Moving in Suffering

Sermon Luke 22:39-46 February 25, 2018 Lent 2

Moving in Suffering

When there is suffering in the world and/or in our lives we often wonder how this can happen. We spend little time questioning how we can live and Move in Suffering or how we can keep going in the midst of it.

Mostly we are consumed with the why of such things. 

I find this a reasonable question.

Children are the first to approach us with the why of things. They ask us why about the color of the sky, where the sun goes at night, the reason we need water to live, and why do people hurt and die.

Most often our responses to those questions are explained through the wonders and magical words of science. Or if these fabulous explanations escape us, we respond to the why questions with, “Because God…”

When we seek to answer our curious children about why are there mean people in the world…or why people hurt and die,

we like our children are lost in responses that truly answer the why of it all.

We don’t even fully understand the why of our Savior who died on the cross.

I honestly believe when we are caught up in the why-

when we allow ourselves to digress to the stories of the fall,

or the ages of cruelty and pain of one person to another,

or as the prophets of the Old Testament preach the sins of the people,

or the lack of prayer,

or the lack of love of God,

or worse the lack of obedience to the commandments,

especially the love of neighbor;

we lose out becoming actively involved in the suffering and

we deny the opportunity of receiving what we need in the moments of hurting and grief and pain.

The why often seeks to fix without investment.

The why often is someone else’s doing.

The why often results in lack of ownership for the cause of things.

The why often keeps us stuck.

In A.A. Milne’s story Eeyore Loses a Tail, Pooh comes across Eeyore who is out of sorts. Pooh discovers Eeyore has lost his tail. Eeyore, made aware of the absence of his tail, responds, “That accounts for a good deal.” Followed with a long silence,

Pooh not knowing what he could say that would be helpful,

offered to do something helpful instead.

I believe this prayer of Jesus in his suffering prior to his arrest is

an offering of something helpful to us in times of trial and temptation.

I believe this prayer is a response for the

‘how, we can move and live in suffering’ and keep going in the midst of.

The opening words of the choir anthem Compassion are: There is an everlasting kindness you lavished on us. God has offered us love, kindness, and peace as we live this life here and now.

Let’s look at this prayer and these verses. There are seven points that are important to note for our own well-being.

In this prayer we enter into the humanity of Jesus. Luke, the evangelist, points out several things as he writes this account for the benefit of the future church. (One of which happens to that Jesus prays at the Mount of Olives and not in a garden or at Gethsemane.)

The first note about Jesus was he went to pray, as was his custom. Prayer throughout the gospel of Luke is central to who Jesus is. Jesus stops to pray at all the key moments in his ministry. For Jesus, prayer is an essential piece of how he moves through his life, even unto his death.

Jesus has a routine for prayer.

We, too, can begin to examine how we can incorporate prayer into our life. Perhaps, it is as simple as the petition five finger prayer that I shared with the children in the our chat together.

Perhaps, it is a three-times a day prayer of beginning the day with the Lord’s Prayer, praying the Beatitudes at noon, and going to bed with the 23^rd Psalm.

Perhaps, it is setting the timer on our phones to just pause and pray.

Jesus got through his ministry with prayer as his custom. Perhaps, this season we can begin a custom of prayer.

Second, he prayed through all circumstances. Henri Nouwen wrote, ‘It can be discouraging to discover how quickly we lose our inner peace.

People enter our lives and we suddenly have a restlessness and an anxiety that appears. We thought we were at peace and centered with God and a situation or a person cause us to feel insecure.

He suggests we befriend our emotions and then little by little, in all circumstances we can come to sense the closeness to God that we need and desire.

Jesus, chose to experience all the emotions within him and trusting God to work through them with him. We, like Jesus, have the opportunity to offer our prayers to God in all circumstances. And through this sense the ever presence of the God who loves us.

Third, he kept those he loved close. Notice the verse says, they were a stone’s throw away. Jesus, did not go off alone, as much as he surrounded himself with those he trusted and those he loved. He was there praying to the Father for guidance and direction, keeping his friends at his side. One thing we can learn from this is our need to be at home with the people of our faith.

