Worship and Sermon for March 22, 2020

Worship for the People of God

On Sunday, March 22, 2020

Just a word before we begin:

Today is a different day for all of us.  We have gotten so used to Sunday Mornings at church; seeing our neighbors, families, friends, embracing one another, catching up with the week’s happenings, and encouraging one another in all manner of life’s struggles.  Today is a different day for us.  Although we can’t worship together physically, we worship together today in spirit.  We give thanks for the wonder of technology that allows me to write this from the comfort of my home office and for you to receive it in the comfort of your own home. 

Our ancestors in the faith endured long moments in time when God sent them out into the wilderness wandering about for years not knowing where they would end up, conquering nations exiled them from their own lands making them strangers to new traditions on foreign soil, the diaspora scattered them across the globe where they were unable to gather together or to worship together.  At one point in their history, the prophet Jeremiah told the exiles to settle in for decades, not just a couple of weeks, not even for a year or two, but for decades.  They did not forget their God, even when they could not gather together in worship.  They endured – so will we.

Anne Frank, in hiding during the Holocaust, wrote “I don't think about all the misery, but about the beauty that still remains.  This is where Mother and I differ greatly.  Her advice in the face of melancholy is: 'Think about all the suffering in the world and be thankful you're not part of it.' I don't think Mother's advice can be right, because what are you supposed to do if you become part of the suffering?  You'd be completely lost.  On the contrary, beauty remains, even in misfortune.  If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance.  A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!"

Julian of Norwich was sequestered in a small cell during the plague that decimated Europe.  Outside her walls, half the population of Norwich died, and the plagues continued for years.  She had, in 1373, astonishing visions of Jesus, his suffering, his compassion, his mercy and love.   And people who don’t recall anything else about her know that her mantra was “All will be well.   All manner of things shall be well.”

So, I say to you this day, no matter what happens over the next few weeks, months, or even the next year; “All will be well.  All manner of things shall be well.”

One of my favorite passages in Romans tells us, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us…While we were weak, Christ died for us.”

Before you begin your time of worship – sit comfortably in whatever seat you’ve chosen to praise God this day.  Take a few deep breaths and experience the presence of God, the great cloud of faithful witnesses who have gone before us whose own spirits surround you, and take pleasure in your own beating heart that was called into light the day you were born.

Breathe in, Breathe out

Breathe in, Breathe out

Opening Prayer

          Holy God, even though darkness and fear threaten to overcome us and swallow us, yet we will place our hope and trust in You.  For You are our light and our salvation.  Your love will shine on us, in us, and through us as Your people.  Though we are separated this Sunday from one another, we come as one holy body into Your presence from across seas and lands with different cultures and traditions, different languages, people of Your own creation whose skin may have different colors – but in You, we are one.  This separation today reminds us even more strongly how we are united in Your love.  Lord, open my heart to Your love, my mind to Your teaching, and my spirit to Your call in my life.  AMEN.

HYMN  "What Wondrous Love Is This?"

Prayer of Confession

Forgiving God, how many times have I spoken words of commitment and faith and then turned my back on those commitments to follow the temptations of the world.  I wander after the false prophets of greed, selfishness, arrogance, ignorance, hatred, stubbornness, and then shout my displeasure at how I am being treated.  I want You to come in and clean up all my messes, excusing me from any responsibility for them.  Forgive me, O God, for such foolishness.  But, help me remember the power of Your healing love, which has been given to me.  Forgive me when I think I know everything and then discover that I have behaved badly and thought in ignorant ways.  Teach me, O God, to listen and to place my trust in Your abiding love.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.  AMEN.

Words of Assurance

Even though we doubt God’s faithfulness to us, God is steadfast in God’s love for each one of us.  Receive that love in your heart this day.  Know that you are healed and forgiven in God’s grace and mercy.  AMEN.

Prayer

          Friends, there is so much we can and should pray about.  Each of you have your own prayer requests, concerns, and there is much for us to take to God in prayer this day regarding the virus, those affected, those who are dying, those who are constantly on the front lines caring for us and protecting us like doctors and nurses, health care workers, even grocery store clerks and back room stockers.  Take all the time you need to name these people by groups or to name individuals that you care about and love.  Perhaps take a moment to write down their names and pray for them.

The following is a simple spoken prayer from today’s Psalm; Psalm 46, which will also be the focus of my message later on in our worship together.  Each line can be said with a pause afterwards to lift up your own prayers to God.  Read each line aloud and pause.  Allow your own thoughts to lead you in your prayers to God, and allow some silence for God to speak to you.  Sometimes we fill up our minds with our own thoughts too much and never let God speak to us. 

Be quiet and listen.  Speak and hear.   Let us pray:

Be Still and Know that I AM God.

Be Still and Know that I AM.

Be Still and Know.

Be Still.

Be.

HYMN  "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"

Scripture Passage

Psalm 46

¹God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;  ³though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.  ⁴There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

⁵God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.  ⁶The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.  ⁷The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

⁸Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.  ⁹He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”  ¹¹The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Sermon

Years ago, a mother of four children came home from shopping to find that the house was quieter than usual.  As most of you know, when children are quiet, that can be a very bad sign.  Well, she looked into the middle of the living room and saw all four of them sitting around in a circle - very quiet and doing something with something.  It seemed innocent enough, so she put down her bags of groceries and walked over to them, looked and saw that they were playing with four of the cutest little skunks you've ever seen.  Terrified, she began to scream: ''Run children, run!''

