Your Journey

          Think about the current direction you’re traveling right now. Are you going in the direction God wants you to go? How do you know for sure?  Do you have signs you’re following that point the way you should go? Or have you received a vision like Saul did? Have you been blinded by the light of Christ’s love? Did you have an Ananias come to you and pray and lay hands on you? Have you had someone come and prepare a meal for you because you’d been fasting for 3 days like Saul?

          Think about you life to this point on your journey. Has anyone ever played the role of Ananias for you? How did they do that? Did you have to call them to come or did they just arrive at your front door? Did they come right in and tell you Jesus had sent them to pray for you?

          We are all on journeys, I believe. Some of us know where we’re going and some of us just wander willy-nilly through this life without much of a plan. And then there are those who actually talk with God…and listen to Him for directions.  And then there are those whom God smacks right between the eyes with a 2 X 4 to get their attention before he gives them directions. Which one are you?

          Saul thought he knew exactly where he was going. He knew he was going in the right direction. He knew that he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do. But we see now that he didn't really know anything about what God had planned for him. Maybe he was talking to God but he wasn't doing the listening part.
          Let consider for a moment what we’d do when it looks like God is going to ask us to do something really hard? Are we really quick to say, “I can’t do that because I don’t know how,” or, “I’m afraid I might make a mistake or someone might not like it?” Or has it ever happened that God did to you what he did to Saul and just dumped it in your lap and told you to get to it. Sometimes that’s the way it works. God doesn't give us time to say yes or no because he’s God and he just needs us to get it done. Or, do we just turn our backs on God and walk away, kind of like Jonah? I wonder if God had been talking to Saul before the blinding light on the road to Damascus but he just wasn't listening. I wonder…
          Has what God been asking you to do ever seem so hard that you did walk away from Jesus or thought about doing so?  Weren't you a little afraid to do that, knowing God was calling you to a particular task. I’ll tell you if his mind is set on you doing it you’d just as well listen because it’s going to happen sooner or later. Just look at Saul and the drastic measures God went to to get his attention.
          So, how does Jesus call us back when we try to ignore him?  How has he called you back? Is God calling you to a particular task today? Are you listening? Are you digging in your heels? Friend, I pray that you will heed God’s call to serve him. I’ve found that even though I don’t think I can do something when I decide to give my problem to him everything falls into place.  I don’t mean to say it’s easy. It’s usually not but it does get done.

          Good friends, pay attention to word Luke has for us about Saul’s conversion and his change of direction for his life. Take time to listen for God’s voice and if he’s nudging you to go in a certain direction I pray that you’ll go because I believe that the rewards will be great.

          My friends, God loves you and so do I. Amen.

Questions

          We're using the Spill the Beans liturgy material put together by this group of Scottish folks from the Church of Scotland and other denominations again this year. We believe it's great material and that's why we keep coming back to it. 

          This lesson takes some of their words and a few of my own to tell the story to those who came to worship with us yesterday. My thanks to Roddy Hamilton and his friends and of course God for leading us to them. And by the way the stones have left the sanctuary to tell their "story" to this community.

          Every Easter Sunday don’t you have questions ricocheting around in your brain? I do.

          There was a stone rolled in front of the tomb and there were guards there to prevent anyone from stealing the body of Jesus…and yet the stone rolled. Didn’t anyone hear it?

          And those who went to the tomb early in the morning, what did they expect to find behind the stone? Why didn’t they plan on how they were going to move it?

          Haven’t you ever wondered, who folded the grave cloths and why were they left there? Who would have thought that after Jesus was risen that tidy and neat were important?

          And…how can death be turned back into life? Everyone saw that Jesus was dead. Joseph and Nicodemus carried the body to the tomb and wrapped it in spices. They surely knew that the stone was rolled into place and that guards were stationed at the front. 

          I guess no one ever said that it would be easy to believe the tomb would be empty.