Years ago, the Catholic church in America realized it was losing its members at the same rate as the major protestant denominations. They started an initiative called, “Catholics come home.” It was rather successful as people who had been brought up in the church were stirred with a sense of renewal and chose to return to being active in the church.

As Protestants, we too have sought a variety of initiatives to not only invite those who grew up in the church to ‘come home’,

but to invite those who have never been at home in the church to find a place to belong and call home, perhaps for the first time.

In all of life we have a need to be surrounded by friends who lift us up and grant us grace, and offer us friendship.

When we come home to the church,

we come home to God,

and receive the faithful promise of God to love.

Home is where we are safe.

Let us keep church as that safe, sacred, space that Jesus had when he prayed this prayer.

Fourth, Jesus, allowed the angels to give him strength.

There are those angels unawares all around us who provide for us in ways we could never have imagined for ourselves.

Without going into a completely long tangent about angels, suffice it to say, they exist in the spiritual realm as the Bible teaches us,

and they exist in the realm of our living through those inspired to offer kindness and hospitality.

Fifth, ‘in his anguish, he prayed more earnestly’;

Jesus, stayed the course in his prayer even through the pain of it all.

When the pain and the temptation of the trial ahead of him became too great, Jesus, remained in prayer.

He chose to be more vigilant in his relationship with God.

He stayed with his pain in the very place where healing could take place.

Jesus dared to stay with his pain, and his anguish of what was about to occur. Dare to stay with your pain!

He didn’t sugar coat anything about his feelings or his circumstances.

When we can stay with our pain and acknowledge it,

when we can own it for what it truly is

then we can be in full communion with our God.

In that giving of ourselves we are able to receive the healing and the comfort we so need.

We have a tendency to seek out others or create fantasy worlds where we can have things disappear or have others deal with it for us.

Yet, our reality is here with Jesus as we witness him owning his own temptations to have what is before him removed. In his ownership of the temptation he received the strength to give it up to God. We too have the capacity to own our temptations and then give them to God to give us strength to do what we must do.

Sixth, grief is exhausting. We witness the disciples going to sleep. Luke is the only gospel writer to be gentle with the disciples when they fall asleep while Jesus is praying. Luke says they were filled with grief.

Anxiety, sorrow, deep sadness, are all energy drainers.

In times of uncertainty our emotions come out of synch.

The cross we bear daily can be overwhelming and it can render us powerless.

These disciples were following Jesus into the unknown.

Perhaps, we too, need an evangelist like Luke to soften the story of our life a little. Perhaps, we too, need an understanding that sometimes grief takes hold and all we can do is sleep in that moment.

Sometimes, in the midst of it all, a nap is a good thing.

God is gentle and kind and offers us a place of rest and a place healing. Be kind to yourself as God is kind to you.

Seventh, and final Jesus says to the disciples, ‘Get up, and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’

The instruction Jesus gives the disciples at the start of this story he gives to them again. Getting up is as important as staying vigilant in prayer.

Jesus, uses the term, ‘get up’, rise, throughout his ministry of healing.

When we get up and stand and face those with whom we travel this journey of faith, we have the opportunity to speak and share, laugh and rejoice, be comforted and renewed. When we get up we are able to give and to receive.

When we get up we can see the community in which we dwell.

We can act from our center and we can live out the commandment of love one another as I have loved you.

How can we live and Move in Suffering in our times of temptation and trial?

We follow Jesus and live into his example given to us today. Amen.

Resources: NIB Luke, Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne; The Inner Voice of Love, Henri J. M. Nouwen

Moving in Love

Sermon John 10:11-18 February 18, 2018 Lent 1

Moving in Love

Our theme this year in Lent is-‘Moving Toward the Cross’. Each week we will explore a Scripture that will support the various statements on the ways in which we move toward the cross. This week our movement toward the cross is in love, other weeks we move toward it in peace, in strength, in suffering, in faith. 

