I suppose you've noticed how messy our lives are. In fact, if you're like me, you've probably even complained about how life hasn't been fair to you.
Have you ever considered how Joseph must have felt when he found out Mary was pregnant? Then he had a dream and an angel spoke to him. Then there's the census Caesar required which meant a trip by foot with Mary about to deliver a baby. And then they can't find accommodations in Bethlehem. So it's the stable or nothing for Joseph and his new family. And then there's the shepherds and later the wise men from the East. And then, another dream and another angel and another trip that takes them even further away from their home and families. When they finally get the all clear message from another angel they find they still can't go home because Herod's son's in power and he's every bit as bad as his Dad. So, they're detoured to Nazareth. Besides all that happened to them there's all those babies who were ordered killed by Herod. Life sure is messy.
Have you also noticed how Joseph behaved through all this messiness? We don't read anywhere that he questioned God's messengers or say, “No, I'm not going there.” Not once do we hear that Joseph balked at God's instructions. It makes me wonder how we would have responded in the same situations.
Maybe the gospel writers were being easy on Joseph. Or maybe he was one of a kind and God knew that this was the perfect man to be the human father to his Son, Jesus. God probably knew that Joseph could deal with the messiness and the changes that were going to come into his life.
So, what do you think the Message God wants us to take from this gospel lesson? I think there's more here than the slaughter of the innocents. Jesus was saved but all those other little babies died. We know now that God was just waiting for a later time for Jesus to die, to be the sacrifice that would save the whole world. What other Message does God have for us here?
One thing I'm noticing is how God spoke to Joseph. He spoke to him in dreams through angels. The other thing is how Joseph reacted to these messages and the messengers.
I've kind of skimmed over these parts up 'til now. It makes me wonder how many times God may have spoken to me in a dream and I missed it. Or I listened, in my dream, but when I woke up the devil chased it out of my memory. But maybe God doesn't speak to you, or me, in dreams or with angels. Has he spoken to us and we haven't heard or listened or paid any attention? Or maybe we heard and we just rejected the Message. We didn't like what we heard and so we chose to disobey God. Hmmm.
God chose Joseph because he was just as God had created him. He was meant to be the father to Jesus. God knew how he'd respond to all the messiness that surrounded him. Not that Joseph couldn't have thrown a wrench into the works but he didn't and I believe that's all because it was part of God's intricate plan for the world. Now don't get me wrong. Joseph wasn't a puppet. He had to make many choices. But because of how God knit him together in his mother's womb he made the decisions that needed to be made that kept God's Son safe until his appointed time.
I wonder, though, if Joseph ever had any questions for God about some of these trips He sent him on. It sure was an awful lot of walking. And he probably didn't have all of his tools with him when he had to go off to Egypt. I mean it's not easy being the breadwinner for the family when the economy's in such turmoil. Do you think Joseph was ever worried? I think he had to be but, you see, he trusted God, and so did Mary. That had to help immensely.
So how do we respond when God asks us to do something that we think is way out there? I think we can learn from Joseph. Maybe Joseph can help us learn to trust our God more and be willing to take a risk just because it's God who's doing the asking. Maybe, after hearing this story again, we will be more attuned to God's voice as he speaks to us.
Friends, God speaks to us in many ways, even when things are messy and chaotic. I pray that you will now take some time every day to sit alone with God and listen as he speaks to you. I pray that you will listen to that voice that's in your mind as your go about your work. It just might be one of God's messengers with a special delivery for you. May God give you the courage and the strength to respond to his direction even if it sounds a little messy. Trust in God. He knows what he's doing because he is the Master Planner for the whole universe.
Thanks be to God for the wonderful grace-filled gift he gave the world. Amen.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
What Brings Us to Church?
I know I’ve asked this question before but I believe it’s something we need to unpack again. And, it’s also the question Jesus asked those who were with him when he was questioned by John’s disciples. He said, “What did you go out into the desert to see?” He didn’t ask them just one time, but three times he asked them, “Why did you go out?”
That’s a good question for us to reflect on today. Why do we come here? What do we expect when we come? Do we come expecting something different? Do we come here to see miracles, to feel the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, or to experience God’s power at work in his Word? What do we hope for when we come to this church?
If I were to take a survey of this entire congregation this morning I imagine we would hear many different reasons why we all come to church. Some might come because they love to sing the hymns or to hear them sung. Others may come because they enjoy being with other folks who are just like them. They’re comfortable and feel at home among this group of people. Others may come because they are able to sit and feel God’s presence as the whole liturgy is performed, prayers, songs, reading of the Scriptures, proclamation, and the charge and blessing. Others come hoping that God will somehow fix them so they can cope with all the world bombards them with.
Such a simple question, “Why do we go to church,” can actually turn out to be very difficult to answer. That’s because worship is different for each of us. God didn’t make us all alike so why would our reasons for coming to church to worship be any different?
Whenever I come across a question I’m having trouble coming up with an answer that makes the most sense I like to go to the Confessions to see what our ancestors had to say about it. The Confession of 1967 has this to say about worship, “The church gathers to praise God, to hear his word for mankind, to baptize and to join in the Lord’s Supper, to pray for and present the world to him in ownership, to enjoy fellowship, to receive instruction, strength, and comfort, to order and organize its own corporate life, to be tested, renewed, and reformed, and to speak and act in the world’s affairs as may be appropriate to the needs of the time.”
When you decided that you were coming to church this morning what were the reasons you came? As I said God created all of us to be different therefore we’ve each taken different paths to get here. That means that none of us have experienced the same things and even if we have, how they impact us and how we remember them will be different. So why wouldn’t our experiences or expectations be different?
Many of us come to church to worship God and when we do we come carrying a whole lot of baggage. Sometimes we want nothing else but to be able to take that burden from our shoulders and lay it at the foot of the cross hoping that Jesus will pick it up and carry it for us. Sometimes we come with our problems not sure if God hears our prayers but we don’t have anywhere else to go and so we come here praying that he will notice us and help us. Sometimes we come knowing that we need to change, need to repent, but we aren’t able to do it by ourselves and so we come praying that God will provide just what we need. We don’t know what that is but we come hoping.
So, have you answered my question in your mind why it is you came here this morning? I pray that whatever the reason God led you here this morning that your questions were answered through the power of the Holy Spirit and that you leave here strengthened and encouraged to be the storyteller God needs this week as you walk the path he’s put you on.
Thanks be to God for his grace-filled peace and joy. Amen.
That’s a good question for us to reflect on today. Why do we come here? What do we expect when we come? Do we come expecting something different? Do we come here to see miracles, to feel the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, or to experience God’s power at work in his Word? What do we hope for when we come to this church?
If I were to take a survey of this entire congregation this morning I imagine we would hear many different reasons why we all come to church. Some might come because they love to sing the hymns or to hear them sung. Others may come because they enjoy being with other folks who are just like them. They’re comfortable and feel at home among this group of people. Others may come because they are able to sit and feel God’s presence as the whole liturgy is performed, prayers, songs, reading of the Scriptures, proclamation, and the charge and blessing. Others come hoping that God will somehow fix them so they can cope with all the world bombards them with.
Such a simple question, “Why do we go to church,” can actually turn out to be very difficult to answer. That’s because worship is different for each of us. God didn’t make us all alike so why would our reasons for coming to church to worship be any different?
Whenever I come across a question I’m having trouble coming up with an answer that makes the most sense I like to go to the Confessions to see what our ancestors had to say about it. The Confession of 1967 has this to say about worship, “The church gathers to praise God, to hear his word for mankind, to baptize and to join in the Lord’s Supper, to pray for and present the world to him in ownership, to enjoy fellowship, to receive instruction, strength, and comfort, to order and organize its own corporate life, to be tested, renewed, and reformed, and to speak and act in the world’s affairs as may be appropriate to the needs of the time.”
When you decided that you were coming to church this morning what were the reasons you came? As I said God created all of us to be different therefore we’ve each taken different paths to get here. That means that none of us have experienced the same things and even if we have, how they impact us and how we remember them will be different. So why wouldn’t our experiences or expectations be different?
Many of us come to church to worship God and when we do we come carrying a whole lot of baggage. Sometimes we want nothing else but to be able to take that burden from our shoulders and lay it at the foot of the cross hoping that Jesus will pick it up and carry it for us. Sometimes we come with our problems not sure if God hears our prayers but we don’t have anywhere else to go and so we come here praying that he will notice us and help us. Sometimes we come knowing that we need to change, need to repent, but we aren’t able to do it by ourselves and so we come praying that God will provide just what we need. We don’t know what that is but we come hoping.
So, have you answered my question in your mind why it is you came here this morning? I pray that whatever the reason God led you here this morning that your questions were answered through the power of the Holy Spirit and that you leave here strengthened and encouraged to be the storyteller God needs this week as you walk the path he’s put you on.
Thanks be to God for his grace-filled peace and joy. Amen.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Are We Ready?
Today we begin the second week of Advent and I wonder if I’m ready. Are you ready? Really, are you ready?
You probably think I’m talking about Christmas and in a way I am but not in the way you’re thinking, presents, Christmas trees, lights, and so forth. That’s not where I’m going. Are you ready for the King of Peace?
Now that you know where I’m coming from some of you are saying, “Sure, I’m ready. Come, Lord Jesus, come.” And there’s the rest of us who say, “Uh, I’m not quite ready yet. There’re some things I need to change first.”
Everywhere I look I see people who are all stressed out. Some are worried about the weather. Others are worried because they can’t come up with that perfect gift for Mom or Dad or their best friend. Some are worried because they’ve been laid off from work and don’t know how they’re going to keep the heat and lights on for another month. Some are stressed because they’re hosting the Christmas dinner this year and they want it to be just right.
Is anybody stressed out because there are so many people trying to make it this winter without shelter? Is anyone worrying about those who are struggling with their addictions to the mind altering substances they can’t seem to live without? Is there anyone who thinks that all the money spent on our military operations is excessive? Is anyone worried about peace? Is anyone worried about the ax John’s talking about? Are we really ready for Jesus, the King of Peace?
Every word we heard read this morning was either about hope or about peace. Friends, I don’t think we’re living in very peaceful times. Our country is still sending young men and women to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq and there’s the threat of nuclear war from the North Koreans. There’s not much peace on the African continent or in Central America and some parts of South America either.
With so much uncertainty where is our hope? I’ve place my hope, my trust in Jesus the Christ, the King of Peace. There are some who wonder how anyone can place their hope in Jesus when he still hasn’t returned as he promised his disciples. My answer is he never said that he’d be right back. In fact he said that he didn’t know the time when he would return. No one does. And so we wait…and hope.
I still put my trust in God. Why, you ask, do you still have hope that Jesus is coming back. I trust that God will keep his promise because if everything in the Bible was all just a story I don’t believe it would have survived for over 2,000 years. I believe because of God’s words to us in the Word, Jesus.
I’m ready because I have placed my hope in what God has planned for all his children. Isaiah said it verse 10 from chapter 11, “the new king from the family of Jesse will stand as a banner for all peoples.” The Prophet said the new King will stand for all peoples. That is good news for us because Isaiah was talking about the foreigners in the land. Even then God was getting things ready for us.
God is ready to receive us; are we ready to receive him? Since you’re here this morning I’m assuming that you’ve already taken the first step. God called you and you responded by coming here to worship and sing praises to Him.
My question for all of us was, “Are we ready?” Maybe we’ll never be completely ready but if we believe in Jesus and his Message of Good News that God’s kingdom is here right now then I think you and I are as ready as we’re ever going to be. When we put our hope and trust in the One who cares for us then we’re ready.
My hope is that I’ll live to see a world that’s totally at peace, a world living in harmony the way Jesus wanted. It begins with you and me. When we live lives filled with God’s love and peace living in harmony with our neighbors even when they’re nothing like us then we’ve taken the first step to bring peace into this world.
John was preparing the way for the Messiah with the Message that change was needed. The Message is no different for us today. If we are to be ready then we need to, “Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives.” And we can’t think that just because we call ourselves Christians we’re safe from the ax John talked about.
Advent always asks us to look again at our lives and reassess our spiritual health. Friends, take time this week reading the Word. Spend some time in quiet contemplation letting God speak his Message of hope and peace to you. Then you may be ready. It’s all up to God and his grace. Thanks be to God for his Message of hope and peace. Amen.
You probably think I’m talking about Christmas and in a way I am but not in the way you’re thinking, presents, Christmas trees, lights, and so forth. That’s not where I’m going. Are you ready for the King of Peace?
Now that you know where I’m coming from some of you are saying, “Sure, I’m ready. Come, Lord Jesus, come.” And there’s the rest of us who say, “Uh, I’m not quite ready yet. There’re some things I need to change first.”
Everywhere I look I see people who are all stressed out. Some are worried about the weather. Others are worried because they can’t come up with that perfect gift for Mom or Dad or their best friend. Some are worried because they’ve been laid off from work and don’t know how they’re going to keep the heat and lights on for another month. Some are stressed because they’re hosting the Christmas dinner this year and they want it to be just right.
Is anybody stressed out because there are so many people trying to make it this winter without shelter? Is anyone worrying about those who are struggling with their addictions to the mind altering substances they can’t seem to live without? Is there anyone who thinks that all the money spent on our military operations is excessive? Is anyone worried about peace? Is anyone worried about the ax John’s talking about? Are we really ready for Jesus, the King of Peace?
Every word we heard read this morning was either about hope or about peace. Friends, I don’t think we’re living in very peaceful times. Our country is still sending young men and women to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq and there’s the threat of nuclear war from the North Koreans. There’s not much peace on the African continent or in Central America and some parts of South America either.
With so much uncertainty where is our hope? I’ve place my hope, my trust in Jesus the Christ, the King of Peace. There are some who wonder how anyone can place their hope in Jesus when he still hasn’t returned as he promised his disciples. My answer is he never said that he’d be right back. In fact he said that he didn’t know the time when he would return. No one does. And so we wait…and hope.
I still put my trust in God. Why, you ask, do you still have hope that Jesus is coming back. I trust that God will keep his promise because if everything in the Bible was all just a story I don’t believe it would have survived for over 2,000 years. I believe because of God’s words to us in the Word, Jesus.
I’m ready because I have placed my hope in what God has planned for all his children. Isaiah said it verse 10 from chapter 11, “the new king from the family of Jesse will stand as a banner for all peoples.” The Prophet said the new King will stand for all peoples. That is good news for us because Isaiah was talking about the foreigners in the land. Even then God was getting things ready for us.
God is ready to receive us; are we ready to receive him? Since you’re here this morning I’m assuming that you’ve already taken the first step. God called you and you responded by coming here to worship and sing praises to Him.
My question for all of us was, “Are we ready?” Maybe we’ll never be completely ready but if we believe in Jesus and his Message of Good News that God’s kingdom is here right now then I think you and I are as ready as we’re ever going to be. When we put our hope and trust in the One who cares for us then we’re ready.
My hope is that I’ll live to see a world that’s totally at peace, a world living in harmony the way Jesus wanted. It begins with you and me. When we live lives filled with God’s love and peace living in harmony with our neighbors even when they’re nothing like us then we’ve taken the first step to bring peace into this world.
John was preparing the way for the Messiah with the Message that change was needed. The Message is no different for us today. If we are to be ready then we need to, “Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives.” And we can’t think that just because we call ourselves Christians we’re safe from the ax John talked about.
Advent always asks us to look again at our lives and reassess our spiritual health. Friends, take time this week reading the Word. Spend some time in quiet contemplation letting God speak his Message of hope and peace to you. Then you may be ready. It’s all up to God and his grace. Thanks be to God for his Message of hope and peace. Amen.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
What Are We Waiting For?
When you woke up this morning did you think that Jesus may have come while you were sleeping and you missed it? Have you ever slept in and woke up to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the family already up and doing whatever they do when they get up? How did that feel to you? Did it feel good because you were more rested or did you feel like you were behind all day because you woke up in the middle of everything?
Paul admonishes us in his letter to the Romans to “wake up from our sleep” because salvation is nearer than first believed. Matthew has Jesus telling us to stay awake, alert because no one has any idea when the Master, Jesus is going to return.
I wonder, have we become complacent to what’s going on around us? Have we heard this Message so many times that we’ve become de-sensitized to its urgency? Or don’t we believe what Paul and Matthew are telling us?
I wonder. What do we think is going to happen? Do we really believe that this world will exist forever? Do we believe that we are going to live forever? Do we think that we still have time to change and be everything God desires us to be?
Are we so absorbed in our work and our families that we are unaware of the urgency to slow down and listen for God’s voice? What is it? No one seems to be heeding the warnings. The whole world just seems to be going on as if there is nothing more important than the present moment. Almost like in the times of Noah before the flood.
Another year has passed and Advent is beginning. We’ve been waiting our whole lives for Jesus to return and we’re still waiting. Perhaps there are those who don’t believe that he’s ever coming back. Maybe we think that because we’ve given our hearts to Jesus we don’t have to do anything else.
I think the Message for us today has more urgency now than it did when it was first read. Isaiah is talking about God teaching us his ways and turning weapons of war into farm implements. The psalmist tells us to pray for peace in Jerusalem. Paul says that we all we owe is to love each other, wake up because salvation is near, live in a right way as people of the day, and clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ forgetting about satisfying our sinful selves. Jesus is saying to us in Matthew’s gospel that we should always be ready because no one knows when the Master is coming.