So, each child grabbed a skunk and ran... in four different directions.  Now, mom's panicked, and she screamed even louder.  This, in turn, scared the children and - as a result - each one of them squeezed their skunk!  And I don’t think skunks like to be squeezed!  Well, these skunks were no exception.

Before their mother came home, the children were playing quietly.  They were still.  There'd been no danger, because they hadn't frightened the skunks... yet.  But once the mom came home and panicked, life got unpleasant really quickly. 

In our text today, the Psalmist is explaining a similar setting.  Israel is surrounded by danger; their enemies surrounded them.  If they gave way to fear, they'd begin to despair and lose hope.  

''God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore, we will not fear though the earth changes''

WE WILL NOT FEAR!

This passage has a way of comforting us, instilling in our hearts and minds the very idea that God is there for us.  God’s presence is our refuge and strength.  God’s presence is our help and guide in times of difficulty.  Our situation today is not too dissimilar to the story of the mom and her children or of Israel so long ago.  We can not give way to panic.  Panic will only lead to a very unpleasant situation, or to despair and a loss of hope.

But there are times when this ''No Fear'' thing is hard to do because fear is a natural response to the unknown.  There are things we can't control... and it makes us afraid.  When life gets difficult, when there's danger, and when there's a threat to our livelihood, or we face disease or injury, or even death - even the most spiritual amongst us can be afraid.

Fear is a reality of life (all of us have experienced it).  And when fear grabs hold of us we can become anxious and desperate and powerless. When fear controls us - our lives can get really miserable.  Knowing how easily we can slip into fear, then panic and make things worse, God says to us “Do not be afraid,” over and over in the Bible.  It's one of the most repeated commands in Scripture.  Don't be afraid – Have no fear.  I know for myself, there have been moments this past week when the panic and the fear wanted to take over and unrest my soul.  Thankfully, this passage brought me back to a modicum of calmness. 

Psalm 46 is mostly written in the third person, but then suddenly in verse 10 it shifts in perspective.  In verse 10 God speaks directly to us.  ''Be still, and know that I am God...''

''BE STILL.''  This passage is often translated as quiet.  Be quiet.  Yes, it’s about being quiet to allow God to speak to us.  To make room for God to do some work in you.  But it has a more urgent message than just to be quiet.  It literally means to stop.  Don't move.  Don't fuss and fidget because it's hard for God to fix things in our lives if we're forever filling up our lives with pointless movement.

          This has been the hardest thing for me to grasp this week.  I realized how much I fill up my day with pointless fidgeting.  Perhaps it’s because I’m an extrovert and need people and sound around me all the time.  Staying at home with just the company of my family and my own thoughts has not been good – yes, of course I love my family and my own thoughts aren’t entirely bad.  But, I’m used to moving, being busy.  I’m used to going places and being with people and filling my days and my nights with this and that. 

The second part of the command is Know that I AM God.

I remember when I was a small child and got a splinter in my finger.  I went to my parents because it hurt and I trusted them to make it better.  But, when they’d take out a needle and some tweezers and would take my finger in their hands, I’d immediately pull back.  Why?  Because I knew it was going to hurt, maybe even more!  I’d usually say something like, “Nevermind, it doesn’t hurt that much.  We can just leave it in.”  LOL  My mom or dad would then have to say, ''You've got to sit still.  Don't move.  I can't help you if you pull away.” 

When life gets difficult, when things aren't going the way we want them to, that's what we do when life hurts us.  We fidget and fuss, pull away, and we refuse to sit still.  In fact, sometimes we panic, like the mom did in our first story.  And the reason we do that is because we've forgotten the 2nd part of verse 10, ''Know that I am God.''  In this passage, God is saying, “Trust me. Trust me. I am God!  I can take care of this.''

Back when my nephew Lance was about 6 or 7 years old, he came over to our house to play.  I think some neighborhood kids were there, too. Mom, Dad, my Uncle Frank and Aunt Judy were there on the back porch watching us.  We decided to play baseball.  I was at bat and we told Lance to be the catcher, but he was so eager to do a good job that he ran out in front of me to catch the ball just when I swung the bat and I hit him in the eye.

Immediately Mom and Uncle Frank ran out to the back yard to see how Lance was doing.  Uncle Frank started yelling that Lance had lost his eye, while Mom quietly looked at the bleeding wound.  Lance, hearing his Dad yelling that he’d lost his eye made him panic and start to cry while Mom kept telling Lance, “It’s okay.  Let me take a look.  It’s going to be fine.  You’re going to be fine.”  Within those assuring words Lance grew quiet.  One thing made the difference: Uncle Frank was hysterical and over-reactive while Mom was calm and not panicked and he trusted her.  Once Lance focused on that truth, everything became better.  Yes, he ended up getting stitches, but we were right back out in the yard playing the next day.

That's what this verse is all about.  God is asking us ''Do you trust me? Well then, be still because you KNOW I am God.  So, don't be afraid.''

I've learned over time that when I'm faced with issues I can't control, I just focus on God and remember what God has done for me in the past.  Of course, I get scared and anxious and sometimes even a little panicky just like everybody else.  But this verse reminds me to be still and to rest in God because God has it all under control, even into the unknown.

I heard someone say that they have boiled this passage down to a simple command for herself – Stop, Drop, and Pray.  Stop the constant fidgeting, drop whatever it is that you are doing and pray, even if it is only for a few moments.  This week I’ve had longer moments of doing that than I’m used to, but it will remind me to do this on a more consistent basis when things get back to normal, whenever and whatever that might look like.