As we approach Scripture with these pre-set themes it sheds new light on how we explore and examine the Word of God before us. Everything we read, hear, touch, taste, and participate in is colored by the lenses of our experience, often our most recent experience. 

And it is also colored by the thoughts and ideas we might project upon it.

As we cross over into this movement of Lent on this first Sunday in Lent, perhaps what might be important for us, is to know a few things about Christ with whom we journey and a few things about ourselves.

Our reading this morning begins with the declaration from Jesus that he is the Good Shepherd. This entire chapter 10 is heralded as the Shepherd discourse. 

In John’s gospel this evangelist writes in a manner that puts us front and center in time with Jesus. 

As he declares to his disciples, “I am the Good Shepherd”, he declares it to us. We have no doubt about the identity of Jesus in these few words. He not only declares his love but also declares his purpose and his utter commitment to his purpose no matter what the cost, even the cost of his life.

Perhaps, this is what we need from Jesus as we begin our journey along this path of Lent. 

We need Jesus to be strong for us. 

We need Jesus to be certain and not wishy washy about who he is. 

We need Jesus to lead us as a leader who is firm in the knowledge of himself, not only as we travel through Lent but as we travel through life. 

An identified Shepherd leader is one who needs his sheep to do his job and I like that and find it quite refreshing. 

Jesus and the sheep cannot be separated from one another. 

We are his sheep. 

We are his beloved. 

We follow him and he guides us through thick brush, 

into the valley of death, 

and up to the river of life. 

Just as Jesus describes his relationship with the Father, 

he bring us into relationship with him.

However, for some, these 40 days can be daunting, as one of my friends said to me, “Lent is depressing. I stop going to church and don’t come back until Easter when its happy again.” 

Perhaps it is difficult to hear about the wilderness and chaos that confronted Jesus. And perhaps it is too challenging to witness him walking among those who suffered, and those who were in despair. Maybe what we find most distasteful is his own frailty and his own suffering and loss of life.

Yet, I find that is where our lives with Christ most often intersect. 

As we began our journey on Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we began with the smudge of love, the smudge of God’s eternal love that claims us and calls us by name. 

Yes, we are finite creatures, but creatures who have a Good Shepherd who lies down at the gate of our lives, protecting defending, holding, and even giving up for us. There is no one else who would defend us to the end as he does. 

Jesus proclaims he is the one sent by God and will fulfill the promises of God in order to protect the flock. Jesus is the one who draws the sheep and the Father together. As God’s sheep we are God’s most loved treasure. Not just those sheep who call Jesus by name but all sheep, the ones who don’t even know God’s name, everyone of them are God’s most loved treasure.

 Perhaps, in the wake of the murders at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida this week, you are angry to even hear these words about God. 

Senseless loss challenges our faith statements about the love of God. 

It throws our faith into turmoil and locks us into asking questions that have ambiguous answers. We get lost as ministers try to validate their faith in God with bad theology-such as God’s plan, and God’s purpose. We hear strange proclamations about God’s love for some and not others…As ministers we often fail those who most need to hear about God’s love in times of greatest need.

Our theology, our understanding of God might still be skewed. We aim for the bull's-eye of the target and continue to miss the mark. We seek to do well, we yearn to do well. So what do we know in times like these? 

These things we know -God too lost a child. 

God too, lost a most beloved Son. God too watched and witnessed a world that would seek to destroy love by destroying and maligning that Son. 

We know-God was there in the midst of that suffering and God is there in the midst of all of our suffering. God’s presence (no matter how it shows up) brings comfort.

One most poignant photo from the scene of the school tragedy was that of a mother embracing another mother. 

Upon her forehead she bore the cross from Ash Wednesday service. 

An author (Valerie Shultz) writes this: We receive our ashes as a sign of repentance, of our yearning for God’s forgiveness, of our intent to live our faith more truly in the face of our mortality. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return,” says the priest or lay minister, blessing us with a blackened thumb. The ashes that mark our foreheads only last for a day, but the mark this makes on our hearts is meant to endure for the entire 40 days of Lent. And so, how sadly, tragically, wretchedly fitting is the front-page photo from this Ash Wednesday. We will carry these stories with us. Again, again. 