Most of us aren’t thinking about anything else but getting ready for our families and friends on Christmas Day. Paying attention to what’s going on in our communities isn’t one of our top priorities. As I’ve already said there are so many pressing things in our lives that we find it almost impossible to focus on God and what he’s doing in our community and the world around us.
It’s like we’ve lost our connection to Him. We forget that God was in the beginning, he is present with us at this very moment; he will always be with us, always. He’s not going away.
Advent has always been about waiting, watching, preparing, and anticipating the return of Jesus the Christ. Mostly we remember the baby Jesus born in the manger in Bethlehem. We remember the gospel stories about the angels singing, the shepherds watching flocks, and the magi who came bearing gifts. We don’t think about Advent as also being a time when we are reminded that we are also waiting in joyful anticipation the coming of Jesus again.
That’s what today’s Message is for us. Jesus was born in a manger. He did grow up learning the carpenter trade from his father, Joseph. He was a great rabbi who recruited disciples and made some apostles. He was crucified on a cross as we heard last Sunday. He defeated death when he rose from the tomb. His disciples bore witness to that fact.
The gospels give us his words and the Holy Spirit reminds us of them. He said that he was preparing rooms for us and that he was coming back. Friends, that’s what we are all waiting for today and every day. Christ to come back for us.
The good news is that while we are waiting God is here now connected to us in the Word and in our prayers. And while we wait we have been given the task to love others and the work of making this world a place of peace.
Most of us don’t think there is anything that we can do to bring about peace in the entire world but if we would just begin right here in Walnut I think we’d be amazed at how fast it could spread. Of course it’s not about us but about what God is doing through the power of the Holy Spirit in us as we minister to others.
A couple of things to take home with you today: 1) pray for peace in Jerusalem, 2) love others, 3) be awake, awake to what God is doing all around us, 4) and always be ready for Jesus whenever he returns.
Friends, God loves every one of us and he wants all of us to join him in the New Jerusalem one day. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Paul admonishes us in his letter to the Romans to “wake up from our sleep” because salvation is nearer than first believed. Matthew has Jesus telling us to stay awake, alert because no one has any idea when the Master, Jesus is going to return.
I wonder, have we become complacent to what’s going on around us? Have we heard this Message so many times that we’ve become de-sensitized to its urgency? Or don’t we believe what Paul and Matthew are telling us?
I wonder. What do we think is going to happen? Do we really believe that this world will exist forever? Do we believe that we are going to live forever? Do we think that we still have time to change and be everything God desires us to be?
Are we so absorbed in our work and our families that we are unaware of the urgency to slow down and listen for God’s voice? What is it? No one seems to be heeding the warnings. The whole world just seems to be going on as if there is nothing more important than the present moment. Almost like in the times of Noah before the flood.
Another year has passed and Advent is beginning. We’ve been waiting our whole lives for Jesus to return and we’re still waiting. Perhaps there are those who don’t believe that he’s ever coming back. Maybe we think that because we’ve given our hearts to Jesus we don’t have to do anything else.
I think the Message for us today has more urgency now than it did when it was first read. Isaiah is talking about God teaching us his ways and turning weapons of war into farm implements. The psalmist tells us to pray for peace in Jerusalem. Paul says that we all we owe is to love each other, wake up because salvation is near, live in a right way as people of the day, and clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ forgetting about satisfying our sinful selves. Jesus is saying to us in Matthew’s gospel that we should always be ready because no one knows when the Master is coming.
Most of us aren’t thinking about anything else but getting ready for our families and friends on Christmas Day. Paying attention to what’s going on in our communities isn’t one of our top priorities. As I’ve already said there are so many pressing things in our lives that we find it almost impossible to focus on God and what he’s doing in our community and the world around us.
It’s like we’ve lost our connection to Him. We forget that God was in the beginning, he is present with us at this very moment; he will always be with us, always. He’s not going away.
Advent has always been about waiting, watching, preparing, and anticipating the return of Jesus the Christ. Mostly we remember the baby Jesus born in the manger in Bethlehem. We remember the gospel stories about the angels singing, the shepherds watching flocks, and the magi who came bearing gifts. We don’t think about Advent as also being a time when we are reminded that we are also waiting in joyful anticipation the coming of Jesus again.
That’s what today’s Message is for us. Jesus was born in a manger. He did grow up learning the carpenter trade from his father, Joseph. He was a great rabbi who recruited disciples and made some apostles. He was crucified on a cross as we heard last Sunday. He defeated death when he rose from the tomb. His disciples bore witness to that fact.
The gospels give us his words and the Holy Spirit reminds us of them. He said that he was preparing rooms for us and that he was coming back. Friends, that’s what we are all waiting for today and every day. Christ to come back for us.
The good news is that while we are waiting God is here now connected to us in the Word and in our prayers. And while we wait we have been given the task to love others and the work of making this world a place of peace.
Most of us don’t think there is anything that we can do to bring about peace in the entire world but if we would just begin right here in Walnut I think we’d be amazed at how fast it could spread. Of course it’s not about us but about what God is doing through the power of the Holy Spirit in us as we minister to others.
A couple of things to take home with you today: 1) pray for peace in Jerusalem, 2) love others, 3) be awake, awake to what God is doing all around us, 4) and always be ready for Jesus whenever he returns.
Friends, God loves every one of us and he wants all of us to join him in the New Jerusalem one day. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Christ the King
Today is the last Sunday of the year on the Christian calendar. We have been on a journey with Jesus. We were with Mary and Joseph when he was born. We were with him as he entered the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. We were with him when he was arrested in the garden and tried and beaten and crucified on the cross. We were with Mary when Jesus called her name and revealed that he was indeed risen from the tomb. This year we have been with Jesus every step of the way.
Today as we celebrate Christ the King we find Jesus nailed to the cross with a sign hanging over his head that declares him “The King of the Jews.” And perhaps we are wondering how are we to celebrate our Jesus as our King when he is nailed to the cross between two common criminals as if he himself were a common criminal.
We who have lived in the United States our entire lives can’t comprehend what it’s like to give our allegiance to a king. We find it hard enough to be loyal to those we have just elected into political office. How would it be possible for us to yield to a king?
Christ the King, will he remember us? One of the criminals hanging on a cross beside Jesus asks him to remember him when he came into his kingdom. And we hear Jesus tell him that that very day he will be with him in paradise. The first one to enter heaven where Christ is King is a common criminal. Is there hope for us? If we ask Jesus to remember us will he invite us to join him in paradise?
What are we to do with a Savior who is a King? At first I thought that it would mean submitting to him, to his authority because a king would have dominion over everything. Everything would be under his control. But a friend said that it would be more accurate to say that we would yield to his authority.
So, I had to think about this for a while. If we submit then we defer or consent to abide by the authority of another person. If we yield then we surrender or relinquish control to another. Either way we allow someone else control, either of our lives or our possessions.
Christ is the King. Are we able to let him come into our lives and take control? Are we able to yield to his authority? When he tells us to give up everything of value to us, that we think we can’t possibly live without, are we able to yield to his good judgment for us? The rich young ruler couldn’t do it. At least not right away. The disciples weren’t sure they could do it either. Even though they had given up their jobs to follow this itinerant rabbi all over creation and back to Jerusalem. When they saw him die on that cross they gave up. They forgot all those words that Jesus told them about rebuilding the temple in three days after it had been destroyed.
Things look a lot different when you see your friend nailed to a cross. Everything he said before just kind of goes out of your mind. Christ, the King? He hardly looked like a king as he hung on the cross.
That’s not our image of a king either. A king is supposed to be full of power and strength and be in control. Hanging on the cross, it didn’t look like Jesus was in control. But everything wasn’t what it seemed.
You see, I know that you’ve read ahead and you know what happened later. Jesus defeated death. He rose from the grave. He ascended into heaven and took his rightful position beside God, his Father.
The question for us is do we believe. Will we yield our lives to Him? The King is coming again are we ready to receive him?
I regret not letting Jesus take control of my life sooner. It breaks my heart when I think about how many times I’ve turned my back on him and denied him entry.
Christ is the King you want to take control of your life. He is the One who loves you and cares for you. Today, I pray that you will answer his call to let him be the King. Yield your life to the One who has your best interests at heart.
Go ahead and give him total control. You’ll never be sorry you did.
Hallelujah, Christ is King. Praise the Lord. Amen.
Today as we celebrate Christ the King we find Jesus nailed to the cross with a sign hanging over his head that declares him “The King of the Jews.” And perhaps we are wondering how are we to celebrate our Jesus as our King when he is nailed to the cross between two common criminals as if he himself were a common criminal.
We who have lived in the United States our entire lives can’t comprehend what it’s like to give our allegiance to a king. We find it hard enough to be loyal to those we have just elected into political office. How would it be possible for us to yield to a king?
Christ the King, will he remember us? One of the criminals hanging on a cross beside Jesus asks him to remember him when he came into his kingdom. And we hear Jesus tell him that that very day he will be with him in paradise. The first one to enter heaven where Christ is King is a common criminal. Is there hope for us? If we ask Jesus to remember us will he invite us to join him in paradise?
What are we to do with a Savior who is a King? At first I thought that it would mean submitting to him, to his authority because a king would have dominion over everything. Everything would be under his control. But a friend said that it would be more accurate to say that we would yield to his authority.
So, I had to think about this for a while. If we submit then we defer or consent to abide by the authority of another person. If we yield then we surrender or relinquish control to another. Either way we allow someone else control, either of our lives or our possessions.
Christ is the King. Are we able to let him come into our lives and take control? Are we able to yield to his authority? When he tells us to give up everything of value to us, that we think we can’t possibly live without, are we able to yield to his good judgment for us? The rich young ruler couldn’t do it. At least not right away. The disciples weren’t sure they could do it either. Even though they had given up their jobs to follow this itinerant rabbi all over creation and back to Jerusalem. When they saw him die on that cross they gave up. They forgot all those words that Jesus told them about rebuilding the temple in three days after it had been destroyed.
Things look a lot different when you see your friend nailed to a cross. Everything he said before just kind of goes out of your mind. Christ, the King? He hardly looked like a king as he hung on the cross.
That’s not our image of a king either. A king is supposed to be full of power and strength and be in control. Hanging on the cross, it didn’t look like Jesus was in control. But everything wasn’t what it seemed.
You see, I know that you’ve read ahead and you know what happened later. Jesus defeated death. He rose from the grave. He ascended into heaven and took his rightful position beside God, his Father.
The question for us is do we believe. Will we yield our lives to Him? The King is coming again are we ready to receive him?
I regret not letting Jesus take control of my life sooner. It breaks my heart when I think about how many times I’ve turned my back on him and denied him entry.
Christ is the King you want to take control of your life. He is the One who loves you and cares for you. Today, I pray that you will answer his call to let him be the King. Yield your life to the One who has your best interests at heart.
Go ahead and give him total control. You’ll never be sorry you did.
Hallelujah, Christ is King. Praise the Lord. Amen.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
In His Care
Who’s looking out for you today? Who cares what happens to you or any of us for that matter?
Are you looking out for yourself? Are you one of those independent persons who take care of themselves? You don’t have to depend on anyone.
Friends, I hate to be the one to burst your bubbles but we all depend on someone, sometime. For example, Linda and I think we raised our children to be able to take care of just about anything that comes up. Yet, the phone still rings asking Mom or Dad for advice or help.
So, what do we do who don’t have parents to help us when we get into a bind? Will the banks help? Will the schools help us out? How about city hall; is there anyone there with all the answers? Who are we to depend on? Who can we trust to give us good advice or help when we find ourselves on a dead end road?
I used to believe that I had all the answers. I used to think that I could figure out most any problem given enough time or resources.
I soon discovered that wasn’t true. If God kept a record of all my mistakes and wrong turns I’d never have a chance at eternal life. Thank God he forgets the times when we turned away and attempted to do it on our own.
The Prophet says that God, our God, provides for us before we even get the words out. He is helping us while we’re still on our knees praying. And friends, that’s grace.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians he reminded them that just because they thought the Day of the Lord was near didn’t mean they should sit back and rest trusting in the salvation promised in their conversion and baptism. He, in his own way, was saying, “You need to keep at it, working quietly, never tiring from doing good.” Paul and his friends had set the example for them so they knew how they should be living. I guess we can never retire from doing the work God has called us to do. We can’t rest on the fact that our sins have been forgiven. We have been given the work of ministering to all God’s children.
In Luke’s gospel some with Jesus were admiring the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem. He told them it wasn’t going to last. Some day there would not be one stone left on top of another. I don’t they could imagine anyone ever completely destroying their beloved Temple.
They wanted to know if there would be some signs before hand that would warn them when this was going to happen. Oh, there would be signs but no one would be able to predict anything from the signs. Jesus, more or less, told them not to worry about signs or warnings.
They didn’t need to worry because they carried his name. They were brothers and sisters of Jesus; they were followers of Jesus the Christ.
He exhorted them to make up their minds right then not to worry about the when and the where and the how of what was coming. Things wouldn’t be easy being one of his followers. There would be persecution and suffering. Family members would turn against them for believing in Jesus as the Messiah. But Jesus said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back. I’ll give you the words and the wisdom you need when you need it. Don’t worry.”
Friends, we are all in His care. He’s got it all taken care of. He knows our names. We are wonderfully and fearfully made to do his work.
So, are you still depending on your own strength and wits or are you convinced beyond any doubt that your help is in the Lord? My prayer is that you will come to Him who has it all figured out.
All that should be filling our minds is how we can be a part of what God is doing in the world. How can we let all the world know what he has done and is doing? Let’s commit to living as the Prophet Isaiah said, “…shouting and singing for joy…because the Holy One does great things before our eyes.”
Friends, we are in God’s care. So let us receive God’s salvation with joy just like we would get water from the faucets in our houses. Trust in God to give you the strength to continue his work and joy to sing his praises.
Thanks be to God for his forgiving grace. Amen.
Are you looking out for yourself? Are you one of those independent persons who take care of themselves? You don’t have to depend on anyone.
Friends, I hate to be the one to burst your bubbles but we all depend on someone, sometime. For example, Linda and I think we raised our children to be able to take care of just about anything that comes up. Yet, the phone still rings asking Mom or Dad for advice or help.
So, what do we do who don’t have parents to help us when we get into a bind? Will the banks help? Will the schools help us out? How about city hall; is there anyone there with all the answers? Who are we to depend on? Who can we trust to give us good advice or help when we find ourselves on a dead end road?
I used to believe that I had all the answers. I used to think that I could figure out most any problem given enough time or resources.
I soon discovered that wasn’t true. If God kept a record of all my mistakes and wrong turns I’d never have a chance at eternal life. Thank God he forgets the times when we turned away and attempted to do it on our own.
The Prophet says that God, our God, provides for us before we even get the words out. He is helping us while we’re still on our knees praying. And friends, that’s grace.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians he reminded them that just because they thought the Day of the Lord was near didn’t mean they should sit back and rest trusting in the salvation promised in their conversion and baptism. He, in his own way, was saying, “You need to keep at it, working quietly, never tiring from doing good.” Paul and his friends had set the example for them so they knew how they should be living. I guess we can never retire from doing the work God has called us to do. We can’t rest on the fact that our sins have been forgiven. We have been given the work of ministering to all God’s children.
In Luke’s gospel some with Jesus were admiring the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem. He told them it wasn’t going to last. Some day there would not be one stone left on top of another. I don’t they could imagine anyone ever completely destroying their beloved Temple.
They wanted to know if there would be some signs before hand that would warn them when this was going to happen. Oh, there would be signs but no one would be able to predict anything from the signs. Jesus, more or less, told them not to worry about signs or warnings.
They didn’t need to worry because they carried his name. They were brothers and sisters of Jesus; they were followers of Jesus the Christ.
He exhorted them to make up their minds right then not to worry about the when and the where and the how of what was coming. Things wouldn’t be easy being one of his followers. There would be persecution and suffering. Family members would turn against them for believing in Jesus as the Messiah. But Jesus said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back. I’ll give you the words and the wisdom you need when you need it. Don’t worry.”
Friends, we are all in His care. He’s got it all taken care of. He knows our names. We are wonderfully and fearfully made to do his work.
So, are you still depending on your own strength and wits or are you convinced beyond any doubt that your help is in the Lord? My prayer is that you will come to Him who has it all figured out.
All that should be filling our minds is how we can be a part of what God is doing in the world. How can we let all the world know what he has done and is doing? Let’s commit to living as the Prophet Isaiah said, “…shouting and singing for joy…because the Holy One does great things before our eyes.”
Friends, we are in God’s care. So let us receive God’s salvation with joy just like we would get water from the faucets in our houses. Trust in God to give you the strength to continue his work and joy to sing his praises.
Thanks be to God for his forgiving grace. Amen.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
What's Bothering You Today?
We’ve just heard the prophet Haggai giving God’s message to the people of Jerusalem who were worried that the temple they were rebuilding wasn’t as good as the original. We heard Paul writing to calm the troubled people in Thessalonica who had been convinced by someone who purported to be Paul that the Day of the Lord was here now. And in Luke’s gospel we’ve heard the Sadducees trying to trip Jesus up with a scenario about a widow who ended up being married to 7 brothers before she died. Whose wife would she be in the afterlife? Granted they weren’t really concerned about that because they didn’t believe in an afterlife. They were just trying to make Jesus look like a fool. Or maybe they did have questions about what happened after they died.
