been a good man in many ways or the young girl who was his wife’s servant, who was taken captive from the land of Israel, wouldn’t have wanted him to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman was also a man of hope. When he heard of an opportunity to be healed, he looked into it immediately. Naaman was successful, but his future did not look good. At some point his leprosy was probably going to get the best of him. He was already suffering but as the disease progressed his disfiguring skin sores would become worse, his nerve damage would increase, and eventually he would become debilitated. It is no wonder that Naaman eagerly sought out a healing, even from a rival nation and a prophet of a different God than his own.
The king of Israel suspected Naaman’s request was a trick to create a grievance that would lead to a war between the two nations. The Israeli servant girl did not tell Naaman to go to the king, though. She told him to go to the prophet. From Elisha’s perspective this was an opportunity to show the Arameans “that there is a prophet in Israel." Elisha called for Naaman, but when he got to his house, Elisha sent a messenger instead of coming out himself. Plus, there was no showy magic or sacrifice offered. The messenger just told Naaman to "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." Naaman was offended. How dare Elisha not come out to meet him! Naaman said, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” This is Naaman … not some common person. Naaman, the mighty man of war, commander of the Aramean army and favoured by the king of Aram. Was Elisha just telling him that he was dirty and needed to take a bath? How insulting! The rivers of Damascus are far superiour to those in Israel And besides, Naaman came with treasures to lavish on the person who would heal him. If he came with treasures, certainly he should get better treatment than this.
Naaman’s servants convinced him to go ahead and give this a try. And so Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan river and after the seventh time he came out with the skin of a young boy. His leprosy was healed. Were it not for the young servant girl and for Naaman’s servants, he would never have known the healing power of the God of Israel. Were it not for the ordinary river in which Naaman washed, he may never have attributed his healing properly to the God of Israel. Had Elisha come out with his hands waving and calling on the name of God, Naaman might have given credit to Elisha rather than to God. If Elisha had told Naaman to do some heroic act or to wash in some pristine river, those actions or the river might have been given the credit for Naaman’s healing. But it was an ordinary river and the instructions were given by the messenger of the prophet. It had to be. Naaman could only give credit where credit was due. "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel,” he proclaimed.
Naaman become a convert to the God of Israel. He wanted to worship God but at the time there was a belief that gods exercised their domain over a local area. So he asked Elisha if he could take two mule-loads of earth back home with him. This way he would be worshipping the God of Israel on Israel’s soil. Naaman wanted to worship the god who healed him. He wanted to pour out his appreciation and express his adoration for the one revealed to him as the only god in all the earth. He did have a concern. In spite of his revelation, he had a job to do. Part of his job was to bring his master into the house of the god Rimmon where they would both worship. Naaman asked Elisha if he could be pardoned for performing this part of his job. Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." If Naaman was bowing down before Rimmon with his body but not his heart, Elisha knew it wasn’t real worship.
The prophet Isaiah understood the same thing about the worship that the people of Israel performed to the God of Israel.
Isaiah 29:13, 14 The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.
(The Message) Psalm 51:15 – 17 Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
Worship is heart-driven and heart-felt. Naaman’s pride had been broken and his heart melted within him. The prophet Isaiah is burdened with grief that the people’s heart is far from God, even when they lift up their voices in praise. The Psalmist begs for God’s praise to be released from within.
We come to church to worship God. Our Sunday morning meeting time is called a worship service. In our prayers, praises, and songs first and foremost we are to draw our hearts near to God. Our worship is not our order of service; it is our adoration, thanksgiving, and openness to love. Our acts of worship bring together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. This is one way to experience the intersection of the temporal world and the transcendent world, just like we talked about a couple of weeks ago.
Our next reading is from The Book of the Revelation written by John of Patmos. He begins in the first chapter by telling us that he was “in the spirit on the Lord's day.” This is his account of the revelatory vision that he was given. In chapter 4 of this vision he writes this:
Rev 4:1 - 11
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Our worship of God – our adoration and praise – comes from a heart that is open to love, filled with humility, and has a desire to draw close to the Divine Beloved. Our worship needn’t be shame based. In other words, we don’t worship Jesus because we think we are wretched and miserable creatures. That seems to me to be a less than exuberant expression of adoration. When we prepare our hearts to give our devotion to God, we should remind ourselves of the glory of God, of God’s magnificence. We don’t praise because we are so awful. We praise because Jesus is so good!
When we worship we can see our own brokenness. That might be scary. But our broken heart can and needs to worship God. When we worship we can see our needs and our shortcomings. We are wonderfully and amazingly made by the God of whom the elders fall down to worship in The Book of the Revelation. We are not always shiny and perfect. But, we are created by the will of Jesus and in Jesus we have our life. This is the declaration of worship that the elders are making. Something like this is also said in The Book of Acts 17:28, "In God we live and move and have our being”
We come to church to worship together. I believe our souls become stronger when we worship. Our adoration for God doesn’t have to fade away during the week. We can honor God during the week by drawing near with our hearts no matter what we are doing. This then will also strengthen our worship time when we come together Sunday morning. Worship is an opportunity to break through our own brokenness and reach toward the wholeness that God offers in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves up to God’s healing touch, to a deepening of our souls, and to richer understanding of God’s beauty and glory.
In times of trouble, our worship can lift us up even if our circumstances don’t change.
In times of joy, our worship can help us express the depth of our joy.
In times of everyday ho-hum, our worship can fill us with purpose and motivation.
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, "Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!" He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, "If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. 18 But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count." 19 He said to him, "Go in peace."
Naaman was a successful man. He had the respect of those in positions above him as well as those in his household. I imagine he must have been a good man in many ways or the young girl who was his wife’s servant, who was taken captive from the land of Israel, wouldn’t have wanted him to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman was also a man of hope. When he heard of an opportunity to be healed, he looked into it immediately. Naaman was successful, but his future did not look good. At some point his leprosy was probably going to get the best of him. He was already suffering but as the disease progressed his disfiguring skin sores would become worse, his nerve damage would increase, and eventually he would become debilitated. It is no wonder that Naaman eagerly sought out a healing, even from a rival nation and a prophet of a different God than his own.
The king of Israel suspected Naaman’s request was a trick to create a grievance that would lead to a war between the two nations. The Israeli servant girl did not tell Naaman to go to the king, though. She told him to go to the prophet. From Elisha’s perspective this was an opportunity to show the Arameans “that there is a prophet in Israel." Elisha called for Naaman, but when he got to his house, Elisha sent a messenger instead of coming out himself. Plus, there was no showy magic or sacrifice offered. The messenger just told Naaman to "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." Naaman was offended. How dare Elisha not come out to meet him! Naaman said, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” This is Naaman … not some common person. Naaman, the mighty man of war, commander of the Aramean army and favoured by the king of Aram. Was Elisha just telling him that he was dirty and needed to take a bath? How insulting! The rivers of Damascus are far superiour to those in Israel And besides, Naaman came with treasures to lavish on the person who would heal him. If he came with treasures, certainly he should get better treatment than this.
Naaman’s servants convinced him to go ahead and give this a try. And so Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan river and after the seventh time he came out with the skin of a young boy. His leprosy was healed. Were it not for the young servant girl and for Naaman’s servants, he would never have known the healing power of the God of Israel. Were it not for the ordinary river in which Naaman washed, he may never have attributed his healing properly to the God of Israel. Had Elisha come out with his hands waving and calling on the name of God, Naaman might have given credit to Elisha rather than to God. If Elisha had told Naaman to do some heroic act or to wash in some pristine river, those actions or the river might have been given the credit for Naaman’s healing. But it was an ordinary river and the instructions were given by the messenger of the prophet. It had to be. Naaman could only give credit where credit was due. "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel,” he proclaimed.
Naaman become a convert to the God of Israel. He wanted to worship God but at the time there was a belief that gods exercised their domain over a local area. So he asked Elisha if he could take two mule-loads of earth back home with him. This way he would be worshipping the God of Israel on Israel’s soil. Naaman wanted to worship the god who healed him. He wanted to pour out his appreciation and express his adoration for the one revealed to him as the only god in all the earth. He did have a concern. In spite of his revelation, he had a job to do. Part of his job was to bring his master into the house of the god Rimmon where they would both worship. Naaman asked Elisha if he could be pardoned for performing this part of his job. Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." If Naaman was bowing down before Rimmon with his body but not his heart, Elisha knew it wasn’t real worship.
The prophet Isaiah understood the same thing about the worship that the people of Israel performed to the God of Israel.
Isaiah 29:13, 14 The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.
(The Message) Psalm 51:15 – 17 Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
Worship is heart-driven and heart-felt. Naaman’s pride had been broken and his heart melted within him. The prophet Isaiah is burdened with grief that the people’s heart is far from God, even when they lift up their voices in praise. The Psalmist begs for God’s praise to be released from within.
We come to church to worship God. Our Sunday morning meeting time is called a worship service. In our prayers, praises, and songs first and foremost we are to draw our hearts near to God. Our worship is not our order of service; it is our adoration, thanksgiving, and openness to love. Our acts of worship bring together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. This is one way to experience the intersection of the temporal world and the transcendent world, just like we talked about a couple of weeks ago.
