tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19906682782623839892024-03-08T10:30:34.543-08:00Berean Baptist Sermonsdarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-35742657476862294652011-09-07T13:11:00.000-07:002011-09-07T13:23:41.351-07:00On My Way to a Sermon: 1 Corinthians 12:7<span style="font-weight:bold;">On My Way to a Sermon: I Corinthians 12; To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (1 Cor 12:7-11)</span><br /><br />What if Paul really means what he is saying here? I mean what if Paul really means that every member of the church is the recipient of a charismatic gift from and through the Holy Spirit?<br />How many times have I read these verses before myself and instead of pausing to really pay attention to the charismatic nature of these gifts and then launched into the cliched encouragement of accountants to use their gifts on the Finance Committee and teachers to use their gifts on the Christian Ed committee? I don’t know exactly how many times, but I am a bit ashamed to think about it. <br />I know why I’ve smoothed the rough edges of these verses. I read ‘gifts of healing’ and in my minds eye come images of Benny Hinn slapping people in the forehead using his ‘gift of healing.’ I read ‘various kinds of tongues’ and I remember watching Jimmy Swaggart with my grand-mother. He would regularly go into a little tongues in his sermons. It never struck me as all that authentic frankly. <br />I don’t want to be compared to Benny or Jimmy so I’ve neatly tamed these verses to mean using in church the skills that we already have acquired in school or in our careers. I don’t want to turn worship into cheap entertainment and I don’t want to promise people results that I cannot guarantee. <br /><br />But here is the thing. <span style="font-weight:bold;">If we only read these verses and then think about skills we already possess we are closing off the possibility that God could still be creating in and through us, in strange, amazing and unexpected ways.</span> Reading 1 Cor 12 as an encouragement to use the skills we possess in the long-run limits God to what we think we can do ourselves. Well, ok, God isn’t limited, but we are limiting ourselves. While lingering for a moment with the possibility that the Holy Spirit could empower us to do unexpected things, give gifts beyond our imagining and everyday experience might just challenge some of our dearly and rarely questioned assumptions. God is no longer some distant ‘higher power’ waiting patiently around the corner for our call, but a present and active, and perhaps inconvenient, reality. Church is no longer an occassional boost to the ego or massage for the spirit, but a training ground for the mission that God has called us to undertake. Faith no longer some dusty old ideas that we affirm upon occasion, but a process and a practice and a journey which stretches us and challenges us daily to grow into the Image of God that we were created to reflect into the dark corners of the world. <br /><br />Maybe we are missing a golden opportunity by skimming over these verses and this whole idea. Perhaps there are many people out there who are waiting for someone to tell them that they were created to make a difference in the world. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Perhaps there are people out there who are waiting for the opportunity to be a part of something good in a world that seems over-run by violence and greed. Perhaps they are waiting, expectantly to be told that there is a path through life that will bring more satisfaction than cruises and retirement accounts, something worth sacrificing for. Do we offer that? Paul was convinced that the Holy Spirit would empower the new Christians at Corinth to do great things. Do we challenge each other to great things?</span> Or are we stuck in a system that offers people a place on a committee, which doesn’t sound much like a world changing kind of activity? <br /><br />What if Paul really means that we are all recipients of a manifestation of the Spirit? God would no longer be a cosmic butler, church no longer a matter of convenience, membership no longer having one's name on a list, discipleship no longer joining a committee, and faith no longer a collection of ideas. All of which is good news if we’ve long been haunted by feelings of insecurity and the fear of our inadequacy. Bad news if we like our God distant, our church convenient and comforting and our faith safely ensconced in our mind.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-10143345757256322032011-03-06T11:08:00.000-08:002011-03-06T11:10:52.044-08:00Sermon: Mt 17; TransfigurationMt 17:1<br />Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.<br />Mountains are thin spaces, special connections between humans and God. <br />At least, that is what the scholars tell me is one reason why Jesus, Peter, James and John go up a high mountain.<br /><br />But I’ve climbed a mountain (well, not a mountain exactly. Mars Hill Mountain is located in my home town and it is technically a few feet short of mountain, which by the way should tell you something about the stubborn streak of the stock I come from… we still call it a mountain anyway, but that isn’t my point). I climbed an almost mountain, and as beautiful as the view from the summit was, the journey wasn’t easy. And you don’t need any special equipment to climb Mars Hill Mountain. But I did it in the summer and its hot and humid and the mosquitoes and blackflies are out. There are some pretty steep sections. It can be challenging, perhaps not for some of you more experienced hikers, but it was for me. <br /><br />Today’s first story, Jesus, Peter, James and John, going up the mountain comes AFTER a story we talked about not to long ago; the story of Peter confessing that Jesus is the Christ, but then faltering with the idea that Jesus will have to suffer and be crucified, and in his attempt to wrap his head around that idea (which begins, like most of us if we admit it, with denying that which we cannot yet comprehend) Jesus calls him Satan…<br /><br />Now my point is this. <br />The mountain, if you asked me, is the journey of being a faithful disciple<br />The mountain can be <br /> personal struggles; <br /> the loss of a loved one, <br /> caring for aging parents, <br /> battling addiction,<br /> the constant maintenance of a healthy relationship with our spouse,<br /> just keeping the bills paid.<br />The mountain is the stuff of life that you can’t avoid,<br />The stuff that you wouldn’t either, such as raising kids and caring for parents<br /> But the details of life that can swing either way<br /> As moments that can reveal the glory of God <br /> Or that can really weary, discourage and distract us…<br /><br />Jesus told this parable in Luke 8 about a farming scattering seed…<br /><br />14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.<br /><br />This is what I think…<br />Matthew is telling us a story to address the same issue<br /><br /><br /><br />Because the mountain, if you asked me, is discipleship struggles<br /> If you call someone fool you are headed straight for hell!<br /> If someone strikes you, turn the other cheek<br /> If someone takes your coat, give your shirt as well<br /> If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven<br /> <br />Following Christ is the decision to climb a difficult, risky path through life…<br /> It doesn’t come easy<br /> It doesn’t seem natural<br /> Or logical even, sometimes<br /> <br />So the mountain is that struggle with the voices in our head that suggest that Jesus <br /> Must have meant something else, something less demanding when he said to <br /> Give generously, forgive wantonly, accept openly…<br /><br />So the mountain can be personal struggles, discipleship struggles and one more…<br />We’ve really rehearsed these examples so much that I sometimes fear that they lose their edge<br />But the mountain is the story of Dietrich Bonheoffer who returned to Germany during Hitler’s rule<br /> To lead an underground seminary, as so many churches drank the Nazi cool-aid and watched as innocent Jews were loaded into cattle cars.<br /> <br />The mountain is the story that I mentioned not too many weeks ago, of Martin Luther King Junior penning letter to a Birmingham Jail, in response to the local white clergy who wanted him to stop causing such a stir in the community. You are disrupting our peaceful existence…<br /><br />Or John Woolman the 18th Century Quaker who walked around in white because wearing clothes made of dyed fabric would have been depending on slave labor and slavery, Woolman believed was wrong. There were all that many who agreed with him at the time… Not even among the good Christians<br /><br />My point is that the mountain is not just personal struggles, or the growing pains of our own development of faith, the mountain is also the witness that we are called to maintain in a world filled with violence and injustice. The challenge of being the church God has called us to be even when culture and society will not agree or understand or appreciate what we are doing…The mountain is our hesitation to join Jesus in over-turning the tables of the money lenders…<br /><br />17:1 After six days <br />Which could mean six days after Peter’s confession followed quickly by fear, doubt and denial…<br />But which also points us to two other stories…<br />The story of Moses on Mt. Sinai, surrounded by the cloud of God’s presence, the presence that made his face shine like the sun…<br />And also the story of creation in Genesis…<br /><br />James, John and Peter were lead up the mountain, the mountain of their fears, doubts, and denials<br />To see, firsthand, what God was doing…<br /><br />James, John and Peter were lead up the mountain to see the glory of God<br /><br />They were lead up the mountain for strength and hope…<br />When all about them would seem dark and dangerous, <br /> This glimpse of God’s glory, in their friend Jesus<br /> Was meant to inspire them to follow him <br /> Taking God’s creative and creating light into the dark places of the world<br /> Reflecting God presence into the lives of those who were denied<br /> That loving forgiving presence<br /><br />The thing about the transfiguration is that it isn’t something we can practice<br /> We can’t work toward transfiguration<br /> We can’t earn it <br /> We can’t plan it<br /> We can’t control it<br /><br />Transfiguration is a gift<br /> Seeing God’s glory<br /> God creative presence<br /> Is a rare and wondrous and if we look at Peter’s reaction, <br /> A daunting thing<br /><br />Peter is shown the transfiguration<br /> So that one day, he will remember it<br /> And realize, when he has returned to his simple, safe life of fishing<br /> That he too is called to follow Christ, no matter the consequences<br /> And that no matter how dire those consequences seem<br /> On the other side of sacrifice… is glory, light, resurrection<br /> The creative presence of God, even in defeat.<br /><br />Convictions, wrote James Wm. McClendon, are not just beliefs or opinions, … for our convictions show themselves not merely in our professions or belief or disbelief, but in all our attitudes and actions…<br />And if that were not challenging enough, McClendon goes on to say of the church…no mere collections of the curious will count.<br />James William McClendon, Jr.<br />Doctrine p 29<br /><br />John Howard Yoder wrote similarly contrasting two choices for the church… ‘run-of-the-mill’ devotion or a ‘heroic’ level of devotion.<br /><br />J.H. Yoder; The Priestly Kingdom<br />The Kingdom as Social Ethic, p. 83<br /><br />The Transfiguration is a gift to inspire heroic devotion… to shock us out of our curious believing and into action…<br /><br />Which is where our second strange story comes into play…<br /><br />Mt 17:27<br />Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin.<br /><br />We cannot control Transfigurations <br /> We cannot plan them, as I said, <br /> We wait expectantly for them…<br /><br />We ready ourselves for Transfigurations<br /> Those moments that interrupt our struggles and doubts and silence and fear<br /> With the white light of God’s own creating<br /><br />We ready ourselves to be ready for those moments<br /> With the seemingly foolish<br /> Searching for gold coins in the fish mouth<br /><br />Peter, for all his faults, did something foolish, silly, unbelievable<br />When Jesus told him to go fishing for a coin, he did…<br /><br />And that is what is required of us…<br /> Watching and waiting, <br /> and when the time comes the courage to take risky and even foolish chances<br /> that God’s creative presence will come shining into our darkness<br /> come shining through those of us<br /> who will dare to climb the mountain…darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-78235302354952295332011-01-16T13:39:00.000-08:002011-01-16T13:42:51.356-08:00Sermon: Matthew 16:21-28; Consequences, Clutter and Cold SteelMt 16:24-26<br /> "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?<br /><br /><br />Intro:<br />You are a kid. A young kid. It is winter. Snow blankets the playground… you are at school. It is cold out and you are all wrapped up in layers of coats, mittens, scarves. One of the kids from a grade or two above yours, one of the cool kids, comes and dares you to stick your tongue on one of the metal bars of the jungle gym. <br /><br />Ever happen to anybody? <br />What did you do? <br /><br />I’m not exactly sure why I thought of the time I got my tongue stuck to the jungle-gym bar, except that the first thing that jumps out at me in today’s reading is Jesus question, ‘what good will it be for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit the soul. <br /><br />There is something troubling about that word…. Forfeit…<br /><br />There will be consequences. <br /><br />I’m sure I’ve suffered more troubling consequences in my life than getting my tongue stuck to the metal bar… but that is what I thought of…<br /><br />And I got that strangely funny and frightening image of God leaving me stuck to the pole for all eternity. <br /><br />Context:<br />This is the end of a story that is all about consequences though. <br />As uncomfortable as consequences are… I suppose we’ve got to deal with them.<br /><br />Just a few verses back, Jesus will ask the disciples, who do you say I am? (A question we will revisit in a couple of weeks). Peter says, ‘the Messiah’ and Jesus praises him. <br /><br />Then Jesus begins to describe the consequences of being the messiah… he will be crucified and Peter gets… afraid? I think Peter is afraid. And he chastises Jesus, tells him not to talk like that. <br /><br />Peter doesn’t like the consequences, not for Jesus, not for himself. <br />You see we often think that Peter chastises Jesus because he doesn’t get it…<br /> Because he mis-understands what the Messiah will have to go through <br /><br />But I think Peter does get it… and doesn’t want to hear it…<br /> He understands that if the Messiah must sacrifice and suffer, <br /> So must the disciples…<br /> And those are not the consequences of following Jesus<br /> That Peter wants. <br />And he is right…<br />Right after that exchange Jesus launches into the challenging verses we read today…<br /> Lay down your life, take up your cross… <br /> Those are the consequences of following me, getting behind me…<br /> Have you got my back? Jesus asks? <br /> This is what having my back means; following me, going where I go<br />But not just going where I go, among the sick and the poor, the abused and forgotten<br /> And then to the cruel and powerful who put them there…<br /> But doing what I do, <br /> Helping the poor and expendable, <br /> And confronting the powerful, show them a new way<br /> Challenge them to live a new kind of life<br /><br /> If you don’t, there will be consequences… <br /> You think that by not following me,<br /> Or by creating distance between us that you are<br /> Making your life easier,<br /> But you’re not<br /> You are losing your life. <br /><br />This is the uncomfortable assumption behind the question, what will it benefit a man if he gains the world and forfeits his soul… the assumption is that there are consequences to not following Christ. <br /><br />Jesus really focuses our attention on the 1,000 pound gorilla in the room. <br /><br />Does faith really matter, does devotion to Christ and his church really matter, ultimately? <br /><br />‘The important distinction between the objectives of highly devoted Christian teenagers and their peers was simply that highly devoted Christian teenagers did not think about their actions or their futures simply in terms of what they wanted. They considered themselves morally bound to contribute to God’s purpose in the world. ‘ Kenda Creasy Dean<br /><br />It is uncomfortable because we all have friends, loved ones, family members, perhaps even spouses, who do not have faith, <br /><br />Or, if they do have faith,<br /> Their faith is like the proverbial treadmill in the TV room. <br /> It just sits there, without getting used for its intended purpose…<br /> Nobody runs on it, its just a clothes hanger<br /><br />And Jesus is saying, here, <br />And in many other places, that I have included in your devotions for this week<br /> Jesus is saying that this is not really faith at all<br /> And there will be consequences<br /> And I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that comfortable.<br /> Because my friends and relatives are good folks<br /> And it makes me sad to think that they are risking consequences.<br /><br />Even if we don’t want to go down the path of eternal damnation as the consequence,<br />We are still left with the suggestion that life lived without a relationship with God is <br />A wasted life… that the potential that we were created with lies wasted, unused<br /> That we did not become all we could have become<br /> Accomplished all that we could have accomplished<br /> The consequence is that those who do not <br /> Passionately foster their faith relationship<br /> Are a mere shadow of the self they could have been<br /> Through Christ.<br /> And if we take Paul’s theology seriously,<br />Paul’s theology that suggests that the church is a diverse body, with different<br /> Parts depending on one another,<br /> If one part, one person, does not reach potential,<br /> The rest suffer.<br /><br />It isn’t so much about personal consequences…<br /> It doesn’t simply affect me if I do not allow Christ to grow in me<br /> It affects you, all of you,<br /> It affects the church<br /> And if the church is affected, <br /> So is to is the world which waits for our witness<br /> A witness that does not reach its full power<br /> Because we have not followed Christ, picked up a cross…<br /><br />The other evening Bert and I watched this show, Clean House. <br /> It is basically is lighter version of Hoarders.<br />Hoarders is a show that documents the lives of people who cannot part with their belongings, to the point that it affects their health, they have no room at all in their homes, which are full of stuff.<br />Clean House is basically the same thing. A team of folks come in to help the person or family clean out all the clutter, and then give them a re-decoration. <br /><br />In one episode, as the guests were trying to get a woman to get rid of some of her stuff,<br /> She absolutely had a melt-down. Most do have a melt-down. <br /> They cannot part with their stuff.<br />Anyway, she said to the host, ‘I thought you were coming to help me, not make me get rid of the things I love.’<br /><br />And I thought, that is Peter.<br /> When Peter chastises Jesus for the challenge of the cross, <br /> The challenge for the disciples to put aside the idea of gaining, <br /> And pick up a cross…<br />Peter is saying, I thought you were coming to help me, not make me get rid of the things I love.<br /><br />And perhaps, just perhaps,<br />That is what Jesus question, What is the benefit of gaining the world if we forfeit our souls<br />Perhaps that is the moment of realization that Jesus is pushing us toward…<br /><br />That we have to put aside some of the things we love, in order to pick up the cross…<br /><br />Just because the woman loves the stuff, doesn’t mean it is good for her…<br /> It was ruining her marriage, having negative consequences on her children…<br /><br />This question of Jesus challenges a church that is so focused on self-help and self-esteem that it has lost its true mission, which is to see God's purpose done in the world<br /><br />This Question of Jesus challenges a discipleship that is assumes it already knows the right answers to the doctrinal questions, but is not put into action in any intentional way<br /><br />This Question of jesus challenges the church that is satisfied with 'be good' and <br />be nice' with a much more challenging goal, to accept the way of the cross. <br /><br />These words of Jesus challenge a discipleship that treats the church as ok when it is convenient, but not all that important, not something to sacrifice for, <br />with a warning of the consequences of an apathetic faith,<br /> the loss of life.<br /><br />Perhaps that is what Jesus has the guts to show us…<br /> That we need to make space for the cross<br /> To put down some things we love, clean up the clutter<br /> Give up the things that get in the way of fostering faith<br /> Get rid of the barriers that are blocking us from our cross<br /> In order to pick it up and follow<br /> For it is only in the following Christ, all the way, that we will <br /> Ever grow into the person we were created to be. <br /> And it is only in the journey of becoming who were are meant to be<br /> That Berean becomes the church god intended it to be<br /> A church that welcomes the wandering to dine at Christ’s table,<br /> Live in God’s Kingdom, and find a path with a purpose, the path Christ<br /> Chose, the path of the cross<br /><br /><br /><br />Renowned preacher, theology professor and storyteller Fred Craddock swears this happened to him: He was visiting in a home of one of his former students after graduation, and after a great dinner, the young parents excused themselves and hustled the kids off to bed, leaving Fred in the living room with the family pet-a large, sleek greyhound. Earlier in the evening Fred had watched the kids roll on the floor playing with the family dog.<br />"That's a full-blooded greyhound there," the father of the kids had told Fred. "He once raced professionally down in Florida. Then we got him. Great dog with the kids, that greyhound."<br />Well, sitting there with the dog, the dog turned to Fred and asked, "This your first visit to Connecticut?"<br />"No," Fred answered. "I went to school up here a long time ago."<br />"Well, I guess you heard. I came up here from Miami," said the greyhound.<br />"Oh, yeah, you retired?" Fred said.<br />"No, is that what they told you? No, no, I didn't retire. I tell you, I spent 10 years as a professional, racing greyhound. That means 10 years of running around that track day after day, seven days a week with others chasing that rabbit. Well, one day, I got up close; I got a good look at that rabbit. It was a fake! I had spent my whole life chasing a fake rabbit! Hey, I didn't retire; I quit!"<br /> (found this Craddock quote in a William Willimon Sermon, but I forget which one)<br />Today, Jesus invites us to quit chasing fake rabbitsdarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-49562385803300281232011-01-10T11:53:00.000-08:002011-01-10T11:59:42.576-08:00Tucson, Hospitality, Peace and 2011 at BBCWe are all shocked, saddened and troubled by this past week’s news of the violent events in Tucson Arizona, which resulted in serious injury and death. You are also, I am sure, aware that many have been reflecting on the angry, divisive and sometimes violent rhetoric that has grown in prominence in our political system and in the media by those who 'report' on politics. In the aftermath of these tragic events many are lamenting the lack of civility in our nation when debating controversial topics. This reminded me of a piece of Berean’s own history that I recently discovered. <br /> The other day while waiting for our secretary to print up some documents for me to proof, I decided to take a glance at the meeting minutes of the Women's group that met at BBC in the early 1950's. I believe this must have been an earlier incarnation of what is now called the 3 B's. I looked at the notes for early in the year of 1950 specifically and saw an interesting note. A woman in the group had prepared a paper entitled 'The Negro Problem.' Now, we wouldn't necessarily choose that language today, but I want us to stop and think about what this little note tells us. Sixty years ago, when our nation was just beginning to discuss the issue, before many churches were willing to talk about the issue, the women of Berean were thinking and talking theologically about what at the time was a very controversial subject, the treatment of African-Americans in our society. It made me extraordinarily proud to read that note. Here was a group of ladies in a tiny little country church, who could have just as easily assumed that their thoughts, prayers and theological reflection would have little to no effect on the nation at large or any influence in the halls of power, but still, they tackled the tough issues, believing that they should and would have a witness to their community. <br /> The year ahead at Berean Baptist will give us many opportunities to live up to the standards of these women, our fore-mothers of faith. We will be studying and discussing the issue of Creation Care and with it the issue of Global Warming. This is still a controversial topic and I am sure that many diverse opinions are present in our little church. This past Sunday, in observation of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, we heard a frank presentation on the lives of women caught in the cycle of abuse and prostitution. We said and heard words that we are not accustomed to in a worship service. We were forced to give careful attention to a slice of our society that many, if not most of us, are quite ignorant of. Once again, God could be calling us to acknowledge, discuss and perhaps get involved in a social issue that could be painful and controversial. Finally, we will be engaging in a discernment process in which we will ask God to show us if we should openly welcome LGBT folks into the life and ministry of our church. This is a divisive subject. This has caused not only individual churches, but entire denominations to fight and split. I am sure that there are many differing opinions on this topic. <br /> We could interpret the events of this past week as a warning for us to avoid controversy topics that bring our differences to the fore. While we would never do violence to one another, we could run the risk of hurtful words or a split in our little church. But I am moved to a different interpretation; As the Church of Christ in a nation and society that is shaken to its core by violence in action and in rhetoric, it is important, vitally important, that we not shy away from the potentially controversial issues that I have listed previously, but that we engage in these dialogues with an even larger goal than our own growth as disciples and effectiveness as the Church of Christ. This is our opportunity to be a witness to our community, our nation and the wider world. God has created us with diversity and called us to live in peace and reconciliation. This is our opportunity to teach the world what God’s Peaceful Kingdom looks like and acts like. We are called by God to welcome strangers, be hospitable to outsiders, and to work tirelessly for peaceful relationships, not just with people we like and like us, but with all God's children, especially those who are not ‘us.’ Perhaps God has brought these issues to the forefront of our lives so that Berean has the opportunity to show the world God’s Peaceful Kingdom in action, lived daily in the lives of normal folks like you and me. <br /> This will take courage, this will take patience, this will take honesty, and above all this will require prayer. So, I encourage you to join me in praying each and every day in the year ahead, not only for friends and loved ones, sick and mourning ones but also for those whose viewpoint on controversial topics is different from your own. Be thankful for them, for it is through difference and diversity that the Holy Spirit can work to bring wisdom and to deepen our faith. <br /><br /> <br />Blessings,<br />Pastor Darindarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-42824678526816433112010-12-25T06:34:00.000-08:002010-12-25T06:46:53.541-08:00Christmas Eve: God, the Original GrinchWith nods toward <a id="aptureLink_BON4UGbtSP" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William%20Henry%20Willimon">William Willimon's</a> 'Upside Down Christmas' and Ron Ferguson in the Glasgow Herald I submit my christmas Eve sermon<br /><br />Have Yourself a merry little Christmas<a style="margin: 0pt auto; text-align: center; display: block; padding: 0px 6px;" id="aptureLink_5oYUce506z" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpPdl0StUVs"><img title="Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LpPdl0StUVs/hqdefault.