In all three readings we have heard about folks who were bothered by things. So, what’s bothering us today? What questions are we carrying around today that have become burdens for us?
Some of us may be concerned about our church building. Maybe it doesn’t look as spiffy as it used to back in the old days. Some of us are probably concerned about our shrinking membership or the attendance at worship. And some of us are wondering about our own demise and what’s waiting for us on the other side. Many of us are concerned about what’s happening in the world all around us, the financial health of our country, unemployment, the price of energy, the wars in the Middle East, and global warming. We’re bothered by many of these things and much more. As if we could do anything about any of it anyway.
We, all of us, worry and fuss about everything. Friends, is that why we’re here, to worry about things? Will our worry and anxiousness make any difference? Will it change anything and make it better? If it doesn’t or won’t then why do we worry?
Have we lost all hope? Have we given up on God? It certainly sounds as if we aren’t to certain about those who are in leadership positions in our government. We aren’t too hopeful about our retirement or whatever follows.
We are bothered by many things. I ask you in what do you put your hope, in what do you trust? What did God tell Haggai to tell the people?
He said, “I own the silver. I own the gold.” “Get to work. I am with you.” “I’m living and breathing among you right now. Don’t be timid. Don’t hold back.” Were those words just for those living then or are they a Message for us today?
If we believe that this is the living word of God then surely He can speak to us from his word as it is read to us.
We all worry but not one of us can add a single day to our time here on earth by worrying. In fact, our worrying may very well shorten lives. We go from day to day acting like everything is all about us. It’s not you know. We think we’re in control of our lives and maybe the lives of others and we’re not, really. We just like to think so.
Instead of worrying and fretting about the state of the world and our lives what should occupy our thoughts? My answer is going to begin sounding like a broken record but I’m going to say it anyway.
In the gospels Jesus said that there were only two commandments that should really concern us. They were to love God with our whole being, mind, body, and soul and to love our neighbors as much as we loved ourselves. And then just before he ascended into heaven he instructed his apostles to go out into all the world and make disciples of all people everywhere and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
That’s it. That’s what we should be doing. Nothing else should be allowed to take up space in our minds. If we would spend our time loving God and loving our neighbors then everything else would fall into place. There would be no question about how much we should give to the church or to the presbytery or to the Food Pantry or to Haiti or Pakistan or Indonesia.
Everything we are, everything we think we own, everything is God’s. We are just the caretakers of his resources. And not one piece of our beloved possessions will be able to go with us to the other side. Everything is up to God.
So, good friends, my message to you today is don’t let yourselves be bothered. God is in control. He has the plan. All we are asked to do is trust and believe and love God and neighbors. That’s it. It’s really pretty simple. Why do we all have to make it so difficult?
All we have to remember is that our …“God isn’t a God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive.” Luke 20:38 The Message
Isn’t that a great answer? Isn’t that the Good News? God is alive and he dwells within us. Thanks be to God for his patient, loving grace. Amen.
In all three readings we have heard about folks who were bothered by things. So, what’s bothering us today? What questions are we carrying around today that have become burdens for us?
Some of us may be concerned about our church building. Maybe it doesn’t look as spiffy as it used to back in the old days. Some of us are probably concerned about our shrinking membership or the attendance at worship. And some of us are wondering about our own demise and what’s waiting for us on the other side. Many of us are concerned about what’s happening in the world all around us, the financial health of our country, unemployment, the price of energy, the wars in the Middle East, and global warming. We’re bothered by many of these things and much more. As if we could do anything about any of it anyway.
We, all of us, worry and fuss about everything. Friends, is that why we’re here, to worry about things? Will our worry and anxiousness make any difference? Will it change anything and make it better? If it doesn’t or won’t then why do we worry?
Have we lost all hope? Have we given up on God? It certainly sounds as if we aren’t to certain about those who are in leadership positions in our government. We aren’t too hopeful about our retirement or whatever follows.
We are bothered by many things. I ask you in what do you put your hope, in what do you trust? What did God tell Haggai to tell the people?
He said, “I own the silver. I own the gold.” “Get to work. I am with you.” “I’m living and breathing among you right now. Don’t be timid. Don’t hold back.” Were those words just for those living then or are they a Message for us today?
If we believe that this is the living word of God then surely He can speak to us from his word as it is read to us.
We all worry but not one of us can add a single day to our time here on earth by worrying. In fact, our worrying may very well shorten lives. We go from day to day acting like everything is all about us. It’s not you know. We think we’re in control of our lives and maybe the lives of others and we’re not, really. We just like to think so.
Instead of worrying and fretting about the state of the world and our lives what should occupy our thoughts? My answer is going to begin sounding like a broken record but I’m going to say it anyway.
In the gospels Jesus said that there were only two commandments that should really concern us. They were to love God with our whole being, mind, body, and soul and to love our neighbors as much as we loved ourselves. And then just before he ascended into heaven he instructed his apostles to go out into all the world and make disciples of all people everywhere and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
That’s it. That’s what we should be doing. Nothing else should be allowed to take up space in our minds. If we would spend our time loving God and loving our neighbors then everything else would fall into place. There would be no question about how much we should give to the church or to the presbytery or to the Food Pantry or to Haiti or Pakistan or Indonesia.
Everything we are, everything we think we own, everything is God’s. We are just the caretakers of his resources. And not one piece of our beloved possessions will be able to go with us to the other side. Everything is up to God.
So, good friends, my message to you today is don’t let yourselves be bothered. God is in control. He has the plan. All we are asked to do is trust and believe and love God and neighbors. That’s it. It’s really pretty simple. Why do we all have to make it so difficult?
All we have to remember is that our …“God isn’t a God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive.” Luke 20:38 The Message
Isn’t that a great answer? Isn’t that the Good News? God is alive and he dwells within us. Thanks be to God for his patient, loving grace. Amen.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Desperately Eager
I wonder how we compare to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was desperately eager to just see Jesus. He so wanted to see him that Luke says he ran on ahead of the crowd so he could find a place where he could get an unobstructed view of this traveling Rabbi.
It must have been very important for him to see Jesus if he ran. Because that would have meant that he had to lift up his robe or skirt so his clothes wouldn’t trip him up as he ran. It just wasn’t good manners to show such a lack of proper decorum. But that’s exactly what he did. He didn’t care.
Zacchaeus got what he wanted and so much more. When Jesus arrived at the spot where he was perched in the tree, he stopped and told him to hurry down because he was going to be a guest at his house. Jesus invited himself to dinner.
That didn’t bother Zacchaeus in the least. He was so excited by the fact that Jesus was coming to his house that he probably scraped his knees and elbows getting out of the tree. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that the Master would notice him, let alone come to his house. And so with great joy and delight he took him to his house.
Of course there were those in the crowd who couldn’t allow Zacchaeus this one kernel of grace. You can probably hear their voices. In fact you may have heard their voices before.
They were grumping because this scoundrel tax collector had the good fortune to have the most popular rabbi in Israel coming to his house for dinner. They were surely so jealous and envious because it would have been a great social coup to have Jesus come to your house. What’s he doing going to this crook’s house when he could be coming to my place? After all I keep all of God’s laws and he doesn’t. He doesn’t deserve to have this most important person visiting in his house. It’s just not fair! Can’t you hear the conversations? It probably wouldn’t be too much different today.
So, have you ever asked yourself, “Why did Jesus pick Zacchaeus to go visit?” Why did Luke put it in his gospel? What is the significance of this story for us? Was it all a coincidence that Jesus saw Zacchaeus up there in the tree? Was he just looking for a good place to eat or was he looking for something that would upset the learned and religious people of Jericho? Why did God choose Zacchaeus for Jesus to visit on that particular day? It doesn’t seem fair that he would go to have dinner with such a low down cheat!
What was Zacchaeus’ response to all those nasty comments about him being a crook? Stunned disbelief would be a good way to put it. “Why,” he said, “I give away half of my earnings to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
I wonder if those who heard Zacchaeus say that believed him. He probably gave away half of his earnings without any fanfare. That’s probably why no one knew anything about it. So even though he collected more tax than was needed by the Romans what he earned and took home he gave half of it away. He must have been rich.
I don’t know any one today who does that. This is truly extravagant generosity. It was way beyond what he was required by law to give for the support of the poor. Even his peers weren’t doing as much as he was. Those who didn’t really know Zacchaeus were judging him unfairly and harshly.
Jesus saw immediately that he was truly a Son of Abraham. The religious of the day certainly wouldn’t have classified him as a good Jew. In fact they wouldn’t even think of associating with him.
Zacchaeus was being judged by others for being a tax collector. No one knew the real Zacchaeus. They didn’t know about his contributions to the poor.
How many folks have we misjudged without taking the risk to get to know them? How many have we talked about only to find out we were wrong in our assessment of them?
Was Zacchaeus a different man after Jesus ate at his house? Or were those who had misjudged him different after Jesus had dinner at his house? Who are we misjudging today? And what should we do about that?
Maybe we should invite ourselves to dinner at their house or, better yet, invite them to dinner at ours.
All of us have fallen short of God’s desire for us. We are all sinners in need of God’s grace. Maybe that’s the lesson for us today. Don’t worry about what our neighbors are doing or whom they are having to dinner. Maybe we should just concern ourselves with the log in our own eye before we judge our neighbor. Maybe we need extend an invitation to the Lord to come to our house for dinner. Maybe then we will receive the gift of God’s salvation and grace.
Thanks be to God for his loving grace. Amen.
It must have been very important for him to see Jesus if he ran. Because that would have meant that he had to lift up his robe or skirt so his clothes wouldn’t trip him up as he ran. It just wasn’t good manners to show such a lack of proper decorum. But that’s exactly what he did. He didn’t care.
Zacchaeus got what he wanted and so much more. When Jesus arrived at the spot where he was perched in the tree, he stopped and told him to hurry down because he was going to be a guest at his house. Jesus invited himself to dinner.
That didn’t bother Zacchaeus in the least. He was so excited by the fact that Jesus was coming to his house that he probably scraped his knees and elbows getting out of the tree. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that the Master would notice him, let alone come to his house. And so with great joy and delight he took him to his house.
Of course there were those in the crowd who couldn’t allow Zacchaeus this one kernel of grace. You can probably hear their voices. In fact you may have heard their voices before.
They were grumping because this scoundrel tax collector had the good fortune to have the most popular rabbi in Israel coming to his house for dinner. They were surely so jealous and envious because it would have been a great social coup to have Jesus come to your house. What’s he doing going to this crook’s house when he could be coming to my place? After all I keep all of God’s laws and he doesn’t. He doesn’t deserve to have this most important person visiting in his house. It’s just not fair! Can’t you hear the conversations? It probably wouldn’t be too much different today.
So, have you ever asked yourself, “Why did Jesus pick Zacchaeus to go visit?” Why did Luke put it in his gospel? What is the significance of this story for us? Was it all a coincidence that Jesus saw Zacchaeus up there in the tree? Was he just looking for a good place to eat or was he looking for something that would upset the learned and religious people of Jericho? Why did God choose Zacchaeus for Jesus to visit on that particular day? It doesn’t seem fair that he would go to have dinner with such a low down cheat!
What was Zacchaeus’ response to all those nasty comments about him being a crook? Stunned disbelief would be a good way to put it. “Why,” he said, “I give away half of my earnings to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
I wonder if those who heard Zacchaeus say that believed him. He probably gave away half of his earnings without any fanfare. That’s probably why no one knew anything about it. So even though he collected more tax than was needed by the Romans what he earned and took home he gave half of it away. He must have been rich.
I don’t know any one today who does that. This is truly extravagant generosity. It was way beyond what he was required by law to give for the support of the poor. Even his peers weren’t doing as much as he was. Those who didn’t really know Zacchaeus were judging him unfairly and harshly.
Jesus saw immediately that he was truly a Son of Abraham. The religious of the day certainly wouldn’t have classified him as a good Jew. In fact they wouldn’t even think of associating with him.
Zacchaeus was being judged by others for being a tax collector. No one knew the real Zacchaeus. They didn’t know about his contributions to the poor.
How many folks have we misjudged without taking the risk to get to know them? How many have we talked about only to find out we were wrong in our assessment of them?
Was Zacchaeus a different man after Jesus ate at his house? Or were those who had misjudged him different after Jesus had dinner at his house? Who are we misjudging today? And what should we do about that?
Maybe we should invite ourselves to dinner at their house or, better yet, invite them to dinner at ours.
All of us have fallen short of God’s desire for us. We are all sinners in need of God’s grace. Maybe that’s the lesson for us today. Don’t worry about what our neighbors are doing or whom they are having to dinner. Maybe we should just concern ourselves with the log in our own eye before we judge our neighbor. Maybe we need extend an invitation to the Lord to come to our house for dinner. Maybe then we will receive the gift of God’s salvation and grace.
Thanks be to God for his loving grace. Amen.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Faithful Prayer
What is Jesus talking about and who is he talking about? Who is this judge supposed to be? And this nagging, whining, widow woman, who is she?
Just when we think we understand what Jesus is saying he tells us this parable about a judge who doesn’t care one whit for God or people, a real curmudgeon. But yet he has his limits and because of this widow’s persistent nagging, day in and day out, he relents and grants her the justice she has been badgering him for.
So, do you suppose that means that we are to badger God with our prayers in the same way? There are times we might just do that but that’s probably not what Jesus intended us to learn from this parable.
Well, we do know that the parable is about prayer because that’s what Luke says in the beginning verse, “Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.”
And that’s the point we don’t want to lose sight of here. This parable is about prayer. So what is it about prayer that we humans have trouble with? Is it that we don’t know how to pray? Is it that we don’t have the time to pray? Or, is it that we don’t really believe that God will hear and answer our prayers? Maybe it’s all of these.
This story is about a judge who is the most obnoxious person in the world. You wonder how he ever got appointed to the bench. He makes no bones that he doesn’t believe in God and he really doesn’t like people.
And this widow had the unlucky misfortune to draw this particular judge, the one who hates God and people. This poor widow woman has nothing. She has no money with which to influence the judge. She doesn’t have a husband or any other male family member to speak for her in court. All she has is her tenacity and determination to get the justice she believes she deserves.
We shouldn’t say that she doesn’t have anything. She does have a determined spirit and, apparently, no fear that this judge may kick her out and bar her from his court forever. Nope, she comes everyday to the court and demands that he award her what she has coming to her. And it might even be that she follows him home or sends him letters or posts things about him on Facebook about how bad a judge he is. Who knows?
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. If he didn’t give in she was going to leave him black and blue. Can’t you just see her standing at his bench in the court room hammering her fist on the bench demanding justice? The judge may have feared for his well being if he didn’t give in to her demands.
So, friends, what’s Jesus saying to us? What do you think he’s saying? How do you interpret the Word to us today?
It sounds to me that if we are persistently faithful in our praying God will hear our prayers and answer them. But some might say, and they may be absolutely right, that they pray every day, all day, and still God doesn’t answer their prayers. How do we answer that?
As I read this passage a couple words stood out for me, persistence, consistent, and faith. This brings us back to the story I told the children. About this boy who wanted a musical instrument so he could learn to play in the band. Mom and Dad didn’t give in right away; in fact they didn’t even give in the second time he asked. It wasn’t until he had found out the cost of a used instrument and brought that information to their attention that they decided maybe he was ready.
It’s kind of like a story I read that Rev. Tom Long used in a sermon about two boys, a raft, and an island in the middle of the river. One of the boys was floating down the river on a raft and his friend saw him and asked, “What are you doing?” He said that he was trying to get to the island in the middle of the river. Well his friend dove in and swam to the raft so he could help him.
The current in the middle of the river was strong and it wasn’t doing the raft any favors as the boys struggled to get to the island. They did make it to the island but just as they did the raft completely fell apart and there they were stranded in the middle of the river with no way to get off the island.
It just so happens that a paddle boat is coming down the river and the second boy starts to jump up and down, hollering and waving at the boat. His friend tells him they can’t hear you and even if they could they’re not going to come over here and pick us up.
Well, the boat begins to turn toward the island and they can tell it’s coming to rescue them. The other boy wanted to know how he knew the boat would come and get them. He said, “My father is the captain. I knew he’d come and get me.”
I think that’s what Jesus is trying to teach us in the parable. God is our Father and he loves us so much he won’t leave us stranded.
As children we talked to our parents all the time, every day. Sometimes they probably wished for some peace and quiet because we never stopped talking. But didn’t they usually listen to us. And didn’t they usually give us what we needed.
God loves us way more than our parents and doesn’t want any of us to suffer. God is all about having an intimate relationship with us. And the way that happens is by praying to him all the time, consistently, persistently, all the time. When we do that we soon realize that we know God and he knows us.
The point that we don’t want to lose sight of is we are to pray continuously and don’t give up hope.
Thanks be to God for his loving grace. Amen.
Just when we think we understand what Jesus is saying he tells us this parable about a judge who doesn’t care one whit for God or people, a real curmudgeon. But yet he has his limits and because of this widow’s persistent nagging, day in and day out, he relents and grants her the justice she has been badgering him for.
So, do you suppose that means that we are to badger God with our prayers in the same way? There are times we might just do that but that’s probably not what Jesus intended us to learn from this parable.
Well, we do know that the parable is about prayer because that’s what Luke says in the beginning verse, “Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.”