I want to close with the story of a woman named Gladys.  She was a missionary to China who oversaw an orphanage for Chinese children.  But during the early days of WWII, the Japanese army began to invade the area and she was forced to flee for her life. So, with only one assistant to help her, Gladys led more than 100 orphaned children over the mountains to freedom.  Have you ever noticed how much food a child can eat?  Well Gladys had 100 children to care for, and they didn't have many supplies when they fled.  The enormity of her responsibility was hard on Gladys and she began to struggle with despair.  At one point, after passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with the belief that they had no hope of ever reaching safety. Just then, one of the 14 year old girls in the group reminded her of their much loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

Sadly, Gladys said ''But I am not Moses.'' The girl said ''Of course you aren't.  But God is still God!''  Here's the deal.  We aren't Moses either. And we're not Esther or Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego or any of the other great heroes and heroines of the Old Testament.  But we serve the same God.  They weren't any different than we are.  Their only advantage was that, when life got hard, and became overwhelming, they looked to God... because God was God and promised never to leave them. That's the promise we all have today.

HYMN "The Old Rugged Cross"

Benediction

This day, give thanks to God.  Endure with strength and patience and also with the knowledge that God is a Mighty God able to do unbelievably wonderful things even in times of struggle and difficulty.  May your feet be guided in the ways of peace.  Amen.

Test Post for Revised Worship

Just testing to see if this is going to work for Sunday.  I'll be putting together a revised service with a link to hymns/songs that will open in a separate window when you click on the hymn (in blue).  The link will show up just below, click on this.  Of course, since this comes from an outside website, there will be ads - sorry!  Close the tab/window when you are finished listening to the song.  The hymn/song selection will turn purple in color, which means that you listened to it.  However, you can always click it again if you want to listen multiple times.  If this test post works you should be able to hear Morning Has Broken; make sure your sound is on.

Today's Service

• Opening Prayer

Prayer

• Hymn "Morning Has Broken"

Today's Sermon - Under Cover of Darkness - 3/8/20

Under Cover of Darkness

(based on John 3:1-17)

Our New Testament passage that we read this morning from John is utterly familiar, especially, John 3:16 and yet how many of us have really given the full context of this passage a deep thought.  The great preachers and revivalists of the 19^th and 20^th Century such as George Buttrick, Hal Lindsey, Billy Graham, Dwight Moody, Oral Roberts, George Whitefield, etc.), who’ve talked for the last hundred years or so about being born again, virtually ignore the concept of birth itself when theologizing about being born again.  Perhaps because most of them have been men?  Maybe they never actually witnessed a birth?  Or is being “born again” really only a revivalist concept, a surge of spiritual emotion, or even a zealous commitment to be different from mainstream Christianity?

Think about it: In the full context of this passage, Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness — like life in the womb, about to be born.  Shrouded in darkness, the unknown, a hidden place.  In 1 Peter it says that “God called you out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.  Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people”.  We were called out of the womb of darkness to enter into God’s marvelous world created just for us.

          Isn’t it curious that, in explaining this new birth to Nicodemus, Jesus speaks of being born of water and the spirit. Recall your first birth.  You were in water.  Then you emerged, gasping for air, for a breath — or we can say “spirit,” as the Hebrew ruah, and the Greek pneuma both mean air, and then by extension, spirit.  It’s always water and then the spirit when getting born.

          Jesus also says in this passage that you “must” be reborn.   This word dae in Greek intrigues.  It isn’t must as in You must do your homework, or You must report for jury duty.  It’s more like You must come to my birthday party! or You must come with me to the hospital to see Fred before he dies.  It’s a compelling argument out of a sense of love; it’s deeply personal, can’t-miss-it necessity... like birth – a result of the complex culmination of love.

          The heart of Jesus’ surprising notion of being born again is this: You can’t grit your teeth, make preparations, and get born the first time – when the time is right, when the time has been fulfilled you are simply born; you come out of the darkness and come into the light, you break free from the liquid darkness of the womb and are thrust into the light and air.  The same is true of being born again, as well.  You don’t make preparations for it, it simply happens, often when you least expect it.  Out of the darkness Nicodemus came to Christ due to curiosity, a sense of wonder, a compelling dae, a must in the center of his heart to learn more, to seek more, to find more. 

Back in October of 1964, I didn’t think, Hmm, nice day to get born, let’s do it.  For me it was an entirely passive, unchosen event.  Even the mother has zero ability to turn a microscopic zygote into a breathing, squealing person.  Birth happens to you, and in you.  And salvation, the idea of being born again, happens to you and in you through the power and work of the Holy Spirit.

          Given the ways preachers like Whitefield and Graham and even still others of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements, conducted revivals seeking people to be “born again” that were marked by a swooning of emotion, it’s important to realize that Jesus didn’t ask Nicodemus to feel anything.  

There are, of course, intense feelings at birth.  The mother giving birth may be overwhelmed with an intensity of joy, or anything else along a broad spectrum of emotion.  For the one being born though?  Is birth an emotional high for the baby?

Of course, the feelings mother and child share in childbirth are the pains, the excruciating squeezes, the tearing of flesh and sometimes even the breaking of bones.  Being born and giving birth are not easy processes.  Could Jesus have imagined such agony when pressing us toward a new birth?  Jesus courageously embraced pain and invited us to follow.  Paul, imprisoned and beaten multiple times within an inch of his life, still followed Christ.  It truly is no wonder that we’d prefer a happy emotional kind of rebirth at a revival, over and against the costly and painful discipleship that is the new life Jesus has in mind for us.  