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" height="285px" width="340px"></a>, let your hearts be light<br />From now on all troubles will be out of sight…<br /><br />That is the song that we sang on Christ the King sunday to begin to prepare us for the Christmas season<br /><br />There are many other Christmas songs, they’ve been on the radio since Halloween<br />That express this same sentiment…<br /><br />I’m dreaming of a white Christmas<a style="margin: 0pt auto; text-align: center; display: block; padding: 0px 6px;" id="aptureLink_Vrvq9MF2UU" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYVvcf1QqXc"><img title="I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CYVvcf1QqXc/hqdefault.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" height="285px" width="340px"></a>, just like the ones I used to know<br />Where the tree-tops glisten and children listen<br />To hear sleigh-bells in the snow. <br /><br />There is a sentimentality to Christmas <br /> That I find very tempting. <br /> We are bombarded with images everything being<br /> Warm, welcoming, and ok. <br /> And let’s face it, at the end of a stressful<br /> Trying year, this dream that we might have just a few days <br /> Leading up to Christmas where<br /> Families can get together without disagreements<br />We can treat others and ourselves to gifts which represent<br /> The love we have but are sometimes just to busy or preoccupied to express<br /> We can remember being young again when there were no responsibilities or worries, <br /> Each day was an exciting new adventure and<br /> And under the tree was something wondrous and energizing<br />Lets face it,<br /> Trying to pay the bills, <br /> Dealing with work stress<br /> Taking care of kids, which we love, but which can be exhausting<br /> Working through relationship struggles<br /> The list goes on and on of the weights we carry<br />And the picture of Christmas<br /> A time to say goodbye to troubles<br /> To just be joyful and peaceful<br /> That is pretty tempting<br /><br /> <br />But that isn’t the Bible’s version of the birth of the Christ child.<br />When Worship and Fellowship met a few<br /> months ago to begin planning for Advent<br />The word terrified leapt out at us like we had never read or heard it before…<br /><br />Lk 2:8-10 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. <br /><br />Terrified… in greek phobos from which we derive our word phobia…<br />Arachnaphobia, the fear of spiders, Glossophobia, fear of public speaking<br />Xenophobia, fear of strangers or aliens…<br /><br />The shepherds, did not experience the first Christmas eve as <br /> a time when everything was finally right (at least, not at first)<br /> First,They had an extreme attack of angelophobia,<br /> or perhaps even theophobia, <br /> fear of God and God’s messengers .<br /> Maybe even gospelphobia<br /> Fear of God’s message. <br /><br />We can’t say that everything is merry and bright for Mary<br /> When the angel appears to tell her <br /> that God has picked her to carry the Messiah<br /> All her plans, all her dreams, shattered <br /> Her peaceful existence, gone<br /> Now instead of plans for a simple happy life<br /> Her mind goes spinning <br /> As she ponders what her village will say <br /> What her parents will do with her<br /> How Joseph will react. <br /><br />We can’t say that all troubles are out of sight for Joseph,<br /> The trouble is just beginning when the angel appears<br /> To tell him that he must stay with Mary and protect her.<br />Just when Joseph was setting down roots<br /> Getting his home built for his new wife<br /> And his business set up to provide for her<br />He is ripped from his roots to guide her to Bethlehem<br /> He is left sheltering her in a stable<br /> And as if that were not enough<br /> The same angel appears again<br /> And Joseph has to gather what little of his things he has brought<br /> With him to Bethlehem and flee to Egypt <br /> To save the baby that is not even his own<br /> From the violence of Herod<br />No, “I’ll be home for Christmas…’ for Joseph<br /> For Joseph Christmas is fleeing from danger into the dark unknown of life<br /> In a foreign country<br /> The risk of trying to start life over in a far-away land<br /><br />Everything changed when the angels announced Jesus birth<br /> His birth turned Mary’s life upside down<br /> His birth turned Joseph’s life upside down<br /><br />The Christmas story of the bible seems to have just the opposite effect <br /> that we hope Christmas will have<br />God seems a bit of a Grinch…<br /> Going out of his way to ruin our Christmas Spirit<br />Well, perhaps not ruin, <br /> But confront our Christmas spirit <br /><br />So the question I suppose, is,<br /> For all the e-mails, articles, head-shaking in frustration and tongue-clucking <br /> About the lack of Christ in Christmas in the culture around us…<br />Do we really want Christ in our Christmas<br /> Because putting Christ back in Christmas<br /> Replaces a story of merry and bright, troubles out of sight<br /><br />With Mary’s song<br /><br />Lk 1:46-53<br /><br />50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, <br />from generation to generation. <br />51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; <br />he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. <br />52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones <br />but has lifted up the humble. <br />53 He has filled the hungry with good things <br />but has sent the rich away empty. <br /><br />There is something a bit dangerous about this Christmas story with Christ in it<br /> And I suppose that where we view the story from affects whether it will <br /> Cause us joy or phobia.<br /><br />If, as we have imagined Mary and Joseph,<br /> We have already got a pretty good life,<br /> Maybe not perfect,<br /> But we have plans and dreams<br /> And most parts of our life seem well organized <br /> And properly placed<br /> And going just the way we had hoped<br />Putting Christ back into Christ<br /> Will be phobia inspiring, <br /> For this Christ child has come to interrupt our plans<br /> Confront our assumptions and <br /> Turn our worlds upside down<br /><br />There is the story (this is the will willimon part)told of two students...<br />They had met their Sophomore year at one of our information meetings for the Spring Student Mission Team to Honduras. We've been sending three mission teams to this, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, for some time now. Few students go on one of these teams and return as they came.<br />He excitedly told me that, after they met that night, they had been going out together and things seemed great between them.<br />"We're going to Honduras together," he said, "and who knows where it might lead for the two of us?"<br />So that day, around Christmas time, when I saw him walking dejectedly across campus, I asked, "What gives?"<br />"Marianne isn't going to Honduras," he said gloomily.<br />"I'm sorry. I wonder why," I said. "She can't afford the time?"<br />"No," he said, "Marianne said that her older sister, Clarinda, went down there and it changed her. Made her Mom and Dad furious. Clarinda said she got born again down there. Marianne said she got turned upside down."<br /><br />Are you sure you want Christ back in Christmas?<br /> Pretty unsettling things can happen to us once we kneel at the manger<br /><br />On the other hand<br /> If we are more like the shepherds,<br /> Outcasts, ignored or derided,<br /> The announcement of the Christ child will bring joy<br /> If, like the Magi, not kings or wisemen, but mistrusted foreigners,<br /> We have experienced feeling left out, cast aside, or forgotten<br /> Having the world turned upside down might not be such a bad thing<br /><br /> Jesus made a ministry of interrupting and confronting.<br /> By touching lepers, <br /> Guarding prostitutes<br /> Eating with tax collectors<br /> Making all the unwanted, expendable <br /> Folks of the world his sisters and brothers<br /> And proclaiming that they would make up the people of God<br /> Would be welcomed first into the kingdom<br />Well, that kind of world upending message,<br /> The last being made first, <br /> The least wanted made most wanted,<br /> Well, that would be good news.<br /><br />And perhaps that is why the shepherds left rejoicing,<br /> And Mary and Joseph submitted to god’s will<br /> And the Magi took the risk of finding a new way home<br /> And a new way in life<br />And perhaps, just perhaps,<br /> That is what you really want to hear in church<br /> Not let your hearts be light<br /> all troubles will be out of sight<br /><br />Perhaps you want to hear<br />God has come to be with us<br /> his presence will interrupt our lives<br /> And his proximity will confront our plans<br /> And when this baby grows up,<br /> He will challenge us to take up a cross and follow<br /><br />Merry Christmasdarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-61308205011350894992010-09-19T09:36:00.000-07:002010-09-19T09:39:26.847-07:00Redefining Faith; Don't forget Diakonia, Faith as Passionate ServiceChurch: A Community of Service<br /><br />Question: What is Faith? How would you explain faith?<br /><br />Intro: Tattoo story and the visibility of faith. <br /><br /><br />I found a story on-line this week about a church that was celebrating it’s first year anniversary with tattoos. Yup, that is right. No anniversary tea’s or pot-lucks, no guest speakers or special organ concert’s. This church, made up of mostly 20 and 30 somethings, celebrated their church anniversary by throwing a tattoo party. Along with loud praise music, and food, they lined up for tattoos. It’s actually a growing sub-culture in the tattoo world, Christian tattooing. What is it about tattoo’s. <br /> <br />We could be a bit cynical and say that once again the church is capitulating to popular culture. That these churches are more interested in being cool or hip than in being faithful. We could say that because the church in America has been steeped in a radical individualistic culture of self-expression that the traditional expressions of faith are being rejected for an expression that is no rooted in the Christian story and its history. In other words, these new young Christians do not become a part of the church, but instead completely make the church part of themselves… instead of conforming to Christ, Christ is forced to conform to popular culture. <br /> <br />While you could say those things and have a point, I do think there is something to learn from young Christians and their ink, and not just because I have a couple of tattoos myself. Because the act of getting tattoo’s does symbolize something that young adults and teens today are asking us, the established church to provide for them.<br /> <br />You see faith has long been thought of mostly as something interior and personal. I ‘have’ a faith and that faith consists of my beliefs and the ‘feelings’ I have when I pray, or worship, for example. Just the language I used, which is often the way people speak to me, shows how individualized faith is. It is deeply personal, it is mine. And as I have reflected on before, one of the phrases I hear so often, and which if I am honest drives me nuts, as much as I love the person saying it to me is… Pastor I haven’t been to church, but I still believe. Faith is interior, a system of ideas, an intellectual exercise at best, a feeling of warmth in its worst form really. <br /><br />Tattoos symbolize what young adults and teens are begging us for… a faith that is not just inside me, but outside, not just in my thoughts, but in my actions, in my practices. A faith is isn’t something that I ‘have’ and therefore control, but is something that has me and controls me, compels me, drives me. Young Adults and Teens want a faith that isn’t something we have, but instead something we practice and pass on. They want, in other words to be passionate, not only in thought or word, but in deed. Faith without works is dead, James would tell us… and teens and young adults are begging us to make that verse our motto. Tattoos, as odd as they are, tell us something about what kind of faith young folks want… a faith that is visible and not private, a faith that is a part of the body and not just the mind or the heart, a faith that costs something, is even uncomfortable, for this reminds us of sacrifice. <br /><br />The question is, are we passionate about practicing our faith? And the answer, as we talked about last week, is that young adults and teens are telling us that we are not. Faith is not worth sacrificing over. We squirm if we are asked to sacrifice more than an hour of our Sunday morning. Instead of faith being something we will sacrifice for, faith is often the first to be sacrificed. Worship for a walk in the woods or the beach. Sunday morning sacrificed for a good time Saturday night. They are watching folks and they are seeing and reflecting for us just what we are teaching them… Worship, Faith, is a option for feeling better, but it is simply one option among many others, and these others arouse more passion than practicing faith.<br /> <br />II. Back to interactive sermon time: What four things did Christ command us to do? Now three of these we actually do practice and one of them lies often forgotten or is optional. A hint. One of the three that we get, Baptists call ordinances and we practice them regularly. <br />Baptism<br />Communion<br />Love One Another<br /><br />Jn 13:1-15<br />13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. <br /><br />2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. <br /><br />6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" <br /><br />7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." <br /><br />8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." <br /><br />Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." <br /><br />9 "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" <br /><br />10 Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. <br /><br />12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.<br /><br />What do you suppose Jesus was trying to teach the disciples here? What specifically was he commanding them to do? <br />He was commanding them to live lives of compassionate service. Faith in him was meant to be practiced… and the washing of the feet was meant to be a regular reminder of all the acts of service that Jesus had showed them in his time with them…<br />Acts of service such as…<br /> Feeding the starving thousands with bread and fish<br /> Healing the sickness and disease of so many (not forgetting that poverty and malnourishment was the cause most likely of this sickness)<br /> Again through healing taking lepers from the isolation of being outcasts and leading them back to home, to family<br /> Placing himself between an angry crowd and a woman caught in sin<br /><br />This foot-washing story and command is meant to remind us of the life of sacrificial service that Jesus lived, and to inspire us to acts of sacrificial service. Our faith is not complete in acts of piety such as prayer and worship, although these are vital aspects of faith. Our faith has not grown to its potential if it consists of warm thoughts, or a feeling of self-satisfaction, or in being nice when the occasion presents itself. The foot-washing story reminds of Jesus whose entire ministry among was was focused on seeking those in need, and serving them. Putting himself in harms way to provide for them. That is a lot more than just ‘nice’ I think you will agree. Our faith is not complete unless it is practiced in diakonia, in service to others. And not just occasionally. Service is meant to be the steady drum-beat guiding our lives just as worship and prayer is a constant part of our lives. <br /><br />This, I believe, is something that young people can believe in. <br /><br />This is something the early church believed in and struggled with. <br /><br />Ac 6:1<br />6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.<br />NIV<br /><br />Ac 2:44-46<br /> 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. <br />NIV<br /><br />Ac 4:33-35<br /> 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. <br />NIV<br /><br />Ro 15:25-28<br />25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem . 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. <br />Distributing food, selling possessions to offer assistance to the poor, churches tithing not only for their own ministry, but to send back to Jerusalem… the early church understood what the foot-washing command meant… that they would live lives of service. <br /><br />As I said before, a faith that does not include a passion for service and regular component of hands on service is not a complete faith. <br /><br />And I think that we grow in this area by beginning with a change in our language. Instead of asking people to join a committee, lets start asking people what ministry they feel passionate about. Instead of asking new members what committee they are interested in (because whether we like it or not, committee’s are not going to raise new Christian’s passions) lets ask them what mission God is calling them too. <br /><br />We have many… a clothes closet, a hygiene closet. We have a nutrition ministry. And let me pause there for a moment to say we are re-visioning that nutrition ministry. We will need a new coordinator for that ministry and we are considering working with the RI food bank, and opening the food closet twice a month instead of just having it available by emergency appt. But in order for this to work we will need many people who feel passionate about feeding the hungry, called to give time and energy to this mission. <br /><br />Although our AI Visioning process revealed to us another mission, I would like to suggest that first and foremost our goal for the next couple of years is focusing on this nutrition ministry. I would like to suggest that our goal for the next couple of years is to widen the circle of those who regularly participate in these works of service, such as the food closet and clothes closet and Holiday food baskets and Summer meal programs. Not only encouraging more of us, the members of the church to get hands on involved in these ministries, but also more community members involved, for in inviting them to serve, we are inviting them to follow Christ. And in including our children we are not only teaching them to serve, we are teaching them to follow Christ. <br /><br />Now our AI goal is to create a ministry partnership with an American Baptist Missionary and a community perhaps in central America; to get to know the people, to learn about their struggles and then to create a plan, a long term plan to serve them, visit them, but not just to serve them, to create a relationship with them. <br /><br />I’m asking you to pray for both of these missions of service; the nutrition ministry and the sister relationship with a foreign missionary and church; pray for a coordinator for the nutrition program, pray for the families that we serve, and pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you your passion for service. Pray that the Holy Spirit will show us show us how to grow in faith, how to grow from a faith that believes into a faith that serves, how we all together should grow from a faith that we hold, into a faith that we practice and pass on. <br /><br />Jn 13:17<br />17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. <br /><br />So let us also, in these 100 days of prayer, pray that we will be blessed with the courage and commitment to wash other’s feet as Christ has washed our own.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-74294275708568215232010-09-12T12:39:00.000-07:002010-09-12T12:50:10.808-07:00The Mission of the Church is to be a Learning and Teaching Community; Bible; Word of GodThe Church as a Community of Teaching and Learning<br />Acts 2:42/Deut 6:4-9<br /><br />Intro:<br />The Question(s) we start with this morning are… Who taught you about faith? What did they teach you? How?<br /><br />[time of sharing] <br /><br />Part I: The Apocalypse of Faith?<br />The Book of Eli is a movie starring Denzel Washington who plays a character on a mission. He lives in America, but it is a post apocalyptic America, an America after the destruction of nuclear war. If you have ever seen the Mad Max movies you can imagine the landscape… no vegetation, little food, little clean water, small colonies of disfigured survivors, ruined and abandoned cities, rubble. As with any post apocalyptic movie you have to have cannibals for the good guys to fight and Denzel fights more than a few cannibals.<br /> <br />We don’t know much about his mission, not at first. He carries a book. A rare book. He needs to get it from the East Coast to the West Coast where the last enclave of civilization stands.Carnegie is the bad guy. He is looking for a book. He controls a little settlement because he controls a supply of clean drinking water. He wants the book because in the book are words with power, words that would enable him to take control of what is left of the America. <br /> <br />As we go along we find out two things. The book that Denzel carries and that Carnegie seeks is the Bible. The last Bible. There is no more religious faith of any kind in this apocalypse. Denzel has to save the last Bible and Carnegie wants it for his own purposes. There is no prayer, no faith. <br /><br />I’m not recommending this movie necessarily. It’s ok, some good fight scenes. But the thought of an America without any memory of the Bible or the Christian Faith, accept for one lone man on a mission to save that tradition, to save the Word of God, intrigued me. <br /><br />But its only fiction.<br /><br />Right?<br /><br />Part II:<br />A new book just came out about youth ministry. It is based on a study by Christian Smith and Melinda Denton who work for the National Study of Youth and Religion. The book is by Kenda Creasy Dean and it is called Almost Christian. <br /><br />I am going to read to you, from an article about the study and the book, by the books author, as found in the Christian Century. <br /><br />I don’t generally read long quotes but I think we need to hear this…<br /> <br />Smith and Denton reported ‘seeing an alternative faith in American teenagers, one that ‘feeds on and gradually co-opts if not devours’ established religious traditions. This faith, called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism,… is affiliated with traditional faith communities but… [leads to teens] practicing a very different faith than historic orthodox Christianity. If teenagers wrote out the creed of this religious outlook, it would look something like this:<br />• A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth.<br />• God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible…<br />• The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about yourself.<br />• God is not involved in my life except when I need God to solve a problem.<br />• Good people go to heaven when they die.<br />Smith and Denton claim that MTD is ‘colonizing many historical religious traditions and , almost without anyone noticing, converting believers in the old faiths to its alternative religious vision of divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness’… It may be the new mainstream American religious faith for our culturally post-Christian, individualistic, mass-consumer capitalist society….A significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that it is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but has rather substantially morphed into… Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.’ <br /><br />Dean summarizes the report in this way:<br /> “American young people are, theoretically, fine with religious faith — but it does not concern them much, and it is not durable enough to survive long after they graduate from high school.” [Quote from her book]<br />Then she adds this: “One more thing: we’re responsible.”<br /> <br />Part 3:<br />I grew up in a very conservative evangelical church, American Baptist, but very different. From childhood I was bombarded with stories from Revelation of the rapture, the anti-Christ, the Tribulation, war and suffering… and it scared me to death. It really did. <br /><br />I grew up and went to seminary and learned what I think is a better way to read Revelation and it doesn’t frighten me any more. It challenges and convicts and inspires me, but it does frighten me. <br /><br />This frightens me.<br /><br />It frightens me because my experience tells me that Smith and Denton and Dean are not Henny Penny running around crying the sky is falling, the sky is falling. We’ve are watching it happen. <br /><br />Dean writes ‘we ‘teach’ young people baseball, but we ‘expose’ them to faith. We provide coaching and opportunities for youth to develop and improve their pitches and their SAT scores, but we blithely assume that religious identity will happen by osmosis and will emerge ‘when youth are ready ‘ ( a confidence we generally lack when it comes to, say, algebra). ‘<br /><br />Dt 6:4-9<br />4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. <br /><br />Part 4:<br />Last week, we talked about the Vision of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do you remember that Vision? God tells Abraham that he will be blessed and that he will be a blessing. He will have child, who will have a child and eventually many and they will have a land…<br /><br />What we read today was the conclusion of that part of the blessing… Moses and Israel, the descendants of Jacob have reached the Promised Land… <br /><br />And now the next stage of the Vision unfolds. All the peoples of the earth will be blessed… that is what God promised, that was the next stage of the Vision…<br /><br />That Israel would be the people that God entrusted with the very words of God for all the nations; Who would devote themselves to being shaped by that word into a living witness, In their practice of prayer and worship, in their practice of justice and righteousness.They would not only have the word but hold it in their hearts and minds and be before a watching world The embodiment of God’s word and the life it brings. <br /><br />Deuteronomy is a Mission statement. Carry my Word to the People. <br />Wake up to It, and go to bed with it… walk with it and talk about it, and fill your home with it Take it to work and above all, impress it upon your children…the Hebrew word translated impress literally means pierce… a permanent mark<br /><br />the Word of God, given to Moses and the people of Israel… <br />the word of God, the faith, the Christian lifestyle handed down to us… <br />entrusted to us by; [the list of our church's saints and those people they told me about to open the sermon]<br /><br />The Word of God Entrusted to us by the word made flesh Jesus<br />Mt 28:19-20<br />Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. <br /><br />We have been entrusted with this Word.<br /><br />Our mission is to be a people devoted to it, to reading it and learning it and discussing it and living it and in so doing passing it on… <br /><br />I heard an Imam respond to the threat to burn the Koran and he said something that I found very inspirational. He said that you could burn the books, but that the Koran was in the hearts and minds of the Muslim people and that could not be burned. <br /><br />In the end of the movie, Book of Eli, the bad guy gets the Bible, Eli, looses the book, it is lost…<br /><br />Incidentally, Carnegie gets the Bible but he can’t read it. Eli is blind. The Bible is in brail and Carnegie can’t interpret it. There is no one to explain it to him. (Which I think is a startling metaphor of the fact that the Bible itself is not enough… it takes a community to interpret it, explain it and live it so that it can be taught. Which is what the text from Deuteronomy is telling us. Read it, Learn it, Live it, Teach it)<br /><br />But all is not lost. Eli doesn’t have the book, but he has memorized every word.<br />And his last act before dying of the wounds inflicted upon him by Carnegie and his evil henchmen<br />Is to dictate the Bible to a scribe so that the word is not lost.<br /><br />Friends, the Word is not lost.<br />We can pass it on to our children and to all the un-churched and de-churched folks who enter our doors…<br />The saints we remembered have dictated it to us through their lives of faith<br />Christ has entrusted it to us…<br /><br />It will take all of us…It doesn’t matter if your children are grown and no longer here, it will take all of us…It isn’t enough to believe that the Bible is God’s word or to be of the opinion that the Bible is important.<br /><br />Convictions, wrote James Wm. McClendon, are not just beliefs or opinions, … for our convictions show themselves not merely in our professions or belief or disbelief, but in all our attitudes and actions…<br />And if that were not challenging enough, McClendon goes on to say of the church…no mere collections of the curious will count.