And that’s the point we don’t want to lose sight of here. This parable is about prayer. So what is it about prayer that we humans have trouble with? Is it that we don’t know how to pray? Is it that we don’t have the time to pray? Or, is it that we don’t really believe that God will hear and answer our prayers? Maybe it’s all of these.
This story is about a judge who is the most obnoxious person in the world. You wonder how he ever got appointed to the bench. He makes no bones that he doesn’t believe in God and he really doesn’t like people.
And this widow had the unlucky misfortune to draw this particular judge, the one who hates God and people. This poor widow woman has nothing. She has no money with which to influence the judge. She doesn’t have a husband or any other male family member to speak for her in court. All she has is her tenacity and determination to get the justice she believes she deserves.
We shouldn’t say that she doesn’t have anything. She does have a determined spirit and, apparently, no fear that this judge may kick her out and bar her from his court forever. Nope, she comes everyday to the court and demands that he award her what she has coming to her. And it might even be that she follows him home or sends him letters or posts things about him on Facebook about how bad a judge he is. Who knows?
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. If he didn’t give in she was going to leave him black and blue. Can’t you just see her standing at his bench in the court room hammering her fist on the bench demanding justice? The judge may have feared for his well being if he didn’t give in to her demands.
So, friends, what’s Jesus saying to us? What do you think he’s saying? How do you interpret the Word to us today?
It sounds to me that if we are persistently faithful in our praying God will hear our prayers and answer them. But some might say, and they may be absolutely right, that they pray every day, all day, and still God doesn’t answer their prayers. How do we answer that?
As I read this passage a couple words stood out for me, persistence, consistent, and faith. This brings us back to the story I told the children. About this boy who wanted a musical instrument so he could learn to play in the band. Mom and Dad didn’t give in right away; in fact they didn’t even give in the second time he asked. It wasn’t until he had found out the cost of a used instrument and brought that information to their attention that they decided maybe he was ready.
It’s kind of like a story I read that Rev. Tom Long used in a sermon about two boys, a raft, and an island in the middle of the river. One of the boys was floating down the river on a raft and his friend saw him and asked, “What are you doing?” He said that he was trying to get to the island in the middle of the river. Well his friend dove in and swam to the raft so he could help him.
The current in the middle of the river was strong and it wasn’t doing the raft any favors as the boys struggled to get to the island. They did make it to the island but just as they did the raft completely fell apart and there they were stranded in the middle of the river with no way to get off the island.
It just so happens that a paddle boat is coming down the river and the second boy starts to jump up and down, hollering and waving at the boat. His friend tells him they can’t hear you and even if they could they’re not going to come over here and pick us up.
Well, the boat begins to turn toward the island and they can tell it’s coming to rescue them. The other boy wanted to know how he knew the boat would come and get them. He said, “My father is the captain. I knew he’d come and get me.”
I think that’s what Jesus is trying to teach us in the parable. God is our Father and he loves us so much he won’t leave us stranded.
As children we talked to our parents all the time, every day. Sometimes they probably wished for some peace and quiet because we never stopped talking. But didn’t they usually listen to us. And didn’t they usually give us what we needed.
God loves us way more than our parents and doesn’t want any of us to suffer. God is all about having an intimate relationship with us. And the way that happens is by praying to him all the time, consistently, persistently, all the time. When we do that we soon realize that we know God and he knows us.
The point that we don’t want to lose sight of is we are to pray continuously and don’t give up hope.
Thanks be to God for his loving grace. Amen.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Being in Exile; Saying Thank You
Have you been listening to the news reports about the men trapped in the mine in Chile? Just for a little while this morning, imagine that you’re one of those miners. You’re alive and not injured but you’ve just learned that you’re not going to see day light, or your family, for awhile yet.
You’re in exile. You’ve received messages from above telling you that help is on the way. You might even be able to hear the sounds of the drill. And you remember God’s word that says, “Give thanks in all things.” And you hear God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah to make the best of the situation where you are because God is there too.
Okay, your there, it’s hot, it’s dirty, and you’ve been with the same smelly people for 67 days. How are you doing? How is your faith? Do you believe that God is with you in this foreign place? Are you really thankful for God’s blessings?
Good friends, you’re not really in that mine but imagine what that must be like for those miners, and their families. Do they really trust those who are doing the drilling? Are they still hopeful? Do they believe that God is there with them?
It’s hard to be thankful in situations like this. None of us are in that mine in Chile but we may, never the less, be in exile. Where we are right now today may not be the place that we really want to be; this may not be our home. And even if we are home we might not be physically able to enjoy it like we used to. Are we still able to remain thankful for God’s providence?
Even when we find it so very difficult to find the good in bad situations what happens to our soul when we are thankful for the infinitesimal blessings that come our way. Does our outlook change? Is the sun just little brighter? Does God seem a little closer?
What if every day when your eyes opened after a night’s rest you still didn’t feel God’s presence, would you still be thankful for God’s blessings? Would you still have hope if every day you prayed for just a little bit of joy and it never came? Can we still feel love when our prayers don’t seem to be answered the way we think they should? Someone we love dearly is still in pain and there’s absolutely nothing we can do for them but pray, do we still have hope, are we still thankful?
How did Paul and the other apostles keep their faith when they were in chains in jail, beaten and ridiculed for being followers of the Way of Jesus? How is it possible for any of us to relate to what that must have been like?
Friends, we are so blessed because we live where we do and have the advantages that many in the world have never experienced. And we take it all for granted. Do we remember to say thanks? How do we share our blessings? How are we encountering God where we are? Where’s the healing for us in all this? Have we been healed and haven’t noticed?
Do we sing praises to God everyday like the psalmist? I don’t know about you but I think we’re more like the nine lepers who were healed and never turned around and thanked Jesus. Yes, the leprosy was gone but what was the condition of their souls?
We may be blessed, we may be healed, but what’s the condition of our souls? Have we remembered to thank Jesus?
Jesus and Paul have both given us words to meditate on for this week. Paul said, “10 So I patiently accept all these troubles so that those whom God has chosen can have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. With that salvation comes glory that never ends.
11 This teaching is true:
If we died with him, we will also live with him.
12 If we accept suffering, we will also rule with him.
If we say we don't know him, he will say he doesn't know us.
13 If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful,
because he must be true to who he is.
A Worker Pleasing to God
14 Continue teaching these things, warning people in God's presence not to argue about words. It does not help anyone, and it ruins those who listen. 15 Make every effort to give yourself to God as the kind of person he will approve. Be a worker who is not ashamed and who uses the true teaching in the right way.”
And Jesus told the Samaritan leper, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.”
We are here to do the work God has called us to do. We are to accept what we’ve been given and continue sharing God’s love with everyone we meet so that they are able to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. May our little faith build up someone else’s faith so they can be healed and have joy in their hearts.
Friends, let’s decide this day to return to Jesus and fall on our knees and give him thanks for our healing. Let’s decide today to continue to teach people about Jesus and God and what salvation means to us. Let’s work to free them from their exile
Thanks be to God for his loving, forgiving grace. Amen.
You’re in exile. You’ve received messages from above telling you that help is on the way. You might even be able to hear the sounds of the drill. And you remember God’s word that says, “Give thanks in all things.” And you hear God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah to make the best of the situation where you are because God is there too.
Okay, your there, it’s hot, it’s dirty, and you’ve been with the same smelly people for 67 days. How are you doing? How is your faith? Do you believe that God is with you in this foreign place? Are you really thankful for God’s blessings?
Good friends, you’re not really in that mine but imagine what that must be like for those miners, and their families. Do they really trust those who are doing the drilling? Are they still hopeful? Do they believe that God is there with them?
It’s hard to be thankful in situations like this. None of us are in that mine in Chile but we may, never the less, be in exile. Where we are right now today may not be the place that we really want to be; this may not be our home. And even if we are home we might not be physically able to enjoy it like we used to. Are we still able to remain thankful for God’s providence?
Even when we find it so very difficult to find the good in bad situations what happens to our soul when we are thankful for the infinitesimal blessings that come our way. Does our outlook change? Is the sun just little brighter? Does God seem a little closer?
What if every day when your eyes opened after a night’s rest you still didn’t feel God’s presence, would you still be thankful for God’s blessings? Would you still have hope if every day you prayed for just a little bit of joy and it never came? Can we still feel love when our prayers don’t seem to be answered the way we think they should? Someone we love dearly is still in pain and there’s absolutely nothing we can do for them but pray, do we still have hope, are we still thankful?
How did Paul and the other apostles keep their faith when they were in chains in jail, beaten and ridiculed for being followers of the Way of Jesus? How is it possible for any of us to relate to what that must have been like?
Friends, we are so blessed because we live where we do and have the advantages that many in the world have never experienced. And we take it all for granted. Do we remember to say thanks? How do we share our blessings? How are we encountering God where we are? Where’s the healing for us in all this? Have we been healed and haven’t noticed?
Do we sing praises to God everyday like the psalmist? I don’t know about you but I think we’re more like the nine lepers who were healed and never turned around and thanked Jesus. Yes, the leprosy was gone but what was the condition of their souls?
We may be blessed, we may be healed, but what’s the condition of our souls? Have we remembered to thank Jesus?
Jesus and Paul have both given us words to meditate on for this week. Paul said, “10 So I patiently accept all these troubles so that those whom God has chosen can have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. With that salvation comes glory that never ends.
11 This teaching is true:
If we died with him, we will also live with him.
12 If we accept suffering, we will also rule with him.
If we say we don't know him, he will say he doesn't know us.
13 If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful,
because he must be true to who he is.
A Worker Pleasing to God
14 Continue teaching these things, warning people in God's presence not to argue about words. It does not help anyone, and it ruins those who listen. 15 Make every effort to give yourself to God as the kind of person he will approve. Be a worker who is not ashamed and who uses the true teaching in the right way.”
And Jesus told the Samaritan leper, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.”
We are here to do the work God has called us to do. We are to accept what we’ve been given and continue sharing God’s love with everyone we meet so that they are able to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. May our little faith build up someone else’s faith so they can be healed and have joy in their hearts.
Friends, let’s decide this day to return to Jesus and fall on our knees and give him thanks for our healing. Let’s decide today to continue to teach people about Jesus and God and what salvation means to us. Let’s work to free them from their exile
Thanks be to God for his loving, forgiving grace. Amen.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
A Life of Faith
It’s not easy trying to live a life of faith. In the first place we tend to believe that there is nothing we can’t do or fix, and we don’t need God or anyone else to give us a hand. That might prove to be true until we get stuck in a quagmire of our own doing and no matter what we try we can’t fix it. We’re stuck. Everything we try fails and it’s not until we realize that we can’t do it alone that we cry for help.
We cry to God for help or relief or maybe just a lifeline because we’ve tried everything else and nothing helped.
The writer of Lamentations is in that spot. God had warned the people through the prophets that he was not happy with them following other idols and doing things that he had explicitly warned them against doing. When God gave the Law to Moses he told them that if they did what he commanded them then they would be blessed but if they didn’t they would be cursed. It seems that they didn’t hear that last part.
You know I can understand that. There are times when people tell me something and I hear the first part but I don’t hear the last part. Then, when whatever I’ve been trying to do doesn’t come out right it’s usually because I didn’t hear all the instructions. I could write a book about all the times I’ve messed up because I didn’t follow all the directions that were given to me. Or I didn’t hear all the directions given to me.
Maybe that’s why it’s so important for us to hear the Word read and proclaimed every Sunday, even though we’ve heard this particular passage a gazillion times before. Maybe we’ve missed hearing the most important part.
In the Hebrew Bible it sounds as if you keep all the commandments then you will be richly blessed and if you don’t then you will receive God’s discipline. Many of us believe today that if we keep God’s rules then we’ll be blessed. So, if we see someone who is struggling with life we assume that they’ve not been keeping God’s rules and he has punished them. We forget the words that talk about blessings falling on the just and the unjust.
We seem to forget Jesus’ words about believing in him, loving God and neighbor, and we completely missed the part about being servants. We think that if we just do this or that then God will bless us. Friends, it doesn’t work that way.
These lives we are living today in this place and at this time aren’t easy. There seems to be a great chasm between those who have and those who don’t. The ones who have are fearful that what they have will soon be gone. The ones who don’t have much are fearful that they will never, ever be able to have anything. They don’t see anyway out. No one has much faith, either in the society in which they live or in God.
The pastoral letter to Timothy sounds like the writer is afraid that Timothy may give up on his faith when things get tough and suffering comes. He is told to stay at it, keep his faith and love rooted in Christ just as he was taught.
Jesus had just told his disciples that hard times and temptations would come their way. And pity the one who gave any of the little ones a hard time. It would be better to have a boulder tied around their neck and tossed into the ocean than to do that. That’s when they realized that what Jesus was asking them to do was going to be more difficult than they imagined. They weren’t sure they could do it with the faith they had. They weren’t sure they would be successful walking in Jesus’ footsteps, living lives serving God’s children. So, they asked him to give them more faith.
I imagine Jesus looking at them with love in his eyes and saying, “More faith? You have all you need right now.”
Isn’t that how we all kind of feel when we step out on a new venture? Isn’t that how we feel when we decide to risk investing in a new career, or begin life together with the one God has chosen for us. We’re not sure we have enough of what’s needed to be successful.
But don’t we usually find, if we take the risk, that we had everything we needed. I think that’s what Jesus was saying to his disciples, “You have everything you need right now.” “You have just enough faith. Just live it.”
I think that’s the Message for us today. We have just enough faith. Just live it. Trust in the One who gave us this faith. It is sufficient for what He has called us to do.
I don’t believe he’s asking us to move trees or mountains but Jesus is asking us to trust him, to have faith in his Word and his love for us.
Our lives aren’t easy. Everyone, every family, has problems, everyone experiences some suffering. Jesus is telling us that our calling is to be ministers to each other using the gifts we have been given to serve others and to bring glory to Him. That is our calling; that is our purpose in this life. Just as those we work for expect us to give them an honest day’s work so God expects us to give him the same.
Do we expect a reward? Do we expect to be forgiven for our sins? Well maybe, but it all depends on God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice. And part of God’s grace is the faith we have received from him.
Friends, God sent his Son, Jesus, here because he loves us. He died for us because he loves us. He defeated death because he loves us. He gives us just enough faith because he loves us. All he asks us to do is just live it.
Friends, remember God does love you. Trust and believe. Have faith and then just live it.
Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.
We cry to God for help or relief or maybe just a lifeline because we’ve tried everything else and nothing helped.
The writer of Lamentations is in that spot. God had warned the people through the prophets that he was not happy with them following other idols and doing things that he had explicitly warned them against doing. When God gave the Law to Moses he told them that if they did what he commanded them then they would be blessed but if they didn’t they would be cursed. It seems that they didn’t hear that last part.
You know I can understand that. There are times when people tell me something and I hear the first part but I don’t hear the last part. Then, when whatever I’ve been trying to do doesn’t come out right it’s usually because I didn’t hear all the instructions. I could write a book about all the times I’ve messed up because I didn’t follow all the directions that were given to me. Or I didn’t hear all the directions given to me.
Maybe that’s why it’s so important for us to hear the Word read and proclaimed every Sunday, even though we’ve heard this particular passage a gazillion times before. Maybe we’ve missed hearing the most important part.
In the Hebrew Bible it sounds as if you keep all the commandments then you will be richly blessed and if you don’t then you will receive God’s discipline. Many of us believe today that if we keep God’s rules then we’ll be blessed. So, if we see someone who is struggling with life we assume that they’ve not been keeping God’s rules and he has punished them. We forget the words that talk about blessings falling on the just and the unjust.
We seem to forget Jesus’ words about believing in him, loving God and neighbor, and we completely missed the part about being servants. We think that if we just do this or that then God will bless us. Friends, it doesn’t work that way.
These lives we are living today in this place and at this time aren’t easy. There seems to be a great chasm between those who have and those who don’t. The ones who have are fearful that what they have will soon be gone. The ones who don’t have much are fearful that they will never, ever be able to have anything. They don’t see anyway out. No one has much faith, either in the society in which they live or in God.
The pastoral letter to Timothy sounds like the writer is afraid that Timothy may give up on his faith when things get tough and suffering comes. He is told to stay at it, keep his faith and love rooted in Christ just as he was taught.
Jesus had just told his disciples that hard times and temptations would come their way. And pity the one who gave any of the little ones a hard time. It would be better to have a boulder tied around their neck and tossed into the ocean than to do that. That’s when they realized that what Jesus was asking them to do was going to be more difficult than they imagined. They weren’t sure they could do it with the faith they had. They weren’t sure they would be successful walking in Jesus’ footsteps, living lives serving God’s children. So, they asked him to give them more faith.
I imagine Jesus looking at them with love in his eyes and saying, “More faith? You have all you need right now.”
Isn’t that how we all kind of feel when we step out on a new venture? Isn’t that how we feel when we decide to risk investing in a new career, or begin life together with the one God has chosen for us. We’re not sure we have enough of what’s needed to be successful.
But don’t we usually find, if we take the risk, that we had everything we needed. I think that’s what Jesus was saying to his disciples, “You have everything you need right now.” “You have just enough faith. Just live it.”
I think that’s the Message for us today. We have just enough faith. Just live it. Trust in the One who gave us this faith. It is sufficient for what He has called us to do.
I don’t believe he’s asking us to move trees or mountains but Jesus is asking us to trust him, to have faith in his Word and his love for us.
