In 2 a Journey. Sermons, musings, & other thoughts while following Jesus

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Humble Heir

Sermon Genesis 15:1-12, 17, 18 February 21, 2016 Lent 2C

Humble Heir

Lent is a time of reflection and a time of opportunity. In Lent we intentionally choose to think about those who have influenced our life of faith. We take the time to think about all the people who have influenced our lives.

We think about how the courage and fortitude of others has impacted who we are today. We think about those people who mentored us, those people who changed the course of our lives just by being faithful to their principles and their understanding of what mattered.

We think about those who we know followed the call of God. Often the people that influenced us most were not the ones getting the accolades and fame, but the ones who quietly and humbly walked through life, steadfast and true to their calling.

Who were or are those people for you?

Abram was the heir to all the promises of God for a future people. He was an heir to a promise that he would not see until the fourth generation. Abram was granted righteousness because he followed God, believed God, and listened to God.

Abram, we consider a humble man, not because he blindly obeyed, but because he had the courage and boldness to follow through even in the midst of uncertainty. He was promised much from God but remained as true as possible to who he was. He messed up, he did some dumb things, he wasn’t perfect, yet he kept going with the promise God had given him as his hope for the future. A future he was not sure he would see.

And so when God comes to him again in this chapter he begins to speak and ask questions.

Here is the question of faith for us:
Can a person who has doubts, and questions God be an example for us about faithfulness?
If a person asks questions about God’s plan and God’s actions in their life does this make them unfaithful?
If a person is in this situation are they having a crisis of faith?

This story of Abram-and perhaps many more Biblical stories-demonstrate for us that his journey is our journey and the doubts, the questions, and the uncertainty are not a crisis but an element of faith.

Frederick Buechner says, “Faith is better understood as a verb than a noun, as a process than a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all. Faith is not being sure where we are but going anyway. A journey without maps. Tillich said that doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”

Brian Peterson-Night Sky

As we look to this story of Abram we notice three elements of his faith as he converses with God.

1. This first element of faith we witness is that God speaks and Abram listens.

In our time alone with God do we give God room to speak or are we the ones doing all the talking. Some of the ways we give room for God to speak is by sitting quietly with God’s Word and allowing the words from the text to sift into our minds. We pause and maybe we fall asleep, or maybe our mind wanders to all the distractions around us. Can we sit long enough with God to allow God to speak to us in the silence that surrounds us? If we like to fish or hunt or garden or cook or sew or knit or clean; can we allow the words from God to filter into those activities of our lives to offer us guidance and peace?

2. The second element of faith we witness in this story is that God promises and Abram believes.

Abram trusts God’s promises. I think most of us trust God’s promises of love and life too. The promise of God that I believe Abram trusted was God’s power and presence. He recognized in hearing God that God was with him even in his questions and doubts. Abram knew God enough to ask God the how and even the why questions. He trusted God’s presence enough even to challenge God about God’s purposes. When we struggle to understand the direction or the course of life we are on, it only makes sense to ask God what this means and if there will be something revealed to help us know we are still moving in the right direction. We face many struggles and in our struggles we are faced with anxiety, fears and doubts.

I find it a comfort to be able to reach out to God and question it all.

It is not our lack of faith that puts us there but our desire to be faithful!

Show us God!

Help us see!

We read that Abram believes God after he is shown the stars in the sky.

But, is it the stars he believes, or the future, or the existence of God?

Somehow Abram finds assurance of who God is and who he is in this exchange of words and dreams. Yes, it’s in his exchange with God, his connection, his conversation, that he finds his assurance. In his exchange with God he is affirmed and that brings him to belief.

And perhaps when we exchange our doubts and fears with God we too can find assurance.

Hebrews 11:1 Says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

3. And the third element (I’m certain there are many more, but these we observe today), God commands and Abram obeys.

Abram doesn’t have answers to all his questions. he doesn’t have the details of the future spelled out for him and he certainly doesn’t have a blueprint, excel file, or map of where to go or what to do next. Abram doesn’t even fully understand what God meant.
But, he forged forward anyway.

These elements of faith sustain.

And so do the prayers of faithful people.

This past week as you know has been difficult in our family’s loss. Yet-we have been carried by your prayers as if being raised up on wings of eagles.

Prayers are our life blood.

And they hold me now as I try to talk about Abram and faith.

The thing that hurts is Faith is the name given to our granddaughter and in her loss,

Baby Faith-Tiny Feet

it hurts just to say it.

Perhaps, that is the truth about our faith and our walk with God

sometimes it hurts just to say it.

And sometimes it hurts to live it.

