God Calling

Oh my God! This really is God calling! I may have mentioned this once before but what if your phone rang, doesn’t matter whether it’s your cell or your landline, and you saw in the caller ID “I Am”, what would be your response?
It can’t really be Him. It must be one of my friends. Someone is playing with me. But then you push the talk button and say, “He….llo???” And you know with the first sound of the voice that it’s really the Man, God, the Great I AM. Now what do you do?
This happened to Moses. It wasn’t a phone ringing it was just a burning bush but still when he went to investigate what was going on with the bush he heard a voice calling to him by name and he answered, “Yeesss? I’m right here.” Then God stopped him and said, “Hold it right there.” “Just wait a minute.” “Take your shoes off.” “This is holy ground.”
Jesus said in this morning’s gospel lesson that those who answer the call he gives to follow him must turn over control to him. They aren’t in the driver’s seat any longer, He is. Anyone who ever said that following Jesus was easy, anyone could do it, didn’t read this part. Did you hear it? He said, “Don’t run from suffering, embrace it.” “Follow me and I’ll show you how.” “Self-sacrifice is the way to do it.” That’s Jesus’ way to finding yourself, your true self.
Jesus said here, “What good is it if you get everything you want but lose yourself.” Luke put it another way. He said, “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?”
What is the real you? What does it mean to lose yourself? No one knows the real you but you…and God. The real you, the you way down deep inside, is our soul. It’s who we really are. And that’s what we are in danger of losing if we make the choice to follow our own whims and desires instead of heeding the call to follow Jesus.
How do any of us know if it is really God who is calling us to work at a particular thing or in a certain place? I truly believe that when God calls you will know. Maybe it won’t show up on your caller ID but believe me you will know. And if you don’t respond, God is patient; he will keep ringing your bell until you hear it and answer.
So we answer the call, then what? I think Paul’s letter to the Romans gives us some pretty good one-liners to get us started.
He begins with love, real love, not the fake kind, genuine love. Love that really cares how you feel. You know what that kind of love is like.
Watch out for evil. Beat feet when it comes near. Get a good grip on the good things.
Be good to your friends, the ones who love deeply, the ones who will never desert you no matter how grumpy you are. Learn what it’s like to be of service to others. In service to others we learn to deny the importance of our own lives; only in service to the least and the lost can we understand and accept the role of suffering in Jesus’ life as Messiah and in our own lives as his followers.
Don’t burn out. Take time to refuel and keep the fire hot. Be alert to what God is doing around and within you. Be cheerfully expectant.
When times get hard, and they will, don’t quit. Pray harder. Wear the knees of your jeans out praying.
Help those in need. Do something different when you are welcoming strangers. Bless those who you would like to curse.
Laugh often with your happy friends and cry with them when they cry. Get along with each other.
Don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with people you would never think of as being your friends. Be careful; don’t think you know it all. You don’t.
See the wondrous beauty in everyone. It’s there, the Holy Spirit will help you see it.
Treat the one you can’t stand, your enemy, to a fine meal. Boy will they be surprise. If he’s thirsty, find out what he likes and get it for him. Don’t let evil get the better of you. Get the best of evil by doing all the good you can.
God’s calling. It may not show up on your caller ID but you will know it’s him. Stop what you’re doing and answer like Samuel did. Just say, “Speak, your servant is listening.” And then listen.
Friends, hear the words from a Storyteller.

Last week Jesus asked "who do you say that I am?"Unlike Peter, I threw my hands up and said "Whatever!"After all, what I say he ishe keeps beating down the walls and won’t be containedI say he is sweet and gentle and kindthen he calls some indigenous mother with a sick daughter a dawg!And when I say he is a soft, kindergarten sorta rabbihe calls his star student Satan!and if I would have said he is the liberator of a people oppressed by Roman colonial rulewhat a disappointment when he sayshe will sufferhe will be killedand talk of death does eclipse the third day resurrection promisebut here I amOne of the "some standing here who will not taste deathbefore they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom"my changed heart is testimony to some standing here
Friends, dare to tell the rest of the story.Jesus did.Maybe we too often tell the glory side onlyLeaving the hearers thinking its all coming up roses and blue skiesBut the other half of the story is that the road to glory is a difficult roadsuffering, rejection, mockery, death.This half of the story is the one that we are afraid to tellWhen the pastor is asked "What's in it for me?"We want to say "Glory!"Dare to say "First the suffering, then the glory"
Storyteller-DesperatePreacher.com
Friends, God is calling us. Listen. Thank you God for the call.

