Today's Sermon - On Guard - 9/29/19

On Guard

(1 Timothy 6:6-21)

In his letters to Timothy, the apostle Paul, an aging missionary, felt that he needed to give Timothy a little advice.  In these letters, Paul offers advice on a lot of subjects that deal with church business as well as personal growth.  

We often get advice from people we know and love.  They offer it usually because they’ve been there, they’ve done that.  They know the perils that might happen if we go our own way.  They know the joy that could be experienced if we’d just pay attention.  Sometimes we listen to that advice and are rewarded for not making some of the same mistakes they did, sometimes we don’t – often to our own detriment.  

Well, in today’s verses, Paul addresses the subject of contentment, where it is found and where it is not found.  How to be on guard against the things that do not benefit us and how to be in pursuit of things that bring joy and fulfillment.  In the midst of a society that was driven by wealth and greed, Paul's advice to Timothy was to learn the lesson of true contentment.  He begins with a reminder that we do not bring anything into the world, and we will not take anything from it.  So, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, be joyful.  If we have the necessities of life, like food and water, clothing and shelter, we ought to rejoice.

But his advice turns to a warning in verses 9 and 10.  He warns that those who are in the pursuit of “stuff” will fail to find contentment in the simple pleasures of life.  They will be trapped by senseless and harmful desires.  Consider for a moment how much time and energy is spent on things that don't last.  How truly senseless a number of our pursuits become when we view them in the context of God's universe and God's time.  One of our greatest sins has to be the sin of wasting time.  We focus on the unimportant, we major on the minors.  We toil and labor and sweat and strain over things that have no eternal value.

Paul's warning is to be on guard against those things that do not provide contentment in life.  We might think that the pursuit of money and “stuff” for us to have and enjoy might bring about that contentment, but the opposite is true.  Paul writes in verse 10, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from the faith".  We often talk of going from rags to riches, but to those who make money their God, just the opposite is true.  They exchange the riches of glory for mere earthbound rags.

To young Timothy, Paul writes, "You, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness" (v. 11).  Pursue the things that last.  How do we do it?  How can we discover contentment, and keep our wealth in perspective?  Because I’m not saying that money and riches, in and of themselves are bad.  But we need to be on guard against making them something that they were never intended to be and to put them into proper perspective. 

First, be more concerned with people than with things.

Go back and read the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  While you do that underline every single verse that describes Jesus' love for things.  Every time his wealth is mentioned, highlight it.  Each time his love for fine clothing is discussed, circle it.  Actually, you don't really need to that, because there is nothing to underline, highlight or circle.  Instead, Jesus invested his life in the lives of others.  You won't read about Jesus' bank account, or his home, or his clothing.  You will instead read all about people whose lives became intertwined with his; people like Bartimaeus, or Zacchaeus, or Mary, or Martha, or Lazarus, or Peter, or John, or countless others who didn’t even have names but we know their stories because we’re told about how Jesus came, became part of their story and changed their lives.  Like the man sitting by the pool waiting to be healed, or the ten lepers that were sent away clean, or the hemorrhaging woman who touched his garment, or the man born blind who could now see, or the man with evil spirits inside him, or the centurion whose daughter was ill.  Jesus was concerned first and foremost with people.

Where do you invest your life?  Examine the created order of life; the waning of day into night, the turning of the seasons, the ebb and flow of water, all plants, animals, fish, birds.  God placed them all carefully on our planet and chose humanity to have dominion over all of it.  If God placed people above all things, and if Christ valued people more than life itself, doesn't it make sense that people should be important to us too?

Second, focus on the eternal and be on guard against the pursuit of the temporal things of life.  Sometimes we fail to see the big picture.  We forget that there is more to life than just today’s existence.  Whenever we fail to consider the eternal, the matters of the heart and the well-being of our souls, our priorities get out of balance.  We focus on this temporary life and forget that we need to spend time preparing for all of eternity.