AP photo credit Jerry Auerbach

We, as God’s sheep, have the privilege of carrying along with this mother the burdens, the barriers, the wounds, the wonderings, the fears and the failings, of our sisters and brothers throughout the community.  (Susan McGhee) That photo reminds us that we are not alone. It reminds us that we are a community that holds and acts together for the love of God through and in all circumstances. 

God’s fellowship of love with Jesus is so beautifully woven into these words of John’s gospel. It is an intimate fellowship that intertwines every movement Jesus makes and grants him assurance as he goes. This expression, this knowledge of God and Christ offers us the mystical communion with the Shepherd who knows us by name and calls us to follow. We have the knowledge of God and ourselves as we enter this season. 

Let us go together through Lent with the watchfulness and tenderness of Jesus. In our ears we hear God whisper a blessing to us as we go-“You are my beloved”. Amen.

Resources: NIB; Word Biblical Commentary; Carolyn C Brown-Preaching to Kids Too; AmericanMagazine.org "Spiritual Lessons from a School Shooting"; Rev. Susan McGhee Holy Days and Holidays-Ash Wednesday 

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

Thin Places

Meditation Christmas Eve 2017

Thin Places

Tonight as we enter into the holy night of the birth of our Savior I am thinking about thin places. a thin place is a term used for millennia to describe a place in time where the space between heaven and earth grows thin and the Sacred and the secular seem to meet. 

That night so long ago was one of those thin places moments. 

We all come to the dim lights of Christmas Eve, the candle glow, and the softness of the sounds around us. 

We all come to hushed tones of the evening seeking, searching, hoping, for a glimpse into the holy. We come to encounter the thin place where God reaches down and touches us. We come with expectation of the birth, to witness the manger once again, to be lifted up into the glorious song of angels. 

We want to be with the shepherds as they grab their gear and run to Bethlehem. 

We want a sense of that hurried anticipation of the power of the presence of God in our life.

Yes, a thin place. 

A place in time where heaven and earth grow daringly thin so that God may enter in. 

And yet, it is on this night that we discover the mystery of God’s bursting forth into real time and real space. To claim us for his own. The Incarnation happened then and happens now-be born in us today, we sing.

No matter who we are or how we are God moves through this evening with the mystery that captured that first clash of heaven to earth.

We can learn to Trust it.

Be in love with it.

And we come to discover that this mystery, this miracle, is what carries us through all the Christmas Eves to come.

Allow God to show us the holy, the thin place and space that will warm our hearts and shape our lives.

And so I invite you to remember that Christmas Comes (Ann Weams)

Christmas comes every time we see God in other persons. 

The human and the holy meet in Bethlehem-or in Times Square,

For Christmas comes like a golden storm on its way to Jerusalem—

Determinedly, inevitably…

now it comes

In the face of hatred and warring----

No atrocity too terrible to stop it. 

No Herod strong enough, 

No hurt deep enough, 

No curse shocking enough, 

No disaster shattering enough-----

For someone on earth will see the star, 

someone will hear the angel voices, 

someone will run to Bethlehem, 

someone will know peace and goodwill: 

The Christ will be born! 

Christ is born this night. 

Christ is our light.

  Blessings to you this Christmas in whatever state God finds you. 

Know you are loved and love wraps around you. 

Amen.   

Light of Love

Sermon Luke 1:26-38 December 24, 2017 Advent 4

Light of Love

Last Sunday we spent our worship experience focused on the story of the birth of Jesus through the Christmas program. The children and the choir shared the news words and music. Our hope was renewed as we witnessed our children participating in the promise of God. It was truly a light of joy.

Today on the fourth Sunday of Advent we spend time reflecting on the words of Mary as she encounters the angel Gabriel. I find myself pondering on the moment of discovery for Mary.