<br />James William McClendon, Jr.<br />Doctrine p 29<br /><br />John Howard Yoder wrote similarly contrasting two choices for the church… ‘run-of-the-mill’ devotion or a ‘heroic’ level of devotion.<br /><br />J.H. Yoder; The Priestly Kingdom<br />The Kingdom as Social Ethic, p. 83<br /><br />These are serious times my sister’s and brothers. We are not living in the post Apocalypse described in the book of Eli, the land with no faith and with no Bible and with no one to teach what it means and what it looks like in action. But Denton, Smith and Dean suggest that we are slouching toward apocalypse. This is not the time for casual or curious Christianity. This is the time of Conviction and Heroic Efforts. <br /><br />This is our Mission. To be the Heroic and Convicted Community of Learning and Teaching. <br />Will we accept it?darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-64780026819421568242010-09-07T08:36:00.000-07:002010-09-07T08:37:49.568-07:00The Vision of Abraham,Isaac and JacobA sermon on Vision<br />Texts: excerpts of the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. <br /><br />Intro: <br />As many of you know, the leadership team and many active members of Berean Baptist Church recently finished the planning stage of a process called Appreciative Inquiry, which is a exercise in discerning our Vision for the next 5 years or so. The process actually produced enough ideas to keep us going for 20 years, but we will revisit out vision at least every five years. <br /><br />Anyway, this process started with group meetings. All the members of the church were invited to attend small group meetings in which they were asked questions such as: When have you felt most a part of the mission of Berean?, When have you felt that you have grown most spiritually at Berean?, and When have you felt proudest to be a part of Berean? These questions didn’t just lead to simple answers, but to stories. People began sharing stories of their best experiences at BBC and we wrote them down and collected them all. Then the leadership team read through all the stories and highlighted the themes that these stories held in common. Then the leaders summarized all the stories that went with each theme and these all became pieces of the story of Berean. Next we imagined, what will the next generation of BBC tell as their story. 20 years from now, what stories will the members be telling? We wrote what we imagined for each theme and that became our Vision. From that vision we created a list of Goals and tasks. <br /><br />I want you to notice the fact that stories played an important role in both our discerning of who we are at Berean and who we feel God is calling us to become. Stories are the key. <br /><br />I recently heard an interesting story on NPR that explained that the human brain is ‘wired’ , created, in such a way as to make sense of our struggles and troubles, and to create goals for ourselves, through story. The brain stores and makes sense of information through stories. The example they gave was the true story of a man who wanted to become a writer and work in Hollywood writing movie scripts. But his father grew very ill and so he needed to let that story go and create a new story, a story where he helped his father. He connected to the story of King Arthur and the movie Camelot. This is how he made sense of his world. The point is that we do, whether we are conscious of it or not, connect to the books, movies, plays. We probably all have had the experience of saying, after finishing a book or movie, ‘that story is my story, that character is me.’ God has created us to make sense of the world we live in, by connecting to stories and telling stories and seeing our lives as a story. Which brings me to a couple of stories from the Bible. <br /><br />Ge 32:22-30<br />That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."<br />But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." <br /> The man asked him, "What is your name?"<br />"Jacob," he answered. <br />Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." <br /><br /> Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."<br />But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. <br />So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." <br /><br />What is Jacob wrestling for? A blessing. Ok, now follow me back to Genesis 12.<br /><br />Ge 12:1-3<br />The LORD had said to Abram , "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. <br />"I will make you into a great nation <br />and I will bless you;<br />I will make your name great,<br />and you will be a blessing. <br />I will bless those who bless you,<br />and whoever curses you I will curse;<br />and all peoples on earth <br />will be blessed through you." <br /><br />To really make this point though we have to remember that Abram’s father was Terah and that Abram had a brother named Haran. In chapter 11 we learn that Haran dies and later Terah dies in Haran. Scholars think that this is just a coincidence, that Terah dies in the village or land called Haran, and that he had a son named Haran. I just can’t help believe that it is more than coincidence. To me it seems like a window opening this story up so that it becomes more than just past history. If we read this, imagine ourselves in this story we know exactly where Abram is in Haran. We know what it is to experience loss and to wonder where we are and even who we are. We know the shock to the spirit of the loss of a loved one, a divorce, getting laid off, or fired. We know the pain and the disorientation that these events cause, and so we know where Abram is. <br /><br />Which makes hearing the voice from the dark night sky promising ‘blessing’ , a promise, a glimmer of hope, the good news that will help us to navigate the strange, painful and confusing times of our lives. <br /><br />As I thought about these two stories, Abram hearing the promise of a blessing and Jacob wrestling for a blessing, and the many times in between, it occurred to me that this was the Vision, the Story that allowed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to make sense of their lives. As Abram awaited the birth of a son, he could remind himself that he was a man ‘blessed’ by God. As he wandered and wondered, sometimes fought the aggressive tribes that surrounded him on his sojourn, Abram could remind himself that he was a man blessed by God. Even when his own decisions (like that incident with Hagar) caused he and his family pain and anger, Abram could rely on the story, the Vision, the one blessed by God. <br /><br />Jacob most surely must have been raised with this story and told that was the grandson of the man blessed by God. Jacob’s story offers hope and warning, as I read it. As the second born son, the promise of a blessing not for the eldest, Esau, but for the youngest, Jacob, is a promise for all those who are considered ‘less than’ unimportant, ill equipped, and expendable, that God blesses whom God chooses, not based on wealth or prosperity or popularity. <br /><br />It also warns us against hubris. Jacob and his mother both work to manipulate Isaac and trick Esau. That we are a people who carry a Vision, the Vision of God’s Kingdom as proclaimed by Christ, does not mean that we understand the Vision completely. God’s will and way is still a mystery to be explored and not a weapon to be used for our own power or benefit. <br /><br />Still I don’t think it too much of a stretch to imagine that throughout Jacob’s life, that story, of Abram hearing the voice from the heaven’s offering blessing, was remembered, in times of trial and struggle. And even though it was a struggle, and the story, the vision didn’t protect Jacob from pain and challenge, it did always give him the hope to carry on, and a sense of direction through confusing and painful times. <br /><br />The other day I listened to an interview with an author on the radio. I was driving so I couldn’t write down his name or his book. What caught my attention was the point he made about the source of his vision as a husband and father. As a writer he looked to the great writers, the important pieces of literature to explain the beauty and the brokenness of our humanity. And he found wisdom there. But he then learned about the lives of these great writers and to his disappointment, so many of them could not live up to the beauty they observed, nor could they avoid the ugliness they described. He went on to observe the same phenomena among those who shape the opinions of so many in our country, tv pundits and radio talk show hosts, who proclaim a vision, but cannot live up to this vision.<br /><br />I think he touched upon something important. As we approach election time, ‘change’ seems to be the election campaign slogan of choice. Everyone seems to be about change, which is really a one word story, a one word vision that promises a new and successful path ahead, that this or that leader can take us to. It worked for President Obama. My point is not to be cynical about politics, but to point out the deep need among people who are looking for a vision. All of these things point to the need many people feel, for a vision, for a story to make sense of their world and offer a way ahead. <br /><br />I think it is time for us to boldly proclaim our vision; that we have a vision that will not disappoint as politicians, celebrities, and philosophies all eventually will. We know of a man who could proclaim a vision and live up to it, a man named Jesus who created the Kingdom where-ever he traveled, who died as a result of his vision and who was resurrected so that we might be empowered to pursue his vision. <br /><br />This is a time for vision. So many churches in our state are struggling financially and find it hard to agree upon mission and ministry and so loose more members than they gain. I consult with them. So many don’t have a Vision. Or their vision is for things to either stay the way they are (if they are reasonably good) or go back to the way they were 40 years ago. But God’s vision for us is the same as it was for Abram, it calls us forward into the future, away from what is, not matter how comfortable that is for us, and toward and what is yet to be, with all of its promise and all of our fear of the unknown. <br /><br />This is a time for vision Berean, a time for us to leave behind what once was and move boldly on to the future God has created for us and is empowering us to realize. <br /><br />God bless you all.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-9072027419847963322010-05-09T10:07:00.000-07:002010-05-09T10:08:26.932-07:00The Holy Spirit Unites us in CommunityThe Holy Spirit Gives us the gift of Unity and Community<br /><br />Primary Text: <br />1 Co 12:12-13<br />12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. <br /><br />Secondary Text: <br />Gal 3:26-29<br />26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek , slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. <br /><br />Eph 4:3-6<br /> 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. <br /><br />Ro 14:5-8<br />5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. <br /><br />Can we really proclaim with authenticity or conviction, the unity that Paul writes about throughout the New Testament letters? <br /><br />For example, when we try to explain to someone new to faith who we are as American Baptists, we end up talking about other Christians whom we are NOT like and then comes a list of denominations;<br />Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and then Protestant, which then divides into Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist. Even these break down further; American Baptist, Southern Baptist, National, Progressive, Alliance of Baptists, and on and on… The differences that divide us are often spoken of more than the similarities that unite us (not to mention the Lord that unites us). Most prevalent in the public eye is the division that surrounds the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church and/or in ministry. <br /><br />So can we really speak about the unity of the church as a gift of the Holy Spirit? I suppose we can either give in and stop hoping for unity, but Paul says we are already unified by the Spirit.<br /><br />Perhaps I am naïve, or perhaps I am overconfident but I think that one reason we struggle to be united and find ourselves separating into groups so often as Christians is because we mistakenly assume that our unity is born of our agreement. We all assent to this creed or in the case of Baptists, we all agree on these general principles. <br /><br /><br />But when we look at the churches to whom Paul wrote we see that he is proclaiming unity to churches that are divided and in disagreement. The Church at Corinth was divided up into a number of factions. The wealthy and the impoverished, those with gifts of the Spirit and without, and apparently a hierarchy set up among those who had the ‘important’ gifts and those that had ‘less important’ gifts. There was division in Galatia and division in Rome about what day to worship, diet, and ethnicity. <br /><br />Apparently Paul did not see agreement as the seedbed of unity. As a matter of fact Paul seemed to think that the impossible could happen and that the Spirit just might unite people despite or even through their differences. <br /><br />let me bold and say that one of the reasons that the church has failed and continues to fail to preach and teach peace is because we keep assuming that our unity is born of agreement. When we do not agree, we divide amongst ourselves, the Spirit is a concept but not an active presence and we loose our ability to be a relevant witness to the peace of Christ. We are not willing to build it, so it becomes a word we use, but not a activity we pursue. <br /><br />Lets look particularly at Romans 14<br />5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.<br /><br />Did you hear that? Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Paul does not only accept that there are differences, but seems to celebrate here and in 1 Corinthians, the diversity of the church. <br /><br />Unity is a process. When we disagree and then either fall to the side of not speaking about it, or fighting and voting and ending the conversation, OR fighting and leaving or firing someone… we are cutting the work of the Spirit in the church out. We are not trusting that the Spirit is both guiding and instructing us and in essence we are proclaiming that we know best, not the Spirit. <br /><br />Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind is the key, but not as a scriptural proof that we should be stubborn. When we disagree and honestly admit it, and lovingly engage in disagreement, The Spirit can work to instruct us. Disagreement is an opportunity for me to reflect carefully about what I believe and why. Being clear about my own perspective and going to scripture and tradition to check my views out, is a process by which the spirit instructs me. Listening… let me say this again, Listening to another persons perspective is also a way for the Spirit to instruct. I have to be open to the fact that the Spirit may change my mind. The Spirit may want me to hear another perspective so that I can grow.<br /><br />And even if my mind is not changed, nor is theirs, I can learn patience, I can learn appreciation for the wideness of God’s glory… I can learn to accept others without demanding that they be like me. In a sense we are truly learning how to love for we are valuing the image of God in the other without that other changing for our comfort. <br /><br />Let me make an illustration, a risky illustration because I’m going to talk about a current disagreement. <br /><br />You may have figured it out now, that I am uncomfortable with the presence of the American Flag in the sanctuary. To me it is idolatry. But others do not hold that view. To others it is a prayer of blessing and reminder of the goal, what we aspire to Christians in America, to witness to our faith. <br /><br /><br />The flag is here. I remove it for Christmas Eve and Holy Week. <br />It isn’t about winning or loosing. It isn’t about being right or wrong. So often we as a church fail to let the Spirit move among us because we are stuck thinking that we have to prove right and wrong. Let me tell you. There is value and wisdom in the perspective of those who want the flag in the sanctuary. I still disagree, but I appreciate the wisdom. They are fully convinced in their own mind… I disagree, but I accept that they have thought this through and struggled with the issue. <br /><br />Because we believe that the Spirit unites us we can leave behind dealing with disagreements through thinking about right and wrong, winning and loosing. <br />We listen carefully, we speak honestly, we are open to new perspectives. Instead of being entrenched we are open to change. If there is not change we are learning patience and appreciation for the ‘other.’ <br />And in all this we are creating peace. In the disagreement and the way we behave in the disagreement we are creating peace. <br /><br />I will not be the pastor you have called me to be if you always agree with me. But neither will you be the congregation you are called to be if I do not disagree and challenge you upon occasion. <br /><br />Now I hope that the issue of the flag isn’t the main topic of discussion at coffee hour. <br />But the reality is we will have many topics to discuss in the coming months and years together. We are planning of exploring becoming a green congregation with a green church building. There will be many perspectives on this issue. And even if we agree to pursue this goal, we will disagree about how to pursue it. We may disagree about how much to spend or what steps to take. But I am convinced that if we can hold onto our belief that we are already unified, even in our disagreements on this issue, the Spirit will be working and guiding and leading us and we will not only find a way to become more green together, but we will also show the world how to create peace.<br /><br /><br />We will also begin to talk about becoming an AWAB church which means that we will openly proclaim our welcome of our gay and lesbian sisters and brothers. This is sure to stir up a variety of opinions and emotions. We must remember at that point that we are already unified… one Lord, one faith, one Baptism. In the disagreement the Spirit is working to unify us, instruct us, guide and guard us. And in a day when churches are dividing over this issue, I still hope that we will stay together, unified and we will show the world how to live in peace. <br /><br />God Bless You Alldarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-40155822772990136562010-05-05T06:47:00.000-07:002010-05-05T06:58:56.833-07:00The Holy Spirit: FruitAnother follow-up devotion from this past sunday's sermon<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Verses for Wednesday Gal 5:22-26</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,<br />faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no<br />law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature<br />with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in<br />step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying<br />each other.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Prayer for Wednesday:</span><br />Be present, Spirit of god, within us, your dwelling place and home,<br />that this house may be one where all darkness is penetrated by your light,<br />all troubles calmed by your peace, all evil redeemed by your love,<br />all pain transformed in your suffering,<br />and all dying glorified in your risen life.<br /> Jim Cotter<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Thought for Wednesday:</span><br />Yesterday we meditated on the fact that we are freed so as to pursue the love of God, but sometimes we need some more concrete virtues to pray for and meditate on as a focus. Paul offers Gal 5 as one example of concrete virtues for the disciples to ask for, develop and seek. While Paul does not call these ‘fruits’ as a plural, but all of them are the one ‘fruit’ of the Holy Spirit, I confess that I am stronger at<br />some and weaker in others. So while we pursue all of these slices of the<br />orange which is the fruit of the Spirit, each may personally want to petition<br />the Holy Spirit for specific ones.<br />The fact that Paul calls them ‘fruit’ is intended, I believe, to teach us an<br />important lesson. To pursue patience, for example, relying on our own<br />strength of will, is not what Paul is describing. The fruit of the Spirit is not<br />something that we attain with our own labor. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift.<br />So while we must, through prayer, worship and the fellowship of the<br />believers seek to practice these virtues, we do so relying not on our own<br />wills, but on the support of others and the generosity of the Spirit. My point<br />is, don’t view the exercise of these gifts as something you must do yourself.<br />Instead, through prayer and the support of other disciples, receive these as gifts.<br />Don’t try to muster them of your strength alone, but instead ask to receive<br />them and imagine yourself and how you will look, act, and feel having<br />received them.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-81694284933595320002010-05-04T09:35:00.000-07:002010-05-04T09:41:49.914-07:00The Holy Spirit Frees us to be Embraced by God's LoveThis post is a prayer and devotional guide following this past sunday's sermon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Verse for Tuesday Romans 8:1</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in<br />Christ Jesus</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Prayer for Today:</span><br />O Holy Spirit, whose presence is liberty, grant us that freedom of the Spirit which will not fear to tread in unknown ways, nor be held back by misgivings of ourselves and fear of others. Ever beckon us forward to the place of your will which is also the place of your power, O ever-leading, ever-loving Lord.<br /> George Appleton<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">THought for Today:</span><br />The frightening thing about freedom is the challenge of the<br />unknown. ‘Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t’ is a<br />maxim that rules many of us from time to time. <br />Today I want to encourage you to focus on what the Spirit frees you<br />for! We spoke about this briefly two weeks ago in the sermon. We<br />are freed for God’s love, ‘there is now no condemnation.’ We are<br />freed from guilt and anger which keep us from being loved by God,<br />so that we can participate in God’s love. This is important because<br />sometimes the sinful things that enslave us, say anger, have been vital<br />for our lives. If we have been hurt deeply, anger is an effective shield<br />which guards us from ever being hurt again. It will not be enough to<br />ask the Spirit help us let go of our anger… that will leave us feeling<br />vulnerable. Instead we ask the spirit to lower the walls so that we<br />might know God’s love… we can take a risk for God’s love. Find a<br />verse about God’s love and make that your centering prayer for the<br />day.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-28450315422517138202010-05-04T07:32:00.000-07:002010-05-04T07:34:32.476-07:00The Holy Spirit Frees Us!The Holy Spirit Frees Us!<br />Acts 16:16-40 & Romans 6:22-23<br /><br />Question: The Holy Spirit promises us a future, a new creation, but how do we move toward that?<br />Bad News: The Freedom of the Spirit is a gift, but it is a challenge to experience it and grow into this freedom.<br />Good News: The joy of serving and suffering<br />Celebration: In order to grow into the future that God has promised, the Spirit frees us from our past and present sins, fears, and doubts.<br /><br />Introduction: <br /><br />So, we started a new sermon series last week focusing on the Holy Spirit. Instead of getting bogged down in creeds and what they have to say about what the Holy Spirit it, I decided we would focus on what the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit does. As we have also just finished us our Long Range Planning process, and we are focusing on the future of BBC, last week we started with the Holy Spirit’s activity which is promising and creating a future. To make this a bit less theoretical and more practical we looked at Paul’s situation in the church at Corinth which inspired him to write about the future that is promised or guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. Suffering, you may recall, was the immediate problem, the question, the need… Paul’s emotional suffering by feeling embarrassed by a church member at Corinth, watching the church in Corinth struggle to move into the future because some many of the old behaviors, and cultural norms, which went against the ethics and practices of this new community created around Christ, remained so prevalent. <br /><br />That particular struggle, the struggle of leaving behind, of being freed of that which holds us back from becoming what God created us to be, that we have witnessed is our potential in witnessing and remembering the life of Christ, that is what I want us to consider momentarily today. Paul is certain that the Holy Spirit promises us a future, a new creation. And the first step toward that new creation, that future, is freedom from the past, or even the present. The Holy Spirit Frees Us from that which hinders us from growing into the future the Spirit promises and God is creating.<br /><br />Which is what the stories we read from Acts 16 poetically illustrate. The Holy Spirit is mentioned, but the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles is the storyline throughout Acts. <br /><br />First the girl, possessed by ‘spirits.’ She is bound not only by this ‘spirit’ but also by the men who have enslaved her for their own profit. In the greek she is enslaved by a Pythian Spirit, pythian is related to python… which I think gives us a amazing image of a young girl who is strangled, totally constrained by this spirit and these men… with no possible way to be free.<br /><br />As we read Paul casts out this spirit, and her owners first get incite a mob and then get Paul and Silas arrested, thrown in prison, their feet in the stocks. Another image… bound in chains, locked in stocks…<br />But the Holy Spirit causes an earthquake which frees them. <br /><br />And then finally the prison guard himself… distraught at the fact that Paul and Silas were free, and the thought of the reprisals of his superiors for ‘letting’ the prisoners free, draws his sword to do himself in… until again, Paul intervenes. And he is freed from his own sword. <br /><br /><br />The point is unmistakable. No matter what binds us… the frighting and unknown in the evil spirit, the abuse and oppression of others in the girl’s owners, the mob, the guard,<br />Regardless of what constrains us… the stocks, even when we feel the sword at our necks… the Holy Spirit will free us, is freeing us. <br /><br />All this meant to stir not only the heart of the Christian, but the imagination… whatever binds me and holds me back from following Christ and becoming the image of God I’m created to be, the Holy Spirit will free me of. <br />BUT, as nice as that sounds…<br /><br />I couldn’t help but think of Brooks Hatlen, one of the characters from ‘the Shawshank Redemption.’ Brooks Hatlen had been a prisoner in Shawshank Prison for most of his life. He had made a life in that prison, working in the library. By the time he was released, he was an elderly man, and he didn’t know how to fit into this new freedom. He couldn’t adjust to freedom and so took his own life. <br /><br />What happened to the girl, to the jailer? Did they stay free? Did they fall back into old patterns, struggle to overcome the habits that had formed them? What did they do to grow into this freedom, because as wonderful as it sounds that the girl and the jailer were instantly free… <br />Our experience tells us that we are more like Brooks… it can be tough to adjust to this new found freedom.<br /><br />Even Paul acknowledges the struggle to live into and up to the freedom we are given.<br /><br />Rom 7:18-19 I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.<br /><br />As exciting and important as the stories found in Acts 16 are… that we can be free, that the Holy Spirit frees us from our past, our sins, our doubts, fears, regrets… I still want more. Acts 16 gives us a promise, a vision… we too are free. But I feel like Paul and Brooks… I struggle to adjust to this freedom and I want some pointers, some steps, some specific actions to take so as to insure that the Holy Spirit is freeing me. <br /><br />But as much as I look, and I have been looking and reading and thinking all week, I don’t find specific steps in being freed by the Holy Spirit. And this has really frustrated me. What must I do to be free by the Holy Spirit?