Randall K. Smith, Pastor                                                                                                                                           PO Box 278     
936/269-3661                                                                                                                                                                         105 Faulkville Road
Joaquin, TX 75954                                                                                                                                                                joaquinumc@gmail.com

Sunday:	Time	Wednesday	Time	Friday
Sunday School	10:00	First Wednesday: Family Night/Youth Group	6:00	Pine Grove Birthday Party	2:00 PM
Worship	11:00	Other Wednesdays /Bible Study	6:00
Youth Group  Fourth Sundays	12:00	Thursday		Saturday
Fifth Sunday Singing-every 5th Sunday	6:00 PM	Prayer Breakfast	8:00 AM	Scrapbooking 3rd Saturday	8:30 AM

Randy's sermons are posted at this site.  If you would like to look at calendar of events or other things happening at FUMC in Joaquin go to www.joaquinumc.com.  

   

                                       Pastor's Sermons     

June 7, 2009/Scholarship Sunday/Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 6: 1-8/Epistle Lesson: Romans 8: 12-17/Gospel Lesson: John 3: 1-17

                                                    (The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon) 

                                                                         Altered State

 Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  We come this morning to worship God and also to celebrate with recent Joaquin graduates who are receiving a scholarship from our church.  It has been many years since we gave the first scholarship from our church.  I want to congratulate these young people in their accomplishments so far and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.  Continuing one’s education means that one needs to continue to inquire, to ask questions, to be skeptical, and ready to expand one’s horizons.

In the Old Testament Lesson, Isaiah is moved by the burning power of God and tells the Lord to send him.  In our Epistle Lesson Paul reminds the faithful that there are things to do and places to go.  In our Gospel Lesson, Nicodemus says that he really doesn’t understand—I think he does.

Nicodemus was a learned man but more importantly he was a wise man.  He was a religious scholar respected by the people and those who he served with on the council.  But he was still searching—he wanted to learn more.  He knew that the faith he loved so much had been corrupted.  The priests and those that served the Temple lived well and turned a blind eye to the suffering of the people that Jesus knew oh so well.  These privileged few lived a life of luxury.  Archeologists have uncovered homes and apartments around the ruins of the Temple and these homes were opulent by the standards of the day.

The Temple crowd flourished on greed and secret deals with the occupying Romans.  The priests with their bonuses and golden parachutes had it made in the shade.  Including Nicodemus! But Nicodemus was not fulfilled.  He knew huge sections of the Torah by heart and he knew that God through the prophets of old condemned Israel and Judea when they turned their backs upon the poor.  He knew that he and others around him where ignoring God’s will in order to maintain their lifestyle.

That is why Nicodemus was so intrigued by the words of Jesus.  And that is why Nicodemus arraigned for Jesus to meet him to hear for himself.  And it was during that night of discussion and pondering that Jesus said that a person must be born again.  The Greek word used was “anothen” which means a life changed from above.

Remember, Nicodemus was a wise man and he knew that Jesus wasn’t speaking literally being born again—returning to the mother’s womb and actually being born again.  I think Nicodemus was trying to find a way to justify the way he lived in the face of such inhumanity.  But Jesus gave him no way out.  If Nicodemus could not see what was plain to see, how will he come to understand the true wonders of God? 

Nicodemus understood but was troubled as the night became day.  Jesus was asking him to alter his state of being and to see the world as the Kingdom of God. 

I still don’t understand iPods, iPhones, and have never texted a message.  So when I learned about a virtual world called SL—Second Life, I was intrigued.  There are one million people who have created a “virtual self” and lived in this world.  The new “you” is a 3D character that lives in the Second Life universe.  They buy homes, have jobs, romances, and go on trips and all the other activities of life— only more exciting. 

This altered universe is economically powered by L$.  This world was created in 2003 by Linden Labs and a person can by L$ 10,000 for $45 of real currency payable by credit card.  With L$ you can buy cars and furniture and go out on dates to fine restaurants or see a movie.  This is the purest case of “art imitating life.” Christianity has invaded the SL world.  There are now virtual coffee houses and virtual Christian communities. 

This is all too weird for me.  But maybe Nicodemus when he heard that he, an older man, must be born again, he thought, “This sure sounds weird.”  What I find kind of disturbing is that it seems so many people think they must go inward in order to get a life. 

Jesus promised Nicodemus a way to have a new life.  He told Nicodemus there was a way to experience the Kingdom of God in the here and now.  The ways of the Christ were not really new to Nicodemus.  He was devout but he conveniently  disregarded those things which gives life meaning and connects us with the divine.

One doesn’t have to escape into a virtual world to find joy and fulfillment.  The Christ offers us a pathway.  All of us here know this.  But are we going to be like the prophet, Isaiah and ask God to “send me?”  Shall we not remember that Paul tells us in his letter to Romans that there are things to do and places to go?

The most famous words of the New Testament come just after the Gospel Lesson today.  I want to read John 3: 16-17 from the Message.

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

 

            That is what Nicodemus was looking for and I think that is what our world so full of greed, distrust, and self-promotion is longing for.  To believe so that we may have a whole and lasting life.  Amen.

May 31, 2009/Day of Pentecost/First Lesson: Acts 2: 1-11/Epistle Lesson: Romans 8: 22-27/Gospel Lesson: John 15: 26-27: 16: 4b-15

                                                            (The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon) 

                                                      A Call to Action

 Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  Today the colors of the church are red and we enter the time of Pentecost.  Pentecost was an ancient Hebrew festival that marked the first harvest of the growing season.  The Hebrew word is “Shevuot” which means “weeks.”  The festival came seven weeks or 50 days after the Passover celebration. 

This agricultural celebration eventually became the celebration of Israel entering the Promised Land.  As the faith of Yahweh became more prominent among the people it also became a celebration of the law being given to Moses. 

Christians also celebrate Pentecost.  Today is marked as the day the Spirit of God came upon the small band of Jesus followers and ignited the movement that overtook the greatest empire.  Christians celebrate Pentecost as the birth of the church. 

In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for Spirit is the same word used for breath and wind.  In many faith traditions the wind is associated with God’s Spirit moving across the earth.  But the first description in Acts of the coming of God’s Spirit is the sound of violent winds from Heaven.  It was the hearing of the Spirit that preceded the touch of the wind or seeing the effects of the wind.

In 1 Kings the Spirit or wind is described differently.  The author says the wind came in on the sound of sheer silence—like a gentle whisper.  But the wind that stirred that day so long ago in Jerusalem was not the sound of sheer silence.  We in East Texas are very familiar with the soft, gentle wind as well as the strong, loud, powerful wind.

I read the story of two farmers who met each other on the train.  In their conversation, their stories soon turned into tall tails.  The farmer from California said that he witness such powerful winds that it bent the great redwood tres of California sideways.  Not to be out done the farmer from Iowa that he once experienced a fierce and powerful wind.  He that one of his prize hens had her back to the wind and she laid the same egg six times.

           Life would certainly be easier if the Holy Spirit only troubled other people.  Garrison Keillor, the host of the Prairie Home Companion said, “The second most used book, I suppose is the Holy Bible, a perennial best seller thanks to our good intentions to attend to the Word and divine the Lord’s Will, which you do for a few days until you realize you already know the Lord’s will and you would prefer not to.”

Today’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that God’s Spirit was not poured out on just the 11 and Matthias.  The Spirit of God was poured out on all.  So we, as those early followers of the way have to decide if we dare act to be channels of God’s love and compassion in the world.  Do we want to be a light—a beacon of hope to those we meet.  Mother Teresa said, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.”

I remember as a youngster going up in the suburbs of Dallas joining my friends Ronnie and Ed and playing during the summer from sun up to sun down.  When it was getting dark we would collect fireflies and put them into jars.  We would have a bright glowing jar before we let them go.  I guess depending on where you grew up these bright creatures are called lightning bugs, fireflies, or glowworms. 

You don’t see lightning bugs like you used to.  Part of the reason is urban sprawl and industrial pollution.  Did you know that only the males light up and they do this to attract females who mainly remain on the ground?  Scientists think that all the artificial light is interfering with this dating ritual. 

Once a young boy asked his father what made the lightning bugs light up.  The dad said he really didn’t know and that he should ask his teacher.  The boy went outside and began catching the fireflies.  One bug got crushed in his hand and the boy noticed that the squished bug was still glowing.  He ran into the house and told his dad that he knew what made a lightning bug glow.  “It’s the stuff inside!” he proudly announced.

This small boy provides a powerful theological illustration for us.  As a follower of Christ what makes us glow?  It begins with what is inside our heart, soul, and mind.  We find the light of God in us.  But if we don’t use that light it becomes dim, dimmer, and finally dies out. 

This past week I had lunch with Jacob at a Chinese Restaurant.  My fortune in my fortune cookie was some wisdom words that went along with what I wanted to preach on this week.  “I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.  I do and I understand.”  I know that the only way I can learn to do something on the computer is to have someone show me and then to do it myself many times.  I think this is true about faith.  When we do then we understand.  When we do acts of kindness and when we act selflessly then understand the nature of Jesus and therefore nature of God.

How is the Holy Spirit empowering you to speak—to act?  It doesn’t matter who you are—just as it didn’t matter who those people in Jerusalem were on that Day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit is falling on you.  You and I are being commissioned to go forth and help save a bewildered world.  I urge you strongly to find ways to live your faith and in living that great love of God, begin to understand.  Amen.

Lesson: Acts 1: 15-17/Epistle Lesson: 1 John 5: 9-13/Gospel Lesson: John 17: 6-/Psalm 98

                                                                  (The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon) 

                                                                                            Put on a Happy Face

 Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  The theme of this psalm—this hymn was to sing praise to Yahweh.  The Book of Psalms is found in the middle of the Hebrew Scriptures and was often chanted or sang during worship.  These poems were hymns of thanks by the people of Israel for Yahweh and the victory he gave to his chosen people. 

Psalms are also part of the Christian Scriptures and are read often during our time of worship.  Over the centuries we have come to understand that God is the God of all people—he is a universal God of all creation.  So today’s Psalm is to be sung by Jews, Christians, and all peoples who want to give thanks to God.  

The Hebrew word, mizmor means song or melody of praise. But a mizmor can also be used to raise a cry of alarm as in a time of war.  So this psalm can also be viewed as a song of distress. 

Both the Gospels of Mark and Matthew tell of Jesus and his followers singing a hymn, very possibly a psalm as they went out to the Mount of Olives shortly before Jesus’ arrest.  In the Acts of the Apostles the writer tells us that Paul and Silas sang hymns to God.  Many of our Christian hymns are songs of great joy.  “Joy to the World” and Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” are two songs that makes us sing with happiness and joy.

This week I read about something that I must admit kind of weirds me out.  There is a treatment of choice that will help people put on a happy face.  It’ not a CD of comedy routines but a series of Botox injections.  A growing number of professionals are having these injections to shape their faces into poses of tranquility and happiness.  With just a few shots these people wipe away frowns, scowls, and the appearance of weariness and replace all that with a smile.  To me, it sounds like Jack Nickelson’s portrayal of the Joker!

Of course the appearance of joy is not the same as joy itself.  But it is no secret that when someone smiles at us it makes us feel good.  A waitress with a smile or a pleasant sales person certainly makes the day better.  It sure beats being waited on by someone with a sour look on their face.  I went to a doctor in Shreveport many years ago and he had the most disagreeable nurse.  She didn’t even pretend to be nice like Nurse Ratchet in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”  When I was called back I was told to sit on this small wooden chair in the hall.  About ten minutes later, the nurse walked past me and said, “Come this way.”  Very innocently I asked if she was speaking to me.  “Look around,” she said, “do you see anybody else.”  And she wasn’t smiling. 

To experience the joy spoken of by the psalmist requires a certain amount of contentment and trust.  And I believe that the source of all joy come from love—from God.  The psalmist says he is singing a new song because God does wonderful things.  And he is not content to keep this joy to himself.  He wants everyone to know and to join him in his happy song.  He has that peace because he knows what he knows.  God is love.  God will be with him and his people always.  God is steadfast.

Psalm 98 never uses the word “smile.”  The new song is not a silly little ditty that makes one chuckle.  It is a song that makes one exhale and feel content.  It is a song that enables one to feel God’s presence and when we feel this peace we know that things will be OK. 

Sue used to work for GP in Nacogdoches named Dr. Bailey.  He was a very good doctor but old fashioned in many ways.  When Sue was pregnant with Megan Dr. Bailey was our doctor.  When it was time for Megan to be born she was breach and there were complications.  A surgeon we had never met was called in and Sue was whisked off to surgery.  Sue said she was really nervous until she heard Dr. Bailey whistling as he came in to the operating room.  She then knew things would be all right.

            Here is something that I found surprising.  Psalms 90-106 were not written to celebrate a happy event.  It was written during really difficult times.  The psalmist was writing for a people weighed down by troubles and beset by problems at home and enemies all around. 

            And yet, in the midst of difficulties what does the poet say we should do?  Sing a new song of joy to God.  And people are hungry for joy in their lives.  The poet is reminding people that with love—with God, in the long run things will be OK.  Isn’t that what faith is about?  Is that the good news of the Gospels?  Are we not to give thanks even during times of trial?  Are we not to have faith in things we cannot see and cannot fathom? 

            John in his first letter says no one has ever seen God.  We are very limited in our ability to understand the Eternal.  We read, we study, we pray, and hopefully we are able to gain a small glimpse of God.  Our minds are too small and our words fall short in trying to answer life’s great questions. 

            I believe God understands our weaknesses and I think God takes seriously our feelings of fear and sadness.  And I believe—I must believe that God is good.  The book of Psalms is punctuated throughout with the words: “The Lord is good.”  And as the psalmist, I am ready to sing a new song because I choose to stubbornly cling to that unqualified goodness—even when things happen to me that are not good.  Amen.