What is it like for us in those moments of surprise?

When the unexpected comes to us?

When the derailment of our plans and our dreams occurs, what is our response?

When we are left vulnerable to our family’s opinions, cultural expectations, and the views of the world, how do we react?

Are we aware of the presence of holiness when it appears?

There is quite a lot for us to ponder on this fourth Sunday of Advent.

God does enter into ordinary lives in ordinary ways. The angel called Mary highly favored. There was nothing in Mary’s life that would have been considered as something to be highly favored. She was poor. She lived in a town that people said nothing good comes from Nazareth. She was engaged to be married to a carpenter not a statesman or a wealthy, famous person.

God does enter into a real place in time and space. 

God breaks from heaven and begins dwelling among us in the most vulnerable way. 

Life and death hang in the balance for many a mother and child. 

Pregnancy and child birth are still to this day challenging. To conceive for some is without a thought and for others a time of great disappointment, despair, and grief. 

There are so many women who have suffered in silence as one pregnancy after another is lost and the hoped for infant returns to heaven. 

Women in childbirth are still at risk even with the best doctors and equipment available. There were safer ways for God to come to us to be among us than through this risky means.

And yet, in a little town, in a little house, with a young girl, we witness something new, something that changes our lives forever.

Mary heard the words of the angel and knew that God had come to her. Holiness had invaded her space. Holiness had come.

She asked the angel Gabriel, “How can this be?” We don’t have the opportunity for tone or inflection so we have to guess. We wonder if she is afraid, or if she was incensed, or confused, or just pondering the logic of what the angel is telling her. 

She talks with the messenger of God! She is not a silent bystander. She gets involved with the work of God within her. She becomes a partner with God in this process of redemption.

 Her response to the angel is so amazing. “May it be as you say, here am I the servant of the Lord,” is not a passive resignation for God or anyone else to do what they want with us. But, it is a response of commitment and participation with the work of God in this world.

Imagine if we too heard the word of God through the angels who visit us. Imagine if we too took a stand with God and said, “May it be as you say, here am I”.

Mary as we read further in Scripture sang a song which we now call the Magnificat. 

It was a song of liberation, a song of reversals, a song of resistance and even rebellion. 

Mary took her role as the mother of God in strength and in resilience. 

She had the resolve to follow through with whatever was to come. She had the ability to stand with a task that was contrary to the current culture. She stood firm in her faith as she faced the possibility of death. She stood firm in her faith when her son grew and took the risk of death upon himself. She stood firm in her faith as she sat at the foot of the cross and watched her son die. She stood firm in her faith even as she was cared for by others in her old age.

It is so hard for us as people of faith to figure out what God is calling us to do. 

We agonize over the call God has placed on us. We wonder if we are really doing what God has asked us to do. We agonize wondering if God really loves us. Are we worthy?

 Are we doing the right thing?

And then once again the story of Mary reminds us that God has not abandoned us. 

God chose to enter the human race by means of the human race. 

God’s creation so destroyed and distorted by acts of violence upon the earth, the creatures and each other could have been destroyed in the same breath by which it was created. But, somehow God looked upon everything there and burst forth in love. 

The Light of Love chose to push through all the depravity, sin, corruption, and discord to wash it all pure again beginning with waters of the womb. Our being drawn to the Light of Love is a rebirth in the same way.

God has sent angel messengers to us to announce that we too have received the power of God through his son born to us today. Let us say yes, let it be as you say, here am I your servant. Amen. 

Who Tells Us What to Do?

Sermon Matthew 21:23-32 October 1, 2017 World Communion

Who Tells Us What to Do?

“Who said you could do that?”

This question is an old one that many of us have heard or asked over the years.

Who said you could get that cookie?

Who told you that you could take the car?

Who said you could leave work early?

Who gave you permission to take money from the account?

Who tells you that you can act like that in public?

These are fair questions.

These are real questions to ask when there is a concern about authority. We live, and have always lived, in a time when authority is the question of the day.