<br /><br />Then it occurred to me that if God gave us specific steps beyond believing in Christ and following in his path, if we received specific instructions, we, like the disciples in Corinth from last week, would soon find a way to feel ourselves superior to others. It would cease to be the mysterious gift of the Spirit that freed us, but our own labor and work and will, which we would use to feel superior to others. We aren’t told specifics so that we humbly rely on grace, trust that the Holy Spirit is freeing us… stay focused on the vision of being free. <br /><br />But then the Holy Spirit did reveal one secret. I almost said, ‘I found one secret’ but it wasn’t me, it was the Holy Spirit really.<br />This one secret was revealed. <br /><br />When Paul was freed from his terrorist lifestyle, arresting Christians and supervising the stoning of Stephen, when he was freed from that… it took a community. He was sent to Ananias for prayer.<br /><br />When the Holy Spirit freed the girl, She (the Holy Spirit) worked through the community of believers represented by Paul and Silas. <br />When Paul and Silas were freed by the Holy Spirit from prison, they were together…<br />And the jailer too, depended on Paul and Silas, a community of believers through which the Spirit would work.<br /><br />It hit me then that the one hint to remaining open to the freeing work of the Holy Spirit is to stay faithful to the community of those who follow Christ. It is in the gutsy work of remaining together in community; in which our fears, doubts, bad habits, sins sometimes rub up against others, hurt them, disappoint them, affect them… that the Holy Spirit, through the support and honesty of others, frees us. We will not be freed in isolation, but experience the freedom of the Holy Spirit when we stick together, lift one another up, prayer, sometimes struggle, reflect honestly, confront lovingly, but always in love and humility… when we are this kind of community, the Holy Spirit, Paul says, makes us free.<br /><br />God Bless You Alldarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-34667688165617927222010-04-24T19:22:00.000-07:002010-04-25T09:54:09.661-07:00The Holy Spirit Gives the Promise of a FutureFirst Sermon on the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit Gives a Promise for the Future<br /><br />2 Cor 5:1-5<br /><br />Understanding the Holy Spirit can be challenging. <br /><br />Perhaps this is because talking about the Holy Spirit can lead in one of two confusing directions. <br /><br />First, we can get bogged down in the creedal language which tries to explain the Trinity, such as the insertion of the word filioque in the Nicene Creed which caused the East-West schism in 1054. I will admit, my eyes glazed over at this point in my History of the Church class. It isn’t particularly interesting or meaningful, and we Baptist’s tend to take a pragmatic approach to theology in general.<br />On the other hand we may have some experience with the Holy Spirit through the charismatic church, Pentecostals and the practice of speaking in tongues, dancing, and in rare and extreme cases the snake handling. And while I’m not denigrating speaking in tongues, it’s just not my thing, nor is it yours I suspect. But since we’ve seen or heard of these practices ‘In the Spirit’ we get a little nervous about this thing called, the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />Which is why I wanted to talk about the Holy Spirit by focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit. Today, we are going to talk about the Holy Spirit as a Promise, as providing Hope.<br /><br />But to get there we have to turn to Paul and understand a little about the situation he is in with the church at Corinth. Because this situation leads him to write about a number of things, including the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />First, as much as Paul loved the church at Corinth, a church which he started, he had a contentious relationship with this church. They were famous, many years after the writing of letters we now call 1 and 2 Second Corinthians for being ‘engaged in strife’ (1 Clem. 47.3) NIB <br /><br />Paul wrote many letters and made visits to the church at Corinth after he established it. At one of those visits it is suggested that one of the church members made a verbal attack against Paul, none of the other church members defended him and this left him feeling hurt and angry. He left, thought about another visit, decided against it as it may have lead to a confrontation which may have made him feel better, morally superior and powerful, which publically embarrassing someone else can do I suppose, but it isn’t the way to handle things in church, so he decided not to risk it. <br /><br />The Episode at Corinth:<br /><br />The church at Corinth, which Paul is exchanging correspondence with, is a bit of a mess. <br />There are many issues that Paul has to deal with... We find the list of problems detail in the first letter to the Corinthians. <br />Factions are forming around who has been baptized by whom...Peter, Paul, or in the name of whom... Jesus... cliques about whose baptism is... correct... those who baptisms are (quote unquote) correct consider themselves to be of higher status than the others.<br /><br />A man is living with his father's former wife<br />while other groups are espousing abstinence from marital intimacy<br />both again based on their... enlightened faith... both those who have an anything goes view and those who have an abstinence only perspective...feeling themselves superior<br /><br />there are groups fighting about meat sacrificed to idols... some say that their faith means that it does not matter where the meat has come from... others thinking that practice of eating meat sacrificed to idols is a sin... both thinking themselves better than the other. <br /><br />Some speak in tongues and think themselves superior... some prophesy and think themselves better...<br /><br />The wealthy members are starting communion with cocktail hour and are inebriated... with little food or drink left for the poor members to share in the agape meal... at the Lord's supper that they are supposed to share. They assume their economic status enables them special benefits that the poor members are not worthy of. <br /><br /> I mention all of this because what inspires Paul to write about the Holy Spirit isn’t his love of metaphysics, logic or philosophy. What has inspired him to write his letters and to write about the Holy Spirit is his experience with suffering, trauma and the trials of life. And although our lives may not compare to arrest, imprisonment, angry mobs and beatings… we can identify with this experience in a much deeper and more personal way than in considering the fine metaphysical points of the filioque.<br /><br />But Paul’s view of suffering is, well, strange…<br /><br />For Paul suffering and trauma is a confirmation that the Holy Spirit is working… He is comforted by suffering because it proves to him that God is saving, re-creating, renewing individuals, humanity, community, all creation, through the Spirit. <br />And that is Paul’s comfort… as Ernest Best says, ‘ [for Paul] comfort is not the removal of suffering nor the assurance that everything will turn out all right in the end nor that others have suffered worse things nor that it will soon be over…’ ‘the comfort lies in knowing Christ better, in being more firmly united with him…’<br />Did you hear that? All of us as disciples are in a process of being saved from sin, old destructive, selfish, hurtful ways. The Holy Spirit is working in us and through us, saving us and saving others… but that causes suffering. To face our own failings and fears is painful. To patiently walk with others as they are confronted by the Holy Spirit with their failings can really hurt. To stand up to the sin that surrounds us, that causes poverty, bigotry, intolerance, or violence can be frightening. But Paul see’s this as proof that the Holy Spirit is doing something. <br /><br />Let me insert the clichéd and obligatory ‘Pastor’s Children’ illustration here. <br />Lance is playing baseball this spring. Lance takes after his father (me) in many ways. He has talents and gifts… but baseball is not one of them. Catching and throwing and batting just doesn’t come naturally to him, it is a struggle. It frustrates him that he can’t do well. Just the other day he was very disappointed with himself for not hitting every ball pitched to him at batting practice. So he wants to quit. The frustration and discomfort of learning something new and difficult overwhelms him a bit. Now I know from personal experience, that with a little patience, some work and some time, he can learn. I know he has the potential… but to get to the potential, he has to suffer the frustration…<br />This, I think, is how Paul views the suffering he goes through in his ministry. The personal suffering of squabbles, the suffering of watching his churches struggle with sin and past behaviors that they cannot seem to leave behind, the suffering of mobs and arrests and beatings. All of it is the momentary frustration of growth… growth in him, growth in his church, growth in the community… toward Christ, the Kingdom… the Spirit is working in all of this for our growth. <br /><br />This is perhaps the challenge to the church, a critique really, of the church, not just ours but all…<br />Because instead of teaching people how to face frustrations, new and challenging situations, ideas, differences as the Holy Spirit working in and through us… we avoid the whole situation. Send it to a committee, take it to a vote, loose patience and argue our point of view, leave and go somewhere less challenging where our perspective will not be challenged, stay home…<br />In a sense Paul I think has a good word about conflict, which we try to avoid. Conflict that he certainly didn’t enjoy, but which he fervently believed was the work of the Holy Spirit fulfilling a promise of a future of a tomorrow in which we will be close to Christ, resurrected with Christ, made a new creation as God intends. The Holy Spirit gives Paul the gift of seeing what is being accomplished, salvation, what is yet to come, new Life in Christ… which will cause some conflict within and among us… but the end result is New Life…<br />Paul has the crucifixion of Christ fixed firmly in his mind. Through that suffering the Spirit created new life. Which is why Paul could have such an odd view of suffering and strife, could virtually celebrate it. <br /><br />I must be doing something right… Paul seems to say… the Holy Spirit must be working here…<br /><br />Which is not my first reaction. Someone boos and I stop singing. Someone criticizes and I stop speaking or acting. But not Paul, Paul saw resistance and struggle as a sign that the Spirit was renewing. The Spirit gave him a vision of what he was to become and what all creation was to become, and suffering and struggle is just the process; like learning to hit a ball, or do algebra, learning a new skill for a new job, marriage counseling… facing the discomfort of today, because the Holy Spirit promises us a tomorrow closer to Christ, a tomorrow in which we are that much closer to the image God created us to be. <br /><br />How do we do it? <br /><br />That is the question right? <br /><br />That is another thing that makes the Holy Spirit difficult to think and talk about. It is mysterious because it can’t be qualified. <br /><br />But I think that Paul had some promises in his mind that I want to share with you to close…and if you want to learn, as I too want to learn, how to stop avoiding the struggle and to see it as a process of growing in faith, remember these verses, read them daily, meditate on them, pray them…<br /><br />Isa 32:14-17<br />The fortress will be abandoned,<br />the noisy city deserted;<br />citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever,<br /> till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,<br />and the desert becomes a fertile field,<br />and the fertile field seems like a forest. <br />17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace;<br />the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. <br /><br />Isa 44:4<br />Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,<br />Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. <br />3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,<br />and streams on the dry ground;<br />I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,<br />and my blessing on your descendants. <br />4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow,<br />like poplar trees by flowing streams. <br /><br />Eze 37:12-14<br /> 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'" <br />I don’t know for a fact that Paul was thinking of these verses. But I do know that Paul was convinced that the Holy Spirit used suffering and struggle and difference and even division as a catalyst for growth…<br />Ro 8:34-39<br />Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: <br /><br />"For your sake we face death all day long; <br />we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." <br /><br />37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. <br /><br /><br />2 Co 4:16-18<br /><br />16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. <br />NIVdarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-62199041376072643212010-04-18T09:31:00.000-07:002010-04-18T09:38:05.545-07:00Earth Day Sermon: Loving What God Loves, How God Loves<span style="font-style:italic;">Jn 13:34-35<br /><br />34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." </span><br /><br />What signs of spring do you notice and enjoy the most?<br /><br />April 22nd marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day<br /><br />One of challenges of preaching about environmental issues is that some, if not many, will assume that this whole green movement is the trick or the conspiracy of Democrats and Liberals who are either quoting bad science or creating pseudo-scientific claims. So some feel as if this eco-theology is a wolf in sheeps clothing, the wolf being politics.<br /> <br />Another of the challenges to preaching about eco-theology is that some might think that going green is a perfectly legitimate thing… but what has it to do with faith? Talking about the environment should be the task of scientists not pastors and theologians. How can preaching about the environment have any affect on the my faith?<br /><br />I hope to be able to answer those questions, briefly, today.<br /><br />First, a little game.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I find myself becoming more and more an advocate of the true ecologists where their recommendations are realistic. Many of these people have done us an essential service in helping us preserve and protect our green zones and our cities, our water and our air. The growing possibility of our destroying ourselves and the world with our own neglect and excess is tragic and very real. </span><br /><br />Who said that? Take a guess.<br /><br />Is Creation Care a political game? Is all of this concern with going green rooted in the work of Politicians like Al Gore and Hollywood movie stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, and therefore completely suspect suspect<br />I want you to look in your bulletins at the call to worship, which is based on canticle of the sun by Francis of Assisi. It was composed by Francis in 1224 and incidentally Christine, you might find it interesting that it is definitely one of the first, possibly the first work of literature written in the Italian language.<br />Next I want you to look at the Thought at the beginning of this week’s devotional booklet<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">For God brought things into being in order to communicate the divine goodness to creatures and thus be represented by them. And because God’s goodness could not be adequately represented by any single creature, God produced many and diverse creatures, that what one lacked in representing divine goodness might be supplied in another. For goodness, which exists in God simply and uniformly, exists in creatures multiply and distributively. Thus the whole universe together participates in the divine goodness more perfectly.</span><br /> Thomas Aquinas <br />Thomas Aquinas, another Italian priest, considered by some to be the greatest of the Catholic Churches theologians. Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles is still studied in seminaries today and not just Catholic Seminaries, I studied pieces of the Summa by Aquinas at Andover Newton which is a Baptist school. Thomas Aquinas lived from 1225-1274. <br /><br />Now, I’m giving you this history lesson, because I know you love history lessons.<br /><br />Seriously, my point is that eco-theology is not some new fad. It is not inspired by modern politicians or movie-stars. Creation Care has been a part of the Christian Tradition and a part of our practice as disciples for hundreds and hundreds of years. <br /><br />On to Love…<br /><br />The question you might be asking yourself right now is…<br /><br />What has this all got to do with love. Remember the passage from John we read? What is the connection between Jesus command to love one another and Environmentalism, or a term I prefer for Disciples of Christ, Creation Care?<br />What does the popular culture mean by love?<br />What does the Bible, specifically the gospel story of Christ, teach us about love?<br />You see it all starts with love. <br />I want to suggest that one way to summarize our Christian faith is to say that by following Christ we are participating in the creative love of God. <br />Jn 13:34-35"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you , so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." <br />Jn 15:9-12 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you .<br />Jn 15:17 This is my command: Love each other. <br />What Jesus has come to earth to do is to teach us how to receive God’s love, respond to God’s love and share God’s love. <br /><br />But what does God love?<br /><br />Us!<br /><br />Yes! God loves us…<br /><br />Ro 5:7-8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us . <br /><br />But here is the thing… <br /><br />Here is the connection.<br /><br />Go to<br />Ge 9:12-17<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." <br /><br />17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth." </span><br /><br />What is a covenant?<br />It is a binding agreement… but more than that it is a relationship…<br />And at the last supper, before Jesus died, he said to the disciples…<br />This cup is a what? <br /> A new covenant poured out in my blood, poured out for many…<br />So one way, not the only way, but one way of understanding covenant is to say that it is a loving relationship…<br />And we often think that this covenant… this promise of love… is for us…<br />But Genesis 9 tells us that God does not only love humanity…<br />God also loves… the earth, the creatures, the animals… Creation…<br /><br />Now, a little bit more Bible hopping here… go to…<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Ro 8:18-23<br /> 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. <br />22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. </span><br /><br />Did you hear that?<br />Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage!<br />Now what Paul is talking about is Justification…<br />The new creation that we become when we are re-born in Christ…<br />BUT, notice that it isn’t just humanity that God justifies, that God re-creates…<br />It is all of creation. <br /><br />You’ve gotten the point now, haven’t you…<br />God does not just love humanity, but also, all of creation.<br /><br />Paul, we just read, echoes Genesis 2. Genesis 2 says that we were created to serve and protect the earth… and Paul sees our re-creation through Christ benefiting not just us… but all of creation… the earth…<br />Here is the connection you see.<br />Christ has commanded that we love one another as he loved, his love inspired and empowered by God’s love… And God loves all of creation!<br />Therefore, if we as Christ followers, as disciples of Jesus, if we want to fully participate in God’s love…<br />We will participate in caring for all creation.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The growing possibility of our destroying ourselves and the world with our own neglect and excess is tragic and very real. </span><br /><br />Who said that? Take a guess.<br /><br />Billy Graham<br />Approaching Hoofbeats (1983)<br /><br />Creation Care is not some new fad, nor is it a liberal democratic conspiracy. Even Billy Graham was concerned for Creation… you can’t accuse him of being liberal!<br /><br />What I hope you have learned this morning is that Creation Care is an ancient part of our Christian Tradition even if it was largely ignored for our lifetimes… <br />I hope you have learned that care for creation, the duty to care for it comes not from the mouths of politicians and movies stars, but from the Bible itself…<br />And that we are inspired to greater levels of care for creation not so much from fear, although, as Billy Graham himself said, we should fear the consequences of our cruelty to creation, but through a deepening connection to the love of God. Through loving creation, caring for it, learning to live in ways that are gentle with the environment, that are careful and not damaging, we are participating in God’s love… Loving what God loves, how God loves.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-7241714833675696362010-04-12T07:45:00.000-07:002010-04-12T08:09:19.119-07:00I'm Alive! Should I Go to Church or to the Beach?The question that is the title may seem silly, but I've been asked it many times in 10 years of ministry. <br /><br />This assumption, that happiness or fun can replace worship, was the one fear I had about yesterday's sermon. Would people hear 'Remember, You are Alive, so savor and take delight in the beauty of life around you,' and think that walks on the beach, or in the woods, or sleeping in, or going dancing on Saturday night, would be a perfectly reasonable replacement for worship?<br /><br />So two follow up ideas. <br />One comes from Thomas Merton who writes, 'A Tree gives glory to God first of all by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be, it is imitating an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree.' You can find this is Merton's 'Seeds of Contemplation' and if my theology memory is correct, Merton is riffing on some things that Aquinas once wrote about Nature. The point is... the created world around us in all its natural beauty hold great potential to point us to deeper reflection about God and experience of God. So taking time to attend to the natural world can be a form of prayer, a way of being present and aware of the presence of God. <br /><br />Just the other day as I went walking in the woods the sound of the shuffling leaves under my feet caught my attention. Were they dead leaves? No, not really, I thought. Although they were no longer green, they were in the process of enriching the soil. Their nutrients would one day nurture a flower or a tree. so they were not really dead to my thinking, but part of life, by enabling life. Which reminds me of the words of Jesus in John, 'Unless a grain of wheat falls.' Of course Jesus is referring to his own death and resurrection. But it seems that it also refers to the life of a disciple. We grow in faith not only for our own 'salvation' but also so that our words and deeds, our example and life, can become the nutrient for others to follow in faith. and I found peace and joy in that moment. Savoring life, watching and listening to nature, not working, but simply being, allowed the Spirit to speak to me. <br />so the beach is a great place to rest, relax, and enjoy the beauty of God's creation. <br /><br />But it must remain in balance. This is point 2. In John 20 it is the presence of the risen Christ that bring joy and life. so created things, like the beach, music, movies, vacations, can be conduits for God's grace. A time of rest and happiness are wonderful things... but only if they, even in some simple way, cause us to ponder and experience God's love for us, God's grace. They cannot replace worship, but they are vital supplements, because they can be a time of reflection and rest for us. <br /><br />Worship is the key really. THe point isn't to replace traditional sunday morning singing, praying and experiencing of the Word with something else, BUT to expand our own idea of worship, so that from the sunday morning prayers and sermons, we learn to seek and find times for prayer and reflection all around us in the world. And this is the key to being alive and savoring life.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-74021842945982332932010-04-11T09:51:00.000-07:002010-04-11T09:56:58.739-07:00John 20:19-31; Remember, You are Alive!Remember, You Are Alive!<br /><br /><br />The doors are locked…<br /> The disciples are boxed in by fear…<br /> Locked in dread<br /> Fear of the Jews… <br />Not all Jews, but the Jewish leaders who just handed Jesus over to be crucified…<br /> And Peter knows that he is known to be a Jesus sympathizer…<br /> The ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ posters could be going up all over Jerusalem! <br /> The disciples sit in their darkened room, listening for the foot-fall of a soldiers march…<br /> <br /> The disciples are boxed in by fear…<br /> Locked in dread<br /> Fear of the Romans…<br /> The Liberation, the Freedom they had so longed for…<br /> Was dead… in the tomb…<br /> If the Jewish leaders did not come for them…<br /> Perhaps the Legions would<br /> And they would stand before Pilate <br /> And suffer his lash…<br /><br /> The disciples are boxed in by fear…<br /> Locked in dread<br /> Maybe Jesus is alive…<br /> And maybe he is angry…<br /> Angry at their failure to follow him<br /> Angry that they abandoned him. <br /> They once saw Jesus in a fit of anger curse a fig tree and<br /> Within a few hours it was dead!<br /> <br /> The disciples are boxed in by fear…<br /> Locked in dread…<br /> What will their families say when they return defeated?<br /> Peter and James abandoned family to follow Jesus<br /> Left behind a family business and a community<br /> To put their hopes in a man found guilty of treason and blasphemy.<br /> Will their families take them back?<br /> What will the towns-folk say? <br /> Will they be mocked? Made fun-off?<br /> Will they be considered a danger to the community and run off?<br /> With nowhere to go, no place to hide or lay their heads?<br /><br />Disciples, we today may find ourselves boxed in by fear or dread…<br /> Fear that tomorrow will be the same as yesterday…<br />Dread that the sinking feeling that greeted us when we awoke will last the day…<br /> Fear of the past which held addiction will continue to haunt us…<br />Dread of the voices from our past, that made us feel unworthy of love or respect,<br /> Voices that proclaimed our worthlessness will echo in our minds today…<br /> Fear of paying the bills, that we will run out of energy, <br /> Dread of getting laid off, <br /> The list of our fears and that which causes us dread could probably go on <br /> For some time this morning…<br /> <br />I hope you are getting this image…<br /> The disciples crouching, cowering in fear…<br /> Trapped by these external forces so far out of their control<br /> By their own emotions, guilt, pain, mourning…<br /><br />And if you are not in that space right now, that you at least recall a time when you too were <br /> Trapped and frightened and in hiding…<br /> <br />Because that is when some strange and amazing happens in today’s story…<br /><br />Jesus appears <br /> And <br /> Well<br /> Breathes on them<br />Odd isn’t it? <br /> I have to admit that was the first thing that struck me was how odd it would be to have someone, even Jesus, just walk up and breathe on me.<br /> I had this image stuck in my head of Lance and Isaac. <br /> They will go upstairs to brush their teeth and sometimes I’ll do these random tests to see if they actually do brush their teeth and make them breathe in my face and check for minty! <br /> I know this sounds irreverent but I just couldn’t get that out of my head…<br /> Jesus walking around and puffing in the disciples faces…<br /><br />Now here is what is going on…<br /> The greek in John is emphusao… <br /> To puff, to blow at or on…<br /><br />But Jesus is doing this to remind the disciples of another bible story, actually three…<br /> Take a guess…<br /> What is Jesus re-enacting…<br /> <br />Ge 1:1-2<br />1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. <br /><br />Spirit… Ruach…<br /> It can mean spirit, life, anger, air… and breath<br /> So one possible way of understanding the creation of the world<br /> Is that God breathed on the chaotic waters and life began…<br /> The breath of God brings life…<br /> Jesus is re-enacting the creation story in our story from John today<br /> Jesus breathes on the chaos caused by the crucifixion and creates life.