And sometimes it hurts to know its truth-faith in God is from everlasting to everlasting. And when we or I remember that, then
saying,

living,

speaking

Faith
is joy

and the hurt is mingled with wonder and love that fills our hearts with peace.

Faith is this mystery that carries us from day to day.

It is the hope we have in the promises given to us in Jesus Christ.

The promises of love to sustain through all things.

The example and person of Jesus Christ renews the promise that we are heirs to all God has for us.

In this Lent let us open our hearts and minds to listen, believe and be led forth not only for ourselves but for future generations.

Amen.

Resource: Feasting on the Word-Dan Debevoise; Wishful Thinking-Frederick Buechner.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The Sign of Jonah

Sermon Jonah 3:1-4:4; Matthew 12:38-41 February 17, 2016

Ecumenical Lenten Noonday Services

The Sign of Jonah

What sign are you looking for? Is it a sign that Jesus lives? Is it a sign that there is purpose to your life? Is it a sign to give you direction of where you should go next? Is it a sign to let you know where you are? Is it a sign to know who or whose you are? What sign are you looking for?

In this season of Lent we spend time with signs and symbols remembering who Jesus is and the life he lived. We spend time looking to the cross and to Jerusalem remembering the sacrifice that Jesus gave so that we might have life in him through the grace of God poured out upon us. We spend time eagerly awaiting the miracle of Easter morn when we can say, “The Lord is Risen, Indeed!”

The signs are all around us this season;

the miracles,

the Word,

the palms,

the cross,

the bread,

the cup,

the tomb.

They are all here inviting us into an imagination of understanding God’s love for us.

The leaders in the time of Jesus had high expectations in their imagination of God’s love.

They hoped for another Moses, or Elijah.

They wanted great signs and miracles.

And Jesus let them know the sign they would receive would be the sign of Jonah-“the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

The people of Ninevah will rise up in judgment of this generation because they repented, and see something greater than Jonah is here!” Something greater right here-in front of you!

Yet, even with the very words of Jesus,

the sign of God’s love and mercy for the people of that generation wasn’t even noticed and even worse,

it was rejected!

Fast forward to today’s generation and we are no different!

We are still looking to the God of our imagination to say the words

we want to hear and

to look the way we want,

and to regard and respect only those people we regard and respect.

We need to hear about the sign of Jonah and the people of Ninevah and the unfailing love of Jesus.

Especially today!

God poured out love, mercy and salvation on a people that everyone loved to hate.

It would have been Jonah’s greatest joy to watch God destroy this wicked and evil people.

And yet, God went against Jonah’s ideal of God’s love and brought salvation to a repentant people.

Jonah was angry!

How angry do we get when God loves those we don’t?

How dare God love the people we love to hate! Who are the ones we want to see destroyed?

Who are our Ninevites?

Who is your Ninevite?

God doesn’t follow our ways.

God follows provisions of grace in every way and in every corner of the world.

And then Jesus, shows up with God’s love born in him.

Jesus carried forth that same love of God to Gentiles, Samaritans, Greeks and Jews, poor, and rich, tall and short.

Perhaps our Lenten discipline this year is to seek to know God.

But, not only know God

but to know the God,

not of our imagination,

but the God,

the One,

who loves those we do not.

Let us allow this God to grow in us and change us. Let us allow this God to grow in us and change us into a community where all can find a place of love and belonging.

Jesus sought to provide communities of love, respect, honor and belonging. And that is our invitation during this season too,

to seek to be like Jesus,

to offer community space where there is respect and regard for one another,

where there is joy and wonder

of God’s most amazing imaginative love for us.

Out there, there is a lot of angry speech going on.

Out there, there is a lot of naming, and blaming.

Out there, there is a lot of dislike for the ‘other’.

Out there, there seems to be no room for love and belonging.

So,

in here,

in these pews;

Let us make a commitment this season,

to cease the ‘out there’ language

and to embrace the power of Jesus

to love beyond our imagination!

Let us allow Jesus

to challenge us to

beyond the signs

we expect

but to take us into places of respect and honor

that we have never gone before.

We need the opportunity to know who and whose we are and it can only happen in the safe, sacred, spaces we provide for one another wrapped in the loving arms of Jesus.

Friends, God’s promise of love to us is from everlasting to everlasting,

and no human imagination can change that.

Love freely given, freely offered for all to receive.

May the mercy, grace, and love of God through Jesus Christ fall upon us, now and forevermore. Amen.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Five Seconds of Fame

Sermon Luke 9:28-36 February 7, 2016 Transfiguration

Five Seconds of Fame

Today the church calendar indicates that this is Transfiguration Sunday. Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent where we begin our journey with Jesus to the cross and the empty tomb.