Every day we spend some time in front of the mirror.  We comb hair, check clothing, brush teeth to a pearly white.  We fuss over makeup, nail color, and neckties.  We spend a lot of time on these earthly bodies.  Which is fine, as they are the temple in which our spirits reside.  But sometimes we do that at the expense of our inner spiritual bodies, which will last forever.  We should take as much time, if not more on grooming those bodies for health.  We tend to focus on the physical and the temporary rather than the eternal.

Notice the language of Paul's warning to be on guard.  Flee from the senseless and harmful desires that keep your focus on the mortal.  Instead, pursue (run after) the eternal.  Every now and then my mom calls me or texts me because she’ll be watching some car auction show on tv.  And she’ll call in amazement because a 1934 Packard just sold for over 4 million dollars or even more ridiculous, a 1962 Ferrari sold for 48 million dollars.  People spend millions of dollars to own a piece of Camelot.  But in the end it's all just stuff—temporary, can't-take-it-with-you stuff.  

Why not make investments that last forever?  Spend time with an aging adult who might be feeling lonely or neglected.  Spend time with a child, reading them a story.  Get involved in a local mission.  You don’t have to go a world away to be a missionary.  You can do it right here at home.  There are plenty of agencies and activities that need your help.  Give away a few of your things so that another person in need might have the necessities of life and can rejoice.  Be mindful of your quiet time with God.  Spend time in prayer.  Be attentive to the agency of your heart, mind and spirit that you are pursuing after the right things.   Be on guard against the temporal and focus on the eternal, each day, every day.

Third, filter the voices in your life.  We set priorities by listening to the right voices in our lives.  It's like tuning a radio as you search for a clear station.  There are many voices in our world.  Every one of them wants your attention, each wants to control you, or at least a small part of you.  Some are good and positive, others are full of static, some speak about things you don't even want to hear.  Yet, you must decide which voice will control your life.  Ask some questions about the things you hear: Does it proclaim truth and the things of God?  Does it speak well of every person?  Is it fair and honest?  Will I be a better person for listening, or will what is said begin to erode my character?

          A lot of the voices out there will tell you to be selfish.  To look out for number one, to make more, have more, possess more.  Be on guard against those voices.  Instead, pursue the voice of God, which is quite different.  It says, feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, serve humanity.  Until we learn true contentment with the blessings of Christ in our lives, we will keep searching and desiring more, never quenching our thirst.  Decide whose voice will get your attention: The world's or the Savior of the world.

Today's Sermon - Intimacy of Prayer - 9/22/19

This morning's sermon is not one of my best, in my opinion.  It is a strange combination of trying to use the Old and New Testament writings to create what I had in my head a month ago, which just wouldn't come out this week.  But, here it is nonetheless.  Blessings to you all!

Intimacy of Prayer

(based on Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, 1 Timothy 2:1-7)

Last week we spent some time on Lament and what a lament is.  In our Old Testament reading this week Jeremiah continues lamenting his purpose in life as a prophet to the Lord.  “My joy is gone”, he says.  What’s kind of funny about this statement is that Jeremiah has never struck me as someone exhibiting the slightest amount of joyfulness.  In any case, whatever joy he had has flown away and it has been replaced by grief.

More lamenting, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”   Regardless of how dire Jeremiah sounds, we might want to take a note from his comments here.  We often want quick turnarounds, in a season.  But Jeremiah told the people of Israel that they would have to wait on the Lord’s time.  If you recall, they needed to wait for more than 70 years for a turnaround to even begin to happen.

Jeremiah’s grief is to be pondered.  He not only grieves, he yearns to grieve even more.  Jeremiah wants to weep.  “Oh, that my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears.”  Again, Jeremiah’s words are strange.  Who wants more sorrow?  And yet, it is only in prayer that we can be that honest and intimate with God.  In praying and opening to God, we’d be more in sync with God if we were to fully comprehend the sorrow God feels over the people of the world.  Robert Pierce, founder of World Vision, once said, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break God’s heart.”