<br /><br />The same theme of breath and life follows in <br />Ge 2:7<br />7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. <br /><br />Breath of life… ruach again…<br /><br />The final story, for this morning anyway…<br />Eze 37:1-6<br />37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" <br /><br />I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." <br /><br />4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" <br /><br />Israel is once again enslaved…<br /> This time in Babylon…<br /> It isn’t the same kind of slavery… <br /> They aren’t in camps, forced to do manual labor…<br /> But they too are boxed in by fear and dread…<br /> For they have witnessed the destruction of their city Jerusalem<br /> Their homes, the Temple…<br /> Everything has been destroyed…<br /><br />God takes Ezekiel to a battle field strewn with corpses and says…<br /> Preach to these bones<br /> I will make breath… ruach, enter you…<br /> <br />Just when life seems hopeless<br /> And despair sets in…<br /> And we cannot catch our breath<br /> God breathes for us…<br /><br />Because I live, you also shall live… Jesus said the disciples before the crucifixion…<br /> And he appears to them today to remind them of life<br /> Remember, you are alive…<br /><br />And I couldn’t help it as I was thinking about this story<br /> Imagining it in my mind…<br /> I couldn’t help but think that maybe Jesus didn’t just breath on them<br /> Maybe he blew in their ears…<br /> A playful teasing way of shocking them back into the joy of life…<br />These are difficult and troubling times…<br /> Around the world we hear stories… Haiti and Chile<br /> In our own nation we mourn for the loss of life in West Virginian<br /><br />The poverty in our own state, in our own community…<br /> Which we devote so much time and energy and effort too…<br /> Wondering if any good will come of it…<br /> If any change will result from our efforts<br /> Which seem meager in comparison to the problems…<br /> Not to mention the personal trauma’s<br /> Loosing loved one’s<br /> Paying off debts<br />Caring for sick children or aging parents<br /><br />Jesus blows into our ears to remind us not to give up in hoping.<br />Ezekiel preached life before any life was apparent…<br /><br />This story reminds us to not stop imagining life<br /> Even if the evidence is contrary…<br /><br />But it also reminds us…<br /> And this is the main point I have today…<br /> It reminds us to Remember that we are alive…<br />To savor and delight in the life that surrounds us…<br /> <br />I’m not saying that we ignore the suffering and the struggle<br /> Pretend that these things don’t exist…<br /> But that we not let the struggle be the only thing we see…<br />Remember, you are alive…<br /> Because I live, you also shall live…<br />So take time to savor in and delight in life…<br /> Take time to savor one another and delight in one another…<br /> We work so hard together<br /> And are so faithful to the call of Christ to serve<br /> That I sometimes think we forget to enjoy life together also…<br />Remember that you are alive!<br /> Make time to celebrate the life that Christ has breathed into you, into us together…darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-58073981311108299242010-03-14T04:03:00.000-07:002010-03-14T04:04:41.934-07:00You Shall Not Kill; Say Yes to Life...God at the Center: You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery. Or, one yes leads to a thousand no’s<br />The Bad News: Saying Yes to God also means saying no to the violent and selfish ways we have maintained control and stayed ‘safe’ in the world and in life. <br />The Good News: Saying Yes to God opens a new possibility for peace in our lives and in the world. <br />Intro: <br />There has recently been a controversy at Goshen College In Goshen Indiana. Goshen College is a small liberal arts school that is affiliated with the Mennonite Church. Now the Mennonite Church is an historical peace church. A church of non-violence, a church of pacifists. So for its long history, Goshen College has not played the national anthem at sporting events. Recently this was made known to the larger public through the local media. The college started to get letters and phone calls of complaint, and so the leadership of the college changed their tradition, that had stood for well over 100 years, and will start playing the national anthem. Many alumni of the school are upset. But to be fair there are some who don’t see the big deal, and some students are happy. <br />Now, the reason I mention this is because I think it illustrates the challenge of the first of our commandments today, You shall not kill. This commandment lies at the heart of the reason why Goshen College did not play the national anthem and why Mennonites are pacifists, at least as I understand the issue. You see, from the traditional Mennonite perspective, and I really shouldn’t be trying to explain this, because I’m not Mennonite, so this is my best approximation really, but from the Mennonite perspective, the National Anthem is a song whose lyrics celebrate violence. <br />Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,<br />What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?<br />Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,<br />O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?<br />And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,<br />Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.<br />O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave<br />O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?<br /><br />Thro’ the perilous fight… rockets’ red glare, bombs bursting in air..<br /><br />Here is why I mention this however. The Mennonite Church is a tradition that places high priority on imagining, through Jesus example, a Godly life in the world. What would a Godly life in the world look like… the answer being… Jesus…<br />We recall that Jesus, when arrested, would not allow his disciples to offer armed resistance on his behalf. <br /> That is the Godly life on earth… <br /> imagine it… <br /> live it. <br />For Mennonites, the national anthem does NOT imagine God’s way in the world…<br />It rehearses and restates the world’s fallen and sinful way… violence.<br />I heard Rob Bell say in a sermon recently, A Yes leads to a thousand No’s. In this case, for some of these Mennonites, a Yes to this commandment is a NO to violence under any circumstance.<br /><br />The Mennonite’s perspective is not the only one. <br />And the debate about whether Christians should serve in the military is really an open debate, perhaps more open than we would like to admit. There is a strong tradition in the history of the church, within the New Testament, that suggests that violence under any circumstance, should not be an option for those who follow Christ. That isn’t the only side of the debate… <br />And we don’t have time to work it all out here this morning…<br /><br />My point is that this commandment, you shall not murder/kill, is another than can be easily passed over. None of us has killed anyone. So we may be tempted to pass this commandment by fairly quickly. I think this story illustrates how inconvenient an interruption this commandment may be to our lives and to issues that we feel we already have made up our minds on…<br /><br />It may interrupt us regarding other issues too… Abortion, Euthenasia, Capital Punishment.<br />I’m not saying that this commandment is THE answer to any of these topics…<br /> But it does deserve a voice in how we think about these issues…<br /> And that makes this commandment VERY relevant for our times<br /> Very relevant for our lives, even if we haven’t ever <br /> Been tempted to commit murder…<br /><br />The commandment against killing/murder is much closer than we want to admit…<br /> But look at close Jesus brings it to our lives…Mt 5:21-22<br /><br />21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca ,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. <br /><br />Now that really cuts close to the bone doesn’t it?<br /> I mean, we can make an argument that military service, even in times of war<br /> Doesn’t violate this commandment… and so keep it at a distance…<br /> We could make medical and human rights arguments about abortion and euthanasia and reserve this commandment for only very specific situations, limits is applicability to just a few circumstances…<br />But the way Jesus reads this commandment and then applies it…<br /> That hits all of us, except for a slim few…<br /><br />Even the words we use, can kill… <br /> Not literally, that goes without needing explanation<br /> But our words can do violence to the spirit, the soul of a person<br /> Angry words, Jesus says, are every bit as violent <br /> And dangerous as fists and weapons…<br />And who among us can say we haven’t ever used angry, bitter, words…<br /><br />I mention this because what the commandment, You shall not murder, is encouraging us to do is imagine a life where we are not governed, controlled or influenced by our fears. <br /><br />The commandment not to murder/kill is a commandment to imagine a new way in the world free of fear. <br /><br />Are we a people of fear? <br /><br />I remember driving in my car, what is it, nine years ago now? After 9/11 and hearing a young woman on a talk radio station say that she was now so afraid of the violence in the world that she could not dream anymore of having children, because it would be cruel to bring them into such a violent world. <br /><br /><br />Do we live in fear? Walter Brueggeman once wrote<br /><br />In these days, fear is deep and broad in the land and in the church. Fear does strange things to people. It makes us withdraw from our brothers and sisters and live in a crouch. It makes us attracted to a fetal position. It makes us say things and do things that do not honor us. It makes us hurt one another – all because we fear the world is falling apart…Thus, I must protect what little order I have, scramble to make more, and keep people from intruding on my order or my mystery of my goodies<br />'Peace' pg. 161 . . .<br /><br />Fear, as Brueggeman says, is deep and broad…<br /> It may not be as apparent as the fear we felt after 9/11<br /> Fear can be a subtle thing…<br /> Something that we carry with unknowingly<br /> Fear we were taught by an abusive or uncaring parent<br /> Fear we were taught by a family that would not speak of hurt or pain<br />Or a family that dealt with difference with angry words or sullen silences<br /> Fear we were taught through the cruel words of others<br /> Because we live or love ‘differently’<br /> Or perhaps the way we look, not big or small enough<br /> Not the right size or shape<br /> Fear because a spouse was unfaithful <br /> Fear because we grew up in poverty<br />The list of fears that we may carry is a long list<br /> A list that perhaps we don’t even think of consciously<br />Just a few chapters in Exodus, before the gift of the commandments we hear a story of fear…<br /><br />Ex 16:11-12<br /><br />11 The LORD said to Moses, 12 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'" <br />NIV<br /><br />Ex 16:15-20<br /><br />Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'" <br /><br />17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed. <br /><br />19 Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning." <br /><br />20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. <br /><br />No wonder they were afraid… <br /> For generations living as slaves…<br /> Worked for hours we cannot perhaps imagine<br /> Only fed enough for their subsistence<br /> Enough to keep them working and little more…<br />No wonder they are afraid…<br /> And this story shows that they carry this fear in them…<br /> Fear does not leave because the geography changes…<br />And perhaps it is just a flight of fancy, <br /> My imagination…<br /> But I see them grasping for manna, <br /> Fighting for manna<br /> Clawing and pushing and shoving and even striking out<br />For manna,<br /> But this is not too much too imagine is it…<br /> Because we see fights for much less than manna every Christmas<br /> Fights over toys and flatscreen TV’s<br /> Fights, based on fear…<br /> That our child may not know our love if we do not get the toy<br /> Or that we may not know their love…<br /> <br /><br />How would you make this commandment a positive?<br /><br />As I was thinking about that question I remembered this from <br />Lk 21:12-19<br /><br />12 "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 All men will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain life . <br /><br />It is cynicism and fear that freezes life; it is faith that thaws it out, releases it, sets it free. Harry Emerson Fosdick<br /><br />This commandment reminds us that we have said yes to life,<br /> And the verses from Luke remind us that we have said yes to life<br /> Free of fear…<br />Which doesn’t mean that we won’t feel fear<br /> But we have said yes to not living in that fear…<br /> Fear does not have to be the guiding factor of our lives<br /> That which compels us…<br /> That is what the commandment reminds us<br /> You are free now, from being driven by fear<br /><br />Very soon now we will begin to re-tell the story of Jesus arrest and torture at <br />The hands of the Romans<br />Fear will fill this story.<br /> Jesus will pray in the garden that the cup (which means his suffering and his crucifixion) will pass from him… that he won’t have to suffer… he is afraid…<br /> Up all night praying… <br /> and who among us doesn’t know about sleepless nights…<br />The disciples who promised their love and loyalty will run in the shadows of the night… afraid… <br />The story of jesus arrest and crucifixion is the story of our fears…<br /><br />But it is also the story of the one who would not be controlled by fear…<br /> The story of the one who was life, according to the gospel of John<br /> Who chose to trust in life instead of yielding to fear…<br /><br />Who spent his whole life resisting fear<br /> By calling the people that society feared to be his family he resisted fear<br /> And created life<br /> By speaking with Samaritan’s and women, he resisted fear<br /> And created life<br /> Feeding the hungry, healing the sick<br /> He was resisting fear and creating life<br /> <br />And that end of that story is that not even the fear of death could hold him<br /> We need not fear because Jesus entered our fears<br /> Faced them for us<br /> Lived through every one<br /> These fears killed him<br /> But they could not hold him in death<br /> And on the third day he rose to new life…<br /><br />That is the question you see<br /> That this commandment You shall not Kill really drives us to ask ourselves<br />How am I creating life? How am I living in resurrection… offering resurrection<br /> Hope for a new tomorrow, for myself and for others.<br /><br /> Because that is the invitation…<br /> It began in Genesis when Adam was given the task of <br /> Working and caring for the garden…<br /> Serve and protect creation..<br /> Join God and participate in the mystery of creating life<br />That was the invitation to Abraham<br /> And the challenged to Moses<br /> To follow God and find life<br /> Lead the people into new life<br /><br />And that invitation to serve and protect life<br /> And so continue to participate in creation with God<br /> That invitation still stands today…<br /> You and I have received that invitation<br /> We are the ones who inherited the stories of Jesus<br /> That show us what true life is<br /> <br />This is where real peace-making begins<br /> When we begin to see ourselves as inheritors of Jesus life<br /> Entrusted with his life… <br /><br />We shall go out with the hope of resurrection,<br />We shall go out, from strength to strength go on,<br />We shall go out and tell our stories boldly,<br /> Tales of a love that will not let us go.<br />We’ll sing our song of wrongs that can be righted.<br />We’ll dream our dream of hurts that can be healed,<br />We’ll weave a cloth of all the world united<br /> Within a vision of a Christ who sets us free.<br />We’ll give a voice to those who have not spoken,,<br />We’ll find the words for those whose lips are sealed<br />We’ll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,<br /> Vibrating love alive in every heart.<br />We’ll share our joy with those who are still weeping,<br />Chant hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief,<br />We’ll leap and dance the resurrection story<br /> Including all within the circles of our love. <br /> June Boyce-Tillman, in Reflecting Praisedarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-18608195448050238542010-03-07T04:46:00.000-08:002010-03-07T04:53:09.922-08:00Honor Your Father and Mother OR God's Love for the Vulnerable and for UsEx 20:12<br /><br />12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. <br /><br /><br />The Question: Could the Fifth Commandment to honor parents be a commandment beyond being good children? <br />The Bad News: We live in a society in which people are objectified, seen as means to our own ends. <br />The Good News: Each of us is valuable to God<br />The Celebration: Christ came to create a new family, in which all who do the will of God are guaranteed a family in which they will be loved and respected. <br /><br />First off, what makes this commandment unique, one of only two special commandments in the ten? It is stated in the positive and not the negative… This command and the Sabbath command are both positive…<br />Just a bit of trivia to get us started…<br /><br />The challenge of this commandment is that we think we’ve already got this one down… no problem … right? <br />According to The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study<br />"Every year an estimated 2.1 million older Americans are victims of physical, psychological, or other forms of abuse and neglect. For every case of elder abuse and neglect reported to authorities, experts estimate that there may be as many as 5 cases not reported. Research suggests elders who have been abused tend to die earlier than those who are not abused, even in the absence of chronic conditions or life threatening disease."<br />90% of elder abuse and neglect incidents are by known perpetrators, usually family members, 2/3rds are adult children or spouses<br /><br />National Center on Elder Abuse, 1994 The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study: Final Report Washington, DC: Administration for Children and Families & Administration on Aging, US Department of Health and Human Services<br /><br />I don’t know about you, but, It seems like this one should be automatic. Why would you NEED to command children to honor their parents? That just seems basic to me, like common sense. Then again, my mother used to say, ‘Common sense isn’t very common…’ And I guess she had a point. Perhaps you too have had the experience while shopping, or out to eat, out in public anyway, of cringing at the way a child talked to their parent. Have you ever had that experience? <br /><br />I wanted to reflect on this, because I think we can make two mistakes with this commandment… brush over it too quickly as a given, as ‘the easy one’… when statistics and reflection on our experience shows that it isn’t a given at all. The other mistake we can make is to miss the implications of this simple command. <br />The command to honor father and mother comes directly after the command to remember and keep holy, a Sabbath…<br /><br />Lets look back at that one for a minute…<br /><br />Ex 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. <br /><br />Remember your value.<br /> <br />That is the point of Sabbath. <br /><br />What makes me valuable or honorable? This is the first question for the day. And I suspect that for many the answer of their value would come down to something that they do… whether it is a career that they perform well at, and if not a vocation, an avocation, some hobby that they do particularly well… something they produce…<br />So some might say, I’m a hard worker, or a loyal worker…<br /> I’m a good listener, I’ll do anything for a friend<br /> I’m generous, or helpful, I take care of the elderly,<br /> <br />You get the picture here right… we value ourselves based on what we do…<br /> On the service we provide… whether we are paid for it or not…<br /><br />But what the Sabbath command is telling us is…<br /> That ISN’T where our value lies…<br /> We are not honored by God for what we do…<br /> But simply because of who we are…<br /> And who are we… God’s children…<br /> Those created in God’s image…<br /><br />So, this may seem like a strange point, but, this is at least one of the major points of the command for Sabbath… our value lies not in what we do, what service we provide, our value lies in relation to God our creator…<br /><br />But it is important, because then the Sabbath command goes on to say that not only should the men and women of Israel keep Sabbath…<br /> But the slaves and the foreigners and the children and the animals…<br /> Why is the Sabbath command extended to all of them? <br /><br />Why are they valuable? <br /> Because of the service they provide.<br /> The work they do.<br /><br />Remember the BIG story here…<br /> Israel has just been released from slavery in Egypt…<br /> What was their value? Labor…<br />The Sabbath command is a warning to Israel NOT to recreate the slavery of Egypt,<br /> Only this time they get to be the one’s in charge, on the receiving end…<br /> <br />What will make Israel a light to the nations? Not the fact that they are free themselves, BUT, how they use that freedom…<br /> A freedom in which they value and honor all people, not just their own<br /><br />And the command for today… honor father and mother<br /> Brings a specific group of people into sharp relief…<br /> The vulnerable. <br /> This command isn’t simply about obeying our parents<br /> It is about valuing the vulnerable<br /> This command issues its challenge not when <br /> Parents can care for themselves and contribute to the household<br /> But when they cannot care for themselves and must receive, but cannot give<br /><br />The command to honor father and mother is the command to value and honor<br /> The vulnerable… <br /><br />Ex 22:21-24<br /><br />21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. <br /><br />22 "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan . 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. <br /><br />Israel will be a light to the nations…<br /> <br />Israel will continue live in the liberation, the freedom that God has given them<br /><br />By being a nation known for valuing and honoring the vulnerable…<br /> The aging father and mother<br /> The alien or foreign<br /> The widow<br /> The orphan…<br />Those who stand on the edges of society are to be valued and not despised…<br /><br />Here is where and why social ministries are so important…<br /> Ministries like the food closet and the clothes closet<br /> The summer meal program and the oil program are vital…<br /> Not only because they meet basic human needs…<br /> But because they communicate value, honor, <br /> They bestow dignity upon the vulnerable in our community…<br /> These are not just social services<br /> Or physical services<br /> But spiritual services…<br /><br />And as spiritual services, <br /> They must be rooted in our own spiritual practice…<br /> Because the command to extend Sabbath to the alien<br /> To be generous with the widow and the orphan<br /> To extend honor to the aged is rooted in our prayer life<br /> In our own Sabbath time…<br />In our own Sabbath time in which we remember that we are not valuable for what <br /> We do, but simply because we are…<br /> We offer hospitality to the stranger<br /> Generosity to the widow and orphan<br /> Honor to the aged <br /> Not based on their own merit<br /> But because we have experienced the abundant love of God<br /> Freely given and not earned…<br /><br />Henri Nouwen writes:<br /> When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identification, then we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance, than as friends with whom we share the gifts of life… we are worth more than the result of our efforts…<br /><br />Our social ministries, if not rooted in prayer and aimed at communicating God’s love <br />Just become a way for us to feel better about ourselves<br /> Prove to others… prove to ourselves… our value<br /> They become our idols… making us feel worth something<br /> Because we can say.. look at what I have done…<br /><br /><br />When we give food to the hungry<br /> Or clothes to the poor<br /> Or feed families in the summer<br /> <br /> We are giving them much more than food or clothes<br /> We are giving them dignity and honor<br /> But we are also giving them more than that<br /> We are offering them a sign of God’s own love<br />That they do not have to earn<br /> Because we did not have to earn it<br /><br />Ro 5:9<br />8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us .<br /><br />We are not just a social service agency,<br /> But agents of God love and grace<br /> While we offer food and clothing and oil<br /> If that is all we offer we have failed<br /> For we have something even more valuable to offer<br /> The love of God<br /><br />BUT<br /><br />If we have not experienced this unmerited love ourselves<br /> We can tend to forget, where our value lies..<br /> Thinking that it is because of what we do<br /> Or what others think of us<br /> Or say about us<br />And this tends to tear at the fabric of the family that God has created<br /> As we not-so-secretly measure our merits against others <br /> Have they worked as hard as I<br /> have they proven themselves as faithful as I<br /> are they as worthy of Gods honor as I<br /><br />NO<br />The experience of God amazing and unmerited yet free love<br /> Only comes through prayer<br /><br />How much time do you spend in prayer not saying anything<br /> Not asking for anything<br /> Just being loved by God?<br /><br />Isa 43:4<br />Since you are precious and honored in my sight,<br />and because I love you,<br /><br />That is a verse to start you…<br /> Make time this week at the start and the close of your day…<br /> To not only be intellectually reminded of God love<br /> But to experience it in prayer…<br /> Recite this verse to yourself in silence<br /> No distractions<br />Don’t say anything else<br /> Just repeat it, over and over<br /> And then listen<br /> Listen to God loving you<br /> Not because of the work you do<br /> Or your volunteer hours<br /> Your successes and virtues and hours of labor<br /> And generosity<br /> But just because you are...<br /><br /><br />We MUST experience that love if we are to share it<br /> If our ministries as a church do not grow from that experience<br /> They are in vain…<br /> Just a way for us to feel better about ourselves<br /> And so more about us seeking our own honor<br /> Than about honoring others…<br /><br />If our relationships with one another are not based on <br /> This experience of God’s unmerited love vast, unmeasured,<br /> Boundless and free as the hymn-writer says<br /> Than our relationships here will be no different<br /> Than any other social organization<br /> And it will all be in vain<br /> <br />If we are to follow today’s commandment to honor, value and dignify<br /> The vulnerable…<br /> That will only flow from our own experience of being loved<br /> As we are…<br /><br />Jesus own ministry began not with a call to action, but with an expression of love…<br />Think about that…<br /> God didn’t call to Christ and say <br /> Today I am calling you Lk 4:18<br />to preach good news to the poor. <br />to proclaim freedom for the prisoners <br />give sight to the blind, <br />and release the oppressed, <br /><br />First God said, You are my beloved…<br /><br />There is still much to do,<br /> Many tasks to be undertaken<br /> Many injustices to meet with energy and passion<br /><br />But today, we, like Christ,<br /> Are simply, the beloveddarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-87281481489153809842010-03-01T13:32:00.000-08:002010-03-01T13:34:52.595-08:00the Third Commandment: God at the Center of our SpeechI received an amazing complement from after this sermon:<br />'You've got balls!' <br />so welcome to my ballsy sermon!<br /><br />God at the Center: Of our Speech<br />Exodus 20:7/ Deut 5:11<br />The Question: <br />The Bad News: God is not ‘user-friendly’ is not a source simply for our own self-discovery… to be used for our purposes…<br />The Good News: Those who conform to God’s will, who ‘speak well of God’ are promised strength and even victory…<br />The Celebration: God has given us Good News, speech that brings Life!<br /><br />Intro:<br />Last week we started to look at the 10 Commandments. Specifically we talked about how the common conception of the 10 Commandments is that they are this overwhelmingly oppressive weight that we have to carry… a series of negatives… THOU SHALL NOT!!! And we looked at the story in Exodus chapter 20 specifically, where we learned that the 10 Commandments are not intended to bind us or confine us or oppress us… but instead to free us. I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, the 10 Commandments start in Exodus… the 10 Commandments were meant to make us free!