Every year before we begin the journey with Jesus through the stories about his life, death, and resurrection, we return to this story of Jesus going to the mountain to pray.

This story about Jesus, James, John and Peter appears in three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus is on the mountain and the three disciples with him are tired and they doze off. We learn that Jesus is praying and during his prayer the appearance of his face changes and his clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah show up and are talking to Jesus. Then the two men begin to disappear. Peter calls out to Jesus and recommends they build some tents so everyone can hang out together. As Peter is saying this, a cloud comes over them and the voice from the cloud says, “This is my son, my chosen, listen to him.”

Then poof, Jesus is by himself with the disciples. The cloud, the wonder, and all the glory is gone.

Jesus is back to being the Jesus the disciples have known from the beginning. But, something in the disciples has changed.

They have been transformed.

They have been changed forever.

They have experienced the unexplainable.

They have seen the glimpse, the vision of God.

This is the experience that everyone refers to when they talk about having a mountaintop experience of their own.

People are seeking experiences that change their lives;

opportunities to be transformed into new ways of being.

Some seek to find meaning to life by traveling the world

and then writing books about it.

Others are out there seeking fame

or glory

or a million likes

or a chance to appear on pop culture news,

or have a video or selfie go viral.

All are seeking & searching.

Perhaps it’s for that one moment of ‘five seconds of fame’.

Or perhaps it’s for thrill, or for need of purpose.

Back in the 60’s Andy Warhol said that all people would end up being famous for 15 minutes.

No one knew he would be a prophet; because with today’s social media there is constant hype about the tiniest and silliest of things.

-You could be on national news tomorrow based on one selfie or one twitter quote.

Imagine if Peter had had an Instagram account while he was on the mountain?

In today’s world it is no longer fifteen minutes of fame people get,

it is much shorter,

that’s why I say five seconds.

The glimpses of stardom or attention are just that.

Short lived and quickly forgotten.

Peter’s desire to make tents to hang out for a while was just a natural response to wanting the wonder and the glory of the moment to last.

It was an appropriate reaction to being in the presence of a holy moment.

It makes sense to want to honor and preserve our glimpses into the sacred.

But,

even the sacred

and the holy moments

can’t be held on to in ways of statues, or houses, or tents.

It’s as though those moments slip through our fingers

and we wonder why.

We want to relive and recapture the time when we saw the glow and the dazzle of God before us.

We seek to have this all the time and wonder what’s wrong with us when we don’t.

Those times in our lives when we enter into an experience of the sacred and glory of God, they change us.

There seems to be an awakening within,

a clarity of vision,

a sense of direction.

At these times our very being has the courage and the power to change the course of our lives.

These times we note as transformation.

We, like Moses, have stepped on holy ground.

We, like Peter, have seen the glory of God surround us.

We, like Jesus, have heard God call us chosen and child of God.

We have been dazzled by the presence of grace.

These moments are important to our story of our journey with God. That is why we come to the mountain again this year.

We have the opportunity together to remember our glimpse into the holiness of God. We have the moment in which we can remember that we have been transformed as Jesus was transfigured before our eyes.

We are witnesses to the mystery of God before us and God within us.

And so, with this dazzle still in our memory we have what it takes to go down the mountain and deal with the needs of daily life.

We will not be overcome or over whelmed by the pressures of the world.

We will be able to reach out and touch and do

because the One who can shine from glory to glory

is the same one who will shine through us

as we respond to voice that calls out our name.

We can and we will receive and be blessed. Jan Richardson is an amazing woman, artist author, and poet. She shares this Dazzled poem for us this year. Hear this blessing from Jan Richardson.

DAZZLING

A Blessing for Transfiguration Sunday

Believe me, I know
how tempting it is
to remain inside this blessing,
to linger where everything
is dazzling
and clear.

We could build walls
around this blessing,
put a roof over it.
We could bring in
a table, chairs,
have the most amazing meals.
We could make a home.
We could stay.

But this blessing
is built for leaving.
This blessing
is made for coming down
the mountain.
This blessing
wants to be in motion,
to travel with you
as you return
to level ground.

It will seem strange
how quiet this blessing becomes
when it returns to earth.
It is not shy.
It is not afraid.

It simply knows
how to bide its time,
to watch and wait,
to discern and pray

until the moment comes
when it will reveal
everything it knows,
when it will shine forth
with all that it has seen,
when it will dazzle

with the unforgettable light
you have carried
all this way.

- See more at: http://paintedprayerbook.com/#sthash.KCsKoSYI.dpuf

AMEN.