Who Am I?

Has anyone ever come up to you and said, “Who are you?” What was your answer? Who are you?
How many of you men have been brave enough to ask your wives this question, “Honey, how am I doing as your husband?” Don’t worry I haven’t done it either and it’s probably because I’m afraid I’ll get an honest answer. I don’t know how I would handle that. Or let’s put the shoe on the other foot, how many of you wives have asked your husbands, “Honey, how am I doing as your wife?”
I would venture a bet that more wives have asked the question than any of us men. Face it men, we just can’t take the truth, to put it in the words of Jack Nicholson.
Another question that many of us should ask, and probably haven’t or maybe we have, is for our bosses or those we work for, “How am I doing in my work for you?” This is another question that is hard to ask because we aren’t sure we want to hear the answer.
The question today is, “who are you, who am I”. Or it may be who do people say that you are or who I am. Jesus asked the question and his followers had some answers.
I think he asks that same question of us, “Who do you say that I am?” I wonder how many different answers we’d get. Who is Jesus to you? Think about that. Friends, this is important stuff because how we answer tells us a lot about how well we know Jesus.
How do we answer that question today when we are talking to someone about our faith, our beliefs, or this community gathered here today? Who do we say Jesus is? Who do people say Jesus is when they see how we are living our lives?

Who Am I?
My mother was Mary.
I was born in Bethlehem.
A star shone over the manger where I was born.
Shepherds and Wisemen came to see me.
My Dad’s name was Joseph.
I grew up in the town of Nazareth.
My cousin was John the Baptizer.
I assembled a group of followers who travelled with me throughout Judea.
I ministered to those in need in Galilee, Judea, and Samaria.
I told people the kingdom of God was here.
My lifestyle upset the religious hierarchy of the day.
I called Jehovah “Abba”, Daddy, Papa.
I referred to myself as the Son of Man.
Peter said I was the Messiah, the Christ.
I was betrayed by one of my own followers.
Pilate ordered me flogged after releasing the criminal, Barrabas.
Soldiers cast lots for my clothes.
I was crucified on the hill called Golgotha.
I was buried in a sealed tomb guarded by two soldiers.
Three days later my tomb was found empty by Mary.
I appeared to my disciples and dined with them after my resurrection.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Who do you say that I am?

The answers we give really depend on what kind of relationship we have with Jesus. Do we talk with him every day or do we only think about him on Sunday? That might make a difference in our description of Jesus. Have we given our very lives to him? Do we trust him enough to go wherever he leads us?
Friends, that’s what Paul was talking about to the Romans. We are to understand that we don’t bring anything to God he brings it to us. When we embrace everything that God did for us in sending his Son then we are changed from the inside out. We begin to establish the kind of relationship with Jesus that God intended for us.
Then when someone asks who Jesus is we have an answer. He is our brother. He is our friend. He is the one who knows us from the inside out. He cares for us. Our sins have been forgiven because of what he has done for us.
Who is Jesus to you? He is calling to each of us today. Can you hear him? Do you know him? He is the reason we are all here.
Thanks be to God for the gift of his Son Jesus. Amen.

Are There Canaanites in Walnut?

