Are We Ready for the Good News?

Are we ready to hear the Good News? Do we want to hear what God is saying to us? I ask because in the gospel lesson from Luke the people of Nazareth were at first in awe of Jesus. But that changed after he spoke the words we heard read today. It made them very angry. They didn’t want to hear the truth.

Are we ready to hear the Good News; the Message God has for us today? Jeremiah was called by God to be his prophet and he wasn’t ready. Moses was called by God from the burning bush. He didn’t think he was ready or capable to do what God was calling him to do either. Jonah was another one God called and he didn’t like what God was asking him to do so he went the opposite direction. Now of them were ready to hear what God was saying. Are we ready to hear God’s Message?

To be honest I wasn’t ready for a long time. And to be really honest there are times when God’s Message for me isn’t what I want to hear. Sometimes the Message for us makes us uncomfortable. And sometimes the plain truth is we don’t have the love that Paul spoke of in 1 Cor. 13.

That’s one of God’s calls we don’t necessarily like to hear but the other makes us even more uncomfortable. That’s when he speaks to us and we realize that we don’t like what he’s saying or we don’t want to do what he’s telling us to do. In fact if God wasn’t God and so powerful we’d want to kill him for suggesting to us that we do what we know he wants us to do.

Listen to what Jesus said in the meeting place, “Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn't it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian." Now wouldn’t that just about make you want to chew nails?

He told them that God’s grace wasn’t just for them, “the chosen,” it was for everyone, Gentiles and slaves, everyone. And they didn’t like what they heard. They’d been waiting for lifetimes for God’s Messiah to come to them and what Jesus was teaching they weren’t ready to hear.

This hits pretty close to home. At least I can relate to it. I still struggle with taking criticism or news that isn’t anything like what I expected it to be. Maybe it’s a guy thing but I think it’s more a Krueger thing.

It’s not easy to hear that you’re not the one when all along you’ve thought that someday you’d get this great reward because you were first or the best or you put your own words in the blank.

That’s what Jesus was telling his hometown people that day in the meeting place. They weren’t the only ones God was choosing to reward with his love. He was going to grant his grace to their enemies. They heard this and all they saw was red.

Have any of you ever seen a mama sow come tearing through the pasture when she hears one of her little pigs squeal. Let me tell you, you don’t want to be in her path or the one who was making her little pig squeal, because if you are or were you’re going to be shredded. That’s what the townspeople were planning for Jesus, the hometown boy. They were going to put an end to his teaching right then and there.

How would you feel if someone were to come here today and tell that this nation isn’t God’s chosen? What would you do if that same person told you God was sending his blessings to Iraq or Afghanistan or Haiti? What if the message was that we didn’t deserve it? What if the message was that some third world nation was going to receive God’s grace because we hadn’t been keeping God’s law as we should? Or maybe they were being blessed because this nation wasn’t loving God with their whole being or loving their neighbors, all the poor nations in the world, as much as they loved themselves. How would that be received? What if that was the message in the State of the Union speech the other night? Oh boy, can’t you just hear Diane Sawyer or Katie Couric or Brian Williams on the evening news? Everyone would want to throw the speaker off a cliff or something even worse.

So you can imagine why Jesus’ neighbors wanted to toss him off the cliff outside Nazareth. They didn’t want to hear the message he had for them. They were the chosen ones. The Gentiles didn’t deserve God’s blessings even is he had helped some of them before.

Are we any more ready to hear the same message? I don’t think we’re any better than they were. God is telling us to care for the poor, to free the prisoner, to grant those who owe us a jubilee, to forgive their debts. Are we ready to hear the Good News?

It’s not easy to hear that maybe we don’t deserve God’s blessing. It’s not easy to do let go of our prejudices, our paradigms about how we think things should be. In fact for some it’s nigh onto impossible to change our way of thinking.

Friends, that may be the message for us today. Have we been doing what Jesus commissioned us for? Have we been keeping the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor? How have we been doing at being lovingly kind, doing justice, and walking humbly with God? We know what we should be doing but it’s hard to let go of the things that keep us tied so tightly to this world. The world has too strong of a hold on us.