 

May 10, 2009/Fifth Sunday of Easter/First Lesson: Acts 8: 26-40: 5-12/Epistle Lesson: 1 John 4: 7-21Gospel Lesson: John 15: 1-8
                                                               (The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon) 

                                                                                  Staying Connected

 Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen. Today is the 5^th Sunday of Easter but more importantly it is Mother’s Day.  We wish all the moms and all the women who have influenced us and helped make us the people we are a very special day.  I read a list of suggestions for improving communication between moms and their children.  I think you moms will appreciate these.

If you have small children who won’t give you their attention, simply place a long-distance telephone call to someone important and see how quick the toddler will climb up on your lap wanting attention.  Now if you have older child who avoid you because you are a grown-up, just run a hot tub and settle in for a few quiet moments.  You will suddenly hear banging at your door and your child who hasn’t spoken to you in six months suddenly must talk to you right this minute!

Chuck Swindoll tells about a huge Mother’s Day card that a third grader made for his mom.  On it was a picture from a magazine of a little boy with a dirty face, torn pants and he is pulling a wagon full of toys.  On the front it read: “Mom, I remember the little prayer you used to say for me every day.”  Inside the card was the prayer, “God help you if you ever do that again!

A woman who has three boys has just seen her youngest start school.  A teacher asked the little boy what his mother is doing now that all three boys were in school.  The little boy looked at his new teacher and said, “Cartwheels!” 

Here is a little trivia for you ladies.  Do you know what was commonly used to refer to female Marine Corps enlistees during WWI?  They were called Marinettes and women who enlisted in the Navy were known as Yeomanettes. 

The Gospel Lesson today speaks of branches, vines, pruning, and other things dealing with grape vines.  People where Jesus lived certainly were familiar with grapes and wine.  In the villages of the Galilee, everyone was expected to help with preparing and the gathering of the harvest.  Not just the grapes but all the crops.  Young Jesus and his brothers and sisters would be expected to help others in the village at this agricultural task.

Sue and I went to a small but famous wine growing area in the center of Missouri.  The small hamlet of Hermann is a picturesque German town right in the middle of the “Show Me State.”  We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast that was also a working vineyard.  From our room, in the early morning, you could look down across the vineyards and gaze on the little town of Hermann.  It was so beautiful—the churches and the quaint houses.  It was so pretty I told Sue that the next morning she was going to have to get up before the sun came up and look at a scene strait from a picture postcard.  Unfortunately, the next morning everything was fogged in.

The people of Hermann have made quite a name for themselves because of their fine wines.  But during Prohibition they had to close down their operations.  Being resourceful, hardworking Germans, they began to grow mushrooms in their huge wine cellars.  But today, this region is once again known for its wine.

The scripture tells us that God is the vinedresser, Jesus is the true vine, and we are the branches that are to bear fruit.  What Jesus knew from his childhood was that the vinedresser pruned severely the vines each year cutting away old growth so new growth can occur.  There is no way the vinedresser is going to leave on the vine nonproductive branches.

In order for us to be branches that produce good fruit we must be connected to the true, living vine.  But being connected to the true vine is only part of the story.  We are to produce fruit. All of the scriptures today speak about how we are to produce abundant good fruit. 

Our Gospel Lesson says we are to love one another as Christ loves us.  “This I command you, to love one another.  The First Lesson from Acts reaffirms that the ways of the Christ—salvation is offered to everyone.  And the Epistle Lesson—John’s first letter speaks eloquently of love.   In 1 John 7-8 the writer tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.”  Can there be any statement clearer on how we are to produce good fruit?   Later in verse 12, John says, “No man has ever seen God, if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

The words in the Gospel Lesson are part of what some theologians call Jesus’ farewell discourse.  The disciples through their great love for Jesus and Jesus’ great love for them are forever intertwined.  When you look at a healthy grapevine the branches curl in and around each other so that it is difficult to distinguish individual branches.  We are to be a community joined together and nurtured by love and compassion.

In modern America, it is not unusual for a person entering the job market to have numerous jobs and even careers before retirement.  Not too many generations ago, a person stayed with one company or firm—there was loyalty and the companies for the most part did a good job looking after their employees.  That certainly isn’t the case any more.

It also was true that if a person was raised in a certain faith or denomination more than likely that would be their brand of church during their adult life.  That is no longer true.  There are many people who say they are looking for a church.  What is it that people are searching for and don’t have.  Well, it isn’t church.  They are looking for a place where they feel comfortable and where they feel compassion.  It is not the brand on the church sign or dogma—it is about community—caring—it is about loving.

           God is the ultimate initiator of love.  It is not that we loved God first.  God loved us first.  When we accept that gift of love, we then freely and completely love one another.  In these acts there becomes completion of God’s love for us.  “He who does not know love does not know God; for God is love.  He who loves is born of God and knows God.”  Amen.

 

May 3, 2009/Fourth Sunday of Easter/First Lesson: Acts 4: 5-12/Epistle Lesson: 1 John 3: 16-24Gospel Lesson: John 10: 11-18

                                                                 (The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon) 

                                                                          Go Where No One Has Gone Before

 Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  The Acts of the Apostles is the second part of the Gospel of Luke.  It continues the Jesus story as understood by the writer of Luke.  The first half of Acts deals mostly with the first Jesus community in Jerusalem and the second half follow Paul and his work in Rome.  The story is really a tale of two cities—the religious capital--Jerusalem and the political capital—Rome.   

The purpose of this book is to help rekindle the good news and also to combat the idea that the Jesus movement was bent on destroying Jewish traditions and institutions.  The religious elite had hoped that the Jesus movement would die with its chrismatic leader.  But that didn’t happen and those proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah in Jerusalem were thought to be about 5,000. 

The Epistle Lesson is a familiar scene that seems borrowed from the last chapters of the Gospels.  The high priests and the high priestly family are interrogating Peter and John.  Peter and John had done an act of kindness for a cripple.  The news of the healing went through the Jerusalem grapevine like gossip in an East Texas town!  The priest wanted to know by what power or authority they had done this good deed.  Peter boldly proclaimed Jesus—the one you crucified. 

This was a double slap to the priests.  They had thought they solved their Jesus problem and the priests, most of them Sadducees, rejected the idea of resurrection from the dead.  Peter and John became emboldened to declare a new way—a new reign was that descending from the heavens as they spoke.  These early followers were certainly going where no one else had gone before.

This Friday the future begins for Trekers all over the world.  A new Star Trek movie will hit the theaters this week and this movie, like the Acts of the Apostles tells about the origins of the characters.  The movie begins with Kirk not as captain or admiral but as a young man enrolling at the Starfleet Academy.  Those who have faithfully followed Star Trek first as a ground breaking TV series forty years ago and then through many movies might be surprised to see that it Spock who first becomes captain of the Enterprise not Kirk.

The movie will be a block-buster.  Trekers will see once again their favorite characters. There is a fight against great evil and there are good guys who are moved by that invisible spirit or force to do what is just and right simply because it is just and right.

The reviews I have read said it may take some getting used to for old trekers because over the last forty years they had to fill in the gaps with conjecture and what they thought happened.  They may have to change some of their preconceived ideas.

That is also true for those who wrote, read, and heard the Acts of the Apostles.  Those who were followers of Jesus still had to deal with death and resurrection.  Jews who believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah had to do a balancing act between age old traditions and the ways of the Christ.  Jewish followers had to deal with the ridicule and the threat of arrest and even death.

Gentile followers were often people who attended Jewish Sabbath worship but were not Jews.  These folks were called “God-worshipers.”  Those in this group who becomes followers in the ways of Jesus would be looked upon with suspicion from both Jews and their fellow Romans.  And we know that the first split in the early movement was whether Gentile converts to the “Way” would have to become Jews first—males be circumcised and everyone follow kosher laws.

These early followers were definitely going where no one had gone before.  Peter and James in their defense in front of the priestly elite gave people a way to turn themselves around.  They offered a new way to look at the world.  They believed the world could be transformed by embracing justice, forgiveness, and compassion.  These early followers were not going to build memorials to a fallen leader or temples to sacrifice or appease an angry god.  In fact, these early followers built no churches or meeting halls.  They were determined to transform the world by living out Christ’s redemptive and compassionate love. 

The United Methodist Church in 2009 is asking all of us to begin rethink church, just like the early followers had to rethink and decide how they would move forward after being touched by the Spirit of the living Christ.  There was a big ad in Newsweek and other national publications about “rethinking church.”  There is a new website dedicated to people who are seeking communities more concerned with compassion and doing the gospel than dogma or finding fault in everyone else.  It is called www.10thousanddoors.org. 

Rethinking church doesn’t mean we abandoned who we are as Methodists or Wesleyan in our thinking.  Too often people dismiss Methodist as “feel good” people who really don’t believe in anything but potluck suppers and having good thoughts.  Too often here in the south—in the Bible Belt we have let fundamentalists define what being a Christian is.  And yes, Methodists have become lax in the study of their own faith ideas.

There are three basic rules to the Wesleyan way of living.  First and foremost is “Do no harm.”  We Methodist believe churches must be open places for discovery and disagreement, creativity and conflict.  This is Wesleyan thought at its basic core—intentional healing instead of hurting, wholeness instead of division.

Secondly, Methodists are to “Do good.”  Wesley says to do good to all.  Jesus said to love—even our enemies.  We are to pray for those who abuse us and we are to bless those who curse us.  This is bold and goes against the grain of what the world teaches us.  We have a desire—a passionate desire to our self first always—even if it wounds others.  It is a desire but it is not a godly desire. The third rule is one I always loved about John Wesley’s teachings.  He says we're to be about “Staying in love with God.”  This includes a lively relationship with God: worship, communion, searching the scriptures, fasting, and holy living.  These rules for living require us to find time to talk and listen to God, build trust, experience togetherness, and be vulnerable and respectful.

In the campaign to “rethink church” we are to consider these questions:

·         What if church was less about Sunday, and more about other days of the week.

·         What if church wasn’t just a place we go, but something we do?  What if church was a verb not a noun?

·         What if our church closed tomorrow?  Who besides us here this morning would feel the impact?

 

The church is going to have to be like those first followers

spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles.  They did know what the future would hold.  They felt their hearts greatly moved by the spirit of the Christ and knew they were chartering a new course.  We too are being asked to go where few have dared to go before.  Are we up to the challenge?  With God’s Spirit and his guidance we will moved forward.  Amen.

April 28, 2009/Third Sunday of Easter/Gospel Lessons:  Luke 24: 36-48/Mark 15: 42-47

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                           Say It Ain’t So, Joe

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  Sometimes I think we wish our faith was like the song, The Big Rock Candy Mountain.  The song is a song that describes a Hobo’s paradise.  Gil McLachlan created a new stanza that is a child’s dream of paradise:

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you’re going on a holiday.

Your birthday comes around once a week and its Christmas every day.

You never have to clean your room or put your toys away.

There’s a little white horse you can ride of course.

You can jump so high you can touch the sky

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

I also wish I could believe in fairy dust and Paul Bunyan.  I wish life was painless and none of us suffered.  It doesn’t happen that way.  The faith of our Hebrew forefathers and mothers gave them comfort during their suffering and the good news is made redemptive by Easter but the Christian faith deals with the truth of suffering and being downtrodden but at the same time being joyful in the midst of sadness.  Life can be a bumper.  But life can have its share of joys.

Here is something to lighten the mood somewhat.  Do you know what company advertised its product in the early 1960’s with the boastful slogan, “Relieves gas pains”?  It was Volkswagen. 

The predominant Easter emotion was fear.   The early followers were plagued by the fear for their own lives.  They feared the future and what to do next.  Then in our lesson from Luke Jesus appears and naturally the disciples are fearful.  The scriptures say that the faithful were “startled and frightened.”  That is a pretty reasoned response if someone you know was killed, suddenly appears and sits down and eats dinner with you.  I imagine they stared at him throughout dinner. 

After dinner, just as their anxiety level begins to lower to only “really high” he begins to instruct them on what they must do.  For the Easter message is not only “Jesus is raised from the dead” but that he was raised for them—for us.  It is pretty obvious that their purpose was not to set up Jesus memorial societies or simply repeat the parables; it was about transforming the world.

Too often when Easter comes it finds Christ’s followers fractured and arguing and debating theological points and social issues among themselves while the rest of world yawns with indifference. We become so enamored with our churches and structures that we neglect the incredible claims of the gospel. 

And yet there is no doubt that we come to church this Easter Season to hear the Good News and to be comforted by the great love of our mysterious God.  And I know that each of us here today want to live lives that are proclamations of that Good News.  But, let us face it—such a commitment is hard, time consuming, and there are as many ideas of how to live out one’s commitments as there are churches. 

And that is why I included the story of Jesus’ burial by Joseph of Arimathea.  In Mark’s Gospel we are told that he is a respected member of the Sanhedrin.  Joseph is a respected man, a leader among his people, and probably a Biblical scholar.  Like all deeply religious Jews he prays fervently for the coming reign of God in their midst.  But he was far from convinced that Jesus was the chosen one that would usher in the kingdom.

Because of his care for the burial of Jesus and of stories that he accompanied Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene to France, he is held in high regard by Christians.  In fact, he is patron saint of funeral directors.  But remember that as a member of the Sanhedrin and was at the trial that condemned Jesus and handed him over to be tortured and crucified. 

Even after Jesus death, Mark’s gospel describes Joseph as one who is still waiting for the arrival of God’s reign—he is not convinced at this time that Jesus is the Messiah.  Joseph was a compassionate man who probably was fond of Jesus and respected his intellect.  But I don’t think he became a Christian Jew until later.  But he does go to Pilate before the beginning of the Sabbath and ask to take the body of Jesus for burial.  After Pilate is told that the prisoner is indeed dead he hands the body over to Joseph.

If Joseph can be sure that Jesus is not only dead but that is body is sealed in the tomb forever then Joseph will have done his final responsible work as a member of the Sanhedrin.  He will have helped put an end to the Jesus commotion once and for all.