          Have you ever wondered how people could go from yelling “alleluia” one day to “crucify him” the next day so quickly? Are people really that fickle? Didn’t they think it a little strange?

          Questions, that’s all there are. How can it be? How can Jesus be resurrected?

Do you think we’ll ever stop asking the questions?  I hope not.

Preparing for the Journey

          Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem, to a cross on a hill, to a borrowed tomb, how can someone prepare for a journey like that? What could anyone possibly do to get ready to die…for a whole world of sinners?

          In the last few years most of us have heard people talk about their bucket list. In fact I think there was a movie made about two guys who had bucket lists. You know what a bucket list is, don’t you? It’s those things you want to do before you die, kick the bucket, go to be with the Lord, you know.

          Jesus knew; he knew his ultimate destination. He knew and he tried to prepare his friends, the disciples for what he knew was inevitable. How did Jesus, the human part of Jesus, get himself ready for this? How would we get ready?

          Ash Wednesday is the first day of a rather lengthy time of preparation for the journey of Lent.  Think about how you prepare for an extended trip, say around the United States. What do you do to get ready? Or how do you prepare for the new arrival of a child in your family. Or what’s involved in getting ready for a wedding?  What’s the first step?

          This season is similar to these events…except…we aren’t preparing for a joyous celebration. We’re preparing ourselves for a time of repentance. We’re being asked to think about the ways we’ve turned away from God. We’re being asked to repent, turn completely around, make a U-turn and go in the opposite direction from what we’ve been going. Repentance is about turning back to God.

          How do we do that? How can we reconcile ourselves with God…with our friends…with our family…with the stranger in our midst?

          Fasting is an important theme during Lent.  Fasting reminds us that we aren’t passive, helpless human beings at the mercy of the world surrounding us. We’re able, with God’s help, to take control of our lives, to reject those things that hurt and harm us…and our neighbors. Fasting is a tool to help us prepare for reconciliation.

          But, I’ve got ahead of myself. What steps do we take to get ready for a journey, to go on a trip? Some of us make lists. Some of us make lists of our lists. Some of us find the lists we used the last time we took a trip.

          So, what kind of list would we make for this Lenten journey? What do we need to take with us? Do you have any ideas?

          Our lists may contain a variety of things. I would think I’d have my Kindle with 2 or 3 different versions of the Bible. I might commit to spending time each day reading and reflecting on a Lenten devotional. I might decide to give up something, something from the world that keeps me from talking with God, something to remind me to sit and talk with Him or Her. And I would most certainly make time throughout each day to sit and talk, pray and listen, with God. I might see if I could locate a like-minded group of folks who might like to get together and read and dissect God’s word, and pray with and for me and I for them. I think that would help me on my Lenten journey.

          What would you have on your lists? What might be helpful to us is to see what Jesus did as he journeyed to Jerusalem and the cross.

          When we read the gospels we find that Jesus went away, to be alone, to talk with his Father. He did that many times. Sometimes his friends had no idea where he’d gone. He went to the Temple or the synagogue to worship and hear God’s word read and proclaimed. And…he was with the people…healing, teaching, touching, laughing, and eating. 

          We don’t read that Jesus fasted (I'm mistaken here. Jesus fasted for 40 days & nights in the wilderness. How could I miss that?) but if we think about it he did give up things. He had no possessions other than the clothes he wore. He depended on God to take care of him through his friends. What he really gave up was his life…for us…so that we might live. That seems like a major sacrifice to us. And it was when we consider the pain and torture he endured. That makes giving up chocolate for Lent not such a big thing…or Facebook.

          So, good friends, this evening is the beginning of the journey. Are you ready or do you need to make your list…or find your list?  The journey begins tonight. Let’s go with together, praying, listening, touching, and holding each other up when we need a little help.

          Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Encounters with God

          Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with God face-to-face, just like we talk with our neighbors over coffee. He spent enough time with God but had never seen him. He wanted to see God’s Glory and God agreed to let him see his Goodness but he couldn’t look at his face otherwise he’d die. So, he placed him in the cleft of the rock and as he passed by Moses was able to see God’s back.