This concern and lamenting for the people we know and love, like Jeremiah did for the people of Israel, like Robert Pierce did when he founded World Vision, for the situations we hear about around the world can lead to real and intimate prayer time with God.

According to the Internet, as of July 2019 the population of the world stood at more than 7.7 Billion people.  That's a lot of people.  I don’t think most of us can even imagine that many people, but that's our world today.  People who live in tiny villages in the jungles of the Amazon to bustling cities that barely have a green tree growing in the concrete jungle of their metroplexes.  And yet, according to God's own Word, all – each and every one of them – were created in God’s image and are precious in God’s sight.  And Timothy urges us to pray for them all.  But how do we pray for 7.7 billion people?  Timothy especially calls on us to pray for those in leadership positions.  All those 7.7 billion people are under the authority of their governments; kings, queens, prime ministers, presidents, dictators, tribal leaders, courts, republics, democracies, militants, empires, and regimes.  Timothy urges us to pray for all of them. 

Afterall, God thinks global thoughts.  God thinks about everyone, because God created all of them and loves all of them.  It is only right for us, then, to pray for them, as well as praying for ourselves.  But in my prayer time with God, I don’t think it’s possible for me to pray for 7.7 billion people without being overly simplistic and not terribly genuine.  Sort of like saying, “Dear Lord, right now I pray for Aunt Betty and her health issues, for Mike and his problems at work, for Esther and her upcoming surgery, for my neighbors who just learned that their son has cancer, for John and the death of his wife, and everyone else.”  That last tag line just seems ingenuine.

So, I think I prefer a modern writing and translation of scripture by the late Eugene Peterson called, The Message.  He translates verse 1 this way: "The first thing I want you to do is pray.  Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know".  It’s a little bit different than praying for everyone, because that’s just impossible to pray for 7.7 billion people. 

However, in writing to Timothy, Paul affirms the importance of prayer and the need for prayer on behalf of all people.  We need to pray for all the people we know, but in so doing we pray for the world, because we are connected with one another and you know people I don’t know and I know people you don’t know.  We are then, each of us, praying for a larger and larger circle of friends and family and others.  It is through that intimacy and our united prayers that we can touch all the corners of the world with prayer.

Our prayers cannot be just for the people we know and love, however.  Most of us are good about praying for people we love, people we know, people with whom we work.  But our prayers must go beyond our comfort zone to include others, too.  It’s in the intimate inclusion of those who are different from us, who think differently than we do and who might not be our friends or loved ones that we are deeply moved and changed.

Alan Paton, in his novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, describes the pain and inner turmoil of a black priest named Kumalo. Kumalo's son, who has moved away to Johannesburg, is convicted of murdering a white man, who happens to be the son of Kumalo's neighbor.  The last scene of the book describes Kumalo during the early morning hours on the day that his son is to be executed.  He has taken some tea and maize cakes and has climbed to the top of a familiar mountain where he spends those restless moments in prayer.  As the dawn approaches he prays with even greater fervor, not for the release of his son, but for his forgiveness.  And then in that poignant moment, he prays for others, the family of the slain white man, the judge who has pronounced the verdict, the people of Johannesburg, some who had led his son to ruin, and others who have befriended and helped Kumalo in his search for his son.  It is a soul-searching, gut-wrenching prayer.  It is an inclusive prayer.  Inclusive prayers are not always easy, but they are what God desires.

It is through prayer that we are changed.  That’s the intimacy of it.  It is in being in a relationship with someone else that we are changed.  It is in being in relationship with God, that we are changed by God to be more than we ever thought we could be.  It is in being in relationship with others, that we are changed by them to become better people.  That’s the intimacy of relationships.   And we cannot be in an intimate relationship with another person if we have sinned against them and not asked for forgiveness.  We cannot be in relationship with another and continue to sin against them.  Our sins against one another pull us in the wrong direction.  They lead us away from God; they erect a barrier that divides us from God.  And yet God desires that we be brought or brought back into the fellowship of the kingdom of God.  God desires that those who stand on the outside be brought to the inside.