If you made a list of people you would help if the came to you and asked for it who would make the list? Make a list in your mind. Is everyone on your list Caucasian, are they about on the same rung of the economic ladder, do they go to your church?
The disciples had just heard Jesus give a lesson in Galilee about what defiles the body and what doesn’t. It was hard for the Jews, those who were his followers and those who weren’t, to understand. They had lived by the law for so long it was hard to understand not living by the law.
It would be like going to China and finding dog on the menu. There are probably none of us who would find it okay to eat it. But in China it is acceptable cuisine.
But what Jesus said was, it’s not what you put in your mouth that defiles you but what comes out of your mouth when you speak. Because what you speak comes from the heart, from your soul.
And then he goes away from Galilee to Syrophoenicia, specifically to Tyre and Sidon. There he is confronted by a Canaanite woman and asked to heal her daughter who was tormented by a demon. The words we hear Jesus speak aren’t the words we expect to hear come from Jesus. In fact it sounds like he called her a dog.
Dogs weren’t thought of very highly in Jesus’ day. If you called someone a dog or referred to them as a dog it was a real slap in the face. No matter what translation I read it all comes out the same. Jesus said he had come to help the lost sheep of Israel and it wasn’t fair to give the children’s food to the dogs.
I don’t know how you’d take something like that but I think I would have tucked my tail between my legs and slunk off somewhere to stew about what he had called me. It’s hard to imagine Jesus using words like this.
The fact is Matthew recorded these words of Jesus so I believe he did say them. But since we can’t tell what his tone was when he said them we can’t be sure if he was being sarcastic, like we might be, or was he saying in a tone that was lighter. Or maybe he was doing this in order to give the disciples a lesson in what he had taught in Galilee.
Whatever the tone or the reason we see that Jesus finally was persuaded to help the woman’s daughter. In fact Jesus said, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it done for you as you wish.”
This is what makes me believe that Jesus was using this moment as a teaching moment for those who were following him. Matthew’s gospel was written for the Jewish community who were followers of Jesus. And it’s possible that they too were struggling with the acceptance of those who weren’t of the Jewish faith. So Matthew included this so to show that Jesus didn’t exclude those who were different, both by nationality and by gender.
So, all of this got me to thinking whether there are any Canaanites living in Walnut. What do you think? Who would we have a hard time helping if they came knocking on our door? Do we have prejudices that get in the way of helping those who desire our help? What about those who run those skateboards up and down our sidewalks, or those who drive down the street with the bass cranked up and all we hear is thumpa thumpa thump. Or do we have trouble helping those who are covered with tattoos or we a lot of body jewelry? Or maybe we can’t bring ourselves to help those who have made some bad choices in their lives. You know now that I think about it there probably are some Canaanites living in Walnut.
Well, if there are then I’m sure that Jesus wants us to help them when they come knocking on our doors. Remember the Scripture that said it doesn’t matter what religion we are God accepts everyone? If that’s the case then that means that we should accept them too.
It’s not easy if all our lives we’ve been taught that we shouldn’t associate with people like that, whoever they are. It’s hard to put those things behind us and realize that God loves everyone and wants a relationship with everyone, even us though we are sinners.
Shoot there are times that I feel like the dog begging for the crumbs from the table because of things that I have done that make me less than perfect. But then something happens that reminds me that the God who created me also forgives me for my sins. If he forgives me then it follows that he forgives others too who live lives that aren’t perfect. Shoot, I think that takes in just about everyone I know.
So even if there are Canaanites living in Walnut know that they are God’s children and they are loved and accepted by Him. Trying to be and live like Jesus we should also love, forgive and accept them as our potential sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ.
It’s a hard thing friends, but with Jesus’ help we can do it. The world is changing and so are the demographics of our community. Just look at all the different folks who are living among us since construction has begun on the new wind generators. Pray that God will grant you the grace of his loving acceptance of those who are different, even you and me. Amen.

Faith

Joseph is sold into slavery by his eleven brothers who hated him so much they wanted to murder him. Joseph probably wondered where God was in all this. As it turned out, God was with him through all of this. But it does make a person wonder how strong his faith was through all these trials. It certainly had to be tested.
Paul talks about how difficult it was and is to live totally by the law as prescribed in the Old Testament. There’s just too much fine print.
Paul says that it’s all about trusting God to shape us up for right living. In fact he points out that’s its much easier to trust in God to straighten things out and let him go to work than it is to try to make sure every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed in trying to keep the law.
It does take faith and that may be the hardest part for some folks. In the scripture read from The Message it says, “Say a welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it.”
We don’t have to “do” anything. We simply have to call out to God and trust him to do for us. We do have to embrace the fact that God is going to set everything right and that may be one of the toughest steps to take for some of us.
It’s not easy to put your trust in someone you can’t see or have never seen. It’s not easy to trust in someone you have only heard about or read about but haven’t actually seen or heard. But did you hear what Paul said about what the Scripture says? “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” And it doesn’t matter what denomination or religion you profess at the time you call to him. God is there for anyone who calls out to him. If you ask for help you will get help.
It does take faith to make the first call or take the first step. And for some that is the biggest hurdle.
Last week Jesus had just received the news about his cousin John being beheaded by Herod. He tried to get away with the disciples to a quiet place, a lonely place, but the people followed him and so he ministered to their needs first. And the disciples fed them and cleaned up what was left over. When that was all done he tells them to get in the boat late in the afternoon and go to the other side of the lake.
Jesus takes care of dismissing the people. It doesn’t say how he did that. How do you dismiss 15-20,000 people? But it says he did and finally he was able to climb the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He was there late into the night.
In the meantime the disciples were far out in the Sea of Galilee and they were in trouble. You see the wind had come up and the waves were threatening to capsize their boat.
Can you imagine what they must have thought when they looked up and saw someone walking towards them on the water? I think I would have wondered if I was seeing things too. Jesus assured them that it was him and then Peter thought, “Well, if Jesus can walk on water maybe I can to.” And so he said, “…if it’s really you, call me to come to you on the water.”
Good old impetuous Peter. He steps right over the side of the boat and begin walking towards Jesus. But the wind hadn’t stopped blowing and the waves were still rolling and it was then that he realized that maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew. When his doubts got the better of him he began to sink. Peter the Rock began to sink like a rock.
But when he called for Jesus to save him he did. Jesus said he had little faith or a faint heart. He had enough faith in Jesus’ power to take the first step but when he saw the power of the storm all around him he began to doubt.
I think that’s what happens to us sometimes. We take the first step by faith but then we look around us and realize that we’re in a little deep and wonder what if the Lord’s busy today. We forget that the One who made everything controls everything.
Like the man who asked Jesus to cast the demon out of his son if he was able to do anything. And Jesus said, “If you are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.” And he said, “Jesus, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
That’s it. If we believe, anything, absolutely anything is possible for God. Like Jesus said, “Let those with ears to hear listen!”
It takes faith to get started. It takes faith to put words together and ask for God’s help. It takes faith to pray. Without faith it’s impossible to believe.
God is here for everyone and wants nothing more than to be in a loving relationship with us. But he’s not going to push himself on us. He is waiting for us to get to that point where we realize that he is God, that he loves us, and forgives us no matter what we have done in our lives prior to coming to him.
Faith, faith as small as a mustard seed, is all it takes. My friends pray to God to strengthen your faith.
Thanks be to God for his grace in our lives. Amen.