Our lives aren’t easy. Everyone, every family, has problems, everyone experiences some suffering. Jesus is telling us that our calling is to be ministers to each other using the gifts we have been given to serve others and to bring glory to Him. That is our calling; that is our purpose in this life. Just as those we work for expect us to give them an honest day’s work so God expects us to give him the same.
Do we expect a reward? Do we expect to be forgiven for our sins? Well maybe, but it all depends on God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice. And part of God’s grace is the faith we have received from him.
Friends, God sent his Son, Jesus, here because he loves us. He died for us because he loves us. He defeated death because he loves us. He gives us just enough faith because he loves us. All he asks us to do is just live it.
Friends, remember God does love you. Trust and believe. Have faith and then just live it.
Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Evangeliving
John 17:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 2:8
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
What are the important things in our lives? Is there one thing we would give our very lives for? What is so vitally important in our lives that we can’t keep it just for ourselves? What do we possess that is so valuable that we have to share with everyone?
What is it? Is it your home? Is it the money you have sitting in your certificates of deposit? Is it the food you have stored in your pantry? Or is it something that no one can see?
Here we are sitting in our comfortable padded pews. Jeremiah is in jail, the rich man is in torment in Hades, Lazarus is resting in the bosom of Abraham, and Timothy is being told to live a life of rich simplicity. And we are being asked, what do we possess that is of the greatest value to us.
Whenever I ask myself these questions I always come back to a question I’ve asked for a long time, “Why am I here? What purpose does God have for me being here?”
Why do you think we’re here? What is your purpose for living? I don’t believe that we are all here to gain more possessions or great wealth. I don’t believe that we’re all here to raise families and work at jobs that pay us a good wage.
I have quite a few questions today. If you have answered the question why we’re here then let me ask you another. What is you’re greatest hope? Or this, “In what do you place all your trust?”
Have you placed all your trust in your financial investments? Or have you put all your trust in real estate? Or have you placed your trust in something that is intangible?
What are the lessons to be learned from today’s scriptures? Why is Jeremiah buying land when he’s been telling everyone in Jerusalem that someone from the north is going to defeat their armies and take everyone into captivity?
Could it be that God has told him that as bad as things are going to get it won’t stay that way forever. Someday it will all get better and they will be able to come home again. At least some of them will be able to come home.
He bought the land because God told him that he should do that. Not because it was a good time to buy land because the market was depressed. No, he was to buy the land because it gave him hope for an end to God’s punishment. He trusted in what God told him.
The Message from the epistle is that a devout life will bring us wealth but not the wealth that the world desires. The writer is saying that a life of rich simplicity being ourselves before God will bring us rewards beyond anything we can imagine.
This wealth doesn’t come easily. Timothy is told that he needs to run hard and fast in the faith and seize the eternal life he was called to. Anytime the words run and seize are used I just know there’s some strenuous physical activity involved.
So, what are we to do and how do we do it? That’s the real question isn’t it? Well, we know that we can’t do it like the world around us would have us do it. We know that we have to change our lives. We have to repent.
And once we do we have to spend time with God. We have to allow Him to become an intimate part of our lives. Once we do that we find that there is more we are compelled to do. We discover that we can’t keep quiet about what God has done and is doing in our life.
Our lives have changed. We act different. We talk different. Our attitude about everything isn’t like it used to be. Without realizing it we have become evangelists. We’ve started to evangelive.
Yes, you heard that right, evangelive. We have started to evangelize just by changing how we act and talk when we are out in the community. And people notice that. And they want to know why we’re different.
They might even be brave enough to come to us and ask what’s the reason for the change. And then we might have to use words to explain the transformation in our lives. That’s evangelizing. Telling our testimony, our story, of what God has done to change our priorities. What was number one isn’t any longer.
Because we’ve changed we also see people differently. We don’t classify people like we did before. We don’t think about the poor or the homeless or the aliens in our country as being any different from us. In fact they become our sisters and brothers and we begin to care about the things in their lives.
We actually notice them as the lay in our doorways. We pay more attention to them when we see them in Walmart or at garage sales. Their skin may be a different shade than ours but that doesn’t make any difference now.
Will any of these changes guarantee a place in eternity for us? No, they won’t. Our only guarantee is when we give our lives 100% to Jesus and pray that he will grant us his grace.
We have been commanded by Jesus to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We have the best chance of achieving eternal life if we keep these commandments and give our lives to Jesus asking him to forgive us for our sins, for turning our backs on him for so long.
Friends, those are the things we should be striving for. Those are the things that should be very most important to us. Will we ever get it right? I doubt that I ever will but I trust in Jesus to intercede for us before God. I trust in God’s good grace.
So good friends, let Jesus come into your heart and allow him to transform you. Go out into the world, tell God’s story, your story, to all who will listen. Pay attention to those who are struggling in this world. Feel their pain and take a risk. Invite them into your lives. Sit with them and listen to their story. Love them and care for them.
Friends, that’s why we’re here, that’s our calling, to be ministers to God’s children, to make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God for his loving, forgiving grace. Amen.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
What are the important things in our lives? Is there one thing we would give our very lives for? What is so vitally important in our lives that we can’t keep it just for ourselves? What do we possess that is so valuable that we have to share with everyone?
What is it? Is it your home? Is it the money you have sitting in your certificates of deposit? Is it the food you have stored in your pantry? Or is it something that no one can see?
Here we are sitting in our comfortable padded pews. Jeremiah is in jail, the rich man is in torment in Hades, Lazarus is resting in the bosom of Abraham, and Timothy is being told to live a life of rich simplicity. And we are being asked, what do we possess that is of the greatest value to us.
Whenever I ask myself these questions I always come back to a question I’ve asked for a long time, “Why am I here? What purpose does God have for me being here?”
Why do you think we’re here? What is your purpose for living? I don’t believe that we are all here to gain more possessions or great wealth. I don’t believe that we’re all here to raise families and work at jobs that pay us a good wage.
I have quite a few questions today. If you have answered the question why we’re here then let me ask you another. What is you’re greatest hope? Or this, “In what do you place all your trust?”
Have you placed all your trust in your financial investments? Or have you put all your trust in real estate? Or have you placed your trust in something that is intangible?
What are the lessons to be learned from today’s scriptures? Why is Jeremiah buying land when he’s been telling everyone in Jerusalem that someone from the north is going to defeat their armies and take everyone into captivity?
Could it be that God has told him that as bad as things are going to get it won’t stay that way forever. Someday it will all get better and they will be able to come home again. At least some of them will be able to come home.
He bought the land because God told him that he should do that. Not because it was a good time to buy land because the market was depressed. No, he was to buy the land because it gave him hope for an end to God’s punishment. He trusted in what God told him.
The Message from the epistle is that a devout life will bring us wealth but not the wealth that the world desires. The writer is saying that a life of rich simplicity being ourselves before God will bring us rewards beyond anything we can imagine.
This wealth doesn’t come easily. Timothy is told that he needs to run hard and fast in the faith and seize the eternal life he was called to. Anytime the words run and seize are used I just know there’s some strenuous physical activity involved.
So, what are we to do and how do we do it? That’s the real question isn’t it? Well, we know that we can’t do it like the world around us would have us do it. We know that we have to change our lives. We have to repent.
And once we do we have to spend time with God. We have to allow Him to become an intimate part of our lives. Once we do that we find that there is more we are compelled to do. We discover that we can’t keep quiet about what God has done and is doing in our life.
Our lives have changed. We act different. We talk different. Our attitude about everything isn’t like it used to be. Without realizing it we have become evangelists. We’ve started to evangelive.
Yes, you heard that right, evangelive. We have started to evangelize just by changing how we act and talk when we are out in the community. And people notice that. And they want to know why we’re different.
They might even be brave enough to come to us and ask what’s the reason for the change. And then we might have to use words to explain the transformation in our lives. That’s evangelizing. Telling our testimony, our story, of what God has done to change our priorities. What was number one isn’t any longer.
Because we’ve changed we also see people differently. We don’t classify people like we did before. We don’t think about the poor or the homeless or the aliens in our country as being any different from us. In fact they become our sisters and brothers and we begin to care about the things in their lives.
We actually notice them as the lay in our doorways. We pay more attention to them when we see them in Walmart or at garage sales. Their skin may be a different shade than ours but that doesn’t make any difference now.
Will any of these changes guarantee a place in eternity for us? No, they won’t. Our only guarantee is when we give our lives 100% to Jesus and pray that he will grant us his grace.
We have been commanded by Jesus to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We have the best chance of achieving eternal life if we keep these commandments and give our lives to Jesus asking him to forgive us for our sins, for turning our backs on him for so long.
Friends, those are the things we should be striving for. Those are the things that should be very most important to us. Will we ever get it right? I doubt that I ever will but I trust in Jesus to intercede for us before God. I trust in God’s good grace.
So good friends, let Jesus come into your heart and allow him to transform you. Go out into the world, tell God’s story, your story, to all who will listen. Pay attention to those who are struggling in this world. Feel their pain and take a risk. Invite them into your lives. Sit with them and listen to their story. Love them and care for them.
Friends, that’s why we’re here, that’s our calling, to be ministers to God’s children, to make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God for his loving, forgiving grace. Amen.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Unjust, Dishonest, Prudent, or Shrewd
Okay, you have just listened to a parable Jesus told to his disciples about a manager who had been taking advantage of his position in order to gain more wealth. You see the owner of the property may have been living in the big city, Jerusalem. That may be the reason he hired someone to oversee the mundane tasks of taking care of the orchards, the fields, and the livestock. He may have owned many such properties and wasn’t able to manage all of them so he hired managers to do that for him.
Because someone brought charges against the manager he decided to have the financial records audited and found to his surprise, or maybe he suspected, things didn’t quite add up. And so he told this dishonest manager to get his affairs in order and prepare to leave because he no longer had the authority to spend the manager’s money caring for the property. His employment was terminated immediately.
Jesus doesn’t explain why but this shrewd manager called in those who were indentured to the property owner and had them creatively change their liens, one was halved, another was reduced 20 percent. Of course that made those who owed the landlord much happier. And they may have assumed that it was the landlord who had authorized this reduction.
How would you feel if the mortgage on your house was reduced by half or your operating note at the bank was cut by 20 percent? You might begin to believe that the banker actually had a heart. You might begin to be happy to see him arrive because now it looks as if you might finally be able to get out from under this debt.
The manager in this parable had definitely been fired but he still had time to call in those who were renting the different parcels of ground and have them adjust their rental contracts. And that is what Jesus said that he did.
So when he took the financial records back to the landowner he knew that the shrewd manager had taken some liberties with the contracts. And he knew that the renters assumed that the manager was making these adjustments with the full authority of the owner.
The owner could have let the renters know that he wasn’t the one who had authorized these changes but then they would have been ready to hang him. And right now they thought he was a pretty decent landlord since he had reduced what they owed him when the harvest came in.
Being the astute businessman that he was he knew better than to get his renters all riled up and so he commended the unjust manager for what he had done.
So what is Jesus saying to us in this parable, that we should be shrewdly dishonest like the manager in this story? What do you think it says?
What was the manager doing exactly when he had the renters make the changes to their contracts? Wasn’t he forgiving them a portion of their debt to the Master? And by being generous in his forgiveness and not expecting anything else from them, at least at the present, he was protecting his position. It was a huge risk because he didn’t really know how the Master would react and if one of the servants had come in while he was transacting this business he could have been found out by the renters and he would have been out on his ear right away.. But it was a chance he was willing to take.
So the question for us is would we be willing to forgive people who owe us, or who we believe owe us, so unconditionally? What would happen to the community in which we live if we could forgive like this without condition? What would the world be like if people could forgive and grant mercy without condition to someone who, say, killed four people because he was four times over the legal limit? What would the world be like if forgiveness could have been given to those who are responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf? What if forgiveness had been offered in response to terrorists acts? What if? How would our world be different today?
Is that what Jesus is saying here? Is it about forgiveness? What does the unjust manager expect to get by being forgiving? He hopes that he doesn’t have to resort to digging or begging. Do you think he succeeded? Jesus doesn’t really tell us. He leaves it to our imagination.
So, do you suppose we could negotiate a deal like this with God? Or maybe it’s already been done for us in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Our debt has been paid and we have been forgiven.
Are we willing to let our Lord do that for us? Are we willing to risk everything to follow the One who paid our debt? What’s more important, our possessions or eternity? Each of us has to answer that question in our own hearts. That’s between us and our God.
Thankfully he is patiently waiting for us to make that decision. Thanks be to God for his patient, compassionate grace. Amen.
Because someone brought charges against the manager he decided to have the financial records audited and found to his surprise, or maybe he suspected, things didn’t quite add up. And so he told this dishonest manager to get his affairs in order and prepare to leave because he no longer had the authority to spend the manager’s money caring for the property. His employment was terminated immediately.
Jesus doesn’t explain why but this shrewd manager called in those who were indentured to the property owner and had them creatively change their liens, one was halved, another was reduced 20 percent. Of course that made those who owed the landlord much happier. And they may have assumed that it was the landlord who had authorized this reduction.
How would you feel if the mortgage on your house was reduced by half or your operating note at the bank was cut by 20 percent? You might begin to believe that the banker actually had a heart. You might begin to be happy to see him arrive because now it looks as if you might finally be able to get out from under this debt.
The manager in this parable had definitely been fired but he still had time to call in those who were renting the different parcels of ground and have them adjust their rental contracts. And that is what Jesus said that he did.
So when he took the financial records back to the landowner he knew that the shrewd manager had taken some liberties with the contracts. And he knew that the renters assumed that the manager was making these adjustments with the full authority of the owner.
The owner could have let the renters know that he wasn’t the one who had authorized these changes but then they would have been ready to hang him. And right now they thought he was a pretty decent landlord since he had reduced what they owed him when the harvest came in.
Being the astute businessman that he was he knew better than to get his renters all riled up and so he commended the unjust manager for what he had done.
So what is Jesus saying to us in this parable, that we should be shrewdly dishonest like the manager in this story? What do you think it says?
What was the manager doing exactly when he had the renters make the changes to their contracts? Wasn’t he forgiving them a portion of their debt to the Master? And by being generous in his forgiveness and not expecting anything else from them, at least at the present, he was protecting his position. It was a huge risk because he didn’t really know how the Master would react and if one of the servants had come in while he was transacting this business he could have been found out by the renters and he would have been out on his ear right away.. But it was a chance he was willing to take.
So the question for us is would we be willing to forgive people who owe us, or who we believe owe us, so unconditionally? What would happen to the community in which we live if we could forgive like this without condition? What would the world be like if people could forgive and grant mercy without condition to someone who, say, killed four people because he was four times over the legal limit? What would the world be like if forgiveness could have been given to those who are responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf? What if forgiveness had been offered in response to terrorists acts? What if? How would our world be different today?
Is that what Jesus is saying here? Is it about forgiveness? What does the unjust manager expect to get by being forgiving? He hopes that he doesn’t have to resort to digging or begging. Do you think he succeeded? Jesus doesn’t really tell us. He leaves it to our imagination.
So, do you suppose we could negotiate a deal like this with God? Or maybe it’s already been done for us in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Our debt has been paid and we have been forgiven.
Are we willing to let our Lord do that for us? Are we willing to risk everything to follow the One who paid our debt? What’s more important, our possessions or eternity? Each of us has to answer that question in our own hearts. That’s between us and our God.
Thankfully he is patiently waiting for us to make that decision. Thanks be to God for his patient, compassionate grace. Amen.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Lost? Who, Me?
Have any of you ever been completely, totally lost? Have you ever been so turned around that you had no idea how to get to where you needed to be? Have you ever lost all sense of direction and couldn’t be certain where north, south, east or west were?
I’ll bet that everyone here is remembering a time when you were traveling somewhere and became turned around. You’re remembering sometime when you were so lost you couldn’t even find anyone who could tell you where to go.
I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. I have and it’s sure not any fun, especially if you’re all alone and no one speaks you’re language.
Every time it’s happened to me I feel so stupid. How could I not know where I was going? How come I can’t tell north from east? How come no one understands what I’m saying?
Are you lost today? Did you find your way here today hoping to get some directions that would get you home? Have you lost your point of reference?
I wonder if there’s anyone here who can help those of us who are lost. I wonder if there’s anyone here this morning that’s been in our predicament.
By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m not talking about being physically lost, though that can still happen to some of us. I’ve been told that Daniel Boone said that he’d never been lost but he’d wandered around for a few days before he came home.
Friends, I’ve been lost. I’ve been so lost that I thought I’d never find my way back. There have been times that I didn’t think God would ever find me. And still today, I get off the path. If it weren’t for God and his grace I’d probably not be here today.
I could very easily be one of those sinners that Jesus ate with. I could have been one of those the Pharisees were grumbling about.
You see I’ve not always followed Jesus’ footsteps like I should have. In fact I strayed a long way off the path a few times. If it wasn’t for God calling me home I wouldn’t be here today. I know there was nothing I did that helped me find my way back.
I’m not sure I could use Paul’s excuse that I didn’t know better. I knew better. Just like the Israelites I got stupid and went and did my own thing. I got lost.
So, are any of you lost today? Have you wandered off the path and don’t know where to go to get back on?
I believe that if you’re here today it’s because the One who created you, the One who loves you has been searching for you and in his own way has brought you to this sanctuary. Friend, God has found you and brought you here so he can help you get your bearings.