          Jesus wasn’t asking Nicodemus to behave a little better, or to have a euphoric feeling, but rather Jesus meant something radical, a total shift of focus, priorities, behaviors and habits.  Let’s look to St. Francis of Assisi.

          Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally known as Francesco, son of an Italian wealthy silk merchant and a French noblewoman from Provence, he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man.  After fitting in with the well-to-do crowd and even excelling as a child and youth, he was enviably popular, handsome, gallant, cool, Francis heard the call of Jesus. But this call was a gradual spiritual conversion.  First, he had an encounter with a beggar, giving him all he had.  Then, he became gravely ill and wondered about his true purpose in life.  Finally, a strange vision made him return to Assisi and went on a pilgrimage to Rome.  Taking the Bible quite literally, Francis divested himself of his advantages, including his exquisite, fashionable clothing, which he gave away to the poor. His father, Pietro, a churchgoing, upstanding citizen, took exception, locked his son up for a time, and then sued him in the city square.  Giotto’s fresco in the basilica where Francis is buried shows a stark-naked Francis, handing the only thing he has left, the clothes off his back, to his father.  But his eyes are fixed upward, where we see a hand appearing to bless him from the clouds.  At this moment, Francis declared, “Until now I have called Pietro Bernardone my father.  But, because I have proposed to serve God, I return to him the money on account of which he was so upset, and also all the clothing which is his, wanting to say from now on: ‘Our Father who art in heaven,’ and not ‘My father, Pietro di Bernardone.’” 

For Francis, this was his new birth.

          What about birth from a female perspective, what if we pondered being “born again” from the mother’s side?  Anne Enright, a secular author who wrote the book, Making Babies, has this to say about birth;  “A child came out of me.  I cannot understand this, or try to explain it.  Except to say that my past life has become foreign to me.  Except to say that I am prey, for the rest of my life, to every small thing.” 

          And finally, in light of the John 3:16, to share a rendering of Rachel Marie Stone's marvelous envisioning of Mary's great gift to us from her book, Birthing Hope:

          "A girl was in labor with God.  She groaned and sweated and arched her back, crying out for her own deliverance and finally delivering God, God’s head pressing on her cervix, emerging from within, perhaps tearing her flesh a little; God the Son, her Son, covered in her own flesh and blood, the infant God’s first breath the close air of crowded quarters… God the Son, her Son, pressed to her bare breast… connecting again as God the Son, her Son, drank deeply from his mother.  Drink, my beloved.  This is my body, broken for you”. 

          For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the World to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

          Birth and Rebirth – under cover of darkness we come into the light to connect once again to the author of life.  AMEN.

Today's Sermon - Tempted - 3/1/20

Tempted

(based on Matthew 4:1-11)

Our Lenten journey began this week with Ash Wednesday and now extends through Palm Sunday on April 5.  There is some evidence that early Christians fasted for forty hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the season of Lent and the custom of spending forty days in prayer and self-denial didn’t happen until the Council of Nicea met in the year 325, when the initial rush of Christian adrenaline was over and believers had gotten very ho-hum about their faith.

When the world didn’t end as the disciples thought it would shortly after Jesus left them, they stopped expecting so much from God or from themselves, for that matter.  They hung a wooden cross on the wall and settled back into their more or less comfortable routines.

Little by little, Christians became devoted to their comforts instead.  It didn’t happen all at once, but slowly over time.  Generation after generation, each becoming more complacent.  Eventually, they decided there was no contradiction between being comfortable and being Christian, and before long it was very hard to pick them out from the population at large.  They no longer distinguished themselves by their bold love for one another.  They didn’t get arrested for championing the poor.  They blended in.  They avoided extremes.  They decided to be nice instead of holy.

At some point, someone suggested it was time to call Christians back to their senses, and the Bible offered some clues about how to do that.  Israel spent forty years in the wilderness learning to trust the Lord.  Elijah spent forty days there before hearing the still, small voice of God on the same mountain where Moses spent forty days listening to God give the law.  There was also this story in Matthew and in Luke about Jesus’ own forty days in the wilderness – a period of preparation between his baptism and his ministry – during which time he was tested by the Tempter.  For all of them; it was hard.  It was awful.  It was necessary. 

So, the church announced a season of Lent, from the old English word lenten, meaning “spring” – not only a reference to the season just before Easter, but also an invitation to a springtime for the soul.  A renewing.  A rebirth.  Forty days to cleanse the system and open the eyes to what remains when all comfort is gone.  Forty days to remember what it is like to live by the grace of God alone and not by what we can supply for ourselves.

The problem with preaching this passage from Matthew is that we make Jesus’ journey in the wilderness about us, but it’s about how amazing Jesus was and is.  We can’t really substitute ourselves in Christ’s place and say, “Here’s how to overcome temptation the way Jesus did.”  Not a single one of us would stand a chance for a moment with the Tempter after us in a desert in the same way that the Tempter tried to entice Jesus.  The point of the story is that Jesus won this victory in the wilderness against the Tempter for those of us who fail.  We are left, not imitating him, but in jaw-dropping awe of him.  He’s our Savior precisely because he dealt victoriously with his own demons in the desert wilderness.  It’s not about a technique to overcome temptation for ourselves, but rather it’s about our relationship with the one who conquers those temptations.