Joseph bought a linen cloth, took the body from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, laid the body in the tomb, and then had a huge stone rolled in front of the entrance.  The women disciples see the manner in which Joseph has Jesus buried and know that they have a job to do.  In the Jewish burial custom, a body is lovingly washed and prepared, anointed with spices for burial.  This is something they will have to do after the Sabbath.

We know the rest of the story.  But how often are we like Joseph.  In what ways do we, in our own time, and each in our own way, attempt to dispose of the body of Jesus, quickly.  How often do we ignore our faith and have a feeling that “Out of sight, out of mind.” 

“Out of sight, out of mind.”  Jesus’ message isn’t one that was happily received.  When Jesus spoke to his home synagogue people wanted to get him off their backs, out of sight, out of mind.  And to be honest, it is easier when we attempt to keep Jesus sealed in the tomb because lets face it, living as Jesus expects is really, really difficult. 

But Jesus didn’t stay in the tomb.  He lives.  He spoke to his disciples and through his Spirit he speaks to us.  Through the words we have in our Holy Book he speaks to us.  The promise of resurrection is that we’re always looking for the dead to come to the land of the living. Who are the people in our community who need new life?  Who’s on a spiritual vacation from which they can’t seem to return?  How will we—our church welcome them home.  Amen.

 

 

 April 19, 2009/Second Sunday of Easter/First Lesson:  Acts 4: 32-35/Epistle Lesson: 1 John 1:1-2:2/Gospel Lesson:  John 20: 19-31

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                            Life is Good

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  For the next seven Sundays we celebrate Easter.  Not with Easter eggs or chocolate bunnies but with a desire to embrace something new that came out of something terrible.  From violence and death came newness of life and a rebirth of hope.

The resurrection of Jesus was just the beginning of a new age.  The Spirit of Resurrection saw scared people find courage to face tomorrow.  The Spirit of Resurrection saw the beginnings of the Jesus movement and the birth of the church as described in the Acts of the Apostles and in the letters of Paul, John, Peter, and Jude.  The 1^st Letter of John speaks of Christ the just.  John tells his readers that Jesus came into the world to give new life not just to the Jesus communities but the whole world.  This Kingdom of God would be built upon old ideas—old principles—the Torah.  The Kingdom of God was to be about justice, mercy, and forgiveness.  This was diametrically opposite of the Kingdom of Rome that was built on violence and domination. 

When I think of the resurrection power of Easter I think of people—good people of all religions, creeds, nationalities, and colors that have helped neighbor and strangers after each of those hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf.  I think of communities coming together to search for a lost child or a lost elderly person.  I think of firemen who go to help an elderly lady who has fallen or groups that provide meals for those who are hungry.  This is resurrection power.  When one’s faith in Christ alters and changes behaviors and one tries to do justice and kindness then that is resurrection.

So it is a good thing to spend seven weeks celebrating Easter.  Do you know what writings in the New Testament were the first that were written that spoke of the resurrected Jesus?  One would think it was the Gospel stories of the empty tomb and encounters with the risen Christ. But the earliest writings in the New Testament about the resurrected savior come to us in the letters of Paul.  Paul speaks of meeting the resurrected—the spirit of the Christ on the Damascus Road and Paul’s letters were written a decade or so before the first Gospel. 

Paul and the other early followers of the risen Christ did not always agree on matters of theology or tactics in spreading the Good News.  But they were all greatly moved by a way of living envisioned by Jesus.  After Paul’s encounter with the Christ, Paul speaks of his life as a life “in Christ” or life “with the Spirit.”  For Paul this means his life was transfigured—transformed--resurrected by the spirit of justice and compassion.  We hear from today’s First Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles that being resurrected in Christ meant showing the same grace to others that Jesus showed to those he met.  Paul, the strict Pharisee—the lover of the law came to understand how to fulfill the ancient laws given to Moses.  In Romans 13: 10, Paul says, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Paul despite being ran out of towns, beaten, arrested, imprisoned, and eventually executed would have said, “Life is good.”  He could not say that before he met the resurrected Jesus because he lack that feeling—that Godly understanding.  Being raised in a prosperous home, being educated to a degree that few in the Roman world experienced, and having a lucrative job did not provide the answers to life’s daunting questions.  That came in his Christ awakening experience on the Damascus Road.

Did you know that the slogan, “Life is Good” is now a copyrighted slogan and you can’t use it on stuff.  Bert and Jake Jacobs began hawking T-shirts with  Jake’s goofy smiling face and the caption, “Life is Good” back in 1994 at fairs and flea markets.  Today, their company makes 80 million dollars a year! 

One would think that the slogan for the early disciples in the days, weeks, months, years, and decades after Jesus’ crucifixion would be, “Life is bad.”  One of the twelve chosen committed suicide.  The eleven remaining disciples went underground.  Even after Pentecost emboldens them they faced great persecution.  The Acts of the Apostles tells us that Peter and John were arrested.  Then all the apostles were arrested, beaten, and ordered to stop preaching.  Stephen is stoned to death.  The Jerusalem Christian community is driven out of town.  James is beheaded and Paul is arrested and we believe he too was martyred.   

And yet the early communities shared a common purpose—to live out the love of God in all that they did.  They bonded together in a community built on justice, respect, and love.  They shared what they had so no one went without their daily bread.  Despite facing great hostility, the earliest churches found that with one another life was good.

The earliest communities were also based on the ancient Jewish understanding of forgiveness.  Christians understand that forgiveness is a cornerstone of our faith. Our hope and understanding is that God loves us and therefore forgives us.  Jesus certainly spoke of forgiveness.  But the ancient Jewish idea—Jesus’ idea of forgiveness is not what we think of when we say that we forgive or that we forgave someone.  I know that when I want to be forgiven I know that I need to say I am sorry.  That is certainly the beginning of forgiveness.  But to the ancient mind forgiveness also includes the responsibility to repair or make right that which has been damaged. 

Forgiveness involves changing behavior and restoring relationships or property to the way things were before sin—selfishness messed things up.  Sin was understood to not only be an affront to God but a break in community—to the harmony and order of the world.  So for these people forgiveness required repair and restoration.

For Jews, when it was unclear how to forgive, you went to the Temple and the priest figured out a path to restoration and to repairing the break.  So much of Jesus’ teachings were wrapped in forgiveness and repairing brokenness.  Forgiveness wasn’t some antidote to take so one could feel better about oneself and so that that one could keep on going as if nothing had happened. Forgiveness was about healing.

During this season of Easter, we need to resurrect many of the ideas of those first Christians.  We must embrace forgiveness and make it a cornerstone of family and community life.  We need to open our eyes and hearts so that we can enjoy and embrace life that is good.  Let us be a resurrection community just like those early faith communities.  Let us be places were hurting or broken people can become whole.  Let us not only speak of mercy and justice let us live mercy and justice. 

Churches have certainly changed over the centuries.  Let us make sure that our church doesn’t lose the core—the cornerstone—the cross.  Let us live out the resurrection of the Christ through acts of mercy, justice, and forgiveness.  Let us be joyful as we join with Christ in his power of resurrection.  Amen.

April 12, 2009/Easter Sunday/Gospel Lesson:  Mark 16: 1-8

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                      The Unfinished Story

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  Lutheran ministers traditionally begin their Easter sermon with a joke.  I was raised in one of the most conservative sects of Lutheranism—the Missouri Synod.   Let me tell you, there is not much frivolity in the theology of the Lutheran Church.  If you ever listen to Garrison Keillor’s radio program, there is a segment about the little town of Lake Wobegon where all the women are good looking and all the kids above average.  The citizens are mostly Scandinavian and Lutheran and they are very serious people.  And the pastor is very severe in thought and in his preaching.

One area that John Wesley broke from the earlier reformers like Luther and Calvin was on the prospects of us humans.  The Protestant reformers declared that humans are vile, evil creatures with no redeeming value.  Some, they felt would be saved because of the great mercy of God.  Wesley saw a small glimmer of hope deep in the soul of man that could respond to the grace of God. 

But back to why Lutheran ministers begin their Easter sermons with a joke.  Luther saw the empty tomb and resurrection as God’s great joke on the world.  Christian people are to laugh and sing because love cannot die—love cannot be killed. 

So here is a joke.  A woman stops in a small Arkansas town to fill up her car and strikes up a conversation with an elderly man sitting in front of the station.  She asked the elderly man what was his secret to long life.  And the old codger says that he eats fatty food, drinks a fifth of whiskey each day along with smoking two packs of cigarettes.  The visitor is flabbergasted and asks, “How old are you?  The old man replies, “Twenty-eight.” 

            Do you know how many of the Gospels describe the resurrection of Jesus?  None of them!  They mention Jesus being placed in the tomb and they describe the empty tomb but no where in the New Testament is the resurrection described. 

            Every Easter, followers of the Christ go back to the tomb.  Like the disciples followers discover the tomb empty.  The Gospel reading today comes from the last chapter of the earliest of the Gospels—Mark.  In the oldest known copy of Mark there are only eight verses in Chapter 16.  There are no originals of the books of the New Testament.  All we have are copies of copies of copies.  And how does the Easter story end in the original Mark? The Good News according to Mark ends with these words: “And they (the disciples) went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.”  The end!  That is the ending of our earliest copy of the Gospel. 

            And yet the disciples persisted, despite their fears and that is why the story of Jesus and his message survived and still reverberates today.  I read this week that astronomers have found a big empty place in the universe.  A massive void.  The hole is gigantic, nearly a billion light years across.  Inside the void are no planets, stars, galaxies—just a huge cold spot.  Remember that one light-year equals about six trillion miles—so this void is a billion trillion miles across! 

            In the original Mark the disciples are living with a huge, gigantic void in their lives—a huge empty place.  Their friend, brother, rabbi, redeemer, and messiah was snatched from them beaten, tortured, and killed.  And to make the void even darker, the body of their beloved is gone. 

            Hear is an Easter truth.  In all of our lives are huge voids—empty places.  They may have been causes by death, mistakes, age, fear, or countless other things.  And we all know that bad things happen to good people.  What happen to Jesus during on Good Friday is proof of that.  We’re all going to face empty places in our live and we need to take them seriously.

            I love the original ending of Mark because I can easily see myself among the fearful disciples running away from what they don’t understand.  Yes sir, I am right there with them.  It is why I love the Gospel of Mark the best—for me it rings with the most authenticity and reality. 

            Mark’s Gospel tells us two things.  First, it would take considerable adjustment in one’s thinking to accept the concept of someone who is dead coming alive again.  The disciples in a very short time saw tragedy consume their lives.  They were heartsick with grief.  Death was not welcome but it was something they understood.  And then the good news—the best news—the Easter news—“He lives.”  This was something unexpected and certainly outside of their realm of experience. 

            He lives!  Easter tells us that Jesus is not just to be remembered—Jesus is to be experienced—today and every day we are willing to spend some time with God or doing God’s will.  We can meet Christ in the experience of our living!

            Secondly, Mark in his sudden ending is telling us that the pen of the Good News is in our hands.  Easter gives us a chance to start writing.  Mark’s abrupt and ragged ending leaves it to us to decide how the story continues.  Do we dismiss the resurrection because it is simply too strange of a concept to put our minds around?  Do we write that Easter has nothing to do with us?  Or do we begin our part of this story by saying, “Come into my life, Jesus.  Live not only out there, but also in here.”

            Jesus’ resurrection is just as radical as his teachings.  During Holy Week, Jesus attacked the religious institutions of his day.  Let us not become complacent and too comfortable in our institutions—our churches.  Let us pledge never to become the religious elites that Jesus criticized in his day.  Let us never let our religion, our institutions, our denomination, our ways of doing faith override the message of Easter.

            Let us go out from the comfort and beauty of this church and joy of being with one another and become soldiers for justice, equality, compassion, and love.  Let us do our part to bring the Good News of Jesus into our world.  Let us continue to write the story of God’s love for the world.  Life does triumph over death and love triumphs over hate and fear. He lives! Amen.          

April 5, 2009/Fifth Week of Lent/Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 50: 4-9a/Epistle Lesson: Philippians 2: 5-11/Gospel Lesson: Mark 11: 1-11

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                              Two Tales of a City

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.    For three major religions—Jewish, Christian, and Islamic, Jerusalem is the most holy of cities.  In Jesus’ day, all Jews that could were to make at least one pilgrimage in their life time to Jerusalem.  We know that when Jesus became of age and was bar-mitzvahed, his extended family made a holiday of it and went to Jerusalem and the temple.  What a sight for a twelve year old boy!  The great city opened up before him.  He saw peoples from all over the world.  He heard languages and saw cultures that a peasant boy could never imagine.  No wonder the boy Jesus didn’t want to leave.

We don’t know if Jesus made subsequent trips to the city but I imagine that he did.  I think there was a period of time in Jesus’ life before seeking out John the Baptizer and Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness when the call of learning and faith called him back to the great city.  In my mind, I imagine this bright young man living like a college student so that he could study the Torah at the temple and to listen to teachers that would open his mind to new ways of understanding his faith.  I am sure he was exposed to and ate up the ideas of Greek philosophers and enjoyed hearing about faiths and worlds beyond his little world.

I think that it was during this formative time that Jesus was exposed to ideas that burned in his soul.  I can see Jesus going to the town center and debating.  I imagine that he did odd jobs, slept in homes of new friends, and didn’t eat like his mama would want him to.  Jesus’ faith and understanding of God’s love grew.  He listened to John thunder in the wilderness about repentance and new life.  Jesus was baptized into this new understanding.  Jesus went into the wilderness and when he emerged, he understood completely his mission.  He had come to understand his oneness with God.  He was to be the light of God and was to urge and plead so that people would come into the Kingdom of God—a Kingdom that was as close as one’s next breath. 