Our next reading is from The Book of the Revelation written by John of Patmos. He begins in the first chapter by telling us that he was “in the spirit on the Lord's day.” This is his account of the revelatory vision that he was given. In chapter 4 of this vision he writes this:
Rev 4:1 - 11
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Our worship of God – our adoration and praise – comes from a heart that is open to love, filled with humility, and has a desire to draw close to the Divine Beloved. Our worship needn’t be shame based. In other words, we don’t worship Jesus because we think we are wretched and miserable creatures. That seems to me to be a less than exuberant expression of adoration. When we prepare our hearts to give our devotion to God, we should remind ourselves of the glory of God, of God’s magnificence. We don’t praise because we are so awful. We praise because Jesus is so good!
When we worship we can see our own brokenness. That might be scary. But our broken heart can and needs to worship God. When we worship we can see our needs and our shortcomings. We are wonderfully and amazingly made by the God of whom the elders fall down to worship in The Book of the Revelation. We are not always shiny and perfect. But, we are created by the will of Jesus and in Jesus we have our life. This is the declaration of worship that the elders are making. Something like this is also said in The Book of Acts 17:28, "In God we live and move and have our being”
We come to church to worship together. I believe our souls become stronger when we worship. Our adoration for God doesn’t have to fade away during the week. We can honor God during the week by drawing near with our hearts no matter what we are doing. This then will also strengthen our worship time when we come together Sunday morning. Worship is an opportunity to break through our own brokenness and reach toward the wholeness that God offers in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves up to God’s healing touch, to a deepening of our souls, and to richer understanding of God’s beauty and glory.
In times of trouble, our worship can lift us up even if our circumstances don’t change.
In times of joy, our worship can help us express the depth of our joy.
In times of everyday ho-hum, our worship can fill us with purpose and motivation.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Why Come To Church (part 3) - Fellowship In Our Faith
So far we have talked about coming to church in order to Celebrate God and to highlight or mark times in our lives. This Sunday we are celebrating World Communion Sunday and we are starting our regular collection for our Neighbors in Need offering. The focus today is outward. Why do we come to church? For Fellowship In Our Faith.
There are two stories in the Book of Acts that caught my attention this week. They are stories of Paul’s travels.
Acts 16:11 – 15
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 20:2 – 12
When Paul had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas; but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.
It is true that we have a personal relationship with Jesus and that we pray directly to God. Even so, we are not alone in our faith. We congregate every week to celebrate our faith together. We join our voices, minds, hearts, and spirits in praise and worship to God. We have more than just our personal relationship with Jesus and individual idea about God – we have a communal relationship and understanding. Jesus gathered people together. He sent out the twelve to do great miracles, but then after they returned, according to the Gospel of Luke, he “appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Whenever they entered a town and its people welcomed them, they were to eat what was set before them; cure the sick who are there, and proclaim that, "The kingdom of God has come near.”
In order for Jesus to send out 72 people there had to be at least that many who were following him.
Jesus references the Kingdom of God over and over. The kingdom of God is like this and like that. In the old testament and the new testament, there is an expectation that people of faith want to gather together. Last week we read the teaching that the Sabbath is made for us humans, not us humans for the Sabbath. Likewise, church is meant for those who gather together as a community of faith. We don’t gather together as a community of faith for the sake of the church. The church supports and strengthens our faith walk. There is a church because we want there to be a church. We want to be in relationship not only with God, but with each other.
Coming to church should offer us support in our faith, in our families, and in our lives. Not just the act of coming to church on Sunday, but the relationships that we develop which last throughout the week. As people of faith we have a particular way of looking at life and dealing with situations. Church is our network of support to help us be who we feel called to really be, especially when faced with obstacles or temptations to go with the flow rather than living into our core values of love, compassion, mercy, and generosity.
In our first story about Paul it says, “On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.” Paul and his companions expected there to be a place of prayer on the Sabbath. There was no church steeple to beckon them. They knew the habits of the people and they wanted to gather with them. Paul took on the role of a teacher, as he often did. But afterward Lydia offered fellowship to Paul and his companions, asking them to stay at her home. We don’t know how long they stayed with Lydia and her family, but it was long enough to forge strong relationships.
If we continued reading that chapter we would hear the story of Paul and Silas in jail. After some pretty amazing things happen, the story ends in verse 40, “After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.” Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s home – the home of their friend and sibling in faith. The others of their fellowship gathered in Lydia’s home upon hearing of Paul and Silas’ release. Together they encouraged these sisters and brothers in Christ, and then left for Thessalonica.
In our second story we see that once again Paul is encouraging believers before he leaves for his next destination. Place after place, when they arrive at their destinations they continue their pattern of meeting on the first day of the week to break bread and fellowship in the faith. When Paul holds his all night session it is because he can’t stay long with this group of believers. He wants to share everything with them that he can. Paul’s goal is to build a strong foundation so that when he leaves they are equipped to continue.
Paul doesn’t just set up communities of faith and forget about them. He keeps in touch via letters and sending messages. He lets them know where he’s been and what he’s doing. He also lets the communities know what is going on with each other. He tells them to pray for each other and to be generous when there is need.
Those of you in this building, look around. (Those of you listening on the radio, close your eyes and envision yourself here in this building.) We need each other. We need to love each other and talk to each other about our faith. We also need to lift up our eyes and see our neighbors in need – those in our city and those all across the world. And then we need to lift up our spirits and remember that we are siblings in Christ with believers everywhere. The connection is real. The fellowship we share is real.
Paul laid the foundation for so many communities of Christians. All the work that Paul and the other apostles did live in the churches that gather today. We do not believe in isolation. We do not worship in isolation. And we do not break bread in isolation.
As we prepare our hearts for the sacrament of Communion, let us recall Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter. He says that we are to “discern the body.” This has a double meaning. We are to bring to mind the body of Jesus. We are also to bring to mind the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the church … the whole church. There are several references to this metaphor. Among them are:
Romans 12:4 & 5, “For as in one body we have many members; and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
And
Colossians 1:18, “Jesus is the head of the body, the church.”
We are members, one of another. Today we celebrate partaking of the body of Jesus as Christ’s body throughout the world. We have many articles from various places on our Communion Table. Clothes, plates, crosses, drinking vessels and more. We will also be hearing various language translations of the words of institution. Open up your hearts to one another and receive the blessing of being in a worldwide fellowship of faithful Christians.
There are two stories in the Book of Acts that caught my attention this week. They are stories of Paul’s travels.
Acts 16:11 – 15
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 20:2 – 12
When Paul had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas; but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.
It is true that we have a personal relationship with Jesus and that we pray directly to God. Even so, we are not alone in our faith. We congregate every week to celebrate our faith together. We join our voices, minds, hearts, and spirits in praise and worship to God. We have more than just our personal relationship with Jesus and individual idea about God – we have a communal relationship and understanding. Jesus gathered people together. He sent out the twelve to do great miracles, but then after they returned, according to the Gospel of Luke, he “appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Whenever they entered a town and its people welcomed them, they were to eat what was set before them; cure the sick who are there, and proclaim that, "The kingdom of God has come near.”
In order for Jesus to send out 72 people there had to be at least that many who were following him.
Jesus references the Kingdom of God over and over. The kingdom of God is like this and like that. In the old testament and the new testament, there is an expectation that people of faith want to gather together. Last week we read the teaching that the Sabbath is made for us humans, not us humans for the Sabbath. Likewise, church is meant for those who gather together as a community of faith. We don’t gather together as a community of faith for the sake of the church. The church supports and strengthens our faith walk. There is a church because we want there to be a church. We want to be in relationship not only with God, but with each other.
Coming to church should offer us support in our faith, in our families, and in our lives. Not just the act of coming to church on Sunday, but the relationships that we develop which last throughout the week. As people of faith we have a particular way of looking at life and dealing with situations. Church is our network of support to help us be who we feel called to really be, especially when faced with obstacles or temptations to go with the flow rather than living into our core values of love, compassion, mercy, and generosity.
In our first story about Paul it says, “On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.” Paul and his companions expected there to be a place of prayer on the Sabbath. There was no church steeple to beckon them. They knew the habits of the people and they wanted to gather with them. Paul took on the role of a teacher, as he often did. But afterward Lydia offered fellowship to Paul and his companions, asking them to stay at her home. We don’t know how long they stayed with Lydia and her family, but it was long enough to forge strong relationships.
If we continued reading that chapter we would hear the story of Paul and Silas in jail. After some pretty amazing things happen, the story ends in verse 40, “After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.” Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s home – the home of their friend and sibling in faith. The others of their fellowship gathered in Lydia’s home upon hearing of Paul and Silas’ release. Together they encouraged these sisters and brothers in Christ, and then left for Thessalonica.
In our second story we see that once again Paul is encouraging believers before he leaves for his next destination. Place after place, when they arrive at their destinations they continue their pattern of meeting on the first day of the week to break bread and fellowship in the faith. When Paul holds his all night session it is because he can’t stay long with this group of believers. He wants to share everything with them that he can. Paul’s goal is to build a strong foundation so that when he leaves they are equipped to continue.
Paul doesn’t just set up communities of faith and forget about them. He keeps in touch via letters and sending messages. He lets them know where he’s been and what he’s doing. He also lets the communities know what is going on with each other. He tells them to pray for each other and to be generous when there is need.