Our ancient tradition says that the season of Lent should be a season of fasting.  Give up donuts for Lent?  That’s fine, but to what purpose?  What is the reason behind the practice?  The spirit of the law or the practice was to become closer to Christ, to more fully grasp our dependence on Him and our need for penitence from the sin that has separated us.  However, I think we’ve treated it more like just another inconvenience to suffer through simply because that is what we’re supposed to do.  But worse, as sort of rebellion against ancient practices that ring hollow I think, is the practice of doing nothing during Lent, which I myself am guilty.

What practices for Lent would bring you closer to Christ?  What practices would thoroughly engage you in understanding Christ’s own sacrifice for you, for God’s daily forgiveness of your sins, for fully understanding how much God loves you and what Jesus went through to prove that?

If it is giving up your craving for candy bars or chocolate, then continue to do that.  If it is giving up your dependence on caffeine, then do that.  If it is giving up a habit that has had a grip on your life that you want to be rid of, then do that.  However, perhaps there could be a different way to approach Lent this year for some of you.  In the newsletter article this week, I copied an article from Pope Francis who gave a list of other practices that we might engage in for Lent. 

          Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

          Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

          Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

          Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

          Fast from worries and have trust in God.

          Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.

          Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

          Fast from bitterness and fill your hearts with joy.

          Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.

          Fast from grudges and be reconciled.

          Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.

Jesus’ encounter with the Tempter revealed how thoroughly dedicated he was to God’s will and call for his life.  It also gives us some clues about how to have that same kind of dedication.  Not so that we can defeat the Tempter ourselves, we can’t, but rather so that we become closer to God in our relationship with him and just a little bit more like Christ in our dedication to God. 

While Jesus’ temptations are unique, the Tempters challenges to each of us are not.  The Tempter may not replicate the same temptations with us, especially since we are not the unique Son of God, but the Tempter does use the same key issues; namely a challenge to faithfulness. 

Temptations and tests in life are not bad, in fact, they can be divinely sent.  The main issue is our response.  Do we respond in a way that looks to God to guide us through it?  Do we trust him, or do we put him to the test?  How do we respond to personal struggles in our own lives?  Do we get angry?  Do we seek to reassert our control over events (even when we know we have none)?  Or do we rest in our faith, look for God’s hand in the situation, and ask God what we should be learning from what we are going through?  If we are to grow spiritually, we should expect trials.  If we are to grow spiritually, we need to look to God in the midst of it all.

We also have a habit of blaming God whenever suffering occurs.  We may feel that God has abandoned us, when, in fact, God may just be trying to get our attention, revealing a better way to us, or asking us to meet him in the midst of the suffering.  Jesus chose to reject Satan and turn fully towards God.   May we be able to do the same, growing in our spirituality by walking into events under God’s leadership, even when we don’t know or understand the outcome.  May this season of Lent have substance for you in what you give up and fast from and what you pay attention to and who you lean on.

Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

Today's Sermon - Transformers - 2/23/20

Transformers

(based on Matthew 17:1-9)

How many of you have read the poem called Footprints in the Sand about the person who had a dream that they were walking along the beach with God (raise hands)?  So, I read this a cartoon version of it the other day, the first part of it had God with his arm around the person saying, “Where you see one set of footprints is where I carried you . . . ” much like the poem, and then the next line read, “ . . . that long groove you see there is where I dragged you kicking and screaming.”  Sometimes that is so very true, isn’t it?

          We know today’s story from Matthew, we read it every year just before the beginning of Lent.  Each of the gospels includes it.  Today, we read from the account in Matthew who wrote; “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.”  The first time I really studied this text was in 1987, when I prepared my first candidating sermon for two small churches in Ohio.  My first reaction to this story was a very simple curiosity: why did Jesus only pick these three disciples and no one else?  Perhaps this comes out of my grade school experience of always being picked last, but here nine of Jesus’ disciples weren’t picked at all.  It makes you wonder.

Scholars have long believed that Jesus chose Peter, James, and John because these three individuals were his core group of leaders, or the inner circle who would eventually hold very prominent roles in the ministry after Christ’s death and resurrection.  As one commentator affirms, “Peter would take the lead in establishing the church; James would be the recognized leader of the church in Jerusalem; and John would receive the final revelation.”  Witnessing the event on the mount helped to prepare each of them for the responsibilities that where to come.  I suppose it is important to note that Christ brought with him three of the disciples, as it was established in that culture that the account of “two or three witnesses” was necessary for a testimony to be deemed credible.  

Matthew continues, “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”  In other words, the glory of Christ’s inner Divine nature was revealed to them at that time.  The word transfigured or transformed is the same as metamorphoses – to change (meta-) form (morph).”  The account carries on, “Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him”.  They also appeared in glory and were speaking to him. 

Peter’s quick response to what is going on around him without fully thinking things through, which is exhibited throughout the Gospels, surfaces in this story as well.  According to the account, “Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  As Matthew writes, “While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.”  This divine voice interrupts Peter, and not only declares Christ to be God’s “Son, the Beloved” but also establishes his importance over Moses and Elijah, as it instructs, “Listen to him.”  Peter’s response made Moses, Elijah, and Jesus equals in suggesting that dwellings be built for all three of them.  But the Heavenly voice corrected Peter, by telling the disciples that this Jesus was God’s own son and that they needed to listen to him.