Mother Teresa said, “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that He will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do.  I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength.  I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”

My God lead you to a time of lamenting over the situations in your life, the people you love, those around you, and the stories you hear in the news around the world.  But then let the Lord guide you in that intimate time together not just to lament and grieve, but into strength, joy, and action to change the world around you and in so doing we can change the whole world.

Today's Sermon - Lament - 9/15/19

Lament

(based on Psalm 51)

Bible scholars tend to identify the psalms by type or category, but they debate the exact classifications, with some naming more categories than others. Generally, there is agreement on a system that includes at least these five types: psalms of lament, royal psalms, thanksgiving psalms, wisdom psalms, and then a mix of smaller genres such as historical and prophetic psalms.

Lament is a major theme in the Bible and particularly in the book of Psalms. To lament is to express deep sorrow, grief, or regret. The psalms of lament are beautiful poems or hymns expressing human struggles. The psalms of lament comprise the largest category of psalms, making up about one third of the entire book of Psalms. These psalms are prayers that lay out a troubling situation to the Lord and make a request for His help.

          There are two types of lament psalms: community and individual. Community psalms of lament deal with situations of national crisis—they describe problems faced by all the people of God. Psalm 12 is an example of a community lament, expressing sadness over widespread sin: “Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; / those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. / Everyone lies to their neighbor; / they flatter with their lips / but harbor deception in their hearts” (Psalm 12:1–2).

Individual laments address various isolated troubles—problems faced by one member of the people of God. An example of an individual psalm of lament is today’s Psalm 51, as David lays out his need before God: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”  We’ll come back to the rest of this Psalm in a minute.

There are forty-two individual psalms of lament and sixteen community or national psalms of lament.

The psalms of lament are poetic hymns meant to be sung to God. They deal with issues that were and still are central to the life of faith for individual believers and the whole community of faith. The lament psalms express intense emotions, real human struggles, and the anguish of heart experienced by the people of Israel as they lived out their faith individually and corporately.

The men and women of the Old Testament were as real as we are today. They danced and sang, rejoiced and laughed, argued and confessed, lamented and mourned. They expressed emotions to God in prayer just as we do today. When we encounter difficult struggles and need God’s rescue, salvation, and help, the psalms of lament are a good place to turn.

This is one of the few psalms where we are given the historical background from which it arose.  The inscription reads, "A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba."  That identifies clearly for us the incident out of which this psalm arose.

It was the time when David became involved in the double sin of adultery and murder while he was king.  He had walked with God for many years.  He was widely known as the Sweet Singer of Israel, a man after God’s own heart; as King, he had gained a reputation as a prophet, a man who understood the deep things of God; and he had established himself not just as king, but also as the spiritual leader of his people.  Then suddenly, toward the end of his reign, he was plunged into this terrible double sin.

I’m sure you remember the account, but in case you don’t, this is what happened.  He was on his palace roof one day when the army had gone out to battle and he saw a beautiful woman by the name of Bathsheba, bathing herself.  His passion was aroused within him and he sent over messengers and ordered her to be brought to him.  He entered into an adulterous relationship with her for she was a married woman, but then again so was David, a married man.  But, back in those days, only a woman could be adulterous; men were pretty much allowed to do anything.  Accept, of course, do what David did, in the end. 

Bathsheba’s husband, a soldier in David's army, was away fighting for his king.  Later, when David learned that she was expecting a child, he panicked and tried to cover it all up.  He ordered the husband home from battle and sent him down to his home, hoping that he would sleep with his wife and the child would then be accepted as his own.  But Uriah was a soldier, committed to battle, and though he came home at the king's orders, he would not go down to his own house but slept with the soldiers at the palace and returned to the battle the next day.