Those of you in this building, look around. (Those of you listening on the radio, close your eyes and envision yourself here in this building.) We need each other. We need to love each other and talk to each other about our faith. We also need to lift up our eyes and see our neighbors in need – those in our city and those all across the world. And then we need to lift up our spirits and remember that we are siblings in Christ with believers everywhere. The connection is real. The fellowship we share is real.
Paul laid the foundation for so many communities of Christians. All the work that Paul and the other apostles did live in the churches that gather today. We do not believe in isolation. We do not worship in isolation. And we do not break bread in isolation.
As we prepare our hearts for the sacrament of Communion, let us recall Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter. He says that we are to “discern the body.” This has a double meaning. We are to bring to mind the body of Jesus. We are also to bring to mind the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the church … the whole church. There are several references to this metaphor. Among them are:
Romans 12:4 & 5, “For as in one body we have many members; and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
And
Colossians 1:18, “Jesus is the head of the body, the church.”
We are members, one of another. Today we celebrate partaking of the body of Jesus as Christ’s body throughout the world. We have many articles from various places on our Communion Table. Clothes, plates, crosses, drinking vessels and more. We will also be hearing various language translations of the words of institution. Open up your hearts to one another and receive the blessing of being in a worldwide fellowship of faithful Christians.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Why Go To Church (Part 1) – Celebration
Texts: 2 Samuel 6:12 – 15 and Nehemiah 8:1b – 10
It is good to be back. Thank you for sending me to help lead worship last Sunday at First Congregational UCC in Elkhart. Together we celebrated the ministry of Anne Cubbage who has a new call to ministry in Massachusetts. There was singing, reading of scripture, teaching, exhortations, more singing, and dancing. It was a beautiful, if not a bittersweet, celebration. The air was electric with emotions and the presence of God was palpable.
I remember thinking, “This is a special celebration for a special time in this community. It is right that we are pulling out all the stops to make this a memorable occasion.” But then I began thinking. I walked into the church service anticipating being intensely engaged – emotionally and spiritually. And I was. I was fully present for what was happening. I know that this level of engagement is special and periodic, but I think there’s more to our weekly worship service than we give credit.
Every week we gather to be in the presence of God together. Every week we call upon the Holy Spirit within us in prayer and in praise. Every week we re-engage our intention to be followers of Jesus in a world that is rife with greed, exclusion, oppression, and violence. Coming to church is no small thing. Do we come to church every week anticipating a heightened engagement with our God? Why do we come to church? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why do we take the time Sunday morning to come to church (or to tune in on the radio)?
I have a couple of ideas. Some reasons we come to church …
To Worship God
For Fellowship in our Faith
To Mark Time in Our Lives
For Motivation in our Christian Walk
To Celebrate our Relationship with God
Today we are going to talk about coming to church to celebrate.
In the scripture passages we read, we heard about special days of celebration. Miriam led the women in dancing and singing after they were saved by God while fleeing from the Egyptians. David danced before God while bringing the Ark of the Covenant into The City of David. Ezra read the book of the law of Moses to the people. This wasn’t a weekly reading, but the first time the book had been read in a long time. You see, the Israelites had been taken captive and were exiled to Babylon for 50 years. When they returned to Israel and found their book it was a very exciting and holy time.
When Ezra opened the book of the law of Moses … after just opening it … “all the people stood up.” The story continues, “Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” Ezra hadn’t even begun to read the book yet. After he read from the book the people began crying. Ezra dismissed them saying, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Ezra is telling them to celebrate! Do you remember the teaching from Ecclesiastes, “Eat, drink, and be merry?” This is similar. Eat the fat, drink sweet wine, share with others, and rejoice! The joy of the Lord is your strength.
What all three of these celebrations have in common – Miriam’s dance, David’s dance, and Ezra’s reading of the book – is the intention of God’s people gathering in God’s presence. We do that every week.
We are so blessed! But because we gather every week it may feel commonplace to us. Gathering together to be in God’s presence as a community is awesome, even though we do it regularly. Coming to church isn’t just something we do; it is something God calls us to. God wants to be in relationship with us. Through Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit we are one with God and with each other. How then should we come to church? Should we not be anticipating the very presence of God? Should we not celebrate how awesome it is that we are reconciled to God in Christ? I believe church is an opportunity for us to engage our whole selves in the acts of worship and prayer, as well as fellowship with Christ and with each other.
Celebration means more than dancing and singing. Dancing and singing, raising our hands and bowing our heads are ways to celebrate, but where does all this come from? When we celebrate it is because we have some kind of investment in what is going on. Miriam, David, and Ezra were emotionally and spiritually invested in what was happening. They all had something at stake. They cared deeply.
What we celebrate indicates what we care about. Whether you’re a White Sox fan or a Cubs fan, you know what it means to celebrate. Whether you like the ballet or a mosh pit, you know what it means to celebrate. When your heart becomes attached to something, celebration of some kind is near.
When we are emotionally and spiritually invested in our relationship with God, celebration of some kind is near. We may not dance, although some of us may. What is important is engaging in the feelings as well as the rituals of our common time together. When we come to this place, (whether it is physically entering the building or turning on the radio,) do we anticipate being engaged by God? Are we looking forward to the experience of interacting with God together?
I know that it is unreasonable for us to expect the air to be electric with emotions and the presence of God palpable each and every Sunday. But I think it is very reasonable for us to come to church every Sunday knowing that this is a special time of the week. We come together to be in God’s presence. Together we lift our voices to God. Church is a place where we can increase our expectations of hearing and feeling our Divine Beloved without embarrassment or apprehension. Every week we recommit ourselves to the purpose of our baptism and to what we were confirmed – having a personal and a communal relationship with God. This, more than anything else that I can think of, is cause for celebration!
It is good to be back. Thank you for sending me to help lead worship last Sunday at First Congregational UCC in Elkhart. Together we celebrated the ministry of Anne Cubbage who has a new call to ministry in Massachusetts. There was singing, reading of scripture, teaching, exhortations, more singing, and dancing. It was a beautiful, if not a bittersweet, celebration. The air was electric with emotions and the presence of God was palpable.
I remember thinking, “This is a special celebration for a special time in this community. It is right that we are pulling out all the stops to make this a memorable occasion.” But then I began thinking. I walked into the church service anticipating being intensely engaged – emotionally and spiritually. And I was. I was fully present for what was happening. I know that this level of engagement is special and periodic, but I think there’s more to our weekly worship service than we give credit.
Every week we gather to be in the presence of God together. Every week we call upon the Holy Spirit within us in prayer and in praise. Every week we re-engage our intention to be followers of Jesus in a world that is rife with greed, exclusion, oppression, and violence. Coming to church is no small thing. Do we come to church every week anticipating a heightened engagement with our God? Why do we come to church? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why do we take the time Sunday morning to come to church (or to tune in on the radio)?
I have a couple of ideas. Some reasons we come to church …
To Worship God
For Fellowship in our Faith
To Mark Time in Our Lives
For Motivation in our Christian Walk
To Celebrate our Relationship with God
Today we are going to talk about coming to church to celebrate.
In the scripture passages we read, we heard about special days of celebration. Miriam led the women in dancing and singing after they were saved by God while fleeing from the Egyptians. David danced before God while bringing the Ark of the Covenant into The City of David. Ezra read the book of the law of Moses to the people. This wasn’t a weekly reading, but the first time the book had been read in a long time. You see, the Israelites had been taken captive and were exiled to Babylon for 50 years. When they returned to Israel and found their book it was a very exciting and holy time.
When Ezra opened the book of the law of Moses … after just opening it … “all the people stood up.” The story continues, “Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” Ezra hadn’t even begun to read the book yet. After he read from the book the people began crying. Ezra dismissed them saying, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Ezra is telling them to celebrate! Do you remember the teaching from Ecclesiastes, “Eat, drink, and be merry?” This is similar. Eat the fat, drink sweet wine, share with others, and rejoice! The joy of the Lord is your strength.
What all three of these celebrations have in common – Miriam’s dance, David’s dance, and Ezra’s reading of the book – is the intention of God’s people gathering in God’s presence. We do that every week.
We are so blessed! But because we gather every week it may feel commonplace to us. Gathering together to be in God’s presence as a community is awesome, even though we do it regularly. Coming to church isn’t just something we do; it is something God calls us to. God wants to be in relationship with us. Through Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit we are one with God and with each other. How then should we come to church? Should we not be anticipating the very presence of God? Should we not celebrate how awesome it is that we are reconciled to God in Christ? I believe church is an opportunity for us to engage our whole selves in the acts of worship and prayer, as well as fellowship with Christ and with each other.
Celebration means more than dancing and singing. Dancing and singing, raising our hands and bowing our heads are ways to celebrate, but where does all this come from? When we celebrate it is because we have some kind of investment in what is going on. Miriam, David, and Ezra were emotionally and spiritually invested in what was happening. They all had something at stake. They cared deeply.
What we celebrate indicates what we care about. Whether you’re a White Sox fan or a Cubs fan, you know what it means to celebrate. Whether you like the ballet or a mosh pit, you know what it means to celebrate. When your heart becomes attached to something, celebration of some kind is near.