<br />Specifically we talked about being free from other idols and other gods… and we identified these idols and gods, at least some of them… That which we devoted time to, that which was at the center of our lives… For example we noticed how much time American’s spend watching TV, a total of 65 days out of the year, Compared to a little more than 3 total days in worship in a year. If our gods and idols are those things that get our time and attention, than TV is one example of a modern day idol. <br />Last week we focused on the first two commandments… This week we turn to the third possibly the ninth… <br />First this morning, the third commandment. <br />Ex 20:7 7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.<br />So, you wake up in the middle of the night…<br /> It’s pitch black, nothing but the blue glow of the alarm clock<br /> You are still mostly asleep, and you stumble with one eye half-open<br /> To go to the bathroom…<br /> And you trip over the cat<br /> Or step, with your bare feet, on a toy that the kids left out<br />Or stub your toe on the stand beside your bed<br /> And it hurts like heck!<br /> What do you say?<br /> Do you say piddly-poo!<br /> Tartar sauce? There is Sponge-bob reference for you<br />Whether you want to admit it or not I don’t think that is what you say…<br /> And for those of you who do say that I applaud your self-control…<br /> I utter some colorful speech enhancers!<br /> <br />But is that a violation of the third commandment?<br /><br />I. The real meaning of Misusing God’s name…<br /><br />Brueggemann quote: …the avoidance of the misuse of God’s name suggests that God is not ‘useful’ has no utilitarian value, is always an ‘end’ and never a ‘means.’ This God will be worshipped only for the sake of God’s own life, purpose and way in the world. The wrong use of God’s name seeks to draw God’s power into more frivolous modes of life where human beings retain control. Thus, instead of honoring God, God is put to use… (Breuggemann, Deut. P. 68)<br /><br />What Brueggemann is saying is that the real issue that the third commandment is getting at is our relationship to God…What is the purpose of this relationship… is our relationship to God built on the assumption we are going to get something out of it? Is God a means to some other end? If so then we are at the center…our wants, our agenda’s, our selves… not God. <br /><br />This alone is challenging enough. We live in a culture that tells us that we should be who we are… that our we will find happiness and peace when we discover who we are as individuals and pursue that individuality… But the third commandments, well the first three together really, suggest that we do not find fulfillment in ourselves, but in pursuing God. God holds who we are…we are created in God’s image, so in discovering God we discover who we are. A journey of self discovery without God is in vain in the King James Language. I journey to discover God leads us to discover ourselves…<br /><br />That is pretty philosophical stuff… so lets look at a cluster of examples<br /><br />the Atlantic published a story in the December 2009 issue that focuses in<br /> Self-discovery vs. discovering God and self<br /> Faith that puts God to personal use<br /> Which means we are at the center<br /><br />In an article by Hannah Rosin entitled, ‘Did Christianity Cause the Crash’ the wide-spread popularity of the prosperity gospel is examined. The prosperity gospel is extremely popular is many of the mega-churches around our nation, notably Joel Osteen, whom I love to bash, but will refrain from, today. It is very popular in a number of ethnic churches as Rosin highlights in this article, but it has its roots in white anglo Protestantism. Oral Roberts was the first to promise miraculous financial reward to any and all who would send him $100.00. <br />The Prosperity gospel can be summed up in ‘God wants you to be wealthy!’ and is one example of what the third commandment is really pushing us to carefully consider. <br /> Now notice how subtle this is. <br /> We do believe that God provides for us<br /> And wants us to have all that we need for abundant lives<br /> But what abundant life means is completely redefined<br /> In the gospels…<br />Seek first the kingdom and its righteous and all these THINGS shall be added<br /> The prosperity gospel puts things first… not the kingdom<br /> And as we discussed last week, in talking about the first two commandments, we can easily put things in the place of God<br /><br />Prosperity Gospel misuses God’s name, uses God’s name in vain,<br /> By teaching us to put things in the place of God and calling that faith…<br /> <br />And, we can tell what the agenda is here right?<br /> The agenda for those preachers of the prosperity gospel is their own wealth success… and for the disciple of this gospel, the agenda is not the taking up of the cross, but the achievement of prosperity…. It is not God’s will, but their own for their lives. <br /><br />Attempting to using God to get what they desire<br /> Putting human desire in the clothing of faith in Christ<br /> Bathing our wants in religious God-talk…<br /> God becomes a cosmic coke machine and you put your prayers <br /> Or your tithe, or your faith or whatever in…<br /> And you will get back a return on your investment…<br /><br />Now, this is subtle… so let me give you a couple more examples…<br /> <br />In at least two of his recorded speeches, President Bush replaced references to Christ with references to the United States in quotation, first from a hymn and then from the Bible. Instead of claiming, as the old hymn does, that ‘there is wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb,’ President Bush claimed that ‘there is power, wonder working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.’ On another occasion, he quoted from John 1:1, only instead of referring to Christ as the light that shines in the darkness and that cannot be overcome, he identified ‘the ideal of America’ as that light. This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it."<br /><br />(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/president/public.html cited in an essay by Nancy J. Duff, Locating God in All the Wrong Places: the Second Commandment and American Politics. Interpretation, April 2006, pg. 187)<br /><br />See what I mean by subtle? <br /> Religious language, from hymn and from scripture is referenced, <br /> In this case, both come right after 9/11<br /> When then President Bush is trying to muster support<br /> Both foreign and domestic for war in Afghanstan and eventually Iraq<br /><br />If not God’s name, then God-talk, God language is used to make a human agenda and activity, sound like and appear as a divine calling…<br /><br />Now, so that I will not be accused of partisanship I did a little research and found an example of a Democrat.<br /><br />In a speech appealing to Congress for $400 million in aid to Greece, Truman called on the United States to aid all democracies in their fight against communist insurgents. He reminded Congress, ‘The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this Nation.’ The United States could no longer be the ‘city upon a hill,’ but must act as a leader ‘against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.’ Truman placed this obligation … to ‘do our share toward carrying out the will of God.’ <br /><br />(Truman, Public Paper, 3:178,196, 272 quoted in Bombs, Bombasts and the Bible, Cold War Presidents and Religious Rhetoric; Danielle Meryn Holtz Serior Thesis in American History, Barnard College.)<br /><br />Lets bring this idea a little close to home… first lets look at a couple of rants by Isaiah…<br /><br />Isa 1:14-15<br />14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts <br />my soul hates.<br />They have become a burden to me;<br />I am weary of bearing them. <br />15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,<br />I will hide my eyes from you;<br />even if you offer many prayers,<br />I will not listen.<br />NIV<br /><br />Isa 29:13<br /><br />"These people come near to me with their mouth <br />and honor me with their lips ,<br />but their hearts are far from me.<br /><br />The Bad News is that even people of faith, of good will and of good intention, call subtly shift in their perspective, even in prayer… from being God-to self centered… the purpose of prayer can shift from a relational moment in which God shapes us, to a moment where we attempt to shape God…<br /><br />We do this all the time. Perhaps it is because it can be challenging to teach children how to pray. It is simple teach them to be thankful and to ask for things, help with bullies, homework or test… these are the basics, be thankful and ask for help from God. But we don’t, I fear, grow beyond that. Because its hard to explain how prayer is an emptying of our own agenda’s, our own wants and dreams, to create space for God to reshape and transform our wants into what God wants. Prayer is meant to be emptying and transformational, but that is a difficult concept even for adults, much less children. <br />It might be shocking, but I think we need to carefully consider the fact that the way we pray is a misuse of God’s name. If the sum total of our time in prayer is a laundry list of things we want, even if they are kind, compassionate , selfless things; like health for a loved one, or financial stability for a friend in economic straights. If this is the only way of praying, we are still at the center, our way of seeing what the world should be like is the priority. We are using God instead of being used. (this little idea was planted in an essay by Will Willimon in the Christian Century, but I can’t find the exact issue to cite. )<br />Think of it this way. Do you have a friend or relative whom you only hear from when they want something from you? They never call unless they need a ride or a loan or a favor? How do you feel? That is what our prayers tend to be like, constantly asking favors, without ever having prayer be time spent with God, just to spend the time, without some agenda, some request to be fulfilled, without the hope of receiving anything but the presence of God in our hearts and minds?<br /><br />But there is good news too…<br /><br />How can we make this commandment a positive?<br /> In the negative… do not use God’s name in vain<br /> Do not speak empty word’s about God<br /> Do not use God-words for your own good…<br /><br />How might that be put in the positive?<br /> The third commandment, about using God’s name, speaking about God<br /> Draws US into a much larger story… <br /> The story of God speaking<br />It reminds me of Genesis, where the universe is created by a word from God<br /> The planets hang on their courses<br /> And the stars are flung in their constellations<br /> By a word<br />God spoke to Moses through the burning bush<br /> A message of freedom and hope for his people Israel!<br /> <br />Christ spoke and storms were stilled<br /> Demons cast out<br /> Diseases healed<br /> Jesus spoke Lazarus and a man was raised form the dead<br /><br />And Jesus said to his disciples<br /> Says to us this morning…<br /> Mk 13:11<br />Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />In times of trial, we will be given something to say…<br /> Our words too, can have the power to bring life…<br /> Maybe not literally…<br /><br />Mt 18:18-19<br /><br />18 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. <br /><br />19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.<br /><br />There is power in the speech, the words, of those who follow Christ…<br /> I know it may not seem like it…<br /> It may seem like no one listens<br /> Like few care to hear just what we have to say…<br /><br />But I think that the positive side, of the third commandment<br /> Reminds us that when we speak well of God<br /> We release God’s power to make people free<br /><br />And I am reminded of the visit from Lauren Bethel Lauren Bethel is an American Baptist Missionary to, well, many places, Asia and Europe. Her Mission to minister to prostitutes and those caught in human trafficking and the sex trade. While she advocates for social reforms that offer safe housing, financial support, job training, and legal policies, she also advocates for disciples of Christ to go to the streets to share God’s love. She tells of how many times she has heard from the girls that she finds on the streets how important to them her words of love and comfort are. The words; God’ Loves You, inspire hope, bring strength, help these women envision a new day for themselves… the name of God and the words God gives, are powerful things for a disciple to share.<br /> <br />The third commandment, positively uttered, reminds us of these promises to the prophet Jeremiah, these words entrusted to us today, let us not use them in vain…<br /><br />Jer 1:9-10<br />"Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down , to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-41361979307345330422010-02-21T10:25:00.001-08:002010-02-21T10:41:22.577-08:00God At the CenterGod at the Center:<br />The Good News: God gave us the 10 commandments so that we could be free to discover and pursue the life that God created us to live, to be that beautiful image of God that we are created to be.<br />The Bad News: Idolatry is not simply a religious issue. The problem is not other religions or faiths, but the pattern of our lives, the worship of things through what rivets my attention, centers my activity, preoccupies my mind, and motivates my action. If we take stock of those things, even if we pray to God through Christ, but orient our lives to pleasure, the pursuit of material goods, or trust in violence, we are still worshipping idols and breaking this commandment.<br />The Celebration: Christ came that we might be free<br />Intro:<br />Thomas Long in a Christian Century essay on the 10 Commandments reminds us of the controversy a few years ago, raised by Judge Roy Moore, a chief judge in the Alabama Supreme Court, who waged a war to keep the 10 Commandments in his courthouse, even though it violated separation of church and state. Now, what Long noted, that I found interesting, was that as a part of this fight, Judge Moore carried around a monument of the 10 Commandments on a flat-bed truck, the monument weighing 5,280 pounds, or, as Long noted, approximately 500 lbs per commandments. He needed a five-ton crane to remove the monument from the truck!<br />The point that Long makes and that I wish to begin with this morning is the metaphor… as silly as this sounds… a 5,280 lb monument of the 10 Commandments, isn’t this how we, Christians, often are taught to think about the 10 Commandments, as a great weight that we are called to carry; ‘heavy yokes to be publicly placed on the necks of a rebellious society’… Long notes. <br />(Thomas G. Long teaches at Candler School of Theology. This article appeared in The Christian Century, (March 7, 2006. p. 17.) Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation)<br /><br /><br />But lets look at how the story of God’s giving of the Commandments begins:<br />Ex 20:2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. <br /><br />Did you hear it? Freedom. <br />The 10 Commandments aren’t meant to add weight, but take it away<br /> Not meant to constrain, but release us.<br /> Its all, of course, in how you define, Freedom, <br /> and freedom in the Bible is different than freedom in popular society… <br /><br />Merriam Webster dictionary defines freedom<br /> 1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous<br /><br />But freedom in the bible is different. <br /> The story of Exodus really shows what freedom in the bible is… <br /> Because God wants Israel to be free from Egypt, <br /> so that they can worship and follow God. <br />Freedom in the Bible isn’t simply a lack of external constraint or control <br /> Freedom isn’t simply, in the negative the absence of oppression<br />freedom in the Bible is the presence of God at the center of our being<br /> Freedom is for something as Barth once said<br />with some end, some purpose… <br /> <br />And that freedom, which is toward God, for God, isn’t unfettered, it has a guide, support, some purpose toward which the freedom is progressing. <br /><br />Like this guitar string… if I take it out of the package, but it just hangs from my hand… its free, nothing constrains it… but it can’t do what it was meant to do… make a sound, and in concert with other strings, make music. But I place it on the guitar, where a peg and a tuner hold that string tight, and the string is free to do what it was intended to do. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Or as I read… a river with no banks is a flood, <br /> A river with strong banks creates power.<br /><br /><br /><br />God did not want Israel to be oppressed by Egypt, so God gave them freedom…<br /> But unlike the popular view of freedom, <br /> which often has no purpose aside from being unconstrained, <br /> God’s freedom has a purpose, <br /> the goal is to be free so as to commune with God and so to realize the potential image of God in which we are all created. <br /><br />So, this is the story of the 10 Commandments, an ongoing story of freedom… the freedom that God provided for Israel, in leading them out of Egypt, continues in our experience through the 10 commandments… through them, we are freed…<br /><br />II. Have no other gods, have no idols.<br /><br />I stumbled across the story of Dunbar H. Ogden Jr. Mr. Ogden, or more properly, Rev. Ogden was the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957. This was the year that nine African-American students walked to Central High in Little Rock to enroll in school. They were turned away not by the angry mob that surrounded them, but by the National Guard troops the Governor had placed in the front of the school. This happened on September 4th. <br /><br />On the evening of September 3rd the President of the NAACP called Rev. Ogden on the phone and asked him, as the president of the local ministerial association, to escort the children to school the next morning. <br /><br />On the one hand Rev. Ogden could see this as an opportunity to be Moses, to part the Sea that stands between African-american children and freedom, freedom brought about by an education….<br />Or, on the other hand, Rev. Ogden could see, did see the very distinct possibility that if he did act like Moses, he would tear apart his church and ruin his standing in the community and authority as a pastor. He called all the other clergy in the area and only found one other pastor who would agree to go with him. <br /><br />(from a review of ‘My Father Said Yes: A White Pastor in Little Rock School Integration published in the Christian Century. The theological slant is my own and not that of the author or the reviewer)<br /><br />Rev. Ogden had a decision to make and I would propose that one way to think about the dilemma that Rev Ogden faced is to ask… Who will his God be? Will Rev. Ogden make a decision based on the biases and expectation of white society in Arkansas? Will that be his god? Will he make a decision based on what he knows to be the expectations of at least half of his congregation? Will that be his idol? Will he make a decision based on the lack of support of his fellow clergy-members? What will be the central motivating factor in his action? That is a theological question… what motivates us, because what motivates us can become our god, our idol… <br /><br />Luke Timothy Johnson says… ‘my god is that which rivets my attention, centers my activity, preoccupies my mind and motivates my action. That in virtue of which I act is god; that for which I will give up anything else is my god.’<br />(Sharing Possessions: Mandate and Symbol of Faith)<br /> <br />What is at issue in the first two commandments, to have no other god and make no idols is…<br />what will be at the center of our lives motivating us, framing our thoughts, <br />for which we are willing to make sacrifice, for which we will devote time and energy. <br />It isn’t for North American’s so much a matter of alternate religions…<br />But about how we will spend time, devote energy, manage money, make sacrifice. But it isn’t just modern North America that this applies too. Listen to the words of Moses from Dt 6, words that come just after God has given the 10 commandments in Deuteronomy’s version of the story…. in Dt 6:10-12, God warns Israel that it will not simply be the official gods of the nations surrounding them, that will tempt them, but their wealth and their possessions; <br />When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. <br />Do you hear what the false gods and idols are? Material goods, wealth, things that we can possess, control… <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A Simple Example I think illustrates this….<br />The average TV set is on for eight hours and 14 minutes a day in U.S. homes, according to Nielsen Media Research. Meanwhile, per person Americans watch an average of 4 hours and 35 minutes of television every day.<br /><br />If this seems a tad excessive, consider that the Nielsen survey also found that the typical American home has more TV sets than people – an average of 2.73 TVs for 2.55 people.<br /><br />people will spend 65 days in front of the TV, 41 days listening to radio and a little <br />over a week on the Internet in 2007. Adults will spend about a week reading a daily newspaper and teens and adults will spend another week listening to recorded music. Consumer spending for media is forecasted to be $936.75 per person.<br /><br />I did some math, which isn’t my strong suit. If we attend church every Sunday in the year, without any cancellations for weather, and the service is 1.5 hrs… we spend 3.25 days in church a year… compared to 65 days in front of a television, and 7 days on the internet and 7 days listening to music.<br /><br />If Johnson is correct, that my god is that which rivets my attention… well, tv, internet and ipods are gods…<br /><br />The Bad news is the we cannot think ourselves free of the temptation and practice of idolatry simply because of God-talk. It isn’t simply prayer to God or Sunday worship attendance that assures us that we are keeping the first two commandments. In Mt 7:21-22, we read this warning from Christ…<br /> "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord ,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. <br /><br />We become like what we worship <br /> we are shaped by it…<br />This is a constant theme throughout the Bible…<br /><br />Thursday night Bible Basics just finished talking about the story of Esther…<br />This is a strange and little known story from the First Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures…<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />King Ahaseuras, notice, is doing what God warned Israel against…<br /> His time and energy and focus is on his wealth, his material goods…<br /> His time and energy and focus goes into the pleasure of the party…<br />And look at how he has treated his first queen and the subsequent prospective queens… they are like objects to him… what he worships has shaped who he is and how he treats others…<br /><br />Rev. Ogden went and met with the NAACP organizers and the children the next morning… still not having decided what to do. But in that moment, challenged by the courage of the children and their parents, we decided to walk them to school… He decided to keep God at the center…<br /><br />The end of the story, well, I guess its up to your point of view whether it ended happily or not. Attendance at Rev. Ogdens church fell from 200 to 80, and the powerful members of the church withheld both their presence at worship and their tithe. <br /><br />Which reminds me, as we close, that one of the traditional readings for the beginning of Lent is the story of Jesus temptation in the desert.<br /><br />Mt 4:1-11<br />4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." <br /><br />4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" <br /><br />5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: <br /><br />"'He will command his angels concerning you, <br />and they will lift you up in their hands, <br />so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" <br /><br />7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" <br /><br />8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." <br /><br />10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" <br /><br />11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. <br /><br />Jesus kept God at the center, <br /> His life on earth lived by serving God alone through serving the <br /> The poor, oppressed and despised in his society…<br /> And his life ended in crucifixion…<br /><br />Which is the temptation of idols and gods I suppose…<br /> They demand little of us, do not challenge us…<br /> And promise us an easy life, a happy life…<br /> <br />Rev. Ogden put God at the center, as did Jesus,<br /> And suffered for it…<br /> But their act of worship <br /> Throughout their lives<br /> Their sacrifice and service<br />Opened up new possibilities for others that idols cannot offer<br /> Rev. Odgen’s actions were a part of a great shift in the history of our country<br /> He played a part in a modern day exodus from slavery to freedom<br /> Perhaps not for himself, but for thousand, millions of others who would <br /> Come after, Given the chance at an education, the chance to dream<br /> And imagine a brighter future for themselves and their children<br /> And their children’s children…<br /><br />In that way, Rev. Ogden practiced resurrection…<br /> He walked with Jesus the path of temptation<br /> And the way of the cross…<br /> But it was a way that lead to life <br /> New life, full life, for so many others…<br /><br />The fact of the matter is that Lent is a frightening time…<br /> It is never pleasant to take the good honest look at ourselves <br /> That lent demands…<br /> And as the story of Rev. Ogden illustrates<br /> The demands of keeping God centered<br /> will challenge us<br /> But I am convinced that Lent also allows us to see<br /> In ourselves, potential, <br />Allows us to imagine for ourselves <br /> A purpose that idols cannot give<br /> Recentering our lives on God in this season of Lent<br /> Allows us to see the image of God that we were created to be<br /> And to see new possibilities for ourselves and for others<br /> that our idols just cannot provide…darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-36847076569568640122010-02-14T09:44:00.001-08:002010-02-14T09:46:27.370-08:00You Want Me to do What?You Want me to WHAT?<br />Ezekiel 2,3,4,5<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Good News:</span> The Holy Spirit empowers us to be a light that shines before men… we have a story to tell, a song to sing, a message to proclaim, a mark to make in the world.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Bad News:</span> If we follow Christ, we will have a cross to bear. Sometimes we will be called to act ‘differently’ than those around us; forgiving, giving generously, making peace instead of war… and this will call us to take difficult stands, even unpopular stands so that people can see the Kingdom that Christ proclaims.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Celebration:</span> We are called to do more than survive, but to thrive…<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Question:</span> Is faith an idea or an action? Or both?<br /><br />The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968 they went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, took 378 draft files, brought them to the parking lot in wire baskets, dumped them out, poured homemade napalm over them, and set them on fire.<br />Fr. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis had previously poured blood on draft records as part of "The Baltimore Four"- with David Eberhardt and James Mengel - and were out on bail when they burned the records at Catonsville.<br />Fr. Daniel Berrigan wrote, of the Catonsville incident: "Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children. . . ."<br />On September 9, 1980, Berrigan, his brother Daniel, and six others (the "Plowshares Eight") began the Plowshares Movement when they entered the General Electric Nuclear Missile Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania where nose cones for the Mark 12A warheads were made. They hammered on two nose cones, poured blood on documents and offered prayers for peace. They were arrested and initially charged with over ten different felony and misdemeanor counts. On April 10, 1990, after nearly ten years of trials and appeals, the Plowshares Eight were re-sentenced and paroled for up to 23 and 1/2 months in consideration of time already served in prison. (citing wikipedia)<br /><br />The Berrigan Brothers were known for extreme positions and extreme actions. For them, faith in God was not private, but public. Faith in God challenged and shaped the way they thought about the world around them… specifically the VietNam War and later, Nuclear Weapons. But the Berrigan brothers were offensive because they didn’t keep their radical opinions to themselves, or even keep them to a sermon or a book or a letter to the editor… they put their opinions, their faith shaped opinions on public display. <br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Eze 2:3-8<br /><br />3 He said: "Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says.' 