David knew that ultimately his sin would be found out so he took another, next, step.  And this is always what sin does -- it leads us on --deeper and deeper, farther than we had ever intended to go.  Before the king knew it, he found himself forced into a desperate attempt to cover up his evil.  He ordered Uriah, the husband, to be put in the forefront of the battle where he would most certainly be killed.  When news of Uriah's death reached the king, he felt he had safely covered his sin.  For a year he tried to live with a bad conscience.  But, as the story records, God sent a prophet to David.  God loved this king, loved him too well to let him go on covering up and thus damaging himself and his entire kingdom by this hidden sin.  So God sent the prophet Nathan to David.

Because David was king, Nathan knew he would have to approach him subtly, for his own life could have been in danger if he had blatantly accused the king.  So, Nathan told him a story.  He said that while he was abroad in the kingdom a certain incident occurred which he felt should be brought to the king for judgment.  There was a certain rich man who owned a flock of sheep and a traveler came by to whom he wanted to show hospitality.  But instead of taking one of his own sheep and offering it for food, he went to his poor neighbor who only owned one little ewe lamb and took that lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.  When David heard this, he was indignant and cried out, "Such a man ought to be made to restore four-fold what he has taken and then be killed himself," (2 Samuel 12:5-6).

In a most dramatic moment, the prophet Nathan pointed a long bony finger at the king and said, "You are the man!" (2 Samuel 12:7). David knew then that he had been found out and that he could might have been able to cover his sin from others, but he could never do that with God.  He fell on his face before God and out of that experience of confession comes this beautiful fifty-first Psalm, which traces for us the proper way to handle a bad conscience when you have sinned before God.

This hymn or song or psalm of lament, a song of great suffering and loss, opens with a prayer for forgiveness.

Have mercy on me, O God,

  according to thy steadfast love;

  according to thy abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

  and cleanse me from my sin! (Psalms 51:1-2a)

In writing and singing this very personal psalm of lament, David greatly grieves the loss of his innocence and the consequences yet to come of the results of his sin.  He understands that sin is like a crime.  If a criminal is going to be delivered from the effects of his crime, he or she needs mercy from God.  Sin is an illegal act, a violation of justice, an act of lawlessness, of rebellion and therefore requires consequences.  Those consequences, because a violation of the law always results in consequences, are yet unknown to David.  But David also asks God to be merciful.

Second, he says, "Blot out my transgressions," and thereby he reveals that he understands sin is like a debt.  It is something owed, an account that has accumulated and needs to be erased.  When quills or fountain pens were popular, people would have a sheet of paper on their desk called a blotter.  This sheet of paper was the first sheet the fountain pen would touch before any writing occurred on the official document so as to release the pen of its first rush of ink.  Over time, the blotter would be filled with heavy blobs of ink and you would not have been able to see anything that had been previously written underneath.

Third, he cries, "Wash me thoroughly, and cleanse me."  David understands that sin is like an ugly stain.  Here, it is a stain upon David’s own soul.  Even though the act fades into the past, the stain remains a stigma upon David’s own heart.  So, he cries out and asks God to wash it away, make him clean again.

A psalm of lament begins in sorrow.  An acknowledgment of loss and suffering.  In this psalm, it includes an act of confession and a request for forgiveness.  But a psalm of lament usually ends in joy, knowing what God will do.  In Psalm 51:10, David returns to his initial request.  “Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Put a new and right spirit within me.”

My prayer for us today is that as we, individually and corporately, acknowledge our own sin before God, may God be merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  May God cleanse our hearts and put a new and right spirit within us.

Today's Sermon - In the Potter's Hands - 9/8/19

In the Potter’s Hand

(based Jeremiah 18:1-11)

This morning you have been given a small lump of clay.  As you listen to the sermon.  Do what you will with it.  Listen to the story.  Mold, shape, remold, rework.  Be the creative maker and make what you will.  But as you work, be the clay as well.  Imagine, wonder, listen.

So, following the word of the Lord, Jeremiah went down to the Potter’s House.  Here, God had a lesson to teach Jeremiah.  It was an object lesson.  Not one that could be easily explained by mere words, but one that needed to be seen, as well as said.