Resources: Feasting on the Word, Painted Prayer book.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Getting Wet

Sermon Matthew 14:22-33 January 24, 2016 2^nd in series

Getting Wet

“You have to be in to win it.” This is the famous line used for the lottery and any other game of chance. We are encouraged to take part of something that we might have the opportunity of winning and gaining a little extra cash. It’s risky, it’s a gamble to dump a few dollars for a slim chance to get the dollars back and a little more, but it’s also viewed as a fun experience. The power ball is the best example of needing, wanting, seeking after’ being in it to win it.’ And since all of us are still here a few Sundays since the big day and the big win-I assume we were not among those who won.

Last week we talked about the words Jesus shared about who he is in the gospel of John. We learned that Jesus was serious about letting people know his purpose in the world. We shared that ‘Getting into life and a life of faith is essential.’

We learned that Christ offers life and we in turn have life to offer.

This week we have a witness to all of this through the story of Peter, Jesus, the disciples, and the storm.

What makes this story important for us today is to remind us

beyond the chances of

lottery wins and gambling risks,

is that life and faith

belong together

and

we need to dare to take life and faith

where we are guaranteed to get wet!

This story of Jesus walking on water appears in three gospels, Mark, John and Matthew. However, Matthew is the only account that tells us of Peter walking on water.

This account is most helpful to you and I

as we struggle to learn more about who Jesus is

and who we are in relationship to him.

So as we recount this story we discover that Jesus has just finished feeding the multitude with bread and fish.

He is exhausted

and sends the disciples across the sea to the other side

while he tries to grab a minute of prayer with the Father.

Clearly Jesus finally had some alone time with God

as we discover it is in the wee hours of the morning

before he heads out across the sea

on foot to go and meet up with the disciples.

The wind and the waves have picked up and it is four in the morning and quite scary. There is nothing creepier than not being able to see the sounds you hear or the bumps you feel. When waves slap against a boat it can have all kinds of strange sounds depending on how it hits the sides. And the disciples look up from their work as they are doing their best to secure the boat and to keep it headed into the wind to get to their destination and they see a figure out on the water and totally freak.

It’s a ghost.

“And they cried out in fear.” Jesus responds, “Take heart, It is I, do not be afraid.” The classic Biblical experience.

Fear happens,

God appears,

and in God’s presence,

fear is dispelled.

Jesus uses the Biblical name of God “I AM, that I AM” The Greek ego eimi-was understood as the name of God-It is I, was a declaration of God present with them!

-Now, Jesus assuring the disciples that he is present with them should be enough for this story to make us all feel at ease and comfortable with the presence of God during stormy and troublesome times.-

But, Matthew challenges the followers of Jesus a little more by sharing what Peter does next.

Peter challenges Jesus. “If you really are who you say you are, then tell me to get out of this boat and come to you!” And so Jesus, says. “Come.” Peter wasn’t too certain about what he saw and heard and needed verification for himself. Now I’m not so sure what Peter was thinking when he wanted this kind of guarantee from Jesus. But, I assume he thought if Jesus was out there walking on water, he should be able to walk on water too. Perhaps, Peter was one of the disciples that remembered the miracles that Jesus had done.

I taught a Sunday school class about discipleship by John Ortberg entitled “If you want to walk on water, you gotta get out of the boat.” And that’s exactly what Peter did.

Peter challenged Jesus and

Jesus met his challenge and

invited him to come.

Jesus saw that he was ready to take the risk

and invited him to step out and follow through.

Peter dared to take his faith into unchartered waters.

Perhaps conditions are different today.

We dare not risk anything.

We have so many guarantees to insure safety that if we do something different we are considered reckless, or neglectful, or irresponsible.

Think about parents today.

Everything they do is under the scrutiny of others.

They can’t even let their ten year old cross the street by himself without getting a social media accusatory blast of bad parenting.

Think about the power of advertising and how it has people filled with fear

over security and safety

for their present lives and their future.

There are all kinds of financial and insurance commercials

making people worry about their elderly years.

No wonder we’re not doing anything that requires risk anymore

-because society has convinced us

not to dare to take any.

We dare not risk going into troubled waters of injustice, or prejudice, or discord, or disparity. We dare not speak out when a voice could be heard.

We dare not respond to anger with love.

We dare not…

You see fear blurs reality and all things become distorted in the midst of fear.

We see ghosts when there is really the one who loves us reaching out to bolster us up above the waves.

It doesn’t matter if we are Peter

daring to get out of the boat and walk on water to meet the Savior

who challenges us every day to live

and dare to get wet;

or if we are the disciples siting in the boat,

Jesus comes to us and saves us in the condition he finds us.