None of us have all the answers but together, like a family, we can help each other when we wander off the path. And we will stray. We’re not so much different than the sheep Jesus referred to in his parable. We put our heads down and go our way never looking up. And when we do we find we don’t know where we are or how we got here. Pretty much like sheep.
Friends, I don’t think we’re stupid but I do believe we can be pretty hard headed or hard hearted and that’s why we get lost so often.
I don’t get so scared anymore when I get lost because I have hope that the One who loves me will find me and bring me home. My trust is in the One who died to save me, the One who defeated death so I no longer have to fear it. I always hope that this is the last time but it isn’t.
Now there may be some here who have never been lost. And for you I’m eternally grateful because you are the ones God sends to help us who get lost all the time. I thank God for you.
Friends, if you never have been lost. If you’ve always known your directions, then I believe God has given you a great gift. You are the ones he uses to find the lost. You’re probably the ones who find us sinners and eat with us and love us unconditionally. Thank God he’s put you here. Or maybe it works this way, you know where you’re at when we’re lost and then when you’re lost we know where we’re at and therefore we help each other.
I don’t really know. I just trust in God’s grace to find me, and you, when I’m lost. And however that’s accomplished I’m grateful to the One who keeps me in the shadow of his wings.
Thanks be to God for his gracious love that finds us when we’re lost. Amen.
I’ll bet that everyone here is remembering a time when you were traveling somewhere and became turned around. You’re remembering sometime when you were so lost you couldn’t even find anyone who could tell you where to go.
I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. I have and it’s sure not any fun, especially if you’re all alone and no one speaks you’re language.
Every time it’s happened to me I feel so stupid. How could I not know where I was going? How come I can’t tell north from east? How come no one understands what I’m saying?
Are you lost today? Did you find your way here today hoping to get some directions that would get you home? Have you lost your point of reference?
I wonder if there’s anyone here who can help those of us who are lost. I wonder if there’s anyone here this morning that’s been in our predicament.
By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m not talking about being physically lost, though that can still happen to some of us. I’ve been told that Daniel Boone said that he’d never been lost but he’d wandered around for a few days before he came home.
Friends, I’ve been lost. I’ve been so lost that I thought I’d never find my way back. There have been times that I didn’t think God would ever find me. And still today, I get off the path. If it weren’t for God and his grace I’d probably not be here today.
I could very easily be one of those sinners that Jesus ate with. I could have been one of those the Pharisees were grumbling about.
You see I’ve not always followed Jesus’ footsteps like I should have. In fact I strayed a long way off the path a few times. If it wasn’t for God calling me home I wouldn’t be here today. I know there was nothing I did that helped me find my way back.
I’m not sure I could use Paul’s excuse that I didn’t know better. I knew better. Just like the Israelites I got stupid and went and did my own thing. I got lost.
So, are any of you lost today? Have you wandered off the path and don’t know where to go to get back on?
I believe that if you’re here today it’s because the One who created you, the One who loves you has been searching for you and in his own way has brought you to this sanctuary. Friend, God has found you and brought you here so he can help you get your bearings.
None of us have all the answers but together, like a family, we can help each other when we wander off the path. And we will stray. We’re not so much different than the sheep Jesus referred to in his parable. We put our heads down and go our way never looking up. And when we do we find we don’t know where we are or how we got here. Pretty much like sheep.
Friends, I don’t think we’re stupid but I do believe we can be pretty hard headed or hard hearted and that’s why we get lost so often.
I don’t get so scared anymore when I get lost because I have hope that the One who loves me will find me and bring me home. My trust is in the One who died to save me, the One who defeated death so I no longer have to fear it. I always hope that this is the last time but it isn’t.
Now there may be some here who have never been lost. And for you I’m eternally grateful because you are the ones God sends to help us who get lost all the time. I thank God for you.
Friends, if you never have been lost. If you’ve always known your directions, then I believe God has given you a great gift. You are the ones he uses to find the lost. You’re probably the ones who find us sinners and eat with us and love us unconditionally. Thank God he’s put you here. Or maybe it works this way, you know where you’re at when we’re lost and then when you’re lost we know where we’re at and therefore we help each other.
I don’t really know. I just trust in God’s grace to find me, and you, when I’m lost. And however that’s accomplished I’m grateful to the One who keeps me in the shadow of his wings.
Thanks be to God for his gracious love that finds us when we’re lost. Amen.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
You Cannot Follow Jesus
You cannot be my follower…Why can’t I be your follower? I love you! I’ll do anything you ask!
Put me first, Jesus says. Love me more than these, he says. Give up everything you have, he says; otherwise you cannot be my follower.
Put you first? But I have a family. Linda needs me. My children still need me. I have grandchildren who need me. Lord, you are first but I have to take care of my family too. Won’t you let me do both?
Lord, you know everything about me. Surely you understand the predicament this Message puts me in. What do you mean, give up everything, everything like my bike, my routers, my books, my computer, my dog, everything? I must be misunderstanding what Luke’s written, everything?
I cannot be your disciple unless I give it all up? Jesus, that doesn’t sound fair. How can I possibly give up everything?
Friends, these are questions I’ve asked Jesus many times. How do you understand the lesson from Luke today? What’s it saying to you? Does he really mean that we have to hate our parents and our siblings and our children, even our own lives? Hate is such a strong word and my mother taught me not to use that word. But Jesus uses it here. Hate, are we reading that right? We have to hate before we can be His follower? We must not be reading that right.
Following Jesus costs more than we realize, at first. And at first we think the cost is too much. We try to barter with Jesus. We try to negotiate an easier package but He won’t budge. It’s all or nothing. Jesus will not back down until we’ve consented to giving him all our attention, all our desire, all our love.
What does it mean to you to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus? How much has it cost you? Who comes first in your life? If Jesus calls you and your spouse calls you at the same time, who do you follow? Where are your priorities?
Before you committed your life to Jesus did you sit down and calculate what it was going to cost you? If you’re following Him today is it what you expected it to be?
What’s happening to those who can’t give it all up? They cannot follow him, so what now?
I wouldn’t give up hope. God is like the potter. He made us and he can reshape us if we haven’t turned out like he planned. It isn’t without some pain and discomfort, this reshaping.
Have you ever watched a potter at work? They begin by cutting a chunk of clay from a big block. Then they add water and beat and hammer that lump with their fists until the block becomes a little more malleable. They add more water and beat and shape and hammer and push with fingers and fists until they have a ball.
Then they throw the ball onto the wheel. More water is added as they begin to spin the wheel keeping pressure on the ball with their fingers and palms. More water and the potter keeps the wheel spinning. Soon there is a cone. Fingers push into the center of the cone and, it’s a miracle how it happens, there’s a bowl.
Friends, it’s a whole lot of work. There’s a lot of pressure exerted on that lump of clay. And if it doesn’t turn out exactly as the potter planned he just pounds it down, reshapes it, and begins again until it comes out like he wants it.
So, good friends, there’s still hope for us. We may not be exactly as God planned for us but he’s just like that potter, he can and will reshape us. But it isn’t without a lot of pressure and not a little pain. If we give up and don’t let him shape/reshape us then, well we cannot follow him.
So, can we give it all up to follow Jesus? Are we willing to pay the price to be a follower? Do we trust the One who came to save us?
If we’re struggling with these questions what is it that we find so hard? Is it giving it all up? It’s not really ours you know. None of these things can we take with us when he calls us home. So why do we find it so hard to let them go? What’s it costing to hold onto them? That’s the real question, isn’t it.
Jesus says, “If you don’t give up everything you cannot follow me.” Tough love, but friends it is love. He has our best interests at heart. He loves us and he knows we aren’t able to do it right by ourselves.
Friends, Jesus wants our all, otherwise we cannot follow him. Are you ready to give him all of you? He’s waiting for our answer. What’s it going to be, yes or no?
My prayer is that you will be a follower of Jesus and give it all to him. Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.
Put me first, Jesus says. Love me more than these, he says. Give up everything you have, he says; otherwise you cannot be my follower.
Put you first? But I have a family. Linda needs me. My children still need me. I have grandchildren who need me. Lord, you are first but I have to take care of my family too. Won’t you let me do both?
Lord, you know everything about me. Surely you understand the predicament this Message puts me in. What do you mean, give up everything, everything like my bike, my routers, my books, my computer, my dog, everything? I must be misunderstanding what Luke’s written, everything?
I cannot be your disciple unless I give it all up? Jesus, that doesn’t sound fair. How can I possibly give up everything?
Friends, these are questions I’ve asked Jesus many times. How do you understand the lesson from Luke today? What’s it saying to you? Does he really mean that we have to hate our parents and our siblings and our children, even our own lives? Hate is such a strong word and my mother taught me not to use that word. But Jesus uses it here. Hate, are we reading that right? We have to hate before we can be His follower? We must not be reading that right.
Following Jesus costs more than we realize, at first. And at first we think the cost is too much. We try to barter with Jesus. We try to negotiate an easier package but He won’t budge. It’s all or nothing. Jesus will not back down until we’ve consented to giving him all our attention, all our desire, all our love.
What does it mean to you to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus? How much has it cost you? Who comes first in your life? If Jesus calls you and your spouse calls you at the same time, who do you follow? Where are your priorities?
Before you committed your life to Jesus did you sit down and calculate what it was going to cost you? If you’re following Him today is it what you expected it to be?
What’s happening to those who can’t give it all up? They cannot follow him, so what now?
I wouldn’t give up hope. God is like the potter. He made us and he can reshape us if we haven’t turned out like he planned. It isn’t without some pain and discomfort, this reshaping.
Have you ever watched a potter at work? They begin by cutting a chunk of clay from a big block. Then they add water and beat and hammer that lump with their fists until the block becomes a little more malleable. They add more water and beat and shape and hammer and push with fingers and fists until they have a ball.
Then they throw the ball onto the wheel. More water is added as they begin to spin the wheel keeping pressure on the ball with their fingers and palms. More water and the potter keeps the wheel spinning. Soon there is a cone. Fingers push into the center of the cone and, it’s a miracle how it happens, there’s a bowl.
Friends, it’s a whole lot of work. There’s a lot of pressure exerted on that lump of clay. And if it doesn’t turn out exactly as the potter planned he just pounds it down, reshapes it, and begins again until it comes out like he wants it.
So, good friends, there’s still hope for us. We may not be exactly as God planned for us but he’s just like that potter, he can and will reshape us. But it isn’t without a lot of pressure and not a little pain. If we give up and don’t let him shape/reshape us then, well we cannot follow him.
So, can we give it all up to follow Jesus? Are we willing to pay the price to be a follower? Do we trust the One who came to save us?
If we’re struggling with these questions what is it that we find so hard? Is it giving it all up? It’s not really ours you know. None of these things can we take with us when he calls us home. So why do we find it so hard to let them go? What’s it costing to hold onto them? That’s the real question, isn’t it.
Jesus says, “If you don’t give up everything you cannot follow me.” Tough love, but friends it is love. He has our best interests at heart. He loves us and he knows we aren’t able to do it right by ourselves.
Friends, Jesus wants our all, otherwise we cannot follow him. Are you ready to give him all of you? He’s waiting for our answer. What’s it going to be, yes or no?
My prayer is that you will be a follower of Jesus and give it all to him. Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.
Monday, August 30, 2010
What’s for Dinner? Who’s Invited? Who’s Excluded?
When you plan your meals do you make enough extra just in case some one knocks on the door or rings the doorbell just as you’re sitting down to lunch or supper? I wonder how many times that’s happened? How many times have we invited them in to sit down at the table with us?
Most times, if we’re honest with each other, we are a little peeved when the doorbell rings or the phone rings just as we’re getting ready to sit down to eat. Maybe you aren’t but I am. And then, what does Hebrews say to me, “Be ready with a meal or a bed when it's needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!”
I read that passage and I wonder how many angels have come to me for a meal and I have turned them away. Or I’ve been so grumpy that they chose to walk on down the street. I wonder.
Luke doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable. He tells of the time that Jesus told a parable about being invited to a wedding party and how everyone scrambled to seat themselves at the most prestigious spot at the table. I read that and I wonder how many times I have arrived at a dinner and tried to find a table where I could sit and be noticed. I wonder.
I wonder how many times I have failed to take the least conspicuous seat at the table. How many times have I forgotten the lesson that Jesus is teaching here? I wonder.
How many times have I heard these lessons read, how many times have I read these lessons and failed to heed God’s warning? How many more chances will God give me? I wonder.
I don’t think that I wake up everyday and intend to be exclusive. In fact, I like to think that I’d welcome anyone into my home but the facts are I haven’t. Therefore I’m convicted by these scriptures.
I know it’s not about me. I know that but I haven’t changed. I know that Jesus died and rose again so that I could be forgiven. How many more times is he going to say, “Son, you’re forgiven. Go and sin no more.” If I were God I think I’d be ready to right me off for a lost cause. I’d think, “He’s never going to change.”
Fortunately for me, God is forgiving and he gives me another chance to get it right. So, is today that day I might welcome an angel? Is today the day I will do the right thing? I wonder.
Jeremiah was called by God to prophesy to the people of Israel. They had been just like me. They had forgotten how He had delivered them from the oppression of the Egyptians and led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. They were seduced by the gods of the countries God helped them to conquer.
Maybe that’s my problem. I’ve been seduced by the things of the world that are all around me. Maybe I don’t want to share them with anyone who comes knocking on my door. I wonder if that’s it.
I know what I should do but every time an opportunity presents itself I do the wrong thing. The angels God sends have to go somewhere else to find their meal. And I’m the one who loses.
Friends, if a stranger walked in here today as we were worshipping how do you think we’d react? What if the stranger who came in was a little scruffy? What if the stranger had a lot of different piercings and tats? How would they be received? I wonder.
I believe that God’s lesson for us today is that we need to take the focus off of us and be more observant to how God is present in and around us in those who come to visit our churches and our homes.
We are called as God’s children to serve others, to love without reservation, without judgment, and care for those whom He sends our way. I, for one, haven’t always done that. And I’ve missed many opportunities to serve our Lord.
Friends, don’t be me. Pay attention to God’s presence in every person you meet. And welcome them wherever you may be because, you never know, they may be angels sent from God.
Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.
Most times, if we’re honest with each other, we are a little peeved when the doorbell rings or the phone rings just as we’re getting ready to sit down to eat. Maybe you aren’t but I am. And then, what does Hebrews say to me, “Be ready with a meal or a bed when it's needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!”
I read that passage and I wonder how many angels have come to me for a meal and I have turned them away. Or I’ve been so grumpy that they chose to walk on down the street. I wonder.
Luke doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable. He tells of the time that Jesus told a parable about being invited to a wedding party and how everyone scrambled to seat themselves at the most prestigious spot at the table. I read that and I wonder how many times I have arrived at a dinner and tried to find a table where I could sit and be noticed. I wonder.
I wonder how many times I have failed to take the least conspicuous seat at the table. How many times have I forgotten the lesson that Jesus is teaching here? I wonder.
How many times have I heard these lessons read, how many times have I read these lessons and failed to heed God’s warning? How many more chances will God give me? I wonder.
I don’t think that I wake up everyday and intend to be exclusive. In fact, I like to think that I’d welcome anyone into my home but the facts are I haven’t. Therefore I’m convicted by these scriptures.
I know it’s not about me. I know that but I haven’t changed. I know that Jesus died and rose again so that I could be forgiven. How many more times is he going to say, “Son, you’re forgiven. Go and sin no more.” If I were God I think I’d be ready to right me off for a lost cause. I’d think, “He’s never going to change.”
Fortunately for me, God is forgiving and he gives me another chance to get it right. So, is today that day I might welcome an angel? Is today the day I will do the right thing? I wonder.
Jeremiah was called by God to prophesy to the people of Israel. They had been just like me. They had forgotten how He had delivered them from the oppression of the Egyptians and led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. They were seduced by the gods of the countries God helped them to conquer.
Maybe that’s my problem. I’ve been seduced by the things of the world that are all around me. Maybe I don’t want to share them with anyone who comes knocking on my door. I wonder if that’s it.
I know what I should do but every time an opportunity presents itself I do the wrong thing. The angels God sends have to go somewhere else to find their meal. And I’m the one who loses.
Friends, if a stranger walked in here today as we were worshipping how do you think we’d react? What if the stranger who came in was a little scruffy? What if the stranger had a lot of different piercings and tats? How would they be received? I wonder.
I believe that God’s lesson for us today is that we need to take the focus off of us and be more observant to how God is present in and around us in those who come to visit our churches and our homes.
We are called as God’s children to serve others, to love without reservation, without judgment, and care for those whom He sends our way. I, for one, haven’t always done that. And I’ve missed many opportunities to serve our Lord.
Friends, don’t be me. Pay attention to God’s presence in every person you meet. And welcome them wherever you may be because, you never know, they may be angels sent from God.
Thanks be to God for his patient, forgiving, compassionate grace. Amen.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Called, Shaken, Freed
Jeremiah, the boy, was called by God to prophesy to Israel. Hebrews reminds us that God is going to give things one more good shake so that all that remains is what cannot be shaken. In the gospel of Luke a woman who has been bent over, not able to straighten up at all, for 18 years is released from the prison her body had put her in.