There, at the Potter’s Shed, God spoke to Jeremiah.  Take a look at the potter’s hands and watch him mold the pot.  Every day he sits at his wheel and molds the pots.  Every day he makes countless numbers of pots for the people in the community.  He molds them and shapes them into bowls for serving soup.  He molds them and shapes them into plates for eating meals.  He molds them and shapes them into pitchers for holding water from the well or milk from the cow, or wine from the vineyard.  He molds them and shapes them into lanterns to hold the oil for lighting the house at night.  Sometimes he even molds them and shapes into beautiful vases for holding the flowers of the field. 

With every turn of the wheel, the potter is thinking of what purpose this clay will serve and with each turn of the wheel the potter’s hands, fingers, thumbs push or pull and create the image of the vessel the potter wants.  As those experienced hands work the clay, they know when the clay is too soft or thin in one place, too hard or thick in another.  The potter knows when there are imperfections in working of the clay.  At that moment the potter stops and reworks the clay, reshaping and remolding it to suit the maker’s desire or need, to be the potter’s own creation.  The potter doesn’t let the imperfection go for long, he or she doesn’t wait to see if it will turn out ok after it has hardened and dried – hoping for the best.  The experienced potter knows that now is the time, while it is still wet and supple, while it is still being molded and shaped to fix the flaw.

In this object lesson/parable the clay represents Israel and the potter represents God – but we, too, are the clay.  While it may appear that we are sometimes headed for destruction or disaster, there is still time, when we are in the potter’s hand.  As the potter’s wheel continues to turn, there is hope.

The potter, the master craftsperson, does not set out to make a flawed pot, but sometimes it happens. The potter plans a thing of beauty; yet, sometimes it is not exactly right.  But thanks be to God, it is still in the potter’s hands.

When the potter noticed with expert eye and experienced tactile perception that the vessel was not quite perfect yet, the potter did not discard it but instead he or she reworked, and remolded it.  Though the clay was flawed, the vessel was still of worth, could be salvaged from the wreckage and made new.  That should give us hope.

God has a purpose and God has a plan.  We spoke about this when we read from Jeremiah last week from Chapter 29.  If we are yet in the Potter’s hands there is still hope.  As individuals, as churches, as a community, and even as a nation, we are of much worth and value to our sovereign God.  Though we might be scratched, scarred, blemished, defaced, and even what may appear as utter ruin, if we are in the potter’s hand there is still hope for reshaping and remolding.

But how do we know if we are in the Potter’s hand?  

First, if we are to be in the Potter’s hands, we must be mindful of the marginalized.  We must take notice of those less fortunate than ourselves. Our thoughts should be the thoughts of Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”  Do our thoughts resemble the thoughts of Christ when we think of the marginalized?  But being mindful alone is not enough.  Many people are mindful, we have good thoughts.  

Second, we must be motivated by those laws and admonitions of God, the commandments that were left for us to follow.  Not just the thou shall nots, but the thou shalls as well. “Love your enemies; Do good to those who mistreat you.”  This is not always easy.

If you remember the story in the Bible concerning the rich young ruler who thought that he was truly motivated by the mandates of Christ.  After all he had kept all of the commandments.  But he found that when he was asked to give up his possessions, his privilege if you will, he was not truly motivated by the spirit of the law.  How many of us are like him?  We are quick to name the things that we do not do and the things that we do, but when asked to give up our privilege, maybe not so much.

Third, if we are in the hands of the potter, the commandments and the spirit behind those commandments will motivate us to make a meaningful difference.  Like Christ, we must be compassionate.  We cannot see need and ignore it.  If we are in the Potter’s hands, we will be compelled by compassion.  We will be motivated out of love to care for those less fortunate, for those in need, for those who are hurting, alone, disenfranchised from the world, from society and from us.

Here’s the real message, though…no matter how bad it looks, don’t throw in the towel.  Don’t give up.  We can be remolded, renewed, so that we can rebuild a new nation that is characterized by the content of its character, not solely by the wealth of its elite.  Like that young ruler who thought he had obeyed all the commandments, and wanted to know what else he needed to do.  Just following the laws isn’t enough.  Being shaped and molded by those laws and led by those laws to do good, to act justly, to love kindness and to walk humbly.  That is the essence of the law.