When we hear him say we have to give all or we have to die to our old ways it’s not easy. We have to allow God in so he can change us from the inside out. And that can be rather painful for us, kind of like major surgery.

God’s neighbors didn’t want to hear Jesus’ message of salvation for all people. Are we ready to hear Jesus’ message of Good News?

Friends, God is calling us to serve. He is calling us to be his church and to care for those who are struggling. God has a mission but we may have to sacrifice some of our things so that we are able to do what he’s calling us to do. Are we ready to hear and answer his call?

Friends, pray for God’s grace and compassion to enable all of us to serve him as he wills. Thanks be to God for his amazing grace. Amen.

Today, Scripture Made History

When you hear the word of God read what do you think happens? What takes place when people gather to hear the Message read and explained?

When the Israelites asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law that God had given Moses and asked him to read it to them they were moved to tears. Ezra read the book and the Levite priests moved among the people explaining to them, interpreting the word, so that they would understand it. Everyone who was able to understand gathered at the Water Gate to hear God’s word for his people. And what they heard and what they understood made them cry. Their hearts were convicted by their sin. Everyone who heard the word knew they hadn’t kept God’s Law that he had given to Moses. They were changed after hearing the Word read. History was made.

Every Sunday the Revised Common Lectionary provides an Old Testament reading, a reading from the Psalms, scripture from one of Paul’s letters to the early churches, and a reading from the one of the Gospels. It’s not a requirement that all are read. Pastors aren’t told which one to choose for their Message. Some pastors choose to read only one of the scripture lessons and others read all of them. I have made the choice to have all of them read even if I only preach on one of the readings. I believe we need to hear the word and through the hearing of it we are changed. Even if it’s not preached the message in the words may be exactly what one particular person needed to hear on this particular day.

I don’t think that everyone hears or understands what I may have to say. But I believe that God’s word that is read enters each person’s ears and through the power of the Holy Spirit the Word of God is interpreted within their brains so that everyone is given the ability to understand the exact point God intended for them at this point in their life. Or it may be that neither the Word read nor the Word proclaimed causes anything to take place in some people’s brains but something in God’s wonderful creation touches them and they understand God’s gospel that is meant just for them. That is what the psalmist said in the reading for today.

It may be that at one certain time when the Word is read and interpreted something clicks with us and then at another time it may happen as we encounter God outside the church where we worship. As Paul explained to the Corinthians we are all different. We are all given different abilities to understand and interpret God’s word for us.

Today, in your presence, scripture has made history. That’s what Jesus said to those who heard him read the prophet Isaiah’s words. Jesus didn’t read the whole chapter. He didn’t even read every word from the first two verses. He left out a portion that said, “…and the day of vengeance of our God.” It wasn’t the time to speak of that yet. But it was the right time to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. It was the right time to speak of God’s grace.

Some heard what Jesus said and were amazed at his insight. And others were skeptical. Some had ears to hear and they understood and some didn’t. Isn’t that still the way it is today, some hear and it all comes together for them and for others it doesn’t? Why, who knows. It may be the pastor, it may be because of what’s going on with them on this particular day, or it may be because their hearts aren’t right with God yet. I don’t know, but I think some hear the word and get the message and others don’t.

That might be a good reason for folks to get together after worship to discuss and take apart the Word read and the Word proclaimed. Friends, I know this pastor doesn’t have all the answers. Every person here today more than likely gets something different from what was read than I did. And there’s not one thing wrong with that.

Since we are all different don’t you think that we each hear and process things in different ways? And it’s good for us to hear someone else’s interpretation and their understanding of God’s word.

Every time the Word is read and proclaimed I believe it makes history. I believe every time we hear the Word things happen, both within us and around us. God’s word is not dead; it is a Living Word. It has life and through it history is made.

Hearing God’s word changes us and it changes our environment, all through the power of the Holy Spirit. And because of the changes it makes in us history is made.

Every day it’s different, because every day God’s plan is different depending on the gifts of grace each of us has received. Feet need something different than noses, and eyes need different things than hands. But they all need something and together they are each nourished and changed by the Word.