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen — for they are a rebellious house — they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house;<br />NIV<br /><br />Eze 3:24-27<br /> "Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says.' Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house. <br />NIV<br /><br />Eze 4:1-5:6<br />4:1 "Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel. <br /><br />4 "Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. <br /><br />6 "After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. 7 Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. 8 I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege. <br /><br />9 "Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. 11 Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. 12 Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel." 13 The LORD said, "In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them." <br /><br />14 Then I said, "Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth." <br /><br />15 "Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement." <br /><br />16 He then said to me: "Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, 17 for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin. <br /><br />Ezekiel 5<br /><br />5:1 "Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2 When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3 But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4 Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel. <br /><br />5 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees. <br /></span><br /><br />Ezekiel is commanded by God to put his private faith in public view. And not in strongly worded letters to the editor, but through strange theatrical events staged publically. <br /><br />What is he trying to communicate?<br /><br />By lying on his side for 390 days, facing a little scale model of Jerusalem, he is acting out God’s patience in waiting for the people to listen and obey the covenant. <br />By then turning and laying away from the model… he is acting out the fact that God has turned his back on the people. The turning of the back of God will be experienced, is being experienced by the people through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian Empire, including the Temple, and the enslavement of many of its people, including Ezekiel, who have been carried off to Babylon. They have returned to Egypt as it were… God has let them go back to Pharaoh, since they rejected God’s sovereignty. <br /><br />Oh, yes, he is bound, tied up too. <br />That probably means a few things… it means that he is bound to the word of God… it also means that the people will be bound in service to the Babylonian Empire… it also means that they are bound by their unwillingness to obey… now they will have to pay the price of not listening to the word of God, not keeping the covenant. <br /><br />While we might think that the multi-grain bread sounds fine, it is meant to symbolize scavenging. The people will no longer benefit from the abundance of the earth, but will have to fight to scrape together enough to put together a loaf of bread. And the baking of the bread too is meant to show how desperate their lives are… only finding buffalo chips to bake on…<br /><br />Shaving the head and beard was a sign of mourning. So Ezekiel is showing the people that they will mourn. And the hair becomes a symbol of the people… some burned… to symbolize both the destruction of their city by Babylon, and their suffering… some chopped with a sword, does that really need to be explained. Many were killed in the Babylonian Siege and the over-running of the city. Many died in the long trek to Babylon, a trail of tears, you might say. And the scattering of hair in the wind symbolizes that some were left to run and hide and scrape a living, some were separated from family, some taken into exile…they were scattered and no longer a whole people.<br /><br />If the Politics in the Berrigan brothers actions offends… or you think that church isn’t the place for politics, leaders of faith not called to speak out politically… it is important to realize that what Ezekiel is doing here is political. He is saying that Judah, the people of God, the nation of God, deserve the punishment of servitude to Babylon. Their defeat and enslavement is something they must accept because it is something that God has allowed to happen. So Ezekiel is talking politics… our leaders, political and religious, failed and this is the consequence for us all…<br /><br /><br />But you also notice the difference between Ezekiel and Job last week. While Job give us a language to argue that our trauma and suffering is wrong, unfair, unjust… Ezekiel sees the suffering of Israel as deserved. If we suffer, it is because God has commanded it and allowed it and so we must deserve it… that is Ezekiel’s world-view. I’m not necessarily espousing that myself… I just want you to realize the big picture here is a debate about suffering and the role of God… a debate between Job and Ezekiel… a debate too big to work out this morning. <br /><br /><br />What troubles me this morning is that Ezekiel is different…<br />And it isn’t just that he has some different idea’s you see…<br /> It isn’t that he has some unique thoughts…<br /> Or beliefs that are different from others…<br />Ezekiel is different and he isn’t afraid to act different… put his difference on display…<br /> Well, maybe he is afraid, <br /> but his fear of reprisal doesn’t stop him from putting his difference on display.<br /><br />How different am I? <br /> That is what troubles me.<br /> How would others know by looking at me, listening to me, watching me act and interact<br /> That I am a disciple of Christ?<br />I’m intrigued by folks who have ways of being different…<br /> Muslim women who wear burka’s <br /> And I know that can be controversial, especially in Europe right now…<br /> Or Hasidic Jewish boys who grow the peyot, the ringlets of the sideburns<br />And they wear the tzitzit…the vest with tassles… also called the tallit katan<br /> Or the dress of the Amish.<br />I’m not saying I want to go in that direction… but I’m just saying… there is no mistaking who they are…<br /> You know who they are and to a certain extent, what they believe, just by looking at them…<br /> <br /><br /><br /><br />For instance Amish men grow beards, but Mustaches are forbidden, because they are associated with European military officers and militarism in general <br />And I am intrigued by the courage it takes to be different… to maintain styles of dress for instance, that just are stylish anymore… but mean something and communicate something…<br /><br /><br />The story of Ezekiel, and his bizarre behavior calls into question what faith means…<br /> If we take Ezekiel seriously faith is not simply a collection of unique idea… an intellectual pursuit<br /> We study the Bible not just to learn the words of Jesus, <br /> uncover the mystery of the Trinity<br /> imagine resurrected life<br />Nor is faith an emotional pursuit<br /> Worship something that will make us feel better, stronger, more peaceful<br /> Better able to face the working week ahead…<br />Faith should be those things, I hope it is.<br /> But the faith of Ezekiel challenges us beyond intellect and emotion…<br /> Challenges us in the realm of action…<br /><br />God has something to say and Judah does not listen… will not listen…<br /> Elijah is given something to say… that now one else dares say…<br /> Will he say it? Will he take action?<br /><br /><br />I’ve told you before the story of John Woolman, an American and a Quaker who lived in New Jersey in the 18th century. He refused to pay taxed during the French and Indian War. He advocated for the humane treatment of working animals. He traveled advocating for slaves, being one of the first of the Quakers to see slavery as an offensive moral issue. When he stayed with slaveholders he paid the slaves for the their work cooking and cleaning for him. Most famously he only wore undyed clothing, because clothes that were dyed in that time, were made by slave labor, and he did not want to support that institution economically. Faith went beyond intellect and emotion to the realm of action…<br /><br />As a matter of fact John Woolman is a good example for out day… for while we may be shocked and saddened by the thought of sweatshop labor, and agricultural slavery… we support it in our spending and shopping habits. The most important thing we can do morally and ethically to put our faith into public action is to create spending and shopping habits that do not harm the workers and harvesters around the world. <br /><br />I shocked the folks at St. Charles Ave Baptist Church when I introduced them to the Cocoa Protocol. In that we eat, that I enjoy so very much, the brownies that I savor and he chocolate cookies that bring me comfort… comes from slave labor. <br /> John Woolman wouldn’t eat it.<br /> I can’t imagine what Ezekiel would do to make a public statement about it. <br />I do know that the faith of Ezekiel and Woolman challenges me to do more <br /> Than pray and think about how unjust this is… and do something…<br />The season of Lent, which begins this Wednesday… on Ash Wednesday…<br /> Is perhaps a good time to revisit the idea of fasting…<br /> Not even going hungry…<br />But fasting from foods that are produced or harvested by slave labor.<br /><br />Ezekiel is a difficult book to read…<br /> It is dark and sometimes violent<br /> And it’s focus is always on the anger of God<br /> Which is not a topic I like to linger on<br /> Not just because it doesn’t make for a particularly popular sermon<br /> But because I just can’t make the association between <br /> Trauma, suffering and tragedy and God’s active wrath<br /> That Ezekiel can…<br /><br />But this I can do…<br /> I can recall the words of the prophet Isaiah<br />Isa 61:6<br />6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,<br />you will be named ministers of our God.<br />Isa 61:8<br />8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;<br />I hate robbery and iniquity.<br /><br />In the strange actions and dark rhetoric of Ezekiel I hear this bad news…<br /> God hates robbery and iniquity…<br />God cares deeply for the oppressed, the enslaved, this abused and mistreated<br /> God is hurt by those who participate in that abuse and enslavement.<br /> God is hurt by those who will not listen… actively energetically listen<br /> And then perform the words and wisdom they have heard.<br />I can hear that warning…<br /> Do You hear that warning?<br /><br />But I also hear good news.<br /> You will be called priests of the LORD<br /><br />And in Ezekiel I can hear the words of Jeremiah<br />Jer 1:9-10<br />"Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down , to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." <br /><br />Ezekiel is here to remind us of the challenge, the bad news of our calling <br /> to destroy that which oppresses others<br /> to repent if unwittingly we have participated in the abuse of others<br />But I can also hear the good news<br /> build and plant lives that honor and respect others<br /> build and plant practices in my life that bring glory to God <br /> because they free others from abuse<br /><br />And in Ezekiel I can hear the words of jesus<br />Mt 5:14-16"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. <br />NIV<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br />For this is what Ezekiel is called Israel to return to…<br /> The light<br /> This is what Ezekiel warns us against,<br /> The slow and subtle limp from being people of light to people of darkness<br /><br />That is the bad news<br />But the good new is that we are people of the light.<br /><br />we have a story to tell, as the song says as story that God still whispers to us, a story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light<br /><br />We’ve a song to sing, That shall lift their hearts to the Lord, A song that shall conquer evil<br />And shatter the spear and sword,<br /> , <br />We’ve a message to proclaim, That the Lord who reigns up above Has sent us His Son to save us,<br />And show us that God is love,<br /><br />Do you Hear it the story?<br /> Can You hear the song?<br /> Will you, like Ezekiel, stand up and perform <br /> The Story that you hear?<br /><br />God Bless You Alldarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-89221759883845364622010-02-07T09:47:00.000-08:002010-02-07T09:48:11.410-08:00Job; A story on suffering and a tenacious faithIntro:<br />Some of the best music has come from pain… or at least expresses pain.<br /><br />Well I taught the weepin willow how to cry, cry, cry,<br />And I showed the clouds how to cover the clear blue sky<br />But the tears I cried for that woman, are gonna flood you big river<br />And I’ma gonna sit right here until I die<br /><br />Well since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell<br />Its down at the end of lonely street, at<br />Heartbreak hotel<br /><br />Scripture: Job 1:1-5<br />In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the peoples of the East.<br />His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom.<br /><br />Job 1:13-22<br />One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brothers house, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘the Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.<br />Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.<br /><br />What song do you suppose Job wanted to sing at that particular moment?<br />Popular culture even knows about the ‘Patience of Job’ and those of us raised in church know that Job suffered patiently the trauma’s of life and the injustice and unfairness that came his way. <br /><br />But that isn’t the whole story.<br />Lets look, just a little bit ahead and see if Job’s song is still so patient….<br />Job 7:21<br />"Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man? 2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, 3 so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me. 4 When I lie down I think, 'How long before I get up?' The night drags on, and I toss till dawn. 5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering. <br />6 "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. 7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again. 8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. 9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return. 10 He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more. <br />11 "Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? 13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, 14 even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, 15 so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. 16 I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning. <br />17 "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, 18 that you examine him every morning and test him every moment? 19 Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? 20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? 21 Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more." <br /><br /><br /><br />Now I want us to pay close attention to a few details here. <br />The story of Job opens by describing his devotion. Job has structured his life around the worship of God. Nothing comes before that… he is a devout man, a pious man. His devotion even extends to offering sacrifices and prayers after his children have a party, just in case they got hammered and said or did things that would displease God. Job never misses a Sunday morning or a Bible study. He joins committees and comes to the meetings and delivers communion and visits church members and helps with coffee hour… do you hear it? His devotion to God takes the highest priority and he is tireless in his faithfulness. He has a tenacious faith and because of that, he prospers, he is blessed.<br /><br />But what have we just read.<br />That tireless and tenacious devotion that we read about to open the story… how does Job describe it now? <br />Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.<br />This devotion is no longer a joyful relationship of prayer… but slavery… forced labor… a violent intrusion upon his very humanity. <br /><br />Look carefully at how Job describes his life…<br />Like laborers who look for their wages… <br /> How many of us have wondered if there will ever be some reward for faithfulness…<br /> Not a corvette or a mansion, but even a break from the stress of making ends meet?<br /> Of course we have… we may hesitate to admit it… <br /><br />You see there is a promise that Job knows about…<br />Dt 6:24<br />The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive,<br /><br />Job has lived in the hope of this promise… that if we obey the decrees, we will prosper… <br /> This is the story… that Job was told, that we are told<br /><br />But eventually our lives of faith will reach the wall, like long-distance runners, I have heard, eventually reach… when they no longer feel like they can continue… their strength is gone… the goal just not worth the pain…<br /> And this my friends is where Job is… <br /> the promises of prosperity are broken and strength is gone…<br /> have you ever been disappointed and run down? <br /> than you understand Job<br /><br />In verse six Job says ‘my days are swifter than a weavers shuttle <br /> And come to their end without hope…<br />Now the hebrew root of that word hope is tiqwa… can you say that?<br />Now here is the thing… tiqwa is also the root of the word thread. <br />Job is saying that he has come to the end of his rope. <br /><br />And how many of us have felt this way?<br /> Do not Job’s words ring true for the thousands of unemployed… looking for their wages<br /> Do not Job’s words sound painfully personal, When I lie down, I say, when shall I rise…<br /> Have you ever had a sleepless night sisters and brothers.<br /><br />But Job doesn’t stop there… Job continues…<br /> Have you ever, in the midst of troubling and traumatic times had someone, well-intentioned no doubt, say to you; God will never give you more than you can handle?<br /><br />Here is what Job has to say to that…<br /> Am I the Sea or the Dragon?<br /> What does that mean? <br />The writer of Job is referring to the creation story of Genesis… the chaotic deep… the sea that was God’s enemy in Genesis one, that God battled and defeated, pushed back… with a word…<br />The writer is also referring to other ancient creation stories in which the world was created in a battle with the Dragon…<br /> And what Job is saying is… Why, God, are you battling with me like I am the Sea or the Dragon…<br /> You are being too hard on me… you are over-reacting… this is too much for me to bear!<br /><br />This is too much for me to bear!<br /><br /><br /><br />I remember having a conversation with a young man I used to work with before I went to seminary. He was an adult with developmental delays and mental illness who lived independently and it was my job to offer him supports so that he could maintain his independence. One of my jobs, upon occasion, was to give him a ride to church, which he attended faithfully. <br /><br />My mom doesn’t go to church anymore, he once told me.<br /> Really, why?<br />She is mad at God.<br /> Do you know why?<br />My dad died… he was young… she never forgave God for that.<br /><br />Does the story of Job ever answer the question of why there is suffering? <br /> No, not really. <br /> So I suppose it is a bit a disappointment… we’d like to know why wouldn’t we.<br /><br />What the story Job does is open up a way to stay connected to God even when the connection seems broken because of suffering; because of trauma or disappointment.<br /><br />For we are called to be an imaginative folk, those of us who believe in God and follow Christ.<br /> We cannot prove peace is more effective than violence, <br />But we are called to imagine a peaceful world that one day will be, and live like its true today<br /> We cannot prove that generosity and simplicity is an effective economic possibility<br />But we are called to imagine a world where everyone has enough and to live simply and give generously and live like its true today.<br /> We cannot prove resurrection<br />But we are called to imagine it and in that find hope and courage<br /><br />The harsh reality is that experience will not always support us in our imaginative endeavor that is discipleship… <br />Experience will suggest otherwise; that violence will win the day, that taking care of me and getting what’s mine is the safest way through life and that life is short and cruel with no hope of improvement.<br /><br />You see, what is fascinating about the story of Job is that the story itself only takes a little over three chapters to tell. Job has a good life because he is faithful to God. Tragedy befalls him and he remains faithful. <br /><br />In the end, because of Job’s patience, God rewards him and restores him to joy…<br />If you’ve never heard this story before, that is how it ends, God restores Job’s prosperity….<br /><br />But that story is interrupted by, I don’t know 39 or so chapters of Lament… <br />This is the ongoing connection you see… Lament. <br />How might faith be different if instead of going from trauma right into God is good,<br />We, like the writer of Job allowed for the time and space to lament. <br />Would that young man’s mother still be in church if it allowed more space for lament. If we feel like, Job, that we are being taken advantage of, asked too much, suffering unjustly, but cannot say it, <br />Are left only to talk about how good God is… we sometimes will have nothing to say… and no one to understand us. <br /><br />Do you hear what I’m saying… <br />Job doesn’t answer the question, why suffering. But at least it offers us the suggestion of the way through… it offers us a path to imagining joy again… and that path is through struggling honestly with God.<br />Job doesn’t give up, loose faith, stop believing…<br /> he argues and complains and fights and wrestles for 39 chapters… <br /> He is disappointed and discouraged and hurt by God…<br /> But he will not give up or give in…<br /> If the only way to be faithful is to struggle<br /> To lament… then Job will be faithful in that way<br /> Waiting, Demanding, that faith bring joy and prosperity!<br /><br />Lament isn’t complaining or whining,<br /> Lament is an energized engagement<br />And that is what inspires me to celebrate Job…<br /> His energized engagement despite disappointment and discouragement <br /> Even though he feels tricked and mistreated, Job will not give up on his faith<br /> <br />Job was tenacious in faithfulness before and not even tragedy has dampened his tenacious faith.<br /> <br /> And that is what we need today sisters and brothers<br /> A tenacious faith… a faith with conviction…<br />Convictions, wrote James Wm. McClendon, are not just beliefs or opinions, … for our convictions show themselves not merely in our professions or belief or disbelief, but in all our attitudes and actions…<br />And if that were not challenging enough, McClendon goes on to say of the church…no mere collections of the curious will count.<br />These are serious times sisters and brothers…<br /> And God has called us in these serious times…<br /> To be tenaciously faithful, even when the storms of life are raging…<br /> Casual curiosity just will not do…<br /><br />Two people were just indicted in RI for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to bring women from the mid-west to engage in prostitution in our state… forced prostitution by the way… slavery is not just a historical fact or foreign concept…<br />And it will take tenacious disciples to meet this challenge. <br /><br />• A recent USDA report on food insecurity shows that hunger in Rhode Island has grown from affecting 1 out of 10 households in 1998 to affecting 1 out of 8 households today.<br />• In Rhode Island, 43% of pantry recipients choose between paying for food and paying for utilities. Additionally, 32% choose between food and medicine or medical care. <br />• 1 out of every 3 people served is a child under the age of 18. <br />• 76% of all households served by the Food Bank’s network live below the Federal Poverty Level or less than $22,050 a year for a family of four. <br />• According to the most recent U.S. Census survey, 17.5% of Rhode Island's children, 1 out of every 6, are living in poverty. <br />• Just under 10,000 Rhode Island seniors, 9.3% of the state’s population, live in poverty<br /><br />These are serious times and no mere collection of the curious will do…<br />What is needed is a tenacious faith like Job’s<br /> Because those who are enslaved and those who hunger,<br /> Like Job, feel abandoned by God<br /> And they need not just a good word, or prayer…<br /> They need a community of faith to care…<br /><br />So I have come to church today to ask you Berean…<br /> Is your faith tenacious? <br /> Do we have the courage and the strength to <br /> Face discouragement and disappointment<br /> Do we have the strength of our convictions to <br /> To see us through challenging times?<br /><br />I know we can get tired.<br /> I know we can get distracted by personal squabbles<br /> And we can disappoint one another too<br /><br />But I believe this morning the words of Isaiah<br />Isa 40:28-31<br />The LORD is the everlasting God,<br />the Creator of the ends of the earth.<br />He will not grow tired or weary,<br />and his understanding no one can fathom. <br /> He gives strength to the weary <br />and increases the power of the weak. <br />Even youths grow tired and weary,<br />and young men stumble and fall; <br /> but those who hope in the LORD<br />will renew their strength.<br />They will soar on wings like eagles;<br />they will run and not grow weary,<br />they will walk and not be faint. <br /><br />I feel strong this morning Berean!<br />Are you feeling strong this morning!<br /><br />I came to Berean six years ago because you were a strong and tenacious church<br />And I say you are strong and tenacious today… don’t forget it!<br />I came to remind you of how strong you are!<br /><br />We’ve made it through economic downturns and firecode challenges<br /> We’ve held each other through loss,<br /> Wept together in mourning<br /> Prayed for children and aging parent’s<br /> Celebrated births, carried each other through cancer<br /> Walked each other through life’s trauma’s<br /> And because of that tenacious faith, those in Job’s position<br /> Of doubt and disappointment, knew God had not abandoned them<br />Because we did not abandon them…<br /> <br /> We’ve overcome many challenges some personal and some corporate <br /> And Like Job, we have found a tenacious faith<br /> We’ve discovered a strength that the world needs to see and hear<br />A strength that can only come by walking through the fires together<br /> A strength that can only come by passing through raging waters<br /> A strength that only come by crossing barren deserts<br /> <br /> A tenacious strength and hope and belief<br /> That God is by our side because we are on his <br /> And that we have each other <br /> No matter what…<br /><br />And if we cling to that tenacious faith sisters and brothers,<br /> Even when we sing sad songs or even angry songs<br /> Like Job, we will soon again sing songs of joy and victory…darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-60912185369096920072010-02-02T07:54:00.000-08:002010-02-02T08:06:05.543-08:00Not for the Casual BystanderThis sermon was preached on January 31st at my friend Travis's church, St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church. You can find them on the web at scabc.org. I was more than a little intimidated not only by the very educated congregations which included a number of M.Div's and PhD's, not to mention the fact that the pulpit has held such eminent preachers as Barbara Brown Taylor and Gardner Taylor. Some of the quotes are actually cited, but all of them are attributed. Here goes<br /><br />Lk 4:16-30<br /><br />16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: <br /><br />18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, <br />because he has anointed me <br />to preach good news to the poor. <br />He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners <br />and recovery of sight for the blind, <br />to release the oppressed, <br /> 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." <br /><br />20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." <br /><br />22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. <br /><br />23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" <br /><br />24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian." <br /><br />28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. <br />NIV<br /><br />Today’s gospel offers us a fascinating scene for in seven verses, a few dozen words, just a matter of seconds of monologue, Jesus goes from:<br /><br /> All spoke well of him <br /> To<br /> Throw him off a cliff<br /><br />We could take time to conjecture as to why Jesus went from favorite native son to pariah. But I’m not sure the exercise would take us much farther than just that… conjecture…<br /><br />Frankly what piqued my curiosity about this sudden shift is the fact that Luke introduces two plot points to us so early in the gospel. Jesus has come to offer both a message and a program of liberation to the poor, and Luke is the most concerned with poverty of any of the gospels. Luke has the most to say about those held in bondage by poverty and its political, physical and spiritual effect on humanity. <br /><br />But the other point that Luke includes is the anger, the discomfort, the tension that Jesus would not only inspire, but provoke. <br /><br />Consider this. In Matthew we get the sermon on the Mount… blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness… etc, etc.