As long as we are in the potter’s hands we are a work in progress. What we might consider worthless, ugly, useless, unwanted, God finds worth.  The pressures that we feel may be the remolding process.  They are what we feel as God reworks a vessel fit to fulfill the Potter’s own purposes.

In the end, the vessel that is formed pleases the potter, not the pot.  We find our fulfillment in being used as the vessel we were created to be, not in trying to be something that we are not.  Imagine a dinner plate trying to be a pitcher.  Or a lantern trying to be a plate. 

What about you?  Are you in the Potter’s hands?  Are you mindful, of the marginalized?  Are you motivated by Christ’s mandates?  Are you moved by the things that would move our Lord; moved to make a difference?

As God’s people, we are called to issue a prophetic word, to take the unpopular stance, to endure the taunts and threats that might be hurled upon us.  We are today’s Jeremiahs.

Together we can make a difference, if we are willing to stay in the potter’s hands, willing to be reworked, remolded, renewed, so that we can rebuild.

And speaking of rebuilding, what did you create during the sermon today?  How often did you wonder what you’d create?  How many times did you evaluate the clay wondering if you were making just the right thing?  How many times did you start over with the same lump of clay, reshape it, remold it, rework it? 

God is the Potter, we are the clay – remolding and reworking us, as long as we are in the Potter’s hand.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll admit I may be a work in progress, but I am in the Potter’s hands.  I may be marginalized but I am in the Potter’s hands…. I may be misunderstood, but I am in the Potter’s hands…weighed down and sometimes afraid, but I am in the Potter’s Hands…flawed, messed up, marred, scarred and maybe even a little cracked, but I am in the Potter’s hands.

Are you in the Potter’s hands?

Today's Sermon - Where Is God? - 9/1/19

Where is God?

(based on Jeremiah 2:4-13)

          Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet when he was just a boy.  God came to him and told him that he was known by God when he was still in the womb and that God had a difficult task for him to perform during his lifetime.  God told Jeremiah that he would face a people that had forgotten about their God.  He would face nations and rulers that were set on destroying Israel, and in fact, would do just that.  God told Jeremiah that he would have a difficult life, that he would be required to stand up to the people of Israel and proclaim aloud the bad things they had done and the consequences that would befall them as a punishment.  God told Jeremiah that the people would be stubborn and would not listen and that he would be hated for the message he brought to the people.

          Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful life?

          Doesn’t that sound like a real, exciting prospect for your future?

          Jeremiah may have thought, “Gee, thanks God.  Can’t wait to grow up and do that?”  And yet, Jeremiah was faithful to God’s call in his life and he did just that.  He railed against the people, and the government and the priests of God.  He was bullish in his task and did not shy away from telling the stark truth nearly from the time that he was a young man.

          We’ll come back to the passage that we read this morning in just a moment, but I do want to fast forward to when Jeremiah became an old man.  The consequences Jeremiah prophesied to the people came to pass, they were conquered by Babylon and were exiled from their land.  They found themselves living in foreign territory, broken, afraid, and lost.  And once the people have hit bottom, Jeremiah turns from being an angry prophet wailing against the sins of the people and becomes their counselor, their comforter, and he assures them that eventually everything will work out.  He assures them with soothing words and a lamenting song that God still loves them and will give back to them all that they have lost.  It will take more than 70 years for that to happen, but we can’t just read today’s passage without knowing how it all works out; so I want to read, Jeremiah 29:4-14.

          Now, getting back to today’s passage from Chapter 2, what went wrong for the Israelites?  What did they do or fail to do that brought them so low?

          Chapter 2 says that they “went after useless things”, they “went after things that do not profit”, those who were in charge of the law did not know the spirit of the one who gave them the law, they exchanged their God; the fountain of living water, for a well of muddy water that leaks and does not hold anything.  And twice in this passage it says that they forgot to ask the question, “Where is the Lord?”

