What if They Don’t Notice?

Sermon Mark 1:21-28 January 28, 2018 Ordinary time yB

What if They Don’t Notice?

“My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great. And my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait. You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight and my weakness you did not spurn, so from east to west shall my name be blest. Could the world be about to turn? My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.” These are the words of the choral anthem Canticle of the Turning. It speaks to the power of God in Jesus Christ who comes among us with authority and energy and might and turns the world upside down.

Francis Makemie Presbyterian Church, Accomac, VA

Today is a glorious day for the church!

We gather to sing and rejoice as we greet new members into the midst. 

We are thankful for their yes.

We are thankful for their joy, their energy, their faith, their compassion, and their presence among us.

We are the church because of those who gather here.

We worship, we share one another’s burdens,

we pray,

we sing,

we cry,

we laugh,

we drink coffee, and eat cookies,

we enjoy our time together and we want to be here.

And in this moment our souls cry out with a joyful shout!

According to the gospel of Mark Jesus’ first miracle happens in the house of worship. Jesus goes to worship in Capernaum and goes right up to the front and starts teaching. 

Jesus, this person God has sent to us, has power!

All throughout the gospel of Mark we witness where Jesus shows up. He shows up in worship, he shows up out on the street, he shows up in the homes of gentiles, he shows up at leper colonies, he shows up in court, he shows up where children gather, he shows up everywhere.

And in that time, God in his heaven was probably wondering, “What if they don’t notice?”

And perhaps that is the dilemma.

What if the world doesn’t notice Jesus?

There in the middle of worship, in God’s Holy Temple, no one noticed the Word of God present, fully present-except the unclean spirit in the man. Can you believe it? in. the. House. Of. Worship. Not. One. Person. Noticed!

This unclean spirit in the man recognizes that evil has no power in the presence of God.

It seems that which is unclean,

and unacceptable,

recognizes the Son of God

before

the congregation does and before the religious leaders do.

How can that be?

There, in the place where everyone believes in the coming of the Messiah; where they believe in God where they pray, they have faith, where they have learned their Bible lessons, where they love God, they truly love God, they do. Yet NO ONE notices.

And then Jesus confronts the unclean spirit in the man. Jesus commands the spirit to come out and be silenced!

How powerful!

How amazing!

Would it be that we today could allow the Son of God to silence the evil that surrounds us?

Would it be that we could have the Son of God call the unclean spirits to come out of our world, out of us?

We need Jesus to be present.

We need his authority to claim dominion over us.

We need his security, his compassion, his strength to hold us, to mold us.

We believe that Jesus will wipe away every tear and every heartache. We believe that Jesus washes away all our sin and makes us clean. We say these things and we sing these things.

What unclean things is Jesus washing away and calling out from within us?

Are we noticing the change within us?

Are we turning to a new direction?

Is our face pointed toward the kingdom of peace that God promised us in Jesus and is calling on us to bring about?

I believe this first miracle of Jesus is the gospel writer’s plea to all the generations that read it.

I believe the gospel writer Mark wants us to know that everything that is unclean, everything that is evil, is frightened in the presence of God.

Mark wants every generation to know that

on this opening day when Jesus entered his ministry

evil recognized that day their dominion over humanity was doomed.

That day in the house of worship the miracle of silencing voices of evil happened.

The miracle of silencing the voices that oppress,

the miracle of silencing the rumblings that diminish,

the miracle of silencing the sounds that reject,

the miracle of silencing the things that harm and destroy happened!

That miracle was and is the power of God to lift up hearts and give a new song.

We have a new teaching that encourages and respects. A new teaching in our lives that finds wonder in humanity of every kind and every flavor.

When we finally notice the power of the kingdom of God breaking into our hearts, our churches, our streets, our schools, prisons, courts, clubs, our unclean neighbors, our own unclean minds, we can believe its true.

In this opening miracle of Jesus we have a new teaching for the way we look at the world; A new teaching for the way we look at each other.

What if our churches could finally be as colorful as God made the world. What if our ethnicities brought together brought a whole new way of being church? Could we imagine?

Jesus is here among us today.

The Word of God is present!

He is speaking to us and reaching out to us.

And the question for us is,

Do we notice?

Today is the day of rejoicing as we recognize that God is still growing the church.

God’s authority still has the final word.

It is not so much the miracle that amazes us and keeps us hoping and believing. It is the power of God in Jesus that brings

the kingdom of God,

the Kingdom of peace,

 right into this moment,

this very breath of our life.

Let us notice,

let our hearts sing of this day he brings!

Amen!

Resources: Feasting on the Word year B; NIB. 