So what’s happening today? How are we each changed and graced by the Word? I never know how people are changed unless I’m told. I only know that the word changes me every time I read it or hear it read. And that, I believe, is the power of God’s word. It transforms our lives and those around us.

Just as in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra I believe that God gathers or calls all who understand to come and hear the word. Maybe there are times when the Word is difficult to understand then he provides people who can help explain what it’s saying to us in this time and place. God’s word never fails to make history or to effect some change in the people who hear it.

Today, scripture has made history. The Word has reached out and touched every one here who has ears to hear. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Water Into Wine, One of God’s Gifts to All People

In today’s gospel lesson we heard the story of Jesus’ first sign, changing water into wine. Have you ever wondered why he did this when we heard him tell his mother, Mary, that it wasn’t his time yet?

Jesus, his mother, Mary, probably his brothers, and his disciples attended a wedding party in Cana. We don’t know if they brought gifts but this miracle Jesus did certainly was a gift that made this wedding party one to be remembered. Also, it probably saved the reputation of the groom’s family. It would have been catastrophic to have run out of wine on only the third day of a wedding party that typically ran 7 days.

You mothers who have worried about wedding receptions know what I’m talking about. What if there’s not enough of this or that? It would be the worst thing imaginable!

Mary didn’t want this to happen to her friends so she mentioned it to Jesus. And being a good Jewish mother she didn’t exactly tell what to do but she certainly made it difficult for him not to do something! I mean when you tell the servants to do whatever he asks of you, you just know he’s going to do something. And Jesus didn’t disappoint his mother, or God.

But what did it mean, this changing water into wine, and what is the lesson for us today? Just looking at it in the simplest of ways it was a gift, a very extravagant and generous gift, 6-30 gallon jars of the finest wine to finish a 7 day wedding party.

One way to look at it is since this is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he is showing his disciples an example of God’s abundant grace. Yes, it was just water into wine, but if God cared enough to provide this for this one couple what wouldn’t he do for the world? I believe it is an example for all of us about God’s extravagant, generous love for all his children.

So, by now you’re probably wondering, what has God given me? What gift have I received from God? What’s my water into wine gift? Maybe some here today think they haven’t received anything from God, and that would be wrong.

We heard this morning in the reading from Paul’s letter to the people of Corinth that God has given gifts to people everywhere. It said, “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful…”

Now you’re really wondering, “What is it God has given me?” I don’t know specifics but I’m sure we have all been gifted. It’s not like what happens regularly in many households where the husband forgets the wife’s birthday or their anniversary and there’s no gift or if there’s a gift it’s not the right gift. No, the gifts we have all received from God are extravagant beyond our imaginations, generous beyond anything we’ve ever heard happen and they are the perfect gift for each of us. Gifts worth more than any multi-million dollar prize from any lottery in the world.

We, each of us, have been given a gift. It might still be hidden away in a closet somewhere all beautifully wrapped waiting to be taken out. Maybe it hasn’t been discovered yet, it’s so well hidden. Maybe we haven’t looked for it yet. Or, maybe the opportunity to use this wonderful gift hasn’t presented itself to us yet. But it is there waiting for us.

We, all of God’s children, have been blessed. Some just aren’t aware of the blessing.

I believe we have been given a chance to use our gifts this past week. Actually there are opportunities all the time to use our gifts but this one just begs us to use everything we have to bless others, to help people who have nothing left. That is the earthquake in Port Au Prince, Haiti, one of the poorest places in the world.

You might be wondering what you can do. What gift do I have to help these people? I have no money; I don’t have any rescue dogs; I’m too old to travel that far. What gift do I have to help these people?

I can’t answer for any of you but one gift I believe we all have is prayer. A week or two ago the scripture for Morning Prayers was from Ephesians chapter 6. It reminded me that we should be praying long and hard for our brothers and sisters. We are to keep each other’s spirits up and keep our eyes open so no one falls out or drops behind.