And where did the scriptures of old say the messiah would go?  Where must the God-bearer—the light of God go?  He must go to Jerusalem.  There were two processions that Palm Sunday two thousand years ago.  And we must try to understand how different they were.  We must try to imagine ourselves in that city.  Jerusalem was a large city of some 40,000 people.  But during the Passover, the city swelled to over 200,000.  The city was getting ready to celebrate the great day of liberation when Moses and his people tasted freedom.  The city was prickling with tension as thousands of extra Roman soldiers were entering the city just as pilgrims were.

One procession began.  Flags blew in the wind and trumpets blew.  The crier-announcer cries out, “All hail the Son of God, God from God, Lord, Liberator, Redeemer, and Savior of the World.  All hail he who brings the Kingdom of God—the Kingdom of Peace into our world.  All hail the one who has atoned for all our sin against God.”   And who was the crier speaking of?  He was speaking of Caesar the Augustus—the incarnate of God himself.  Yes, these titles were all titles given to the emperor of Rome.

On a war horse road Caesar Augustus’ representative, Pontius Pilate.  Pilate was forced to come to troublesome Jerusalem from his sea-side home in Caesarea.  He hates his Jewish citizens and they hate him.  The first time he came during Passover as Caesar’s governor he set up statues of the emperor at the temple along with his military flags and banners.  He had nearly started an uprising.  On this occasion, he had sent in spies dressed as Jewish civilians ready to beat and kill anyone who caused any trouble. 

These spies would certainly have heard of that other procession.  Coming through the east gate was a Jewish rabbi and mystic whose his followers believed was the messiah—the longed promises savior of the Jewish people.  At this procession, the people were excited and cries went out, Hosanna!—which is a Hebrew word that mixes praise to God with a prayer that God would save his people.  These people were waving palm fronds and everyone knew that palm fronds were a symbol of Jewish freedom and nationhood. 

The messiah didn’t come on a war horse.  The crowds knew he wouldn’t.  The prophets had said that the messiah would enter the city riding on the back of a mule.  They knew that their greatest king—David had his anointed son—Solomon  enter the capital riding on a mule to remind Solomon of his humble roots.  The noise and the crowds grew and grew.  They lay down their cloaks and branches for this man.  There were no such outward signs of respect shown to that other guy leading that other procession.   

Two worlds and two visions.  Pilate embodied power, torture, violence, and the glory of empire.  He served his mighty emperor and the rich and powerful in Rome.  The other—Jesus envisioned a world of suffering, sacrifice and servant hood that would ultimately lead to the redemption of the human race.  These two visions still clash today—The Kingdom of God vs. Greed and Hate.

No doubt we admire Jesus—we believe him to be the Son of God.  But are we truly ready to follow Jesus down the path that he chose?  That day, two thousand years ago, the God-bearer came through the east gate riding on a donkey.  His route took down the Mount of Olives and went through an ancient cemetery.  The way of Christ is still as stark a choice as it was so long ago.

Some of those waving palm fronds were gone by Friday having abandoning Jesus to the powers of temple and empire.  These people knew the ways of the world and chose self-preservation over the ways of the Christ.  There is no doubt that following Christ is inconvenient at best or, at worst, seemingly impossible.  But it was this Galilean who was determined to take the world upward, bringing hope and wholeness by bringing news of God’s great love for humanity.  Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and blessed are you that follow the path of the Christ. Amen

March 29, 2009/Fifth Week of Lent/Old Testament Lesson: Jeremiah 31: 31-34/Epistle Lesson: Hebrews 5: 5-10/Gospel Lesson: John 12: 20-33

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                                 New Covenant

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  The prophet Jeremiah is often seen as a prophet of doom.  He was busy prophesying just before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 587 BCE.  So obviously the news from Jeremiah wasn’t going to be good.  Most of the divided nation had been conquered and now the center of Jewish political and religious life was about to fall.  It is kind of like the doctor who is seeing a patient again after getting results from a series of tests.  He tells the patient that he has some good news and bad news and wonders what the patient wants to hear first.  The patient decides to hear the good news first.  “Well, you got a week to live.”  The patient looks shocked and pale and says, “That’s the good news!  What’s the bad news?”  The doctor replied, “I should have told you last week.”

The people of Israel and Judah were convinced that they were living in the end times.  The nation was destroyed.  Many of the best and brightest of the nation had been carried off to distant lands.  The army was defeated and a generation of young men was lost.  The holy capital that people thought was protected by God was about to be sacked and the temple was sure to be defiled.  Certainly, all the signs pointed to the end times.

But that wasn’t what God had in mind.  Jeremiah tells the people that he had a vision of a new covenant.  It would not be a covenant written in stone or sacrifices carried out in a temple.  It would not be a covenant spelled out in laws and regulations.  It would be a covenant of the heart that the people could carry with them into exile and the unknown.

For the communities of the Followers of the Ways of Jesus, this vision of a new covenant came to pass in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  The old religious ways that had become hard as stone would be shattered and new life—eternally in the presence of God had been proclaimed. 

Companies and corporations today depend on raw materials being where they are needed right when they are needed.  In the old days, manufactures would stockpile supplies and materials.  Warehouses had to be built and maintained.  Large amounts of capital were needed to keep things stored and risk of loss was always present.  This old model was replaced by J. I. T. which stands for “just in time.”  In today’s computerized and mechanized world, materials arrive just as they are needed reducing costs and risks. 

Toyota was the first large corporation that made the J.I.T. system work on a large scale.  And the Japanese businessmen who made this system work so well for them based their operation on a J. I. T. operation of an American enterprise.  It wasn’t Ford or GM or GE.  No, Toyota based their model on Piggly Wiggly which had figured out a system for its grocery business.

The words of the Eternal Spirit that Jeremiah brought to the people were “just in time.”  The old faith based on sacrifice and temple worship would be obsolete since many of the people would be sent to distant lands of the Babylonian Empire and the temple would be defiled and the priesthood disbanded.  Just in time, Jeremiah explained that the new covenant would be portable—not carried in an ark but in one’s heart.

When we think about it, J. I. T. is how God often works.  In the wilderness, God did not supply the people with a year’s supply of grain but sent just enough bread—manna for the people’s immediate needs. 

And Jesus, through example, teachings, and prayer says that we should not ask of God anything more than our daily bread.  This meant that we are to ask for only what is necessary for our spirit, soul, and body—our present needs.  In the ancient world and in most parts of the world today, bread is still made or purchased daily.  In France, it is common to see people on bicycles carrying a loaf of bread or someone coming home from work stopping at a bakery to buy the daily loaf of bread.  Unlike the soft, gooey, preservative ridden bread sold in our stores, bread in ancient times and in other parts of our world is backed fresh. 

And the new covenant that we claim through Jesus is meant for the present—this moment.  We are to live in the now and be thankful for today.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “God never gives in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on him alone.”  Just as we cannot sustain our outer life on past meals or promises of future ones, neither can we sustain our spiritual live on past blessing or promises of future ones. 

So through Christ, we claim to be in new covenant with God.  Through Christ, the words of the prophets and the laws of God become alive.  By reading and studying the words and life of the Christ we obtain glimpses of the divine.  But this new covenant is not a last will and testament.  It does not say, “I the undersigned believe that Jesus saved me from my sins and upon my death, I will reap the unwarranted rewards of Heaven.”  It is not to be a last will and testament that is folded and neatly placed between two pages of the Holy Bible to be read at our end.

The new covenant is a living document that is to govern our lives as we crawl, stumble, fall, walk, or run down the pathways of the Christ toward perfection.  And for those of you who were raised in the Methodist Church or later adopted the Wesleyan ideas of the Christian walk; our response to God’s grace and mercy and our response to his covenant becomes our greatest act of faith. 

Wesleyan ideas of trying—regardless of how imperfectly—to live out the ideals of the Christ is what John Wesley called “Practical Christianity.”  John Wesley was a powerful preacher and writer and his brother, Charles was a great hymn writer.  They were priests in the Church of England so obviously both thought church going, praying, singing with great feeling, and hearing the word was very important.  But these acts are not faith—they are simply tools by which we ask God for faith to go out and live as Christ lived.

A series of letters between John Wesley and a Miss J. C. March illustrate the Wesleyan way.  Miss March wrote to the noted preacher and theologian Wesley about the inadequacies of her spiritual life.  Wesley replied with little sympathy for Miss March, “Gentlewoman, go see the poor and sick in their own poor hovels.  Take up your cross woman!  Jesus went before you, and will go with you.”

Two years later, Miss March still fretting of her lack of spiritual feelings wrote again to Wesley.  Wesley replied to her whining, “I find time to visit the sick and the poor; and I must do it, if I believe the Bible.  I am concerned for you; I am sorry you should be content with lower degrees of usefulness and holiness than you are called to.” 

Fortunately or unfortunately that is our heritage and faith.  The new covenant calls us to be busy in Christ’s work.  We are to go where Christ goes and do what Christ does.  In fine Methodist tradition, no one is expected to be a solo Christian.  We have joined together with God and each other in holy covenant to live our faith—to be bearers of the light—bearers of healing, compassion, forgiveness, and mercy.

Jeremiah was telling the folks in his day of the impending doom.  But he was also telling them they were not living in the end times—they were living in their time.  Yes, things were about to change—radically.  But they were to live out their gift of life and to embrace the new covenant of God that God would place within their hearts. 

As we come to the end of Lent, we too are called to examine our hearts and see what is there.  We are called to renew that covenant between humanity and the divine and to live as the light of Christ in our troubled world.  Amen.

 

March 22, 2009/Fourth Week of Lent/Old Testament Lesson: Numbers 21: 4-9/Epistle Lesson: Ephesians 2: 1-10/Gospel Lesson: John 3: 14-21

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                                  The Love of Christ

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen. Included in our Gospel Lesson today are the best known words in the Christian faith.  For many, John 3:16 is the gospel—the good news.  It was intended to be and still is a rallying cry for the faithful.  Unfortunately it also became a powerful weapon when in the fourth century; the faith of the Christians became the faith of an empire.  It has been used for centuries to carry out brutal attacks against Jews.  It is been used as justification to launch crusades and to kill infidels without a second thought.

And yet the author of John intended his words to be words of comfort, love, and hope during a very difficult time.  This gospel was written by a well-educated person not from Judea and certainly not a Galilean fisherman.  This Christian writer knew the Old Testament story because he speaks of Moses and the time when Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so people could once again believe.  He also knew of Greek gods and philosophy and used his wealth of knowledge to explain the mystery of Jesus.

The Gospel according to John was written toward the end of the first century many decades after the other three gospels of the canon.  The Jewish Revolt of 66 AD had rid the homeland of the hated Romans for a few years.  When Rome sent in legions to destroy Judea, Jewish Christians refused to support the freedom fighters and were forced to leave Jerusalem.  Rome destroyed the temple and the capital city and killed hundreds of thousands of Jewish people. 

Jewish Christians who had been welcomed in the synagogues around the empire were now cast out as traitors.  The synagogue was so much more than just a place to pray and hear the Torah spoken.  It was a place to meet and visit with other Jews and to hear stories of family and the homeland.  Jewish Christians were no longer welcome.  They were often cast out not only of the family of Jewish immigrants but often thrown out by their own families.

For Gentile Christians, the situation at the end of the first century was also dangerous.  Christians had grown in number and were often seen as a threat and an affront to the empire, the emperor, and the faith of the emperor.  They were vocal enough to become the scapegoat for everything that went wrong. Gentile Christians also were outcasts.  They couldn’t hold government positions.  They were seen as fools by their friends and neighbors.  And the empire allowed systematic torture and persecution of Christians.  And we know from history that several emperors even orchestrated such persecutions.

Add to this that Followers of the Way believed with all their hearts that they were living in the end times.  Paul had written not to bother with long term plans and that followers didn’t even need to marry because the end would come very, very soon.  But as the faithful looked to the second century and the first generation of believers began to die and the coming of the Christ had not happened as promised, many began to question whether it was all worth it.

And it was to these followers that John is speaking to.  John reminded those who would hear his words how bleak things seemed to the Jews of old who were lost in the wilderness.  Moses spoke encouraging words and told those who kept faith they would have eternal life.

And then John said that this same God who spoke to Moses sent Jesus into the world to show the way.  And these people who were fearful and scared were told not to go back to the synagogues or the temples of the Greek gods but to believe in the ways of the Christ—that whoever believes—remains true will have life eternally in the presence of God.

John’s words about Jesus became the light that followers needed in their world.  With the light came truth and the ability to see clearly.  These were the people that John wrote his testimony for.  John believed that it is love—the love expressed by Jesus of Nazareth that will free us—the modern day Followers of the Way.  We have entered the season of spring.  The days are longer and we can enjoy the light longer each day even though Daylight Savings Time has plunged our morning coffee time into darkness.  John’s words of mystery and eloquence became the light in the darkness.  John spoke of Moses in his gospel.  Do you remember what the ninth plague brought down on Egypt because of Pharaoh’s hard heart?  It was thick darkness.  It was darkness so thick that sight was impossible and even breathing became difficult.

I watched the ending of the movie about the boxer—Ruben Hurricane Carter.  I bet Gene remembers him.  He was a devastating puncher who would completely demolish his opponent.  But he is not remembered as a boxer.  He is remembered because he and a friend were framed for murder.  His black skin was all the evidence needed to send him to prison for twenty-two years.  There were people who never gave up and continued to try to overturn this travesty of justice.

Carter, himself gave up hope more than once.  Twenty-two years—in a maximum security prison.  Before his phony conviction was overturned, Carter had once again regained his humanity and hope.  A young man came to see the Hurricane and the Hurricane told him, “Son, it was hate that imprisoned me but it will be love that sets me free.” 

John in comforting words urges Followers to stay true to the light—the love of the Christ.  Young people have been fascinated for a decade now about the boy wizard—Harry Potter.  Too bad for many fundamentalist Christians, that their leaders have forbad them to read or watch the saga of Harry Potter.  For in the words of J. K. Rowling we have a retelling of the Christian story.  Just as a few generations ago, C. S. Lewis used fantasy to tell the Christian story in the stories of Narnia.  Just as J. R. R. Tolkien used wizards and hobbits to retell the story of the Christ in the Lord of the Kings Trilogy., J. K. Rowling tells her young readers the story of good triumphing over evil.