When we are emotionally and spiritually invested in our relationship with God, celebration of some kind is near. We may not dance, although some of us may. What is important is engaging in the feelings as well as the rituals of our common time together. When we come to this place, (whether it is physically entering the building or turning on the radio,) do we anticipate being engaged by God? Are we looking forward to the experience of interacting with God together?
I know that it is unreasonable for us to expect the air to be electric with emotions and the presence of God palpable each and every Sunday. But I think it is very reasonable for us to come to church every Sunday knowing that this is a special time of the week. We come together to be in God’s presence. Together we lift our voices to God. Church is a place where we can increase our expectations of hearing and feeling our Divine Beloved without embarrassment or apprehension. Every week we recommit ourselves to the purpose of our baptism and to what we were confirmed – having a personal and a communal relationship with God. This, more than anything else that I can think of, is cause for celebration!
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Holy Labor, Holy Rest
Ecclesiastes is my favourite book of the Bible. In it the writer, who only names themselves as “The Teacher, son of David, king of Israel,” probes the difficult questions. This person looks at dreams, hopes, riches, poverty, health, sickness, wisdom, folly and work. Some find this writing to be depressing. It is surprising in its candor, but I think the conclusions are insightful and hopeful.
The two sections that I’m going to read are specifically about work. The word used in this translation is toil. These are the sections where I see hope. Because this book is so dense, I think it helps to begin seeing some of the Teacher’s conclusions, otherwise it is easy to become overwhelmed.
Ecc 2:22 – 24 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from God who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
Ecc 3:9 – 15 What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. God has made everything suitable for its time; and moreover has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.
There’s a song that I think speaks to this. It’s from the musical, “Godspell.”
We plow the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land..
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand.
God sends us snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain
The breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain
All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above
Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all this love.
We thank thee then, O Father,
for all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest,
our life our health our food,
No gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts
But that which thou desirest,
our humble thankful hearts!
All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above..
Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all this love.
I have been listening to this song a lot lately. It captures the simplicity of praise for our basic human needs. It mirrors the exhortation from The Teacher who said, “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”
The Teacher also acknowledges that we mortals toil and strain, that our days are full of pain and that our work is a vexation. The Teacher knows that even at night our minds do not rest. This is counted as vanity. This kind of vanity indicates an emptiness … that these things are like a vapor or a chasing after the wind. There’s nothing concrete to it. There’s a lacking in substance. The substance comes in partaking of God’s gifts – eating, drinking, and taking pleasure in what we do.
There may be some of you who have had experiences like me. I have had some pretty rotten jobs. Enjoying the toil with which I toil under the sun is easy now, especially compared to other times in my life. There were times I felt like all I was doing was striving after the wind and living in a vapor. Praising God for the good gifts in my life did not come easy. If it was not for that sense of past and future that The Teacher says God puts in our minds, I would have been hard pressed to praise at all. Knowing that what I was going through at some point would be the past and holding on to hope for a better future gave me some courage and strength to praise God.
Along with that, I found I could lift my voice and my life as a praise to God with my understanding of this teaching, “they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” On the one hand it might feel like a negative thing that we cannot find out. But on the other hand, it opens up the mystery of God. We can not predict God. We do not know the beginning and we cannot know the end. We can only live in now. While we are in “now,” where is our praise?
If you are someone who has a lot, praise might come easily. Or it might be easy to forget to praise. If you are someone who has nothing, praise might be difficult. Or it might be easy to see the gifts of God because up against the rest of life they are easy to spot. Regardless of where you are in life, according to Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This… is from the hand of God; for apart from God who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”
Monday we celebrate a national holiday, Labor Day. It began as a holiday for the working-person; for those people who did not get regular vacations and days off. Now it seems that many people are required to work on this holiday, people who could probably really use the day off. People need days off. We need to have a regular Sabbath. Just like our toil is given to us from God, so is our rest. In Ecclesiastes 8:15 The Teacher writes, “So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.“
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. It doesn’t matter how you make your money. It doesn’t matter if you spend most of your time looking for a job, taking care of kids, wrestling with a disease, being CEO of a company, or digging ditches … we all need a Sabbath. It is a gift from God.
Every moment of every day is precious. Gifts of God are holy gifts. Our toil is holy. Our rest is holy. We come to church to draw near to God as a community. The time we spend here is sacred and important. Our communal worship is an opportunity to lean on one another, to pray together, to remember that we are not alone in our life and in our faith. It is also a time where we can actively let go of our toil and shrug off that which is heavy and painful.
However, it is important for us to understand that the rest of life is holy and sacred. How you live your life makes a difference. How you work and how you rest can glorify God or not. How you speak to your friends, what you post on Facebook, how you drive, the way you look at people wherever you go can honor the gifts that God has given you or not.
Your work is holy. Your rest is holy. When we come together to worship, to share this communion meal, to pray and to praise we are gathering together all the gifts that God has given us. You are a gift to this community. This community is a gift to you. God is present in every moment of every day. Open up your awareness of the holiness that surrounds you. Remind each other that God is present. When you work, remember that if it is possible, it is a good thing to find enjoyment in your toil. When you rest, remember that God has given this to you as a gift as well.
We live in the mystery of God’s presence. God's gifts to us are simple; that all should eat, drink, take pleasure in all their toil, and enjoy themselves.
The two sections that I’m going to read are specifically about work. The word used in this translation is toil. These are the sections where I see hope. Because this book is so dense, I think it helps to begin seeing some of the Teacher’s conclusions, otherwise it is easy to become overwhelmed.
Ecc 2:22 – 24 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from God who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
Ecc 3:9 – 15 What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. God has made everything suitable for its time; and moreover has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.
There’s a song that I think speaks to this. It’s from the musical, “Godspell.”
We plow the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land..
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand.
God sends us snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain
The breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain
All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above
Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all this love.
We thank thee then, O Father,
for all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest,
our life our health our food,
No gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts
But that which thou desirest,
our humble thankful hearts!
All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above..
Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all this love.
I have been listening to this song a lot lately. It captures the simplicity of praise for our basic human needs. It mirrors the exhortation from The Teacher who said, “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”
The Teacher also acknowledges that we mortals toil and strain, that our days are full of pain and that our work is a vexation. The Teacher knows that even at night our minds do not rest. This is counted as vanity. This kind of vanity indicates an emptiness … that these things are like a vapor or a chasing after the wind. There’s nothing concrete to it. There’s a lacking in substance. The substance comes in partaking of God’s gifts – eating, drinking, and taking pleasure in what we do.
There may be some of you who have had experiences like me. I have had some pretty rotten jobs. Enjoying the toil with which I toil under the sun is easy now, especially compared to other times in my life. There were times I felt like all I was doing was striving after the wind and living in a vapor. Praising God for the good gifts in my life did not come easy. If it was not for that sense of past and future that The Teacher says God puts in our minds, I would have been hard pressed to praise at all. Knowing that what I was going through at some point would be the past and holding on to hope for a better future gave me some courage and strength to praise God.
Along with that, I found I could lift my voice and my life as a praise to God with my understanding of this teaching, “they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” On the one hand it might feel like a negative thing that we cannot find out. But on the other hand, it opens up the mystery of God. We can not predict God. We do not know the beginning and we cannot know the end. We can only live in now. While we are in “now,” where is our praise?
If you are someone who has a lot, praise might come easily. Or it might be easy to forget to praise. If you are someone who has nothing, praise might be difficult. Or it might be easy to see the gifts of God because up against the rest of life they are easy to spot. Regardless of where you are in life, according to Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This… is from the hand of God; for apart from God who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”
Monday we celebrate a national holiday, Labor Day. It began as a holiday for the working-person; for those people who did not get regular vacations and days off. Now it seems that many people are required to work on this holiday, people who could probably really use the day off. People need days off. We need to have a regular Sabbath. Just like our toil is given to us from God, so is our rest. In Ecclesiastes 8:15 The Teacher writes, “So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.“
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. It doesn’t matter how you make your money. It doesn’t matter if you spend most of your time looking for a job, taking care of kids, wrestling with a disease, being CEO of a company, or digging ditches … we all need a Sabbath. It is a gift from God.
Every moment of every day is precious. Gifts of God are holy gifts. Our toil is holy. Our rest is holy. We come to church to draw near to God as a community. The time we spend here is sacred and important. Our communal worship is an opportunity to lean on one another, to pray together, to remember that we are not alone in our life and in our faith. It is also a time where we can actively let go of our toil and shrug off that which is heavy and painful.
However, it is important for us to understand that the rest of life is holy and sacred. How you live your life makes a difference. How you work and how you rest can glorify God or not. How you speak to your friends, what you post on Facebook, how you drive, the way you look at people wherever you go can honor the gifts that God has given you or not.
Your work is holy. Your rest is holy. When we come together to worship, to share this communion meal, to pray and to praise we are gathering together all the gifts that God has given us. You are a gift to this community. This community is a gift to you. God is present in every moment of every day. Open up your awareness of the holiness that surrounds you. Remind each other that God is present. When you work, remember that if it is possible, it is a good thing to find enjoyment in your toil. When you rest, remember that God has given this to you as a gift as well.