I remember my nurses training…

I remember we were taught to use the fear of the circumstance to propel us to action. We spent hours in the skills training lab practicing scenarios that required quick thinking and rapid response. We role played a variety of difficult situations. Those years of intense training allowed me to overcome any fear I might have had and allowed me to act to save a life of a patient in distress.

There comes a point

when preparing is done

and

doing

happens.

Gathering data

must stop

and

action

must happen.

Because even if we are pummeled by the waves,

Jesus reaches out his hand and saves us.

The hymn that we’ll sing in just a moment, Precious Lord Take my Hand, comes from such circumstances.

My friend and colleague in France suffered loss. He and his wife suffered the loss of three babies born too soon. One loss happened on a Saturday night and on Sunday he did not cancel services but held them as usual. He was there in the midst of worship in the midst of his pain and anguish. When asked how he could be there during such a loss his response was that it was in worship and with the congregation that he received his strength and consolation. It was there where he needed to be in the time of his greatest need.

The writer of the hymn Precious Lord take my hand had lost his wife and his son in childbirth. In 1932 he headed to St Louis to play at a revival. While at the revival he received a telegram telling him his wife had just died in childbirth. When he returned home he learned she had given birth to a son, who later died that night.

After the funeral it is said he fell apart and could not find release or relief. Finally a friend took him up to a neighborhood music school.

“It was quiet;” he said. “The late evening sun crept through the curtained windows. I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys.

Something happened to me then I felt at peace. I feel as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, one I'd never heard or played before, and the words into my head-they just seemed to fall into place:

Precious Lord, take my hand,
lead me on, let me stand!
I am tired, I am weak,
I am worn, Through the storm,
through the night lead me on to the light,
Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home.”

Cliff Kirkpatrick former GA stated clerk, reminds us that stepping out in faith doesn’t guarantee calm waters but it is always accompanied

with the promise that Jesus will never leave us,

he will extend his hand to us and

lift us up and

lift us out and

get us back in the boat safely to the other side.

The challenge for us is whether we are ready to dare to challenge our call from Jesus and step out in faith knowing the guarantee we will get wet.

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.
– Matthew 14.31

Jan Richardson said after the loss of her husband, “What I know about faith is this: I cannot force faith but can ask for it, can pray that it will make its way to me and bear me up over the next wave, and the next.

That it comes.

That I can lean into it.

That it will propel me not only toward the Christ who calls me,

but also back toward the boat that holds my life,

incomprehensible in both its pain and its grace.

What are you knowing about faith right now? Where is it bearing you?

Another poem: Blessing that Bears the Wind, the Wave

That we will risk
the drenching
by which we
are drawn
toward the voice
that calls us,
the love
that catches us,
the faith
that carries us
beyond the wind,
the wave.

Let us be ready to take the risk. Let us dare to go forth, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Resources: Feasting on the Word; Painted Prayerbook, Matthew-Donald Senior.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Diving In

Sermon John 5:30-47 January 17, 2016 Series of four

Diving In

I know it’s winter and the last thing on our minds is a swimming pool, unless of course it is the heated one down at the Y. But, have you ever sat in those big chairs on the side of the pool and just watched how people get into the water? Some people come running to the edge of the pool and dive bomb in. They make a huge cannon ball blast in the water and the entire pool is set in motion. Others like to climb to the top of the high dive and do fancy dives into the water. Others dive from the edge, cautiously preparing for the perfect form before they take the plunge. And yet, others choose not to dive at all but

check the water temperature with their big toe before they begin the descent. Then, little by little they enter and stop, pausing until they have acclimated to the water before they go on. Eventually they have accomplished the same as the first guy that dive bombed in the water, they are all in the pool, they made it.

There are different ways to dive into pools as well as there are different ways that we approach life. Not one of them is more correct than the other. They are just different fashions of who we are and how we enter into the opportunities around us.

Yet, getting in is essential.

Getting into life and a life of faith is essential.

Often we are hesitant and unsure of how to go about it.

We are unsure of who we are and what we are to do.

Not only are we uncertain of who we are but we wonder about who God is as well. We ask others and ourselves the question, “who believes this stuff? And what keeps people believing?”

Which brings us back to the words we heard from the gospel of John about Jesus-Jesus dives right in to share with the people who he is and why he is. He doesn’t dance around the topic. He doesn’t worry about what they will think of him or if they will like him. He is careful to share all that he has, to give all he has, and to hold nothing back.

He speaks to the experts, the leaders, who have spent their life diving into God’s Word to discover all there is to know about God and yet, Jesus says to them-they haven’t a clue!

Jesus uses the very Scriptures, the prophecies (the Law & the Prophets) to declare that he is the one sent by God and then points to the blindness of the leaders who do not see him in the Word of God.