This month we are turning our focus to the issues of the Reformation. Authority was one of the many concerns and questions that Martin Luther faced. His concern was specific to papal authority. He questioned the pope’s misuse of Scripture. He had been diligently studying Scripture and he discovered a disconnect with the teachings of the church. He read in Scripture about the forgiveness of God and the power of God’s righteousness to save. It was God who forgives and God who saves, not the priests or the pope.

Jesus’ encounter with the religious leaders brings home the question of authority and of faith. Jesus challenges the people in positions of authority not just as he faced the religious leaders, but everyone who reads these words today.

How do people get authority anyway?

Authority comes to those in positions of responsibility. Teachers, doctors, ministers, lawyers, policemen, firemen, elected officials, all have authority granted them by the position of their office-in other words-their job requires them to be responsible for others.

There is an expectation of how they are to act with their authority.

They are not to abuse it or hold it over others, or ridicule, or humiliate.

But, when someone questions authority, especially someone who is not in an accepted role of authority, that person is criticized, disregarded, punished, sent away, rejected. When someone stands up and points out a wrong, they are immediately shut down. That seems to be how it has worked for as long as we have history to document it. It happened in Scripture as we have heard. It happened in Luther’s day. It is happening today in this country and across the world.

When misuse of power is happening-the question of authority must be addressed.

The challenge for us as we listen to this Scripture is to figure out who are we in this context.

Are we the religious leaders upholding the current law,

criticizing those who are pushing and shoving their way to make a change and questioning their rights to challenge them?

Or are we with Jesus standing up to authority and questioning their misuse of power?

You see, we Americans are Americans because we stood up to taxation without representation.

We Protestants are Protestants because we stood up to misuse of the papal authority.

Can you think of other historical times when this was necessary?

For Martin Luther it was important to learn and understand the Bible at its very word. He felt tormented by the verses that proclaimed, ‘God forgives’. No one had the authority to forgive but God. He was compelled to stand up to those in the church who claimed otherwise.

Have we ever had a time in our own lives when we felt compelled to stand up to others who we believed were misusing their power, their authority?

Jesus questions the leaders about the baptism of John.

He makes it clear that John’s baptism was proclaimed by the authority of heaven.

God’s righteousness blessed John as the foreshadow of Jesus.

By the rejection of John’s ministry of repentance, the religious leaders are in essence rejecting the ministry of Jesus.

Their failure to see John as sent from heaven ultimately results in their failure to receive Jesus as the Messiah. FAITH is crucial, Jesus clarifies the religious leaders do not have the authority to claim who is and who is out!

And so,

Jesus tells the parable of the two sons. There is no mystery here. The parable is clear. One son refuses to do the father’s will but changes his made and goes out and does the job. The second says he will but never shows up.

What matters most is not saying but doing. Our walking in the way of believing is more important than our saying we believe.

Lewis Donelson, a theologian, says, This parable remains an attack on people in authority. It addresses leaders who do not recognize those who walk in the ways of righteousness and who do not walk that way themselves.

The words of Jesus in Scripture help us understand who tells us what to do. It is the God of heaven and earth that moves us and claims us and puts us on the path to do good.

Our words,

our actions,

our proclamations

all fall under scrutiny

when we judge who is in and who is out.

Sinners,

tax collectors,

drug addicts,

homeless,

prisoners,

illegals,

are the ones who turned

and followed Jesus

and there was room

for them at the table.

The authority of Jesus comes from heaven above

and he is the One to whom we offer ourselves.

He is the one who feeds us.

He is the one who gives the bread of life.

He is the one who turns our hearts inside out.

Let us believe in him.

Let us accept his authority.

Let us walk in his righteousness.

Let us find room at the table for all the sons and daughters

who need a place to sit and eat.

Amen.

Gone Sailing

We've gone sailing and are keeping are posting on that blog. You can follow us there for the next few weeks of you like. Peace and joy to you.  http://www.sailblogs.com/member/neverland/

Are You Hungry?