We live in the mystery of God’s presence. God's gifts to us are simple; that all should eat, drink, take pleasure in all their toil, and enjoy themselves.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Radical Love
Romans 12:9-21
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Forty eight years ago today, these words from the book of Romans were lived out by a group of people seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These people were led by a Baptist minister from the south, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was on this day, August 28, 1963 that Rev. King led the March on Washington and delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.
What an amazing speech. Each time I read it I see something new, I understand something deeper, I am inspired and I am humbled. In my lifetime, albeit barely for I was only three months old, there was an uprising of the oppressed that has, just as Rev King predicted, gone “down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”
I have met people who were on that march and who heard Rev. King that day. I have heard people speak about being there. I have friends for whom that march was a turning point in their lives. This is history that is meaningful to me in an immediate and relevant way. It is also hope for a future that I can grapple with and make sense out of. Furthermore, it relates to me now as I look around and see the plights of which Rev King spoke. I understand his metaphors, his references, and his idioms.
So much of history we understand as stories from the distant past. We relate to them in a more detached way and try to apply their theories or teachings to our lives today. This is especially true of our most ancient sacred writings. The Bible that guides us and helps us shape our lives was written so very long ago and over a long span of time. It has been translated, interpreted, and retranslated. We work hard to understand the various writers, their audiences, the way their cultures worked, their metaphors, allegories, references, and idioms. Our lives are so much different now. Medicine, travel, communications, food, and so many other aspects of our lives are beyond what our ancient sacred writers could have anticipated. We look for the core values presented in these writings and build our lives on them.
Sometimes it’s a struggle to attach our lives to our sacred writings. We try to figure out how what was written so long ago can be relevant for us today. Even out of our reading today from Romans, something that seems pretty core-value oriented, I have heard a variety of interpretations. Some have used parts of this passage in counseling to insist that an abused woman stay in her home. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”
I have heard leaders tell those who are victims of racism to not stand up for themselves but to let God handle it. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them.”
These kinds of interpretations only serve the powerful. They leave those who are oppressed and struggling; those who are victimized and abused with no autonomy or agency. But that is not how Jesus lived. Neither did Paul or Peter live that way. Our Christian ancestors were people of action. They addressed injustice. That was part of the good news. After all, in Luke chapter 4 we hear Jesus proclaim, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." This is the good news!! It’s also a lot of work … a lot of action!!
Martin Luther King, Jr. took on the call of Christ. He spread the good news through his speaking, preaching, writing and actions. From his “I Have A Dream” speech I think we can understand the heart of what Jesus proclaimed in Luke and what Paul wrote to the Romans.
There was an urgency with which Jesus, Paul, and Rev King spoke. Jesus says the spirit of the Lord is upon him. We know from other times in scripture that when the spirit of the Lord is on someone they act with passion, intention, and urgency.
Paul writes, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.”
Dr. King writes, “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
Now is the time. Do not lag in zeal. Be ardent in spirit. God sends us to proclaim and take action. Understanding what was happening with the oppressed in Jesus’ time and Paul’s time is not always easy. As Christians today here in the United States we don’t have the same obstructions to our faith. We freely come and go to church. We can have conversations about our different denominations, argue about theology with one another, and generally assume that we can live out our Christianity in the open. Jesus and Paul did not have the same luxury. Both got into trouble with some frequency. Sometimes they had to sneak away because people were coming after them to send them to jail, beat them or kill them. This is troubling and we can appreciate what they went through, but it is not our experience.
Dr. King’s speech, spoken only 48 years ago, was delivered to our people. He spoke of how the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 100 years prior, and yet, he said, “we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Although much has improved in the last 48 years, when we look around we can still see “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” holding our sisters and brothers of color. In spite of the fact that we have a black president, that Oprah is one of the most celebrated and wealthy people in the world, and that we laud the accomplishments of Nelson Mandela, still Sunday morning worship is the most segregated time of the week. It is still too often true that when a white person and a black person walk into a hospital, the white person will be seen first. It is still too often true that when a person of color is shopping and a white person is shopping, the person of color is followed as if they are going to steal.
This brings alive to me the words of Paul, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” Here is the relevance that we need to attach our lives to these ancient scriptures. Rev. King was reaching backward and forward, holding together these ancient commands with our present day trials. He applied the core values from the messages of Jesus and Paul to the needs of the day.
There is a caution though. With a zealous heart and spirit many have succumbed to the use of force and violence to bring about the peaceable kingdom of God. This doesn’t work. Jesus knew that. Paul knew that too. He writes to the Romans, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Paul also says, “Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God.” Sometimes our emotions become so strong that we think whatever we do for the cause is the right thing to do. Be zealous, but don’t let your zeal confuse you. In our attempts to be good allies with the oppressed or when we are working for our own liberty, we can do foolish things that are not spirit led.
Rev. King knew this too. He said, “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. “
Jesus, Paul, and Rev King espoused non-violence as a way for people of faith to address oppression and violence. As we unfold the stories of Paul and Rev King in parallel, let us consider the words of Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee. In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize presentation speech to Rev. King he said,
“He is the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence. He is the first to make the message of brotherly love a reality in the course of his struggle, and he has brought this message to all men, to all nations and races.
Today we pay tribute to Martin Luther King, the man who has never abandoned his faith in the unarmed struggle he is waging, who has suffered for his faith, who has been imprisoned on many occasions, whose home has been subject to bomb attacks, whose life and the lives of his family have been threatened, and who nevertheless has never faltered.”
To this undaunted champion of peace the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has awarded the Peace Prize for the year 1964.”
Paul says of himself when writing to the church in Corinth,
“I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.”
Jesus, Paul, and Rev King were willing to go through whatever had to happen as they came against violence and oppression. I do not believe that we all have this kind of calling. Some of us are called to work at the foundations, offering support and strength. Others of us are called to assist with the details. Still others have a calling to prepare the way. Whatever the calling, the core values of Christ remain. We hear these values in Paul’s words today and we hear them and see them in the life of Rev King.
Paul’s words are inspiring and challenging, but sometimes they sound so far away. It is easy to consider them theoretical and ideals. Looking at the ministry of Rev. King we see these ideals and theories put into practice. We are challenged in a different way, in a practical way. It makes me wonder for myself, “Can I make this my life? Do I have what it takes to be the follower of Christ that I want to be?’ Then I look at Rev. King and realize that I have to at least try. I read the words of Paul and remember Christ’s words of good news in Luke. I know that I am standing on the shoulders of centuries of the good witness and faithfulness of the children of God who said, “Yes.”
Then I wonder, where am I going to find the strength? Where are we going to find the strength? Where did they find their strength? For me, the strongest answer is love. Not emotional love that comes and goes depending on circumstances. Not that which is called love but is often guilt or acts of will. I find my strength in the radical love of God. I see the love of Christ toward us as he endured the cross. I see the love of Christ in Paul as he endured beatings, prison, and more. I see the love of Christ in Rev. King as he endured bomb threats, prison and attacks on his life.
Paul’s instruction to the Romans is his instruction to us today. “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.” In 1st Cor 13 Paul writes, “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing”
We don’t even have to like one another to love one another, although it is much more pleasant when we do. We don’t have to know one another to love one another, although it is much more inspiring when we do. Radical love is showering each other with mutual affection and honoring one another above ourselves. Radical love will cause us to run out in the middle of the street to save a child from an oncoming car. We don’t always call that love, but I contend that it is. Radical love will lead us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Rejoicing and weeping with people means that we have heard their stories, we are honoring their experiences, and we are one with their response. How can we take on the call of Christ to “proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,” without first weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice? Without radical love, how can we “Live in harmony with one another; … not be haughty, … associate with the lowly; … not claim to be wiser than (we) are?” Radical love enables us, as far as it depends on us, to “live peaceably with all.”
Living peaceably with all is the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is what Paul wrote to the Romans. Living peaceably with all is the good news that Jesus proclaimed. It isn’t just a theory or an ideal. It isn’t something so far off that we cannot attach our lives to it. Living peaceably with all is the goal of our Christian faith. When we live in radical love, we will find the strength and the passion to live this dream and to proclaim this good news.
As he wrote to the Ephesians, with Paul I pray that, according to the riches of God’s glory, God grants you strength in your inner being with power through the Holy Spirit. I pray that Christ dwells in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.”
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Forty eight years ago today, these words from the book of Romans were lived out by a group of people seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These people were led by a Baptist minister from the south, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was on this day, August 28, 1963 that Rev. King led the March on Washington and delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.
What an amazing speech. Each time I read it I see something new, I understand something deeper, I am inspired and I am humbled. In my lifetime, albeit barely for I was only three months old, there was an uprising of the oppressed that has, just as Rev King predicted, gone “down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”
I have met people who were on that march and who heard Rev. King that day. I have heard people speak about being there. I have friends for whom that march was a turning point in their lives. This is history that is meaningful to me in an immediate and relevant way. It is also hope for a future that I can grapple with and make sense out of. Furthermore, it relates to me now as I look around and see the plights of which Rev King spoke. I understand his metaphors, his references, and his idioms.
So much of history we understand as stories from the distant past. We relate to them in a more detached way and try to apply their theories or teachings to our lives today. This is especially true of our most ancient sacred writings. The Bible that guides us and helps us shape our lives was written so very long ago and over a long span of time. It has been translated, interpreted, and retranslated. We work hard to understand the various writers, their audiences, the way their cultures worked, their metaphors, allegories, references, and idioms. Our lives are so much different now. Medicine, travel, communications, food, and so many other aspects of our lives are beyond what our ancient sacred writers could have anticipated. We look for the core values presented in these writings and build our lives on them.