Jesus as we have read and read during Christmas-and now in the season of Epiphany-is the Word made flesh. Jesus is the Logos!

He challenges the people then to believe what is written. If they choose not to believe what is written then how can they believe what Jesus says?

The Scriptures are the Logos. The Word of God.

Part of the worry of the early church was how to interpret the Scriptures.

It was difficult back then to interpret and understand the role of Jesus in the light of the Word of God, the Scriptures and the prophecies.

It became increasingly difficult for followers of Jesus to remain welcome in the Old Testament tradition due to the interpretation of Jesus as God’s revelation of salvation.

It was a challenge to be able to show that Jesus was the continuation and the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah.

Therefore the gospel of John was written as a witness and as an assurance for the people of the early church. The words of the gospel gave them a place to search and to find and renew their faith in Jesus. It was written somewhere between 85-95 AD. It is clear it was written after the destruction of the Temple. It was written before 100 AD since it is made reference to in documents that date from then.

And so, here we listen to Jesus come to his own defense as if he is on trial to those who oppose him. He presents his words similar to trials found in the book of Isaiah, In Biblical Old Testament tradition, for a trial to have any credibility (Deut. 19:32) it required two to three witnesses to verify the person’s claim.

SO Jesus presents his three witnesses-1. John the Baptist- 2. the works of Jesus- 3. and the Scriptures.

The Scriptures point from the beginning to the end to Jesus. Jesus reports that all the prophecies of the Old Testament point to him as the Messiah. All the words of Moses verify that Jesus is One who God has sent.

The words of the gospel are consistent.

The gospel of John consistently speaks the one truth the readers are to hear from Jesus-“I have come in my Father’s name”-“anyone who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life.”

Whenever we struggle with the question of who we are or what we are to do the gospel of John redirects our questions about ourselves, our goals, our curiosity for our life and asks, “Who is Jesus?” It is in Jesus and through Jesus where the truth of who we are lies. It is God who sent him to remind us that we are loved, we belong and we will not be let go by the God of our creation.

This Bible, ‘the Way, or Reach Out’, it’s just a New Testament, written in simple English, was given to me at fifteen. It’s just a Bible. Yet, it was something so precious to this teenager of the ‘70’s that I would hide it under my pillow to catch snippets of the words written within it. The words pointed to Jesus and the power of the Spirit-the Logos-changed my life forever.

The words we heard today make the case for Jesus.

These words are the language of our faith. They announce for us who Jesus is, what he does, and what he offers.

Hearing and believing and turning to Jesus our questions of who we are and what we do are answered. We belong to God in Christ and that gives us purpose. Christ offers life and we in turn have life to offer.

Therefore we dive in:

1. Because Jesus did

2. Because even when we think the words we hear have no relevance they are as fresh today as the day they were written.

3. The words from this gospel are not a how to book of discipline. The words we hear from here are about the real presence of Jesus. The words themselves act as witnesses to those who hear them no matter where they are read and say boldy here are the witnesses to the person of Jesus-listen and believe!

4. We need to dive into Scripture like this and hear not only who Jesus is but also witness what Jesus does.

So whether we take a cannon ball dive into the Scriptures or begin with checking the temperature with our big toe.

Let’s begin the process of diving in-we will not be disappointed.

God is with us all the way.

Amen.

Resources: NIB volume IX O'Day; WBC volume 36 Beasley/Murray

Monday, January 4, 2016

What’s in it for me? The Bible overview-the whole and it’s parts.Study Series

What’s in it for me? The Bible overview-the whole and it’s parts. Study Series at FMPC.

This series is part of the Cafe Church program started at the little church in Accomac VA. We worship and then follow with this new way of studying together as a small church of 15 or so. We interact and learn from one another with our own good questions that lead us into the next week of study. The early morning coffee is pretty good as well as the conversation.

Here is Week One:

January 3, 2016 FMPC Bible Series Café Church

We Seek to Live our Story through God’s Story

What’s in it for me? The Bible overview-the whole and it’s parts.

Main Idea (from Faith Seeking Understanding PCUSA)

The Bible is a collection of writings that testifies to the mighty acts of God in creating, redeeming, sustaining human life. In a variety of ways-narratives, poetry, Gospels, letters-human hearts and minds inspired by the Spirit, gave voice to expressing the inexpressible.

Today we’ll take a brief look and the space and time of the Biblical world. Much of this world remains unknown still to this day, yet, there is room for exploration. Our own space and time continuum of the modern world would leave many also with a sense of incompleteness and a sense of challenge.

Let’s start with a few personal questions: What days mark beginning and endings for you. What days, weeks mark high points in your cycle or rhythm of life. What official calendar marks or shapes your time-fiscal, such as a school calendar, Jan-Dec, religious?