It took seven huge books to tell Harry’s story.  There is much darkness and there is great evil.  And Harry often losses faith and it seems that he will live always in darkness.  It is his wise old teacher—Dumbledore who continues to remind Harry what the greatest spell in all the world is.  At one point, Harry, defeated, dejected, and sad, says, “Yeah, yeah, I know—LOVE.”

We look around our world and we feel like joining Harry and saying sarcastically, “Yeah, I know, it’s about love—the ways of the Christ.  And John the Evangelist says, “Yes.  It is. It is that simple.”  But not really simple is it?  It wasn’t easy for those first century followers that were confused and conflicted.  But John says that is the situation we find ourselves.  We must trust our better instincts and follow the God-light, the God-bearer who came into the world to proclaim loves victory over hate.  And by believing we too can live in the eternal presence of God. Amen. 

 

March 8, 2009/Second Sunday in Lent/Old Testament Lesson-Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16 /Epistle Lesson-Romans 8: 13-25/Gospel Lesson-Mark 8: 31-38

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                         Jesus Tells It Like It Is

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  You might remember comedian Yakov Sminoff.  When he first came to the United States from Russia he was blown away by all the instant products on store shelves.  He says, “On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk—you just add water, and you get milk.  Then I saw powdered orange juice—you just and water, and you get orange juice.  And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, “What a country!”

The Gospel Lesson today holds no illusions.  At least Jesus held no illusions.  He saw what happened to prophets and messiahs in his country.  The only Jewish power structures in occupied Judea were the priests controlling temple worship and the wealthy Jews who aligned themselves with Herod—Rome’s stooge.  John the Baptist was the best known of the traveling holy men and he mainly ranted and raved in the wilderness.  John made no move toward Jerusalem.  And yet, John was killed.

Not only would those in charge of temple worship and the wealthy Jewish collaborators fear the disruption Jesus could cause if he proclaimed himself the long awaited liberator, the Romans would stand for no dissent—no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential. 

The first eight chapters of Mark tells of Jesus being baptized by John, Jesus’ days in the wilderness, his early movements in Galilee, the selection of his top twelve, his teachings, and many healings.  We know his reception was not always positive as he is jeered and laughed at in his hometown.  But so far, most of what was happening was happening under the radar of the temple elite and the Roman legions.  And in Mark’s telling of the Gospel, Jesus is always reminding his disciples not to let on to who they believed Jesus was or the miracles and healings Jesus performed.

That all changes in our Gospel Lesson today.  Jesus explains what he thinks is going to happen to him.  He would be rejected and then killed.  After three days he would rise again.  This is not something Peter or Jesus’ closest friends wanted to hear.  Not only would Jesus be set upon by the powerful, anyone who wanted to follow in his ways was going to have deny him/herself and take up the cross.

Jesus’ words certainly took the fun out of being a disciple.  And when push came to shove at Gethsemane, Mark says the disciples fled—they skedaddled.  Skedaddle comes from a Scottish word meaning to spill or scatter and was used to describe flight from a battle during the Civil War. 

Today’s lesson needs to be heard and understood. Before we fall into formation behind Jesus, we ought to know the cost.  If we are unwilling to really examine what is called for, the best thing is for us to skedaddle just like the twelve.  Let’s face it—all this talk about self-denial and cross-bearing seem mighty stringent, demanding, and difficult.  No wonder so many folks looked at Jesus and wondered “who are you and where are you going.” 

When Jesus finished speaking to his disciples I imagine that Jesus went off by himself—he did that a lot –he had plenty on his mind.  I am sure he was shaken every time he pondered his future.  I also imagined that his disciples whispered to each other and some brave soul might have said, “I didn’t know Jesus was going down the path he just described.” 

But these ordinary people, who put their lives on hold and followed him, stayed with him and became the bearers of the light of Christ.  The point of this faith is not simply to read and hear Jesus’ teachings.  The point of our faith is not simply to get our tickets punched so we can sail through the pearly gates.  We are to be cross bearers in this world.

Each service begins when the young people light the candles; bring in the Bible, and the other elements that belong on the altar.  But the first person who comes in is the one carrying the cross.  Do you know what this person is called?  He/she is called the crucifer.  This carrying in of the cross is a constant reminder that we are to carry the cross not only on Sunday morning but Monday through Saturday also. 

I read about a fruit that grows in West Africa that is called miraculin.  It looks sort of like a cranberry and has a slightly citrus taste.  If one holds it in their mouth for about thirty seconds, chew it up but keep it on your tongue you will feel a tingle.  After you swallow the berry it makes other, more sour fruit like lemons and grapefruit taste sweet.  It will make vinegar taste as sweat as Mountain Dew.

Many people think that faith is like miraculin—it makes everything sweet and pretty.  Too many feel that faith is only an hour or so of singing hymns and hearing of the sweet-bye-in-bye and that will be enough to give us a little sugar high.  Then it back to the real world until the next time we are ready for our faith fix.

That’s not what Jesus described for his disciples in our Gospel Lesson.  Jesus is reminding us pretty starkly that we are not simply human beings having a spiritual experience but we are spiritual beings having a human experience.  And we are to take this gift of life and we are to be the light of Christ in our words and our deeds.  Jesus even up the ante when he said we are to show compassion not only to those we love but also to those we consider enemies.

I am reminded of a man who went to Sunday School and church every Sunday.  He sang with spirit and read his Bible.  But one Sunday it seemed like the Sunday School teacher and the preacher were ganging up on him—too much talk of sacrifice, and love, and helping the less unfortunate.  He was saved—washed in the blood—enough with all that other stuff.  On the way out of church, still steaming, he blurted out to the preacher, “Well I’m no Jesus and I never will be!”

Good for him.  At least he was honest enough to say that the road Jesus calls his followers to walk down wasn’t for him.  And I have a feeling that there are many congregations who don’t care for that kind of stuff either and I am sure they would welcome someone who is saved and washed in the blood.

But deep in our spiritual selves, we know that Jesus wants each of us to take up the burdens of life and to become a light for others so we can all live in oneness with the Christ.  Saying yes means to be willing to embrace the life that seeks to be born in our hearts.  And in our feeble attempts at embracing the conciseness of Christ remember that God’s mercy is greater than our meager steps.  Lord, cleanse me—cleanse us of our hard-heartedness and help us embrace your infinite mercy and love in our lives.  Amen.

March 1, 2009/First Sunday in Lent/Old Testament Lesson-Genesis 9: 8-17 /Epistle Lesson-1 Peter 3: 18-22/Gospel Lesson-Mark 1: 9-13

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                                    Keeping True

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  The first letter of Peter was written to give encouragement and hope to Christians in the northern part of Asia Minor.  The letter was written from Rome very possibly at the beginning of the systematic persecution of Christians by Nero.  The author harkened back to the ridicule that Noah suffered as he tried to remain true to the covenant.  Peter’s letter was a plea to remain true to the hopes and dreams of Jesus.

To be a follower of Jesus at the end of the first century was not easy.  Yes, in some cases followers were imprisoned and were killed.  But many more lost jobs because they rejected the notion that the emperor was God’s son.  Many more were turned out of their family because they were seen as dangerous or crazy for joining this band of Jesus followers.  We have a hard time understanding because our country has no nationally sanctioned faith and freedom to worship or not to worship is a cornerstone of its democracy.

In the first century Roman Empire the government often sanctioned or even carried out attacks on religious groups that they felt were offensive or threatening to the power of Rome.  Peter reminds the believers that Jesus died because even in his backwater homeland, the empire would allow no dissent.

First century Christians believed that after Jesus’ death and before his resurrection, he went to the world of the dead—descended into hell to preach the good news.  The Epistle Lesson from Peter is the reason why early Christians believed Jesus went to the dead. In our limited way of thinking we forget that the work of the Christ is not limited or bound by time or space or even death.  The power of Christ is the power of universal salvation.  That is a powerful concept—that the Christ forgets no one.  The Christ abandons no one—not even the dead!

The Old Testament Lesson is the story of Noah, the ark, and the rainbow.  It is a story that has been depicted in children’s books and cartoons and is certainly one of the most popular.  I don’t want to bust the bubble or ruin the story for future children.  But the story in children’s books is a pretty sanitized version of what happen. 

The primeval story of Noah and his ark is actually a dark story that explains what happens to humanity when they are devious and hateful and break not a contract—but a covenant.  And this is the big covenant made by people and the creator.  The consequence of discarding our divine inheritance was and is pretty terrible.

Can you imagine the carnage left when all but eight humans and a few thousand animals were destroyed?  Can we imagine the stench that surrounded the ark along with the bloated dead bodies?  I am not suggesting that you include all this in a bedtime story to a little child.  But part of the Noah story speaks to what happens to a world that discards its humanity and becomes consumed with material goods, one’s own pleasures at the expense of others, and fouled by hate and prejudice.  God looked upon that kind of world and said that it was no longer worth living.

We have much to lose when we cast aside and ignore the ways of the Christ.  We cause great harm when we break that covenant made with God that we will live as a holy people.  The promise that humanity made to care for the orphans and widows and those too often forgotten is greatly damaged.  When we disregard that covenant we begin to destroy the soul inside us until God can no longer recognize us.

The writers of the Old Testament and the first letter of Peter had no illusions that staying in covenant with one another and with the divine ideals of God would be easy. 

And no one knew of the difficulties of such teachings and choices would be than Rabbi Jesus.  And if he didn’t understand what faced him when he confronted the worst of human nature; his forty days in the wilderness brought him to full realization.

It is really important to read carefully today’s Gospel Lesson from Mark.  Mark is the oldest and I believe the best account of the Jesus movement.  Jesus has just been baptized.  The dove anointed Jesus as the chosen one.  Then in Mark 1:12, “The Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.”  The Spirit didn’t take him by the hand and lead him—the Spirit pushed—shoved Jesus into his forty days of reckoning. 

Mark in his writing wants the reader to understand how human Jesus was.  This in no way diminishes his divine nature but Mark wants people to understand that Jesus’ emotions and fears are like ours.  I have to believe that Jesus, after his forty days in the wilderness could have asked that his fate be taken from him. He didn’t.  He kept true to the covenant.  He left the wilderness and turned to Jerusalem where he would confront all that was evil about humanity—a religion that impoverished and did not lift people up.  He confronted a culture that was full of hate and contempt for anyone who was different.  He confronted an empire that had no respect for human life. 

We have and will in the future face wilderness experiences.  There will be times when sadness, grief, illness, and betrayal will make our lives hell.  Lent should be a time of contemplation and preparation because these are things we will all face.  

Here is the covenant promise.  Regardless of the wilderness we may find ourselves in; regardless how far away we may believe ourselves from God; regardless how deep the flood may be around us or over us; in illness or death, in accident or conflict, in separation or difficult decisions or trials, none of us will be alone.  God will be there, strengthening us for the journey along the road to our Jerusalem.  From our time of reflection this Lent, let us keep that promise—that hope—that covenant alive.  God will never leave us to face life alone.  Amen.

 

 

 

 February 25, 2009/Ash Wednesday/Scripture Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                         Mammon v. Manna

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.   Ash Wednesday is not a popular celebration in the Christian Year because it reminds us that we are mortal and that we fall so very short of what God hoped for when we became part of his great creation.  Ash Wednesday is to be the beginning of every Christian’s yearly wilderness experience.  In the next forty days we are examine ourselves realistically and decide what is important in our lives.  It should be a time for prayerful thought and meditation.

One Sunday a little boy was acting up so bad in church that his dad finally picked him up and carried him out of the church.  The little boy called out loudly to the congregation, “Pray for me!  Pray for me!”

I read this week about a teacher who was pulled over for speeding very close to the High School she taught at.  As the police officer was collecting license and registration, her students began to drive past honking their horns, making comments, and others even stopped to remind her she shouldn’t speed.  The police officer asked if she taught there and she nodded affirmatively.  He closed his ticket book and said, “I think you’ve paid your debt to society.”

Mammon is the Greek translation of the Aramaic word for wealth.  Jesus tells us in Luke 16: 13 that “no slave can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and mammon.”  Manna refers to the Exodus story in which God rains down bread from heaven and expresses the spiritual idea that we are to place our hope and our trust in something besides material things.

In the great battle between wealth and a meaningful spiritual life, the battle is over and wealth is the great winner.  Even Christmas is a holiday where you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.  I guess Ash Wednesday is a day of atonement for Christmas debt.

We are in the most difficult financial time since the Great Depression.  Before World War II, World War I was known as the Great War.  One day history books might very well talk about the First Great Depression and the Second Great Depression.  The average American has four credit cards and owes about $2,000 on each.  The average American has 13 current credit obligations from a home loan, car loans, furniture, etc. 

Everyone is hoping that the economic crisis will ease before it gets any worse.  Today is to remind us that relief from spiritual blight can be even more uplifting.  Ash Wednesday is a reminder that God has reconciled us to himself.  Now is the time that we must be reconciled to God. 

A minister was speaking to a Sunday School class and asks, “What does repentance mean?”  One little boy said it means to be sorry for our sins.  But another youngster said, “It’s being sorry enough to quit.”

A CPA who took her spiritual life seriously decided that for Lent, she would start keeping a journal.  She would write down everything that God gave her and everything she gave to God.  She called it her Debit/Credit Journal. 

If someone did her a favor, she put it down as God’s gift to her.  She also credited God with the sun, food, health, friends, relatives, and thousands of other joys.  She also wrote down things she did for God but soon gave up.  “It is impossible for me to balance the books.  I find that God is indeed my creditor and I have done next to nothing for him”

Today is the day to admit our shortcomings.  It is also a day that we are to begin forty days of an inward and outward spiritual journey.  It is also a day to remember that God has chosen to reconcile with us because of his deep love for us.  The ashes are not only a reminder of our mortality; it is a reminder that we are a member of God’s family.  Amen.