Although my first curiosity about this story was about who Jesus brought with him to the mountain, the focus of this story is obviously Christ. The focus of our worship here at church is Christ.  We are not called to gather together on Sunday because of the allure of socializing – our time spent together, or because of good music that we participate in or listen to, or even the food that we share sometimes.  We might have those here, but we differ from ordinary social clubs and gatherings because of our faith in Jesus Christ – the focus of today’s story.  We are called to gather together as a worshiping, praying community.  We gather not just because of Christ’s moving and profound teachings about how to live in the world, but also and primarily to worship our God together as one Body.

Often in the larger church it seems that people have divided into two different camps where you either are focused on the “social gospel” and the works of justice, mercy, and compassion or the camp that is focused solely on putting on sort of a concert or show of worship.  However, I think we can seek both—to hold both together in a profound call to service of the needy, lowly, and marginalized, as an expression of following Christ as our Lord and Savior and to focus our worship as an outpouring of our love of God and God’s profound transformation in our own lives.

The same Jesus who commanded us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the lonely and those in prison is the same Jesus who, transforms or is transfigured before his inner circle of friends, Peter, James, and John, who performs miracles and heals the sick.  The same Jesus who responded to his disciples bickering about who would be the greatest in heaven knelt down and washed their feet is the very same Jesus, who, when asked if he is the long awaited for Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, replied with the risky words, “I am”.

This divine Christ said, come unto me and I will give you rest….drawing people to himself.  He also said to his disciples to go out and heal the sick, sending them out.  He said, believe in God, believe also in Me: drawing people to himself.   And then he says to go and love your enemies: sending forth.  This drawing near and sending out is the rhythm of the life of the Church.  We draw near Christ on Sunday and commissioned at the end of every service to go forth in the name of Christ to do the work of the Gospel.

The Gospel in its entirety only makes sense if we are willing to step into the absurdity of a world in which God can, would, and did become human– fully and completely.  Let us with Peter affirm, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In Mark’s Gospel, immediately following the Transfiguration Jesus heals a young boy, and the boy’s father declares, “I believe, but help my unbelief!”  Merge Peter’s acclamation of faith and this father’s honest confession, and in many ways you have a good summary of the faith of the disciples, who gave up everything to follow Jesus, but were shaken deeply by circumstances along the journey, doubting, arguing, and frequently just totally not getting it.  It’s not unlike many of us today. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”… “I believe, but help my unbelief!”

And it is in this journey of faith and doubt, of being pulled into Christ and being sent out into the world that we are also transformed, transfigured and go through our own metamorphosis like Christ and as Moses and Elijah appeared to Peter, James, and John.  Our inner Holy Light is there to shine and show the way of God.

My prayer for us is that we might bring our doubts before Christ, laying them before him as an offering…and also go to the mountaintop with him, into that vulnerable place where he is revealed for who he truly is—both fully God and fully human.  Indeed, I believe that place is right here in our worship as we seek to surrender to God our fears, our anxieties, our insecurities, and in return to receive the blessings, healings, and miracles of God in our lives. 

Today's Sermon - Deep Wisdom - 2/9/20

Deep Wisdom

(based on 1 Corinthians 2:1-12)

In our New Testament reading from the first letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul told how he came to Corinth and found a city that was committed to philosophy and wisdom.  Even after the church had begun there, the Christians were still exalting the wisdom of the philosophers.  But Paul says the meaning behind the cross of Christ undercuts all the pride, all our boasting, and our power and glory.  Instead, Paul speaks of what he calls "the secret and hidden wisdom of God” which can only be made available to us through the Holy Spirit.  

This “secret and hidden wisdom” of God through the Holy Spirit is intended to mold us into the kind of human beings that God designed us to be; to produce knowledgeable and courageous people, who are -- loving, compassionate, strong and yet merciful and tender-hearted, filled with grace, beauty and strength.  That is what knowing the secret and hidden wisdom of God is supposed to do to us.  It is a deeper wisdom than what Paul found in the searching hearts of the people in Corinth.  It is a deeper wisdom than what is sometimes taught by our own leaders today.

Paul also eludes to the belief that this deeper wisdom is the fullness of knowledge, the permanent understanding of truth.  It is something that does not pass away or fade over the years, nor does it change from one cultural bias to another.  It is the center of truth.  It is the essence of God. 

This deeper wisdom is undiscoverable by natural processes.  By this I mean that you cannot learn about it in school; you cannot take a course in it.  No philosopher can unfold it.  No psychologist or psychiatrist can explain it or teach it to you.  "The eye cannot find it," Paul says.  In other words, it cannot be found by observation.  "The ear cannot discover it," Paul says.  So, simply listening to the voices of the past cannot uncover it; you will not read about it in history.  It is not even available to reason, or simply to our  minds.  It is only made known to us through God’s Holy Spirit speaking to our inner spirits – that God spark that is in each of us, that recognizes the divine, that seeks out truth, that stands in utter speechlessness at the awesome works of God.   It is in that spark, in that connection of spirits (ours and God’s) that the deep wisdom of God resides. 

And it is a truth without which we human beings falter and fail, homes break up, violence breaks out in society, and all the evils we see around us begin to flood in.  Therefore, it is the most vital line of wisdom in the world.  We could try and search for it, but without the proper eyes to see or ears to hear or heart to feel, a person can never attain it, never acquire it.