Where do you live? What do you see and how would you describe it. Draw a map of your world in which you highlight the places most significant to you. How is your map similar or different from the people around you?

About 100 years ago Einstein’s theory of relativity demonstrated that neither space nor time are fixed. when we think about historical or daily realities that doesn’t seem to affect us. But, as we look over a period of time we witness the fluidity of political borders and of natural changes to geography due to erosion, storms, natural phenomena. Also, space has changed over time too as we review the history of how we measure time.

Perhaps with this in mind we can come to our study of the Bible with a new perspective. Let’s take a quick look at the geographic details of the areas of where the Bible was written and where the events of the Bible took place.

We have two maps to explore. One is the CisJordan region, the other is of the Ancient Near East. These two maps comprise the special area of which the writings of the Old Testament take place.

By exploring its geography take a look at these Scripture texts. Psalm 121:1-2; Psalm 148: 3, 9-10; Psalm 8:3-4. What descriptions do you hear?

The area around Jerusalem receives 26 inches of rain a year. The area is rugged, hot and dry. The rainy season happens around November. During the hot seasons there are pockets of oasis in the desert in the Negev. The dry air creates starlit skies clearer than in humid regions. The enemies live near the ocean and the seas and the Israelites are mostly landlocked. Their acquaintance for living from the sea during this historical period is limited. All these images make their way into the biblical text. Fear of the sea and the leviathan can also be found in the Psalms.

Think about our life here on the Eastern Shore. If we were to write a psalm or a song about God using our surroundings, how would it be similar to what we read today and how would it be different?

Okay so we’ll take a tour of the map.

The Judean Highlands & Jerusalem. Here we discover Hebron which is the site of Abraham’s tomb.

The Coastal Plain, I mentioned is where the Philistines occupied the land and the sea. The Phoenicians were engaged in sea trade and predominated the fishing industry as well.

Shephelah is an area of many conflicts and battles. It is a low foothill area that has acted as a buffer during many conflicts between the Philistines and the Israelites. 1 Samuel 17 David & Goliath takes place here.

Samarian Highlands are more lush and green and it receives more rainfall than the other areas. The hills surrounding the valleys are rounder and smoother. Today one can see enormous fruit groves, olives and figs, and vineyards.

Jezreel Valley is a large flat plain about 20 by fifty miles in size. Meggido is the site of many strategic battles even into the 20^th century. It is also the site where Revelation writes about Armageddon. The story of Gideon, the Amalakites, the Mideonites all take place here.

Galilee & Sea of Galilee is 50 miles from Jerusalem. This area is a variety of topography as well as people. Some are Israelites some are not. The northern region is quite mountainous, the southern more smooth with rolling hills and fertile soil. This is the site of most of the New Testament stories surrounding Jesus’ ministry.

The Jordan River is small by comparison of what we read in Scripture. Most places it is only ten feet wide. It rarely floods and it continues to shrink in size. To the east of the Jordan lies the area of land that rises sharply from the valley long range that plateaus it is called the Transjordanian Highlands

Dead Sea is about 1200 feet below Sea level. It is the lowest point on the earth’s surface. It receives 3 inches of rain a year. temperatures can get as high as 140 degrees F in the summer. The water has 25-30% salt content. Unique salt formations are throughout-giving rise to the idea of Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt.

Mount Hermon

The Negev is the desert region where the path of the Exodus is believed to have taken place.

Most of the Bible stories play out in the landscapes we are describing. The size of land we are talking about is about the size of New Jersey 256 miles by 75 miles. However, the rivers Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris contributed to access of Africa and Asia. The larger region influenced and affected the lives and views of the people of the Bible.

As we leave today having had a geography lesson how does that impact our story as we seek to live into God’s story and Live our Story through God’s Story? I believe it opens us up to listen to the God who still speaks and illuminates our reading and deepens our understanding. Amen.

Resource: The Hebrew Bible: A thematic approach Gravett et al. Publisher WJK

Monday, December 28, 2015

Song of Simeon

Sermon Luke 2:21-40 Christmas 1 December 27, 2015

Song of Simeon

Christmas Eve we spoke of ordinary people and ordinary places. We spent time learning about how God appeared to the most unsuspecting people in places of insignificance. We were left to consider who else like Mary has God used to fulfill God’s promises of love? Has it been you? Or me?, Your neighbor? Or perhaps the stranger down the street?

We learned about the ordinary insignificant towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem and were left to consider how are we, in our community the source of goodness and wonder for those around us? How are we aware of the power of the ordinary in our midst?