Called, shaken, and freed are key words for us today. All of us have heard the Message that we are called, all of us, to be ministers to God’s children. Friends, I believe that we aren’t only called to be ministers but we are called to serve God’s purpose in the world in various ways. Not everyone who is called wants to answer the call. Many of us, like Jeremiah, think we aren’t equipped with the tools we need to do the work God calls on us to do. Our weak, feeble excuses don’t carry much weight. God, I’ve found out, does what he’s going to do. And if he calls us to a particular work, no excuse we give is going to sway God from what he’s called us to do. If he’s called us to work then he will equip us with everything we need to accomplish what God has planned.
Often when we realize that it’s God who’s calling us we get a little worried. We know if God calls then sooner or later we’re going to have to get started. Our comfortable world is shaken by what God calls us to do, sometimes. Once in a while our world is turned completely upside down and everything we’ve grown comfortable with changes. Not only is our world shaken but so are we. We’re not exactly accustomed to having our lives changed so drastically. God has an agenda, a timetable, a plan, and the time for Christ’s return, even though some would not like to think about that, is getting closer. When Jesus does come back things will really be shaken.
In the meantime here we are bound up by the things of the world. We are so bent over with the burdens of our lives that we can’t even see the signs that Jesus’ return is imminent. We have been bent over with this infirmity for so long that we don’t know that there is any other view than the one we see right in front of our toes. We’re almost like those ponies that are trotters with their blinders on. All they can see of the world is what’s right in front of them.
We’re not much different than those trotters. We’re not so very different than the woman Jesus healed. I wonder if she had become so used to her condition that she accepted it; it was normal for her. I wonder if those who met her every day were so used to seeing her that way that they never thought about what it must be like for her. It was just the way she was. They may have assumed it was a punishment from God for some sin she had committed.
Jesus knew better. He knew she didn’t deserve to be trapped in that prison for the rest of her life. And so he called her over to him. He told her she was free from her ailment. I don’t think any of us can imagine what joy she must have felt when Jesus laid his hands on her and she stood up straight, able to see people eye to eye. What joy must have filled her heart.
God calls us. God shakes our world. When he lays his hands on us, when his Spirit comes into our souls we are freed from the chains of sin that have kept us bent over all our lives.
That’s just one more reason to heed God’s call to us. When we answer his call we find new freedom. Yes, we might be fearful of what God is asking of us but when we accept his call we soon experience exhilaration, joy and a certain peace and it’s all because we’ve invited God’s Spirit inside.
So, good friends, have you heard God’s call? Have you been hesitating to answer? Are you afraid to be set free because it’s different from what you’ve been used to seeing? Is God shaking your world?
Friends, maybe it’s time for us to let God keep on shaking. Maybe it’s time for us to let go of those things which have us bent over. Friends, it’s time to let Jesus lay his hands on you and be healed.
He’s calling our names. He knows each of us intimately. He’s known us since before we were conceived. Sure our world will change. But friends, isn’t that really what our souls desire. Our souls have been leading us to Jesus. We’ve just been so bent over we couldn’t see him. Listen to his voice. Let him touch you. Let him shake up your world.
Then go out and let the Spirit lead you in a dance of joy as you go to serve those God places on your path of life.
Thanks be to God for his compassionate grace. Amen.
Called, shaken, and freed are key words for us today. All of us have heard the Message that we are called, all of us, to be ministers to God’s children. Friends, I believe that we aren’t only called to be ministers but we are called to serve God’s purpose in the world in various ways. Not everyone who is called wants to answer the call. Many of us, like Jeremiah, think we aren’t equipped with the tools we need to do the work God calls on us to do. Our weak, feeble excuses don’t carry much weight. God, I’ve found out, does what he’s going to do. And if he calls us to a particular work, no excuse we give is going to sway God from what he’s called us to do. If he’s called us to work then he will equip us with everything we need to accomplish what God has planned.
Often when we realize that it’s God who’s calling us we get a little worried. We know if God calls then sooner or later we’re going to have to get started. Our comfortable world is shaken by what God calls us to do, sometimes. Once in a while our world is turned completely upside down and everything we’ve grown comfortable with changes. Not only is our world shaken but so are we. We’re not exactly accustomed to having our lives changed so drastically. God has an agenda, a timetable, a plan, and the time for Christ’s return, even though some would not like to think about that, is getting closer. When Jesus does come back things will really be shaken.
In the meantime here we are bound up by the things of the world. We are so bent over with the burdens of our lives that we can’t even see the signs that Jesus’ return is imminent. We have been bent over with this infirmity for so long that we don’t know that there is any other view than the one we see right in front of our toes. We’re almost like those ponies that are trotters with their blinders on. All they can see of the world is what’s right in front of them.
We’re not much different than those trotters. We’re not so very different than the woman Jesus healed. I wonder if she had become so used to her condition that she accepted it; it was normal for her. I wonder if those who met her every day were so used to seeing her that way that they never thought about what it must be like for her. It was just the way she was. They may have assumed it was a punishment from God for some sin she had committed.
Jesus knew better. He knew she didn’t deserve to be trapped in that prison for the rest of her life. And so he called her over to him. He told her she was free from her ailment. I don’t think any of us can imagine what joy she must have felt when Jesus laid his hands on her and she stood up straight, able to see people eye to eye. What joy must have filled her heart.
God calls us. God shakes our world. When he lays his hands on us, when his Spirit comes into our souls we are freed from the chains of sin that have kept us bent over all our lives.
That’s just one more reason to heed God’s call to us. When we answer his call we find new freedom. Yes, we might be fearful of what God is asking of us but when we accept his call we soon experience exhilaration, joy and a certain peace and it’s all because we’ve invited God’s Spirit inside.
So, good friends, have you heard God’s call? Have you been hesitating to answer? Are you afraid to be set free because it’s different from what you’ve been used to seeing? Is God shaking your world?
Friends, maybe it’s time for us to let God keep on shaking. Maybe it’s time for us to let go of those things which have us bent over. Friends, it’s time to let Jesus lay his hands on you and be healed.
He’s calling our names. He knows each of us intimately. He’s known us since before we were conceived. Sure our world will change. But friends, isn’t that really what our souls desire. Our souls have been leading us to Jesus. We’ve just been so bent over we couldn’t see him. Listen to his voice. Let him touch you. Let him shake up your world.
Then go out and let the Spirit lead you in a dance of joy as you go to serve those God places on your path of life.
Thanks be to God for his compassionate grace. Amen.
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Garden
I remember the very first garden I ever planted. I was probably 10-12 years old and the whole potato patch was my responsibility. I had to plow it, rake it, plant the potato eyes, hoe the weeds, and then dig up the produce just before school started. Oh yes, I also was responsible for bagging and marketing my produce.
Remember, I said was about 12 years old. Can you imagine what that garden looked like when it came time to dig the potatoes? Let me tell you I could barely make out the rows. In fact the vines had died down enough that most times I couldn’t find where to start digging.
Dad wouldn’t let me walk away from it though. I had to dig, pick up, clean the dirt off, put them into the baskets and then lug them to the basement storage room. How I wanted to quit, to just walk away from the whole thing. The weeds were too tall. It was too hot. The ground was too hard. I used every excuse I could think of. It was like Dad was deaf. Mom wasn’t sympathetic to my plight either. So I kept digging, without very much enthusiasm.
I had neglected my project to play in the creek or the barn or play hide and seek with my sisters. And so the weeds grew and my work at the end was way more difficult that it would have been if I had just done my job every week like Dad instructed me to.
The scripture readings from the Prophet Isaiah and the Psalms are about someone who had a garden, a vineyard. They tell about an owner who did everything as they were supposed to and still the harvest was terrible. It didn’t sound like the grapes even made good vinegar. So what did the owner do? He tore down the fence and let it grow up into brambles and thorns. He even asked the rain not to fall on it so that even if it wanted to it wasn’t going to live and produce even one grape.
As we hear this passage read we begin to understand that the owner is God and he’s talking about his chosen people, Israel. We hear this reading and we think, “I’m glad that wasn’t me.” What if we substitute Walnut or the United States in place of Israel or Judah? It brings it almost too close to home for us.
We can do the same thing with the reading from the Psalms. Read it and put Walnut or the United States in place of Israel and Iowa or New York or California in place of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. It sounds a little too personal now.
This doesn’t sound anything like what we came here to listen to this morning. None of us came here this morning to be told that God doesn’t like what we’ve been doing with our lives, our blessings, or the grace he gave us.
Wait! We’re not finished yet. In the gospel reading Luke tells us that Jesus said that he came to cast fire on the earth and he wished it was started now. That doesn’t sound like the Jesus we normally hear preached on most Sundays. What happened to Jesus is love? What happened to the Jesus who healed the lepers, the blind, and who cast out our demons? Where did he go?
Jesus is talking about creating division in our lives, Father against son, mother against daughter, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law, 3 against 2, and 2 against 3. That sounds like a whole lot of trouble that we don’t want to get in the middle of. But that’s what Jesus says he came for. What happened to peace?
He was stressed and maybe that was it. Or maybe he was just tired. Maybe he’d just had enough of humanity and he let us have it with both barrels. I don’t know.
Jesus did say that he came to change everything, to put everything rightside up. If we do the same thing with this passage that we did with the other two and read it like Jesus is talking directly to us can we really, with all honesty, think that we aren’t at fault.
We can’t possibly read and hear the news and think that everything’s okay with the state of the world. Can we? We can’t put all the blame on President Obama or the Al Qaida or the Taliban or BP, can we?
You’re right, someone is to blame. If we think we’re not at fault I would have to disagree. As Jesus said we can look at the sky or Weather Bug and can pretty well tell what the weather is going to be like today or tomorrow and may the day after. But we seem to shut our eyes to the state of the world. We make jokes about global warming, oil spills; we don’t seem to notice how many single parent families there are or how many dysfunctional people there are living in our communities. We shake our heads at the deaths caused by people who are driving drunk. How could they do that? Why didn’t someone do something?
Friends, this world hasn’t changed significantly from Jesus’ day. People are still doing cruel things to other people. There is discrimination on many levels. There are so many folks who don’t have enough food or shelter or warm clothes. There are still people who kept from meaningful employment because they don’t meet the right social criteria. They’re not the right color or sex or age.
This all sounds pretty much like doom and gloom. So what’s the good news? Is there any good news? The answer’s yes.
The author of Hebrews is still talking about faith and gives some examples from the Hebrew Bible. He uses Israel crossing the Red Sea, walking around the walls of Jericho, and Rahab. By their acts of faith they were blessed.
But not everyone who had faith received what God promised them. Their faith wasn’t complete. But friends, that’s not a bad thing. God combines their faith with our faith and makes one complete faith.
What that means is that all those who have preceded us are watching and cheering for us to complete what they started. So if we aren’t already working at what God has called us to do we are told to get going right now. Get rid of the excess baggage and start working and don’t quit. There is no early retirement.
How, you might ask, are we to do any good at all? It’s simple. We are told to keep our eyes on Jesus. Study how he did it and do the same thing. He never lost sight of his goal. He was focused on the prize.
The good news, my friends, is that God created us, he is right beside us, and he’s not going to abandon us. And our friends who have gone on ahead are cheering for us to keep going.
The passage Jesus referred to when he was talking about the house divided was from Micah 7. If you go there and read the whole chapter to the end you will find that the prophet ended by saying, “Where is the god who can compare with you—wiping the slate clean of guilt, turning a blind eye, a deaf ear, to the past sins of your purged and precious people? You don't nurse your anger and don't stay angry long, for mercy is your specialty. That's what you love most. And compassion is on its way to us. You'll stamp out our wrongdoing. You'll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean. You'll stay true to your word to Father Jacob and continue the compassion you showed Grandfather Abraham—everything you promised our ancestors from a long time ago. Micah 7:18-20
That’s the good news. Even though God is displeased with our actions he doesn’t stay angry forever. He is merciful and forgiving, especially since He sent his Son to die for us. God keeps his promises even those he made long ago.
Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and love. Amen.
Remember, I said was about 12 years old. Can you imagine what that garden looked like when it came time to dig the potatoes? Let me tell you I could barely make out the rows. In fact the vines had died down enough that most times I couldn’t find where to start digging.
Dad wouldn’t let me walk away from it though. I had to dig, pick up, clean the dirt off, put them into the baskets and then lug them to the basement storage room. How I wanted to quit, to just walk away from the whole thing. The weeds were too tall. It was too hot. The ground was too hard. I used every excuse I could think of. It was like Dad was deaf. Mom wasn’t sympathetic to my plight either. So I kept digging, without very much enthusiasm.
I had neglected my project to play in the creek or the barn or play hide and seek with my sisters. And so the weeds grew and my work at the end was way more difficult that it would have been if I had just done my job every week like Dad instructed me to.
The scripture readings from the Prophet Isaiah and the Psalms are about someone who had a garden, a vineyard. They tell about an owner who did everything as they were supposed to and still the harvest was terrible. It didn’t sound like the grapes even made good vinegar. So what did the owner do? He tore down the fence and let it grow up into brambles and thorns. He even asked the rain not to fall on it so that even if it wanted to it wasn’t going to live and produce even one grape.
As we hear this passage read we begin to understand that the owner is God and he’s talking about his chosen people, Israel. We hear this reading and we think, “I’m glad that wasn’t me.” What if we substitute Walnut or the United States in place of Israel or Judah? It brings it almost too close to home for us.
We can do the same thing with the reading from the Psalms. Read it and put Walnut or the United States in place of Israel and Iowa or New York or California in place of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. It sounds a little too personal now.
This doesn’t sound anything like what we came here to listen to this morning. None of us came here this morning to be told that God doesn’t like what we’ve been doing with our lives, our blessings, or the grace he gave us.
Wait! We’re not finished yet. In the gospel reading Luke tells us that Jesus said that he came to cast fire on the earth and he wished it was started now. That doesn’t sound like the Jesus we normally hear preached on most Sundays. What happened to Jesus is love? What happened to the Jesus who healed the lepers, the blind, and who cast out our demons? Where did he go?
Jesus is talking about creating division in our lives, Father against son, mother against daughter, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law, 3 against 2, and 2 against 3. That sounds like a whole lot of trouble that we don’t want to get in the middle of. But that’s what Jesus says he came for. What happened to peace?
He was stressed and maybe that was it. Or maybe he was just tired. Maybe he’d just had enough of humanity and he let us have it with both barrels. I don’t know.
Jesus did say that he came to change everything, to put everything rightside up. If we do the same thing with this passage that we did with the other two and read it like Jesus is talking directly to us can we really, with all honesty, think that we aren’t at fault.
We can’t possibly read and hear the news and think that everything’s okay with the state of the world. Can we? We can’t put all the blame on President Obama or the Al Qaida or the Taliban or BP, can we?
You’re right, someone is to blame. If we think we’re not at fault I would have to disagree. As Jesus said we can look at the sky or Weather Bug and can pretty well tell what the weather is going to be like today or tomorrow and may the day after. But we seem to shut our eyes to the state of the world. We make jokes about global warming, oil spills; we don’t seem to notice how many single parent families there are or how many dysfunctional people there are living in our communities. We shake our heads at the deaths caused by people who are driving drunk. How could they do that? Why didn’t someone do something?
Friends, this world hasn’t changed significantly from Jesus’ day. People are still doing cruel things to other people. There is discrimination on many levels. There are so many folks who don’t have enough food or shelter or warm clothes. There are still people who kept from meaningful employment because they don’t meet the right social criteria. They’re not the right color or sex or age.
This all sounds pretty much like doom and gloom. So what’s the good news? Is there any good news? The answer’s yes.
The author of Hebrews is still talking about faith and gives some examples from the Hebrew Bible. He uses Israel crossing the Red Sea, walking around the walls of Jericho, and Rahab. By their acts of faith they were blessed.
But not everyone who had faith received what God promised them. Their faith wasn’t complete. But friends, that’s not a bad thing. God combines their faith with our faith and makes one complete faith.
What that means is that all those who have preceded us are watching and cheering for us to complete what they started. So if we aren’t already working at what God has called us to do we are told to get going right now. Get rid of the excess baggage and start working and don’t quit. There is no early retirement.
How, you might ask, are we to do any good at all? It’s simple. We are told to keep our eyes on Jesus. Study how he did it and do the same thing. He never lost sight of his goal. He was focused on the prize.
The good news, my friends, is that God created us, he is right beside us, and he’s not going to abandon us. And our friends who have gone on ahead are cheering for us to keep going.
The passage Jesus referred to when he was talking about the house divided was from Micah 7. If you go there and read the whole chapter to the end you will find that the prophet ended by saying, “Where is the god who can compare with you—wiping the slate clean of guilt, turning a blind eye, a deaf ear, to the past sins of your purged and precious people? You don't nurse your anger and don't stay angry long, for mercy is your specialty. That's what you love most. And compassion is on its way to us. You'll stamp out our wrongdoing. You'll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean. You'll stay true to your word to Father Jacob and continue the compassion you showed Grandfather Abraham—everything you promised our ancestors from a long time ago. Micah 7:18-20
That’s the good news. Even though God is displeased with our actions he doesn’t stay angry forever. He is merciful and forgiving, especially since He sent his Son to die for us. God keeps his promises even those he made long ago.
Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and love. Amen.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Diary of an Old Soul-George Macdonald
This morning I was reading a passage for August 5th in George Macdonald's book, Diary of an Old Soul. It went like this...
