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.
Monday, August 30, 2010
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.
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