Sometimes it’s a struggle to attach our lives to our sacred writings. We try to figure out how what was written so long ago can be relevant for us today. Even out of our reading today from Romans, something that seems pretty core-value oriented, I have heard a variety of interpretations. Some have used parts of this passage in counseling to insist that an abused woman stay in her home. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”
I have heard leaders tell those who are victims of racism to not stand up for themselves but to let God handle it. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them.”
These kinds of interpretations only serve the powerful. They leave those who are oppressed and struggling; those who are victimized and abused with no autonomy or agency. But that is not how Jesus lived. Neither did Paul or Peter live that way. Our Christian ancestors were people of action. They addressed injustice. That was part of the good news. After all, in Luke chapter 4 we hear Jesus proclaim, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." This is the good news!! It’s also a lot of work … a lot of action!!
Martin Luther King, Jr. took on the call of Christ. He spread the good news through his speaking, preaching, writing and actions. From his “I Have A Dream” speech I think we can understand the heart of what Jesus proclaimed in Luke and what Paul wrote to the Romans.
There was an urgency with which Jesus, Paul, and Rev King spoke. Jesus says the spirit of the Lord is upon him. We know from other times in scripture that when the spirit of the Lord is on someone they act with passion, intention, and urgency.
Paul writes, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.”
Dr. King writes, “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
Now is the time. Do not lag in zeal. Be ardent in spirit. God sends us to proclaim and take action. Understanding what was happening with the oppressed in Jesus’ time and Paul’s time is not always easy. As Christians today here in the United States we don’t have the same obstructions to our faith. We freely come and go to church. We can have conversations about our different denominations, argue about theology with one another, and generally assume that we can live out our Christianity in the open. Jesus and Paul did not have the same luxury. Both got into trouble with some frequency. Sometimes they had to sneak away because people were coming after them to send them to jail, beat them or kill them. This is troubling and we can appreciate what they went through, but it is not our experience.
Dr. King’s speech, spoken only 48 years ago, was delivered to our people. He spoke of how the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 100 years prior, and yet, he said, “we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Although much has improved in the last 48 years, when we look around we can still see “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” holding our sisters and brothers of color. In spite of the fact that we have a black president, that Oprah is one of the most celebrated and wealthy people in the world, and that we laud the accomplishments of Nelson Mandela, still Sunday morning worship is the most segregated time of the week. It is still too often true that when a white person and a black person walk into a hospital, the white person will be seen first. It is still too often true that when a person of color is shopping and a white person is shopping, the person of color is followed as if they are going to steal.
This brings alive to me the words of Paul, “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” Here is the relevance that we need to attach our lives to these ancient scriptures. Rev. King was reaching backward and forward, holding together these ancient commands with our present day trials. He applied the core values from the messages of Jesus and Paul to the needs of the day.
There is a caution though. With a zealous heart and spirit many have succumbed to the use of force and violence to bring about the peaceable kingdom of God. This doesn’t work. Jesus knew that. Paul knew that too. He writes to the Romans, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Paul also says, “Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God.” Sometimes our emotions become so strong that we think whatever we do for the cause is the right thing to do. Be zealous, but don’t let your zeal confuse you. In our attempts to be good allies with the oppressed or when we are working for our own liberty, we can do foolish things that are not spirit led.
Rev. King knew this too. He said, “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. “
Jesus, Paul, and Rev King espoused non-violence as a way for people of faith to address oppression and violence. As we unfold the stories of Paul and Rev King in parallel, let us consider the words of Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee. In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize presentation speech to Rev. King he said,
“He is the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence. He is the first to make the message of brotherly love a reality in the course of his struggle, and he has brought this message to all men, to all nations and races.
Today we pay tribute to Martin Luther King, the man who has never abandoned his faith in the unarmed struggle he is waging, who has suffered for his faith, who has been imprisoned on many occasions, whose home has been subject to bomb attacks, whose life and the lives of his family have been threatened, and who nevertheless has never faltered.”
To this undaunted champion of peace the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has awarded the Peace Prize for the year 1964.”
Paul says of himself when writing to the church in Corinth,
“I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.”
Jesus, Paul, and Rev King were willing to go through whatever had to happen as they came against violence and oppression. I do not believe that we all have this kind of calling. Some of us are called to work at the foundations, offering support and strength. Others of us are called to assist with the details. Still others have a calling to prepare the way. Whatever the calling, the core values of Christ remain. We hear these values in Paul’s words today and we hear them and see them in the life of Rev King.
Paul’s words are inspiring and challenging, but sometimes they sound so far away. It is easy to consider them theoretical and ideals. Looking at the ministry of Rev. King we see these ideals and theories put into practice. We are challenged in a different way, in a practical way. It makes me wonder for myself, “Can I make this my life? Do I have what it takes to be the follower of Christ that I want to be?’ Then I look at Rev. King and realize that I have to at least try. I read the words of Paul and remember Christ’s words of good news in Luke. I know that I am standing on the shoulders of centuries of the good witness and faithfulness of the children of God who said, “Yes.”
Then I wonder, where am I going to find the strength? Where are we going to find the strength? Where did they find their strength? For me, the strongest answer is love. Not emotional love that comes and goes depending on circumstances. Not that which is called love but is often guilt or acts of will. I find my strength in the radical love of God. I see the love of Christ toward us as he endured the cross. I see the love of Christ in Paul as he endured beatings, prison, and more. I see the love of Christ in Rev. King as he endured bomb threats, prison and attacks on his life.
Paul’s instruction to the Romans is his instruction to us today. “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.” In 1st Cor 13 Paul writes, “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing”
We don’t even have to like one another to love one another, although it is much more pleasant when we do. We don’t have to know one another to love one another, although it is much more inspiring when we do. Radical love is showering each other with mutual affection and honoring one another above ourselves. Radical love will cause us to run out in the middle of the street to save a child from an oncoming car. We don’t always call that love, but I contend that it is. Radical love will lead us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Rejoicing and weeping with people means that we have heard their stories, we are honoring their experiences, and we are one with their response. How can we take on the call of Christ to “proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,” without first weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice? Without radical love, how can we “Live in harmony with one another; … not be haughty, … associate with the lowly; … not claim to be wiser than (we) are?” Radical love enables us, as far as it depends on us, to “live peaceably with all.”
Living peaceably with all is the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is what Paul wrote to the Romans. Living peaceably with all is the good news that Jesus proclaimed. It isn’t just a theory or an ideal. It isn’t something so far off that we cannot attach our lives to it. Living peaceably with all is the goal of our Christian faith. When we live in radical love, we will find the strength and the passion to live this dream and to proclaim this good news.
As he wrote to the Ephesians, with Paul I pray that, according to the riches of God’s glory, God grants you strength in your inner being with power through the Holy Spirit. I pray that Christ dwells in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.”
Friday, August 26, 2011
Welcoming
Text: Mark 9:30 - 41
Jesus was having some private teaching time with his disciples. He wanted them to understand that his fate was the cross and resurrection. I can understand why the disciples had a difficult time understanding what Jesus was telling them. Or maybe they didn't want to understand what Jesus was telling them. After all, things were going so well. They were miraculously feeding thousands of people, healing the sick, raising the dead, delivering people from demons, and whenever Jesus got into a scrape with the lawyers or religious leaders, he always got out of it. That he would talk about being betrayed and killed just didn't make sense. And what did "rise in three days" mean?
They understood what was important to them. Figuring out who was going to be the greatest amoung them ... that was the important stuff. I can hear their argument. One of them boasts of how many sick people they've healed. Another boasts of how often Jesus confides in them. Another boasts of how much scripture they know. Then someone counters the one who claims to have healed the most with a higher number. And so it goes ... one boast after another; a counter to this statement and that claim. I'm the greatest. No, I'm the greatest. Their heads and hearts were full of what lay ahead of them for the future ... the glory, the power, the admiration of people everywhere. They were the in-crowd.
Finally they came to the house where they were staying. Every one of them probably thought they made some very good points as to why they were the greatest. Jesus knew what was going on. He knew that they hadn't understood a word of what he was saying because of their distraction. Here they were, all puffed up with their own importance ... that is until Jesus asked them about what they were arguing. Then silence fell on them. They knew they were wrong. Jesus tells them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." He could see the confusion on their faces so in the silence of the disciples’ embarrassment, Jesus draws a young one near. He uses the example of being welcoming ... of being hospitable. He identifies himself with the child. The disciples were treating him as a kind of celebrity and enjoying being his entourage and gaining their own acclaim. But Jesus explains that being first means caring, giving, and sharing. Jesus explains that those who care for the weakest and most vulnerable are in effect caring for him. Consequently, those who care for him are caring for the one who sent him.