          So, a second time God told Moses to cut two tablets of stone just like the first ones. He was to bring them up to the top of Mount Sinai. Only Moses was to be on the mountain. No one, not even the livestock were to be grazing in front of the mountain.

          Moses climbed the mountain. God descended in a cloud and took his place beside Moses. It was on the top of the mountain that he received the Covenant which Moses inscribed on the tablets of stone. He was on the mountain with God for 40 days and 40 nights. 

          Moses had talked with God before but had never spent this much time alone with Him. He came down the mountain without a clue that he had been changed by being in the presence of God.

          Jesus climbed the mountain to pray. He took Peter, James, and John with him. It must have been quite a hike because the disciples were worn out by the climb. They fell asleep. Something woke them and it was then that they witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. They saw him talking with Moses and Elijah. Luke writes that Jesus’ face changed and his clothes became blinding white.

          As the group was getting ready to climb back down the mountain a cloud covered them and God spoke! He confirmed that Jesus was his Son, the Chosen One and they were to listen to him.

          Luke tells us they were speechless and continued that way until after Jesus ascended into heaven.

          Moses, Peter, James, and John were changed by their encounter with God. These men were chosen, called by Jesus and God for special work. Can you imagine having a close encounter with God? Who wouldn’t be different after such an experience?

          God said that the disciples should listen to Jesus. My question for us is, “How do we listen to Jesus today?”  Have we heard God calling to us? In our own lives do you think we’ve been chosen for a particular purpose?  Have you ever had a strong sense of God speaking to you, choosing you, claiming you for a certain assignment?

          People we’ve read about in the Bible were changed by their encounters with the Divine. People today are also different after spending time with God.

          How have you responded to these calls or sense of call from God? How have you been changed by the call?

Spending time on the mountain top is exhilarating, enthusing, energizing, and amazing. It sets us up, equips and inspires us; but we can’t live on the mountaintop, insulated from the stresses and strains of life, for we are called to be involved in the mess that awaits us, in the real stuff of life at the foot of the mountain, to use those mountain top moments to equip us for the stuff of everyday. We can be thankful for the transfiguring moments that bring change to the workaday routine.

What Do You Say About Jesus?

          You’ve just heard Luke’s story about Jesus coming back to his hometown…not healing anyone, not doing any of the things he did in Capernaum, and not making his old neighbors very happy.

          Let’s do a ‘what if.’ What if Jesus had grown up in Walnut? What if Joseph, his Dad, married Mary, his Mom, when she was 6 months pregnant? What if his Dad was “just” a carpenter? What if he’d grown up in this church? What if he’d been in your Sunday school class? What if he’d been invited today to be the guest preacher?

          What would we be saying about him? How would he be received? And what if he told us what he told the folks in Nazareth? What if he said, “I’m not able to do here what I did in Capernaum because your hearts aren’t right?” What if?

          What words would we use to describe Jesus? What do you say about Jesus?

Voice B: Joseph’s son

Voice A: One of our own

Voice B: Hometown boy

Voice A: Nice to see him back

Voice B: Preacher man

Voice A: Confident

Voice B: Eloquent

Voice A: Confrontational

Voice B: Controversial

Voice A: Learned

Voice B: Dramatic

Voice A: Daring

Voice B: It can’t be?

Voice A: What did he say?

Voice B: Surely not?

Voice A: Where did he get that idea?

Voice B: Amazing

Voice A: Arrogant

Voice B: Full of himself

Voice A: Joseph’s Son?

Voice B: In our hearing?

Voice A: Fulfilled?

Voice B: Isaiah’s words?

Voice A: In Jesus?

Voice B: Mary’s boy?

Voice A: I remember him when he was 12

Voice B: I remember him when he was 2

Voice A: He had less to say then

Voice B: Heal yourself?

Voice A: Heal your own self!