Finding and Following

Sermon John 1:(36-42) 43-51 January 14, 2018 Ordinary Time/Ordination & Installation of officers.

Finding and Following

Last week we had to cancel services because of the snow and ice we experienced three days before. We had so much snow and wind it created quite a turmoil for us here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Some of us went without power for an hour and some for a day. Many were sequestered to their homes for a period of up to four days before they could dig out and come and see the rest of the world again. In that re-engagement with one another the stories abounded. There was a need for us to know how each of us handled the time alone caught in the house without a way out.

As I listened to one story after another, what I heard was a thread of communication, the power of community. It seemed that there was a whole lot of checking in with each other and asking how they were doing. There was a whole lot of getting out there with shovels to dig out a friend who thought they could go out, but didn’t quite make it and got stuck. There was a whole lot of gratitude floating around the frustrations of isolation.

I find it interesting as I listened to all of these stories how powerful the connection of friendship can be. I realize that it is so important for relationships to keep up with each other, to check in frequently, and to share news with one another about the world and the things that are happening. The gospel of John provides us with a unique setting for the calling of the disciples. The friends and families that followed Jesus were found by each other as much as they were by Jesus.

Take a few moments and think of the things that you recently got excited about and had to share the news with your friends; was it the latest Star Wars movie? Or perhaps, the sale going on online? Or the newest book hitting the best seller list before it even hit the stands? As you were telling your friend, the whole point was to encourage them to ‘come and see’ and experience what you did.

The first person in the story of the series of the people who became disciples was Andrew, who was a disciple of John the Baptist. He found his brother Simon and then went and found Jesus. Jesus then went to Galilee and found Philip who then found Nathaniel.

The first disciples in the gospel of John were based on one’s shared experience finding another and following.

Let me repeat this again: Andrew finds Simon before Jesus finds Philip.

Andrew hears and sees.

Andrew follows, abides, and finds.

Philip is found by Jesus.

Philip finds Nathaniel.

Nathaniel is not impressed.

Nathaniel comes and sees Jesus.

Nathaniel hears, abides, is found, and follows.

Notice how the whole discipleship experience is interdependent.

Its more than a game of hide and seek. Its more than a blind turning and dropping and going.

It requires the witness and testimony of others.

It requires the experience with Jesus the Christ. The only way that experience with Jesus happens is through your experience and our experience. There a few isolated stories of people encountering Jesus apart from another person-but really and truly, our encounters with Jesus happen in tandem with our encounters with humanity.

Your experience with Jesus matters. It matters not for your own good-but for the good of others-you have a story to tell-who knows, you might just be believed when you tell your friend about your encounter with Jesus-who knows, your friend might just ‘come and see’ as well.

All the names we hear used in this first chapter of John for Jesus are names used by those who have experienced him Notice the names are all different. Perhaps they are all different because each one has had a unique encounter with Jesus. When we abide we Jesus we bear witness to the experience in our own way. Just as witnesses share with a police officer the varying ways they encountered the traffic accident, so we hear and see and abide with Jesus in varying ways.

As we come to Jesus we come in varying ways. Some of us need a teacher-Rabbi. Some of us need a Savior-Lamb of God. Some of us need the fulfilled prophecy-Messiah. Some of us need the power of God-King of Israel. Jesus and our encounter with him is beyond our own vocabulary to describe him.

As disciples,

those who have come to see,

who found,

who abided,

who followed,

have discovered the identity of Jesus.

They came to him and their eyes were opened.

The revelation of God comes often in surprising ways. And perhaps, that’s what makes coming to see him so enticing; so inviting, so exciting!

Those who have come to be disciples can’t leave the finding of other disciples only up to God. Let me say it again, "We cannot leave the finding of other disciples up to God."

We are all drawn into telling our story.

We are all called to be witnesses.

Your witness matters.

What you’ve seen and heard makes a difference.

Tell it.

Ultimately, none of us are here because of the furniture, or the wonderful organ, or the great coffee, or even the tasty baked goods (ok, well maybe); granted they sure help getting us here; but truly, ultimately we are here to continue together our encounter with the One who has called us by name.

We are here to come and see Jesus and abide with him, and worship.

Ordination prayer for new elder. 

With each opportunity, with each eye opening experience, we have a new story to tell. We don’t just meet and see Jesus once in our life. He calls us, or a friend calls us, and we go together to abide at his feet. Or climb a mountain and hear him again.

Who is finding? Who is following? We as disciples are doing both.

Jesus said, “Go into the world and make disciples of all nations…and I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Amen. 

Resources: NIB, Karoline Lewis-Working Preacher