At this point, the disciple John blurts out that they saw someone casting out demons in the name of Jesus and they tried to stop him, because he was not one of their in-group. I honestly can’t believe that John thought that would bode well with Jesus after the teaching on welcoming even a child and the whole idea of the last being first. Hadn’t John realized they were being chastised for arguing about who was greatest? And yet, here he was being proud that they found this outsider and attempted to put the kibosh on his ministry. They still didn’t get it. Since the metaphors and gentle teaching methods aren’t working, Jesus resorts to plain old correction. "Do not stop him,” he says. “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
As detached as these teachings sound, they are all about the same thing. The kingdom of heaven on earth is not about who is the greatest and who is the least. It is not about evaluating someone’s ministry or life based on whether they are a part of your special group. The kingdom of God is about having a servant’s heart. It is about welcoming the weakest and most vulnerable.
Welcoming a child seems like a basic idea. How can this be a deep theological lesson? Well, in a way, it is basic. And yet it is easy to relegate the care of a child to their guardian and to pass them by without a thought. They have guardians who are supposed to tend to their needs and make sure they are safe, so there is no need to welcome them. But what if we did? What if we welcomed the children around us? To welcome means to take pleasure in their presence and to let them know. Welcoming a little child means bending down, listening carefully, taking time, and respecting the child as a person.
But it isn’t just children. Remember that this teaching began with Jesus saying that, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." There are so many people that we pass by without noticing. It is easy to pass by someone and not really think of them as a person. This is especially easy with those who are the most vulnerable. It takes time to respect everyone as a person. It takes thought to consider the context of someone’s life.
And it’s easy to turn this lesson around. For those of us who are not the most vulnerable it may feel like our personhood is being taken away from us. We might think, “Hey, what about my life? What about someone paying attention to me? What about me being made to feel important and respected?” I think this is what happened in John’s head when he blurted out about trying to stop the guy casting out demons. Maybe he thought it wasn’t fair that someone else could perform a miracle without having to spend the time in mentorship with Jesus. He and the other disciples were paying their dues and so should everyone else. According to Jesus, that’s not how it works.
Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” This is a radical statement. All too often we believe that those who are not for us are against us. Believing the teaching of Jesus means not investing so much in the idea that we have to know who is against us. It means not focusing on the notion of us and them. Instead we can focus on welcoming the little children, the vulnerable, and those whose life and ministry may be different than ours but equally glorifying to God.
It is easy to get into the habit of looking for who is doing things the right way (our way) and who is doing things the wrong way (not our way). When we hear the teaching of Christ that, “Whoever is not against us is for us,” we end up with a lot more people for us than against us. And we end up being for a whole lot more people than we are against. This is great in theory, but in practice we might be a little put back to find out who isn’t actually against us. Like the disciple John, it can disturb us when folks don’t live like we do and yet claim to be one of us. We can be particular of whom we become compared to or associated with.
Take, for instance, our desire for church growth. We want the church to grow in numbers and in passion. We want God to be glorified because of the faith and works of this church. As the Holy Spirit moves in this congregation, do we have certain ideas of how we want our church to grow? Are there certain ways of living out faith and performing works of ministry that are more or less acceptable? Or do we have open spirits and minds?
It can be difficult for new people to enter a community that has a long history of doing things a certain way. It can also be difficult for a community to let go of the certain ways they do things. If our community is to grow, we have to be flexible to the moving of the Holy Spirit. We have to listen carefully, take time, and respect everyone as the person they are. Jesus drawing near the little child can be our example of how to be welcoming. The disciple John can be our example of how to not be critical and proprietary. Our community will change in many ways as we grow in number.
As we continue to look forward, let us remember that we are not seeking to become the greatest, but rather we must seek to become the least and to be servants of all. Those who are most vulnerable we must welcome with love and respect. Things will not become out of control because of change, but we may be pushed outside of our comfort zone. The more we are open to the gifts and wisdom that others have to offer, the more opportunities we will have to thrive. When we mix the gifts and wisdom that we have in this community already with those who desire to share their gifts and wisdom with us, we will find God being glorified in beautiful and diverse ways – ways that are unimaginable to us now.
Believe this with me. Be open to the possibilities. Let us continue to imagine anew who we are and who we are becoming. Our own diverse wisdoms will surface in new and wonderful ways. As people come to our community, let us honor them with our care and be excited to hear their wisdoms. The more we listen and share, the more we welcome one such child in Jesus’ name, the more we welcome Christ and the one who sent Christ. The revelation of God in our midst will increase as we increase our welcome and rejoice in the ministries that unfold around us.
Jesus was having some private teaching time with his disciples. He wanted them to understand that his fate was the cross and resurrection. I can understand why the disciples had a difficult time understanding what Jesus was telling them. Or maybe they didn't want to understand what Jesus was telling them. After all, things were going so well. They were miraculously feeding thousands of people, healing the sick, raising the dead, delivering people from demons, and whenever Jesus got into a scrape with the lawyers or religious leaders, he always got out of it. That he would talk about being betrayed and killed just didn't make sense. And what did "rise in three days" mean?
They understood what was important to them. Figuring out who was going to be the greatest amoung them ... that was the important stuff. I can hear their argument. One of them boasts of how many sick people they've healed. Another boasts of how often Jesus confides in them. Another boasts of how much scripture they know. Then someone counters the one who claims to have healed the most with a higher number. And so it goes ... one boast after another; a counter to this statement and that claim. I'm the greatest. No, I'm the greatest. Their heads and hearts were full of what lay ahead of them for the future ... the glory, the power, the admiration of people everywhere. They were the in-crowd.
Finally they came to the house where they were staying. Every one of them probably thought they made some very good points as to why they were the greatest. Jesus knew what was going on. He knew that they hadn't understood a word of what he was saying because of their distraction. Here they were, all puffed up with their own importance ... that is until Jesus asked them about what they were arguing. Then silence fell on them. They knew they were wrong. Jesus tells them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." He could see the confusion on their faces so in the silence of the disciples’ embarrassment, Jesus draws a young one near. He uses the example of being welcoming ... of being hospitable. He identifies himself with the child. The disciples were treating him as a kind of celebrity and enjoying being his entourage and gaining their own acclaim. But Jesus explains that being first means caring, giving, and sharing. Jesus explains that those who care for the weakest and most vulnerable are in effect caring for him. Consequently, those who care for him are caring for the one who sent him.
At this point, the disciple John blurts out that they saw someone casting out demons in the name of Jesus and they tried to stop him, because he was not one of their in-group. I honestly can’t believe that John thought that would bode well with Jesus after the teaching on welcoming even a child and the whole idea of the last being first. Hadn’t John realized they were being chastised for arguing about who was greatest? And yet, here he was being proud that they found this outsider and attempted to put the kibosh on his ministry. They still didn’t get it. Since the metaphors and gentle teaching methods aren’t working, Jesus resorts to plain old correction. "Do not stop him,” he says. “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
As detached as these teachings sound, they are all about the same thing. The kingdom of heaven on earth is not about who is the greatest and who is the least. It is not about evaluating someone’s ministry or life based on whether they are a part of your special group. The kingdom of God is about having a servant’s heart. It is about welcoming the weakest and most vulnerable.
Welcoming a child seems like a basic idea. How can this be a deep theological lesson? Well, in a way, it is basic. And yet it is easy to relegate the care of a child to their guardian and to pass them by without a thought. They have guardians who are supposed to tend to their needs and make sure they are safe, so there is no need to welcome them. But what if we did? What if we welcomed the children around us? To welcome means to take pleasure in their presence and to let them know. Welcoming a little child means bending down, listening carefully, taking time, and respecting the child as a person.
But it isn’t just children. Remember that this teaching began with Jesus saying that, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." There are so many people that we pass by without noticing. It is easy to pass by someone and not really think of them as a person. This is especially easy with those who are the most vulnerable. It takes time to respect everyone as a person. It takes thought to consider the context of someone’s life.
And it’s easy to turn this lesson around. For those of us who are not the most vulnerable it may feel like our personhood is being taken away from us. We might think, “Hey, what about my life? What about someone paying attention to me? What about me being made to feel important and respected?” I think this is what happened in John’s head when he blurted out about trying to stop the guy casting out demons. Maybe he thought it wasn’t fair that someone else could perform a miracle without having to spend the time in mentorship with Jesus. He and the other disciples were paying their dues and so should everyone else. According to Jesus, that’s not how it works.
Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” This is a radical statement. All too often we believe that those who are not for us are against us. Believing the teaching of Jesus means not investing so much in the idea that we have to know who is against us. It means not focusing on the notion of us and them. Instead we can focus on welcoming the little children, the vulnerable, and those whose life and ministry may be different than ours but equally glorifying to God.
It is easy to get into the habit of looking for who is doing things the right way (our way) and who is doing things the wrong way (not our way). When we hear the teaching of Christ that, “Whoever is not against us is for us,” we end up with a lot more people for us than against us. And we end up being for a whole lot more people than we are against. This is great in theory, but in practice we might be a little put back to find out who isn’t actually against us. Like the disciple John, it can disturb us when folks don’t live like we do and yet claim to be one of us. We can be particular of whom we become compared to or associated with.
Take, for instance, our desire for church growth. We want the church to grow in numbers and in passion. We want God to be glorified because of the faith and works of this church. As the Holy Spirit moves in this congregation, do we have certain ideas of how we want our church to grow? Are there certain ways of living out faith and performing works of ministry that are more or less acceptable? Or do we have open spirits and minds?