<br /><br />But Luke in his version, the sermon on the plain, gives us both blessings; Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who hunger, blessed are those who weep… <br />But then Jesus drops some Woes on us…<br /> Woe to you who are rich<br /> Woe to you who are well fed now<br /> Woe to you who laugh now <br /> Woe to you when all men speak well of you…<br /><br />The message Jesus proclaims throughout Luke is both a blessing and a woe… or as Finley Peter Dunne once wrote about journalism…<br /><br />Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.<br /><br />Luke tells us early on, in the reaction of the crowd to Jesus sermon that the comfortable will be afflicted.<br /><br />Sallie McFague, reflecting on this theme of liberation for the impoverished and oppressed has shocking words to say to North American Christians when she writes…<br /><br />We must, if we are Christians, liberate others from our domination…expressing and embodying a way of life that will be liberating to others.<br /><br />My preaching style is personal. I won’t stand here and challenge you without being challenged myself. And so, for a few moments this morning I’m going to rehearse a few brief examples of those times where the Gospel, the Word of God has challenged me… convicted me of my participation in the bondage of others and shocked me into seeking a more liberating way of life. I’m not the hero of these stories… but like you, I stand under the weight of Jesus words…<br /><br />Or in the case of my first example, the Hewbrew Scriptures <br />In Genesis 2:15 we read<br />Ge 2:15<br /><br />15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.<br /><br />In Hebrew the words we read work and take care of are abad and shamar. So I did a little reading and discovered that those words could also be translated; serve and protect. <br />Do you hear it.<br />God created humanity , you and I, to serve and protect the rest of creation. Creation care is why we are here.<br /><br />And this challenged me to consider my carbon footprint. <br /><br />It challenged me to think about the amount of trash I create and the lazy non-effort to recycle… to recall the lilies of the field and the sparrow, both of which the word of God highlight as being watched and cared for by God… crowded out by my trash.<br /><br />It challenged my wife and I to turn in our SUV and buy a Prius and learn to live with one vehicle.<br /><br />I’m no environmental hero. We still have much to learn and much to change in order to accept the challenge to serve and protect creation. My point being, I am not living up to the image of God that God created me to be unless I accept the challenge and face the offensive idea that my lifestyle is oppressive to the earth. <br /><br />Liberating the Poor<br />Jesus proclaimed good news for the poor. <br /> In luke we are inundated with Jesus challenge to his disciples to be good news for the impoverished. Jesus tells the rich young man to sell all he owns and give to the poor. <br />Luke tells us the story of Zachaeus who is challenged by the mere presence of Jesus to liquidate half of his own wealth and give it to the poor.<br /> <br />Luke tells us the story of the wealthy man who ends up in Sheol, punished because of his ignorance in life of the beggar lazarus who lived outside his gate. <br /><br />And I am challenged, when I hear these words… challenged as I think that I too could be this rich man, I am when compared to so many around the world, and I fear that I am ignorant of the poor… <br />in my unthinking devotion to the idol of the shopping mall and my worship of that god through consumer therapy… <br />Shocked by the question, how many of the worlds impoverished could be fed on what North American’s spend on Ice Cream… which is $20 billion dollars annually. Shocked at the thought of the working conditions, the long hours and the low pay, of those who make the cheap plastic crap or the teddy bears that I can buy for my children at WalMart… shocked at what I am teaching my children by participating in this whole system…<br />Am I too, headed to Hell because of my ignorance and my consumerism? <br /> <br />Henri Nouwen once wrote; Faith in God does not consist in asserting God’s existence, but rather in acting on [God’s] behalf. <br /><br />Am I acting on God’s behalf, proclaiming Christ’s message to the poor? To suggest that we, the church in North America, are failing miserably in this endeavor might be offensive… but could it also be true? <br /><br />Liberating the Enslaved?<br /><br />The most recent challenge for me has come in the simple phrase… ‘release for the captives…’<br /><br />Currently I am working on a Statement of Concern for the American Baptist Churches of RI about Human Trafficking. Perhaps you have heard this polite phrase. Like the phrase ‘collateral damage’ it belies a much more sinister practice… collateral damage is nice wrapping for murder… human trafficking sounds much better than slavery or rape<br />According to Siddharth Kara, approx 1.8 million women and children are trafficked annually around the world. Some for sweat shop labor, agricultural labor, begging, organ harvesting (there is another interesting phrase) and perhaps most shocking for prostitution… 600,000 women and children for the sex industry…<br /><br />Surely, I thought, this will not apply to me. I admit my complicity in the abuse of creation and repent of my ignorance of the poor. I know theoretically, theoretically mind you, that massage parlors exist in Providence RI, but I have no direct personal knowledge. <br />Then I discovered the Cocoa Protocol. Have you heard of this? This is going to sting more than the Ice Cream, I’m afraid. Apparently a great deal of the chocolate that we eat, that I love, the brownies and chocolate chip cookies and cake… is harvest by slave labor. So even the comfort of a brownie is actually an offense to what Christ proclaimed, ‘release for the captives..’ I can’t even get a brownie without also getting a challenging message from Christ.<br /><br />Convictions, wrote James Wm. McClendon, are not just beliefs or opinions, … for our convictions show themselves not merely in our professions or belief or disbelief, but in all our attitudes and actions…<br />And if that were not challenging enough, McClendon goes on to say of the church…no mere collections of the curious will count.<br /> James William McClendon, Jr.<br /> Doctrine p 29<br /><br />John Howard Yoder wrote similarly contrasting two choices for the church… ‘run-of-the-mill’ devotion or a ‘heroic’ level of devotion.<br /><br /> J.H. Yoder; The Priestly Kingdom<br /> The Kingdom as Social Ethic, p. 83<br /><br /><br />These are serious times my sister’s and brothers. This is not the time for casual or curious Christianity. There are wars and violence in our nation, around the world… and we must first hear and then proclaim the shocking and perhaps offensive word’s of Jesus… Turn the other cheek… this is the way Disciples meet violence, with forgiveness…<br /><br />In my little home town of Burrillville in RI mothers diaper their babies in paper towels and heat their homes with a gas oven… and the challenge that Jesus uttered 2000 yrs ago still echoes… do not refuse one who asks… and the challenge of the early church that we read in Acts, they held all things in common and the wealthy willfully sacrificed their material goods to offer support to the impoverished, rings In our ears… We must hear and then proclaim a unique way of thinking about economics… which is generosity, radical generosity… and simplicity, radical simplicity.<br /><br />These are serious time and mere curiosity not only offends Christ, but the poor, in whom, he said in Matt 24, we would find him… These are serious times and run of the mill spirituality just will not do. The time has come to be reminded that it does no good to come to church… for we are called to be the church… to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. The time has come for the taking up of a cross and that will require from us a heroic effort. <br /><br /><br />Which reminds me of a song from my youth<br />Are ye able, said the Master, to be crucified with me, the hymn-writer, long ago asked<br />That question still lingers today… Are we able to accept the challenging words of Christ, <br />The blessings and the woes, <br /> willing to be shocked by the gospel? <br /><br />Are you able to relinquish<br />Purple dreams of power and fame,<br />To go down into the Garden,<br />Or to die a death of shame?<br /><br />But I am glad this morning to be at St Charles Ave Baptist Church…<br /><br />Because down through your history you have answer the question, Are ye Able to be crucified with me…with a strong and courageous… Lord we are able. Our spirits are thine.<br /><br />When so many churches in this nation willfully espoused segregation, this church proclaimed welcome and hospitality to all God’s children, regardless of the color of their skin… You responded, Lord we are able…<br /><br />When so many churches in the past and still today, denied that the spirit could call a woman to ministry, You have historically supported and affirmed women in pastoral leadership… you responded to the challenge and sang… Lord we are able…<br /><br />You have not hidden from controversy or quailed to popular opinion making this sanctuary safe and welcoming for Gays and Lesbians and you have sung for all to hear… <br /><br />Lord, we are able. Our spirits are Thine.<br />Remold them, make us, like Thee, divine.<br />Thy guiding radiance above us shall be<br />A beacon to God, to love and loyalty.<br /><br />So my final word for you this morning is the final word of our gospel reading<br /><br />He went on his way… <br /><br />Stay on your way St. Charles ave. <br /><br />Walk on through casual curiosity and run of the mill faith <br />Stay on your way pursuing a heroic level of discipleship…<br />Stay on the way even when Christ’s words shock, offend or convict you…<br />Stay on the way even when other’s attempt to hinder your path…<br /><br />Continue to walk through injustice in jesus name with your heroic efforts<br />Continue to sing Lord we are able<br />Continue on your way… a beacon of love and loyalty in New Orleans<br />And May God Richly Bless You!!!darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-48544662303221498822009-12-18T18:23:00.000-08:002009-12-18T18:24:46.489-08:00Christmas Eve Sermon: Persuaded to DanceChristmas Eve Homily<br />Persuaded to Dance<br /><br />Luke 2:8-15<br />And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." <br /><br />Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, <br /><br />"Glory to God in the highest, <br />and on earth peace good will to all." <br /><br />When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." <br /><br />Intro:<br /> It must have been busy being an angel the night that God came to earth. Babies do tend to get a lot of attention from finger counting fathers and cheek kissing mothers and frantic doting grandparents. But the world tends to spin at its own frenetic pace without hesitating unless there is a presidential motor-cade or flashing blue lights and police sirens wailing or expensive, well-designed advertising campaigns. Jesus didn’t really have that. He did have an angel choir which you would think would create more stir than sirens or motorcades or TV commercials, but they didn’t. I imagine, that hard as they tried and loudly and they sang, the angel choir just couldn’t make itself heard by most.<br /><br />Scene 1: Herod<br /><br /> Herod sat late into the night at his desk. One small lamp was on so as not to aggravate his headache. The Angel’s appeared in a flash of light, thousands somehow perched upon a book-case, but Herod neither sees nor hears them. The phone rings and King Herod arranges paper-clips into straight lines in the top drawer as he speaks,<br /> ‘I told you to update me precisely at 10:30. You are three minutes late. Have you arrested protesters at the Temple? No, No, you haven’t? The crowd is larger? I knew this census idea was bad. Speeches. What speeches? OF course they don’t like to pay taxes, who does? Call the reserve officers in and use tear gas if you need to. Honestly, why do I pay you for this, I’m doing all the security planning for myself. <br />Herod turns to his bookcase, upon which the Angel’s are still singing Gloria, and begins to align perfectly the spine of every book with the edge of the shelf upon which it sits. He pinches the bridge of his nose between fore-finger and thumb, completely missing a rousing chorus. What? Someone has a bull-horn and is rallying the people to resist the draft? It will not be me who answers to Caesar should draft-dodging begin. It will be you Mr. Security Director. They are chanting, and singing? Send in the police already. Some have stones and sticks? Then call the Guard. They seem organized? Honestly. They are marching here. Open fire you fool. That why we draft themin the first place… to keep to do the dirty work<br />.<br />Herod cannot hear the angels no matter how loudly they sing. Frankly Herod misses many noises. He arranges people like the paperclips in his desk but then ignores the everyday cries of people sleeping on park benches and loosing their health care to budget cuts. So maybe we aren’t so sad that he refuses to hear the angels.<br /><br />Who shrug and, flash, they are gone.<br /><br />Scene 2: The People<br /><br />The Angels re-appear on a busy sidewalk in down-town Bethlehem, but you or I wouldn’t see the flash because of the flashing lights, neon signs and head-lights. They begin to sing but car horns are blaring and they can’t seem to stay on the same beat because of all the car stereos that make the air thump. Even when the angels do get things rolling with a Peace on Earth goodwill to men’ it seems that someone’s cell phone rings, or some else stoops to look into their shopping bag and the sound of angel voices is lost like star-light in the city glare. They hover above the crowds and you’d think that someone would notice, but mostly people are looking at sale signs, or browsing in shop windows for dancing Elmo’s, television satellites, herme scarves or sneeking a peek at the latest Abercrombie and Fitch Catalog. <br />To be fair, not everyone misses the angel music because of their consumer-induced coma. Some are working a double-shift to pay the oil bill. Some fighting the insurance company to cover an emergency room visit for their infant. Some are on their way home to get grandma her medication on time. One man is just trying to get home after a 10-hour day of being trampled on by his supervisor. One woman on her way to pick up the kids from twelve hours at the sitter. She’ll go home and for the first Christmas it will just be her and the kids. The waitress is trying to pay for college, the bar-tender is worried about his son getting beat up at school, the mechanic is just tired and wants to get some sleep, the cop is tired of one domestic dispute call after another. You can’t blame the angels for getting discouraged. But you can’t blame the people for being distracted either. The point is though, the angels sing to the rich and power and are ignored. They sing to the happy and satisfied and just can’t be heard. They sing to everyday people, but they are drowned out in the noise of every day. <br /><br />The angels shrug and, flash, they are gone.<br />And it would be for good too.<br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 3: Shepherds.<br /><br />But God won’t give up easily. Someone will listen to this good news of great joy and until you find them, he tells the choir, you will keep singing about my boy Emmanuel.<br /><br />So they keep singing and you know the rest of the story. The shepherds see the flash of the angel choir and fall down like they had too much Mad Dog 20-20. They hear the song and at first are so frightened of the magnificence of the noise that they try to dig trenches behind rocks and climb the nearest trees and hug the fuzzy belly of the nearest ewe hoping to hide. <br /><br />But then they hear the words. <br />"Glory to God in the highest, <br />and on earth peace good will, toward men”<br /><br />Maybe we aren’t surprised, perhaps a bit, well, delighted that those who have had it easy for so long aren’t serenaded by God’s angelic choir. Maybe we all find a little guilty pleasure in the fact that God won’t sing to people who ignore or manipulate others. But the fact that it’s not just them who don’t hear the song, the fact that it’s normal everyday people like you and me who miss the concert… that is surprising… to me anyway. <br /><br />And what is more surprising than that is the fact that shepherds aren’t really any different from Herod or the people. Some Shepherds are just miniature Herod’s self-centered, nasty, some hit their wives, some steal from their children’s bank acct, some drink too much, some work too little and still get paid. Some are regular people, head down, working hard, trying to make ends meat, salt of the earth kind of people. <br /><br />Oddly enough that is the good news. No amount of study of the Christmas story will uncover for you and I some moral quality that the shepherds had that you and I don’t. Some were good people, some were the neighbors we call the cops on all the time. In the end the we are no less deaf to God’s love song that the Herod’s of the world, and the only difference between us and the shepherds is that they listened. And then, they joined dance. The point is that God kept the choir singing until someone heard the song which is…<br /><br />Jesus is born<br />God’s living peace and active, concrete, real, honest to goodness good will<br />Has moved in right next door.<br /><br />All we have to do is listen to the tune <br />And join the dance.<br /><br />The shepherds stood up and danced and sang. They weaved around like the town drunk and capered like 14 year old gymnasts. They sang at the top of their lungs, and they sat down and listened and thought about God’s good will finally arriving for real and they cried some of them.<br /><br />Then they got up, went home and stopped hitting their wives and started spending more time with the kids. They dumped the grey goose down the sink and they called the sister they had refused to talk to for years and invited her over for dinner that night. They still caused a ruckus in town every once in a while, but this time it was a ruckus for a homeless shelter or for an after-school program for the kids or because they wanted their tax money to buy something besides bombs and guns. Life didn’t get all rosey 100% of the time. They still had to struggle to pay the bills and they still had to take care of sick relatives and school yard bullies and their kids runny noses and their own exhaustion.<br /><br />But now, we know that Peace, true inner peace, is possible.<br />We don’t have to work for it, it can’t be earned, We can’t drink it.<br />We can’t buy it either.<br />God just sent it down for free…<br />We know that good will because we stopped everything else<br />And started to really listen to God’s song<br />We stopped to see God’s son.<br />And God’s goodness is no longer something that seems far away…<br />It lives in the everyday and invades the mundane and pervades our working and talking and shopping and disagreeing and worrying and celebrating and weeping…<br />And we, the everyday shepherds are changed, deep, down inside,<br />Because we stopped, listened and were persuaded to dance<br />We too, can feel that love.<br /><br />Jesus is Born.<br />Peace on Earth, Good will toward all…good will for you and me…<br />The shepherds, alone, heard the song, and joined the dance.<br /><br />I hope that you too tonight, hear the song, see God’s glory, feel the love <br />And are persuaded to dance<br /><br />Amen.darinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990668278262383989.post-23189981857118278822009-12-18T18:22:00.001-08:002009-12-18T18:23:34.485-08:00Christmas Eve Sermon: A Holy Family Christmas DinnerChristmas Eve Homily 2005<br />Matt 1:1-17<br />A Holy Family Christmas Dinner<br /><br />Although researching the geneology of the family is intensely interesting to some, I suspect that reading through Jesus geneology does not really peak your interest tonight. I would imagine that you have come to imagine the familiar stories; to see the frustrated knit in Joseph’s brow as he is turned away from the inn, the beautiful swell of Mary’s belly, reminding many of you of the joy of expecting your first, and the pain, in your back, in your legs, the constant need to pee… you know what it is like to be Mary. I suspect you have come to Envision an angel choir, to traipse through the underbrush with the sheep-smelling shepherds, to hope that as you leave tonight, you might catch a glimpse of a beautiful bright star to guide your way…<br /><br />But there is a story in Matt chapter 1 although it is not a familiar one. A story that I imagined would best be told if we together imagined the first Holy Family Christmas dinner…<br /><br />There is the clatter in the kitchen as Mary whips the potatoes and the creak of the oven door as she checks her turkey. <br />Joseph, she calls, did you finish setting the table. <br /> I don’t know why we have to invite so many people.<br /> Couldn’t we use Jesus as an excuse not to invite some of these freaks,<br /> I honestly lose my appetite having to sit near them…<br /><br />Joseph, shame on you, they are your family…<br /> They are an embarrassment… he runs to the window in the dining room, <br /> Glowing golden with the light of the Christmas tree…<br /> I hope the neighbors don’t see everyone come in the front door…<br /> Maybe I should put a sign out telling them to come in the back,<br />So they don’t ‘wake the baby.’<br /><br />Mary begins to re-arrange the silver ware that Joseph has placed all wrong…<br /> He paces in the living room, picking at his finger-nails, <br />then pours himself a drink…<br /> Joseph, Mary calls, did you remove a place setting…<br /><br />Joseph tips back his glass and drains the wine…<br /> Couldn’t we just tell Grama Tamar that we don’t have enough food, or room<br /> Or that she scares the baby <br />with her green eye makeup and long red finger-nails?<br />Joseph, you know what it is like to be told there is no room for you… she is your grandmother…<br /><br />Yes, but she dressed like a…<br /> Like a…<br /> Well, you know, like a… floozy!<br /> And honestly, the years have not been kind.<br /> No woman should wear her skirts that high<br /> And her neck-line that low…<br /> But at her age… everything is <br /> Pulled down by gravity now…<br />Your nephews quite enjoy grama Tamar’s look…<br /> Well, there 12 so no wonder… and all they do is laugh at her anyway…<br /> <br />Joseph, she’s family…<br /> Yes, but she and Grandpa Judah only see each other once a year…<br />And he is so embarrassed about how she tricked him into getting her pregnant that he drinks half the wine by the time dinner is served and tells lewd jokes the rest of the night…mostly about her…<br /><br />I know honey, says Mary, but they are our family, Jesus family… <br /> Without Judah and Tamar, we wouldn’t be here, Jesus wouldn’t be here…<br /><br />Oh, and then Uncle David shows up…<br /> Honestly, Goliath gets taller every year…<br /> He was 50 feet tall…<br /> This year Goliath will sprout wings and breath fire…<br /> And he insists on bringing Bathsheba<br />And she always wants to have a toast to Uriah, her first husband that David had killed<br /> Because he got her pregnant while she was still married…<br /> Honestly its so embarrassing to think that this is my family…<br /><br />Well, Uzziah’s boys will be here… they were kings of Israel…<br /> Yeah, the kings that led us into the Babylonian Exile… they ruined the kingdom completely<br /> great kings they were…<br /> still always talking politics… just make peace with Rome…<br /> They say, when in Rome… that is why God sent us into exile…<br /> They have no back-bone, no pride in their country<br /> We shouldn’t even invite them to sit at our table…<br /><br />But they are Jesus family…<br /> I know, but I don’t want him to turn out like them…<br /> Traitors, cheats, murderers, ladies of the night…<br /> Honestly Mary… are you blind? <br /> We don’t want Jesus to grow up like them…<br /> And he pours another larger glass of wine…<br /><br />Dinner is served and Joseph can hardly eat.<br /> David tells more goliath stories and Mary has to stop Joseph from throwing the carving knife.<br /> <br />Rahab’s 15 children all decide to eat under the dining room table…<br /> All with different father’s mind you… <br />she was one of those women too…<br /> Anyway, they only decide to sit at the table properly<br /> When Tamar starts to show off the tattoos she has on various parts of her body…<br /> Bathsheba spends the night weeping into her wine glass<br /> Judah sings raunchy bar songs so loudly that he wakes <br /> A sleeping baby Jesus…<br /><br />Joseph runs to get him<br /> He picks the infant up… Jesus smiles immediately <br /> And grabs at daddy’s nose…<br /> They walk into the living room again…<br /> The crying, singing, hair-pulling all stops<br /> Jesus offers a toothless smile to everyone and even seems to wave<br /> <br /><br />Suddenly Joseph sees a very different family around his table.<br /> Both Tamar and Rahab, now seem like strong survivors, courageous women<br /> Who could not change the life they were given, but could adapt<br /> And keep on living and hoping that God would come rescue them…<br /> They hold baby Jesus, tickle his round red cheeks and as he smiles at them<br /> Joseph seems to see the real Tamar and Rahab, <br />the way God sees them.<br />Bathsheba stops crying…<br /> Jesus pulls at her hair and giggles as she makes faces…<br /> And as Jesus giggles, Joseph can see a very sad woman<br /> With guilt and regrets… who finds a moments joy… <br />from his boy…<br /><br />David has to throw Jesus up in the air, <br /> Which mary hates but will never say…<br /> But jesus yanks on his beard and they both laugh<br /> And Joseph sees a man with weakness<br /> But also with courage and strength…<br /> <br />And Joseph suddenly realizes…<br /> Jesus wouldn’t be without these people<br /> Jesus was born for their flaws<br /> And for their beauty…<br /> Because he is,<br /> All the wrong people have a place at the table with God<br /> When Jesus smiles on them… <br /> The image of God which Joseph couldn’t see because of his<br /> Judgment, shines through…<br /> And he can see them as they are before God…<br /><br />David pulls out his harp<br /> His fingers are bent with arthritis, <br /> But he can still play a tune…<br /> He begins to sing<br /> God rest ye merry gentleman<br /> Judah lets out a cheer and sloshes wine all over the table<br /> Let nothing you dismay<br /> Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day<br /> To save us all from Satan’s power we were gone astray<br /> Bathsheba weeps, so do Tamar and Rahab<br /> but with joy, they have held Jesus, and they is no longer astray<br /> Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy<br /> Oh tidings of comfort and joy…<br /> As Mary hold’s Jesus, and the whole table smiles back at him<br /> Joseph can see the family resemblance<br /> He can see a little of them in the face of his son<br /> But because of his son<br /> He can see a little bit of God<br /> In their faces…<br /><br />And Mary’s question still rings true tonight…<br /> Without you, all of you, the bold and the broken, the flawed and the fair<br />could Jesus be reborn among us tonight?<br /> I suspect not…<br /><br />God rest you in these Tidings of comfort and joy…<br /><br />Amendarinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14967318206246981795noreply@blogger.com0