February 22, 2009/Transfiguration Sunday/Old Testament Lesson-2 Kings 2:1-12 /Epistle Lesson-2 Corinthians 4: 3-6/Gospel Lesson-Mark 9: 2-9

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                              That Sinking Feeling

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  Have you ever heard of the Kingdom of Kiribati?  No, it is not a made-up place from a book or a movie.  It is a nation made up of the 32 small islands near New Zealand.  There are 97,000 who claim this kingdom as their home.  Those of you here who saw newsreels or fought during WWII knew Kiribati as the Gilbert Islands.  These islands were the battleground for many battles between the United States and Japan.

There is trouble in this kingdom paradise.  The highest point of elevation is less than 2 meters above sea level.  Over the last one hundred years, oceanographers have seen a 50 cm rise in the ocean level.  25% percent of the nation’s elevation has gone under.  President Tong has called upon the international community for help but many fear it is already too late for this kingdom and some predict the nation’s inhabitants will have to find a new home before 2100.  Two of the 32 islands have already disappeared.  Poor Kiribati has become an ideological battle ground between those who believe this is a very visible sign of the effects of climate change brought on by pollution and those who say that nations should not be built on atolls that were formed by volcanic mountains rising from the sea.  These folks point out that after atolls are formed they slowly subside over thousands of years. 

Paul in our Epistle reading for this morning also has a sinking feeling.  He fears that the good news of Jesus Christ was already disappearing from view and the consequence was that people who needed hope were denied.  Paul had a sinking feeling that fear, greed, and the desire to get ahead of others was forcing out the love of Christ and keeping that community of faith from being a light in the darkness.  Can you image that—a church community have disagreements and problems.  How things haven’t changed over the centuries.

And that is why Transfiguration Sunday is relevant to every generation and all communities of faith.  It is to remind us that the mystery of God was revealed in the life of Jesus. To see God—to know what had been hidden—we only have to look upon the face of the simple, kind, generous, compassionate carpenter rabbi from a tiny hovel in Judea.  We need to remember that of all of those who have lived, God shown his light upon Jesus and said, “This is my son, marked by my love. Listen to him.”

Gayle and I attended a workshop by an author who urged us to be part of the local church that brings spiritual passion not just to the church but to an ever widening community.  Paul was fearful that the Corinth Church would be so consumed with itself that it deprives others of experiencing the light of the Christ. 

Do you remember when Ford motor company unveiled the Mustang?  That was really exciting.  I remember when SFA unveiled the statue of Stephen F. Austin in front of the university library—that wasn’t all that exciting.  Paul was excited because the gospel of Jesus is an unveiling—the breaking down of a barrier between what had traditionally been seen as an unapproachable God and humanity. 

Jesus is God’s unleashing of another dimension into human existence.  And yet, even as far back as one of the earliest churches—the Church at Corinth that idea of God revealing himself in Jesus had to compete with things that glitter and seem so pleasing to the eye.  The devil really does wear Prada and has convinced our society and culture that what we wear, how we fix our hair, the car we drive, and the square footage of our home is more important than peace of mind and the joy that comes from that divine spark that has been placed in all of us.

The Old Testament Lesson is about Elijah just before he is taken into a whirlwind into God’s presence.  His trusted student and prophet in training, Elisha will not let Elijah out of his sight.  Three times, Elijah says that he is going to go off by himself and three times Elisha said not on your life—I am sticking by you.  Elijah finally looked at his friend and asked if there was anything he could for him before he left this earth.

Elisha didn’t need Prada.  He knew what was really important.  He asks this favor from his old teacher: “Let your life be repeated in my life.  I want to be a holy man just like you.” 

Jesus did not enchant people and did not want their adoration.  He wants us to see as he sees.  For he knows that when we see as he sees not only will we be transformed, the world we touched will be transformed.  Evelyn Underhill said, “For lack of attention, a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.”  What Jesus knew was that for the lack of attention, thousands around us—who live surrounding this church have little hope and seldom feel the touch of compassion or a kind word. 

By society’s standards, Jesus was a complete failure.  He was not popular and was disliked by many.  He was jeered at and threatened.  He had no political power.  He didn’t have many close friends and those friends he did have hurt him and even betrayed him.  He didn’t have money or possessions.  He no home and no world headquarters.  Despite all this failure Jesus the Christ has transformed millions of lives over thousands of years.  His transforming power is still great.  And he invites all to see creation as he sees knowing that once we surrender our will and begin to see others as Christ sees them, we will change, and change will come one person at a time. 

 

February 15, 2009/Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany/Old Testament Lesson-2 Kings 5:1-14 /Epistle Lesson-1 Corinthians 9: 24-27/Gospel Lesson-Mark 1: 40-45

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                            Poetry in Motion

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  On a cold night in a small Vermont town, a group of teenagers broke into an empty house.  We don’t know what they had been drinking or if what transpired was from a dare but they trashed the house to the tune of $15,000.  The teens, really not bad kids, were caught.  The house had belonged to poet, Robert Frost so as part of their guilty plea they were sentenced to poetry.  I guess that is an example of poetic justice.

Jay Parini, a biographer of the famous poet and an English professor was given the challenging assignment.  One of the teens’ lessons centered on the Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.”  Most of us are familiar with the poem about “two roads that diverged in a yellow wood.”  The young offenders were made to look and wonder at the choices they had made and where those choices had led them.

The second poem is a terrible tell called “Out, Out,” about a boy who cuts himself with a buzz saw and bleeds to death.  Frost writes, “Then the boy saw it all,

Since he was old enough to know, big boy

Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—

He saw all spoiled.”

The family cannot believe it is happening to them as they see their son die.  This poem really upset the pranksters and Professor Parini ended the lesson with this advice—“Don’t waste your life.”

            Robert Frost said, “Poetry is about life and death and who you are as a person.  The Bible is full of poetry and in the poetic words we learn about life and death and life.  Robert Frost went on to say, “Unless you are educated in metaphor, you are not safe to be let loose in the world.”  This is my wife’s territory but I do know that in today’s Epistle Lesson Paul says Christians are athletes.  They were not Olympic competitors but players in the game of life.

            Paul also says your body is a temple of God.  He says you are a dwelling place for God.  For Paul this race is a matter of life or death.  Like the ancient games, Paul saw life as a constant battle not just a fun pastime to be enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon.  We are to run our race to win.  This is Paul’s metaphor for the life of faith.

            Life seen as a race is a metaphor found in many places and not just the words of Paul.  Paul speaks of training hard and running hard.  And yet way too often our faith life is separate from our regular living and is called upon only when there is tragedy or illness or death or some other calamity. 

            I think God sees this and does not condemn us for this.  I believe that even if the only time we pray is when are lost and at our wits end God still treasures that time with us and God will make known his presence with us through the comforting of our mind and soul, through kind words and deeds of friends, and the community of faith in their imperfect humanness trying to be there for the one in need.

            I don’t think Paul sees God as a “Gotcha God” who says if you turn my back on me I will turn my back on you.  Paul isn’t saying to work hard at your faith and run the good race or the God of Gotcha is going to get you.  Instead, Paul says train hard and run the good race because if you don’t you will miss out on so much and so many possibilities.  Life is an adventure—live life with meaning and a Christ center.  Robert Frost had his road and Paul had his race and both say don’t waste it. 

            In the Gospel Lesson, (Mark 1: 40-45) Jesus is going from village to village preaching and teaching.  In our lesson today, a desperate man comes to Jesus.  He has a skin disease—all skin diseases were called leprosy.  Anyone who had skin disease were thought to be unclean and must have done something to anger God and so were stricken with the unsightly problem.  Since these people were unclean they were banned from their homes and from their village.  They could not work.  They would live around the trash heaps outside of villages and towns.  They were completely ostracized from family and community life.

            We are not told how long this man had been cast aside but I assume it was a very long time.  This man is desperate.  All remedies, potions, and incantations had failed.  And so he falls to his knees and begs for help from this wondering rabbi.  “If you want to, you can cleanse me.”  And what does Jesus say.  “I want to.  Be clean.”  And the man was clean.

            No questions asked.  No confession required.  No minimum time praying required.  Jesus saw a need and he wanted to help.  No judgment—only compassion and hope.  From that moment the man began a new journey and new race.

            Our Old Testament Lesson is the story of the Syrian general, Naaman.  This rich powerful man had a horrible secret that would not remain silent for long.  He suffered from leprosy.  Because of his wealth and power he was able to hide his condition but soon everyone would notice that he had been cursed by the gods and he would be cast aside like any ordinary peasant.

            All the physicians and priests at Naaman’s disposal could do nothing to reverse, slow down, or stop the disease.  Just like the leper that confronted Jesus, Naaman was grasping at straws.

He was so desperate he was willing to listen to a slave—a female slave who told him the great prophet of her God—Yahweh could heal him. 

            Naaman the powerful, Naaman the desperate found Elisha, reluctantly humbled himself and did what he was told.  And his skin was healed and he was as good as new.

            In the times that try people’s souls, we cry out to God.  And yes, the God of mercy and compassion hears us and will provide avenues of comfort.  But Paul says don’t wait until times are terrible or the end is near.  Lace up your tennis shoes right now.  Be a witness to creation right now.  Notice each other’s beautiful faces and complex natures right now.  Do not let creation unfold to an empty house.

            Join hands with your brothers and sisters.  Reach out and make that circle larger and bolder.  Don’t miss out on the joys and only experience sadness.  Be like Forest Gump and “Run Forest run!”  Break free of anything that holds you back—old angers, fears, prejudice—break free of them all!  Embrace hope and the promise of God.  Don’t short change yourself and cheapen your existence.  Go for the gold.  Amen.    

February 8, 2009/Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany/Old Testament Lesson-Isaiah 40: 21-31/Epistle Lesson-1 Corinthians 9: 16-23/Gospel Lesson-Mark 1: 29-39

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                              All You Really Need to Know

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen. 

This week I read about a man who wanted to join a church.  Before the pastor who let him join he told him that he would have to answer one question.  “Where was Jesus born?”  The man thought and finally answered, “Longview.”  He was not granted membership.  He went to the second church and the same thing happened.  This time he answered, “Tyler.”  The third time he went to a Methodist Church and was welcomed into the fold.  “You mean there aren’t any Bible questions I have to answer first?”  The pastor assured him there was not.  “Pastor, can I ask you a question?  Where was Jesus born?”  The pastor said Jesus was born in Palestine.  The man said, “I knew it was in East Texas somewhere.”

I often wonder about all the letters and writings that have been lost to time.  For centuries the gospels of Thomas, Judas, Mary Magdalene and others were buried in the deserts of Egypt.  The Dead Sea Scrolls were buried and forgotten for centuries.  But what about writings that were destroyed or simply decayed and we will never hear the wisdom from those words? 

Little is known of the life of Jesus.  Outside of the New Testament, the Christian writings not included in our canon, and just a couple of sentences from the histories of the First Century there is no mention of Jesus.  There have been many biographies written about Jesus but most is just conjecture based on what life would be like for a First Century Jew living in a small village.  My favorite biography is simply called Rabbi Jesus.  Most of the book is what the author thinks Jesus’ life was based on the little that we know about him.

One thing we can infer about Jesus is how important the book of Isaiah was to his beliefs and his teachings.  Not only did he quote often from Isaiah but the ideas of Isaiah are the bedrock of Jesus’ teachings.  I think that if all the books and letters of the Old Testament, New Testament, the Apocrypha, and other non-canon writings—had been lost and that all the Jews and Christians had was the book of Isaiah, it would be sufficient for us as a guide to a spiritual and God-filled life.

Some might be surprised that I would pick out a book from the Jewish testament.  Too often people focus on the blood thirsty or highly nationalistic parts of the Old Testament.  One little girl was bothered by the savagery but decided all that all happened before God became a Christian.  Her theology wasn’t very sophisticated but she was right that Jesus focused in on those scriptures that truly reflect the love and compassion of God.

Isaiah is very large—sixty-six chapters. The first and oldest part of Isaiah—the first 39 chapters are full of judgment and predictions of disaster. The middle part—chapters 40-55—is full of consolation and hope for people who once again have been exiled.  The last part was written after the exiles had come home.

Our Old Testament Lesson comes from the middle section of Isaiah called the Deutro-Isaiah that was written to comfort the exiles in Babylon.  Today’s scripture are the first verses in the part of Isaiah that is called the Book of the Consolation of Judah. 

The faith of Israel and Judah had to undergo a major paradigm shift or the faith of the Jews was going to die.  The temple and the Holy of Holies—the earthy dwelling place of Yahweh—the God of Jews had been destroyed.  A new understanding began to take shape.  Yahweh dwelt not in an earthy palace as a king.  Instead, Yahweh lived in the hearts of those that believed.  Yahweh was not just a Jewish deity of the territory of Israel, he was the God creator—the God of Angel armies.  The new idea wasn’t that Jews were to have no Gods above Yahweh—there simply were no other Gods.  It wasn’t Marduk—God of Babylon that ruled creation and controlled history—it was Yahweh.

Maya Angelou, the great American poet was greatly inspired by the Second Isaiah when she wrote these words:

The old ones remind us that slavery’s chains

Have paid for our freedom again and again.

The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain,

We are a going-on people who will rise again.

And still we rise.  And still we rise.

Ms. Angelou was speaking of those in the U. S. who were enslaved and those who fought against slavery, segregation, and injustice. But the overriding theme throughout the Old and New Testament is that God demands justice from his people.  And this God voice for justice and an end to poverty is found in the words of all the prophets and especially loud and clear in Isaiah. 

            On February 12^th, our nation will celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.  Lincoln did not consider himself a Christian but I know of no other president who was more spiritual or more moved by God’s call for justice than President Lincoln.  He too often quoted the words and ideas of Isaiah. 

            The poet James Weldon Johnson wrote Lift Every Voce and Sing nearly one hundred years ago.

            Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,

            Ring with the harmonies of liberty.

            Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies;

            Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

            God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,

            Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

            Thou who hast by thy might led us into the light;

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

These are Christian words—words of faith in a God who can guide us and lead us into the bright light of freedom, equality, and justice.

            In every era and every community, each of us is challenged to follow God on the long march into the light of justice and freedom.  These ideas are what inspired the writing of our nation’s founding fathers.  When America is at its best, it God given best, she is a beacon of what can be for all the world. But we understand that we and our nation struggles with justice as compassion just as Israel did.  In fact the word “Israel” means “one who struggles with God.”

            Isaiah understood that all spiritual answers begin with waiting for the Lord.  As you know, I am not good at waiting.  What I have learned in my studies is that when Isaiah talks about waiting he isn’t talking about killing time until God revels himself.  Waiting upon the Lord means to wait on the Lord like a waiter serves a guest at a table; taking the guest’s order and filling the order with dignity and patience.  Let us wait upon God and listen to the wonderful God words of Isaiah.

 

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isa 1: 16-17)

For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on is afflicted (Isa 49: 13)

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. (Isa 55: 3)

The Lord has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to comfort all who mourn. (Isa 61: 1-2)

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.  No more shall be heard the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. (Isa 65: 17 & 19)

Thy who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40: 31)

            There is a popular book called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.  I would suggest that all we really need to know about how to serve God and try to live Christ-like lives we can learn in the book of Isaiah.  In reading a non-fiction book I think that what the author focuses on and what the author writes about the most is what he considers to be the most important.  The overwhelming theme of both the Old and New Testament is justice and compassion.  There are words in scripture dedicated to justice and compassion than anything else.

            That should tell us what is front and center in the mind of God.  If we speak and live compassion and justice then we are living in the ways of the Christ.  Amen.

February 1, 2009/Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany/Old Testament Lesson-Deuteronnomy 18: 15-20/Epistle Lesson-1 Corinthians 8: 1-13/Gospel Lesson-Mark 1: 21-28

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                 Gray Areas

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  We find warnings in both the Old and New Testaments about idol worship.  In the Old Testament, most people had family, clan, and tribal gods and idols.  In much of the pagan world that witnessed the rise of the Jesus movement, idol worship was still the norm.  Today, we don’t talk about actual god statues but about placing money, power, or status above God and thus these things become idols and objects of our worship.

Too often in American Christianity, a book is often worshipped and held in such high regard that it could be considered idol worship.  I am referring to the Bible.  The worship of the Bible is called bibliolatry.  In worship services dating back to the ancient Christian movement, the Bible is carried into worship held high above the carrier’s head.  In some churches, to be caught without a Bible is seen as folly or even as a lack of faithfulness.  And the Bible has been used for centuries as a weapon to subjugate and exclude people from the ways of the Christ.

As one of my professors reminded his class as students argued a point and were quoting scripture left and right, the Bible is a book—a book of faith from which we can lift glimpses of the eternal and ideas of the God.  But it is still a book and God is always God.

Our Epistle Lesson for the 4^th Sunday after the Epiphany indicates how messy this book can be.  We sometime think that the Bible is basically a lofty book of faith and theology of the ancient Jews and first century Christians.  There are stories of faith and there are many theological ideas discussed but much of the Bible is a how to book.  The Torah of Moses is a detailed explanation of how the twelve tribes were to live together as a nation.  And Paul’s letters were usually written in response to problems that arose in the church communities that Paul founded or nourished. 

Many scholars break down Paul’s letters into three categories.  One is letters attributed to Paul that were not included in the canon.  There were just too many questions about whether Paul was the author of these letters.  Then there are letters which all scholars are in agreement that Paul was the author.  Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon are undisputed Pauline letters.  There is debate among scholars and historians about the authorship of the other letters.

There is some dispute among some of the letters because of theological differences among the letters.  These differences raise questions about whether Paul, some close friends of Paul, or a member of a church Paul founded was the actual author of these disputed letters.

I am not bothered by differences in thought among the letters.  These letters were never intended to be systematic writings of faith but they were letters addressed to actual concerns and problems that arose in various churches.  Also, Paul was a man of great intellect whose ideas and thoughts may have grown and even changed as he studied, meditated, prayed, and debated.  But his firm belief that Jesus was the Christ and that resurrection power would lift those who held true to the ideas of the Christ never waivered.

According to Paul’s letters and the Book of Acts we know Paul spent a good deal of time and capital establishing a community of Christians in Corinth.  After Paul left to continue his missionary work problems arose in the new community and letters would be sent to him for his help and opinion.  Sometimes the disputes became so heated that members would go and visit Paul. 

Our scripture reading is a wonderful example of a first century dispute that erupted and threatened the harmony of the Corinth community.  It would be one of the many grey areas of the religion that threatened to disrupt and split the church.  The dispute centered on whether it was OK for Christians to eat meat that had been offered to some idol.  Some saw this as blasphemy.  Others, realizing that idols were nothing but powerless pieces of stone, saw nothing wrong with eating the meat.  This is not an issue that would cause problems in most American churches.  And yet, if we look past this debate about idols and meat as Paul did we can see great wisdom in Paul’s words.

This early debate that threatened to split the Corinthians did not strike at the heart of the faith but was one of those grey areas that often plagued Christianity throughout the centuries.  Questions of drinking, dancing, and listening to certain kinds of music have rocked churches throughout the South.  I remember the little jingle that goes, “Don’t drink, don’t dance, don’t chew and don’t go with girls that do.”

There are questions on how to read the scriptures—literally or metaphorically.  Is the communion table to be open to all or closed for only those true believers?  In baptism is the name of Jesus to be invoked only or is one to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And of course the question of whether to sprinkle, splash, or dunk.  Truth is people of faith may disagree on many areas.

Paul saw clearly that the problem wasn’t sacrificial meat but a certain smugness and confidence among people that they were right and everyone else is wrong.  Paul was issuing a smug alert.  Technically one might find their ideas the most persuasive but Paul says our love and respect for others should limit our smugness. Paul says that while a certain position may be “lawful” the bigger question is it beneficial. 

Paul speaks of communities that must have integrity and must realize that always having to be right or self-righteous risks people falling away from life-giving ways living.  John Wesley spoke about the essentials of faith and then said we must have charity and humility in all other areas.  Respect and love can never be a grey area but must be essentials.

C. S. Lewis said that the supreme vices are spiritual.  He lists as the supreme vices as: pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, bossing and patronizing, being a spoiled sport, backbiting, and the pleasure of power.  All of these grow out of hatred or fear.  He went on to say “That is why a cold, self-righteous prig, who goes regularly to church, may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute.  But, of course, it is better to be neither.”

There is a whole series of books called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.  I think that would be Paul’s advice to the many communities of faith.  We are called to be honest with God and one another.  In such honesty we admit that our knowledge of God is always seen through human eyes and minds.  Our understanding of God is always in the context of our time, our culture, and our understanding of nature and the universe.  Because of this, our understanding is always dim and limited.  Yes that pull we feel on our souls is real but our ability to discern and figure out the how and why of that pull will always be restricted by our ability to process that which is destined to be unknown.

That is the mystery of God.  Instead of judging others, let celebrate our differences in thought and understanding.  Let us give God eternal enough credit to sort out our feelings and our limited understanding of God.  Armed with knowing that we will never fully know let us love God by our love and compassion for God’s creation.  That message from God has been consistent throughout the ages.  Amen.

January 25, 2009/Third Sunday after the Epiphany/Old Testament Lesson-Jonah 1-5, 10/Epistle Lesson-1 Corinthians7: 29-31/Gospel Lesson-Mark 1: 14-20

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                       A Little Help from My Friends

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen. In the 1960’s the Beatles sang, I get by with a little help from friends.  We know that life is lonely when we feel friendless.  We also know that new businesses or new movements require help from friends.  The Gospel Lesson is about Jesus looking for friends to join him in an earth changing movement. 

The writer of Mark’s Gospel could not in his wildest imagination envision what would happen when this backwater rabbi proclaimed to the world that the Kingdom of God had arrived. 

For a Kindergarten show-and-tell each student was instructed to bring to class something that represented his or her religion.  One boy said, “My name is David and I am Jewish, and this is a Star of David.”  A second student then got up and said, “I am Mary.  I am a Catholic and this is a rosary.” Then a third student stood up and spoke.  “My name is Tommy and I am a Methodist, and this is a casserole.” 

All of this began when a Jewish kid, son of a carpenter, leaves home and starts a movement that gave birth to the many Christian traditions we have today.  Some of these traditions are interesting and intriguing.  Some are uplifting, some judgmental, some down right scary.  Some of the traditions have been shameful and so contrary to what Jesus hoped for the world.

Rich Mintzer of Entrepreneur magazine explains that there are four types of supporters every new business needs.  They need cheerleaders who will rally behind the new idea or product and provide encouragement especially during the tough beginnings.  They need the role model who will be the mentor and help employees see the important principles at work.  A new business needs the expert—people who are really smart and willing to tell the entrepreneur the truth.  Then one needs the “techie”—the wizards of computers, communication, and other infrastructure needed to get a new idea or product out of the starting gate. 

What kind of team did Jesus want to put together?  Did he go to the larger synagogues and get the names of up and coming thinkers and workers?  Did he go to Jerusalem and the temple and collect resumes of the best and the brightest?  Well, no he didn’t.  Instead, our Gospel Lesson tells us he went to the lakeshore reeking with the smell of fish and begins inviting fishermen to join his team. 

What was it that Jesus was looking for in Andrew, Simon, James and John?  I guess it would be the same things the Christ looks for when he call us.  Jesus begins with a strong mission statement.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” 

The announcement that God has come near and was ready to establish his heavenly kingdom on earth would be something that would excite Jesus’ countrymen who have long looked for someone to make such a bold proclamation.

For some who hear such words, their first thoughts would be revolution—a war to drive out the hated Roman occupiers.  To others, like the Essences of Dead Sea Scroll fame the announcement would me to withdraw from the towns and cities and the secular world of taxes and occupation and go to a remote area and begin building a Kingdom of God in the wilderness.

For Jesus, the coming kingdom was a sign that God was going to do something on behalf of all creation, redeeming humanity from sin, making outsiders insiders, and defeating one and for all, all the forces of evil and death.  And as the Jesus vision unfolded it became clear that this kingdom would not be born out of killing and war.  It wouldn’t come about by retreating from the realities of the world and forming a closed community of true believers.  It would be born as God eternal begins to change the hearts of people.  This new kingdom would be born in the heart and souls of those who heard Jesus’ words. 

And so, to go back to my original question, “What was Jesus looking for in his teammates?”  He was looking for people who had hope—people who could dream—people who could love.  He was looking for people willing to drop what they had assumed were the right choices and follow him.  He actually wanted people willing to give up what comforts they had, actually put on their sandals and follow him.

When you stop and think about what Jesus was asking, it was just as demanding as those willing to fight the Romans or those willing to live a simple, austere life in the wilderness.  Beginning on Team Jesus meant dropping ones own agenda and getting on board with Jesus’ kingdom agenda.  That’s what it still means to be Jesus’ friend today. 

St. Mark in his Gospel was pretty rough on the disciples.  According to Mark they were really, really slow on the uptake on what was Jesus’ dream and mission.  They are portrayed as not listening, too concerned with status, and just not knowing what to do.  I think Mark would be equally critical of us—the inheritors of the dream and mission of the Son of God.  Of course the disciples didn’t have thirty years of hindsight that the writer of this gospel had. 

No matter how wrong-headed the disciples often were, they were ready to follow.  They understood that it had to be a team effort.  According to Mark’s Gospel, the ministry of Jesus lasted a year—about 360 days—that’s it.  Maybe Mark was too hard on the disciples.  They didn’t really have much time to process all that Jesus was telling them.  But they were willing to follow.  And it was those twelve team players, inspired by the living Christ they encountered after the crucifixion that kept the promise of the Kingdom alive for us today.

Are we willing to allow the love, compassion, charity, inclusiveness of the Christ to be born in our hearts and guide how we live and treat others?  Are we willing to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, Simon, Andrew, James, and John? 

Our church first and foremost is not a business but a body.  It is first and foremost not an organization but an organism—living and breathing the good news that what Jesus envisioned can, must and will be born in the hearts of mankind. 

At the Iowa State Fair many years ago, the first-place horse won the pulling contest by pulling a sled with 4,500 lbs.  The second place managed to pull 4,400 lbs.  The two owners decided to see what both horses could pull working together.  They pulled 12,000 lbs.

We are the inheritors of a great yet flawed faith.  We believe in an ever creating God.  We come to know God through Jesus.  The Kingdom of God is close—let us embrace it and make it real for everyone we meet.  Amen.

January 18, 2009/Second Sunday after the Epiphany/Old Testament Lesson-1 Samuel 3: 1-10/Epistle Lesson-1 Corinthians 6:12-20/Gospel Lesson-John 1: 43-51

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                        A Sweet Confusing Story

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  The Old Testament Lesson is a sweet story of a young boy and God’s call.  It is a call that seems to signify hope for something new and better.  It is a New Year’s story of “out with the old and in with the new.”  It is a favorite children’s story. There is so much going on in this story that it has been studied and written about by the great rabbis of every age. 

All the scriptures for today are a reminder that we must not take scripture simply at face value.  Way too often much in the lesson is going on below the surface to remain at a skin deep level.  The great teachers of the faith of Israel understand the great complexity of this lesson.  Eli’s family hold on the priesthood is rejected even though Eli has done nothing wrong.  Eli is very supportive of Samuel and the new way—the new order.  As we heard, it was Eli that clues Samuel into what is going on. 

Eli’s sons are criticized because they did not know Yahweh and did not acknowledge Yahweh as Lord.  And yet our text tells us that the chosen one, Samuel did not know God even though he was raised in the temple. 