          Friends, I’m not Jeremiah.  I’m not a prophet that rails against the faithlessness of the people, or the ways of the lawgivers, or the ministers and priests that have nothing to say, or the nations that stand at the border waiting to destroy us.  But this morning, I am a voice that asks if we have forgotten to wonder and make an awesome discovery of what the Lord has done for us every day.

          I don’t think we’ve forgotten to ask the question, “Where is God?”.  In fact, I think we ask that nearly every moment these days.  But, I do think we’ve forgotten how to see. 

Actually, I think we’ve gotten pretty good at asking, “Where is God?”  But we stop at the question and forget to look around and notice the wonder of God, notice the ways of God at work in our lives, at the world around us.  And because we’ve forgotten how to see, we’ve lost touch with our main purpose in this life; proclaiming the glory of God every day.

          I remember the first mission trip I led with a group of teenagers.  Linda Williams, director of Christian Education and Disciple-making at Presbytery, helped me put a mission trip together to go to Alaska, because it was a desire of one of our youths at my church in Leetsdale to do it.  Every since she was about 5 years old, she’d always wanted to go to Alaska and teach VBS there.  She turned 16 when we were on the trip.   I’d never led a mission trip before.  I’d never led a group of teenagers away for nearly three weeks of work in the isolated communities of Alaska to a new culture, new environment, new everything. 

And while there, every day was a challenge for me.  Every day I worried about the details and the travel plans, and the arrangements for accommodations and food preparation.  I worried every moment about what could go wrong and how to solve the problems that cropped up every day.  But, each night, Linda brought us and brought me, in particular, back to focus on why we were there and what purpose we served going to Alaska when she’d ask us, “So, where did you see God today?”

          I led that first trip to Alaska 17 years ago.  Since then, I have never failed to ask at the end of the day, “Where did you see God today?”  In fact, it has become such a routine practice that I no longer wait until the end of the day to reflect on that question, instead I notice God at work all the time.

          Last night, I had the opportunity of attending the Water Lantern Festival.  It was held at Lake Elizabeth which is next to the National Aviary on the North Shore.  I travel by that park and that lake often and had never noticed it before.  The festival was attended by upwards of about 5,000 people.  The people came from all over Pittsburgh and elsewhere.  We sat on the lawn by the lake with our camp chairs and blankets.  Each person was given a wooden float and an LED candle that would hold a paper lantern.  Each of us were given a colored marker to decorate the paper lanterns while we waited for the dark.  And while we decorated our lanterns, complete strangers would share their markers with others.  A purple one was traded for a red one and then a black one or a green one, until all those around us were satisfied with what we’d drawn or written.

          There was a time for people to come up on the stage if they wanted to and share their “lantern stories” as the organizers called it.  People talked about being there to share love, peace, hope, or to remember a special loved who had just passed away, some were there to mark anniversaries of being sober or drug free.  Bible passages were read, poems were recited.  People of all ages, sizes, ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, religions, all kinds of people shared their stories.  One young boy about 6 years old, introduced himself into the microphone with a crystal clear voice, “My name is Eli and I just want everyone to remember….that you are amazing!”

          We hear so much negativity in the world.  We hear about shootings and killings.  We hear about war and destruction.  We hear about hatred and evil.

          But last night in that park, as the lanterns were lit and launched on the water, people with hopes and dreams, sadness and joy, stood around the perimeter of the lake and watched the lanterns drift upon the water with the breath of the wind.  It was a glorious, moving sight.  Each lantern representing a person’s spoken or unspoken prayer.  Some lanterns traveled together in a pack, others seemed to have a mind of their own and go in a different direction.  But, as we stood there, families hugging, strangers smiling at one another, I heard the crystal clear voice of God that sounded an awful lot like a 6 year old.  “Just remember, you are amazing!”

          Friends, God is most definitely still at work in the world.  Don’t just stop and ask the question, “Where is God?”  Instead, look around, listen and see!  AMEN.