Sermon Matthew 14:13-21 August 6, 2017 Communion Ordinary Time

Are You Hungry?

All I could think about at the beginning of this week’s VBS as we were filled to the gills with young people, was, “is there enough?”

We are still unsure of how we went from 23 registered little ones for VBS to 38, then 42. Perhaps it was the radio advertisement, perhaps, it was friends of little ones that came before. In 20 minutes, the room was full of young people and parents and the buzzing sound of happiness. And the buzzing sound of leaders discovering their ability to adapt in a heartbeat.

This week has been a miracle,

a wonder,

at times incomprehensible,

and a reality of a blessing.

God was in the midst of us fulfilling promises

and offering us the reality of salvation!

The story of Jesus in the desert seeking quiet is a story about the One we call our Savior.

It’s a story that helps us live into the power of God present with us fulfilling promises and offering us the reality of salvation.

We have tried so often to turn the stories of the Bible into scientific stories.

We have spent a lot of time trying to rationalize the miracle out of the stories we read. Jesus walked on stones beneath the surface, not on the water-people shared their food rather than the miracle of multiplication.

We debunk the miracle and only claim the humanity and compassion of Jesus. I think over the decades of historical criticism we have minimalized the God we serve and the God we worship.

Jesus has just been told of the death of John the Baptist.

He is in deep grief.

Grief struck so suddenly is paralyzing.

It creates a numbness,

an inability to focus and a

need to get away and

regroup the brain to know how to go forward.

Jesus needed to get away in his grief.

It was not about the crowds and their needs

it was his need to process this devastating news.

So, he sought to go to a place alone.

But, when he arrived he was greeted by the crowds.

Instead of being angry or frustrated, or indignant of the crowd’s lack of understanding of his needs, he turns to them with compassion.

Every time I read that about Jesus, it blows me away.

I’m a horrible introvert and I need my alone time to regroup and get my act together to be able to meet folks with a cheery smile. And I blow it all the time.

We discover the person of Jesus as he reaches out in compassion to those who follow him. His grief is processed through his outpouring of his love for those who need healing, and those who need love, and those who need to be touched by the kindness of another, and those who need to be acknowledges as human.

The crowd was hungry.

And Jesus knew it.

And he provided them filled them til they were full.

In his compassion, he healed them. Jesus stayed with them and the day turned to evening and Jesus was still with them.

The disciples were hungry by then.

I can hear their tummies rumbling as they tell Jesus to send the crowd home to get their own supper. Jesus is now more than just a teacher to follow and be amazed at all he can do.

Jesus, looks at his disciples and tells them to feed the crowd.

They look at him through limited lenses.

They only have five loaves and two fish.

And as far as they are concerned they are ready to get to town because that’s nowhere near enough for all of them let alone share with a crowd of lesser people.

Jesus offers them the miracle.

He offers them the chance to distribute fulfillment to a hungry crowd.

But they fail to see the possibility of a miracle.

They fail to see the power of God present with them.

They fail to see the reality of salvation being fulfilled.

They fail to see the Messiah in their midst who fulfills God’s promises.

They dismiss the opportunity.

We are no different from the disciples.

We are constantly excluding the power of God to work salvation in history.

We lack the imagination that things contrary to nature can happen.

Perhaps we are not hungry enough.

Perhaps we are too filled up on our own selves to be hungry for God.

Perhaps, we are stuffed with our own self-righteousness that we fail to see God still working contrary to nature for the sake of our salvation.

 God can’t do anything with us without our desire, our hunger, our need for the presence of God with us.

If we can be hungry.

If we can chase after Jesus and meet him and desire him.

If we can be hungry enough to let him feed us.

We can have enough imagination to believe the miracle of how he feeds us til we are stuffed to the gills.

Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples and they gave them to the crowds and ALL ate and were filled.

Are you hungry?

May we be hungry. May we be Blessed. May we be Broken. May we be Offered. May we be Filled.

Amen.

 Resources: Feasting on the Word, NIB, Word Biblical Commentary