Friends, if we have received nothing else with which to help others, we have all been given the gift of prayer. Gifts don’t do any good if they aren’t used. Friends, I believe we should be praying if we aren’t able to do anything else.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t do something else but at the very least we should be praying for the people in Haiti. Their need is so great that it’s hard for any of us to imagine. No water, no food, no clothes, no shelter, and for some, no family left. Is it possible for any of us to relate to what has happened there?

Can we just sit by and not do something with what God has given us? We are blessed with gifts. If we don’t use them then we aren’t any better than the servant who buried his talent in the dirt until his Master came home.

I don’t know how I got from Jesus turning water into wine to gifts given to God’s children to the earthquake in Haiti but somehow we’re there.

I believe God has a mission for his church and he presents his church with many opportunities to use these gifts. At some point it ends with us making decisions about what we will do. We shouldn’t be impulsive. We need to prayerfully discern what it is we should and can do. But the answer shouldn’t be, “Do nothing.” We should not sit on the gifts we have and not do anything.

How has God gifted us and what are we to do? Friends, how is God speaking to you? What kind of gifts do we have that we can share with our brothers and sisters in Haiti? Are we able to trust God to help us turn water into wine? Can we be the empty jars waiting to be filled with the water that will be transformed into wine to be a blessing to others?

I don’t have the answers to these questions but I do have suggestions. There are many ways to help. Some may contribute through financial means; some may be able to help with blankets or clothing; some may be able to travel to Haiti to help with the relief effort. Presbyterian Disaster Relief is just one organization that is providing relief. There are many others.

Let’s not let forget our brothers and sisters in Haiti who have lost so much. Let’s use the gift or gifts God has blessed us with. Thanks be to God for his abundant grace. Amen.

God Wants You!

Today’s lesson is about God, Jesus, us, and plain old everyday water. The prophet Isaiah reminds us that our Creator, God, wants us. In fact he wants us so much that he’s willing to take us just as we are, wherever we are, in whatever situation we’ve gotten ourselves into. He just wants us and he’s ready to redeem us. He wants us even if we’ve got ourselves between a rock and a hard place. He wants us even if we’re drowning and in trouble way over our heads. He’s still calling our name. He wants you and me. I don’t know about you but I think it’s pretty amazing that he wants me.

You know what though; God began calling us a long, long time ago. When we came to be baptized God laid his claim on us. It was at the fount, or the tub, or the river, or the lake that we were cleansed spiritually of all our sins through the shed blood of God’s Son, Jesus. God wanted us to be his children even before we were born. He knew he wanted us before we knew we wanted Him. Isn’t that an amazing thing?

When did you realize that God wanted you? Have you always known he wanted you or did it just come to you one day in a flash that God wanted you? How do any of us know that God wants us?
If someone were to ask you how you know that God loves you and wants you as his child how would you answer? How is it that any of us knows for certain that our God wants us? I’m not asking these questions to put any kind of fear in your hearts but to get us thinking and reflecting on God and his call to us to come home.

Today we find Jesus at the Jordan River standing in line with all the others to be baptized. John was preaching about the need for the people to repent, to change their ways. He was exhorting them to change and to be baptized, to be forgiven of their sins. And then Jesus shows up, the One who was without sin came to the river to be baptized. Not to repent of sins but to receive validation from God his Father for the ministry he had prepared him for. God wanted him. He wanted him to show the people that there was another way to live. He wanted people to know that he hadn’t written them off, even though they had strayed far away from him. He wanted them to know that he truly wanted them.

God wants us too. He wants us to know that he wants us. He wants us to know he hasn’t written us off either. God wants us!

God wants us and whether we realize it or not he has been involved in our lives from day one. When we were baptized we were enrolled, entered, and received into the covenant and family, and so into the inheritance of the sons of God… to be cleansed also from the filthiness of sins, and to be granted the manifold grace of God, in order to lead a new and innocent life. (The Second Helvetic Confession) The whole process started there. Oh, I believe it started way before that but it was at our baptism that we received the sign and seal of the covenant of grace. We were grafted into Christ and somehow God regenerated and took away our sins so that we could walk into a newness of life. (The Westminster Confession in my words) God really wants us when he goes to all this trouble to be sure that we are clean!