Friends, we are all returning to the ordinary of our routines and back to the grind of life. We have much to consider about the power of God among us as we go forth. God’s presence is always in the ordinary. As we read these stories from Scripture we discover more and more about how God is present always in the ordinary. It is our challenge to discover God in these moments.

God’s promises were fulfilled within the ordinary rituals of the practice of life. God continued to be revealed through the faithful journey of Mary and Joseph as they continued their routines of living out their faith rituals.

We might ask ourselves, what rituals we have that we are faithful to?

How are we living our faith journey beyond the season of Advent and Christmas? How will we keep the sentiment of the Christ child in our hearts throughout the whole year?

May I suggest keeping the ritual of coming here to this place each week over the past month, may the ritual of your presence here spill over into the New Year and all year long. Your presence has made a difference for all of us. We have felt united in faith and in our story of life, and in our shared relationships.

You see, Mary and Joseph did the same, they continued the pattern of their life faithfully and that allowed for the promises of God to shape their current and future relationships.

Mary had already learned through the voices of angels, shepherds, and wise men, that words are powerful.

Words are powerful enough to curse or to bless.

Words carry with them either curse or promise.

Words are powerful enough to harm for life. They carry much weight, enough that wars have been built on the words of others.

Words are used by the powerful to diminish and denigrate the weak.

Words are used by the mighty to slay the even the purest, to keep them lowly.

And in the midst of this the power words spoken by prophets of old and of today break through with words that sting and sing with strength and courage for the weak and the lowly.

How, we say?

They break through-By listening to those who step forth by the power of the Spirit to speak the truth when the truth must be heard.

And so Simeon, a beloved faithful man who had been waiting his whole life for a glimpse of the promise of the Messiah, scans the crowd at the Temple that day, and behold!,

He sees them,

the couple carrying the child,

stand out,

and he rushes to them

knowing that this IS the Child!

The promised one,

come to save the world.

An old man comes forward and takes the baby in his arms and begins to sing a song.

He praises God for this child. He comes and holds this baby because the Spirit of God has come upon him. Three times Luke affirms that he has been led to this baby by the Spirit. It is clear that we are to hear that Simeon has been called by God to claim this child.

As we listen to his song it’s not just about praising God for this child who brings salvation to the world,

but it’s the prophecy,

the forward telling about the conflict that even salvation brings.

This child will cause the rise and falling of many.

There will be people who will be confronted with their own frailties, their own injustices and their own corruption.

People for generations into the future will be faced with decisions about who this child is and whether to follow and believe he is from God bringing salvation and new life to all.

Words MATTER! Where are we in this generation, as the forward telling of the conflict salvation brings enters into our lives?

How are we seeking to proclaim love, justice, peace among one another, in the community, and in our world?

Simeon and his story of holding on to a promise his whole life, a promise he lived out by being active in his ordinary world, a promise he chose to allow to guide him in all his ways, a promise based on love, the fulfillment of God’s love for him and for the world would appear to him.

As I shared on Christmas Eve, the story of Christmas is the story of love. It’s the story of a people lost in darkness seeking to find a way home. It is the story of a people seeking comfort from their pain and their struggles, their brokenness and their suffering. The story of Christmas is the love story of God made complete through the clashing of heaven with earth as God became flesh and dwelt among us.

The story of Christmas is NOT over. The love story of God lives on in us. The love story of God is how God’s Word goes forth.

Words matter, friends!

How will the words of our mouth be acceptable in God’s sight as we live the rituals of our faith in our ordinary ways?

Mary treasured all these words she received along the way in her heart, they sustained her and gave her strength.

Jesus as he grew gave us the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, so many other words of power to grant us what we needed to go forth as his followers for generations to come.

Hear these words I say every year as Howard Thurman speaks

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.

Don't ask yourself what the world needs.

Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive!!

God, in Christ, has come alive in us this Christmas and this is just the beginning. A

Friday, December 25, 2015

Christmas Eve December 24, 2015 NMPC

Bulletin Christmas Eve December 24, 2015 NMPC

Prelude

Welcome

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. We have beheld his glory! Rejoice the Lord is Here!! Alleluia, Amen!

We are welcomed in the name of Christ. We are glad you are here tonight as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Tonight we will hear God’s Word, sing familiar hymns, we will hear how the world was forever changed through the willingness of ordinary people to respond to God, we celebrate with a modern day nativity and come to the fullness of our joy of salvation through the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and finally be sent out into the night through our candle light singing of Silent Night.

Let us worship God!

Choral Opening: Light of peace, calm our despair, Light of hope, lift us up when we fall, Light of joy brighten our days, Light of love, teach us your ways.

Call to Worship

L: Tonight we celebrate the one moment, the one birth, and the one life that forever changed the world!