I have no choice, I must do what I can;
But you do to me, and all things else as well;
You will take care that your child grow a man.
Rouse thee, my faith; be king; with life be one;
To trust in God is action's highest kind;
Who trust in God, his heart with like does swell;
Faith open all the windows to God's wind.
This is my revised version without the thees, thys, dost's and so forth.
What struck me this morning was the last phrase, "Faith opens all the windows to God's wind (Spirit?)." Yesterday I talked about what we believe and why are we waiting. And then today I read a passage that I should have read last week but busyness kept me from it. What a wonderful God we worship who blesses us everyday even when we forget to thank him for his blessings.
Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.
I have no choice, I must do what I can;
But you do to me, and all things else as well;
You will take care that your child grow a man.
Rouse thee, my faith; be king; with life be one;
To trust in God is action's highest kind;
Who trust in God, his heart with like does swell;
Faith open all the windows to God's wind.
This is my revised version without the thees, thys, dost's and so forth.
What struck me this morning was the last phrase, "Faith opens all the windows to God's wind (Spirit?)." Yesterday I talked about what we believe and why are we waiting. And then today I read a passage that I should have read last week but busyness kept me from it. What a wonderful God we worship who blesses us everyday even when we forget to thank him for his blessings.
Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
What Do We Believe? What Are We Waiting For?
Everything has a beginning. Whatever we do, whatever project we are working on it all has a beginning. Before a project can be started a lot of planning has to take place. Before any building can be constructed a foundation has to be planned, dirt or rocks have to be moved, and the foundation laid.
Without any planning, without dirt and/or rocks being moved, without any foundation, no building is going to stand very long. Buildings need something solid to rest on, something that walls can be anchored to, so they won’t tilt or lean after a few years. You’ve all probably seen buildings that were built on poor foundations. After a while they begin to lean one way or the other or maybe both ways and pretty soon all the nails and screws just can’t keep it together any longer.
The writer of Hebrews says the same thing about our existence. “…trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.” Just as buildings need a good foundation so do we. In order to understand why we are here, in order to make sense of life and make our time here worthwhile we need faith in the One who created us and everything around us.
Faith is trusting in God. Faith is believing that there is One who is in charge of everything. Faith is putting our trust in someone we can’t see, someone we can’t touch, someone we may have never heard speak. Faith is starting out on this journey of life believing that our God has thought of everything and we don’t have to worry one minute about the details.
What gives you confidence? What or Who do you trust? Why do you trust or believe what you do? Is there one thing that you can put your finger on that you can point to and say, “This is why I believe. This is why I have faith.” Is there one book you can pull off your shelves, is there one particular sentence that you have memorized that gives your faith the strength it needs to go on?
How do you define your faith? If you have faith is your life a success? Is faith about the present or is it about the future? Does your faith help you connect with God? These are all personal questions that we can only answer as individuals.
The author of Hebrews gives us examples of people whose lives exemplified faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. Are there people you know who are examples for you of living by faith?
In Luke’s gospel we heard this morning Jesus tells his listeners to sell their possessions and give to the poor. That takes faith.
Most of us would have real difficulty selling our possessions let alone giving the proceeds to the poor. After all they probably wouldn’t use our gifts the way we think they should. We don’t have faith that they would be any better off after our gifts than before. And so we hold onto our possessions, our treasures. Our faith doesn’t extend to the poor because we don’t believe they can change.
Do we really believe Jesus is coming back? If our faith says that He is coming back are we expectantly waiting for Him? Are we prepared for his return? Are we faithful?
The NIV translation of Hebrews 11:1 says that, “…faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” My friends, are we hoping to see Jesus return, are we certain that he is coming back? If this is what we believe can our neighbors see our faith by how we live, by the things we treasure?
For me, faith is believing there is a God who loves us. My faith is based on God loving us enough to send his Son to live here on earth, to die for us, and to rise again so we could have the assurance of life eternal with our Creator, God. What I believe is bolstered by God’s Word for us in scripture. I can’t explain why. It’s a mystery to me and my only response is that it’s God’s grace.
Can any of us make our faith stronger? Can we get faith if we don’t have it now? Why do some seem to have stronger faith than others? I don’t know the answer. Faith comes from God and as someone told me this week He has given us the freedom to choose. So some choose to believe and some choose not to believe. Why, only God knows.
Friends, God has called us together as a community of faith. As a community of faith he has called us to go out into the world to care for those who are struggling to make it day by day. As a community of faith we strengthen each other by holding each other up in prayer every day and caring for each other as brothers and sisters, members of God’s family. By answering God’s call and caring for the poor and those who need a hand our faith grows and God’s love is evident to those who are helped. God’s kingdom is present when we share God’s love and faith with those we have been called to help.
What do we believe? What are we waiting for? Believe in God. Believe in Jesus, God’s only Son. Believe in the Holy Spirit, our Counselor, our Advocate. Believe in God’s one holy apostolic, universal church. Believe in God’s forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Believe in His resurrection. And don’t wait one more minute. Answer God’s call to serve his children. Have faith in the One who loves you more than anyone or anything else.
Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and love. Amen.
Without any planning, without dirt and/or rocks being moved, without any foundation, no building is going to stand very long. Buildings need something solid to rest on, something that walls can be anchored to, so they won’t tilt or lean after a few years. You’ve all probably seen buildings that were built on poor foundations. After a while they begin to lean one way or the other or maybe both ways and pretty soon all the nails and screws just can’t keep it together any longer.
The writer of Hebrews says the same thing about our existence. “…trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.” Just as buildings need a good foundation so do we. In order to understand why we are here, in order to make sense of life and make our time here worthwhile we need faith in the One who created us and everything around us.
Faith is trusting in God. Faith is believing that there is One who is in charge of everything. Faith is putting our trust in someone we can’t see, someone we can’t touch, someone we may have never heard speak. Faith is starting out on this journey of life believing that our God has thought of everything and we don’t have to worry one minute about the details.
What gives you confidence? What or Who do you trust? Why do you trust or believe what you do? Is there one thing that you can put your finger on that you can point to and say, “This is why I believe. This is why I have faith.” Is there one book you can pull off your shelves, is there one particular sentence that you have memorized that gives your faith the strength it needs to go on?
How do you define your faith? If you have faith is your life a success? Is faith about the present or is it about the future? Does your faith help you connect with God? These are all personal questions that we can only answer as individuals.
The author of Hebrews gives us examples of people whose lives exemplified faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. Are there people you know who are examples for you of living by faith?
In Luke’s gospel we heard this morning Jesus tells his listeners to sell their possessions and give to the poor. That takes faith.
Most of us would have real difficulty selling our possessions let alone giving the proceeds to the poor. After all they probably wouldn’t use our gifts the way we think they should. We don’t have faith that they would be any better off after our gifts than before. And so we hold onto our possessions, our treasures. Our faith doesn’t extend to the poor because we don’t believe they can change.
Do we really believe Jesus is coming back? If our faith says that He is coming back are we expectantly waiting for Him? Are we prepared for his return? Are we faithful?
The NIV translation of Hebrews 11:1 says that, “…faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” My friends, are we hoping to see Jesus return, are we certain that he is coming back? If this is what we believe can our neighbors see our faith by how we live, by the things we treasure?
For me, faith is believing there is a God who loves us. My faith is based on God loving us enough to send his Son to live here on earth, to die for us, and to rise again so we could have the assurance of life eternal with our Creator, God. What I believe is bolstered by God’s Word for us in scripture. I can’t explain why. It’s a mystery to me and my only response is that it’s God’s grace.
Can any of us make our faith stronger? Can we get faith if we don’t have it now? Why do some seem to have stronger faith than others? I don’t know the answer. Faith comes from God and as someone told me this week He has given us the freedom to choose. So some choose to believe and some choose not to believe. Why, only God knows.
Friends, God has called us together as a community of faith. As a community of faith he has called us to go out into the world to care for those who are struggling to make it day by day. As a community of faith we strengthen each other by holding each other up in prayer every day and caring for each other as brothers and sisters, members of God’s family. By answering God’s call and caring for the poor and those who need a hand our faith grows and God’s love is evident to those who are helped. God’s kingdom is present when we share God’s love and faith with those we have been called to help.
What do we believe? What are we waiting for? Believe in God. Believe in Jesus, God’s only Son. Believe in the Holy Spirit, our Counselor, our Advocate. Believe in God’s one holy apostolic, universal church. Believe in God’s forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Believe in His resurrection. And don’t wait one more minute. Answer God’s call to serve his children. Have faith in the One who loves you more than anyone or anything else.
Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and love. Amen.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Doing Our Own Thing
What is it that makes us want to have so much control over our own lives? Why is it that we find it so terribly hard to listen to God’s voice and God’s message? Why do we have to do our own thing? Why do we want more and more and more?
In Hosea’s day God’s children were attracted to what their neighbors had and they wanted it. So they imitated them and began to live life them. They even worshipped the same Gods. The culture of the world was pulling them away from God. They were doing their own thing.
Paul in his letter to the Colossians asked them to quit doing what they had been doing and to “Pursue the things over which Christ presides.” If they were going to call themselves Christians then they had to die to their old lives and live lives as Christ lived. Quit doing their own thing.
The brother in the gospel lesson from Luke wanted Jesus to mediate a dispute between him and his brother so they could get the estate settled and he could get his share of the inheritance. He wanted his own way; he wanted his own thing.
What did Jesus say? He said, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot." Jesus taught that we should fill ourselves with God not fill our lives with doing our own thing.
I was asked this week what I preached and it made me think. What do I preach? What I preach may be different than what you preach and it’s probably different from what you might hear another person preach on the same words of Scripture.
I preach that God loved us so much he came to live among us as Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us that God is love and that we are to live lives of love, loving God and loving our neighbors. To me that means that I can no longer just do my own thing. I must be about doing what God is calling me to do, love him with all I have in me and love my neighbors caring for them as I would like to be cared for.
Our lives are not all about us and what we can accumulate. We have been blessed by God with lives so that we can share what we have with our friends and neighbors.
That’s the Message for us today. Our focus, our calling is not to do our own thing but to do what God has and is calling us to do, love Him and love our neighbors.
Friends, God has blessed us with much and it is our calling to be about doing his good work.
Thanks be to God for his amazing love and grace. Amen.
In Hosea’s day God’s children were attracted to what their neighbors had and they wanted it. So they imitated them and began to live life them. They even worshipped the same Gods. The culture of the world was pulling them away from God. They were doing their own thing.
Paul in his letter to the Colossians asked them to quit doing what they had been doing and to “Pursue the things over which Christ presides.” If they were going to call themselves Christians then they had to die to their old lives and live lives as Christ lived. Quit doing their own thing.
The brother in the gospel lesson from Luke wanted Jesus to mediate a dispute between him and his brother so they could get the estate settled and he could get his share of the inheritance. He wanted his own way; he wanted his own thing.
What did Jesus say? He said, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot." Jesus taught that we should fill ourselves with God not fill our lives with doing our own thing.
I was asked this week what I preached and it made me think. What do I preach? What I preach may be different than what you preach and it’s probably different from what you might hear another person preach on the same words of Scripture.
I preach that God loved us so much he came to live among us as Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us that God is love and that we are to live lives of love, loving God and loving our neighbors. To me that means that I can no longer just do my own thing. I must be about doing what God is calling me to do, love him with all I have in me and love my neighbors caring for them as I would like to be cared for.
Our lives are not all about us and what we can accumulate. We have been blessed by God with lives so that we can share what we have with our friends and neighbors.
That’s the Message for us today. Our focus, our calling is not to do our own thing but to do what God has and is calling us to do, love Him and love our neighbors.
Friends, God has blessed us with much and it is our calling to be about doing his good work.
Thanks be to God for his amazing love and grace. Amen.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
What's Your Distraction?
Do you ever get anxious and/or distracted? I’m sure we all are anxious and/or distracted at one time or another. Maybe we are anxious more than we’re not or maybe we’re distracted most of the time. Maybe we have our priorities all turned around.
As Jesus was on the road to Jerusalem with his entourage of disciples and followers he decided to stop by Martha and Mary’s place. As was customary Martha set about preparing to feed all these folks. That’s what it meant to be hospitable in their culture. So whether it was Jesus and the Twelve or Jesus and the 70 he sent out to the villages and towns where he was going, it was going to take a lot of preparation to get a satisfying meal put together for all these hungry travelers. Martha may have been stressed out because she didn’t have enough of anything to prepare a sumptuous banquet for the Lord and his band of followers. Why was she alone? Where was her sister, Mary?
Mary was in the other room sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach. Why didn’t she feel compelled to be in the other room helping her sister? Surely she knew the unwritten law that it was necessary to care for and provide hospitality for any guests or visitors who came to your door.
We can certainly understand why Martha came into the room and asked Jesus to tell her sister to come help with the meal preparations. But then the guest, who is really the host, turns it all around, “Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing.”
Was what Martha was doing wrong? Was it wrong for Mary to be sitting at the feet of Jesus as he taught? Neither was wrong. How were they to know what was the best things to do? How are we supposed to know what to do?
I believe the message for us today is that spending time at the feet of Jesus is important. Providing hospitality for those who come to our homes is important too. Being distracted and anxious all the time about doing and not focusing on the being can lead us away from the One who seeks to teach us about God and his kingdom.
This lesson isn’t about Martha and Mary and one being better than the other. It’s about choosing to let go of our distractions and anxieties and understanding the importance of sitting at Jesus’ feet so that we can be filled with his Spirit and Wisdom.
I think it’s a good exercise to every so often, maybe even daily, to look back at our day, or week, or month, and note how we used the time God gave us. How much time did we spend doing, feeding God’s children, and how much time did we spend being with Jesus? And how much time did we spend being anxious about not getting enough done? If we put it all in a pie chart what would be the biggest slice? Would they be equal in size or would our worrying and anxiety and distractions take up the lion’s share of our time?
I think that is what Jesus was trying to teach all of us. He had just told the lawyer that we should love our neighbor. He told the seventy that hospitality was important but now he is telling us that we need to be careful that we don’t make these our priorities. Our priority is to allow ourselves to be taught by the Master, Jesus. Our priority is to take time to be with Jesus before we go out into the world and do what we are called to do.
Mary chose the essential thing. What will we chose today and tomorrow and the day after? If we believe that we’re too busy to take time to sit at Jesus’ feet maybe we need to check our priorities. Maybe we need to reread today’s lesson in Luke’s gospel.
Let’s see where we spend our time this week. Let’s commit to spending more time at Jesus’ feet. Let’s get filled with Jesus’ love and Spirit before we go out to do his work. Let’s ask Jesus to remove our anxieties and distractions so we can focus on the essential thing.
Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and love. Amen.
As Jesus was on the road to Jerusalem with his entourage of disciples and followers he decided to stop by Martha and Mary’s place. As was customary Martha set about preparing to feed all these folks. That’s what it meant to be hospitable in their culture. So whether it was Jesus and the Twelve or Jesus and the 70 he sent out to the villages and towns where he was going, it was going to take a lot of preparation to get a satisfying meal put together for all these hungry travelers. Martha may have been stressed out because she didn’t have enough of anything to prepare a sumptuous banquet for the Lord and his band of followers. Why was she alone? Where was her sister, Mary?
Mary was in the other room sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach. Why didn’t she feel compelled to be in the other room helping her sister? Surely she knew the unwritten law that it was necessary to care for and provide hospitality for any guests or visitors who came to your door.
We can certainly understand why Martha came into the room and asked Jesus to tell her sister to come help with the meal preparations. But then the guest, who is really the host, turns it all around, “Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing.”
Was what Martha was doing wrong? Was it wrong for Mary to be sitting at the feet of Jesus as he taught? Neither was wrong. How were they to know what was the best things to do? How are we supposed to know what to do?
I believe the message for us today is that spending time at the feet of Jesus is important. Providing hospitality for those who come to our homes is important too. Being distracted and anxious all the time about doing and not focusing on the being can lead us away from the One who seeks to teach us about God and his kingdom.
This lesson isn’t about Martha and Mary and one being better than the other. It’s about choosing to let go of our distractions and anxieties and understanding the importance of sitting at Jesus’ feet so that we can be filled with his Spirit and Wisdom.
I think it’s a good exercise to every so often, maybe even daily, to look back at our day, or week, or month, and note how we used the time God gave us. How much time did we spend doing, feeding God’s children, and how much time did we spend being with Jesus? And how much time did we spend being anxious about not getting enough done? If we put it all in a pie chart what would be the biggest slice? Would they be equal in size or would our worrying and anxiety and distractions take up the lion’s share of our time?
I think that is what Jesus was trying to teach all of us. He had just told the lawyer that we should love our neighbor. He told the seventy that hospitality was important but now he is telling us that we need to be careful that we don’t make these our priorities. Our priority is to allow ourselves to be taught by the Master, Jesus. Our priority is to take time to be with Jesus before we go out into the world and do what we are called to do.
Mary chose the essential thing. What will we chose today and tomorrow and the day after? If we believe that we’re too busy to take time to sit at Jesus’ feet maybe we need to check our priorities. Maybe we need to reread today’s lesson in Luke’s gospel.
Let’s see where we spend our time this week. Let’s commit to spending more time at Jesus’ feet. Let’s get filled with Jesus’ love and Spirit before we go out to do his work. Let’s ask Jesus to remove our anxieties and distractions so we can focus on the essential thing.
Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and love. Amen.
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