God reveals these deeper wisdoms to us only through the Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  For what in us can even know the depths of our thoughts except the spirit within us which speaks to God’s Spirit.  And no one can comprehend the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit instructs us with the Word of God and leads us into the truth of God that changes lives and exposes us to this secret and hidden wisdom of God.  When you finally discover that inner connection to God through the power of the Holy Spirit life changes completely.  This deeper wisdom from God sets us free to become the very person God created you to be.

Do you ever try to tell your troubles to your dog or your cat?  I know a lot of people who do.  There are dog people and there are cat people and there are a few of us that are simply pet people.  One could claim the old adage that a dog is man's best friend; man being used in the generic sense.  But I think this phrase could really be used for most pets; I’m leaving reptiles, fish, and insects out of this as I don’t see them in the same way as I do dogs, cats, rabbits or even pet birds.   

What does your pet do when you talk to it?  It responds doesn’t it.  The dog might whine, the cat might purr, they might wag their tail, hop over to you or flap their wings – all depending on what type of pet you have. Somehow the pet knows you're trying to get something across to them; and they are trying hard to understand, and yet, as comforting as their responses might be, they’ll never fully comprehend the depths of your anguish, pain, sorrow, joy, happiness.  Afterall, they are only a pet.  However, if you were to sit down and tell your troubles to your wife or husband, your brother or sister, your mom or dad, your best friend; they will understand.  Why?  Because the spirits within us can sympathize or empathize with the same kind of emotions, with the same depth of feelings and understandings.  We share a common basis of knowledge.

Now here is this great Being of God in our universe, this fantastic Being of infinite wisdom and mighty power.  How can we know anything about this God?  Paul's answer is that we cannot, except for what God discloses to us.  The level at which God operates is so foreign and unattainable to us, that we simply cannot comprehend it no matter how hard we try – just like our pet at home who tries hard to understand us and does to a certain extent, but not completely. 

So, we cannot find, or discern, or understand God by searching.  Our wisdom alone cannot know God.  Our investigative powers, regardless of how immensely amazing they become, will never fully comprehend the entire dynamics of the natural forces that create, sustain, and move life forward.  Only God knows these things and only reveals to us what we can comprehend through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In order for us to understand a tiny portion of the knowledge and depths of wisdom that God holds, God sent a son, God-made-flesh, so that we might have a visible demonstration of what God is like.  The simplest answer to the question, "What is God like?" is to say God is like Jesus, under all circumstances.  But it is the work of the Spirit, through the written record of Christ, that we comprehend what Jesus is like.  As the Holy Spirit illuminates those pages and makes them vivid and real to us that we find ourselves confronted with the living, breathing Christ himself.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  

And that is really what we try to do each and every Sunday when we gather here for worship; in our music, and in our prayers, in the words that we say and the words that we hear.  It is to make the pages of this book come alive through the life of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that our own inner spirits speaking to the Holy Spirit might catch a glimpse of that deep wisdom of God.

On his missionary journeys across the ancient world, Paul lived among the people preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In certain places he adapted his teaching a bit.  When he arrived in Corinth, the people were used to a hierarchy of power.  They had been under Roman rule for a long time and were accustomed to the teachings of philosophers and great orators.  But Paul chose to come to them in a different way.  He did not preach to them with lofty words or to even try to speak of the mysteries of God.  Instead, he spoke to them plainly of Jesus Christ and the purpose of the cross.

Under those kinds of teachings, they were challenged to receive the deep wisdom of God, not because they sought it, but rather because the Holy Spirit convicted them of it.

 That is the process.  It begins with the indwelling of the Spirit in the teachers from the Bible like Paul, who then preached and taught Christ crucified and what that means for the hearers, then comes the indwelling of the Spirit in the hearers lives by belief in that word taught and experienced and finally the illumination of the deep wisdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit who allows each believer to glimpse an understanding of that deep wisdom of God as it fits his or her life directly.  And this process has occurred in every generation from those we read about in Scripture down to us today.  And it is our job to pass on that process to our children and to those whom we come into contact with now.

That is the process by which this great body of fascinating truth, the secret and hidden wisdom of God which is intended for our glorification, will begin to change our lives, our homes, our families, our community, our nation, and ultimately, the whole of the world.  It describes to us why the world can never solve its problems, why it is locked into the same pattern of failure, generation after generation, and the only breakthrough that can ever occur is for someone to opens his or her mind and heart to the word of the Spirit, to be taught by the Spirit, and to begin to live on the basis of these life-transforming things.  Only then will the deep wisdom of God become part of our every day existence with one another.

So, my prayer for you today is that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, impart to you a deeper wisdom for your own life.  AMEN

Today’s Sermon - God’s Case - 2/2/20

God’s Case

(Based on Micah 6:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12)

To set the scene, picture getting sued by God.  Because that is exactly how the scene is set up in our Old Testament passage this morning.  

“Hear what the Lord says:  

Rise, plead your case before the mountains;

And let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord;

And you enduring foundations of the earth,

For the LORD has a case against his people;

And he is lodging a charge against Israel.”

In these first two verses from the beginning of chapter 6 in Micah, God calls the court to attention, calls the mountains as his witnesses since they’ve been around long enough to have seen what’s been going on.  God then announces that he’s commencing proceedings against all the people of Israel.

God makes his opening argument or statement to the people.

“My people, what have I done to you?

How have I burdened you? Answer me.

I brought you up out of Egypt

and redeemed you from the hand of slavery.

I sent Moses to lead you,

also Aaron and Miriam…

In other words, “What have I done wrong to you that you are treating Me this way?”