Voice B: Spiritual physician

Voice A: Theological doctor

Voice B: Sailing close to the wind

Voice A: Walking close to the wire

Voice B: These words?

Voice A: About him?

Voice B: Shocking

Voice A: Terrible

Voice B: Outrage

Voice A: Disturbing

Voice B: Antagonizing

Voice A: Alarming

Voice B: Astounding

Voice A: Unnerving

Voice B: And what do you say of Jesus?

Spill the Beans Issue 6

          What do we say about Jesus today? What do we expect from Jesus today? How do we know what Jesus expects from us?

          What do we say about our church leadership team? What do we say about our pastor? What do we expect from them? What does the community expect from this worshiping community?        

          What have we heard read from God’s word for us today? What are we going to do with it?

          God has known each of us since before we were born and he’s known all along what he’d like us to be doing. The rest is up to us to use the gifts of His Spirit, faith, hope, and…love.

          Thanks be to God for his patient, loving grace. Amen.

Good News?

Through this current church season I have been using...and adapting the liturgical material from Spill the Beans Issue 6. Yesterday I presented these facts for the United States. Spill the Beans used data from the UK. I don't know about the congregation but these numbers astounded me. 

Jesus said God had chosen him to bring the good news...so today has God chosen us, you and me, to bring the good news of God's kingdom to these folks? I believe he has.

May God bless you all this week as you labor doing God's work with the gifts he's given you.

Voice A: Today we are told: ‘There are 16.4 million children living in poverty in the US right now. That’s 22 per cent of the children, or more than one in five according to 2010 census. They are 24% of the total population but 36% of the poor population.’

Voice B: But Jesus tells us: ‘He has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.’

Voice A: Today we are told: ‘A report on human trafficking in the United States says that human trafficking is the 2^nd fastest growing criminal industry next to drug trafficking. Children account for roughly one-half of all the victims. Of 2,515 cases in 2010 more than 1,000 involved children. It is estimated to be a $32 billion dollar industry. There are 27 million people around the world who are enslaved. The U.S. Department of State estimates 14,500 to 17,500 people per year are brought in for the purpose of labor or sex exploitation.

Voice B: But Jesus tells us: ‘He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives.’

Voice A: Today we are told: ‘The FDIC and Federal Reserve offices stated the cause of the majority of bank failures, 2008-2011, were aggressive growth strategies, high risk taking, and uninformed or inattentive management. In this period 414 U.S. banks failed.’ They lost their way and sought profit for the shareholders only and forgot the people who trusted them with their life savings.

Voice B: But Jesus tells us: ‘He has sent me to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind.’

Voice A: Today we are told: ‘Reports say that one-half of the nation’s violent crimes, 3.4 million, go unreported. Domestic abuse statistics say that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are assaulted by their partners. Data shows that 3 million children are witnesses to domestic violence’

Voice B: But Jesus tells us: ‘I have come to set free the oppressed.’

Voice A: Today we are told: ‘This has been with us always.’

Voice B: But Jesus tells us: ‘Within your hearing these things have come true. By hearing them, believing them, trusting them, living them, these words have come true. Let not the world shout loudest. Let our loudest word be our actions within the world.’

REFLECTION

Manifesto: as political as they come; as challenging as they come; as life changing as they come.

Such was Jesus’ manifesto written long ago, brought to life in the Son of God, harnessing the power of the Spirit.

Not popular in some quarters, radicals never are, but when they saw all those grand old words being lived out, after centuries of gathering dust, folk couldn’t help but get upset as they were confronted with a way of living that they could easily embrace if they could shake off their apathy, built up over the years and tamped down into a solid seemingly unmovable mass.

Not rocket science. Not even political science. But simple undiluted love: the kind that’s buried deep within, waiting to be kindled and coaxed into flame, so that the poor hear good news, captives are released, the blind can see and the oppressed go free. That’s some Manifesto!