Rabbis have had to deal and contemplate what seems to be God not at his best.  God blames Eli for the shortcomings of his sons.  Eli’s family had been promised the priesthood for ever and God is breaking that promise.  And it seems that God condemns Eli and his sons for the same shortcomings seen in the new anointed one—Samuel. 

A great lesson in these complex and contradictory words is the gift of the living Word that will not be twisted or molded to fit human expectations.  The rabbis warn us all not to assume that God is who we believe God to be—or that God’s story unfolds the way we think it should unfold.  Beyond all the human words used to speak of God, God is and always will be God. 

The Bible is for Christians the inspired word of God.  But that means different things to different people.  Some believe each word of the Bible is the spoken and inspired word of God and despite the many inconsistencies found in both Old and New, we are to somehow believe and follow the literal word.  The great rabbis of every age scoff at such an idea.

I cannot read the Bible and believe that we are called upon to accept blindly the literal word.  In reality, no one does, not even the most fundamentalist believers.  The Bible is two distinct stories.  The Hebrew Testament is much bigger and covers a great span of time.  The Christian Testament was mostly written in the hundred after the crucifixion of Jesus. Both books are faith stories and from these stories we can see, hear, and feel the words of the Divine.  Most importantly, they are still both living documents that inspire and provide wisdom to us and for people over the centuries.

Samuel is certainly confused by the turn of the events and finally does the only sensible thing and that is to simply say, “Speak Lord, for thy servant hears.”  In reading any scripture we are told to read it first and understand it in context of who these words were first written for.  The words of 1 Samuel were written for the beaten and destitute people of Israel.  And what they heard was that the great eternal God was going to do great things in Israel.  After we look at the scripture this way then we ask ourselves what these words say to the readers that have spanned the centuries.  What wisdom and understanding can be brought to us in these words?  And sometimes, not always and not often, we may be moved to ask is God  trying to speak to me—right here and now—with these words.

Maybe we cannot hear God voice in these words because of the noise surrounding our living.  Maybe we are too distracted to simply quiet ourselves and listen.  Maybe, like Samuel, we need to learn to take time to be silent before God.  We need to step back from the noise and concentrate on the still small voice that still whispers in any ear that will listen. 

I was reading this week about twins.  I knew about identical and fraternal twins but I had not heard of mirror twins before.  Mirror twins are not necessarily identical but they do mirror each other.  One will be left handed and one will be right handed.  The hair on the one will fall left and the other toward the right.  The fingerprints are reversed.  If one has a birthmark on the right leg the other will have the birthmark on the left.

St. Paul urges his friends to imitate him because he imitates the ways of the Christ.  The hymn says, “Lord, O want to be like Jesus in my heart.”  One of the great books of the Christian faith is Thomas a Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ.  But looking at the Gospel Lesson, it becomes clear that we are not called to be a mirror image of Jesus—we are called to be followers of the Christ. 

The Gospel Lesson speaks of Philip and Nathanael (Bartholomew in the synoptic gospels) becoming disciples.  Phillip is so overjoyed because for him, Jesus is the long expected messiah that he urges Nathanael to meet this Jesus.  Nathanael is a skeptic and doubts that Jesus—a carpenter from Nazareth could be the anointed one of God.  But he comes to believe.

I do not believe that we are not called upon to acquire a new personality or new skills or to go around singing glory hallelujahs or to become somber and pious.  We can’t try to imitate or mimic Jesus because we simply don’t know that much about his life or his personality.  Jesus does not call us to “be like me” but calls us to “follow me.” 

We are not called upon to cease being the unique persons that we are.  We can’t become someone we are not.  But we should strive to be like Jesus in loving God and loving our neighbor and using our talents and abilities and recognizing our shortcomings and hang-ups.  Around a billion people throughout the world call themselves Christians.  From Catholics to Protestants, liberals and conservations, evangelical and fundamentalists, there are many perspectives about what it means to be a Christian.

I am not arrogant or foolish enough to think I understand God.  I don’t.  I know that the great rabbis, teachers, thinkers, and philosophers have pondered and always came up short.  We will not fair any better. But I think that maybe we can become more tolerant and compassionate.  I think we need to take time to pray, reflect, meditate, and study. Even so, I am pretty sure that we will never be just like Jesus.  But maybe, just maybe we can live in such a way that people can catch a glimpse of him through us.  And maybe that is what Samuel was hoping to do when he said, “Lord, your servant listens.”  Amen.

                                           

January 11, 2009/Baptism of Our Lord/Old Testament Lesson-Genesis 1: 1-5/Second Lesson-Acts 19: 1-7/Gospel Lesson-Mark 1: 4-11

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                        “Good Riddance Day

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  

Since it is so hard to keep (not make) New Year resolutions and because they usually end up making us feel guilty or pretending they were not really important I am going to suggest starting a different celebration.  I read about people who celebrate “Good Riddance Day.”  It is a day to say goodbye and good riddance to whatever is pulling you down.  Maybe it is a relationship which is harmful so you can burn so old letters.  Or maybe you paid off your house or car and you can burn the loan papers.  It can be anything that has been a milestone around your neck and heart.

On the Christian calendar today is the day that we remember Jesus being baptized and we talk about the importance of baptism as a sacrament and rite of initiation into a family of faith.  Today is a day to remember the creating force we call God. And as John the Baptizer reminds us in the Gospel Lesson, baptism or confirming or remembering our baptism can be a way of saying good riddance to those things that pull us down and make us feel low about ourselves.  It is a reminder that we loved by God and loved by this community of faith.

All of us have family stories that help explain who we are and how we got to this point of our lives.  My grandfather’s story is one that always makes me proud.  My great-grandfather was born a slave—a serf in Russia. My grandfather was a peasant farmer in the Ukraine.  WWI was just over the horizon and the Czar was combing the countryside looking for peasants to serve in his armies.  My great grandmother was a widow and so her oldest son had an agricultural deferment and would not have to go to war.  My grandfather took his brothers deferment and escaped from Russia into Germany.  He mailed that deferment back to his family and all four brothers were able to escape on that one document.  Four of the Rinas brothers came to the United States or Canada and began a new life.

Baptism is part of our spiritual family story.  It is when we were celebrated by God and all the heavens.  It is when we were bound to a community—a family that doesn’t judge but accepts, doesn’t question but includes, and doesn’t look down but embraces. 

In the Second Lesson from the book of Acts, Paul is speaking to Apollos and a handful of followers and is surprised to find out that these believers didn’t know about the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of the Christ which is born in the hearts of those baptized into the faith. 

Paul quizzes Apollos about his baptism and Apollos said that this group of followers were baptized into John’s baptism—the baptism of repentance.  Paul explains that Jesus’ baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and he baptizes all of them in the name of Jesus. 

Baptism in the name of Jesus is one of the two sacraments of our church. (Communion is the other)  Besides being god’s celebration of your life, Baptism is your initiation into the faith community and the community’s promise to care and nurture you in your living.  Baptism is part of the continuing act of God creating.

The Old Testament Lesson from the first five verses of the Hebrew Scriptures makes it clear that all begins with God.  The first actions described is God creating substance from emptiness, God creating order out of chaos, and God creating light that penetrates darkness. 

Emptiness, chaos, and darkness are words that can often describe human existence.  For many people, their lives are empty with no shape and no center.  Their lives are often void of meaning, joy, and satisfaction.  From all outward appearances these people may appear fulfilled but they are often empty inside.

Christian baptism is an announcement to the world that one wants fullness of life.  We commit ourselves to lives that imitate the Christ in hope and promise of finding eternal joy in the midst of an existence which can be trying and sometimes cruel.  Very early on in church history when baptism become a formalized rite of initiation and a sacrament the one being baptized underwent the apertio—“the opening.” The eyes, ears, and nose were anointed with oil.  This opening symbolized the openness to receive the spirit and divine truths. 

There is a famous fresco called the Isenheim Altarpiece by the sixteenth-century painter Mathis Grunewald.  Among the mourners of the crucified Jesus is John the Baptizer.  He is pointing to the Christ on the cross.  It is our faith that the Christ brought light, truth, and real knowledge of God into our existence.  In a way, the Christ is like Prometheus, who gave according to Greek mythology, humanity fire. Prometheus is chained up by the gods for bringing light into the world and Jesus is killed for bringing light and hope to those who knew mostly darkness and difficulty.

Our faith reminds us that Jesus as well as John the Baptizer were on the outside looking in.  They were not part of the ruling class or religious elite.  They were not part of well-to-do among the Jews.  They were peasants who possessed and preach radical ideas of inclusion, justice, compassion, and hope.  These ideas were not new.  The prophets had preached this message condemning the rich and famous for the neglect of their brothers and sisters since the time the Jews were just wondering tribes.

 The faith of our baptism begins with the first creating words of the Bible.  We believe in God and that we were created in God’s image.  God wants to be in a relationship with us and all humanity.  God is continually creating and bringing order out of chaos.  In the midst of the chaos of our lives, God wants to speak, to create, and to offer us new life. 

But probably most importantly, God has given us the responsibility to make something of the world we were given.  We are not silent pawns in God’s creating.  We should not pray, “God, here are my problems.”  But instead, we should pray, “Problems, here is God.” 

God is still speaking and creating, still healing, still loving.  God invites us today, in remembrance of our baptism—past or future—to be part of the creative process of the Eternal Light.  Are we ready?  Amen.

January 4, 2009/2^nd Sunday after Christmas/Old Testament Lesson-Sirach 24: 1-4, 12-16/Epistle Lesson-Ephesians 1: 3-14/Gospel Lesson-John 1: 1-18

(The following is the unedited text of the spoken sermon)

                                                                         “The Cosmic Christ”

Peace, love, hope, and joy from our brother, Jesus, Amen.  The CEO of a large company met the company’s newest employee and asked his name.  The new employee said his name was John.  “No can do,” said the pompous CEO.  “In my company I don’t refer to anyone by their first name.  Familiarity breeds contempt and that breaks down my authority.  I also refer to my employees by their last name—Smith, Baker, Johnson, Jones.  And I am always to be addressed as Mr. Robertson.  Now that we got that straight what is your last name, boy.”

The new guy sighed and said, “Darling.  My name is John Darling.”

“Okay, John, the nest thing I want to tell you is…”

Sometime the smartest people do the dumbest things.  Sometimes, average guys like me do and say some pretty stupid things.  Not true with the Scripture readings for today.  All deal with heady ideas and great wisdom.  In the Peanuts book titled Lucy’s Advice, Charlie Brown asks for some wisdom from Lucy.  She has her stand set up—Psychiatric Advice—5 cents.  Charlie Brown asks this—“Tell me a great truth.”  Lucy smiled and said, “When you are getting a drink of water in the dark, always rinse out the glass—there may be a bug in it.  Five cents please!”  To which Charlie Brown responds, “Great truths are even more simple than I thought.”

The scripture readings that are used for this Sunday all have a theme of wisdom.  Paul says in Ephesians 1:16-17, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened…”  Growing in wisdom is what Jesus did as he began to understand his destiny.  Growing in wisdom and being enlightened would be good, sensible New Year’s resolutions.

In the Hindu faith, the Holy Vedas say: “Man has subjected himself to thousands of self-inflected bondages.  Wisdom comes to a man who lives according to the true eternal laws of nature.”  Wisdom comes when we enjoy the mysteries of the eternal and try to apply the wisdom of Jesus in our lives.  If we live with wisdom and love we will move ever closer to God.

The Old Testament Lesson for today actually comes from the Apocrypha. And the book is called Ecclesiaticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach.  Ecclesiaticus means “of the church” and it is what early Christians called this book. Jesus the son of Sirach was a teacher and philosopher who conducted an Academy (early university) in Jerusalem around 180 BC.  In our scripture lesson, Sirach speaks of Lady Wisdom—the Goddess of Wisdom.  In Jewish Theology wisdom is always spoke of in the feminine.  “Wisdom will praise herself, and will glory in the midst of her people.  In the assembly of the Most High she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his host she will glory:  “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist…I took root in an honored people in the portion of the Lord, who is their inheritance.” (Sirach 24: 1-3, 12)

In the Gospel Lesson today from St. John, Jesus is describe as this wisdom—the word—that has always been—even before creation.  The Gospel writer describes Jesus—wisdom—the word—as light.  “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  (John 1: 5)

St. Paul wants his life and our lives to be full of understanding and wisdom.  But to grow in understanding and wisdom we must understand that it is by grace that we are able to be here this morning.  The Greeks would call this grace—fate.  The skeptic would call grace—luck.  Whatever you chose to call it is when we follow the Cosmic Christ describe in Paul’s words that we live our lives with a greater purpose than just our simple wants and needs.

Paul sees the mystery of God’s will played out in the life of Jesus.  My favorite theologian is American, Marcus Borg.  He said, “Jesus was young, his life was short, and his public activity was brief.  He lived only into his early thirties, and his public activity lasted perhaps as little as a year (according to the synoptic gospels) or as much as three or four years (according to John).  The founders of the world’s other major religious traditions lived long lives and were active for decades.  It is exceptional that so much came forth from such a brief life.  No wonder his followers are said to have exclaimed, “What manner of man is this.””

And yet, we base our hopes and aspirations on Jesus.  Madeleine L’Engle, the great science fiction writer says, “Christ, the maker of the universe or perhaps many universes, willingly and lovingly leaving all that power and coming to this poor, sin-filled planet to live with us for a few years to show us what we ought to be and could be.  Christ came to us as Jesus of Nazareth, wholly human and wholly divine, to show us what it means to be made in God’s image.”

And Jesus rejected the narrow world of materialism with its anxieties and fears.  He rejects legalistic religion and says godliness rests in love.  Mother Theresa understood that the words of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you” must be not only a light to us but a flame that consumes us in our living each day!

So as we approach a New Year, may we grow in wisdom and compassion and gain greater understanding that the Kingdom of God speaks in the simplest things.  An old 12^th Century hymn says: “O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind; bid envy, strife and quarrels cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.”  Amen.