Then the people God is suing offer their defense:

The people respond.

“With what should I come before the LORD

and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings

with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

So, in other words God asked, “What have I done that you’re treating Me this way?” And the people responded with, “What more do you expect from us?”  Putting it in today’s terms, it would be like saying, “God, we go to church.  We give sacrificially to the offering every week.  We have our devotions and try our best to follow You with our lives.  I know we’re not perfect, but what do You expect from us?  What will make You happy?”

What Does the Lord Require?

In verse 8, God answers the question, “What does God want from us?”  The first part of verse 8 says, “He has shown all you people what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?”

The Message, a paraphrase of the Bible written by Eugene Peterson, puts it this way: “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do…” God isn’t giving us new information.  What we’re about to read is consistent throughout Scripture.  There isn’t some new request in Micah, and it’s not something that only applied two thousand plus years ago.  God’s requirements for God’s people have been consistent throughout history, throughout all of Biblical teaching, from start to finish.

It’s consistent.  It’s also pretty simple.  Anybody can remember three things, right?  And yet, although these three requirements are simple, it seems from this lawsuit that God’s people have a pretty spotty record at how well they do with these three requirements.  

In fact, we could ask, “How well are we doing with them today?”

Verse 8 says, “What does the LORD require of you? To act justly…” I think it’s important to understand the full concept of this part of passage.  What is justice?  Is it just about treating others fairly?  I think so, but it goes beyond that.  The full concept behind this is the idea is of not just treating those you regularly come into contact with fairly, but in promoting justice in all of society.  It’s a concern for justice for everyone; to work for right relationships and justice for all, especially for the most vulnerable.

The issue with justice is how those who have power and privilege treat those who don’t.  The reason why this is so important is because when you read the Bible, God always takes the side of the poor.  God is a God of justice who pleads the cause of the poor, and requires his people to do the same.

Listen to what God said all the way back in Deuteronomy, when God was outlining how his people should live.  Deuteronomy 10:18 says of God, “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigners residing among you, giving them food and clothing.” In chapter 15:7-9, he says:

“If anyone is poor among your people in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.  Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need…Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then, because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything that you put your hand to.  There will always be poor people in the land.  Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward those of your people who are poor and needy in your land.”

Justice is essentially how those of us who have look after those who don’t have.  God says, “I don’t want people who just come to church and worship me.  I want them to do something about the inequity and injustice in this world.  I want them to promote justice for those who don’t have.”

If this is one of God’s non-negotiable requirements, the question is, are we doing this?  How much do we speak up for those who are vulnerable in this world?  Churches are usually pretty good at charity, of helping those in need.  Charity is showing kindness, but Justice is dealing with the root causes that made the charity necessary.  And how well do we do this?

Here are some facts for you to consider:

The world is enjoying unprecedented wealth, and yet more than one billion people live in abject poverty, struggling to get by on less than $1 a day. 

Each day, 50,000 people die from preventable, poverty-related causes.  Which means that every 1.7 seconds, another person dies of simply being too poor to get the right medication for preventable diseases or starving to death because they were too poor to have enough food to live.

Today, the richest three people in the world own assets that exceed the combined wealth of the world’s poorest 48 countries.

There are other issues to justice besides poverty, such as racial issues, unjust laws, equality, etc…

I wish I could tell you the solutions to all of these issues, but the answers aren’t easy.  I can’t tell you the solution, but I can tell you that God requires us to do something.  God requires of his people that we promote justice.  In Micah’s day, God was so angry about this that he sued His own people because they weren’t doing it, they weren’t promoting justice.

If anybody should care about these issues, it ought to be God’s people, who share His heart and who have received God’s love.  What does God require?  That we work to promote justice in this world.

The second requirement from God is to love kindness or to act with mercy.  Justice is working to address the causes of racial discrimination, poverty, inequality, but acting with kindness or loving mercy means that we walk alongside those who suffer – showing faithfulness, generosity, and compassion.  It doesn’t just mean showing mercy.  It means actually loving it, making it something that’s what you love to do.  Mercy isn’t deserved. We don’t look at some people and say, “You don’t deserve mercy!”  We give them mercy as freely as it’s been given to us.

One last requirement, to walk humbly with God.  What I would expect to be number one makes number three on God’s list.  I don’t know that these are given in any particular order, but I would have thought that God would have come first and dominated the list, but instead the list is led by how we treat others.

“Walk humbly with your God” includes all the things we normally think of in our relationship with God.  It involves intimacy, cultivating a relationship, staying attentive to God’s will.  It’s being deliberate about pursuing ongoing spiritual growth and discipleship, of becoming more like Jesus.

If you asked the average person in our circles what following God is all about, this would be it.  This is what we should focus on in order to walk humbly with God.  

So, these are what God expects from us individually and as a people of God.  They are how he expects us to live: to promote justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with Him.

We need to ask ourselves and our church; How much do I/we promote justice?  Do I/we care about the issues of justice as they relate to those in need?  Do I/we ever contact the government when they make decisions that are unjust to others?  How much do I/we love kindness and act with mercy?   Does that kindness or mercy flow from a heart that’s grudging and condescending, or from a heart that sees the image of God in another person, especially someone who may not be like me/us?  How often am I/we excited to share the love of God with others?  Am I/are we walking humbly with God?  Does my/our heart reflect God’s priorities?  Do I/we see past my/our own world and see what God cares about?

If these are the big three, how are you doing?  And how are we doing as a church?