Spill the Beans Issue 6 

Parties & Gifts

          Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is about the gifts of the Spirit and John’s gospel reading is about a wedding party. Gifts and parties, they kind of go together don’t they.

          Have you ever thought about this journey, this following the Way of Jesus as being a party? Parties are full of fun, good food, laughter and dancing, and stories. Is it possible that we’ve missed something? Is it possible that God’s kingdom here on earth is a party?

          When I was growing up what I heard was that being a Christian, a follower of Jesus, meant that I had to give up doing certain things. Some of those things were fun, like dancing, playing cards, and wedding parties with wine just to name a couple.

          Now I learn that isn’t what Jesus was saying at all. God is love. God loves you and me and our neighbors. God helped Jesus keep a party going by turning water into wine when they ran out because there were more guests than there was wine. God diverted a disaster for the bride’s father by having Mary go to Jesus and telling him it was time. God wanted to help keep the party going.

          Okay, so fast forward to now. Is this party still going on or have we put the lid on the good times? What do you think?

          John wrote his gospel writing about Jesus’ signs. The other gospels call them miracles but John uses the words signs. This turning the water into wine was the first of his signs.

          What did this sign mean, the turning of water into wine? It’s pretty neat being able to turn everyday, ordinary water into the best wine ever produced. Do you think it was just about the wine or is there something else to this?

          Could it be that Jesus was trying, in that different way that he had, to show us that the kingdom of God that had come to earth was like a wedding party? That’s probably not the way Jesus’ ancestors thought about it. Shoot, it’s probably not the way most people today think about the kingdom of God.

          Or…maybe the water was a sign or a symbol of the old way, the Law, and by turning it into premium wine he was showing that with the arrival of the kingdom of God things were going to change for the better. Maybe it meant that the old order was going to change, be made new, be better. Maybe it meant that there’d be less injustice, less oppression, fewer families going without, more…love, premium love. Maybe, what do you think?

          Think about how things changed after Jesus came, performed his signs, died and rose again. Think about the things we can do now that we can’t or couldn’t or wouldn’t do without the gift of Jesus’ Spirit in our lives.

          A party isn’t much of a party without gifts, right? So, with Jesus’ ascension there was, first, the gift of the Holy Spirit and then…the gifts of the Holy Spirit on each person who by faith came to know Jesus.

          Most of us have picked up all the wrapping paper from the Christmas gifts and some of us have birthday gifts yet to unwrap, which makes me wonder, “Have you opened your gifts from the Spirit yet?”

          Oh, you didn’t know you had a gift from the Spirit. Paul tells us we all have gifts from the Spirit, all of us. You didn’t know that? Sure you do.

          If you don’t believe you’ve received a gift from the Spirit maybe you should ask your family or friends what they think your gift is. I’ll bet they can tell you. One thing I know for sure is we all have gifts. Sometimes they’re disguised and not easy for us to identify. They’re there nevertheless.

          So, ask yourselves, “Where’s the party (God’s kingdom) today…and what gifts does God’s Spirit have for me today?” You might wonder how any of us are to know the answers to these questions.

          Friends, God didn’t just talk to the folks we read about in the Bible. He speaks to us today in his word and in our quiet times, in our work, through his Spirit, through our friends and our enemies. If we have ears to hear we can hear his Voice.

          But there might be some of us who are more interested in the party. How are we going to find God’s party? Again, I believe God will lead us to the party. It just might not be the kind of party we’re thinking about.

          It might be a soup kitchen party. It might be a visitation party. It might be a good guys food boxing party. Or…it might be a real party with kids and games and noisemakers and music and dancing and cake and cookies and other goodies. 

          What if we woke up and every day was a party and there were gifts? What would that be like? Do you think it could happen? Do you think that may have been what Jesus’ signs were about?

          Parties and gifts, that’s the Good News, that’s the Gospel message today. Let’s make a real effort this week and in the weeks that follow to find the wedding party and use the gifts we’ve been given by the Spirit.

          Thanks be to God for his amazing grace-filled gifts. Amen.