Baptism is just the beginning of our call from God to be his children. And then the real work begins for us. If we were baptized as babies many folks assumed the responsibility for our nurture and guidance. Those of us who were older when we were baptized, more than likely, made a conscious decision to commit our lives to God and that commitment was sealed with our baptism. Whenever we received this Sacrament it was after that we realized that we are in a continual battle with temptation and sin. We falter and stumble many times but it is through this Sacrament that we are assured that we have been pardoned. We draw strength from Jesus’ death and resurrection the One who was the first baptized from death into life eternal.

God did all this for us because he wants us! Isn’t that an amazing thing? I know. He created us so why wouldn’t he want us? But we fail so miserably and we’re so weak I wonder why he doesn’t just start all over. But thankfully God is gracious and he doesn’t do that. He wants us.

Friends, don’t get me wrong. This is not an easy task God has given us, to be his children. I believe that we need to go to him every day, pray for his forgiveness and mercy, and pray that he will strengthen our faith through his grace. Every day when we come to him in prayer we ask for the strength to die again to sin and to live for his righteousness. As Paul said we are justified by grace through faith. It’s through our baptism that we are set free to accept ourselves and to love God and our neighbor.

My friends, God wants us. As The Brief Statement of Faith says, “The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.”

God wants us. He is calling us to ministry. He is calling us home. Have you answered the call?
Friends, God loves you and wants you to come to him today. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sent to Tell Our Stories

One more Christmas has come and gone. In some homes the decorations have all been taken down and stored away for another year.

I wonder, when the decorations come down, do people put away Jesus too for another year? Sometimes it seems that way. People bring out the baby Jesus in a manger to ooo and aah at and then they put the crèche away. They forget that that baby grew up, that he assembled a group of men and women who followed him as he trekked through Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. They forget, or maybe they don’t even know, that he brought hope and healing to those who were oppressed, those who had given up any hope of ever being free from the iron rule of some other nation. They forget that this baby was the One who was the light of the world. Or maybe they never heard of the One who drove back the darkness.

So many families have Moms and Dads who are both working hard to provide a home for they children that when Sunday comes around they just don’t have the energy to get everyone up and dressed and out to a cold car or van to come to church to worship, to learn about this One who came into to the world to shine a light into the darkness, to free people from their burdens, the burdens they are carrying. Since they are too worn out to come to worship, they never hear the story of Jesus, God incarnated here among us as a little baby who grew into the Son of Man, who would be the savior of the world. They’ve never known the Jesus who grew up.
They’ve heard of the baby. They’ve heard the story of the Wise Men who came bearing gifts. That’s sounds pretty neat so they exchange gifts with each other; but do they know the meaning behind the giving? I wonder.

So friends, what are we to do? Do we sit back and say I’ve done my share of the work and let it go at that? Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans 10:14 ff., “But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?” He goes on to say, “…faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”

So good friends, as we begin a new year, my prayer would be that we take on the responsibility to tell the story of Jesus to everyone we meet. It’s a simple story but not everyone will understand it. It’s as if some don’t have the ears to hear the words. And if they have the ears to hear they’re somehow kept from understanding the Message.

The greatest gift we can give our families and friends, in fact, everyone we meet as we journey through life, is the gift of God’s love and salvation. I believe that is our work here on earth. Teach the Word and let the Word drive away the darkness.

It’s not easy work and sometimes it can be dangerous work but it is work that’s very important. How are they to know if no one tells them the story? How are those who work long hours and are so worn out by the things of the world ever to know that there is a God who loves them and wants to relieve them of their burdens if they never hear.

Friends, I know you know the Word and I believe there is no one better qualified to teach than you who have been given the gift of life’s experiences. So friends, go out into the world as people sent by God to spread the Word. Bring the light of Christ into the dark corners of the world.
Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit you will be empowered and enabled to change the world. Maybe just one person right here needs to hear the story. Don’t hesitate; trust in God to be right beside you as you tell your story.

Friends, God loves you. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.