A Lonely Place by Yourself

Have you ever felt the need to go off somewhere and be by yourself? You know what it’s like when the daily grind of work and the noise all around you, real and imagined, just get to be too much and you just want to be alone so you can sort things out. Maybe even talk with God about the why and the where of things. Have you ever been there?
I have. And I find its not always easy finding a quiet place to be alone with your thoughts and with God. Oh it’s easier now that the kids are grown but when they were young and clamoring for my attention when I would come home from work that was different. There was no peace or quiet or alone time, except very late at night or very early in the morning.
Jacob knew what it was like; Jesus knew what it was like and so did Paul. They all felt the pull of the Spirit to be alone with God. Because when they were alone, alone with God, they could get rid of all their burdens and talk with Him about all the things that were troubling them. They could wrestle with their problems; sometimes they even wrestled with God. That’s what Jacob did. And it changed him physically and mentally. He was a different person after being alone and wrestling with God.
Jesus often when away into the wilderness or up on the mountaintops to be alone, to talk with His Father. Sometimes he succeeded in being able to have some privacy but other times like in today’s scripture lesson the people would find him and his alone time was interrupted.
Do you think it’s important that we have time alone with God? I believe that it’s very important to spend time alone with God every day. Do I always get to? No, I don’t but I try because I’ve learned or I should say that God has taught me that it’s necessary to be alone so he can communicate with me and I can listen to his voice without being distracted by the noise of my daily life.
I come back to the pulpit today after having been able to have some alone time with God in some of the most beautiful places in his wonderful creation. One week I was camping alone every night in my tent as I biked across Iowa. The early morning and the late evenings were the best times for me. I woke to the sounds of robins, wrens, and cardinals singing their hearts out welcoming the sun and in the evening while lying on my sleeping bag I listened to the world quiet down. It was then I could talk with God and thank Him for all he had done for me that day or thank Him for a restful night as I woke in the morning.
And last week in the North woods it was the same thing. I woke to the singing of the loons and when to sleep listening to the sounds of boys talking as the recounted their adventures fishing and swimming in the Minnesota lakes. I thanked God for all of it.
We all need to find that lonely place so that we can talk with God and listen to Him as he fills us with his peace and love. These lonely places aren’t always idyllic places where everything is easy. Sometimes they are places where we encounter our problems and struggle with them all night and maybe, like Jacob, we may even wrestle with God trying to find answers to some personal life’s questions.
But no matter what the outcome, whether our time in the lonely place is quiet and peaceful or a wrestling with God we still need to find lonely places.
I pray that God will lead you to that lonely place where you can hear his voice and he can hear you give him your praise and thanks. I pray that he will show you the lonely place where you can be relieved of your burdens and finally be free of your sin realizing that you have been forgiven and know that you are loved.
Thanks be to God for the lonely places. Amen.