It can be difficult for new people to enter a community that has a long history of doing things a certain way. It can also be difficult for a community to let go of the certain ways they do things. If our community is to grow, we have to be flexible to the moving of the Holy Spirit. We have to listen carefully, take time, and respect everyone as the person they are. Jesus drawing near the little child can be our example of how to be welcoming. The disciple John can be our example of how to not be critical and proprietary. Our community will change in many ways as we grow in number.
As we continue to look forward, let us remember that we are not seeking to become the greatest, but rather we must seek to become the least and to be servants of all. Those who are most vulnerable we must welcome with love and respect. Things will not become out of control because of change, but we may be pushed outside of our comfort zone. The more we are open to the gifts and wisdom that others have to offer, the more opportunities we will have to thrive. When we mix the gifts and wisdom that we have in this community already with those who desire to share their gifts and wisdom with us, we will find God being glorified in beautiful and diverse ways – ways that are unimaginable to us now.
Believe this with me. Be open to the possibilities. Let us continue to imagine anew who we are and who we are becoming. Our own diverse wisdoms will surface in new and wonderful ways. As people come to our community, let us honor them with our care and be excited to hear their wisdoms. The more we listen and share, the more we welcome one such child in Jesus’ name, the more we welcome Christ and the one who sent Christ. The revelation of God in our midst will increase as we increase our welcome and rejoice in the ministries that unfold around us.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Think On These Things
Texts: Matthew 15:1-20 and Phil 4:8 – 9
Matthew 15:1-20
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' But you say that whoever tells father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' " Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."
As I think about the question that Jesus asks, “Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition,” I wonder, why is it that our traditions can become more influential in our lives than the commandment of God? How is it that we can become so easily distracted by the expectations and norms of our culture and forget the deeper values of God? Is it easier to find a loophole? To what purpose? How does taking support from your parents and giving it to God (whatever that means) benefit the child in question?
Speaking of being a child, I can’t help but remember that sometimes when I was given a task by my mom I would balk at doing it. I would cry or make excuses to get out of whatever the chore was. In response my mom would yell and insist. Eventually I would do what I was supposed to do, but we would both be wrecks by the end of it. I look back and wonder why I did that. I didn’t do it much, but when I did, the whole rest of the day was bad. One time my mom said to me, “If you had just done what I asked when I asked you’d be finished by now and out doing what you really want to do. But here we are, still arguing. Why are you wasting your time?” I’m not saying that this was the end to my procrastination, but it helped bring me around.
I think sometimes we waste our time finding loopholes and looking for reasons to get out of things like loving people, giving each other the benefit of the doubt, honoring God, and finding things worthy of praise. But to what end? Why is it tempting to make sure that everyone around us honor the traditions of our systems and norms rather than we ourselves honoring the deeper values of God? Why is it more difficult to think about what Philippians 4:8 recommends we think about; whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable? Do we look for failure rather than excellence? Do we look for what we can condemn rather than what we can praise?
I don’t think we are bad and evil people. I don’t chalk any of this up to some phantom original sin. But it does seem to me that it is surprisingly easy to drift into these bad habits.
It’s true that some things that happen in life and in the world are terrible. I’m not suggesting that we hide our heads in the sand and pretend that everything is alright. It isn’t that every moment we should have something positive to say. It’s about where we begin our thought process and the ruminations of our hearts. What is our launching pad? Do we look for the way to get out of something or the fault in the story or activity? Or do we look for the excellence and want to see what is praiseworthy?
This passage challenges me to think about the intersections between our imminent existence and our transcendent existence. Washing hands doesn’t benefit us spiritually and the food we eat passes through our bodies, but the intentions of our hearts and the words that come out of our mouths can heal or harm us. How we move through space, the choices we make, our thoughts and the ruminations of our hearts are intertwined with our spiritual aspects and have spiritual outcomes as well as earthly outcomes.
I wonder what it means to think of our mouths as one of the liminal spaces between the imminent and the transcendent. Proverbs 18:20 and 21 instructs “From the fruit of the mouth one's stomach is satisfied; the yield of the lips brings satisfaction. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
James 3:1-10 instructs us even more fully:
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
Wow. Who knew that our mouths had the potential to be so dastardly? But not just our mouths have this potential. Our fingers do as well, especially the way written communication has grown. It seems to me that our fingers have the same potential to be the rudder of the ship of our lives.
James, it seems, is at odds a bit with Jesus and Paul. James put the responsibility on our wills and our actions. Jesus and Paul indicate that the root of the concern is where our minds and hearts go. This is much harder to control. Can we control the ruminations of our hearts and the way our minds process? If we realize where our hearts and minds are drifting then we can have some control, but even the Dali Lama can’t meditate all the time.
This is deep work. It is what I think Paul was talking about in Romans when he wrote, “Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. When I think about mind transformation for the purpose of keeping the deeper values of God, I think about a scene from The Matrix. It’s the one where Neo is fighting the agents and for the first time he sees them as code rather than as their illusion of solidness.
It isn’t until our minds and hearts are transformed that we can truly pilot the rudder of our ship, our communication devices of tongue and fingers. Jesus said, “For the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.” Our religious traditions and cultural expectations can nullify the word of God. I find the hope of transformation in the words of Philippians 4:8 and 9;
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
By these meditations I believe we can begin to more clearly see the code that underlies the distractions. We won’t be struggling against the traditions or expectations that distract us, but rather we will be more able to flow in the commandments of God.
Matthew 15:1-20
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' But you say that whoever tells father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' " Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."
As I think about the question that Jesus asks, “Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition,” I wonder, why is it that our traditions can become more influential in our lives than the commandment of God? How is it that we can become so easily distracted by the expectations and norms of our culture and forget the deeper values of God? Is it easier to find a loophole? To what purpose? How does taking support from your parents and giving it to God (whatever that means) benefit the child in question?
Speaking of being a child, I can’t help but remember that sometimes when I was given a task by my mom I would balk at doing it. I would cry or make excuses to get out of whatever the chore was. In response my mom would yell and insist. Eventually I would do what I was supposed to do, but we would both be wrecks by the end of it. I look back and wonder why I did that. I didn’t do it much, but when I did, the whole rest of the day was bad. One time my mom said to me, “If you had just done what I asked when I asked you’d be finished by now and out doing what you really want to do. But here we are, still arguing. Why are you wasting your time?” I’m not saying that this was the end to my procrastination, but it helped bring me around.
I think sometimes we waste our time finding loopholes and looking for reasons to get out of things like loving people, giving each other the benefit of the doubt, honoring God, and finding things worthy of praise. But to what end? Why is it tempting to make sure that everyone around us honor the traditions of our systems and norms rather than we ourselves honoring the deeper values of God? Why is it more difficult to think about what Philippians 4:8 recommends we think about; whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable? Do we look for failure rather than excellence? Do we look for what we can condemn rather than what we can praise?
I don’t think we are bad and evil people. I don’t chalk any of this up to some phantom original sin. But it does seem to me that it is surprisingly easy to drift into these bad habits.
It’s true that some things that happen in life and in the world are terrible. I’m not suggesting that we hide our heads in the sand and pretend that everything is alright. It isn’t that every moment we should have something positive to say. It’s about where we begin our thought process and the ruminations of our hearts. What is our launching pad? Do we look for the way to get out of something or the fault in the story or activity? Or do we look for the excellence and want to see what is praiseworthy?
This passage challenges me to think about the intersections between our imminent existence and our transcendent existence. Washing hands doesn’t benefit us spiritually and the food we eat passes through our bodies, but the intentions of our hearts and the words that come out of our mouths can heal or harm us. How we move through space, the choices we make, our thoughts and the ruminations of our hearts are intertwined with our spiritual aspects and have spiritual outcomes as well as earthly outcomes.
I wonder what it means to think of our mouths as one of the liminal spaces between the imminent and the transcendent. Proverbs 18:20 and 21 instructs “From the fruit of the mouth one's stomach is satisfied; the yield of the lips brings satisfaction. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
James 3:1-10 instructs us even more fully:
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
Wow. Who knew that our mouths had the potential to be so dastardly? But not just our mouths have this potential. Our fingers do as well, especially the way written communication has grown. It seems to me that our fingers have the same potential to be the rudder of the ship of our lives.
James, it seems, is at odds a bit with Jesus and Paul. James put the responsibility on our wills and our actions. Jesus and Paul indicate that the root of the concern is where our minds and hearts go. This is much harder to control. Can we control the ruminations of our hearts and the way our minds process? If we realize where our hearts and minds are drifting then we can have some control, but even the Dali Lama can’t meditate all the time.
This is deep work. It is what I think Paul was talking about in Romans when he wrote, “Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. When I think about mind transformation for the purpose of keeping the deeper values of God, I think about a scene from The Matrix. It’s the one where Neo is fighting the agents and for the first time he sees them as code rather than as their illusion of solidness.
It isn’t until our minds and hearts are transformed that we can truly pilot the rudder of our ship, our communication devices of tongue and fingers. Jesus said, “For the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.” Our religious traditions and cultural expectations can nullify the word of God. I find the hope of transformation in the words of Philippians 4:8 and 9;
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
By these meditations I believe we can begin to more clearly see the code that underlies the distractions. We won’t be struggling against the traditions or expectations that distract us, but rather we will be more able to flow in the commandments of God.
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